Tales from Brightburn city: Voodoo Blue

prologue: voo

Neon lights lit a luminous glow throughout the cityscape. Cars and trucks no longer made the rumble of combustion engines, but they still possessed the annoyance of a horn as the angry voice of a man bellows as he thrashes his horn, at some kids crossing the road; in a hurry to get out of the rain. The distant moans of a man and woman making up after their argument, leaks over the neighbourhood which woke the tenants of the local dayshift workers; the neighbours now thumping on the ceiling to quiet down their passion-filled night... In the distance, about 30 stories high, the silhouette of a woman perched on the balcony of an apartment complex overlooks the cybernetic wasteland; the rest of the world calls Brightburn... The colour is blue, her name is Voodoo...

Voodoo, the system calls her the devil... The people of Brightburn call her an angel... She just wants equality and freedom from the oppressive regime...

Voodoo isn't like any ordinary woman. Yes, she likes to paint her nails, dress in all the latest fashion, laugh, dance, and sing...

But there was always something that made her stand out from the rest of society, which made her an outcast, a stranger to social communities. No matter how nice she was, there was always something that got in the way, made her different, which made it difficult to socialise. You're now thinking... what could be so different that could make her an outcast? Well, let me take you back 23 years and 8 months...

Voodoo's mother and father grew up in a city with clean free energy, as a new power source was on trial... Scientists of Bonz Industrial discovered a new element called Zero. The element was nicknamed Zero due to the zero emissions It produced. The power was second to none. A piece of the element, the size of a grain of pudding rice, was as powerful as 7 nuclear power plants; with the emissions of a windmill...

The cost of fuel was non-existent. People had more money to enjoy themselves, enjoying themselves more, meant more time for being happy, which in turn led to community gatherings, street parties, new upbeat pop songs singing about the good times, and the clean air...

But as the saying goes, all good things come to an end, and an end it did...

After one fractal moment in the efforts of a drunken scientist, he spoiled the fun for the rest of the world, let alone the city that had won the chance to trial this amazing new discovery.

The scientist also enjoyed the times, but maybe you'd say a bit too much; as he sat drinking at the control panel; which was powering the whole city. In a drunken clumsy effort, he managed to overpower the mechanism by mindlessly resting his feet upon the control system; which housed the element, causing it to pulse. Still drinking his paper bag wrapped bottle of rum, the stereotypical drink for a drunk, he fell back off his chair; collapsing for the last time; as he is now unconscious, wasted, whilst the element surged on getting more and more volatile, as the scientist snores, in a sorry sodden mess, on the Industrial lab floor.

BOOM!

In the blink of an eye,a gargantuan explosion rattled the city as a bright white flash erupted and drained the colour out of the surrounding area, Vaporising the scientist in an instant. if you could imagine the power of 7 nuclear power plants rushing throughout the metropolis, draining life out of all the colour, scorching the sky's causing an eternal rain, as hundreds if not thousands of civilians were instantly vaporised, the shadows of their gestures still remaining scorched on the walls. But not all. Some of the citizens got off lucky. Voodoos father, no, but her mother, yes. A lot of people, like Voodoo's mother, got a distinctive marking on the base of their skull. The marking was similar to a Trident. These people were known as imprints. Imprints all gathered a significant gene mutation in their DNA, causing them to be quite unique, each mutation being completely different from one another.

Voodoo's mother was pregnant at the time and in her belly was a little girl yet to be named...

Her name was Voodoo, and the colour is blue...

Now, if you're following me, you're sure to see that life for Voo was quite different to me and you, as the colour of her skin was a certain shade of blue. Growing up for her was painful since birth. Not by physical, well, not all, although a broken heart cuts just as worse. Being disowned by her remaining family and outcast by her mother as soon as she was able to speak. So, it's safe to say she brought herself up. No school; but that didn't stop her learning. No mother to feed her, but that didn't stop her eating, no body to love but it never stopped her caring, a bruise was never shy of her skin after all the fights she'd get into; cause of the slight difference in complexion.

During her younger years, she would cry and scrub her skin with bleach to try to get rid of the shade, but it would never work. She would always remain.

Her life would change on the 12th of march. 2032...

After an average day; fighting back against the hypocrisy of life; a group of men stopped her dead in her path, as per usual, the rain kept falling, drenching them all to the core. "What are you doing round here, bluie? You don't belong here..." said one young man; as he overpowers her, knocking her down to the curb... the men surround her. After all her efforts in a struggle to get up. She knew she'd be overpowered, so she curls up in a ball; to stand the drubbing that was due to be dealt. She closes her eyes to await the beating. But wait... it does not come... scared to open her eye, she lay there witnessing the sound of men scarpering and crying out, as the sound of wood on wood was met with a cry out in pain...

She opens her eyes...

Stood there was a scruffy boy holding a 2 by 4. The boy was similar in height, baggy clothes, and shaggy hair. But he possessed a certain charm. "Hey, you wanna learn karate or something? Rob a bank? Bash up those bullies? Choice is yours... By the way, hi, my name's Corey, but people call me gory, but I won't get into that yet".

And there it was, Life was going to be different for voo, but she was ready for anything....

Her name was Voodoo, and her colour was blue...