Click. 

Static covers the screen as a Play ► symbol appears in the bottom right-hand corner. 

Nox stands mulling about the wreckage of a recently “liberated” floor of Arcadia as citizens are led away in chains by a group of Preservationist guards. 

“Be careful with them. I need them in good condition if they’re to be used as test subjects.” 

Nox almost trips over a young man, his early twenties if that.  The young man bows up to the Chemist. 

“Coward, you stand behind these thugs.  Thinking you can intimidate us but…” 

*CRACK!* 

Nox deftly backhands the younger man sending him sprawling. 

“Watch your tongue, worm.  This floor now is under Preservationist control you want to be another Destructo Boy, I will see your fate forged in the same fires that killed his family.” 

Nox spits as he clutches the young man’s face. 

“The Seekers will save us, The Arcadian Ghost knows where all of Zeus’s bodies are buried.” 

The young man replies through crushed cheeks and gritted teeth. 

“Attano, that fossil?  Been watching him since Deathrow, that old codger has lost so many steps I’m surprised he isn’t walking backward.  You want to model your life on him well you’ve got more than a Savior Complex to worry about because if you’re anything like him you’re in danger of developing a Martyr Complex.  Ironic isn’t it, a Seeker who’ll only live to find his death.  If you want to be a little hero yourself, all you’ll need to do is breathe it in…” 

Nox releases the young man’s face and a vapor washes over it.  The younger man’s pupils narrow as if the man in the green mask before him was the only thing left in his universe. 

“What’re your orders, sir…” 

The young man states in a mindless monotone as Nox leans close to his ear and whispers through what sounds like gritted teeth. 

“This is Arcadia, there are no conventions, there are no rules in what we can and cannot do out here to Preserve order in this chaos.  There is nothing that I won’t be allowed to do to maintain the status quo.  Under my watchful eye, that door will never open, and my goal of every hero falling at my feet will be obtained.  From Maxwell to James, to Harold Attano… they’ll all be nothing but martyrs, dead men, speaking to a message.  Don’t cross Zeus because Arcadia is no place for heroes.  

Nox lowers his voice and whispers something we can’t hear in the man’s ear.  The man stands and marches over to a line of people being processed by the guards and… 

*SNAP!* 

One of the captives drops, neck snapped and in a burst of gunfire, the young man is gone. 

“They’ll all fall, one by one, just as the Corporation was built, brick by brick and body by body.  The brilliant thing is, I will only need to do half the work as they all eliminate themselves.  In the end… everything dies, and so will they.” 

Click