by Brian Moon
Part 3: New Face, Face Off
The thing about winning a battle is not the attack itself, but waiting for the right moment to attack. Lukas was a patient man. He would wait all day if need be, the heroes would come to them. How could they not? He had received a message that the police department had started to set up road blocks and warned citizens to stay indoors and away from windows. It would only be a matter of time until the streets were cleared. By now everyone knew of the large gathering of armed men at the center square, wearing older style uniforms. If it wasn't for the guns people might think it was some sort of Prussian Pride Protest. Lukas laughed at that thought as he tried to say that several times fast.
The lights flickered again, and that brought Lukas’ thoughts back to his leader. This was the fourth power drain since his leader had gone into his room. His instructions were clear on events, during and after, so for now he had to wait. There was a large thud that shook the floor with the next power drain and then all was silent.
“Calm down everyone, that was just our Lord Nemesis and unless I’m mistaken he is heading out to do battle.” Lukas said keeping his own voice neutral. Several more minutes passed until the wireless began it dots and dashes.
“Well sergeant?”
“Observer nine says a large brass statue has just come up in the middle of the square but its not moving.”
“Inform everyone that is not statue, that is our Lord Nemesis and he will be moving soon enough.”
Lord Nemesis didn’t have much time to adjust to his new body and doubted he would be up to more that just standing here for awhile. Walking proved to be an interesting adventure just by itself. His body’s inputs gave his brain just as much information if not more than his human body had, it was just a matter of the imprinted brain sorting it all out. Why he didn’t do this a few days ago escaped him. He knew within time everything would become second nature, but it was irritatingly slow at this moment. He scanned his troops before him. Five Hundred of his armiger infantry knelt at the read in a square around him. Facing all four directions and now scanning the sky for the upstarts.
Observers reported another fog bank this one coming from the City Park area and it was moving fast. While from the south came the blur of blue and red flying above the buildings. Nemesis focused his gaze to an alleyway off to the west just to make sure the darkness wasn’t a malfunction, but it wasn’t. The darkness seemed to slither out from the shadows and in the middle of the black fog stood the Dark Watcher. Within seconds The Statesman landed next to the Dark Watcher, in the moving blackness. His cape seemed to move in a breeze that wasn’t there. A minute later a fog bank rolled in encompassing everything limiting visibility to no more than a few yards. As it thinned, and mingled with the darkness Lord Nemesis could make out all five of the heroes facing him from across the street.
The Statesman took three steps forward and held his hands up in a gesture of being unarmed and not wanting any trouble. He looked to Colonel Tomain, judging him to be in command by his uniform and where he stood behind his troops. “You are to surrender now and face charges warranted to your criminal activities.”
Colonel Tomain smirked, “I am afraid I have no authority to negotiate with you. You will need to take this conversation up with our leader.”
“And who would that be?” Statesman asked placing his closed fists on his hips.
“I see introductions are in order.” Lord Nemesis said, his voice volume just a little too loud. He made a mental adjustment to that. He was please to see the startled reactions of everyone as he spoke. His wasn’t a simple speaker in a helmet, his body was mostly animated. He took great pains to make sure his face would be as life-like in function as possible. He moved his closed fists to his hips mimicking the Statesman’s stance. “I am Lord Nemesis and you are the ones creating the problem. Paragon City is under my care, we didn’t ask for your help.”
“I don’t recall your name being on the last election ballot,” came the snide remark form the shadowy figure.
“I seem to remember that the politicians didn’t help any of the city’s citizens through these dark times. I at least provided jobs, incomes, pride.”
“You did it by extortion, blackmail, and murder. You accomplished what you did by making everyone fear you.”
“blah…. I did what had to be done to bring about a better system. You can not deny the people are better off here than anywhere else in the world. You are the ones behaving criminally. I placed my will on the city and it improved and with the exceptions of some maladjusted individuals. What will happen if you have your way?
“What we think doesn’t matter, it’s the people’s choice how they live their lives. We are only giving them back their choice. That’s something you took away from them.”
Nemesis waved Statesman’s comment off with one hand. “How is your self righteousness any different? You say I took away their right to choose but you do the same. …unless I am mistaken and you took a poll of the city’s citizens wishes? I give you this chance to reconsider your actions and motives in all of this.”
The woman laughed, “We follow the law of our land, we support our government and you want us to consider our motives? Seems to me you are the one who is self-serving here.”
Nemesis shifted his position to face her better, he was pleased to notice that this simple act of banter was helping his mind adjust to movement. “Tell me Ms. Justice, what business man isn’t self serving. Its his drive and views of how he sees the world that makes his company successful or causes it to die. Yes I am self-serving in what I want to come to pass to succeed. All of my employees benefit from my success, and their success feeds other businesses. Out of chaos, I have created a well balanced economic system.”
“Most business men don’t murder, to achieve their goals.” Said a man in gray and blue, “That must be Elementar.” Thought Lord Nemesis.
“Most businessmen don’t create their own army.” Said Vambrace.
“Look around you, if this was any other city you would see more crime than what we have. Show me a forthright family man and I will show you a man who would do anything to keep his children fed. I’ve made it so they don’t have to make that choice. Yet here stands the grand Freedom Phalanx in front of me, judging me like a common pick pocket. Up until today I have had no need for an army, but a wise man prepares. I just happen to produce weapons for the military, so it stands to reason I have better resources to protect my interests than the average business man.”
“We merely enforce that law. You will be judged in a court of law, not by us. So come out of that mechanical suit and surrender. It will go much easier for everyone.” Statesman said flatly.
Lord Nemesis shifted his stance to match that of Statesman’s again and locked his electronic eyes on the man with a cape. The city was oddly quiet, only the sound of the wind whistling down the channels of stone, metal and glass. With the wind also came another sound, the sound of metal on pavement, like multiple hammers striking again and again. Lord Nemesis gave a slight smile, which he was pleased that he could actually feel himself doing so.
“Again I say you might want to reconsider your position on this matter.”
