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Shadow 2.d

Image was everything.

This lesson had been drilled into Max Ander's head at a very early age. In the modern age of internet and television and all other sorts of methods of rapid communication it behooved one's self to present the best image they possibly could. One no longer had to just merely concern himself with those in his immediate vicinity, but the whole world. The way you smiled, the way you walked and talked, everything you did was visible to everyone. You had to convince the entire world who you were and why they should listen.

As Max Anders, he was the charming and kind CEO of the Medhall Corporation. He provided generous donations to Hospitals and charities. He was close friends with the mayor and helped keep the Brockton Bay PD stay on their feet. He was a man who had lost his first wife to tragedy and his second to the resentment she felt towards him for loving his first. He was eloquent and knew exactly what to say to make people feel good about themselves, and about him.

As Kaiser, he was the cold and calculating leader of Empire 88. To his subordinates his word was law, and all that opposed him fell before his blades. To his foot soldiers, he was the promise of a new future beyond the reach of the filth that tried to drag them down. To his enemies, he was death, the promise of their destruction in the face of his Empire.

These were images that Max Anders had cultivated in the wake of his father's untimely demise. They had served him well over the years, drawing in allies from all walks of life. Over half of the upper class in Brockton Bay were friends with him, or at the very least owed him favors that he could cash in at any time. His position as CEO had helped shaped the company into a major powerhouse of the Brockton Bay and the greater New England economy and was a beacon of stability and progress in a world of chaos and conflict. Through his policies, he had direct control over a majority of the pharmaceuticals in the city and diverted them to places that would benefit him more than others. His rival companies were often subject to scandals and great monetary losses that just happened to be the result of parahuman conflicts with the Empire. After all, it was hardly his fault if a building or delivery of supplies was destroyed in a fight between Hookwolf and the Protectorate.

Under his leadership, Empire 88 had become one of the strongest gangs in all of Brockton Bay in terms of numbers and quality. He could field almost twice the number of parahumans against the local Protectorate from his permanent residents alone, with almost double that number in out of state visitors and capes for hire. His elite foot soldiers were armed with the best military grade weaponry that he could afford and were all given extensive training from ex-military specialists who believed in the "cause", or at the very least believed in money. The gang's influence permeated into nearly every aspect of the city. His agents at the local high schools shaped the next generation of meat for the grinder and subtly influenced the teaching towards a more Empire oriented ideology.

While the ideology that Allfather had used to establish his gang presented…difficulties in enticing public opinion to his side, he found numerous ways to get around that issue. The fact that when most Brocktonites thought of minorities their minds went straight to the ABB or the destitute Merchants helped him greatly. But even with this advantage he stacked the deck, whether it was though the bribing of media outlets to avoid giving himself bad press, or simply giving those in his territory a measure of "safety" against the growing threat of the minorities he was considered to be the most popular of the gang leaders. He was seen as a legitimate alternative choice to the PRT and Protectorate, and hundreds of whites flocked to his arms, eager to serve in his ranks.

"Bring the prisoner forward," he intoned, infusing his voice with as much authority as he could muster. The calm commanding tone swept over the assembly like water over rocks as they eagerly moved to serve their lord. A pair of muscled and tattooed men stepped forward, half dragging half escorting a much less physically developed man in-between them. Even as they moved down the aisle Kaiser could see the panic on the man's shaking form as sweat poured down his head, clearly aware of how much trouble he was in.

When he had received word from his agents in the media of the Shadow Stalker scandal he had been delighted. Had he possessed a single ounce less of self-control he would have been bouncing off the walls in joy and vindictive glee. This had been what he had been waiting for. Even the destruction of the Merchants hadn't moved his plans as far forward as this colossal PR failure on part of the PRT. They had been irritating pests, hard to catch but easy to crush. It would have been no contest when it came time to trade blows, but the PRT was a different beast entirely. Even with all of his good PR his Empire didn't stand a chance against the juggernaut of the PRT and Protectorate's PR machine. They could afford to spent millions on marketing and advertising, to face them would have been like trying to burn out the ocean with a lighter.

But a Ward bullying a student, and a black Ward at that? That was a literal goldmine of PR that he could have milked for years. It was something that would take decades for their PR machine to recover from while his own would only been emboldened by it. All he had to do was rid himself of that damnable reptile and he would be victorious. Without Lung and the ABB to counterbalance him there would have been no organization that could stand in his way. Coil was too small time to be much of a threat, no matter how many well-trained mercenaries or spies he had at his beck and call.

He could have had the entire white population of the city come to him, seeking protection from the sub-humans at the door.

But then those idiots had to go and ruin everything.

His gauntlet groaned in protest as his hands curled into angry fists. Those who stood around this throne subtlety backed away, none of the eager to get between their Emperor and the object of his ire.

A pasty looking man was trembling before him, eyes darting around the room nervously as the specifics of his situation became clear. Kaiser could feel his power calling out to end the man's life this very instant, to impale him head to toe and leave his rotting corpse as an example to all of those who would dare to oppose his word.

But it was not to be, not yet anyway.

He wanted to kill this man so much for doing the one thing that he had specifically ordered him not to do. He wanted to kill him for putting him in this situation. But most of all, he wanted to kill him for being an idiot!

While Allfather had no shortage of public displays of savagery and violence towards the minorities of the city, Kaiser had always found such acts distasteful. Not that he cared for the victims in any way, but in that such a display would only entice the support of those who had already given into the frankly stupid notion of white supremacy.

Such acts made the Empire feared by all and cemented their position as a powerful and ruthless player in the game, but it did not help them grow as an organization. Instead they found themselves being ostracized and looked down upon by the general population. Had it not been for the fact that the Teeth had been even more hated and reveled by the city, the Empire would have never have been able to rise to the heights that it did and would have been strangled in the cradle. If he tried such acts with the same frequency and savagery as his father, then he was certain he would be looking down the barrel of the metaphorical gun. The PRT and Protectorate wouldn't allow such actions to slide without retaliation, or at the very least the illusion of retaliation. It had been one of the reasons that he had been forced to change how the Empire worked and how it was viewed by the plebian masses.

For all of his faults, Marquis knew how to manipulative a narrative and make him and his gang look far more inviting than working a legal job. He outreached to all groups and genders and kept a relatively PR friendly image to promote the growth of his gang. Had the organization not fractured when Marquis had been captured and taken to the Birdcage Kaiser doubted that he would have been able to compete with the man's superior image. But when Allfather had died and Kaiser took the reins of the Empire for himself he took a page out of Marquis' book.

Instead of the strong savage message his father had used to draw followers into his grasp, Kaiser took a much softer approach. He didn't demand the eradication of the minorities or place dozens of bodies on display as warnings to his enemies (at least not as often as Allfather had). No, he offered himself as a savior and protector of the white people. He offered to shelter them from the hardships created by the sub-humans. He turned the message away from death and destruction to salvation and peace.

And it worked.

The Empire's numbers had skyrocketed, particularly when Lung arrived and created a powerful common enemy for the whites to rally against. He had succeeded in creating a relatively PR friendly image for the city to rally behind, which made it difficult for the PRT and Protectorate to make much headway in destroying his organization. After all, nobody would want the people who protected them from the minority menaces to be destroyed.

It was a strategy that had served him well over the years, and what had happened this morning should have been the culmination of that work, the final nail in the coffin that would have ensured his dominance over this broken and dying city.

But now defeat had been snatched from the jaws of victory, and all because of one man's idiocy.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Kaiser asked the trembling man before him. He kept his voice calm and collected, but there was an underlying tone of anger underneath that he couldn't quite hide. It was always important for him to always act like he was in command, as if nothing could possibly ruffle his feathers.

To be king, all you had to do was convince people that you were king.

It was why he held "courts" like this, in order to maintain the illusion of nobility for the common masses. The twins stood on the sides of his jagged throne like sentinels of old, each one of them ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. The building was an old warehouse that was owned by a shell company of his and had been renovated specifically for the purpose. His throne stood at the forefront of an array of seating positioned in such a way that he could meet the eyes of anyone in the audience. Chairs were set just below his own throne for the parahumans in his empire that were of the utmost importance, but he was the center of attention. The way the lights shone in the room, the color of the walls, everything had been designed to further his image of power.

In terms of attendance, the court was fairly empty overall. Most of his parahuman muscle was out in the city tending to their various territories that he had gifted them. He was expecting that Lung would make a move against him any time now and he had to be ready. A few normal were scattered in the seating, but they were more for show than anything else.

No, the main attraction was the weedy looking thirty-year-old man in the center. If there was one word Kaiser would use to describe him it was nerdy. He was as thin as could be, and looked like he was more skin and bones than muscle. He wore a dress shirt that looked like it was something that came from Goodwill. Kaiser pinned him almost instantly as a man who had always gotten the short end of the stick in terms of physical feats and was once beaten up by a group of minorities and came to the Empire for protection.

"We-well, I-um, uh," the man half sputtered as his tongue tangled up in growing dread. Kaiser could feel his blood pressure skyrocket at the fact the little weasel of a man couldn't be bothered to even come up with an excuse for his utter failure.

"Had you not been told to keep the information you had given Victor quiet?" Kaiser asked quietly, forcing his audience to draw in closer to hear him. He of course knew the answer, as did the man, but it was important to keep people on a backfoot when dealing with him to give him some more leverage. If he was lucky he could play this off as a small splinter group of the Empire. He doubted that it would convince the PRT, but it might give him a cloak of plausible deniability.

"You had," Kaiser said with such authority that the man flinched from the brass tremor of his voice. "But instead you not only chose to disobey your instructions, but you did so in such a way that you placed the entire Empire at risk." It was important for the seriousness of the situation to be homed in without causing undue worry. He couldn't afford for other members of his organization to start getting any "bright ideas".

It was an issue he had had to deal with since the start of his reign, trying to keep all of the true believers from getting out of hand. Telling a group of murders that they couldn't murder indiscriminately anymore wasn't something that came without friction. He had lumped all those malcontents underneath Hookwolf who he had kept on a very short leash. Those who were dissatisfied learned to keep their mouths shut lest they wished to face a living chainsaw.

He should have seen something like this coming when the news reached his ears but he had foolishly trusted that his men would hold their urges in check. He had grown lax and allowed his subordinates to have for freedom than he had realized, a mistake that was now costing him dearly.

"So, tell me, Zackary," Kaiser growled as he interlocked his fingers underneath his helmeted head. "What did you think the outcome of this would be? Did you think you would get a grand parade in your honor? That you would get the reputation of being the one who organized the death of a Ward's family?"

"I-" the man opened his shaking lips to speak, but Kaiser cut him off by driving a spike through his shoe. The man screamed metal erupted from the ground like plant and shattered his foot and tore flesh as it impaled his limb. Kaiser watched with dispassionate interest as the man fell to his knees as he clutched the bleeding mass of flesh that had once been his foot.

"Let me answer the question for you," Kaiser said as a sneer overtook his lips under his knightly helm. His costume was just as much a statement as everything else he did. A crown of spikes surrounded his head, jutting out of his helm like a steel cactus. His amour was pristine and shined brightly in the lighting of the court. "You didn't think at all."

Kaiser ignored the man's pathetic pleas for help and mercy as he carried on. At this point, he was certain that the weakling wasn't listening anymore, but this was for the benefit of those who hadn't decided to do something completely stupid quite yet.

"You didn't think about the consequences of attacking a cape's family, a Ward's family at that," Kaiser growled as hints of his real anger slipped into his speech. Honestly, Kaiser didn't give a damn about the "Unwritten Rules". No villain with half a brain really did. He used them because provided him with a certain amount of convenience and safety in his identity as Max Anders, not because he thought it was "cowardly" to attack someone's family. If he knew that killing capes out of costume would bring him closer to achieving his desire of ruling this city without any consequences he would do it in a heartbeat. But as it was, attacking a Ward civilian identity presented too great a risk for most villains to undertake.

As far as Kaiser was aware the last one to do so had been Mamba, a relatively minor villainess with a poisonous touch who had held a grudge against one of the local Wards, and didn't possess enough intelligence to recognize how much of a bad idea killing him was. The end result was the New Mexican cape getting a kill order and bringing a very angry Eidolon down on her head.

So as much as he would love to eliminate the competition, there was no way that he could emerge from the ashes unscathed. The fact that this complete waste of oxygen before him didn't recognize that infuriated him like nothing else. The Empire couldn't afford to be seen as the aggressors in this conflict, they had to be viewed as protectors and shepherds for the common people.

What was even more galling was that the only reason that Legend wasn't raining down lasers on his head was because the very cape who had made the situation possible had stopped it from happening.

Boogeyman.

When she had first showed up Kaiser hadn't paid much attention to her. The destruction of the Merchants by a brand-new cape had certainly come as a great surprise to the ferrokinetic, but he had had more important things to worry about at the time. Trying to juggle Lung on one hand and the Protectorate with the other was no easy task. He had given Victor a standing order to find out what he could through his spy network, but other, more important projects had dominated the skill thief's time. So, the new cape had slipped from his attention as his focus shifted to more immediate threats.

When his agents in the new stations had called informing him of what had been done Kaiser had been more than a little surprised. He hadn't expected such a new cape to make such a big splash, especially against the PRT and Protectorate. He had quickly realized he didn't care when the knowledge of what exactly had been the PRT's screw-up hit his ears. He had been focused on preparing to use the goldmine of PR that had been practically gift wrapped to him that he hadn't been concerned with Boogeyman. She was young and inexperienced and would fall to him all the same. He could have sent Victor to assassinate her, or let Hookwolf and his gang off their leashes a bit to deal with her.

But now…now he couldn't do anything to her. If she was killed by his hand or one of his agents the public might assume that he had ordered those idiots to go after the Hess family. Even if he didn't the PRT would jump on that bandwagon if only to give themselves the excuse they needed to try and root the Empire out. They would fail of course, but it would waste precious time and energy he couldn't afford. He would have to wait for the girl to make the next move, and judging by what limited data they had, everything pointed to it being a very big move.

"Get him out of my sight," Kaiser growled with a negligent wave of his hand towards the sobbing mess of a man before him. As a pair of burry men came a picked the sympathizer up none the too gently Kaiser considered what he was going to do with the man. Impaling him in public view would certainly give him the image he wanted to the public and his soldiers, but handing him off to the PRT might prevent the coming firestorm. It was also possible that surrendering him to the PRT would give others the idea that his organization was weak and fractured, which was not the image he wanted on the eve of a gang war.

He didn't allow himself to show his uncertainty or unease as the man was dragged out of the room, his form trailing blood that was going to have to be cleaned up later. Nobody really cared, everyone in this building had spilled their fair share of blood over the years, all in the name of the "cause".

Kaiser kept himself from snorting in derision by biting the inside of his cheek. Unlike his father, he didn't put his faith in outdated ideals that had proven their worthlessness years before he had even been born. Kaiser used it because it was a useful tool that could gather followers and had a rather large target audience in the New England area, but he held no true allegiance to the ideals that his father had tried to instill in him as he had his older sister. The only allegiance he held was to himself and his constant quest for power, nothing more and nothing less. The ideology, his subordinates, they all served his purpose and his desires and through him he enacted his will.

He knew that more a few of his subordinates were true believers like Victor and Othala, but he knew for a fact that Hookwolf saw the entire idea as nothing more than a useful way for him to pick fights. It was amusing to see that the people thought of the Changer as nothing more than a mad dog when in fact he had a deceptively clever intellect hiding behind that beast-like savagery. It was only the fact that the man had very little ambition besides fighting that Kaiser allowed him to stay to close to his inner circle.

But for every one who realized the truth, there were five fools who didn't. The ideology laid as the foundation and structure for his Empire. Without it, they would be at each other's throats as their own greed and personal grievances drove them to claim what they believed as theirs. Kaiser needed the ideology to keep everyone in line, to give them all a common enemy to fight a redirect their attention and focus away from each other.

But now he found himself stuck between the metaphorical rock and a hard place. He couldn't afford to make any waves while the Protectorate was placing him under a microscope. Any aggressive or overt action he took could set back his goals for years, decades even. Which meant he had to watch while this once in a lifetime opportunity passed before his eyes. Oh, something like this wouldn't fade from people's memories for a very long time, but it wouldn't provide nearly the same PR boost than it would if he acted on it within the first 72 hours of it airing. But even so, he couldn't afford to take any risks with the threat of the Triumvirate breathing down his neck.

At the same time, he couldn't afford the cost of letting something like this slip by either. He preached the protection of the white people to gather his support and rally the "cause". True believers would expect him to act against the minorities, to show the world that when push came to shove that he would deliver on his word. If he failed to make a demonstration, then the whispers would start. Those whose faith was weak or false would start to look towards him with a different eye. What use was his promise of protection if he was never able to follow through with it?

The only way he could see out of this mess was if he turned his rhetoric against Lung and made an example of him and his gang. If people could see that he was willing to fight the Asians that plagued the docks, then he might be able to pull through without any major losses. It wouldn't have nearly the same impact as the Shadow Stalker scandal, but it would allow him to present the illusion to the common people that he actually gave a damn about their pleading cries for protection without antagonizing the PRT too much. Oh, they would certainly come after the Empire, but they wouldn't use as nearly the same amount of force if they went after civilian targets instead.

Of course, taking on Lung was much easier said than done. The reptile was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them. He could surely recognize the position that he was in and understand that it was in his best interests to let the Empire simmer and boil with all the pressure they were under. But if they made some attacks on his properties then Lung would feel obligated to come out and fight them, if only to protect his reputation. The man was predicable like that.

But then that led to the different problem of actually fighting the dragon.

Lung wasn't undefeatable, he had been sent running with his tail between his legs of multiple occasions, sometimes literally. The issue was that the combination of powers that had led to his defeat were no longer within his reach. Hookwolf would be more than willing to go against the man if only to test his physical prowess, but while he was capable of surviving Lung, he couldn't dish out enough damage against the man to be anything more than a distracting tank once Lung was sufficiently powered up.

Night and Fog could even the playing field, but they were in Boston at the moment. He could certainly call them back, but to do so would force him to go to the Gesellschaft to approve his usage of them. While the father organization of the Empire had provided them with parahuman and financial support in the past, it always came at a cost. He had worked hard to limit the Gesellschaft's involvement with the Empire since his father had passed away, and he had been quite successful. But if he were to call upon their assistance now, in his hour of desperation, then they would bleed him for as much as they could. That wasn't something that Kaiser wanted to deal with at this juncture.

Purity was really the only other cape in his arsenal that could do any appreciable damage to Lung. He could tug on her leash and bring her crawling back into her place, and while she had proven to be somewhat naïve in the past, she was reasonably intelligent. The fact that she had chosen to leave him after years of him subtly shaping her world view hinted that she did have some independent thoughts lingering in that skull of hers. She would recognize the hopelessness of his situation and hand him a heavy price tag for her support. Ultimately the same issue with the Gesellschaft, but unlike them she had the ability to deny him access to his child. That was something he couldn't afford, Aster was going to be a third generation parahuman related to one of the most powerful Blasters on the East Coast. Once she triggered she would be a valuable asset, and even if she didn't she would still be valuable for a political marriage. He couldn't afford to be denied access to her.

"Alabaster," Kaiser said. The bleached out parahuman stood from his seat in the front, much to the visible relief of those seated next to him. Kaiser could understand their unease, Alabaster's pure white skin and his lack of anything resembling pupils or irises made his very unsettling to look at for an extended period of time. The fact that the man was a sadist and regularly harmed himself to test out his torture tactics only made the normals feel even more unease towards the Breaker.

But for whatever his faults and…eccentricates, the man was fanatically loyal to the Empire and competent at his work, a pair of traits that Kaiser appreciated.

"Contact Purity, inform her that I am willing to open talks of negotiation," he said. A little wordy for something that boiled down to "go get her so we can talk", but it maintained the illusion that he still had power over her. By wording it as if he was negotiating with her, he prevented it from looking like he was crawling back to ask for her assistance in the matter.

Alabaster nodded and moved off to carry out his orders. It stung that he had to go to Purity rather than the other way around, but he was confident that he could prevent her from getting any clever ideas. He had his hooks dug deeply into her, all he had to do was tug on the right threads and she would come running back to him. Perhaps he should start by threatening to take his daughter? After all, it would only make sense that a concern father wanted to make sure his daughter was safe during such a tumultuous time. It was a risk given how attacked she was to the girl, but might put her on the backfoot enough to avoid getting her own ideas about his own access to Aster.

Purity would return to her rightful place under his command soon enough, and having to deal with an irritated woman was a preferable experience than having a favor owned to the premier European criminal syndicate.

Kaiser rose from his throne, standing tall and proud before the assembled men and women of the Empire. The platforms the twins stood on were slightly shorter than his own, giving the illusion that he was taller than they were. He rose his hand into a raised fist and cried out, "My brothers! My sisters! Victory is within our grasp. Our time has come!"

There was a great cheer from the assembly so loud that even with the smaller attendance it was still enough to make his ears ring. He let them cheer for a few seconds before subtly signaling to Menja to strike her spear against the ground. The sharp crack silenced the cheering as Kaiser continued his speech.

"Victory is at hand, but we cannot allow ourselves to let our personal desires overcome our sense of duty others have. The minorities are an insidious lot and will seek to drive you away from our goals. We cannot allow this to happen! Only once our Empire is secure will we be able to take vengeance on those who have wronged us. Stay strong and victory will be ours!" Kaiser roared as he shot his fist up into the air. The crowd before him responded in kind as they cheered at his words and promises of a new future for their city.

Fools, he thought. This was his city, and the world would burn before he allowed someone else to take it. They thought this the end, no this was merely the beginning of an Empire that would engulf the coast.

He could still win this battle, it was just going to take much more finesse than he had originally thought. Recent blunders aside, he still held a strong advantage against those who would stand against him.

The dragon would be pierced by his lance, the snake would be crushed under his heel, and the enemy army would be scattered against his own.

All that would be left was to deal with the monster in the woods.

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