Chapter 1: Unlikely Friends

The story begins with Adrian, dressed in a dark jean jacket, white hooded shirt and black shoes, looking out at Kuoh Academy from a distance, one day before he would begin school there, and hopefully leave his past behind.

"Adrian Michaels?"

The young man turned around, and saw another young man, with a buzzed down (possibly bald) head, with electric blue eyes, the start of a 5 o'clock shadow adorning his face, and dressed in an electric blue tee shirt with black stitching, black slacks, and black and blue converse shoes.

Adrian didn't know who he was, but the fact he asked for him by name simply spelled trouble.

He quietly cursed under his breath, and started to leave, but the mystery man kept following him,

"Hey wait!" He then tried to follow Adrian, "I just had some questions for you!"

"Get the fuck away from me!" yelled Adrian, and continued to walk away from the mystery man, increasing his speed.

"I need to know if you're part of a group of special people called-!"

"Look on Tinder if you are looking for special people!"

Adrian didn't turn around, because if he had, he would have seen the mystery man climb up the trees lining where they were walking and skillfully jump and swing between them, and when he was right above Adrian, he hopped from the trees, swung his hands and feet behind him, and sent what looked like a small pulse of electricity from his hands, and landed in front of Adrian, drawing surprise from the former New Yorker.

"What the hell...?"

"I just want to talk," said the man, to which Adrian replied with grabbing the front of his shirt and slamming him into one of the trees.

"You're just looking for a fight," said Adrian, gritting his teeth. The mystery man had no choice but to raise his hands, and sent a powerful shockwave at Adrian, making him lose his grip and force him back, however he DID remain on his feet.

NOW Adrian was curious.

"Now will you hear me out?" Asked the man, looking like he had had about enough of Adrian already.

"...I'm listening..." said Adrian, curiosity getting the best of him.

-sometime later-

Both men were now walking, seemingly aimless, as the mystery man tells his story,

"...my name is Calvin Hicks, I'm from New Marais, where that whole thing with 'The Beast' happened?"

"I've seen some stories on the news, but I wasn't sure what to think of it. Plus they still had New York under quarantine so I really couldn't do anything about it," said Adrian.

"Understandable. But did you hear what happened to it?"

"A man named Cole MacGrath killed it, himself and a bunch of other people...all at the same time."

"But do you know why those specific people died?" asked Calvin. Adrian shook his head. "It's because they were all conduits!" Adrian stared at Calvin hard,

"But if that's really the case, how are you here? How did you survive?"

"That's just it!" said Calvin, "I didn't even have powers until AFTER MacGrath did the...thingy." Adrian raised an eyebrow at the self proclaimed Conduit.

"'The thingy?'"

"The thingy."

"...is there something else we can call it? Because I can't take it seriously when we call it that."

"No because I wasn't actually there when it all happened, and I didn't really start watchig the news until after I found out I had powers...so I can keep a lookout for crime, be a hero you know." Adrian scoffed,

"How did that turn out?" Calvin took in a sharp breath of air,

"Well, I stopped a mugging, but then I got shot at by police because they thought I WAS the mugger."

"Were you wearing a black ski mask when you stopped the mugger?"

"...No..." Calvin lied. Adrian chuckled,

"Bad liar."

"Uh, Adrian, right? Where are we?" Both men looked around, and they noticed that they were both in the middle of a forested area.

"We are in the middle of a forest, and that's the extent of my knowledge." Calvin started to get suspicious,

"Why did you bring me out here?"

"Because we've been followed for the past ten minutes." Both men looked directly back to where they came from, and saw a girl, no older than them, clad in a business suit with a skirt that stopped above her knees, and thin rimmed glasses. But what stuck out most was the fact her skin was ashen grey. Calvin took up a defensive position,

"Why the bloody hell didn't you say something?!" demanded Calvin.

"Because if she wasn't friendly I wanted to get her away from too many innocent people," said Adrian. Calvin shrugged,

"Fair enough."

The girl then brought out two massive blades the size of her forearms, and almost as wide, seemingly out of nowhere, and they were lit ablaze, following with her suit being burned away, revealing a sort of barbarian loincloth and top, and the first thing she says makes Adrians' blood run cold...

"I'm looking...for Zeus."