The Bad Man

Prologue
When you look for information about the country of Edgelandia, one of the things you’re bound to see prominently is the motto representing the country itself. The motto that Edgelandians all over the world feel in their bones from when they wake up, to when they go to sleep.

“One With The Strength Of Two”

This is recited in the Edgelandian pledge of allegiance every single day by adults and children alike as a show of respect to President Ned Edgewalker. Edgelandians carry this motto on their back as a way to live, a way to act, and a way to believe.

Children and adults are also taught that in the country of Edgelandia, political dissent is frowned upon, to say the least. If you dissent enough, it might warrant a visit from a man whose name is so simple it’s comical. Teachers warn children of this man in grade one, and this is where he gets his name from. The Edgelandian children simply know him as “The Bad Man.” Unfortunately for some of them, they’ll eventually find out that he’s not just a scary name with no actual person behind it.

Unofficially-officially employed by President Ned Edgewalker himself, “The Bad Man” officially has no name, no history, no family, all of the cliché aspects you can give a person to make them as invisible as possible. But of course, this is not how humans actually behave.

Born on September 9th, 2018, in the city of Ridgewood, Edgelandia, Connor Rosado lived a normal life for many years. He was a bright, intelligent young boy who participated frequently in school sports and other extracurricular activities. But as these stories tend to go, this didn’t continue.

When he was 13, Connor’s parents were arrested for dissenting against the Edgelandian government. Connor is the one who reported them. Now, before Connor came along, the Edgelandian government didn’t have their own personal hitman who could go around, quietly eliminating all those with dissenting opinions, so they’d often just be arrested. This worked, until it didn’t.

Connor’s parents were able to escape from the two police officers who came to arrest them, and then proceeded to murder both of them in cold blood. They proceeded to leave Connor behind, who was then quickly found by police arriving as backup.

Coincidentally, President Ned Edgewalker happened to be looking for someone like Connor to come along for quite some time. He was loyal to Edgelandia itself and the Edgelandian Government, was an athletic, bright young man who was still impressionable.

Young Connor was officially “adopted” by the Edgelandian Government and was trained non-stop from the get-go. Day in, day out, Connor was trained by some of best operatives Edgelandia had to offer, and slowly but surely, Connor became the best in his field. By the time he was 16, he was serving President Edgewalker himself.

Oh, he really was moulded into the best chef they’d ever seen inside of 24 Union Avenue. Until he was caught conspiring to poison President Edgewalker.

Then, he too got a visit from The Bad Man.