Brian Kinney was an ad executive; sex on feet. He had a single-minded, charismatic and entirely ruthless approach to his job. There wasn't anything Brian Kinney couldn't sell. He was quite simply put, the best in the business. Brian was the best at a lot of things. Not only was he a valuable commodity at work, he was also considered a valuable commodity at play. 'Play' consisted of fucking and sucking on Liberty Avenue. The queers of Liberty had unofficially crowned him the king of their fair portion of town, their Stud with a capital 'S'. Everyone either wanted to fuck Brian Kinney, or had been fucked by Brian Kinney and was desperate for another go. Outside of work and play, there was another side to Brian that only one other person knew of; the side that he revealed at night, or times of crisis. This was the side that baffled news reporters and indebted fans had dubbed 'Rage'. Brian Kinney was a superhero, and his best friend, Michael Charles Novotny, was his sidekick. Brian had been a superhero since he was fourteen and had discovered his gift. Perhaps it was more true to say that Brian had discovered his gift at fourteen and after using it for self-gratification (he'd manipulated his coach into sleeping with him) and for fun (he'd screwed around with the heads of a few of his school's homophobic teachers), he had shared his secret with his friend. Michael, being the levelheaded and self-sacrificing sort, had guilted and scolded Brian until he'd promised to use his power of mind control for the good of all. It had started small. At fourteen, Brian wasn't prepared to make a job of it, but he'd honored his promise. He'd kept his school running smoothly without drawing any attention to himself. No one questioned why bullies only brawled with each other; why Mr. Porter the school's math teacher who was rumored to be molesting students had a breakdown and was forced to leave; they accepted it, and overlooked it. Brian learned that, given a choice, people would rather believe in a black-and-white world, in karma, in justice, he knew people didn't often need an explanation, so long as they had a flicker of hope to cling to. After high school, Brian had continued his quiet protection of the trod-upon. He couldn't exactly pin-point when he begun to expand his focus from his own environment, like his high school, or his university, to include Liberty Avenue, and all of Pittsburgh. Thinking on it now, it seemed like a subtle transition. Maybe when he was at Babylon he'd seen some homophobic pricks picking on some fag or something similar, and from there, once he was working at Ryder's advertising firm where there really wasn't much of anything happening outside of work, it seemed only natural to expand his focus. Michael was Rage's sidekick from the beginning. At first it had been a bit like Holmes and Watson: Brian would give his friend things to keep him occupied while Brian went ahead and dealt with the issue. Later, Michael would function as the distraction when the situation called for it. Eventually, Brian began to trust Michael when it came to handling trouble, and from then on it was Rage and Zephyr all the way. Though Michael didn't have a superpower, he made up for it with his determination and sheer stubbornness. It didn't hurt that Brian had taught him to kick-ass and that Michael (with the help of Brian) had created his own little gadgets. They were a team; and as a team, they functioned perfectly. Lately, though, things had been different for Brian Kinney. Michael had, up to that point, been a constant in Brian's life, both as Michael and as Zephyr. Now, more often than not, Michael was out with his David Cameron, his chiropractor boyfriend, with whom Brian did not get along. Mostly Brian resented Michael's attention being diverted; more and more, Rage was protecting Liberty Avenue on his own while Zephyr stayed at home, happily fluffing and folding with his hubby. Brian adjusted to the change. He wasn't happy about it, but he understood it and couldn't begrudge his friend anything, especially happiness. It didn't mean that Brian had to make nice with Dr. Dave, but he managed to tone down his hostility. He fell into a routine: times when he and Michael would spend time together, and times when Brian hung-out at his usual haunts by himself; nights when Rage and Zephyr would protect the streets of Pittsburgh, and nights when Rage would prowl alone. It was a routine that Brian adjusted to, but if there was one thing he should have known, it was that whenever things became stable and predictable, something always happened to fuck it all up. ---------------------- End Prologue: ----------------------