Worlds Between

Marcus Intro

Marcus glanced up at the sky, finding the gloomy weather far more appealing than the voice on the other end of the phone line "Yes, understood" he hung up "Bakana" he muttered, relaxing as he felt rain fall. In Seattle, rain was just a part of the scenery. He stopped, hearing what sounded like a van pull up behind him. He paused, hair standing slightly on end as the door opened. A familiar odor assaulted Marcus as he tensed, of course this would happen when there where few people around. He waited, hearing what he knew to be a man step out.

"Well well, Tuvia" he turned "To what do I owe the honor". The Serb stepped out, ice blue eyes, and every sign of being high off of meth making him look almost skeletal. "Why did you leave me hanging?" the addicts voice came in a clipped tone

"You started it, and I warned you I wouldn't bail you out, now..." Marcus paused "How about you get back in your van, and I'll be on my way. Oh and if you want to pin your ass kicking on me, I'll be happy to tell Arkon how you skimmed off of the product"

The Serb retreated, his lips curled into a snarl before getting back into the car and driving off. Marcus shook his head, "Stupid idiot, well it looks like I'll have a party at my pad tonight" he heaved a sigh. The little runt always brought help when he came back for round two.

Somewhere down the street, nearly out of sight, a slender girl watched the exchange with a frown. Sarah knew the boy, Marcus, from University and found this behaviour very unusual.

Marcus paused "great, now I'll have to move all my books to the flea bag....out standing" he muttered, passing by a slumped over homeless man, tossing a few coins in what he assumed was a collections cup. The day was fairly young, and already he'd gotten a sour phone call from his boss, and guarantee he'd be sleeping a run down apartment, in one of Seattle's worst neighborhoods. Marcus glanced over his shoulder, looking for any scouts.

The homeless man scrambled for the coins that Marcus tossed in his direction, collecting them and turning them over in his dirty, calloused hands. He frowned, crinkling his wrinkled brow and lowering his bushy eyebrows. The coins were warm to his touch, almost uncomfortably hot. Brown eyes followed Marcus as he walked away.

Marcus' phone rang again, the ring tone not at all helping his ire "What now?"

The voice on the other end was equally unhappy "I told you to leave the Serb alone Teno!"

Marcus sighed "Relax. Besides, what do you care? I'm the one camping out in that damned apartment" he waited for his handler to reply.

"At least you have a roof, some of the..."

Marcus cut him off "Yeah I know, some of them are on the street, but really....a former meth lab? The stench still makes my eyes water".

The voice on the other line descended to a deep whisper "Well then you should like where I'm sending you tonight".

Marcus stopped "I'm not going to Dustin's party tonight. Ciao!" he hung up, finding a concrete wall to sit up against. "Now where to go to cool off? The Dojo is closed today, and...screw it I'll just get to moving" he sighed. His hands felt warm, his parents had always told him it was because he was thick blooded, but he had to wonder; how was it possible to get warm, hot even to the point of discomfort and it all be because of blood? Thankfully Seattle tended to be cooler than most places.

Today, however, his hands were even hotter than usual. Steam rose from his fingertips.

"Damnit!" he whispered, reaching into his pocket and taking out the bottle of blood thinners. They didn't help much, besides making him bleed like a stuck pig on the simplest of things, and freeze easily. He looked at the back label take no more than one Marcus sighed, popping two and swallowing them dry. He gagged, as they got stuck. Marcus looked around, feeling his anger subside "Now to move all that crap, luckily still all in one place" he casually glanced around, making sure no one was paying him any undue attention, before slipping into the alley way towards his destination.

As Marcus' anger subsided, so did the heat in his hands.

Marcus found his way to the apartment. A sudden lightheaded feeling caused him to brace himself "What now?" he groaned, fumbling for the key. The stench upon opening the door, nearly made him vomit "Home sweet hole" he muttered. Leaving the door open, Marcus quickly searched the premise, rooting around in the fridge for something hopefully stronger than a beer. "And of course they drank it" he sighed. "Well that settles it, no way I'm staying here, sober and waiting for the punk to get here" he smiled at the thought of the Serb being left without his thirst for vengeance satisfied. By the time Marcus would be here next, his drug addled mind would have long forgotten it. He aired the place out, opening the windows and looking for anything that might be his next assignment drop.

There was a knock on Marcus' door.

The knock shook Marcus from his train of thought "Yeah?" he hollered from the back room. He cautiously made his way to the door, his right hand instinctively felt for the pistol concealed at his side.

The gaunt landlord was visible through the peep hole in the door. "Landlord. I need ta talk to ya, open up." His voice was a little on-edge, hoarse.

Marcus caught the edge in his voice stoner he laughed to himself before opening the door "Afternoon" he managed pleasantly "Time to pay the rent already?"

The landlord was pushed aside abruptly by an indistinct man dressed entirely in black. Another man, who had been standing against the wall to the right of the doorframe, trained a handgun on Marcus' forehead. "Freeze!"

Marcus slowly raised his hands, open palmed to ear level. His face, was entirely devoid of expression, but his mind was calculating a myriad different things. Without moving his eyes, Marcus casually observed the two men "What seems to be the problem gentlemen?" He felt his ire build.

"We'll need you to come with us. We recommend you do so quietly." The man who had been pressuring the landlord spoke up. His tone was reasonable, charismatic even. Confident.

Marcus, sensing an air of authority "I'm a cop, my badge is on the table" his voice still held no change in emotion. The whole thing reminded him of a mob hit, or more ominously like a gang hijacking back home.

"Your laws hold no power over us," the man answered and shrugged dismissively with one shoulder, yet his cool eyes observed and assesed Marcus carefully. Some combat training, he mused, and experience. This man could be an asset. "We're playing a bigger game. I'm part of a scientific organization that thinks you have .. something we need."

Marcus relaxed slightly "Science eh? What is it? Anthrax, bio weapons? I've been down the whole nine yards sir, and to be perfectly honest all i'm trying to do is live my life as peaceably as i can" that last bit was only partially true, and he could only imagine the laugh he would have gotten from his father. He paused, his guard flaring back up "But i doubt it's anything man made your hear to talk about, so do i at least get a brief description of what i might be getting myself into?"

The man with the gun advanced slowly, entering the room and quickly analyzing it from a tactical perspective. The leader walked through the door frame and closed the door securely behind himself before answering Marcus. He liked that Marcus ackowledged his authority. Very promising indeed. "A description would be pointless. A demonstration then," He lifted one black-gloved hand. A tongue of flames, perhaps a foot long, appeared above his palm. It flickered and crackled angrily, and Marcus could feel the warmth of it from where he stood.

Curiosity overtook any fear he might have had "If this is the nature of the beast i can see why an explanation would be useless....but how is this possible?" even as he asked, his thoughts turned to the bottles of blood thinners he took to suppress what might be the very same thing that was happening in front of him.

"That is precisely what we want to know. A small number of individuals are able to do what I just show you. We want to find them, and work with them." The man's keen eyes again fixed on Marcus. He suspect the shift in Marcus' thoughts, "The fire is in you. You will come with us." It was not a question.

Marcus boiled slightly at the ultimatum "And i suppose if i refuse, then i would be granted the eternal dirt nap?" Something had kindled in him, the fire from the other man had stirred something almost akin to a second spirit that made him uneasy. 

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