Powered Activist Deacon Burke To Lead March On Downtown Nova City
By Jo Medina
Published 06/07/2010 via United Powered Press
Nova City, TN -- Tomorrow marks the 90th birthday of Nova City’s founder, the superhero known as Myriad. In honor of Myriad’s unending fight for justice there will be a Power Rally held at 5pm in East Park. Congress still condemns these rallies, and officials have stated that Nova City Police Department will be on call. High-profile Power Movement activist Deacon Burke is rumored to lead the anniversary rally, and sources say the focus will be on the recent actions of billionaire Charlie Rex and mayoral candidate Ricardo Medina. House Representative Arthur Silva is also rumored to make an appearance.
Recent years have seen the Power Movement face police action and public outrage, and individuals like Deacon Burke continue to elude and frustrate their opposition. No rally under Burke has been met with violence, and sources state this is due to his power of danger detection. No word yet on if the vigilante Owen Burke, twin brother of Deacon Burke, will make an appearance.
Public opinion in Nova City holds that the rally is a disgrace to Myriad's legacy, and that powered activists should leave their quarrel to the city's legislative bodies and federal government.
Yet, Myriad’s legacy is one of defiance and fighting for justice, and Nova City is a shining example. It has been nearly one hundred years after the first powers appeared in twins, and human rights remains a key issue. Pro-rally citizens feel our founding hero would be amongst their ranks were she alive, and there will no doubt be numerous flags bearing her symbol tomorrow.
Visit UPP.com for Full Rally Coverage, LIVE @ 3PM June 8th (EST)
scraptor4 · 15 minutes ago
the fact they bring up myriad so much is proof there failing
↳cobrass · 15 minutes ago
They bring her up to make a point, asshat. Myriad worked her whole life to fight the injustices inflicted on powered individuals. Your ignorance is the true issue here.
(view 9 replies)
cococowboy · 12 minutes ago
fuck ncpd
firerescue903 · 5 minutes ago
Deacon may be inactive but that man is always my Captain, NCFD family for life.
(see all 51 comments)
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The sound of the crowd was deafening as Deacon Burke stepped up to the podium. A sea of protestors and activists gathered on the grassy stretch of Nova City’s East Park, a frequent battleground for the powered rights movement that had spanned a quarter of a century. People chanted and shook their banners as their spokesperson, the titan of the movement, stood resilient on the podium. Deacon Burke’s speeches spread like wildfire through a forest, and his power to sense danger sent activists off to safety before anyone could be hurt. His name led marches and rallies across the nation, recruiting people of influence to the cause in every city they touched. It was a revolution that shook the media, much like the appearance of superpowers in twins that shook the world to its core in the trenches of World War I.
Nova City rose up around the protesters like a fortress, familiar skyscrapers and monuments that once surrounded one of the first groups of heroes to don capes and fight for good, and the voices of the people charged the air with electricity. Those of influence in the city sat behind Deacon Burke like a Hall of Fame: House Representative Arthur Silva, a new face in the government who worked day and night to enact legislation; Charlie Rex, son of multi-millionaire Bradley Rex and CEO of Rex Media Enterprises; Gail Hahn, Head of Nova City Tribune; and Ricardo Medina, Nova City Mayor candidate.
Beside this pantheon of influential faces sat little Moira Burke, not very tall for her age of ten years old but filled with the promise that her growth spurt would come soon. The fold-out metal chair bit into her skin through her best Sunday dress, the chill of fall descending upon Nova City, and Moira looked up to her mother as her father stepped up to the podium. Barbara Burke’s eyes shone with pride, and she returned the squeeze of her daughter's hand with one of excitement. Little Moira looked to the seat on her right, to her uncle’s life partner, Charlie Rex, and he flashed her a brilliant smile that said watch your father go, watch him make you proud. Her uncle Owen Burke was somewhere in the crowd, mingling, and Moira knew she wouldn't find him even if she tried. He was a vigilante after all, and he had lots of practice staying hidden.
The microphone rang for a moment as Deacon Burke tapped it, and the crowd held their breath as he cleared his throat.
“Ladies, gentlemen, kind folks, let me thank you for coming today. Let me thank you for stepping out of your daily routine to set straight the path of history and right the wrongs that surround us. Let me thank Charlie Rex, my brother in all but law, for the constant efforts of the Rex Foundation in facilitating the legal action needed to take another step forward. Action that has released two hundred more children, children, from the horrors of experimentation that have been forced upon them. That have shattered their childhoods. Those children now have a chance at life of their own choice, a life with a future free of chains.”
The crowd cheered and applauded as Deacon Burke paused in his speech, turning to nod at Charlie Rex then turning to look at Moira. He smiled at his little girl, and she shyly smiled back. Deacon continued.
“I have a child of my own, my daughter Moira, and I think of her every time I go to meet the children who have suffered. Even when I go to meet the older members of our community, and realize the childhoods they never got to have, I think of my Moira, the apple of my eye, my reason to wake up each morning and fight the good fight, and my heart breaks for them. It breaks for those who do not have a doting father, a loving mother, and supportive uncles to ensure their safety...or those who were snatched from their families with the kind of villainous acts that seemed possible only in comic books.”
The crowd was silent, hanging on every word that came from Deacon like the whole world hung in the balance.
“I would like to thank one more person at this time-- House Representative Arthur Silva. Representative Silva takes on the endless task of legislation, of gathering his peers to push forward bills that ensure those basic human rights that we've marched for, fought for, bled for.”
“I urge you, my family of circumstance, to think of the reasons you fight. Perhaps it is for a loved one, for yourself, or for the sake of what is right. Embrace the fire within yourself, steel yourselves, and link arms with each other so that we may stay upright even when individuals fall. I stand here on this podium as a speaker, a figure, a leader of this movement. But without you, the marchers who come to this park with signs in hand and words pouring from your hearts, we would not have a movement. Countless children would be entrapped in the system that takes advantage of their abilities. Families broken apart, all for the sake of power and influence. But we are here! And we refuse to let this continue!”
The crowd burst into a frenzied shout as they shook their signs. Deacon paused to gaze over the sea of people, then turned his head once again to look at his daughter with a smile. Moira was in awe as the afternoon sun shone behind him, and in that moment her father looked invincible. A photographer behind them snapped a shot of the moment, the sun’s rays gleaming behind Deacon like rays of holy light and Moira gazing up at her father with childish wonder.
“Find strength in each other, my fellow marchers. Stand on your own feet, but lean on the strength of those around you when you stumble. The fight is long, the night is dark, and we have miles that stretch before us. But do not lose hope! A dawn of equality waits before us! We will fight tooth and nail to bring every piece of our patchwork family into that dawn, my fellow marchers! We fight not just for ourselves, but for each other! Remember this!”
Deacon paused, the big pause, as the energy of the crowd swelled with the power of his words and time itself seemed to warp around them. No matter the simplicity of his words or the turn of his phrase, Deacon enraptured the crowd by the sheer force of his character. Moira wiggled in her seat as she felt the atmosphere, felt the air all around them draw towards her father. How he stood on the podium like a general before his army, pulled out of a movie, clad in armor and victories, instead of her father who practiced in front of the mirror while he braided her hair or made eggs a little too runny in the mornings. Her little heart swelled, knowing how the speech went, knowing how hard her father had worked for this.
“Nova City will hear our voices today my friends, my family, and we will not be silenced. We will speak, and shout, and sing, until they can no longer ignore us! These men and women who sit behind me, every individual who stands before me -- we will make a sea to soar through the streets of our city and demand they give us the rights and decency that every powered individual, every human, deserves at the most basic level!”
People began to lose it as marchers cheered, hollered, or even cried. Caught up in the emotion of Deacon Burke’s words, the crowd was unified, invincible, unstoppable. Deacon’s smile grew larger than life as he placed his hands on the podium and leaned closer to the microphone. He leaned in like an intimate talk and not a speech to people stretched as far as they could see.
“My fellow marchers, my family of circumstance, I must thank you for your time today. I must thank you for your courage, for your heart, and for your drive to make this place a world worth living in. For myself, for my peers, and for my daughter. If you will spare me another moment, I would like to now introduce a new addition to our ranks. A friend--”
Deacon Burke stopped his speech. A pause that Moira didn't remember him practicing. Ricardo Medina stopped as he rose from his chair, a look of puzzlement spread across his face. Moira held her breath as her father's shoulders tightened. The park froze in a moment of bated breath, a moment of time that stretched out like a bowstring.
Then the string snapped.
Everything after that was a blur.
People screamed as a man pushed his way through the crowd and a gunshot tore through the air like a hammer striking through glass. The crowd began to scatter, more screams tearing through the mass of people as many ran for cover and other tackled the shooter to the ground. But Moira’s world narrowed down to a simple color, the green of her father's eyes as he gripped her shoulders. When had he turned to face her? What was happening?
Deacon Burke tightened his grip on his daughter's shoulders as his arms shook, as those around them on the podium leapt into action. He held Moira’s gaze with all the strength he could gather, with everything he could muster.
“It's going to be okay, Moira. I promise everything will be okay.”
Moira nodded, her body frozen in place from the severity in her father's eyes. She didn't understand, but it didn't matter. Of course everything would be okay.
Then Barbara Burke was grasping at her husband, her voice shaking as she called for an ambulance, for Owen, for somebody, at the top of her lungs as Deacon sagged against her arms. A second round of gunshots fired into the air. Moira could not see what happened next as Charlie grabbed her and held her to his chest behind the podium, tucking them both under the solid wood frame. He held her so tight that Moira could hardly breathe, the chaos swirling around them. Moira squeezed her head above Charlie’s shoulder....and she saw. Moira saw the red stain of blood soaking through the white of her father's shirt, saw the terror in her mother's eyes, and she started to scream.
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