The big apple

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...

The majority of the crowd stopped following the towering titan once he walked into the dark. Adriano continued to follow however. It didn't take very long for a gunshot to ring out from the giant's direction. Most of the people had cleared the area in fear, but not Adriano. This was his chance to see just what this guy's deal was. As soon as the dark touched his face, the glass on him consumed his head. No facial features of his could be seen at the time.

He had arrived to see a bunch of randoms unloading their clips into the human mountain and...well, nothing after that. He couldn't care any less it seemed. Well, whatever. A bad guy is a bad guy. Adriano walked silently behind a group of 3 gang members too busy making noise with their toys to even notice him. He then let out a sound.
"yo..."

With that, a flux of glass in the area just started to make his way towards him. It would supply him with the glass he needed for his next trick. It started to spread on the floor, and creep up said 3 member's legs. Try as they might to shoot the glass off them, it was far too thick. Their bullets didn't do much. Neither would any bullets firing at him.
"None of you Neanderthals understand true beauty. None of you understand true art. Instead, I will make you all my masterpieces."

Marcus heard the tinny voice of what ever had followed him into the alley but it made little difference, he was already in a battle rage and god help anything that got in his way. His first maneuver was to pick up and swing the entrapped gangster like a morning star. The others, that back their leader up were too busy 'bustin' caps' to try to worry about what the giant in front of them was doing. They stood their ground, brave but stupid, Marcus thought to himself.

He whipped the limp body of the muscled gang leader around once and brought it down crashing in to his followers legs first. One could only imagine the amount of damage done to not only the two that took the impact but the poor bastard that had become Marcus's temporary weapon; he went limp and folded like a card table. The two that were struck slammed against the wall with enough force to literally knock their shoes off their feet. They crushed against the wall and dropped any sort of aggressive stance immediately, far from dead but injured enough not to worry about them any more as assailants.

His next move was for sheer intimidation as he spun around and faced the three behind him. he could see that something was happening to them. It appeared that they were being swallowed up by ice that was slowly creeping up from the floor at their feet but it was no matter to him now as his eyes flashed red with the bloodlust of battle.

The limp gang member in is hand, reached up, seeing that the behemoth was temporarily distracted and popped off another shot with his puny gun. This one struck Marcus directly in the eyeball and made the nearly invulnerable beast wince, if only for a second. Marcus took his attention off the three that were seemingly freezing in place and slowly looked over to the limp and crying gangster that hung like a rag doll from his grip.

"I was going to let you live....You would've been crippled but atleast you would've wake up tomorrow...that was before..." He growled, smoke rising from his scorched eyeball. With that he reared back with his free hand and came down with as much force as he could muster. The blow connected in between the caught man's neck and ensnared arm and shoulder. It's force sent the poor bastard's head whipping back and forth like a tether ball and immediately disconnected the shoulder from his body. Blood erupted from the gory wound like a fountain as his limp body crumpled to the ground.

The three men watching, at first too terrified from their own predicament suddenly took notice as they were immediately covered in a fine mist of their former leader's blood. Now like rats caught in a trap they began to struggle against what ever unknown force was holding their feet in place. But it was all too late, Marcus leaned in and grabbed the three normal sized men around their waists in a giant form of a bear hug. The screeched and struggled against it but it was, as I said....far too late. Marcus heaved up with his hips and ripped all nine of the men's secured legs off with the pull.

"AAARRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" The crescendo of terror mounted as all three screamed in unison. In all truth Marcus hadn't meant to do so much damage, but it appeared that they had been attached to the ground by something far more substantial than ice and he had absolutely no way of knowing. He dropped the three half-men down to the ground and peered down at them squirming like newly made worms. They had dropped their guns and were only concerned with the massive amount of blood spewing from their lower halves now.

Marcus's line of sight slowly rose form the dance of maggot men he'd just help create and on to the strange looking figure that stood before him. His armor was riddled with bullet holes and yet not a drop of his own blood was spilled, given it was pretty hard to tell with the gore fest that had just taken place. Not only him but the entire alley was now literally covered in blood.

"Friend or foe....I beg you to consider your answer stranger, fore if it does not ring true in mine ear I shall smite you down, I assure you my strength will consume you as quickly as it did mine enemy...glass man!." Marcus said, taking in the strange appearance of the stained glass man that stood before him. Marcus had to wonder, whether he was truly made out of stained glass or if the massive amount of blood he'd been splattered with had given him that appearance.

Adriano took a moment to truly understand what had just happened here. This dude just destroyed these guys. They were all dead. A good portion of their blood was all over Adriano's glass armor. After a moment, he shook off what he just saw enough to respond to the colossus standing before him. Looks like he would be breathing from his mouth for a little while.
"If I was a foe before, I am certainly a friend now. I heard gunshots and decided I should come to help. Didn't exactly expect you to...well...do all of this."

The glass that held the lower halves of those thugs now began to return to their master, being added among the armor. The lower halves would fall on the floor, muscles twitching here and there.

Adriano gave the scene another luck. It was...horrific, really. He almost felt bad for these guys.

Marcus could sense the tension, and the fact of it set in when the adrenaline started to wear off. He looked down at the dying gangsters as the man in glass viewed them and puffed to blow off the anxiety he felt. In truth he hadn't done anything near this since he was enlisted, and even that was at range with an M60 machine gun, not his bare hands.

It was then that the sirens perked up in Marcus's ears, police coming this way. Marcus looked up again to view him as the glass boot's returned to him, like crystalline serpents abiding his call.

"You are a ....a Meta too? I thank you for your assistance, but the police are on the way and I have no wish to try and explain what happened here......I have other pressing issues....I am sure you understand....Look Is there a place you have to go....Or what?" Marcus stammered, still kind of dismayed by the extreme nature of what he'd just committed. Seeing it now that he wasn't in the heat of battle made him wonder if the term, Hero exactly defined him.

-

"A meta huh? Is that what they call people like me?"
The sirens were amplified by the glass around his head. It was excruciating. He quickly shaped the glass so that his ears were no longer covered, trying ever so desperately to swallow in his grunt.
"Alright, we need to find a way out of here. I can give you a glass shell as well temporarily. With the right adjustments, we will be invisible to the naked eye."
He paused for a moment.
"this is, those sirens their, they are gonna hurt. A lot. So unless you have a better plan, that's the best I can offer us."

He wasn't about to ditch this dude or do anything to anger him. Not at that size.

" I have No need of your sorcery as I run like a gazelle. As for the term: 'Meta 'it is only a tern I have heard before. I was told it meant special....either way We can both agree that we are no ordinary men. As I asked , Do you have a place or not? Because although unpleasant I have a place near by." Marcus said as he pulled his damaged helm from his head and wiped the blood from it on the crimson half-cape he adorned. Pulling the face cover was dangerous, especially to a stranger, but for some reason Marcus felt no danger around the man of glass.

Marcus's head revealed that of a battle hardened warrior. It was shave close enough to be called a buzz-cut ant his face bore the marks of many battles fought. Although his eye was still squinted from the direct bullet shot, it was obviously undamaged. The scars were enough to let someone know that he hadn't always been this impenetrable.

"either way we need to get going and quick, i have no wish to fight officers of the law or be detained by them." Marcus said as he replaced his helm.

"I have a place. We will talk more about this later."
And with that he disappeared to the naked eye.
"lets get the hell out."
As he left the alley way, the glass on the bottom of his feet turned inside out. Surely, it would be bloody and leave prints. They might have been on the bottom of his shoes now, but hey, that can be cleaned later. A crowd of people started to form yet again. He supposed their courage was raised by the police sirens. Among that group was that one girl from before. Eclipse, she called herself. It might have been better to not let her get involved, so he had done his best to make sure to avoid her for the time being.

Marcus was amazed by the glass man's disappearing act, such a feat was only accomplished by some one who knew how to control his powers, It was a talent that Marcus hoped to learn from him. He also viewed the fact that only a couple of bloody foot prints appeared before stopping all together. It was a smart move, one that Marcus wasn't even thinking of at the moment. But after the realization hit him, he stripped his saddles off and hopped the entire gory mess.

"I will follow you glass man, but let us make it quick....These people are fans" He whispered to the ghost of a colleague he now followed blindly.

-

He move around the crowd as much as he could without bumping into anyone. He didn't actually have an aim, per say, just away from here. As he began to leave the area, He had noticed Eclipse saw the beginning foot prints.
"Damn it, I hope she doesn't get suspicious..."

Then the thought dawned upon him. This giant is someone famous. Everyone saw him enter this alley way. The cops WILL look for him. This is a bad situation...

-

(what the shit? I posted)

"Say something you invisible bastard!" Marcus whispered. He couldn't see anything and could only hope that he was headed in the right direction. He lloked back to face the awestruck crowd as he sped by (absolutely no worries about any foot prints because as I stated I removed my bloodied sandels)

Marcus looked back to veiw the alley, it was a holocaust and he wasn't about to sit around and revisit it to the authorities, especially with the pending hearing of his sanity on the line. The only concern he had was that the crowd had recognized him and Phil would be receiving a visit from them shortly. He knew that wouldn't be a serious problem though as Phil would never give up his meal ticket.

Marcus' only concern right now was that the invisible glass man would give him some sort of trail to follow.

Adriano groaned in his head as the giant asked him to give up his ever so clever hiding spot. If he was hoping no one would think he was crazy, shouting at an invisible man is not a good way of doing it. Adriano had knocked down a trash can and had it roll over to the giant in hopes that he gets the hint. They were causing too much attention as is. Hopefully the public just assumes it was some kind of cat or something and leaves it at that.

"Keep it up glass man..." Marcus whispered again(yes whispered again...as in nobody but some one right up in my business would hear) as he followed the trail of mysterious falling objects which seemed much more obvious than the occasional whispered; "this way" but who was he to judge.

This new friend was proving to be much more troublesome than he wanted, but what was one to do when faced with possible manslaughter charges on top of the already; delusions of grandeur he was faced with.