Commissioner Paul Mattis had planned his meeting with the District Attorney carefully.

Alicia Hargreaves had been DA for three years now, and had established a reputation for fair dealing and a dogged pursuit of justice. Which had led to the DA’s office filing a record number of cases against the Grunters in the last few weeks.

Cases which were now in jeopardy, as the star witnesses had executed one of the principal defendants in cold blood.

Oh, there was a raging public debate about self-defense, and the rights of the victims to protect themselves. Plus the majority of citizens were happy the Grunters were off the streets - or at least finished as an ultrahuman gang.

He doubted that himself, since Grumman was still at large.

Which was one of the things he’d intended to discuss with DA Hargreaves, leading him here to her office in the heart of the city, for only their second ever meeting.

“Good morning, Commissioner,” Hargreaves greeted him. “I trust all is well? You said you needed an urgent, in-person meeting.”

Mattis nodded. “Thank you for your time, Ms. District Attorney.”

“Please, call me Alicia. I worked with your predecessor for several years and we both prefer a first-name basis.”

“Only if you call me Paul.”

Alicia Hargreaves grinned. “Of course, Paul. I know you probably have a ton of paperwork, considering it’s only your second week taking over, so let’s get to the point. What can I do for you?”

Mattis took a deep breath. “I want to start an investigation to find Belessar’s identity.”

Alicia cocked her head. “In violation of quite a few laws protecting ultrahuman confidentiality. May I ask why?”

“We saw what he did at the courthouse yesterday. He murdered Gravitic.”

“Technically, the survivors of the Grunter mansion killed Gravitic, and even I would hesitate to call it murder. Especially when it’s normal humans killing a supervillain.”

“With ultrahuman help.”

“With ultrahuman help to level the playing field, yes. Still normals, still victims of the Grunters, and still not the ones who started the fight.”

“Belessar knew the Grunters would attack. He planned for it.”

“Did he tell them to attack?”

“He probably has informants within the Grunters who warned him it would happen. Somehow.”

“Maybe. What should he have done? Informed the police?”

“Yes. We should have been the ones protecting the public.”

“Against a force of - what was it? Seven Grunters in combat armor, including Gravitic.” Alicia paused. “What’s changed since the station attack three years ago? Do you have better armour or equipment for your police officers?”

“We could have made arrangements. With proper warning, we could have had some of the more powerful outstation heroes on-site.”

“All these arguments have been made before, you know,” Alicia said gently. “Including some by your predecessor. Do you know why no heroes have driven the Grunters out of Tanisport before?”

Paul shook his head.

“Because every time we approached an out-of-city hero to face off against Grumman, they refused.”

“What?”

“Dr. Magnetic was approached by the Flying Storm last year. He pointed out that Grumman’s suits had killed at least five aliens that he knew of, and wounded many more. Saved lives in some battles.” Alicia shrugged. “I believe he commented that cops weren’t going to save ultrahuman lives in the next battle, but Grunter suits might.”

“Surely there were others.”

“There wasn’t a single hero in the top twenty who was interested in taking on Grumman. And below that… well, Grumman is still ranked amongst the three most powerful villains in the world. At least according to the leaderboards.”

“We need to do something, Alicia. We need to reassure citizens that the law still holds in this city. It can't be an ultrahuman free-for-all."

"And you think finding and arresting Belessar will prevent that?"

"The public needs to see they are protected by the police, not by vigilantes."

"So you're doing this for the department's reputation?"

"No… that's not what I meant. Ms. Hargreaves…."

"Alicia."

".... Alicia, the public needs to be wary of ultrahumans. We've seen cases like this before. Kevass in Texas, the child molester. Paramecium, the shapeshifter who hunted and killed people for sport. Several others."

"I agree there's a long list of ultrahumans who have gone bad."

"And many of them created a popular public persona. Ultras are masters at managing PR - and that's not even counting the real Masters."

"And every single one of those ultras started out by fighting crime and siding with law enforcement."

Paul furrowed his eyebrows. "You've heard this argument before."

"A couple of times. A supportive public makes ultrahumans much more likely to get away with minor infractions. Viking never gets a speeding ticket."

"Viking is …. a lot less violent than Belessar." He handed over the tablet he was carrying to the DA. "Photos from a warehouse in Shallowfield. Worth looking at."

The DA took the tablet and began to flick through the pictures. She paused as the corpse of Ultragorilla filled the screen. "I see."

"It's been abandoned for a while, which is why this wasn't reported until last night."

"Cause of death?"

"Ultragorilla was bludgeoned to death with some sort of blunt instrument. Serpentor was impaled with a thrown weapon, likely a spear. Tigerstrike was hit by multiple different weapons, including several electric shocks and at least one high energy laser beam. Also, the coroner found bruises from blunt force and…. ruptures in the brain."

"Ruptures in the brain…. Can you clarify that?"

"Tigerstrike's brain had several small haemorrhages. No crack to the skull, so whatever weapon caused it went straight through the bone as if it weren't there and tore up the cranial tissue. There's no known weapon that can do that."

Alicia nodded. "Inventech weapon, then."

Paul nodded, then continued. "We have some surveillance footage from a nearby area showing Belessar - or at least an ultra in his type of suit - nearby. We believe he set some sort of trap for the Blackhat leadership, lured them in and executed them."

"All three of them at the same time?"

"We believe so."

"These weren't novices. How could Belessar ambush them so easily?"

"The same way he did Gravitic. And if he can field more than one suit at a time, then he probably overwhelmed them."

"Are you suggesting that the women who helped him against Gravitic…."

"No. Not them." Paul took a deep breath. "Our best profilers did a psychological assessment of Belessar."

"And?"

"He's wealthy. Independently wealthy, powerful, and likely has a significant following in his civilian identity. He referred to 'friends' during the raid on the Grunter mansion - we believe that he had other armored men hidden in the woods, ready to intervene if things went wrong."

"Most inventors don't start out wealthy."

"Most inventors start out by selling their inventions on the black market. They use this money to fund their first suits. Belessar paid for building his first suit out of his own funds. That's why the first anyone heard of him was during the attack on the Damini."

"And on that basis, you want to violate the Dodd-Patrick Act and the Codices on Secrecy of Ultrahuman Identities."

"He's rich, charismatic enough to manipulate public opinion and form a secret militia. He’s also killed more than thirty people that we know of. That's not a normal supervillain."

"What exactly are you hinting at?"

"Insurrection, Ms. Hargreaves. Armed suits on the streets, shooting down anyone who doesn't swear allegiance to Belessar."

Alicia Hargreaves leaned back. "And you think this is what he wants? To rule?"

"That's what happened elsewhere, isn't it?"

"Paul, how much time do you spend with rich people?"

Paul was taken aback. "About as much as anyone else, I suppose.”

“How many rich people would you count as your friends? Not friends of the Commissioner or the police department. Personal friends.”

“Ms. Hargreaves, I’m a middle-class white boy from Selleck Street. I don’t have rich personal friends.”

“I do, Paul. I have a lot of rich people who are campaign contributors, and who like to think of themselves as my friends. So I’ve learnt a thing or two about how they think.” Alicia leaned back. “And despite what DC Comics want you to believe, there’s no way a rich man will go out and fight thirty-odd gangsters to rescue people. The only reason a rich man will do anything is if it helps him stay rich.”

“We believe he’s doing this to gain power….”

“Then why attack the Grunters?”

“... I’m sorry?”

“He didn’t just get roped in, Commissioner. He deliberately went after the Grunters. Why do you think he went focused specifically on them?”

“Possibly as rivals, to prove a point….”

“Until he hit the Damini, nobody knew he existed. He prepared, and when he hit them, it was hard enough to wipe them out.” Alicia tapped on the table four times. “Four raids. Just four. The Damini, the central storage warehouse, the mansion, and the trap at the courthouse. And the Grunters go from being the most terrifying gang in Tanisport to a footnote in the city’s history.”

“We know he’s a good planner.”

“It takes more than just a plan, Paul. If he wasn’t an inventor, would you still assume he was rich?”

Paul’s thoughts ground to a halt. “Are you saying he isn’t one?”

“His being wealthy is based on two assumptions. One, he’s an inventor, and two, inventors need a lot of money to create combat suits. What if the second isn’t true?”

“But every inventor needs money….”

“What if he doesn’t need that much cash? Suppose he just needs a few hundred bucks to make his suits. Wouldn’t that make it easy for him to mass-produce them?”

“.... Then he could be anybody.”

“Exactly. You’ve been looking at the assumptions as hard constraints - they’re not. He could simply have tech that lets him make armor cheaply. He handed over a laser rifle to a woman he’d met less than an hour ago. And I heard from sources he did the same thing in New York - gave another rifle to a soldier as a gift.”

“The black-market value of a laser rifle is fifty thousand dollars.”

“What if he doesn’t want to trade on the black market?”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“Think through the motive, Commissioner. If he’s not rich, and his first target was the Grunters? What background would a man have to have, to hate the Grunters so much that he’d risk his life to bring them down?”

The answer came instantly to Paul. “A cop.”

“Exactly.”

“But he can’t be a cop. He has no idea of the evidence he’s screwed up….”

“What if he’s a cop’s son?” Alicia Hargreaves leaned forward. “What if he’s a boy who grew up raised by a cop, and then lost his father when the Grunters hit the station? He’d have the faith that bad people should be punished, and the drive to avenge his father. And he wouldn’t know the actual laws, or the rules of procedure.” She steepled her fingers under her chin. “Do you understand what will happen if you actually find him?”

“It will destroy the department,” muttered Paul. “One of our own - or a family member of one of our own - doing this.”

“That’s why you need to drop this investigation, Paul. A reclusive billionaire who puts on a suit and fights crime? Unlikely. A grieving boy who lost his father and discovered superpowers, seeking vengeance? More likely. The fallout if you actually find him? Can you imagine having to press charges against the child of a martyr?”

“We don’t know that,” Paul protested weakly. “It’s assumptions, again.”

“But can you take the risk, Commissioner?”

“No, Alicia.” Paul sighed in defeat. “I’ll quash the investigation.”