Conerstone | Teen Ink

Conerstone

January 14, 2016
By BrendanFahy BRONZE, Billerica, Massachusetts
BrendanFahy BRONZE, Billerica, Massachusetts
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

     “The Government chose all of you because you’re the most prestigious doctors and scientists in all of America. I welcome you all to Project Cornerstone!” Stanley says this with a smile. “Now the man you’ll be turning super’s name is Mac Danver. Bring him out now!” two men enter the room. One is strapped to stretcher and unconscious. The other is just a paramedic. The unconscious man has short spiky blonde hair and is very slim. He has a name tag that reads “Mac Danver” The Paramedic pushes the stretcher under the platform and into a different room.

     “Project Cornerstone is to begin in the next fifteen minutes. I need all the surgeons to the operating room. Everyone else, go back to your stations and keep running tests.” Stanley turns around from the platform and goes into his office. He turns on a computer and the security footage is pulled up. He clicks on the room that Mac and the surgeons are in. He clicks the mic button on his computer and says, “You're being monitored now. Work to your full potential. This is the weapon we need to help defend Japan.” This boosts the morale of the surgeons.
     Mac is heavily sedated, going into an extreme surgery. He dreams of being on a beach, surrounded by mountains. There is a dirt path from the mountains that leads to the beach. The mountains are covered with tropical plants and trees. The sky is gray and the clouds look choppy. The sun is orange and beating down. Mac is in front of a shanty shack. It seems old but still stable. The wood from the shack is giving off a distinct smell. He looks at the waves. He thinks
“This is blissful, I never want this to end.” Everything is so calm. He is at peace. His friends and family then come down the dirt path. They come slowly but they all look very happy. They go to Mac and hold out their arms. They begin to say things like
“We love you Mac.” “Why did you have to do that.” “Mac Please!” “Mac remember this place.” “You look good Mac, have you been working out.” All his friends and family speak, shout and cry many different things as they inch closer. They all have different expressions. Mac notices something “Where is my mother and father?” Mac thinks to himself. He sees all the people who love him and can’t see his parents in the crowd. They inch closer and he notices a man he’s never seen before. The man hasn’t said a word yet but when he gets close enough to Mac he says “You know we believe in you and I won’t leave your side. You're my brother.” This scares Mac and he shouts “What’s happening?!” his friends and family crowd around him. They pick him up and bring him to the water. “Don’t fight it brother. We are all with you.” says the man. Mac is raised above their heads and they all walk into the water. They get deeper and Mac becomes more terrified but something prevents Mac from going into the water. He can not be brought under by some force. His loved ones try to force him under but right before their pull Mac wakes up on a hospital bed.
     The surgeons are crowded around him.
“He’s awake!” Says one of the surgeon.
“He’s still alive?” shouts another one. Then a man walks next to Mac’s bed. He seems to be very fit. He has long brown hair and a short stubble.
“Hey Mac, how you doing? My names Peter. Do you feel any different?” Says the man. “Uh well my head kind of hurts but no I don’t feel any different. Why? Should I?” Mac responds gripping his head. Peter looks to be in a happy mood now. “It seems while you were asleep your body already adapted to your new body. You were asleep for three days, we thought you weren't gonna make it.” Says Peter while the other surgeons begin to celebrate their success. Mac starts to feel good as well. “‘New Body?’ What exactly is ‘new’ about it?” says Mac looking at his hands. Peter pulls out a clipboard and begins to read off from it “You now have ‘Enhanced muscles, lungs, skin tissue, eyesight, hearing and bones.’ Your cells have tampered with as well. You can heal yourself at a much quicker rate than a normal human being. Five times quicker in fact. Also your skin's durability is now much less fragile. It’ll take a missile from tank just to give you a bruise. That might not be true, don’t quote me on that. You’ll also be incredibly strong and increasingly fast. Before you get out and start testing your new skills though I need to check how your head is doing. Mentally though. See whats going on in there. Just a few quick questions” Peter pulls out a chair and a pen. He sits on the chair with his legs crossed and an interested look. Mac sits up and says “It’ll be quick?” “I see you're very anxious to try out your new abilities, you still have more on the way don’t think this it.” Says Peter with a laugh. “I’m ready when you are doc.” says Mac who is actually very anxious to use his new powers. “Alright so ‘You are tasked with leveling an abandoned city, nothing but a few animals live in the city. What is your response?’ there's question 1 of 5” Peter asks gripping the clipboard. “I’d tell someone to get the animals out of there or I’m not destroying anything.” Peter writes down his response and says “Alright good good. You like animals?” “I love animals” replies Mac. Peter keeps reading the clipboard and continues with “Alright question number two is ‘Would you ever hurt someone who didn’t deserve it?” Peter seemed a little nervous asking this. Mac replies quickly with “If they didn’t deserve it? No way, I’d never even think of hurting innocents.” Peters nervousness has gone away after hearing his quick response. “Alright well that's good news now for question three ‘Are you considered a happy person?” Mac thinks for a bit. He thinks about a lot in a short amount of time. “I guess so, I mean we all have our times when we’re feeling down right.” Peter writes this and maybe a little depressed. “Alright now the next question "What is your view on theft?" Mac looks puzzled. "My view on theft? Like stealing things?" Asks Mac. Peter looks up from the clipboard and says "Yeah like have you ever stolen anything, would you ever steal anything?" Mac has a weird look on his face. "Of course not. You guys wouldn't make a convict the first super soldier would you?" Peter writes this down and laughs at Macs remark. "Alright now for final question "What are your religious views?" Mac without hesitation says "None."
     Peter writes a few more things in the clipboard before standing up. He looks at Mac in bed and says "You ready for the fun part? Come on get out of bed."  Mac bursts out of the hospital bed. He stumbles a little bit then he gets on his feet but regains balance. "Try to walk now." Says Peter. Mac slowly takes a step forward. He's a little wobbly but he manages. Mac takes another step. "Good good. It looks like you're a fast learner!" Shouts Peter writing in the clipboard and paying attention to Mac. "Doc I think I got this." Says Mac walking right out the door. "Stop wait!" Shouts Peter. Mac leaves the room to find that he's inside an indoor track and gymnasium. "Doc you better get out here quick before it's time for field day!" Shouts Mac back to Peter. The track is surrounded by rooms with huge glass windows. There's workers in every room. A few of them look inside from the windows and notice Mac is awake and outside. Mac stands still with a sense of confidence and triumph seeing everyone turn from what they're doing just to look at him. Peter leaves the room and enters the gym. "Well Mac what are you waiting for now? Everyone's watching." Exclaims Peter. Mac smirks as he looks at the track. Mac starts run as fast he can. He can hear everyone in their work rooms. They're chatting gets louder and louder and turns into cheering as Mac begins to be completing the full track in seconds multiple times. He hears someone say "Open the skylight." And hears Peter yell "Mac get ready to test your jumping height!" Mac still running at a crazy speed replies back "You don't need yell doc I can hear you just fine." Peter writes 'Extreme increase in confidence' in the clipboard. The ceiling of the compound begins to open up at an even pace. Mac looks up at the sky. As he's running he begins to bend his knees. Mac jumps and launches himself into the sky. Peter looks at where he jumped from. He pulls out a walkie talkie and says "He left a crater from jumping." After a few seconds of waiting he gets a response. "Peter you might want to leave the gym before he lands. He's not gonna land softly without until he gets the hang of it." Peter walks very nonchalantly towards one of the bottom floor offices. The door opens and he walks inside. He walks to the glass with the rest of the works and tells some of them to "Make room I need to get results from the landing." They disperse and walks to the front of the glass. His clipboard and pen are ready.
     Mac is flying through the air. Not flying like a bird or a plane but he was high up in the clouds. "This is amazing. I love this." He thought to himself feeling the pressure of the air pushing down on him still urging to the top of the sky. He could see so much. He thought about the clouds and the blue sky. He loved the feeling of being so far up, of experiencing something he never thought possible. "I have no worries." Mac thought to himself. He in fact did have no worries. "Nothing is threatening, nothing is dangerous, nothing is out of my reach." Mac begun to descend. He let his body act freely and he was in a true state of bliss. He fell from the clouds and just let it happen. He realized he was going to have land back in the gym to not hurt anyone so he regained his focus. He looked down and started to position himself. With his enhanced eyesight he was able to figure out exactly where he took off. He aimed for that spot. "This place looks like a football stadium." He thought to himself as he got closer to gymnasium. He really didn't have a care in the world. He was truly the happiest he could be. He got closer and closer and finally flipped his body so his feet were facing down. He landed on the direct spot he jumped from causing a loud booming sound. Peter takes out his walkie talkie and says "I can't see anything! The impact caused a huge dust cloud. I can't see a thing. Do you have a visual?" Peter waits a second. Static comes from the walkie talkie before someone on the other end replies with "That's a negative. We're seeing the same thing a you. Nothing but dust and dirt. No response from Cornerstone yet." Peter looks worried. He speaks into his radio again "Turn on the fans." He gets a response very quickly "Yes sir." Two high powered fans are turned on in an attempt to remove all the dust and dirt. Everyone waits for the fans. The workers all discuss various different topics like "What the fall killed him?" And "What jumped out and left?" Eventually the fans clear out most of the dust and dirt. The air isn't clear yet but it's enough to make things out. Peter opens the door and looks out. He sees Mac standing in a gigantic crater. "It's twice as big now oh my god!" Peter uses his radio to say "Mac is alive and in good shape. Cornerstone is alive and in shape. Test 1 was a success." Mac jumps out of the crater, not the extent of his previous leap, and lands near Peter. "That was the coolest thing I've ever done." Mac says with a big smile. Peter laughs and says "Well get ready because we've got a few more procedures to go through."
One month later
     "After 6 weeks of intense physical training we are ready to begin part two of 'Project Cornerstone'. This will be the most dangerous part of the Project but it will be the most effective." says Stanley to the workers from his podium. The workers cheer. Mac is a little worried hearing this. "What's going to be 'most dangerous' about Part two!?" Yells Mac. The workers laugh. "Not for you Cornerstone, not for you. You have nothing to worry about, in fact Peter! Andrew! Get Cornerstone ready for part two now." Says Stanley. Peter and Andrew come over to Mac and grab his arm. "Don't worry buddy this'll be nothing" Peter tells Mac before sticking his arm with a syringe. Mac goes "Waait, whaa?" Before collapsing to the ground. Andrew and Peter pick him up and put him on the stretcher and bring him into a room.
     Mac has another dream. He finds himself in a house in a tropical forest looking over a city. The man from his last dream is there. Looking at the city with him. They are standing on the porch. The door behind them opens up. A priest comes out. "Why are you crying?" Asks Mac. The priest is sobbing, almost wailing. "What put you in this mood what's wrong?" Continues Mac. The man from the last dream keeps looking at the city. The priest is giving Mac a feeling of intense anger. He doesn't know why. Mac grabs the priest and yells in face "Stop crying!" The priest still sobs and yells. The man tugs Mac arm and says "Look." Mac looks at the city and its crumbling to the ground. Almost like it's being crushed. He specifically notices one building tumbling to the ground. The yellow side tables forwards. It's turns to nothing but rubble all of it. The priest is pointing to the city says "He has come."
     Mac is woken up and jolts up. "What is this? I feel incredibly different. I feel so full of energy. What happened?" Mac asks strapped down to a hospital bed. "You were out for quite a while this time. Almost three weeks. Peter and I never gave up though. We knew you'd pull through." Replies Andrew grabbing a clipboard and pen. "A lot of the other guys thought you died. 'He won't survive that much radiation' or 'This just a nuclear cat scan, he won't make it' but we knew you would." Continued Andrew moving to a chair. Mac stutters with surprise "Radiation? How much radiation was I exposed to?" Andrew begins to write in the clipboard "Oh not much, just enough to kill over 2000 people. But don't worry you survived and the procedure worked so we're gonna do a few more tests. Luckily we don't need to do the mental health exam again and we can just go straight to the physical, I guess, tests. Now get out of the bed." Mac looks at Andrew with a surprised look. "2000 people" he thinks to himself. Mac looks down at the straps clamping him to the bed and looks at Andrew. Andrew nods his head and mouths "Go on." Mac bursts through the straps with ease and gets out of bed. He takes his hospital gown and flips around his back so now it looks like he has a small light blue cape. "I'm like Superman without the tights" says Mac confidently. Andrew smiles and says "You can do much more than Superman." Andrew writes a few things in the clipboard and continues to speak" Step outside please and we can start with fun stuff." Mac upright with his chest puffed out walks out of the room and into the main Gymnasium. His confidence is through the roof. He notices barrels are lined up like target practice and they are the first things he is met with. Andrew steps out and turns on a radio. "Any requests for music Mac?" Asks Andrew. "Yeah play 'The Doors' and play it loud." Andrew smiles and says "This is going to be on the main speakers, so it'll be loud." Andrew messes around on the radio and his phone for a few seconds until the music starts. 'Break On Through' begins to play over the main intercom and it's very loud. The music draws everyone's attention and they turn from their work yet again. "Now I want you to crush the barrels but from where you are now." Says Andrew. Mac looks at the barrels and thinks about them being crushed. He raises his hand and extends his fingers. He quickly makes a fist. The barrels, as fast as Mac closed his hand, flew into each other and collided. The barrels formed into one large sphere. The sphere was smooth despite being made of multiple barrels smashed together. Gasps and cheers are heard all around the facility. Mac smirks, opens hand and makes a spiking motion to the ground. The ball of barrels shoots the ground and flattens at an intense speed. Andrew excited writes in clipboard while saying "Now now Mac, make the barrels whole again then disintegrate them!" Mac looks to the flattened barrels and makes an upward motion with his hand. They spring up back to the smooth sphere shape. Mac makes a small waving motion with his fingers and the sphere begins to spin. He extends his arm and opens his hand all the way. His arm kicks back but he keeps it steady and a beam of lights shoots out of his hand. The thick blue beam hits the ball of barrels and disintegrates the entire thing. The sphere looks like it dissolves into nothingness. After the beam hits, Macs stops the beam from coming out. This cause a heavier kick to Macs arm. Mac couldn't keep this kick steady and his arm is thrown behind him. He quickly recovers his form and stance and with a dumbfounded expressions turns to Andrew and says "I can do that?! I just?! Did you?! Oh my god! That was insane!" Andrew still writing in the clipboard replies with "That was incredible, I'm speechless."
The workers are all cheering. Everyone looks to be in a good mood. And within a matter of seconds Stanley bursts out of his office. "He's ready now! We can't wait any longer! Cornerstone is ready to be dispatched now!" He runs down from the platform. "We just finished our second project though he's not ready!" Yells Andrew to Stanley. "So what! He has the basics down! That's all we need! Get him in a uniform now and ready for Japan now!" Three men run out from a room towards Mac. The men are all holding different items. A military uniform, a helmet and dog tags. "He's not ready for the outside yet Stanley!" Yells Andrew with anger. "I know you're only looking out for me but I can handle it. I've been outside before Andrew." Says Mac. Hearing this Stanley is filled with confidence "Look at that even he's ready, why stop him now!" Andrew is angered hearing. He pulls out a walkie talkie and speaks into it. "Peter we need you down here immediately." Stanley makes a disgusted face and says "Oh don't bring Peter into this."
Mac begins to put on his uniform. He keeps the hospital gown cape even with the full uniform on. Waiting for Peter to come down the arguing stops because of how Mac looks. "What? What's wrong?" Questions Mac. "You're gonna keep the cape?" Asks Andrew. "Yeah you look kinda silly." Says Stanley. "I look cool, I look like a superhero." Replies Mac smugly. "If you say so." Says Stanley with a confusing look. Mac feeling a little devious decides to play a prank. Mac extends his arm and shoots a small beam at Stanley's legs. The beam vaporizes Stanley's pants. Andrew, Mac and most of the workers begin to laugh hysterically. "You look pretty silly with just a suit jacket!" Laughs Mac. Peter enters the gymnasium. He chuckles a bit when he gets in. He stutters before saying "Stanley what happened to your pants." Andrew continues to laugh and Mac smirks. "That's unimportant Peter we have more important things, to discuss!" Yells Stanley. "I don't know about you Peter but I'm not discussing anything with you Stanley until you put some pants on. You're making me uncomfortable!" Laughs Andrew. Mac and Peter start to laugh even harder. "Stanley you're turning red. What's wrong? It's not like you came to work without any pants on!" Yells Mac. Peter is confused but still laughs along. "What even happened Stanley? Where are your pants!?" Says Peter trying to stop laughing. "Mac vaporized them off!" Laughs Andrew. "Because he said my cape was silly." Clarifies Mac. "Oh man that's hilarious." Says Peter finally calming down. "Are you all ready to discuss the future of Cornerstone!?" Yells Stanley red faced. "What did you have in mind Stanley? Why was I called down here?" Asks Peter. "Stanley thinks he's ready now, Mac agrees. I think he still needs some training." States Andrew. "I think I can go out there now. I mean I can learn more on the field right?" voices Mac. "The boy says he's ready and The troops need him. He has to go now!" Declares Stanley. "If they say they need him and he thinks he' ready we should send him off." Expresses Peter. Andrew looks betrayed. "This is a big mistake sending him now. He hadn't gotten his full training." Affirms Andrew storming off into one of the rooms. Stanley shakes his head and then looks to Mac and smiles. Mac looks weirded out. "Now if you'll follow me Cornerstone we'll be going off to the mountains in Japan. There's an outpost that is low on supplies and support. They are defending a path that is key in keeping the Koreans from advancing. They have been getting word from an Intel team that there is going a large scale operation to try and take over the outpost and clear out the American soldiers. They need something that'll help them through this without a lot of casualties." Informs Stanley to Mac. Peter is following along with them. "So that's where I come in? Is that the only reason they need me?" Asks Mac. Stanley uses a key card to open a door. The door springs open and the trio walk outside to a helipad. There's a helicopter ready to take off. "Oh no Cornerstone, they need you to turn the tide of the war. It's not a secret that we're not doing too well out there. You're our secret weapon." Apprises Stanley showing Mac where to sit on the Helicopter. Mac gets in and sits. He buckles up and says "Am I just a weapon?" Stanley starts to yell as he says "I can't hear you over the sound of the propeller! You're gonna be fine!" Andrew comes out holding a device. He shouts"Use this to communicate with us when you need to!" Mac laughs and says "You don't have to yell I can hear you perfectly." Andrew shrugs "I can't hear you! I'll talk with you later!" Stanley hits the side of the helicopter and within a few seconds, the helicopter is in the air. After a few seconds the helicopter is off. Mac puts his legs up on the seat across from him. He tries to sleep. "That propeller is too loud, I can't take this." Mac thinks to himself. "Hey how much longer is this gonna take?" Mac shouts to the pilot. "It hasn't even been a minute yet!" The pilot shouts back. "I'm taking the quick way!" Says Mac. "Sir please put your seatbelt back on! Sir please! I'll have to stop the copper and land in the nearest area if you open that door, don't do it!" Shouts the pilot to Mac. Mac scoffs and leaps out of the helicopter. He pushes the helicopter a few feet downwards with his jump. He's launched into the sky. Andrew, Stanley and Peter observing from the helipad back all look on with an astounding looks on their faces. "Well at least he'll get there early." Says Stanley. "He doesn't know how to get there!" Yells Andrew. "He's got the radio hopefully. I have faith he can make it to his outpost." Says Peter.
     Mac glides through the sky. All he sees is water. There's nothing but water. He's starting to descend rapidly. He extends his legs like he's getting ready for another jump. He hits the water and creates a huge hole through the water. He touches the ocean floor but he cleared all the water with his impact. The water starts to close in rapidly. Mac jumps again. A huge explosion of nothing but water surfaces when he flies out of the water. He laughs as he soars through the sky. "I wonder if I could touch space? I'll try one day" he thinks to himself. Eventually land is in sight. Mac lands in front of a fruit stand. "Excuse me sir can you tell me where I am?" Mac asks the man behind the fruit stand. The man looks dumbfounded. His eyes are wide open and his mouth is shaking. He tries to speak but he can't. He looks surprised but very excited. He grabs a book from his stand and runs off. Mac's radio speaks. "You're in The Philippines Mac. You're too far." Says Andrew into the radio. "Andrew!? I forgot about the radio! Aright where I'm going?" Asks Mac. "Well you, I uh, I have no idea how this happened but Peter and I got here before you. What were you doing?" Asks Andrew. "I realized the ocean was huge and got lost at sea for a little bit." Says Mac. "For five hours apparently. Well I'll send you our location. And just try to land near us." Says Andrew. "I was actually trying to jump into space." Confesses Mac. "Of course you were. Just get over here." Says Andrew laughing. Mac bends his legs to jump but a man speaks catching him off guard.
“Mawalang-galang na mga me you Jesu-Cristo, ang anak ng Diyos?” Mac turns his head and looks to the man. “Excuse me?” Mac says pulling out his radio. Mac turns the radio on just in time for the man to speak again “Ang mga anak na lalaki mula sa itaas?” Andrew hears this but pays no attention to it. “Don’t worry about him just come on.” The man holds out his arm. His arm has a huge bleeding wound. “Ito mula sa kapag ikaw ang may lupain.” says the man. Mac puts the radio away and pushes up his sleeves. “I don’t speak filipino sir but I’ll do my best to help you.” says mac extending his hands over the wound. People begin to gather around.  Mac closes his eyes and concentrates. Yellow beams begin to form from his hands. The beams wrap around the man’s arm. The beam slowly begins to vanish. When the beam disappears the man's arm is revealed. He is completely healed and skin looks good as new. The man rejoices and hugs Mac. He yells “Ito ay tunay na sa iyo ang mga anak ng Diyos!” with excitement. Mac backs up “I’m glad I could help out but I really need to get going I’m sorry everyone.” says Mac trying to find a good spot to jump from. “Everyone please back up.” yells Mac while motioning for everyone to back up. They don’t listen and come closer. “Please I don’t want anyone to get hurt!” Mac yells as he’s swarmed by excited people. He jumps with enough force for him to just make it over the crowd. He runs back to the ocean. He is running so fast he doesn't end up falling through the water. He runs on the water. “I was lost at sea and could run on water this whole time?” Mac thinks to himself. He launches himself and creates a wall of water behind him. “Ay siya pagpunta pabalik sa langit?” asks one of the people who just witnessed Mac heal the man.
    Mac eventually finds a beach. His landing isn’t as climatic as any of his others. He’s starting to land without causing a huge impact. Andrew from his radio speaks to Mac. “You made it you’re in Japan now just make your way to this outpost. We’ve been waiting for you.” Mac looks at GPS. “North?” he thinks to himself looking up from the beach. The beach is empty. There's a small shack. Mac sees mountains. “This vaguely reminds me of that dream I had.” he thinks to himself. “Are you guys by the mountains?” Mac says into the radio. Andrew answers with “Yeah we’re right on them. Can you see them?” “Yeah I’m looking right at them.” Says Mac. “Okay look around for a flashing red light.” says Andrew picking up a laser pointer. “I’m going to shine a laser pointer down at the beach, it’s not going to reach but with your enhanced vision you should see the source light.” Andrew continues. Mac starts looking around the mountain. Within seconds he spots a small red light within a few bushes flashing miles away. As leaps towards it. He gets closer and closer and he eventually lands right by a green tent inside the outpost. “I made it!” Mac yells to alert everyone in the area. Andrew and Peter walk over to Mac. They are both wearing different attire. “Since Stanley sent you this early out here, Andrew and I have volunteered to be combat medics and also to look over you while you’re out here in the front lines.” says Peter. Peter has on a gray shirt with a white vest, red shoulder pads and an assault rifle slung around his back. Andrew is wearing very similar clothing except his shirt is beige. Neither of them have helmets. “Mac you got here just in time for everyone but the night watch to sleep. So come with us you’re in a tent with Peter and I.” says Andrew. Andrew and Peter show MAc the way to the tent. “Oh Mac you left your radio on. All those filipinos thought you were Jesus, because you fell from the sky and healed that man.” says Andrew. “That's what they were talking about? They think I’m Jesus?” questions Mac settling into his bunk. “Not just them. Someone took pictures and videos and it went viral. We hoped you’d stay secret for awhile but now 4,000,000 people think that Jesus Christ has returned and that you’re him.” Mac laughs at this. “So what are you guys going to do?” asks Mac. “Well we thought that we’ll just ride this one out. We’ll let people believe you’re Jesus. You can say what you want when they ask but you’re not allowed to say a thing about ‘Project Cornerstone.” answers Peter. “But we should get some sleep now. We’re literally on the front lines so we can see action at anytime, any rest will come in handy. The three all go to sleep. Mac is woken up early at six am by Peter and Andrew. “There's been movement reported by the east side of the outpost. They need you to go check it out from the tower.” Says Andrew. Mac gets out of bed and yawns. He is only wearing pajama bottoms. He leaves his tent yawning yet again still not dressed. The other soldiers murmur things like “This is the guy?” but Mac doesn't care. Without using the ladder Mac jumps up to the top of the search tower. He’s not inside he’s literally on top of it. He looks around for a bit. “I don’t see anything by these bushes! There's nothing down there. But there is tons of movement over by that raise above the outpost. I think I even see a sniper.” Mac reports as nonchalantly as possible. The Luintentint, Shaw, at the Outpost hears this and then screams
“What?! Sniper and enemy squad on the hill overlooking the outpost. Everyone stay alert!” Soldiers grab their weapons and rush to find cover as the Korean sniper team begins to open fire on the outpost. Mac doesn’t rush to do anything and rubs his eyes. He stretches a bit. While stretching a bullet hits him in the arm. He isn’t phased by it at all and flicks it off his arm like a hair. He notices another group of enemy soldiers drawing near them on the main path. “More guys coming watch the front gate.” says Mac seemingly not worried. Andrew lifts his head to get a look of the main gate when a bullet flies through his head. Andrew falls to the ground with blood pouring out of his head. Mac sees this and is enraged. Mac looks to the squad on the hill above the outpost and darts over to them. He lands behind them violently causing the enemy soldiers to fall over. Mac raises his hands and three of the soldiers are forced into the sky at rapid speed. Bones are broken just from the force of being jerked up so fast. Mac extends his arm and opens his palm. A blue and beam shoot out of his hand and directly towards the sniper who killed Andrew. The man is vaporized as his three comrades fall from the sky. The three men are a mess. Mac turns his head to the squad approaching the front gate. He jumps down to the path. The squad all begin to open fire on Mac. He creates a force field and bullets begin to ricochet. He takes a step forward and the squad all drop their weapons and raise their hands in fear. Mac pushes them all hundreds of feet backwards breaking almost every bone in their body. Lieutenant Shaw sees this and says to Peter “He’s ruthless. Good, that’ll come in handy.” Mac leaps back into the outpost quickly. He lands next to Andrew’s lifeless corpse. Mac extends his arms and the yellow beam manifests. He holds his hands above Andrew's head. He lifts one of his hands up slowly and the bullet inside of Andrews head slides out slowly. His hands rejoin and and the yellow beam grows stronger. “C’mon! Come on!” Mac shouts. Soldiers gather around them and Peter rushes to Mac. Mac backs up and turns to Peter with a smug look on his face. Peter looks surprised. Andrew stands up grabbing his head. “Anyone got any aspirin?” says Andrew. The soldiers begin to cheer and rejoice. They all say things like “It really is him!” and “We’re saved!” Andrew looks to Mac and says “Thanks brother.”  This triggers something in Macs head. He doesn’t know what it is, but something makes him feel on edge. Lieutenant Shaw runs over to Mac and says “Son I have a job for you. We know where a great deal of enemy soldiers are located. If you could y’know level the place for us that’d really show the enemy what a God like yourself is capable of. I bet if you cause enough destruction you could make them surrender right there. It's a big city just right over this pass. Peter, Andrew and I will escort you to a vantage point. Let us know when you are ready.” Mac says “I’m ready now sir. Show me where to go.” Everyone seems kind of surprised “You don’t want to change into real clothes instead of just your pajamas?” asks Peter. “Nope I’m ready now.” Mac says. "Alright come with us. Bring your rifles" Says Shaw. "You won't need them." Says Mac. Shaw leads them down the path. Mac trails behind him while Peter and Andrew stay a bit. Andrew pulls out a notepad and a pen. He begins to write on the note pad. 'To avoid him hearing us I'm writing this. Mac seems a little off. I don't know what caused it. There's no causalities he's seen and there's no real clue why he's acting different. I'm worried.' Andrew passes the note to Peter. He reads through and says softly "Let me see the pen." Mac hears him but he doesn't care. Peter starts writing on the notepad 'My guess is seeing his friend be shot through the head. I can see his shift in personality too. Realizing how easy it is for a human life to be taken away might have done something. He brought you back though so I don't know what would have caused it.' The pair notice that Mac and Shaw have stopped. "Well we're here. Uhh Jesus right? Captain Christ? Do your thing." Says Shaw with a snarky tone. "You're just gonna destroy this city?" Asks Peter. Mac doesn't turn his head and keeps looking straight. "Mac what about the people and the animals around the city. The innocent people." Shouts Peter. "I don't know know what we can do." Says Andrew to Peter. Mac walks up to the edge of the cliff. Wearing nothing but purple pajama bottoms and covered in dirt and blood. There is a thorn bush next to his left side. He notices this and grabs a branch off of it. "C'mon quit messing around." Orders Shaw. Mac wraps the branch around his head looking back to the city. "He's really taking the Jesus thing to heart isn't he?" Says Andrew to Peter. "I don't know what's happening anymore. Maybe that's what triggered him to be like this." Answers Peter. Mac hears this again and looks at Peter. He turns his head back to the city. With one swift motion Mac raises his hand and the city starts to slowly lift upwards. "Oh my god! We're miles away how amazing!" Shouts Shaw. "What's happening!? Why Mac!?" Shouts Peter. "Mac pays no attention to what anyone is saying. He lifts his other arm and more of the city uplifts at a quicker pace. "I didn't know I had this much power!" Shouts Mac lifting a city miles away. "Oh no, this is really bad. Contact Stanley immediately." Says Peter to Andrew. Andrew runs back to the outpost radio in hand. Mac now has the whole city in the air. He lets his hands fall causing the city to drop to the ground. Before most of the City hits the ground he makes a slashing motion with his hands and the city is flattened. It looks as if nothing was ever there. Shaw puts his arm around Mac and shouts "There's no way we're losing this war now with you boy! Haha!" Peter is mortified. "I'm done helping you. What're you going to do if I disobey, shoot me? If I don't follow orders are you gonna try and hit me with a rocket?" Mac says confidently. Mac jumps an immense height and flies off. "You had to have him level a city!" Shouts Peter with anger. Peter runs back to the outpost. "He just took off. We don't know where he's going we need a helicopter now!" Shouts Peter. Andrew looks worried "He went off on his own!?" He shouts.
     Mac sees a city while soaring through the sky. He decides it's time to land. He lands in the middle of a street creating a huge creator. People start to crowd around to see what fell. They can't make out what it is because of all the dust. Mac makes a swift motion with his hand clearing the dust and shouts "It is I! For I have returned from the heavens to grant you with my presence. I am Jesus Christ the son of God! And today is judgement day. Who's ready for the rapture?"  The people surrounding Mac all react in different ways. Some run, some kneel and pray, while others record videos and take pictures. Mac begins to levitate. He lets the people running run but the people praying are vaporized into dust. Mac starts making hand motions and chunks of buildings begin to fall on to the streets. He continues to vaporize the civilians but now he's hitting anyone he can see.
     "He doesn't have his radio anymore we can't track him!" Shouts Andrew to Peter. "He could be in a different country, hopefully he's still in Japan otherwise this chopper won't take us to him!" Peter shouts to Andrew. The pilot says to Andrew and Peter "There's some commotion going on in Tokyo, might be Korean soldiers but there's a big chance it's the Jesus guy." Andrew looks to the pilot and yells "Take us there now! And his name is Mac!"
    It's difficult for anyone to get within a 50 foot radius of Mac without them being obliterated. Macs pajama bottoms are covered in blood and so is he. His crown of thorns still sits on his head as he levitates causing more destruction. News helicopters try to get in close. Most of them are taken down but he lets some stay up. He focuses more on the buildings and the people on the ground then the things in the sky. Andrew tells the pilot to "Fly low and drop us off about 50 feet away from the city, we don't wanna be spotted!" The pilot does his best to stay low to the ground and fly slowly. "He's going on a rampage! I can see and hear it all from here!" Shouts Peter.
     Mac decides to take a break. He doesn't need to rest, he just got a little bored. He sits down in the middle of some debris. He lays his back down and he shuts his eyes. The remaining news choppers fly in and get as much footage as they can. Mac rests for awhile. Giving Andrew and Peter enough time to close in on his location. "Andrew I see him call in the air drop while I try to reason with him. Stay hidden" Says Peter quietly. Andrew stats behind and hides inside a fallen building. He radios Stanley. "Stanley, this is Andrew we have him in sight. Send the drop to my location now. He's destroyed half the city we have to do this quickly." Peter slowly approaches Mac. "Mac it's me, it's Peter your friend. Listen I know you're not a bad guy, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to talk to you. Nothing's wrong with you but something went wrong with the radiation to create you and we sent you out here too early. I just want to talk with you." Mac opens one eye "I know nothing's wrong me, I am Jesus. I am perfect. I am the strongest thing on the planet. What could be wrong with me? Nothing." Mac says beginning to stand up. He puffs out his chest and holds his arm back. He stands like an old marble statue. "Mac it isn't too late to come back with us. The media thinks of you as Jesus. They see this as the rapture. They see you sending these people to heaven." Says Peter. Mac smirks and says "There is no heaven." Mac lifts his hand and destroys a building behind him effortlessly. He turns around and begins shooting beams out of his hands. His beams hit the news helicopters and different buildings and causes much more destruction. "Mac stop now! You're not like this!" Shouts Peter.
     A jet zooms by the city dropping something off. The three notice. Peter and Andrew recognize the Jet is from Stanley. Mac looks at the jet and launches towards it. "No! Stop!" Shouts Peter. Andrew runs from his hiding spot and for the package the jet dropped. Mac gets close to the jet and grabs onto the tail wing. He pulls himself up. He gets up and stands nonchalantly. His crown of thorns flies off his head but he reacts his arm out and grabs it just in time. He places it on his head and presses it in to be sure it will stay put. The package nears the ground and Andrew is ready. Mac walks to the c***pit of the jet and rips the top off. The pilot inside yells "Cornerstone! No!" Before being ripped out of the jet and flung into the ground. Mac jumps off the jet and looks for Peter. Andrew reaches the packages drop zone. He runs to the package and opens it up. "He sent the rifle." Yells Andrew over the radio to Peter. Andrew picks up the rifle from the package and and loads it with the syringes supplied. He slings the rifle around his pal and searches for a vantage point. He gets pretty high up on a fallen building and searches for Mac. He sees him and the jet falling from the sky. Mac finds Peter and darts for him. He lands quickly and silently in front of Peter. He raises his hand above Peter's head and vaporizes the jet just before it comes within five feet of Peter. "Oh my god! Uh thank you Mac." Says Peter looking to ashes of the jet blowing away with the wind in the sky just above him. Andrew has Mac in his sights and is ready to shoot. Peter turns to Mac and says "Will you come back with us?" Mac looks in Andrews direction and says "No."
    Andrew takes the shot after seeing Mac look directly at him from many feet away. The syringe travels fast and quickly. It hits Mac in the abdomen. Mac looks at it and begins to shiver. "What is this!?" He screams. "I'm sorry Mac, this was the only way." Says Peter while backing away in fear. Mac jumps as high as he can in fear of being hurt.
     He goes higher than he's ever gone before. "I'll hit space. I'll hit space and never come back down!" Mac screams as he soars into the sky. "Did I hit him?!" Shouts Andrew leaving his spot and running to Peter. "Yeah you got him," Says Peter turning around to Andrew "I can't see him anymore though. I don't know where he's going. As long as that dart touched his skin he should be out very soon."
    Mac skyrockets through the clouds. The syringe in his side flys out of him. He's going so fast the crown of thorns flies off his head, the blood covering him starts to drip off him. He still a lot of it on him. Mac screams as bursts through the atmosphere. He starts to spin in the air. He's still rising up. "I can see the darkness! I can see space!" Mac thinks to himself entering space. His speed slows down and he starts to rotate. He closes his eyes and holds his breath. He starts to feel his loss of breath. His eyes feel like they are going to explode. He thinks to himself "I am not Cornerstone, I am not Jesus Christ, I am not a weapon, I am no longer a person." Tears start to boil up in his eyes as his last breath escapes his lungs. His eyes pop out of his sockets and his body is limp. Macs lifeless body drifts through the outskirts of the planet.
     "He hit space. He's gone, he's gone for good." Says Andrew sadly. Peter looks down and kicks around the rubble. "That's it I guess. It's better this way. We can just say that Jesus went back up." Says Peter. Andrew shakes his head "No, I don't care what happens to me I'm telling the truth. The world needs to know what really happened. I'm telling everyone about what Mac was put through. Cornerstone ruined his life. I'm not letting him be forever rendered as a mysterious man or Jesus Christ." Andrew turns on his radio and calls for a helicopter. "You'll be a traitor to America, we won't get another shot at something like this." Says Peter. "Did you just see what happened! Countless lives were lost, countless innocent lives! This city is completely destroyed! I'm not letting something like this ever happen again." Says Andrew turning around "Now come on Peter, we're going home."


The author's comments:

A tragedy about a super soldier and his struggles


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