The Gold Father
“Come in and join us Andrew. We were just getting started.” Max Midas beckons his brother into the room.
The American Dream, real name Andrew Adams, takes a seat at the conference table.
“Alright, let’s get this meeting underway.” Max says as he goes to take his seat at the head of the table.
Aside from Max and Andrew there were three other people sitting at the table.
First among them to speak was a seven foot tall older black man with who was bald on the top of his head, but had white dreads from the back of his head that reached down to his shoulders, sunglasses, a full mustache with a decently long beard, a white suit jacket with a yellow undershirt, and white slacks.
This man’s name is Franklin Jupiter, or Zeus. He took his pocket watch out to look at the time.
“It seems the meeting is starting a bit late, Midas.” Franklin says while gazing up from his watch.
“I agree with Franky, let’s get this over with.” says a woman with long spiky black hair that almost reached all the way down to the floor, red skin, and a black dress with silver trim that looked like cascading waves at the ends of the fabric. “You know that it is rude to keep a lady waiting.”
Her name is Neptunia Imperialis, but goes by the nickname Poseidon.
“...Insolent fools. How dare you question the boss's actions. You should both learn your place.”
Finally, there was Paetyr Pluton, better known as the villain Hades, who was crossing his arms as he was scolding the others who were sitting at the table.
“Now calm down Mr. Pluton, they haven’t caused me any trouble.” Max responds while putting his hands behind the back of his head and kicking his feet up onto the table.
“Why hello there Miss Neptunia.” Andrew says while shooting finger guns at her. “You are looking as beautiful as ever.
“Oh. stop it you.” She says while fluttering her eyelashes in a way that actually says ‘please, keep talking about how good I look’.
“It seems like you are still the same little brat I met all those years ago.” Franklin says with a small smirk. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“It’s good to see you too, old man.” Andrew turns to look towards Hades. “Hey Max, who’s the new kid?”
“That would be my new business partner Paetyr Pluton. He may have only started working for me a few months ago, but he has already made a massive name for himself.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Adams.” Paetyr says with a bow.
“You don’t need to be so formal, kid. Andrew is fine.”
“So…let’s get to it.” Max Midas says while getting up and walking towards the window of his office to peer out onto the street below. “How’s business?”
“My district’s payments are on time and in full as they have always been.” Franklin states while putting his watch back into his coat pocket.
“I have actually gained a new client within the last month.” Neptunia smugly smiles towards Franklin. “Unlike the dinosaur, I am actually expanding our territory.”
Franklin just rolls his eyes in response.
“How about you, Mr. Pluton?” Max says while turning around and walking back towards his chair to take a seat.
“...I was able to acquire most of our fees, but there were a couple of poor souls…” Paetyr readjusts the bident in his hand as he looks at the souls trapped in the hanging lantern. “...who unfortunately didn’t reach quota this month. I made sure to…make an example of them…”
At first a small smile appeared on Max’s face, but this soon grew into a giant grin as the mob boss started to laugh.
“Fantastic! I knew you were the right man for the job.” Max says while wiping a single tear from his eye. “Good work everyone! Very good work!”
Max then turns his attention back towards his brother.
“...So Andrew, how is the plan coming along?”
“It’s going perfectly! The city is like putty in my hands!” Andrew says with a mischievous grin.
“...Sorry if this is inappropriate…” Paetyr interrupts after raising his hand “...But what exactly is this plan you two speak of?”
“Oh right, you’re new.” Max rotates his swivel chair so that he is looking towards Hades. “Me and my brother have a plan to eventually take complete control over Central City. You see, I already run this city from the shadows, but the public still loves me. I hired all of you to manage my affairs so that I can keep my hands clean. With that being said, you all know that superheroes have been on the rise ever since the fall of Deus Mortis. That makes things rather complicated for me, but me and my brother were able to use this system to our advantage. It’s quite the simple plan actually. My brother used his gifts to become the most powerful hero in Central City. Being the strongest hero in the city also comes with a lot of clout. Every once in a while Andrew brings me some up and coming big shot heroes and politely asks them if they want to join my family. You know, because I am a reasonable man. If they refuse…well…you can say that we take care of them, right Andrew?”
“That’s right brother. Actually, I have some new faces in the building as we speak.” Andrew gets up from the table and walks through the door. “I should probably check on them to see if they are reasonable folks.”
“Sounds good to me! Go take care of business, American Dream.” Max emphasizes the last part of his sentence with air quotes.
After giving one final wave Andrew kicks down the door and walks back down into the building to check on how his ‘teammates’ are doing.
Max Midas turns backwards in his chair and takes a quarter out of his pocket. He crushes it in his palm and then releases his grip. As he opens his palm the once silver quarter was now made of gold. He begins to flip the coin as he looks out the window and onto his empire.