The big apple

"I am an artist. No more, no less. People are a type of art. Everything about them is beautiful. Beauty however, can be cruel..."
He looked back at her.
"Why is it exactly that you need someone to watch you?"

(Should I have a random bad guy come in for ya folks? So it can be revealed to each other they have powers?)

(... I killed it, didn't I?)

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"is this the part where I stop you and ask what about that protection you wanted? Must have lost my script"

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"you wanted me around for protection, right? From the big bad new york boogie men?"
He gave her a smirk.

-

Alone once again, Adriano began looking to the lights once again. He didn't get all the answers he wanted, but at least he got a name to refer to them by. That was better then nothing....Wait, didn't she want a bus or something?

-

Marcus stood up and the bent couch snapped back into it's natural form. Phil looked on with surprise, he'd know the huge man for six months now and could swear he'd added both height and girth in that short time.

"Yer going to the psychiatrist right, Marcus?" Phil said anxiously twiddling his thumbs.

"No....Philip....I will not lie to you. I am going to reclaim my vestments, so that people recognize me for who I truly am." Marcus said in a stern, no-nonsense tone of voice. He stripped off street clothes and started to put on the costume he'd worn as a Pro-wrestler.

"Jeezus Marcus....You ain't Venus errrr Pluto errr who ever....Yer a Supe...a Supe with head problems. Thats All! The sooner ya figger that out the better!" Phil replied, now more angerily as he took a hork off the cheap bottle of scotch next to him.

"Mars....I am Mars...God of War...It would serve you well to remember that Phil. I realize it must be hard for a mortal to comprehend that but I can assure you that it is a fact. Once I retain my former glory, all shall become aware of that." Marcus said as he finished dressing in the faux-Roman armor.

"Are you talking about that stupid sword, yer pappy gave to you? That thing is so old it'd snap the first whack you gave somebody with it...specially you ya beast!" Phil shook his head rubbing his temples out of frustration.

"Yes my sword is one of my vestments, but there are others....I must find and retrieve them before my true power is revealed. The spear of Destiny and the Shield of Vulcan! These are the first two that I will seek out." Marcus affiliated the helm that shadowed his face, he was a truly menacing sight. With only the sparkle of his dark brown eyes showing through.

"Yer going out like that? I thought Supes were supposed to have a secret identity or some shit?" Phil now completely flustered, tried to see if the man was capable of any reason at all. The truth was that he couldn't stop Marcus even if he wanted to.

"I have no wishes to hide who I am any longer." He said with finality.

With that Marcus bid his manager farewell and set off down to street level, dressed in Roman Armor. People took notice of the giant man, to say the least. But that was the point, Soon all would Know the name, The Centurion.

Adriano had heard a lot of talk of a "massive dude in spartan gear" from people passing by. Some people assumed it was a promotion for a sequel of a popular movie of some sort. Curiosity had grabbed a hold on him.
"Excuse me sirs, where is this "spartan" you guys were talking about? I wanna go check that out."
"Just a block down kid."
Adriano had made a slight bowing gesture towards them in thanks and was off. It wasn't long before he could see this ancient warrior. The dude was massive, towering over pretty much everyone around him.
"...what the hell?" Adriano would say quietly to himself.

As Marcus strode down the street it was becoming quite apparent that his short stint as a professional wrestler had done more for his public image than he imagined. It started with to prepubescent young lads running up to him with glossy pictures ripped out of fanzines and asking him for his autograph. When others started to catch on and form a crowd around him.

"Look Look! It's the Centurion!" Marcus could hear the adornment in their voice and see it in their eyes. He signed the two young boys pictures but refused any others.

"Thank you all for your support, but I regret to inform you that I no longer toil at the task of Sports Entertainment. I have chosen the path of a Hero now, or mayhap it has chosen me!!" Marcus smiled, although it looked more like a menacing show of teeth than a joyous smile through the slit in his helm.

The truth was that Marcus wasn't really concerned with the mobbing crowd. He was instead watching with his peripheral vision the group of 'street thugs' eying him from a near by alley way. The were urban youths, dressed in baggy clothes and sporting red bandannas tied backward around their brows. It didn't take super-perception to know that their intentions were negative in nature.

Marcus knew all to well that they wouldn't be trying anything in front of an audience this large anyway. So he thanked the crowd once again and then made his way toward the darker side of the street. As he started off in that direction he saw a blonde fellow making a B-line in his direction from further up the street. He could only wonder what the man's intentions were, was he some sort of scout for these bandits that waited to ambush? He soon would find out.

Apparently this guy was some kind of wrestler. What a tasteless sport that was. Adriano had no idea who this guy was or how respected he was in that circuit, but apparently he had fans. He fancied himself some kind of hero. These people were really coming out of the wood works it seems. Adriano figured he should observe him just a little bit longer....

Raptor sat on the roof tops of a warehouse not far from the big meeting scene, Yellow eyes sparked back and forth as a man and a woman walked the streets. Lights were falling as darkness began to seep. Raptor hadn't eaten in 3 weeks trying his best to keep the carnal instincts away but no longer, He needed to feed. Raptor stalked his prey with ease moving from roof top to roof top jumping large gaps and landing silently as a bird, The powerful neck turned looking down at the pair both were almost out of the darkness. Raptor dropped down landing on the mans shoulders his toe talons sunk into the flesh and flipped slamming the man down and bending his body breaking the spine. The woman had ran as she saw him screaming for help.

Raptor ignored her normally shy and cautious his hunger was overwhelming, Three rows of sharp teethe bit into the live mans midsection and ripped back tearing out large mouthfuls of tender juicy blood soaked flesh. The Apex Predator bit down again and again satisfying his ferocious appetite. The strong jaws dripped drool and blood as the dying man was devoured alive, Raptor liked live prey for dead ones became too cold too quick. The hidden being wore a black cloak that hid all except a powerful tail with 4 bone spikes sticking out, The hat of a undertaker sat on his head but long white hair fell down under it.

Raptor stood up leaving bare bone and little meat on the human flesh but he had eaten too long, Raptors eyes grew heavy as his satisfied stomach made his body that much more tired. Raptor sat down in a dark alley of the warehouse leaving the body for others to deal with and closed his eyes. His Sharp ears picked up the woman still screaming for help now on a main road, He rose and growled wishing he had killed her as well but he was too tired to climb up again.

Marcus strode down the street proudly, he dept the occasional glance back in the direction of the thugs to make sure that they were in fact following, and they were indeed. Marcus stepped in to another alley a few blocks down, it was equally as dark and he was assured that it would promote the street-tough's villainous intentions. He was also sure to keep an eye on the unknown fellow that was mirroring him. The man obviously wasn't part of the gang,for that he'd become sure.

As he entered the darkened alleyway he found, with little surprise, that there were more of the red bandanna wearing punks waiting for him. They must have circled around back, a flanking maneuver that made the master tactician smile.

As he walked up; without the slightest hint of fear that any other man would of felt due to being outnumbered and surrounded; he stopped to regard the smaller man that was obviously this sect's commander. He was no small figure himself, standing only five inches under Marcus' own height. He was 'penitentiary -swolled-up', and had no shirt in order to show that fact off. He pulled a hand gun from his baggy pants and leveled it at the larger man without and show of fear himself.

"Well, well, What do we have here? You sportin' a bunch a bling for a cracker....You that big time Wrestler huh? The Sentry or some shit? Right?" He grinned the gold toothed grin of a gangster.

"The Centurion and I assume you are referring to my armor. I can assure you it is no more that stage dressing." Marcus said back, flatly.

"Well what ever the F*CK! I know you Muthaf*ckers make bank! Hand over yo sh!t for I blast you sucka!" The gang leader spat. Leveling the piece at Marcus's head.

"Apparently you know little of Professional Wrestling to make that ill informed assumption. We make far from ....'BANK'. " Marcus said with a laugh. He leaned in close to the pointed gun and sniffed deeply, make the sound more than audible. "9mm ...Berretta....Not cleaned recently...You should take car of your weapon better than that young man. The first rule of gun care is that if you take care of your gun, it will take care of you...." Marcus said, not even bothering to remove his head from the lethal pointblank range he'd put himself in.

"Crazy Mutha...F*CKErrr....Look Homie I don't care how big you is...A bullet will put you down as quick as any other Mutha F*CKER, So you best back the F*CK uo,fore' I put you down like a dog! Now HAND YO SH!T OVER!" The gang leader, now obviously enraged, screamed at him.

Marcus stayed hunched over and prone but lurched his helmeted head around to regard the other three gang bangers that had closed in around his back. He couldn't help but smile. The move was a ploy to make him look more like an easy target than he actually was. The truth was that Marcus had already started to map out his plan of attack. He had been a member of the Marine Special forces for multiple tours and had found himself in situations much worse than this more times than he could keep count, and that was before he found out that he was a Metahuman. Now it was almost humerus to him.

But as his head was turned the Gangleader decided to act with finality. He pulled the trigger of the handgun and fired the round directly at the fake helmet over Marcus's temple.

BAM! the shot rang out, echoing in the close alley like a thunderbolt. The round went right through the fake metal helmet, but when it encountered Marcus's titanium like skin and skull it ricocheted out and bounced around the alley several times,causing the other gang members to wince and duck down. Marcus let his head come back around to peer at the scared gangster with a slow and purposeful pace.

"40 caliber is the very least you should be walking around with in this day and age of body armor. We at the USMC don't settle for any less." Marcus growled from underneath his marred helmet.

"YO...Kill this Muthaf*ck......" the gangster started to scream before Marcus's hand came up and seized the gangbanger's gun wielding hand. He squeezed with a minimal amount of the strength he had in reserve. Marcus's giant paw engrossed both the gun and the attacker's hand and squeezed them down into a bloody pulp of twisted metal and grotesque hand parts. "AAAAHHHHH!" The formerly tough man screamed.

The other men of his crew opened up with every piece of firepower they had. Not that they were that great of shots anyway, but in that close of range most of them happened to hit their massive mark. Unfortunately they found he was as bulletproof from those angles as he was from the front. Bullets started bouncing off him in every direction, spraying the alley and each exit with stray projectiles.

But that wan't going to be lasting long once the ultimate soldier started to move...