Chapter 1

You Are what You Hate

In the words of the Fresh Prince, Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down and I'd like to take a minute just sit right there, I'll tell you how I became a freak.

NEW YORK CITY

1997 Lower East Side

It was late in the night, Adrian was just finishing up the tag he was working on with the rest of the gang. He spray painted the blue and red eagle before he grabbed the white can spray painting the three letters F-O-H. He stepped back the smell of lead paint filling his nose as it dripped like a bloody bird on the wall of the Mutant Halfway House. Adrian's brown eyes looked at it, smiling at his work as the rest of the boys behind him patted him on the back "It's a work of art." Hyde said, patting him on the back Adrian looked down at his own FOH eagle tattooed on his right arm.

Hyde was dressed similar to Adrian, a sleeveless white shirt with the green flak jacket with the Friends of Humanity eagle on the back showing off his muscular pale arms. He wore green cargo pants and combat boots, Hyde's tall broad figure was topped off with a shaved head and small hair follicles popping out, that he'd no doubt shave back down to the stump. The rest of the boys all wore similar outfits, with no flak jackets that had to be earned.

Adrian on the other hand was yet to earn his jacket, he wore a white shirt with the sleeves ripped off, a red bandana around his neck, he wore black jeans with knee pads, wearing a pair of sneakers he'd tapped up for extra support to keep his footing. His brown hair was combed curtain style. "Now to make sure they see it." Hyde said stuffing a bottle filled with liquid with a rag, that he lit on fire with a lighter and handing it to Adrian, the rest of the boys looked at him "Come on do it dude." One of them said, There were at least five in the gang, and tonight it will be six. Adrian looked at the molotov cocktail "Come on we got to put those mutants in their place." Hyde said.

"Yeah you said it Hyde." One of the taller boys said with a green beret.

"You want to protect humanity right?" Hyde asked, pushing Adrians hand, he gripped it right in his leather fingerless gloves before he drew back his arm and hurled the molotov cocktail with all his strength at the mutant halfway house's nearest window.

The glass shattered and the alarm bell rang loudly, the boys all ran down the street running under the streetlamps laughing their heads off. Adrian smiled as the boys patted him on the back "Way to show those freaks Adrian." Hyde said, patting him on the back as they ran five blocks away. But Adrian's smile didn't last as he heard screams and a fire alarm going off from the halfway house. They ducked into an alleway and the Friends of Humanity all caught their breath.

Adrian slumped up against a nearby brick wall and sank to the floor nearly out of breath, "So… I get to join right?" Adrian asked Hyde.

Hyde looked over at him, he smirked at him, his blue eyes narrowing. "Not just yet, ever since those Mutie freaks the X-Men got their friend Magneto pardoned by the UN, we need to make sure you're one of the good humans."

"Good humans, Hyde it's me?" Adrian asked.

Hyde folded his arms looking at the other boys "That goes for all of you, the Friend of Humanity are the only things standing between humanity and extinction from those damn mutants." Hyde said.

"We'll fuck'em up, Hyde." One of the boys said, it was Stephen, a lanky african american boy with a headband holding back his cornrows, the rest of the boys all let out grunts and jeers similar to them. "That's what I like to hear." Adrian got up and looked to see police cars zooming past them to the alleway with a fire truck behind it to check on the halfway house. They watched the first responders heading to stop the blaze.

Hyde sneered, "Fucking traitors, that blaze won't even kill anyone in time." he growled.

Adrian found himself breathing easier, when Hyde looked across the street at a nearby drugstore, "How about a reward for all your hard work troops." Hyde said walking across the street, he picked up a stray trashcan before Adrian grabbed him.

"Hyde what are you doing, this is the Goldberg's place, they aren't mutants they're good people?" Adrian told him but Hyde pushed him off "We need the medical supplies for the war, besides their jew trash."

"Jew trash, they're humans like usr?" Adrian asked before he watched Hyde throw the trash can through the drugstore window, it broke and an alarm sounded, Hyde leapt through the window "Grab the stuff behind the counter, register to." All the other boys whooped and hollered running in, but Adrian hung back, He watched them ransack the place and saw Hyde go for the register, he stuck a knife in the slit of the tray prying it open before he tore it open. The other boys were tearing open the cabinets grabbing orange tubes of capsules and pills.

Adrian looked down both streets to see no cop cars, they were too busy with the fire, "Hyde, come on this isn't right."

"We got to all make sacrifices boy." Hyde said coming out of the window a small box safe tucked under his arm, no doubt filled with cash from the store.

The other boys came out and Hyde ran off with the safe, Adrian looked at the ruined store, before he ran after his 'friends'.

LATER

The Bronx

Adrian followed Hyde and the gang into the warehouse at the edge of the Bronx, on the waterfront of the East River, the city skyline of Manhattan in the distance twinkled, he gave it one look at the two twin towers standing guard over the city before he followed them inside the warehouse. The warehouse had Friend of Humanity thugs all around, wearing berets and flak jackets, others wore military fatigues but not nearly as clean cut as real soldiers. Adrian followed Hyde into the hideout and he spotted a dozen men loading up crates of what looked like rollerblades with arm cannons, Sentinel Blasters. Forearm sized mounted blaster canons that could be fit to the arm. The Warehouse had a catwalk leading to the upper level for foremen to walk along, an office in the corner, trucks with the rollerblade logo on the side of the trucks.

Others stood guard on the catwalks with laser rifles, in the background he could hear heavy metal music playing as Hyde set the safe down on a metal table, "Someone get me a welding kit, I want to see if this money is good."

"We didn't need to steal from the Goldbergs Hyde, they didn't do anything wrong." Adrian said behind him as the boys set the stolen medicine down on the table.

Hyde looked back "You calling me a thief?" Hyde asked pointing at himself with his thumb.

"Geez, does George Clooney's batman have nipples?" Adrian asked.

Hyde grabbed Adrian by the scruff of his white shirt and red bandana "You kyke loving-" "What's all this?"

All heads turned to the metal stairs to see a man with a beret wearing a black trench coat, he wore a beret like the rest of the men, and a pair of dog tags around his neck, showing he was a soldier. Complimenting his ensemble were green camo cargo pants and combat boots. He had a strong jaw and build, with brown eyes and light skin, "Nothing, Commander Luca." Hyde dropped Adrian and wrapped his arm around him "Just some horsing around with your boy." Hyde said.

Adrian's dad, Commander Luca came up and looked them over he noticed the stolen medicine and safe on the table, the other boys all looked abashed before Luca, turned to Hyde. Moving faster than a speeding car the Commander smashed Hyde in the gut and kneed him in the face. "You were ordered to sabotage the enemy's location, not loot from a civilian store Hyde." Commander Luca said as he kicked Hyde in the gut.

Hyde gasped the wind getting knocked out of him before he rolled over "But we-... we did that…. We need it sir?" Hyde gasped as he got up.

"Do we look like we want supplies, soldiers?" Luca snapped at Hyde, jestering to the large crates and cargo containers in the building. He grabbed Hyde by his flak jacket, "I want soldiers not thugs for this war, when those Mutie demons try to take over we need to be ready that goes for all of you!" the Commander barked at everyone, the rest of the Friend of Humanity looked abashed at the shaming of Hyde, but some of the older veterans nodded.

The Commander looked down at Hyde, "Hyde, you're off tomorrow's mission, I want you packing the sentinel blasters for our other branches."

Hyde grumbled on his knees but said "Yes… sir."

Commander Luca turned around "Cadet Luca, my office. Now."

Adrian followed his father up the metal stairs into the warehouses office, the windows were covered in dusty discolored blinds, a desk stood at the back of it with an american flag on the wall painted with the Friend of Humanity logo on it, Adrian saw a machine gun in the corner of the room next to a laser rifle, a souvenir from his dads days in the army. He spotted an image of his father on the wall, a man dressed brightly in a United States military uniform, standing proud his father younger, looking closer to his son then he did now.

Commander Luca walked over to the window and turned back before he folded his arms "You should have come to me first, I could have dealt with Hyde without making a scene. Now he'll begrudge you for it."

"But dad-" Commander Luca gave him a fierce glare at him calling him 'dad' "Sorry." Adrian stood up right hands behind his back "Permission to speak freely Commander?"

Commander Luca went over to his desk and sat behind it, "Speak."

"Hyde only went after the Goldbergs store after we set the fire, I had to say something."

"And you should have said it to your commanding officer, not called him out in front of the entire platoon." Commander Luca said leaning on the table "He outranks you."

Biting his tongue, Adrian wanted to say more, and didn't hide it from his father "You got more to say?"

"With all do respect Commander, Hyde is a fucking skinhead, he may have gotten his swastika covered up with the FOH Eagle, but he's a racist piece of-" "Enough." Commander Luca barked at him.

The Commander knitted his brows, "I have tried to tell you we need to look past such petty differences, even Hyde has to, humanity's true enemy are those mutant freaks. Mutants are nature's greatest mistake, we are god's true children. It is your sacred duty to protect the world from these demons, not fight our own men. Do you hear me!?" he barked.

Adrian tucked his lip and stood up straight "Yes sir, I hear you."

"Good." Commander Luca said as he got up "Now that we're a man short for the mission tomorrow, we need a new soldier to take his place." Commander Luca said walking around the table to him, he stood in front of Adrian and smiled.

Eyes wide Adrian gasped "What, you mean it?"

"I need a soldier I can trust, son." Adrian felt his dad put his hand on shoulder and squeeze tightly. "I won't let you down dad- I mean, Commander."

THE NEXT DAY
The East Side

A small truck with a rollerblade logo on the side drove through the streets of the city, inside it's box Commander Luca stod with a dozen other Friend of Humanity foot soldiers, all of them in camo pants with the flak vests, wearing his own flak vest and beret was Adrian, he was holding a laser rifle like the others. "Alright men, we set fire to that mutie halfway house to draw out the real prize, the mutie mascots who have turned our own government against us, the X-Men." Commander Luca held up his fist and the men all grunted and nodded.

"We kill one, and we'll inspire thousands to join us when they see the mutie demons can die." Commander Luca said. Adrian's eyes went wide as the van turned down the road back to the halfway house, it pulled into a nearby alleway.

The back of the truck opened and Commander Luca leapt out with a sentinel blaster on his arm, "Dad- Commander, I thought you said we were going to protect humanity, this is… not that."

"We need to strike first, the UN already pardoned that terrorist Magneto and the X-cutioner failed to kill him, the war has already started." Commander Luca said as his men ran to the alleway exit, "Now fall in line, soldier an cover your face we can't afford any traitor cops recognizing you when you go to the movies" Commander Luca grabbed Adrian and pushed him forward, Adrian gulped and reached for his bandana around his neck he pulled it up to cover his face.

The Commander looked back at the driver wearing a fake uniform of the rollerblade company "Driver, make sure you're ready to go when we evac." The driver didn't poke his head out of the seat but gave a thumbs up. When Commander Luca turned to go he didn't see looking in the rear view mirror of the driver Hyde's face, he'd disobeyed and come on the mission and when he saw the Commander was far away he smiled "Oh I'll be right where I need to be, Commander." Hyde said getting out, taking the keys and for good measure he reached into his jacket pulling out a pipe bomb on a timmer that he set in the

He ran out of the other side of the alleway to the nearest phone booth, slipping in a quarter he held the phone to his ear pressing the numbers 9-1-1. "Help police, there armed gunmen near that old Mutant Halfway house, they look dangerous." Hyde said before he hung up

Adrian looked out the corner of the alleway and saw the halfway house, half of it was a charred ruin and police were outside it as a crowd of media were gathered at the halfway house's steps. He could see a police had set up a crime scene with yellow tape around the part of the building that had been set alight, long since doused by New York's finest. "There." Luca pointed to three people standing inside the tape, one was a tall statuesque woman with white and brown hair wearing a green leather jacket with skin tight, very tight in certain places that had green on the outside and yellow on the inside. Beside her stood a short but large blue hairy creature with a speedo on and yellow belt, his wild hair flared out on both sides like a lion's mane, but between them was a young woman about Adrian's age, she had black hair, a pink shirt and jean shorts with a yellow coat, she appeared to be chewing on bubblegum.

"I see them." Adrian said.

Commander Luca came out with a pair of binoculars, "Damn, it's only the three of them, that witch Rogue, the monster Beast and their teenage firecracker Jubilee." Luca growled seeing it was only three.

The Commander looked at the nearby police and press filming the news, he thought it over "Back to the truck, this isn't worth the human casualties." Luca said as he led his men back to the truck. Adrian sighed with relief that they weren't going to go through with it, "What the hell!"

He ran to the truck to see the door open and the driver gone, "Where's the driver, where are the keys?" Commander Luca asked.

"Whats all this now?" A voice called from the alleyway, they looked back to see two black leather jacketed Policemen walking toward them guns drawn, "Drop your weapons, you're all under arrest." The Friends of Humanity looked to Commander Luca, another cop car came up on the other side of the alleway blocking both exits, the cops gout out guns drawn "Drop'em!" they shouted.

They were trapped, the Commander slowly held his hand up he started to remove his blaster to surrender-

KA-BOOM

The pipebomb that Hyde had left behind erupted in the trucks hood right next to the engine, when the smoke started to clear Adrian looked up "DAD!"

"The pigs fired first, Kill'em!" one of the friends of humanity thugs shouted, grabbing his laser rifle and opening fire on the cop who had been knocked back, the cops fired back and Adrain dropped his laser rifle running for the smoldering ruins of the truck "Dad, Dad where are you!" he yelled looking through the roaring inferno of the flames as bullets and lasers zipped past him.

He heard a low groan and looked to the ground he saw his dad Commander Luca on the ground his black trench coat torn to shreds bleeding all over, "Dad." Adrian crouched low pulled his dads cut and mangled arm up around his shoulder "It's okay I got you." He said.

"This…. This wasn't suppose to happen." The Commander said as the police and friends of humanity fired back at one another.

One of the FOH members was behind some trash cans, on a walkie "We need back up, we need back up the pigs ambushed- GYAH-" A cops bullet ripped through the mans neck and head making him fall to the ground dead.

"Need to… fall back." the Commander said "You heard him fall back, fall back!" Adrian shouted the only thought on his mind getting his dad out of the alleyway and back to the Bronx. Adrian pulled his dad to his feet and limped to the other side of the alleyway where the cops had been zapped away. Adrian carried his dad out into the street as the remaining Friends of Humanity followed shooting.

All the gunfire had drawn more cops to them and Adrian looked up in horror as he saw a shadow over them, flying down like a wingless valkyrie was the X-woman, Rogue. "Someone better put you no good varmint's out to pasture!" she barked in a thick southern draw.

"DIE MUTIE!" Commander Luca raised his sentinel blaster still on his arm at Rogue shooting at her, before Adrian could stop him.

Rogue flew out of the way but another Mutie appeared, it was the big blue fur ball Beast, he was swinging around the city lamp posts and leaping from cars like they were trampolines as he crashed into the FOH forces, he grabbed two men like they were sacks of potatoes throwing them across the street "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Issac Asimov." Was he quoting at a time like this Adrian thought.

"Kill the muties!"

Adiran new that voice, it was Hyde he was driving down the street in a green military jeep with more FOH thugs leaping out of trucks with laser rifles and sentinel blasters. "Hyde… no- need to retreat." Commander Luca said as the Friends of Humanity opened fire on the X-Men, their overwhelming numbers made Rogue and Beast fall back.

They could hear more police sirens coming in the distance "Hyde we need to get out of here, more cops are coming." Adrian said as he got his dad to one of the cars, Adrian looked at his dad who had passed out from bloodloss.

Hyde looked down at them as he stood on the top of the car with his own sentinel blaster, having changed out of his driver uniform back to his normal thug get up. "Maybe we just need a distraction." Hyde said as he held up the sentinel blaster mounted on his arm and pressed a button. The ground began to shake and rumble in a one two rhythmic beat like…

Footsteps?

Adrian looked behind himself to see something he'd only seen on the news, standing three stories tall, with red arms and legs tipped with purple gloves and boots towering over the street with it's blood red eyes and blocky human-like face was "A Sentinel!" Adrian yelled as the gigantic robot held up its hands and started to blast yellow energy beams into the city street. "But there aren't any mutants here!" Adrian called up to Hyde who smashed Adrian across the face with the

"There's plenty of scum here, and plenty to take!" Hyde barked as the Sentinel went on a rampage down the street. Adrian spat out blood looking up to see the Sentinel was marching down the street he could see the X-Men Rogue and the one called Beast attacking the Sentinel. Distracted by Hyde who was already blasting out windows of other stores and at the homes in the neighborhood, "Take whatever you want boys!" Hyde shouted as the reinforcements that were supposed to help Commander Luca and his men had turned to looting and rioting. They smashed open car windows, robbed stores and set fire to anything they saw.

"No… no this is wrong Hyde." Adrian staggered to his feet and ran at Hyde, "I've had just enough of you kid." Hyde spun around and opened fire on Adrian shooting him at point blank range.

Adrian felt the laser tear through his flak jacket and burn his skin, Adrian gasped falling back into the sidewalk hitting the ground his beret knocked out, "Stupid brat." stood over Hyde pointing the sentinel blaster canon right down at Adrians face, he was going to kill him. His senses started to abandon him, his vision was blurry, he couldn't hear the sound of the police sirens the Sentinel blasting apart the burrough. The screams of the people who were being terrorized by Hyde's racist thugs.

Adrian joined the Friends of Humanity to protect people.

Not this.

NOT THIS!

Adrian's hand shot up and black ether formed around his hand, a red hue glowing like wisps of smoke. "What the hell" Hyde said before the black ether smashed into Hyde sending him off his feet and into a nearby car. Adrian let out a gasp and sat up. He looked at his hands. The black ether with the red hue was like a living shadow, it clouded his hands in black fog. He saw the hole in his flak jacket and shirt was singed near off but his chest was whole, he was alive.

"He's a mutie!" one of the thugs barked.

"Kill him, KILL HIM!" Hyde shouted slowly getting up, "Wait, wait, I'm not a mutant, we're on the same side-" he saw the gang go for their weapons, raising them at him, people he thought were his friends, his own kind were about to shoot him. He saw Stephen the boy he'd played with since he was a little child raise a laser rifle at him and squeeze the trigger, "NO- Adrian felt his whole bod be consumed by the black ether and felt world pull him backwards like he was on a plane landing on a tarmac but instead a hundred times harder before he landed ten feet away from the Friends of Humanity where about to shoot him, he saw a small scorched patch of pavement in the street where he'd been standing he'd somehow moved away from them all in the blink of an eye.

Looking at his hands the strange black either continued to smoke around his hands, the red hue making him feel even worse, like smoke from hellfire. "It's there, the damn thing teleported!" Hyde said shooting the sentinel canon at him, he missed by a mile and Adrian thanked god he may have given the man a concussion, Lord knows Hyde deserved worse.

Adrian took one look at his dad passed out in the jeep and then further down at the Sentinel, he could see a black jet flying overhead straight towards the Sentinel, the rest of the X-Men reinforcements.

What was he to do?

If he tried to save his dad the FOH would kill him.

What would his dad do?

His feet made the decision for him, he ran!

He fled into the nearest alleyway the FOH mob chasing after him shooting and blasting, Adrian saw the riot was in full swing, with the police and X-Men distracted by the rampaging Sentinel. Other people had joined in the mob to start ransacking and looting the East Side, Adrian ran his way through the crowd pushing past people carrying TV's and Sterreos before he heard Hyde, "Stop him- stop the Mutie!" Hyde shouted pointing at Adrian who had made it to a nearby sidewalk, he looked forward to see more rioters had spotted him "A mutant!" one of them said holding a TV under his arm.

"He's the reason the Sentinel is here, kill the monster!" Hyde urged on the rioters before Adrian felt a knot in his gut and he teleported again past the rioters and other side of the sidewalk. "He's right he is a mutant, kill'em." a random person shouted throwing a bottle at Adrian, still disoriented from the teleporting Adrian felt the bottle crash into the back of his head and he yelped reaching back around his hand he felt something cold and wet, he prayed it was beer or water from the bottle and kept running. Fast as he could he ran into a nearby alleyway. He knocked over trash cans and ran by a stray cat as the shouts of the mob chased him.

"This isn't happening- this isn't happening- this isn't happening." Adrian ran down the alleyway and he ran into a fence, he grabbed the metal wiring and tried to climb it but he felt the black ether return, it ran up his forearms and the metal began to get sliced, red hued ether blades sprouted from his arms and slashed down the metal cage letting him squeeze through. No time to think of all the things that he was doing, what was happening to him he just had to run.

Adrian ran out onto the other side of the street, lasers and wreckage rushed past his head, the riot had spilled over to the other side of the street. "There's the mutant who started it all!" one of the FOH pointed at Adrian, he hadn't even managed to get away.

"Wait- wait stay back I'm not a mutant I'M NOT!" Adrian shouted behind his bandana and held his hands up to try and show he wasn't a threat but the black ether appeared again like it was drawn to the chaos.

"The mutants attacking, shoot it!" Hyde yelled, having followed him from the alleway.

A shadow appeared overhead and everyone looked up to see the head of the Sentinel on a collision course with the street, everyone ran including Adrian when the head smashed down into the ground. "God dammit, I paid a fortune for this hunk of junk." Hyde yelled seeing the Sentinels robotic face looking right at hm when the eye brust open, and out of it came the most dangerous thing to ever emerge from Canada, dressed in yellow spandex sith blue boots and gloves, with a cowl to match was a squat clawed hairy and very, very pissed off mutant named Wolverine.

"So… it was you bubs who woke up this antique." Wolverine growled holding up one clawed fist and then the other wagging his finger at Hyde "Come'ere."

"SHOOT HIM!" Hyde shouted before they could get a shot off Wolverine leapt into the mob of mutant hating sycophants and Adrian took his chance, he ran down the street out of the riot and into the nearest alleway.

He ran and ran until his lungs burned, he ran until the sun had finally set and his legs gave out under the brooklyn bridge. He was covered in sweat and leaned on the railing overlooking the east river. Sinking to his knees not because he was too tired but because he was too afraid, "No, no, no it can't be true… I can't." Adrian looked at his hands and saw the black ether forming on his palm "DAMMIT!" Adrian flung his hand across the railing sending out a wave of the 'shadow matter' as tears welled in his eyes.

"It's true… I… I am a mutant." Hearing himself say it he plumped down on the ground crying, "I freak, a demon… Why god." He cried into his hands.

Adrian couldn't believe it.

"Why did you do this god." He was one of them, a freak, a monster, a demon.

"I asked myself the same thing, when I was your age."

Adrian looked around the shadow of the bridge trying to spot who had spoken, the voice was deem umber like groaning metal, "Who's there… go away!" Adrian got up if it was Hyde or any of this thugs Adrian wasn't going to run this time, he wasn't going out without a fight.

"I saw what you did back there, most impressive." Adrian heard the voice from behind and turned around to see a flowing purple cape, there standing over the water like an angel or a demon, Adrian wasn't sure was a man with flowing white hair, a strong jaw, muscled wearing a sleeveless purple suit with a long white M on his chest, and his exposed shoulder and biceps went into a pair of arm length matching purple gloves. The person Adrian had been told to hate more than the devil himself by his father, the worst of the worst, Magneto, Master of Magnetism recently pardoned by the UN was holding out a hand to him. "Come, there is much to discuss, Adrian Luca."

A/N: So if you haven't gotten it already, Adrian Luca is one of the playable characters in the video game X-Men Destiny(2011). I always thought the character of Adrian, the son of a Mutant Hate groups soldier and the obvious choice for the Shadow Matter power just made sense to use him for the protaganist of this story for Disney's X-Men 97 'reboot' which I really enjoy.

By the way, I'm having trouble choosing Adrians mutant name, Shadow would be obvious but thats to on the nose. So throw me your ideas.