Equinox: Chapter I

Chapter I: Reflections is the first issue in the comic series "Equinox", written by The Ultimate Thinker. This first issue introduces the characters central to the storyline, also drilling many of the upcoming plot points the series shall focus on.

Plot
Vincent will forever remember that one moment... that one moment where all eyes stopped blinking, the clock hands stopped moving and his own heart stopped beating. But he wasn´t dead. He was very much alive. In fact, when he ponders on these dark memories of his, he remembers some of the excitement he felt, all that adrenaline rushing through his veins. Now that he thinks of it, he was actually more alive than he had ever been up until that point. He recalls his father next to him, hugging his shirt with firm hands, his enormous chest on Vincent´s fragile face as if to protect him from a sight he had already seen. Behind his father´s body and across the black long road, there laid a black woman on the ground, red water he though, coming out of her undressed arm. Near her stood two men; One was a shallow badly dressed man with a look of desperation in his eyes and a gun in his hand (a water gun, of course!); the other was more imposing. And he was crying...

That was all he could say.

He heard a woman whisper to his father: "That´s the Silver Golem! I can´t believe it" More people followed in the whispers, each one as surprised as it was humanly possible. "Oh God, you´re right, Samantha!"; "Poor guy... I knew his wife. Nice lady."; "I know, right? She lived nearby. She bought me a paper just last week... Can you believe it?" "Gosh... How dreadful." "Would you look at her dress, honey? Just horrible. Blacks and their awkward tastes." "God, mom. Would you shut up already?"

Suddenly, a voice raised itself above all others. The gun wielding man spoke:

"Now do you see how I feel? I feel as if I have nothing. My wife... my Gloria was everything to me. But you! You decided to be on outer space while a fire burned her, countless children and an orphanage to the ground. Why did you save others and not her? Who gave you the right to wield your powers as you wield them? Who gave you the right to choose who lives and who dies? You´re no hero, Silver Golem. You´re a powerful man working for himself. Either you save everyone or you let life run it´s fair course and save nobody at all. Oh, Gloria... Why?" - He begged a little more, Vincent hearing his every word. Both men were now crying.

The other men rose from his feet, briefly kissing the dead´s woman cheek.

"I´m afraid." - He paused. - "Life just isn´t fair."

As these words were muttered, a gleam of pure white light irradiated from the Sentry´s eyes. Time stopped. Eyes stopped. Hearts stopped. That day, on that street, two people died. Who knows? Maybe, even more. Who cares? Where was justice? Where was God? Where were the awesome superheroes?

Justice? Lady Justice was nowhere to be found. God? If that idiot does exist, then you can bet he doesn´t care. And the superheroes? No heroes... Only an avenger. Are they the same to you?

***

Vincent also remembers the days that followed in astonishing detail. He remembers that after the quiet dinner, his mom and his dad sat on the couch, their eyes glued to the television as a young blonde lady spoke fervently on what had happened:

"Dear Stan, forgive me... It´s hillarious that you actually think I care about your opinion. What we have here is clearly a murder case. We should treat this so-called hero in no special way." - Her brave blue eyes spoke directly to the camera. - "Quite frankly, what we need is a world without heroes. It´s these costumed freaks that are bringing America down, that are crushing the American dream. You might see me head to Europe if this Silver Sentry affair is ignored and forgotten. We need to take action. Period."

"Oh, Emily. It would be so sad to see you go." - The host answered, his voice filled with a sarcastic tone. The woman obviously got it. She was smart. Arrogant and smart; a dangerous combination for her, and for others. - "But really Emily, how do you suggest we build this utopia without heroes?"

Emily rolled her eyes.

"Simple. Eliminate crime."

Separated chunks of laughter from both the host and the audience reigned, as if what she had said was some sort of joke, one of those little puns they usually like to throw in at the end of each sentence for forceful comedy.

"Stan, darling, I know you´re slow but please try to follow. Opposites exist in an interesting humane way. For example, think of all our concepts as an Equinox, that rare day when the earth is equally bathed by both sun and moon, night and day. If you were to cut out say... the evil, represented by the part swallowed in darkness, the remaining part would surely not hold and fall into oblivion as well. In other words, if there was no evil and everybody was good, there would be no good, because good would be the norm and we would have had nothing to compare it to. In other words, without one another, opposites can´t survive. Apply this notion to our current situation and you´ll see that without crime, there is no use for law, justice and superheroes."

"You can´t just eliminate crime. It´s part of our nature as a society and as human beings. People are bound to break rules and want more and more and more."

"Human nature can be changed. The problem is the system is wrong. We based our system on punishing the deeds when we should have based it on preventing the deeds from happening in the first place. I mean, who are we to punish others? Who gives us such right? Are we no just as special as the individual who stands accused of a crime?" - The audience grew quiet. The entire studio echoed in silence. - "I mean, Stan... Why should a kid obey the rules other normal ordinary kids made up just to play along? The kid should only follow his teacher´s orders... But our teacher, our God, he has been on vacation for 2000 years and the Bahamas will be pleasing him for another millenia or so..."

"It´s a matter of perspective. You see, Emily, we c...."

Vincent´s father changed the channel with a fast click of a button. - "I can´t believe this." - He muttered. - "These people are only trying to help... and now suddenly they are villains. What that lady was talking about... preventing crimes. Isn´t that exactly what heroes do?"

Vincent´s mother got up, slowly and calmly as she passed her hands through her red dress.

"Isn´t it, Lydia?" - Vincent´s father insisted.

"Maybe." - She answered as she left the living room. - "But you´ve got to agree with that Cardinal... Cardinal Dawkins was it? You can´t just allow people to play God. Heroes are a reflection of villains. They are costumed criminals with good intentions."

As Vincent played with his Web-man action figure, his father approached the TV, it´s reflection glowing in his brown green eyes, which Vincent himself had luckily inherited. His father was a tall strong man. Would Vincent one day grew up to become one as well? How would growing up be like?

"On latest news, the new HULK Project, sponsored by genius Peter Parker´s HAMMER is on the move against Daesh or the Islamic State in South Syria. Photographs taken from the zone indicate the female gender as been chosen as the role model for the weapon. It has been determined ISIS´s fighters are less likely to shoot or fire if they find themselves against a female target. The project has been supported by the USA and over 105 nations worldwide who defend America´s entrance in a conflict it helped create years ago."

Vincent´s father turned off the TV.

"We are heading into an abyss... We know it and yet we keep forward. How can one crush ideals with missiles and guns? The only thing weapons crush is our humanity."

***

Of course that was all a long time ago. Vincent´s father no longer lives. Nor does his mother... And he is only thirty years old. But these memories... they feel so close. So touchable... They shall be with him always. Not only because they invoke the names and places of happier times but also because they give him the motivation that is needed to keep going forward with his goal: A world without crime. Without heroes.

He stands up from his chair and heads over to the window. He can see the Tower Bridge, surronded by water and herds of clouds. He can see the future. And the past.

"So much has changed."

To be Continued

Trivia

 * Earth-1953 has it´s designation taken from Alan Moore´s birthday, David´s favourite comic book writer.
 * This is the author´s third venture into fanfiction.
 * This series was inspired by the "Watchmen" comic and the "Captain America: Civil War" and "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice" movies.
 * This is neither a DC nor a Marvel Universe but it has references to both.
 * The necessary conditions to further understand the story will be explored in future issues and titles.
 * Most of the characters that will be introduced will be entirely original.
 * The author chose to give a more meaningful purpose to the story rather than pure action and story arcs. If that was accomplished remains to be seen.