The Burned Man stands in front of the entrance to the Arcadian Censorship Authority offices. He holds a sign that says ‘they will not control us’ in his right hand and a megaphone in his left. He brings the megaphone to his mouth, letting the feedback blare out through the stairs to get people’s attention.
“People of Arcadia! You have been under the thumb of the ACA for too long!”
A small group of people begin to murmur amongst themselves as Maxwell continues to speak.
“They’ve been forcing you all to do what they want through threats of censorship! If that doesn’t work, they’ll beat you down viciously until you give in to their demands!”
Beat.
“Imagine trying to live in an Arcadia where saying one wrong word will get you silenced forever! Imagine trying to make love in a criminal dystopia and getting jumped because you’re not married despite knowing each other for over ten years! That’s the kind of world the ACA want to create for us!”
The murmurs begin to grow into grumblings of discontent.
“These bastards think they can mold us into their image of a model citizen through their unscrupulous means! They think they can control us through threats and attacks without facing any repercussions of their own!”
A fraction of the audience boo and jeer.
“We’re not just going to sit idly by and be dominated by bullies and thugs! Doom tried by kidnapping my son and turn him into something he’s not, and he failed! Those bastards that knocked me out tried to break my spirit by burning down my home, yet I’m still fighting for you all today!”
Another short pause.
“And we’re damn sure not going to let villains disguised as moral guardians wrap their finger around us and turn us into joyless, depressed people in suits, are we!?”
A larger percentage of the crowd yell out ‘no’.
“That’s right! We’re going to resist and fight back when they try to impose their will upon us! Our inner fires won’t be snuffed out because some easily outraged crooks are offended by them!”
More people begin to gather at the staircase to see what’s going on.
“We won’t allow people like Tucker to make us abstain from partaking in the joys of life! We won’t allow people like Sebastian to dictate what we can and can’t do! They don’t have the power to stop us from doing what they want censored!”
An even larger group of people cheer at that.
“We have the right to say what we want without fear of being beaten! We have the right to make love to our partners regardless of marital status! We have the right to exist as human beings without living in someone else’s image!”
Everyone in the crowd begins to cheer.
“Before I pass the megaphone to James, they need to know to be careful not to stamp out our fire with a boot of censorship! They just might get burned if they do that!”
With that, Maxwell passes the megaphone to Destructo Boy, who has the crowd’s full attention.