As the principal had guessed most reporters lost interest and stopped showing up by Wednesday but he was surprised to see that Chet with P&D news was still showing up even on Friday. At this point the principal was sure he was going to do something drastic, Chet was known in the news industry to do whatever it took to get the story and he was now stuck on this one. The principal thought about just asking Marcus to talk to him, after a bit more thought he realized that'd make more problems then it'd help. After school on Friday Crystal told Marcus she'd be at school the whole time since she knew something would happen with the parents as it always did. After taking Amber home and her excitedly saying she'd meet him at the school later and said her mom was looking forward to meeting him. He went home and changed into some nicer clothes and reviewed the information he had, since school was still going he couldn't do anything but he knew that for the first time he'd be able to see all of the family heads in one spot. As their children went to the school it was a big event this parent teacher night, though it'll only be from afar as they'll be swarmed by parents trying to suck up to them. Marcus had already seen their children at different times in school most of them seemed to be just worshipped and waited on hand and foot by other students except for Thomas Ifrit who seemed like a loner and Samantha Shiva the adopted daughter of the Shiva family who to his surprise was friends with Amber. She had regularly sat with them at lunch when things had calmed down but they hadn't really talked much to each other. After a bit he ran back to the school area then walked the rest of the way, when he got to the gate to his surprise Chet and many other reporters were back but this time most likely to see the big four families as they arrived. They took pictures of him as he went in and asked some questions but Marcus just moved on. Instead of going to any of the classes he went straight to the gymnasium where they set up for the little hang out after the meet and greet. He sat down at one of the back tables and waited, after a little while families started coming into the gymnasium and Marcus noticed Amber and what he assumed was her mother walking over to him. Marcus stood up, "hey Amber, and hello Mrs. Parker." Amber smiled, "mom this is Marcus my protector." The woman smiled, "well hello it's nice to meet you my daughter has told me a bit about you." Marcus nodded, "well I guess I should start by apologizing for putting Amber though all that happened." She smiled, "please it was alway my hope that when she got a protector he'd be a good one and I think at the very least you proved to be very skilled in fighting." She looked at her daughter, "in the looks department I'd say you made a good choice too honey." Amber blushed, "mom!" She smiled and looked around, "so where are you're parents?" Marcus looked at them, "oh right I never told Amber well my parents are dead," they both looked shocked at this but he just continued, "my aunt takes care of me but she's busy with work so I'm basically living alone." They both stared at him a pretty big mixture of emotions processing through them then Amber's mom spoke up, "well as you're my daughters protector of you ever need anything just let me know ok?" Marcus nodded, "sure but I think I'll be fine." They moved on from the topic as Marcus brought up something else and just continued chatting. After about 30 minutes had passed the gym was basically full with students and families, while Marcus was still talking he noticed the heads of the families coming in along with a decent sized group of people with them. While looking at them Marcus felt a hand strongly grip his shoulder and heard the person behind him say, "I finally found you." The strength of the grip changed as he felt his bones in his shoulder breaking. As he tried to pull away the man picked him off the ground and threw him hard towards a wall. As he was in the air he got a look at the man that was attacking him, he didn't know him but saw the similarity in the student he had killed and guessed it was his father. Marcus could have easily caught himself and killed the man but with so many people watching he didn't want to give away his abilities. Letting himself slam into the wall he felt a couple more bones break. He realized also once he got back on his feet that the man had accidentally ripped off his shirt while throwing him. There were screams as well as some scuffling and other protectors subdued the man. The man was screaming about how Marcus had killed his son and deserved to die for it, staggering a little when he got to his feet he felt a hand touch his other shoulder. When he looked up he saw the principal looking at him, "hey Marcus you ok?" Marcus took a short breath and shook his head, "ah I think a few things are broken, I'll head to the nurses office." The principal nodded, "yeah smart idea ok hey take him to-." Suddenly Amber and her mother was there, Amber spoke up, "I'll take him there." The principal looked at her and nodded, "thank you." Amber put his good arm over her shoulders and started leading him to the nurses office. As she started the principal yelled to have the attacker taken to the authorities and let them deal with him. After that he went to the stage to calm the crowd all of who were pretty confused. As Amber was walking with him down the hall she decided to talk to him to help keep him awake, not knowing he didn't need it. She put on a smiled, "so once you get better you're going to tell me about those scars right?" Marcus gave a slight nod, "sure I'll tell you now, I had a very rough life growing up." She laughed, "really that's it?" He smiled, "maybe down the road I'll tell you more." She sighed as they went into the nurses office, Crystal sighed hearing the door open up and in shock yelled out, "Marcus oh shit what happened," she quickly pulled a bed over and helped Amber lay him down, Amber spoke for him, "the dad of the student he killed surprise attacked him in the gym and did this." Crystal brought out a few machines and started checking on his vitals and well as taking a quick x-ray after a few minutes she sighed coming back over to him, "well there is no internal bleeding but you're right shoulder needs to be put back in place before I can administer the healing serum." Marcus laughed, "I thought it felt a little more painful then just some broken bones." To everyone's surprise he sat up and quickly with his good arm grabbed his other pulled it a bit felt it line up then slammed it back in place. Hearing the loud pop as it went back into place he moved it around and smirked, "all good now." Amber turned to yell at him but to her surprise Crystal smacked him in the face knocking him back onto the bed laying down, "you dumbass is this some battle field where you need to quickly fix it yourself, I'm trained for this god damnit you might have fucked it up more and now I have to rescan you to check." She walked off in a huff and Amber felt that she didn't need to yell at him now. She also got a feeling that Crystal and Marcus seemed close or that's just how she was as she had never met her before. After Crystal fully checked him again she sighed, "you lucky fucker thankfully you didn't damage it more but from now on leave things like that to professionals." She looked up just then seeming to remember that Amber and her mother were there, "ah sorry about that I just got a little worked up, so he's going to need some rest after the healing serum so fee free to tell him bye now cause he'll be out most of the night." Amber looked at him, "well I guess we'll have a lot to talk about when you wake up but for now get better soon." He nodded and Amber's mom smiled, "nice meeting you also you definitely pass in the toughness category as well." He smirked and they left after a minute making sure they were gone Crystal turned to him, "guess you couldn't have made it obvious and taken him out easily but did you have to let him fuck you up this much?" Marcus talking normal surprising Crystal a bit, "I sadly let my guard down while looking at the family heads believe me this won't happen again I don't make mistakes twice." She nodded, "ok also sorry I did freak out a little bit there." Marcus laughed, "nah it's fine I should have left it to you well guess we should get this done." She nodded and gave him the shot, Marcus fell asleep after talking a bit more. After about an hour Amber and her mother came back in to check on him before leaving. Crystal smiled, "he's doing fine and should be able to go home after a bit more rest." Amber nodded, "that's good." She looked at Crystal clearly wanting to ask something but not sure how to. Out of nowhere her mom spoke up, "so what's your relationship with Marcus?" Crystal and Amber both looked at her and Crystal smiled, "what makes you think there is one?" The mom laughed, "please that interaction earlier you're clearly more than doctor and patient." Crystal smiled, "well I guess I made that a bit too obvious, well let's see he doesn't like sharing much but I suppose I could." She looked at Marcus, "well though we're not related I guess you could say it's like we're distant cousins, my family knew his and even though we barely interacted I saw him once or twice when he was a baby so practically strangers but a little closer I guess I just view him like family and treated him as such." Amber seemed a bit relieved and smiled, "well that's good I'm glad to know he has someone like family nearby to care for him." Crystal smiled, "you seem relieved we're you worried I was something else?" Amber now a bit embarrassed, "yeah sorry I saw how close you two were and thought I should be that close with him so I thought you might be his damsel too." Crystal shrugged, "I guess I could see the misunderstanding there but I'll have him give you a call when he wakes up." She smiled walking away with her mom, "ok thank you." After she left Crystal looked at Marcus, "well I think she's very perspective." Marcus shrugged, "eh she couldn't tell I was awake so not too perceptive." While Marcus stretched and got up he still felt really sore, as he figured out how much he had healed Crystal started getting a notification on her phone she sighed and turned on the tv. To both of their surprise it was Chet in the news room, he was smiling at the camera. "To those of you just joining us great timing we've been talking about how today was a special day at the Protectors and Damsels high school with an in person meeting of the four heads of the families." The co host smiled, "yes but now it's time to get to the drama of the event, interestingly enough this happened at the beginning of the event." Chet smiled, "that it did and thanks to a special pass I was granted I was able to get this footage in person." The screen adjusted to show a photo beside Chet, the photo was of Marcus. Chet still smiling continued, "I'm sure you all remember this fellow, but for a quick recap to those who don't he's the young student who recently killed another student. Now authorities have ruled it self defense and given him a pass but it seems vengeance still came for him. Now I must warn viewers this video is graphic so viewers discretion is advised." They ended up playing a recording of Marcus getting thrown into the wall and Crystal gasped, "that's what happened damn you're tough as hell to even stay awake after a hit like that." Marcus shrugged, "I've been through worse." But he video paused as Marcus got up standing there bloodied with his shirt off, the video screen shrank to the side of Chet and he now not smiling spoke again, "to all our viewers besides the violence of the situation did any of you see his body, here look again," he turned to some other people off camera, "pull that picture up." On the screen showed a very clear picture of Marcus and his scars. There was a pause before he continued, "this is not the body of a normal 15 year old teenager this is a body similar to some of the 50 year old war veterans I've interviewed in the past. We currently don't know much about this young man other than his name is Marcus Mortem and that he just started at this school this year. If I had to guess I'd say he grew up in the battle grounds." The cohost stopped and added in, "why would you guess that, just because of some scars?" Chet looked at him, "just some scars ok let me educate you some," Chet started going through what the scars looked like it had been caused by. At the end of it Marcus smiled, "wow he's pretty good almost got them all right." Crystal sighed, "the fact that most of those were right is terrible you've seriously underplayed all that you've been through." Marcus shrugged but stopped hearing the cohost speak up, "man this kids seems to have been through a lot you also seem to be taking a special interest." Chet smiled, "yeah well every instinct I have as an investigation reporter is telling me there is a huge story with him." The cohost nodded a little defeated he looked at the camera, "well that's all the time we have tonight turn in next time for more P&D news." Chet smiling looking professional again, "thank you for being with us tonight and continue to stay tuned." The news went to commercial and Marcus sighed, "well he might be annoying." Crystal looked shocked, "annoying won't he cause you a lot of problems?" Marcus smiled, "no he won't my records are beyond sealed and well even if he somehow got to them it won't tell him everything." Crystal nodded, "well I guess that's good." She sighed looking at the time, "you ready to go?" He nodded and they left the school when he got home he messaged Crystal that he'd talk with her tomorrow and that he got home and is just tired.