1: Post war.

Ledge Carp was bored. His lanky frame lay stretched over his purple chaise lounge with his limbs cast about in a disorganized manner reminiscent of a cloth puppet severed from its strings. The room was lavish, and loud; clash colours being the order of things along with an absolutely nonexistent sense of proper style or reservation. On the orange walls hung trophies of his victories and a series of framed news articles detailing past adventures. Carp was forty-five, looking thirty-four, with plenty of time and vitality to do something great; although it was generally held, owing to his participation in establishing the new order, that he had already done it.
Madison, "Maddie." was laying across his legs, sleeping as soundly as a baby. Carp sat up and ran his fingers through his wavy hair which was permanently tinted in faded orange from years of strong dyes. He was restless and wanted to stand up. Without a second of consideration, Ledge withdrew his feet from under Maddie's head and nimbly jumped to his feet. Maddie shook her head, discombobulated by the sudden knock, and looked up at him with bewilderment in her blue eyes as he paced up and down, his long arms clasped behind him.
"What?" She asked confusedly after a moment of watching. "Did something happen?"
"I'm bored." Was his flat answer.
"Come back to bed then." She offered, lowering a shoulder of her orange dress, but Carp continued to pace.
"A hero has died today." Said Carp, pausing to read one of the framed articles. "People can't say bad things about us anymore, not since all of them died, sorry, correction, since we killed them all. Not that I'm complaining mind you," he quickly added, as though the silent girl had misunderstood him. "I like the way we run things, or, that is, the way THEY run things. But it does get boring sometimes; being king of the hill."
"Come back to bed." She reiterated.
Carp grabbed his purple coat. "I think I'll look for some excitement, if there's any to find. Alone." He added, seeing Maddie start to rise. "Don't wait up." Carp shut the green door behind him. Maddie slumped down like a painted, withered flower.
Carp went to his garage where six vehicles, all loudly decorated sports cars, sat shiny and tuned to perfection. He looked them over and after a moment of half-hearted comparison slid behind the wheel of a blue and pink convertible. The keys were in the ignition for no one would ever dare to touch one of "The Crime Clown's" possessions; car, gun, or girl. In the corner was an older vehicle, all purple with an un-repaired dent in the front bumper making it incongruous with the pristine condition of its neighbours. This was the "Fox Killer," the dent left over from the night when Carp had run over his arch rival: Fox Man.
"I could certainly use an enjoyable run in with you tonight." Mumbled Carp as he pushed the accelerator to the floor, leaving another patch on the concrete.
Carp directed his overpowered vehicle towards old town where he had made his mark in the days prior to "the Great Victory." He found the main streets too colourless for his tastes, too orderly. After beating Atlas Man, the Doctor, -Alexander Corman- had remodelled the main strip in his image; this meant symmetry, dark tones, function, a great number of statues of Dr Corman, and no fun anywhere.
Before the last hero's body was even cold, all the big villains had divided up the world into territories where things were run according to their own law. Inside of these, "states" were districts that had been dolled out to the more minor crooks and scoundrels who possessed less impressive powers or, as was the case with Carp, no powers at all.
Old Town was Carp's town, he'd battled Fox Man for it countless times and now it belonged to him. In the first few weeks after the Victory, Carp had dove into giving his few square miles of conquest a complete face lift; every statue had been torn down, every painting and book burned, every building painted over in a horrible mix of gaudy colours. Clubs and bars shut down by Fox Man were reopened so that the whole area became a collage of painted people and a cacophony of loud music.
Carp parked his car, -more accurately, he left his purple monster across three spots right in front- and sauntered into his old hangout; "The Smiling Cone." Named after the clubs self demonstrative mascot; a grinning ice cream cone.
A blast of greetings swarmed Carp as he entered and lite a cigarette on the end of a long holder.
"It's the boss!" Shouted some of his old henchmen, and immediately Carp found himself surrounded by a mob of faces wearing crooked smiles and extending a hundred palms to shake his hand or pat his back. After Victory, Carp had released all the members of his gang that Fox Man had put away in the old days; now they were fat on beer and soft living, but they were always glad to see the Crime Clown. As Carp neared the bar with his entourage one of the older men addressed an unfamiliar face at the bar:
"Hey sprout, this is Crime Clown, the guy who took down The Fox!" The young punk raised his eyes with that look of hero worship Carp had grown familiar with.
"M…Mr Clown…" the youth stammered, his attempt at looking tough having utterly faded, "how did you, I mean, when did you…"
"Time enough for old stories," said Carp, using his high clown voice. "First a drink." Carp gave a wave to the bartender, indicating "drinks all round."
This sort of scene had amused Carp to no end at first, but it had been nearly twelve years since Victory, and he had lost track of how many rounds he had bought for the house. The old voice, and the cigarette holder were just things he pulled out for his old gang and admirers, but he had no enthusiasm for this routine; nevertheless every few days would see him return to the Smiling Cone in an attempt to recapture his old flare, only to leave at dawn wearing his old smile for his fans which would fall the minute the door of his car had closed behind him.
Carp knew that Maddie would most likely be waiting for him and he did not want to see her, truth be told, the relationship had become stale for him, yet an odd sense of loyalty or sentiment prevented him from ending it; partially because he had turned her into a criminal and felt responsible for her welfare and also because she was another link to the old days. Nevertheless, he did not want to see her now.
Carp steered his car west, and stopped in an ally where he stepped out and scraped at the pavement with his alligator shoes where a dark stain was still barely perceptible; the dried blood of Fox Man. Like the others, Fox Man's corpse had been bagged and thrown into the city dump. At the time Carp had not felt the least bit of sentiment or sympathy for his foe; still didn't, but a sort of nostalgia would overtake him now and again and this was the closest he could come to visiting Fox Man's grave.
Carp knelt down. "It's so…boring now that I have to go on without you."
When Carp finally went back behind the wheel he became conscious of an odd vibrating sound; it was his phone lying on the seat beside him. Examining it more closely he saw that Alexander Corman, The Dr, had been calling him for the past six hours. Carp answered it immediately.
"Where have you been?" Demanded the fearsome bass voice of the Dr.
"Oh," said Carp, feigning stupidity, "have you been trying to reach me? So sorry."
"Return to the castle at once." and the call ended. The Doctor was not the least bit convinced by Carp's acting and knew he would not dare disobey his command.
Carp tossed the phone back onto the seat, as though defying the Doctor, and, with a last glance at the dim ally, sped away.

Author's Note

The copy errors have been fixed.