Apex The Scepter Chapter 2

## Chapter 2

A few years into training, the kids of the Intercept group were now teenagers. They were still constantly training and with great progress as their powers developed with their bodies. The team was nearly in the clearing to do field exercises. They just needed to complete their final exams for this training block.
Everyone had taken it with except James, and Greg. Greg was in their old training room ready for anything. The obstacle course then appeared with a thick steel wall for the first part, a bunch of random parts of the ceiling smashing down final portion. Greg the covered his fist in a rocky material and punched the wall, creating a massive dent. He then covered his other hand in rocks and continued to keep punching until the wall collapsed. He then walked forward and braced for the impact of one of the smashing ceilings.

As the pressure got stronger, Greg stayed motionless and composed until the ground in front of him began to slide open revealing a 10 foot robot. Greg then threw the ceiling up destroying another lift, and charged towards the robot with his rock covered fist. The robot then shot dummy rounds at Greg, who was unfazed by them. Greg then punched the robot in the leg creating a massive dent, before the robot smacked him into a wall. Greg was still unmarked by the hit, when the portion of the wall behind him began to push forward at rapid speed. Greg then turned to face the wall, and began pushing back, as the wall slammed him into the opposite side of the room. Greg then pushed it back enough for him to get out, with his entire body now covered in rocks.
Just then the ground around the robot, collapsed creating distance between Greg and the robot.

“Fuck this shit!” Greg yelled as he shot a large spike of rock from his hand at the robot, hitting it in the chest.

The robot then began to shoot low intensity energy rounds at Greg with his rock form holding up to the abuse. Greg then quickly threw another spike into the robot heads destroying it. Greg then delivered his smug smirk, as the robot collapsed.

“Excellent job Greg; James prepare for your final, as the training room is being cleaned.” Riverson said through the intercom

Greg then stepped into the observation room, with his squad mates all present. Angelica then came forward and hugged Greg.

“Great job.”
Greg then tilted his head down to kiss her on the lips before saying

“Thanks babe, I was trying to beat your score, but it’s kind of hard to beat perfection.”

“Theirs nothing wrong with second place rocky.”

“As long as your in first, I’ll always settle for the next up.” The two then went in for another kiss, this time with their tongues interlocking as Greg gripped his hand around her thick backside.

“Yeah uh, good job Greg.” Martin said making himself smile from the remark. He looked over and saw James trying to take deep breathes to calm himself. Martin then appeared beside him with his incredible speed, and asked

“Don’t worry champ, we all passed; these test our built specifically for you, their is no way you can really lose.”

“The room is ready.”

Riverson said alerting James to enter

“Good luck.” Angelica said as Greg wrapped his arms around her while playing with her neck to make her giggle.

James then entered the clear room, when obstacle course quickly appeared with the ground dropping in front him as several ropes appeared yards away from each other, with a bunch of mines set one the other side along with big heavy plastic balls bouncing with a large group humanoid robots ready for him to fight. James then leaped forward latching onto one of the ropes, and quickly climbed nearly to the top before swinging a little before throwing himself to the other rope. He then did the same thing again, and leaped to the final rope, when he felt his hand slipping from unknown grease on the rope. James then tightened his grasp as much as possible on the rope to stop him from falling, with his hands only inches from the end.

James then realized he couldn’t climb up due to the grease and began to throw his body weight around to maximize his swinging ability. Once he felt he was high enough, he threw himself forward, landing on his feet in front of the mines. James then leaped forward to get over the mines, when a plastic ball shot forward smashing James in the face. James dropped to the ground on a mine creating a powerful force that hurled him to the side.

“Shit.” James muttered to himself before forcing himself to his feet before blocking another incoming plastic ball.

James then focused on evading the balls, while slowly moving across the mines. He eventually made it across without another hit, with the robots quickly surrounding him. James then threw the first punch knocking one robot to the ground, before another grabbed him by his neck. Another tried to punch him in the ribs, but he kicked it away from him, before another punched him in the face cutting his cheek. James then overpowered the robot holding him, and threw him over his shoulder at another robot. James then tackled another down, when all of the robots shut down around him.

“What happened?!” James asked confused

“Look at what you’re doing.” Riverson stated

James then looked down at the robot and saw a device with the word

“BOMB” painted onto his chest and back.

“You failed the exam James, wait in observation room for a full report; everyone else go to your rooms.”

James then looked up into the observation window and saw his squad-mates leaving with Angelica looking back through the window at James before shutting the door behind her.

Just then James awoke in a hospital bed, with his brother and mom inside the room with him. His mother quickly got up and hugged James once she saw his eyes open with tears rolling down her face.

“The doctor said you just got a mild concussion, baby it’s going to be alright.”

“Wait, then why are you crying?”

“You know I always cry, when I see either of you in a hospital bed.”

His mom’s phone then began to ring causing her to say

“It’s your grandmother I’ll let her know your awake.” His mother said before exiting the room to talk

“Look who’s back in the emergency room bum.”

“Probably won’t be the last either.”

“You need to be more careful, every time we get these calls, we wonder if this will be the last one.”

“Come on I’m James Monroe, I was bred for battle.”

“I don’t know ever since you got back from the army it’s like you’ve got a death wish or something the way you keep throwing yourself into crazy situations.”

“It’s my job to protect other Joe, no matter the cost. Have you seen Jason he was there too.”

“Jason is also getting looked at by the doctors, he sprained his ankle running into the building or something.”

“Well... as long as he’s safe I guess.” The two then smiled at each other

“Remember when we were kids watching shows like The Megas and Justin Time. We used to pretend to be the heroes taking on crazy villains like uh... like Dragon Eye or Persula?”

“Yeah dude, I hated Persula so much especially when she devoured Justin’s girlfriend in front of him.”

“Well I’m just saying you aren’t Mr. Mega no matter how special you think you are.”

“You can try to talk me off the ledge, but those shows taught me that evil is coming one way or another, but if no one steps up to be the good to that evil, the balance will falter.”

“You got all that from a couple of cartoons?”

“Do you remember that one day we were playing outside, and those random kids threw that rock at your head?”

“Yeah and I started fighting them.”

“You mean getting beat?”

“Your point?!”

“I jumped in and tried to save you right?”

“Yeah and you got beat down by that kid that could grow. I remember him choke slamming you into the ground and shoving dirt in your mouth.” Joseph started laughing in James face

“Okay...do you remember when our big cousin scared them off, before they were about get their pit bull on us.”

“What about it James?!”

“Our cousin basically saved our lives, he did what I wanted to do, and that’s be your hero.”

“James shut the hell up, I’m a 6’5 powerhouse only hero I need is my revolver.”

“I’m just saying the world is dark, and we all need a light.”

“...You’re still a bum, big brother.” Jospeh said before patting James on the head making James quickly smack his hand in annoyance of the jester.
James phone began to ring one the stand beside his bed with Joseph grabbing it to answer.

"Martin Hudson? Says he's an old friend who wants to link up."

"Tell him to text me the time and location."
"Text us the location we'll be there."

"We?!"

"Yeah, I've still got my Protector permit, so I'll shadow you to keep momma calm."
"I don't think putting us both in danger will help her."

"Not much trouble we can't fix together."

"Come on then let's go."

Meanwhile in a secluded warehouse miles from Coronas City, the mayor of Coronas began to awake as a liquid poured onto his face. He awoke resting against one of the flighty walls of the small room, as he noticed the liquid was from one of his attackers standing over him with his pants down urinating on him.

"Rise and shine piss boy." The attacker stated as the urination ceased pouring on the mayor's head.

The mayor wiped the urine off his face to get a better visual around him, with a dim light bulb being the only source of illumination in the room. He looked up at his masked attacker who's exposed crotch was directly in his face. The attacker was tall, with a large muscular physique presented through the black clothing he wore.

"Like what you see Pee-boy?" The attacker said before chuckling in amusement at the mayor's confusion.

"W-where am I?" The mayor asked as the attacker pulled his pants back up

"Don't worry you won't be here long." The attacker said as he finished buttoning his pants

The attacker then lightly kicked the mayor in the ribs, with a few snapping on impact with his foot. The mayor then screamed in agony before laying completely on the ground in the attackers urine.

"Now if you want this time here to be painful or comfortable is up to you, just depends on how well you answer my questions." The attacker said before taking his mask off revealing his face.

The attacker's skin was tan, with a recently shaven head as dark brown hairs could be seen growing, as well as a full dark brown beard. His nose was slightly twisted from previous breakage, with a large scar on the right side of his head.

"W-what do you w-want?!"

"Coronas City teamed up with Counterstrike to launch a study on the evolution of supers and the varying immunities to certain chemicals, poisons, and toxins in order to create weapons capable of taking supers down."

"I wasn't the mayor back when that happened; that was over 40 years ago!" The mayor exclaimed

"But you know of it, and know exactly where that kind of information is held now, as well as the arsenal of weaponry."

"That's all Counterstrike level, they took the projects out our hands to ensure the blueprints, designs, and studies didn't get leaked. All we do is fund their efforts, I literally just go to progress meetings, for generic reports about super activity."

"So you know how to get in?"

"Uh...Yeah I'm the mayor so I've got an access card; but it's only at low level clearance."

"Cool." The attacker said before throwing his foot through the mayor's skull causing the tip of his shoe to be imprinted in the wall. Blood splattered against the wall and over the attackers body along with skull fragments, and brain matter spread across the floor.

Meanwhile at a club in Coronas City, Zeke was inside the back room sitting down with his lower half exposed. He was accompanied by couple of large naked women who were sweating and panting as they rested beside his ashy knees.

"I'm pretty impressed, ya'll are still breathing after that pounding." Zeke said as he reached for a bottle of champagne on the floor beside him.

"I didn't know you were so damn rough, you're too damn big to be slamming us like that!" One woman demanded

"I kinda enjoyed it, it was like riding a super bull or something."

"I like to keep things aggressive, it makes things just a little more fun for me."

"Well, you nearly broke my damn pelvis in half Mr. Aggression."

"Stop tripping Mika! He's paying us double, plus I've always loved a challenge."

"That's why yo ass nearly choked to death a few minutes ago!" Mika shouted

"Hey, I've always been a mouthful, but since you've got an attitude you don't have to worry about the money yo friend's getting it all." He said with a smile of satisfaction

"Nah, fuck that you aint gonna break my back and not give me my check!" Mika shouted before standing up enraged

Zeke then stood up with while grabbing her neck and lifting her up to his face, with her feet dangling in the air.

"You just don't know how to shut the fuck up." He said before hurling her against the wall with the back of her head busting open from the force.

"Oh my god!" The other girl said as Zeke zipped up his pants and threw down a small stack of money in his pocket

He then stepped outside through the emergency door standing in the alleyway as a thin figure stood pressed up against the wall in front of him. Zeke zoned him out and began to walk down the alley, when the figure began to walk directly behind him. Zeke turned around to intimidate the figure when a blinding light hit his eyes before a force hurled him to the ground. Zeke looked up and saw a small pale skinned woman standing in front of him in a black trench coat and dirty boots. Her hands and eyes were glowing with green energy, with needle marks exposed on her neck.

"I've got to stop fucking with these damn alleys." Zeke told himself as he stood back up

"Give me ya money!" The woman demanded

"I'm not the giving type, now fuck off!" Zeke said before the woman shot a blast of energy from her hands pushing Zeke back a couple inches and badly burning his shirt.

"Fuck this." Zeke said before throwing his fist forward at the woman

The woman lifting her hands to block with the impact throwing her into a brick wall behind her. She landed on her feet and shot another blast of energy at Zeke with the intense heat starting to burn his skin. Zeke held his hands up in an attempt to block as he felt his body overheating from the energy. The woman then collapsed to the ground after exerting too much energy to attack him. Zeke dropped to one knee with steam emitting off his body, with only his pants and boots surviving the attack.
He then forced himself to his feet, and gradually made his way to the woman as she began coughing up blood onto the floor. Zeke then stood above her before smashing her head into the ground with his foot. He felt strange causing him to look down at his body with steam still emitting from his body. He then felt a stinging pain in every cell of his body, struggling to remain on his feet. He then began walking into the streets in desperate search of medical attention.