William "Billy" Kaplan sat inside his bedroom quietly, with his luscious black bangs swaying in a usual messy way as he was captured in a glowing blue light, his eyes glowing a similar colour. Billy's legs crossed and he began to float off of the ground.

"William it's time for school!" A feminine voice shouted to him, he dropped from the meditating position he was previously in and fell to his bed letting out a soft groan as he rubbed his back from the rather sharp drop.

"Coming!" He yelled standing up and blowing the bangs which covered his face back into its normal position, he walked over and picked up his bag slinging it onto his shoulder; he walked over to his door and opened it, a blinding light shining through the window to make his light brown eyes sparkle. Billy's natural instinct was to cover his eyes by placing a hand on his forehead, shadowing the light from his fair skin.

"William I have to be in the office early this morning so I would appreciate it if you were to co-operate with me here!"

"Sorry Mom, I was just finishing some…homework" Billy lied.

His life was a rather unusual one; it was filled with constant curiosity and wonder as to how he obtained such incredible powers. Heck, he didn't even know if these were considered as powers…ever since his first encounter with the Scarlet witch, Billy's life was never the same.

-/-

It was a dull autumn's day, the sun had practically vanished and auburn red leaves fell from each and every one of the trees that Billy passed. His eye was bruised, his skin was dirty and in his mind he was isolated and stranded. He found himself wandering over to a bench near a dead oak tree, its leaves had all taken flight and left. And the appearance made Billy feel that it suited him perfectly. Like the oak tree, Billy was stuck in a place where he had no say in what happened to him. He sat down on the bench opposite the Avengers mansion, wearing his scraped school uniform which consisted of a white shirt, black suit pants and scuffed black dress shoes.

"Excuse me…"

Billy's eyes continued to stay staring forward at a large gate before him, he could see a woman wearing a bright red hood at the corner of his eye. "…Are you all right?" She asked him kindly.

"I'll be okay. Thanks" Billy responded in a hushed tone, he lifted his green bag with the Avengers logo on the middle to create some space for her.

"You're bleeding" She told him, sitting down and pulling her hood off to let her dark brown locks flow from the previous position.

"Sorry. I thought it stopped." Billy responded reaching up to wipe his nose.

"What happened?" She asked removing a tissue from what seemed to be out of the blue.

"I kinda got punched in the face. Repeatedly" Billy explained, that didn't seem to settle her curiosity.

"Why?" She asked again.

"Because I'm different." Billy stated almost angrily.

"A mutant?" She asked

"I wish." Replied Billy with a frown forming on his face, the woman turned his head and began to clean the patches of dry blood that were on his pale skin.

"No, you don't. Believe me…being a mutant only makes people want to punch you more."

"Oh, my god…you're," Billy was awestruck staring at the woman "…The Scarlet Witch. You're my favourite Avenger. I can't believe I said that out loud." Billy said feeling a faint flush cross his cheeks in embarrassment.

"Don't worry" She said with a lopsided smile quirking up.

The two of them stood up and began to talk about why he was being bullied "So, when you see this bully at school tomorrow, what are you going to do?" She asked walking alongside the younger.

"Run as quickly as possible in the other direction." Billy said lamely, holding onto the handle of his schoolbag tight.

"No you're going to stand your ground. Show him you're not afraid." She ordered.

"But I am afraid. If I had powers-

"You do," She informed him as the two reached the gates of the Avengers mansion "Everyone has some gift—something they do better than anyone else."

"I don't think my keen analytical skills are any match for John Keslers simian strength, so I plan to stay out of his way." He interjected sarcastically.

"In my experience…the more we do what other people want us to, the more we get into trouble." She stated "Be yourself, and the Keslers of the world can't touch you." She continued.

"Despite all physical evidence to the contrary" Billy said feeling a smile cross his face for the first time that day.

"What physical evidence?" She asked "Stand your ground. See what happens." She said and with that she was gone.

The next day while he was at school Billy had somehow managed to avoid Keslers fists full of fury all day, that was until he was switching classes. He could see that he had found a new punching bag, then he remembered her words…Billy realised that just because he couldn't stand up for himself. It didn't mean he couldn't stand up for others.

"Get away from him Kesler." Billy practically spat out venomously.

"Why? Is he your boyfriend Kaplan?" He asked grabbing Billy's wrist and holding his large fist in front of his face threateningly.

"Is that your way of asking me if I'm single? Cause you're really not my type." Billy said just as his body was thrown to the floor.

"What did you say to me?" He asked angrily.

"I said…get away!" Billy yelled with his eyes glowing a bright blue, he grabbed Keslers fist before it hit his face, it sent him flying across the ground with Billy left to stare at him with disbelief. He took to his feet and ran as fast as his body could take him, he could only think back to what the Scarlet Witch had said to him. He did have powers.

If only he had someone to help him through the hard and painful days that were ahead of him. With the disbanding of the Avengers Billy couldn't find any trace of the Scarlet Witch and was left to fend for himself.

-/-

"Well, hurry up and eat your breakfast so you're not late for school" Mrs. Kaplan said shovelling things into her bag for the day.

Billy let out a sigh as he made his way over to the kitchen table, placed on it was a glass of orange juice and a bagel. Sometimes he felt it was nice to be a New York stereotype, besides he was pretty sure his mother was trying to make him gain more weight. Apparently he was extremely underweight, his doctor told him that he needed to fatten up some more to prevent future anorexia. Billy found this funny, normally people would be trying to lose weight and here he was being forced to gain it.

Billy sat down as his mother began running around the apartment frantically looking for some document for her work. Rebecca Kaplan was a psychologist, where as Jeff Kaplan was a cardiologist making a life in New York easier than it would be for most people.

He swallowed down his orange juice thirstily "You left your paperwork in the hallway cabinet Mom" informed Billy.

"Thank you dear" She thanked running across the kitchen to the hallway.

Billy nibbled on his bagel feeling almost immediately put off by the taste, he looked around the room slyly "I want this bagel to vanish, I want this bagel to vanish, I want this bagel to vanish" Billy repeated several times as the bagel began fade away.

"G'morning son" Mr. Kaplan said as he reached over and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Morning dad" Billy replied as he picked up his messenger bag, slinging it over his shoulder. Billy and his father weren't very close, Billy liked sci-fi his dad liked sports. Billy liked books, his dad liked TV. Billy liked boys, his dad liked girls. It was incredible at just how well Billy was able to avoid his father's continuous attempts to set him up with some of his friends' daughters, he could only feel sorry for his younger brothers and when they grew up. He wondered what his father would say if he asked if their sons were single, just the look he would receive made him chuckle. But what 16 year old boy is that close with their dad?

"William Kaplan, get your shoes on immediately or we will both be late," Mrs. Kaplan yelled from the front door "And Jeff please make sure you get the twins to school on time" She added.

Billy waved his dad goodbye, running through the hallway to the front door. He pulled his worn out black and white sneakers on quickly following his mother out of the front door as she ushered him to the subway. He would class himself as quite the nerd, that wasn't something many people would brag about but he was a geek, a nerd, a dork anything along those lines would describe him perfectly. One of the many ways he was known as a nerd was by his long-sleeved blue shirt with a Batman logo on the front and as for his pants he wore his light blue jeans that were still too big for him, even being in a young teen's size.

-/-

After around 15 minutes Billy had arrived outside of his High School, its dull colours made him feel automatically tired and the constant stares he was given weren't very settling either.

"Excuse me?" Billy turned his head slightly curious as to why someone was talking to him. Billy looked at the boy and practically analysed him, he had light blonde hair that seemed to be cut in a short yet scruffy style. His skin was fair and his eyes were a dark blue. Then he saw the letterman jacket that he sported 'Of course, I can't even get in the door before I get my first punch' He sighed and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"Okay, just get it over with…im used to the nosebleeds now" Billy said expecting to feel the boy's fist collide with his face.

"Uh, I'm sorry what?" The boy asked with a look of confusion on his face, Billy opened his eyes and stared across to him.

"You're here to beat me up right?" Billy said feeling that it sounded more like a question.

"Beat you up? No! I was just wondering if you knew how to get to the main office. It's my first day here, I just transferred from downtown" He said making Billy feel embarrassed.

"Oh, s-sor-sorry…uhm yeah you just-

"Uhm at the risk of sounding creepy, could you show me how to get to the main office?" He asked.

"Oh, you want…me to show you? I'm pretty sure you'd be committing social suicide if you were seen with me, I'm not exactly popular," Billy said frowning lightly at the thought of his popularity status ruining this new boy's chances of being cool.

"Well how about you show me first and we'll have the funeral later?" He said chuckling lightly; Billy raised an eyebrow with a slight smile forming on his lips.

"Don't say I didn't warn you…uhm"

"Teddy. Teddy Altman, great to meet'cha" Teddy said holding his hand out, Billy stared at his hand then blinked a few times before reaching out and shaking his hand awkwardly. Billy almost shivered as their hands connected…it was weird but he felt a tingle of sorts. "What's your name?" Teddy asked with a slight grin appearing.

"Billy." He answered swiftly making his way through the front entrance of the school hoping that he could just lose him in the usually large crowds. But clearly he wasn't going to be lost when he was attaching himself to Billy like a trained dog and its owner.

"So do ya have a second name?" Teddy asked as they made their way down a practically deserted hallway.

"No, I'm the one person in this school who doesn't have a second name…" Billy said sarcastically.

Teddy laughed at his comment "Well then, someone isn't a Monday person" Teddy said making Billy feel tempted to smile.

"Kaplan." Billy stated making Teddy grin.

"Wait as in Rebecca Kaplan psychologist extraordinaire?" said Teddy.

Billy's eyes were slightly narrowed in confusion "You…know my mother?" He asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Wow…I sound like a complete stalker," Teddy said shaking his head embarrassedly letting out a light chuckle "My mom took some sessions a few weeks ago, your mom really helped her. I haven't seen her so happy in a long time," Said Teddy flashing yet another grin.

"Your positivity is giving me a headache" Billy said rubbing his temples roughly.

"Aww aren't you kind" Teddy said sarcastically whilst punching his shoulder playfully.

Billy bit his lower lip and reached up to his arm rubbing it, he'd already been bruised there previously "Well here's the main office, good luck" Billy said turning to leave.

"Not so fast," Teddy said catching him around the elbow, he took out his cell phone and handed it to Billy. Billy simply stared at him "Your phone number. Put it in," Ordered Teddy.

Billy gave him a look as in to say 'What the hell do you want my number for' but gave in figuring it would save him time.

-/-