The Lab Rat: An Original Short Story

And so my soul was slowly drained away, trapping me in the midst of the negative zone, attempting to hold me captive forever, with only an older model cell phone to keep me company. *    *    * Though I received small food rations from my captors, my hunger hardly subsided. I plotted my escape. This barely-liveable place could not hold me forever. *    *    * At long last, I saw it: A chance to escape! The cell guard was vulnerable when he gave me my daily scraps of food. I had to eliminate him silently. As soon as the guard opened the door to give me my meal, I struck, snapping his neck and guiding his body silently to the floor. Now for the main guard. I waited for him to become suspicious at the cell guard's continued absence. I stayed around the corner, then struck when he walked past me. He fell without a sound. *    *    * I soon reached the outside of the prison. Multitudes of filth and decrepitude greeted me. I saw few living souls, most being lost within their own madness. What do I do now...? *    *    * I spotted a guard patrolling in his car. I hid in a nearby alleyway. I saw him park and enter the prison, so I knew the alarm would soon be raised. I cautiously made my way to his car. He had left it unlocked AND left the keys in the ignition! I opened the door and started the car. Suddenly, gunshots rang out! I ducked as low as I could. I heard glass shatter as the bullets blew through the car. I put it in drive and sped off, reaching the freeway in minutes. Good... *    *    * I drove for what seemed like days, though it can't have been more than an hour or so. I drove until I came to a small hotel, renting out a room with the money that the guard had left in the glove compartment. I slept fitfully that night. The escape... It seemed far too easy. Was there something that I was missing? *    *    * They found me. I don't know how, but they did. I'm trapped and out of options. Everything I did was for nothing. How can it end like this...? *    *    * I woke up, gasping for air. I was chained to a chair. The room was small and unlit, save for a small desk lamp. There was a man across from me, face in shadow. "Do you know why you're here?" he inquired. I simply stared, not daring to speak. "Do you happen to realize what you've been a part of? I continued to remain silent. "Well, I suppose that I wouldn't presume to act as though you were part of something big. You have been part of an experiment. You were simply my lab rat; Nothing more." He began to pace. "Humans become feral and revert to a primitive state under certain conditions. We set up these controlled testing environments and gave you limited tools in which  to accomplish your goal. Namely, your escape. Surprisingly, you didn't use the cell phone provided to you and instead relied on your quick wits and some physicality that you must've picked up from the previous tests." I was taken aback. Previous tests? "Your performance was more than satisfactory this time around. Now, however, we must start the trial again. Your mind will be wiped as standard protocol dictates and you'll be given an extra tool for this trial. Perhaps a pocket knife. Enjoy this set of memories while you can."  With that, a door behind me opened and I was dragged to a cell, awaiting my mind wipe. However, a plan occurred to me. *    *    * I'm writing this to myself. The time before my mind wipe is short. I've recorded this story on the phone given to me as the ultimate tool that you can use, so that you can know what's going on, what's going to happen. You can win this fight against this enemy and escape from their inhuman experiments. Now that you know, do whatever it takes to win, to beat them. Already my mind feels fuzzy... Hazy. I feel like my soul is being drained away... *    *    * How long I've been kept captive, I cannot say... END

My Ideal Version of Marvel's Phase Two

Currently, Marvel says that they have five movies in various stages of production for Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel commits to two films each year, so they have a slate of releases up until 2015, as far as we know. A few of these are already well-known. In 2013, we're going to get "Iron Man 3" and "Thor 2". In 2014, we're definitely getting "Captain America 2". This leaves two movies that we don't know anything about, though speculation on what the two films are is running rampant. I, too, have a few ideas that I believe Marvel could be running with.
For starters, I believe that the second movie released in 2014 shall be "Doctor Strange". Marvel plans to introduce cosmic storylines, as well as mysticism and magic. Having a Doctor Strange movie would be a HUGE step in the right direction. However, one thing that would somewhat work against Doctor Strange getting a movie soon is because Doctor Strange was never an Avenger. Well, he's a part of the New Avengers, but he is far from a mainstream character. Also, he's never been teamed up with the likes of the Hulk, Iron Man, or Black Widow, as the New Avengers is mostly B and C-list heroes, with Spider-Man and Wolverine taking up the A-list slack. To have the Sorcerer Supreme in a movie with the original Avengers would be... Odd, to say the least, especially when we don't yet have the original Avengers team assembled together. We're still missing Ant-Man and Wasp. However, since Edgar Wright is making another movie before he starts production on "Ant-Man", it will be 2015 or 2016 before we get it.
For 2015, I believe that we'll see an adaption of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther.  The Guardians provide the cosmic elements that Marvel is looking to adapt, as well as opening the door for other characters, such as Nova. Besides that, the Guardians also often fight against characters such as the Kree, Skrull (of which the Chitauri, the army in "The Avengers", are an offshoot), and Thanos, who, as we all know, was the character revealed at the end credits scene of "The Avengers". It's the perfect opportunity to give these these factions the backstory that they need and deserve, as well as setting up potential threats for the Avengers to face in the future.
Black Panther definitely has to be made. He is one of the key Avengers and has a great backstory that everyone can get behind. He's extremely empathetic and audiences will feel for him, assuming that he's done correctly. Also, there have been multiple references to him already in the MCU, with a map at the end of "Iron Man 2" shows Wakanda, his country, and they've had multiple references to Vibranium, which is only found in Wakanda. Captain America's shield is made up of Vibranium, in case you didn't know. Joss Whedon stated that he wanted to get all of the Avengers in a movie one day. Black Panther is one of those required heroes.
2016 (depending on what ends up happening) should see Edgar Wright's "Ant-Man" and that should lead directly into "The Avengers: Thanos Imperative" (just throwing a title out there, though this title is of great importance). Beyond this, however, I can't say. I do think this outline would probably be the best way to do this, and Marvel is probably considering a path along this line. Either way, these are my thoughts and my outline for the future of the MCU. Hope you enjoyed it :)