The Life of Riley/Story

Prologue
Many people are being moved away from their homes as the leader of Old York begins to rebuild the landscape where he desires Old York to be, displacing multiple villages and the people who escape flee to outside villages. They are eventually corrupted by the excessive amounts of air and ground pollution caused by the sudden advancements in technology (using fossil fuels like coal and oil, having waste sites near villages) and energy emissions caused by Old York and change physically. In order to hide themselves from the President and his armies, the surviving mutants burrow underground and make a large civilization (and surrounding villages and tunnels) under Old York and the entire continent (there are even sea tunnels to head to other continents on Earth). Only a small percentage of the mutants stay on the surface.

Travels in Old York
Many years later, a young man named Riley lives in Tetra, a village on the surface. After completing his daily training, he is brought by his teacher to meet the Mayor of Tetra and after the Mayor is informed of his potential, he allows Riley to help obtain supplies for their survival (because food, water and electricity are supplied by Old York, the leaders increase the prices of these necessities for Tetran citizens, which creates a problem for them if money is scarce - which is more often than desired). He then meets Simon, a former mercenary who is in charge of the expedition. The two head to the outskirts of Old York, where an oncoming shipment is due to arrive.

Riley and Simon attempt to steal the goods and after they are successful in the goods being shipped back to Tetra, they are attacked by the police, who have been watching the shipment. Riley and Simon are arrested and are sent to the Hound Ravine Prison, where they meet the Warden, Lucas (Luke for short).

Prison
Lucas tells the two mutants that they are in a prison where the worst human inmates in the city are sent. The Warden calls for the bell to be rung, signalling break time, leaving Riley and Simon to their own devices. Lucas leaves the two mutants with a warning, "Don't try anything stupid, or else getting back to that hellhole won't be the only thing to worry about."

Riley and Simon attempt to avoid the inmates and any potential fights. Riley and Simon decide to separate so no one finds out about who they are. Riley manages to avoid trouble on his own, while Simon begins to gain influence in the prison, planning for an escape that will take place in a few days. As the day passes, Riley is approached by a rude man, who apparently has influence in the prison, and is forced to join their team - but first, Riley has to go through initiation. Before Riley makes his decision, Simon finds him and protects him from Jacques (the rude man).

The next day, when Riley heads to the cafeteria, he sees that Jacques and his gang are about to attack a more timid inmate. Riley is forced to choose between saving the inmate and revealing his mutant abilities, or keeping himself under the radar, at the expense of the inmate. If Riley attempts to save the inmate, Jacques will leave the inmate alone, but will attack Riley, leading to a fight where Riley easily defeats them, but uses his enhanced strength and speed to defeat them - revealing in the process that he is a mutant. The inmate thanks Riley, but runs away, noticing Jacques and his gang standing up, apparently unharmed. Jacques tells him that if the Warden finds out what he is, he'll be in serious trouble. Jacques blackmails Riley, saying that if he does exactly what he says, he'll forget about this revelation. Whether or not Riley accepts Jacques' offer, Simon arrives and prevents Jacques from bullying Riley any further by knocking everyone (except Riley) out.

Simon tells Riley to stay away from Jacques' gang, saying that they will only be a source of trouble while they are in prison. Riley agrees with him but asks Simon what to do if he runs into Jacques or his goons. Simon simply says to run away, since if he fights again, more people than Jacques will figure out that Riley is a mutant. Riley takes his advice and leaves after Simon tells him that the escape will happen soon.

If Riley decides to keep himself under the radar, he will see the gang assault the inmate, and talks to the inmate after Jacques leaves him alone to rot. The inmate noticed that Riley was there and he was fully capable of helping him escape from Jacques' assault, but didn't and shouts at the mutant as a result. Riley stays quiet at this and walks away, towards his cell, but when he arrives, he runs into Jacques and his gang members. Jacques' goons grab Riley by the arms and prop him up towards the ceiling, before Jacques kicks him in the privates and punches him in the gut. Jacques notices that his hand became bruised because of Riley's stomach and tells his goons to throw him down to the first floor. Battered and bruised, Riley decides to wash up in the bathroom before noticing Jacques has followed him. Riley is irritated by Jacques and asks him to leave him alone, but Jacques attempts to strangle Riley. Riley pushes Jacques away and runs, trying to find Simon. Jacques gets up, fazed from Riley's shove and tackles him from behind.

Riley has had enough of Jacques' constant bullying and asks him why he keeps on assaulting him. Jacques tells him that he does this to all new inmates that appear to be vulnerable, saying that prison is a tough place and you need to be tough to survive, then he laughs, saying that he was talking nonsense and he just bullies new inmates to feel good about himself. Riley asks him why he never bullied his friend and Jacques' face changes, but then he smiles, saying that he never saw him. Jacques' gang arrives and he says that for being a nuisance, he is going to beat him within an inch of your life, but Simon beats him and his gang up with an iron pole.

Simon tells Riley that it's time to escape and asks him why he would let someone like Jacques bully him, but Riley stays silent. Riley and Simon leave the prison using a series of chutes and underground tunnels and end up on the outskirts of Old York. Afterwards, Riley asks himself if all people can be as terrible as Jacques and his gang members.

Exploration
A few days after escaping the Hound Ravine Prison, Riley begins to wonder how humans must live and decides to figure out for himself by heading into Old York. He wanders throughout the city, and when he talks to people, they are disgusted with his appearance and are terrified by him. Riley starts to become angry at the people and his anger at them grows greater when a gang of hoodlums attempt to bully him and attack him, leading to Riley assaulting and attacking them.

Riley leaves the area and continues wandering across the town, disguising his appearance and hiding his claws to lay low and keep under the radar. Riley then sees a child playing in the street, before an oncoming car almost hits him. Riley manages to save the child and delivers him to his mother, who shuns Riley and chases him away, to Riley's bewilderment. Riley finally heads to a shop to see how people buy goods and asks the shopkeeper about money, but the shopkeeper recognizes him, due to the fact that Riley has a wanted photo - the shopkeeper then calls the police.

Riley runs away before the police arrive and ends up a fair distance away from the shop, where he sees a child arguing with his father. Riley becomes even angrier than before because he sees that the child takes the father for granted and nearly attacks the child, before Simon comes to save the child from Riley's anger. Simon knocks Riley out and they return to Tetra, where Riley reflects on the past day's experiences after waking up.

Journey
The next day, Riley wakes up and goes outside, where Simon is waiting for him. Sitting in a local park, Riley asks Simon why they have to struggle and scrape their way to survive. Simon tells him that he if he goes on a journey with him, he will fill in the details. Riley berates him, saying that he just wanted to know about why things are the way they are and after having such horrible experiences, he'd rather stay in the village and live peacefully than travel through a world filled with hatred. Simon asks him why he lashed out at the kid who was arguing with his father. Riley says that he never knew his father and all of the stories he heard of him were him dying as a hero. He continues, saying that he never really thought about his father that much, but after everything he went through, seeing the child being rude to his father made him snap.

Simon leaves Riley to make a few errands, leaving Riley to wonder about a life without mutant prejudice or unfair living standards. He dismisses those thoughts and gets up from the bench he was sitting on, wanting to get home and hang out with his older sister, Susan. When he gets home, Riley sees Susan and greets her. After exchanging some pleasantries and engaging in small talk, Riley asks Susan if she ever traveled. She replies negatively and asks a question of her own, asking Riley if he wanted to go on a journey. Riley tells Susan about Simon asking him to join him on a long journey. Susan gets angry at Riley, berating him for his recklessness and his trust in a man more careless than him.