Chapter 13
Hamilton looked out of his 49th story apartment window while holding his glass of whiskey. He was mulling over everything that had happened since Galvon had been captured by the Avengers with the help of Slingshot, Spider Man and Fe. Hamilton had sent his son, Joseph, and Galvon’s son Blake to the States early to detonate a bomb in an apartment building. Doing the job correctly, the building collapsed. The collapse, of course, was planned to hit the young hero known as Slingshot in a way that a physical hit would never could. From all the intel that Blake had gathered from his ex-girlfriend and the intel from other members of Hamilton’s spy network, Hamilton had learnt that if his plan was to succeed then he had to get rid of the young heroes. And to do that, Hamilton had to make sure that they never assembled the way that the Avengers did – by taking the only possible choice for a leader out.
Out of the six young heroes that lived and worked in New York, there were three possible candidates; Fe, Spider Man and Slingshot. From those three candidates, only Slingshot was a possible leader. Fe was far to personable and friendly while Spider Man was ever the optimistic. Slingshot, not only able to see reason and make the hard decisions while still being friendly, was the only one who could make the rest of the young heroes join forces. Only she could fix the disagreement that Red Bolt and Gecko would have when they found out who each other were. Only she could help Gecko snap out of her slump of heart broken betrayal and guilt. Only she could make sure Ligero had a voice. Only she could keep the heroes on track and not let them get distracted. Hamilton assumed it was because of her training at SHIELD that her the best choice. Hamilton had also assumed that killing Abigail Jackson’s family while letting her live would break her. But Hamilton remembered what assuming did when Slingshot’s family had died – it made an ass out of you and me. For a week it seemed that it was going the way Hamilton planned. Abigail had only left the apartment a total of five times. Slingshot hadn’t made an appearance since the media had caught her and Fe leaving the building collapse. Then Slingshot had been seen with Fe and Spiderman. Hamilton had sent one of his spies to the location of their meeting and all that the spy found was crumbs and melted ice cream. The very next day, Abigail returned to school. Hamilton’s next hope was that the court case for Abigail’s custody would take forever. It didn’t. Clint Barton had gotten custody and Abigail’s grandparents were heading back home to Dallas. So, to spite the young hero, Hamilton had instructed his son to switch into Abigail’s French class and told him to sit in her seat and smirk should she ever made eye contact with him. Joseph had told him that Abigail essentially had a panic attack and had to be taken to one of the counsellor’s offices.
The apartment collapse was also used to take out Gecko. Gecko had been investigating Blake as part of the Avenger’s assignment to bring down John Galvon. Gecko, who wasn’t made to be a leader, would play a vital role in taking Hamilton’s empire down should she ever speak. Hamilton knew that Megan Greenwood, or Megan Faye as her enrolment at King’s Cross said, had truly fallen in love with Blake. By being unable to stop the bomb that Blake had placed, it would crush Gecko in a way similar to the hit the bomb would make to Slingshot. Hamilton saw Gecko’s uninvolvement in hero activities and her disappearance from school as a sure sign that he had crushed her better than he had crushed Abigail. Then he read the list of interns Tony Stark wanted to attend his campaign opening. Hamilton had suspected that the Avengers already knew who he was, and this confirmed his suspicion. All six of the interns were the young heroes who helped New York. So, Hamilton decided the night of his campaign opener to change his plan – make friends with the young heroes. More specifically Abigail Jackson. The death of her family in the apartment collapse would be a great platform politically and having a private meeting with her at some point in the campaign would show voters that he was the kind, caring, compassionate man that he claimed to be.
That image was nearly ruined with Megan Greenwood’s return to Midtown. She had called Blake out on his disappearance and unexplainable break up in front of the entire school. She would have probably exposed herself as Gecko as well as Hamilton’s own plans had Abigail not been there. Acting like she didn’t know Megan that well nor knowing Blake, Abigail gave the impression that she was just a concerned student trying to stop a cat fight. Abigail’s plan probably would have worked had Joseph not over reacted. Joseph, despite knowing that Blake was being blackmailed and mind controlled six ways to Sunday, truly took to the role of brother like a duck to water. Hamilton probably could see why – Joseph’s actual brother had been part of a murder-suicide that Joseph’s mother, and Hamilton’s wife, had enacted when Joseph was five years old and his brother was two. Joseph’s latent protectiveness had come through when he had seen Abigail push Blake away from Megan. The protectiveness had turned rage which had turned physical. Joseph ended up getting suspended for two days. As far as Midtown was concerned, that would be Joseph’s only punishment.
There was a knock on Hamilton’s door which pulled him from his thoughts.
“Come on in,” Hamilton said, turning away from the window and towards the door. The door opened and in stepped Hailey in her maid’s uniform. While Hailey’s primary job was to be the maid, Hamilton also used Hailey as his fake wife and mother of his two sons for the campaign. Hailey didn’t seem to mind this as it meant that she got some extra bonuses.
“Sorry Mr Hamilton,” Hailey said, “I’ve just come to let you know that I’m knocking off for the night,”
“Of course, Hailey. Thank you for your service today. I’ll be up in a few,” Hamilton said, “Could you do me one last favour?”
“Of course, Mr Hamilton, anything for you,”
“On your way up to the room, do you mind sending Joseph down. I need to talk to him before I go to bed,”
“I will do this for you Mr Hamilton,” Hailey winked at Hamilton before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
Ten minutes later Hamilton was sitting behind his desk going over all the papers his aide had delivered to him earlier in the evening. There was a second knock at his door.
“Come in,” Hamilton said. The door opened, and Joseph walked meekly through.
“You wanted to see me Father?” Joseph asked almost as meekly as his walk.
“What have I told you about being meek Joseph? You could be the heir of an empire. And heirs do not need to be meek,”
“Yes Father, sorry Father,”
“Now I need to talk to you about what happened at your school today,”
“Of course, Father,”
“Your emotional outburst which ended with getting the target designated Slingshot hurt. It also probably let her know along with the rest of her team that there is a weak point in my plan. We cannot let them stop me from bringing my empire into the light,” Hamilton said, “And for that you need to be punished. Gregory is in the city and I’m sure that he won’t mind having you stay with him for a day,”
“Please father, not The Doctor,” Joseph pleaded.
“Do not beg boy! Or I’ll make it two days,”
“Sorry Father,”
“Now go. I’ll have Hailey drop you off tomorrow morning,”
“Thank you, Father for your time,” Joseph said before turning around and walking out of the door. Joseph closed the door behind him. Hamilton opened his top desk draw. Amongst the papers and pens was an old nokia phone. The only number that the phone had programmed was for one Gregory Smidt who was more commonly known as The Doctor to the underground community and Him to his patients. Everyone in Gregory’s circles knew of the young mutant girl he had kidnapped and experimented on for five years. It was considered to be his greatest work. Not only had he completely broken the girl, he had exploited her mutant genes to produce her full potential. Once achieving his goals, he’d encoded a secret code word into her head and let her go with many of his people becoming key parts in the girl’s free life. Only Hamilton knew the truth of who the girl was. After all, it was Hamilton who had brought Gregory’s attention to her. Seven years earlier, a random fortune teller had told him about the girl called Alyssa Anderson who would become the Spanish light and how the girl would be a part of team to bring him down. Had Hamilton not told Gregory about her maybe Ligero wouldn’t exist and be the threat to him she was. Which is why the secret code existed. Maybe it would be time to use it soon. Hamilton picked up the old phone and called Gregory.
“Senor Hayes,” Gregory answered, “What can I do for you on this fine evening?”
“My son has gotten himself suspended and I have a lot of responsibilities to deal with tomorrow, so I need someone to babysit him,”
“I would be more than delighted to babysit young Joseph. I suppose you will prop him off and pick him up,”
“I will,”
“Okay then. I’ll see him tomorrow,”
“Thank you, Gregory,”
“No problem Senor Hayes,”
Joseph and Blake shared a room. Mainly because they were so used to sharing a room at King’s Cross that it seemed too idiotic for them not to share in New York. Their joint bedroom had a lot of secrets. Like how heartbroken Blake was over Megan. Like how Joseph would cry himself to sleep whenever his father had a “heart-to-heart” with him or his nightmares woke him up. It is said that the best way to trust someone is to see them at their lowest. Blake and Joseph had seen each other at their lowest points and it had forged an unbreakable bond of trust between the two; one that couldn’t even be broken by brainwashing. When Joseph returned to the room after his talk with Hamilton, Blake saw the brokenness that Joseph always hid.
“How did it go?” Blake asked.
“He’s sending me to Gregory tomorrow,”
“Are you serious? He’s just going to give you to The Doctor because you got suspended,” Joseph nodded.
“My father can do what he pleases. He’s the emperor and his heir has to be moulded into the perfect, fearless warrior who is willing to never mess with his plans. I guess I’m just not there yet,”
“Joseph, I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying this as much I need to. Do not let your instinct to protect me override that of your need to stay on the right side of your father,” Blake said, “It can get you in trouble and you may end up having to spend more than one day with The Doctor. Even one day messes with your head – just look at Alyssa Anderson. She really should be dead after the five years of pure hell she spent with him. I would have given in well before she did,” The truth of their place in the world hung in the stony silence.
“We should go to bed and stop talking about this. If my father catches us talking about this it would be seen as treason and the punishment for treason is more than just one day with Gregory,” Joseph said, pulling the covers of his bed down.
“Good night Joseph,”
“Good night Blake,”