Chapter 2

Shortly after Hercules had left, his parent continued to do the normal household chores. Amphitryon gathered his crop, while Alcmene gathered the eggs from the chicken coup. All was peaceful between the two, until a large group of people came towards their farm.

"Amphitryon!" Hercules' father turned around to face who was calling him. It was the man who owned the pottery shop. Amphitryon noticed the other townspeople that stood behind them and he quickly stood protectively in front of his wife, who also noticed the crowd that stood in front of their farm.

"Is there something that I can help you all with?" Amphitryon asked. Alcmene stayed close to her husband.

"Where is that spawn?" the man asked.

Alcmene blinked. "Spawn?"

"Hercules! Where is Hercules?" The shopkeeper yelled. The townspeople all nodded their heads vigorously.

The old couple looked at the townspeople in shock. "He's not here!" Alcmene yelled. "Please leave him alone!"

"Leave him alone?" the shopkeeper yelled in outrage. He turned to the already riled up crowd. "That téras single-handedly destroys our town and we're the ones that need to leave him alone!" The crowd yelled in outrage. The self- proclaimed leader of the mob turned back around to face the parents. "Now where is he?"

"We're not telling you!" Amphitryon yelled. He had heard enough of the townspeople hateful spew about his son. "He's not here! Now get off my property!"

The townspeople became even more enraged by the statement. They decided that more needed to be done; Aphitryon and Alcmene needed to be punished as well for raising such a trómos trómo (3). The townspeople walked towards the old couple, surrounding them with their superior numbers.

"Herc!" A fat, short man called as soon as he saw Hercules. The man ran to the taller boy, with a smile, and hugged him. "It's good to see you!"

Hercules, not wanting to find out the real reason for his visit, put on a brave smile and hugged him back. "Hello Uncle Phil."

The man named Philoctetes watched his nephew closely. What he saw made his smile disappear. He quickly studied his nephew. "What's wrong kid?"

Hercules was about answer, when Phil raised his hand to stop him. "Kid, I've known you since you were in diapers; don't even think about lying to me. Now tell me what happened."

Hercules sighed. He told his Uncle the whole story about what the events that took place back in town.

Professor Xavier ordered everyone back to the X-Jet. While everyone was seated and strapped in, he closed his eyes. Professor Xavier used his telepathy, hoping to find the young mind that they were looking for. What he did find made him gasp.

"Professor?" Storm asked, concerned. She strapped Professor Xavier's wheelchair so that it would stay still while in flight.

Professor Xavier didn't answer until he was sure that he found what he was looking. "I'm fine Storm," the Professor assured her. "I have found him, but unfortunately I fear there is more trouble brewing. We must find him as quickly."

Storm, sensing the urgency in the Professor voice, quickly started the engines on the jet. They had to find this mutant and quickly.

Hercules had been at his Uncle Phil's house for a couple of hours now. After he had told Phil about the events that took place in town, Phil, instead of trying to comfort Hercules like Amphitryon did, Phil told him to run laps. Hercules suited up and started running in the training area behind Phil's house.

Some people may have found it confusing that his Uncle did not try to make him feel better, but to Hercules this was normal. In all of the years Hercules had known him, his Uncle Phil had never been the comforting type; he never really understood how to deal with emotional situations, except through training. Training was something that Uncle Phil understood well, being a retired Olympic triathlon trainer.

Hercules was fine with that. It actually made him feel better that his Uncle wasn't trying to waste words trying to comfort him. Sometimes words were not even needed; training was a good thing right now. It was something that he was comfortable with. It was something that he had been doing since he was able to walk and speak and, unlike people, it has never really hurt him.

Hercules continued to run. Once he was done with his fifteenth lap he moved on to the elevated handle bars. He body swung expertly on the bars doing multiple flips in the air before actually grabbing onto the next bars. When he was finally reached the final bar, Hercules flipped once so that he was standing on top on it, instantly lowering himself into a crouch. This was his favorite part.

Phil watched as his nephew launched himself into the sky, reaching heights that should have been impossible for the boy. The balding man shook his head, secretly smiling. "Show off," he muttered.

Hercules traveled high above the cloud; it was almost as if he had reached Heaven. He finally stopped going up and started going down. He had just started falling when he felt something hit him. All Hercules knew was the great wave of pain he felt in his entire body before he fell unconscious.

"Oh no!" Storm yelled. "We hit someone!"

"Kurt, 'port outside to catch him!" Professor Xavier ordered urgently.

"On it!" Kurt disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to reappear outside of the jet. After he grabbed the unconscious stranger, he teleported right back into the jet. When they were both safely in the jet, Kurt noticed the boy in his arms. He was about the same age, if not a little younger than himself. He dragged the boy all the way to the back of the jet so that he would be able to lay down comfortably.

Rouge watched as Kurt dropped the stranger across from her/ The other teenaged mutants came to the back to study the stranger.

"It's, like, a boy, like, our age," Kitty pointed out.

"Wow Kitty, how could you possibly tell?" Rouge asked, sarcastically.

"Leave Kitty alone Rouge," Scott ordered.

Rouge looked at Scott with a wounded expression before her eyes hardened with anger. "Or what four eye?" She demanded in her southern drawl. "You gonna make me?"

Scott was about to answer when the professor wheeled through. "Enough from the both of you," Charles ordered. "This boy could have been seriously hurt. This is not the time for the both of you to be arguing."

Both Scott and Rouge managed to look ashamed by their behavior. "Sorry Professor," Scott said. Rouge stayed silent as Professor Xavier came closer to look at the unconscious boy.

Logan walked closer.

"This is the young man that we have been looking for and it's time to land," Xavier said, answering a question that only he had heard. As if sensing the presence of the people surrounding him, the stranger finally stirred.

Phil continued to watch, hoping that his nephew would come back down soon. At first, when he noticed that Hercules was taking longer to get down than usual, Phil wasn't worried. Now he was completely panicking now. "Come on kid," Phil pleaded. "Just be okay and come back already." Phil's stomach was in knots. He should have never allowed Hercules to continue doing that and now it was probably too late to do anything about it for all he knew.

Phil was pulled from his thoughts when a big gust of wind blew so strongly that he had to shield his face with his arms. Phil heard sounds that made him curious. He moved his arms out of his face slightly to see what was happening. There was nothing there. Phil was confused. Then what was making those sounds? He thought. There was a loud thump, as if something invisiblle had landed. Phil watched, fascinated as the tall grass on the field flattened to the ground and something- a plane?- appeared out of nowhere, like a magician's trick,

The mysterious vehicle opened up, creating an even bigger wind. Phil watched as shadows came out of the aircraft. The shadows walked closer to where Phil was standing, making it easier for him to be able to recognize the shadows as human beings. One of the people that he saw made Phil run over and hug him. It was his nephew Hercules.

"You stupid kid," Phil said in Greek. One he was done hugging his nephew he slapped him on his side. "Don't you ever do that to me again! I swear to the gods, I'm gonna make you run laps so hard, you'll regret pulling that stunt ever again."

"I'm sorry," Hercules said. "I didn't mean to make you worry like that.

"Please, it really isn't the boy 's fault Mister..." a voice pleaded, also in perfect Greek. Phil turned and noticed the man who spoke to him, sitting in a wheelchair. He looked at all of the strangers that came out of that invisible thing. Something wasn't right.

"Who are you?" Phil asked angrily.

"Please forgive me for all of this," the man said. Phil noticed a dark skinned with long, white locks pushing the man in the wheelchair forward. "My name is Charles Xavier."

"Great to know," Phil responded rudely. "Now what do you want?"

At that moment, Xavier's response was interrupted. An object was shot into the air and landed right in front of Phil. It was an arrow. There was something that was something that was tied around it. Phil slowly walked over to the arrow before, quickly unwrapping the paper around the arrow. He opened it and slowly read the words written on it. His eyes widened in shock'; he read it again to make sure he wasn't mistaken in his meaning. He paled.

Hercules noticed his Uncle's reaction, what was wrong? "Phil?" Hercules asked, concerned. He walked over to the panicked man.

Xavier's students looked curious. "I wonder what's wrong?" Rogue asked, her Southern accent made noticeable.

"Hercules' parents are in trouble," Professor Xavier answered. "They have been kidnapped. Wolverine, prepare the X-jet."

Logan did not need to be told twice. "Hey!" He shouted in English. Hercules and Phil looked towards them. "If you want to help them, get on the jet right now!"

"X-Men! Let's move!" Scott, also known as Cyclops ordered.

Everyone soon rushed onto the jet, even Phil. After everyone else was strapped in, Storm and Wolverine sat in the front of the Jet and began piloting.

Phil looked over at the man who spoke to him earlier, the one that called himself Charles Xavier. "Who are you?" he asked in English.

"I already to," the Professor answered. "My name is Charles Xavier."

Phil became angry by the response. "Don't play smart with me! Why are you here? What do you want?"

Professor Xavier smiled in a benevolent way. "I'm apologize for my impolite response. I will tell why we have come."

Note: 3. trómos trómo means terror