“How did your family get such a large mansion Ms. Leichenmacher?” David asked as he followed along behind her, staring in awe at the gilded hall.

Her smile becoming a bit brittle, Eve answered evasively. “Oh, here and there. My parents were owners of a... very valuable company and were very wealthy.”

“Really? Where are they now?” he questioned innocently, thankfully not noticing the vagueness of her reply.

“I’m afraid they were… they died a few years ago,” Eve explained simply, reconsidering her words.

“Oh… I’m sorry if I stirred up bad memories, Ms. Leichenmacher” David apologized, suddenly sounding much quieter than before.

Surprised and confused by the child’s sudden meekness, Eve stopped and turned. “Hmm?” she hummed processing what he’d said, before laughing, “Don’t worry about it, David. It was years ago. I’ve long since made my peace and moved on.”

Turning back around, Eve continued on, making David scramble to keep up. “Also,” she started while walking, “Call me Eve. No need for things to be too formal between us, we are going to be teammates soon, after all.”

“Oh yeah!” David said, voice becoming much brighter.

“Yes, we will be,” A much older voice said darkly.

“Ah, Mr. Meyer. So nice of you to join us!” Eve welcomed brightly as he stepped out from one of the many branching paths that connected to the hallway they were walking down. She’d purposefully taken a longer path than necessary with David in order to give the disabled veteran time to catch up.

“Yes… nice.”

“What’s wrong grandfather?” David asked, picking up that something had just changed and looking between the two adults.

Axel glared at Eve, who calmly met his gaze. “...Nothing,” He eventually responded as he broke eye contact and gave David a small smile.

“David?” Eve suddenly inquired, getting his attention. “Would you like to see more of the mansion? Pixel could show you around if you’d like?”

“Indeed,” Pixel’s synthetic voice said from the ceiling. “While I can not actually guide you, I can provide directions and conversation.”

Sending a glance towards his grandfather, who gave a slight nod, David reluctantly agreed, walking off into another pathway, leaving Eve and Axel alone.

Both just stood for a moment, regarding each other. Eve with a calculating expression on her face, all trance of her earlier warmth gone, Axel with cold precision and bloodlust only gained when one threatened another’s family.

“Let’s go talk,” Eve said, dropping the niceties she displayed before and switching over to german.

Nodding, Axel followed when she stalked off down the hallway.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, even there footsteps quieted by the thick carpet. They finally stopped in front of a large door, ornate as everything else. As the door opened, probably because of hidden motors, they both entered a small sitting room with two couches and a small coffee table.

Sitting down on opposite couches, they resumed their staring competition.

“...I have questions,” Axel stated.

“And I have answers.”

“Why are we here?”

“Why are any of us here?”

“No. Me and David. Why have you ‘invited’ us over?”

“I wonder...”

“Gottverdammt woman!” Axel yelled, slamming his fists on the table. “Answer the question!”

Looking at the silvery energies surrounding the veteran’s hands, Eve made a mental note. Eve met Axel’s murderous gaze and calmly replied, “No.”

Clenching his teeth, Axel forced himself to calm down and pushed his rage to the back of his mind. Sitting back, he began to breathe. A few moments later he opened his eyes and regarded the woman in front of him.

By all accounts, she wasn’t that impressive.

Pretty, sure, but not beautiful. She wasn’t fit, only naturally skinny, and looked like she would struggle to lift more than a few pounds. She had a scattering of freckles on her cheeks and thick round glasses on her nose. Blong hair in a messy ponytail with strands slipping out. Unimpressive all around.

Then he looked at her eyes.

And everything changed.

Those were not the eyes of a civilian and you would be hard-pressed to find a soldier that had those eyes. No, those were the eyes that had seen things horrid. Not merely the death of another, but things much much worse.

Axel had seen those eyes once on a soldier they’d rescued from a prison camp. While the other prisoners had empty eyes, broken from their time there, that one had eyes of steel forged in blood. He had seen hell…

And spit in its face.

“In 1936 Hitler was named Füher of the Third German Reich,” Eve unexpectedly began, startling Axel out of his thoughts. “In his time as leader, he would go on to conquer all of mainland Europe, creating one of the biggest empires the world has ever seen.

“Then he would implement one of the worst atrocities ever committed by man, something so foul and so heinous that it required the creation of a new word to describe it.

“It was known as the ‘Endlösung’ to those that knew of it in Germany at the time. The more common name for it now is the Holocaust.

“Hans Schmidt was one of the perpetrators of the act. He ran an extermination camp that was part of the greater Auschwitz concentration camp. His camp was so efficient at the act of extermination that he was once visited by the Füher himself to be praised for his work.

“But Hans did not run the camp for praise or because he believed in some greater ideal, he did it because he thought it was fun.

“He enjoyed watching people suffer, enjoyed their pain, their agony. Why? I do not know, but nevertheless he loved to watch as they choked on the gas in the gas chambers, as they burned to ash in the cremation chambers.

“Hans didn’t just enjoy it though, he took pride in his body count, often bragging at parties about how many Jews he killed... as if it was a high score in a video game.

“Hans took so much pride in his body count that he legally changed his name…” She trailed off with a faraway look in her eye.

“Hans would eventually be punished for his actions,” she continued after a few moments, “executed for crimes against humanity, but his name would live on in the three sons he’d fathered.

“In 1948, one of these sons would join the KGB and go on to use the power he was granted to systematically rape and torture women for pleasure. It’s estimated that almost 200 women were his victims, though the real number remains unknown.

“He would never be tried for these acts and would eventually die from alcohol poisoning as he drank himself to death. However, not before fathering another generation.

“In 1987 it would be revealed that one of his daughters had created an extensive human trafficking ring. Almost 100,000 people were trafficked in total, with almost all entering illegal slavery afterward.

“She would die in prison, shanked to death by a fellow inmate, and her spouse would have to deal with raising five children by themselves.

“In 2032, the cycle of blood would continue when one of her offspring suffered from a mental break. He would procure enriched uranium off of the black market, presumably obtained from the Tortkuduk Raid, and would build a nuclear bomb in his garage. Using this bomb he would then blow up Germany’s second-biggest city, Hamburg, destroying it almost in its entirety.

“The casualties ranged in the millions…” Eve stopped yet again, collecting herself, before continuing.

“He would never be punished for his crimes, perishing in the blast, but his family was scorned and derided for allowing such an act to happen... as if they could have stopped it.

“But the tainted lineage continued as two sons were born to his blood and grew up.” Pausing, Eve got up and moved to the door.

Opening it, she revealed a small service-droid carrying a platter with a small tea set on it. Eve took the platter and walked back to the couch, placing the tray on the table. Pouring herself a cup of tea, Eve savored the smell before taking a small sip and continuing.

“In 2049, during the height of the World Famine, one of these sons would take advantage of the turbulent times in Europe and lead a small coup. Taking over a small plot of land using a conscripted army, he would ‘rule’ it for four long years. In that time, he would install a bloody regime that killed thousands.

“He would take a ‘bride’ and father only a single son before Germany managed to get its shit together and killed him in a war that lasted only twenty-four hours. The family was spared as his ‘bride’ had never been more than a wench he’d taken fancy too and the son was just an innocent baby.” Once more taking a sip of her tea, Eve met Axel’s eyes.

“That baby was my father… and I’m sure you already know what he did.”

Getting up, Eve walked over to a window, staring out at the moving lights that were the highway in the distance, only visible because of the slight hill the manor rested on.

“My father changed his last name when he became able to do so, naming himself Leichenmacher,” Eve spat the name as if it was a curse. “‘It pays homage to the past while also avoiding the stigma that the name Leichenberg has,’ he would always say when I asked him why we had our name.”

She snorted derisively. “My father was nothing if not pragmatic.”

“When he became wealthy enough from his endeavors he built this mansion, naming it after the old family name. I completely defeated the point of changing his name I thought but I think he was already losing his mind at that point. By the time father and mother were killed, twenty years ago, he’d completely lost it I think.

“Or, at least, he’d lost any caution he should have had.” Sighing, Eve turned around and faced Axel. “It doesn’t really matter anyway. He’s dead now and you’re probably wondering why I’m explaining this to you,” She said as she made her way back around the couch and sat down.

“It’s quite simple really.” She took another sip of her tea. “My family line is one soaked in blood, Mr. Meyer. For almost two hundred years my ancestors have terrorized this earth with their presence.

“You asked me earlier, why you are here? It’s simple. I want to create an organization that makes sure that the sort of atrocities that have occurred in the past won’t occur in the future a thousandfold, this time with a superhuman behind them. I want to create an organization that will protect humanity in this new era, one that won’t work for its own profit, but to help others. That is what I want,” She spoke seriously.

“I’ve yet to see why we are here,” Axel stated blandly.

“You are here to listen, Axel. No more, no less… not yet at least.”

Axel stared at her, unmoved by her flowery words. He’d heard these types of speeches before and he’d learned to not trust them. “And what will this cost me? To listen?”

Eve smiled slightly, taking another sip of her tea. “I assure you, Axel, it will cost you a lot less than if you were to walk out those doors without hearing my proposition.”

Axel felt his blood begin to boil at the casual threat before he again forced the anger to the back of his mind. “Alright… make your little sales pitch… but don’t think I’ll agree to it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Eve said placatingly as there was a knock at the door.

It soon opened and David ran into the room, rushing over to his grandfather.

“Grandfather! Grandfather! There so much here! There’s a pool! A movie theater! There’s even a hedge maze! A hedge maze, Grandfather! Oh, but the library is the best, there are so many books-” As David explained to Axel about the variety of tomes available, Eve studied to two’s interaction intensely.

Axel originally looked caught off guard by David’s surprising appearance but was soon swept up in the boy’s enthusiasm. Smiling fondly at the ball of energy, Axel started nodding along with the boys rambling, encouraging him to continue.

Grinning, as her predictions were proven correct, Eve lightly coughed to get there attention.

David stopped and looked over, obviously embarrassed because of his outburst, while Axel immediately went on guard again.

“Ah, sorry if I interrupted Ms. Leichenmacher,” David apologized, bowing his head.

Laughing lightly, Eve waived him off. “No worries David, I was just about to call for you anyways, and didn’t I tell you to call me Eve?”

“Oh… yes, you did,” David muttered, flushing even more as he hopped up onto the couch and sat by his grandfather who watched Eve intently.

Smothering her laughter so as to not make the boy more embarrassed, Eve placed a small device on the table, about the size of a puck. Flicking the switch on the side, a hologram appeared floating above the table by about half a meter.

It was a stylized logo, with a black S snaking around a white I.

“Gentlemen,” Eve said, leaning forward.

“Welcome to the Superhero Initiative.”