Apex The Scepter: Chapter 1

## Chapter 1

In the large city of Coronas City an abundant area, notorious for a strong crime rate; a meeting was being commenced inside a massive public auditorium. Children and parents filled the seats as a well-suited older woman stood in front of them ready to speak.

"Hello everyone my name is Joana Lee, but you all might better know me as retired super Lynx. Anyway I'd like to welcome you to Project Intercept; although you might be wandering what that is just allow me to break it down for you. You see Intercept is an organization dedicated to finding gifted youth and train them to become protectors and beacons of hope for society in a world that is filing up with more death and despair by the second. We guarantee that your children will not be in any hazardous situations of any kind as they will only be training to develop their powers and teamwork. We divide as them all into particular groups based on power files, and ages; and as they get older and ascend to levels in their training they will be asked a question that only they will be able to answer for themselves and that is will they join our elite task force that has been formed for the benefit of society or...will they walk away to live a normal life knowing that they could make a bigger difference in the world than anything they could even dream of in the normal world. But right now the choice is up to your child and yourself if you want them to join this highly respected and valued organization."

As people got up to got up and left the huge auditorium one kid in particular was highly excited about joining the organization and begged his mom and aunt to let him join. After minutes of presenting his case they decided it would be best for him to join. After signing up the boy was sent off to a military base in Arkansas where he and a small group of kids his age where to live and train until the completion of training; after which they would have to decide whether to stay or leave the compound. The excited kid's name was James Monroe a light skinned African-American, with dark brown eyes, black buzz cut hair, with a clean cut appearance and long feminine eye lashes. He was small for his size, with a somewhat chunky frame. He was gifted with low level amounts of enhanced durability, strength, speed, agility, and reflexes. James team consisted of Angelica a light skinned girl with beautiful long black hair and innocent caramel brown. She had the ability to recover from near fatal injuries in a matter of minutes, with enhanced speed, and agility with a small background in martial arts and military weaponry with her parents being soldiers. Greg Smithers a huge Caucasian kid for age with short spiky hair. He had super strength to the level he could throw cars with little effort. He had impressive durability as well as the ability to encase his body in rock for protective armor. The last member was Martin Hudson a thin, brown skinned kid with the ability to run faster than most vehicles in the modern world. The team met for the first time in a training room with their instructor standing before them.

"My name is Kyle Riverson and I will be your head advisor, trainer, and team coach. Our prime objective is to sculpt you kids into a well-oiled fighting force for the betterment of society, but we have to progress through steps. So the first step is introduction."

He said before sitting down in a chair looking at the kids in front of him.

"My name is Martin Hudson and I run really, really fast." Martin then blurted out

Angelica then got up and said cheerfully "I'm Angelica and I can heal fast and jump really high, and ummmm… move kfast."

"I bet I'm faster!" Martin blurted

"Martin, sit down and let everyone speak." Riverson demanded, causing Martin to cross his arms and sit on the floor.

Greg then slowly got up and said "Well ummmm… I'm Greg and I'm pretty strong if I don't say so myself."

James then got up to nervous of what to say. He then looked at the instructor before saying

"I'm James Monroe, I'm from Coronas City, and... uh I'm kinda strong."

"Now that's out the way, let's get a visual of what you all can really do." Mr. Riverson stated

"Can I go first, Mister?!" Martin yelled

"Sure Marty, just follow me into the other room." Riverson said

Angelica then looked at James and said "So you're name is James right?"

"Yeah." James said before looking around nervously and replying

"Angelica right?"

"Yeah, but my friends call me Angel."

"Cool." James said while delivering an awkward smirk causing Angelica to chuckle

"Martin's about to start you guys." Greg said interested

They then walked up to the window that showed the entire huge room that Martin was in. It was about half the size of a football field and was pure white. Riverson was in a control room above the training room out of sight.

"An advanced training simulator courtesy of PowerTech, it's got everything needed to suit and supers training style." Riverson spoke through the intercom system.

Martin then began jumping up and down while stretching as Riverson asked

"Are you ready, kid?"

"Always, Mister Riverson!" Martin yelled out

Just then a course appeared with mechanisms that popped out from the ground on each side of the course's road and shot light plastic balls at Martin.

"Get through the course and evade all obstacles as much as possible." Riverson stated through the intercom

Martin then ran down the road quickly dodging the balls and zooming to the finish line with a small bump came up and made him trip and fall and roll into the wall. He fell on the floor crying and yelling repeatedly

"My face!"

"Next." Riverson said

"Look at that pansy." Greg said in disgust of Martin's performance

"You should go next then tuff guy." Angelica said

"I will and I bet a little bump in on a road aint gonna break me."

Greg then walked into the room with Martin walking with tears in his eyes.

"I'm ready sir." Gereg stated with confidence, when a piece of the ceiling smashed down on Greg. Greg quickly braced for impact as it smashed him down to one knee. He struggled to hold it up over his head as his body began to transform in a thick rock-like substance, allowing him to casually lift himself back to his feet before saying

"Can I get a real challenge?" Then the ceiling got heavier and heavier but Greg was completely stable, until he began to feel his knees start buckling. He then yelled in frustration and pushed as hard as he could, breaking the lift pushing the ceiling down on him. He then walked out from the under the piece of ceiling with a smug smile on his face.

"I told you no bump on a road could stop me." Greg said while wiping his shoulder off as a jester of victory. All of a sudden a piece of the wall on his left side was hurled at him slamming him into the other wall. He then began pushing back but the force was too strong quickly crushing him.

"I quit!" Greg cried out, with the wall pulling away from his body as hell to the ground reverting back to his normal state covered in sweat.

"Next." Riverson blared through the intercom

"Do you want to go next?" Angelica asked James

"I'm alright, you can go if you want."

"Alright wish me luck." She then walked into the room and said "I'm ready whenever you are sir."

An obstacle course then popped up with the first part being a wall climbing exercise, the second being an array of obstacles such as shooting balls, hurdles, rope climbing, and the last part being a small one on one fight with a robot. Angelica moved fast and gracefully, leaping and climbing over the walls in front of her with no effort. She then ran over the hurdles while dodging the large paint balls. She then got hit in her side with one ball knocking her to the floor. She quickly recovered and leaped on to the rope and climbed to the top in a few seconds, before leaping off doing a triple backflip before rolling onto the ground. She then landed in front of the humanoid robot, who quickly ran towards her aggressively. Angelica dodged the attacks of the robot, but couldn't get a shot of her own. Angelica then countered one of the punches the robot threw and put it in a arm lock making her win the fight.

"Well done Angelica a nearly perfect performance." Riverson stated impressed

James was then more nervous than usual as he had to go practice right after her performance. James walked into the room with Angelica out and quickly wrapping her arms around him causing him to blush.

"Good luck." Angelica said before releasing her hold on his body.

James then took a deep breathe but couldn't seem to calm down.

"Whenever you're ready." Riverson said

Then obstacles popped up with a thin concrete wall, followed by a piece of ceiling smashing down on the ground over and over again every second and the last being a straight path with plastic balls being shot around the room and stunning mines set throughout the last part. James then tried to focus by taking deep breathes and surveying the course.

"He's a loser, he doesn't even know how to use his powers."

"He's trying to think it out Greg, stop being so mean."

James then quickly leaped towards the wall smashing his fingers into the concrete to allow him to lift himself over it. He then looked at the ceiling in front of him smashing into the ground repeatedly, and quickly timed it's movement, to give him the best time to leap across the floor completely evading the smashing ceiling. James then rolled onto the ground trying to brace his landing as he rolled onto a mine which hurled him into a wall and onto the floor. He got up in rage but was met with a barrage of plastic balls that knocked him back into another mine which knocked him out cold. Greg then fell on the floor laughing while uttering the words

"I told you, he's a loser."

"You didn't finish your course either Greg." Angelica replied

"Yeah, but I didn't get knocked out or get my face busted open."

"Yeah you just got smashed into a wall like a little bug." Martin said

Greg stopped laughing and got up with anger saying

"You want to feel what it's like to be a smashed bug, I can make that happen Martin."

"You can't hit what you can't touch."

"Cut it out you guys." Angelica stated as Riverson busted into the room with James in his hands very distraught

"All of you go to your rooms for the night, while I get James to a medic."

James later woke up in a hospital bed with the feeling of embarrassment hitting his face like an unforeseen punch. He then made a promise to himself to train day in and day out to become the best warrior he could be.

8 years later...

It was a dark and ominous night as the crescent moon gazed down upon the landscape of the bright bustly city known as Coronas. In Coronas City, a large man, and petite woman were in the alley outside of a popular club talking while heavily intoxicated. The man stood 7 feet tall, with dark brown skin, eyes, and short black hair. He was shirtless revealing his strong and massive physique, with dirty black pants that barely covered his knees, with shoes that were too tight for his feet. The woman was barely 5 feet, with a large voluptuous frame, heavily exposed by her skin tight dress.

"I can't get over how big you are, it kinda hurts my neck to keep looking straight up at you." The woman said before giggling

The large man then bent down on one knee to alleviate her, now almost eye to eye with her.

"How come you so big and don't have any tattoos?"

"I tried to get one when I was 15, and the needle broke on my skin."

"I keep forgetting you a super...If I'm being honest, I've never been one before."

"Well let's see if I can pop that cherry."

"Wait let's talk a little more thirsty, acting like you aint had good kitty cat before."

"Well I haven't had pussy in 5 years, it's kind of a low supply in prison."

"I can imagine, what exactly did you go there for?"

"I basically punched a guys head of, after he snitched me out to the cops for stealing atm machines."

"Wow, how strong are you?"

"Not sure, the craziest thing I've done is throw a tow truck at the cops who tried to arrest me."

"Haha, really? That's so fucking funny, why did you do that?"

"Well I saw them coming after me, so I turned a corner and saw the truck. It took a little out of me, but I picked it up, and waited for them to come around the corner before I dropped it on them."

"You killed them."

"Hell yeah, I have no mercy for fucking pigs, when I was little one of them shot me in the chest because he felt I was being hostile. Let's just say I found that day I was bulletproof."

"My father's a cop, Zeke!"

"And mine is a ghost, who gives a fuck?!"

"I give a fuck Zeke!"

"So you aint feeling me no more?"

"Hell no, you go fuck yourself tonight."

"Bitch, stop tripping, you know you want some of this 7 foot tower of power."

"Fuck off, I'm going home."

Zeke then stood back up in front of her with his shadow engulfing her entire body.

"Come on bitch make it easy on me aight."

"No Zeke, I just want to go home, I don't give a fuck what you want right now."

Zeke then grabbed her wrist, easily breaking it with his immense strength. She screamed in agony before Zeke wrapped his other hand around her mouth with his fingers wrapping around the back of her head and said

"Scream like that again and I'll rip your fucking head off." Zeke said before shoving his finger in her shorts to quickly rip them off leaving her lower body completely exposed. The girl's eye's began to water as she felt Zeke's hand reaching for her top, when a strong force pulled Zeke off her. Zeke then stood his ground and saw a hooded man in black clothing.

"Who the fuck are you?!"

"A friend."

"Well stop cockblocking buddy!"

The girl began to run off when the hooded figure pulled out a gun and shot her in the back of the head, with a surprising lack of noise from the shot.

"Fuck."

"Listen Xavier."

"How do you know that fucking name?!" Zeke questioned while approaching the hooded man

"I just want to talk."

"Well now I just want to fight." Zeke said before throwing all his weight into a sloppy punch. Zeke then collapsed to the ground and looked up to the see the man was still standing

"I know I'm not that fucking drunk." Zeke told himself as he got up to his feet. Zeke then tried to grab the figure before he vanished from sight. Zeke then felt something attach to the back of his neck delivering a numbing affect all over his body to the point he was unable to move a muscle. The hooded man then stood over him, with his foot on his back before vanishing again with Zeke leaving with him this time.

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Coronas City in the thick of the woods, a small secure base was holding a meeting among the Mayor of Coronas and his advisors. Tall fencing surrounded the base, with strands of barbed wire covering the top, and armed guards roaming all corners of the area. All guards wore a standard bulletproof vest, badge, and all black clothing with a large dark yellow emblem of a "E" scratched by claws. One of the guards, was standing outside the front door of the gated building looking out into the woods, when a well-suited man his age stepped out the door beside him. He was slightly taller than average, with trim black hair, light brown skin and brown eyes. He had a thin goatee, and wore a black suit, with a bright blue tie.

"Thinking about arresting some of those trees?' The man said to the guard with a smile on his face

The guard looked over and saw the familiar face before stating the name

"Jason!"

"In the flesh, Officer James Monroe."

James now had golden bronze skin, dark brown eyes, black wavy faded hair, with a clean cut appearance, and long feminine eye lashes. He was on the shorter side, with a stocky muscular build.

"You didn't tell me you got the assistant job."

"Yeah, I thought I would just surprise, since I knew you were pulling security for my first meeting."

"Yeah, how's it going in there?"

"Man, they talk about their families more than the laws and events in the city. I'm starting to see why nothing gets done around here."

"Well just remember this is just the first step t you calling the shots."

'I don't know why you keep saying that, I mean the only shots I'm taking is in a glass." They both chuckled at the comment

"Seriously though, you could change this place around: you have the right mentality, especially for supers."

"Well if I have to deal with these kind of meetings any more, my mentality might be in asylum soon."

"Can't be that bad, they got anyone to rest your eyes on at least."

"Man, their are so many creatures in there, I thought I was at a Halloween party for a few minutes. but I did spot one little waitress with enough curves to run a race track, and eyes as blue as my tie."

"You should try to talk to her, maybe it'll let the time go by faster."

"I would if I didn't bring my girlfriend." Jason said with a smile

"Damn man, I didn't even know ya'll got back together."

"Well you know I couldn't avoid that cookie for too long, your brother's got a sweet tooth." Jason said with them belting out in laughter. The two then heard a destructive force from the other side of the building followed by gunshots, with the alarm sounding on the base.

"Get inside Jason." James said before rushing towards the sound

He quickly discovered several crushed and broken corpses of fellow guards, with a fading cloud of dust from the impact blinding most of his vision. James then heard heavy footsteps approaching him through the dust, as a massive figure began to become visible. The cloud then began to completely clear revealing a giant sized man standing 7 feet tall in all black clothing barely fitting his massive frame.

"Step back and address yourself now sir!" James exclaimed as the giant continued to walk towards him with a smile.

"Zeke Walker is my government, but I'm honestly interested to see what you'll do if I don't stand down pigskin.: Zeke said towering over James.

James then leaped forward at Zeke and threw a hard punch to his face causing him to stumble back. Zeke stomped his foot on the ground and roared at James, before trying to punch. James jumped back to evade his long reach, and moved back in for another attack. James delivered a punch to the side of his knee making Zeke fall on the knee and receive several hard shots to the head. Zeke was then able to wrap his massive arms around James body and crush him against his torso. Zeke then rose to his feet, lifting James feet far off the ground as he applied immense strength with James in his arms. James quickly felt his back cracking under Zeke's strength. He tried to push himself out of his grasp, but Zeke's hold was inescapable.

"You fucked up now lil bitch, I broke a fuckin' grizzly in half with his move."

James then smacked Zeke's ears to discombobulate him to the point that he lessened his hold dramatically. James then pushed with enough force for him to get his feet on Zeke's chest and push himself completely free of his hold. Zeke then aggressively threw his foot forward to try and kick James, but was too slow to land the attack. James then punched him in the ribs, and into the stomach making Zeke drop to one knee again. James then got ready to deliver another shot when Zeke spat in his face to blind him, and landed a hard punch of his own to James face. James was thrown several feet away from the blow, with a large cut above his eye. James vision was blurred form the blow, causing him to remain on the ground to regain his senses. Zeke then slammed his hands into the ground and ripped out a large chunk of the concrete ground. Zeke stood up with the concrete overhead, before throwing it down on James.

"Got ya!" Zeke stated after a boisterous chuckle

James stood amongst the ruble with his hands stretched out revealing he punched the debris before it landed directly on him. Zeke then began to walk towards the building as he heard vehicles starting up in the area. James then busted out of the debris covered in a strange faded green aura.

"I respect ya grind, even if you're a pig; but I aint got time for this right now." Zeke said

James then moved in on Zeke with an incredible burst of speed, and leaped into a powerful punch to his groin. Zeke whimpered as he collapsed. with James then delivering a hook shot to his throat as he fell. James then finished him off by letting off several punches to the back of Zeke's head compressing his head into the cement. James then stood on top of Zeke's massive body heavily breathing, as the green aura disappeared.

"Nice skill set." James overheard a voice in the distance causing him to turn around.

He then saw another man in all black clothing with a black lion's mask, and a impressive muscular frame. He walked towards James with his hands becoming engulfed in a strange yellow aura.

"How about you it on me?" The man said as he positioned himself into a boxer stance, staying light on his feet.

"Just stand down before this gets any worse, sir." James stated

"I don't answer to punks with badges, so you can either throw hands or fuck off."

James decided to maintain caution with him, and pulled out his handgun to threaten him.

He sighed in disgust for a second before using his incredible speed to smack the gun out of James hands, before he could fire. He then followed up by sending a hard kick into his chest, hurling James into the wall of the main building several yards behind him. James lost control of his breathing, with his chest in devastating pain from the blow.

"You must be pretty enhanced, because most people don't still have a chest after one of my kicks, let alone stand up." He said while walking towards James who gasped, after suddenly regaining control of his breathing.

James lifted himself off his feet the ground and moved forward to try and grab the man, but the man quickly flipped him on his back and dropped his knee down on James head knocking him out cold.

The man then saw a truck rushing out of the base, when another large masked man charged into it, flipping it onto it's side. The large man then shoved his fingers through the roof and ripped it off to reveal the mayor badly injured with a few guards. One guard was still conscious and tried to reach for his gun, but the large man quickly grabbed his face and ripped off majority of the skin to brutally wound him. The large man then pulled the mayor out of the truck with the smell of urine hitting his nose immediately.

"This fucker pissed himself!" The man yelled before throwing him across the yard in front of the lion masked man. allowing him to knock him out with a stomp to the head.

"Good shit G."

"I'm not carrying him."

"Fuck that, wake Zeke up and have his big ass carry piss boy; and let's move out fast, before some real heroes show up and fuck everything up."