Savage Genesis, part 2

"Told you."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"No clue. Last I heard he got a scholarship to MIT, majored in science."

Bob holds out the store keys. Adam takes them and puts them in his pocket. "Here you go. Now you're opening with Jerome tomorrow so it'd be nice if one of you was on time." Bob shoots Adam a playful glare.

"That was one time," Adam responded defensively. Bob flashed a smile and slaps Adam on the back.

"I'm just teasing." Bob glanced down towards his watch. "You need a ride to the bus stop?" This was another tradition between Bob and Adam ever since Adam once asked Bob for a ride. Adam had meant a ride to his house and Bob knew it but as he was too passive aggressive to flat out say 'no' he agreed to give him a ride to the bus stop which is about block and a half away. To prevent Adam ever asking him again, Bob began preempitevly offering to drive him to the bus stop.

Adam, after the awkwardness of the last car ride, played his own part in this tradition by flatly refusing. "Nah. I'm good." Bob nodded, their ritual now complete. Bob walked off this car satisfied with the knowledge that he had at least offered to help.

Adam began his block and a half walk to the bus stop. As he walked his gaze returned upwards towards the heavens and the modern day marvels that soared high above him. His mind began to wander over dreams, some long forgotten. In some of his boyhood fantasies he could fly, in others he could shoot fire from his fingertips or was impervious to harm. No matter how it manifested itself there was one thing that was always the same: he was special, he was different. He mattered.

He made to cross the street, still looking skyward. A car came barreling down on Adam, although he oblivious to it. The driver, who had been fantasizing about the newest secretary in his office, was caught by surprise. He slammed on the brakes and hit his horn. The horn blared as the car came to a screeching halt, the sound of which snapped Adam back to the real world. Looking embarrassed, Adam stepped back on to the curb and the driver, after shouting a few colorful epitaths at Adam, returned to driving and fantasizing.

Only after waiting for the sign at the crosswalk, then making his way to bus stop and sitting down on the bench did he allow his mind to wander once more towards the realm of the super. Some children dreamed of being superheroes in the same afternoon as they dreamed of being baseball players, astronauts or movie stars but not Adam. Adam's devotion to and awe of superheroes never wavered.

The sun had just set and the flow of superhero traffic above had slowed to a trickle. Still Adam smiled as he imagined. Of course, he had no idea that the very sky he was staring at held the thing that would change his life forever. Of course none of that mattered now. Now Adam was allowed to be alone with his dreams.

---

Super Powered Wrestling or SPW as the T-shirts and bumper stickers read, was started in 1985 by Tyrone Powers. Powers was a gifted businessman who did what no one thought was possible; he made people care about wrestling again. After the first super powered person appeared in 1938, the world seemed to lose its patience with normal men in tights grappling with each others. The evening news began to put wrestling out of business.

It took Powers' foresight to combine wrestling with the very thing that put it out of business. He hired Terry "the Terror" McKenzie and Todd "the Fireman" Jones to fight each other and televised the whole event on Pay-Per-View. Many scoffed at his hiring of a known meglomanical supervillian like the Terror but Powers stood his ground and was rewarded. The show easily ranked as the highest rated Pay-Per-View event in history. The video went on to do monster business as well.

The show became a reoccurring event and it became a huge part of the popular culture. Kids began buying Fireman T-shirts and Terror action figures. Other supers quickly began joining the wrestling league. Soon the Blue Avenger, Corporal Punishment, the Hangman, Tokage, the Exile, Rockford, the Needle and Grandmaster J were all vying for the Golden Belt title. The Golden Belt being the title that Powers invented to mean the current ranking champion of the league or "king of the ring" as Powers calls it in interviews.

Time marched on and even more people joined the league. Eventually the Fireman was forced into retirement when he tore the cartilage in his knee and after a stroke the Terror decided to call it quits too. The two former foes came back to the SPW as announcers and color commentators. And that's how they found themselves sitting behind a desk in a giant arena beside a large roped off ring bathed in light watching two grown men pummel each other.

Of course, this being the SPW these weren't ordinary men. One of them was Static, a being whose body was comprised entirely of energy. His body undulated with what looked like blue pulsating electricity, erratic and chaotic. The other man was Major Pain, a large beefy man wearing what looked like army fatigues if the United States army decided to add showmanship and sparkle to their basic uniform. Around his waist sat the Golden Belt, it was slung low on his hips.

The Fireman eyed the two combatants. "Well, this is it. Major Pain has had a long standing rivalry with Static, ever since Static double crossed him in that cage match against Kitsune and Tsunami." Of course any SPW fan worth his or her salt remembered that match. It was part of the now legendary "Rumble in the Urban Jungle IX: Caged Rage," the same event where Hurricane was hit with a 2x4 by Speedfreak when the referee wasn't looking (although, in the ref's defense, he was looking just with Speedfreak's power it looked like a blur). That injury put Hurricane out of the game for more than a year.

"Well Todd, you know how much I hate to agree with you but you're absolutely right. There's no love lost between these two. Static even once vowed that he'd kill Pain in the ring if he ever got the chance," the Terror added.

Static shoots beams of blue energy out of his fingertips at Major Pain. The energy hit his chest, shredding his shirt. Pain regained his ground and leapt at Static, punching him in the face. "Ow, I could feel that one from here," the Fireman interjected. The sound of the blow filled the stadium and reverberated off the high ceiling.

With Static off guard by the savage attack, Major Pain punched him in the stomach. He then jumped on top of Static, pinning him to the ground. Static struggled to break free of Pain's grasp but Pain kneed him in the chest and punched him in the jaw.

The Terror looked up at the vicious abuse Major Pain was dishing out and smiled manically, "It seems that Pain might just make good on that threat towards Static."

"Indeed, no one can argue that Pain's got Static on the ropes. I don't think that Static can take much more of this abuse."

No sooner did the Fireman foresee victory than Static got his second wind. He placed his hand flat against Major Pain's chest, palm down. A huge bolt of lightening shot out of his hand and dove straight into Pain, knocking him off Static as well as several feet back. Pain landed with a thud on his backside.

"Did you see that?" shouted the Fireman.

Hurt and surprised, Pain couldn't prevent Static from rising to his feet. He was still too winded to even stand up and defend himself as Static crossed the ring slowly towards Pain. Static turned his opponent over onto his back so that he could look him in the eye, then shot him with more electrical blasts. Pain's body convulsed as all that electricity coursed through him. Suddenly, his body went limp. Static placed a foot on the badly hurt Pain and held his arms up high in triumph.

The crowd cheered wildly as the Terror tried to describe it, "I cannot believe this. That was one of the quickest and most decisive turnarounds that I've ever seen in my entire career. Simply unbelievable."

Watching the match on the television in his apartment, Adam had a very similar but slightly different take on the game. "Un-fucking-believable." Adam, who was wearing his Major Pain T-shirt ("No Pain, No Gain"), took a sip from his beer and cursed under his breath. Not only did Adam like Major Pain but he also extremely disliked Static and had ever since he betrayed Pain. To make matters worse he was going to open the store with Jerome tomorrow who simply adored Static. He'd have to endure many vivid descriptions of instant replays as well as general talk about how Static is the best super-powered wrestler in the history of the sport since the Blue Avenger.

Adam picked up the remote and flipped the channel. He stopped when he saw a baseball game on. On channel 7 his beloved Red Sox were trouncing the New York Yankees 11 to 3. While the scene brought him great delight, it was tempered by the sad truth that the only reason that the Sox were winning was because two of the Yankee players were recently discovered to have been superhumans.

During a random drug screening, Major League Baseball discovered low levels of gamma radiation. There wasn't enough for them to Hulk out perhaps but there was enough to hit fifty or sixty home runs without any difficulty. The players were currently suspended as baseball had them under investigation to see if it was an accidental dosage or if they were trying to "juice the lily" as the Adam had heard the kids call it.

He'd wondered where the phrase "juice the lily" had come from and had even spent many a slow work day trying to figure out the logic behind it (perhaps if Adam were older or more experienced with children than he'd have known it was foolish to look for logic in the thoughts and deeds of children). Finally he cracked down and asked one of the kids in his store. The kid only stared at Adam for a moment before calling him a "shrimpstalker." Unfortunately, this only gave Adam two odd phrases to ponder.

Adam heard the door unlock. He turned in time to see his girlfriend, Britney Green come in the room. She smiled when she saw Adam and he totally forgot about Major Pain and having to go in to work on his day off and deal with a smug Jerome. He was in a truly good mood for the first time all day.

"Hey baby," Britney said with a wave. She looked at the baseball game on the television and then at Adam in his Major Pain T-shirt. "Did Major Pain lose?"

Adam's good mood evaporated. "Yeah," he sighed, "he did."

Britney walked over and sat down next to him on the couch. She rested her head on his shoulder and placed her hand tenderly but absent-mindedly over his heart. "I'm sorry. I know how much you root for him." She picked her head up and looked him in the eyes. "Is there anything you want to do tonight? Something to cheer you up?"

"Nah, I'm good," Adam replied half-heartidly. He wasn't trying to be difficult although he knew that his indecision sometimes frustrated Britney.

"You sure? We could run out and catch a movie. Didn't that new Bill Lawrence film just come out? You love him." Adam just shrugged. He did love Bill Lawrence and he had been looking forward to this new movie, Emperor Norton, coming out for the past few weeks. He just wasn't in the mood. He hated it but he felt well on his way to having the type of bad mood where there wasn't anything in Heaven or Earth that was going to derail his self-pity train.

"I kind of want to take it easy. I've got to open tomorrow."

"I thought you had tomorrow off?"

"I did but they need me to cover for someone."

"Are we still having dinner with your mother tomorrow night?"

"Yeah. That's even more reason for me to stay in tonight." Adam thought about it for a moment. "Can you pick me up from work tomorrow? It'd make my life ten times more easy."

"Sure, no problem." Adam thanked her and gave her a kiss. "You know," she started with a wicked grin, "if we're going to stay in anyway..." She trailed off suggestively. She kissed his neck and stood up. She walked into the bedroom.

Adam sat on the couch dumbfounded for a moment. A pair of blue jeans flew out of the room and land on the floor. The blouse Britney was wearing floats through the air and lands next to the pants. By the time the undergarments came off Adam had forgotten there was ever a moment he felt even remotely like melancholy. Adam got up and ran to the bedroom with such verve that he almost tripped over the pile of clothes on the floor.
---

As he changed shirts in the passenger seat of Britney's 1998 Ford Taurus, he became worried. He hadn't worried all day except during a brief interlude when he was trying to figure out what the phrase "vendor pretender" meant. He'd overheard two kids calling each other names and that was the only one he didn't already know or could at least deduce through context clues. Soon, he thought, he'd have to admit he was getting older and was no longer hip.

But now that he was off of work and his mind was free to wonder about things other than when they were going to get in another copy of "Happy Scrappy Hero Pup," he began to ponder over how tonight was going to go between his mother and Britney. The two of them had met before, several times actually, so most of the awkward getting to know you stuff was already out of the way. Still, they'd only met at large gatherings so they'd never spent much intimate time together and never for more than ten minutes at a time.

He didn't know what he was even scared of per se. His mother was friendly and Britney was smarter, richer and better looking than he was. His only complaint was his mother's desire for him to get married and have a baby as well as the fact that he had kept the fact that he had moved in with Britney a secret.

"I'm looking forward to getting some quality time with your mother," Britney said as Adam slipped the new shirt over his head. He looked over at Britney and couldn't help but smile. The two of them had been dating for almost a year now and Adam still enjoyed her company. He didn't want to jinx anything but he was beginning to get more and more sure that she was the one for him.

Perhaps that was the real root of his apprehension. He had even been thinking about proposing to Britney and he didn't want either of these ladies to disapprove of the other. In fact, he hoped for nothing less than for them to hit it off smashingly.

"How far out does your mom live?" Britney asked. Adam looked out the windows as the trees went by.

"Not much further. Maybe another half hour or so."

"I never knew you grew up in the boonies," Britney chuckled.

"This isn't the boonies," Adam said defensively. Of course, Adam knew it was the boonies. In fact, he'd called his childhood home far worse things when he was growing up. But it's one thing when a person insults their own home and quite another when someone else insults it. Britney shot him an amusing glare. "Okay, it's out in the boonies," Adam finally relented. "My dad was a woodsy, outdoors type and after he died my mother couldn't afford to move any closer into town."

The two drove in silence for a moment.

"I hope your mom likes me."

Adam was caught off guard by the directness of the comment. "Of course she will." She gave him a smile that reminded him of the first day of summer. "How could she not?"
---

Both dinner and conversation were lovely. While Cindy Savage had never been a devout follower of Julia Child or Martha Stewart, she had picked up some culinary tricks over the years. As for how Cindy would think of Britney, no one need have worried. Cindy always had a youthful spirit and the decades had done nothing to dampen her vibrancy.

Adam leaned back from the table, full of food and grateful for it. Cindy was in the midst of telling an embarrassing story from Adam's childhood.

"So then he came into the room, still naked. He walks over to me and starts tugging on the hem of my dress." To underscore the humor of the situation, she mimed pulling on a giant dress. Britney shot Adam an amused look. Adam rolled his eyes in response. "So he starts begging that I help him get in the tub. So he's shouting 'Mama! Mama! Help me!' By this point, all the guests have turned to look at him. Even Mr. Jenkins," here Cindy stopped and placed a hand delicately on Adam's. "You remember Mr. Jenkins, don't you Adam? He was that nice deaf fellow your father used to work for. Well," and here she returned to talking to Britney, "Adam made such a fuss that even Mr. Jenkins turned to see what all the commotion was about."

"Mr. Jenkins did not see me naked."

"I can get out the picture if you don't believe me."

"I believe you," Adam responded, holding up a hand to stop his mother before she really got going.

It was too late. Britney's curiosity had been piqued. "I'd love to see that."

"No, you really don't."

"Hold on one second, I'll be right back." Cindy pushed off from the table and walked out of the kitchen. The two watched her leave and then Britney turned towards Adam.

"I love your mother."

"I'd love her more if she didn't show all my girlfriends my naked baby photos.

"All your girlfriends? And here I thought I was special," Britney said with a cute fake little pout.

"You are special." Adam leaned over. He hesitated for a moment before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Cindy returned holding a small photo album. She pulled a chair over next to where Britney was sitting. She placed the album down on the table and opened it. She flipped to the page with the naked baby Adam tugging on Cindy's dress. He had an adoreable but determined look on his face. "Here he is."

Britney looked at the picture closely. She smiled and then glanced over at Adam. "You look so cute." Adam covered his face in embarrassment while Cindy flipped to the next page.

"And here he is sleeping."

"Aw. If only you looked this cute when you sleep now," Britney giggled.

"You've seen him sleep?" Cindy asked with a grin, eyebrow raised.

"Which picture of me sleeping is it?" Adam asked quickly in a poor attempt to change the subject. Not pausing to see if his attempt worked or not, he leaned over and grabbed the photo album. The photo was of an eight-year old Adam in a pair of Superman footie pajamas. He was spread out on the couch, his limbs lying in all different directions. His hair mussed.

"You were such a cute boy," Cindy said with more than a small note of pride in her voice.

Adam looks up from the photo. "I'm still a cute boy," he said in an only somewhat joking defensive tone.

Adam handed the photo album back to his mother. She looked at the photo again and sighed. "Oh, I know it. It's just you looked so innocent sleeping there. You always looked so peaceful when you slept."

"He's still like that. He's such a heavy sleeper. To be honest, I don't know how he sleeps through some of the things--"

"You know," Adam interrupted, "speaking of sleeping, we've got to get going. Do you need me to help you clean up before we head out, Mom?"

"I can get it." Everyone stood up. Adam leans over and kisses Cindy on the top of her head.

"I love you, Mom. I'll give you a call soon."

Adam and Britney walk past Cindy towards the door.

"Good night. Sleep tight. Oh, and Adam?" Adam stopped and turned around to face his mother. "I do hope that you and Britney are taking precautions."

"Precautions?" Adam asked confused.

"You know. I just don't think you want to be a parent right now and--"

Adam raised a hand. "Whoa. Whoa." Cindy smiled at her son's embaressment.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. Your father and I used to--"

Again Adam protested. This time he spun around on his heel and walked out the door. He waved goodbye to his mother over his shoulder. "Bye, Mother!" He shouted. She smiled as the front door closed behind them.
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