Post by colossus on Jun 10, 2008 20:33:54 GMT -5
-The Third Coming-
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A searchlight from high overhead scans the desolate ground below in robotic, jerky motions. The sound of the hovercraft is like that of a gentle, humming engine. As it sails through the night air, the mutants beneath scatter like insects, each moving in a different direction. If they are caught, it could mean their death. But, if they escape, it could mean a new freedom for their brothers and sisters.
When the Mutant Registration Act was passed in 2009, mutants worldwide balked in response. Non-mutants tried to cure the problem medically, and when they failed they tried to eradicate the problem a bit more efficiently. Within two years, over 90% of mutants worldwide were captured and placed in Amnesty Camps. These camps, numbering at ten across the entire globe, are completely impregnable from the inside, surrounded by electric fences, and guarded by what the government called Prime Sentinels. Once captured, tagged, and placed, mutants began their new life as prisoners of the world that they’d once flourished in.
In 2012, Bolivar Trask was elected President of the United States. Within a year, he had doubled the Mutant Eradication budget and tripled the production of Sentinels. By the end of his first term, he had stomped out the mutant threat within his country completely by terminating the group’s unspoken leaders: the X-Men. The task seemed simple, almost too simple. But, without the unwavering guidance of Charles Xavier, the group faltered and gave under the blowing assault from Sentinels equipped with enough firepower to level a country within minutes. Without the most publicized vigilantes fighting for mutant freedom, the rest of the world seemed to falter. July 7, 2015 became known as The Second Coming, the day when non-mutants once again claimed the throne of superiority.
By 2020, only small groups of vigilante mutants and mutant rights supporters remained at large. It seemed that no matter what the government did, they always managed to escape capture. Little by little, the world began to creep forward, never once thinking that mutants could pose a further threat. After all, by that time over 98% of mutants worldwide were imprisoned in their new home, high-tech camps that ranged from 300,000 sq. feet to twenty city blocks. But, it seemed that while the rest of the world lapsed, vigilantes were gathering their sources.
July 19, 2030 brought what could only be referred to as World War III. While the X-Men had been defeated 15 years previous, it seemed that a few of its members survived. Katherine Pryde, code named Shadowcat, led a group of five hundred armed mutants and humans against Washington D.C. The results, as one could imagine, were disastrous. Despite all odds, the mutant group, promptly named X-Brigade, managed to take the White House. Madam President Nicole Richards was forced to release every mutant in the United States. By that time, the numbers in the Amnesty Camps had dwindled to a mere 20% of their original numbers due to the lack of acceptable medical facilities, but the swarming force of angry mutants was led by three remaining X-Men. Shadowcat, Colossus, and the infamous Wolverine, along with their fellow mutants, managed to destroy every single Camp in the world, freeing hundreds of thousands of mutants.
The war has raged on now for over 20 years, 20 long and tedious years. The world is a now wasteland, its cities either destroyed or left in ruins. Due to the onslaught of war across the globe, the world as we once knew it is no longer. Entire countries lay destroyed, virtually forgotten. Other countries were unfortunate enough to been swallowed in the wake of the worst war to rattle the earth. Very few countries managed to escape the wrath of the rest of the world and remain a sovereign nation. International borders were redrawn and expanded in a number of instances, while some countries were literally wiped off of the globe.
The non-mutant population, once clocked at nearly 9 billion, has dwindled to less than 2 billion. Mutants, numbering at less than five thousand, have very little hope of seeing an end to the war that they brought upon themselves by being born differently. Their fearless leaders, the remaining members of the X-Men, have only one ace up their sleeve: former S.H.I.E.L.D director, Colonel Nick Fury. While the organization is no longer under his command, his resources are seemingly endless. Shadowcat and Colossus, along with other select members, are annually supplied with a version of the Super Soldier Serum, which retards their aging process and strengthens their body.
S.H.I.E.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division) for years, stood as the one link between the entire world after The Second Coming. That is, of course, until Nick Fury was forced to watch his closest agents fight against Sentinels that eventually carted them away to the Amnesty Camps. Never one to directly disobey an order, Fury subtly lent his help to the remaining X-Men and any superhuman heroes that sought his help. With the assistance of the Black Widow, the two played silent partners to the X-Brigade’s growing forces for years. That is, until Tony Stark caught wind of the charade and took over as Directo, leaving Fury, Natasha, and their followers to join up with the X-Brigade in a more public fashion. Stark, enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum, is the silent commander of the world’s greatest hope against the X-Brigade; the Enforcers.
The Enforcers is a group of mutants and non-mutants retained by the American government when the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. These men and women are the greatest weapon against vigilante mutants and members of the X-Brigade. The members of this force are handsomely paid for their service, and hail from across the globe. Enforcers are specially trained in very strict military settings in a mix of world military styles. Many believe that mutants should submit to government control, if only to keep the peace. However, some seem to be merely biding their time. While Tony Stark is their commander, they are led by a man by the name of Lucas Bishop.
But the ageless bodies of the leaders of the X-Brigade aren’t enough to win this war that continues to drag on despite the lack of actual direction in the non-mutant world. Scuffles between the group and the Enforcers grow more and more violent. As the American government recuperates, many fear that it is only a matter of time before they gather their sources and cross the mountains that divide them. The summer of 2056 has just begun, and the vigilante force known as X-Brigade is mutant kind’s last hope for survival.
Where will you be when the titans clash against the man-made machines and even their mutant foes that threaten to end their very existence? It is your choice: fight for the vigilantes or slaughter your own kind for cold hard cash. Will you fight for your freedoms, your rights as a citizen that were revoked the moment that you were deemed different? Or will you surrender to the bloodthirsty world leaders that would sooner have your head on a silver platter?
When The Third Coming approaches, where will you be? Join us now. [/center]