Defiant Sanctuary

A villainous mastermind has a setback.

And yet, the city remained.

The skyline still stood on every monitor and live feed around the control room. The other screens, including the largest screen of the room’s front wall, were showing tracking data and confirmations of missiles launched and strikes recorded. One of those confirmed missile strikes was on Sanctuary City, but it was Sanctuary City that showed a decidedly un-vaporized skyline on the live feeds.

Magnus was livid. He made his way through the rows of engineers and technicians who were responsible for executing this final step in his scheme to take over the world.

He demanded answers from the console operators seemingly at random, as he stalked behind their chairs, to view their screens. The act of betrayal was one Magnus had never taken lightly. He paid too well for people to turn on him. Once a person was on his payroll, they were supposed to be loyal beyond doubt; in part because Magnus knew everyone had a price and paid it, and because termination from Magnus’ employment was a literal termination.

One of them was already slumped over, in the third row of consoles, his face having been smashed through the glass and electronic guts behind it. For good measure, Magnus put a bullet in the back of his head.

Having vented his frustrations, he once again became the consummate business magnate and showman that he was before the original launch sequences had begun.

“Good help is so hard to find, as you all know,” Magnus said. Wiping his hands with a pocket square from his suit jacket, he turned back to the room and addressed all the operators, and the group of investors he had invited to the control room for the launch.

“No enterprise succeeds on its first attempt. I’ve launched more than fourteen different multinational corporations, to one degree of success or another. If the worst we have today is a dry run, and a few minutes’ worth of delay before the real show begins, then we’re still ahead of the overall game.”

Folding the pocket square back up, and tucking it into a pocket, he turned to the engineers and operators.

“Start from zero. I want everything double-checked before we begin the countdown again. During the launch, we will use dual control methods in order to validate each station’s work. I understand no one likes to have someone look over their shoulder while they work, but I have poured entirely too much time, money, and blood,” Magnus said, paused for effect in front of the body and smashed console, and continued, “to have any failures now. Dress rehearsal is over. Do I make myself clear?”

A flurry of activity was the only response Magnus got to his question. Workstations were pulled apart to check for hardware issues, and a group of engineers were already heading past the investors to a conference room to review code on a wallscreen.

Magnus pulled the pocket square out and wiped his hands again without realizing it, as he looked back over the big tracking board in the middle of the control room’s front wall, showing each confirmed silo empty time, trajectory, and missile strike.

There should be nothing left standing on the live video feeds. Leveling Sanctuary City was the last step in his plan to get rid of the hero industry in his hometown. First, outlaw the corporate development and sponsorship of heroes, and then raze it to the last stone, so he could build his ideal city from the ashes.

Eighteen months and billions of dollars went into this plan, and that was before the actual missile deployment system had been developed and built. Every device in the control room confirmed that his plan had succeeded. There should be nothing but a patch of glowing rubble on those live feeds.

And yet, the city remained.

Author's Note

This is a brief response to a writing prompt from the subreddit /r/WritingPrompts.

The prompt was that the story had to begin and end with the phrase, "And yet, the city remained."

Partial inspiration came from the premise of the "Venture City" campaign setting by Evil Hat (FATE RPG). They describe it as superpunk. Think cyberpunk... with super heroes instead of keyboard cowboys: corporate-sponsored supers, and you can be too... if you can afford it.

This could serialize, if there's interest. I know there's more that I wanted to do with the plot, but this seemed to be self-contained for right now.

Constructive criticism is always welcome.