No More Heroes Anthology
"Power is Nothing When You Do Nothing."
The first case of human beings having “powers” appeared during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. A man named Nally Barre shattered the world record of the 200 metres race in .002 seconds, shocking the entire world. After the event, more humans started showing signs of having extraordinary abilities: some can bend fire at will, manipulate objects with a thought, or achieved incredible strength beyond normal human standard. By the early 2000s, there was a significant population growth of humans with powers, dubbing them as “Specials” to classified them.
The existence of Specials resulted a panic about their impact on society. Due to the nature of their abilities, they can perform duties easily and faster than normal humans, making them favorable for companies in the job market. Along with social and political issue, it also became an economic issue. In the United States, there was a special interest group that looked to pass legislation to regulate the agency of Specials to ensure some form of balance. Furthermore, special interest group launched a series of attacks on Specials, labeling them as dangerous due to superior power over normal humans; citing that if one were to go on a rampage, it would lead to catastrophic results.
Tensions continues well into the Bush Administration; hatred, fear, paranoia, envy, jealously; all these negative emotions became a central front to control these collections of powered humans, it managed to push some legislation action against Specials and their usage of powers. Specials were banned from all sporting events, hard labor jobs, military and government positions. Although these laws fell to obscurity under the Obama Administration, hatred of Specials continued to grow rapidly.
In 2012, a Special who calls himself Origin, launched a series of attacks in the Bismarck, North Dakota; easily dismantling half of the population. After a long, hard fight, he was eventually killed by police force and a special, who later became Unstoppable-Man, in their ranks to put him down. Although only a minority of specials committed crimes—this event sparks an outrage from not only Americans, but citizens across the planet calling for major action against Specials.
One of the major driving points of dealing with Specials occurred in the United Nation meeting; backed with support from many countries, it created a division of highly trained Specials, known as the Special Task Force, tasked with cracking down out-of-control specials. There were plentiful of successes, but the hatred did not stop growing, especially in the United States.
In 2017, there were two orders on the regulation of specials: to construct a sanctuary to house out-of-control specials for rehabilitation, which according to the president in his speech in Oregon:
The President said:
The construction site, known as "Specials’ Rehabilitation Center”, is a gigantic area place in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas. Its purpose was to reform “out-of-control” Specials and integrate into society, but this is nothing more than a ruse, a facade to hide the truth of the matter. Any specials that were involved in any problem, no matter how insignificant, were forced to be in the center on a permanent basis; especially those with problematic abilities. Support such as reasonable food or services were constantly late or not up to standard of safety issues.
The second order is that if a Special completed the program, they have a choice of becoming a hero (a celebrity status), joined the elite squad or live regular lives with powers limited. It is a very selective process—only a few specials managed to get it.
There were Various complaints over the past two years in the center, but it went on ignored in the United States and the rest of the world. Outside countries saw success of the program and start sending their unwanted Specials there to wipe their hands clean of the issue. Overtime, the center became a prison in a sense; once a Special enters, it is impossible to get out. If a special managed to escaped, they will be dragged back by an elite squad.
Yet, despite the horrors and unfavorable conditions Special faced, there is a group, known as the Busters Organization, led by the young, strong-willed girl named Susie Charm, who looked to bring peace between humans and specials; showing that specials can be a benefit for the world, becoming heroes just like in the comics.