Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain-Chapter 108: Strauss and Manifesto

The two stared into each other’s eyes, the flash of hatred and anger clearly visible and not concealed in the slightest.

Strauss had always been a man of systems and order since the very first day he began working as a UEC special agent. He was often reassigned between departments under the UEC to help stabilize or even suppress the governors of city-states, who showed signs of seeking independence from the UEC.

In a world without countries, where nationalism was an obsolete concept, almost everything seemed designed to make human life harder, especially the existence of mutants who sought to reduce humans to nothing more than livestock.

Strauss believed in the UEC’s vision: to unite all of humanity under a single front and restore human dominance over the planet.

Manifesto, on the other hand, was a hero who thrived within the current UEC system. He sought maximum gain with minimal effort, exploiting loopholes and taking advantage of the system whenever an opportunity arose.

While Strauss could cooperate with people like Manifesto, that didn’t mean he wanted to.

Their conflict began when Strauss was assigned to investigate a massive breach in the Pacifica City-State.

At the time, Manifesto was still a lower-ranked hero, far down on the global hero leaderboard.

From Strauss’s investigation, the breach was caused by an internal explosion that compromised the city wall, allowing a horde of mutants, who had already gathered outside, to flood into the city.

The losses were catastrophic. Pacifica lost its entire industrial sector, which has still not fully recovered to this day.

The only reason the residential district wasn’t lost as well was because of Manifesto. He used his EF power to create a massive wall of light, halting the mutants’ advance.

That single heroic act shot Manifesto’s ranking through the roof. In one move, he jumped from somewhere below rank 50 all the way to rank 20, a stunning leap of 30 ranks on the global hero chart.

But even then, Strauss had already begun to suspect Manifesto. It was all too convenient. Manifesto just happened to be patrolling the exact area where the breach occurred.

His partner, who had been on patrol with him, was killed during the invasion. Manifesto was the only one who survived.

When the mutants were about to invade the residential sector, trying to breach the final defense, no one in Pacifica had the ability to stop them. Moreover, the engineering corps, who possessed the resources to contain the breach, had been mysteriously sabotaged just one day prior.

Strauss never believed in coincidences. He investigated and uncovered many suspicious clues.

He had gathered substantial evidence, enough to take Manifesto down. Evidence that would not only implicate him but ensure his fall from grace.

However, one of Strauss’s weaknesses was his obsession with perfection. Although he already had enough evidence to prosecute Manifesto, he wanted a confession to make the case airtight and unshakable.

Furthermore, Strauss didn’t believe Manifesto had acted alone. Getting collaborator’s or co-conspirators’ names would allow him to eliminate all hidden players in one decisive move.

So Strauss used his authority to arrest Manifesto, and did what he was known for: interrogation by torture.

Manifesto didn’t last a day. But just as he was about to crack, about to confess and spill the names of those Strauss wanted, the higher-ups intervened.

They sent agents to halt the interrogation and retrieve Manifesto, who was bloodied and barely conscious after Strauss’s methods.

Strauss wasn’t concerned at first. He believed he had enough evidence to send Manifesto to Purgatory, the UEC’s maximum-security prison. But on the day of the trial, the prosecutor’s office reported that the evidence Strauss had secured was not enough: the key evidence was missing.

The evidence room showed no signs of forced entry. According to access logs, no one had entered the evidence safe where Strauss had stored the files.

At that moment, Strauss realized it was a setup.

Without enough evidence, the judge declared Manifesto innocent. Strauss, instead, was nearly sentenced himself. If not for intervention from Atlas, Strauss would likely still be in prison.

As a result, Strauss was demoted. Other than continuing to serve as an agent of the UEC, he was barred from promotion or gaining any higher decision-making power ever again.

Back then, Strauss wanted to investigate the disappearance of teh evidence, but with his current situation, he can’t do anything.

A few years later Strauss has enough authority to investigate, but all of the trail had turned cold.

"I heard you came here to help us arrest Nihilus," Strauss said, placing a data shard on the table in front of Manifesto.

"This contains everything we know about him. I hope you’ll follow proper procedure and not act recklessly," Strauss added.

"Hmph." Manifesto snorted, grabbed the data shard, and walked out of the office without another word.

To be honest, Strauss didn’t want to give the data to Manifesto either. Even though he was serious, rigid, and always appeared to follow orders, he was still human—and humans have emotions.

But he knew that if he didn’t hand over the information, he could be investigated and face disciplinary action for dereliction of duty by withholding intel.

Strauss watched Manifesto’s back as he exited, tapping his fingers thoughtfully on the table, deep in contemplation.

— A few days later —

Manifesto took his time studying the information Strauss had given him.

But instead of feeling satisfied about having something useful to plan his capture of Nihilus, he found himself wanting to strangle someone.

The data was heavily redacted. Large sections were censored, clearly blacked out due to their classified nature.

He knew he couldn’t ask Strauss to reveal the redacted parts either, his clearance level simply wasn’t high enough.

What little he did know was that Nihilus had a brother living in the city. But as for who he was or where he lived, that information had been completely blacked out, especially in the files he received from Strauss.

Now, Manifesto was seriously considering using information brokers or even bounty hunters in the Fringe to help him investigate further.

After some thought, he decided to head to the Fringe and hire a few bounty hunters and information brokers to track down the identity and location of this brother.

He needed a name and address, someone he could use as leverage to get to Nihilus.

He also wanted to use this point to criticize Strauss later, questioning why he hadn’t detained the brother to lure Nihilus out. But deep down, he knew Strauss would already have a prepared response, there was no way someone like him would overlook such an obvious move.

— Evening - The Fringe —

Manifesto arrived in the Fringe without his hero suit, naturally, because if anyone saw him making shady deals or talking to questionable characters in the Fringe, his reputation would take a serious hit.

He walked past numerous shops until he finally reached the information broker’s establishment.

Taking a seat at the guest table, he waited for the broker to arrive. He had already scheduled an appointment.

After about three minutes, a man wearing a cybernetic helmet approached, accompanied by another man in a Hawaiian shirt. The one in the Hawaiian shirt seemed to be there just to accompany the helmeted man, as he walked off and sat at the counter nearby, leaving Manifesto alone at the table.

"You’re WiredHead, right? The best information broker in the Fringe," Manifesto asked.

"Yes, I’m WiredHead. What kind of information are you looking for?" the broker replied.

"I need you to find some information about Nihilus. Ideally, I want to know who he is or how to get to him," said Manifesto.

"Nihilus? You mean... that new villain who’s been shaking up Arkadia City?" the broker asked.

"Yes, that’s the one," Manifesto confirmed.

Upon hearing this, WiredHead immediately stood up.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Customer, but... this conversation never happened, and I didn’t hear anything from you. Goodbye," said WiredHead.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Manifesto quickly stood up, blocking WiredHead from walking out of the broker shop.

"What do you mean, ’this conversation never happened’!?" Manifesto demanded, bewildered.

"Exactly what I said, I never met you here, and I don’t know what you just said to me. We never spoke. Understand?" WiredHead replied flatly.

"What!? But I already paid you! Are you seriously going to take my money and walk away like this!?" Manifesto snapped.

"Oh, sorry about that." WiredHead said blandly.

Ding!

A notification popped up on Manifesto’s phone. The money he had paid was refunded, minus the shop’s finder’s fee.

"Now... goodbye, and have a nice evening," WiredHead said, waving his hand dismissively. But before he could walk out, a sword made of light pierced through his leg, pinning him in place.

"Arrrghhh!" WiredHead screamed in pain as the searing light burned through the inside of his leg.

The man in the Hawaiian shirt immediately stood up, and the other people in the shop turned to look at Manifesto in alarm.

"Everyone, get out!" Manifesto shouted, trying to scare everyone off.