A Super Woman Rules the World

My name is Rachel Shay. What I'm about to share with you is very difficult. But I must unburden myself somehow. You see, I was born different from the rest of humanity. I am a genetic mutant. Unlike the mutants you see in the movies and read about in science fiction magazines and comics, I'm quite real. And my life isn't a fairytale of adventure. And I live in a world where mutants are hunted. The United States Government has decreed that all mutants are now a threat to national security. We must be apprehended or killed. We cannot be allowed to roam loose.

If you ask me, the government's paranoia about us mutants is a load of bullshit. They always need someone to mistreat. In the early 2000s, Americans persecuted Middle-easterners living in American cities in the aftermath of September 11. They thought every one of them was a potential terrorist. Bunch of bullshit. I can't stand these bigots. And I'm through running. According to statistics, one out of twenty five human beings is a genetic mutant. And one out of a hundred mutants is an Alpha-level mutant. I think all mutants should unite against the bigotry of the United States Government.

How? There are Trackers in every city. What is a Tracker? A unit of people trained to hunt and kill mutants. They don't arrest us, they kill us. And they wonder why we're fighting back. We're fighting fiercely. And I feel that the end is coming. Total war between humans and mutants is coming. You see, I've just blown up the White House. I killed President Antonia Sanchez, the first Hispanic person and the first woman to become President of the United States of America. She died, along with hundreds of White House staff members, dozens of Secret Service agents and many people who had the misfortune of living within a one-mile radius of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

For this, I'm the most wanted person on earth. Not that I look dangerous. I'm a five-foot-ten, somewhat chubby, plain-faced and big-bottomed young woman of African-American and Puerto Rican descent. I was born at Massachusetts General Hospital on February 5, 2008. I attended Barack Obama Academy in South Boston from 2023 to 2027. I used to attend Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. That was before I realized that I was a mutant. Before my friends and family turned against me. And before I lashed out against ordinary humanity's bigotry and became the most wanted terrorist in human history. There is a billion-dollar bounty on my head. I can't trust anyone, human or mutant. And you thought you had it bad.

I am on the run now. The humans are hunting us mutants with a vengeance. Originally, only the tyrannical Government of the United States of America hunted mutants. Oh, people looked at us with suspicion everywhere we went on the planet Earth but we were treated like people instead of rabid animals that needed to be put down. Now many countries are now passing sanctions against mutants. France has declared a state of emergency. All mutants must leave the country or be arrested. Germany has already started rounding up mutants left and right. I am not surprised at the Germans. They're known to be harsh in dealing with people they don't like. China has declared that all mutants must be arrested on sight. The Republic of South Africa has declared that mutants who come to its shores will be put to death. Brazil has said the same thing. Few countries continue to treat their mutant populations like people. Haiti is one of them. Canada is another. Most other countries are rounding us up and killing us.

I feel responsible. However, I had no choice, really. The humans asked for it. They captured my lover, Elisabeth Dinga. My six-foot-tall, wickedly beautiful, brown-skinned, gray-eyed and short-haired Cameroonian-American sweetheart. She and I met at the student center at Emerson College during freshman year. She was the president of the Minority Gay and Lesbian Alliance on campus. A very outspoken person. The moment we met, I felt a special connection. At the time, I was struggling with my sexual identity. I had been with one woman and two guys before. I considered myself bisexual. Yet I didn't feel ready to come out. Even though gay marriage is legal in most states, including conservative places like Oregon and Kansas, my parents didn't approve of homosexuality. I thought that if I came out to them, they would throw me onto the street. I didn't feel like I was ready for that. Then I fell in love with Elisabeth, and came out to the entire world. Hell, I stood with her during a press conference in Austin when gay marriage finally became legal in the state of Texas. The most conservative state in America.

Yeah, the whole world knew I was queer. And I couldn't care less. Elisabeth and I got an apartment in the South End together. Life was good. She was there when my abilities manifested themselves for the first time. For most mutants, their powers emerge early on. That's why we're discovered by humanity most of the time. Our powers manifest before we're mature enough to control them. And hide them. I was the exception, folks. I was twenty years old when my abilities manifested themselves for the first time. All of a sudden, I had abilities the likes of which I could only dream of. I couldn't believe it. Where did these amazing powers come from?

Yeah, it was strange alright. I went to sleep one day as an ordinary woman, wrapped in the arms of my loving girlfriend Elisabeth Dinga. When I woke up, I was forever changed. All of a sudden, I could run very quickly. I'm not talking about Olympic track team fast. Or even cheetah fast. I'm talking about breaking the sound barrier fast. Faster than any car on a NASCAR track. Faster than a bullet fired from a gun reaching terminal velocity. So fast that I'm too quick to leave a blur. So fast that I'm invisible to the human eye. Superhuman speed wasn't the only ability I possessed. I could also crush steel like putty in my hands. My strength had reached superhuman levels. Sounds impressive, right? If only my abilities stopped there. I quickly found out nothing could hurt me. Not bullets or flames, or even knives. I've been hit by a train, thrown out of an airplane at two thousand feet and even had twelve tons of steel dropped on top of me. None of these even left a mark on me. I had become truly invulnerable. Think that's it? I almost wish it were. With a simple touch, I could basically cause molecular instability. I could melt a rock or make it turn to dust without generating any heat or pressure. I simply willed the molecules to self-destruct. That's my strangest power.

Like anyone would be, I freaked out when my powers manifested themselves. The only person I told was my Elisabeth. Thankfully, she understood. She still loved me and kept my secret. She didn't reveal to anyone what I was. Hell, she wasn't even freaked out when I told her. No, she wasn't a mutant. She was just an extraordinary young woman without a trace of bigotry in her heart. Elisabeth grew up believing that racism and sexism were the worst evils permeating society. She advocated restoring the human rights of mutants and lamented our society for hunting them. She was such a great person. I've got to be honest here. Before I discovered my abilities, I didn't feel any sympathy for mutants. As far as I was concerned, they were all a threat to society. Little did I know I was talking about my own kind.

It was Elisabeth Dinga who encouraged me to explore what it meant to be a mutant. She didn't believe mutants were a menace to society. She thought they were simply misunderstood. According to her, everyone was at least potentially dangerous. Ordinary people had been killing each other for eons. Mutants shouldn't be singled out as the only perpetrators of violence and mayhem. All humans, both the ordinary ones and those with powers, were capable of both good and evil. Yeah, my sweet Elisabeth. I loved her. I felt like we could handle anything together. She introduced me to some friends of hers who were mutants. I was stunned. They were students at the school. Students like Paul Hanover, a tall, red-haired white guy who was captain of the baseball team. Kyle Joseph, the burly, dark-skinned Haitian soccer player. Or Cecilia Lopez, the sexy Latina who was one of our school's cheerleaders. And my good friend Henry Evander, a big Jamaican guy I met at the campus library.

We met at an empty warehouse after hours. It was there that they were free to be themselves. I found out mutants were regular people, just like me. They were black, white, Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin. Male and female. Straight, bisexual, lesbian, gay and transsexual. Rich, middle-class and poor. Every group you could think of. BAP. WASP. You name it, they were it. At the warehouse, I found out I was a weirdo even among mutants. Most mutants only had one power. Paul Hanover demonstrated his ability for us. He could generate large amounts of electricity and hurl it through his fingertips. I thought that was pretty cool. Kyle Joseph could assume animal forms. Before our amazed eyes, he turned into a wolf, then a bear and finally a deer. He could become any animal he ever touched. While in animal form, he could do whatever these animals could do. Cecilia Lopez was a firestarter. She could generate fire and shoot it through her hands. Wow. That was a pretty cool power. Henry Evander could walk through walls and any type of solid matter, thanks to his ability to become intangible.

I found their powers to be pretty cool and I had no idea I was so special until I showed them my powers. Not power, powers. Plural. That got their attention. I displayed my superhuman strength, my super speed and my invulnerability. I didn't show them my ability to destroy matter by willing molecules to self-destruct. I thought it would be like showing off. They stared at me in awe. They couldn't believe it. I didn't know it then but nothing like me had ever existed before. Not even Alpha-level mutants could do what I could do. Most Alpha-level mutants could maximize their power to its highest level. An ordinary mutant with fire-starting powers could generate enough fire to burn a person, or even a building. An Alpha-level mutant with the same power could burn a city block in seconds. However, no Alpha-level mutant ever displayed more than one power. I didn't know it at the time but I was about to become the most feared person on the planet. Mutants and humans alike would fear me.

I thought my fellow mutants would welcome me. After all, ordinary humans hated us. I had been fortunate to meet Elisabeth but most humans wanted us dead. Unfortunately, the feeling of belonging I expected never came. I was a freak even among freaks. Wow. When Elisabeth and I returned home that night, I felt cursed. I had seen the looks of shock, fear and jealousy on the faces of the other mutants. They were afraid of me. I would not be welcome among them. Elisabeth begged me to give them a second chance. I listened to her. Little did I know it would be the beginning of the end for both of us.

A few months later, I found out Trackers had come to our house to arrest me. They captured Elisabeth instead. She refused to tell them my whereabouts. So they executed her on national television. She was written off as just another casualty of the war between human and mutant. The United States Government declared that any human caught helping a mutant would be considered an enemy of the state. Such were the times we now lived in. I watched my beloved Elisabeth executed on national television simply for loving me. For loving a mutant. For refusing to betray me. That day I swore to avenge her. And thus I waged a one-woman war against humanity. My target? The United States Government. I would show the humans they couldn't get away with executing mutants and those we loved. I would show them they weren't invincible. I would strike them where they felt they were most secure.

Thus, on my twenty-second birthday, I traveled to Washington D.C. and attacked the White House. I tore through the defenses of this elegant palace. I waded into the men and women with guns who came at me. I tore them to pieces. Literally. I marched to the President's Office. And I killed her, along with her husband the First Gentleman. I did it while the press watched and the slaughter was seen by billions of people around the globe. I showed the humans my true nature. After killing every single human I found in the White House, I touched the walls and willed every molecule holding them together to self-destruct. Thus, the White House turned to dust. Fine dust. Indistinguishable from ordinary dust. Not even rubble remained. Just dust and blood. The blood of humans who thought they could get away with slaying my beloved.

I'm on the run now. Men and women with guns, helicopters, jet fighters and even nuclear warheads have come after me. Hell, the governments of the world even sent a special team made up of mutants and humans to kill me. I slaughtered the humans and mutants who came after me. And I did it on camera too. To the humans, I was a monster. To mutants, I became a hero. A savior. A liberator. Many of them sought me out. They became my followers. My army is growing. We've got six thousand men and women now. Mostly ordinary mutants, but with a fast-growing elite group of Alpha-level mutants joining us. Mutants who can fly at supersonic speed or control the weather. They're joining my army. We're not going to stop until every last human is dead. You have my word. The only human I ever cared about is dead. It's time the others joined her. The future belongs to mutants, not humans. It's just the way of the world.