A NEW BEGINNING CHAPTER - 5 FINAL PART

"Mom, you here?, why's the door wide open?" Justin called as he got home.

After getting no replies, Justin started to realize that something was wrong. After a bit of scanning, he saw that there were signs of a struggle around him. He naturally started to assume the worst as it was unlike his mother to go somewhere without telling him.

"Oh no." Justin thought to himself as he started to panic, he realized what exactly had taken place in his absence.

Meanwhile......

"How you feeling soldier?" asked Director Stone.

"I'm good sir" Kate answered.

" I just have a concussion." Mr. Jones added.

"I suggest you take it easy for a while." Director Stone suggested as he analyzed them.

"That's okay Director, I really am fine, but when I see that brat again I'm gonna...." Mr. Jones started angrily before he was cut off.

" Jones all that was an accident, he still can't fully control his powers,....plus, he has a huge temper and it seems his powers reacted to that." said Director Stone in Justin's defense.

"I need your help!!" Justin exclaimed as he barged in with a panicked expression painted on his face.

"Speak of the devil, you have some nerve coming back here after you refused to help us." Mr. Jones spat, still a bit angry at the boy.

"Shut it Jones, I don't have time for your crap right now." Justin spat back.

"Say what, did you forget what you did, were you trying to kill me or something?" asked Mr. Jones completely shaken by Justin's behavior.

"Oh quit your complaining and grow up, you seem fine to me." Justin replied with no remorse.

"Enough you two, I'm serious,......honestly Justin, you're terrible at controlling your temper.... you're just like your mother. Anyways, what's the matter?" asked Director Stone already over the back and forth bickering.

"I'm not sure but I think someone kidnapped my mom." Justin spoke up trying not breakdown.

"What?!, Sarah?" Director Stone asked and shouted at the same time.

All of a sudden someone popped up on the main monitor in front of them, which caused them to forget their conversation. Dr. Stone realized that the A.D. A system must have been hacked. The person on the monitor was Rick Brody.

"What the hell?" Director Stone whispered to himself in confusion.

"It seems our system is hacked, somehow I can't gain access to our monitor's controls." Kate voiced as she kept tapping away at a hologram.

"Director Jayce Stone, I know you are in possession of the cube. Hand it over,... or this woman's blood will be on your hands." Rick spoke getting straight to the point as he brought Sarah in front of the camera.

"Mom!" Justin exclaimed in fear as he started to rushed to get as close as he could to the monitor.

"That bastard!, he's taken her as a hostage." Director Stone spoke in anger.

"I'll send you my location. You have until the end of the day to make your decision, and come alone, if you try anything funny...I'll snap her neck like a twig." Rick Instructed as he ended his speech and cut the feed.

"How does he even know about the cube much less that we have it?" asked Kate.

"I don't know but he does." Director Stone replied.

"Justin?, where are you going?" asked Director Stone as he watched the youngster make a beeline for the containment units.

"I'm going to get the cube, obviously" Justin replied.

"Like hell you are." Director Stone spoke as his tone started to get serious.

"What's the problem man, he gets the cube I get my mom back." Justin voiced oblivious to his stupidity.

"Justin, I want to save Sarah as much as you do but...." Director Stone began to explain but he was cut off.

"Really, well it doesn't look like it." Justin said as he brushed him off.

"Will you listen to me, Under no circumstances can we give him the cube, I know you don't really care about anyone but yourself but I do." Director Stone tried to reason with him.

"After all this, after everything that's happened, do you still not understand how powerful, how dangerous it is?" Director Stone continued.

"I get it, it's extremely powerful, but the cube isn't worth my mother's life, at least not to me." Justin replied with his mind made up.

"Director, I might have an idea about why he wants the cube, you remember what happened on 7/15?" Kate spoke up.

"You think he wants to give other people powers, but that would be a waste of time, all the test subjects died 12 years ago, no human has survived after receiving the cubes energy." Director Stone finished for her, debunking her theory at the same time.

"Until now sir" Kate continued as she looked straight at Justin.

Suddenly, Director Stone and the others started to realize something, Justin is the only person who has survived after being exposed to the raw power of the cube, but why?

"Why's everyone looking at me like that?" asked Justin.

"Oh, it's nothing." said Director Stone as he was trying not to alarm the boy. He realized that if the wrong people like Brody found out about Justin and his powers, he would become an even bigger target than he probably already is for just being Joe Jackson's son.

"Listen, I don't have time to debate this with you, I need to save my mom." Justin spoke as he grew impatient.

Meanwhile.....

"So it seems like you found her, excellent!" said the man in the shadows.

"Oh,... I-it's you boss, I didn't know you were here." Rick Brody said startled.

"Sarah Jackson, I'm glad that we finally found you, you are a very difficult woman to track down, we have much to discuss." The man in the shadows said as he completely ignored Rick.

"And who the hell are you, why won't you show your face huh?" Sarah asked as she started to get very angry.

"My identity is irrelevant at this time." He replied.

"I swear, if I wasn't shackled, I would kick both your asses this instant" Sarah said as she started to loose her temper.

"Shut it bitch!" Rick growled as he kicked her in her stomach.

"Agh!!" Sarah groaned.

"I'll remember that, bet on it." Sarah told Rick ignoring the pain she was in.

"Stop wasting time Mr. Brody, like I said, we have a lot to discuss." The man in the shadows said as he was starting to get annoyed.

"Cough!, Aghh!, what could we possibly have to discuss?" Sarah asked.

"Well for instance, your husband's research on the cube and the exact location of the A.D.A." he replied.

Sarah became silent as her heart skipped and eyes widened from shock.

"How does he know about the cube much less the A.D.A?, Just who the hell is this guy?" Sarah thought to herself.

"Cube?, A.D.A?, sorry but I don't know what you're talking about." She said as she tried to throw them off.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" he asked.

"I'm going to ask you another question, If you lie to me again, the consequences will be.......well, rather unpleasant. You have a son don't you?, His name's Justin right." He continued.

"You bastard." she said as she started getting riled up.

"What are the identities of the A.D.A's founding members?" he continued.

"What would he want with the founding members, unless...." She thought to herself.

"Yes, I'm going to kill them, if that's what you're wondering." He said.

A feeling of dread and hate befell Sarah as she learned his intentions.

Meanwhile at the A.D.A......

"How you holding up kid?" asked Director Stone as he came to cheer Justin up.

"Oh I'm good,....it's not like my mom has been kidnapped by some kinda supervillain." Justin replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ha, yeah, dumb question." said Director Stone with a slight grin on his face.

"I know what you're thinking, you're probably thinking that if I had helped you take this guy down like you asked me to, he wouldn't have kidnapped my mom, right?!" Justin asked.

"No, I wasn't thinking that,....but you're not wrong though." said Director Stone.

"But of course if I had known he was planning to kidnap her I would've definitely helped in taking him down" said Justin trying to justify his selfishness and his small-mindedness.

"I get why you only care about yourself and your mother, considering everything that you went through in your life but,..." Director Stone began as he was cut off.

"It's not only because of what I went through,....it's because of what my mom and I went through." Justin interrupted.

"She was fired from her job that she loved more than almost anything, then because of our ruined reputation, caused by my father, no one would hire her, friends and even her own sister, Sofia deserted her. And when then when I was about 8 I think, it finally got to her and I saw her,....a strong woman, burst into tears; and I never want to see that again." He continued.

"I get that, what you went through was terrible and I get why you can't forgive them. Yet what you fail to understand is that the choices we make have consequences and that it's wrong to allow something terrible to happen to other people when you know you have the power to stop it. Whether superpowers or otherwise, just because you deem those people unworthy of your consideration, and I just don't agree with that." Director Stone honestly put his thoughts across for the boy to understand.

"Remember, with great power....." he continued before he was cut off once again.

"Comes great responsibility, yeah,.... whatever you say." Justin interrupted.

"Hmph! Agree to disagree then Director." said Justin as he seemed unphased by what he said.

"Sigh!, He's hopeless,... but I'm not giving up on him." Director Stone thought to himself.

"And you don't have to call me Director, you can just call me uncle Jayce like when you were a kid." he continued.

"I don't really remember any of that, I hardly remember much about you, my memory is a little foggy around that time, plus that would be too weird." Justin replied honestly.

"Oh right, I forgot that you don't have some of your memories after .....um....ah..." Director Stone began but stopped himself.

"After......what?" asked Justin curiously.

"Ah, never mind, forget I said anything." said Director Stone acting suspicious as the mood of the conversation took a weird turn.

"I almost exposed myself there." Director Stone thought to himself.

"Is it just me, or is he hiding something from me?" Justin thought to himself.

"Director, he is sending his location." Came Kate's voice alerting her Boss.

"Alright, I'm on my way." Director Stone assured her, as he got ready to go.

"So you're actually bringing the cube?" asked Justin.

" Of course not, but he won't know that, we will get your mom back, you and me." said Director Stone.

"You're going in alone?, that's ludacris, this is dangerous." Mr. Jones abruptly interrupted them as he appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm not going in alone, I'm taking Justin with me." Director Stone assured him.

"Which is even more dangerous." Mr. Jones said as he placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head.

"The brat's powers are impressive but he has no experience in this sort of thing and he's a loose cannon, a liability and honestly, the seems incompetent." Mr. Jones continued, actually speaking nothing but facts.

"Um....you know that the 'brat' can hear everything you're saying right? Justin asked rhetorically.

"Hey brat, Shush!, the adults are talking." said Mr. Jones probably still upset about before.

"Son of a..." Justin trailed off under his breath.

"And let's not forget about the fact that you're one of the three remaining founding members left, three out of the six founding members are already dead, we can't afford to lose anymore, the fate of the world depends on it." Mr. Jones whispered to Director Stone as they walked towards the other side of the room so that Justin wouldn't hear.

Despite their efforts of whispering to keep it a secret from Justin, they forgot about Justin's new heightened hearing, he heard everything they said.

"They're definitely hiding something from me." Justin thought to himself.

"On second thought, Justin, you should stay here, I've realized that it might be more dangerous than I originally thought, plus it might be for the best to keep your powers a secret as much as possible." Director Stone explained .

"Are you kidding me?!" Justin started to over react.

"Please Justin, you need to stay here at the A.D.A, I promise I'll get your mom back safe.

"Fine." Justin reluctantly obeyed as Director Stone left, and he was alone, well not exactly.

A few minutes passed since Director Stone set out and everyone was second guessing whether they should've let the Director, their commander in chief, go by himself or not.

"Alright all of you. The meeting place that Brody insisted on isn't far from here, we all need to be ready in case Director Stone needs back up, and as for you Justin..... Justin?" spoke Mr. Jones as he scanned the room realizing Justin was gone.

"Where the hell is that darn brat, did anyone see him leave?" asked Mr. Jones.

Meanwhile at the location where Director Stone and Brody were supposed to meet

"You're late, I hope you have brought the cube, for the woman's sake that is." said Brody as soon as he saw Jayce.

"Yeah, it's right here." said Mr.Stone as he lifted a case up for him to see.

"Jayce, you idiot, why did you bring it, you know it's too dangerous." shouted Sarah.

"And here you were acting like you knew nothing about the cube." Brody said sinisterly as he knocked her to the floor.

"So where is your boss?, we both know that you're not smart enough to plan all of this yourself." asked Director Stone with a grin on his face.

"That's none of your concern, just make the trade." said Brody.

Director Stone kicked the case towards him as he released Sarah.

"Alright, let's get out of here, quickly!" said Director Stone to Sarah.

"One more thing...." said Brody as he activated his powers and got stronger and grew in size, he grabbed Director Stone.

"Jayce!, put him down." Sarah shouted.

"No can do, I know you're one of the three remaining founding members of the A.D.A, which means I can't let you live." said Brody.

"But calm down, I'll make sure you join up with him soon after I'm done with him, nothing personal, but you've seen our base, so you know too much." he continued as he grabbed Sarah too about to kill them.

Director Stone pulled his gun and unloaded on him as he kept shooting him.Most of them were headshots, but they all bounced off.

"Impossible!" exclaimed Director Stone with shock all over his face.

"Did you really think that that would work, did you?" asked Brody with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Time to die." Brody spoke as he was about to kill him.

"Damn it." said Director Stone as his life flashed before his eyes.

"UGH!" Brody exclaimed as he received a strong punch to the face.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM YOU BASTARD!" shouted Justin appearing just in time.

Due to Justin's enhanced strength, the force of the impact was so strong it sent him through a brick wall, which freed Sarah and Director Stone from his grip.

And there he was, standing in front of them wearing a mask and the hand he used to punched Brody, was glowing and emitting blueish white energy. Sarah could hardly believe her eyes.

"You guys alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, even though I ordered you stay at the A.D.A, I'm glad you disobeyed me, if it wasn't for you I'd be dead." said Director Stone in relief.

"What about you mom?" asked Justin.

"Justin?!, Is that you?, What're you doing here and how'd you do that.....wait, your hand...." Sarah said as she noticed his glowing right hand.

"I promise I'll explain everything but for now you need to get out of here." Justin assured her.

Suddenly, they all heard rumbling. It was Brody getting up out of the rubble.

"Impressive punch, although you just caught me off guard, but it's been awhile since I last bled." He said as he wiped the little drop of blood from his lip.

"Are you serious, I threw everything I had into that punch and all I was able to do was burst his lip a bit." Justin thought to himself as he realized how bad of a situation he was in.

"You two need to get out of here while I hold him off." said Justin.

"No, we can help...." said Sarah as she was cut off.

"No, we can't risk using them here, cause then they'd know our secret, Justin can handle this." whispered Director Stone as he once again forgot about Justin's heightened hearing.

"Use what and what secret." Justin thought to himself.

"The energy his hand is giving off, is that what I think it is?" Sarah asked him.

"Don't get angry but......yes, it is." Director Stone replied.

"You have some explaining to do when this is over." said Sarah quite upset.

"Alright, time to use what I learned in training." Justin thought to himself.

Brody charged at him attempting to punch him.

"Ugh!" Justin groaned as Brody's fist collided with Justin's jaw with about 2 times the damage of Justin's punch which resulted in piece of the mask break off.

"There, now we're even, and I was holding back too so just stay down before I decide to get serious, you are delusional if you think you're someone who can kick my ass." Brody said arrogantly as he was walking away, to find Director Stone and his mom no doubt.

" Damn it!, I can't take another hit like that or I'm a dead man, but I need to stall him for a little longer." Justin thought to himself.

Justin rushed towards him to once again to punch him as hard as he could. Brody was furious as spat out one of his tooth and wiped the blood away. Then Brody just stared at him, with the intent to kill all over his face.

"Ha, um,.....I'm sorry." said Justin with a nervous grin on his face as he realized how bad his situation got.

( It was at this moment, that he knew.....he f**ked up).

"You little shit, this is the thanks I get for letting you live!" Brody shouted, very pissed off.

Brody then grabbed Justin by his head, lifted him up, then with his other hand he repeatedly punched him in his stomach and chest, bruising his ribs, but his face received most of the abuse.

"NOW DIE." shouted Brody as he slammed his face into the concrete with even more force than before, cracking his mask to pieces, creating a crater in the ground, something that would kill a normal person.

"Leave him alone, if you want to kill someone then kill me, but leave him alone." Sarah pleaded.

"Are you mad woman?" asked Director Stone.

"Oh well,....if you insist." said Brody.

Brody walked away to kill them, thinking Justin wouldn't survive that while Justin was just lying there unconscious as his forehead started to bleed out. Suddenly, Justin started hearing a woman's voice.

"So that's it?, are you just going to lay there?" she said.

"Huh?, I'm back here again." said Justin as he opened his eyes.

Justin realized that he was once again in the place that he been in when he was in a coma after the accident with the cube. Justin saw the same humanoid forms with glowing white eyes, symbols on their foreheads but they didn't have any faces, just like before.

"I'll ask again, are you just going to lay there?, aren't you going get up and fight?" one of the humanoid forms asked him, and it was the tallest form among them; like that one was in charge and it had a woman's voice.

"I'm not as strong as him." Justin replied.

"You have no idea of how much power you possess, you've merely scratched the surface." She said.

"The energy inside you is now an extension of yourself, you just need to dig down, feel it...and control it." she said as she walked towards him and placed a hand on his forehead as all the others started chanting again like before.

"Qui electus, qui electus, qui electus..." they chanted as Justin opened his eyes.

All of Justin's injuries just healed including his forehead as his irises and pupils disappeared again and started glowing white like before, but then his irises and pupils reappeared after he blinked and the glow returned blue as his entire body started emitting that bluish white glow, like the energy that was all over his hand spread and covered his whole body like a cloak.

The glow coming from Justin's body started to illuminate the dark surroundings around them which stopped Brody in his tracks and drew his attention behind him. The only thing that was more surprising to him than the fact that Justin survived and that all his wounds disappeared like nothing happened, was whatever the heck Justin's body was doing.....and he was pissed on top of that.

"W-what the,....JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Brody shouted at him.

"Someone who can kick your ass." Justin said with an arrogant smirk on his face, referring to what Brody said before.

"Yeah right, I'd like to see you try, I'll just make sure to finish you off this time,.....I'll rip your head off." said Brody as he charged at Justin to punch the daylight out of him.

However, something shocking happened. Brody's movement was slow all of a sudden, which made it easier for him to dodge easily.

"Wow, did he get slower or,.....did I get faster?" Justin thought to himself.

"So fast!" Brody thought to himself as he was wondering where this speed came from.

Brody charged once again but this time at full strength. Yet Justin stopped it with his bare hand, which caused a shockwave that shattered the windows in the buildings around them.

"What, impossible, he actually managed to stop it." Brody thought to himself.

But when Justin threw his punch, it dislocated his jaw a bit.

"Ugh!, he's stronger now too." Brody thought to himself.

The fight went on for a while, and the more it went on; the more one sided it started to look.

At the end of the fight, Brody looked all kinds of beat up. He picked himself off the ground to try and attack Justin again. Still very determined despite the obvious fact that he was going to lose.

"No!, there's no way,......t-there's just no way I can lose to a guy like him." He started to think out loud,.... very loudly.

"You've already lost." Justin replied in a serious tone.

Brody fell back on his knees due to his injuries and fatigue.

Justin clenched his fist and recharged it with energy.

"You're done!" said Justin as delivered the finishing punch which caused his head to be smashed in the concrete, creating an even a bigger crater than the one Brody made before.

Shortly afterwards, Sarah took off running towards him as soon as she saw him with Director Stone not far behind.

"Justin, how long have you been able to do this?" Sarah asked worriedly as the small energy cloak around him faded away.

"Not long, but I swear I'll explain everything later." said Justin as he hugged her tightly in relief.

"And you helped save her too, even though you almost got yourself killed before I showed up,... guess you're not so bad after all Director St..... I mean.... Uncle Jayce." Justin spoke, catching himself in the end.

"Ha well...yeah, your welcome." Director Stone replied, kinda happy after what Justin called him.

"But we need to move, I can hear sirens nearby and they're coming this way." said Justin using his heightened sense of hearing.

"Wait, you can hear that?" asked Sarah.

"I'll explain later." said Justin.

Exactly 1 hour passed since the police arrived at the scene but they were already gone and they took Brody with them while he was unconscious.

"Captain Sting, I think you should see this, I managed to get a surveillance tape from one of the surveillance cameras near the scene, and you're not going to believe this." said one of the police officers.

"What the hell?" said Captain Sting in awe and disbelief as he watched the recording of the fight.

"The big guy is definitely Brody but we can't identify the other guy cause of all of that....... energy around him, he probably has something to do with that earthquake and the energy beam that shot up into the sky yesterday, but do you see any resemblance?" The officer continued.

"He looks like that thing from the 7/15 incident 12 years ago." said Captain Sting as he clenched his fist in anger.

"Initiate a man hunt for this guy now, I don't care what it takes, just bring him to me dead or alive, or better yet....just dead." Captain Sting ordered.

Meanwhile.......

"Sir, it seems that Brody has been defeated." said a henchman.

"What, that's impossible, the A.D.A must have some kind of weapon that I don't know about." The man in the shadows replied in shock.

"Director Stone was there but he wasn't the one who defeated him and no weapon was used." The henchman replied.

"Then how was he beaten?" The man in the shadows asked.

"Take a look sir." said the henchman as he brought the screen showing the same surveillance tape to him."

"Incredible, it seems this person has been touched by the cube, and seems to be able to wield it's power while showing no signs of rejection or deterioration." The man in the shadows said.

"I thought all the subjects died 12 years ago in the 7/15 incident,.....do you have any idea who he is?" the henchman asked.

"Yes, actually I do have an idea who he is,......it seems like the sins of the father....shall be paid for by the son." He said as he laughed sinisterly.

ELSEWHERE.......

"I can't believe you Jayce, how could you get Justin involved in all this behind my back, without consulting me, without my permission." said Sarah most upset.

"Don't forget, that just like you, I'm one of the three remaining founding members of the A.D.A." she continued.

"Wait did whoever abduct you know that you're one the founding members like me?

"No, or else they would've killed me when they had the chance." Sarah replied.

"I'm sorry Sarah, but I knew you wouldn't approve, and we needed the cube and I knew that Justin's DNA was the only thing that could reactivate it." said Director Stone.

"But why Jayce?, Why reactivate it, or better yet, why gather the pieces in the first place, we all agreed it was best for us and for all our kids, to not reactivate it, why do you think half of the six founding members are dead, and what about Amethyst?, do you want to get her mixed up in all this and get her killed,...like her mother?" Sarah went on.

"Don't you dare Sarah, I already blame myself enough as it is, I can't even tell her how she died, and I won't let Amethyst share the same fate as her mother." said Director Stone as he started getting emotional.

"Then why Jayce?" asked Sarah.

"Because you know as well as I do, that there's a war coming." said Director Stone.

"Of course I know, but I'm not sending my son to die as one of your soldiers, we barely survived the last war." Sarah replied.

"Plus, what makes you think he'll want to risk his life to save others after all he's been through, he's been through enough."

"He can change Sarah." said Director Stone as he continued to try and persuade her.

"And Justin got powers from the cube and he didn't die, with the right training, he can help us turn the tide." Director Stone continued.

"Plus, you said it yourself, he's been getting suspicious and that was before I made contact with him and he's getting even more suspicious and asking more questions by the day, like how did he end up in the crater after that thing disappeared back on 7/15. How long do you plan to keep the truth from him Sarah?" asked Director Stone.

"Don't you see?......he could be the boy that the prophecy spoke of." He continued rambling on.

"Screw the prophecy, and you don't even know that for sure." Sarah spat at Jayce.

"Like I said, he received powers from the cube and didn't die from it,....I'd say based on that alone that it's a big possibility." said Director Stone.

"I implore you to reconsider, or else there won't be a world to save anymore." Director Stone pointed out to her.

Sarah sighed and said, "So much for a new beginning."

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

~KEOKROSTOS