Washington, Death Count

Chapter 1: Trial

As Dawn Newman and her mother, Sara, reported Marco Conrad for kidnapping, assault, and attempted murder, he was still reeling from his loss back at 668 New Castle Lane in Zaslas. He felt that it should not have been possible for him to lose against someone with so much less money. In his hideout, he walked to the helmet that had set off Dawn's danger sense, put it on, and telepathically said, "Forgive me, master, for I have failed you!"

A voice that was familiar to him replied, "Do not worry. It is merely a small setback. Your new mission is to get the attention of the federal government, make demands to them that would benefit both of us, and threaten to destroy Capitol Hill and the White House if they refuse. Maybe you should also make threats towards the US Supreme Court Building if the threats to destroy Capitol Hill and the White House aren't enough. Do you know what would get their attention and not the attention of a state government?"

"Causing chaos near post offices?"

"... I would suggest you rampage on interstate roads. The federal government is responsible for those as well."

"Got it, Master!"

"Before we end this contact, I would suggest getting others that can do things such as repair vehicles, heal wounds, shoot accurately, and someone strong and fit to swing melee weapons."

"I understand. I already have ideas for who would fit each of those roles. I'll locate them and get them on my team."

The contact ended, but before he could leave, he heard police arrive. Suspecting the girl he had fought reported him, he did not want to be convicted. He rushed to his all in one computer he had in his warehouse, accessed his father's bank account that he overheard the password for, and transferred a million dollars to his bank account, which was not much to his father because he was part of the 1% and had a net worth of at least 3 billion dollars. He didn't know exactly how much money his father had. He decided to hide from the police he knew wanted to arrest him. His best attempts to hide were not very good, though, so they found him, handcuffed him with his arms behind his back, and arrested him.

It had been a couple of months since his arrest, and Marco managed to get the money in cash. The time came for his criminal trial to take place in September, which was surprising given that it was just a couple of months after his arrest. The United States' legal system was often quite a lot slower than that, likely to prevent wrongful conviction or acquittal, yet white people got acquitted far more often than people of other backgrounds. However, before Marco's trial, he figured out who the jurors would be and bribed them to say he was not guilty. To make it less suspicious, he also bribed the prosecutor to not reveal all of the evidence of his crimes.

The jury trial took longer than he had expected due to his impatience, but the time came for his verdict to be declared. He crossed his fingers behind his back for being declared not guilty, and with the bribes, that happened. Enough of the jurors accepted his bribes for him to be acquitted of the charges, though there were still some jurors that did not accept the bribes and decided to see which of the lawyers they agreed with, and some planned to declare him guilty because he attempted a bribe.

Now that he was off the hook for his most recent crimes, he took taxis and buses back to his base and contacted four people he had heard of that would fit the roles his master wanted.

The first one he contacted was a former wrestler who went too far and killed his opponent by snapping his neck. He had served a 20 year imprisonment before, but recently reached the end of his term in April. By the time his trial had reached a conclusion, it was September 29th. As a wrestler, he was known as Boulderfist, though his real name was Zak Hill. Marco did not know which one to use when referring to him.

To fill the role of someone who was good with a gun, he got Ollie Wood, a gun nut who happened to live in Arizona, on his side. Arizona also supported gun rights more than any other state in the US.

He wondered why he would need someone good with medicine, but then feared that he would be reported to cops if he went to a hospital and there was a wanted poster of him in plain sight. He decided to contact Tyrell Dodson, a former US Military medic that deserted and got away with it, and got him on his side. He had a steady hand, which made him better than most with a gun while also helping with being a medic.

For the role of a mechanic, he got Gunner Booker, who was better with guns than most as well, though not as good as Ollie. The reason he was good with guns was because guns were mechanical. He was about as good as Tyrell.

He had gotten them all on his side, but he needed to drive around the continental US to pick them up. He went to his favorite vehicle he owned, a five seat cargo van he had gotten modified. He had added a light rig on the roof, radar detectors, a radar jammer, a laser jammer, a special cover for the front and back license plates to deflect light and prevent cameras from reading the license plates, tinted glass dark enough so no one could make out his face on the windows, front windscreen, and rear windscreen, off-road tires, steel plating on the roof and sides of the car, a sharp steel ram welded in front of the license plate and to the sides of the front tires, steel spikes covering the sides of the van, longer spikes in front of the rear view mirrors that faced diagonally outward and forward, and a steel grid in front of the front windscreen curved in its shape far enough in front of it to not interfere with the windshield wipers. He started the van and drove out, heading for Arizona, which was where Ollie was last seen...