Fortification Interlude 1
Mayor Roy Christner was in his office, having just sent off Mr. Hebert. He felt for the man, he really did, but that wasn't the only reason he'd agreed to accommodate the man. He was a politician. You don't get very far in politics if you can't see the writing on the walls. The world was getting worse all the time. Small countries rising and falling because of super powered warlords, entire cities being wiped off the map because of the Endbringers-if they were lucky, and there always seemed to be more villains than heroes.
Brockton Bay had one of the largest parahumans per capita of any city in the united states, and it was all but controlled by supervillains and gangs. The PRT and Protectorate were no help. Most of them seemed to be more concerned with keeping the status quo than with solving problems. It was almost like a giant, high stakes game of cops and robbers, but that can't be right, can it? It'd be ridiculous. New Wave was a bit better, but they all seemed to see the world in black in white, and well, they were just a few people.
Mr. Hebert wasn't like most parahumans. Mr. Hebert's thoughts when it came to his powers were to try and use them to raise the money he needed to help out his daughter, and he planned on doing that by helping his co-workers and the city. He was also a Tinker. He actually could help the city far better than most could, and consider the situation with his daughter and the PRT, it was unlikely that he'd play to their politics. So in Mr. Hebert, there was a man in the unique position of being willing and able to clean up this city, or at least slow its descent.
But that wasn't the only reason Mayor Christner had for agreeing to help out Mr. Hebert. Mr. Hebert was primarily motivated by his daughter. He believed that his daughter was innocent and that all he needed was enough money to… do something to get her back home safe and sound. Mayor Christner hoped he was right because the alternative was… Danny Hebert was good at what he did, but he was also well known in circles that worked closely with the unions. In particular, it was known that he had a monstrous temper. If his daughter was not innocent, or if she had gone too far to the dark side in her attempts to survive, well, Mayor Christner didn't want to be in an angry Tinker's line of fire. He meant what he said about believing Mr. Hebert to be a good man, but he couldn't help but think of how he'd feel in Mr. Hebert's circumstances, and well, Roy Christner bought his son superpowers to give him an edge at baseball. It's not that hard to guess how he'd have reacted in Mr. Hebert's situation.
The Mayor checked his schedule, then checked that his office door was locked before taking out his cell phone and calling one of the numbers on speed dial.
"Rory. What can you tell me about this "Lillith" girl who's been in the news?"
"...Did you get the call about the Director wanting to schedule a press conference yet?"