In his previous life Troy like everyone else had ruled out these things as rumors and natural disasters, so like most average humans he was caught off guard when the Great Calamity struck. This time though he both knowledge and understanding of these occurrences and he refused to be caught off guard. He vowed to himself get as much prepared as possible in the remaining 2 years before the aura recovery eventually starts. Troy rapidly started making a list of things he needed to do and the first thing he needed was to set up an independent fund system for himself. He also knew that he had to bring a few forces under his leash, and for that the underworld would be the best option. No matter how despicable there acts were they would turn out to be strong awakened forces during aura recovery and literally become private militia forces for the wealthy families and influential organizations. He understood in the future he cannot do everything on his own, and he would need a loyal bunch of goons to do some dirty work.
He also knew these underworld gangs mainly respected strength as the most important criteria and would only bend to the truly strong. Also controlling any such group would give him access to a lot of funds, which he can use strategically to set up a strong foundation in the next two years. Troy started thinking how to go about his plan, as he was really reluctant on dealing with the underworld as he considered most of them as scum, so he was not sure which organization he wanted to target. Suddenly, he smiled as a decision came to his mind. He subtly thought of a beautiful underworld leader who had a good moral standing. Her group known as Hollywood Angels were mostly involved in corporate sabotage, racketeering, counterfeit and blackmail but they would rarely engage in violence or disruption of societal orders. Their leader who was known as The Madonna, was known to hate things like sex trafficking, child prostitution, drugs etc.
Reminded of that beautiful woman and her sad downfall due to her morality, Troy shook his head.
"Well, I guess I can help her along the way as well. She would be a powerful and influential ally to have as well as open quite a few doors for me in the upper echelon of society, but her identity also makes it difficult for me to directly approach her. Hmm!"
Then he suddenly thought about the Myriad mask and a great idea came to his mind. With a sly smile and ruthless look in his eyes, he changed into an all black outfit of hoodie and trackpants which would obscure him from view in the darkness. He glanced at the clock on the wall, "4:05 AM huh, looks like I have less than 2 hours to get things done."
He swiftly jumped out of the window and used void traversing steps to vanish into the night like a phantom.
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Somewhere in Compton Area, in a dilapidated warehouse a group of suspicious individuals can be seen unloading some crates from a couple of trucks and stacking them on the ground. A gruff looking man can be seen overseeing the whole procedure while smoking a cigarette. One look at this man would tell you he was a typical thug, but seeing how the other thugs were giving him respectful glances one can infer that he held some kind of leadership position in the group.
Just then the phone on the thug rang, as soon as he glanced at the caller id to just see a bunch of unknown numbers. Little bothered he answered the call with an annoyed look on his face, which turned into one of fear, respect and flattery as soon as he heard the voice on the opposite side.
"Is everything prepared? Have you received the merchandise?" a deep voice sounded on the phone.
"Yes Big Boss, we have received them. The merchandise is okay. My men are unloading them now at the warehouse on Compton. Other trucks have also reached their locations safely. No mishaps in the operation" the thug answered quickly.
"Good, what about your leader? She is not suspecting anything is she?" the voice asked seemingly pleased.
"No Big Boss. That bitch doesn't know anything. Soon the Hollywood Boulevard Angels will belong to me with your help, and you will have my full support and loyalty. Hey! that stupid bitch thinks she can be in the underworld and preach morality. If not for her we could have become the most powerful underworld gang in all of LA decades ago."
"Don't worry, follow my instructions and I will make your gang the most powerful and respected in all of LA. I will contact you later" and the voice cut off.
The thug put the phone in his pocket looking pleased as a lecherous smile adorned his face. "When I tried to approach you, you should have accepted. You forgot who made you The Madonna. Without me Hollywood Angels would have been a dream. I handled all the dirty work while you pranced around as an important figure of society. Everytime I made advances you pushed me away as if I was a dog. You also threw my ideas about expansion out because of your hypocritic morality. You shouldn't have done that. Once I am done taking over the group, I hope you accept and serve me properly, hey otherwise it'll be a regret what I would do with that beautiful body." The thug thought out aloud his lecherous smile widening as he licked his lips as he thought of ravaging the goddess like beauty.
"Tsk tsk, who needs enemies when they have a excellent subordinate like you. Such a hidden snake, such licentious thoughts about your master, really Orlando you are a serious piece of work". A eerie voice sounded in the warehouse not belonging to any of the thugs."
" Who is there?" the thug named Orlando shouted and turned around to look. Even the thugs who were working also stopped to look as the eerie voice was carried in with the wind.
What greeted everyone's sight was a handsome young man with silver hair and eyes. His eyes scanning the room in a predatory glint. All the thugs including Orlando, were stumped for a second by the intruder's otherworldly features. Then Orlando snapped back, and asked apprehensively. "Who are you?"