Chapter 3: Red King

While they were all taking time to recover, Red King and Anna walked towards the end of the conference table. Red King sat on the end while Anna stood behind him. On each side of him were 2 Dukes.

On Red King's right were Jack and Peter. These two were the two newest Dukes that had just been inducted 7 months and 3 months prior respectively. Both had been with the organization since the beginning.

Jack was a Chinese man with a bald head and the body of a bodybuilder. He had dyed his eyebrows red but besides that, there was no other hair on his face. A military vet that decided to join the private sector.

Peter was a young Australian man. He originally had blonde hair but dyed it neon red. His face that looked to be in its 30s would surprise most because the man was only 24 years old. His scars did not help in that department though. He had been in many fights against some of the most dangerous villains in the world.

These two mainly operated in Asia and Oceania. Even though they were the newest Dukes, they were efficient and had never let down Red King before which is why they were able to get to where they were.

On Red King's left were Nicolette and Richard. These were the oldest and original Dukes of the organization. Both of them were 26 years old and mainly operated in Europe and Africa.

Richard was a man originally from Kenya before he was recruited by Red King. Unlike the other pair, he did not dye any of his hair but instead bore his mark on his face. The flames that marked him as a Noble of HOMRA covered the right side of his face and eye.

Nicolette was a French woman. She was petite and only stood at 5'1" but she was the most fearsome of all the Dukes. The woman had strawberry blonde hair but dyed a streak of it red to represent her allegiance to the organization.

These were 4 of HOMRA's 8 Dukes. Each one of them had influence second only to Red King. If they said something in public about the organization or what it was going to do, then there was a 99% chance that such a thing would be done.

Most of the time they would be out in their territory but had been recalled due to an important meeting with the company's higher-ups.

They were all chosen for their power and loyalty but had risen to their current position due to their ability. Red King had plenty of people he liked in the organization but he would only allow the best to become Nobles since they were the face of his organization.

After Red King took a seat, the others in the room recomposed themselves. Immortal looked like he was about to say something but Cecil held up his hand in warning.

The man looked to be in his early 50s and had balding, grey hair but that did not take away from the fact that this man pretty much ran every secret organization in the nation. Or at least had the final say in most of their actions.

"I know that HOMRA has signed a contract with the Mauler Twins over the protection of one of their hideouts. We need you to break that contract. Our department is willing to pay triple the termination fees but we need to get in there and can't do it with you all protecting them."

Red King was impressed by Cecil's shamelessness. He had actually come to their company to demand that they pull out their forces after building up the reputation for over 3 years that they never drop a contract once it had taken.

"So you're saying that the Guardians of the Globe and the U.S. Government want us to stand down as they commit crimes against two innocent people such as breaking and entering as well as what I'm guessing will be corporate or even regular espionage?" Red King asked in a mocking voice

Cecil and Red King stared at each other for a few moments before Cecil signaled for his people to get up. They soon left the room which each side had their own thoughts on the meeting.

Cecil walked in knowing that it would be difficult or that his request would most likely be denied but he still decided to go. This was to try his luck but also give HOMRA a warning.

'It's my people that will be going in there. If you catch them, go easy on them.' was the message he was trying to send. Whether or not the message was received, was a different issue.

Cecil had also brought the Guardians in hopes of intimidation but once he saw that 4 of the Dukes had returned, he knew that plan had backfired on him. All it did was cause the Guardians' and the Dukes' already rocky relationship to become even more difficult to manage.

Even though Cecil did not like HOMRA, it was more because he could not infiltrate them and they kept secrets from him. As for the work they did, he was like most officials and appreciated having some work taken off his hands.

This situation had occurred several times before. HOMRA accepted the job no matter who the other party was. As long as they had the money. they had HOMRA's help. And it was not just the people that would guard the business others would have to worry about.

HOMRA was a hornet's nest. If any of their members were attacked and killed, the rest of HOMRA would launch a counterattack. A single Baron and his group of knights were killed by one up-and-coming supervillain. The man was hung up in the middle of Central Park for 3 days before HOMRA killed him. He was then left there for another week before the corpse was allowed down.

And the ones who guarded the body that entire time were the Red King and two of his Dukes. HOMRA was not something most would mess with if they had a better choice.