Jupiter [Marvel Phase I]

epilogue.

In the following weeks, Grey Hollow's population nearly tripled at the start of hiking season. Cars lined Main Street and every parking lot in town was completely filled. Mrs. Browne was used to recognizing every face that came through her door. The beginning of spring was the only time of the year when that wasn't the case.

During these weeks, Mrs. Browne met all kinds of interesting people. A family from the Cayman Islands whose son had never seen snow in person. A German couple that met scaling Mt. Everest. And one particularly chatty gentleman from New Mexico.

"Look what the thing did to my truck!" He exclaimed, jabbing his thumb towards the front windows.

Even without following the path of his customer's finger, Mrs. Browne would've easily picked out his car. Only one of them was...sans bumper. "Oh, my," she said consolingly.

"I'm telling you, young lady," the man went on, now wiggling that finger at her. "It was them aliens."

Mrs. Browne's eyes widened and she nodded in reply, unable to call up her customer service voice in the face of sheer absurdity. She waved back at the man as he left, watching his bumper-less car speed off into the mountains.

Somehow, that still wasn't the strangest interaction she'd had that tourist season. That honor would go to the next group that walked in through her door.

Their cars were the first thing she noticed about them. Three of them; big, black vans with darkly tinted windows. They were too nice, too clean to have ever been taken off-roading.

When the group entered the store, it was in formation. There were seven people in all - the majority of them wearing nicely tailored suits and sunglasses. Then there was the man who could only be their leader, in his long, black coat. There was something else about him. He wasn't necessarily tall, but it was his presence. Commanding, powerful. Mrs. Browne could see the way all the others followed his every move. Conveniently, they were the only people in the entire store.

"This is a nice little town you've got here," the leader remarked after a moment. He wasn't looking at Mrs. Browne when he spoke, but she could feel the way the comment was directed at her. "Very quaint."

"We got second place in the Seattle Tribune's 'Hidden Gems of the Pacific Northwest' last year," Mrs. Browne replied. Finally, the leader turned her way. She hadn't realized until then that he was wearing an eyepatch. She gulped, feeling as though this man was somehow looking through her. "This, umm, your first time in town?" The man nodded cordially. "You in town for hiking season?"

It was a stupid question. No one went hiking dressed like that. Unable to face the leader's soul-piercing stare any longer, Mrs. Browne turned to the rest of the suits in her lobby. She didn't like the way they were looking at her wares. Inspecting them.

"Well, we might have to do a little hiking," the man replied, bringing Mrs. Browne's attention back to him. He walked over to her slowly, producing a manila folder from inside his impressive coat. "Browne's Grocery," he said as he leafed through the files in his hands. "Three weeks ago, two men were found in the alley behind your store. They were tied to the dumpster with a lead pipe."

It wasn't a question, but Mrs. Browne still found herself replying, "Yes, sir." She winced, not sure where the honorific had come from.

"Tell me," the leader said, still looking through his notes. "Have you been experiencing power outages more frequently this year? Blackouts of the unexplained variety?"

Mrs. Browne shrugged. "We're a pretty small town. Power companies don't get up here much and storm season has been pretty brutal this year."

"So there's been a recent increase in strong weather?" The man asked.