Black Thunder (Markson AU)

Chapter 1: Stop Staring at Me!

It was all too suspicious in Jackson's eyes. The text he got at twelve o'clock at night. The dark, abandoned alley it said to go to. The full moon shining overhead that cast a shadow from overhead. And the lingering cloud of unsettledness that spread over him.

Jackson shivered in the cold night air and pressed his body up against a brick building. He clenched and opened his sweaty fists over and over, waiting patiently, impatiently. His heart dared to race out of fear, but Jackson kept his anxiety under control.

For the meantime.

Suddenly the soft shuffling of footsteps approached him. Instinct made him bolt up immediately, prepared for anything and everything that could be waiting for him.

"Who are you?" Jackson called out into the shadows. The darkness of night casted a shadow on nearly everything around him.

The footsteps got louder and louder. Jackson took a step forward. He wasn't afraid.

"Jackson," a deep, unfamiliar voice slices through the silence, making Jackson jump.

Jackson furrowed his eyebrows, trying to pick out a shadow. "Who are you? What do you want?"

There was a slight pause before the mystery man replied, "I need you to take care of something for me."

What kind of thing would they possibly need from me? Jackson thought to himself. "Now what would that be?"

All of a sudden someone slams right into Jackson.

"Hey! Watch it!" Jackson sputters, stepping away. "What was that for?"

"Quiet!" the voice demands icily. Immediately Jackson covers his mouth. The man continues, "You have to watch him and keep him safe for awhile."

"What makes you think I want to take in some random stranger just like that?" Jackson hisses under his breath. "Are you crazy? I'm not doing this for free, you know." Jackson jabbed a finger into the darkness. "This'd better be a good payoff, or else."

The man let out a chuckle, a faint chuckle, and reached for something in his coat pocket and held it out for Jackson to see.

Even in the very faint moonlight, Jackson recognized the silver amulet carefully cupped into the mystery man's palm. A solid obsidian stone in the center of it all. Swirls and intricate lines engraved into the silver surface, along with a line of numbered code. He gasped. Jackson knew very well what it was. And he'd been wanting it back his whole life.

"You...you have it?" Jackson was awe-struck.

"I do, and you could have it back." The man's voice made Jackson eye the object with pure temptation. He wanted it back. He needed it back.

He clicked his tongue and thought of his options."How long do I have to keep him?" Jackson muttered quickly, looking up. He would do anything for that amulet, and he knew that the man knew it. And that he was using it to his advantage.

"As soon as it's safe you can drop him back to headquarters," the man said. "Mark here is a very good candidate for being an agent, but right now the circumstances aren't ideal for new trainees like him. I figured someone like you could take him in for the meantime."

Jackson shifted his stance and licked his lips. "'Someone like me'? What's that supposed to mean?" Jackson had never considered himself a good leader or guardian, much less babysitter. He'd been living alone for the past 15 years or so.

"Look, Jackson," the man snapped, voice clipped with anxiety. "Things back at headquarters aren't good right now, okay? Mark has potential, too much potential to go to waste." He paused. "We can't risk losing him just because of how bad things are back at the agency. All I'm asking is for you to guard him and let him live a normal life with you for a little while. It won't be long."