The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 87: LXXXVII - Hot On The Trail (Part 2)

Lionel slipped through the crowd and walked back up stage. He took his seat at Julian Mason’s side. Julian smiled as the members of the Good People Company stood next to him, giving the crowd their full attention.

"Good evening everyone and welcome," Julian began, "My name is Julian Mason and as I’m sure you all know, I’m running for mayor of Portland, Oregon. I wanted to take this opportunity and hold a little forum here, along with some of my associates from the long standing charitable group, the Fellows."

"Doesn’t seem like it will be standing for long," Etienne thought to himself.

Julian sat back in his tall seat and crossed his legs, "I don’t sit here and bore you all with long tirades. I want to hear the people’s concerns, so lets start with questions."

A young man with thick glasses and a large notepad raised his hand.

Julian pointed to him, "Yes, you sir. Go ahead."

The young man lowered his hand, "Good evening Julian. My name is Logan. Question, how do you feel about the INHO and the current state of heroism in Oregon?"

Julian chuckled. He grabbed the mic off of the stand and paced around the stage, "Great first question, Logan. Being honest, there aren’t many positive things to say about heroism in Oregon, right? If I’m being honest, let’s not mince words. Every aspect of it has been a travesty."

The members on the stage nodded in agreement.

"From the outset," Julian tapped his chin, "it’s always confused me why such a big state has so few heroes. In the last ten years, there’s been an average of 2-4 ranked heroes throughout the entire state. Credit where credit is due to Senshi Sentinel and more recently Mechaboy for keeping us all safe, but as it stands they’ve never been able to cover the entire state effectively. The outskirts, and the more rural parts of Oregon almost never received any heroic assistance no matter how serious their issues are."

There were murmurs of agreement among the crowd.

"As far as that aspect, I think the worst part is the INHO’s reasoning. Have you all seen it before? They always say the same thing.Oregon is too safe of a state to require a larger hero presence. If you try to present any issues regard inadequate heroing up to them, that’s the generic response you get."

"That’s stupid!" Somebody shouted out from deep in the crowd.

"Hey, he said it, I didn’t," Julian commented, and the crowd erupted into laughter.

"Seriously, that may have been true at one point, but I think it goes without saying that’s not true now. We have violent meta incidents on a frequent basis. How many of you have a friend or family member or know somebody that was harmed in that warehouse explosion a few months ago."

Half of the hands in the crowd shot up.

Julian nodded his head, "Interesting. Now tell me, do any of you body that was displaced or affected by that giant tree that’s still sitting in Brutal, Oregon?"

A few hands shot up.

Julian continued to pace around the stage, "The INHO is acting slowly to take responsibility for that. And alongside all of that, we have mysterious factor like the new hero Ninjaman prowling the streets. Unfortunately for us, we don’t know how he fits into the Oregon community and culture, we just have to take the INHO’s word that this mysterious figure has our best intentions at heart. I have reason to believe he doesn’t."

Julian stopped and faced the crowd, "Look my people, I have a proposal. One I intend to fully implement when I become mayor. I know police is a loaded word, one we’ve all but lost meaning for since the heroes started to take over. Since the governing body of the heroes, the INHO has been doing a terrible job in our state, I say we start our own super powered police force. We can use former ranked and contract heroes."

Julian grinned, "Former number 93 hero, the Philly Shield, has already agreed to be captain of the force. Once I win the election, I fully plan to implement that."

The crowd silently stared up at Julian.

He laughed, "I know, that was a lot to chew on. Don’t worry, we’ll revisit that topic again and again if we have to. Next question?"

An older woman in a flowery orange dress raised her hand.

Julian pointed to her, "Yes ma’am. Go ahead."

The woman crossed her arms, "A lot of us have benefitted from the work the Fellows have done over the years, both in a business and personal aspect. But it seems over the last few years, the Fellows haven’t been doing nearly as much for the community."

Julian scratched his head, "I want to just give you a simple answer and just say it’s harder to get things done now than it was before, which is true, but that’s not exactly why.The Fellows have been at an...impasse for a while regarding the best way to assist the community. It’s been about a fifty-fifty split for a while now, making it impossible to get anything passed or done."

Lionel took a step forward, "This is Lionel, current head of the Fellows. Since the Fellows is a cooperative, all members get an equal vote. So if issues are truly split down the middle, than its easy for stalemates to occur."

Julian smiled, "Right. Thank you Lionel. That’s why it’s important to us that soon, a change is made within the Fellows. We’re not quite ready to announce what that change is or what it’ll look like, but I believe it will alleviate that issue."

A stern looking older man raised his hand.

Julian pointed to him, "Yes, you sir."

The man frowned, "Gregory. Do you mind addressing the allegations that your brother is a criminal, right here in Astoria? They even say he may be apart of the Black Company."

Julian shook his head, "Gregory, I’d advise you don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Any rumors about my brothers being involved in a crime. My brother, Maxwell Mason, is an innocent young man, just pursuing his passion in robotics. And my older brother, Donald Mason works at the Imagination Station, one of the largest engineering design companies on the west coast."

Gregory scowled, "So you’re saying these claims have no validity?"

Julian walked to the edge of the stage and looked down directly at Gregory, "Do you want those claims to have validity Gregory? Do you want my brother to be a crook?"

Gregory pulled at his collar, "No, I..."

Julian stood back and looked at the crowd with a smile, "Good. Any other questions? You all have been asking some great ones so far, keep them coming."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves and nobody raised their hands.

After a minute or two, Lionel walked up behind Julian and whispered in his ear. As soon as Lionel pulled away, Julian’s eyes locked directly onto Etienne and he smiled.

"While we’re waiting on the next question, I want everyone to give a big round of applause to Oregon’s favorite son, the Prince of Astoria, Etienne Blessad. Etienne was in a plane crash almost two years ago and was stranded out in Japan. He finally returned home around six months ago, and now he seems to have made a full recovery."

The crowd erupted into overwhelming cheers and yelping. People in the crowd snapped their heads around, looking for Etienne.

Julian continued, "Of course, nothing that we do with the Fellows would be possible without Etienne’s parents, the founders of the Fellows, Blessing and Amaya Blessad. May they rest in peace."

Julian’s voice faded into the background as a balding middle aged man in a green turtleneck approached Etienne.

The man looked at Etienne’s face, "Wow, it really is you. You look similar to how you did as a kid on TV..."

Etienne reached his hand out, "What’s your name, sir."

The man took his hand and shook it excitedly, "My name is Antonio. You don’t know me, but the bill you’re parents helped sign, and the grants they gave helped get my business off of the ground. Without them, I don’t know where I’d be today. But I know I wouldn’t be here. Since your parents are no longer here, I want to give my thanks to you."

Etienne smiled, "It makes me happy to hear about the people my parents helped. Thank you for telling me."

Antonio reached in his pocket and pulled out a business card. He handed it to Etienne, "I make custom furniture. If you never need anything made, please don’t hesitate to ask."

Etienne stuffed the business card in his jacket and nodded, "Thank you sir."

Before Etienne could finish speaking, someone tapped him from behind.

A cheerful older woman waved at him when he turned around. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"The Prince of Astoria! I remember seeing you with your parents when you were a kid—"

Another individual pinched his arm to get his attention.

"Etienne Blessad—"

Someone grabbed his hand and tugged at it. Etienne looked up and spotted Money trying to pull him to the door.

"Come on," Money commanded, "There’s too much commotion in here."