Chapter 165: A Busy Night. 2010 CE
Helios was now walking orderly as the police started to come to the scene. They were evacuating the public to the outside of the expo. Helios was still carrying Gwen on his back, she calmed down a little and was opening her eyes, and the kid from before was following him now..
“Dude, how did you do that?” the kid asked rather excitedly.
“Can you not.. talk about it?” Helios grumbled.
“Hey can you at least tell me how you did that?” the kid asked. “That was warhammer 40k right? The emperor’s power armour, One True Armour?”
“You know about it?” Helios was a bit surprised.
“Well yeah.. I read about it a little..” the kid shrugged.
“Well, don’t tell anybody about it..”
“But how did you do that though?” the kid asked again.
“That is not your business..” Helios murmured.
“Alright, fine, keep your secrets.” the kid said casually. “I’m Peter by the way, Peter Parker..”
Helios just hummed, but Gwen suddenly bit his neck. “Ow! What was that for?!”
“He just wants to be friends Theo..” Gwen said softly.
Helios sighed. “Fine.. I’m Theodore Smith.”
“Smith? As in Smith Enterprises?” Peter questioned in surprise.
“There are many Smiths in America.. Peter..” Helios murmured. “There’s Will Smith, John Smith, Edward John Smith, Bessie Smith, I could go on..”
“Good point..” nodded Peter casually, making Gwen chuckled.
“What about you, what’s your name?” Peter asked Gwen. “And why are you on his back? Is he your brother or something?”
“I’m Gwen.. Gwen Stacy.” said Gwen casually. “He’s not my brother.. he’s my friend.”
“Oh, cool.” Peter hummed. “So you know about his powers—”
“Dude!” Helios warned. “Not so loud!”
“Sorry..” Peter murmured. “So you know about his.. you know.. talent..”
“No, I don’t know.” Gwen said softly. “I thought we were friends Theo..”
“Yeah, well, There were Gorillas wandering around my home last week, you shouldn’t be surprised at this at all.”
“Yeah I know..” Gwen murmured. “But that was.. scary..”
“Well, sorry to put you through to that..”
“Um.. guys..” Peter suddenly spoke. “There’s a policeman approaching us.. he’s running.. really, really fast...”
Helios and Gwen then turned towards the direction Peter was pointing, it was George with a worried face.
“Ho.. He’s approaching us.” Helios hummed.
“Dad!” Gwen shouted in relief. Helios helped her get to her dad, and when he was near, Helios put her down, and she stumbled to her dad, hugging him tightly.
“Oh you’re okay sweetheart..” George sighed in relief as he kissed Gwen’s cheeks. “You’re okay..”
Gwen then cried on her dad’s shoulder, and George was calming her down. George looked at Theo, and glared at him, as if trying to say that he will ask questions after this. After Gwen calmed down, he carried her like a princess, and walked towards Theo.
“So, mind explaining to me what happened?” George asked menacingly.
“Well.. this is awkward..” Peter chuckled nervously. “I.. should go..”
“No, no kid, you stay too. I need a statement from you as well.”
Peter gulped at the words, but Helios was calm as hell, not worried about the menacing stares at all.
—
Helios was now sitting beside an ambulance as the medic gave him some warm drink. Peter was also there, as well as Gwen who was being treated.
Helios was explaining what happened, leaving the construct part of course.
“So.. that’s what happened? Tony Stark saved you from the drones?” George raised his brow. “And my daughter is conveniently on your back after her ankle is sprained.”
“Well yeah, what do you want me to do? Give her a walking stick?” Helios said sarcastically.
Peter then added. “Hey, what about the time where you–”
Helios quickly shut him up by covering his mouth, making George suspicious.
“Where he what kid? Tell me?” George said. “Boy, you’re obstructing police work, you could get arrested for this.”
“I’m a minor.” said Helios with a deadpan face. He looked at Peter, who was nervous.
“W-Where he saved me from falling concrete..?” Peter said hesitantly.
“You’re doubting yourself..”
“He’s right dad..” Gwen suddenly stepped in. “Theo saved me from falling concrete.. that was why my ankle got sprained in the first place..”
“Really?” George hummed, but still a bit suspicious.
Suddenly, a man and a woman walked to them, it was Pluto and Thena, wearing casual clothing.
“Well, what do we have here?” Thena said with her hands on her hips.
Helios gulped. “Hey mom..”
“John, Angie.. Here's your son..” George sighed.
“Well, looks like you’re not dead son, that’s good enough for me.” Pluto ruffled his hair, making Helios grumbled.
Pluto turned to Peter, who was gobsmacked at the appearance of Pluto. “Oh, and who are you?”
“O-Oh.. I-I’m Peter sir.. P-Peter Parker..” Peter stuttered.
Pluto smiled at the mention of Peter’s name. “Well Peter Parker, you got out alive, that’s what matters.”
“Well, he’s an idiot, he was the one who almost killed us..” Helios murmured.
“What do you mean? I thought you said you saved him from falling concrete?” George questioned suspiciously.
“Well, after that..” Helios continued. “He acts like a hero.. trying to be Iron man, and that made the drones want to attack us..”
George frowned. “Is this true boy?”
“W-Well..” Peter chuckled nervously.
“Don’t be too hard on the kid George.” said Pluto, also ruffling Peter’s hair. “He just wants to be a hero, where’s the harm in that?”
“Oh I don’t know.. losing his own life?” George said sarcastically.
Pluto shook his head in amusement. “Just let them go George, I’ll take Mister Hero to his home, you bring Gwen home.”
George sighed. “Fine, go then..”
“Alright, Peter, let’s take you home.”
“W-What.. s-sir? Is this really okay?” Peter stuttered.
“Eh it’s fine.” Pluto shrugged. “Let’s go.”
Helios and Peter then stood up, walking away from the ambulance, but then, a shout came out.
“Wait!” it was Gwen’s voice. She ran rather sloppily as her ankle was just sprained, and kissed Helios’s cheek rather innocently.
“Thanks..” Gwen murmured shyly. “I’ll keep it a secret.. I promise..”
Helios smiled. “You better.”
George, who was looking at the scene, turned purple. “Alright sweetheart, let’s go home.” he said bitterly, glaring daggers at Helios.
Pluto just chuckled in amusement, and all of them went to the car.
—
The traffic near the expo was bad, really bad, but the expo was near Peter’s house, so it didn't take too long.
“So, Peter, you know about Theo’s.. talent?” Thena asked calmly from the front seat.
Peter gulped. “Y-Yes Mrs. Smith..”
“Can you keep a secret Peter?” Pluto continued.
“I- I’ll try my best Mr. Smith..”
“Good.” Pluto smiled. “Maybe next year, you’ll meet Theo in middle school, I hope you can be friends with him.. he’s a bit of a hard ass you see?”
“Dad...”
Peter looked at Helios, who was shrugging. “Y-Yeah.. Sure..”
“Thank you Peter.” Thena smiled, and the car stopped at Peter’s Apartment building. “Is this it?”
“Y-Yes, thank you Mr. Smith.. Mrs. Smith..” Peter said nervously, he looked at Helios. “I- I’ll see you around..”
Helios just hummed, and Peter exited the car, walking towards his aunt’s apartment.
After that, Helios and his parents sat in the car, not moving at all.
“You know what’s going to happen, don't you?” Helios accused.
“You’re getting smarter and smarter everyday buddy.” Pluto hummed. “Yes, we know.”
“Didn’t you think that people were going to get hurt?” Helios frowned.
“No, your sister’s there.” said Pluto. “Didn’t you notice? No bullets ever touched a person, just property, and it’s Tony’s property, so I don’t really care..”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I didn’t do anything,” said Pluto. “I just let it happen.”
“Why?”
“You.” said Thena. “You have to learn Helios, that your power is not for playing around. We trained you really hard for a reason. Someday, mom and dad won’t be there for you, just like today, we trained you so you could be prepared for things like this.”
“So are you saying that you’re training me to be a hero?” Helios’s face scrunched up.
“No.” Pluto chuckled. “We are training you so you could protect yourself, and your loved ones. Power draws Power Helios, soon enough, the world will become more and more dangerous. How are you going to protect Gwen.. or your new friend Peter, if you can’t use your power properly in a chaotic situation?”
Helios was silent, and didn't think of anything.
“Listen sweetheart.” Thena said softly. “We’re not here to torture you, we’re trying to make you survive for the times ahead, if we hurt your feelings when we are training you like this, we’re sorry, but, we just want you to be prepared..”
“What your mom is trying to say to Helios, is that we love you.” said Pluto. “You have no idea how hard it is to make you.. well.. Exist.. we are trying to make sure that when we’re not there with you, you’re still safe because of the gift that we gifted you.”
“I understand, mom, dad..” Helios murmured. “I love the two of you too.”
Pluto and Thena smiled silently as the car moved.
“Now that's out of the way, I heard about something from Tony.” said Thena calmly. “I wouldn’t trust his words because you’re my son, and you should know better, but.. you didn’t swear loudly, did you?”
Helios gulped, cursing Tony Stark secretly as he dreads the talks he will bear for the rest of the ride, or even the night..