Sidestory: Toxicity

How does one own the world?

How does one own disorder?

Crime is eternal. Since primordial times, when a man accumulates something of value another man seeks to steal it from him. Since the birth of civilization such truth was acknowledged, and a system was created to deal with it. Every war ever fought was a battle for resources, no matter the veneer painted, or the perspective changed. One man craving the resources another man, with time had simply evolved to one country craving the resources of another country. The modern world evolved so much that these wars were no longer needed. It grew so interconnected that war was now an endeavour that all parties tended to avoid. Sanctions are given instead of military orders. Diplomacy evolved to become an art in and out of itself. This step forward in our collective evolution becomes apparent in how disappointed humanity was when we found out that our primordial times looked more like something theorized by Hobbes than Rosseau. Like human nature was ever something so mutable that a few millennia of organized society could correct it.

Crime is eternal. Murder, the very first sin; Theft, the most simple of acts; Usury, an act as old as money; Prostitution, considered the oldest profession in the world; Drug consumption, an act even older than medicine; Adultery, an act probably just as old as marriage; Simony, an act as old as organized religion; Extortion, when one man realizes how power is knowledge; Rape, when one person's greed becomes evil; Treason, an act as old as the first rebellion against authority; Slavery, when one man found out how to steal another man; Piracy, when simple theft was not enough.

Crime is eternal. When parahumans arrived, they filled a niche in society by taking charge of a previously almost empty profession and perpetrating crimes both old and new. No one had thought to include in their law books, laws pertaining the theft of one's body and of one's mind, for example. Liquefying someone still could be simplified as murder, at least.

Crime is eternal. Taylor's city was full of it. Lung's men kidnapped girls for their brothels, Kaiser's men killed men because of their skin colour and Skidmark's men captured their prey by forcefully addicting them to drugs. Other minor gangs made their living in the middle of them trying to not gain the attention of the bigger fish in their pond. A culture of violence and materialism had descended upon the already dying city.

Crime is eternal. There was no cure for it. The PRT and the Protectorate tried, or at least told themselves so, so when they went to sleep, they slept better. They were merely maintaining a status quo that was detrimental to their city. They were in a bad position, sure. The argument could be expanded with an example of why they didn't have such a heavy handed approach. The Endbringer truce for one. It was better, in case of your city getting targeted, for you to have more parahumans on deck to defend it. But also another one, right next door: The Boston Games. Once upon a time, in 2007, the PRT department in Boston had grown weary of the villains living in their city, so in a matter of a single week they defeated their homegrown villains, threw the worse ones to the Birdcage and slapped themselves in the back. Only for, not even a day after the official announcement, a massive migration of villains to begin. Villains of all kinds from out of town showed up and claiming all at the same time that the city was theirs. It was war. A war so bad that out of town heroes had to be called, New Wave, the Guild and Legend all had to go there to establish order. The aftermath was no better than before: Accord established himself as de-facto owner of the best parts of the city; The Teeth, freshly thrown out of Brockton Bay, carved a new home there; Blasto found a new place to conduct his experiments in; and Damsel of Distress blasted her way into the big leagues of villainy gaining a chunk of territory. Since then all PRT and Protectorate departments shied away from such final measures.

Crime is eternal. This was why Taylor decided to become a villain. A revelation that shook her beliefs and her thoughts that she found no way of denying. It was all well and good for heroes to go around punching villains, but they were only putting a band-aid on a rotted wound. It was Taylor's opinion that it was better to cut the limb away before it could infect the rest of the body. The social, political and economical reasons for people to turn to crime as a way of living were not being addressed. Taylor had no way of addressing them.

Crime is eternal. But if Duchess had control of it. She could direct it, keep it in check from darker impulses. Turn the evil to a source of good. Address the problems at their root. Manage their revenue to renovate the city. No more suffering in the dark, in the bowels of this city, for those deemed lesser or lost. The outcasts thrown away would find a home in Zaun.

Crime is eternal. The heroes were deluding themselves in thinking they could change it.

Crime is eternal. The villains were perpetrating it with impunity.

Crime is eternal. No one has the realistic motivation of keeping it in check.

Crime is eternal. Therefore, Duchess would keep it in check.

Crime is eternal. No one was owning up to it.

Crime is eternal. Therefore, Duchess would own it all.

Crime is eternal. No one was doing it well.

Crime is eternal. So why let someone else try doing it better...

When you can do it, yourself?