Mr. Chen’s Decision

“Alright Mr. Chen, just sign here,” Franz said, pushing the form across his desk.

Mr. Chen sat up in his seat and leaned over to read it. He picked up the pen and was about to sign his name when he stopped.

“No one will know about this? I can’t have this getting out,” Mr. Chen said.

“Don’t worry Mr. Chen. Everyone at Hero’s Inc. has signed strict NDA agreements. That includes not disclosing personal identification information for all staff members. We all understand the risk you are taking by joining us today. Some of our members are just like you. Reformed villains who want to use their knowledge and skills for good in our wonderful city.”

Mr. Chen signed his name and handed the paper back to Franz. Franz moved it aside and shook his hand.

“Welcome aboard Mr. Chen. Say, how would you like to start right now?”

“Sure. What do you have in mind?”

Franz walked around his desk and picked up a roll of paper laying against his desk. He rolled it out on the desk so Mr. Chen could see. It was a map of the city with a few red dots on it.

“I have been monitoring suspicious transport activity at these locations. I was hoping you would have more insight on what could be going on.”

Mr. Chen pointed to one of the dots near a harbor. “These are all warehouses. Common for villains to use these for transporting chemicals, electronics, literally anything that they need to accomplish their goals. From the ones you identified, they are part of a network.”

“How can you tell?”

“Locations. Sure, they are in different districts, but they all are major hubs. If your intel is correct, you are dealing with a big player. And we probably only scratched the surface.”

“What would you recommend?”

“Track the employees. Specifically ones who leave late at night. Around midnight. They will be most likely involved with whatever scheme is going on. And check around other warehouses in-between these spots. I’m sure whoever is behind this is looking to expand to smaller warehouses to spread their shipments around.”

“Your insight is greatly appreciated, Mr. Chen. How would you like to run point on this? We really need someone with your kind of experience on this. Most of our heroes tend to get too...impatient.”

“I would be honored to actually do something good for a change. Do we have any idea who might be involved?”

“I don’t have any hard evidence, but I think Jaster has something to do with these shipments.”

Mr. Chen’s face turned white and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t take this assignment. Put me on anything else.”

“But you are the only—”

“Only one who actually worked for Jaster. That is exactly why I can’t do this. I can’t betray him,” Mr. Chen interrupted.

“I understand you—”

“No! You don’t understand. I get monthly retirement checks from his company. He even attended my child’s birthday party last year. He considers me family.”

“That makes you the perfect person for this. You know how he thinks. What his next move will be.”

“I can’t do it. He would consider this an attack against not only him, but his employees. His family. He would kill my family for a betrayal like this.”

“He will never know. All you would be doing is helping me strategize.”

“I can’t take that risk. I’ll take any other task, just nothing to do with Jaster. I’m sure there are other villains I can help take down.”

Franz rolled up the map and leaned it against his desk again. He walked to the door and opened it.

“You can leave now, Mr. Chen. Please go down to the front desk and get your badge. You will be given your assignment tomorrow.”

Mr. Chen grabbed his cane and leaned against it to stand up. His cane tapped on the ground as he made his way to the door.

“Before you go, I just want you to think about this. To be a hero, it takes more than putting on a cape or having superpowers. It is about doing the right thing, even when it is scary,” Franz said.

“You know Jaster had a saying too. It was: ‘Screwing up is forgivable. Screwing me is not. If you screw me, you won’t have to wonder what Hell on Earth is like. I will show you.’ I have seen what happens when someone screws him. Hell doesn’t begin to describe it.”

***