X Marks the Spot

Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings

"Wake up, Frederick! You're going to be late. Again,"  Jason's mom yelled into his room.

"Ma. I'm gettin' up. I leave in an hour. I'm not gonna be late."

"Sure, Frederick, sure. And I'm gonna win 'Wheel Of Fortune' just by watching it."

"Ma, you know at the end of every show they give away 5 thousand dollar to a person. Just get a Spin ID. I've been waiting for 3 years and they still haven't called me," Jason remarked, slightly bummed at the truth. He let out a huge yawn and once his mom left the room, he got up and got dressed in his architect suit.

He lived in a run-down apartment building that could be mistaken for a large, 5-roomed garage. The apartment that he's in (he calls it a Complex) is in between a police station, and his office building (he's an architect, if you haven't figure that out ). A problem is that he doesn't like where he's at. He lives in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Yes, the one place people fear. Some people like it, but Jason hates it. He'll always have to be careful and making sure that he doesn't run into gangs. One of the most feared gangs of all of Manhattan is called the Justice League. So named because they call out "Justice" on beating people up for no reason. They're leader, nicknamed "Superman", is so strong and so buff, he looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger buffed up his muscles times 10 while taking steroids. The rest of his gang are like that, too. Superman is only the leader because he has the guts to actually murder people. The rest just beat people to the brink of death. Super just takes it beyond that line. There are other gangs, too, such as "Arkham Asylum", and the "Teen Titans." It's just that the League is the scariest because they show no mercy. The Titans aren't really a gang, actually. They just tease everybody (until the people they are teasing snaps!) and maybe throw a hit once and a while. Oh, yeah, and smoke in the alley that they hang out in.

On the way over to the police station (he hangs out with his friend there; his crush is always there, too, because her dad is the Chief of the NYPD), the Titans make the usual remark of "Why so tense, Todd? Oh, is your girlfriend in there? Well, sorry, but if you wanna bang her, you gotta get through Mr. Maddy Madison first!". It's true. Her dad, Franklin Madison, is really overprotective, especially over his daughter. Him and Jason were, not close, not tight, but they knew each other in a way. Jason wants to make a move, but he heard the last time a guy made out with Stephanie, Mr. Madison's daughter, the guy went missing for a year! Stephanie was beautiful, though. And, she seemed nice. I mean, she never really talked to Jason. She maybe noticed him, but never  talked to him. Golden, blonde hair. Hypnotic, deep, irresistible eyes, perfect nose and mouth. She was amazing.

After he chit-chatted with his buddy, Suds (don't ask me how I came up with that name please), he walked out and headed to the office, where he, as stated earlier, worked as a part-time architect. The leader of the Teen Titans stood up, smiled, and said probably the most in-humorous, unfunny, insulting, stupid thing anybody could come up with.

"Hey, Freddy. Guess what? Your last name is Todd. There was a girl with that last name. Guess what she did? SHE KILLED HERSELF!" Jason was furious! His hands curled up into balls. He tried taking deep breaths and counting to 10, but it's hard counting when you got, like, 4 other guys yelling, laughing, pointing at you, call you names, saying "Good one, Big G", and "Yeah, you heard him. Kill yourself!". Jason couldn't take it any longer. His emotional control decided "Screw it. I'm out." and the next thing Jason knew, he was on the ground, tears coming out of eyes as blood poured from his nose. Knuckles sore, feeling pain everywhere in and on your body, feeling people hit him anywhere they could, how ever they could. Lead pipes, brass knuckles, whipped with chains, baseball bats, and pretty much anything else in the alley. It was too dark for anyone to notice (it was daytime, too!), and Jason couldn't gain enough energy to scream, and they were too deep in the alley for anyone on the outside to hear the clinks and dinks of the weapons. Since it was a "gang alley", nobody bothered to even peak into it. Finally, when the Titans decided they did enough, when Jason was curled up in a bloody, bruised up ball, they threw their last hits, spat on Jason, and threw him out into the sidewalk with one, final sentence.

"Guess you underestimated us, didn't you, Todd? Hows about you get some money, learn how to fight, and maybe take a joke once and a while?"