Only two days after announcing that Clandestine Industries would be closing its doors in a press conference held at City Hall, founder and director Pete Wentz was already inundated with offers for the agency's headquarters.
The building, located on 5th Avenue, has housed the facilities of the nation's largest alliance of heroes for over eight years.
"We haven't even officially shut down yet and already I'm getting ten million, twenty million-dollar bids from all these billionaires and real estate magnates," a disgruntled Wentz told reporters Sunday. "I wasn't aware we were worth so much. I don't care about the money...I have guys still packing up their offices, there's a [ton] of paperwork to fill out, resumes to put together—this isn't [some] big tech corporation where they just...march you out and trash your stuff when you're gone. I actually want my team to say goodbye with dignity, you know? Many of these guys—they don't know anything else. This is their home."
Wentz's hopes for a dignified farewell may be easier said than done: for the past few years, heroes have been the subject of intense scrutiny, with increasing controversy surrounding everything from their public behavior, private identities, strained relationship with law enforcement and, most recently, clashes with the federal government. This past January Wentz came under fire after refusing to issue an apology to police forces on behalf of the agency after a heated confrontation between an officer and Serpentine, one of Clandestine's most provocative heroes, turned violent.
"I stand by my morals and I stand by my guys," Wentz said. "Things got out of hand, but I believe a hundred percent that [Serpentine] was in the right."
Additional concerns have stemmed from collateral damage resulting from public battles and several ensuing civil suits that were eventually settled out of court.
"This is not an attempt to force anyone into hiding," said Mayor Fallon on Tuesday. "The city would like to offer gratitude for what supers have done for us these past few decades, but I think we can all agree it's time for a change."
"Look, many of these guys—they don't know anything else," said Wentz on Sunday. "Clandestine is their home."
Wentz declined to comment on how the agency's dissolution would affect his relationship with his employees, including longtime working partner and best friend Breakdancer.
(strap in folks this is the crown jewel of my collection and it's one helluva ride)
so pete's the director of clandestine industries which is the nation's largest alliance of superheroes (he's also psychic, but the public doesn't know that) but after a series of scandals, legal troubles, and clashes w/police and the govt (as well as internal turmoil re: relationship drama and rising working tensions) he's forced to shut down the agency (and escalating incidents lead to congress passing the super dispersion act which basically forces all the supers into hiding anyway and also creates a huge stigma against people with superhuman powers). he also cuts ties with his former colleagues and they move across different parts of the country and the world; pete remains isolated in town.
fast forward three and a half years and pete starts getting visions of patrick and other supers being hunted, captured and tortured; crime is at an all-time high but the city's trying to hide it bc the govt is being controlled by none other than arms dealer and crime boss shane morris...
shane wants to bring the supers out of hiding claiming goodwill but pete sees through his act and realizes shane plans on using the supers to terrorize the country and build his empire. pete needs to stop him but he has no idea where anyone is anymore so he starts poking around underground forums and recruiting from town.
enter lynn gunn.
lynn is a teenager who can turn invisible, she used to idolize the supers until they were forced underground and now she's just trying to live a normal life but it turns out when things get rough her mind causes her powers to fluctuate and it's super-frustrating. when pete shows up at her door the last thing she wants is to be thrust into the center of the action but alex and brian (and her mom) manage to convince her to join.
as of right now halsey has telekinesis and takes the whole "sudden superhero thing" in a lot more stride than lynn does. they hit it off tho and it's cute.
joe can control electricity and has basically been maintaining/protecting the old clandestine headquarters from greedy landlords since they shut down. andy has super-strength cuz i'm cliche, brendon can fly, hayley controls fire, spencer controls ice, idk what jon does yet, gabe probably does something cobra-related, somebody has super-speed idk who possibly dallon, ryan has mind control that shane enhances through some powerful steroid he got after breaking into some govt lab or whatever (ryan becomes shane's attack dog after leaving clandestine, he can suppress ppl's powers telepathically).
and last but not least: patrick can control sonic waves.
(that also shows up in another fic on AO3 and i apologize for that but i wanted to do it :p)
so hijinks ensue and also angst and possibly action even though i suck at writing action but whatevs, i want this. i want this so bad it hurts, man.
(and the gang does end up getting back together but nobody can find patrick for most of the fic and pete does his whole moping-over-patrick thing for a good 75% of it)
