The Hanged Man

Captain Vermila of the Villain Tracking Division was pissed. A new villain had appeared on the market and she had been summoned by the Department Heads for another meeting to discuss. 

“Team 6! How long until you find a trace of the Night Stalker! I need a report of your progress on my desk by the time I get back. Understood?!”

“Yes-s  Ma’am, We’ll do tha-”

“Good. Now what are you doing! Get to work!”

Vermila huffed and quickly snapped around, her long black hair swishing into the air in the process. She then continued down the cold, iron hallway, the clanks of her military boots on the ground irritating her ears. Everything was irritating right now. 

As she reached another opening within the hallway, Vermila turned again to face the room, and began to bark orders again.

“Team 7! Why has the restoration of district 8 not grown this week? Your plans from last time were less than satisfactory, I told you we need progress within the recovery. Do you think restoring New London is a joke? Without heroes like me, we wouldn’t even have half the city! You need to do better. Understood!?”

The five members within the room all replied with a fearful “Yes Ma’am”, which normally Vermilla would have reprimanded for, but right now she had more important matters to lash out about.

She turned and continued down the hallway, the closed metal door which blocked this corridor from the rest of the compound entering the sight as she rounded a final corner. This brought her even more anger and she cursed out loud.

“Fuck! Why do I have to do this every single time! Fuck those bastards!”

As if taking it out with more force would somehow make it better, Vermila pulled her access card out of her front pocket and inserted it into the small slot next to the door. Then she leaned over to the small black screen above the slot and looked into it, and after a couple of seconds, a small beep alerted her it was done. When she shoved her index finger onto the same screen, the same beep alerted her after another few seconds. Finally, she pressed a small white button above the black screen and it popped open, revealing a small white stick. Grabbing it, she furiously wiped the inside of her mouth before throwing it back into the black screen and slamming it shut.

I’m actually going to kill them if I have to do this process one more time.

Vermila waited in front of the door, tapping on the ground with her foot continuously. Any more and her boots would have burned a hole through the floor. Finally, after a few more moments, the door opened with the small clanking of moving metal.  

She then strode forward ahead, a hallway much similar to the one she had just passed being on the other side of the door. The air on this side felt musty, as if no one had been here in quite a while, and Vermila suppressed a cough. At the end of the hallway another door presented itself to her. Thankfully, they were unregulated doors and she didn’t have to go through the process again. Pressing the black screen next to the door, she entered.

As the sight of the room revealed itself, Vermila’s eyes narrowed and her mouth turned into a grin, of course, not a grin of joy but a one of disdain. 

“Ah, finally! Firef-... no, my apologies, Captain Vermila. You have come, please sit down.”

The voice came from a man who seemed both old and young at the same time, wearing a crisp military suit which had obviously been cared for extensively. His black hair was slicked back, hidden behind a green cap. Most importantly to Vermila, he sat with both of his feet raised upon the table and arms behind his back, the embodiment of relaxed to some, but to her, he was the laziest super in existence. 

She faked a cough as a response to his gesture, and began to walk toward the empty seat that was beside him, the only seat in fact.

As she did her eyes first flicked over the disgusting room these people used for their meetings. The walls of metal were flecked with dark spots, covered in whatever shit these people had brought in, and the room was small, too small, and it felt like the metal was constricting her.

Vermila shivered in revulsion. 

As she continued, her eyes then glanced over the faces of the regulars who sat at the table, proper, unlike their leader. She could only recognize a few of them: Head of the Tracking Division, Head of the Cover Operations Division, Head of the Management Division, the few that she had bothered to keep track of in her few months here.

Finally making it after the hard journey of staying as far away from the walls as possible, she pulled the metal chair out and sat down.

“So. How has your time been here so far?  New London is a proper place you’ve probably got to see. Ha. And I’m sure you’ve gotten to see the restored palace, no? You don’t have these things in America right?” 

The man beside began to laugh as if he had said something funny, and Commander Vermila tried to hide her grimace and replied after a moment.

“Yes Commander Cavendish, it was very good, thank you.”

“Ah, no need to be so polite, just call me by my super name or just as Charles. We’re all friends here aren’t we?” He looked around the table, and the people all quickly nodded in response. “And how is your task going? I’ve heard from Oscar here that you are doing well, beyond well in fact.”

“It's going well,” she replied.

What bullshit. I should be out there, fighting the villains, not here in this slum of a place called a headquarters doing office work. Beyond well my ass.

On the outside she continued to give her well practiced smile. The Commander waited for something more, but when he realized she was not going to continue, he gave a small smile before finally sitting up straight, much to the relief of Vermila.

“Okay, that’s enough small talk, we’re here for something more important.” He cleared his throat and began to speak. ”The Main UHA headquarters has recognized the Villain Supersonic. His abilities are creating bursts of sound waves in a large radius, capable of moving and damaging physical entities, and an unknown level of superspeed. Currently operating in New Manchester City. He will be classified as an Abnormal level threat. Currently he has had forty confirmed accounts of murder, collapsed a restored bridge, and is on a robbing spree around the country with already more than twenty accounts.”

He paused and looked around.

“You know what we have to do. Track him down and detain him,  I have sent you all the required documents. We already have enough Villains in this country, we don’t need any more.”

Vermila sighed in resignation at the task ahead of her.

…

Tapping my forehead, I stared at the picture before me. Inside was a man with chiseled features, wearing a silver costume with a black cape. Handsome enough I supposed. He was a Unique level hero, name: Iron Knight, capable of turning parts of anything including his body into reinforced steel. He had three Abnormal level Villains and a Pandemonium level Villain under his belt. 

After a moment, I turned back in my chair, looking at the solid black bombs which rested on the floor of my basement. They were box shaped, and had a hammer as the logo. These were my fruits of labor from a few hours ago. Using the eye, finger, DNA, and access card I had graciously got from the willing employee I had entered a storage point of the UHA. After that, taking the bombs from the building with my sight was not a problem, especially when I could use my gift to see the password to the safe.

I turned back toward the picture. 

He maintained a facade of stout will and righteous nature to the public. He was a hero, a role model for the small city he had come from before the Days. I chuckled. Behind that mask was a lecherous women rapist who used his power and wealth to cover everything up. 

He was the one I had picked from a list of public heroes. It was easy to find a hero, using my gift I had willed myself to see the heroes ranked by corruption, and he had been at the top of the list. He would serve as a great example.

Grabbing my laptop from my desk, I began to go to work again, planning the big event. He would be so happy that all of his efforts would be shown to the public. All of them.