A NEW BEGINNING CHAPTER - 4 GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

"Finally, the fire department's here." said one of the teachers after hearing the sirens.

"QUICK!!, my cousin is still in there." Chloe shouted still in a state of panic.

Suddenly, both Chloe and Max heard a loud sound that came from around the back.

"What was that?, asked Max as he and Chloe went to check it out.

What they heard was the sound of Justin punching a hole through a concrete wall.

"I can't believe that worked." said Justin as he reluctantly pulled Duncan out of the blazing building. Justin thought to himself that he probably should've left Duncan inside.

Unfortunately, Justin's body was covered in third degree burns from head to toe. His shirt was almost completely burned off.

"Justin, is that you?" Chloe called out.

"Where you at man?" asked Max.

"Oh no," Justin whispered to himself.

If they saw him it would bring up too many questions, so he decided to make a run for it.

"Its Duncan, but what's he doing back here?." said Chloe as Duncan lied there unconscious.

"Justin must still be inside." said Max.

Unknowing to them, Justin was running away as the gym was burning to the ground. Even though he was covered in burns, he changed out of his gym clothes,... or what's left of them and took advantage of the chaos that he caused to sneak away from school.

"I gotta get back to the A.D.A, maybe Director Stone can explain what the hell is going on with me." Justin whispered to himself.

Not fully analyzing his surroundings, Justin bumped into a guy while running away, another student it seemed.

"Why the hell don't you watch where... WOW, what the hell happened to you?" he asked Justin as he saw the burns on his hands, neck and on his face and then he saw the smoke and a fire truck.

"Sorry, I need to go." Justin interrupted and ran off before the guy put the pieces together.

Justin finally arrived at the A.D.A. about an hour after running away from the chaos he had caused.

"Director Stone, I need your help." said Justin.

"What's the problem ?" asked Director Stone confused.

"What?!, don't you see the burn marks on my body?" Justin exclaimed, not amused by the situation.

"Umm...what burn marks?" asked Director Stoned, utterly confused.

Justin looked at his body only to notice that the burns were completely gone.

"They're gone, I don't believe it." said Justin in awe.

"Justin, just tell us everything that happened." said Director Stone.

Justin started to fill them in on everything that happened throughout the day.

"I know all of this sounds impossible but..." Justin tried to finish but he was cut off.

"Incredible!" Director Stone exclaimed, his tone excited.

"We need to run some test immediately." He continued still in a state of awe from Justin's recount of the day's events.

Meanwhile, a bank robbery was in progress.

"Now, put all the money in the bag." the crook ordered the teller.

Suddenly, sirens could be heard outside the bank.

"We have you surrounded, come out with your hands up." said Captain Sting, who was the head of the police force, over the megaphone.

"Took them long enough." said the crook with a smirk on his face, like he planned this, as if they had fallen into his trap.

The crook did as they said and stepped out of the bank, but the police were in for a big surprise. The crook started getting bigger in size, his muscles tripled in size and his strength was also tripled,...twice.

"What the hell?!" exclaimed captain Sting as the crook lifted up one of the police cars and threw it at them almost effortlessly.

"GET DOWN!!" captain Sting shouted as everyone tried to dodge it.

"Everyone, open fire." Captain Sting commanded.

Even as every officer fired the guns at him until all of them were almost completely out of bullets, it didn't affect him. Every bullet bounced right off him.

"That tickles." the crook said sarcastically with a smirk on his face.

The crook started to go on the offensive, but as a result, a handful of the officers were either injured or...dead. Fortunately, Captain Sting survived and wasn't injured much.

"What the hell was that guy?" he asked himself as the crook leaped a tall building in a single bound and left.

The crook went to an unknown location to meet with someone. As he arrived he heard a voice in the shadows.

"Mission report Mr. Brody?" inquired the man in the shadows.

"You can just call me Rick. Anyways, I've been causing trouble for weeks, news about my powers has spread, so don't worry, it'll only be a matter of time before the A.D.A get involved,...like moths to a flame." said the crook or rather Rick Brody.

"You've been saying that for weeks now and still the A.D.A has yet to make a move. When I gave you your powers I expected you to put them to good use and get me what I want." said the man in the shadows as he started getting impatient.

"I-I-I know sir but..." Rick stuttered in fear before he was cut off.

"I don't want any excuses, just get it done. If you fail me again, I'll take your powers back, maybe your life too." the man in the shadows threatened.

"Y-Yes, I understand sir." Rick replied in fear.

While all this is going on, Justin was lying down under an x-ray machine so that Kate could see what was happening inside his body.

"Well, how does it look?" asked Director Stone eager for answers.

"Your not going to believe this but, Justin's cells are somehow generating pure energy, and that energy is spreading, to his bones, his organs, his muscles, even his blood is energy." Kate reported.

"That's amazing." said Director Stone most impressed.

"That's not all, the energy seems to be enhancing him." Kate continued.

"Enhancing him in what way?" asked Director Stone.

"Its enhancing his physical attributes, like his strength, speed, agility and reflexes. It's also enhancing or should I say heightening his senses, which explains why he's been seeing far away objects, super hearing, super smell and feeling things that aren't touching his skin." Kate explained.

"What about those burn marks he was talking about?" asked Director Stone.

"That's just it, it's like the energy inside him enhances his regenerative capabilities, not only boosting and speeding up his healing process...but also enabling him to heal from fatal, life threatening wounds that should be impossible to heal from,...like healing from third degree burns in less than 2 hours without leaving his skin with so much as a single scar." Kate continued to explain.

"That's unbelievable. But he's probably freaked out, I'll go talk to him." said Director Stone.

"How're you holding up kid?" asked Director Stone as he entered the room.

"Honestly, I don't know how to answer that question, I'm some kind of freak of nature now." said Justin with a depressing look on his face.

"Come on now, you're not a freak, I mean, you have powers that people can only dream of,...gifts even." said Director Stone trying to cheer him up.

"Gifts?!, what part of this looks like a gift to you?, Sure, I might be stronger and faster and more agile than before, but I can see, hear, smell and feel things that I shouldn't be able to see, hear, smell and feel." said Justin trying to make a point.

"Plus I almost blew up part of the school, luckily it was just the gym, plus I could've hurt my cousin Chloe and I could've even hurt your daughter, Amethyst. So no this isn't a gift." Justin continued.

"Plus, I hurt Duncan,........ well, now that I think about it, that's the only bright side, he was an asshole anyway." Justin said in a cruel tone.

"So the cube was what my dad was working on, to give people powers, all of those human experiments he did back in the day, and now I have powers. Looks like I'm still gonna continue suffering for my father's past crimes."

"Come on Justin, you can't say that, anyways... I get what your saying about these powers not being gifts, but you can learn to control them." said Director Stone.

Soon after, Director Stone made Justin go through trials to test the limits of Justin's abilities, in other words training him. He tested him for the next couple of hours.

"These test results are great. Seems he can run up to 80 mph, and as for strength, he can't lift anything heavier than a car...which is still good, he'll get stronger and faster as he trains and he can control his heightened senses better now." said Director Stone.

"Yeah, that's impressive, but there's something weird though, we thought that the energy he's generating was from the cube but his energy and the cube's aren't the same, even the colour is different, the cube's energy is dark blue but his energy is light blue with a little white in it." Said Kate.

"Wait, you're saying his powers didn't come from the cube, but he didn't have powers before the accident, so where did they come from?" asked Director Stone.

"I suppose I'm over thinking just forget...." said Kate as she was cut off.

"Director Stone, you need to see this." said Mr. Jones

"What is it?" asked Director Stone.

"Brody has struck again sir, at a bank and to make it worse, he apparently has powers now." said Mr. Jones.

"WHAT?!, that's the fifth time this week, and if he really has powers now, that makes him even more dangerous." said Director Stone.

"We might suffer casualties if he has powers,... but Justin has a good handle on his powers, maybe he can help us." Director Stone spoke up.

"You think that little bra... I mean that kid, is up for that." asked Mr. Jones.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd be happy to help us." said Director Stone.

"No way in hell!!" said Justin as Director Stone came seeking his aid.

"Say what, I just told them that you would definitely help us, your embarrassing me kid, plus he's dangerous, I know it's asking a lot but we need your help."

"Sorry, that's not my problem." said Justin in a cold tone.

"Why would I care if he's hurting other people, those people have done nothing but make me and my mom's lives miserable and unbearable for 12 years, why would I ever want to help them." Justin continued.

"But you have powers now, and you know,... with great power comes great responsibility." said Director Stone.

"Seriously, you're going to quote Spider-Man right now." Justin replied annoyed.

"Well he was your favorite super hero when you were a kid." said Director Stone.

"He still is. But that changes nothing, when the world turned it's back on me , I turned my back on the world, so I have no interest in being some hero, what need is there for heroes when this world isn't worth saving,.... at least not to me." said Justin.

"I don't believe this, how could you be so selfish, you don't deserve the powers you've been given." Mr. Jones spat.

"I don't remember asking for these powers,...ok, let me dumb it down a little for those of us who are obviously mentally impaired." Justin said as he started getting angry.

"You little..." Mr. Jones began but was able to control himself.

"I don't care what happens to anyone else besides myself, if I see a building on fire, I'm not the kind of person who would put myself in danger by trying to help someone or trying to put the fire out, I'm the type of person who would just sit back and watch it burn, hell I'd probably enjoy the view." said Justin with a furious expression on his face and hatred in his voice.

"Are you serious Justin?, a lot of people are going to suffer because of this." said Director Stone.

"And why should I care, those people have done nothing but increase my suffering my entire life, so why should i lift a finger to ease theirs." said Justin starting to get emotional.

Director Stone was shocked at what he heard, he realized how much bitterness and hatred he was habouring in his heart, but judging by everything he went through throughout his whole life everywhere he went, it's no surprise that those are his true feelings.

"I'm going home, my mom's probably back from her business trip by now. I can wish you guys luck at least." said Justin as he was walking out the door.

" You can't leave now." said Mr. Jones.

"Like I said before, this doesn't concern me, but you're more than welcome to try and stop me." said Justin as his eyes and hands started glowing blue again.

"That wasn't a request." said Mr. Jones as grabbed a hold of his arm.

"Let go of me!" Justin shouted as he, without knowing his own strength pushed him. Due to his enhanced strength, Mr. Jones went flying across the room and hit his head. Everyone rushed to see if he was alright but he was unconscious.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean...it was an accident." As everyone stared at him in either surprise....or fear, an then he just left.

Meanwhile.......

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know why the A.D.A haven't taken the bait yet." said Rick Brody.

"Never mind that. There's something else you can do. There's a woman out there with some valuable information, about Joe Jackson (Justin's father) and his research. My sources tell me she's back in town. Find her, bring her to me, I need her alive,....for now." said the man in the shadows.

"Where can I find her?" asked Rick.

Meanwhile.......

"Justin,... are you here?" asked Sarah, Justin's mom, as she finally returned home from her business trip.

Suddenly, someone knocked at the door and she went to open it. Expecting her son. It was Rick.

"Sarah Jackson?" asked Rick.

"Yeah, who's asking?, hey what the...." she answered but was cut off as he knocked her unconscious and took her away.

Justin has already lost a father,...and now there is a chance,....that he might loose his mother too.

Hello again my loyal readers. I really hope you enjoyed that chapter and that cliffhanger.

~KEOKROSTOS