The year is 2011. The date is the twenty second of June. The world hasn't changed much, not since the War. Or perhaps it has changed quite a bit. Either side can be argued. It could be argued that it has changed for the better. Or it has changed for the worse. It could be argued that it hasn't changed at all. That we are the same as we have always been: wretched. I wouldn't argue that . . . I wouldn't argue that one bit. We beings are wretched . . . Yes we are. We fight, we monger, we curse, we love, we lust, we hate. We hate. We destroy anything that we believe is a threat. It is the only way to survive, is it not? That, like everything else I have just told you, can be argued.
What cannot be argued is the story of a man. The story of a man who changed the world we live in. This story, the story I will tell you, is nothing but the truth. I was there to witness every second of it, with no regrets. This story is my story. This story is your story. But more importantly, this story is his story. It is the story of a man who created a world, a man who created a vision, a man who created a dream and a reality. A man who created, when his name was ironically: Derek Stroyer, or more affectionately known as D. Stroyer. A destroyer, as his abbreviated name implies. Yes, he was that, and I saw in length the capabilities of his destruction. I also witnessed the power of his heart, and the will of his to create something new, something pure.
My name, although it is of little consequence, is Hima Montgomery. Hima is Himalayan for "snow". My mother gave it to me. She and my father were madly in love. They moved, while she was pregnant with me, from Little Calcutta, India, to Seattle, Washington. It was here she received her injections. The injections into her womb that made me the way I am. The injections that gave me my uniqueness, also gave me my uniformity. You are not like me. Any of you reading this, you are probably not like me. Why? How can you not be like me? How is it possible? It is possible because the man, the man in the story that I am about to tell you, made it possible.
In the 1950's, Russia and the United States entered a bitter feud called the Cold War. In the 70's this escalated into what is now called The War, or World War III. Powerful bombs were launched, armies were deployed, and many people died. No one was left unaffected. In the end, the United States was crushed, beaten down by the Warsaw Pact, and a few defectors of NATO. Amongst the defectors were Britain, and Spain. France stayed loyal to the United States, and thus shared a similar fate. It was then that the drug, the DNA encoder named Golem, was created.
The American Government, shattered and utterly destroyed, went underground. The resistance was small at first, but it began to grow due to the stimulation of American corporations and funds. Citizens and politicians and soldiers alike, bonded together to make up the resistance, all to reclaim the pride of the United States, and to restore themselves to a place in the world that they so justly deserved. The Soviets did not occupy America. No foreign country did. It was a wasteland now. The country had been so badly beaten in The War that there was no use for it. It was neglected, as France was, and soon died out.
Then, an American company by the name of Genetech, came along. It was a relatively small company, with dedicated staff members. They mostly worked in secret, keeping their research from even the resistance. Until they created a drug known as Golem; it was said that Golem would help rocket America back into the world where it belonged. So Genetech presented the drug to the President, who was operating from a bomb shelter in Nevada. They informed the President of the effects of Golem, and he seemed pleased. No one else understood what it would do to them when the President ordered that every citizen loyal to the United States head to a checkpoint to be dosed with this new drug.
Later, everyone found out. It turns out that Golem was a DNA encoder. It attached itself to the very chromosomes of the human body. Once in, it leeched out every bit of information it could, while keeping everything intact. Soon, things started to happen to the patients. They began to grow stronger, smarter, and faster. They began to react quicker and see further. They developed, in a sense, super powers. Some cases were even more advanced. Some could manipulate gravity around their person, giving them the ability to fly. Some could control fire from their fingertips, or ice, or wind. Some could read minds, or developed telekinesis. Some could become transparent. These advanced cases soon become known as Charlie cases. Beta Cases were those that showed the usual effects, increased brain mass, increased strength and speed, etcetera. Alpha cases were the cases in which the drug was rejected in the patient. The information in the chromosomes was leeched out, but not kept intact. Although the person remained functional, they did not have any superhuman capabilities, and their body slowly started to mutate itself into something hideous and inhuman.
Every mother who was pregnant was required to get the fetus injected with Golem as well. The children developed in the womb faster, and soon they came out, functional as if they had never been treated with the drug. After three generations of injecting fetuses, it was finally adapted to the human anatomy. Golem was no longer needed. Children were born with the effects of Golem already in them, without being introduced to the drug. Genetech had succeeded in making a race of American super humans. With that sort of capability, the United States composed of citizen armies and ragtag ex-military personnel were finally ready to make their reappearance into the world. They were ready to face whatever challenges that may have been brought to their front.
America roared back up onto the global scene in 2001. The Soviets attempted to thwart them by dropping paratroopers over the country, but all military excursions were repelled by the resistance. Soon, after finally being recognized as a global power, although not a super power, the United States was left alone. They shipped over Genetech to France, so that their only true ally could grow as strong as they had. What they did not foresee was that Golem slipped out of the hands of the French, and of the Americans, and soon the world was doused in Golem. Every human on the planet had Golem in their DNA.
When I was born, I was evaluated just like all of the other children. It was during the 1 week evaluation directly out of the womb when a child was discovered to be an Alpha or a Beta case. It was quite easy to see. All they had to do was study the DNA to see if it had been rejected. If it was, the child would appear normal through its childhood. It would slowly, over time, deteriorate into an Alpha case. Until finally they were unrecognizable heaps of monstrosity in old age, that was the life of an Alpha case. Alpha cases were not disrespected or hated. They were simply pitied . . . But some were even respected as powerful figures. But not many were.
When a child turned 8 they were taken to a checkpoint to be evaluated once more. It was during this 1 week evaluation that it was discovered if a Beta case was in fact a Charlie case, or if they remained a Beta case. They waited 8 years to test again because it took quite a long time to develop their powers if they were truly Charlie cases. If they were, they were taught to use their powers, to an extent. They were given a set of laws. Never to use their powers for evil, things like that. I was one of those cases. I was there for a week at one of the checkpoints to be evaluated. I passed. I was truly a Charlie case. At first they didn't believe I was. There was nothing extraordinary about my powers. I seemed to be another Beta case, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It was then discovered, on the second to last day of my evaluation, that although I did not have any true powers, such as being able to become transparent or manipulate my personal gravity, I was able to process things much faster than anyone else.
Golem granted all of its patients increased brain mass, that was true enough, but I was different. I could process things so fast that I was equal to forty supercomputers. I could read two pages at a time; I could finish a book in five minutes and remember every word, able to recite every word back. I could solve the most advanced stages of arithmetic with my left hand, and write something equivalent to Shakespeare with my right. I was a rare case. I was considered a Charlie case by most, but by some, no one of important though it may have been, I was a Delta case. I was beyond a Charlie case because my powers, although superb and unique like those of a Charlie case, were innate and unnoticeable. It was something extraordinary.
Little did I know, there was something beyond a Charlie case, and something even beyond a Delta case. There were Echo cases. No one really knew anything about Echo cases. I was the first to discover them. When I was old enough to go to college, I did so. I received my 9th PHD by the time I was supposed to be in High School. When I was 18 I enlisted with a special group called Evaluation and Action Society, or E.A.S. It was a division that was dedicated to stationing checkpoints and evaluating newborns and 8 year olds. Well, that was part of what we did. The second part, the Action part, was more difficult. We were armed and trained, and we did what we had to do. We hunted down renegades, terrorists, and protected victims of Flesh Rage and other crimes. It is similar to a new-age police force and witness protection program.
That is how I met Mr. Derek Stroyer, or Mr. D. Stroyer, as he was known as. In the slums of Seattle there were reports of beheadings. It had traveled from Maine, down through Pennsylvania and Virginia, across Detroit and Superior. It made its way through Kansas and Oklahoma. It touched down briefly in Denver, and finally it reached Seattle. Seattle, where I was born, and where my checkpoint was stationed. I was sent to investigate a double homicide, both victims beheaded, down in the slums. Down in the Garrison Quarters, which was the worst of the worst, is where I was sent. That was where I first met the man whom the news called "The Executioner". That was where I first met Derek Stroyer. That was the day I made a decision that shaped the rest of my life and the events that were to closely follow. It was the day I assigned myself to him. It was the day I threw away my career, my life, because of the magnetism this man seemed to have.
He forever changed my life. I wish I could say the effect was mutual, but I doubt I could have done anything to change the hell he lived in. No, I did nothing to change him. I helped him, but I did not change him. He was a monster. He was a destroyer. He was a murderer. He was a mad man and a criminal. And I tried to save him.
This is my story. This is your story. But more importantly, it is his story.
Derek Stroyer's story. The Executioner's story. D. Stroyer's story.