A follow up to Todd's post.
They met at Fleischer's, the one place in New York City where "heroes" and "villains" could meet, share a drink, and just talk without beating each other up. It didn't hurt that the peace was kept by May Fleischer, former super vigilante and meta human Power Lass. She could bend bars with thumb and forefinger. May had only one rule, if you had an open warrant on you, don't bother to come to her bar. No one disagreed with May.
Kyle entered in the bar, nodding hello to some of the older generation, and giving a grim smile to former adversaries. He was older, more gray gracing his temples, but he was still in top shape for a man his age.
Across the bar, he saw the gleam from Rex's bald pate. Rex smiled and waved at him. Taking a deep breath, Kyle walked across the bar and sat down across from his former nemesis. "So, how's retirement treating you Rex?"
"Retired? Ha!" laughed Rex, "Just this year, I've filed 5 new medical patents for use in hospitals. I'm making more money now, than when I robbed banks. Taxes... I pay my share."
"And you get audited every year," chuckled Kyle. Turning to the waitress, he ordered a whiskey, neat.
After the waitress left, Rex said, "Actually I get audited every quarter... by forensic accountants. They keep expecting me to break the law, so I had to hire my own team of accounts just to keep my finances completely legal." He took sip of his claret, and continued, "I asked to meet with you because of new kid out there."
"A new villain?" replied Kyle and took a sip of his whiskey.
Looking Kyle straight in the eye, Rex replied, "No, not villain, hero. A literal kid. He's only 12 years old."
Raising an admonishing finger, Kyle responded, "Not possible. The Jason act of 2010 bars anyone under the age of 18 from acting as a vigilante, even as a sidekick. You must be mistaken."
"I'm not."
"Okay, who is it then?"
Smiling, Rex said, "Captain Amazo."
Laughing, Kyle replied, "What? No. He's, what, 25? 27 tops! You've been sitting too close to Bezo rays again."
Instead of arguing, Rex pulled out a tablet, keyed up a video, and turned it around so that only Kyle could see it. On it, was the unmistakable red, gold, and green costume of Captain Amazo landing in a back alley, looking up and down the alley, then doing something with his left hand and in flash, he was replaced by a skinny young boy.
"You faked that," accused Kyle, as he reran the video.
"I have no reason to do so. I'm not in the business anymore. If anything, I want to make sure that you guys don't get a bum rap when it comes out that he's a kid, and Senator Desoto comes down on 'Justice Vigilance League' for harboring a minor as a vigilante."
"The same thing that happened to the Wonder Warriors," said Kyle, watching the muscled superhuman turn into a boy.
"Yeah, the Wonder Warriors is why we now have the Jason act," said Rex. "Sure, I have the gear and knowledge to fake this, but, this was taken only a day or so ago. I can give you the address of the alley. You got folks that can do the forensics on that spot. Mister Mississippi could do a time window and show you it."
"So what clued you to this?"
"Some of my former colleagues. They will stop over and complain, and ask me to help them. I always say no, 'I'm outta the business guys.' And they stomp off. But lately they've been complaining about Amazo. He's immature, he treats 'bad guys' like video game characters. He's been known to break limbs and came close to paralyzing one guy. But what got me thinking was a comment Miss Kitty said. She said that 'He acts like my little brother did around older girls. Like when me a my friends would hang at the house. All weird and stuff. Like he's trying to figure out if he likes girls or not.' That got me to thinking."
He took back the tablet and brought up a publicity shot of Captain Amazo. "Look at him. He's built like a video game character. That build, those arms, that waist. He's not human." He touched the pad and an grid appeared. "Look at his head, really look at it. It's not human. It's more Duke Nukem, than human."
Kyle took the tablet and swapped between views, then with his fingers, enlarged the image of Amazo's face. There it was, a face that looked human... but wasn't. "My god, you're right."
"I hate being right. I really do. But you have a kid playing at being a superhero with some form of magic or alien technology. And he's going to either get hurt and reveal who he really is to the world in the worst way, or he's going to kill someone. And I think the only reason he's not a 'bad guy' is that he thinks he has to be a 'good guy'. And it would only take one small incident to push him to the dark side, and I don't think the League could handle a dark Captain Amazo."
Setting the tablet down, Kyle said "So, what do we do?"
Rex gave a chuckle, "You mean 'What do I do?' If I stepped forward with this, the League's reaction would be the same as your first one, only worse. I'm Lord Blight, Sooper Villain. It's in your hands now Kyle. Keep the tablet, I have plenty. Don't use it as evidence, as they will ask you where you got it, and I don't want you to lie. But you have a kid running around thinking he's super hero. What do you do when he gets hurt emotionally and becomes a super villain?"
Kyle finished his whiskey in a gulp. What would he do?