"I know many of you are wondering what I am doing here. Why I felt the need to come to the funeral of the villain that ha been plagueing our streets for nearly a year," Buzz saw was as broad and strong as ever in his charcoal grey suite and pristine white tie. But his face so often smiling and laughing, so often smug and condescending was lined with grief and regret, eyes sparkling with un-shed tears as he looked out at the assembled reporters and colleagues of the man now lying strangely quiescent in his soft blanket of silk and bed of oak. The cover closed on him to keep the public from viewing what was not their right to see. "The man who called himself The Equalizer, was born Lysander C. Hillard." There were gasps from the crowd who knew what that name meant while the others looked on bewildered. "And he was my brother."

When Lysander was twelve his brother came into his Lyte powers. Benjamin L. Hillard was fifteen a jock, popular and conventionally hansom, and everything Lysander was not. Still is now, still the apple of their mothers eye, despite the fact she hasn't so much as gotten a phone call from him in six months. He left the family to become a Hero. Well at first to go to The Academy for the Development of Lytricite Abilities (ADOLA) But soon enough he would go off to join The Agency for Lytricite Development in order to become a Hero Agent. Hero Agents were paid very well by the government to protect the city from crime but Lysander seemed to be the only one who knew the truth about what they were really doing. Hero Agents were all just brainwashed simpletons doing the governments dirty work. Crime wasn't solved by putting people in prison. It was far more complicated than that. It involved poverty and bigotry and things people were too blind to see. Who could blame a homeless man for stealing a few snacks from a convenience store when he was hungry?

No one listened to Lysander though, why would they? He was what people now called a Norm. He didn't have any powers no telekinesis nor far-sight nor sup-ed up empathy like his lithe frame and mental acuteness would have you think he would. He couldn't transform his body into an animal or control any of the elements, no matter how hard he tried. He didn't have any of that so he was stuck at home in a second rate school that didn't know what to do with someone with an intelligence so great he out smarted the teachers on a daily basis. Because mom wanted to give her Suped-up son the best of the best. She believed Lysander could muddle through since he was so smart but Ben needed more help to go farther in life. It wasn't a unique situation, parents were always encouraged or threatened of the consequences if Lyte children weren't educated properly. The Norm children were always a secondary concern.

Lysander hated it.

The youngest son longed to prove to the world what Normal people were capable of. That the world didn't need Hero's to fight their battles for them. The world had done fine before them and the world would be just fine without them.

So he was biding his time and studying harder than even he thought he could and took on more extra curricular activities than any average student would have the time for so that he could get scholarships and donations for his next steps to owning the whole of the world.

After years of preparing and working and slaving at jobs and volunteering Lysander finally had enough financial help and money to at least make it through one year of college and with his intelect he felt confident he could convince them to help him more with his schooling, not to mention he had several prototypes in mind for his plans. He'd decided on Engineering as his focus because he could learn all about Lytricite and it's effects on his own since most of the information was released to the public let alone students and Engineering would allow him acess to most of the materials necessary to build his inventions.

Engineering itself was easy but more than fascinating enough to keep Lysanders interest. and with the discovery of Lyricite there were a host of other similar elements that scientists were testing and producing with hundreds of thousands of uses in the field of Engineering let alone the applications to pharmaceuticals and chemistry. Finding more and creative ways of using the strange element was more of a challenge than anything had ever been in Lysander's life thus far. It was his passion and the means through which he could change the world.

What was disappointing about college life, especially since he had to live in the dorms since the school was paying for room and board, was whomever would be Lysander's roommate. There was a chance to switch but not often and they would both have to agree and there would have to be an opening up somewhere else or as was the case most of the time, someone else would want to switch.

Lysander wasn't the most social of people, in fact small talk and conversation in general were mind numbingly dull and he wasn't very good at keeping his disdain for Lyte users under wraps, which made him a target of bullying and general dislike among his peers. So when he'd learned that his assigned roommate was one, he'd noticed the eyes right away there was little a user could do to hide it, not that they generally wanted too unless they were undercover somewhere, being one usually made people like you more anyway.

“You don't have to worry about me I will do my best to keep to myself. I'm a very low level empath anyway.”

Then he'd learned the other man was an empath and he thoroughly lost his temper screaming at the Dorm president to get him a new room mate immediately.

“I will not have my privacy breached by living with an empath!”

“Mr. Hillard you know the rules in order for you to transfer to another room there need to be someone else willing to switch as well,”

“There should be disclosure forms filled out for situations like this not everyone is willing to live with Lyte users and if you mention my Norm status on my forms then they should as well no matter how low level they are and we as students should have the right to refuse placements like this upon entrance.”

“That would be discrimination Mr. Hillard.”

“And you think that they didn't discriminate against me when I tried to get scholarships? You don't think that every time I clicked to box stating norm that I was looked over in favor of one of them!”

Before the Dorm president could utter another word a voice spoke up. “I'll switch.”

Lysander looks over stunned at the volunteer and immediately cataloged his eyes as a natural shade of light brown without any contacts, his almost matching light brown hair gelled and styled meticulously his clothing was neat and unwrinkled his clothing strange but oddly fitting as he smiled at Lysander. The blazer and trousers he wore were light gray which was the most subdued thing about the outfit given the t-shirt underneath was neon blue and his shoes though obviously designer were bright yellow. At the top and laces. Everything about the outfit screamed 'look at me'. Though his new roommate was drawing the eye of more than one person there he wasn't paying them much mind, He didn't seem to thrive under the attention like most Lyte hero's did.

Perhaps this man would be tolerable enough to live with for at least the coming year.

The first time Andrew had seen Lysander was on the first day of the semester, they were all in the dorm waiting to get their assigned rooms sorted and Lysander was the only one kicking up a fuss about his roommate, he apparently had a problem with him being a Lyte user. Apparently he was prejudice against the whole of them, which was weird because it was usually the other way around, and didn't want anything to do with the man he'd have been sharing a room with. Garrison's empathy, though totally under the other man's control was, according to Lysander a breech in privacy and he requested a new roommate immediately. The Dorm President, a tall mousy woman with rectangular glasses glares at him a moment but doesn't comment on his obvious hatred for all things Lyte related and asked the group if anyone were willing to swap their assigned room. No one volunteers right away, it's a known fact that it was highly unlikely for anyone not to at least be friends with someone with Lyte powers if not related to someone so living with someone like Lysander would be a trial and now everyone was judging the thin scowling young man on this rather unfortunate first impression. Andrew, who had been paired with someone that he knew from his home town and knew would be a pain to deal with when he inevitably started bringing around male lovers, raised his hand. Lysander was cute enough and though he might not like Lyte users he may not have the same problem with someone who was gay so he took the chance on the unknown and hoping to get lucky. Perhaps in more ways than one with how those jeans clung to Lysander's butt.

“I'll switch,” Andrew says aloud and Lysander turns abruptly and Andrew is struck by how absolutely gorgeous his eyes are ringed in those dark blond lashes. The kind of color you only see in the sky when there is a storm brewing dark and gray and ominous.

Lysander doesn't say a thing as Andrew sidles up next to him and they are each given their keys and pamphlets dictating the basic rules of the building and the numbers to call for maintenance and the like.

Their two bedroom apartment is a decent size, kitchen just off the hallway, only a wall separating it from the living room it's narrow and open but it has a refrigerator, sink, stove and built in microwave so it's more than functional for two college students. There is a small space extended from the kitchen by the laminate on the floor, a dinning area with a table and chairs already in place. Only three steps from the door is the living room, the foyer is only about ten feet long and has only a small bench and coat rack on the wall. The living room has three doors, two for the bedrooms and another for the shared bathroom. It's neat and minimalist with it's one dark sofa and two armchairs surrounding an entertainment center with multiple shelves but no electronics, the students provide those themselves. The two doors on either side of the entertainment center are obviously the bedrooms and the door on the far wall next to the couch the bathroom which buts up against the hallway wall.

“Not a bad space,” Andrew says as he sets his duffle bag down next to the couch. He has more stuff in his van and is thinking of people he can ask for help, of course he'll help them in return too to get everyone in the dorm moved in properly, that's just the kind of guy he is. He'll most likely be asking the scrawnier guys and most of the girls if they need help carrying anything in. Speaking of that. “Which room do you want? I don't really care which I get.”

“I will take the room on the eastern side. I don't like the sun in my eyes when I wake up.”

“Yeah okay. You have a TV or anything. Doesn't make much sense to bring up both.”

“I have books. I also have a laptop and I will be using the dinning area to set up a workstation for my engineering projects.”

Okay, a little bossy. “We can eat in the living room.”

Lysander breezed past him and set his large suitcase on the bed and began unpacking. Shoving random clothes into the dresser without any sense of organization whatsoever. “Okaaay. So much for being friendly,” Andrew pulled his bag into his own room and started putting his clothes away right away. He would do this one thing at a time so he could figure out what consisted of Lysanders 'Workstation'. Once his bag was unpacked, laptop plugged into the wall and sitting on the nightstand phone plugged into the same jack bag put away in the closet he went to ask Lysander if he needed help carrying anything up. He found the guy asleep in his room abg empty and laying on the floor. Not able to really help himself Andrew took the suitcase to the closet and placed it on the shelf at the top of the closet, barely able to reach it but just managed. Sometimes he really hated being only 5'3”.

Turning back around he found Lysander staring at him.

“Sorry, got a bit of OCD,” Andrew explained himself.

“Don't go through my dress ever and you can do what you want.”

“Yeah sure, private stuff in the dresser got it. But I won't come in here much if I can help myself. Got anything you need help moving in? I've got a TV and a few game stations and some more random bags but nothing else besides that. I can help you while I bring my own stuff up.”

“I only boxes with my equipment. I left most of my books at home. I've memorized them already.”

Andrew blinked at the statement but maybe the guy only had a few books he loved and read repeatedly. Though somehow that wasn't exactly the impression he was getting. Andrew himself had grown up only a few towns away and knew the area quite well so he said. “Yeah okay, If you like reading you can get plenty of books from the used bookstore down the road. Lots of college students go there to sell old textbooks and the like but there are quite a few novels as well. It's more like a library really since you can exchange books for a decent price too if you want.”

Lysander looked him over, it made Andrew feel exposed and not in that way he did when guys or the occasional girl were checking him out either. “Do Lyte users use this bookstore as well?”

“Well, yeah I guess, there are some low levels here so I wouldn't see why not and a few from the academy might go down there too, it's pretty popular.

“Show me,”

“What now? Shouldn't we move our stuff in?”

“Do you have perishables?

“Well no, but.”

“Then it does not have to be done now you can show me there and you can help me bring back my selections. That side of the entertainment center will be for my books the other half is your to do with what you will. I will also need to look into buying another bookshelf for my room and possibly store some of them in other places throughout the apartment once I acquire more.”

“More than two bookshelves full?”

“Much more, I had seven floor to ceiling ones in my room alone at home. Don't tell me you don't read and I will be stuck with an imbecile for the foreseeable future.”

“Of course I read I'm in college aren't I?” Andrew asked slightly offended that whatever first impression he made on Lysander had been one of a complete idiot. “I just don't read a library at a time.”

Lysander blinked once and then shrugged. “I have been told I read rather fast and my mind does not work on a level far higher than my supposed peers I apologize if I have offended you. Now can we go to the bookstore?”

The apology sounded rehearsed, as if he'd been made to say it a lot as a child and now couldn't help but say it whenever the particular situation came up, which must have been often if he had not been able to keep the habit under wraps once he'd entered college.

Andrew sighed but smiled good naturally. “Alright it's not that far anyway and we can haul up stuff when we get back.”

They spent a good two hours at the bookstore, which was only odd after the first hour since Andrew himself got a bit lost in the fantasy section looking at some titles he hadn't come across before. He had chosen two for himself and went to find Lysander who had already picked out three non-fiction books and was scouring the yet to be organized section of the store for hidden treasures.