The Sirens P1

A smile crossed Gwen's face when she walked next to Harry, eyes twinkling in amusement. She was actually glad that she had a steady boyfriend now, granted he was shared with several other women, but that actually made things oddly more alluring. Plus it was not like it wasn't plenty of Harry Potter to go around. And after what he suffered in his life, there was no one who deserved a group of several good looking and hot women that he did. The young wizard stepped forward towards Gwen, and smiled.

"So, I take it you've had a great night," Gwen responded when she handed the newspaper to Harry, before flicking it in his face. She watched Harry to gauge his reaction but he said nothing yet. "So, the Bayville Sirens, I know you know."

Harry offered a smile on his face, when he looked towards one of his girlfriends. "Guilty as charged, I knew you'd know that I'd know. It's an interesting story to tell never the less."

Harry paused and thought over the events of the night in his mind, yeah this was quite the adventure. He recalled every single moment of it with picture perfect accuracy. He turned and sat down with Gwen on the steps outside of her house. It was rather early in the morning now, with everyone still in bed. Yet, Harry had been up for several hours, then again with his powers, he did not need much sleep. And with his girls, sleep was not a luxury he could afford, but that was beside the point.

Still, tonight's adventure was a fascinating little jaunt, when he turned to Gwen and a smile crossed his face. He could tell that he was building up the suspense in her mind and he was building up the suspense in his in his own way. Although the more that he thought about tonight, there was a fair bit of absurdity with the interest that happened today. He crossed his hands, and thought about everything that occurred before opening his mouth to speak.

"So, I think you want to know," Harry remarked when he turned to Gwen carefully.

"Yeah, I want to know, believe me, I've been waiting for it," Gwen answered when she impatiently rocked back and forth to wait for what Harry was going to tell her. He built the anticipation in a great way, to the fact that it was almost annoying, if not slightly disappointing that he was not saying a word.

"Well the Bayville Sirens, fascinating story," Harry answered drumming his fingers before he took a drink of water and paused once again before he spoke. "Would you believe this entire event was set off by something that Scott Summers did, where he put his foot in his mouth?"

Gwen offered a statement in mock sarcasm, rolling her eyes slightly. "No, really, get out of here."

Harry smiled back at her. "It's true, it really is true."

Gwen waved her hand before she smiled at Harry. "So what really happened? I'm dying to know."

Harry turned around; before he paused for a second, once again tonight was a fascinating night and one that could have ended a lot worse had he not been there. It proved one thing and that was that there were a lot of things that turned out for the best, but they could very easily turn for the worst. And for him, it did turn out fairly well.

"So let's take you back to seventy two hours ago," Harry responded to Gwen who nodded, sitting in rapt anticipation before the young mage decided to go into the story, as he first lived it.

The Xavier Institute was always a busy place, with plenty of hustle and bustle, along with chaos that went along with it. That was something that could completely happen with a group of super powered mutants, many of them who were only learning their powers for a few months at this present time. It was also a hot July day, that meant that tensions were high. It always seemed like something was wrong at the Xavier Institute and that made said tensions even higher. And there were no higher tensions that could happen with a Danger Room session in ninety degree temperatures with the air conditioning on the brink.

Especially given the session that Jean was helping lead Amara for. Harry had his lessons with Strange and Logan was off doing his own thing, like Logan might. So it was down to Jean to help Amara with her training. The blasts of hot lava made the room hotter but she had to control them in such a way.

"I know it's uncomfortable Amara, but you got to focus," Jean stated before she added as an afterthought. "Don't lose your cool."

Jean could not resist this simple statement and Amara could not resist rolling her eyes because of it. Regardless, her heart beat against her chest when she picked up the pace and turned around, nearly being shaken from the attack. The Nova-Roma princess swayed, she tried to recall everything that she learned, but this was a particularly hard lesson. Still she really wanted to do it on her own.

She was determined to achieve some kind of success she raised an eyebrow, shaking a little bit, before her hips swayed a little bit, and she blocked some of the pockets of lava. This was a one on one training session, it would be much harder with teammates.

"Okay, I got this, I so got this," Amara stated, when one of the rocks fell from the ceiling of the training simulation.

An optic blast of light struck the rocks, before Amara could reaction. She blinked and then cursed, she could have handled that and she got down to the ground, kneeling a little bit and watching every little thing. Her dark hair dripped with sweat and stuck to her face, when she spun around watching Scott down on the ground.

"Just thought I'd lend a hand," Scott responded with a smile, he knew that after he let Jean go mentally, he could focus on other things, like taking his role as the leadership for this team. And being a leader, meant helping out the other team members when they could not handle the heat, which seemed to be often.

"Lend a hand, I had it completely under control!" Amara stated hotly when she looked at Scott, like she was about ready to set him on fire.

"Look, I know how it might seem that way but..."

"Scott, just stop trying," Jean answered with a roll of her eyes before she stared him down, fury going through her eyes when she dis so. Her head was clearer than ever now thanks to the Phoenix and she saw that Scott was very flawed. Granted, they were all flawed, but his flaws were stronger than many others, to the point where it made her extremely uncomfortable.

She could not wait for Harry to set up his place because she would be going out the door with him. As for the others, Jean had no idea

Scott resembled a dog that had been caught doing its business on the rug inside the house.

"I'm supposed to be the leader of this team, I should be able to lend a hand to those who need the help," Scott protested to the redhead before him, but he took a step back at the look of fury in Jean's eyes.

Kurt popped up and watched Scott, eyes widened before he looked at him, shaking his head in pity. "Man, just leave it alone, you can't win here, this is an unwinnable thing. You should step back nicely and beg for forgiveness. Trust me, it's a lot better, it's a lot better, you're not going to win."

Scott was not one to concede defeat, especially when he was getting his confidence back after the Asteroid incident. He thought that with Harry's focus on leaving the team and also with getting Wanda out of her current predicament, he would be able to step up a little bit and take the reigns of leadership. Unfortunately, that got him his share of nasty looks from both Amara and Jean.

"What's going on here?" Kitty asked, who showed up, with Tabby walking behind her and Rogue also popped in with Rachel. Even Roberto, Bobby, and Sam turned up to watch the show or perhaps the slaughter, it was extremely hard to tell for now.

"The point is Scott, you can help out all you want, but you lack one fundamental thing that a leader truly does," Jean stated, when she gained some momentum and was about to light into Scott for the viewing pleasure of the rest of the team. "That is the leader doesn't jump in and fight the battles for the team, especially when he could barely handle himself. A true leader is one that observes what's happening, and jumps in to take control but only when the team has faltered. Do you understand when you have failed?"

Bobby grimaced when he saw Scott. He wondered if he should start buying flowers for the funeral.

"I..."

Jean was far from done lighting into Scott and she watched him. "And I suppose that you thought that you could swoop in here because Amara needs the help of the big and almighty powerful Cyclops. Perhaps you thought that she was a weak little girl that could not handle the heat. I think that Harry has been doing a good job in building up her confidence and the confidence of the other team members."

"Oh boy," Sam whispered to the group and Bobby and Roberto nodded, with Jubilee biting her lips.

"Alas, Cyclops, we barely knew thee," Tabby stated in mock remorse, when she clapped a hand to her heart in mock sorrow.

"Jean I..."

"You know, worry about your own inadequacies and not how you think others are inadequate, Scott," Jean practically spat at him, she wondered if the injury that caused him to be unable to control his optic blasts caused some kind of lasting brain damage. "And leave the leadership to the people who can actually lead this team until you take lessons in how to do so properly!"

Scott was flummoxed; he did not know what to say, although his brain engaged to the point where he knew it to be prudent not say anything. Kurt and Bobby in particular gave him warning looks, as if to say to walk away whilst he was ahead. The young man wondered what the rest of the team would say, and he had been dressed down verbally in front of the entire squad. That to Scott was demeaning, but it should not be the end of the world.

Except for the fact that it almost was and Scott blinked carefully, waiting and watching, wondering what to say or do next. The eyes of many were on him. Everyone, new recruits and old recruits alike watched to see what he was going to say or even if he was going to defend himself. He blinked and watched like a fish out of water, swaying a little bit and his heart beat steadily before he threw his hands up and turned so he could walk away. Scott Summers knew he fought a losing battle.

"The nerve of him," Jean stated before she turned around and saw Harry. Her expression brightened up when she saw Harry. "So...how are you doing?"

"Fine, I can tell you've been through quite the scene," Harry responded with an amused chuckle when he saw the members of the team, but he knew not to push it, because the busted air conditioning was making everyone testy. Harry didn't mind, he thought it actually built character. Although he was a bit agitated about giving the run around by Xavier when he inquired about the original X-Men. The statement "it was a lifetime ago" was given and that was that. "It's not something that I'm going to get involved in."

"I wouldn't get involved in it either," Kurt stated to Harry with widened eyes when he walked by and the young wizard nodded.

Little did he know that this simple incident would be the start of something that would be extremely interesting. He could not really even begin to fathom what was going on around him but he could tell that Jean, Amara, and many of the female members of this team had something to prove. Although perhaps something to rub Scott's nose in was the greater reason why they did this, that much was for sure.

"Interestingly enough, the Bayville Sirens popped up around that time. Anyone with a few functioning brain cells could piece together who they were and who this mysterious group of six vigilantes turned out to be. Said group gave fits to the criminals of New York City, and it could not be better when they did."

Gwen smiled when Harry continued to go into the story.

"As for Arcane...well he had his own problems that he had to deal with. It seems like I can't even step out for a milkshake without attracting some kind of trouble."

Gwen placed her hand on her heart and offered a mock expression of sorrow, a smile spreading over her face. "Such is the place for a hero, but continue your story."

And continue his story was what Harry did in fact do, even if he would not consider himself the hero.

Harry Potter took a moment to look around when he heard the alarm. Under the guise of Arcane, dressed in a black jacket, with a black shirt, and black pants, with a charm that disguised his true face, he turned around, walking forward and was ready for action. True it was not the flashiest costume in the world but damn it, it was the man who made the costume and not the other way around. That being said, Harry was ready for action and ready to see what the world had in store for him.

Armed goons, they were really a dime a dozen, especially in a city as large as New York and he heard the patter of little steps. Harry arched his head back a little bit and saw that there was a gang of seven, eight, no wait about fifteen, damn there must have been some kind of convention in town. He turned around and waited, casually watching everything. So far no shots were fired, even if a door was broke, but still no casualties.

That situation could turn around for the worst rather quick.

Harry waited and he watched carefully, to see what was going to happen next but it turned out that he did not have to wait that much longer. He got a little back up in the form of everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood hero, Spider-Man.

"Alright, you boys have been very naughty tonight," the wall crawler stated but they turned to him and lifted up guns which caused the web slinger's spider sense to flare.

"Spider-Man, blast him!"

The high powered and military grade weapons fired at the web slinger who ducked the attacks, trying to maneuver them against each other. If he had a nickel for every time someone said, "Spider-Man, blast him", well he would not have to slum it for Jameson at the very least. He ducked his head and rolled around, launching himself into the air. A click of his web shooters but the blast from the laser blasters burned through his webbing and dropped him to the ground.

'Okay, that doesn't work as well as I thought it would, think Spidey, use your head, it's what brought you to the dance,' the wall crawler responded when he blinked carefully and once again, he dodged the blasts of fire, before he dodged the attacks and tried to maneuver them into a situation where he could take them down. His heart thumped hard against his chest.

The blast of light knocked the enemies back and Spider-Man turned his head. There he was, on time as always. The web slinging hero watched as Arcane swooped in, quick as a cat, and dropped down to attack. Shot after shot disarmed and disabled the weapons of his enemies. Thick cords wrapped around his legs, before he spun around and took them down a little bit, before Arcane circled them like a shark seeking out his prey.

His speed was insane and his intensity could not be matched by anyone. Spider-Man offered what he hoped was a helping hand when he shot his line of webbing out, wrapping around the ankles of his enemy and knocking them down. They landed down onto the ground with a solid drop.

"So where do you think these guys came from?" Spider-Man asked Arcane when he continued to fight and Arcane knocked them down. "And wasn't there less guys there when we started?"

"Pretty much, these thugs breed like rabbits," Harry responded when he swung his foot into the ankle of one of the attackers. They expected a magical attack so it would be prudent to use a physical one so he propelled himself up into the air, before he launched his attacker backwards, causing them to crash backwards with a solid impact and a crunch. The bones in their vertebrae cracked and snapped. Harry watched, a smirk that was calculating and was about to speak.

Before he could say anything, a figure swooped from the air. He moved pretty fast, almost too fast for Harry to pick up at first. He saw a flicker of a red bodysuit and horns, when he rushed around. A white staff swung in his hand when he rushed around, moving into the the battle.

"It's the Devil!"

Harry corked an eyebrow when he heard them, he wanted to know more. The Devil...well that was something that was new and he wanted to find out further information about it. There was the thud, thud, crack, and another thud of several explosive attacks at rapid fire fury. Their enemies toppled to the ground with an attack, before the mystery man swung around, sending his staff cracking into the knee caps of his enemies.

The sound of shattering bones against metal could be heard by all and everyone wondered what was happening now. Harry in particular, he was curious, and he tried to shine a light on them, but all of their enemies, they were down on the ground. Spider-Man in particular blinked and watched them, carefully trying to piece together what happened. It was not like anything he ever experienced.

"And I didn't get to do much of anything," Spider-Man responded in a joking tone after he let out a breath and threw his hands into the air, in mock remorse.

"I'm sure we'll get another chance," Harry offered Spider-Man with a shrug but his mysterious vigilante friend disappeared into the night. He took a few steps forward. "The devil, the devil, that name seems to be familiar."

Spider-Man remembered something that he heard in the Bugle. "They...wouldn't be referring to the mysterious guardian devil of Hell's Kitchen, would they? As in Daredevil!"

Harry read the reports, so he knew what Spider-Man was talking about but the real question was if this devil and the person that attacked him were one in the same. The young wizard only had a moment to carefully walk forward a little bit, and peer up on the catwalk before he spotted who was standing on it.

The mysterious devil tried to make a getaway but Harry was not going to let him escape that easily. Not until he had answers. The young wizard kicked up the pace and flew towards him. The devil turned around, his hands on his hips.

"Kid, you don't know what you've stumbled into," the Devil stated in a gruff voice when he crossed his arms, hearing a heartbeat like anything he ever heard before. It was positively alien given the odd rhythm.

"You're the Guardian Devil of Hell's Kitchen," Harry stated when he looked back at the man before him, his expression intent when he watched the man preparing to defend himself if need be. "I've seen you on the news and saw what you've done."

"Congratulations," he stated gruffly when before a pause. "And you also know what I've done and who I'm going up against. Those goons you went against, they're not your average group of goons. They're something else, especially who they work for."

"What are they?" Spider-man asked but Daredevil sensed his presence, his heartbeat, once again unlike anything he ever saw before.

"They work for a very powerful crime boss, he calls himself the Kingpin, he's using the recent string of car-jackings as a front," Daredevil answered in a brisk and curt tone of voice. "I've been chasing him for a very long time."

"How long?" Spider-Man asked when he looked at Daredevil who answered in a gruff tone.

"Longer than you've even had on those webs."

He launched a line and flew off, with Arcane and Spider-Man standing there in his wake, without a further word of goodbye. Both of them were thinking about the same thing, it was a while before the web head actually said anything. The friendly neighborhood hero turned to him, before he carefully looked at him.

"Nice fellow, about as nice as you are," Spider-Man remarked in a cheerful voice.

Harry stared at him, giving the web slinger a gaze that made Spider-Man glad that Arcane could not shoot heat beams through his eyes.

"What are you trying to imply?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, nothing," Spider-Man answered before he switched the subjects to address the elephant in the room. "So you and Gwen..."

"Yes," Harry answered in a careful voice and Spider-Man looked at Harry, trying to act intimidating but failing.

"Don't hurt her or...I'll web your feet to the ground," Spider-Man finished, he thought his threat sounded a lot more horrifying in his head but now it sounded kind of lame.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind, but Gwen's a great girl, I think she'd hurt me if I hurt her," Harry answered with a crisp voice. "And I take care of all my girls and they know what they're getting into."

"Yeah, I almost pity you," Spider-Man stated before he added. "I mean you have to deal with that time of the month times about seven or eight about now while most guys only have to deal with it once so..."

Spider-Man shook his head when he watched Harry, who inclined his head and shook it sadly.

"You know, I think I might shut up now, that would be the best, wouldn't it?"

"It would," Harry stated when he nodded in agreement before he turned around and watched, but did not blink. "So, I think that now we should go after this devil. I managed to slip a tracking spell on him."

"Of course you did," Spider-Man stated before he turned around to focus on the task at hand.

It was time for him to join Arcane and track down the Guardian Devil, Daredevil, whatever they wanted to call him, he would be found.

They were on his trail.

'This is awesome, even more fun than I ever thought that something like this would be, I mean, isn't this amazing!"

Tabby stated this when she walked forward, along with the rest of the group in black leather jackets and tight pants, along with sunglasses. Kitty, Rogue, Amara, Jean, and Rachel followed them. The Bayville Sirens made their mark on Bayville and in the greater area around New York. They noticed that there was a lot of car jackings in the area and they traced it back to the source.

Rachel's expression crossed with one with trepidation. She was dragged into this battle with the rest of them, partly to make sure they stayed out of trouble and then to not let their initial successes get to their head. "Okay guys, this was fun, I don't think any of us would deny that, but the joke's over. We've allowed this one to get away with us and...I don't think that the joke is as funny as we thought it was anymore. We could get hurt."

"We were trained for this, I mean Xavier's keeping us indoors for a while and so not letting us do anything, this is totally great," Kitty answered and the rest of the group nodded. "It's a shame that Harry is off doing something else."

"Nah this is a girl's night out, no matter how good he'd look in tight leather," Tabby responded when she blinked and watched everything that happened around them before she heard the rumbling from indoors. "Did you guys hear them?"

They all nodded, they did hear that and the assembled group edged closer, hoping that they would be able to find out more about what was going down. These car jacking, they happened for a reason but what was that reason? Jean led the group, being the senior member of the team. Amara followed her closely behind, then Rogue, then Rachel, Kitty, and Tabby. The group let one of the car jackers get away, while they tailed him.

It was a play out of the playbook of their glorious leader, one Harry James Potter, alias Arcane, and they hoped to take more plays out of his playbook in the future. The Sirens stepped forward, listening carefully. They realized that enhanced hearing would be a power that would be pretty useful now. They could hear enough.

"Yeah, those girls in the leather, they think they're something, don't they?"

"Yeah, man but they aren't nothing but a bunch of little brats playing dress up."

'Oh really now,' Jean thought when she stepped forward, eyes flashing with the desire to prove herself.

"I got a word from the fat man, he wants the stuff moved and he wants it moved tonight, the devil's closing in on us fast. And these Sirens, well they'll be dead in a little bit. And there's the web head, that chump and Arcane, what is with this city?"

"I don't know, something in the water," one of the car jackers stated with a thud. They had weapons that were military level; they had been smuggled into the city. The Kingpin's turf war with Silvermane heated up and the underworld chose sides. Although there was this Master Planner that offered a third option that upset things but that was another story all together.

A telekinetic pulse knocked one of the weapons out of their hands and the goons spun around, before they watched the group of six peered at them.

"The Sirens?" one of the car jackers stated when he looked at the girls.

"Yeah, that's right, bub," Kitty stated when she stood and put her hands on her hips.

"Bub?" Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow and she could not avoid smiling. "Logan's going to sue you for trademark infringement."

"Enough, let's take them down," the goons stated, before they fired the high tech blasters at the girls, who scattered. The Sirens rushed around, trying to encircle their enemies. It was Rogue who after catching her breath, who stated the obvious point for all of them to ponder.

"How does trash like this get their hands on high tech weapons?" she asked, when she used her strength to knocked her enemy into the wall. "I mean, seriously, these people...they don't seem like the type who could handle this stuff."

"More than your average car jacking," Rachel stated when she used a pulse to smack the heads of her enemies together and they slumped down to the ground. "These guys are up to something but...DUCK!"

That statement got their attention and they nearly go their heads taken off by the weapons. That was a close shave, all too close, and the group scattered, before they got away. But not before they left a crate on the ground, opened and Jean moved over, to see what they had.

"So, are we going to see what goodies they've been hoarding?" Tabby asked when she took a moment to look at the crate and Jean responded with a nod and a smile.

Jean tore open the crates to reveal the high tech weapons inside. If she was honest, this really scrapped the iceberg and now she believed them to playing into some much higher stakes than before.

"Guys, I think we might be in the middle of some kind of turf war," Jean stated when she turned back around to them.

"Which is a good reason why we should step back and let it go," Rachel stated and Kitty looked about ready to agree, but Tabby decided to be the one to egg them on a little bit more.

"Hey, we could step back, you're right, but wouldn't that be proving Cyclops right?" Tabby asked when she looked at her fellow Sirens. "We could pretend this never happened, but this is a chance for us to really prove ourselves. Really apply our training in a situation where we could help people out and stop people from dying."

Amara nodded in agreement. She hoped to have a real practical situation, sure there were a few battles here and there, but that really did not count. She really wanted something tangible to be able to happen.

"So are we in this?" Jean asked and the group all nodded. "None of you are being forced to stay, when we signed up for this...we realized that this might be a fun thing and none of us took it too seriously."

Kitty, Rogue, and Rachel all nodded, that was the idea.

"But now we can do something worthwhile."

Gwen waited for the pause of the story. "So how much of that were you witness to?"

"Jean and I and Rachel and I, have mental links, so if I choose to, I can tap into it whenever I want," Harry offered her and Gwen nodded carefully when she watched Harry. "I don't try and make a habit out of it, it can get pretty unsettling if I keep popping in on someone's mind and stalking them but if they need help, they know that they can call me."

"I can see why it would be so," Gwen stated when she moved over and sipped on the drink that she had. She paused and then stated her next question. "So you were in there for almost the entire time?"

"Pretty much yeah, but Spider-Man and I had a few other things that we had to worry about. We were on our way to run with the devil and to track him down. I wasn't going to let that initial meeting go on without learning more. That was not the way I am."

Gwen figured as much and she politely invited for Harry to continue his story and continue he did.

The first night of the Bayville Sirens invasion concluded and it was the second night, with Arcane and Spider-Man sitting perched on the gargoyles. Now it was night two and they were after Daredevil. Harry figured that they could have tracked him down and found out his civilian identity but he was not going to go that route. Unless of course, the Guardian Devil of Hell's kitchen forced his hand.

So far, it was so good, Arcane perched and ready.

"So, if our pattern is right, the next car jacking should take place here," Spider-Man responded when Harry nodded. "And what if our mysterious Bayville Sirens show up?"

"I sent them on a wild goose chase to the other side of town," Harry responded without a thought when he watched and waited, rocking back on his heels. "If this is as serious as I think it is, I don't want any of them in the line of fire."

Spider-Man could not help but wise crack. "And how many of them are you sleeping with?"

Arcane did not have time to dignify that question with a response, for now he swooped him down onto the ground. The web head dropped to the ground with him, when he saw the goons in the alleyway. Once again, the car jacking appeared to be a front for something else, but what it was a front for, Harry could not piece it together, at least not yet.

The weapons were high tech, from the few glimpses Harry saw and he watched everything, using his rather sharp hearing to pick up the sounds of footsteps. He had hearing that was more enhanced than most humans were, wondering if it was another mutant power, a quirk of magic, or something else entirely?

The crash echoed when the vigilante known as Daredevil swooped in and knocked his enemies down. They landed down to the ground, he moved quickly and without fear. There was no hesitation in his motions and his movement, when he was sent down to the ground with a loud crash. The thugs were no match for the Man Without Fear. When the dust settled, he wiped them out in record time.

Arcane and Spider-Man popped up to face Daredevil once again.

"You two again," Daredevil responded in his most crisp voice, recognizing their heart beats off the bat. "I told you that this is not..."

"You need your help, things are getting worse," Arcane answered when he looked at the many before him. There was a careful moment in time when both stood face to face with each other but neither backed down. Spider-Man gulped a little bit, he didn't fancy playing monkey in the middle between these two dark and brooding forces.

Daredevil paused before he explained the situation.

"There's a gang war that is about to happen, people are gobbling up turf left and right. Silvermane's back in the game and there's the Kingpin. Then there's this new party, he's called the Master Planner, and he's making his play for the piece of the pie. All of them are dangerous and there are several smaller mobs that are trying to get their piece as well but they've been gobbled up more and more. It's down to the Kingpin, Silvermane, and this Master Planner."

"The Kingpin, I fought a few of his men here and there, he's the worst of all the mob bosses in New York," Spider-Man offered.

"Yeah, he is," Daredevil agreed when he watched them. "If you two are willing to work with me, then fine, try and keep up but otherwise, stay out of my way."

Daredevil turned around, he knew that justice was blind, so that made him the perfect man for the job.