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Across the country, eager eyes flitted across televisions, computers, and phone screens to see the horrific power of the Leviathan that was caught on tape. Not only that, but the spectacle of the DOSA agents that responded to the monstrous threat was something that united the people of America.

The majority of households across America, and the world, were about to be tuned into a news bulletin. This type of bulletin hadn’t come across television screens in over a decade, but everyone knew it was coming and was proved right when a random pattern of colors interrupted normal programming on all stations. An audible alerting tone played across the airwaves to garner the attention of the public who might not be looking directly at an active television set. The multi-toned alarm set off mild panic in the minds of those that lived through these messages from the Emergency Alert System in the past. However, these kinds of broadcasts were commonplace back in the days of the first leviathan wave. Every time there was an attack, an emergency broadcast would blot out the programming to inform the public about what had happened, what it meant, and what the government was doing about it. Once word got out about what happened in Sandusky, the whole world was waiting for this. They wanted to know everything.

The colored pattern cleared, and the image focused on a very prominent news anchor from Lebanon Central’s ‘Heart of America’ daily news report. Stephanie Stanley, Channel 55’s most noteworthy reporter in the field after a long career of exploits dealing with superhumans across the country. The blonde woman still had a youthful appearance on screen but most of that was thanks to the makeup department before she went on air. Most Americans watched this news station to get glimpses of superpowers and be privy to any kind of information regarding the superhumans protecting the homeland.

“Good afternoon. I’m Stephanie Stanley, and this is the Heart of America. As many of you are probably already aware, there has been an attack. We have not had to carry a burden of this magnitude in over 15 years, but a leviathan has appeared and attacked Sandusky, Ohio.” She said it in a somber and fact-stating manner. The camera angle shifted from Stephanie’s face to a wider angle that brought in a guest across the glass table that was catty-cornered from the camera. “This afternoon we will be divulging all the information we currently have to let the public know what happened, and what our government is doing to stop this otherworldly threat. My guest today is the Department of Superhuman Accountability’s public affairs liaison, Harvey Crane. Good afternoon, Harvey.”

“Hi, Stephanie. Thank you for having me.” The middle-aged man greeted the younger anchor. His salt and peppered hair spoke of stress and experience in whatever he did within the framework of DOSA.

“Thank you for joining us. I, along with every other American have many questions we hope are answered today, Harvey.”

“Yes, I hope I can clear the air and put minds at ease,” Harvey adjusted himself in his seat as he slid papers directly under his gaze. “Early yesterday morning, there was an ‘arrival event.’ We do not know how this happened specifically, however, we have some pretty rock solid theories from agents that have been within DOSA since its inception.” Harvey flipped a page and began again. “The leviathan, designation number L-18, was detected in the early morning hours by DOSA Agent VC-1, Darrius Gates. Darrius Gates, formerly known as Cyber-War, detected an energy signature coming from the depths of Lake Erie. This threat was briefed up through DOSA, all the way to the President of the United States. Top logistical analysts within DOSA rapidly developed a response if this signature was indeed a true leviathan threat. Unfortunately, it indeed was a leviathan and earned threat level ‘V.’ It took a top-level team to respond to the threat and take it down. The current status of the leviathan is deceased, and recovery crews are working around the clock to remove the creature and restore the affected area in Sandusky to its rightful state. No civilian casualties occurred as a result of the superhuman intervention, however, civilian casualties were discovered in the fog-covered path from where L-18 breached the surface of Lake Erie to where it was killed. The death toll is currently sitting at nine, and our deepest regrets and sympathies go out to the families of the victims that are left behind. We will not be releasing the names of those that have passed until all families have been notified.” Harvey finished his obviously scripted speech, written by someone else. It was the facts, but it was only the bare minimum.

What the world didn’t know was that many more things were going on behind the scenes, and this was basically what they knew before they even locked eyes on the titan. DOSA needed control, so they would control the narrative.

Stephanie Stanley had other questions, “That’s all well and good, Harvey, but a lot of Americans have more pressing issues weighing on them than just “what happened.” We want to know, “how” it happened. The leviathan threat was supposed to be over. DOSA specifically said fifteen years ago that planetary satellite sweeps showed no signs of leviathan signatures. What changed? Were you wrong? Was that a coverup? What should the people affected in this disaster zone do now that those assurances are gone? What should any of us do now that we know the promises that were made all those years ago don’t mean what they used to?” Stephanie launched into Harvey with these devastating questions. It was to get the public on her side and to ask questions. She wanted to get the people directed and thinking… or at least convince them they were thinking on their own and asking questions.

This was all DOSA. The questions were tailored, and the outcomes were already written. DOSA had to maintain control. They would never send their liaison to speak with a reporter, let alone national television if they weren’t in control.

“These are all good points, and great questions, Stephanie. Well, for starters we must remain with the results we were seeing back fifteen years ago. There were no signs of leviathan energy signatures after the last one was defeated in the Gulf of Mexico. We have remained in the clear, continually scanning the globe for any sign of a threat ever since. What happened in Sandusky is an isolated incident. Our strongest theory is that this was a leviathan left over from all those years ago. It would have been noticed coming and going from Lake Erie before now if it was active. That thing was massive. No, we believe it was in some form of hibernation. For what reason, or how long, we cannot say. However, this leviathan in particular produced a variation in its energy signature that made it appear different than the signature we have on file for the creatures in the past. We can now use this new signature to send out scans and see if we get hits on anything similar.” Harvey was painting a picture that anyone could follow along with. He was trying to put the people at ease and quell the panic that started to set in across the country. “Then, if we find anything lying dormant somewhere around the globe, we can send our most powerful agents to annihilate the threat before it awakens.”

“How long would these new scans take? What should the general public do in the meantime if we could be attacked at any moment?” Stephanie was teetering the conversation back to the worst possible scenarios and for good reason. It was a set, for Harvey to jump up and spike it.

“It is already done!” Harvey smiled like a snake in the grass about to swallow a mouse. “We haven’t detected any other signatures like the one produced by L-18. As of right now, there is no leviathan threat. The American people can rest easy and know that DOSA has got your back, and we are working round the clock to keep you safe,” Harvey spoke directly into the camera, connecting eyes with America.

“That is good to hear, Harvey.” Stephanie played the thankful citizen well. “I think another question most people still really don’t have an answer for is, ‘What are the leviathans, and where do they come from?”’

Harvey adjusted himself in his seat and pushed the papers away. He didn’t need to look at the script for this. “The leviathans have always been a mystery. There are parts of its DNA that do not match with any known organism of our world. Yet they have another side that is exactly like some sort of creature from our world; whales, alligators, wolves, sharks, snakes… 17 different types of creatures infused with some kind of unidentified DNA. Sandusky makes 18,” Harvey corrected himself.

Stephanie asked, “What does DOSA say to the notion from many people across the world, that the leviathans come from outer space or another world altogether?”

Harvey laughed, “They would, and do, get a good laugh out of that theory.” Harvey continued to chuckle through his explanation, “We have two theories; one is that they were created in a lab somewhere as some countries’ weapon against us, and the second is that they have been here all along. How they have formed and why we haven’t seen that many, we don’t have answers for that.”

After a few more minutes of play-by-play footage received from first-person encounters in Sandusky, the long interview and informative broadcast recounted the story of the original wave of leviathan.

Stephanie began the recount after speaking with Harvey about the differences between the most recent creature and the originals. “The first wave of leviathans began in 2013 when L-1 appeared on the beaches of Miami, FL. It was the size of a cruise ship and looked like a cross between an octopus and a feral dog. The landscape of Miami was forever changed that fateful day when this monster washed ashore and changed the world. Thankfully, we had heroes back then that banded together to take down this new threat.” Stephanie praised the old heroes. She had to make the public think she shared the same values as most viewers, toeing the line between government control and the acknowledgment of the vigilantes that risked their own lives. She couldn’t play one side for too long or she might lose viewers. That might mean losing control.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Harvey cut in, “Yes, without the original teams of vigilantes we wouldn’t have survived with military power alone. The teleportation abilities of Kody and Kyle Rivers, VC-3 and VC-4, allowed the transportation of super-powered individuals across the country to respond as quickly as possible to the leviathan threat.”

“The Rivers twins were vital in the lives that were saved in Sandusky,” Stephanie noted.

“True heroes, and true patriots both of them,” Harvey praised.

Stephanie began a new tangent that popped into her head, “For our younger viewers out there, Kody and Kyle Rivers were a part of one of the original teams based out of the Chicago area back in… 2008?” She informed the viewers but had to ask Harvey about the specifics.

“Yes… well, they actually weren’t a part of the Chicago Knights until August of 2010. The Chicago Knights, or ‘CKs’, were originally formed around the year 2008. They had a couple of vigilantes come and go, but there were a few that always stuck around. 2010 was when their roster stabilized, and they had a pretty concrete team that didn’t change much after that. Not until the government restrictions were made law and DOSA took over as the overseeing entity on superhumans. The bigger blow to the team was the falling out within the CKs during hero reform, the revealing of their identities, and the terrorist threat and attacks from their own team member known as ‘Man’ was the final blow to the team.”

“Yes,” Stephanie nodded. “After the final leviathans were hunted down by the heroes, with the help from DOSA, back in its infant stages, hero reform was the next war. Nobody expected those battles against one of their own, especially not Man. Does DOSA or the president have any concerns about what this new leviathan threat might do to the superhuman society?”

“How so?” Harvey asked.

“When leviathans threatened our world before, we were lucky that we had heroes already holding the line when disaster struck. If, worst case scenario, leviathans returned, what will happen to superhumans who aren’t registered if they step out to use their abilities to help save lives? Some might fear registration and stepping out at all, only to be labeled a terrorist.”

“This is a great question, Stephanie, and it's one that we at DOSA have been dealing with since our inception. This isn’t a new problem. It is one we have been dealing with ever since hero reform started. If anyone with abilities wants to publicly help in a situation, whether that is a natural disaster, helping save lives in some kind of accident, or even a leviathan attack, we have no issues with those actions at DOSA. However, as soon as it happens and whatever situation it is has settled, those same people must be fully aware that they will be taken into DOSA custody to be registered and have their abilities identified and documented. Man was labeled a terrorist because he revolted against government control and fighting, and killing, agents of DOSA.”

“Why is this so important, Harvey?” Stephanie asked strategically to use the broadcast to keep the population under the idea that the government has the best interest of the people in mind.

“Superhumans are like weapons. Not only do they possess power that can cause serious harm, but they make choices that can lead to other consequences through the use of that power as well. One wrong decision, one wrong situation, and the superhuman involved won’t be the only one paying the price for those actions. Superhuman abilities are like a handgun. In the wrong hands, they can be deadly. We already require background checks for weapons before those are handed out, but we don’t get to hand out abilities. But, we can register the owners of these abilities, just as we do with weapons. We saw enough destruction and collateral damage in the early days of the so-called “Heroic Era” and changes had to be made. Now,” Harvey clasped his hands together in a calming manner, “the reason it is so important for us to register and identify these superhumans is so we can have a better understanding of what they are capable of, and what it will take to stop them if they were to go rogue.”

“Like Man did…” Stephanie looked somber as she spoke the name of the hero-turned-enemy to everyone.

“Exactly. No one saw that coming, and no one was sure how to stop him! Not even his own team. That is the reason we identify and document abilities because we have no idea what or who the next threat could be. Also, if we have someone documented with certain abilities that are ideal for a specific threat, we can find and use them to the benefit of this great nation.”

Stephanie turned to the camera as she collected a few papers in her hands and aligned them with a few taps on the glass table, speaking again to the public, “For those younger viewers who don’t know the specifics, Man was never identified during hero reform. He directly opposed everything that was voted into law by our elected officials and never surrendered himself to be identified and his powers examined. This in itself was not what set him apart from the government but it was his refusal to stop using his abilities in public. He attacked his own team outright and fought with countless heroes during the attempts to arrest and bring him into DOSA, leading to the deaths of three other superhumans. His powers were superhuman strength and durability,” Stephanie said but was cut off by Harvey.

The camera shifted to Harvey’s face as he added to the news anchor's statements. “He did have similar abilities to strength and durability, however, he exhibited additional abilities from time to time that led us to believe he had other things he was capable of, however, we, nor his team, knew exactly what his power was. Some theorize that his abilities originated in his mind after analyzing a blood sample we collected from him during his final stand against his team, the Chicago Knights.”

“There was a blood sample,” Stephanie acted surprised at this revelation. She already knew this and was merely acting for the public.

“Yes, we did. It has never been revealed until now, only because it would never actually mean anything. DOSA didn’t think it was important to release the information before and just stir up a storm in the media over useless information.”

“Why is that?” Stephanie asked.

“His blood sample came back completely normal. Which, if you knew anything about Man, this really plays into the persona he created for himself in the Heroic Era. They called him ‘Man’ because when people would ask who he was, he would say, ‘I’m just a man.’ He never gave a name, he never identified himself, and never truly showed what his power was truly capable of until the final battle with his team. Whatever power he had, whatever his thoughts were, didn’t matter in the end. He was a terrorist who opposed the government, broke the law, and sought out and killed DOSA agents. He was killed by his own choices to fight and war against the people he once called friends.” Harvey spoke very carefully about this subject. “Another reason we didn’t release this information before is due to Man’s high popularity back in those days and the conspiracy theories that plague the internet and fans of the original vigilantes. This knowledge would just continue to build the legend of a traitor and a dead man.”

“Yes, some still think that Man was involved with the leviathan threat and was somehow tied to the hulking creatures that crawl out from the deep. He once displayed an aura of power that resembled the same purplish energy you can see burning inside of certain leviathans. However, as we have just said, we could never identify his power or anything in his blood that could give us answers. Some claim he is still alive and working for the government, and even the possibility that he was an alien.” Stephanie took a moment to laugh, “I guess this blood sample disproves that last one. Sorry to tell the conspiracy theorists out there.”

Harvey and Stephanie both had a nice chuckle together.

“DOSA chose to release the information about the blood sample now because of the leviathan threat. The government wants the people to know that it is more important now than ever before for superhumans to identify themselves and report to their nearest DOSA detachment office for registration. Next to serving your country in the military, on jury duty, or even in public office, registering with DOSA for superhumans is one of the most important things someone can do to keep the people safe. With a leviathan appearing now, those who have remained hidden for whatever reason might start thinking about coming into the public eye. The leaders within DOSA want to discourage those that might see this time of distress in our world as an opportunity to step into the public eye outside of the authority of our organization. Vigilantism will not be tolerated, and the consequences for continual operation without registration and DOSA approval will be met with full letter of the law.”

“What about vigilantes from before? The ones who didn’t want to work with DOSA. They registered but went on to lead civilian lives after signing special cease and desist orders that barred them from ever stepping into the public eye again unless they were willing to face federal prison. Their names are widely known, and some were very powerful in their day. If we were to face another leviathan threat, would DOSA consider dissolving these orders against individuals that are willing to serve the country now?”

Harvey’s face stretched to an uncomfortable position as he sighed, “This has been mentioned before, but I think at the very least it would become a case-by-case basis. Also, the threat level of what exactly we’d be facing would determine the level of leniency to certain individuals.”

The interview continued for another half an hour about destruction in Sandusky, cleanup efforts, and new policies regarding old heroes that are still viable options if a new leviathan threat were to happen, hypothetically. The mention of the vigilante known as Man only came up one more time in an attempt to warn of the consequences of those seeking to go against the government and its people. They made sure to paint the picture of the terrorist that had upended a carefully planned and coordinated takeover of the superhuman world. DOSA was the good guys, and that is exactly how everyone had to see them, no matter what had happened in the past. Harvey Crane assured the nation that the leviathan in Sandusky, Ohio was an isolated incident and that DOSA and the superhumans under their authority had everything under control. America and its people were safe. That is what DOSA needed the world to think. They had to because that needed control.