Hades considered that a valid reason, for now. He also considered. he was a little thin on assets at the moment. Sure Alex was a long term investment, but it would not hurt to have someone with excellent scouting potential and depending on the extent of hiw powers he mihgt also possess some significant offensive and defensive capabilities. It was settled then, he would try to teach Alex the basics and then go from there. Alex would not be the first Human/mutant that Hades had traind, and would not probably be the last.



"Alright, lets take it one step at a time and see how it goes. There will need to be a few rules, if they are acceptable to you, I would ask you to tell me as much as you want to about your mutation so I can craft a training routine. You are not the mutant that I have trained." Hades paused and collected his thoughts.



"As for a place to lay low, how about this house. It is paid for in advance for a number of months. There is a computer in the corner. The home page will let you order food. IT will be delivered at 6pm on Monday in a series of coolers. The empty ones will be picked up on tuesday evening. You will be responsible for the upkeep of this place as well as the security. By that I don't mean run video survelience, although having one of your summoned running patrols would not be a bad idea. What I mean is that if you go into town, make sure you are not followed back here. Otherwise you will loose your safe haven. Hmm what else.."



Hades pondered for a minute. "Also, no touching the mutant hate group, at least for now." what he did not say was that dealing with the mutant hate group would be one of Alex's graduation exams. "How does that sound?"

As Hades went through the layout of what they were going to do Alex nodded. He understood that full cooperation meant his survival. That keeping this place secret was equally so. He had a feeling that he was stepping in to dangerous territory with this. But being trained to fight, rather than scrapping by was better in the long run. And if things went south...Well, he had learned enough from surviving this long to get out of bad situations.

"How does that sound?"

"It sounds fine...I just...Would it be possible for you to take me home real quick to grab a few things and maybe leave a note so people don't freak out? I'm kind of rooming at this mutant school, safe haven, thing and I think it'd only be fair for them to be aware that I'm at least safe. They did help me a lot." More than they should have to be honest. It seemed like he was a magnet for trouble and he'd rather not bring it to good people's doorstep.

"That is acceptable." Said Hades. "I will drop you off around the corner from your school. I will meet you onside the front door 15 minutes afterwards. I would advise you change into something smart if you have it."

And so the next day around noon, Hades dropped off Alex around the corner from the Mansion in a Aston Martin DB9. After dropping Alex off he drove to a convenient place to change.....

He had suspicions of things that might occur.

[OCC sorry for the short post. Life is a little crazy atm]

After being dropped off, Alex jogged over to the mansion, inside, and up to his room. He grabbed his backpack and stuffed his worldly possessions into it. Not that he had much to begin with. It was only just now that he realized just how easily his things fit inside the backpack. He might have gotten a few new pieces of clothing, but it all fit. And he definitely didn't have anything smart to dress into like Hades suggested.

He left a note to Miss T and Gawain, saying that he was going to be gone for a while but that he was okay and safe and not to worry. Not to worry...These were the first adults he's had in his life in a really long time and here he was running away again. But he promised himself this would be the last time. This would be the last time he got scared away. He'd come back and everything would be okay.

Everything packed and with a note left behind, he quickly left the mansion before anyone could questions him. He was about two minuets late but no big deal.

Hades had parked just up the street and smoothly pulled up beside Alex when he spotted him. Hades was in disguise. He was dressed like a chauffeur and wore a wig. No it was not one of those cheesy ones that screams FAKE a mile away, it was a well made genuine looking one. On top of that Hades's face had been altered. His face seemed rounder, less weathered.

He spoke to Alex. "That all of it? very well get in." after Alex was seated and buckled in, Hades pulled out into the traffic and they headed for the city outskirts. They were coming up to some lights in the distance when Hades saw them. Members of the Mutant hate chapter posing as homeless and knocking on windows. He recognized the faces. So they were now stooping to playing homeless in the vain hope of finding mutants to pick on were they? Alas an intersection is not a place where one wants to create a scene.

Without turning back he spoke to Alex. "Alex, I need you to follow my instructions to the letter, do you understand?" Hades had a very good idea of how to get out of this one without any fuss, but it depended on Alex not panicking.

Out loud he continued."In the seat pocket in front of you you will find a newspaper. Pull it out and pretend to start reading so it covers your face. I am going to start describing a character, I need you to pretend to be that character, I need you to act a part, can you do that for me?" 

If Alex could play the part all would be well. If not..... well he would just ahve to improvise.

"That all of it? Very well get in."

Alex shrugged at the question and go into the car. Sooner or later Hades would find out he had been, up until recently, homeless for a very long time. He didn't have much to take with him. The car was nice though and Hades' outfit was interesting. It was strange seeing the usually bald man with a wig. Perhaps that's why he asked him to dress nice, a disguise. He kind of wished he had said that out right.

At the stop he frowned at the men knocking at the windows. They were dressed almost stereotypically homeless, dirty clothes and cardboard signs. But the whole scene was off. Mostly because usually, despite being fairly friendly folks, they rarely worked together, they wore cleaner clothes when asking for money, and they definitely didn't knock on peoples windows. He knew because he had been in that situation.

"Alex, I need you to follow my instructions to the letter, do you understand? In the seat pocket in front of you you will find a newspaper. Pull it out and pretend to start reading so it covers your face. I am going to start describing a character, I need you to pretend to be that character, I need you to act a part, can you do that for me?"

He didn't hesitate to grab the newspaper and open it to cover his face. "Sure, what's the character?" He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, the nervous ache in his body. He did his best to remain still and outwardly calm. Hades knew there was something up too but probably knew more than him from the serious tone in his voice.

Hades started calmly speaking as the "homeless " people started working their way
down the cars knocking on the windows on the surface to ask for coins but actually to check
faces to compare against their target list.

"You are Goodwin the 3rd. Your father is a billionaire 5 times over. You have been brought up with money. You are part of a proud and haughty family, unwilling to associate with the common.....peasants. You have recently had a falling out with your father, as a result both your jet and your helicopter are grounded and you are punished to being chauffeured in the least of his cars. This Aston martin DB9. If a peasant were to knock on the window you would most likely wave them off without bothering to put down your paper and tell your chauffer to deal with it."

Just then there was a knock on the window, Hades wound down the window next to Alex just slightly as the "homeless" person made some excuse or other about wanting money.

Goodwin the 3rd, super rich billionaire, got in trouble with daddy, right. He could do this. He slouched further into the seat, one leg settled over the other, attempting a more relaxed, rebellious teenager pose. The idea of being rich, too good for any one was so far out of his range. But he had to try for his own sake, he had to get into that mindset, just for a little while. No sooner had Hades finished speaking that one of the men came knocking at the window.

He slumped further in the seat, pointedly moving the paper so he couldn't see the stranger at the window. Attempting to appear uninterested in anything the man has to say. He swallows, trying to ignore the man. "Take care of it." he says gruffly to Hades, sounding, at least to his ears, like a rather annoyed and stuck-up teenager.

Hades wound down the window, his accent suddenly very British and very posh. "Stop disturbing the master and keep your filthy hands off the car." Feigning annoyance he muttered something about having to clean the car every day to wash off the filth of the people. The "Homeless" started muttering darkly, insulted. Hades pressed a button and said "Security team 3 this is chauffeur 5 please standby." The reply came swiftly from the loudspeaker.

"Chauffeur 5 we are on standby, we have a visual and are ready to neutralize the threat." Hearing this they beat a hasty retreat. Hades would up all the windows and smoothly accelerated away as soon as the lights turned green. Without turning Hades spoke, his voice contained warmth. "Well done Alex, very well done. That was some or your friends from the forrest back there." He paused as they drove more. Hades pulled into what looked like a garrage. "Grab your stuff and hop out we are switching vehicles. Meet me out back and on your way through let the kind elderly gentleman take your measurements. If I am going to train you you will need properly fitted gear." After dropping Alex off Hades swapped the DB9 for a Toyota Hilux  already loaded with gear and changed into more rugged and less restrictive clothing. He then waited for Alex. After Alex got on he pulled out and began the long drive back to the cabin. "Had to switch to a more suitable vehicle." He explained. "So Alex, tell me about your powers, also a few questions, when you summon creatures, do the properties of the original come through, for example can you create fire ants that bite with venom, can you summon spitting cobras that can spit real venom and if you summon a scorpion, will its sting cause the same pain and swelling as a real one?"

He looked forward to Alex's reply, Hades had already formed the framework of how and what he was going to teach Alex but part of it would depend on his powers.

"Well done Alex, very well done. That was some or your friends from the forrest back there."

As soon as they were away from the strangers, let out a loud sigh of relief, dropping the news paper in his lap. Well that was nerve wracking. The next stop was a good deal shorter away.

 "Grab your stuff and hop out we are switching vehicles. Meet me out back and on your way through let the kind elderly gentleman take your measurements. If I am going to train you you will need properly fitted gear."

The commentary about gear was strange but he assumed there was going to be more than just physical fighting if the need for fancy clothes and a uppity attitude was any indicator. This guy might just turn him in to some sort of super spy or something. Not exactly what he was thinking but perhaps a good deal better than he expected.

Measurements taken and in a new car, the trip back to the cabin began. He half expected to be able to nap during the trip but it seemed like Hades had some questions.

"So Alex, tell me about your powers, also a few questions, when you summon creatures, do the properties of the original come through, for example can you create fire ants that bite with venom, can you summon spitting cobras that can spit real venom and if you summon a scorpion, will its sting cause the same pain and swelling as a real one?"

"Well from experience, no none of that. If I'm going to do anything with poison or venom I'd half to put it in the mixture itself. Since my power works by breaking down and rebuilding decaying organic matter. So leaf litter, twigs, food in general tends to be the go to. And I've figured out how to build just about everything. Oh that's the other thing, I have to know what I'm making before I do it. Bones, muscle, vascular system, all of that. The more I know, the easier it'll be for me to make. But for something as complex as venom or poison. For some reason it doesn't work without an original sample."

Hades took this information in and remained relatively quiet during the rest of the journey. They reached the cabin. Once they had unpacked Hades called Alex to the center of the sparse living room. He handed Alex what looked like a bundle of cloth. It contained a concealed holster that would allow two daggers to be carried in the small of the back. The cloth holster came with two hilt less double edged daggers had holes drilled in them for further weight reduction and were honed to a razor sharp edge. "Those are now yours" Said Hades. "You should keep them on you wherever you go. The holster is designed so as not to hinder movement." Hades paused and collected his thoughts before continuing. "Alex I don't intend this to be something like a monastery you see in movies, you are free to come and go as you wish, indeed after learning a skill it may prove more useful to go out and text it but first I would advice we develop a few contingency plans. Some of these I can help you with, others you must work on yourself. Firstly knife drills. the first time I saw you you were flailing that thing around, time you learned how to use it. I can teach you the moves it will be up to you to practice. Second is what I would call "emergancy constructs". Something like an army of fire ants a million strong that see you as their hive or a swarm of wasps that see you as their nest. Something that you can throw out, fire and forget ."

Hades paused for a sip of water. "The other good thing about "constructs" like that, as you call them, is that they are multi functional. You could wear your ants like armor to bite those who hit you or to make people get out of the way and swarm lone enemies. Similar to the swarm of bees you could shroud yourself behind a cloud of wasps, send the wasps off one by one or have them swarm enemies. The final thing is again something that you will have to experiment with."

"Armed with the internet I want you to starve yourself and then work out a) what is the minimum amount you need to eat to be able to create your emergency constructs and b) the quickest way to get it and the most compact way to store it. So see if it is a version of fortified Gatorade or a custom made energy bar or a solution you can inject, something that you always carry with you so you are never caught short again. What do you think?"

Hades would see how he took this and gauge how much and how fast he could teach this young teen.

He stared down at the weapons and recognized the that these were far deadlier than what he carried. The hunting knife that he used for years was nothing compared to the gleaming sharp edges of these new ones. Something in his chest clenched, aching with the realization of just how much trouble he was in. He looked up as Hades spoke, clarifying all that was going to happen.

He nodded in understanding, that this was going to be nothing like the movies. Hades was leaving much of the actual training to him, practice when and how was his choice. Somehow, that made all this feel heavier. There would be very little catch him should he fail. Even though failure was vague at best.

Still he couldn't help but wince at the idea of starving himself for the sake of experimentation. That was the opposite of what he had spent pretty much his whole life doing. "I don't know how comfortable I am with starving myself. It's happened before and it's not fun..."he murmured.

It was at this point he realized that he hadn't told Hades his past yet. That the man had no idea who he really was or what he had been through. Though it was probably something he should at least mention to him. But how to go about it. If Hades didn't know that the mansion was, he probably thought he was a pretty well off kid instead of the complete opposite.

Hades smiled, the youth tended to take things literally. "Alex, when I said starve yourself, I meant it as a suggestion to discover how much energy you need to throw out whatever you set to be your "emergency constructs". I did not mean that you had to literally starve yourself. I have experienced that on numerous occasion and I agree it is not pleasant." Hades wondered if Alex had any idea how old he really was. Hades smiled then tossed Alex something shiny. It was a replica of the daggers that he had in the sheath, the only difference was that the one he was holding was blunted. Hades also produced one. "Now if you are ready shall we start?"


With that Hades began to teach Alex the moves of a particular set of moves that he had developed for just such a purpose. It was not just a set of knife moves, it was more comprehensive than that, it covered leg sweeps, kicks, left hand grapples, punches, blocks, it had offensive sequences where the knife was held blade up in the right hand and defensive sequences where the knife was held blade down in the right hand. Teaching it to Alex would take time. For Alex to memorize all of the moves would take time but hades was in no hurry.

"Alex, the purpose of the dagger and this style is that it is the equivalent of an ejection seat, you draw on it when you really need it. It should be your backup weapon, to be used in cases of emergencies. You should train twice as much with it than any other weapon so that if you have to draw it, you will catch your enemies totally unawares and be devastating or surprise them enough to give you an opening to escape." After this beginners into to strategic tactics he ran through the moves again.

Hmm he might need to start thinking about teaching Alex about forest craft and silent running, that might also help him learn faster and boost his cardio but then again he did not want to overwhelm the youth. There were strategic and tactical lessons, and many more but Hades would start with the basic protocols that way if the youth decided to leave for whatever reasons he would at least have a greater chance of staying alive.

The training started sooner than he thought but he wasn't going to start complaining. He was quick enough on the up take when it came to technique, the steps as they were taught. But as the hours wore on Hades might notice that his young pupil wasn't too good at thinking creatively. He was more copying than anything. Perhaps it was the hang ups of getting it right first or something fundamental with how he planned moves.

Still Hades would find him an eager student, soaking in the information as it was told to him. "So, if it's for emergencies, what should my first move be? Or are you saying all fights are emergencies? Because that's what you said about my constructs too. That would make sense though, every fight being an emergency. I don't go actively looking for fights. They tend to find me." And a rambler at that.

More knife drills and fighting techniques after the talk. But he was beginning to tire fast and his ankle was still aching from the struggle only a few days ago. He wondered if anyone found his note yet, if they were looking for him or if they were waiting to see if he'd come back. It'd been a long time since he's disappeared from someone's care. He was sure Miss T was not going to like it.

Alex was an eager student, he would certainly give him that. Creativity perhaps not one of his strong point. After hearing Alex's interpretation of his words, Hades sighed inwardly and tried once again to explain it.

"No Alex, not all fights are emergencies. Have you ever wondered about some of the moves I am teaching you? This particular style is meant for vicious close quarter combat. It is best suited for when you are vastly outnumbered, outmatched or backed against a wall. It gives no quarter. A good fighter always tries to keep something up his sleeve. For example." Hades slapped a hand to his belt and what looked like a shiny ribbon of silver seemed to erupt from his hand. "This is a sword whip, it is a very powerful weapon that relies on complete control. I train more with this weapon that most others but I will only use it as a last resort. And even then only to get back on an even footing. Then I switch back to another available weapon. It is a just-in-case weapon. So too you daggers and this fighting style I am teaching you. Does that make a little more sense?"

He paused for a breath. "The same with your constructs. There are many that you can and probably will use, but always ensure that if the situation suddenly turns against you that you have enough energy to throw out one or two specially prepared constructs that could allow you to escape or save your life. That was what I meant." Hades looked at Alex gauging how much he was absorbing. It was getting late and after a few minutes Hades said. "You look tired, you should get some rest. We can continue in the morning if you are up for it."