Justice... freedom... security. These were the things the United States of America prided its foundation on. Free will, the ability to do anything and everything, not restricted by authoritative intervention; their lives were their own to control. This very idea, the idea of free will, was what caused the flock of immigrants, from a plethora of different countries and continents, to flee to America after the oppression of their own home. The US was a place of dreams, one where many praised it as being the greatest country in the world, right?
However, being an immigrant in this country was never the easiest thing in the world. People tried their hardest to fit into the alien culture of a new world, for their homes were lost, they had nowhere else to go. In turn, the truth was: none of them knew the truth of how they got here. The truth begins now.
In 1991, following the events of the Cold War, the powers of the world held nuclear weapons at their disposal, their devastating power unrivaled by anything else in the world. During this time, the US and Russia's citizens were in constant fear of being bombed by the other, thus risking nuclear war, triggering a chain of events that would likely lead to extinction. Fortunately, that possibility was cut to pieces at the end of the beginning of the 1990s. However, to 'the nation', to ensure that they won't ever have to be afraid again, the American government employed German scientists leftover from World War II to create yet another monster of human experimentation. The construction of this weapon lasted until early 2005, and what came out was the byproduct of an advanced mind and corrupt funding.
Riots littered the streets of Texas, newspaper read of a new tragedy, nothing uncommon of the chaotic country, bricks flying through windows, cops challenged as civilians willingly charged against their shields. Things were never out of the ordinary, this was usual for such a nation, one where you have to pay to survive, living to work, and working to live, it was a vicious cycle. Wake up, go to work/school, head home, go to sleep, rinse, repeat. This was the way things were; sometimes those oppressed would uselessly rebel against their superiors and they'd be ignored, but... it grew to such a point that it became too much to ignore.
The Mayor of Texas at the time was found assassinated in his home, the same with his wife, children, and the family dog. Later that month, a funeral service was held there, but those attending were burnt to death from a driveby cocktail lighting them ablaze. A mass mob broke into a police station gathering arms. Needless to say, all of this held the obvious seeds of disaster planted throughout the nation spelling out a future coup at the hands of the very people they intended to keep secure. And so, Congress came up with a plan... on June 8th, 2005, Texas was wiped off the map by an unknown bomber that'd snuck through America's borders.
As a result of an outsourcing nuclear attack, twenty-two million people were violently killed by their Government, Texas was registered Ground Zero and off-limits by any means. And those who were gone at the time but had a residence in Texas were forced to find new homes in new states they were completely unfamiliar with. It seemed the Government hadn't anticipated this part, but those states surrounding Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, were affected as a result. In the end, the outskirts of those following states suffered massive poisonous fallout and infected the lungs and organs of survivors. Over time, as years went by, the radiation in the air went away and those infected were effectively killed off, as expected. Though that would take years or decades for the former, there remained those - who managed to survive such a tragedy.
Weighed below a destroyed rooftop, a young boy with oddly white hair was trapped, resigned to an eventual fate of death; burns spread throughout the entire right side of his body. The poison flowing through his veins on a molecular level, he could feel what was left of his soul being chipped away moment by moment, vision hazy with only one eye, he stared up to the black sky. Droplets of ash tapping against his face, the world cold and numb, he wished for Death, the only salvation in a hopeless situation of despair. Unfortunately for him, God thought he ought to taste more of this Hell, and somehow, someway, during a rescue operation to find survivors in the rubble of Ground Zero; he was found and brought into the chopper.
As the helicopter rapidly spun the rotors embedded into the vehicle's roof, the boy was brought to the sky, locked onto a gurney. The first memory of his consciousness returning to his being was the horrific sight out the window... there it was. The seeds of despair's aftermath after being planted by those who swore they'd secure peace and free will, twenty million civilians who'd lost their lives in just Texas. Those included his mother, father, sister, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle. In other words, on this day in 2005, a boy had lost everything of value, but... those responsible carried on without a care for those they'd annihilated as if it never even mattered to them in the first place. Their first mistake was believing the seeds of their down bringing to be irrelevant, but someone with nothing to lose had everything to sacrifice when it came to this. Uprising from nothing, tearing through the ranks of the grades: there was but one boy, one who had the hate in his heart contained to such a degree that even the leaks that poured out every once in a while were dangerous to those nearby him.
Tap!
Her finger went as it smacked his shoulder gently, withdrawing it further swiftly, as he turned his head to show his scarred face on contrast to his burnt skin on the left, he snarled at her with a menacing grimace painted over his red eye,
"Come on, Cal! We're gonna be late for the panel!" Cried the young woman to her partner, yanking at his left arm, he weakly chuckled at the pull,
"Right, right, go on without me, I'll be right behind you. Have to put these books away," As she ran out after his reassuring words, she skipped right out, sending a wave to partner as she fled the premises.
The book slid right into the shelf in the library, the sunlight shining through the windows at the top of the walls, his scarred-burnt face illuminated by those yellow rays. Callum Rivers. A resident college student in California at USC thus began a retelling of a story in the past, one with justice at the forefront and revenge in the heart, this is a story of righteousness and justice.
Justice For All Arc - Start!
To Be Continued.