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	At an undisclosed villa, high on a mountaintop overlooking the city of Lost Haven from the mainland, the infamous criminal known as the Cowl sat at a polished mahogany table enjoying his lunch.  His hood had been pulled back, but his mask remained securely on his face, only pulled up enough to expose his mouth as he ate.  It was fact that no man had seen the crime lord without his mask on, even seeing as much as they could right now was a privilege for most of the Veilguard patrolling within the villa now, a privilege that would bragged to other members later as a symbol of confidence to the Shroud Syndicate.

	The Cowl himself had not even been seen for most of the day, hiding away in a locked private room, its contents unknown to anyone but the Cowl himself.  He had only come out an hour ago, only to speak to the house chef and ask for lunch before sitting at a rather mundane kitchen table, quietly staring out the window at the city as he ate.  Even though they called the hideout he was in a ‘villa’ it was honestly not much bigger than a cabin, as were the rule with most of The Cowl’s hiding places.  He did not like extravagance, and got away with mundane when he had the chance.  The only time he would parade riches was if he was entertaining another crime boss or bribing a local politician, otherwise he kept his life very low-key.

	However, the quiet silence of his lunch would be interrupted by the footsteps of Specter, which resulted in a visible smirk on The Cowl’s lips.  

	[color=8882be]“I assume since your presence means you have something to report.”[/color] The Cowl called out as Specter entered the room. “Otherwise you’d still be buying up property.”

	[color=7bcdc8]“Actually, quite a few things to report, and not all of it good.”[/color]  Specter said, picking up the remote to a nearby television.  [color=7bcdc8]“The good news is that we are literally not even spoke of in the news, and the Police have no leads to what started the riots.  It seems that while most of LHPD is concentrated with simply cleaning up, there is a group that’s concerned with another threat.  Along with the incident at the Temple of Ares, some shadow-being known as ‘Umbraxis’ is stealing the headlines.”[/color]

	[color=8882be]“Yes, I saw the both the Commissioner’s Challenge and STRIKE’s response this morning.“[/color] The Cowl mused, [color=8882be]“It’s amazing, really.  Our men work their hardest to make a distraction for the heroes, when really we could have just let this psychotic metahuman steal the spotlight and gone on our merry way...Oh well, nothing we can do about it now.  Best we keep acting while this Umbraxis fellow has the Metahuman’s attention”[/color]

	[color=7bcdc8]“That’s not our only obstacle, I’m afraid.”[/color]  Specter said. [color=7bcdc8]“A corporation has thrown themselves into the property game as well, even going so far as to call our dummy organizations out.”[/color]

With his words, he turned on the television and flipped to one of the local news channels, one of the ones that were not covering the riots or the shadowy serial killer.  Eventually he got to a channel displaying a young woman at the podium, identified as Alexa Winestone of Winestone International by a large news graphic covering the bottom of the screen.  Specter had just caught the broadcast at the beginning, as she immediately began her little speech. 

[quote=@Kalistar][color=662d91]“Thank you for joining me on such short notice. I know that our city has seen some true horrors over the last several months. From D-Day to the riots of just a few nights ago, the people of this city have shown the grit and determination to continue to push on. 

It has recently come to my attention that there are a number of predatory elements out there that are looking to exploit the hard working people of this city, and are using the events of the last few nights to profit off of the misfortune of those who have had their businesses ruined.

 So I have decided that Winstone International’s Lost Haven branch will earmark 15 Million dollars to aid those small business owners who have seen their livelihood threatened by the thugs who nearly burned portions of our city to the ground. We will be issuing a press release within the day which will detail how business owners can apply for the grant to cover the cost of repairs to their businesses.  It’s time to show the people of Lost Haven, and the rest of the world that you don’t need a cape to help. Thank you.”[/color]She says as she steps away from the podium as reporters shout questions at her.[/quote]

	As the report came to a close, Specter turned to The Cowl to continue. 

	[color=7bcdc8]“This could present a potential issue, if they go to her instead of us, we will lose key territories and the full plan will not succeed 100%.”[/color]  Specter said. [color=7bcdc8]“Really brings everything to light here, sir.”[/color]

	[color=8882be]“Maybe, but for the record I’m actually glad the youthful are finally taking interest in the town.  It’s about time the younger generation had some influence on the city.  It’s just a shame if conflicts with our business.”[/color]  The Cowl said, taking a sip of coffee as he spoke. [color=8882be]“Either way, she is the current head of Winestone Industries.  As I recall, they are a very diverse company.”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“Indeed.”[/color] Specter replied. [color=7bcdc8]“They have their hands in almost as many things as we do, from energy weapons to fuel alternatives, it’s made their family upwards of billions.”[/color]

[color=8882be]“Hm...interesting.”[/color]  The Cowl said, shifting in his chair. [color=8882be]“In my experience, billions are almost always gained at the cost of stepping on someone, even beneficiary companies like this one.”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“What are you suggesting, sir?”[/color]

[color=8882be]“If I were a betting man, Specter, I’d bet that this ‘Winestone Industries’ have some skeletons in their closet.  Even the nicest of people have dark secrets, but a corporation always skims something under regulation that would corrupt the world to know.”  [/color]He pulled his mask down as he spoke, reaching for his hood. [color=8882be]“How many men do we have affiliated with Winestone?”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“Roughly 20 or 30 in the city, most are in their blue collar divisions, however.  We have a few in upper management positions, but they have not given anything that could rupture Winestone’s structure here in the city.”[/color]

[color=8882be]“Get them to start digging up dirt, anything they find they send straight to me.”  The Cowl said, rising from his finished lunch. “And if we can’t find anything, we create a lie.”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“...A lie, sir?”[/color]  Specter asked. [color=7bcdc8]“About Winestone industries?”[/color]

[color=8882be]“Yes, if we bribe a man or two within Winestone Industries, I’m sure we can make them say whatever we want, even on camera.  Or threats, but money is much easier.”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“But...but how would that work?” [/color] Specter asked. [color=7bcdc8]“Wouldn’t a lie be easy to disprove?”[/color]

To Specter’s words, Cowl delivered an audible chuckle. [color=8882be]“Oh...oh my dear Specter, you did not do much corporate espionage in this town while I was away, did you?”[/color]  He asked. [color=8882be]“There are two things a corporation treasures more than anything else.  The first is money, of course.  Money is the end goal of any company, they provide a service and they wish to get as much money as possible.  However, the bigger you get, the more safety codes you have to violate, the less you can pay your workers, the more you have to cut to make that same profit for the increasing costs.  Even if you do manage to churn out money, you’ve wracked yourself in enough human suffering to desensitize yourself to what the people on the ground think.”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“And...what’s the second thing?”[/color]

[color=8882be]“That none of it ever gets out to the public.  People nowadays understand that every company they know most likely has some dark secrets, but as the saying goes ‘ignorance is bliss’.  As long as they don’t know about it, they won’t bother to question it.  However, if one concerned worker says something about a violated code or below minimum wage check?  Everyone becomes suddenly aware of the company’s corruption.  In this generation of social activists and bandwagon jumpers, you don’t even have to say what is true.  You just have to say what people expect.”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“So...we’d make a lie of what people expect to hear about a multimillion dollar corporation?”[/color]

[color=8882be]“Exactly.”[/color]  The Cowl said, walking to the window. [color=8882be]“Start contacting our men on the inside, let’s see if we can concoct a good story for the tabloids.”[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“On it, sir.”[/color]