Well, now lets take this oppertunity to look into the mind and past of one of our carachters.
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own anything other than carachters I created and the plot.
00000
You all know me by now, its me Jess, or as my enemies call me, Ruin.
I was born into a christian family, hardly a breeding ground for Socialist Revolutionaries like myself, but for most of my life, I have made it a point to become the enemy of the opressors, and a friend to the opressed.
I made an enemy out of democracy even before I was a mutant, my family bought into the anti-mutant propaganda, while I chose to fight for the mutants.
I remember when I was only 12 years old, mutants where the newest thing, just discovered, I took it upon myself to counter the hatred. Mutants existed even in my school, and I was given the oppertunity to speak at a meeting on how to deal with mutants. That was all just after the Apockalypse incident, just a year before the war.
Maybe it was inevitable that when I was 14 years old, the war came to a close with the victory of the mutants. Magneto did his experiments on humans, much like Hitler did on Jews and others, the humans that couldn't be made mutants, like my family, where all killed.
I still remember the look in my mother's eyes while she was being dragged off...
Now things aren't getting better for me, as a mutant, I have to fight my own kind in a world that seems like its something out of a book by George Orwell.
I still wonder, am I more like Goldstein or Big Brother?
00000
0000000000
CHAPTER 3:
RUIN, LIFE OF A REBEL
0000000000
00000
Jessica Roland, more commonly known to the public as Ruin, was torn.
Just an hour ago, Rogue had given her daughter to Scott and Jean to care for. She realized that she had two choices, she could respect Rogue's decision, which might be the better choice, and allow Katelyn to grow up as a member of the resistance, or she could hold the child for randsom.
She remembered that Katelyn had a twin brother still, Caleb would become a threat in the future, that's what she had been told, and she didn't want to see that come to pass.
That's when she remembered something she had read once, in a book by a spy for the Soviet Union during the Cold War who commented on the presence of the Revolution.
"The Paradox of the Revolution is that there is two sides of the same coin. On one side, you have a utopia promoted by unity and peace, on the other side is Totalitarianism. The paradox is that no matter what, the two shall always circle back on each other. A utopia cannot be formed without totalitarianism, as is expressed in 1984 and Brave New World. The only way to reach a Socialist Utopia through revolution is not to eliminate joy and peace, but to provide the people with joy and peace, and eliminate the negative. More must be done still, there must be an elimination of Capitalism and Fascism, for they are one and the same. And above all, the truth must be revealed for the greater good."
Jess thinks back a few years ago, to when it all began for her.
00000
Flashback...
"I would like to give this oppertunity to give the floor to one of the students at Gentry Middle School, Miss. Jessica Roland, who will be speaking about the issue of mutants and safety," a portly man in a suit says from a podium, and steps down as a younger version of Jess walks onto the stage. She has a few freckles on her face, and her hair is a dark brown, and she's a little shorter (she was always tall for her age), but its basicaly her.
"Thank you sir," Jess says, and stands at the podium, clearing her throat. "I'm going to say right now that I'm not a mutant, but I have decided to represent them, not because I was forced to, but because I chose to. I have studied the history of this world on more than one occasion, and as far as I can tell, there is no mutant problem. The problem is racism, it has existed since the start of the world, and if we don't stop it, it will destroy us all!"
People in the crowd starts to exchange glances.
"During the thirties and forties, Adolf Hitler and his Nazis killed millions of jews, we always say never again, but that is an empty promise as long as we continue to act like this towards our fellow human beings. Mutants have no control over how they where born, none of us do, but if this is how the human race is going to act towards mutants, I would rather be one of them. Tell me, how would you feel if someone suddenly started persecuting humans? You wouldn't like that, would you? We are all human beings on this planet, and I will fight racism to the ends of the earth if necessary to make sure that we learn from the mistakes of the past, and make sure that we don't repeat them!" Jess continues, some people start clapping. "America, no, the world, must remember that we have a moral obligation to fight racism no matter what shape or form it comes in. What if it wasn't someone in some far away town? What if it was your friend? What if it was your father, your mother, your brother? What if it was you that was the one being persecuted? What if you where dragged out on the streets with no warning, not even knowing where your about to be taken or what is going to happen to you? If this extreme racism continues on, that's what will happen to mutants, and maybe even humans will have to experience this extreme racism some day. Do you want to watch as your family is dragged off to concentration camps, and you'll never see them again? This is what has happened in the past, and what will happen soon if we're not careful. And furthermore..."
"Are they really going to let this girl continue to speak?" A voice echoes in her head.
Jess pauses, she couldn't have just heard that. What was that? She thinks, and her eyes dart around the room, noticing a teacher sitting in the front row, she shrugs it off, and starts to continue again.
"The United States of America has an obligation to uphold the rights of its citizens. In the past, the government has protected the rights of ethnic groups and religions, why should mutants be any different? Just because a group of people are born so they have powers, they are still human beings!" Jess continues, unhindered, though she hears voices in her head, voices that shouldn't be there, a clasmate, a teacher, the principal, a member of the school board, even her mother. "I would like to conclude by thanking all of you for this oppertunity to speak, and to say that if we eliminate the rights of mutants, we are eliminating our own rights in the long run."
She moves away to the podium, to the applause of the crowd. As she steps off stage, she glances at a man in the back clothed in a fedora and trench coat, he moves away as she looks at him, and she shrugs it off.
It wouldn't be until two years later that she found out that Magneto had been observing her.
00000
A year later, she was at home, the same home that in the future would house the headquarters for her revolution. She was on the computer writing, when a sudden pop-up appears. She normaly didn't pay any attention to this sort of thing, and was going to close it, when she saw what it read, and then all hell was going to break loose...
"MUTANT WAR BEGINS! ACOLYTES ATTEMPT ASSASINATION ON PRESIDENT!"
That was the headline of a news article that would be broadcasted to every computer on the planet. When she clicks on the link, she read.
"Earlier today, the mutant terrorist organization known as the Brotherhood of Acolytes under orders from the mysterious mutant Magneto, stormed the White House grounds. They where stopped in the oval office by a combined effort of the Secret Service and local police, and while a number of them escaped, we have confirmed reports that the United States, and a number of other countries have banded together in a united effort to eliminate the now dubbed 'Mutant Menace' once and for all. Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children, where the X-Men are situated, was unable to be reached for comment."
Jess closes out of the pop-up, and leans back in her chair rubbing her head. No, I tried to do something, but now its too late, I have to get out of here, she thinks to herself, and sits down at her computer, and begins to write.
End Flashback...
00000
Jess remembered that speech, it was later revealed that she had some minor telepathic abilities that would appear in times that she was under great stress.
Jess reached up to her shelf, and reaches past other books like 1984 or Jurassic Park, and picks up a book, the book itself is called, Parallels of Revolution, it was a book she herself had written, and was required reading for anyone who joined the revolution.
She began to read her own work, remembering the words that had started this movement...
THE PARADOXIAL REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
In the 20th century, there was a number of revolutions, both violent and non-violent, that can be accredited to the state of mind that the world is currently in. Revolution is not perfect, nothing is, the true Revolutionary Paradox is the comparison between Utopianism and Totalitarianism, and the question is whether or not one can truly exist without the other.
In 1917, Vladimir Illyich Lennin founded what is now known as the Soviet Union. The Communist Society was originaly meant to stand for equality, but even Lennin knew what would happen if Stalin took power in Russia. The problem with Communism doesn't lie in its beliefs, but in the fact that it can only end in Totalitarianism. To succeed in forming a Neo Socialist Utopian State, we must eliminate the need for a strong central government, and in the end, we shall live in a true peace.
Other occurences appeared in the rise of Nazism in Germany, as well as Fascism in Italy and Spain. We cannot trust a violent revolution to create a utopian society, the only result of violence is more violence.
Maybe the answer to solving the Revolutionary Paradox is through non-violence, and acts of war will only occur when necessary. But then again, how can we be sure?
The current state of the world is more dangerous than anything in history, we cannot simply write it off as being temporary, to achieve victory over the Mutant Nation, we must counter violence with non-violence, their war with our peace, and above all, our truth over their lies...
Jess closes the book, and leans back to think some more. This all leads back to Rogue, she realized. Rogue is the center of the Paradox, she is deffinately utopian in thinking, but she is forced to be totalitarian. Maybe if she was like I remember from when we first met...
She didn't like telling anyone, but she did have a history with Rogue, they where once friends...
Keyword there, once, they had known each other in school in Meridian Mississippi, before Jess had moved to Missouri, she could still remember what happened when she saw Rogue again after they where abandoned.
It still haunts her to this day.
00000
Flashback...
Jess, now 14 years old is wearing a straightjacket as she is carried through a hallway by two Acolyte guards. As she struggles against her bonds, she is forced into a lab room.
"Dr. Laurel, we have another one for you to deal with," the first Acolyte says.
Dr. Lucinda Laurel, a former genetecist for the government, had been outed during the war when her mutant abilities emerged. She now worked for Magneto willingly, and was notorious for her mistreatment of humans.
"Subject is Citizen Number 333-666-216, Roland, Jessica, no known offenses against the Mutant Nation other than simply, being a human being," Dr. Laurel says, speaking into a tape recorder as the acolytes shackle Jess to the table. "Patient seems to show extreme psychosis towards being treated."
Dr. Laurel moves her hand above Jess's body. "Subject deffinately has a dormant X-Gene, the only question is whether or not she will survive the procedure that will allow her to become one of us," Dr. Laurel says, and reaches into a drawer, and removes a sterile syringe, removing the top, she draws her own blood with it.
And that's when Jess remembered the doctor's mutant abilities, her blood could trigger X-Genes that where still dormant. Jess tries to struggle against her bonds, but Dr. Laurel motions for the two Acolytes to move in and hold her down, and begins to inject her in the arm.
Jess would've screamed if she wasn't gagged at the moment. As she struggles against her bonds, the lights in the room begin to flicker on and off as her body is exposed to the blood of the doctor. She felt as if her entire body was on fire, and her eyes seemed to roll to the back of her head, was this normal? There was nothing that could release the pain she was feeling at that moment, suddenly the lights from the celing explode as all the light gets sucked into her body, then the darkness, leaving a grey area surrounding the room. Her bonds break, and she removes the gag from her mouth, and turns to her captors, her eyes now pools of pure obsidian black.
"You fools, do you realize what you've unleashed? Now it is time for you to die!" She screams, and the glass of the observation room shatters as dark beams of energy shoots out of her body, wrapping themselves around the 3 other mutants, and seeping into their skin, there was no escaping it, and the three died in a matter of seconds. Oh no, what have I done? Such power, coursing through me, yes, I can see my destiny now. My destiny is to oppose the Mutant Nation, and to do so, I shall become an engima, as a man I can be destroyed, but as a symbol, I am untouchable, she thinks, remembering back to the movie Batman Begins, now she was ready to fight for what she believed in, what everyone should believe in. I am, Ruin, the Lady of Chaos!
She manipulates the darkness of the room again, but this time it forms over her clothing, creating a long trench coat which she still wears to this day, while the light changes her hair color to a pure white.
She walks out of the room, and starts down the hall just as more Acolytes are rushing into it. She rounds a corner, and runs straight into Rogue.
"Rogue? I can't believe its you, I haven't seen you in years!" Jess says.
"Jess, you have to get out of here, my father will figure out that you caused this incident sooner or later, and as a friend, I am advising you to get as far away from this camp as possible," Rogue says, and takes something out of her pocket, and hands it to Jess. "This is an official ID for a worker of the Mutant Nation, just sign your code name there, and you can escape!"
"No Rogue, not without you, we're on the same page now, you and I, I could only speak for mutant rights before, it didn't help that I was human, now I can try and do some good, please Rogue, come with me and we can leave this place behind!" Jess says, trying to convince Rogue to come a long with her.
"I'm sorry, Jess, but its too late for me, you are the only hope that the world has left, don't abuse that position," Rogue says, and continues walking.
Jess shrugs, and signs her new codename, "Ruin" on the ID.
When she finally made it out of the Concentration Camp, for that was what it was, she found herself face-to face with a poster hanging on a wall...
A poster of Rogue, and she could hear the televisions exaulting her childhood friend as being the savior of the mutant race.
Jess was left speechless.
00000
Despite what Rogue told me, I know its not too late I am going to save her if it is the last thing I do, because I know that there is still good in her, Jess thinks. Rogue, if it is your wish for your daughter to be raised in the revolution, then we will do so, more in your honor than in ours.
She stands up, and makes her way to the living quarters of Scott and Jean. She knocks, and Scott answers the door.
"Oh Jess, Jean was just, taking care of the baby you know," Scott says. "Come in, come in."
Jess walks into the small 3 room apartment like home. Jean is seated on the couch in the room, holding the small bundle that is Katelyn LeBeau in her arms.
"I have been thinking this situation over," Jess says. "And I believe that we should do this, we should take care of Katelyn, in Rogue's honor. The outside world isn't a place for a child like her, and she will be in good hands, am I right?"
Scott and Jean exchange glances, but smile. "The best care she could get, given the circimstances," Jean says.
"Though I wonder, how are Pietro and Wanda going to take the fact that they have a niece and nephew?" Scott points out.
"Probably shock, I'd have to bet on some jaw-dropping," Jess says, and they all laugh about this for awhile.
00000
Well, that's three chapters done and accounted for.
I'll occasionaly do things like this, to tell you more about Jess, but I might throw something in from a previous life of her's or something.
Anyway, next chapter we get back on to the plot as we observe the twins Katelyn and Caleb growing up in two different societies.
Read and Review.