A/N: Next chapter up! It isn't just the superheroes of Earth who are being knocked for a loop, oh no…
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As the superheroes of Earth were just becoming aware of the off-world menace that headed towards Earth, there were ominous rumblings within the criminal underworld as well.
Thebetrayal and near assassination of Emma Frost by Trevor Fitzroy was merely the beginning. The Young Turks of the Hellfire Club: eager, ambitious and ruthless, struck against the Old Guard of the Inner Circle. Of course, in the melee even within each faction members battled members.
The top international crime syndicates and cartels trembled: The Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triads, the Russian Mob, and the Sicilian Mafia quaked and buried their heads, hoping to avoid getting stepped on while the giants fought…be in accidentally or not.
The Lord Imperial of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle—Vandal Savage—stood above the entire conflagration, watching as members of Inner Circle and the Upstarts battled one another in an attempt to increase their power and fortunes.
Sebastian Shaw, Lex Luthor, Ra's Al Ghul, and the Kingpin were virtually unassailable. They were probably Savage's most dangerous and capable followers. Slade too, but always operated by himself. In this case he supported neither faction. He was a wild card. Magneto was the same way, dedicating himself to building up his mutant army and distancing himself from Hellfire Club politics. Selene, being an immortal and a sorceress was not as involved in the politicking as the others, content to sit on the sidelines and take the time to increase her dominance in magical and paranormal fields. Dr. Doom barricaded himself in Latveria, daring anyone to try and challenge him in his own lair. There were no takers.
Of course, not all of the Inner Circle was as fortunate.
Emmanuel DaCosta was found floating face down in the Amazon not long after his son Roberto's own death at the hands of Trevor Fitzroy. Harry Leland was killed not long afterwards in a bomb blast that vaporized an entire restaurant full of people.
Dr. Von Reichter was killed, possibly by Upstarts or perhaps by his treacherous 'son' Jose or his longtime foe, Cyber-Six. The Kingmaker was also assassinated by the Upstart faction. Donald Pierce—universally despised by everyone—had gone underground.
Of course, the Inner Circle struck back. Gotham city crime lords Rupert Thorne and Carmine Falcone backed the Upstarts in the hope of increasing their criminal empires. The Kingpin didn't appreciate their meddling and dispatched them: brutally and fatally.
The Vicious Circle of Chicago, a smaller criminal organization of mutants, cyborgs, monsters, assassins, and magicians that dominate the criminal underworld of Chicago, offered support to the Upstarts as well. Their leader the Overlord—an armored mastermind who ruled Chicago's underworld—ended up dead. Some say that Slade personally slew the Overlord. The Vicious Circle was soon gobbled up by Lex Luthor's Secret Society.
Bison, the crime lord of Shadoloo played host to Shinobi Shaw and other prominent Upstarts…right before he and most of Shadoloo was destroyed under circumstances best left unmentioned. Crime boss Silvermane, a legend in his own right, was killed by the Upstarts for fear that he would ally with the Inner Circle.
Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his daughter the Viper—founder and current leader of Hydra respectively—attempted to resurrect Hydra after it had been so ignominiously been taken over by Cobra on the order of the Inner Circle. This Hydra Reborn faction struck back at several Cobra bases world wide and despite both the Baron's and the Viper's assassination by Cobra, maintain their struggle.
With Emma Frost's defection, Brother Blood saw his chance to take over both the H.I.V.E. Academy and Emma's precious Massachusetts Academy, assuring his control over the next generation of supervillains. To stymie his ambitions, he was forced to share his control with Sean Garrison, another Upstart: Neither man trusted or like the other and both attempted to assert their control over their students.
Lex Luthor had long usurped Grodd's position in the laters "Secret Society," a giant Justice League-type organization for supervillains comprising of every cape-and-cowl wearing villain, mercenary, criminal, or super-powered hooligan in a costume that didn't just comprise of a woman's stocking on their heads. It grew to absorb several other super-villain organizations like the Brotherhood of Evil, Vicious Circle of Chicago, and the Guild of Calamitous Intent.
The Upstart-Inner Circle Conflict provided the opportunity for Grodd and the Brain, as well as the Brain's loyal ape lieutenant Monsiuer Mallah, to joining forces in leading a rebellion against Luthor within the expanded Society, causing what running battles between individual and groups of supervillains against one another in the streets. The collateral damage was immense and the unpredictability of the fights made it almost impossible to prevent or stop them. Some had taken to refer to it as a Supervillain Civil War.
So it wasn't only the X-Men who had been paid a 'visit' by dangerous and vicious criminals. Nor were they even the worst off. That honor was reserved for another town, annihilated during a fight between Luthor and Grodd's rival forces. A small town in Connecticut called Stamford.
THEN everything went straight to hell.