Chapter 32

Brains over Brawn

At the Institute

Dean sat down by his desk in his room and opened up his laptop. It had been so long since he checked his email, yet alone gone on his laptop at all.

Dean signed in to his email address and found 1000+ new emails, and that's not including spam, 'Alright, let's start deleting these suckers' he thought as he began scrolling down.

He quickly searched through them making sure there was nothing important. His reading speed had increased since he started reading more books, the more he read the easier it was to process the information in them.

Suddenly Dean got a new email.

He clicked on it. No name, no subject, not even English letters. Dean looked at it carefully and recognizes the language, ancient Greek.

It said, "You are not alone"

Dean didn't know what to think of this. Very few people spoke this language, let alone figured out a way to write it on their computer. He figured it was probably a virus or something so he deleted it and shut off his laptop.

Dean was walking towards the Institute with Jean next to him, talking and flirting.

"So what do you want to do today?" Jean asked.

Dean pretended to think, "Oh I don't know, maybe some training, maybe some relaxing…or we could sit by the water and stare at the sunset" he offered.

Jean smiled, "I like that last idea"

Dean returned with his own smile, "I thought you might"

They finally arrived and approach the entrance.

"Hey I should check the mail" Jean said moving away from Dean and towards the mailbox. She opened the mailbox and found a package inside.

She looked at it and it had no return address or the name of the sender on it, "Huh that's weird, no name" she shook the box around to try and hear what's inside, "I wonder what it is"

Dean suddenly became curious, "Let me see it one sec" he said and Jean gave it to him. On the outside it didn't seem suspicious but his keen hearing picked up something. He heard a ticking sound '…almost like…' Dean tossed the package into the air, "Get down!" he yelled as he grabbed Jean and dropped to the floor.

The package exploded in the air, nothing lethal, just a small explosion.

Dean looked around and spotted a bunch of scorched papers falling from the air. They all had the same writing, they said, "You are not alone" in ancient Greek.

Jean grabbed one and looked at it, "What is this?"

Dean's face had an angry look, "Someone's trying to mess with me"

Everyone had gathered in the War room to discuss the matter at hand.

Charles eyed the scorched piece of paper carefully, "How long has this been going on?"

"I got the email yesterday" Dean said with his arms crossed, he didn't look happy.

Charles set the paper on his desk, "Do you have any idea who would do this?"

Dean shook his head, "No. The only person who dislikes me at Camp is Clarisse and she's not smart enough to do this"

"What does it say?" Logan asked.

"It says You are not alone" Dean said.

"That could mean many things" Storm said.

"Could be a stalker" Evan said.

Dean looked at him weirdly, "You know, under normal circumstances I would consider that. But I think the ancient Greek rules that out"

"So is there anything we can do?" Scott asked.

"I'm afraid not Scott" Charles rolled over to Dean, "All we can do for now is wait for this mystery person to contact you again" Charles rested his hand on Dean's shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll figure this out"

"I hope we do" Dean walked out with Jean.

Dean and Jean were in his room. He tried replying to the email but it didn't work, there was no email address to reply to.

"So how are you feeling?" Dean asked.

"I mean I'm still a little shaken up, but I wasn't hurt. I'll be ok" Jean said.

"Good, I wouldn't want you hurt because of me" Dean said holding her hand.

Jean smiled at his show of affection.

Dean went over to his laptop and opens it up, "I just need to wait for this person to approach me again"

"Who knows how long that's going to take though" Jean said.

"I'll wait here as long as it takes" Dean said folding his arms over his chest and staring at the screen.

"Well I'll leave you to it then" Jean said as she kissed his cheek and walked out of his room.

Dean smiled.

A couple of hours later

Dean was seriously getting bored, 'How long is this going to take?!'

He suddenly got an email. Same style, ancient Greek and no name. It said "Did you like my present?"

Dean noticed that this time somehow the option to reply was available. He wrote back, "I wasn't impressed"

A couple of seconds later the mystery person replied, "Oh c'mon, you can at least say that you were whelmed"

'Whelmed?' Dean thought. Who says that? "Just tell me what you want from me"

"I want to inform you that you're not alone" the mystery person said.

"What does that mean? Be more specific" Dean said.

"You're not the only half-blood in Bayville Dean" the mystery person said.

Dean sat there for a moment contemplating on what he knows so far. This person obviously knows a little about Dean to know his name and that he's a half-blood. Also this person could be implying that they're a half-blood too.

"So?" Dean said. It seemed like a good idea to get some more info out of this person.

"So aren't you curious? Don't you want to see who the better warrior is?" the mystery person asked.

Dean raised an eyebrow, 'That seems a little personal for anyone to know' he thought. He replied, "Why would I want that?"

This time the mystery person took a little longer to reply but they did with a link.

"What's this?" Dean asked.

"It's you" The mystery person said.

Dean had no idea what that meant so he clicked on the link and it opened up a video. The title said, "Decapitation in cage match".

Dean watched and after a few seconds he realized that that was his fight with Brick. It was low quality but he could recognize himself on video.

"Where did you find this?" Dean asked.

"I was there, very gruesome. It'd be a shame if this were to go public" The mystery person said.

"Nobody would recognize me, you can't even see my face" Dean said.

"Maybe not now, but with a little bit of editing…" the mystery person said.

Another video popped up on Dean's screen, the same one but this one was a lot clearer. Enough to easily identify anyone's face.

"…Everyone will know" the mystery person said.

Dean squeezed his fist in anger, "I swear if you show anyone that video I will kill you!"

"I'd love to see you try" the mystery person said.

"Yeah that's pretty rich coming from the person hiding behind a screen" Dean said.

A page suddenly opened up and showed a person in a gray hoodie hiding in the shadows.

"You're still hiding" Dean said out loud.

"Did you expect me to reveal my identity right away?" the person spoke with a fake programmed voice.

Dean answered with a cold stare.

"Seems like I've struck a nerve" the mystery person said.

Dean inched closer to the laptop, "I've had enough of your games. What do you want?"

"Fight me 1v1 or that video goes viral" the mystery person said plainly.

"Alright tough guy, when and where" Dean welcomed the challenge.

"Meet me at the Bayville high football field at midnight. Bring whatever weapons or armor you want it doesn't matter" The mystery person said.

"And I suppose this is a fight to the death" Dean assumed.

"Kill you? No, I wanna fight you just to prove I'm better. Come alone so there won't be any witnesses" The mystery person said.

Dean thought that was strange but he went along with it, "Fine"

"Oh and more thing. Say hi to that hot redhead for me" The mystery person said.

Dean smashed his laptop into pieces, 'Didn't need that stupid thing anyways'

Jean had left Dean a couple of hours ago and she's been getting pretty bored.

Jean yawned. She looked at the time, its 11:30. 'Gosh, where did the time go?', It was almost time for her to go to sleep, might as well check up on Dean before she does.

Jean made her way over to Dean's room and opened the door only to find Dean crawling out of it.

Dean wore his uniform but he had his celestial bronze blade strapped to his belt.

"What are you doing?" Jean asked.

"I'm going to find out who's been harassing me" Dean continued crawling out of the window and jumped out without saying another word.

As Dean was descending from the air he suddenly stopped and was lifted back up by Jean's telekinesis, "You know, you bring a whole new meaning to possessive"

Jean came up to the window, "I can't just let you run off to who knows where without supervision"

"Sure you can, all you have to do is let me go" Dean said optimistically.

"No" Jean said with a sternly, "You don't even know where to look"

"I'm meeting the person for a fight now let me go" Dean said wobbling around in mid-air trying to escape her mental grasp.

"I said no" she said again with a sternly except this time she added a look to go with it, "You can't just not follow the rules" Jean said sounding like a teacher's pet.

"Says who?" Dean said.

Jean couldn't comprehend that someone could be this dense, "What do you mean says who? You just can't!"

"Watch me" Dean said. He then threw his phone at her full strength making it fly like a bullet in attempt to distract her.

Jean instinctively used her telekinesis to stop it resulting in her losing control of Dean.

When she looked outside again he was gone, "He can be so stubborn sometimes" Jean said out loud. She felt no need to hold on to Dean's phone so she set it down by his windowsill and went to leave.

And just as she did that Dean snatched it, "Can't forget this" he said bolting.

"Hey!" Jean shouted in protest as she ran back but again she lost sight of him, "He's unbelievable"

At Bayville high

Dean had made it 12 o'clock on the dot. He was standing in the middle of the field. The lights we're off and since there was no moon to be seen tonight it was pitch black.

Before he left he had to seriously consider what to bring. Even though he's heeded Chiron's lessons about training Dean still doesn't feel ready to fight fully armored and with a shield. So he compromised, just the bronze sword, at least he's comfortable with that.

Dean sniffed the air and smelled another person's scent, "Don't keep me waiting all night"

Suddenly the field's lights all turn on simultaneously, "I'm right here" Dean heard a voice behind him. He turned around to see who it is.

He was a teenage boy probably around his age but smaller in size. He wore blue jeans and a gray hoodie with the hood covering his face but Dean's superior eyesight could still see him. He had messy brown hair, silver gray eyes, and he had a scheming face that seemed like he was analyzing Dean's every move.

Strapped to his back was a celestial bronze staff with a leather handle in the middle for better grip and sharp tips that could be used to stab or cut. Around his waist was a belt with lots of pockets to store things in, Dean paid no attention to it.

The boy with the brown hair watched him closely.

"You almost blew up my girlfriend with that package of yours" Dean said glaring at him.

"Key word 'almost', I made sure not to make it too big. I had no intentions of hurting anybody, just to get your attention" he said.

"Well you have it", Dean eyes the celestial bronze staff, "So you're another half-blood then huh, who do you belong to?"

He smirked, "I'm not just gonna tell you, that would be too easy"

"Whatever, just gimme a name" Dean said as he drew his sword.

"I'm Tim, and I wish to test my mettle against yours" He said as he grabbed the bronze staff that was strapped to his back.

Being smart kinda sucks sometimes. You always feel like you're in a world full of idiots. Being around Tim made me feel stupid. He's cool like that

Dean took a good look at Tim's weapon and laughed, "If you're going to fight me then you can at least have the decency to do it with a real weapon, not a toothpick"

You could say that Dean had little faith in a staff, he favored swords.

Tim took a stance with the bronze staff and spun it around showing off his skill with it, "Don't worry, this toothpick can do plenty"

Dean took a stance of his own, "Let's see what you got then" he started by trying to close the distance between them but Tim knew beforehand he would try that so he kept his opponent at a distance with quick lunges from his staff.

Tim swung his staff in wide vertical arcs keeping a good distance between him and Dean while at the same time attacking.

Dean dodged each arc with relative ease considering they weren't that fast but they did their job, keep him away.

Dean tried to attack with wide slashes but Tim's staff made it difficult to reach him. Tim would constantly attack with both sides of his staff making it twice as hard to block his attacks.

Dean jumped over a slash and went for a lunge aiming for Tim's shoulder. Tim used the momentum from his missed slash and used it to swing it around and hit Dean midair knocking him down.

"You're definitely fast, you must be if you're able to dodge my attacks that easily" Tim said.

Dean got up and notices a gash opened up by his chest, the tip must have torn through his uniform.

Tim continued his assault with more quick lunges and mean swings.

Dean blocked or dodged every blow and managed to catch the staff. He uses his superior strength to swing the staff, and Tim along with it, around before letting him fly into the bleachers.

"And strong too, unforeseen but manageable" Tim said getting back up.

Dean ran at Tim.

Suddenly two copies of Tim appeared next to him.

Dean stopped in his tracks, "I don't remember hitting my head"

The three Tim's surrounded him, "No, but I can fix that" they all charged at him.

Dean went to block an attack from one of them but his staff looked like it phased through his blade.

Dean's temporary confusion allowed one of the other Tim's to hit him in the head with his staff.

Dean rolled across the ground and looked back at only one Tim.

"You're quick on your feet" Tim swirled his staff.

"And you got some weird abilities" Dean said before he charged at him.

Tim simply stood where he was.

Dean went to slice his ribcage but Tim's image faded.

Then Dean felt a kick to the back of his head that knocked him down.

Tim walked in front of him and knelt down, "You went for the ribs, not the head, chest, or gut. If you had hit me, it wouldn't have done much"

"Not trying to kill" Dean slashed at him.

Tim jumped and sat on top of his standing staff avoiding the attack.

Dean tried knocking him down repeatedly by hitting the staff.

Tim jumped with the staff like a pogo stick avoiding the attacks.

Dean grabbed the staff and threw him.

Tim flipped in the air and landed gracefully.

Dean got on his feet at the same time.

"You're not making this easy, that's good" Tim said as several other copies of him appeared.

"I could say the same about you" Dean said entering a defensive stance.

The Tim's charged at him.

Dean threw a lightning bolt at the first two and they both disappeared as soon as they were hit. Then he slashed a few other ones making them disappear too but another struck him from behind.

Dean looked around and saw he was surrounded, 'These copies, they're not real. But how do I tell which one is real? '

"C'mon tough guy" One of the Tim's said.

"Make a move" Another said.

'At a time like this Logan would say to trust my instincts, but I can't trust my vision' Dean focused his other senses, "Gimme your best shot" he dared him.

All the Tim's attacked simultaneously.

Dean sniffed for Tim's scent and found only one in the air, so he followed it. He let the first couple of Tim's hit him but they just phased right through him. Once the real one tried to strike Dean deflected Tim's staff and punched him in the face knocking him back.

"Those copies, they're illusions. They're not real" Dean discovered.

Tim wiped a trickle of blood off his mouth, "Very observant" he grabbed something from his belt and threw it on the ground. It exploded and thick smoke came out.

Immediately Dean lost sight of Tim in the smoke.

Dean could hear Tim's laughing but couldn't pinpoint his exact location. He suddenly felt the sting of a slash by his lower back and reacted with a wide attack of his own that misses.

"You can't hit what you can't see" Dean heard.

Dean slashed outward wildly, "I don't need to see you!"

Dean got cut on his thigh, "Keep telling yourself that" he heard more snickering from Tim.

Dean tried to look for him but the smoke was too thick.

He got cut by his shoulder but almost caught the staff, "Almost, keep trying though. I'm sure you'll get it eventually" Tim joked.

Dean was getting pissed off at this smartass kid, but he remembered his training. He closed his eyes and used his other senses to find his opponent.

He heard his footsteps moving around him, and suddenly he heard the sharp tip slice through the air coming towards him.

Dean caught the staff and pulled it towards him drawing Tim closer so he can uppercut him in his gut "Gotcha" making him topple over in pain.

The smoke cleared revealing Tim lying on the floor holding his stomach, "Ow"

Dean didn't use his full strength so he wasn't permanently hurt, so why is he still on the floor? "I didn't hit you that hard, did I?"

Tim grabbed something else from his belt and threw it, "Fooled ya!"

In midair they looked like small marbles but that wasn't going to fool Dean. He immediately jumped back and shielded his face from the tiny explosives that exploded in the air.

Dean got right back up, with nothing but small scorch marks on his forearms, not expecting Tim to pole vault using his staff to drop kick him right back down.

Dean had to admit that was a good hit, but it wasn't enough to do any permanent damage.

"Alright Tim" Dean got back up, "The gloves are coming off this round" he slowly approached.

"I doubt it'll make a difference" Tim started quick lunging again.

Dean dodged them and waited for the right moment to leap at full speed and grab Tim by the throat and lift him into the air with one hand.

Of course Dean couldn't accomplish this without a risk of hurting himself, a long cut opened up by his stomach. Thankfully it wasn't deep.

Dean squeezed Tim's throat making him drop his weapon and try to remove his opponent's hand from his throat but it didn't budge. He put his sword back in its scabbard with his free hand.

Dean watched him carefully, "I see you're very clever Tim, your strongest muscle is your brain. That's something that not a lot of people have" he threw him hard into the bleachers once again breaking them, "But when you're facing an opponent with similar attributes" he took the fallen staff and threw it aside, "You can't rely on it"

Tim reached into one of his belt pockets and threw out a couple of shuriken at Dean.

Dean was caught by surprise but managed to dodge them all except for one that sliced the side of his cheek.

That was enough of a distraction for Tim to get his bronze staff and ready himself.

Dean slowly approached, "You know this is pointless right, you can't win"

"Nobody's perfect, you must have a weakness somewhere" Tim said.

"Consider me the exception" Dean said arrogantly as he drew his sword once again and leaped at Tim with a wide slash.

Tim narrowly escaped being sliced in half as he jumped up into the air and threw something that looked like a grenade. It exploded right above Dean's head releasing toxic gas.

Dean immediately backed away and as he did the field's lights turned off. Under normal circumstances Dean wouldn't have much trouble adapting to the dark environment but Dean's vision started to blur, a side effect of Tim's gas.

All of a sudden a rope wrapped around Dean that made him trip and fall.

Dean saw a bronze glow coming from ahead. As it got closer he recognized it as Tim's bronze staff emanating its bronze light, he was slowly approaching.

Little did Tim know Dean was cutting his binds, 'A little closer'

Tim raised his bronze staff, preparing for the final blow, "Looks like I win"

Dean then shredded the ropes off him and knocked out Tim with one punch to the jaw, "Lights out" he said as Tim's lifeless body fell to the ground.

A couple of minutes later Tim opened his eyes to find himself tied up with his own rope. He looked around and spotted Dean going through his things.

Dean continued to look through Tim's pocketed belt, "You've got quite an arsenal here, I'm guessing you stole it?"

Tim looked insulted, "I'm a son of Athena, I don't steal, I made those. I'm smart in more ways than one" he boasted, "So…just a wild guess here but is Zeus your dad?"

Dean's eyes sparked with lightning, "What gave it away?"

Tim laughed lightly, "Well I'll take pride in knowing it took a son of Zeus to beat me"

"That's a fine way to rationalize your failure" Dean said smirking.

Dean could tell from Tim's annoyed expression that that stung.

"So, now that we know each other, what are you going to do?" Tim asked.

Dean put everything back in their pockets where they belong and set the belt down on the floor.

"Now that's the question" Dean said looking at him skeptically, "You obviously don't want to kill me, which is good for you and you've done nothing wrong, besides almost hurting my girlfriend"

"Again not my intention" Tim reminded him.

Dean nodded, "Uh huh" he still kept his eyes on him, "But I don't like the fact that you have that video of me"

"Look I just wanted to fight you, I don't have any reason to bother you anymore" Tim said.

"Maybe, but just to make sure I'm gonna need you to promise not to ever show that to anyone" Dean said.

"Or else…" Tim wanted to hear the alternative, just because.

"Or you'll end up like the guy on the video" Dean said with a smile.

"Oh" Tim nodded, "Well when you put it like that…I swear on the Styx never to show that to anyone"

Dean turned around and walked over to where he left his sword, "So I guess I'll let you go" he sheathed his sword.

Dean turned around to face Tim but he was already gone. The rope he was tied with was cut and his weapon and equipment were all gone, "That little sneak" Dean said looking around trying to find him.

Dean suddenly got a text message. He checked his phone and it said, "Thanks for letting me go :), I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again. And don't forget, we're not the only half-bloods in Bayville"

'So there are others too...' Dean thought. Where could they be hiding?

Dean's common sense kicked in and remembered how late it was, he should get home right away.

At the institute

Dean climbed back in his window quietly trying not to wake anybody up when suddenly the lights turn on in his room. He looked around and spotted Logan with his arms crossed.

Dean laughed sheepishly, "Um, hey?"

"Downstairs, now" Logan said walking out.

Dean willed himself to walk some more, his body was trashed. And now he'll never get any sleep.

Author's note: Looks like Dean is in trouble! I'm sure he'll find a way out of it