Adrian

He had a lot of nerve, did Adrian--his mates always said so. It wasn't just one thing, like how he could take a beating from bullies and just one by one go after them later, it was how he dealt with everything in his life. Ade's mom was a little like that herself. He watched her escort his dad from the premises of her home when he failed, fouled the nest, and fucked up, and she let him know he was going to be as good as his word, so help him. 

Fucking plague years did her in, not in a "she got one of the things and died" kind of way, but in the "stupid motherfuckers protesting a hospital for some stupid reason had a car plow into them and she was one of the casualties" kind of way. 

She was a nurse--not a protester. Adrian was already 16 and knew he was smart, just not on the regular path of smart equaling going where he wanted to go. 

He was good at tinkering and coding. He did cars. He had a thing he could remote control driverless vehicles from and figured out how to temporarily change registrations and all that. He did a taxi service with his neighborhood "fleet" by knowing who was at home and not. It lasted about 19 months. 

His dad knew. He was distraught and fucked up. But he had to give his son his ups. Bert was a police-adjacent individual. He was a grasser. He risked his neck giving up people who were not his son. They didn't talk about what they mutually knew about one another. They necked ales together and ate lukewarm rissoles. They watched old movies together, and Bert introduced him to old poncey shite he used to lurve back in his day. Soul Masters, Dry Cleaning. 

Then he heard Rick Astley. That was fucking soul music, that was. He wanted to know about that deep 1990s shit. Your fucking Oasis. Radiohead. Those guys. He became a gay 1990s guy. He did his eyeliner, his little black nails. Went to old-fashioned 1990s pubs. It lapped a lot with 2000-2010 culture. Sooo much Adele. So much Adele. and Amy Winehouse. He eventually had to grow up and get a real job, though. 

It was the Manchester Clubhouse fire of 2054 when he got semi famous. That was when he was posted up with the fire brigades--and off duty just decided to freelance a rescue and carried out some important influencer girls from a clubhouse on fire. He just dipped in again and again and on camera and again, saving extremely online and very profily people. 

He later on admitted he never really felt anything but wanted to help people. He reckoned his burns were a scratch. He never felt them. He admitted it was weird, but he didn't go back to rescue. Not exactly. He took up with Amblix for a more regular schedule. Amblix people mostly picked up stiffs. They didn't need to show extreme courage. And Ade thought maybe he already showed all of that he ever wanted to.