Earlier that day.
On the TV show, "The Many". One of the many "entertainment masquerading as News" shows on MinxNews.
The Many is composed of four middle aged white men (John Brownsmith, Greg Dumas, Erick Moensen, and William Tuphor), one token white woman in her early 30s (Debbie Brookes), and one token minority of Hispanic and African descent in his 60s (Romeo Jimenez).
The white folks have just finished shouting down Romeo for saying "Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from criticism or consequences; and that people or private companies can choose if they want to hear your opinion and give you the platform to express it."
"This just in", Debbie says, "the supervillain, Phantom Shade, defeated the Judgementor. Here's the footage."
The Many shows month-old footage of the Phantom Shade successfully attacking a National Guard armory, spliced with footage of an apartment in the Bronx exploding, spliced with footage of Alex confronting Phantom Shade. The footage ends with Alex looking around after Phantom Shade's escape in the darkness.
"Well, what do you expect from a guy with a name like Judgementor!?!" Greg exclaims, "Bad naming sense, bad hero. You can just see the look of confusion on his face."
"I don't know Greg, he doesn't look confused to me", Romeo replies.
"Oh Romeo, Romeo, Romeo", Greg retorts, "you're too naïve. Why else would he be looking around?"
"I don't kno...", Romeo begins to say.
Erick interrupts Romeo by saying, "That's right. You don't know. Nobody knows; except for the people who were there."
"So when do we expect the Judgmentor to become depowered?" Debbie asks .
"He won't; because the idiots who watch the *mainstream media* support him", Greg says with a smirk, "I watched their show, they're saying Phantom Shade escaped; as if she ran away."
"Now wait uh sekunt", John says, "we're thuh most watched News channel, how could way not bay mainstream?"
"We're not News", Romeo explains, "viewers don't expect facts from MinxNews. According to the network lawyers..."
"Back on topic", Debbie interrupts, "Alex Malger, the Judgementor, was defeated. These are the facts."
"I am not a fan of vigilantes and vigilante justice", William says, "it has serious implications for the justice system; vigilantes often do not understand the rules of due process or evidence."
"That's why there's the Superhero Association!" Greg exclaims, "They get rid of the 'messiness' by regulating and licensing heroes."
Greg continues, "If there was a licensed hero on the scene, they would have caught Phantom Shade. Bet on it."
"I am concerned about the children", William interjects, "the apartment-cum-drug-lab was across the street from an elementary school."
"Those poor kids", Debbies says with false sympathy, "must be horrible knowing they lost a future source of income..."
"Speakin' uh lost income dja hear bout thuh blaak jaguar?", John asks.
"Black jaguar?" Romeo looks at John quizziedly.
"He means the Jaguar", Erick explains, "you know, Tyrone on the Successor."
"Oh!" Romeo nods with understanding, "Such a..."
"Poor poor Tyrone", Greg cuts Romeo off, "*whatever* would he do without his endorsement contracts?"
"Now wait", Romeo begins to say, "I agree with his decision, it was blaxploitation...",
"Blaxploitation, smack-ploitation", Greg interrupts, "they can exploit me like that any day; as long as they pay me millions".
"Tyrone was not making millions...", William begins to say.
*crash*
"What was that?" a Scaramuccia guard asks as he turns his attention away from the TV.
"Uh. I don't know", another Scaramuccia guard replies .
"Well. Why don't you go look?" the first Scaramuccia guard retorts.
The guards are inside a secret Scaramuccia warehouse in Sunset park, New Amsterdam City.
New Amsterdam City is a major hub for drug trafficking networks, and the warehouse is one of the many Scaramuccia warehouses storing drugs and the raw components to manufacture/convert drugs; copious amounts of heroin, methamphetamines, oxycodone, and percocet are being stored in the warehouse.
"What the?!?", the first Scaramuccia guard exclaims as unnatural darkness blankets the area.
With a *crack* , his neck got twisted off.
The darkness clears to reveal the slump bodies of the Scaramuccia guards. Their necks have been twisted 540 degrees, and they have expressions of shock on their faces.
A physically fit man, with a metallic left arm wearing a light green and black spandex costume, is searching the guards.
"I love it when you do that", Phantom Shade says to the man.
"Just take the money, burn the drugs", the man, Cyber-Arm, replies.
-----
Now. Outside the secret Scaramuccia warehouse.
Scattered around the area are the corpses of Scaramuccia guards.
Earlier in the evening, Cyber-Arm and Phantom Shade attacked the warehouse; the supervillains made short work of the guards and set the warehouse on fire.
Unfortunately, as the pair begin to make their getaway, Evilron has shown up; hovering a few feet off the ground.
Evilron is a seven-foot tall robotic looking humanoid made out of dark black metal; it's 'head' is a paraboloidal plexiglass dome enclosing what appears to be a pulsating red-pinkish brain suspended with wires in clear fluids.
"Crap", Phantom Shade mutters as she wills darkness to envelop the area.
"DARKNESS. I AM IMMUNE TO DARKNESS", Evilron's robotic voice states as he blasts the duo with energy blasts.
"I haven't seen you since Paraknia", Cyber-Arm says as he dodges the blasts, "Why are you working for the Scaramuccia?"
"THEY GAVE ME SYNTHETIC HAPPINESS", Evilron answers as he continues his assault, "AND DOCTOR MYSTERIOUS IS NO DOCTOR PARA".
"Synthetic happiness?", Phantom Shade cancels her ineffective darkness power as she looks at Cyber-Arm, "what's that?"
"It was a TED talk", Cyber-Arm explains as he blasts Evilron with his arm-mounted sonic cannon, "Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we want. Synthetic happiness is what we make when we don't get what we want."
"What does that even mean?", Phantom Shade asks over the sounds of her semi-auto emptying it's rounds at Evilron.
The bullets harmlessly bounce off Evilron as he says, "ONLY YOUR PARAKIAN WEAPONS CAN HURT ME, BUT I AM ALL PARAKIAN WEAPONRY."
Cyber-Arm answers as he dodges another one of Evilron's energy blasts, "Synthetic happiness is happiness that comes from good thoughts about events that originally seem bad or neutral".
"I still don't understand", Phantom Shade says, "why are... ARRGH".
Phantom Shade lets out a scream as Evilron quickly grabs her by the shoulder and crushes it.
"Let her go! You rust-bot!", Cyber-Arm says as he fires another sonic blast at Evilron.
"YOU KNOW I HATE BEING CALLED THAT", Evilron lets go of Phantom Shade and chases after Cyber-Arm, "YOU ARE ALSO A CYBORG."
"No. I'm human", Cyber-Arm corrects Evilron as he uses each hand to lift the dead body of a Scaramuccia guard.
Flinging the two bodies toward Evilron, Cyber-Arm states, "You're a machine, a monster".
"BOLD WORDS EXPERIMENT NUMBER EIGHT", Evilron retorts as his energy blasts quickly turn the bodies into bite-size chunks.
"Says you, FAILED experiment number five", Cyber-Arm taunts Evilron as he sends out a barrage of sonic blasts.
"YOU INSULT ME. YOU ARE NOT EVEN MADE OUT OF LIVING METAL", Evilron counters as he avoids the blasts.
"At least I kept my humanity", Cyber-Arm says as he ducks behind a wall to avoid Evilron's retaliation.
"DIE", Evilron states as he bombards the area with energy blasts.
Cyber-Arm runs toward the NA 27, Prospect Expressway, with Evilron flying in pursuit.
A few minutes after the pair have left, Alex steps toward a wounded Phantom Shade, "You're under arrest."
"Were you watching the whole time?", Phantom Shade laughs as she begins to summon the darkness, "Some hero you are."
"And aren't you worried about them?", Phantom Shade asks as she motions toward the drones buzzing in the distance.
"Don't worry about them, we're not being live streamed", Alex replies, "and the footage will be edited."
"Hmp", Phantom Shade smirks as the area gets blanketed by total darkness.
As Phantom Shade begins sneaking off, Alex clenches his fist.
Random articles of clothing from the dead Scaramuccia guards suddenly leap up and wrap themselves around Phantom Shade's head, arms, and legs.
"Wha-?", Phantom Shade says confusedly as she rips the clothing off her face.
"Nice try", Alex replies as he runs up to Phantom Shade and continuously shocks her with his power.
As Phantom Shade collapses due to strong involuntary long muscle contractions, Alex easily restrains her.
-----
Meanwhile, Evilron is chasing Cyber-Arm.
Cyber-Arm is running on the NA 27, the Prospect Expressway, with Evilron hot on his heels.
Although rush hour is over, with it being early in the afternoon, there is still traffic on the expressway. The speed limit of the expressway is 45 miles per hour, but it drops to 30 mph north of Church Avenue.
Consequently, you can imagine the drivers' shock as a human with a black metallic arm passes them at over 100 miles per hour.
Cyber-Arm zigs and zags, running on top of cars, and ducking under overpasses and bridges as he attempts to lose Evilron.
Eviron, however, flies directly in pursuit; blowing holes in the expressway, bridges, cars, and people in his attempt to hit Cyber-Arm.
"...Lightning", a soft feminine voice intones.
A blast of lightning erupts from the clear sky and strikes Evilron, knocking him to the ground.
A driver on the expressway attempts to be a hero and rams Evilron with his car. Much to the driver's dismay, Evilron effortlessly tears the car in half, ripping apart the soft, squishy driver.
Getting up, Evilron looks at the sky and sees Ganadora, Lhora, and Moon Beam staring down at him.
Ganadora, a muscular Hispanic lady in a red and yellow spandex costume, poses as she shouts, "Your reign of terror ends here, Evilron!"
"MEDDLING HEROES", Evilron intones before engaging the three heroines.
Pointing his arms, Evilron sends a blast of energy toward the heroines.
Moving her dexterous fingers, Ganadora summons a translucent orange shield to block the blow.
"Not bad." Ganadora shouts, "Now it's OUR turn!!"
Three bolts of lighting streak toward Evilron, who nonchalantly avoids them.
Walking menacingly, Evilron calmly heads toward the civilians in parked cars.
Seeing him coming, vehicles turn around, some driving onto the shoulder - others jumping onto opposing traffic. The resulting accidents cause many to abandon their vehicles as they flee for their lives.
"You're not getting past me!!!" Lhora declares- her platinum blond tresses swaying in the wind as she imposes herself between Evilron and the parked cars.
Arms blurring, Evilron throws a punch toward Lhora.
Ducking under his blow, Lhora dodges Evilron's attack, and retaliates, swinging her mace toward Evilrons body.
Rotating his torso 180 degrees, Evilron's arm shoots toward Lhora's head.
Only to be blocked by Ganadora's energy shield.
Unfortunately, Ganadora's shield shatters, but it served its purpose; it brought Lhora enough time to block Evilron's blow with her mace.
As Lhora is knocked back over 500 feet, Moon Beam sends ray after ray of "moonlight" toward Evilron. The resulting explosion creates a cloud of smoke as the surroundings vehicles explode
Catching her breath, Lhora staggers up as a blast of energy heads toward her.
Flying into the sky, Lhora barely dodges Evilron's attack.
Both Ganadora and Moon Beam are not idle during this exchange.
Summoning energy shield after energy shield, Ganadora sends wave after wave of spinning energy discs toward Evilron.
"YOU ARE TOO SLOW" intones Evilron as he grabs the first spinning disc - and smashes it against the 2nd and 3rd discs.
"Lightning. Lighting. Lightning." Lhora chants as wave after wave of lightning streaks from the sky toward Evilron.
Engaging his thrusters, Evilron easily dodges toward some parked cars.
Lifting one up, he throws it toward Ganadora, only to follow up with an energy blast toward the same car.
"FUCK!!" Ganadora screams as she barely blocks the resulting explosion.
"Got you!!," Moon Beam smirks as multiple rays of "moonlight" converges on Evilron's brain housing.
"GOT WHO?" Evilron asks as he takes the attack. "ONLY PARAKIAN WEAPONS, OR BETTER CAN HURT ME"
"YOU DON'T RATE." Evilron continues.
Energy blasts and debris permeate the area as the combatants continue to engage in multiple variations of air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.
After a few minutes of inconclusive fighting, with nothing to show for it except for destroyed sections of the expressways and wreckages of multiple vehicles, Moon Beam utters, "Fuck. He's strong, too strong."
Moon Beam yells, "How the hell did Seabass fight you to a draw?"
Evilron replies, "LITTLE FISH KEPT JUMPING IN AND OUT OF THE OCEAN. EVEN I AM NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT CUBIC KILOMETERS OF WATER".
Ganadora asks, "Why didn't you... you know, just ignore him and do what you came to do?"
Evilron is silent for a moment, "... YOU MOCK ME! DIE!"
-----
After turning Phantom Shade over to the authorities, Alex hops into his customized limo bus; the Vehicle of Judgement. The bus is white and silver, heavily armored, and has decals of blue thunderbolts plastered all over it.
As the driver begins to maneuver the vehicle, Alex sits back and relaxes on the luxurious seats.
Pouring himself a glass of hard lemonade, Alex clicks on his communicator, "Thames. Give me a status update."
Thames replies, "Bzzt. As you surmise, sir, the war has dragged in other criminal factions... everyone is being hit indiscriminately."
Alex interrupts, "What's the likelihood of us supporting a second-rate faction and having them take over the City? This is, of course, assuming that we can make them beholden to us."
Thames pauses for a second before responding, "Bzzt. I don't recommend it, sir. For one thing, you have much more to lose if word gets out... for another, there's no way someone like you- a presumably squeaky clean hero can guarantee the loyalty of those... those animals."
"Well," Alex says, "I want you to look into it."
-----
Evilron's fierce battle with Ganadora, Lhora, and Moon Beam continues.
The drones in the distance capture footage that would put blockbuster movies to shame; whether it be from Lhora's lightning, Moon Beam's moon-light, or Ganadora's ability to manipulate energy shields.
The three heroines are having a tough time against Evilron's monstrous strength, durability, and range.
"I called for backup", Ganadora says as she deflects one of Evilron's energy blasts, "we just have to hold him until Alien Axe shows up."
"ALIEN AXE. I AM NOT AFRAID OF A MERE SIDEKICK." Evilron remarks as he fires another barrage of energy at the heroines.
"Get with the times, old man," Lhora says as she summons another bolt of lightning from the heavens, "He stopped being Psi-Axe's sidekick more than 20 years ago; he's a hero in his own right."
"HE IS A WASTOID." Evilron reminisces as he chooses to take the lightning bolt head on in order to grab Ganadora, "WERE IT NOT FOR PSI-AXE, HE WOULD BE BEGGING FOR HANDOUTS."
"Wha-," Ganadora struggles to breathe as Evilron's left hand clenches around her throat.
Tightening his grip, Evilron says, "IT IS TIME TO CRUSH YOU GNATS".
Suddenly there is a flash of silver; Evilron's left forearm falls toward the ground, the black metal writhing and floundering as if it were a living thing.
The black metal of Evilron's left stump also twists and squirms, as a booming voice in the distance shouts, "Beware the power of my alien axe!"
A dark haired man with pale blue-white skin, wearing a white and blue costume with the image of a silver two-headed axe imprinted vertically on his chest, suddenly appears before Evilron; silver polearm gleaming with dangerous light.
The man, Alien Axe, quickly swings his axe down.
Glowing with blue light, Alien Axe's alien-axe attempts to bisect Evilron.
Dodging, Evilron avoids the attack, causing Alien Axe's alien-axe to discharge its stored energy into the ground.
The ground, nay, the very earth itself responds with an explosion, as new mountains and a valley is created where there was once a freeway.
Swooping down Evilron picks up his left arm and reattaches it; the gleaming black metal rejoins its counterpart.
Thrusters firing, Evilron rights himself and looks up at Alien Axe.
Evilron does a double take - Staring at Alien Axe, Evilron cries "Psi-Axe! You did this to me.. YOU DID THIS. Run the anti-psi program."
"ACKNOWLEDGED," Evilron continues as six pulsating appendages erupt out of his back..
The sky darkens as rain clouds begin to gather..
Shaking his head, Alien Axe replies, "You won't get the chance."
The surrounding wreckage, mostly composed of ruined cars and broken sections of the Expressway, floats in the air.
"Shit!" Lhora curses, "We gotta get out of here."
The superheroines quickly flee.
Lighting dances across the sky as the smell of ozone becomes prevalent. Chain lightning begins to rain down, striking randomly.
Over half of the debris floating in the air launches themselves toward the sky; only to be pulverized by the amount of energy gathering.
The remaining debris launch themselves toward Evilron like missiles
Although Evilron dodges most of the debris with relative ease, he was unaware that he was being herded; until a large section of the Prospect Expressway directly smashes into him.
As Evilron crashes into the ground with a thunderous *boom*, Alien Axe states, "You chose poorly".
-----
Two hours later, a dismembered Evilron is in the back of an armored van heading toward the Psi-Solar correctional facility.
Evilron has been reduced to a pulsating red-pinkish brain enclosed in a paraboloidal plexiglass dome; his torso, arms, forearms, thighs, legs, and other miscellaneous parts are being shipped off to various research labs.
As the three armed guards in the back with Evilron attempt to ignore his robotic taunts and curses, the guard in the front seat is having a conversation with the driver.
"So what's the deal with this guy?" the guard, a youth barely older than twenty, asks.
"He was once a psychic." the driver, a grizzled old man, responds as he expertly navigates what's left of the freeway, "Word has it that Doc Para, now that's the mad scientist Doc Para - not the vampire, mutant, or whichever villain-of-the-week Doc Para, wanted to unlock the secret of psionics and that Evilron was one of the test subjects. The experiment failed and Evilron was reduced to a brain in a jar. Hating waste, Doc Para later stuck him into a robotic body."
"Wait, I'm so confused." the youth says, "So the mad scientist Doc Para is the Robot Doc Para?"
"No, that's a common misconception," the driver corrects, "the Robot Doc Para was the Dark Ninja Doc Para, who was rebuilt by Heat-eater Doc Para."
Looking bewildered, the youth asks, "Heat-eater Doc Para?!?"
"Yes." the driver confidently answers, "Now.. Not many people know this but the Heat-eater Doc Para …"
"That's not what I'm confused about." the youth interrupts, "Doc Para… I mean the Heat-eater Doc Para knows how to build robots? Wouldn't that make him the Mad-Scientist or Robot-Maker and not Heat-eater? And how do you know all this?"
*cough* , "I have the guidebook to Paraknia," the driver replies.
"The guidebook to Paraknia…" the youth's voice trails off.
"Yes, the guidebook to Paraknia." the driver says while nodding, "Very limited item when Doc Para.. I mean the real Doc Para.. wait… Ok, don't give me that look... Fine.. Purple Cape Wearing Doc Para was trying to get people to join Para-norm."
The youth stares skeptically at the driver, "Uh-huh."
"I'm serious...", the driver attempts to elaborate, "Doc Para promised to unleash the latent potential in all of his citizens. All you had to do was agree to be his test subject while he tinkers with your genetic code."
"Uh-huh." the youth rolls his eyes.
"I'm serious!" the driver protests, "What do you think happened to our psychic friend here?"
"I thought he had the power to control machinery?" the youth asks, "Now, I'm talking about Evilron now, not Doc Para… If Evilron can control machines - why didn't he use it during the battle?"
"That's a misconception." the driver replies, "During the glory days of Paraknia, supervillains were rich; they would seed future battlefields with multiple traps in attempts to slow down or defeat heroes. That's why, unless you're insane, you never want to engage a supervillain on their home turf."
"I meant," the youth elaborates, "didn't he used to have multiple robot bodies?"
"Did you see multiple robot bodies?" the driver asks, "If he had multiple bodies, wouldn't he use them during the fight."
"No," the driver replies while shaking his head, "it's probably one of the many mind games that supervillains like to play."
"What's scarier?" the driver asks rhetorically, "a psycho supervillain or an unstoppable, psycho supervillain?"
-----
Meanwhile, at the National Headquarters of the Superhero Association in Washington DC.
The main headquarters of the Superhero Association is, simply put, a fortress. Security measures at the SAHQ includes:
A solid granite wall perimeter
Attack dogs, guarding the area between the solid granite wall perimeter and interior buildings
Remotely controlled steel doors
Motion detecting laser beams
Pressure pads and cameras
Squadrons of machine-gun wielding guards
and
The superheroes themselves.
Underneath the headquarters lies a 50-megaton nuclear blast door, behind it lies an underground-tunnel-network-cum-nuclear-bunker; filled with enough supplies to weather a nuclear attack.
Within a heavily guarded room, Executive Assistant Director Ho is holding his weekly teleconference meeting with the other five Executive Assistant Directors of the Superhero Association; Ashford, Funk, Reyes, Smith, and Washington.
Looking at the video teleconference screen, Executive Assistant Director Ho, a lean and fit Asian man in his early 60s, is saying, "...The upper echelon is still busy overseeing the conversion of the orbital habitat we captured from the Parakian remnant led by Doctor Mysterious...
And finally, no breakthrough for Paragon Island."
Executive Assistant Director Funk - a skinny bald white man in his early 70s, responds, "Damn. Should we just open up the island to other exploration teams?"
Executive Assistant Director Reyes - a large Hispanic lady in her early 70s, says, "Might as well. Maybe they can bring new insights... or even solve the mystery."
Executive Assistant Director Washington - a skinny black man in his early 70s comments, "Does this include cultivators? I really hate cultivators..."
Director Funk responds, "We shouldn't let our personal biases interfere with the decision."
Clapping his hands, Director Ho says, "Okay. Let's take a vote. Show of hands."
Looking around the room, Director Ho reports, "Five in favor. One opposed. We will be opening Paragon Island."
And... that's all I have to report," Director Ho concludes, "Next."
Director Reyes goes next, "Shimmer is still tracking the Reverter."
Director Washington exclaims, "Wha~?", before asking, "how does that nut case still have supporters?"
Director Funk responds, "You have to admit that many people believe drastic action is needed to save our planet; that people and corporations aren't doing enough."
"Still," Executive Assistant Director Ashford- a scrawny white lady in her late 60s says, "seeking to revert humanity to the pre-industrial age is too much. Would we even be able to feed everyone?"
"Probably not." Executive Assistant Director Smith - a large white man in his late 60s responds, "It would stop pollution though."
"I take it that our PR efforts to depower him have been unsuccessful?" Director Ho asks.
"Unfortunately, there's no real impact," Director Reyes replies.
With a frown, Director Reyes continues, "it's because climate change is real, and corporations aren't doing enough to reduce their emissions."
"Can't we coerce the Corps to act appropriately?" Director Ashford asks.
"The upper echelons would never agree." Director Ho replies.
"Mhmm," murmurs of agreement come from the rest of the teleconference.
"Moving on." Director Ho continues, "Do you have anything else to report?"
"No," Director Reyes replies while shaking her head.
"Alright. Next." Director Ho says.
Director Ashford goes next, "Sister Elle convinced Number One of the Neo-Hominid movement to give up its cause."
"Really?" Director Ho inquires, "How did she do that?"
Director Ashford answers, "she told it that turning everyone into featureless, genderless, purple-skinned humanoids is not the true way to solve discrimation... and that they should work together to dismantle the systemic barriers preventing people from succeeding."
Slapping his knees, Director Washington says, "Great! Just Great! After a few years at Psi-Solar, she... it might be able to join us as a hero."
"You have to admit their message is pretty seductive to some people," Director Funk replies, "that once everyone is a neo-hominid, everyone would be equal; there would be no discrimination due to race, gender, or physical differences."
Director Reyes curtly retorts, "It's fake. It's not taking into account different cultural backgrounds, experiences, or history."
"Heck," Director Reyes continues, "Even if they can overlook items from their previous life, wouldn't the neo-humans just start discriminating based on the order in which they were converted?"
"Mhmm," the rest of the teleconference call nods in agreement.
"Moving on," Director Ho asks Director Ashford, "do you have anything else to report?"
"Yes," Director Ashford responds, "our investigators conclude that the cult called the 'Embrace the Night' is not run by vampires or any other supernatural creatures."
"With a name like that, you would assume vampires," Director Washington says.
"I agree." Director Ashford says, "But like I said, the investigators, police, and heroes secretly investigated the cult and found no evidence of vampires, vampiric manipulation, or wrongdoing; it's like any other cult run by charismatic grifters, con-men, or people with delusions of grandeur. I downgraded them to Zeta, we'll check up on them once every few months."
"I have nothing else to report," Director Ashford concludes.
"Alright. Next." Director Ho says.
Director Smith goes next, "The... troubles at New Amsterdam City reduces the public's faith in our order and security. I've already dispatched Alien Axe to watch over the City, but this isn't sustainable. We need a truce."
"Why Alien Axe? Why not Goldenstar?" Director Reyes asks.
"Goldenstar? Why waste the top ranked hero?" Director Smith says rhetorically, "Alien Axe is sufficient."
"Isn't Goldenstar over a hundred years old?" Director Washington asks.
"That's just a rumor, just like the rumors of him being the son of Paragon." Director Funk responds, "If he really was the son of Paragon, Paragon would have passed him all of his powers... unless he's not worthy."
"How could he not be worthy?" Director Ashford chuckles, "He's the top ranked hero, and one of the founders of the Superhero Association."
"Back on the war," Director Ho says while changing the subject, "it's a waste to send Goldenstar to watch over New Amsterdam City. Alien Axe is sufficient."
"I take it there's no luck on a brokered truce?" Director Ho asks.
"No." Director Smith replies, "All the truces we brokered keep getting violated."
"How is the investigation going?" Director Ho asks, "Has there been any progress?"
Director Smith respectfully answers, " Investigators conclude that the Scaramuccias are the aggressors, and that the war is coming from the top, from Paul Scaramuccia."
"Why would he suddenly want a war?" Director Funk asks, "The Scaramuccias and the Karoleks have peacefully coexisted for over forty years."
"I agree. It's very unnatural." Director Ashford says, "I strongly suspect supernatural influence, probably vampires; it's not the first time they've done something like this."
"Is there any way we can free him from their influence?" Director Washington asks.
"Short of mind-controlling or hypnotizing him, no." Director Ho replies, "However, we do have a few options without mind control."
Director Ho continues, "One. We can push out one of the gangs. Two. We can implement the 'Crime Lord' plan in New Amsterdam City."
"I'm in favor of the 'Crime Lord' plan." Director Funk says, "Choosing sides is a bit distasteful and there's no guarantee that the losers wouldn't want revenge."
"I agree," Director Ashford says, "the current gang war is a blessing in disguise; it'll finally give us the opportunity to seize control of New Amsterdam's criminal underworld."
"I also agree," says Director Washington, "there's already chaos in the streets... Although there would be short term pain, it will create long term stability."
"Ditto for me", Director Reyes says.
"That's already four in favor," Director Ho says, "we will be implementing the 'Crime Lord' plan in New Amsterdam City."