Even Heroes Fall

8. Ghoul

'Good morning, Mayor.' 

Marshall Reed jumped when he saw me standing in the doorway between his balcony and his office. When I suggested installing bio-metric coding for the locks so that only he and I could use them he seemed incredibly enthusiastic. The poor fool had no idea he had just given me unlimited access to one of the most secure buildings in the city.

'G-Ghoul! I wasn't expecting you!' He seemed flustered. 

Wasn't expecting me? Wasn't expecting me to make an appearance in broad daylight? I had to admit walking into the city hall dressed as a civilian, putting on my mask, and then finding another balcony to climb out of and onto his was one of my better ideas. If the city council thought they could mess me around then I was going to prove them very wrong.

I strode nonchalantly over to the chair behind his desk and took a seat, casually settling back and picking up a stack of papers on the table.

'Those are private,' he said, his tone becoming somewhat sterner now he recovered from the surprise of seeing me on his balcony. Marshall was very young for a mayor. He was only in his first term and had one year left to serve. His predecessor had served three terms and was the real reason why I had come to the city hall that day. 

'I need to speak with Mr Devereux,' I replied, flicking through the papers. Boring nonsense that held nothing of interest but I liked to watch people in positions of authority squirm when they realised I was the one who held the power.

'You're in the wrong office.'

'Mr Devereux and I had an agreement,' I continued, ignoring him. 'The Mayor's office was going to make a formal announcement on Monday about my role here in the city. It is now Friday and I am still having to explain who I am to the scum that I've been dealing with. '

A flush of dark red spread over Marshall's tan face. 'There were... complications,' he muttered.

'Complications such as failing to inform the vigilante Justice that I was taking over?' When I noted his reaction I nodded along, 'yes, I met her on Wednesday night. Feisty little thing, isn't she? Mr Devereux forgot to mention just how stubborn she is.' I lent forward in a conspiratorial way. 'Between you and me I think he has a soft spot for her.' 

Marshall opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off. 

'Moreover, the media are giving Justice credit for work I did recently taking down a minor drugs operation in Camberwell. Now, whilst I usually don't give a crap about that type of thing, my actions were designed to demonstrate to Castlemain who he is dealing with. How do you expect me to taken seriously when no one knows I exist? Hmm?' I asked, my voice rumbling with anger. I stood abruptly, tossing the stack of papers to the floor. I swept books from the shelves, scattering more files to the floor, so the office was suddenly showered paper and books. 

When I was done I marched over to Marshall so we stood eye to eye (he was infuriatingly almost the same height as me).To give him credit Marshall held my gaze steadily despite my simmering rage.

'Tell Mr Devereux he has 12 hours to fix this,' I growled. 'Or else next time the damage will be a little more... permanent.' I hoped he got my meaning. I stalked back towards the balcony and, just to make a point, vaulted over the edge towards the ground below.

I hit the pavement in what I think is referred to as a "superhero landing". Actually not as easy as it looks and I had been practicing to get it right for some time now. Because I landed on the pedestrian side of the city hall I caused quite a scene. A lot of people screamed and scattered the moment I landed. I was pleased to see the pavement had cracked a little too. Good, it would remind these idiots just who they were dealing with.