Operation: Changes
It hurt. A lot.
It wasn't the fact that he got thrown through a giant brick wall but the fact that he was so weak against this… this monster.
His siblings, Tony, Lee, and Megan were all knocked out cold by the creature's brute strength, leaving Marc alone to fend for himself and defeat the enemy.
"HAHA! Little man, do you really think you can defeat me?" The monster said, pushing down the brick wall he had just thrown the 12-year-old through. Its feature became known to Marc when he stepped into the light of the lab; Sharp claws, red eyes, sword-like fangs, black fur covering its wolf-like muscular body, a sinister furry tail that had spikes at the end of it, a long black thick mane that could rival a lion's and two demon horns curving up the sides of its head.
It stood on its hind legs and laughed victoriously, "Lie still, pup! Then I wont have to put you down like I did your family!"
Marc shakily stood on his feet and glared at the monster, thinking of a plan to counteract its surprisingly fast speeds. It was only sheer luck that he hadn't broken a bone yet and a BLESSING that he was still conscious up to this point.
Marc took one step back and thought furiously.
None of this was suppose to happen.
It was just suppose to be a simple mission. Yes, just a simple mission assigned by Jerry; to capture and secure a strange creature that was released in a local genetics lab. Simple, right? Wrong. None of the spies' saw what was coming, they didn't know that the creature had the upper hand; they didn't know what it was capable of. And they especially didn't know that it was willing to kill anyone.
Marc will defiantly need to remind Jerry to tell them their missions in detail.
"Well? Little man?" The creature snarled, revealing sharp fangs, "Come at me!"
Marc shivered; for once in his life he was scared. But he wasn't supposed to be scared, not on a mission at least. He looked over at his unconscious siblings then looked around the lab, there just had to be something he could use… anything! His eyes scanned furiously and brainpower worked twice as much as it usually did, then it struck him. An idea. A plan to take this monster down for good. Marc smirked and ran towards the monster, forcing the horned creature into an attack position. The creature smirked as it readied its claws and prepared to attack, at the very last second Marc jumped onto the creature's shoulders and leapt, using its massive body for support.
Marc grabbed hold of a dangling light and began to swing himself; from that point on he swung from light to light like a monkey. Finally he landed on his target and prepared quickly, he froze solid when he heard the roar of the creature below him. "Come down, little man!" it roared sounding angrier by the second, "Come down so I can rip you to shreds!"
"Um, how about no." Marc sarcastically said as he walked across the platform he was on and searched for his grappling hook and laser pen. He took them out and aimed the grappling hook at a light across from him; he shot at it and quickly used his laser pen to secure the port of the light. Once it was melded to the ceiling Marc took in a breath and gasped, his balance broke when the ground below him began to shake. He looked around for the source of the shaking then went to the edge of the platform and stared boringly. That creature was hurling itself into the object he was standing on. "Come down, NOW!" It growled continuing to hit its body against the huge object. It won't give up, will it? He thought.
Crack! Marc flinched, what was that sound? Crack! He looked more closely at the object and gasped, there was one flaw in his plan that he didn't see coming.
"GET DOWN HERE!" One small little detail he didn't bother to look over. "DAMN HUMAN! COME DOWN!" He had no idea he was standing on a glass tank filled with unknown chemicals.
Crack!
Marc panicked. "Um, monster guy!" He didn't actually know the creature's name. "You have to stop or you'll break the tank!"
"NOT MY PROBLEM!" The creature howled, banging against the tank once again. Crack!
"That tank's filled with-"
"ALL I WANT IS MY FREEDOM! AND NO ONE IS GOING TO GET IN MY WAY!"
Crack! Ker-ack!
"You'll get your freedom alright! Freedom of the dead! Be reasonable for once!"
Cr-cr-craack!
Marc looked down at the tank one last time as the giant crack in it grew bigger, all it needed was one more push… one more and…
CRACK!
Marc quickly jumped from the collapsing tank and flew down on his grappling hook; racing against time itself as the contents from the tank began to flow out like a rapid water stream.
He quickly grabbed hold of the creature's arms and they both began to fly into the air. Shifting his body weight, Marc circled the creature into the iron-based rope and tied it around his body. Marc took in a deep breath and whipped the sweat from his brow; the creature was finally captured and secured. It began to struggle in the iron ropes but to no avail it couldn't escape, it growled, snarled and roared in frustration.
"Sorry but this cord is made of pure iron," Marc said in a matter-of-factly way, "it's going to take a lot more than brute strength to break these binds."
Marc looked down and instantly regretted it, he had forgotten about his fear of heights and almost let go of the grip he had on his grappling hook. Forcing his eyes open, Marc scanned the ground below him, that strange blue chemical that was in the tank covered every inch of the lab; thankfully his siblings were on higher ground and didn't get drenched by the substance.
For a minute, Marc watched the endless sea of blue liquids and noticed that the concoction was glowing lightly. Marc wondered what kind of chemicals that the scientists of this lab made, but then figured he'd ask Jerry once the mission was over.
He looked back to the creature and said, "Well, why don't we call WOOHP and have them pick you up, okay?"
"NO!" The creature growled struggling in its binds even harder. "I WONT BE CONTAINED AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!"
Marc nearly toppled over. "Hey! Whoa! Watch it!" Marc shouted, "Or you'll drop us both!"
The creature didn't listen. It continued to thrash in its bindings until Marc's worst fears came true.
The cable broke and gravity was taking its toll on them, soon they both hit the ground below with a splash. Marc coughed and groaned painfully as the breath was knocked out of him. The teen huffed and trembled, he was soaked to the bone in whatever concoction this was. Marc felt his skin tingle as he got a good look at the glowing blue liquid that covered his body. He clicked his tongue in disgust and noticed a different taste burn his tongue. Don't tell me... Did I swallow some of this...?
Marc felt something flow down his throat as he stood up, and braced himself for the fury of the creature when he heard a deafening roar raise hell. The monster was covered in the blue chemical and on all fours, it wagged its body like a dog, shaking the essence off of him and growled at Marc.
"I'D RATHER DIE THAN GO BACK TO THAT LAB!" It snarled charging at Marc with unbelievable speeds. Before the boy could react, it had impacted into him and sent them crashing into yet another tank, Marc gagged as a different set of liquids drenched his skin and hair. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THEY DID TO ME THERE?!"
Marc coughed and gagged. Between narrow eyes, he felt sprinkles of green liquid spots singe his face and burn his throat. This is dangerous, he thought. Too dangerous. Marc swallowed his unease and glared at the beast.
"Whoever 'they' are... what they did to you... you probably deserved it..." Marc felt every pore on his body tremble. "What you've done to me and my sibs... you don't deserve freedom..."
The creature narrowed his eyes at Marc and pressed down harder on his body causing Marc to whimper. The monster brought its face closer to Marc's and snarled, baring its dangerous set of fangs. Marc coughed and wheezed as he felt hot, angry breaths stab his face. "What do you know, little man? Your family is alive. Your life is still present. And you live comfortably with free will," the beast hissed through snarls. His horns radiated threatening heat as Marc thought that the creature was going to ram him through. "What do YOU have to complain about?"
Must get away... Marc heaved a breath and felt his skin burn and drizzle with sweat. "Complain...? Hardly. However, having something like you walk around and endanger lives outside these walls does make me uneasy."
The beast growled and inched even closer to Marc. It glared with terrible, bloodthirsty eyes, but Marc - even among the pain radiating through his body - tried desperately to match the monster's intimidation. Marc suddenly felt his fear levels rise when he stared into the monster's eyes. Yet, he tried to ignore it and hide the trembles that caressed his body.
"You belong in a cage..." Marc said before thinking.
The beast snapped and Marc wished, beyond anything else, that he could take back his words.
The monster roared and spat wildly. It raised its fists and claws and barrages the teenage spy in a mad flurry of attacks. Marc screamed out in pain, he tasted metallic flavors sting his tongue and felt - shockingly and uncomfortably - some of his vertebrae shift and break at the pressure of being punched and slashed into a shattered tank. Shards of glass pierced his skin and Marc forced down the remainder if his screams.
Please, help. He thought, someone - anyone - help. There's no way any of his sibs were going to wake up in time.
The horned monster continued to beat up on the boy, snarling menacingly while slashing Marc with its claws. "I won't kill you boy..."
Multiple cuts opened up in the boy's skin as he felt the strange mix of glowing blue and green chemicals force their way into his bloodstream.
"BUT I'LL SURE AS HELL MAKE YOU PRAY THAT I HAD!"
Marc held back a scream and whimpered, this was becoming too much to bare. He needed to get away. To run. To hide. To do anything to get away from this monster that was determined to make him suffer.
Then, all of a sudden, a pulse of strength filled Marc's body, giving him the one chance he needed. Without hesitation, he collided his fist with the creature's jaws. The monster howled in pain for a second and stumbled backwards, nursing its now broken jaw. Marc quickly got away from the horned beast and got out another gadget.
The monster turned back around to find Marc standing behind it with a gun looking object in his hand; he pulled the trigger on the gadget and closed his eyes. Suddenly, a blinding light consumed the room, blinding the creature's eyesight and making it howl and thrash about. "MY EYES! MY EYES!" It roared furiously, covering its eyes with its massive paws,"I CANT SEE!"
Marc took in a deep breath. That would keep the monster defenseless enough at least until WOOHP arrived…
"DAMN YOU… SHOW YOURSELF BOY!" Marc tensed up again but quickly relaxed. The monster couldn't see him, or even smell him because of the strange mix of concoctions and speaking of which, as soon as Jerry arrived he would have to tell him about this; just to be on the safe side. Marc didn't want to end up dying or growing a few extra more limbs because of an unintentional shower in dangerous chemicals.
He looked back at the monster and instantly his eyes grew wide. "Boy… I'll find you… I'll find you and kill you…" The creature snarled, unaware that it was clawing into a main electrician box. Marc began to run towards the creature, it didn't know what it was doing… it didn't know it was sticking its soaked claws into a highly electric system of very potent cords.
Marc didn't want this thing to die, but then another, more terrifying ideology struck his numb senses. Marc looked down at the wet floor - the liquid coated, super saturated and wet floor - and his brain worked a million times a second as he came to a very frightening conclusion: electricity travels through water - liquids - and the electrons charge to unnatural levels... and Marc himself, was in the territory of being shocked to unnatural levels. Meaning, automatic death.
Marc hitched a breath, mouth stretched open about to protest, and took a step towards the creature to stop him. And yet...
The beast yelled, "I'D RATHER DIE THEN BE STRIPPED OF MY FREEDOM AGAIN!"
He was too late and the beast achieved its wish as Marc's entire world crumbled to pieces.
Surges of pure, electronic energy ran through the wet ground and into Marc and the monster. They both screamed out in absolute pain, having blots of electricity traveling through their bodies. Marc struggled to breathe, his eyes went wide in terror. His chest tightened until he felt his lungs tie in knots.
The blood in his veins turned cold. Every pore on his skin screamed out in agony as the electricity violently ravaged through his thirteen year old body.
Marc felt darkness take over his vision as his mind became light as a feather and unknowing… it can't end like this… it can't…
Everything turned to nothing.
I'm awake I'm alive
Now I know what I believe inside
Now it's my time
I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life
Here, right now
I'll stand my ground and never back down
- Awake and Alive, Skillet