#9 David Wise IS The Hard Man

The Hard Man

Growing up poor in the worst parts of Glasgow, David Wise saw the results of violence firsthand – and chose a different path. He went to school, moved to London, and became first a poet and then a journalist, to pay the bills. In his off time he was an activist, doing what he could to reduce violence of all kind – gangs, military, police, domestic abuse. Catching wind of an illegal military experiment, he broke into their lab to gather evidence. It all went wrong, and he was exposed to whatever the substance was they were testing.

Whatever it was, it made him… enhanced. With sharper senses, a more agile mind, and improved observations, his poetry reached levels undreamed of, and his journalism more sharp-edged and perceptive. Along with this, however, a long-repressed aggression grew as well. Now stronger and tougher, he realized that the practice of these new sensory abilities increased his propensity for violence, and he began to stalk the streets at night, searching for answers via the medium of punches with a Statham-esque intensity. But he’s unable to let go of the improvement in his work, so he attempts to channel the violence towards those he feels deserve it.

He now searches for more answers about his condition and the people behind the experiment, while finding those worthy of his fists at night. As his life starts to fall apart, his only connections are to a lonely and outmatched night policeman, and to a rowdy mob of thugs, ravers, and general hooligans known as THE HOODIE MOB, who act as a network of informants and a Greek chorus of sorts. They seem to show up at very coincidental times, and seem to know more about Wise than they let on, which makes him wonder at times if they’re actually fully real, or some side effect of the experiment. They call him the Hard Man, and to David’s dismay, the name is starting to stick.

Track: Timber Timbre, “Black Water”

Tags: Action, Crime, uk

Category: 2011, Drama, Horror, Scifi