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Chapter Seven: Normalcy

“BRING, BRING, BRING!"

Adriano woke up to the most loving sounds of an alarm blasting in his ear, perhaps the normal sound that a teenager his age would hear. However, he wanted none of it this day. He rolled over and squeezed a pillow over his ears, hoping to block out the sound.

“BRING, BRING, BRING, BRING!"

The alarm cried out hoping to get his attention again, Adriano let out a groaning noise. Hoping that god would either strike it down for being so loud or it would just fall over and break. Yet it didn't and he was forced to wake up and confront the reality of the day.

His body groaned and creaked as he moved his knees and hips for the first time. Growing pains made his body shiver as he slowly placed his feet on the floor. Trying to find a balance, he placed his hand against his bed frame as he wobbled back and forth on the ground.

“BRING, BRING, BRING, BRING, BRING!"

His alarm clock repeated for the third time, only doing its job. That blast of sound in his ear, woke Adriano up with a shock and he quickly found his balance. Bringing his hands to his eyes, he rubbed the crude out of them and blinked a few times before his vision readjusted.

His eyes felt dry and his wet, his body uncomfortable and strange. His hair was standing straight on end and needed a comb to be placed through it. His knuckles didn't want to bend and his ears didn't want to register sound. His stomach grumbled and his mouth hungered for food.

He placed his hand on the alarm clock and clicked down on the button making sure that alarm was well informed that he had awoken for that day. Standing up Adriano figured he might as well do the other things one is hoped to do. Quickly dressing himself in cargo shorts, a white tee shirt and black hoodie.

He made his way to the bathroom, placing toothpaste on his toothbrush and wetting it with sink water. He brought it to his teeth and scrubbed them, making sure to get everything that had been built up from all of the midnight snacking and being an American in general.

He grabbed his comb and quickly dragged it through his hair, bring his brown hair combed forward and neatly placed while combing his blonde section downwards and making sure nothing was growing out of control. After snipping a few hairs, he looked in the mirror and argued with himself on weather his hair was organized the right way or not.

He went downstairs and hoped to make himself a filling and maybe delicious breakfast but as usual the familiar red glow of the bus arriving out of his house, quickly drew him to get his bag and quickly run on the bus half prepared for the day.

Sitting down on the seat he was still the first pickup of the day, he plugged a headphone into his ear and turned on his music, sitting back and thinking of England or something as he rested for about two hours. Until seven thirty, when he arrived at his school.

Students were spreading into the school quicker than an STD would make its way across the school. Either way within two hours, Adriano was barely able to get up, get himself clean, didn't get a breakfast and he still had to wake up at five o'clock in the morning, isn't school wonderful.

As he walked into the building he took comfort in the fact he would at least have a few minutes to socialize, he laughed a bit to himself. Placing his books in his locker, he made sure that he was going to be the target of the massive bullies that swarmed the school.

However, like in most schools there was a light of darkness that shined throughout the school. His name was Zander, he was so sweet and nice and just so perfect. Had Adriano not been straight, he would have gone straight after him.

Adriano grabbed the books he needed for his first class and walked over to Zander, pulling up behind him as they passed through the crowd.

“Hello Adriano, how was your day?" Zander asked him, Adriano was used to Zander's upbeat and unnecessary questions and instead rolled his eyes and moved next to the leopard.

“You know the usual. Have to get up before the moon rises and get to sit on a bus for two hours sitting in traffic. And I can't listen to my music because of traffic honks on the beltway, so the usual." Adriano said venting to Zander about his problems. He liked the snow leopard, no matter how bad it seemed he was always bright and smiling.

“Well you can always hope for a better school day, trust me it always helps." Zander said being almost annoying cheerful, like he was some sort of macchiato sipping, convertible driving, white girl. Then again if that metaphor was true, he'd hate to see his mean side.

“Well did you here, there is a new superhero. Some sort of energy manipulator with a beetle on his back. They're calling him the Beetle Bug." Adriano said talking about a common love they both shared, superheroes. And luckily for Zander that name would not stick. “He was fighting, Dastardly Dog over the national lake this morning, I hear the Outsiders are looking for him."

Zander shivered at his fact, had there not been a crowd of distracted high schoolers around him, his beetle's temporary resurfacing would have been noticed for miles. He calmed back down and tried to appear normal with Adriano.

“Well how interesting, but he doesn't sound very interesting at all. What about all the other superheroes, like Wind Fury and Albatross Winder." Zander had blown it; he knew that Adriano would definitely catch on that he was mentioning B rate superheroes like that.

“No way, this is a new guy. I'll be following him for a while, now did you see Death Jumper fighting that curry monster this morning." Adriano said not even noticing that Zander was nervous. He didn't want to question Zander and push him away, he allowed himself to have options but he didn't want to lose his only friend.

“Now then, it's Eight." Zander said feeling lucky, that Adriano didn't notice him acting strange when he brought up Beetle Bug, he wasn't ready to confide his powers to anyone not even the man he trusted most. He didn't even intend for a battle, he just needed to help someone and it turned into a battle.

He could remember the excitement, the rush, the feeling of newly formed energy flowing through his veins. It was an amazing feeling and he wanted to feel it again, but he had no idea what would happen. His father was a superhero and he saw and knew the risks associated with that.

He frowned a bit, remembering his good father. He was great superhero and an amazing family man. He missed him and he knew that he could never be as great as that man, he was going to live in that man's shadow forever. He accepted that fact and knew it would be the best to keep his father's legacy intact.

“We should probably get to our class Zander; Ms. Martinez doesn't like it if we're late." Adriano said as he pulled on the snow leopard's shoulder, pulling him towards the door. Zander snapped back to the real world and noticed all the students flooding into their classes.

“You'd be right with that we should probably hurry up with that." Zander said as he quickly joined Adriano in running. They successfully made it to the classroom and noting of interest happened for the rest of the day. As with most high schools they used block scheduling and every class they had together except for last period.

…

However, lunch was a different time. Adriano wanted a date to the mid-fall dance that was coming later that night. It wasn't formal but anyone who wasn't going was considered a loser. Without any idea to do he decided to take the easiest path, go up to girls and ask them out.

“So then would you go out to the dance tonight?" Adriano asked as he tried to form a smile on his face. Zander was kind of pushing him to do so, of course Adriano perhaps not noticing or his mind not able to handle the idea, wasn't able to figure out that Zander wanted to go with him.

“Sorry, try flowers next time." The first one said to him, turning away from him and continuing the conversation and that's how the rest of the lunch went, thirty minutes of pure rejection.

“Sorry, I only go out with footballers." The woman said as she giggled at him and went back to chatting up with her friends, pushing Adriano away. He continued on his quest trying to get someone but he had no idea what to do.

“No way, you couldn't even be half as big as my boyfriend." Another girl said laughing at him and pushing him away again. He groaned and started to figure that he might not be as attractive as he thought he was. He fixed his hair and cleared the hair out of his face.

“I'm sorry, animated hair is just really not my type." Another girl said to him killing his precious self-esteem. He hung his head low and decided it was time to bring out the big guns. Quickly sneaking out of the school, he got his secret weapon and prepared to present it.

“Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean flowers. I meant flour. My father is a baker and he wouldn't be impressed if I didn't date on as well." The first girl said as she rejected Adriano, even with a series of recently pulled out roses in his hand. He held in the tears as he felt his final rejection.

Pulling the thorns out of his hand, he walked back over to Zander and sat down, throwing the spiky flowers into the garbage and sitting down on the bench next to Zander. He put his hands on his face before he realized that he was thorning himself in the face.

Pulling the last thorn out he threw it to some in ordinate place behind him and he had no idea was he was doing. He put his hands on his face and groaned, knowing he wasn't going to get some girl to go with him. However, there was somebody that would go with him he just needed to look nearby.

“So didn't go so well with the girls, you should look around some more, I'm sure someone will go out with you to the dance, it won't be that hard for you." Zander said trying to keep his buddy's encouragement up. He smiled a bit wishing he could take Adriano out, but he knew that the human wouldn't even consider it.

“No I'm hopeless; no one want's this somewhat acceptable body for their own. I'm useless nobody wants me." Adriano said as he said it to himself, he wasn't crying, it was just a sad state. It didn't make him feel happy or sad; it just made him feel strange. It made him feel stagnant, that nothing would ever change that he'd be stuck in his ways forever.

And as with all of the school's periods the bell rang, sending a ringing throughout their ears and signaling the beginning of the next class period. Even in the future, they still couldn't figure out how to easily do that without deafening half the school. Adriano stood up and grasped his bag.

“Well there is no hope for me, I will simply descend into the hallway of the disappeared and make myself scarce." Adriano said still not realizing the obvious but at least he had accepted that a girl wouldn't take him to the mid-fall prom dance.

“Don't give up yet, I'm sure that someone might build up the courage to step up to you plant a kiss on your face and ask you out." Zander said really trying to get the obvious to crash into Adriano's head, perhaps his undying loyalty was a bad thing in this situation.

Either way both said their parting words and headed off to their next classes, which Adriano was sure to hate because Zander had decided to AP Chemistry instead of physics. That still meant they had different classes last period and oh boy was the last one a favorite of his.

It was physics, Adriano hated that class. Not because he wasn't with Zander, but because he found it boring. He had to pass the class in two years, and it wasn't interesting. The subject didn't apply to him and the teacher was so hard on him. He wished he could just shove the class and leave it, the teacher didn't notice he was gone and they never had tests, he had no reason to be there.

“Mr. Jacobi, can I go to the bathroom?" Adriano asked raising his hand during the class. The teacher turned towards the human and looked at him and groaned a bit. He simply made a waving motion and sent the student on his way. Adriano stood up and walked out of the room, exiting the classroom and making sure the door shut.

Adriano looked at his objective, and instead turned and walked towards the bathroom where he should have been going. Once he would have been out of view of Mr. Jacobi, he continued past the bathroom and walked towards the exit.

Adriano took a turn and looked at the secondary exit, the scanning area wasn't inhabited by security and he had a perfect escape. Opening the door, he walked into the area and made sure no was nearby. He clicked the door open button and the unlock button.

The doors clicked and he walked forward, covering his tracks and simply walking out of the doors and into the free world. He needed to get to Zander's car, he knew the snow leopard would take him home, he just needed to wait a few minutes but he would get home so quickly.

However, to his surprise as he turned the corner, he was Zander in the parking lot. He was sneaking around and seemed to be trying to open his car door quietly. Adriano paused for a few seconds wondering what the snow leopard was doing at his car.

The leopard opened the door and climbed into his vehicle, starting it up and wasting no time as he accelerated out of his parking spot and away from the school. He was sneaking away too, and without him too. He wondered what could possibly could compete Zander to do that and he paused for a few moments. It was then that he felt a hand taping on his back.

“Ah, Mr. Jacobi, I'm sorry I didn't know that button would open the door." Adriano said trying to cover himself from what would be three days detention, however as he turned back and two men dressed in military garb. He looked at them and they grabbed him.

“Shit! Help, Help, Help!" Adriano yelled out as the militants placed tape over his mouth and as he struggled with them. A large black bag was placed over his head, blinding him to world as he tried to escape. Handcuffs were placed on his hands and as he tried to escape, he suddenly was knocked out.

Adriano tried to stay awake as he hit the ground, something that would definitely hurt in the morning. Smashed on the ground the human and his weak body tried to stay awake, but he felt himself slipping away. He pushed himself, his eyes were closing and the only thing holding them up were tooth picks.

He needed to stay awake, there was nothing to keep him alive. He tried to hold out his hand and needed to get someone to help himself. His hand collapsed and his eyes snapped shut, his head fell on the ground and he was down.

“Let's move out." The first militant said as he picked the man up, extending a stealth field to the man and making sure no one would notice them. They walked off opening a walkie-talkie and activating the long range communication.

“Sir, the target has been received we will be at the RAF base in 02 hundred hours." They walked towards their cloaked vehicle and opened it up. They placed him into the vehicle and laid him down on the back seat. They drove away from the school certain that they got their target.

…

Adriano opened his eyes, his body groaning and his body aching. He was as one would expect he was held up in chains. He shingled and the chains made their classic ringing sound. He opened his eyes and Adriano appeared to be in a dark room, his body and thus eyes were shaded.

Looking around a bit, there was a shadow in front of him. It walked forward and he viewed it, coming into light. It was a woman with the same militant clothing, but metallic and plastic armor over his body. The woman rubbed hand under his chin and Adriano shivered.

“Who are you?" Adriano asked as he viewed the woman, wondering what see wanted and why he was here. He tried to pull the chains out of the wall, of course he wasn't strong enough for it. She laughed at him and giggled a bit.

“You don't know honey; your father really did shelter you. We are the RAF, I am General Abraham." She said as she explained to Adriano. He figured she might have been mistaken. Later enough Adriano and Rocco would meet Abraham's similarly themed named superior, General Washington.

“So then what do you want with me, because I do have some time to waste." Adriano said not knowing what to do or why he was wanted, he shook in his chains and cowered at the force of General Abraham. She looked at him like some sort of cattle waiting to be killed.

“Oh don't you know, we created a threat and blocked the Outsiders, therefore you Beetle Bug, will have had to respond. However, judging by the look on your face you were just some teenager sneaking out of school." General Abraham said putting the puzzle pieces together in her head and realizing she had caught the wrong target.

“Tweddle Dee and Tweddle Dum, you better hope to god you get back out there and catch Beetle Bug before I get to you!" Abraham said as she turned around and yelled at her two underlings. The door closed and Adriano was all alone now, and he figured when she came back they would try to kill him.

He shook his hands around and due to his normally tiny wrists, he was able to shift his weight. He pushed his legs on the wall and pushed his hands threw the cuffs. With them free he just needed to get into the cuffs and free himself from the trap he was caught in.

He clicked his watch against the cuffs and the hole holder slipped out and went into the cuff locks. He twisted it around and he heard the snapping sound of it opening. With one arm free he moved his arm to the other one and took off his watch, unlocking the other and freeing his arms.

Unfortunately, his legs were still bound, he fell on the floor and groaned as his body was slammed into the ground by the chains pulling back. He twisted himself and the chains around and pulled himself up to his legs, using his watch and unlocking the chains.

Now free he stood up and looked at the door, he needed to keep his composure and he didn't need to freak out, that would be very bad. He took a few breaths to calm himself down and walked forward. He had no idea where he was what he was doing and if'd be able to get out without being in a body bag.

Walking forward he approached the door and peered through it, into another hallway. Looking out, he waved his hand in front of the door and it opened. He heard walking sounds and pulled his hand back to his body.

Waiting a few seconds, he held his breath and waited. A man walked into the door and poked in. Adriano striked; he grabbed the man's head and pulling him into the room. Knocking the guard to the ground he quickly dominated him and punched him. Maybe he was a natural.

Grabbing the gun out of the man, he quickly decided on whether or not he would act. He fired one shot, he would let lady luck decide his fate. Exiting the room, he fired one shot at the next guard and knocked him out as well. He turned to his left and continued down the corridor.

However, as he walked down it appeared there were no more guards to shoot at. It appeared to be a tiny bunker, perhaps to contain and hold someone waiting for transportation. As he looked around he passed a window, it appeared to be completely dark outside.

Deciding to completely go balls to the wall he took his borrowed weapon and smashed it into the window. The window broke but it must have voided some sort of protection system as a series of alarms went off. Quickly he jumped up and grabbed the edges of the window, had the alarms not been going off he might have been able to clear some of the glass away.

However, he cringed as glass dug into his hands, cutting it open. He pulled himself upwards but not before a hand grabbed him. Putting his butt on the ground, he looked down and saw Abraham grabbing his leg. She knew what he would be able to do with the information he had.

“You're not getting away human, I'll have to put you done like the rotten animal you are." Abraham said as she reached down with her hand and prepared to shoot Adriano. Deciding not to go with that, Adriano grabbed his gun and holding on to the edge of the ground, he fired down and hit Abraham.

She fell back and let Adriano's leg go, the human was freed and he ran away from the window before a chase could be pressed. He looked around and it appeared that he was somewhere near southern Washington the sounds of an expressway buzzing around.

He looked around and he knew that he had to talk to someone, something was going on and he needed to share it with someone. He looked around and figured they had to be military which meant the police would be with them and he couldn't go to a teacher with this. He figured he might go to the one person he trusted.

…

Zander took a few seconds to breath, he had no idea what was happening. He had just saved three people and he needed something to do. He thought maybe alcohol would work for him or something. Then he heard a knocking on the window.

The leopard looking down through the window saw Adriano down on the grass of his lawn. Opening the window, he stared down and saw the human waving at him, with what must have been the largest smile on his face, maybe he had finally figured out that Zander was into him.

Turning around he walked down to the front door and opened it, Adriano walked in the house and laughed at him.

“I figured it out your Beetle bug, that's why you were leaving school early." Adriano said half disappointing Zander as he hugged him feeling the energy beetle that appeared on his back. Zander felt him and embraced in the hug as well figuring it might as well be a consolation prize.

“Now then you tell no one, I think that Rolando guy is Outsiders, I need to figure this out by myself. I need to train myself figure out my powers on my own." Zander explained. “Now then what's wrong did this cause any problems?"

“Well the RAF, not the British kind, Quasi military. They captured me because they thought I was the one with the energy beetle, because I might have been sneaking out away." Adriano said laughing a bit as well.

“I kind of thought that you were coming to take me out to the prom, I think that would be too lucky for me." Zander said that he thought he was saying to himself. “Did I just say that out loud."

“You just did, Zander it's okay if your gay but I am completely straight. I don't want to hurt you but it's okay, you'll find someone like me." Adriano said as the conversation changed further, he needed to distract himself from what had happened to himself.

“You are not straight; you completely bow at my presence. You practically love me, it's not a bromance. You are completely into me; I can't believe you haven't figured this out for yourself." Zander said as he grabbed Adriano's shoulders and decided to prove his point.

Zander pulled himself in and touched his lips to Adriano's. Both of them shivered, the human tensing up from the surprise. His arms shaking against Zander's before he settled down. Zander pulled back and Adriano looked into his eyes, the feeling he had never felt before, the passion, the want it was all there.

Adriano pushed himself on Zander, a bit clumsier than the leopard but will all the same intensions. He grasped Zander's hair and rubbed his hand through it, he pulled him in through his back and then pulled back taking a breath of air. He looked at Zander and everything he knew about himself was changed.

“See what did I tell you." Zander said with a smirk on his face, Adriano looked shelled shocked and Zander guided him with his hands towards the living room. Placing him on the couch and hoping the human could comprehend what had happened.

“That was amazing." Adriano said as everything, every puzzle piece had fallen into place. Everything he had known for the first sixteen years of his live was wrong, this was who he was meant to be with. He grabbed the leopard and pulled him in and embraced him.

“Thank you, you just made everything feel better, I don't know what to say to you." Adriano said as he held Zander's hand and looked at him and his face, every part of him shined in the low light of the room. The moon softly illuminating his face. Everything was perfect.