31 Interlude: Thoughts of a Businessman

Queens, New York

February 26th, 2010

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Uppercrust is a businessman.

He has been a businessman for a long time now, since before parahumans were even a thing.

The first parahuman, Scion, first appeared in 1982, almost 30 years ago. Uppercrust graduated from Caltech in 1971 and has been rather successful in his business ventures since.

Now, when parahumans first started appearing, the world changed. That much is an obvious statement, but he finds that people oft fail to realise the extent to which the world changed.

Everyone focuses on the changes to laws to allow for the silly little comic book cosplay that's become so commonplace that they ignore the truly important changes.

That being the changes to business.

See, if there's one thing anybody with half a brain knows about humanity, it's that people get stubborn with age. Most people dislike change, they struggle to accept that the way of life they once found comfort in is no longer a realistic option for them.

Uppercrust is not one of those people.

When the parahumans came, almost every contact and connection that he had in the world stubbornly held on to the belief that even if the world is to turn into a comic book, that business will survive as it was.

They were fools. 

The smarter among them are living comfortably retired lives these days. The rest are dead.

Because unlike them, there was something that Uppercrust realised right away about parahumans.

That they are an unreasonable people.

In the early days, before the Protectorate was formed, countless CEOs, executives, hell, even royalty all around the world were killed seemingly every week.

Uppercrust's fellows all blundered and fumbled from then. Each of them thought themselves untouchable, or that those who died had it coming and they would be safe, or they simply looked down on the parahumans because of the silly costumes they later started to wear with their oft eccentric personalities.

To reiterate, they were fools.

Uppercrust long ago figured out the one truth you need to understand in order to survive as a businessman in this new world.

Parahumans are an unreasonable people.

If anything, calling them unreasonable is a gross understatement. They are brash and violent, quick to confrontation and show little hesitance to starting conflicts. Worst of all, they are emotional.

Picture this, a pharmaceutical company who's main produce is insulin shots suddenly experiences a disaster of some sort, say, an earthquake on their largest production facility. Naturally this would lead to a great loss of revenue, so what is the logical course of action?

They raise the price of insulin.

However, unbeknownst to them, there is a little girl out there with an especially severe case of diabetes who comes form a low income household. One day, that little girl is ordering a drink at a restaurant because it's her birthday and her father scrounged up enough money to treat her.

Unfortunately, the server mixes up her drink with someone else's and she ends up drinking three teaspoons of sugar.

Later, her blood sugar rises dramatically, but wait! Where are her insulin injections? Oh, right, she doesn't have any because the prices were raised too high to be afforded and her father's next pay check isn't due for another three days.

So she dies.

And then her father Triggers.

Guess what he does next? 

He uses his newfound power to coerce a shareholder of that company into telling him when the next shareholder meeting is, and then he summarily executes the entire upper management of the company alongside all of their investors.

That kind of scenario played out over and over again until companies started realising that they need to hire parahumans of their own if they want to survive.

Which is why Uppercrust helped found Uppermost. It was supposed to be an organisation that would allow for parahumans to contribute to the economy.

Just think about it, the right parahuman could make a hundred cars in twenty minutes all by themselves. The right parahuman could produce cures for any disease at a pittance of a cost. The right parahuman could revolutionise the world simply by providing quick and cheap transport around the globe.

And then the NEPEA-5 Bill came.

In short, it sought to prevent parahumans from taking over the marketplace by limiting them on what they could do. It basically put a stop to all parahuman businesses in their infancy.

Well, in the U.S. anyway.

The only true exception is DracoTech, the company founded by Dragon, and that is only because the company technically doesn't produce any Tinker Tech, nor is any Tinker Tech used to aid the process of production.

It truly is a shame that that woman decided to saddle up with The Guild. They could have done wonderful things together.

As a result of the bill, Uppermost was forced to disband and most of the members ended up joining the Protectorate and Wards in order to avoid various fines. What was left of Uppermost split up and the former members each set up shop elsewhere around the country, building while remaining in contact with each other in secret.

Eventually they founded The Elite, but over time the original leaders have all been replaced by younger, more ruthless bosses. All except Uppercrust, who's ability to adapt has let his survive and thrive until now.

Still, he can't help but feel that he is surrounded by thugs and brute sometimes.

Which leads to the present.

Uppercrust started as a mundane businessman, then the world changed and he became something equivalent to a comic book villain, and now, the world is changing again.

He's not sure the exact direction it is headed, but the world is changing, the next generation is beginning to make their mark.

And truthfully, he doesn't even have to think too hard about when the change began.

In 1982, Scion appeared. Two years later, in 1984, Parahumans started appearing around the globe.

In 2007, Lusia Abel appeared. Two years later, in 2009, territory lines across the world are redrawn.

One of the largest organisations in the world, Gesellschaft disappeared overnight, replaced by a new organisation called Valhǫll that has seen much greater success in expanding their borders.

The African Warlord Moord Nag has expanded from being a small, if abnormally powerful, Namibian Warlord to having control of almost everything south of the African equator.

A new gang known as Red Hearts appeared and swiftly took control of the entire North East of the U.S. with unnatural speed. At the same time, The Elite has been effectively kicked out of the East Coast with no intention of trying to contest the fact.

Even the Protectorate seem to be on the verge of a civil war. Granted, calling the situation a civil war is a gross overestimation and would likely give the wrong idea. But it is undeniable that a rift is forming in the organisation, two sides forming, and as each side grows, everyone who hasn't picked a side suddenly feels more pressure to be 'with' one of them so as to not be 'against' them both.

It's unlikely that any kind of conflict is going to come of this, but he wouldn't be overly surprised if the biggest parahuman organisation in the world fractured in half.

And then, finally, there's the elephant in the room. The group that he has no doubt is behind all of the above he just listed.

The Clowns. Founded by none other than the 'Fake Endbringer' Lusia Abel herself.

When they first met, she was still fresh to this world. Inexperienced, unknowledgeable and completely lacking in any typically marketable skills.

By any stretch of the imagination, she was just another of the same kind of parahuman he has seen a hundred times by now. An unreasonable person with a lot of ambition but not the ability to pursue said ambition.

Any rational person meeting her as he did would see her for the flight risk she is. They would see an unstable sociopath with delusions of grandeur and they would turn her away without a second thought, not willing to make such a high risk investment on a random nobody that will likely be dead by the end of the month.

Those rational people however would be forgetting the number one fact that should be kept in mind when doing business in this new world.

Parahumans are not reasonable people.

She is undoubtably the highest risk investment he has ever made, especially in hindsight. But unlike any other rational businessman, Uppercrust knew to look beyond her unreasonable nature.

And what he found deep within her eyes was both terrifying and exciting in equal measure.

She was inexperienced. She lacked knowledge of the world, of business, of anything really. Really, she was like a new-born, fresh to the world.

But he could see the intelligence gleaming behind her eyes, hidden so deep that he doubts she even realises her own genius. Lusia Abel is someone who simply sees the world differently. She can see opportunities where no one else can, and more importantly, she possesses the ability to grasp those opportunities.

Their initial meeting alone is proof enough of that.

He knows without a doubt that that was the first time she has ever been in a situation like that in her life, meeting someone like him. And yet, it took her from when the door to his office opened to when she reached her chair to figure him out and how she should act to get what she wanted.

Like he said, she is terrifying, and it both frustrates and amuses him to no end that at this point, everyone in the world would agree with him on this sentiment, yet not one of them will understand why he finds her terrifying.

When questioned about what makes her so scary, everyone will simply point to the San Francisco Bay Area that looks more like an urban warzone than anything else these days.

And yes, her power is certainly intimidating. But so is the Triumvirate's power. Each of them could destroy is city with some concentrated effort and a few hours work, and the Endbringers have already been displaying that same kind of power every few months for years now.

No, it is not her power that scares him, it is her mind.

Every generation has its geniuses, Avicenna, da Vinci, Hooke, Leibniz. Uppercrust believes she could stand with them.

If she was interested in science and math instead of people and entertainment, he doesn't doubt for a second that parahuman or no, she would have revolutionised the world.

Unfortunately she's far too hedonistic for that.

But still, her mind can't be denied.

Even right now, her foresight impresses him.

She still hasn't been seen or even heard of since that night almost exactly one year ago the world shook under her might.

Many people have many theories on her disappearance. Perhaps she died, perhaps she was just hurt and is recovering, perhaps she is preparing something, maybe she got 'Caged, maybe she was banished to an alternate Earth, maybe she's having an affair with Ziz on the moon.

That last one made him chuckle when he saw it. However, Uppercrust has a good feeling that he knows exactly why she refuses to show her face even a year later.

Because once upon a time, they had a nice conversation.

You see, people say a lot of words in general, and as a businessman, it's important to develop the skill of picking out what words they mean and what is simply filler.

Lusia throws that practice out of the window, because she has a habit of saying small, innocuous things that seem like she's just making conversation, or talking in hypotheticals, only for her to go out and make her words a reality.

Such as when Lusia whined to him how there are only two boogeywomen that are feared, The Woman with the Fedora and The Faerie Queen. She complained, rather childishly he'd like to add, that it's not fair for the Heroes to have a Triumvirate, the Monsters a trio of Endbringers while the Villains only get a duo.

Naturally, the whole argument she was making was pointless and barely even made any sense since only the Triumvirate among those listed is even known to be affiliated with anybody, but it's not like something as benign as logic could stop her.

So he just nodded along and waited for her to tire herself out with her ramblings so that they could get back to discussing business. It's not like their conversations needed to be long, since she only wanted to understand the general situation of things and had other people talk numbers for her.

And so they went about their days as usual.

Yet, he couldn't help but think back to her words. For weeks he had this niggling sensation in the back of his mind that the conversation was more important than he thought. Since that instinct is what has allowed him to continue to function in this mad world, he followed it and gave her words more thought.

Once upon a time, Lusia claimed she would be feared like the Queen of all Fae.

If one were to be philosophical, The Woman in the Fedora would represent the terror of the unknown. An unknowable, unseeable enemy that can strike at any time, any place, who you will never see coming. It is an existential sort of dread.

Conversely, The Faerie Queen would be the opposite. She would represent the fear of encroaching death. An unstoppable force that will only grow more powerful the more you resist, leaving you with no other option than to flee. She is a rational sort of fear, the fear of death.

Between the two, Lusia lacks the patience for prolonged subtlety, and she enjoys attention far too much to ever follow that path. Which reminded him of one specific sentence that she said, one of those innocuous little statements that she casually throws around sometimes.

"The Faerie Queen is only so feared because she was arrested."

When she said that, he didn't really understand and she didn't elaborate. But now that she's disappeared, he finally understands.

The Endbringers are feared because of their power and the destruction they cause, but other than Ziz, that fear is... underwhelming. Familiarity breeds acceptance. The Endbringers have been so consistent in their destruction that the initial fear has faded greatly. These days, they are seen as little different than natural disasters.

If The Faerie Queen was never sent to the Birdcage, then she would be seen as the same as the Endbringers. She'd be feared as a natural disaster in human form, but at the same time, she only ever targeted parahumans, even if she clearly didn't care about collateral damage.

So to say the average Joe would fear her would be a lie, because everyone would realise that she will only come for you if you're a parahuman, and that she'll ignore you if you stay out of the way.

However, since she got arrested, she disappeared from the world. This allowed for rumours to spread and grow. Her disappearance from the world caused her to be almost mythologised, especially considering the situation surrounding her disappearance.

Once word got out of her power, people panicked and tried to kill her. Thirty-three parahumans died at her hands, their 'Faerie' claimed by the Queen. After that, an armed forced of fifty parahumans was sent after her. Thirteen were claimed before the rest could run away.

With her power known and feared, they sent everything at her, hundreds of parahumans working together to bring low just one in an effort of cooperation that hadn't been seen anywhere other than an Endbringer fight.

And the best part? The part that the public will never know, that those present will never admit to?

They didn't win.

She surrendered.

So how does this all relate to Lusia? Well, lets see if any of this sounds familiar.

A new parahuman shows up, showcasing an unusual willingness to kill. This parahuman travels around for a bit, getting into plenty of fights and killing plenty of parahumans. Eventually, people realise that they are getting stronger with every parahuman they kill. Then, after having had enough time to grow incredibly powerful, this parahuman engages in a fight with hundreds of others as if they are an Endbringer. The assembled force is then unable to stop this parahuman from achieving their goals, and only after a monumental showing of force, this parahuman disappears from the world without a word.

Just like the Queen before her, Lusia's absence from the world has caused her to go from an insane but abnormally powerful parahuman serial killer to Lusia Abel, The First Clown, Slaughterer of Nine.

He doubts that she planned her last act out, but he's sure that she made the conscious decision to disappear for a while so that she could become the boogeywoman that she wanted to be.

And it is working.

People used to talk about her no differently as they did the Nine. A horrible killer, someone you'd never want to meet, but little more than that.

Now, The First Clown would represent the fear of entropy, of uncertain futures. If the Faerie Queen is the steady withering of time, The First Clown is a sudden car crash. She is the fear that no matter what you do, no matter what path you take or cautions you make, death can always find you. And all it takes, is a bad roll of the dice.

Once upon a time, Uppercrust underestimated Lusia Abel.

The world is changing, and just like when parahumans first started showing up, Uppercrust intends to adapt to the changing tides, rather than be swallowed up by his own stubbornness like so many undoubtably will in the coming years.

To that end, he has started subtly distancing himself from The Elite in more ways than simply being on the other side of the country. The fact that he is technically the only Elite presence left on the East Coast has certainly helped, and it was only thanks to Lusia that her Clowns didn't burn everything he worked for to the ground when they went on their little rampage.

After all, just because she isn't present, that doesn't mean anybody has the balls to cross her, and her deals with him are still standing. He's helped things along by opening relations with Red Hearts, and he fully intends to ally himself to them. It will take a year or two for them to come to a proper agreement, but in feudal terms, it will likely be result in him being allowed to rule New York as something like a Duke in Joker's greater territory.

And unlike how these kinds of relationships, he won't have to worry about being a subordinate to Joker in all but name, because the leader of the Red Hearts, who totally isn't also the Rogue Tinker and Clown known as Negante, seems intent on treating him like he's some kind of uncle.

It's honestly kind of endearing. It's not the best kept secret that two of The Clowns, Negante, who is totally not a former Fallen called James, and Chibi, who definitely isn't Bonesaw, are something like children to Lusia, and apparently she used to talk about him a lot to the two of them, especially James.

According to James, when Lusia was teaching him how to take over and rule a city, because of course that's what she teaches her kids, she would reference him a lot and say that if he ever had any questions or wasn't sure how to do something, that he should ask him.

Now, it is a little bit annoying that he was just volunteered to effectively tutor the kid at his own leisure, but he isn't too mad about it. He's a, well, calling him a good kid would probably be a bit of a stretch all things considered, but still, the kid is smart and a very good learner.

Honestly, Lusia clearly did a good job teaching him to think like she does. He's not quite the same, not quite as quick on the uptake or quite as competent, but that's using an unfair metric to measure him to.

Besides all of that though, it feels oddly satisfying to be called Uncle.

Even better, the kid is smart enough not to trust him outright, even with Lusia's supposed blessing. James has a healthy amount of caution, which doesn't surprise him in the least. He wouldn't put it past Lusia to set her kids up for failure just so they can learn a lesson from it all.

So all that is stopping his organisation from forming a properly cooperative relationship with Red Hearts is a matter of trust.

Normally, this is a problem that would be solved only with time. They would gradually give more and more allowances to each other, every concession made with a hefty coating of paranoia, until they both finally accept that they want the same thing and work together.

However, Uppercrust decided to speed things along by taking a page out of Lusia's book. Because despite her inexperience at the time, she has taught him just as much as he has her.

For instance, she taught him that for there to be peace, someone must always offer an olive branch eventually. She told him that for this reason, she will always be willing to offer the branch, even if it puts her at a disadvantage.

Granted, her reasoning was that she would prefer to be stabbed in the back than have to wait patiently for negotiations to finish, but the point she made still stands.

Trust is a two way street. If he wants James to trust him, then he must first show trust in turn.

Which is why he is sitting with a few aides in an out of the way warehouse that has been refitted to function as a hospital for people who can't go to an actual hospital for whatever reason, be it the legality or simply because they cannot afford it.

You see, Uppercrust is a parahuman. As such, he had a Trigger Event of his own. Many years ago, he learnt that he had a tumour in his brain. It was inoperable and incurable. The helplessness that he felt, the fact that some random roll of bad luck is ending his life was maddening.

He spent a fortune looking for a cure, and when that failed, spent even more searching desperately for anyway to just contain to tumour's growth. That is when he Triggered, and now he possesses the ability to create the greatest barriers in the world, there is not a threat alive short of the Endbringers that he could not contain with time and resources.

All except for the one thing that is slowly killing him.

Truly, powers have brought nothing good into this world.

He has since built up a criminal enterprise large enough that he could be considered as influential as some Kings, with wealth and power in spades, all in the hopes of finding the right power that could save his life.

It sounds unreasonable doesn't it? Manipulating events country-wide, concocting schemes and takeovers. Millions of lives have been effected by his actions by now, both positively and negatively, all because of one old man's desire to live just a little bit longer.

Is it any wonder that he's an unreasonable person though? He is a parahuman too after all.

And what could be said to be more unreasonable than letting a pair of children, one of whom used to be among the most feared people in the nation, operate on his own brain?

That is his olive branch, his show of trust. 

Just like Lusia did to him all that time ago, he is going to approach this openly and honestly. He is going to trust them to see his value and make the right choice.

He is jolted out of his thoughts by one of his aides, Los, clearing his throat. "They've arrived," his aide says, his power allowing him to see through the walls surrounding them.

Without saying a word, Uppercrust nods to Hideout, who returns the expression before setting off to welcome their guests, and he finds himself smiling inwardly at her professionalism.

She was a shy and uncertain girl just two years ago, back when she was the liaison selected when Lusia first showed up to meet him, but she has truly grown into her position lately, making her one of the many people who have seemingly benefitted just from mere exposure to Lusia.

It doesn't take long before a part of three is led into the room. 

Leading the way is James and Riley, or rather Negante and Chibi, considering their matching monochrome costumes designed to look like a typical scientist's outfit, only chequered black and white.

Behind them is a woman looking distinctly uncomfortable in an overly frilly maid outfit. Just looking at her he gets the feeling that she usually wears much more casual clothes, to put it politely.

To put it rudely she looks like a trashy white woman dressed up in frills against her will.

"Uncle Crust!~" Negante enthusiastically greets, waving a hand. "How's it hanging?"

He just smiles at the irreverence, too excited at finally being freed from his slow death to truly care about any disrespect right now.

"I'm well, thank you for asking. Do either of you need time to prepare, or may we begin right away?"

"Impatient are we?~" Negante teases, only for Chibi to punch him in the shoulder

"Don't be a meanie!" She scolds, before turning to Uppercrust with a smile he can notice even with her mask in the way, "we can start right away, Mr Crust! Just show us to the operating room!"

It's so close.

Just a little bit longer and he will finally be free of his greatest burden.

His organisations numbers might be a bit precarious right now, but if you asked Uppercrust in this moment what he thought, he'd only have one honest answer.

Business is good.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I have no idea if this chapter was any good for you guys, but this was the first chapter in months that I genuinely enjoyed writing start to finish. Hopefully that means that I will be able to keep up that momentum and reawaken my passion for writing, cuz this was fun, even if I'm unsure of its quality.