Chapter 41: Stalker
Mark walked down the docks sighing as he did. He didn't mind Megan but she was a bit touchy-feely, which he also didn't mind, but she was kinda suffocating; plus she brought no small amount of trouble with her in the form of Cole, her 'Ex' boyfriend who didn't understand he had already been dumped. As nice a person as Megan was he didn't wanna deal with that kind of stuff, he just wanted to continue living a relaxing life in Bayview while he figured out some stuff about himself.
'Maybe some more about this necklace too...' he thought to himself as he untucked it from his shirt and looked at the weirdly shaped object. Two of the gems had started to flow brightly while the other four remained dull and lifeless. He knew there was more to this necklace than met the eye, he had taken it to an appraiser once, but when the man asked him to take it off he felt like beating the man to death, fearing he would steal it. A small part of him wondered if this was the reason behind his supernatural powers, maybe he was some kind of magician or a wizard. "Pfft yeah right," he said to himself as he tucked the amulet back into his shirt and continued onwards.
*Creak*
Mark whipped his head around, his whole body was tensed and his fists were clenched; he scanned for any trace of an enemy or an ambusher but found none. A few seconds later he breathed out and wondered why he got so worked up by the sound of the wood creaking. 'Enemies? What enemies?' He thought to himself with a laugh as he turned back around and continued walking down the docks. Mark got to the end of the docks and stood in front of the empty space where John's ship the 'Sea Shepherd' should've been. Squinting his eyes he could see that the ship was out in the bay and had yet to come back in; John had warned him they'd be doing some checks on the pods before they set sail.
Mark sighed before turning around and sitting on a large barrel that was on the dock. There was no point in going somewhere else now as he was sure they'd be back soon, so he just decided to wait. Picking a coin out of his pocket he started rolling it between his fingers, when he looked down at the coin he could notice how it would fall and where it would go next; it seemed a daily occurrence that his vision would keep getting better, but he didn't tell anyone in the Evans family, he felt like it would be an unnecessary worry for them. Mark then flicked the coin to his other hand and continued doing it, his reflexes and eyesight were incredible; he couldn't help but laugh as he did tricks with a coin only a magician would do.
*Creak*
The wood creaking again distracted him and the coin shot out of his and into the sea. He tried to reach for it, but it was already out of his grasp, what happened next shocked him as he expected the coin to fly out into the sea, but instead, it froze midair before flying back into his hands. He turned his hand around and looked at the coin lying flat on it "That's new," he said to himself as he picked the coin off his hand and put it back into his pocket. Mark looked to the location of the wood creaking and as expected he saw nothing of note, he did see a single magpie though walking on the deck.
*Horn*
Mark looked off into the bay as the Sea Shepard came closer. He pushed himself off the barrel and got ready for their arrival. As the ship pulled up alongside the dock, John who was standing by the edge hopped off with a smile on his face. "Good to see you Mark, sorry we are a bit late," he said as he clapped him on the shoulders.
"No problem, how are the pods?" He asked.
He squeezed his shoulder and smiled "The pods are perfect, we just need an engine and equipment check and we should be off by tomorrow," John replied.
"Then I guess we should get to work," Mark said as he jumped over the edge of the ship landing with his left foot first. As he jumped on he noticed a group of four people on the ship; Mark thought this was a pretty small number since they were going to be doing some pretty dangerous work, but the Sea Shepard wasn't a very large ship so perhaps he shouldn't be surprised.
"Mark this is Mike, Fitz, George and Lenny," John said as he pointed to each of the crew.
Mike was a large, bald, dark-skinned man at least two heads taller than Mark, the man looked as if he could pick up one of the pods by himself. "How's it goin' kid," Mike said in a thick baritone voice as he held his hand out for Mark to shake which he did.
"Mike here's been on the crew here the longest, 13 years if I recall?" John said.
Mike nodded "That's right boss, started just after my little girl was born, she turnin' 13 in a few months too."
"Stop it! Stop it!" One of the crew said to both of them, he was short and slender with red hair, he was a bit twitchy and seemed to be nervous.
John laughed "This is Fitz he's a bit superstitious at times," he said while looking at Mark.
"You can't say 13 three times in a row it's bad luck!" Fitz said as his arm twitched and he drew in on himself.
"We said it two times you just said it a third," Mike said as he crossed his arms.
Fitz's eyes widened and he grabbed his hair "Ohhh godddd!" He said as he ran back into the interior of the ship.
Mark raised an eyebrow "Is he okay?" He asked.
"Don' mind ol' Fitzy there, he be wana the best navigators this side of the globe, he just a bit special," An Old man with a bushy grey beard said.
"Aye he be special," Another identical old man said.
"This is George and Lenny, twin brothers, who spent the first 40 years of their lives on boats before coming to Bayview," John said.
"We 'ope you can fix the engines lad, otherwise we be heading to the depths," George said as he pulled a pipe from his pocket and lit the end of it.
Mark leaned over to John "Do they always talk like that?" He asked.
John sighed "You get used to it..." he said in a tired voice.
"Anyway, now that I've introduced you to the crew we can take you to where you'll be working," John said as he led Mark into the bowels of the ship where the engines were. As Mark walked inside he accidentally bumped into Fitz who was carrying a mirror that fell to the ground and shattered "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" Fitz said as he crouched and started picking up the pieces and putting them into the mirror frame like pieces of a puzzle.
"Shit I'm sorry Fitz, I wasn't looking where I was going," Mark said apologetically but Fitz ignored him in favour of putting the mirror back together.
"Best we leave him when he gets like this," John whispered as he urged Mark forward and pat Fitz on the back as he walked past him.
"We've been having a few problems with our engines, the fuel dial is stuck on the same number and I can't seem to get it to change, be a real bother if we ran out of fuel in the middle of the North Sea," John chucked as he explained.
"I'll see what I can do, it shouldn't be too complicated," Mark said with a grin. Though he soon changed his mind when they walked into the engine room of the ship, the pictures he'd seen in the books he'd read didn't do it justice, it was completely unlike a car engine, but as soon as he saw the boat engine his mind started racing and forming connections with everything he'd read previously. At a rapid speed, he categorised and located all the essential parts of the engine and everything that would need to be checked —at least according to what he read. Taking off his coat and rolling up his sleeves he got to work.
...
After a couple of hours, Mark had finished and had gotten the engine into as best condition he was able to, though he was sure a proper boat engineer could've done more. When he came back up he saw everyone sitting down at the table eating food "Hey Mark, I was just about to bring you some grub down, come pop a squat," John said as he slapped the seat next to him.
Mark nodded and took the seat where he was platted up some food, a beef stew of some kind. "One thing you come to miss when you're out at sea for months is meat, so we always try and stock up as much fresh meat as we can to avoid the canned stuff," John said as he spooned some of the brown liquid into his mouth.
"Keeps you from freezing your balls off too," George added.
"Aye it does," Lenny said.
Mark tasted it and was surprised at how good it was, but he felt it could use a little more seasoning so he reached for the salt, as he did John accidentally nudged him when he shifted in his seat and he ended up knocking it over. "Ah, shit!" Mark cursed as he picked it up.
"Oh no! Oh no!" Fitz said as he saw Mark spill the salt. He reached over to the spilt salt and grabbed a handful before throwing it over his left shoulder and right into Mike who was walking behind him to take wash his plate.
"Come on Man," Mike said as he felt the salt go into his shirt.
"Sorry!" Fitz said as he started twitching more noticeably.
"It's okay Fitz it's just an accident," John said trying to reassure the young lad.
John then turned to Mark "So Mark how're the engines looking, Are we good to sail tomorrow on Friday?"
Mark nodded "They seem to be running within normal perimeters, if there is something wrong I wouldn't know," he said with a shrug as he started eating.
"Good then, we will be gone from the 13th to the 13th, but it could extend depending on how much we catch," John said.
"I hope you're ready."
———————————————————-
She thought she'd never have to think again, she thought she could drift through this house like a ghost until either she died or the world did, but when she saw the man look at her the embers of thought ignited a whole flame inside her and she almost felt like gnawing on her hands as she tried to figure out how this was possible. No one should be able to see her, she shouldn't exist to them, and she shouldn't be able to be perceived by anyone.
She walked to the balcony of her house and looked out over the town of Bayview. Tears started to stream down her face, and with the resurgence of independent thought emotions came flooding back, thoughts of her friends and loved ones she'd left behind and would never see again. For the first time since she came to this house, she decided to leave it, she would not get any rest until she discovered why this man could see her. She wanted to go back to her void where she could sleep for eternity.
She flew off the balcony and towards the town, the man she was looking for wasn't difficult to find as his life aura was simply huge. She landed in the harbour of Bayview and started to stalk the man; if he could see her then it's possible he was a demon of some kind or a master sorcerer, but even then she doubted that they would have the power to overcome her spell. As she followed him she found him painfully boring, he wasn't doing anything interesting, just walking along the docks.
*Creak*
She hid behind a crate as soon as she saw his muscles twitch. For some reason, sweat was pouring down her neck and she felt nervous; this wasn't supposed to happen, no sound she made should ever be able to be heard by another being, especially one as normal as this young man —though the fact that he could see her it was clear he was anything but a regular man. She waited until he turned back asking and started to walk away until she continued stalking him. She watched as he reached the end of the Dock and sat down on a barrel, he flicked a coin between his hands with a skill that went beyond human.
'A Meta human perhaps?' She thought to herself as she stepped forward to her a better look.
*Creak*
She cursed as she made the same mistake again, and the worst part was there was nothing to hide behind, but luckily he seemed to be more concerned with the coin that flicked out of his hand and went into the sea. Except it didn't and she saw how he managed to draw it back to his hand using a strange force.
She was satisfied with what she had found out for now and flew up into the air before heading back to her home. She now knew that this man wasn't normal, but she needed to know why he allowed him to see her, once she did she could make adjustments and go back to her peace.
———————————————————-
Zatanna was nervous she was sitting in the Hall of Justice waiting for her new partners who had been assigned to assist her with tracking the necklace that was causing the disruption of balance. She had never truly been on a mission before as her father was protective, but even he knew the gravity of the situation and that he couldn't afford not to use her talents.
'They're late...' she thought to herself as she stood up and left the room deciding to look around. She walked from the back rooms of the hall to the main atrium where statues of all the heroes were placed. She felt a pang of pain run through her as she looked at the statue of Dick Grayson, she wasn't especially close to him but they had met when they were younger and he was nice, he didn't deserve to die so young. Though in truth none of them did.
She was curious about the new Hero Invincible, she knew he was dead now, but she found it strange that he just popped up so abruptly and managed to kill Doomsday and the Joker. When she asked her father about that he didn't answer her, which wasn't too surprising, she hoped that maybe she could get some answers from the people she'd be working with.
"You are Zatanna yes?"
Zatanna turned around and was greeted by a tall woman with a muscular body, she looked almost identical to Wonder Woman "Wonder Girl?" She asked hesitantly and she nodded.
"You can call me Donna when we are alone," Donna said with a small smile before walking past her and up to the statue of Invincible. She knelt down in front of it and reached into her pocket bringing out a gold coin that she placed on its pedestal.
"Did you know him?" Zatanna asked as she approached from behind.
Donna shook her head sadly "Not as much as I would've liked to," she replied.
"There is so little known about him, one day he just shows up and becomes one of the greatest heroes in the league," Zatanna said.
"Invincible... is an example of the Justice League's failure," Donna said solemnly as she touched the base of the statue.
Zatanna frowned as she looked at Donna "What do you mean?" She asked.
Donna stood up and turned towards her "The Justice League hunted him down for crimes he had not yet committed and even came close to killing him," she explained.
Zatanna gasped "The Justice League wouldn't do that!" She said incredulously.
Donna's face didn't change "They did, remember the fight Superman engaged in many months ago, it was against Invincible, he pierced his hand through his stomach and threw him into the sea," she said as she walked passed Zatanna.
Zatanna felt her shock increase as she hurriedly tried to catch up with Donna "But despite the Justice League almost killing him he came to our aid when Omni-Man threatened to take over to world, it's hard to believe that even then I did not think him a good person, but still a mere criminal," Donna said regretfully.
Zatanna remembered the fight between Omni-Man and the Justice League, in truth, until it became public information she thought that it was them who defeated him. "He helped us with the underground auction when he could've easily abandoned us after he got what he wanted," she added.
"He saved me from a grim fate... and then saved everyone from Doomsday."
"If there was ever a true hero then his name is Invincible."
Zatanna found herself shocked at what she was being told, in truth if she was betrayed like that by everyone in the league she didn't know if she would be able to come back and help them, she hoped she would but she couldn't be sure. Donna and Zatanna didn't speak anymore and walked back to the back rooms of the hall to wait for the last person to arrive, but when they arrived it seemed they didn't need to.
"You girls are finally here, let's get this over with I have coursework I need to get done," Miss Marvel said as small sparks of lightning danced around her.
(AN: I know some of you will not like the slower pace I'm taking, but I don't wanna just jump straight into another arc like I did last time, I think some build up could be better. I hope you liked the chapter)
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