Another comic idea for your legally distinct costumed vigilantes!
Opening- An office in the city at night. Three generic masked bad guys break into the office, searching through drawers and file cabinets and then packing up laptops. Our Hero swoops into the middle of them and the three scatter. Heroman throws out a bolo, sending the farthest lone one crashing down and then assumes a fighting stance towards the remaining two. Bolo'd crook hits the ground hard and we hear a lot of screaming and pain. Heroman's masked eyes go up and he turns back to the fallen crook. The remaining two rush forward, Heroman eyes them but doesn't act. The two robbers run right past Heroman and drop to the bolo'd one's side, shouting if Carl is okay.
The bolo robber is wailing that he landed hard on his elbow, thinks it's shattered, what's he going to do. Heroman is standing over the three and takes off bolo robber's mask. Instead of the usual criminal thugs, Carl is an older guy, wrinkles, tired, plenty of gray in his hair. After a beat, Heroman recognizes him and calls him by his full name. Carl works at ScienceTech and is close to retirement. Heroman questions why he'd risk jail time for some cash this close to retiring.
The robbers all scoff, retirement is worthless. They'll barely be able to scrape by in The City with what's in the fund. Heroman says that ScienceTech’s owner (secretly Heroman’s civilian identity!) pays well, and guys scoff again and say he used to. The retirement fund for grunts has all but dried up due to shady practices by management.
Heroman silently stands away, hidden behind his cape. After a beat, he tells the three that he also knows the owner provides a fine health insurance plan for all employees. After they return the laptops, go to the hospital. And next time they're out jogging at night, be careful about tripping on the curb. The robbers are spooked as heck and look around for the files they were grabbing but can't find anything.
The scene changes to Heroman’s secret lair.
Heroman is looking over the files the robbers were collecting. Butlerman sees him looking at a ScienceTech branded folder and is pleased Heroman is doing actual office work. Heroman says he confirmed the robbers' story. Somebody at ScienceTech is siphoning money out of employee programs. He's angry at the action but also that he didn't notice it.
Heroman expresses doubts about his activities. Not that he's working as Heroman and not his plan to help The City, but how little it seems to help some days and how hands-on he always has to be. Would everything be undone if he stopped being Heroman? Years of progress gone and his work for nothing once the world finds out he’s passed on?
What follows in the story is a real detective story, putting in the legwork, running down clues, and using Heroman’s skills and tools not to fight henchmen, but to root out systemic corruption and take on white collar crime. After putting everything together, he catches the manager inside ScienceTech that’s been funneling money out of the pension for his own good and we see the lasting effects solving that crime has on The City. By going after white collar crime, money goes back to the people, people have faith in industry, and there’s less pessimism about The City and the people’s future. And this leads to better services, fewer people are crushed by one bad day because they have support and safety nets, fewer people fall into crime or bad habits, and all that leads to the henchmen pool drying up with fewer options, better regulations that lead to fewer scientific accidents that create villains, and more people that see a hopeful future.
Later- Inside the ScienceTech offices
Heroman’s civilian identity is friendly to the office workers as he walks through the halls but is sternly talking to his R&D man about the employee funds case and handing over info for R&D to track down anybody involved that Heroman couldn't find earlier. Get rid of them and find worthy replacements!
As they walk to his office, they're accosted in the hallway outside the path to Heroman's office by a young lady with lots of files and folders. The secretary is apologizing about the lady being here and R&D recognizes her and does the same. He usually runs interference but this current case has him preoccupied. Heroman makes a public show of being friendly and says he always has time for his employees. R&D quietly says to Heroman that he gets hundreds of people a week trying to have 1-1s with the boss man. Heroman looks a little guilty, both for what R&D puts up with but also that he hasn't been talking to the people. The lady speaks bluntly and says that she's been trying to make time for months. Heroman is guilted into talking and invites her into his office.
Heroman says he and R&D were about to eat, if she doesn't mind having the meeting over lunch and if she'd like anything. She agrees and fishes around in her pockets. Heroman looks over and she's holding out a $10 bill. Heroman looks it over and back to her quizzically. She says that when the team orders lunch, everybody pitches in $10. She pauses for a second, I guess it's a lot more expensive when management eats out... Heroman smiles and assures her he has lunch covered. He asks her what's she's here to talk about. She replies that she wants to talk about why Heroman is useless. Heroman’s civilian identity hides his emotions, but R&D starts to speak up. Even though he’s annoyed, Heroman waves off R&D and gives him a nod due to his recent concerns with the pension case.
We fast forward a bit, the lady has been speaking a bit and handed out some papers on how crime numbers in The City have mostly shifted rather than strictly gone down, what street crime is down, what isn't changed, and white collar crime remains mostly the same. The lady's main point is that Heroman’s hiding in shadows, fighting, and scaring the crap out of everybody is good for stopping criminals, but it doesn't actually make the city better or get the public to change its ways. The City needs more than fear, it needs hope. Heroman challenges a bit and says isn't that basically what Powersman handles? The lady scoffs and says Powersman is lame. Heroman hides a sly smile behind his hands and tells her to go on. Powersman doesn't work as an inspiration because he has magic alien god powers. OF COURSE Powersman can go out and fight crime, he's invincible. It's easy for him to do it but nobody can follow in his footsteps. The lady pauses for a second and gives a small oh crap do you think he heard me say that he's lame? He can hear everything right? Heroman says he probably has bigger things to worry about and to continue. There's a knock on the door and the lady freaks, but it's just the food arriving.
As she eats and talks, the lady proposes that since ScienceTech is bankrolling the Heroman teams, Heroesmen?, it should have a second Heroman Inc program that focuses on support heroes. People that are just as skilled and trained as Heroman but that work out in the open, are super visible, don't jump out of the shadows and make people run away. Have people that can help and work with Heroman but that are focused on making The City better and being role models rather than fighting super villains, but they're strong and skilled enough to take out thugs and the dangerous elements of The City. Heroman is there to work on the criminals and the new heroes are there to work on the citizens.
Heroman is interested in this project and says that he assumes the lady is part of the team? She laughs in his face, realizing that's probably not a great career move and steps back. She gestures to herself. Look at her, she sits behind a desk all day, she wouldn't survive a day out there. She could be part of the support team and help set up the program, and maybe that’s worth a promotion within ScienceTech. Could she get a grappling gun, those things seem great. Heroman says that's a bit dangerous.
We jump forward in time again.
The lady is sitting at a nice desk in the middle of a team pod. An email comes in congratulating some workers on promotions to fill the departures left by the people Heroman and R&D canned from closing out the pension case. Somebody calls to the lady for a meeting to start and they’re choosing hero candidates to interview next week, so she grabs her computer and heads off. As she leaves her desk, we see she has a Herorang stuck in the cube's wall and a printed out selfie of her giving a wild thumbs up with a huge grin and Heroman cloaked in his cape behind her.
As the lady walks through ScienceTech, she passes by a retirement party for Carl from the opening story, flanked by the other two “robbers”. Carl looks considerably happier but his arm is still in a sling. Lessons were learned all around.
Somewhere, on the other side of the globe, reporting on a story, the civilian identity of Powersman scowls. The people of The City are jerks and he’s unable to let their insults slide off his back.