John looked out from his East Side New York office window at Central Park and the buildings beyond. The mayor’s office sat two floors higher, but everyone knew the real power rested here. He had taken three floors of this former residential tower and turned it into his communication center. Regulators checked in day and night, transferring newly crafted items and skills they obtained on their beat. These were the new form of taxes.

John picked the best for himself. His scores were off the chart in nearly every category.

Algorithms: 56

Mathematics: 49

Jujitsu: 58

Marksmanship: 41

Cooking: 62

And the list went on and on.

His clothes hid many treasures as well: bulletproof long underwear, telescoping rods that emitted massive energy pulses, mines the size of marbles that would immobilize a truck.

He looked out the window, but he was not interested in the view of the park or of the skyline beyond. No, he stared at one building in particular. One that rose beyond the others. The top of the Beacon.

He hated them.

He thought he had won. He easily surpassed any one person in Manhattan. He had the highest scores in most categories. He had absorbed the most skills. He suspected he might even be the most powerful person on the planet. People feared him. The mayor pretended to rule under a suspension of democracy. But everyone knew who had the real power.

They might have feared him. Him and his regulators. But that was all they did. Fear. They didn’t talk about him. When he attended parties they would hush as he came near. But he heard them. With his skill levels and modifications he could have heard them from outside.

They all talked incessantly about “the great work” done at the Beacon. How they all would improve at the Beacon skill swaps. How their lives have improved with all the stupid items invented by the Beacon.

He thought many times that he should send his regulators into the Beacon and burn it to the ground. Ruby always talked him out of it.

"They are too strong. And if you lose, people are going to turn on you."

John would usually express his frustration by sending a group of regulators out to harass an area that seemed particularly chummy with the Beacon crowd. But sometimes that wasn’t enough to satisfy him. On those days he'd go out walking and take his frustrations out on whoever crossed his path.

Ruby entered John's office without knocking.

"John, we have a visitor." Ruby was the only one who could get away with entering his office without asking first.

Behind Ruby trailed O.

"This is O. He used to run research at the Beacon."

That got John's attention. "Mr. O? How can we help you?"

"I need a lab set up for me."

John suppressed an instinct to sneer. He walked over from the window to his desk. "And what was wrong with the one over at the Beacon?"

"We had differences of opinion."

John sensed an opportunity. "You are going to need to be more specific."

"They don’t believe we should be modifying people.”

Of course, John thought. That sanctimonious bastard James would never allow experiments on people. Even though there were no such thing as people. John looked down at his arms and legs and thought about how lucky he had been when he merged with that body builder. He had since seen the failed attempts of dozens of other people who had tried something similar.

If they could safely modify people... Just think, he could level up into something so powerful… That would put him on top. Nothing the Beacon invented would matter then. He laughed to himself. The Beacon? He could set his sights on the world.

"What do you need?"

"A place to work, a team, and a steady stream of volunteers."

John glanced at Ruby. She understood. "You'll have it by the end of the day. Floor 4 in the building is yours."

“Oh one more thing,” John walked over to O. His hand shot out lightning fast and grabbed O by the throat, lifting him up. “Don’t ever think of walking out on me.” John’s hand released O and he fell to the floor, barely keeping his balance.

O rubbed his neck, stared at John, nodded and left.

John smiled. "This is the break we've needed!" John almost shouted to Ruby.

"You are lucky. I've been hearing rumors that the Mayor wants you gone."

John’s smile transformed into a sneer, "Oh? Well let’s end those rumors. Time to have a chat with our friend, to clear things up."

Ruby shook her head, "He won't see you without an..."

Humor evaporated off his face. "NOW!" John yelled.

Ruby never looked scared when John lost it. Ruby just stared at him, resigned. "Ok John, let's go."

They took the elevator up two flights. The doors opened to an office bustling with activity. As they walked, people veered away from them. One young kid, probably a college intern, looked like he pissed himself. Ruby knocked on the mayor’s office door.

John didn’t wait for an answer. He opened the doors and they walked in.

The old, gray-haired politician looked annoyed. "What is it Ruby?" John noticed that the Mayor hadn't acknowledged his presence in the room. He never did. His little attempt to imagine he held some sort of power over John.

John pretended not to notice the slight. "Steven,” John used the Mayor’s first name knowing it would annoy him, “The time has finally come for us to move against the Beacon. Tomorrow you’ll announce to the people that their organization is no longer sanctioned to operate in New York.”

Steven gave a quick, haughty bark, "For what? Everyone loves them. I'd lose half this city’s support if I did that."

John continued unphased, "We just received word from a former lab worker at the Beacon, they are experimenting on people."

Steven paused at this, "Does this person have evidence of this?"

John stared at the Mayor, "Once we seize their assets, we will find all the proof we need."

Steven shook his head, "No, that isn't enough. I won't mobilize the Regulators against them on that alone. It's too risky."

John smiled, "You don't control the Regulators, I do. I'm not asking for your permission, I'm telling you what you will do. Go public with the accusations, I'll take care of the rest."

Now Steven smiled, "John, you've overstepped your bounds.” Steven went quiet for a moment and John could tell he was sending a message to someone.

Four regulators entered the office and spread out around John.

Steven smiled, “I've been meaning to do this for a long time. I want you out. You can take a cushy advisory job if you transition everything peacefully. But as of today you no longer run the Regulator division."

John smiled. “I don’t think so.”

Steven motioned to the regulators. They didn’t move. Steven yelled, “Well, take him out of here.” They didn’t move.

John walked up to Steven, lifted him up by the collar, and threw him through the window.

"No Steven, you are out."

Ruby hustled to the window as Steven plummeted to the street. "Jesus John. What is wrong with you? We needed more time. This is really going to screw up our transition plans."

"Now that we have a way of creating new humans, I'm done waiting."

"Great, but now we have a vacuum. Who’s going to be Mayor now?"

John smiled, "You are."

"Oh yeah? We don't even have elections anymore. How is that going to work?"

"Everyone in the office already knows you run things around here. And they know I run the regulators. If anyone has a problem, just let me know. In the meantime, we need volunteers for our experiments. Anyone who speaks out against the change will automatically volunteer for our new program."

Ruby walked out.

John watched Ruby leave. He knew she would do as he asked. He messaged Ren, his chief administrator of intelligence. A minute later Ren entered. Ren, like many of John’s staff, was an opportunist. Someone who never would have amounted to much in the old world. But he’d learned that blind obedience to John gave him all the power he could want.

"Ren, how many people are on our naughty list."

Ren didn't speak. He almost never did. He just sent over a list via the chat window. John scanned the names and last known addresses of these people. He then calculated the beats of every Regulator and sent out a chat message to each one with a list of people to collect.

Fifty thousand names went out.