Standing Up

[Avenger Assembled]

The Grue's heart exploded outward, the contents of his chest blasting into the air on a cloud of dust and dissolving undead shapeshifting flesh. The Grue himself imploded inward, shock appearing on his massive face as he collapsed inward on a diet of dust and blood, his body falling in on itself as he gasped a single word in the language of his people. In his dying breath, he'd called out to the Meta-Mind to save him. But nothing had come to save the vampire Grue, and his ashes fell on Jack as the crowd of vampires stared at the one among their number who'd led the attack that had killed their queen.

Jack pulled himself to his feet, straightened up...and was on. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he called to the others, walking backwards to take up Melinda's throne as the crowd of vampires closed in around him. "By the ancient laws of our people, I claim the rulership of Freedom City's vampires. I-" The floor tore itself open. The woman who came boiling up out of the floor was clad in a torn party dress, the skin on her knuckles torn and bloodless, and her eyes red.

"JACK!" Claudia, wroth, pointed a finger at him. "Don't you know what you've done?" Her skin was visibly blue, ice crystallized in her hair. "You've killed us all! The elders will never let one of us sit on a city throne! Not only will they kill you, and ME, but do you know what they'll do to the rest of the little ones?!" She waved a claw that way.

"They'll do nothing," said Jack bravely, his injures somewhat belying his brave speech. "Because we're not going to bow to millenia-old monsters in Bucharest anymore." He dropped himself down on Melinda's seat. "This is the city of the Centurion. This is the city of August Roman. THIS IS FREEDOM CITY! We're not going to bow to the gods of the Old World. Not anymore."

"You come among us with those," she replied, waving her hands at Dark Star and Scarab, "and you tell us we won't be bowing to anyone anymore!? You use our murderers to rule us?"

"I have agents," Jack replied baldly. "As Melinda had hers. She took the lives of our people when it suited her fancy; I took the lives of monsters with our blood to save all of us from their threat. The fact that I have tools who wear masks and costumes isn't a mark against me, Claudia. It's a mark in my favor."

[N/A]

The Scarab nodded to Jack. "Some corruption is to be expected in any city. That is the nature of Humanity. Try as we might, the superheroes of Freedom City could never exterminate you all. So it is within our best interests to back the leader who promises the least amount of bloodshed in our streets. We have thrown our lot in with Jack Faretti. Any who oppose his rule will face not only his wrath, but ours as well. A mutually-beneficial arrangement for all involved parties."

As she spoke, The Scarab reached out to the minds and hearts of the assembled crowd, quietly tweaking them toward respect and admiration for Jack. Sometimes it's good to be friends with a telepath.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star watched in horror as his graviton beam blasted forth and through the undead alien and ended it's unlife. He hadn't wanted that! The villain had needed to be stopped, yes. But Dark Star never intended his attack to be so brutal. If only he had known...

Guilt wracked the energy hero even as he felt the metal tingle as Scarab attempted some sort of psychic action. He paid it no mind, trusting her completely of course. From below, it looked like Dark Star just stared down at them, the only expression on the black form were the twin white eyes staring down at them as Jack made his passioned speech bolstered by Scarab's powers.

If he had been more conscious of his surroundings, Dark Star would have automatically spoken up and corrected his companions. As it was, he was too wracked with guilt to speak up at the moment.

[Avenger Assembled]

In the end, it was all so much easier than Jack could ever have expected. He saw a few slip away from the rear of the great ballroom, but for the most part the assembled vampires were quick to embrace his plan, bowing to him and surrendering their loyalty to him. And why shouldn't they? He was the genius who'd plotted the overthrow of the queen of the city's vampires, the hand-to-hand fighter who'd torn undead gods in twain, the masterful strategist who was going to change life in Freedom City for the better. As the lovely ladies sat at his feet and the men took his side, he felt on top of the world. The city was his, the power belonged to him.

When Nevermore reappeared behind Jack, it was to bow and take a position at his side, the wicked necromancer seeming as loyal and trustworthy as any other vampire there. It was Claudia who looked up at Scarab with a narrow-eyed look on her sharply predatory face, and who disappeared into smoke and ash herself as she erupted up and out of the room. The air itself spoke as she went, the words spoken in a tongue only Jack, the assembled vampires, and Scarab could understand. "This isn't over. When the master comes for us, blood will run in the streets of Freedom City." And with that she was gone, vanishing into the darkness with a skill matched only by the man she'd turned into a monster.

But beneath the shiny light of Scarab's psychic tampering, Claudia's departure was just a single blip in the world of Jack's climb to power. A new dead hand held the reigns of power in the city of Freedom.