Chapter 4: Going out

Adrian left his basement, and entered his home; a two story mansion.

"Adrian?" called a female voice. Adrian looked to the top of the stairs and saw his mother, a 40 year old dark haired woman, greying on the sideburns, with kind green eyes, and a warm smile, "Heading out again? So soon?"

"I'm afriad so mom. I made a couple new friends today, so feel free to let them feel welcomed. I'll be back after a while." Adrian was about to walk out the door when his mother quickly stopped him,

"'A couple new friends?' As in human friends or...?"

"Human friends mom. I have never, and will never, ask you to meet anybody with the Blacklight Virus like me," said Adrian.

"That's good," called a male voice entering the room, and in walked Adrians father, a stoic man with grey hair, glasses, and a cold, distrusting scowl, "I wouldn't want my wife to be eaten like those soldiers back in Manhattan."

Adrian sighed,

"Dad, for the thousandth time, I didn't EAT anybody, I absorbed them. Plus they were about to kill you and mom."

"Yeah but the same virus in you coursed through Zeus, and look what happened to him!" Shouted his father.

"Richard!" gasped Adrians mother. Adrian simply glared back at his father,

"Good talk dad," said Adrian, "It's nice to know how supportive the man who brought me into this world is, even after Manhattan."

"MANHATTAN is the main reason I can't look at you, knowing what you are...what you've become," said Richard.

"Despite what I've become, I've never stopped being your son," said Adrian, ever defiant. Richard, huffed, and before storming off, he wispered to his wife, Adrians mother,

"And this is why, Victoria, I can't even look at him!"

Richard stormed off, not even noticing Calvin and Katrina exiting the basement.

"Well, he sounds nice," said Calvin sarcastically.

"This place is beautiful though," said Katrina, admiring the mansion.

"Oh! You must be Adrians new friends! I am Victoria Michaels, Adrians mother!"

"Calvin Hicks," Calvin tried to shake her hand, but she pulled him into a hug, surprising him, and then she turned to Katrina,

"Uh...Katrina Lagos," she said, nervous about receiving a hug from a woman she just met, but accepted it.

As soon as Victoria released Katrina, she quickly asked,

"Any of you like chocolate chip cookies? I made some for Adrian but I didn't realize he was leaving so soon." Adrian perked up,

"Are these the homemade chocolate chip cookies you always make?" Victoria nodded with a a smile, and Adrian grinned, turning to Calvin and Katrina, "You guys will appreciate this!" The three watched as Victoria went to the kitchen, and brought out a warm place of chocolate chip cookies, and Adrian picked two of them up, "Thanks mom!" and gave her a quick peck on the cheek as he made his way out the door, but not before quickly turning to Calvin and Katrina,

"Don't let my dad get to you guys either, he just doesn't trust shit he doesn't understand." And he quickly leaped up into the sky, gliding into the distance.

-Sometime later-

Adrian landed in front of an old looking house gracefully, and understood Calvins situation. He walked up to the house, and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal a woman who looked to be in her late 40s/early 50s, with tied back strawberry blonde hair, ice blue eyes, and an aged face, with a cigarette poking from her lips,

"May I help you?" she asked, half caring who she was speaking to.

"Is this the home of Calvin Hicks?" The woman was now fully alert,

"Depends on who's asking," she said, not fully trusting the young man in front of her.

"My name is Adrian Michaels, and I'm a friend of Calvins," he said, "And I was planning on Calvin spending the night tonight," The woman, who he was now assuming was Calvins mother, leaned against the doorway,

"You do know it's a school night, right?"

"Which is why I'm here," explained Adrian, "To get his shool uniform." The woman stared hard, but briefly glanced back behind Adrian, and her expression changed,

"Up the stairs, second door on the right," she said in a rush. Adrian nodded, thanked her, and as he went inside and up the stairs, he looked behind himself, and saw a greasy dark haired man watching him.

He went through the door Mrs. Hicks said to, and found a mattress on the floor, with a couple stacks of folded clothes next to it, and an open closet with a neatly pressed school uniform on a hanger. He grabbed the uniform, and was almost at the stairs, when he heard two voices rising from downstairs,

"Where the hell is my money Esther? You said you'd pay up by today, and THIS is all you got for me?!"

"Francis, this is all I was able to make for the past week, and it's all I got to pay for the rent on this house."

Well, I guess I found Francis, thought Adrian to himself. But his thoughts were shattered when he heard a deafening slap sound, followed by a thud, and Adrian quickly bolted down the stairs, seeing the greasy guy from across the street with a fist full of dollars, and Calvins mother on the floor. Adrian quickly knelt down to her side, checking on her, while Francis stared at Adrian,

"Who the fuck are you kid?" Adrian rose up, glaring at Francis,

"I'm the guy that's going to kill your ass," said Adrian, his rage boiling. Francis laughed mockingly,

"You must be one of her grandsons little friends," he said. Adrian raised an eyebrow,

"Grandson?"

"You don't know? Baldy is really her grandkid." Adrian paused, looked down at Calvins now GRANDmother, and her expression spoke for her. Adrian then looked back to Francis, but right as he looked, he saw a switchblade enter his heart, which drew a scream from Mrs. Hicks. Francis was smiling, until he saw Adrian look down at the knife, up at Francis, reach up and crush his knife hand, making him shout, and drew the knife out. Adrian then kicked Francis, litterally, out of the house, a small folded up note falling from his coat pocket. Adrian didn't pay it any mind, yet Mrs. Hicks did, and carefully read it.

Adrian then grabbed Francis, and lifted him off his feet,

"You know, Calvin said you were a bad guy, but he never said you were this bad." Francis was struggling against Adrians grip,

"W-What the fuck are you?!" He half gasped half stuttered.

"You..." both men turned around and saw Mrs. Hicks looking at the note, hands trembling, "...you were going to kill me?! And make it look like suicide?!!" She threw the now crumpled up note at Francis, and I looked down as it tried to regain form, and he saw some of the words, and found out it was a forged suicide note, which reignited Adrians rage as he turned back to Francis,

"You're fucked now!" And with a clenched fist, he drove it through Francis' chest, and out his back, gaining a gasp from Mrs. Hicks as Adrian absorbed Francis, and briefly clutched his head as memories flooded his head, seeing all the horrible things Francis did to Mrs. Hicks and others, and feeling glad he killed the greasy bastard.

"What...what are you?!" Mrs. Hicks asked, slightly alarmed. Adrian turned back to her when he was feeling normal again, and said,

"That depends, you got a piece of paper and a pen?" Mrs. Hicks paused, then in realization ran back inside, and ran back out with a notepad and a pen. Adrian quickly scribbled down a note, tore it out of the pad, and handed it to Mrs. Hicks, "Take this to the lady at the front desk at the hotel down the street, she'll know what to do." Mrs. Hicks looked at the note, then at Adrian, "Let's just say you'll never have to work for creeps like Francis ever again." Mrs. Hicks was at a loss for words, until she finally repeated her question,

"But what are you?" Adrian then wore a semi-sad look, and as he went and grabbed Calvins uniform, he answered her question,

"Something less than human, but also something more." He then crouched down and leapt up, and glided away.

-Sometime later-

Adrian now landed in a fairly decent playground, looking for Katrinas uniform,

"Okay, if I were a Goddess of War, had no home, and wanted to hide my uniform, where would I hide it?" He asked himself. He then looked over to a grove of trees next to the playground, and saw a thick trunked tree, and curious, he looked on the side of the tree facing away from the playground, and found a large knothole. He reached inside and found a black knapsack, and inside was a Kuoh Academy girls uniform.

Pleased that he found it, he was about to jump towards home, when he heard a yelp of pain, but not just any yelp, for it sounded like it came from...

"Comet!" Adrian ran as fast as he could, not caring if anyone saw him, and using his enhanced senses, he found his brawler, on the side of a brick building, pinned by a spear made of what looked like light. Adrian rushed to it, and quickly pulled out the spear as carefully as he could, but not without Comet roaring into the air, and slumping down to the ground with a thud. Adrian carefully lifted the brawler up, and mentally called for his hydra,

Medusa! called Adrian mentally, and soon enough the very street cracked underneath them, and a massive worm like creature broke through, and Adrian placed Comet next to it,

"Take him home, and find a way to help him!" Medusa quickly snatched up Comet, and they dissappeared into the street, sealing it up as if nothing happened.

Adrian was breathing heavily,

Just what the hell could have done this? He thought to himself. Suddenly, he felt a tinge in his senses, like someone or something was watching him. He looked to the far buildings in the distance, and saw the sillouette of what looked like a young woman, except for two large feathered wings sprouting from her back, and only saw her long enough to fly away. He glared after her, and according to his senses, she wasn't infected, but she definitely wasn't human.

-Later that night-

"Sounds like a Siren," said Katrina upon Adrians return, "Like what Odysseus encountered many years ago."

"Sirens," said Calvin, "if that's what they really are, does that mean it really is...?"

"I don't know," said Katrina, "the Zeus I was warned about, (to my knowledge), wouldn't use Sirens. Not sure though, Kratos never said anything other than 'kill Zeus.'"

"I don't care if it was Zeus, Muhammad or Christ himself," said Adrian. "They hurt Comet. And I know he may be fearsome to you guys, but in a way, he and the rest of the hive are my children...as weird as that sounds." Katrinas expression softened,

"This may sound uncharacteristic for a Goddess of War, but, it's not weird at all. Let's just get some sleep, figure out how we are all going to get through school, and figure out what is going on."