The big apple

Marcus's eyes popped open and his brain jumped into high gear. 'Where am I? I don't recognize this place, and although Phil's is a mess it's not ready to be demolished! Have I been abducted by some unknown force?' Marcus sat up and surveyed the abandoned room, the only window was smashed and it's view was that of a brick wall and nothing more.

He did a quick check and found that his armor and sword were still with him, and he doubted that if he were a prisoner that they'd leave him with his vestments. He looked closer and saw bullet holes riddling the chest plate. 'Strange, I don't remember being involved in a gun fight.'

Marcus stood up and saw the door, it was barricaded from his side by a small pile of debris. Just then the alarm on his wrist watch rang and he instinctively reached back fished around in his belt pouch for his bottle of prescription pills and found they were not there.

Slowly as the memories started to trudge their way back through the drying cement that was his waking mind, Marcus remembered. Yesterday he had left Phil's and started off on his quest. He had met another young man named......Vitreo and together they had battle a mob of viscous gang members. After being victorious they fled the scene and came here to this building. Here they had met more new people, a girl....Eclipse....then the lizardman...and his defeat at him and his new companion's hands. And was there something about an alien.....No two aliens but they had absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Marcus shook his head, trying to clear the fog. It was alway thick when he stopped his medication. He had to try and focus, if the fog were allowed to run a muck in his head, he'd end up in another situation like with what happened to poor Bonecrusher. That wasn't good, when he let the fog take ahold of him, bad things were bound to happen.

'Now there was something I was supposed to do today.....What was it.....Think Marcus think!' He told himself trying to coax cognitive thought back in to usage. He gritted his teeth, the sound was horrible, especially so when your teeth were as hard as titanium and your strength allowed you to sheer off car bumpers with your molars.
' Phil....Phil got a hold of me and he wants me to meet him today, at the old gym.' He thought to himself and the sinister smile returned. He was always happy when he could will his brain back into functioning.

Marcus swept the junk aside with a single swoop of his arm and then journeyed back downstairs. He was as quiet as his giant frame could manage, and when he reached the ground floor he saw his suspicions were confirmed about at least one of the Aliens. The green man was asleep on the couch.
' Deathstroke......Destroyer.....Deathstrike?' He couldn't remember, but is was something like that.

Marcus left without waking the green man, things would be hard enough as it was without the companionship of some weird green alien accompanying him. Marcus snuck out and walked up to one of the residences that still held occupants on this block. There on the front porch he found today's edition of the paper. He flipped it open to the appropriate section and found the article.

"Brutal multiple murder suspect apprehended!

Marcus read through it and found with some relief that the gang members he'd take apart had also been linked to the lizard man that had mysteriously turned up last night. He laughed at that and his chuckle continued until he read that he was still a person of importance in the investigation, and that citizens were still supposed to call in if they saw him. 'shit!' He groaned to himself and tossed the paper back down. It looked like things had gotten a little easier, anyway.

Adriano had left the same way as Eclipse, giving her a bit of a head start. He had pocketed her cell phone. The remainder of his glass replica had slowly turned itself back into shards, and hid under his clothing. He would need some kind of carrying device for this later. In any case, the sun was a little blinding, since he was still partially asleep. Even still, he walked down the street in search of his next destination. It was a weekend, and there was no class today. He had all day to do whatever it was he was going to do today, but he most certainly had to reach his home this night.

-

Marcus walked up the early morning street and found a Arab man selling knock-off clothes for cheap. He bought a pair of sweatpants, a sweatshirt and a knit cap.He made his way to the next alley and threw the loose fitting clothing on. It wasn't much but it was more than enough to cover the blatant gladiator garb he was wearing. The Arab had given him a funny look, but chances were the degenerate was a friggin' terrorist anyway, so no worry of him calling the cops.

With that Marcus walked around and enjoyed the sounds of the city coming to life, traffic picking up, people starting emerge from their homes and start their day. He bought a hot dog and a bag of chips from a street side vendor and spent most the morning in the park. As noon rolled around he started his journey toward Phil's old gym. He would've taken a cab, but he'd spent most of his money and the exercise felt good. He thought of the pretty young Asian girl as he jogged. She was quite fetching and the thoughts of her made him think of the love he'd recently lost. His own shrink, betrayed him, sold him out and told him it was for his own good. 'horrible bitch' he silently mouthed.

Marcus reached Garry's gym/spa; which was formerly named; Phil's boxing Academy at almost exactly 1pm. He prided himself on punctuality ever since his stint in the Marine Corps. He jogged in; not eve close to winded; after running 56 blocks. A few of the guys looked up and Marcus knew that he saw recognition in their eyes but the went right back to pumping iron without, so much as a head nod. A strange looking frail fellow walked up an tried to greet him though, the man looked as though he'd never dieterily ingested a piece of meat that wasn't attached to another man.

"Hey there stud! Do you mind if I ask if you have a membership here?" The pink leotarded fellow asked with a lisp.

"No I don't mind...." Marcus replied, ignoring the man's gaze as he scanned the room for his former manager.

"Well.....Do you?" The effeminate little man asked, stupidly.

"No...." Marcus replied, still not making eye contact.

"Well I am afraid you'll have to leave sir....this is a members only establisssshment." He hissed.

"And I am afraid I may accidently crush your skull and bring this place down by the f*cking rafters if you don't leave me alone, lady!" Marcus growled, and finally met the tiny man's eyes. The look was of utter contempt and pure power. The small man, said not another word and walked away, probably definitely to call the police.

Just then a call came from behind him; "pssst". Marcus swung around, ready to bash the next sissy that was bothering him. Instead he saw a hilarious sight, It was Phil, dressed in neon pink spandex and purple leg warmers. Marcus burst into laughter immediately.

"What the F*ck? hahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" He yelped at the top of his lungs, tears of humor pouring from his eyes.

"Alright , alright...smart ass! I had to buy a membership to wait here, The little prick Gary that bought the place said he didn't remember me.....That fairy at the desk said I needed propper work out clothes or I couldn't join! This little uniform cost me a dick and a leg, so thats just one other thing you owe me. .....Let's go out back shall we?" Phil concluded. You could tell that he was throughly embarrassed but Marcus couldn't stop laughing.

He had headed back to the abandoned home, as he was to meet with Marcus. As he walked over, he looked at the phone that was just given to him. There was no info on it. All it' data was erased, minus the picture. This isn't exactly the way to earn one's trust...
He sighed and put the phone back in his pocket as he approached the building.

The floor creaked as he walked in. He had seen the alien still out, but that wasn't who he was looking for. Adriano checked all the bed rooms to find...no one. That giant went missing. He crossed his arms let out a deeper, more aggravated sigh. "You said you wanted to talk, Centurion."

Adriano considered waking up the alien, but decided against it at the last minute. He was probably asleep this entire time, there was no point. Finally, he walked out of the building and entered the streets once again.

Marcus couldn't stop laughing, it was honestly the most he'd laughed, really laughed and not some manufactured social reaction; in a long time. The sight of Phil 'the Mook' ; five foot nothing and as big around as he was tall;dressed in ballerina like leotard, with the overabundance of body hair protruding from every gap in the outfit was just more than he could handle.

Phil shrugged it off, never afraid of a little self degrading humor, let the slight go with of wave of a hand and a "Go-ahead...get it out Smart-ass!"

Marcus wiped the tears from his eyes and took a few deep breathes to try and bread the fit of laughter, it was tough though. He calmed and sat down on the ledge next to a 'little magical' version of Phil and watched as he produced several computer printouts from a Middle Eastern news site. It was the sight of these that finally snapped him out of his silly mood.

The newspaper was Turkish, he'd seen it before when he was stationed over there. The articles were of a mysterious new terrorist organization called, The Order of Enoch. They were most about child abduction, and war mongering. But when he reached the final page, he saw a familiar picture. In it was, an large black man, dressed as a Nazi, leading a bunch of nearly featureless shock troops and in the dark man's hand was Mar's shield. The caption underneath read "Order of Enoch, the newest unchecked threat in the Arab Alliance. Will the US be next?"

Marcus looked up at Phil and smiled, He reached over and hugged the short, fat strangely dressed man with true admiration. "Thank you my friend, It looks like I'll be getting another tour of duty in the dessert after all!"

"Never better timing either, kid! Your ex-ol' lady stopped by last night, and guess who she had as escorts? Our 'boys in blue', They say they want to have a word with you! So I pulled some strings....And I got you work on a Freighter ship heading that-a-way. That will keep you off the radar with the Airlines. It leaves in two days, so if you can lay low until then, you'll be scot-free." Phil said, bragging as much as he could. "It's even got room for a few more, if you wanna bring anybody." Phil hinted at wanting to be invited rather brashly.

"Thanks Phil, I really appreciate it man. I won't forget you, when I hit the big time, but this is gonna be some heavy hitter kinda stuff. I don't need you getting caught up in. I do know some others though, if the offer still stands.!" Marcus laughed at the turn-a-phrase.

"Yeah sure....what ever's clever....." Phil grumbled. "OOOOhhhh yeah, I brought you a few change of clothes and some cash. Not much, but it's all I could spare. There's just one more thing....These....thought you might need them." Phil said as he produced Marcus's large bottle of prescription medications.

"Hhmmm, yeah.....thanks man, I will be sure to take'em ok?" Marcus said, placating Phil.

With that Phil got up and walked back toward the gym. Marcus watched him go, still trying hard not to laugh at the rolls of fat mushing around in the over tight spandex. Marcus grabbed his papers, stuffing them into his bag of clothes and stood up, walking off without the bottles of anti-psychotics.

The trip back to the abandon house didn't take long.

Destrock's day had been fairly boring. He woke up at around 11:00 Am, but he didn't move. He just sat there for another 30 minutes before he got up and looked around the house. There wasn't much out of ordinary. there was a hallway, a bathroom, a kitchen and dinning room. Upstairs there were a few bedrooms and another bathroom, but that was it really. Destrock went back downstairs looked around in the kitchen. Nothing. Typical. Just then, Marcus came in. He looked out of the kitchen

"Hey Marcus, know any good places to eat?"

-

Marcus strode in whistling like a happy school lad. He stopped halfway through the living room when he heard the Alien call out to him. It still struck his ear oddly to hear a perfectly non-regional English coming out of the creature's head.

"aaaaahhhh...Yeah there are some restaurants up the street but they might be opposed to alien money...what ever that may be....But listen if you really wanna eat a human delicacy you should try to catch one of those hairy little rodents crawling around out there. All the planet's fancy people simply love them. " Marcus chuckled to himself, still feeling good from his meeting earlier today.

It was then as he was looking down at the floor he saw all of the perscription pills he'd smashed against the wall, last night. He wonder what the alien thought of them or if he even knew enough to notice. Either way, it didn't bother him, His mood was unspoilable. He reached out and swiped a small pile of them out of the center of the room and pushed them under the couch with the side of his foot. Marcus than made his way over to the couch and flopped down, unfortunately this piece of aged furniture wasn't as sturdy as the one back at Phil's, and it collapsed under his massive weight. "Shit I guess I'm still a growin' boy!" he laughed to himself.

"Listen...ahhhhh, what was it anyway?....Detrock?......Deathcycle?.....Hey have you seen that fella, Vitreo...has he been in yet today? I swore I told him to meet me here after my meeting at 1pm. Yeah, speaking of that, I have been meaning to ask you....Do you have any special abilities, or are you just a green dude? Because if you got some funky alien voodoo, that we don't know about....Well I got this thing I have to do, and you might be just one of the crew I need...that is if your interested? you might have to wear like a hood or some shit though....................You man....You hearing me?" Marcus finished and after several seconds of silence he started to wonder if the space man was actually hunting rats.

"yeah" Destrock said absent mindedly. Suddenly realizing that the comment about the rodents was a joke, he looked up.

"its Destrock. Im basically a green guy. Though, compared to your people, im extremely strong. I also got this sword. Its the fucking shit. And yes, i would be interested, but ill need a bit more info. Also, i haven't seen him, but i think hell be around sooner or later.

After reading his text, Adriano had heard what sounded like something very heavy hitting the floor. It was followed by a very deep laugh.
"There he is."
Adriano had turned around and walked right back into the house.
There he had seen the alien reintroduce himself and well...everything else he said puzzled Adriano as to why he would say all that, but whatever.
"Centurion, you wanted to talk? What is it?"
He noticed the pills were no longer on the floor. He figured he might press that issue after Marcus said what he wanted to say.

"You don't look that strong....Do they have any sports like wrestling, where you come from?" Marcus replied, still the sound of Destrock using rudimentary slang colloquialisms sounded even weirder yet. It was one thing to know our language but a whole other to use it so comfortably as to curse in common speech. "The 'shit' huh?"

"I was thinking we could pass the time with a little friendly sparring....no weapons of course, and that way we could test your grit....whadda say? If you do well, I may have a job offer for you!" Marcus grinned, cracking his neck to the one side than the other. If this possibly pretend alien was lying, now would be a good chance to rub some of that green dye off his skin and expose him for the spie he probably was. And if not, well then it would be a nice little work out. After all what was the worst that could happen? The house was already condemned.

It was then that Vitreo walked back in, he saw the ascew look on his face and wonder what the young man's problem was, it looked like he smelled a fart. In thinking about it, Marcus raised his arm and sniffed deeply at his armpit to check his level of body oder. Registering the stink at about a medium on his usual level, he turned back toward Vitreo and plugged his nose motioning toward the kitchen and a certain alien out there.

"Yeah actually....I was just telling Destroker about it.....I found one of my holy vestments....It's over in Turkey if you can believe it or not. It seems some terrorist organisation has got a hold of it and are running amuck. And since we worked so well together in the past....well yesterday anyway....I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the world, travelling abroad...kicking some bad guy butt......That's what kids your age do any way..right?" Marcus finished and stood up from the broken couch, rolling up the sleeves of his track suit.

"Well, when do you intend on leaving? I have a break from college in two weeks, but then there is the issue of my Parents. How would we get there? Also, I am afraid I can't make a trip that is sure to be dangerous like that without some kind of reward. I am risking a lot, for all of the above reasons, you understand."

"Sure kid...of course I understand, Money is tight all around...I certainly can't offer you millions but then again, I am not asking you to do villainous things.....What I am offering is a chance at real adventure, in a land you've never been before and the opportunity to stop some terrorists from causing harm to innocents...but I hear ya...'you gots to get paid........The boat, that my contact arranged leaves in about two days. If you change your mind, please think about it anyway,,, OK?" Marcus concluded and then turned back toward the alien. He cracked his knuckles and smiled.

"Now where were we....?"

Adriano rolled his eyes at what was a rather obvious attempt to make him feel bad.
"I just told you it isn't so much about the money. It's about my schooling and family, though sure, I'll think about it. Anyway, I gotta head out. Have fun you two. Try not to break the house."

He had waved as he walked out. There was a bus station close from here. He figured it would be a good time to return home and check in with his folks. A bus station wasn't too far from here. For the first time in what felt like forever, he didn't have to wait that long for it either. It was actually on time. Go figure.

Adriano had handed the driver the money while telling him his destination. He takes the bus so often that he knew just how much it would cost. He then walked over to a seat near the back, sat down, and promptly took out the phone. He had texted the number given to him by Eclipse.
"I am on my way out."

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