Daniel Vasquez sat alone in his office, overlooking the report of Tuesday's incident. The daylight long vanished from view, leaving the sterile lights of his office illuminating the room that was above the public's normal eye. At a steady rate, he flipped through the pages of the report with a worried look on his face. A break-in has never bothered him before. Often the wannabe culprit would never make it past Daniel's state of the art security. If they had gotten through, MegaCom security would introduce their unlucky souls to death. This case, however, worried Daniel. The infiltrator was able to disable the security systems altogether before he made his move for his prize. Daniel had to admit that it takes some skill. Even the best of MegaCom security could not keep up. There were guards put in critical condition by the thief's attack. He wasn't worried about the few insurance bills that came in the mail. If they had died, they were extendable. At least their survival indicated they were not dealing with an inhuman monster of some kind. Probably, Pixel got more than what he first bargained. The system came back online quickly after the initial strike. It wasn't fast enough to identify Pixel's diagnostics besides his physical traits. He was still an unknown enemy, for now. If Daniel was able to force more confrontations with the vigilante, then he could get better information about his foe.
Daniel had told the public that this intrusion of privacy was going to bite the thief in the rear end. He only told the audience of today's speech about helping the police. This act was only for MegaCom's public reputation. Daniel intended to do far more than that. He had connections to some of the more unsavory parts of society. The President meant to use all of them to recover the blueprint. He laid the papers down on the hardwood desk before swiveling his office chair around to view the city.
The crock was out there somewhere with an alpha build of Maximus. What was his motive for stealing it? A response to a plea for help, or was it to gain a fortune? Perhaps, to objective was to study it for a corporate rival? Although the reason doesn't matter, Pixel still acquired the diagram Daniel scuffed to himself. Pixel was in for a rude awakening. MegaCom's power goes well beyond the walls of regulations. The "hero" has started a war in which he will not see the end. For this war goes beyond Pixel, but extends to every other hero in existence.
That part of his speech was genuine. Daniel's resolve by using Maximus would defeat the purpose of so-called Heroes that filled the sky. Well, not all of them. There are some Heroes whose loyalty falls to MegaCom. Daniel was sure they would be more than willing to help him ascend into the pages of history, for a price. Extermination awaited any other hero or villain that refused to join his cause.
It was too soon to start his conquest; Daniel needed to deal with Pixel's inconvenience first. Information about Maximus was dangerous in the hands of the public. Despite that, it was outdated by three builds. In the right hands, countermeasures against Maximus would prove fatal to Daniel's schemes. There were two methods to fix this. One, destroy the information and anyone who knows outside MegaCom's senior board members. The second was to accelerate the project's schedule to make the data obsolete in all its uses.
Both were viable options guaranteed to get the results he sought, but both had considerable risk. The first would be bloody, violent, and, if performed thoughtlessly, would trace evidence back to Daniel. All he worked for would reach ruination, MegaCom would lose the public fame he worked so hard to gain. Incompetent buffoons would take his place as President. MegaCom would ultimately join the pages of history. The second option was more frightful, Maximus being an A.I always had a chance to evolve spontaneously. The rushed production of the model could lead to defects and mutations that could result in sentience. An evolving intellect is not a bad thing, but in a robot armed with the world's most advanced security, that was an issue. Looking down on the city, Daniel could only think of the limitless horror such a situation could cause. A knocking on his office door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in," Daniel said making a gesture with his hand to motion for whoever was at the door to come in,
"Sir, I wasn't aware that you were still here." A feeble intern's voice spoke from behind the President.
"I'm usually not here at this hour. Go ahead and lay the papers in the rack on my desk," Daniel said, turning around to see the intern's intimidating face.
"Can I ask, why are you still here?" The intern said close to the desk
"You can; I'm worried about another attack. So I came to supervise MegaCom until closing," Daniel responded as he watched the intern around to walk away. Catching a glimpse of the intern's name badge. He discovered her name is Mia Williamson. Although memorizing, the intern's name was useless. There was a new intern that delivered documents every week.
"I see, good night, sir."
"You too, Mia,"
"Thank you, sir."
Then like that, the intern left Daniel alone again with his thoughts in his spacious office. He sat down in the tall office chair. He adjusted himself as he grabbed the paper files that Mia had laid on the desk. Printed on each one was a dossier of a super powered being that would respond positively to a bit of incentive. Daniel earlier today had asked the PR department to have them on his desk by the end of the day. Either the information was hard to find, or there were many of them. Judging from the large stack that was now on his desk, it was the latter. There were a couple of individuals he wanted to contact individually, such as the rouges "Sleuth-Hound" and "Drama." Both of these individuals would raise the staff's suspicions about Daniel's motives if he asked for them directly. Giving the proclamation earlier alongside asking for the files was the only way to avoid any second glances.
These two individuals were going to be instrumental in retrieving the lost blueprint. Sleuth-Hound was a mercenary that walked the borderline of good and evil. He does a job only for the pay; he doesn't care about the morality of it. His renowned ability to close cases had brought him into the public's eye. Surely, he would be able to learn the identity of Pixel and, more importantly, the location of the stolen blueprint. Drama was a less savory individual. His reputation for villainy proceeds him. He carries a dramatic flair with everything he does. He cites Shakespearean plays and other famous theatrical works when he takes the public stage. His work is in the scenes he can create to tangle and trap heroes in a web of deceit. Drama's performance shall prove to be a great asset in Daniel's scheme for rebuilding the world.
Daniel set their two dossiers aside as he continued to look through the pile. It was a mixed bag of characters. There were notable heroes such as "Dazzling Star." Then the next would be a rookie villain who barely started to tread the route of darkness. Each one showed the face of a willing pawn. Those Daniel saw promise in; he set aside underneath the files of Sleuth-Hound and Drama.
The process of selection continued until two distinct piles of 30 were formed — one of the stacks filled with useful viable pawns, the other, rejects. Daniel moved the collection of prospects into a drawer on his desk. The other had to needed to be shredded. Daniel dialed a number on the idle phone that sat on the secretaire that was parallel to the left side of his desk on the wall.
" I need you to send an intern to deliver some paperwork I have to the trash heap," Daniel requested to the other side of the line
"Yes, sir. Is there anything else?" The voice responded.
"No," Daniel spoke
"Okay, there will be one right up." The voice replied than hung up.
Daniel once again swiveled his chair around to view the outside world. He leaned back in the chair as he waited for the intern. Soon enough a knocking was heard from the office's door
"Come in," Daniel spoke, granting permission to the intern at the door.
"Where are the papers, sir?" A familiar voice spoke accompanied by the clicking of heels. Daniel turned around to face the intern. Once again, it was Mia.
"Here," Daniel said, handing the intern the stack of rejects.
"I'll take of these, sir." She said as she adjusted her hands on the papers to get a better grasp of the stack.
"Make sure that the papers are fully ineligible. No one should know that they exist."
"Okay, sir. Is that all?" Mia asked
"Yes, that is all. Call me when you finished the deed," Daniel said to dismiss the intern
He watched her leave the office at a quickened pace. Her task was urgent. She only asked a few questions about the sensitive job. He was glad to see that she clearly understood the situation. She doesn't know his full intentions, but she is willing to follow his orders diligently. Mia, if she keeps this attitude, will quickly find a promotion. There was no doubt in his mind that he would receive a call in the next few minutes from her. Daniel smirked, as the beginning of the end of the world of heroes had begun. He gave a silent chuckle as he walked over to his office door, which had eluded closure. He placed his hand on the thick, mahogany wood door. There were multiple alterations in the pattern of the wood from splinters that had departed over the years. This door had a history. It was his office years ago when he first started working on the codding that lead to the rise of a silicon giant. That business had long since closed, but it remains a valid part of his past. Without the stiff air of his dad's insurance building, he never would have been motivated to strike out on his own. This door serves as a reminder of those humbler days.
Daniel gently closed the door and walked back to his desk in the office. Lights beyond his mirror were starting to turn off one by one. Other businesses like MegaCom remained bright, but they were in the minority. The sky remained obscured by the remaining lights, but some star did peak through. It was a hybrid sky of light pollution and nature's twinkling lights. The headquarters to MegaCom would soon close for the night. He looked around the painting in the window, watching the rushing lights of the vehicles down below.
His phone started to ring after a quiet 30 minutes. Daniel picked it up.
"The papers are destroyed, sir," Mia said as the first thing.
"Good, how did you do it," Daniel asked in curiosity.
"I shredded them in the workroom, and then went to the alleyway nearby and burned them in a trashcan till they were but ash, sir," Mia explained
"Excellent work. You are free to go." Daniel replied to her explanation
"Thank you, sir," Mia spoke in gratitude before hanging up the call.
She was very promising; indeed, Daniel thought to himself. He held the button in the silhouette of the phone until the earpiece was silent. He dialed the number to another part of MegaCom.
"What can we do for you, Mr. Vasquez?" a male voice came on the line
"I need you to send an invitation to one of our clients, Mr. Damian Tracey." Daniel requested as he looked at the file of "Sleuth-Hound." which he pulled from the top of the remaining paper stack. He heard the clicking of a pen in the background on the other end.
"Tell him to introduce himself to me on Friday." Daniel continued with his request.
"Will do, anyone else." The man asked
"No, have a good night," Daniel said, hanging up the phone.
Daniel put the phone back to it's resting position on the phone's apparatus. He removed himself from his office chair to grab his coat off the rack that hand near the door. Daniel, with a flick, flipped the light switch that operated the office's lights before exiting the room. With a soft pull, he closed the old mahogany door. The door closed with a resounding click. The security systems installed into the framed were armed. Daniel nodded in satisfaction as he heard the noise. The President of MegaCom was on his way out of the building.