I think that I got everything that I wanted for Christmas. A new chapter before Christmas and assassins creed three. I'm looking forward to play it and in the mean time post a few new chapters. Enjoy!
He looked down at his feet and saw a tattered city. Down below there were apartments that were boarded up. Buildings that had seen their better days in times before him, times when the city thrived. As he could judge, the town was collapsing, and to his surprise there were no anarchists out in the streets.
'How could a city let itself fall so low and not a single soul do anything about it.' he thought to himself .
He looked further around his environment paused for a moment. He heard something that sounded like screaming a few blocks away. His ears could have been playing tricks on him, but curiosity was always there to poke him in his back.
He leaped from rooftop to rooftop, using something as he was told was parkour to make it to an open roof where he heard the scream. As he walked up to a triangular glass door on the roof, he noticed that a panel was open and looked inside. There he saw a frightening sight. A man wearing a gas mask was chasing a woman and two children around with a butchers knife. He hopped down to help them, but was stopped in midair.
"WAKE UP"
Marcas bolted up from his bed with a cold sweat covering his form. He looked around at his surroundings and saw that he was in his room at Oleg's apartment. He fell back onto his pillow and stared at the ceiling.
''So it was all a dream?" he said as he looked at a clock.
It was three o'clock in the morning, and he just woke up from an unexplainable nightmare. He couldn't believe what had happened in his sleep, but he knew the difference between reality and his unconscious mind. He laid his head back on his pillow to try to go back to sleep because today his life was going to change for the better. Eight hours from now he would be at Metropolis international airport to take the first flight to Washington DC, the home of the Hall of Justice.
Just a couple of days before he was working at the local flower shop, making all that he could from delivering bouquets and floral arrangements. Now he he was looking at becoming a hero, becoming somebody that people could look up to who don't have such a person in their lives. Marcas didn't admit it to anybody in the past, but he saw himself becoming something similar to superman, except without the super strength or the ability to fly.
As he laid back on the pillow he looked at the blank ceiling above, just trying to imagine of what the Hall would look like.
(6 hours later)
For the past two days Marcas had packed for his trip to the Hall of Justice, well, everything that he owned that is. Of course everything that he owned had expanded from his two pistols and bloody clothing, to a full closet full of flannel shirts and blue jeans. He didn't like to be too extravagant, plus he didn't go to anything that required him to dress formal, so it was easy to pack for the trip.
He brought all of his luggage downstairs to a waiting cab that would take him to the airport. He made a few trips and thought that he had brought everything down when Oleg came outside.
"Marcas, I think that you left something in your room."
Marcas looked in the cab's trunk and saw the few suitcases sitting there, "What did I forget? I have all of my clothing, electronic devices, medical supplies..."
"Listen to me boy, you don't want to forget whats up there." Marcas shrugged his shoulders and walked past Oleg back into the building.
As he walked up the stairs, he thought about the short time that he had spent in Metropolis. He remembered the first time that he went to see his first sports event, which featured an awesome halftime show. He looked back on the first job that he got, and maybe his last with the local flower shop, and how the owner's daughter relentlessly flirted with him. Even with the short time that he had spent in the city, a lot had happened.
He reached the top floor and saw that the door to Oleg's apartment was still open. Walking in he could see the open door to his bedroom, and walked in to see what was lying in wait. As he looked down upon his bed he could see the red coat that Oleg got him for Christmas, as well as a few other things beside it.
"Are you surprised?" a familiar voice said from behind.
Marcas turned around and saw Oleg standing there, with his hands behind his back.
"What is all this?" Marcas asked.
"All of that my boy is what you will need if you join the league."
Marcas looked carefully at what was spread out before him on the bed. The object on the far left was a bullet proof vest with black, white, and grey camouflage. The next object looked like a full body suit, and it was. It had the same color scheme as the vest, and it had quite a few pockets for storage sewn into it. The object after that was a wooden box with a mahogany finish and a golden trim. He looked at this one more than the others just because of the sheer mystery, that and couldn't open the stupid thing.
"Do you need help with that?" asked Oleg.
Marcas scoffed, "Do you have a key?"
The old man brought one of his hands in front of Marcas and revealed what he had been hiding, a little key. The younger of the two took it and opened the box, and gazed on the contents inside. What he saw shocked him. There were two desert eagles in the case, and from what he could tell, they must have been expensive. Each had chrome plating, and intricate designs put into them. The last thing to catch his eye was the pair of sunglasses that sat at the back of the container.
"Wow, I..I mean I didn't expect this...um."
"That isn't all Marcas, you didn't even bother to open the case to you right."
The last things on the end of the bed were a bunch of pads, which were the same color as the full body suit and the vest. He picked up and tried them on with the rest of the costume and looked at himself in the mirror. To tell you the truth he looked like he was ready to take on the world, and maybe something more. He turned to thank Oleg, and was caught by the old man in a lung-squeezing bear hug .
"You didnt even ask if I liked everything." Marcas said in a pained tone.
"I didn't have to, I could just look at the look on your face and judge by that."
Marcas scratched the back of his head, "You know, this is a nice costume and all, but when I get there, what do I call myself by?"
A grin appeared on Oleg's face as he guided Marcas back to the full body mirror.
"Do you remember when you woke up, and I told you about your crazy eyes?"
Marcas nodded, "Da, I didn't even ask how you knew about them."
"Let me tell you something, when you first arrived here your eyes were still shut. They wouldn't open, even when I tried to get you to wake up. For three days I tried to wake you up, and you didn't even budge, personally I thought that you would be out forever, that was until the fourth day."
Marcas narrowed his eyes as he looked at himself in the mirror. "What happened?"
"I had just gotten back from the early bird special at the local diner. I was wide awake, and ready to read the paper in the kitchen, when I heard someone talking. I sat there and tried to find out where it was coming from, when it got louder. It pointed me to your room where you were, grasping the sheets with your eyes wide open. God almighty, I had never seen eyes like that in my life."
"What was I saying."
"What?" replied Oleg
"What was I saying?"
Oleg lowered his head and closed his eyes.
"You were crying while you were saying it, but you were talking about not being able to save people. Not being able to save your mother, your father, many nameless faces, Andrei, and finally Tasha.''
At that last name Marcas stopped him, "You need to say no more."
"Actually that was it. After you said that you were sorry for everything you kept on crying." He sighed, "All that I could do was hold you in my arms, like a child that just lost something. I couldn't believe that you had lost so much, and were still this young. But, that's enough about the sadness, now let's get to what I decided to name you."
"What did you choose?"
Oleg stood behind Marcas and reached around his face, to where he was pointing at his eyes.
"The Red Crosshairs."
Marcas stood there for a moment and stared at his eyes for a moment.
"The Red Crosshairs...I like it."
The old man patted him on the back, "I knew that you would like it besides, it fits you with those deadly accurate powers of yours."
Marcas nodded in agreement and hugged Oleg's neck, "Thank you. Not just for these gifts, but also for everything that you have done for me."
"You're welcome, now let's get you to that cab.''
The two walked out of the room, one leaving for good.
(Downstairs)
By the time that they had reached the taxi cab, they had said their goodbyes, and Marcas was sent on his way to the airport. Of course he hadn't taken off all of his gear yet, which raised the cab driver's attention.
"So uh, I heard that you're gonna be joinin the Justice league, am I right."
Marcas looked up from the box that he was holding to answer, "That's correct."
"Wow, I mean that's once in a lifetime for ya there kid. So, what's your name?"
"I am the Red Crosshairs." replied Marcas.
"The Red Crosshairs eh? Well that sounds very military."
Marcas raised his brow in confusion, "You make that sound like it's bad."
"Well.." the driver said as he scratched his head, "no offense, but I've seem the League in action before. Let me tell ya, that name of yours sounds like you belong fightin um.''
"But I won't"
"I know ya won't kid, I'm just sayin."
The cab pulled to a stop at an intersection, as the light turned red. The cab driver adjusted his mirror and saw the look on Marcas's face.
"Let's change the subject. So do you know where you're going when you get to the airport?"
Marcas's face lit up, "Da, terminal A, flight 111 to Washington DC."
The driver up front nodded, "Ya know where terminal A is right?"
Marcas shook his head, "No, where is it?"
"All right, once you go in through security you follow the main hallway to a fork. Now you have two choices, you either go left or you go right. Between the two I would say to go right, because going left sends ya through the food court, and trust me you wouldn't want to go down that way. Today is rush hour for people coming home from christmas and that place is gonna be packed."
"Ok, but how do I get through security?"
The cab driver looked at the passenger in his back seat through the rearview mirror, "Uh, ya change your clothes."
"I know that, but wouldn't it be odd if I walked in like I am and changed in the airport?"
The cab driver shrugged his shoulders, "Nah, I'm sure that metropolis international has seen it's fair share of costumed people like yaself, besides you..."
The driver stopped in mid sentence and turned his attention to the airport just ahead. Seeing the driver move his head to see what was going on up ahead Marcas too looked at the scene unfolding before them, and stared ahead.
At the gate where Marcas was to be dropped off was a huge gathering of photographers and camera crews. It couldn't have been all the people coming home from the holidays, more or less an accident. They had all gathered around something there at the gate, but neither the driver or Marcas could tell who it was. As the swarm of people and flashes continued, the cab cam to a sudden stop.
The cab driver put the car in park and turned to face Marcas, "Looks like you might be running into somebody famous."
Marcas nodded, "Da, I think that I'm in for a treat today."
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to the driver. He opened the door on the side farthest from the crowd and walked outside the car to the trunk where his things were stored. As the trunk popped open, he quickly reached inside and grabbed as many suitcases as he could. As he put the last suitcase on top of the pile in his hands he tried to reach out for the back of the cab to shut the trunk, and as he was doing so the crudely stacked pile started leaning towards the street.
Marcas felt the sudden shift in weight and fell where the suitcases were falling, right into the street. He fell on his back and tried to reach for the suitcases that had fallen in the street, but realized that his arms were too short. A weight fell somewhere in him, knowing that those suitcases had his favorite flannel shirts and a few other gifts from Oleg. He couldn't allow all of that to be smashed.
He got up on his knees and leaped out into the middle of the road. His weight was able to throw him right on top of the luggage sitting in the middle of the road, but his ears picked up an unexpected tangent in the equation, a tractor trailer. The man realized that he couldn't save both his life and his luggage at once and had to make a choice, so he chose the luggage. He estimated in his mind the time of impact for the tractor trailer to his body, and calculated that he couldn't get out of the way in time. So he balled up like an armadillo in the middle of the road, just hoping that the tractor trailer would by some miracle start flying.
He counted in his mind, 'five, four, three, two, one...one'
He repeated the number in his head for a moment, then thought, 'Well, where is it?'
Marcas slowly opened his eyes and pulled himself out of the fetal position and looked all around him. The tractor trailer was gone, and for some reason those busy reporters at the gate were all staring just above him. So he looked up, and when he did he nearly dropped his luggage again. Hovering twenty feet over his head, with the tractor trailer above was none other than Supergirl.
He sat there for a moment and stared at her from below, as she held the vehicle with one hand. He couldn't see her face from the angle he was looking from , but he could tell who it was from her physique, and her hair. The girl above had expected to get ambushed by the press on her return to Metropolis and save somebody's life, but not as fast as it happened. Of course life always has it's hand on the fast forward button.
Supergirl came down from where she was and carefully placed the tractor trailer on the road ahead, smiling at the man kneeling the road. Marcas watched in shock at how she carefully placed down the five ton vehicle down without a strain or a sweat. He watched carefully as she moved what seemed to be a strand of hair out of her face, and showed her perfect complexion to all who could see. Marcas was lost for words as she stood in front of him and held out her hand.
"You ok?" she asked.
He just sat there and stared at her for a moment, "Uh, all right?"
Marcas nodded, "Good, I'm supergirl by the way."
Marcas gave her his hand, and was almost tossed in the air. "I'm Marcas, Marcas Valitov."
"Well, well, well, I found my man."
(one hour later in the terminal)
Marcas had to be persuaded that his flight hadn't left too early and that he would make it to DC in time. He nearly had a fit every time he looked at his watch and Supergirl had to console him. She got see just how much all of this meant to somebody joining the league, of course not with as much enthusiasm as Marcas had shown.
When she saw the look on his face as they approached the gate, she smiled. Parked outside wasn't your average private jet plane, but a marvel of modern technology. The Justice League had sent one of their own shuttles to pick him up. To Super girl this was standard procedure and everything went through the same course, but for Marcas, it was like rolling out the red carpet. In all of his life, with the exception of his home, he had never been treated so nicely by anyone before. Obviously the league welcomes all with open arms, and obviously they want to make sure that they are properly welcomed, with all that has gone on in the past hour.
Going through the tunnel Marcas could see the side of the small craft, and some pilots inside that were dressed in jumpsuits. Even inside the craft the league spared not even one dime on the interior. The ship was small, but it was built to take damage and dish it out.
To his right Marcas could see Supergirl buckle in on the other side of the vehicle, and give a thumbs up to the pilot up front. He expected to be taxied onto the runway and eventually take off, but was caught by surprise when he heard jets revving. The aircraft could take off vertically, even it did take a few minutes. Soon the engines changed postion and they were off.
I really wanted to post something sooner, but with Christmas and New Years, and all of the gifts that I received...yeah, it was difficult to squeeze a chapter out. Anyways, I hope that I didn't leave anybody waiting this whole time and I hope that it was enjoyable. UNTIL NEXT TIME!
