Chapter 4

Catching up

Camp Half-Blood

Dean sped over to the top of Half-Blood Hill where he stopped and stared in confusion.

The pine tree was still there, however the Golden Fleece glittered as it hung in its lowest branch.

"Is that…no way" Dean said out loud in disbelief, there was no way that was the real thing.

He then looked near the base of the tree where he spotted a serpent like creature. It was about two feet long, it had relatively small arms and legs compared to its long body, copper scales, and bright yellow eyes.

The creature locked eyes with Dean which startled him, "You're a weird looking fella aren't you?" he slowly stepped forward so he didn't alarm it.

The creature followed his movement carefully like a cobra waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

Dean knelt so he could be closer to it and held out an open palm.

The creature crawled closer and sniffed his hand. It had a bewildered look for a moment before it sniffed again. It jumped on his arm and crawled up his shoulder where it hopped around joyfully.

"Ok?" Dean said not understanding.

The creature nudged his cheek in an affectionate way.

Dean laughed, "Ok little guy, I gotta go see what else has changed around here" he took him off his shoulder and put it back by the tree.

Dean walked through the camp and saw a bunch of old and a fair amount of new faces as well.

"It's unusually lively" Dean noticed that there was a significant of campers training compared to what he was used to, "Maybe I'll join in with the newbies" he sped over to his cabin, Chiron probably won't mind if he went a few rounds before seeing him.

Dean went inside the cabin and noticed that the place was a mess.

There was dirt and muddy boot marks all over the floor, the floor was also littered with garbage and food crumbs, and on top of that bugs were crawling everywhere.

"The fuck happened in here?" Dean said looking at the mess in disbelief. He heard loud music coming from upstairs so he went to investigate.

Dean entered his room to find it in a similar state.

There were a bunch of punk rock posters all over the walls, dirty clothes were scattered across the room, and an old record player was blasting the song Bad Reputation by Joan Jett.

{I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation

You're living in the past it's a new generation

A girl can do what she wants to do

and that's What I'm gonna do

An' I don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation}

Dean looked near his feet where he saw a half eaten sandwich and kicked it over revealing a pair of black panties that wrote "Daddy's lil monster"

{Oh no, not me

An' I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation

Never said I wanted to improve my station

An' I'm only doin' good

While I'm havin' fun

An' I don't have to please no one

An' I don't give a damn

'Bout my bad reputation}

"Who the hell has been living here?" Dean said out loud.

The door to the bathroom opened releasing the steam from the hot shower.

Dean turned around to see who it was but a towel was suddenly tossed onto his face.

A girl came out of the steam, "And I don't give damn bout my reputation!" She sang along to the song.

Dean took the towel off his face and caught a glimpse of her before looking away out of respect.

She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long distance runner, lithe and strong, and as you might imagine she was naked.

The girl finally noticed Dean standing there and screamed, "What're you doing in my room?!" She tried to cover herself.

Dean flung the towel at her, "I was gonna ask the same thing because this" he waved around him, "Is my room"

"Yeah whatever jabroni, this whole house is for Zeus kids only and this room is for the eldest child of which you are neither so evacuate before you're thrown out" The girl threatened as lightning sparked in her electric blue eyes that were just like his.

Dean rolled his eyes and summoned a lightning bolt to his right palm, "Last I checked I was the only living child of Zeus"

The girl was taken aback, "Wait…you're my brother?"

Dean stared at her, baffled, "Say what?"

Both children of Zeus stood before Chiron and Mr D.

Thalia had her arms crossed with an annoyed expression. She wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and goth. A black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of metal bands.

Dean simply stood there in confusion, not having been told what happened.

Chiron awkwardly cleared his throat, "So, I see you've met each other"

The two teens stayed silent.

Mr D laughed at their reactions, "It's like when you take a cookie jar away from children" he said to Chiron amusingly.

Chiron sighed and ignored his old friend's remarks, "I can imagine this comes as a shock, I thought it best to wait until you were both here before informing you"

"Well that's nice, I thought I was going to have the house to myself" Thalia sounded bitter.

Dean stayed silent and waited for Chiron to finish.

"I have faith that you'll be able to share the cabin, it's more than big enough for both of you" Chiron assured them.

"Yeah the couch should be big enough" Thalia pointed out jokingly, but secretly not really.

Dean raised an eyebrow and smirked in amusement, the audacity, "Yeah I don't think so. You and your filthy habits can go somewhere else"

"Well the master bedroom is supposed to go to the eldest child of Zeus" Chiron pointed out.

"Yeah and I'm 16" Thalia said.

Dean laughed, "Yeah so am I"

"Actually Thalia was stuck in the tree for years, her body may only be sixteen but she's actually older" Chiron said.

"Ha!" Thalia cheered happily, "My room!"

Dean rolled his eyes, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Just let her have it" Chiron insisted.

Dean growled before closing his eyes and breathing slowly, 'It's fine, it's just a room' he sighed, "Just please enforce some cleaning rules, it's disgusting in there"

"That I can do" Chiron agreed. He turned around to address her but she had already left.

"So give me the rundown of everything that happened while I was away" Dean said.

Chiron spared no detail. The tree being poisoned by Luke Castellan, Tantalus temporarily replacing Chiron, Annabeth and Percy and his cyclops brother Tyson going on a journey to find the golden fleece and save Grover, Luke's cruise ship the princess andromeda that had Kronos' sarcophagus and how more demigods are denouncing the gods making them weaker and the titans stronger.

"That's a lot" Dean admitted, "So correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like there's a war coming on the horizon"

Chiron nodded, "Correct"

"That explains the rise in activity around here" Dean surmised, "Where's Percy? Is he here training?"

"I had him train along side with Thalia over the summer, advancing them both to control their inner power. They're both fast learners, but as you know Percy isn't a year rounder so he returned home" Chiron said.

Dean frowned, that was a shame, "Maybe I'll go pay him a visit, try and change his mind" he hurried off.

"Wait you didn't tell me about your experience" Chiron was eager to listen.

"When I get back!" Dean shouted as he sped off.

Manhattan

Percy was sitting on his fire escape, doing his homework.

'Who even needs geometry' Percy groaned internally as he tried his best to figure out the problems.

He put his pencil down and took a sip from his water bottle.

Percy put the bottle down but left the cap off as he picked up his pencil and attempted to continue, 'A squared plus B squared equals C squared…when am I ever gonna use this in real life?!' He sighed and put the pencil down.

'Being normal is exhausting' Percy thought as he stared at the water. He slowly waved his hand and the water floated out of the bottle.

Percy willed the stream of water to swirl around him. He smirked as he joyfully manipulated the water.

He then willed it to form into a ball and held it afloat.

"Way to be discreet" He suddenly heard above him.

Percy was startled and accidentally dropped the water. He looked up and saw Dean sitting on the fire escape above him.

"You know people can see you up here right?" Dean asked.

Percy breathed heavily, "Jesus man, you scared the shit outta me"

They suddenly heard a loud splash below them, "Hey!"

Percy looked down, "Sorry!"

Dean laughed, "How've you been magikarp?" He dropped down and held out his open hand.

Percy grabbed it and they embraced each other in a bro hug, "I'm good, taking it easy, how bout you sparky?"

Dean sighed, "Trying to wrap my head around everything I came back to"

"Demigods divided, possible war, titans resurfacing, the return of our evil grandfather" Percy listed.

"My sister being resurrected" Dean added in a serious tone, almost ignoring the rest.

Percy suddenly remembered, "Ah, that, yeah the fleece healed the tree, and poison was not the only thing it purged"

"It's so weird…and so is she" Dean said finding his new sibling's habits beyond odd.

"I don't know, she always tries to act tough and never talks about anything personal, she's a mystery to me" Percy admitted, "But Annabeth is fond of her so I guess she must be okay deep down"

Dean raised an eyebrow, "That's the daughter of Athena that tags along with you right?"

Percy blushed at the mention of her with him, "Yeah she's always there for me when things get tough"

Dean examined his expression and body language. His face grew a silly grin, "You like her"

Percy looked embarrassed, "It's not like that"

Dean chuckled, "Your mouth says no but your pants are looking a little tight"

Percy panicked and looked down before realizing they weren't.

Dean snickered, "Made you look"

Percy had an irritated look.

Dean held his hands up, "Alright cool your waters dude, I'm just kidding" he assured him, "Look if you like her just make a move"

Percy sighed as he stared into the distance, "It's not that simple… I know she has…had a thing for Luke, I don't know if those feelings are still there, or if the ones she might have for me are stronger" he voiced his concerns, "I don't even know if she even really see's me like that, for all I know I'm just another kid from camp"

Dean frowned. Girl troubles suck, he knows pretty well, "I don't know her so I don't have an answer to give to appease your dilemma, but judging from what I've heard, she at least has to give a shit about you if she went out of her way to save you multiple times"

Percy nodded in agreement, "That's true"

"And if you want to get closer to her, you might wanna visit camp more often then just the summer" Dean suggested.

Percy looked conflicted, "That's the thing, I'm trying my best to fit in" he glanced at his homework, "Dealing with geometry"

Dean's eyes narrowed, "I'm not trying to judge you when I say this, but you do realize we're the farthest thing from normal right?" He asked trying his best not to offend him, "I've got nothing against getting an education but when some wild monster comes looking for one of us, or a god has a vendetta against us, or another half-blood comes looking to kill us, or our grandfather succeeds in resurrecting himself and starting a war…" Dean pointed at his homework, "Knowing geometry won't save you"

Percy sighed, "I can handle any ole monster, the rest you don't need me for. There are two children of Zeus to handle the big problems, I just wanna be a scholar like my mom always wanted me to" he confessed his feelings towards the subject which confronts him every day.

Dean shook his head, "If that's what you want…just keep in mind next time you fight Luke you may not be as lucky" he climbed up the fire escape.

Percy frowned at the thought of fighting Luke again.

"And remember, if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to call" Dean dropped a card before he sped up the building.

Percy caught the card. It had an X symbol on it with a phone number and address to the Xavier Institute.

At the Institute

Dean walked through the forest near the mansion pondering on everything he learned today.

'I leave for a few months and everything goes to shit' Dean mentally groaned.

The sun was setting, filling the sky with shades of red and orange, but there was a bright white light emanating from up ahead.

Dean curiously followed the light. It led him to the spot where he would always speak to his father.

He spotted a small white column that had a flame holder that was filled with what looked like a white flame, 'I'm guessing that means something' Dean thought as he walked up to it.

"Ok so what do I do now?" Dean said out loud.

"Touch the flame" he heard Zeus's voice in his head.

Dean opened his palm and touched the white flame. He was transported to a place filled with a white empty void.

"Whoa where am I?" Dean asked.

"This is a figment of your imagination, you're simply inside your mind" Zeus's voice echoed through the void.

"Simply doesn't sound like a word to describe this" Dean said looking around fascinated.

Loud footsteps echoed behind him.

Dean turned around to face whoever was approaching.

A man with long gray hair and a beard that resembled a storm cloud walked towards him. He wore a black trench coat over a gray sweater, with black dress pants, and black boots.

"You've been avoiding me" Zeus simply stated with a disappointed expression.

Dean stared at him with a shocked expression, he'd never actually seen his father before.

Zeus stood about 6,3-6,4, imposing, and very muscular, with shoulder-length black hair and a gray-and-black neatly trimmed beard. He had brilliant electrically-blue eyes with a serious and proud, but very handsome face.

"You look just like that vision I had when I was dying" Dean noticed.

"That was a repressed memory, this is what your mind chose to imagine me as" Zeus explained.

"So you don't look like this right now?" Dean asked curiously.

Zeus looked perplexed, "It isn't my current choice of clothing no"

"If you're gonna bother showing your face to me I wanna see what you actually look like" Dean requested.

Zeus found his request odd but obliged him. Fog surrounded him and expanded before dissipating.

Like Hades, he looked like he was 10 feet tall, maybe all gods were bigger than humans, or maybe they could control their size. He wore a dark blue pinstriped suit like he was the head gangster of a crew.

Dean nodded, "That's definitely more like you" he walked around his father, "Like the CEO of a billion dollar company ready to fire some people"

Zeus smirked, "Smite is more fitting. You didn't answer my question"

"I've had business to attend to, I wasn't ready to begin" Dean admitted, "But it seems my brother was"

"He's eager to complete all his challenges" Zeus said with a hint of pride, "You might want to catch up before he gets too ahead"

Dean ignored his blatant favoritism, "You never mentioned what would happen to whichever one of us lost"

Zeus seemed irritated that he sounded remotely ok with losing, "What does it matter? You should only concern yourself with the challenges I give you AND NOTHING MORE" his voice boomed like thunder.

Dean's eyes narrowed, he answered his question. Whoever loses will be considered a failure and be swept aside, out of father's favor and forgotten.

"You just let me know when you have something for me" Dean said not looking impressed by his minor temper tantrum.

Zeus glared at him menacingly, "Whenever the flame is lit it means your next challenge awaits. Make haste boy, or risk being left behind"

Dean was returned to his body, 'Nice to know I'm nothing more than a pawn to be played with' he sighed as he walked over to the mansion.

As he got closer his acute hearing picked up the commotion from inside. Everyone was up and about, making all kinds of ruckus, he wasn't ready to deal with all that right now.

At the Hideout

Jon and Lily stood across from each other with their weapons drawn.

Tim and Billy sat on the side watching.

"Ready?" Lily asked twirling her sword in her right hand and adjusting her shield in her left.

Jon spun his axe above his head showing off his skills, "Whenever you are"

"Begin" Tim said signaling to start.

Jon charged at her swinging his axe as he got closer.

Lily had to be extra careful when she sparred with Jon. His strength alone could crush her if he accidentally went full force, and even though he wielded a large weapon he could attack and maneuver it with astounding speed.

Lily backed away and dodged every swing Jon threw at her. Lily still had the advantage in speed, and she didn't want to risk blocking a blow from Jon's axe.

Jon went for a horizontal swing.

Lily ducked under it and went for a low slash with her sword.

Jon saw the attack coming and hopped over it.

Lily avoided an overhand swing from Jon and gave a quick but harmless swipe to his arm, "Hit" she said while keeping her guard up.

Jon thrusted his axe forward a couple of times trying to keep his distance from her.

Lily blocked each of the speedy thrusts with her shield and gave a quick but harmless swipe to his thigh, "Hit" she said again.

With anger now clear on the war child's face he charged forward and swung his heavy axe.

Lily rolled underneath the swing and gave a quick but harmless swipe to his back, "Hit" she said again preparing for his next attack.

Jon ran at Lily swinging his axe left and right with all his might.

Lily bobbed and weaved avoiding the wide swings from his axe.

She then strapped her shield to her back and jumped over Jon as he sent an overhand swing.

Jon's axe grazed Lily's shield making some sparks.

Lily landed behind Jon and held her blade to his neck, "Kill" she said holding her blade there until he calmed down.

If this were a few months ago Jon would have stubbornly kept on fighting regardless of how outmatched he was.

He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Jon dropped his weapon and raised his hands, "You win" he surrendered.

Lily removed her blade from his throat, "You've improved, you're starting to think before you act...mostly"

Jon picked up his weapon and held it over his shoulder, "But still not good enough" he admitted.

"Oh don't beat yourself up" they heard from the background.

They all looked and saw Dean leaning on the wall.

"You looking to spar next?" Tim offered, he was curious to see his power in action.

Dean shook his head, "Maybe some other time, I've had a day" he heavily emphasized the last part.

"Smoke break!" Billy shouted with glee.

They sat around the table in a cloud of smoke as he filled them in on everything.

"You have a sister?" Lily sounded shocked.

"More newbies to break in?" Jon said in anticipation.

"There's a war coming?" Tim said with concern.

"So you're Zeus' lackey now?" Billy summed up his understanding.

"Not exactly. He wants me to perform a set of challenges to compete against my brother, and I kind of feels it's all for his amusement" Dean said with bitterness in his voice.

"At least your parent pays attention to you" Tim pointed out sounding envious.

"Do you have any idea what you might be doing?" Lily asked.

Dean shrugged, "I don't know, probably something like the 12 labors of Hercules" he guessed.

Billy finished rolling a massive joint, "Your first labor, smoke this entire doobie with one pull"

They all laughed.

Later at the Institute

Dean was in the danger room preparing for a training session.

He put his ear buds in and picked a song from his phone. Business by Eminem.

{Bitches and Gentleman!

It's showtime!

Hurry, hurry, step right up!

Introducin' the star of our show, his name is—}

He calmed his mind and focused his chi for a minute before he released his aura which fully engulfed him.

{You wouldn't wanna be anywhere else in the world right now

So without further ado, I bring to you}

Dean jumped around the danger room in a blur of movement.

He then landed in the center and threw consecutive fast punches that sent minor shockwaves after each one.

{You 'bout to witness hip hop in its

Most purest, most rawest form, flow almost flawless

Most hardest, most honest, known artist

Chip off the old block but old doc is

Looks like Batman brought his own Robin

Oh God, Saddam's got his own Laden

With his own private plane, his own pilot}

Dean jumped for a tornado kick which coincidentally caused a minor whirlwind to form around him.

He landed softly on the ground, cupped his hands, and released a small energy sphere.

Dean moved fast enough to go in front of the sphere and backhanded it in the opposite direction. He repeated this action several times, increasing the speed of the sphere with every hit, before finally punching the sphere causing it to explode.

{Set to blow college dorm room doors off the hinges

Oranges, peach, pears, plums, syringes

Yeah, here I come

I'm inches away from you, here, fear none

Hip hop is in a state of 911}

Logan walked in and watched him.

Dean backflipped multiple times in a blur of movement.

He landed on his feet and performed a leg sweep followed by an upward knee.

Dean used the momentum to flip in midair, he planted his feet on the wall behind him, and pushed off it zipping away like a bullet.

{Let's get down to business

I don't got no time to play around what is this?

Must be a circus in town, let's shut the shit down

On these clowns, can I get a witness?}

Logan lost sight of him as he blurred around the danger room.

Dean suddenly zipped in front of him and skid to a halt. He took one of his ear buds out, "You need something?"

"Just out of curiosity, did you measure your new abilities yet?" Logan asked.

Dean's aura faded and thought about what Logan just asked him, "Actually no I haven't"

"Then why don't we do that, I'm interested in knowing how far you've come" Logan said eagerness.

"Same, I need more to go off then just how I feel" Dean admitted.

Logan went to the observation and prepped everything, "Now let's see. When you first got here your top speed was 75 mph, you could lift up to 1500 pounds, and you could jump up to 4 meters high. So let's compare" Logan said eagerly as he activated the sensors, "Alright kid let's start with speed, use that new power of yours"

"No, I want to measure my stats separately" Dean insisted.

Logan shrugged, "Whatever bub"

Dean started off in his base, he immediately hit 75 and he slowly accelerated.

Up in the control room Logan watched the reading of his speed as he passed 100 mph.

As Dean continued to speed up his form began to blur reminding Logan of what Quicksilver looks like when he moved. 120. 130. 140. 150. 160. 169. 168 it stopped rising there.

"You capped at 170 mph" Logan said into the mic.

Dean nodded as lightning crackled around him and he moved even faster.

Logan waited until the numbers plateaued, "220 mph"

Dean stopped, the lightning faded, and focused for a minute before his aura flared and he started running again.

"270 mph" Logan said, this time the numbers fluctuated instead of rising but eventually they settled.

Dean stopped and his aura slowly faded.

"Now let's test your strength" Logan activated the program and part of the roof dropped down on hydraulic pumps.

Dean stood under it and placed his hands on the underside.

Logan started at at 500 and gradually raised. He passed 1500 and Dean still showed no sign of strain.

As he passed 3000 Logan began to notice the strain on his face, around 3950 Dean felt like he was reaching his limit.

"You reached 2 tons kid" Logan said.

Dean released his lightning giving him an amp, "Keep going!"

Logan kept increasing until Dean collapsed, "You went up to 5230"

Dean nodded, "Ok, one more time" he closed his eyes and focused. This time it took a few minutes before he could focus enough to bring out his power.

When he did, Logan dropped the hydraulic pump once again and raised it until Dean reached his limit.

Logan raised the pump, "Your max was 6450 pounds"

Dean's aura faded and he began to breath heavily.

Logan looked concerned, "You ok kid?"

Dean nodded as he caught his breath, "Yeah, it takes a lot out of me" he sat down for a moment.

Logan went into the danger room to check on him, "Those were some impressive numbers"

"As of right now my lightning gives me a 30% increase while my chi gives me a 60% increase. The numbers are nice to think about but until I can handle that elevated state without wasting any stamina it's all for nothing" Dean said analyzing his abilities.

"Then you still have a lot of work to do" Logan chuckled as he ruffled his hair before leaving.

Dean sighed as he laid on his back, "Yup"

Author's Note : (DJ Khaled voice) Another one! Lol still going strong. Making Thalia and Percy older made more sense to me as opposed to middle schoolers running around fighting monsters. I'll adjust the prophecy accordingly. Next chapter we'll see one of Dean's adventures while he was away. Till then, enjoy the read.