After the war many of the soldiers and fighters came back to the country with a flurry of fanfare and excitement; however, when that died off the men and women had to somehow fit back into society. They realized that heroism only really existed in a time of need or despair. If you took away the threat then subsequently you erased any hero that may have spawned from it. For the average person in an average war that could be shocking, to be needed and the suddenly forgotten. Some of it was understandable, the people's attention span couldn't last forever, eventually they had to forget it was only human nature, despite their flags and stickers that read 'we will never forget' the people failed to understand the new hardship the fighters ad to go through. The physical danger had gone but the social and economic danger had just begun; many of them found themselves without jobs or even homes struggling with the mental anguish and traumatic wanderings that plagued their minds. Post-traumatic stress disorder and a whole new list of mental shortcomings came about. The worst and most common being one named Latent-Stress Recall Disorder. LSRD was common before the war; but, wasn't actually seen as an actual disorder until troops from the war started acting irrationally. The disorder was one that apparently triggered old stresses that the mind had subdued and magnified them due to an intensely traumatic experience. Most of the troops who suffered from LSRD were involved in ambushes and near fatal attacks. The results of the disorder varied; but, shared a common trait: destruction. Troops suffering from LSRD were most commonly cited as to be violent or irate. Some became criminals; but, most became social degenerates, back alley wanderers, number pushers and whatever else they could do to entertain their new sick desire to lash out against the world that had turned its back on them.
Some; however, were too smart and too angry to become mere social degenerates or common criminals. The training one gets in the army is useable for life and some decided to make a living that way.
Raymond Hernandez was one of those people who decided that he wanted to use his skill to make a living. Raymond was only; but, so old when he joined the army. Raymond needed something to get away from his mundane life. The army seemed like a good option, the country was peaceful and he could learn a trade in a rather short amount of time, plus they would pay for college tuition. There was no good reason not to join the army so he followed suit. Six months was all it took for a conflict to arise and a war to start. Raymond, as was everyone else, was surprised and taken aback by the quick development of the war and before he could even fully put together the entire conflict and whether he agreed with it he was rushed to the battlefield. Raymond was a nobody in a sea of people willing to fight and die for a cause they hadn't seen or heard. Initially he was protected by older soldiers who felt a sympathy for him; but, that didn't last very long because most of his 'friends' were killed in the first three waves of the war. There was a three year wait to get discharged for leave and when the time came for Raymond to leave he opted not to do so. The battleground had become his home, his dead friends deserved to have him fight for as long as he possibly could, plus he had changed as a human being. War was now exhilarating and intriguing; Raymond began to rise in the ranks, everyone was noticing his bravery and skill. Not before long he found himself as a hero of the army, so every time he was able to go on leave he decided not to. Raymond could have been called the best; most people probably could not sustain seven years in a war without any form of leave and still be functional; but, somehow he managed to pull it off. His strategies were flawless and he became more and more dangerous as time passed on. His name was carried throughout the army and when the war came to an end in year twelve Raymond was a full fledge legend.
As mentioned before it didn't take very long for things to turn over. His return home had revealed the death of most of his immediate family; he had no money to travel to his other families residences and his LSRD had started to appear shortly after his return. The government helped Raymond for three years and then the benefits became harder and harder to pursue. Jobs never called back, friends never called back. Eventually Raymond was alone and living on the streets. Raymond never stayed stationary, he moved from city to city eventually ending up in Newark, New Jersey. Raymond decided to stay there for longer then usual; but, three weeks into staying there he was attacked by a group of young thugs. None of them were older than he was when he had joined the army and in a way that sparked some sympathy from Raymond; but, the gang tried to kill Raymond and he was; thusly, forced to kill each and everyone of them in a different and painful way. That was when he decided to lend his expertise in killing to different people in need. At first it started off very shady; but, eventually became a business that found him becoming, in no exaggeration of the word, rich. That was the profession he was in now, he enjoyed it and he was very good at it. It brought him all around the world and now it saw him in Gotham City. Raymond wasn't sure what Brummer did as a profession; but, it didn't matter. Raymond was being paid a hefty price to oversee some ideas Brummer had put in place. It was not Raymond's place to ask if something was right or wrong; to him it didn't matter. If the pay was right he was going to do his job to the best of his ability. That being said Raymond had never come across something as grand as this plan; what he did on this job was going to directly effect the lives of everyone who lived, worked or even visited this town. Raymond was going to be apart of something much bigger than him; this hadn't been true since he first entered the army. Even while he was in the army in the latter years he had become bigger than the threat, bigger than the war; his name was the biggest thing to come out of the war. This; however, was different, even if people found out he was apart of this plan it would mean little. The sheer shock of the change Gotham would have to endure would knock his name right off people's tongue. It was a little unnerving for Raymond; but, the pay was right, very right, and that meant that he had to put these nervous feelings aside and put his focus on the job at hand. This job had multiple steps that would take place over a course of time. This would be the longest job he had ever taken and it could also be the last job he took. If it all went as plan Raymond may gain a new place in society. That was a sweet and sour idea, change was different and it could mean some form of success; but, success wasn't as alluring as it was all those years ago. Success meant the birth of a failure, somewhere down the road it had to come to an end. Raymond was comfortable with his momentary successes; they ended at the end of a job and could not be reversed. This was going to be different; this was going to be a lifetime of change.
Raymond looked at his watch, it read: Two-Fifteen. It was almost Showtime; he stood up and looked down from the roof of the building to the street below. Gotham was not like New York at all. In New York people were on the street all day long and all night long; in Gotham people rarely walked in the streets when the sun went down. Gotham wasn't exactly the most peaceful place; but, at Two O' Clock in the morning anything was a nice place. The most industrial of places could succumb to the calm, peaceful smell of morning dew. The thing that separated Raymond from other people with LSRD was that he knew he was sick. It was something that he was completely aware of one hundred and ten percent of the time. Raymond was aware that his decisions were effected by the disorder and he embraced that. There was nothing he would change; he was aware that with the proper treatment he could live a 'normal' life. But with the pay he was getting why would he want a normal life when he could watch the world burn?
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