Normality

Normality is a story in which the sanity or normality of heroes is put into question and heroes are put on trial and some serve prison time.

Note: The actual process of a trial was ignored for the purposes of the story so most readers would not find it dull 

Too Easy?
MrGarthyP is seen riding a bicycle through the streets bored. A drunk driver then swerves, nearly hitting him. Diving off of his bicycle and scraping his arm, Garth becomes livid.

"I gotta stop this jerk" Garth mumbles to himself

Before he gets the opportunity to pursue the drunk driver, he hears a gunshot coming from a nearby alley. More gunshots are heard as Garth runs into the alley and tackles the gunman. Seeing that the gunman was only shooting a carboard cutout of K.O.R, Garth is confused and stands still with his jaw dropped. The gunman regains his composure and pistol whips Garth.

"Your mom's a lesbian and your dad is a retard!" the criminal chuckles at Garth to taunt him

"NOBODY INSULTS MY PARENTS!!!" Garth yells as he punches and kicks the criminal repeatedly.

As a last resort, the criminal pulls out a knife and nonchalantly stabs himself in the side. Bleeding out, he dies. Garth is very confused and walks away, wiping blood off of his hands with a cloth.

Around the corner, Hurricano is seen putting his cell phone away and trying to restrain himself from attacking Garth himself.

"So, he took the bait. The government is going to see MrGarthyP and other heroes as abnormal freaks...like me" Cyclone says to himself as he makes himself sad from his final words

Widespread Incarcerations
Three days have passed since the incident regarding MrGarthyP and Hurricano. MrGarthyP is now responding to a police call of a hostage situation at the local dump. Going to the dump to stop the hostage takers, he parks far away to scout the site. Pulling out his scoped repeating rifle, he crawls to an opening in the fence where he can look. Seeing two men with assault rifles in the dump and 4 blow up dolls, Garth realizes he's been set up again. Turning around, he sees 5 police officers with shotguns pointed at his head.

"Garth Purke, you're under arrest for murder" the main police officer yells at him as he handcuffs Garth

"Wait a second....murder?" Garth responds in shock

"Yeah, we got an anonymous tip of a video of you killing someone in an alley" the main cop replies in disgust

"And we're also simultaneously bringing in all of these other jackasses who break the law thinking that they protect it" another cop answers

A montage similar to Order 66 begins as many heroes are seen being incarcerated by the police in different ways. Boris the Baboon is trying to stop a "carjacker" who turns out to be an undercover police officer who uses a tranquilizer pistol to put Boris to sleep and capture him. Piggles and RoboLady are trying to stop a man from using a flamethrower on a bus. As they team up to take down the pyromaniac, they stop him before being punched in the back of the head and an EMP is placed on RoboLady, subduing the two of them as they are captured. The Neutralizer is in a car chase with someone who just abducted a pony. As his car is about to ram into the pony-stealer's car, a police car comes out of nowhere and crashes his car into a building, knocking Neutralizer unconscious and making his capture easy. Finally, Crazyface is walking down the street near a police building, where two officers look out the window and see him. Sneaking behind him, the cops yell "FREEZE" alerting Crazyface as he tries to figure out why he is being targeted. When one policeman tries to shoot Crazyface, he kicks his leg, knocking him down before two other cops sneak up behind him and use pressure points to knock him unconscious and they bring him into custody.

The SuperTrial
Eight days have passed since the simultaneous capture of the heroes. They are all in cages in a courtroom (Neutralizer has a metallic collar on his mouth to stop him from using his powers and RoboLady has an electronics jammer on her robotic armor). The government decided to give them a fast trial after easily gathering people to testify and already had evidence through police files.

The judge hits his gavel and puts the court in session.

"Ladies and gentlemen, 6 people are here today being placed on trial. The intention of this trial is to see if these people deserve jail time and to decide if they are normal/insane like the people they brutally beat for the 'benefit' of others. This trial was easy to set up due to the abundance of evidence police forces already possessed and that we could easily find people to testify" the judge begins

Theodore Paugh Testifies
The prosecutor walks up towards the judge and begins rambling about how these heroes are truly evil. After his 5 minutes of boring words, he calls Theodore Paugh to the stand for questioning. After Paugh swears in to tell the truth, his questioning begins

"Mr. Theodore Paugh....tell me, you study these...people? Am I correct?" the prosecutor proclaims

"Yes. I work hard to fix these people" Theodore responds

"Why did you choose the word fix" the prosecutor answers, now starting to sound like he is sexually attracted to Theodore Paugh

"Because they definitely aren't right in the head if they think they can just fight criminals without being considered criminals due to the damages they actually cause" Paugh answers as he rubs his mustache"

"Hey! We are just fine you scumbag!" MrGarthyP yells at Theodore Paugh

"Order! Wait your turn Garth" the judge yells in retaliation

"So, you have rehabilitated criminals before. Do you think that your years of psychiatric experience and knowledge of the people you have 'fixed' make the people in the cages like those other people?" the prosecutor asks as he paces around in circles with his hands in his pockets

"Absolutely. What gives them the right? They are insane and cause too much collateral damage" Theodore responds

"You may leave Mr. Paugh" the prosecutor says as Paugh leaves the courtroom

The Heroes Defend Themselves
Soon after Paugh left the courtroom, each hero was called to defend themselves and prove that they didn't deserve to be thrown in jail. Boris and Piggles presented an argument together, about how they were altered and had to fight to redeem their earlier life.

"We have no choice. Our past made us need to do this to make repair it" Boris explained to the judge

After babbling about their point in various different sentences that meant the same thing, their argument concluded. The judge sighed about how they kept saying the exact same stuff over and over again and called the other heroes one by one to defend themselves. A montage then begins of the four making their cases to keep themselves from ending up in jail.

"I needed to put the technology the LEPT supplied me to save people from dying... like my baby boy" RoboLady says as he breaks down into tears

"It's obvious that the abilities we were accidentally given could and should protect people. The collateral damage we cause is nothing in comparison to the people we have saved" Crazyface and Neutralizer say together

"After seeing jerks in prison and having weapon skills from my early life, it seemed like a no-brainer to use that to stop those jerks when I got outta that hellhole" Garth explains in a very casual, laid back tone as if the judge was his best friend for the past decade

The day concluded after Garth's defense. The judge wrote something down with a purple pen in his notebook and slammed his gavel for no reason. He walked out and whispered to a juror as he walked back to his seat and started texting. 45 minutes passed and the juror handed six pieces of paper to the judge.

The Decision
"The jury has come to a decision" the judge opens

"Wait a second! Why is this trial taking so short?!?" Piggles blurted out

"Quiet! Now, here are the results of this short trial. And for the record, swine, we wanted this trial to be quick so that these threats can be thrown off the streets as fast as possible" the judge yells sarcastically

Taking out the first piece of paper, he stands up

"Lydia Fields! Also known as RoboLady, the jury used your defense and previously collected evidence to decide that you are NORMAL due to the fact that you are just trying to prevent deaths like your son's and can stay out of prison" the judge bellows as the other heroes applaud in the background

"Garth Purke! Also known as MrGarthyP, the jury used your defense and previously collected evidence to decide that you are NOT NORMAL due to the fact that your actions cannot be justified, making you insane, making you go back to prison for not being able to justify your crimes as reasonable" the judge echoes as Garth begins to charge at the judge. A security guard uses a taser and Garth falls to the floor and is carried away by security guards

"Piggles! God, I love your name. The jury used your defense and previously collected evidence to decide that you are NOT NORMAL and deserve to be punished due to the fact that your actions cannot be justified for being insane and a criminal" the judge proclaims

Piggles then bites himself on the arm as hard as he can before he is handcuffed and escorted away

"Quincy Rolfe! Man, you were an amazing rapper. And also Marvin Reilly. You presented a tough decision to the jury. You two used your point together to stay away from prison. But, jury used your defense and previously collected evidence to decide that you are NOT NORMAL due to the fact that your actions cannot be justified and deserve to be punished for being insane and a criminal" the judge booms as the two heroes look around in disbelief and Neutralizer even begins to have tears rush down his face

"And last but certainly not least is Boris the Baboon. You apparently posed the easiest decision to the jury today and they unaminously voted you based on your argument and previous evidence that you are NORMAL and do not deserve to be punished for your actions because you are just trying to make amends for your previous actions working for Conundrum. Now, I want to get a grilled cheese sandwich. Bye everyone and have a pleasant life" the judge concludes before giggling as he starts to play 2048 on his phone

Prison Life
The heroes are separately placed in prisons to avoid them from collaborating on an escape attempt. Each hero ended up facing a very different scenario and lived a very different life in prison. What exactly happened to some of the world's best crime fighters while facing jail time?

Crazyface was sent to Rikers Island and immediately realizes that he has work to do. Forced to fight in a guard ran inmate fight club, he instantly said no. As he denies the "offer" to fight for the guards' amusement, he is whipped repeatedly with a baton and beaten unconscious by four guards. When he wakes up, he realizes that participating in the unofficial fight club ran by the guards would be a loophole in him not fighting crime.

He soon develops a reputation as a fierce fighter in the guard fight club. Going undefeated in his fights, he began to realize he had power over these criminals. Turning his attention to the corrupt guards, gang activity and other prisoners who violate laws while incarcerated, he secretly fights crime while being punished for his "crimes". Realizing he has to fight crime to keep himself going, he finds ways to make crime-fighting work. Pulling the right strings and manipulating the people around him just enough, Crazyface manages to have Rikers Island in the palm of his hand.

The Neutralizer's time in prison was much different than Crazyface's. Realizing that his life was ruined and he was emotionally destroyed, Quincy Rolfe gave up on life. Sitting emotionless in his cell for hours and not responding to how awful he and the people around him are being treated. Taking beatings almost every day, he only survives since his attackers show mercy when he is about to be hurt enough to be put in the prison infirmary. The only thing he has going for him is that some people really enjoyed him as a rapper and worship him instead of harm him. Unfortunately, most people don't recognize him and continue to lower his self-esteem by abusing him and making him constantly wrestle with the notion of committing suicide....

MrGarthyP has learned from his first time in prison to make his second time a lot better. Managing to smuggle in pistols, blades and illegal drugs, he robs other inmates and becomes very wealthy. Bribing guards and forming a deadly prison gang, he sits down one night and writes on a piece of paper. After finishing his writing, the paper turns out to be a confession reading that he only ran the prison gang to survive as he was abused physically, mentally and sexually his first time in prison and decided to do whatever it took to protect himself and avoid the hellish experience he already had. Keeping it hidden in his cell to use as a confession if necessary, Garth constantly faces emotional pain as he realizes that he is "fighting" crime by being a gang leader. Remembering he was brutal crime-fighter, he cheers himself up every night by realizing he is punishing criminals. Still wrestling with the fact that he is the leader of a corrupt and deadly gang that runs his prison, he, like The Neutralizer, constantly ponders committing suicide. But, he manages to make criminals regret what they've done through his gang (which is made up of wrongly convicted prisoners and corrupt guards) and sometimes feels that he actually accomplished something while in jail.

Lastly, Piggles is kept in a highly secure cell where he is watched every second of his time in jail. Seen as a joke by most of the inmates, those who know about him or see him shout vitriol at him to make fun of him. Fighting back against those who mock him whenever he can, he is smart enough to make the beatings he does look like accidents to avoid trouble. After some time, Piggles becomes feared and is placed on heavy lockdown. Tied to a pole for a few hours every day, the guards try to break his spirit and occasionally use him as a slave as a way to mock him for his appearance. Piggles'  wits and strong attitude is his biggest weakness as his mouth gets him into trouble with guards. Being disrespectful and cocky to authority, Piggles is frequently beaten, but doesn't learn his lesson and continues to make jail a bad experience for himself. Isolated and having to stay in his cell for 23.5 hours every day, Piggles' attitude makes him try to prove the guards fools by taking the punishment and mocking it, becoming despised by everyone in the prison.

Public Reaction
The public is very divided when it comes to the verdict of the trial. But, the way they handle the result of the trial are polar opposites. The people who didn't follow the trial and those who agreed with the result sat at home, texted friends about it casually and lived the same life they did before. On the other hand, those who disagreed with the trial protested furiously all across America. Violent riots and pandemonium ensued in all 50 states. The police and even some heroes successfully quelled a high percentage of incidents. Petitions fly into the White House, but the government refuses to budge. This causes an even bigger outrage as the citizens claim their 1st Amendment Right is being violated and people begin to act like terrorists to the point where the US Government is legitimently overwhelmed.

Also, one notorious civilian realizes that heroes are important and protect the innocent despite all of the collateral damage. This new hero is a deadly warrior wielding knives, guns and explosives. Wearing a Japanese mask and having long hair and boobs, this brutal vigilante is revealed to be a woman. As she fills in for the imprisoned heroes, she receives news attention everywhere and leaves notes around her victims telling the world that she's only doing this until the main heroes return. The hero then enters her apartment and removes her mask, revealing to be Serena Zhang.

The Free Heroes
While their fellow heroes are being incarcerated, RoboLady and Boris continue fighting crime. Going their separate ways and not communicating at all, Boris and RoboLady has surprisingly very different experiences as the only two main vigilantes who aren't in prison.

RoboLady is changed drastically by the verdict and constantly bawling over the result. Feeling bad about what happened and how she can't do anything to get the heroes (who she believes are innocent), she considers retirement as all she does in her free time is mourn. Her sadness gets in the way of her job, losing more battles with criminals and nearly dying many times. Some criminals try to taunt her about the trial's result, making her either burst into tears and fly away or go into a rage-filled attack and come close to murdering the criminals. Many think that this proves that the trial's verdict was incorrect as she harms criminals too and becomes the target for many assassins.

On the other hand, Boris realizes that despite losing the most of the vigilantes, he still has a job to do. Seemingly fighting crime normally, he hides his regret for being dubbed normal due to Piggles being incarcerated. Becoming very stressed, he slowly becomes more brutal to the criminals he fights to relieve his stress. Successfully hiding his emotions, the media and the public starts to believe that he didn't care about the other heroes. They also think that because he helps the government fight off the violent protesters. Getting a lot of hate, he sits back and takes the verbal abuse given to him by most of America while still doing his job normally. But, while his emotional conflict of feeling awful about not being in prison with his fellow heroes, he sees a new female vigilante, restoring his confidence that people will always fight back against evil.

The New Result
Due to the public outrage and the fact that new heroes will always come, the President of the United States appears on all televisions, cell phones and computers. He begins speaking...

"My fellow Americans. The result of the 'SuperTrial' has caused controversy. Some people agree with it. More people do not. Most of the people who disagree with it have been violent. The verdict hasn't stopped Boris or RoboLady. There is also a new prominent vigilante wearing an Asian mask. This proves that the public relies on heroes more than we thought and there will always be a hero to step up and try to protect the world. Due to this, I am pleased to announce that all of the heroes we incarcerated will be released. Thank you for watching" the president says

The country celebrates and Serena Zhang's vigilante retires. The final shot is of the heroes each being released from jail and riding off into the sunset in fancy cars...

Trivia

 * The author of this story wrote it before knowing there was a video game called Normality as well
 * As mentioned earlier, the actual way a trial goes and what exactly happens was ignored for entertainment purposes