4 The Origins Part 2

Episode 2: The Origins Pt. 2

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Somewhere in a dark alley sat a man covered in rags, had a rough overgrown beard, and wore a red hat to help protect his ears from the cold wind. He sat against the wall of a building near a sewer hoping to keep himself warm from the smoke that would arise from it. Suddenly the loud sounds of men yelling came from the opening of the alley, two men shoving another guy deeper into the alleyway where the poor man covered in rags resided. From what the poor man gathered, the men were clearly trying to deal with a man that owed them money and it clearly wasn't going well for the guy.

"Marcus Martinez" One of the men would start. "It's been two weeks, where's my money huh?"

Marcus, the man that appeared to be in deep trouble at the moment, continued to back up until he was up against the wall. He was sweating bullets if that wasn't already evident and had this huge look of fear in his eyes. "G-guys, come on. I'll get the money just not now okay? But I promise I'll have your money by next week?"

The two men glanced at one another, smirks forming on both their faces. "Now isn't that what he said last week and the week before?" They'd turn back to Marcus, inching closer, one of them reaching behind and under his shirt to grab his gun. Marcus began to shake his head rapidly as he knew what was about to happen. "Guys come on, please!"

Unknown to any of them, an orange-like orb had flown across the sky before noticing the man being held at gunpoint. Seeing it as an opportunity, it flew down and possessed Marcus. Marcus paused for a moment, showing zero emotion it was as if he had frozen and that confused the two men. Marcus' pupils would then glow an orange color before returning to normal as if the possession had been completed and whoever had taken over wasn't Marcus. The man finally blinked, as if coming back into reality as he looked around. "It worked," He'd say in disbelief as he looked at the body. "This body will do quite nicely."

The two men looked at one another before looking back at Marcus. "What the hell Marcus? Have you gone nuts or something?" One of them asked.

"It doesn't matter Trey, shoot him!" Trey's partner would yell, clearly confused and freaked out by the man's change in emotion.

"Shoot me?" Marcus would let out a chuckle as he shook his head. "Yeah, there won't be any of that." As if at an inhuman speed, Marcus reached out and gripped the neck of Trey, nothing happening at first, but then Marcus' hands started to glow, heat up specifically and he began to burn the man, Trey letting out screams of pain as his body was being burned alive until he was nothing but ash on the ground. Marcus dusted his hands and clothes off as he let out a satisfied sigh. "Ah, that felt good." His eyes moved over to Trey's partner who immediately tried making a run for it before a wall of flames appeared and blocked his path.

"You know..." Marcus started, stepping over the pile of ash and making his way over to the man. "I haven't been able to live in such a long time, and you should be grateful that you've lived long enough to meet me, you'll do nicely as a warmup y'know." The alleyway lit up as the sounds of the man screaming could be heard blocks away, and the only witness left alive was the man in the red hat.

~The Next Day~

"Jace. Jace? Jace!" The sound of his aunt's voice snapped Jace out of his thoughts which he seemed to be having a lot of these days. "Hm, yeah?" He'd reply as he sat up straight in the passenger's seat.

Jackie gave Jace a worried look before quickly returning to the road. "I'm working late at the station so I won't be able to pick you up after school. Do you think you can get a ride from one of your friends?" Oh yes, did Jace forget to mention that his aunt/guardian was a cop? A detective to be specific and she was one of the best truthfully, her partner happened to be the father of his best friend Cindy so that's something.

"Yeah, I'll figure something out." Jace looked out the window as they drove up to the entrance of Gotham North. Wasting no time at all, Jace got out of the car and closed it before he could hear what Jackie was about to say.

"Now that was a rude action." The annoying and judgemental British voice made Jace roll his eyes as he stopped and turned around. It was Klaus, again. You know, the creepy British phantom that showed up in his house last weekend and now he was terrorizing him constantly.

"What do you want? Why are you even here?" Jace would ask, getting strange looks from students that walked by. To them, Jace just seemed to be talking to himself rather than to the man in front of him. As he said, Klaus was a phantom, only Jace was able to see him since he is connected to the amulet. Noticing the stares he was getting from the others, Jace decided to just ignore the guy altogether, turning around and heading side the school.

Of course, though Klaus had no choice but to follow since he was bound to the amulet. "To answer both of your questions," Klaus started as he phased through the door, following after Jace. "You are destined to do great things young Jason."

"Don't call me that."

Klaus sped up his pace before appearing in front of Jace causing the 15-year-old to stumble back a bit forgetting he's a phantom. "Listen, I understand that this is all strange and unbelievable."

"Yeah, that's one word to describe it." Jace headed past Klaus as he continued down the halls.

"Come on young Jason! Your world is in danger, do you really think that your parents would agree with what you're doing right now?" Klaus shouted which caused Jace to freeze in his tracks, shaking the memory away before it could fester in his mind and continue forward. Klaus sighed as he placed his head on his hips. "This is gonna be a very difficult adventure, that's for sure."

Jace finally made it to his class, quickly taking a seat and closed his eyes as letting out a breath of relief after he saw no signs of Klaus anywhere.

"What happened to you?" Cindy asked after she sat in the seat near Jace, her hair in their normal pigtail look.

"Something like that," Jace replied, letting out his fifth sigh today. He couldn't exactly tell her that a phantom man from the past was following him around telling him that he was the chosen one destined to change the world. And the fact that he was able to see the guy in the first place meant that what he said was true but him? The boy that lost both his parents in a single night, goes to therapy for it and has a horrible relationship with the only family that wanted to take him in? How could a fifteen-year-old possibly be the one to stop whatever evil is out there?

"Hello? Jace you there?" Cindy asked, looking at her friend with some level of concern on her face. "You looked like you were elsewhere. I called your name like five times already."

"Yeah what is it?"

"Wes and I are heading to his house or palace after school to work on our project, you're coming right?"

"Yeah, I don't really have a choice, Jackie isn't coming to pick me up so I was gonna hitch a ride with you guys anyways." Just then the sound of the bell rang and all the students went to their respective seats as the teacher walked in and the class was in session.

~Somewhere in the Gotham Woods~

Marcus had trekked through the woods of Gotham before coming to a stop at a well, standing near it was none other than Necro, the necromancer who had released him from his prison not too long ago. "I know I'm still new to this era, but there is such thing as phones now, or maybe we could meet up at a better location than the woods?" Marcus made his way down the hill towards Necro. "Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad you didn't ask me to come at night, it would've been a lot tougher to find you."

"I hope you've been enjoying your time in the mortal world, I can't imagine how cramped it must've been in your previous accommodations," Necro would turn around to face Marcus, his arms behind his back as he spoke.

"Yeah, it's not so bad, though the guy that previously inhabited this body, he wasn't exactly in the best situation when I possessed him, but hey, he's the perfect fit so I'm not going to complain. Burned a couple of people but if anyone asks, it was out of self-defense. Small talk aside, why did you call me out here?"

"Excellent question. Well, you see, I am facing quite a dilemma, an old friend of ours is back and as long as he is here, he is a threat to my plan." Necro began walking around the well as he continued to speak. "You remember Klaus right, the man responsible for you and your many brothers and sisters' demise?

"And how is this a problem for me?" Marcus questioned.

Necro stopped on the other side of the "I don't need to remind you who let you out of that prison, do I? If Klaus finds out about us, he will be a threat so we need to exterminate him before he finds a way to overpower us."

Marcus clenched his teeth at the thought of Klaus, more than happy to get his revenge on the for more reasons than one. "Alright, but how am I gonna find him?"

"Well we aren't exactly looking for him, but we can track a magical item, specifically the Apollyon Amulet." Necro's eyes flashed a dark green color under his skull mask as he waved his hand over the well, the water below also turning a matching green color. Necro would take some ingredients that sat on the bricks of the well, throwing them in one by one. "With this locator potion, we should know exactly where the location of the amulet is, and then from there, destroying it shouldn't be a problem."

"You better be right about this..." Marcus looked down the well, waiting for the spell to go into effect and reveal the location of the amulet and once that happened, he was gonna get his revenge.

~In Gotham City~

Jackie, Jace's aunt knelt on the ground, examining the burnt man that lied on the ground in front of her. She and a couple of other officers had been called to a scene and what she saw, was strange, to say the least. Just looking at the body made her cringe in disgust, the smell of burnt skin was never a good aroma. "Jesus...what could have done this?"

"Well according to our caller, they aren't sure what could have happened. All they said over the phone was that they saw a bright flashing light coming from this alleyway and when they got here, this body was the only thing to be seen. Well, that, and that guy." Jackie's partner, Detective Jones, Cindy's Father nodded over to a poor man that sat in a corner, trying to mind his business and not get into any trouble with the police.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case since Detective Myers had a few questions for the man. Walking over, she put her hands on her hips as she stared at him. "Hey, do you know what happened here last night? We got a call of a large light coming from this alley and when someone came, that man was lying in the middle of this alley.

The man stayed silent for a moment, not wanting to say anything that'd get him entangled in this situation and Jackie could notice that he was indeed service, which is why she switched her tone over a bit to put him at ease.

"You're not in trouble alright? We just wanna know what happened here."

"You..." The man started. Looking from the body behind the detectives then back at them. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try us." Detective Jones would say as he folded his arms, raising a brow.

"Well, i-it was late at night and I was sitting here since I have nowhere else to go...and that's when three men showed up." The man explained to the detectives how two of them were ganging up on the other, over money or something he couldn't quite remember but he did remember seeing something strange happened to the man, and he just sorta zoned out before coming back to and killing the others. "He used some sort of magic. The fire was everywhere and he was controlling it with his hands! He burned one man to nothing but ashes!" The man explained this which such fear and disbelief on his face and in his tone as if he was still having trouble believing this himself. "With the other guy, he wrapped his hand around his neck and started choking and burning him until he looked like that." He'd nod back over to the body on the ground. "It was horrifying."

The detectives stood there, taking all of it in before Jackie spoke up. "Well, thank you for your time, sir, we'll see what we can do about this situation. Did you get a look at a face or maybe a name?"

"One of them called the burning man Marcus. Marcus Martinez. But it doesn't matter what you do. There are forces at work here and I don't think we can or should interfere," The man replied.

"Okay, we'll be going now," Detective Jones unfolded his arms as he and Jackie departed from the man. "Well, that guy wasn't all the way there if you know what I mean."

"Or maybe he's telling the truth," Jackie says as she starts thinking. "And there is only one way to find out. I'll have the lab examine the body and maybe you can get me a face to Marcus Martinez."

Detective Jones nodded. "But if nothing comes up, I'm not gonna hold back on the I told you so Myers."

Jackie rolled her eyes before chuckling. "Yeah sure, if nothing comes up Jones."

~With Jace~

It was lunchtime and Jace was sitting at the usual table with his friends, Wes was teasing Cindy and Cindy was threatening to kill him, the usual really. Jace rolled his eyes to the side before groaning. "You guys are ridiculous, you know that? Can you guys got at least a day without wanting to drive the other one crazy?"

Wes smirked. "I drive you crazy Cindy? I knew you couldn't resist me."

Cindy gave Jace a look. "See what you did? You're lucky you're rich Wes, otherwise, we wouldn't be friends."

"Oh come on," Wes started, "We both know that's a lie. I drive you insane remember?" He'd wink at her before grinning which made Cindy grown and bang her head on the table.

After school ended, Jace and the gang rode in Wes's limo, heading towards his house or well mansion where they'd work on a group project for history. Cindy wasted no time falling onto the couch in the main living room, the furniture at his house was way better than hers and that's one of the reasons she agreed with Wes to study here. "Alright boys, let's get to studying! We'll probably be here for a couple of hours so let's make the most of it yeah?"

"Won't your Dad get mad if we're here too late Wes?" Jace asked. Wesley's Dad was a man who owned an upcoming coming that'd soon enough rival other competitive companies out there and Wesley was of course supposed to take on the mantle when the time came. "Nah." Wes would reply as he sat down on the floor near the coffee table. "He's gone on some business trip and won't be back in two days so I'm all by myself."

"Woo! That means we can throw ourselves a little party. With just us of course, we gotta study first too." Cindy took off her backpack and grabbed some books and a notebook. "Let's get to figuring out what we're gonna do guys."

"Your friends are quite interesting, to say the least Jason.." Klaus would say as he stood behind the couch, looking at the three of them. "Maybe they could be of use in this adventure of ours? They do seem to be rather smart from what I've gathered during your times at your school."

"No." Jace would simply say, his friends looking at him.

"No?"

"Yeah, no, of course, we're not gonna throw a big party," Jace quickly said as he scooted up close to the table.

And so the first two hours of studying/figuring out an idea for their report began and it was a long process, a tiring one as well. I mean, it was History after all. While the three teens were inside, a menacing figure approached the mansion. "The Apollyon Crystal is here? Such a beautiful place, it'll be a pity to see it all burned to the ground. For the owners of course."

"Marcus," A voice interrupted. "Remember why you're here. It's only for the amulet, only do what is necessary. I don't need you causing a fuss, it'll make this operation harder in the future."

"Relax, I'll make sure you get what you want," Marcus assured Necro before walking towards the front door, two security guards standing in front of the door.

"Can we help you?" One of them asked, already putting up his guard. Wesley's father had hired security guards to watch over Wesley while he was away and to protect him at all costs from anyone that appeared as a threat.

"I don't suppose you guys know anything about an Apollyon Crystal, do you?" Marcus asked, not phased by the men at all. When he got no response, Marcus slowly rose his hands up. "Didn't think so." He shot a blast of flames at them, the sound of them screaming alarming the kids inside.

"What was that?" Cindy would ask, her face immediately being covered in fear and curiosity.

"That sounded like the guards outside.." Wes got up from his spot and headed towards the front door, Jace and Cindy both following him. The doors were blasted open, causing the three to shield themselves.

Marcus put his hands down as he stepped over the men that laid on the porch. "Now...which one of you knows where the Apollyon Crystal is hm?"

Jace and his friends sat in the living room, now being held hostage by a man who had the ability to shoot fire, the three of them sitting on the ground next to each other as they watched the man pace back and forth in front of them.

"What do you want with us?" Wesley asked, getting looks from both Cindy and Jace, who thought it was better to stay silent instead of indulging in conversation with the pyro-maniac.

"Did you not hear what I asked earlier? Oh yes right, you kids were too busy cowering in fear, gotcha. Well, I'm so glad you asked! Now, don't get the wrong idea, I don't plan on killing you guys. I just want the Apollyon Crystal and by using a locator spell, I was able to track it down here to your nice looking home. Once I get what I want, you guys won't have to see me again, kay?"

Klaus stood by Jace as he stared at Marcus. "That's one of the threats I had warned you about Jason. One of the many villains that will be apart of this city's destruction unless he and many others like him are stopped! You do know what you need to do right?"

"We don't know anything about some Apollyon Crystal! And even if we did, we wouldn't give it to a crazy guy like you!" Cindy glared at the man, and Marcus couldn't help but chuckle. "You got spunk girl, I'll give you that."

Marcus knelt to her level, and cocked his head slightly to the side, holding his hand open, a fireball forming. "But if I don't get what I want, one of you three will look like those guys outside."

"Alright! Alright, I'll tell you where it is, just don't hurt them," Jace stood up, the others looking up at him confused.

"Jason..." Klaus warned. "I don't think you know what is at stake here if you help this man! You don't know if he'll hold his end of the bargain either!"

"What choice do I have? He just threatened to kill my friends and I'm not gonna have them die over something like this." Jace dug into his shirt and took the amulet out to show Marcus. "This what you're looking for?"

"Jace? What's going on dude?" Wes asked.

"It's fine guys. Everything will be alright, I promise," Jace assure them as he took off the amulet from around his neck and holding it out for Marcus to take.

"Wow, that easier than expected, and I only ended up killing two people. And as much as I'd LOVE to let you guys live, I can't have you going to the authorities and telling everyone about me and what I look like...So I guess I'll have to kill you. Starting with you girl." Marcus stood up and blasted the fireball at Cindy.

"NO!" Jace shouted, the amulet glowing as Jace held out his hand to try and stop it somehow. A bright flash emitted from the amulet, the irises in Jace's eyes turning purple as he shot a wave of energy at Marcus, the fireball vanishing from the force and Marcus being flown back against a wall. Not wanting to waste any time before the guy got up, Jace helping Wes and Cindy up. "Come on, let's go!" The three ran out the room and down one of the halls, going into a room and locking it, barricading it with a desk and chair before backing away from the door, breathing heavily from the excitement. "Alright, I think that'll hold for a while. We need to call the police." Jace turned around to face his friends who both looked at him and then the amulet in his hand.

"Okay but first, what the hell is going on Jace?" Cindy finally asked after catching her breath. "First a guy barges in with fireballs and now you have some weird crystal things and powers?"

"Well, not entirely powers, the amulet gives him magical abilities. What you experienced was just a tiny bit of that power being shown, once he masters it, he'll be quite extraordinary." Klaus appeared back into the room, but this time it appeared that Cindy and Wesley both noticed him.

"Holy hell...this day just keeps getting weirder by the second," Cindy says in disbelief and Wesley just stares at the man.

"Wait you guys can see him?"

"What do you mean? It'd be kind of hard to miss a 6-foot British man don't you think!?" Cindy was obviously going crazy and taking this all in bit by bit while also in hiding from a firey man, wasn't exactly helping.

"Listen, I know this is a lot to take in." Jace started, getting a chuckle from Wesley. "Yeah man no kidding, that's putting it lightly."

"We can sort this all out after we escape from the crazy guy on the other side of this door, okay?" Jace put the amulet around his neck. "We need to call the police."

At the police station, Jackie was at her desk getting some paperwork done when a file dropped on her desk. "The lab reports came back. Get this, there were actually fingerprints found around our dead guy's neck the night he died. They figured out after finding traces of someone else's' DNA." Detective Jones landed against Jackie's desk as he explained all of this, watching as she examined the report herself.

"Do we know who they belong to?" She finally asked, looking up at her partner.

"Which leads to my next find." Jones gave her a paper, with a picture of Marcus on it. "Name is Marcus Martinez, only known for petty thefts, been incarcerated a few times but other than that, he seems like just a petty criminal."

"Yeah well not everyone is like they seem. According to our witness, he apparently has the ability to control fire so when we find this guy we gotta be prepared." Suddenly a group of officers began gearing up, which got Jackie's attention. "Hey, what's going on?"

"There's been an attack at the Wiles Estate. The neighbor said he heard screaming coming from the house and the sound of glass breaking," The policeman responded as he put his gun in its holster.

"Wiles? Isn't that boy friends with Jace and Cindy?" Jones asked which gave Jackie an uneasy feeling. "Alright I'm coming with you, lets go."

"But Detective-"

"No buts, I'm coming." With that being said, she got her gun and headed out with the policemen following her, she hopes her nephew was okay.

Jace was far from okay. At the moment, the door was being burned down, and sooner or later, the man was gonna burst in there and they were gonna be in deep trouble. "Klaus...How do we get out of here?" Jace and his friends slowly backed away from the door as smoke started to seep in from the door.

Klaus stood there, trying to think of something. Jace was still new to all of this and he wasn't sure if he was ready for what he had in mind but they were in danger and if he didn't figure anything out soon, these three would be dead and the journey would end before it even began.

"Klaus!" Jace shouted snapping the man out of his thoughts before he looked at the children.

"Alright, Jason I'm going to need you to listen to me carefully okay? I need you to open a portal from here to...well somewhere but here. You're going to need full concentration to perform this." Klaus would explain, Marcus almost getting through the door.

"Uhh, that's gonna be kind of hard with a killer right on the other side!"

"Come on Jace, listen to the British man. You have to at least try or we're all toast!" Cindy exclaimed.

"Okay, okay I'll try." Jace took a step forward, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes.

"Try picturing the destination you want to go to. The surroundings, the sounds, the colors, all of it. Don't leave a single detail out otherwise it won't work," Klaus carefully explained. Jace nodded, trying to picture the entrance of the mansion, the surroundings, everything about it. Nothing was happening. Jace was about to give up when he felt two hands on his shoulders, they belong to his friends.

"You got this Jace, we're right here with you dude," Wes encouraged him, Cindy nodding her head in agreement.

Jace for the first time, in a while, smiled at them, happy to know that his friends were here by his side in such a horrible moment. They always were, even when his parents passed, his friends were there and he never appreciated them for it, and now he was going to. Closing his eyes again, he concentrated, the amulet glowing, a small portal beginning to form in the room. Cindy and Wesley gasped in disbelief.

"You did it, Jace!" Cindy exclaimed

The door was finally blasted open. "Ugh finally! What the hell was that door made of anyway?" Marcus blasted the desk out of the way and formed another fireball, blasting it at the three.

Jace quickly grabbed the two and jumped through the portal, appearing outside the mansion, the portal closing before Marcus could escape.

"We're still here?!" Cindy asked, looking around. "You couldn't have portaled us somewhere safer and far away from the fire lunatic? And I can't believe what I just said."

Jace stayed silent for a second. Although things were exactly making much sense to even him, he knew that this amulet was the key to stopping that guy inside and Marcus wasn't going to stop coming after them now that he knew what they looked like or lived, and he needed to be stopped. Jace turned to face the mansion.

"Jace...What are you doing?" Cindy started, somehow knowing what her friend was about to do.

"I'll be back." With that being said, the boy ran back into the building, looking down the hall and seeing Marcus exit a room, an evil smirk appearing on his face when he noticed the boy.

"You got a death sentence kid? Or did you think you could stop me all by yourself?"

Jace shrugged as he took a step back. "A little bit of both I guess." He'd then take off down the hall in the opposite direction towards the living room where he'd slide behind a couch. Jace didn't exactly know what the plan was here to stop this guy especially since he still had no clue how to use the amulet.

"I don't know if I should applaud you for your heroicness or call you foolish for coming back here without a plan," Klaus would say, standing above Jace.

"Or maybe you can help me take this guy down?" Jace peaked his head slightly from behind the couch.

"Take me down?" Marcus would say as he came into the living room. "You barely know how to use that power that's been given to you do you? You're a child playing with things he doesn't understand. Don't worry, every child needs a lesson and I'm more than eager to teach it to you!" Marcus shot another fireball beside the couch where Jace hid causing the boy to jump out of the way before the fire could spread over where he was. But then another fireball would be shot at the other side, he was now standing up with both sides of him being blocked with fire, his back against the wall as Marcus stepped closer to him, hand reaching up towards his neck, Jace's breathing was also intensifying from the fear that flooded his body, his heart rapidly beating.

"Don't worry, it'll be quick and painless..."

As Marcus' hands grew nearer and nearer, the amulet began to glow once more, Jace's eyes glowing a dark black color rather than it's usual purple like before. He raised his hand, extending it out and forcing Marcus against the wall, his other hand waving over the fires, putting them out instantly with some sort of magical force. Jace walked over to Marcus who was struggling to get out of this weird force, the young boy cocking his head to the side as he stared at him. Then as if out of instinct, he reaches out towards Marcus' chest. "W-wait, what are you doing!?" Marcus asked the fear on his face is evident as Jace places his hand on him. "No, get away from me! Get your hands away!" Marcus would then scream in pain as a small magical ritual circle appeared under Jace's hand as it went inside and he would slowly begin ripping out a soul it immediately turning back into a floating spirit orb, Marcus' unconscious body falling to the ground. The orb now floated in between Jace's hands as it was then drawn inside of the amulet, Jace's eyes almost immediately turning back to its original color, he immediately looking around confused about what had happened.

"GCPD!" A familiar voice shouted.

Jace quickly hid his amulet under his shirt before his aunt came into the living room, looking around before putting her gun away when she saw Jace who she quickly embraced. "Oh god, when I heard about what was happening here, I rushed here as soon as I heard what happened." She looked him over to make sure he was okay before looking at the man on the ground. "What happened here? Are you okay?"

"Jace!" Wesley and Cindy both ran into the room with Detective Jones and a few more officers following in. "We were so worried, don't ever do that again!" Cindy smacked his arm before hugging him.

"You guys gonna tell us what happened here?" Detective Jones asked, gesturing to the burnt spots around the room.

The three teens looked at one another before looking back at Cindy's Dad. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you Dad."

After that whole situation, Marcus was questioned about everything that had happened but he didn't even remember anything, stating that he had blacked out after that night in the alley.

Jace and his friends, well they explained how they saw it, leaving out the crystal detail that involved Jace but talking about how a man with fire abilities threatened their lives.

Klaus then explained to Cindy and Wesley, the reason everything happened today and surprisingly, they understood everything and were eager to help Jace even though he was still slightly against it. But if there were more people like Marcus who could hurt someone or worse, he didn't want them roaming around and so now the four of them planned to save the world, they were the only ones that could.