In fact, it wasn't just Vixen who had a headache; the leaders of New York's local gang organizations also had a headache.
Where did these hotheads come from? Did they want to take out all of them by themselves or something?
Gang organizations didn't believe there was such a thing as "heroes" in this World. They didn't even consider that possibility, only thinking that these two women were sent by a behind-the-scenes organization to test them.
Perhaps they were from the Crime Syndicate. Their exploitation in other places had reached its limit, and they wanted to extend their reach to New York. This sounded very reasonable.
At a general meeting of local gang organizations, a Jewish gang boss slammed the table.
"This cannot continue!"
His words were echoed by many. Recently, due to the instability in Queens, many of their businesses had been affected.
Not only were they suspicious of the Syndicate, but others were also suspicious. Therefore, a large number of middlemen who had caught wind of the situation packed up their belongings overnight, preparing to flee.
Moreover, because Doctor Light had destroyed all the contraband within the criminal organizations, these gangs' ~ income also began to plummet.
Without goods on the market, customers who needed them would flow into other districts, exacerbating the "depression" in Queens.
"Those two women, we must find a way to take them out!"
"But what if they're from the Syndicate?"
But someone calmly analyzed, "According to my recent observations, the possibility of them belonging to the Syndicate is very small. The Syndicate would never destroy goods once they got their hands on them. Who would pass up money?"
His words made many people nod in agreement, strongly concurring.
For ordinary people, it was difficult to transport the goods stored in warehouses, because every street and every road in this place had their people, and even road traffic was maintained by their people.
It was impossible for ordinary people to steal the goods without their knowledge.
But the Syndicate was different; it was full of freaks with special abilities. Even Owlman had many advanced fighter jets that could airlift their goods and sell them elsewhere for a huge profit.
No matter how you looked at it, the Syndicate would absolutely not choose to directly destroy the goods.
After that person's analysis, everyone felt it made sense.
The Syndicate were a bunch of greedy hyenas. Even if they found a stone, they would try to squeeze some oil out of it. How could they allow their subordinates to wantonly destroy goods?
So if they weren't the Syndicate, who were they?
The person who spoke earlier took out a document and distributed it to the various bosses.
Then she spoke, "We have intelligence indicating that some new metahumans have appeared in several cities. This file details what they have been doing in the past few days."
The only sound left in the room was the rustling of pages, but the more these people read, the stranger they found it, and their expressions even became odd.
Someone hesitated for a moment and asked, "What are they doing?"
"Unpaid contributions. Clearly, these people are vigilantes, or rather, they are superheroes..."
The room immediately erupted in laughter, and the solemn atmosphere vanished.
Superheroes? Contribution? It was hard to tell which word was funnier, or perhaps all of them were. Many gang bosses were almost laughing to the point of breathlessness.
That kind of thing only appeared in comic books!
But the speaker didn't laugh. She was very calm. Seeing everyone laughing, she wasn't angry; she just quietly watched them laugh.
A few minutes later, the laughter stopped. They saw the person's expression and all had a very absurd thought.
"Could it be that everything you said is true? Are there really people who do good deeds without expecting anything in return?" Someone asked incredulously, "Are they crazy? Or Communists?"
In the eyes of U.S. citizens, anything that didn't require money was definitely problematic, just as they firmly believed that free vaccines were definitely the government conducting human experiments.
The former Syndicate, after defeating Taro, was briefly called heroes by the public for a period, but they quickly revealed their true nature and began to exercise dictatorial politics in their respective controlled cities.
And the official government had no power to counter metahumans, so they could only turn a blind eye.
Over time, these metahumans and their led organizations began to act like gangs, lording over their territories and exploiting civilians.
As for resistance? If Ultraman wanted to destroy humanity, it wouldn't take him a month to slaughter ninety-nine percent of Earth's population. How could anyone resist?
The U.S. gangs were not criminals from the start; they were once just a group of people who had left their homes and banded together for help, fellow countrymen.
Just like the Corleone family in "The Godfather," they arose from resistance to injustice and authority, making some money along the way.
However, as they grew and expanded, organizations inevitably became corrupt. Any group, once it grows in size, will always have some dark elements emerge.
This was true for gangs, and it was true for the Syndicate.
So, what about these people?
"Everyone, I'm telling you this not for you to criticize or mock these newly emerged metahumans," the person who brought them the news said indifferently, and the sounds in the room once again died down.
"Everyone, consider this: if these people are truly a group entirely different from the Syndicate, why can't we win them over?"
"Win them over? You want to control these freaks?"
"Your words are too harsh. I just hope for win-win cooperation."
"Leaving aside how you would even achieve that, let me ask you: how do you plan to control these freaks?"
"I don't plan to control them."
"What did you say?"
The person calmly explained, "If these newly emerged metahumans are truly as I imagine them to be, they would never be controlled by us, much less cooperate with us."
Everyone around was a bit confused at this point. What are you even talking about then?
Seeing that no one around had reacted, the person had no choice but to continue explaining, "Do you think the Syndicate is evil, or are we more evil?"
At this, everyone reacted. The answer was obvious: compared to an organization like the Syndicate, which wants to control the entire country and even the entire World, they were far from it.
If they were truly a group of vigilantes, as the person just said, their primary target should be the Syndicate, not the gangs.
"But the most important thing now is how we divert the attention of those two girls. The damage they've caused here is already significant. If this continues, it will be difficult for us to even maintain our current scale…"
"Waller, you don't want to see a situation like this, do you?"
The person called "Waller" looked up, and it was a Black person, and a woman at that!
However, she had deliberately adopted a neutral style of dress, so at first glance, she was indistinguishable from a man.
It's important to know that in the eyes of these old-school gang organizations, Black people were like slaves. Although gang organizations would accept Black members, they always treated these Black people as expendable resources, or even outright livestock.
Let alone being on equal footing with these big bosses, normally such people were considered guilty for merely breathing the same air as them.
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