Aberrant: In the Beginning - Titan Omega

[SalmonMax]

The coast seemed to be clear...the hallway stretched gloomily out before him, lit by a white rectangle at the very end where the far door stood open to let air circulate. Adam paused there for a moment, listening for the telltale clacking of formal shoes on hard tile flooring. When he heard nothing, he slipped out into the hall and skulked towards his class.

He wasn't far off...he could -see the door- when from behind a thick voice demanded, "Hey! You got a hall pass?"

Great. Hall minotaur. Or...monitor, for the real name. Barry Shelton. Big kid who, despite his size, was doing track and was plenty fast enough to run most kids down before they could escape his jurisdiction out onto the playground.

Still...the classroom was close, and Barry wouldn't follow him there. But then again, he might look like regular old Adam, but he was really Titan Omega! Why should he be scared of some bully Hall Monitor?

"Dude! You got a pass or not?!" Closer now, and with an undertone of unmistakable satisfaction. Barry loved having a victim.

[Titan Omega]

Adam stopped and visibly flinched at the sudden voice. Turning around he saw who the voice belonged to and he cringed. It wasn't the first time he had suffered at the hands of the bully. Then it occured to him, his newfound confidence and he had to admit, he felt great. If being the Titan was a rush of power, it seemed to have had a lasting effect on Adam's body and mind. He inhaled and relaxed, feeling a tingle in his fingers and toes as Barry moved in closer to leer over him.

Nonchalantly, Adam leaned his back against one of the hall lockers.

"Oh. Hi Barry. No, I don't have a pass. I had to run home at lunch and I'm late. So, why don't you run along and find someone else to bother. I'm getting a tardy mark as it is and you're making me later. Typical agent of the beureacracy..."

Adam smiled at him smugly.

[SalmonMax]

Barry's puglike face squinched into a thunderous frown. The kid wasn't reacting according to the script. In his head, he checked it. Next Adam was supposed to shrink back, giving him an opening to step forward, and stammer something that didn't matter. Then he could slam him up against the lockers and offer him freedom for lunch money or something.

Instead, he was leaning against a locker as if talking to an old friend. How could he slam him up against the lockers, if he was already leaning against them? It was a conundrum!

Contrary to popular belief, Barry wasn't actually -stupid- per se. He was just fond of simple solutions, of the sort he had a long history of making work for him. It took him a second to adjust his simple solution to this new complexity, but he managed to pull it off.

"Yeah, well right now I'm bothering you," Barry growled, and lumbered forward so that he could reach out and grab Adam's shirt collar. "No pass means I take you to the principal...unless you can think of a good reason not to."

Barry grinned. Things were back on track. Now's when he'd yank the little dweeb up away from the locker...a delicious twist on his usual plan...to show him who was stronger. Then when he'd gotten his money, he'd slam him back against the locker, just to show him. Awesome.

[Titan Omega]

Adam looked down at the hands gripping his collar then back up to Barry's eyes with a mischievious sparkle in his own.

"Why Barry...what would your mother say if she saw you right now? I hope you don't treat women this way..." Adam's eyes widened a bit as if coming to an understanding. "Unless, there is another reason you like grabbing boys...?"

Adam let the question linger in the air long enough to see comprehenison flash in Barry's eyes and to watch that turn into anger and the impulse for a violent reaction.

Just about then Adam smoothly brough his hands up and grabbed Barry's, his thumbs finding that perfect soft vulnerable spot in the web between hand and thumb. Allowing his fingers to wrap around the outside edge of Barry's palms, Adam locked into a vice grip, being careful to gauge the response from Barry and only aply just the right ammount of pressure.

The response from Barry, of course, was to collapse down to his knees as his hands exploded in pain and his wrists bent in and down giving him the choice of more pain or to fall into the direction of force.

Still smiling Adam soaked in the new fear washing over Barry's face.

"Of course, if you insist on molesting those smaller than you, may I suggest not picking a target trained in Jeet Kun Do. I'm going to have my eye on you Barry, and I'd best not catch you extorting money, or anything else, from anyone, or it's yo ass that's getting hauled into the principal's office."

Adam squeezed the pressure points just a bit harder to drive home the point and then released the older Bully to collapse away from him.

"Now, I said to run along. I'm going to class."

With that, Adam spun on his heel and made his way into Critical Thinking (English 4A)to face the consequences of his abscence. He smiled to himself, knowing inside that whatever trouble he was in at school, it paled in comparison to the good he had done and would continue to do.

The class, naturally, came to a stop at his entrance, students and teacher taking in the interruption.

"Uh...apologies, Mrs. Garcia, class." Adam said putting on his best repentant look. In the back Kristy caught his eye, looking drop dead gorgeous and smirking at him. Adam quickly walked over and sat down next to her at the long table, the two quickly exchanging surrepititiously playful nudges with their knees.

[SalmonMax]

Ms Garcia, no fool, cleared her throat and gave Adam and Kristy a stern look that set the rest of the class giggling and snickering. Kristy reddened a little, but Adam couldn't bring himself to feel embarrassed. Why should he? He had super powers, and the prettiest girl in the 10th grade as a girlfriend. Life was good!

That glow carried him through the end of that period, and the period after it even though Kristy wasn't in that class with him.

Adam didn't stick around to chat with friends this time. In fact, he decided not to bother putting his books in the locker this time, saving a good five or ten minutes of walking across the school, fiddling with the lock, then walking BACK across the school. Why bother when lately, even just as good ol' Adam, those books didn't seem quite so heavy anymore. Maybe it was just new confidence...but maybe, just maybe, there was more to being a nova than just coughing up goo that made him a superhero. Maybe he was still changing.

That was an exciting thought.

Mind whirling with the possibilities, he found himself jogging up to his house. He didn't remember the trip at all, so distracted had he been, but he didn't feel too terribly winded.

"Mom! I'm home!" Adam shouted as he burst in the front door and tossed his jacket onto the rack by the front window. He carted his bookbag to his room as his mother called, "That was fast, hon! Are you excited about something?" Her voice was teasing. She knew damn well what he was excited about. In his room he quickly picked out what clothes he wanted to wear, then headed for the shower. On his dresser though, something caught his eye. An envelope with his first name on the front. No postage, no return address.

[Titan Omega]

"Moooooom! Where'd this letter come from?"

Adam tightend the tuck on the voltron beach towel he was wrapped in and picked up the letter, staring at it curiously. He held it up to the light, examining the contents in semi transparency. Turning it over, he slipped a fingernail under the seal and tore open the top.