Greetings, Constant Readers. When Mason International announced its new head of security in 2009, frankly we didn’t know what to make of it. Remember back in ’07 when that superhuman fugitive lost control of his powers and destroyed that electrical plant in South Pasadena? Remember afterwards when the head of the security firm that failed to contain the incident fell on his sword and stepped down? Well, that man’s name was Damian Durand. The same Damian Durand that Max Mason now trusts to keep him and his corporate interests safe.
And here’s what had us baffled, Constant Readers. That electrical plant explosion was one of the biggest security snafus of this decade. According to all reports, Durand’s failure to prevent the accident landed his name on a blacklist. He was off the grid for two years after that, presumably because no self-respecting company would hire him. So what on earth would possess the infamously security-conscious Max Mason to hire the laughing stock of the entire security industry? What are we missing?
And while it doesn’t really answer all our questions, there is one other detail worth noting. After the explosion, the government deemed the site a super-human reclamation zone. And guess who oversaw the reconstruction: None other than Reine Construction, which loyal readers will recall is a shell company belonging to the crime lord King. The same crime lord who we now know has ties to Mason International. Something about that incident must be of interest to Mason if he made the man responsible his head of security, and tasked his underlings with cleaning up the mess. And that means it’s of interest to us too.
The Flashlight 