Chapter 235 : Union and Patchees

While James and friends were having a lovely time with Maria down in the Sunken City, a very different though related situation was developing in Zalcien's Hero Union Headquarters.

Mecha Man, currently in a red lobster-themed armor, groaned as he dropped his head on the table he was sitting at, the inside of his helmet letting him go through footage, reports, comments, memes... In other words, anything that was either on their servers, the police's, or the internet. The other people around him didn't react to his little outburst, instead waiting for him to share his finds.

"Yeah, no, seems like public opinion is on Silhouette's side. Bloody hell, how did we end up like this?"

Doug - or more accurately, Firefighter, as he was currently on the job - merely grunted in response, his arms crossed as he watched a different data stream on the meeting room's giant screen. It would be uncouth for him to be smug about the situation. A respectable hero shouldn't feel happy about it. But by the Nine, he couldn't deny he felt a little vindicated to see Silhouette become a source of headaches for the others. Something to show he wasn't just being paranoid when he said there was something about the man that just rubbed him the wrong way.

"We ended up like this because we didn't make dealing with the remaining Patchees a priority, instead focusing on investigating their creator's killer. On that topic, Malice, any news?"

Miss Malice, who was previously drawing sigils in a notebook, sighed at the interruption.

"Why are you asking me, Firefighter? You're the expert on arson-related crimes. You're more connected to that mess than I am. I just did a quick scrying, and that didn't give us much. I'm not an oracle or even an investigator."

"Maybe, but magical clues survive fires better than physical ones."

"Ugh, fine. I already made a report about this, you know? Anyway, I can tell you Patcher's killer was an intruder, he fought some monsters first, and then he shot Patcher. There. And, well, he let the Patchees tear the disgusting freak to pieces, but that's all I have."

Serpent raised a scaly eye ridge at their colleague's choice of words.

"You're using male pronouns. Do we have a suspect, or is that part of your scrying?"

"Scrying. I got vague echoes and memories, and from what I got, Patcher referred to his killer as a man when addressing his pets. So yeah, our only clues are 'guy with a gun and a way to make fire'. Really riveting stuff."

Serpent hummed, tilting their head to the side as they slithered closer.

"So, either a civilian who picked up arms to handle the monster himself... Or a Super going out of his way to hide his powers by using mundane weaponry and destroying the crime scene. Regardless, you're right to say these are too broad categories to make any conclusion yet. And from what I read, the gun was a stolen firearm, yes? Then I fear this might be a case that will never be solved, not unless we involve better oracles, and those don't live near Zalcien."

"Yep. And bringing them to work here wouldn't be cheap, let me tell you. I researched that field of magic a bit, learned a trick or two, but that's still insanely complicated. There's a reason even gods generally only have one oracle at their service, the magic and time investment is almost maddening."

Alberta Saline, watching her team discuss the topic of the most infamous Villain in Zalcien's demise with her one eye, cleared her throat before pointing back at the screen displaying a rather annoying interview on loop, amongst many other things.

"Heroes. As much as I appreciate you all taking an interest in important investigations, the Patcher's end isn't the subject of today's meeting. The fate of his victims is."

Doug scoffed as he gestured to the screen showcasing Silhouette's words with his head.

"You mean we're here because he made waves. After you told me there was no reason to be suspicious of him."

Miss Malice rolled her eyes as she wiggled her fingers at him, colorful sparks flying off harmlessly against his armor.

"What you meant was, Silhouette tackled a problem without consulting us. He isn't doing anything illegal or morally reprehensible, last I checked. Well, you can argue these poor creatures should be put down for their own sake, but the debate of 'euthanasia or a crippled life' is... Well, a mess. Personally, I say that if he really figures out a way to get them back to normal-ish, well, good for them. So long as he doesn't oppose us taking care of those who devolved into beasts who are way too feral to recover, I have no problem with his... Healing thing. Really, Firefighter, you have a reason to dislike the guy, or is it just a gut feeling?"

Mecha Man groaned again, dramatically bonking his head against the table once more. The others took it as their cue to let him speak.

"Regardless of the old guy's feelings, this whole mess is a headache. Silhouette announced his plan, and everyone in the city is giving their opinion, and quite a few people are very annoyed at us taking our sweet time to showcase our own program. Well, there's also a bunch begging us to exterminate the filth, but they're a minority, and that wouldn't be good PR for us. Or legal. Did I say the internet was mad? Because they're asking for our heads. Silhouette really pushed us into a corner there."

While Firefighter nodded along, but unlike him, his reptilian colleague, Serpent, disagreed.

"I find the way he phrased his message in our favor, in truth. He alluded that we already had a plan, or were relying on the mayor's. He didn't say anything about us doing a bad job, just that he was afraid we were taking a little too much time to do it. Which, I'd say, is a fair critique."

Mecha Man, annoyed as he was about the situation, did pick up on their potential ticket to a way out.

"You know, that's a pretty good point. This kinda stuff should be the mayor's job, no? That's a public interest kinda deal. Health isn't the Hero Union's duty. It's unfair to expect us to do that sort of thing. The mayor's the lazy guy, here. Poor dude, he seemed to like Silhouette until now. I'm sure he'll be crushed by the betrayal, since this is his mess and not ours."

Alberta scoffed, well aware of her top technological Hero's flaws.

"Nice try, Mecha Man, but ultimately useless. As the Patchees are victims of a Villain's work, they do fall under our umbrella. The mayor made it clear to me that he would support us as best he could, but this is our circus, and the Patchees are our monkeys. This isn't just his opinion, the law and the Union's rules agree on this. Thankfully, we can always collaborate with Silhouette to smooth out our project. He openly said he would, and the public would side with us if we had proof he went back on his word. So, we still need to come up with said project and the public campaign to share it."

Malice chose that moment to click her tongue, even as she played by balancing her wand on her fingertip.

"Speaking of, not to give the gloomy dude who put us into a bad spot a point, but why exactly did we ignore the whole Patchee thing? Like, I know they started laying low, and we big legends are busy keeping this city together and trying to put our least favorite baddies back in prison, but I feel like at least keeping tabs on the tortured, mentally unstable monsters should have been on our list. And, well, he's not wrong to say these are citizens, if a little messed up. Like brainwashed people with after effects or werewolves with anger issues."

"Oh, come on! My job is building machines and kicking bad guys into the ground, not playing babysitter. Like, I get it, getting turned into a flesh puppet is a bad time, but not my responsibility. I still think this should be a government thing, if not the mayor, then the ACS."

Saline was quick to correct her whiny engineer-in-chief.

"As we already talked about, as they are victims of a Villain's actions, the Patchees are our responsibility. As for why we couldn't pay as much attention to them as we would have all liked... The recent instability involving the major powers required more attention and surveillance. Abrakaboom is still missing, the Empress is gaining territory, the Blood Angels are stealing from Wicked Witchcraft and spreading chaos as they look for new healers, and the Hivines are... Awfully discreet, considering the circumstances. And we know they had some interest in Silhouette previously."

Miss Malice raised an eyebrow.

"We do? And they did? I mean, I get it, everyone looked into the new Super to see if they could recruit him, we know the Empress tried her usual stunt, but you put a lot of focus on the Hivines there, Alberta. A suspicious amount of focus."

"We know from what little info we could get that the Biflora called for them to investigate Silhouette, and later decided to shift his focus away and back to their own holdings, presumably in preparation for the faction war. The timing matches, it happened around the same time the Patcher vanished, and this lit the spark. While I would prefer my top Heroes stay aware of current affairs, I also understand that you were busy hammering down on all those new wannabe Villains and got in the way of quite a few schemes."

Mecha Man preened at the praise, his earlier annoyance disappearing all at once as he pumped up his chest.

"Oh, you know us, boss lady. These weirdos can try whatever they want, but we'll always stop them. Gotta say, Empress' latest toy was a neat little thing. Or, well, a big thing, really. Massive armored knight. Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she copied one of my designs. Well, the idea of it. The insides are that weird classic Empress tech, but the overall theme matches the baby I used against Sunburn last time, when I saved Malice's bacon."

"Oh, please. That body still died, you know? If you hadn't shown up so late, it might have survived. These homonculus copies aren't cheap. You owe me."

"I owe you nothing, sparkles. Besides, we saved the day anyway."

Alberta snapped her fingers, catching the bickering duo's attention.

"You acted together. You saved civilian lives. That is the priority. Though I do wish you could have stopped our most dangerous Villain from fleeing."

Mecha groaned again.

"Oh, come on! The dude's a powerhouse! Really, unprepared as we were, we did pretty well. I didn't even have my fireproof suit."

"Yeah, like the machine idiot said. Getting a fire punch through the stomach isn't a pleasant experience, let me tell you. And we would have gotten him if... Well, you know. He hadn't taken everyone hostage in that street with that fire bombardment thing."

"I know you did your best, you two. And you made the right choice, choosing to save people over catching him. But the point remains that our most lethal adversary is out there and active. So far, it appears that only smaller groups from the various factions are fighting, but as soon as things start escalating, we run the risk of him battling against another Super Villain, and they won't care as much about casualties as we do. As such, you are hereby officially ordered to side against him should you happen to come across such an inter-Villain brawl."

Serpent flicked their tongue, their eyes leaving their tablet's screen for the first time since their two main colleagues had started their little vaudeville routine. They had been reviewing the data on Silhouette that Firefighter had shared with them, as well as drafting a few suggestions for the Patchee situation, but anything involving battles required their full commitment. This was, ultimately, their main role. Mecha Man could develop tech, Miss Malice could do magical research, but Serpent was nothing but a warrior.

"Is this your personal instruction, or orders from the top?"

"This is my choice. As always, you're free to disobey it on the field if you feel it's justified, but you'd better give me a very good reason for you to have chosen to ally with Sunburn over literally anyone else afterward. The Biflora is a manipulative cultist and the Empress is a power-hungry dictator in the making, but both want to preserve some form of order, and their reputation relies on them playing by the rules in one way or another. They want to rule this city in the end. Marcus, and thus Sunburn, don't have such goals. Anything goes so long as it ensures they have power and defeat their enemies."

Mecha nodded, even as he yawned under his helmet.

"Yeah, yeah. Put the pyromaniac back in jail as a priority, even if it means working with the other bad guys, unless the Horror is having a growth spurt or something and we need him to nuke it to death again. That's the gist of it, yeah?"

Alberta, stoic as she was, couldn't hold back a tiny sigh at the casualness of the man in front of her.

"In summary, yes. Now, with this lovely distraction dealt with, let us go back to the main topic of this meeting: our handling of the Patchees."

Serpent felt like they could note how fitting it was that the reason why they had missed the Patchee issue so far was the same thing distracting them all from this discussion, but they figured their time would be better spent going straight to the point. This was about saving people. The Hero Union had chosen to sacrifice the slums - Zalcien's branch lacking the resources to clean them at the root and the national head deciding they didn't require extra help at the moment - and thus it was their responsibility to ensure the victims of the Patcher were treated with respect, no matter how mutilated their form was. Serpent understood why they had to make these sacrifices, their Heroes weren't the best, but the guilt was here all the same. 

"In my opinion, it would be best to state we have plans similar to the program designed by Silhouette, and suggest a pooling of our resources. Have the therapists and doctors on our payroll assist and fill in the holes in his program that Silhouette mentioned, and fund a part of the project ourselves. In other words, rather than try to make a competing plan, work with him to improve his already solid baseline. I also took the liberty of preparing a small document suggesting some exercises to help them become more familiar with their new forms. If there is no emergency, I think I could take the time to teach some of them myself. It would show the Union supporting the victims, would genuinely help them progress, and would let me keep an eye on Silhouette, since I know some of you are still doubtful of his honesty on this topic. What do you think?"