3 - Reputations are earned

Dean got the word from Tony and read the message out to Mark and Hamish. "He's at the pond."

"Alright, let's go deal..." Mark stood up from where he had been leaning on the bonnet of Dean's truck. He moved down the side and opened the passenger side door.

Dean jumped in the driver's seat and Hamish got into his own truck where a couple of other guys were already waiting. As he drove out Hamish followed.

"At least there shouldn't be anyone else there at this time of year..."

"Yeah...that's probably why they hang out there...drop kicks."

"Should we throw them in the pond?" Mark laughed, everyone knew the pond was infested with leeches.

"Hmm..." Dean snorted. "Not before I smack some sense into him..."

Mark gave him a rather contemplative look. "Feeling fiesty...or frustrated?"

Dean looked over at him then back to the road. "What the fuck are you implying now..."

Mark grinned and looked away out the side window. "Nothing at all."

"Good..." Dean grumbled. "Keep it that way."

They drove past the outdoor basketball court and Dean slowed down slightly, noticing the three giant ballers there playing three a side with some others. Aria was sitting off to the side with all their bags and drink bottles, it looked like she was sketching.

He clucked his tongue and drove on, hyper-focusing on the road. Mark gave him a speculative look but decided to say nothing.

۝

The two trucks coasted off the road and into the layby of Jerry's Pond where the playground and picnic tables were. Sure enough there were already three vehicles parked there and Todd and his crew were all sitting around one of the picnic tables smoking and drinking.

They all looked up as the two trucks stopped.

They stood up and spread out as Dean and Mark got out of the truck. Hamish and the others stayed in their truck for now to keep the balance.

Todd was surprised to see them and made sure he hung back, sitting down on the top of the table with his feet on the seat and looked warily at Dean as he approached.

"Hey Dean, what's up?"

"I think you know, asshole."

"Hey, steady on, man." One of the others said, bristling and stepping forward.

Mark moved sideways to block him. "Don't interfer, this is between Todd and Dean, he sent a warning and Todd decided to ignore it."

Todd chuckled. "This is about Willow?"

Dean focused that deadly icy glare on him. "Yeah, this is about Willow, you fucking dick...now move out from behind your mates and stand up for yourself because I only give one warning and you failed."

"Come on, man...what's she be saying...you know how chicks can exaggerate about things."

Mark clucked his tongue, keeping an eye on the rest of the guys, knowing Dean wasn't going to take any shit. Dean straightened up to his full height putting his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and then leaned back casually, tilting his head to the side he gave Todd a little snide smirk. "Why do I get the feeling your mates don't know about you stalking Willow, sending her creepy messages and leaving weird little notes in her locker."

The group all looked around at each other and then to Todd who grimaced and then tried to shrug it off. "There was nothing creepy in anything I did, I like Willow...can a guy not confess his feelings to a girl without being blasted for it these days?"

Dean's eyes narrowed as he focused on Todd's expressions, he looked very uncomfortable. "And what about what you did at the party end of last semester when you saw her drunk and tried to coax her into your car...that's what I gave you the warning for."

Todd chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as his mates seemed to step away from him a bit.

"Shall I tell them how you cornered Willow at the party on Saturday?" Dean took a step closer. "Despite my warning to stay clear of her from now on..."

Todd stood up trying to rally support. "Come on, you weren't even there...she was begging for someone to pay her attention, that little rich bitch acts like she's so popular but she's not and she hates that, so I gave her some attention...she was all for it at the time."

"Not popular?" Dean sneered a sinister little chuckle, licking his lips and looking around at everyone. Mark chuckled too, everyone knew Willow was popular, the reason no one came near her was because she was an off limits popular, plus she was part of Dean's group and a wood sprite.

"You're the only one that's not popular around here, Todd." Dean lunged for him, quick as lightning and grabbed Todd by the front of his shirt pulling him face to face and giving a savage snarl before throwing him over to the dirt. "Now get on your feet and fight me."

Todd staggered up to his feet, wiping his mouth. "Why the hell would I want to fight you, dickhead!"

"It's not a choice...I gave you that with the warning...leave Willow alone or I will come for you. Was that not clear?"

"Hang on...you really don't have any proof of any of this do you?" One guy spoke up.

"Yeah, you're just choosing to believe her because she's one of your rich crowd." Another called out.

Dean sucked his teeth, glancing back at them and seeing Mark was standing between them. "I have proof enough..." He knew that Willow could not lie to him.

He felt the air currents shift and dodged his head back just as a fist went flying past his nose. He came up with his forearm blocking the strike and moving it away bringing up his own fist and smashing Todd square in the cheekbone, Todd staggered back and fell, dazed, but Dean was fired up and came over him, pulling his head and shoulders up off the ground by his shirt before punching him back to the ground again and again and again.

Hamish and Tony came rushing out of the truck when two guys rushed Mark to try and get to Todd to help him and it was all on as a full rumble ensued.

Dean stood up, looking down at Todd's bloody and busted face and kicked him solidly in the ribs to see if he was unconscious of faking it. He didn't even utter a sound. Dean turned around and saw his three men fighting against seven and went into rescue mode. He flew up to one guy fighting Tony, grabbing his arm and spinning him around to punch him straight in the nose then flipped him onto his back hard, taking the wind out of him. He spun around and punched the next nearest solidly in the kidneys from behind and that guy dropped like a sack of potatoes. He stepped through into the melee, ducking low and gut punched another guy before coming up and upper cutting him in the jaw. The guy's head snapped back shocking and disrupting his brain function causing instant knock out.

At this point of the fight the others were becoming aware of Dean's rampage and the ones who hadn't already been put down by Mark, Hamish or Tony were starting to back off and call to stop.

Mark ran up to Dean when he saw the guy get knocked out and grabbed his arms from behind. "Dean! That's enough for fuck's sake, are you trying to kill them!?"

Dean panted, struggling a little and threw Mark off, turning to face him and licked his lips with a fierce laugh. "They want to get involved, I'll involve them."

"Hey, man...I think we need to call an ambulance!" One guy yelled out, checking on the guy.

"Yeah, you fucking broke my ribs!" The guy that landed on his back complained, staggering over.

"Dean, I think we need to get out of here..." Hamish said, wiping blood from his mouth.

Dean straightened up, raking his hands through his hair and took out his cigarettes, casually lighting one and exhaling the smoke. Everyone watched him not wanting to move as he exuded a deathly aura. "As soon as everyone agrees to not speak about what happened here today I'll let you help your friends and we'll be on our way...but if even one of you speaks my name or the names of my friends I'll come back and finish this..." He looked behind himself to where Todd was sitting up, slumped over and watching him with his one good eye. "Next time I'll fucking kill you."

Dean turned and walked off to his truck, trailing a cloud of smoke.

Mark helped Tony get up from where he had been tripped and kicked and Hamish trailed after them. Todd went to wipe his mouth and hissed in pain. "That fucking asshole, he's a fucking monster."

۝

Later Dean was sitting at Mark's place watching as Tony and Hamish patched themselves up. Mark sat down next to him and handed him a beer.

"What the hell got into you, were you really trying to kill them?"

Dean sucked his teeth, looking at his bottle before taking a swig. "Wasn't my intention...but I think I'm stronger than I was last week..."

He lifted his hand up and studied it, clenching it into a fist.

Mark sat up a little startled. "Shit, really? Well, it's not long till your birthday, dragon boy."

"Yeah..." Dean muttered.