Chapter Text
Adam was an Alternate, and he knew that. He knew that he didn’t belong near humans. He knew that he was anything but normal, that he was supposed to be a killing machine. Supposed .
Adam had almost never shown any resemblance even slightly linking to an Alternate, not in his appearance, nor in his attitude. But there were times where his behavior was… weird at best, like laughing at extremely bad times (in hindsight, he shouldn't have laughed at that funeral) and completely lacking empathy. However, there were times where it was almost impossible to not notice his insane antics.
A memory revolving around this was burned in his mind. He was 9 at the time, living in an orphanage. At that time, Adam didn't know that he was not human. He remembers how a hurt bird was found on the playground. While other kids were thinking about taking care of it, Adam smashed the poor bird with a rock. He remembers the excitement he felt as he watched the animal take its last breath, how happy he was when the others looked at him like he was a monster. Which, in theory, he was.
And yet, it never got more far than the wounded bird incident. He wouldn’t forgive himself if it would go farther than that. Not again.
He met his first actual best friend at a saddening age- 21. It was a breezy night as he strolled on the lonely streets illuminated by the light poles. While walking, he accidentally bumped into a girl, resulting in her spilling her coffee on him. The girl was probably a college sophomore. She had dark skin, copper shimmer hair and blue eyes.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, sir!” She said, then took a look at his face. The expression she had was the epitome of the word 'horrified’. She froze for a few seconds before muttering another apology and walking as fast as she could away. He didn't think much of it.
He found what he thought was an empty parking lot and decided to rest there. Again, he thought it was empty. But as he leaned against a fence, a voice broke the silence.
“Need something to wipe yourself?” He asked. Adam turned his head to be greeted with the guy. He seemed to be another college sophomore. He had darker skin than the girl earlier, bleached hair and amber eyes.
He politely accepted his offer and the sophomore gave him a few napkins. After cleaning himself with them and tossing them in a nearby trash can, the man again spoke.
“I'm Jonah. You?”
“Adam.”
“Well, I wish I could stay here and talk, but I gotta run.”
Adam's curiosity piqued. “Why?”
“Let's just say that I might be in hot water.” The timing was perfect as another guy ran down the street, to the parking lot where the other two stood. He had something in his hands.
“You!” He exclaimed, pointing his finger at Jonah. “You scammed me!”
“Woah, woah, woah. I wouldn’t call it a scam.”
“Then what is this?” He asked, showing the object he held. It looked like some sort of dream catcher. It had black feathers (which were probably from a raven) and…were those glued pebbles-
“You told me this was, what, a charm against Alternates?”
Adam almost snorted out loud. A charm. Against Alternates. How fucking dumb could you be to buy that shit? Apparently this dumb.
“Oh come on, dude! I even gave you a discount!”
“You sold it for 500$!”
$500? For an edgy dream catcher? $500 ?
“Well, it’s not my fault you fell for it!” Jonah retorted. The other dude, probably fed up, tried to punch him. Though suddenly, he stopped and groaned in pain.
“What’s the problem? Didn’t you want to fight?” Jonah asked with a smirk on his face.
“No- headache.” The scammed dude said in a forced, struggling tone. “I-i’ll just, I’ll come for you tomorrow- no, next- next week. Yeah, next week.” He said, trudging away. Jonah glanced at Adam.
“Dude, you did this?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You can’t fool me. I saw you do it.”
“Do what?”
“You gave him that ‘headache’.”
So Jonah wasn’t dumb. It was rare yet refreshing to see someone who actually paid attention to things like these. Small details that were mostly passed over as coincidences.
“Hey, how about we go hit a food truck or something? My treat.”
“Oh, well-”
“Come on, man. You saved my ass earlier. Least I can do.”
Well, he couldn’t decline such a nice offer.
It had been almost half a year since then. Adam was sitting on his couch in his apartment when someone knocked on his door.
“Come in.”
It was Jonah, who had an exhilarated expression.
“Dude, I just got the best business idea. Well, theoretically it wasn’t mine, but I swear I had to do something with it. It’s gonna turn us into fucking millionaires!”
“Woah, hold your horses. What’s the idea?”
“What if we form a paranormal society?”
“A what?”
“A paranormal society! Y’know, you use your Alternate abilities to do supernatural shit and people pay us to ‘exterminate’ them and bam! We get money.”
Adam seemed to actually ponder the idea. “First of all, how can I even use my quote unquote ‘Alternate abilities’?”
“Well, can’t you affect people from far away?” Jonah asked.
“That takes energy. I can’t just do it over and over.” He countered.
“We’ll find a way around it.”
Adam was still deep in thought. “Even if we would, we can’t do this on our own.”
“We won’t. Nora will help us with it.”
“Nora? Who is she?”
“She’s this girl from my computer science class, really smart, and she can also help us in more than a way.”
“Okay. Fine.”
“Look, this is- Wait, really ?”
“Yes. If this idea will get us money, then I’m down for it.”
Jonah paused. “Awesome! I’ll call her in a second!”