The Chicago Incident
The giant man’s footsteps echoed in the quiet, dimly lit warehouse. The only source of light was the faint glow of the moon bleeding through two dingy skylights, just enough light to cast shadows.
Captain Freedom could see well enough to realize something wasn’t quite right; a Tranq distribution center shouldn’t be so dark or quiet. There should be terrified workers diluting the concentrated poison made by Anthony Bruno’s body to make individual doses of the drug. There should be scumbag drug dealers coming in to pick up their weekly supply of junk to sell to the poor addicted souls of the Chicago Metro Area. There should be well-armed guards ready to intimidate and terrify any hapless souls or un-bought police officers who might stumble upon the operation. Instead: silence and darkness.
Captain Freedom was confused. People did not usually lie to him, especially when he was holding them upside down by one leg. He wondered if he remembered the address wrong. He was pretty sure the Tranq dealer said 2901 E. 101st Street.
A light went on in the center of the warehouse. It illuminated two figures, a man and woman, each in their mid-twenties. They were dressed identically in all black: black leather boots, black pants, black overcoats, and black sunglasses. Both had their heads shaved, except for a single patch of black hair that was styled into a spike in the center of their heads.
The light came from a piece of metal in the woman’s hand. It glowed like a torch, illuminating the couple and also a set of three chairs nearby.
“Is this 2901 E. 101st Street?” Captain Freedom yelled to the couple.
“You have the right address, Captain Freedom. Would you mind stepping over here?” The woman in black yelled back across the warehouse.
The giant man walked towards the couple, revealing himself in the light. His dark skin blended into his surroundings, hiding his facial features, but he was still immediately recognizable. The news didn't talk about many other 7-foot tall mountains of a human being who patrolled the streets. When he moved it looked like a granite statue had come to life. Veins and capillaries covered his muscle-bound body like a series of rivers and creeks. His enormous feet pounded the pavement with the force of an elephant, betraying the man’s inhuman weight. The man-statue looked all the more terrifying dressed in black combat boots, green camouflage pants, a white tank top, and a red beret that would have look silly on a less intimidating man. The clothes barely contained the giant’s gargantuan frame.
“Neat trick with the light, lady. If this place isn’t a Tranq depot, what is it?” Captain Freedom asked when he got near the couple.
“A place to talk. Please have a seat,” the woman offered.
“I’ll stand,’’ Captain Freedom replied sternly.
“That’s fine. Let me introduce myself, my name is Lydia Romano and this is my brother Robert Romano and you are?”
“Captain Freedom,” he replied deadpan.
“OK then, Captain Freedom, I represent the Bruno family; I think you know about them. The higher-ups in my organization have noticed your activities and they asked me to come here and talk to you about compromise. Compromise, you see, is how free enterprise works. You want my apple, I want your money. We compromise on a fair price that we both agree to, that way you get the apple you want and I get the money I want. It's what our society is built on, it's what made this country great. If people don't seek compromise, then no one gets what they want. Do you see what I’m saying?” Lydia asked. Robert stood by silently staring at Captain Freedom.
“I see what you are saying. This is when you offer me money in order to stop what I’ve been doing. It won’t work. I’m not interested in money. I want the Bruno family out of the Chicago Metro Area,” Captain Freedom responded.
“That is exactly what I thought you’d say. I even told my bosses that. I said that if this Captain Freedom guy wanted money, he’s strong enough that Ultracorps would pay him a fortune to do a dozen different jobs. If money was his goal, he wouldn’t be busting up our drug dealers but leaving their cash, smashing up our casinos but leaving the house money for the cops, and he wouldn’t be looking for warehouses just to crush whatever Tranq he finds inside,” Lydia said.
“She’s telling the truth. I heard her tell them,” Robert chimed in.
“Thank you Robert. I told them, but they don’t understand, they can’t understand. They only understand money. It’s their whole purpose in life. They cannot fathom that some people aren’t motivated by dollars. But I think I understand you, that’s why I prepared a second argument. You see, I think you have the wrong idea about us. I think you hear about us breaking someone’s legs who borrows money but doesn't pay it back or burning down a store that doesn’t meet its obligations, and you think we’re in the violence business. You think we are out to hurt people and cause havoc. You’re wrong, when we do those things, it’s bad for us too. That’s the system not working. We don’t want to break anyone’s legs or burn down their store. We want them to be happy and healthy and paying us what they owe. We’re after money, not hurting people. Really, we both want the same thing, less violence,” Lydia continued.
“Is that how you see it? Because I see it as you pushing addictive poison on poor people who don’t have any options in life, and you prey on their unhappiness. I see it as you terrifying innocent shopkeepers into giving you money in exchange for nothing but the right not to be burned down. I see it as you running casinos with rigged games just to exploit what little money hardworking people have. Hurting people seems to be all you do,” Captain Freedom replied, righteously.
“You might see it that way, but if the Bruno family was gone, the worse kind of scum would move in, the kind that robs your grandma and rapes your sister. You know the kind I’m talking about, you grew up with them in your neighborhood. They’re a bunch of uncivilized savages,” Lydia said deliberately. She wanted it to be clear that she knew exactly what she was saying.
“We can’t have that. Just imagine what it will do to property values,” Captain Freedom shot back.
“You joke, but what I’m talking about is very serious. Luckily for the people of Chicago, that isn’t going to happen because the Brunos aren’t going anywhere. And that leads me to my third and final appeal, a threat,” Lydia said coldly while glaring at Captain Freedom.
“A threat? Threats don’t work very well on me. Being bullet proof makes it awful hard to threaten.” Captain Freedom said as he wiped some sweat from his brow. Did it just get hotter in this warehouse? He was starting to take on a pinkish hue that could be seen even on his dark skin.
“Like I said, violence is not what we like to use, but it still has its place when all else fails. We might not get exactly what we want, but at least we send the message to the next person. Are we going to have to use you to send that message?” Lydia asked.
“I think you are,” Captain Freedom said and he lunged towards the woman. He moved like the wind. No one that large should have been able to move that quickly. It wasn’t fast enough, though. Robert moved like a bolt of lightning, grabbing Lydia and carrying her safely away from Captain Freedom before the large man had moved more than a few inches.
“You’re pretty fast,” Captain Freedom said and wiped another huge wad of sweat off his brow. Why was he so hot? He hadn’t exerted himself very much yet. “I’ve gone up against Speedsters before, though. You guys always seem to tire out before I do.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Captain Freedom dove at the couple in black again. He moved as fast as a world-class athlete. It was as slow as molasses compared to the man in black. Robert easily moved his sister out of the way of the charging bull. Captain Freedom kept after the couple, chasing them all over the warehouse. Whenever he got close, the man in black would move the duo safely away and the dance would repeat.
“What’s taking so long?“ Robert demanded after whisking the couple away from yet another charge by Captain Freedom. It was the question of a man who wasn’t sure how much longer he could continue. He had turned red himself and he was breathing deeply and rapidly.
“I don’t know. He should be a pot-roast by now,” Lydia fired back, annoyed. She had her own pile of sweat on her eyebrows, which were wrinkled with concentration. “I didn’t think anyone could take this much heat.”
It suddenly occurred to Captain Freedom just what was going on here. He was not just fighting the Speedster Robert, his sister Lydia was also a Different. She was some kind of Heater, and right now, she was making enough heat to cook Captain Freedom in his shoes. He had to stop her before that happened.
He ran over to a pillar that was holding up the warehouse ceiling. He reached out with his massive hand and grabbed the column, his fingers sunk into the solid B-Crete like a loaf of bread. Then he pulled, ripping out a portion of the pillar. Chunks of the roof fell around and on top of Captain Freedom. He stood there, his own human column, as the B-Crete chunks shattered on his massive shoulders. He ignored the hundred pound hail that poured down on him and focused on his target, Lydia. He hurled his piece of column like a massive stone javelin, straight at the woman who was cooking him alive.
The column moved though the air as fast as a bullet, which, unfortunately for Captain Freedom, was still slower than Robert. The Speedster moved Lydia to safety in a blink, although without the same margin as his earlier dodges. Emboldened by his near-miss, Captain Freedom picked up pieces of the collapsed roof and started hurling them at the couple, rapid-fire. The Speedster and his female cargo dodged every throw, but each chunk got closer and closer to its target; Robert was tiring.
A flash of fire halted the volley of projectiles. Captain Freedom was briefly engulfed in flames as his body became hot enough to ignite his clothes. The tattered remains of the fabric fell to the ground. But Captain Freedom stood, unscathed by the flames.
“Doesn’t seem like you got the juice, toots. Haven’t you heard of this thing on think.Net called the news?” A stark naked Captain Freedom asked. “If you checked it, you’d know I save twenty people a week from fires. It’s going to take a lot more to burn me than it takes to grill my clothes.”
“That’s fine. I’m a human micro-wave oven, the longer I cook you the hotter you get. Eventually, you’ll burn, and then everyone will know what happens when you take on the Bruno family” Lydia said as her eyes narrowed with focus.
Captain Freedom restarted his barrage of B-Crete chunks. Robert continued to carry the couple away, but he was moving slower and slower with each throw. Luckily for him, the throws were coming further and further apart. Despite Captain Freedom's tough facade, the heat was starting to take its toll on him. Breathing was getting harder and harder.
It got even worse for Captain Freedom when the hair on his body erupted in flames. Fire briefly engulfed the giant’s head. He stood now, naked, bald, and beet red, he would have looked like a newborn baby, if he wasn’t a seven-foot tall mountain of muscle. The mountain suddenly felt as vulnerable as a baby. He had faced many threats since he had started calling himself Captain Freedom, but until now, nothing had seemed like it could actually hurt him. Presented with the real possibility of death, Captain Freedom decided discretion was the better part of valor.
Captain Freedom took off running straight at the doorway where he arrived. He didn’t take the time to fit his massive body through the door; instead, he smashed through the door frame, and the wall that surrounded it, like it was tissue paper. Once outside, he stopped on a dime and pressed himself flat against the outer wall of the building, right next to the hole he had made. He waited.
Once he heard the sound of wind coming, Captain Freedom lunged towards the opening. He was slower than he wanted to be, but still fast enough to catch the tip of Robert’s overcoat with a few of his powerful fingers. Captain Freedom held tight to the Speedster, who let go of his sister. Lydia crashed into the wall across the alley. Captain Freedom held onto Robert’s jacket like a leash. Robert’s legs scuttled and shuffled on the ground as the man tried to run free.
“Stop struggling or I’m going to have to hurt you!” Captain Freedom yelled.
Robert didn’t listen; he kept trying to wriggle himself free of his tight-fitting coat and he was starting to slip out. Seeing that Robert was about to escape, Captain Freedom swung the man into the wall of the warehouse. Between the force of the swing and the Speedster’s struggling, Robert splattered against the wall like a bug. The sound of his bones breaking echoed down the alley.
“I didn’t want to do that,” Captain Freedom said with slumped shoulders. He took one glance at the remains, and then had to look away.
“You bastard!” Lydia screamed as she got to her feet. Blood trickled down her forehead from a blow she had taken during the fall.
“Please just give up. I don’t want to hurt you too” Captain Freedom pleaded.
“You killed my brother! You’re going to fry!” Lydia screamed.
The woman in black stared intently at Captain Freedom. Her face began to shake and turn red. Blood started flowing from her head-wound like someone had opened a dam. A fire burned in her eyes and she turned that heat on her brother’s killer.
Captain Freedom took a step towards Lydia and then felt an immediate surge of heat. Hotter than anything he had ever felt before. He pushed on, even though it felt like he was walking on the surface of the sun. If he could just get his hands on her, he could end the burning with one swipe.
Just as he was about to close in on her, Captain Freedom was stopped in his tracks. The heat had finally managed to penetrate his outer-layer of flesh. Blisters formed and quickly popped, leaving behind only agony for Captain Freedom. The man screamed out in pain but still took another step towards Lydia. As he did, the liquid in his eyes finally reached its boiling point. They exploded nearly in unison. Captain Freedom dropped to his knees, screaming in pain.
“It’ll all be over soon,” Lydia said reassuringly.
Somewhere deep within Captain Freedom, there was still the will to continue the fight. Blind, he charged at the sound of Lydia’s voice. She barely made it out of the way of his desperate dive.
Captain Freedom’s momentum carried him into the wall of the warehouse across the alley. He crashed through the wall. Confused, he began waving his arms wildly, taking out more chunks of the wall with each swing. Finally, a section of the ceiling collapsed. The giant was buried under the rubble.
Still not satisfied, Lydia maintained her concentration, pushing the waves of electromagnetic energy she generated into the pile of rubble, exciting the molecules within, producing heat. Soon, the pile of debris erupted in flames. She hoped it was a funeral pyre for the great Captain Freedom.
A muffled scream shattered that hope. The scream grew louder until finally the giant man clawed his way out of the flaming rubble--a phoenix rising from the ashes, screaming the news of his rebirth. Now it was Lydia’s turn to be afraid, it did not seem like anything could stop this man. She succumbed to her own fear and started running away.
“You aren’t getting away that easy! I’m going to use you to send my own message!” Captain Freedom yelled. He was a man possessed by a rage. His desire to kill Lydia might have been the only thing keeping the giant on his feet.
Captain Freedom took off running after Lydia. She was easy to follow. Most of the buildings in this area had been damaged by The Plagues. This part of the Chicago Metro Area was virtually abandoned, especially at night. The only sound that could be heard was the noise of Lydia’s feet pounding the pavement and Captain Freedom chasing after her.
The giant’s body was so hot his feet melted and ignited the pavement as he ran. A trail of flames followed the path he was running, starting fires in the debris left in his wake. Captain Freedom could not see, but that did not slow him down. The giant plowed over five foot tall piles of old concrete that got in his way like they were grass in a field. The man was moving with the force of a freight train, and he was not going to stop until he got to Lydia.
Lydia made it out of the alley and onto the main street. She tried to lose Captain Freedom by running up a few blocks and into another alley but the giant was able to stay after her. She looked over her shoulder and saw him gaining on her. Between his crimson body and the trail of flames that followed him, it looked like Lydia was being chased by Satan himself.
Realizing she couldn’t outrun him, she went into one of the abandoned Pre-Plague buildings that lined the alley. It used to be an apartment. She found an old closet and hid. She prayed that the blind man would not find her there.
Captain Freedom followed the sound of Lydia’s footsteps to the door of the building where she hid. He didn’t hear anything else.
“Do you think you can hide from me?!” Captain Freedom screamed and charged into the side of the building.
He went through the outer wall of the building and kept charging, bursting though the tattered remnants of the abandoned building's inner walls with ease. Soon the building started falling all around him. Using the sound as cover, Lydia made it out of the closet and back out onto the street before the building collapsed. She sat on top of a pile of rubble and waited, hoping to remain undetected.
Captain Freedom stood up from under a pile of debris. He was so hot; he was a human tinder box. Remnants of the building burned all around him.
His urge to kill was still strong. He spent five minutes digging through the pile of rubble, searching for Lydia and spreading flames as he went. Captain Freedom’s lungs were burnt; the giant man struggled to take a full breath as he dug.
It was the flames that ruined Lydia’s game of possum. The rubble burnt all around her, and she waited as long as she could, hoping Captain Freedom would either give up or drop dead. Finally, she was faced with the choice of burning alive or risking being heard by Captain Freedom. She chose to take the risk.
Lydia started crawling through the pile of old wood and concrete as quietly as she could manage. She was not careful enough, and fell over a chunk of the roof, crashing to the ground with a loud crunch.
“There you are!” Captain Freedom yelled and charged towards the sound.
Lydia got to her feet as quickly as she could. Using her last bit of strength, she ran out of the alley towards the main street. As soon as she turned the corner she was greeted by a sight she never thought she’d be happy to see: police officers, a half-dozen of them.
“Stop right there!” A stern faced officer yelled to Lydia.
“Officer, thank God! There’s a madman after me!” She replied.
She didn’t have the officer’s attention however, because he was focused on the half-ton flaming mountain of a naked human being that was barreling down the alley towards the group of police. Instinctively, the officer raised his gun and shot at the charging threat. Captain Freedom did not know that the gunshot came from a police officer. If he could have seen that, he would have just ignored the man, the bullet did bounce harmlessly off his chest. But Captain Freedom could not see, so he assumed the shots were coming from Lydia’s backup. He trampled over the policeman like a charging elephant, crushing the man under his giant feet.
The other officers witnessed this and immediately opened fire. Captain Freedom was confused, there were so many people, so many gunshots. There was no way to pick out Lydia’s footsteps in the crowd.
Seeing the chance to finish her job, Lydia turned her focus from escape to attack. She concentrated on Captain Freedom, manipulating the magnetic fields her body generated in order to heat her target.
Captain Freedom felt the heat. He felt his skin began to boil again. He felt his lungs struggle to breathe super-heated air. He knew how this was going to end. There was no way he was going to be able to find Lydia now. He knew it was going to hurt. He could not stand the thought of the pain.
Captain Freedom raised his fists above his head. He let out a deafening scream, then pounded down his fists, letting go with every ounce of strength he had left in his singed body.
Even before Captain Freedom's fists pounded the pavement, the force of his arm's moving though the air with such speed created a massive gust of wind traveling in excess of 300 miles per hour. This wind carried the superheated air particles that surrounded Captain Freedom, spreading fires over several miles of the Chicago Metro Area.
When his fists did hit the pavement, they struck with the force of 50 tons of TNT, and caused a similar effect. The explosion vaporized virtually everything within 50 feet of Captain Freedom, except the man himself. The shock-wave the explosion generated, destroyed all of the buildings in a half-mile radius around the blast and caused damage over another half-mile. The fires Captain Freedom caused spread rapidly, and the damage done to the infrastructure made fighting the fires extremely difficult.
After three weeks, the fires were finally contained. Captain Freedom was found deceased in the rubble, he had succumbed to his many injuries. The bodies of his attackers were never found and were presumed to be vaporized in the explosion.
The official death toll from The Chicago Incident stood at 507,845, although many experts have since argued this claim, and some put the number as high as one million dead. The lack of accurate population data at the time makes estimates difficult.
On June 12th, 1996, six weeks after The Chicago Incident, the United States Congress and Senate unanimously passed the Different Acts of 1996, outlawing vigilantism by Differents and ensuring that conflicts between Different individuals did not escalate into catastrophic events ever again.
