Chapter 145

Destroy Everything Epilogue

-:-

4 days later

Floating at the Earth’s lower orbit was a feat of scientific engineering combined with the greatest of mystical architecture.

It was a meteorite the size of a small town with many cutting edge structure embedded into the massive rock.

This was ‘The Satellite’, the main headquarters of the Heroic Alliance and probably the most secure facility that humanity has ever created.

Though it was meant to be a symbol of honor, justice and fairness, the military might contained within was enough to wage war against any country and win.

While there was barely any weapons within it, the Superheroes were more than enough to rival tanks and even nukes.

Those who knew better understood that they were the de facto rulers of the world, no matter how much these goody two shoes denied it.

In the center of the Satellite was dubbed ‘The Council’ room. It was a circular area that was completely cut off from the rest of the structure. This was in order to avoid anyone listening in to the high level discussion taking place.

The council members were the 7 founding members of the Hero Alliance, a few representatives from the HAA and a few vacant seats for allies from different parts of the world who temporarily join the meeting.

At the moment, there were only a handful of individuals present.

Crow, one of the founding members.

Thyricius, a powerful spartan warrior and also a founding member.

The principal of the HAA.

The head of all police in Vermilion City

“Man, it's weird having a meeting without the gang” said Thyricius in a light hearted manner.

“It can't be helped. Omegaman and the others kept getting dragged into one intergalactic struggle after the other.” replied Crow

“I know, I know. But I’m just a guy with a spear and a shield. I belong in the battlefield, not in some corporate board.”

“Deal with it.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“Anyways, let us start the meeting. There’s not much of an agenda, so we’ll be done in no time. First and foremost, Mayor, what’s the situation with Colbert Sea Oil?”

A fat, balding old man stood.

“Though there is no proof, I believe it is as we feared. The whole doxxing incident had the makings of a corporate sabotage.” said the Mayor.

With a couple of swift strokes on his terminal, a graph appeared on the large screen beside their table.

“This is the graph of Colbert Sea Oil’s stock prices for the last 3 weeks. Notice how relatively steady throughout the entire incident. This is very definitely unnatural since shareholders are a very skittish bunch. They’ll jump ship at the mere hint of controversy. ”

“So what?” asked the bored Thyricius.

“It means that someone is buying the stocks the moment that they get sold.” replied Crow.

“That’s not exactly correct miss Crow. From what my men in the stock brokers could gather, it seems that the stocks were bought by a large number of individuals from all over the world. There were approximately 381 active buyers during the incident.” said the Mayor

“Dummy accounts?”

“Doubtful. All these accounts had at least 1 year of trading experience. The ledgers have complete documentation of all of them.”

“It’s a coordinated attack then.”

“Most likely, though the evidence suggests the opposite. There is absolutely no relationship among all of them. Be it appearance, nationality, work place, social circles or anything. None of them had anything to do with each other.”

“Hacking?”

“No. We hacked their webcams and other means of spying on them, and true enough, all of them were personally active during the incident.”

“Hmmm….”

What the Superheroes failed to realize was that they were going against Jabir ibn Hayyan.

The main reason why Jabir married off his clones was to experiment if his mental network still applied if his clone had a child.

This was hit and miss.

Most of the descendants had no ability whatsoever and lived normal lives till the very end. Good for them

The few that did, however, had varying levels of proficiency.

Some had such a weak connection, that Jabir could only plant suggestions and nothing more. Weather they followed it or not was another matter entirely.

Others synchronized perfectly with the network. This allowed Jabir to completely control them, but he also allowed them to access a portion of the massive information and experiences within the shared mind.

These people ended up becoming highly successful individuals in whatever field they pursued.

Thanks to this, Jabir’s clones has completely integrated in whatever nationality, religion or society it might be.

Over the centuries, Jabir has literally placed his eyes and ears everywhere.

This multi pronged attack on Colbert Sea Oil was one of many times Jabir has executed this strategy.

There was no way the Hero Alliance would figure this out unless they knew exactly what Jabir was capable off.

“We’ll continue our investigation to the best of our abilities. For now, let’s put this one on hold and move on to the next topic.” said Crow as she turned the HAA Principal. “It seems that your group has ignored my warnings. I understand that losing Juno Saiga has placed your job under threat, but this incident will most certainly get you fired. Not only that, I heard that there will be an investigation to further purge everyone behind this mess. What do you have to say for yourself?”

The HAA Principal flinch at Crow’s almost emotionless statement.

Nevertheless, he did his best to put up a strong front.

“I accept that I will pay for my transgressions, but I firmly believe that this is for the greater good! Juno Saiga is too important of an individual to be left to her own devices! What if she gets influenced by people of evil leanings?! I cannot simply let it happen!” replied the Principal

FYI: He was mostly repeating something he practiced many times in front of a mirror.

Another FYI: As a student of Miss Samantha, Crow easily saw through such a pathetic excuse of an act.

“So, in order to get Juno back, you used the internet and manipulated Fabaro La Marmaluque and his vigilante group to have them win over Theodore Lorne?” asked Crow

“Yes! That is exactly right! It is a shame that Lorne has now a poor view of Superheroes, and I hoped to slowly regain his trust. As roundabout as it may be, there was no way he would respond positively if we were the ones that approached him.”

“That is logical….. But the result of your ‘plan’ resulted in the annihilation of Fabaro La Marmaluque’s group, the death of Gigas, Lance and Phantasm and the forceful takeover of Colbert Sea Oil.”

“Ugh….”

“As I said in the past, in absolutely no circumstances were you to try to chase after Juno Saiga. She is fiercely loyal to Theodore Lorne, who in turn is a protege of Miss Samantha. I’m sure you havent seen her in action for yourself, hence your disregard for my advice, but she is one of the most cunning minds in the world. I can bet my life on Miss Samantha having a hand on this whole fiasco. Odds are, she’s the one that cooked up this whole plan….. And you walked right into her trap.”

Under Crows calm yet cruel words, the principal was forced to silence.

“As you said earlier, you and your co-conspirators will pay for your actions.”

“That’s enough Crow. His career is already dead. Grilling him any more than necessary is worthless.” inserted Thyricius. “Let’s talk about something more interesting… Like the performance of 2 young individuals! A shame that one of them is already dead, but still! Very impressive for their age! Chief, do the honors”

On que, the very old yet very muscular Head Police of all Vermilion City stood up and changed the image displayed on the screen.

“Ahem. First and foremost, let us talk of the unfortunate girl named Tina Sprite. Long story short, her abilities were phenomenal. Aside from having a plethora of magic at her disposal, she clearly knew her way around guns.” said the Police Chief.

The Police Chief was a world renowned combat instructors that has been hired by multiple countries to set up the basic foundation of their military’s training regiment.

Technically speaking, he was already retired.

Unfortunately for him, retirement was painfully boring.

Many things happened which eventually led him to take the position as Police Chief of his hometown.

He also did some combat analysis for the Superheroes as a side job.

“Right you are chief! Though in all honesty, her magical ability was crap, but her skill at everything else was a sight to behold. She’s a magic user through and through!”

“Thyricius, what’s a magic user? Is it any different from a mage?” asked Crow

The spartan pointed to the Chief for the answers.

“Mages train one particular branch of magic for generations, making them extremely powerful in their field of study. On the other hand, Magic Users are the opposite. They are generalist that view magic as a tool rather than a way of life. It matters not how weak their spellcasting abilities are, as long as it serves its intended function. In most cases, magic users are mercenaries and assassins.” said the Chief with a depressed sigh. “Tina Sprite was a diamond in the rough. Polish her enough, and she’ll grow into something amazing. If only we could capture and convince her to change her ways…. *sigh* what a waste she was.”

“I see… I understand. What about Theodore Lorne?” asked Crow

Though she didn't look like it, Crow was very interested in this particular subject.

She already has her own conclusions concerning Theo. Which was why she hoped to god that the Chief would prove her wrong.

Unfortunately, this was not meant to be.

Chief let out a deep sigh and made a stern face.

“Combat wise, you guys already know. He’s at least at the bottom of the S rank. He has the skill, strength and combat instincts to stand among the greats…. The problem is everything else.”

“Ho? What do you mean by that?” asked Thyricius.

“Look at what he has accomplished in a few short years. He took ownership of the largest and most dangerous real estate in the city, and even perched up a company in that wasteland. He has an armed force that enough tech and firepower to decimate thousands of criminals, obliterate a demon and a bit swat of Hellhole district. He has that two faced bitch as a teacher and rubs shoulders with giants such as Nosferatu, Alial Milza, the Ecclesiarchy and god knows how many rich bastards. Do you notice a pattern here?”

Thyricius and the others looked at the Chief in confusion.

Crow, however, could only facepalm in frustration.

Thanks to all of her years studying the criminal mind (and delivering unto it a concussion), she has noticed a certain trend that would result in the creation of the greatest danger to humanity…. And Theo fit that trend to a T.

The Chief’s next words only confirmed her fears.

“Amassing massive amounts of wealth and power at breakneck speed. Has a private military force. Has the backing of powerful individuals that can twist the legal system to their bidding. But most importantly, has a deep and surprisingly valid reason to hate superheroes. No matter how you slice it, Theodore Lorne is on the path to becoming a Supervillain”

“You’re kidding.” replied Thyricius in disbelief

“No I’m not.”

“Sooo…. Should we kill him?”

“Hell no! Remember the disaster the last time the Superheroes fought Nosferatu? What about the time we somehow convinced Miss Samantha to not become our enemy? And let’s not forget about the Ecclesiarchy! Those insane zealots know no bounds! And there’s all the backers we don't know!”

“What are we supposed to do then? Just leave him be? Bullshit!”

“Makes friends with him. Honey trap him. Seduce him with girls, money or whatever. I don't know the manipulative types do in this type of situations… just do it! ”

As the others proceeded with the discussion, Crow silently stared at the monitor that displayed Theo’s data.

With Nosferatu silently watching over her actions, Crow could do nothing to touch Theo.

However, all was not lost.

Based on all the data she has on Theo, she knew that he has only ever directed his fangs to 2 types of people: Criminals or those who are in direct conflict with his goals.

As far as she could tell, the only real difference between Theo’s and the Superheroes’ way of doing things was the level of lethality.

There was still a lot of grounds for compromise.

She was no fan of the seduction techniques of Miss Samantha, but it looked like this was one of the safest means to solve this predicament.

“*sigh*.... I doubt Dorothy would be against honey trapping Theo. She doesn't show it but she does love him a lot…. But he has Miss Samantha on his side… She’ll see through whatever we throw at him…. *sigh*.... Theodore Lorne, will you be an ally that would help humanity onto a brighter future? Or will you be the catastrophe that will destroy everything?”