Chapter 42

A new friend

At the Institute

Dean woke up groggily. He looked at his phone and saw it was past noon, "What the? I slept in?" he got out of his bed and stretched his muscles, "What happened last night?"

He tried to recollect last night's events but his memory was clouded, "Oh yeah" Dean chuckled.

Dean quickly took a shower and went downstairs to the kitchen hoping to find some food. When he walked in he saw there was a plate left for him on the table and Jean was sitting watching the news.

Jean noticed him, "Hey what happened to you?"

"I don't know, I was just really tired" Dean said sitting down and eating.

"Rogue said you left school early, and then after that I found you sleeping in your room. Did you sleep all day?" Jean asked.

"No at some point I woke up and went to see Tim and Billy" Dean said finishing is food.

Jean nodded and turned up the volume of the TV.

"—the Bayville Advanced Idea Mechanics expose. It's chairman Andrew Forson will be giving the opening speech this afternoon" The news anchor said.

"Advanced Idea Mechanics, you ever heard of them?" Dean asked.

"No, they must be a new uprising company" Jean said not sounding interested.

"So you wouldn't wanna go?" Dean asked.

"No I've got schoolwork to do" Jean said.

'Maybe Tim would be interested' Dean thought.

At the Hideout

Tim and Billy sat at a table playing chess. It was currently Billy's turn and it was taking him forever to decide what move to make.

Billy leaned on his fist as he looked at the chess board, "Can we take a break?"

"Just make a damn move" Tim said getting impatient.

Billy moved his knight forward.

Tim ate Billy's piece with his rook.

"Damn it! You keep getting me" Billy said.

"That's because you're not thinking about your moves" Tim said.

"I just wanna get this over with, it's taking too long" Billy said.

"Chess is supposed to take long, it's not a fast game" Tim said.

Billy got out of his seat, "I don't like slow" he zipped out of the room and came back with a chocolate bar.

Tim got up, "You're way too impulsive"

Dean walked in, "You just figured that out?"

"No just stating the obvious" Tim said.

Billy started singing a song as he ate his chocolate, "I'm livin' life in the fast lane
Movin' at the speed of life and I can't slow down
Only got a gallon in the gas tank
But I'm almost at the finish line, so I can't stop now"

"Ignore MC Speedy, what's up?" Tim asked.

"You saw the news report about the AIM expose?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Tim asked.

"I'm not sure, I just get the feeling that maybe we should go check it out" Dean said.

"I wouldn't mind" Tim said optimistically.

"Hey if you want to then why not?" Billy said.

As they left an idea came to Billy, "Hey you guys could be my sidekicks!" he said enthusiastically.

"Dream on slim shady" Dean said.

Billy zipped by him.

Dean pat himself down to see if anything was missing, "Hey give me back my phone!" he chased him.

"Oh, who's this Jean" Billy said going through his messages.

"Come back here!" Dean yelled.

Tim just watched and laughed.

At the Institute

Jean was doing her homework in her room enjoying the silence. Well as silent it can be with multiple people's thoughts in her mind. That tended to be a bit of a drag.

Jean rolled on her bed and felt a slight sting by her ribcage. She went to look but the angle of where she felt it was limiting her vision for it.

Jean levitated her handheld mirror and lifted her shirt to find a bruise. Probably one from the last fight they had with Kratos.

That made her think about her boyfriend. Honestly she didn't have that much work to do, she could have gone with him to the expose. But she chose not to because she felt like he needed some time to think.

Dean still didn't recover mentally from his battle with his brother, she thought letting be alone might help but now that she thinks about it maybe he just needed her support.

'I wonder what he's doing right now' Jean thought. She took out her phone and called him.

After a couple of rings he picked up, "Hey Jean"

"Hey!" Jean was excited to hear his voice, "How's it going?"

"Good, Mr. Forson started his boring speech and it seems like it might go on forever" Dean sounded bored.

"Oh well in that case why don't you just come home?" Jean suggested.

"I'm actually considering that, I didn't think it would be this—" Dean paused.

"Dean? Dean what's wrong?" Jean asked getting worried.

"I need to go, there's trouble" Dean said sounding urgent.

"Dean wait what's—"he hung up but before he did there was a loud gunshot sound.

Jean feared the worst might have happened.

At the AIM building

Dean, Billy and Tim had arrived at the opening of the Advanced Idea Mechanics building. It seemed that the event had drawn quite a crowd.

"This guy must be pretty important for all these people to be here" Billy said pushing through the crowd.

"Yeah, I heard that it's one of the head companies in technology today" Dean said pushing through people to get in front.

"Like that guy Stark?" Billy asked.

"Nah, Stark Enterprises is decades ahead of any other company like AIM or Hammer Industries. I mean c'mon, he's Iron Man who can compete with that?" Tim admitted.

They reached the front of the crowd just in time for President Andrew Forson's intro speech.

Mr. Forson walked up on stage. He had dark hair that was slicked back and was wearing an elegant blue suit with his wide frame glasses to complete his look.

Dean didn't know why but he just didn't like the vibe coming off this guy.

Next to him was a woman who was dressed just as elegantly and a teenage boy with black hair that seemed out of place for some reason.

Andrew Forson stepped up to the microphone, "I'm glad that you all could be here today to see the opening of the Advanced Idea Mechanics building here in Bayville. Our goal is to share our superior knowledge of technology throughout the world and I believe Bayville is the perfect place to start expanding"

Hands rose and reporters started pushing and shoving for questions.

"Mr. Forson where else do you plan on expanding?" one of the reporters asked.

"We've already begun constructing in Colorado and New Jersey. My colleagues and have discussed expanding around the world to Asia, Canada, Europe, Haiti, India, Sudan and Boca Caliente" Mr. Forson answered with a cocky attitude.

"Mr. Forson, do you have any comments on the rumors of your technology being stolen from Stark Enterprises?" another reporter asked.

That question seemed to hit home and got a reaction out of him.

"I'm only going to say this once, our technology is original and we did not steal it from Mr. Stark. We wouldn't need to, his primitive arc reactor technology won't even compare to the things we will create here. Now are there any other questions?" Mr. Forson said sternly.

One more reporter raise their hand, "Will you be staying in Bayville?"

"Yes, for the time being" Mr. Forson answered motioning his hand for the woman to come up, "Me and my wife will actually be staying here in the building itself so I can oversee the development"

"And our son" The woman said dragging him up.

Mr. Forson cleared his throat, "Step son, that is" he said with distaste towards him which earned him a glare from his wife.

"Wow, that was ice cold" Billy whispered to Dean.

"I know" Dean replied.

Mr. Forson ignored and continued talking about something about his company. Dean lost interest and started daydreaming.

Suddenly his phone rang. He looked at his phone and saw it was Jean.

"Hey Jean" Dean answered.

Billy started making kissy faces to annoy Dean.

"Hey!" she answered excited to hear his voice, "How's it going?"

Dean threatened Billy by showing him his fist and Billy stopped, "Good, Mr. Forson started his boring speech and it seems as if it might go on forever" Dean sounded bored.

"Oh well in that case why don't you just come home?" Jean suggested.

"I'm actually considering that, I didn't think it would be this—" Dean paused.

He heard a click-clack noise, one that would match the pull back of a rifle. He looked around and spotted someone on top of the roof of the building across the street.

"Dean? Dean what's wrong?" Jean asked getting worried.

Dean put two and two together and realized what's about to happen, "I need to go, there's trouble" He said sounding urgent.

"Dean wait what—"he hung up.

"Everyone get down!" Dean jumped on the trio on stage bringing them down and then out of nowhere there was a very loud gunshot that startled the people and sent them running and panicking.

Dean had covered the three on stage hoping to them but he never felt any pain. He looked back on the rooftop and the person there before was gone. He looked at his shoulder where the bullet grazed his jacket.

"I think the shooter is gone Mr. Forson" Dean said getting up, he signaled Billy to go check and Billy ran off at a human pace to so he didn't attract attention.

Tim went up on stage and helped Dean get the trio standing.

They all got on their feet.

"Well thank you young man, I owe you my life" Mr. Forson said.

"We owe him our lives" His wife corrected him.

"Yes whatever" Mr. Forson reached into his pocket, "Here is something from me" he took out a 100 dollar bill and gave it to him.

Dean looked at it and laughed, "Its ok sir you don't need to give me that, it was my pleasure to help."

Mr. Forson seemed surprised, "Well good day to you then" he walked into the building nonchalantly like nothing had happened with his wife running after him complaining about his behavior.

"No offense man, but your stepdad is a real douche" Dean told the teenager next to him.

Dean got a good look at him up close, he had straight black hair that covered his forehead, he was about 7 feet tall which meant he towered over Dean, he had onyx colored eyes, but he was wearing a suit which didn't seem to go with him and he looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I know, I really hate him" the boy said, "Thanks for saving us by the way, I'm Jonathan. But everyone calls me Jon" He held out his hand.

Dean shook his hand, "Just trying to help"

As he shook Jon's hand he noticed he had a killer grip.

Billy came running back, again at a human pace, "The shooter is gone" If he had ran at full speed Billy would have caught the shooter.

"That's too bad, but the police will handle it" Tim said and right on queue they showed up asking questions but they let the teens go eventually.

Jon invited them back to the building to hang out, he seemed like he was very lonely and since Dean technically saved his and his mother's life he counted as a friend.

The three of them were walking towards Mr. Forson's office so they could ask where to find Jon but they stopped when they heard commotion from inside the room.

It sounded like Mr. Forson and his wife were arguing about something, and they were going at it.

"What do you think is going on?" Billy asked.

"No idea, those two seem to have lots of things to argue about as it is, and we're not counting the stuff we don't know about" Dean said listening through the wall.

Suddenly the doors opened and Jon's mother walked out looking aggravated, "Oh, boys, we weren't expecting you" She said surprised to see them.

"Um, Jon invited us over" Dean said.

"Oh well Jon must have went downstairs, you might find him in the gym" she said.

Jon was inside the gym trying to let out some of his anger on the heavy bag. This seemed like the only place he could find peace after his arguments with his stepfather.

If it weren't for his mother who knows what Jon might have done to him. From a young age Jon's had an anger problem, it stemmed from childhood trauma that involved his stepdad. Which is why he hates him so much.

Jon punched the heavy bag repeatedly holding back his true strength so he didn't damage it, 'Why does he have to be such an asshole?' the bag started swinging back and forth from the force of his punches.

'I never did anything to him' the chain hook in the ceiling started to crack.

'Why does he have to treat me like a damn freak?!' he punched the heavy bag using some of his true strength and the bag ripped off its chain and went flying across the room.

Suddenly Dean, Tim and Billy walk in, "Hey Jon you in here whoa!" Billy moved out of the way of the flying bag.

Dean managed to catch the incoming bag but the force made him skid back a coupe of feet.

The three teens stared at Jon.

"Um, I…" Jon had no clue what to say, he wasn't expecting them to barge in on his workout.

"No wait, its ok Jon" Dean said quickly so he didn't freak out or something, "Just calm down"

The three of them looked at each other thinking the same thing, Jon was a little different than the average teenager.

"What you saw, I—"

"Don't worry, you'd be surprised at what others can do" Dean Looks at Billy, "Show him"

Billy zipped across the room and then zipped back, "Ta-da!"

"Wow" Jon looked amazed.

"Hey Jon heads up!" Dean tossed him back the bag using his full strength.

Jon caught it with ease, "Whoa you're strong too" he looked at Tim, "What can you do?"

Tim smirked.

"You know it's not nice being punched" Jon heard someone say.

Jon looked at the heavy bag he was holding, it now had a face, "My insides hurt"

Jon dropped the bag and the face disappeared, "What the hell?"

"I can create illusions" Tim said.

"That's cool, so like what are you guys?" Jon asked.

"Well before we talk about us wha about you? How did you get your strength?" Dean asked.

"I was born with it, but my mother tells me I got it from my father" Jon said sounding unsure.

"Do you know who your father is?" Tim asked.

"No, he left when I was a baby" Jon admitted.

Dean, Tim and Billy looked at each other again, his story was sounding very familiar.

"You think he is?" Tim asked.

"It's not impossible" Dean said.

"What're you guys talking about?" Jon asked.

"We think you might be like us" Tim said.

"What are you?" Jon asked.

"What we are, is something you might have trouble believing" Dean figured.

"You want me to handle this?" Tim asked.

"Go for it" Dean said.

"Do you know anything about Greek Mythology?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, that's actually the most interesting part of history for me" Jon said.

"Basically, Greek mythology is real. All the stories about monsters, heroes, demigods, gods titans, it's all true. The Olympians have existed unbeknownst to mankind and have continued to spawn demigods, which is what we are" Tim said.

Jon looked at all of them to see if they were serious, and they all were, "You're not fucking with me, are you?"

"No Jon, we're not" Dean summoned a lightning bolt to his right palm, "I'm a son of Zeus"

"I'm a son of Hermes" Billy said.

"And I'm a son of Athena" Tim said.

"Which explains why he's a faggot" Billy said nonchalantly.

Tim looked at Billy with a blank expression, "Why?"

"Only faggots play chess" Billy gave his reasoning.

Tim looked pissed, "Fuck it" he jumped on him and they started throwing punches.

Jon was about to break it up when Dean stopped him, "This is normal"

When they were done they got back up and dusted themselves off.

"It makes some sense. But who do I belong to?" Jon asked.

"There are lots of possibilities, but we don't know for sure" Tim said.

"Maybe he's a son of Zeus, Hercules had super strength, right?" Billy asked..

"An obvious candidate, but still we can't prove anything right now" Dean said, "But why don't you come with us and see our hangout spot? It would be great"

"I don't know, it's getting pretty late" Jon said.

"C'mon, what's life without a little adventure?" Billy said.

"Best thing you've said all day" Tim said, "But you should totally come with us"

"I guess, but let's not make it too late" Jon said.

"We'll try" Dean said with a grin.

Back at the institute

Rogue seemed very bored today. She wasn't in the mood to read, and she wasn't in the mood to work out either.

Today would have been a perfect day to hang out with a specific someone, but today he was preoccupied with the opening of that company that Rogue forgot the name of.

Even though he might have otherwise done something with Jean, Rogue still felt like his presence in the house would have made her feel better.

Plus she's still worried about Dean's recovery, his body might be good as new but who knows what losing that badly did mentally to him. But Rogue would never know without coming right out and asking him, Dean knows how to hide his feelings well most of the time.

Rogue checked the time, 10:03, it seemed a little late for Dean to still be out since he left so early. He should have come home by now, 'maybe Jean knows something'

Rogue walked over to Jean's room and knocked.

"Come in" she heard.

Rogue walked in, "Uh hey Jean"

"Rogue" Jean got off her bed surprised at who showed up at her door, "Do you need something?"

"I was wondering if you heard from Dean at all" Rogue said.

"I talked to him a while ago but he hung up in a hurry saying there was trouble. He sent me a text a few hours ago saying that he was fine but that he was going to be late" Jean said.

Rogue laughed, "That boy really is a magnet for trouble"

At the Hideout

Tim bounced a ping pong ball on a table and it landed in a plastic red cup filled with beer.

"Aw man" Jon's face fell.

"That's two cups" Tim said with a smirk.

Dean took away two cups leaving only one left on their side.

Jon chugged down the beer in both the cups and belched.

"You ok?" Dean asked, Jon was a little wobbly.

"I'm—" Jon had a hiccup, "I'm fine" he nodded.

"Well they only have one cup left so we better make these" Dean said passing him a ping pong ball.

Jon took the ball and aimed. Tim and Billy had six cups left that weren't in any specific shape. He threw the ball lightly in an arc, it hit the edge of one of the cups and bounced off the table.

"Damnit" Jon said.

Billy laughed, "You ain't got no shot"

Jon frowned and glared at Billy.

Dean pat Jon on the back, "Relax, don't let him get to you" he tried to quickly bounce the ball off the table and into the cup.

Before it went into the cup Billy backhanded the ball, "Get that shit out of here"

Dean sighed, it was impossible to bounce it in with Billy's speed.

Billy aimed the ball at the single cup. He then zipped over and dunked it in in the blink of an eye.

"Billy, you can't do that" Dean said shaking his head.

"Do what? I threw it in!" Billy insisted.

"It was funny the first time but now it's getting old" Tim said as he threw the ball into the last cup.

"Yes!" Billy raised his fist.

"Looks like this is our last chance" Dean said as he gave Jon a ball, "Can I get a re-rack? 3 2 1"

Tim placed all the cups in a pyramid formation.

"You go first" Dean said.

Jon took his time to aim properly.

"Hey Jon, you better be ready to chug that last cup cause you're going down" Billy said with a sly smirk.

Jon grit his teeth and threw the ball as hard as he could. The ball his the side of the first cup and the whole rack flew off the table from the force of the throw.

Billy's jaw dropped.

"Hell yes!" Dean shouted and raised his hand, "Up top buddy!"

Jon excitingly gave him a high five.

"Awesome" Dean winced as he grabbed the hand he just used and cradled it. His hand was red from the amount of force Jon had used.

At the AIM building

Jon's mother entered his room, she was worried for her son. He left with his new friends a couple of hours ago and hasn't returned or even called for that matter.

It was after midnight which worried her further because Jon never stayed out this late, but it could be that Jon is growing up and he's finally found some friends he can relate with. She just hopes that Jon can control himself and not reveal his unnatural strength.

Ever since he was a boy, it was clear that Jon was special. From birth his strength was clearly above than any other toddler's, and as he grew with age so did his power.

She remembers the time when Jon accidentally flipped over a car when he was 12, he wanted to get something he dropped underneath it and he overdid it.

Suddenly Jon's mother felt like she was going to pass out from exhaustion so she took refuge in Jon's bed.

"That was amazing" Jon said as he walked with his fellow half-bloods.

"You know for a quiet guy you can have a lot of fun when you want to" Billy admitted.

"I don't think I've ever had this much fun in my life!" Jon was beyond excited to have left his boring new home to hang out at the hideout.

"It really blows a person's mind, especially when they haven't experienced true freedom" Tim said.

"I literally did whatever I wanted, and I didn't have to hide my secret from you guys which made it even better" Jon said.

"You see what the smallest thing can do to affect the way you act?" Dean asked him.

"I know it's weird, but a good weird" Jon admitted, "Oh man what time is it?" he looked at his phone, "Holly shit its 12!"

"Time really flew" Billy said.

"I need to get home, my mom is probably worried sick" Jon said picking up the pace.

The four of them arrived at the AIM building to find it surrounded with police.

Jon went up to one of the police officers, "Excuse me officer but what's going on here?"

"There's been a murder here son, now I'm going to have to ask you to move away from the premises" The officer said.

"No wait my step-father Andrew Forson owns this building" Jon said.

The officer's face fell, "Then this concerns you, I have some bad news"

Jon just remembered something, "Where is my mother?" he looked around

The officer took off his hat, "I'm sorry I have to tell you this but…your mother was murdered"

Jon's face became pale. He looked like someone just ripped out his soul, "No…no there's no way!" He ran into the building to see with his own eyes.

Jon ran through the building following the trail of officers which lead to his room but he could see from a distance that it was very bloody and gruesome, he dared not go inside and further scar himself.

Jon took a seat on the floor by the doorway, leaned on the wall, and he put his face in his hands.

Dean, Billy and Tim came running after him and stopped right in front.

"What" Dean was about to ask what happened when he took a peek inside his room and clearly saw every bit of it, "Oh no"

"What happened man? You're acting like someone d—" Tim put his hand over Billy's mouth and whispered in his ear, "Now would be a good time for you to shut up"

Dean sat next to Jon and put his arm around Jon's shoulder, "It's gonna be ok buddy" he rubbed his back as he would to comfort a child, "You're gonna get through this"

Jon lifted his head and looked at Dean, red eyes from the tears, "Promise me something"

"Anything you need big guy" Dean said trying to comfort him.

"Promise me you'll help me find my mother's killer" Jon said.

"I promise" Dean said.

Dean could see the sorrow in Jon's eyes turning to hatred.

Author's note: It's a shame that happened, but it was necessary. You'll see why next time!