Every story has its beginning. Sometimes the beginning isn't there yet, waiting to be written. Sometimes it's secret, shrouded in mystery. But the beginning of this one is clear (there are some arguments about the prequels, but that is currently irrelevant.)
It began with the bombs.
When I say "bombs," what comes to mind may well be larger than what came to pass. I'm sure you're imagining large scale destruction reminiscent of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear fallout that makes Chernobyl look like a blip on the Geiger counter. The reality is, as I'm sure you've guessed, a lot less openly destructive. A little more... Domestic.
Nobody knows who it was, where they came from or why they did it, but what we all know is that the world faced a very particular kind of catastrophe. Over a series of weeks during the early 21st century there were coordinated attacks across the world. Taking down banks, major corporations, governments. Anyone who had a large stake - legally or otherwise - in the running of the world.
Who knows what they were planning, but the result was global panic. Governements started putting everything they had left into defence - military enlistment spiked and levelled out at an all-time high for most nations (granted, it wasn't always entirely voluntary) and near enough everything that was left over was poured into scientific research to boost the nation in any and all ways possible.
Can you guess where we're going with this? Maybe not. This isn't exactly an isolated occurrence, but we're focusing on the British governments at this current juncture. Given the degree of secrecy required and the lack of time available (foresight is in very short supply these days, unfortunately,) obtaining test subjects was and still is an inordinately difficult thing. This in mind, test subjects were picked out of the unknowns. The people who were likely to slip away unnoticed (save for maybe a few friends here and there) should something happen to them.
And so in order to test new performance-enhancing medications, various people were picked out based on their jobs, social status and similar factors without their knowledge or consent and found their medications, food and other similar things altered until a satisfactory outcome was found. The expected result was stronger, faster and more developmentally adept subjects, but the result that was found was that subjects started developing "abilities". Even more curious is the fact that there was no core ability, very little cohesion across the board. Given the potential mess and the potential for new discoveries, the government began rounding up these anomalies. You'll find a few in the military here and there, but for the most part the ones that have been found are all either stuck in a lab or dead in a gutter.
Enter the Ratchets. The noisemakers. I'd like to call them your superheroes, but they're nothing of the sort. Rather a group of friends - a makeshift family - brought together by their newfound abilities and their brushes with the government, their goal is a simple one. They're here to send a message to the government.
We will be heard.
We will not stand for this.
We are your mistake and we will bring you to the ground.
He knew before he even got out of his seat that he wouldn't be able to read it, that it'd be yet another language that he couldn't even parse. Apparently everyone heard 'multilingual' and forgot that Turkish and Welsh aren't exactly the most commonly used languages in the world. Emir pulled a face, scanning the characters on Alice's monitor and doing his best to look and sound like he was giving it a proper once over. Lots of 'hmms' and 'I sees' before he turned his attention to her and shrugged.
"What does it say?"
"Dunno. I don't speak Korean." He rolled his eyes at the let down look on Alice's face and threw himself unceremoniously down on a sofa next to Anthony, "is that a problem for you? Maybe you should learn it then. I'm not a fuckin' Rosetta Stone, you know."
Alice looked blankly at him, feeling as though she should feel at least a little insulted - judging by his tone and all - but she honestly could only figure out about half of what he'd just said to her. She looked to Anthony, hoping for a translation, but he just laughed instead. Unhelpful.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Emir shouted, looking between the other two and throwing his hands up in frustration, "you can understand Irish O'Patel just fine, but a Welsh accent's a bit too much for you?"
Again, Alice had no idea what he'd just said to her, except something about Irish? She looked at Anthony again for help, who thankfully decided to help her out this time. "He wants to know why you can understand Sabina's accent fine but not his."
"Oh." She shrugged, looking a bit uncertain because really, he was the only one in the group she had trouble understanding. Well, Ethan too, but they didn't talk much so it wasn't such a problem. "I guess I just never came across Welsh people much before."
Emir shook his head, entirely dissatisfied with her reasoning, and forced himself to speak with an accent a lot closer to Alan's - middle class and southern - something most people could understand just fine, "but you come across poles a whole lot though, yeah?" He kept moving,sitting up and slouching and gesturing with his hands enough that it made Anthony consider putting his laptop down for safety's sake, "you're fucking ridiculous."
"He said--"
"I got him that time, Tony. Thanks." She didn't really have much to say beyond that, and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry?"
To his credit, Anthony had been doing rather well at not laughing throughout this, despite the fact that Emir being misunderstood was something that he guiltily found funny. Something about the tone of Alice's voice - somehow managing to sound both a little scared and annoyed at the same time - made him snort and he covered his mouth with a hand, trying to look composed despite the look Emir was giving him.
For Emir, however, that was the breaking point for this conversation and he stood abruptly, waving an accusing finger at the two of them, "you know what? Fuck the both of you."
It took about 30 seconds after he'd stormed out of the room for Alice and Anthony to succumb to the sudden fit of laughter they'd been holding in.
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ruffians2011-01-05 03:40 pm
Emir, Anthony & Alice » Translation