V Files - Chapter 1

 By Sama Khawaja

Hi! How’s it going? The name’s Keido;  Keido Lazarus.  I’m the keeper of the Vice files or as I like to call them, the V files. You must be a member of Vice to be able to read this otherwise you’d be dead before you finished the first sentence. My brother’s idea. He’s pretty tight on security when it comes to babying his precious anti-government organization Vice.

Moving on. Now I know you’re already well-versed in Healex’s history but it never hurts to recap our country’s ‘wonderful’ past no matter how bad a taste it leaves in one’s mouth afterwards.

As you all know, at the start of the 1900’s when the Peninsula War had just broken out among the countries in the Dragon Peninsula, an asteroid crash landed in the capital of Healex. The result was scarring: loved ones died, some became deformed and, for some odd reason, a selected handful were blessed with strange powers. The government took drastic measures like sealing the area off and ‘silencing’ survivors forever while telling the rest of the world that they were working on ‘reconstructing’ the region. But they were actually trying to hide a disturbing secret: that was no ordinary asteroid hit. It was a space shuttle containing an extraordinary life form that possessed an incredible store of power. And scarily enough, an IQ level of over 200.

The government took this as a sign of help from above and decided to seize the opportunity while it was presented to them. They turned Heathen City, the capital, into the site for their Hova Project since according to the strange script inscribed on the ship, the creature is a female called Hova. They experimented on her and realized that they could use her DNA to enhance their economy like the military, exported goods and such. Healex soon became the most feared military force in the peninsula. But the negative side effects are always found side by side the positive.

Health critics always say that too much of anything is damaging for your health. The government soon grew drunk on power and began to implement severe rules as well as harsher punishments on the citizens which resulted in the death rate to increase dramatically. They even used their Hova soldiers to dismiss of those who especially defy them like leaders of activist groups against the Hova project. There was only one group that could actually come toe-to-toe with the government.

Vice was actually formed in 1903 by William Templeton, a strong-willed teenager firmly against his government. But one violent clash with the Hova soldiers resulted in him being injured severely and expected to die within the hour. Except his father, a renowned scientist, preserved his body and vowed to find a cure to save his son. Samuel Templeton was one of the very few survivors of the asteroid blast in 1903 who had escaped unblemished save for having obtained the gift of immortality. He had remained hidden from the government for fear of what they might do to him if they knew of his powers. But in order to save his son, he joined the faculty so as to study Hova. Rumour has it that he had succeeded but disappeared before he could help his son.

Eighty years later, William’s body was unearthed by a young radical, Rhett Lazarus, who decided to join William in rekindling Vice. Rhett’s family was murdered along the way save for his little brother, yours truly, but he never looked back. Working for Vice made him cold and void of feeling.

But it is thanks to him and William that Vice is ten times the organization is was in the beginning. Its top soldiers are perhaps the most curious bunch, each coming from a different background.

River, our expert combact instructor, is an ex-Hova soldier who Vice rescued from torture when he refused to be the government’s toy anymore.  

Chi, stealth pro, is a pickpocket from the Oriental city of BaySin. She is perhaps the youngest member of Vice ever.

Gear, the genius behind all the high-tech weapons and vehicles in Vice. The government burned his house down when he refused to build weapons for them. His family was in the house at the time.

Tito is the muscles of the group. He only has one golden rule of life which he firmly believes in: pummel first and ask questions later. Best to stay in his good books if I were you.

Then there’s Adriana. She’s the daughter of a powerful business tycoon but she left home when she realized that the Hova Project her father supports has corrupted her country. Nice girl but still got lots to learn. And don’t you even think of making eyes at her. I saw her first.

And finally, Destiny. She’s quite the curious case since William only adopted her because she displayed immense power when he found her on the outskirts of the town Ocre. She’s an amnesiac. Doesn’t remember a thing about her past. Or so she claims.

So now that you have familiarized yourself with Vice’s best of the best (known as Lethal Vice), it is best you know of the tale when the world was almost forced to submit to a power-crazed lunatic. Sadly, I’m not in it much. It’s Destiny’s story really.