Chapter 2: Package and Tiara

AN: Hey guys I am back with a new chapter for this story and I hope you enjoy. Nothing else to really say so let's get right into it.

Bold= Author

Italics= Thoughts

Regular= Speaking

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs and the story behind this fic everything else belongs to their respective creators and companies.

Julio's POV

I groaned as my alarm began ringing and I made a quick check of the time seeing it was seven in the morning.

"Oh yeah I promised mom." I yawned and rolled out of bed and onto the floor with a thud. "Ow damn I really am tired."

I got up and stretched yawning again before going to my drawers and pulling out clothes for today when my phone gave a buzz signaling a message. I checked and saw it was from Jen. It read "Going to the mall later today, want to join?", I texted back "Who's coming?". "Me,Kia and Amy," and I froze. "Oh god it's my turn isn't it?" I sent and got a message back with a simple ":)".

"Fine but actually I want to invite someone." I answered after a bit of a pause. "Who?" Was my response. "A new friend." I answered. "Okay but are they a boy or a girl?" She asked. "Girl." Was my simple response. "Okay cool." "Great what time?" "Three." "See you then" I texted and walked toward the shower.

Now if you're wondering what the whole my turn thing was it's quite simple. Every few months or so the girls like to take us guys for a completely new look and see if it sticks and do so by picking one of us at random on sunday and I was the last one left. While it sounds nice of them they also do their own shopping at every store they want to and guess who carries the bags? The poor soul they dragged along. But this could be good to introduce them to Tiara and from what I can see she could use some friends.

"But that does not mean it won't be painful for me." I said outloud to myself chuckling lightly. Oh well knew it would happen eventually so no use whining over it.

20 minutes later

After I was done with my shower I came out of the bathroom dressed in my usual attire though I wore a white shirt instead of a black one. I went downstairs and saw my mom fixing breakfast while on the phone. One thing you should know about my mom she has a knack of getting up extremely early and getting ready for the day so she can have time to do as she pleases later in the day so right now she's probably finished half the chores she does so far. Ordinarily I'd have my chores to do but since she's having me or my sister do something important like what I'm about to do we don't have any chores for the rest of the day.

"Hey mom heading to the lab." I said walking through the kitchen and planting a kiss on her cheek. "Oh good morning."

"Good morning." She said. "Alright just come straight back and don't open it."

"I know it could be dangerous." I said since my dad only sent back either gifts that would arrive here or in this case important things to the lab that my mom or me pick up. "Well I'm off see you in a bit."

"Okay. Say hi to Jerry for me." She called to me as I walked out the door and shut it. I walked towards my car, opened the door, got in and shut the door while sliding my seatbelt on. Thankfully it wasn't a long drive to the lab and a lot of the workers know me from the times I would go there with my dad. I contemplated calling Tiara to ask her about coming with me to the mall later but decided it was a better idea to wait till later in the day since she could still be asleep. Speaking of her my phone gave a buzz and it said I had a message from her surprising me. I had to hold off on answering till I reached a red light. It said "want to talk?" so I called her and she picked up.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey Tiara." I responded keeping my eyes on the road.

"Oh hey Julio." She said happily. "So how are you?"

"Good."
"Great." A silence followed causing me to chuckle. "What?"
"You're not good at talking to others are you?" I asked.

"No."

"It's fine. You just need to talk to others more and you'll get used to it."

"Hopefully. I was home schooled so it's hard to adjust." She sighed.

"Well that explains it. But if you want you can come with me and my friends to the mall later." I said.

"Really? Are they fine with it?" She asked.

"Yes. I talked to them a while ago and they said they're fine with you joining us."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well for the first part of it they're gonna find me a new "look"." I said. "And then they're going most likely going to do their own shopping while I carry the bags."

"Sounds like fun." She said.

"Yeah it is. Until the bags start to get heavy." I sighed and she giggled cutely.

"Well I would like to join you." She said.

"Great. I can come pick you up if you want." I said.

"Okay what time?"

"Well we're meeting up at three so is what time is okay for you?"

"Hmm how about one." She said. "Oh gotta go see you soon."
"See you." I said and she hung up. "Well that was easy. Oh I'm here."

I pulled into the parking lot for visitors and got out before noticing that there was a crime scene in a nearby alley. From the looks of it the police were making it difficult for any reporters to see anything. Deciding it wasn't my business I went to the doors of a building nearby with a sign that said "Hunt's labs" and went in.

"Julio good to see you." A man said walking up to me. He was a tall man in his thirties about 6'1 with olive skin and black hair and brown eyes along with a moustache. He wore a simple black security guard outfit with a flashlight and taser on his belt along with a assortment of keys.

"Jerry good to see you." I said shaking his hand. "Mom says hi."

"Good to know. So here for that package?" He asked.

"Yep. You know where it is?" I asked and he nodded. "Than let's go."

"Sure thing." He said leading me along I should probably explain who this is. This is Jerry Cruz a friend of my dad and one of his most trusted workers probably because once when I was younger he saved me from being hurt by a runaway project and was forever in my father's debt.

"So how's the girlfriend?" I asked.

"Going great thinking about proposing." He said with a grin as we entered an elevator and went to one of the top floors. "Been dating for several years now and I feel certain that she's the right woman."

"That's great! She's awesome." I said with a grin having met her a few times and from what I can tell she's a very kind and fun person.

"I know just need the right moment. Anyway how's the dating scene for you?" He said smirking.
"Okay I guess." I said shrugging and he chuckled as we stepped out of the elevator and took a left to my dad's office.

"Well you are young so try not to look for a lasting relationship." He said offering some advice to me. "Eventually you'll find the one."

"Thanks for the advice but you know that isn't on my list of important things." I said rolling my eyes.

"I know. Just keep it in mind."

"I will."

"Oh hello Julio." A female voice said and I turned my head to an older lady at a large desk. She was in her early forties and stood about 5'8. She had brown hair and amber eyes with tanned skin. She wore the outfit you'd see secretaries wearing in movies and gave off an aura of kindness.

"Mrs. Date." I said respectfully. "Good to see you."
"Good to see you too. I assume you're here for this?" She said holding out a small package about the size of a shoe box.

"Yep." I said taking it from her carefully. "Thank you."
"It's no problem." She said. "Well remember to stop by more often."

"I will." I said smiling. "Well better get going."

"Okay bye." She said.

"Bye." I said and Jerry walked me to the elevator. "By the way do you know what happened outside?"
"Yes apparently two gang members were killed." Jerry said. "Both shot."

"Wow. What gang?"

"Not the Red Venom from what I understand." He said as we arrived at the ground floor. "But it's suspected they had a hand in it."

"Well it's none of my business so I don't need to worry about it huh?" I said.

"Yeah don't dwell on it." He said placing a hand on my shoulder. "Take care and tell your mother I'll come over tomorrow okay?"
"Okay see ya then" I said walking out to my car and getting in and was about to take off when I heard a knock on my window and I saw it was a cop. "Yes sir?"

"I just wanted to see what you were doing here." He said.

"Just taking a package from here."

"Can I ask your name?"
"Julio Hunt."
"As in Jay Hunt?"

"Yes sir I'm his son."

"Alright just want to warn you to be careful since murders are starting to pick up to not be out after curfew."

"Yes sir I'll be sure not to be out late."

"Good now sorry to hold you up." He said stepping away and walking to his car. I put my seatbelt on and drove out of the parking lot to head home. When I reached a red light I saw it was a little past ten. Now what to do for the next couple of hours. I guess I can just mess around at my house.

20 minutes later

"Mom I'm home." I called with the package in my hands.

"Oh welcome back." She said. "Go put it in the lab. I left something in the microwave so heat it up."

"Okay." I said as I walked towards the door leading down to the lab. You see not many know this but my dad actually has a large lab under our house where he keeps his personal inventions or ones he considers not worth it so this is likely a failure or something he wants to work on in secret. So I walked to the door and opened it after inputting the passcode before heading down being careful not to touch anything. I flicked on a light switch revealing several machines and tools along with several sets of microscopes, tubes and a lot of other things. I walked towards a desk in the far back of the lab and set the package on it. I Looked at it and couldn't help but get a weird feeling about the thing. "What is this thing? Oh well not my business."

I walked back to the stairs turning off the lights as I went and went upstairs. I closed the door behind me and sighed. "Okay guess I should eat now." I went into the kitchen and checked what was in the microwave. Some bacon, eggs and hash browns so I set it to warm up for a bit. After that was done with I began to contemplate what I should do now. "I guess I can just play video games for now."

So after a couple of hours of playing a online shooter I decided it'd probably be a good idea to go and pick Tiara up. It was almost one which was the time I said I'd pick her up so I should head out now.

"Mom I'm heading out." I called out.

"Okay be back before ten school's tomorrow." She called back.

"I know mom." I said then shut the door and got into my car. I sent a text to Tiara telling her I was gonna pick her up and a little later got a message that said okay. It wasn't a long drive to her house so I got there in about ten minutes. I arrived outside and contemplated knocking but decided to just text her I was outside. She said okay and to go ahead and come inside. I blinked and got out of the car and went to the door and knocked. It was opened immediately by… a maid?!

"Come in." She said simply. I went in and blinked at the fanciness of the house. From the outside it didn't look anything special but on the inside it looked incredible with various paintings, fancy furniture and even a couple of chandeliers. "This way." The maid said leading me to a table where a man sat. He stood at about 6'1 with dark hair, green eyes and tan skin. He had an aura of importance that commanded authority but I recognized him.

"You're Alex Weyland." I said surprised.

"Oh you know who I am good." He said his voice one of business.

"Yeah hard not to sir." I said respectfully.

"Yes may I know your name?" He asked in a tone that said it wasn't a request.

"Julio. Julio Hunt." I answered gaining a surprised look.

"You're father… Is he Jay Hunt?" He questioned.

"Yes sir."

"Ahh I've met your father before and even worked with him." He said. "A good man."

"Yeah so people always say to me." I responded.

"Anyway as I understand you wish for my daughter to accompany you." He said. "She must be here by nine and don't try anything."

"Yes sir. I understand." I said a bit intimidated before a familiar face entered the room.

"Dad! You're making him nervous!" Tiara said pouting.

"As your father I must look out for you. But I can see this is a man with good traits so I need not worry." He said.

"Um thanks?" I said a bit nervous.

"Come on let's go." Tiara said embarrassed as she to my surprise grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

"You are surprisingly strong." I said as we went out the house and to the car. "Okay you can let go of my hand."

"Oh sorry." She said blushing a bit pink which was easy to see due to her pale skin. "He's just embarrassing sometimes."

"Well that's parents for you." I said simply. "Loving but a bit too much at times."

"So am I dressed right for this sort of thing?" She asked and I took a glance. She wore a simple white dress under a matching jacket with white socks that went past her knees and white shoes.

"Yeah I guess but odds are my friends will get you to try some clothes on." I said as we got into the car and drove off.

"What do you mean?"

"Well when they go to the mall like this they tend to try on different clothes and they'll probably want to see you in different outfits."

"Oh what about you?"
"Oh they're gonna get me to try a new styles of clothing and when that's done with they'll make me carry the bags they get when they shop." I explained.

"So you just wait while they try on clothes?"

"Basically but I typically do things like look around at the manga shop and video game store for anything interesting. They occasionally get me to comment on their outfits."

"Well that sounds like fun to be honest." She said smiling cutely.

"Yeah I guess it is, more so for the girls."

"So what time are we supposed to meet them?

"Three so we have some time to kill when we get to the mall."

"Oh so what will we do."

"We'll figure that out when we get there." I said as we arrived at a red light. It was silent for a bit leaving it pretty awkward so I decided to break the ice. "So… where did you live before you moved here?"

"Oh me and my family lived in California before this and before that we lived in Chicago." She answered.

"Wow making friends must have been hard." I said.

"Yeah it was." She said a bit glumly.

"Well now you have a friend and maybe three more after today." I said to cheer her up.

"Yeah I guess you're right." She said with a smile. "Have you actually lived in New York your whole life?"

"Most of it I spent about two years in Texas before moving here." I answered.

"Really? Well that's still a long time spent here." She said. "So these friends… how long have you known them?"

"One I've known my whole life and is my best friends the other two I met and became friends with maybe five years ago or so." I answered.

"Oh wow you've been friends for that long." She said amazed. "I wish I had friends like that."

"Hey you never know when it comes to life." I said. "Hey we're almost there."
"Oh really? Wow it's big." She said in surprise as we found a spot to park in.

"Yeah it is." I said as we got out of the car and walked to the entrance.

"Wow." She said simply. There was several stores ranging from clothes and other things like game shops. Not to mention the sheer amount of people.

"What never been to a mall before?" I asked.

"No. My parents always had people do my shopping for us." She said looking around. I checked the time and saw it was only two. So about an hour till we met up with the others.

"So anything you want to do for the next hour or so?" I asked Tiara.

"Um maybe we can walk around and look at things for a bit." She suggested. "I've never been here so…"

"Alright we'll just take a look around and leave doing any shopping for later than." I said and we began to look around well mostly her since I knew most of the stores here anyway. We ended up looking at a lot of shops though we ended up looking at a stuffed animal place for a while since Tiara had a love for stuffed animals. I had to admit it was really cute seeing her fawn over them. Before I knew it we were heading to the food court to meet the others. When we arrived we found them at a table chatting and they waved us over when they saw us.

"Hey Julio bout time." Kia said annoyed.

"Be nice. We have a new face." Amy scolded.

"So Julio who is this?" Jen asked.

"Oh right guys this is Tiara she barely moved here on thursday." I said introducing Tiara.

"H-Hi it's nice to meet you." She said shyly.

"Nice to meet you I'm Jen." Jen said kindly.

"Kia." Kia said simply.

"Amy but I also go by Tea." Amy said sipping her tea. "So how'd you meet?"

"Last night." I explained. "When I was driving home I saw she was on the side of the road and she was ditched by her supposed friends and needed a ride home so I gave her ride and well she clearly needs some good friends so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to do so."

"Oh Julio you and helping people." Jen said fondly with the other two nodding. "But that's what we love about you. So let's get to shopping!"

"Alright but first thing first." Kia said smirking at me causing me to sigh. "New style for this one."

"Yeah let's get this over with." I sighed. "Where to?"

After about thirty minutes of having me try various outfits that were either way to weird and or unfitting for me we eventually managed to find several different outfits to wear that I could also mix together. After an argument of what to do next from the girls minus Tiara who was unsure of what to do they decided that they wanted to have Tiara try some stuff on and that they want to do it alone which in other words was telling me to go do something else for a bit.

"Alright see you later have fun." I said as I walked off to do whatever I felt like for a bit. I began to make my way over to the nearby comic book shop when I accidentally bumped into a very pretty woman talking on a phone with black hair and brown eyes wearing a black suit with a short skirt.

"Oh I'm sorry miss." I apologized.

"It's alright just be more careful next time." She said as she walked past me returning to the phone call and for some reason I felt a cold chill down my back. It felt like she was dangerous somehow.

"Hey Julio." A familiar voice said and I turned to see Jase nearby.

"Hey dude." I said fist bumping him.

"So done with your shopping?" He asked.

"Yep now they're doing theirs with my new friend." I said as we took a seat at bench.

"New friend?" He said confused.

"You know that new girl that just moved here?" I asked and he nodded. "Yeah one thing lead to another and now she's my friend and I invited her over."

"Really… if I recall she's quite the looker." He said giving me a smirk.

"I get what you're implying and yes she is beautiful but I barely know her." I said giving him a glare.

"But you didn't say you weren't interested." He pointed out.

"Shut up." I said getting a chuckle out of him. "Anyway, why are you here?"

"Mom wanted me to go pick something up for her." He said.

"Well you better get going before she gets pissed." I said since she does not have much patience.

"Yeah you're right see ya at school tomorrow." He said before turning around and walking away. At that moment I got a message from the girls telling me to meet them at… Victoria's Secret… oh god damn it. Well… let's just get this day over with.

3rd person just earlier

"Sir the device was taken but by who is unknown." A familiar voice said. The woman was walking through the mall having some personal time when he called.

"Damn. Security footage?"

"Yes but the face wasn't clear, thankfully I have someone fixing that and I should have the results-" Before being bumped by a certain teen.

"Oh I'm sorry miss." He apologized.

"It's alright just be careful next time." She said hiding her anger before walking off. "Sorry sir just bumped into a teenager… wait… that was Julio Hunt."

"Really? I remember meeting him once… a good kid and if anything like his father one with a bright future." He said fondly. At that moment the woman received a message.

"The footage is done." She said after checking it.

"Good do they know who it is?"

"Yes it's… my my quite the luck." She said smiling coldly. "It's the son that got the package."
"Yes it is lucky. Follow him to his home and find the package." He ordered. "Don't do anything to the family. I knew the man he would never endanger those he cares for so it's highly likely they don't know what it contains."

"Yes sir." She answered before hanging up. "Hmm… I better watch the mall entrance." She muttered before heading to the exit. She made a silent promise that she will secure the weapon no matter what.

AN: Jeez things aren't going to go well for Julio in the future huh? Well what can you do when you're the main character of something like this. Anyway this chapter took longer than I thought it would but hey it's done. So next chapter the moment everyone has been waiting for will arrive and finally some action. Also the reveal of the Weyland family and honestly what did you expect? They play a major role when it comes to the Predator's greatest prey so it should be obvious an appearance by them would occur but what will occur? It won't happen in this story but they will play a role. Something else I want to address is that don't expect me to get in depth with the descriptions of the environment unless it plays a very important role like for example a fight scene.

Also to The Book of Eli thank you for the review and I hope that I can keep it interesting for you.

Please leave a review with your thoughts on the story so far, ideas and any supporting criticism because they honestly would be very helpful with me improving this story.

This is SSJC J and I'll see you next time on The Predator: Birth of a Hero.