Shadow Knight: The Mastermind's Gauntlet

Chapter 1: The Seven Elevators

EZ Mart, Lunar City Palisades: July 28th 2020: 10:09 AM

The EZ mart was busy today; lots of people were busy shopping.

The lines were full, and the cashiers were busy.

One of the cashiers working at the stores photography department had a radio on hand and was listening to the music stations and news stations.

On the radio right now was Beatrice Fuller's "Off the Street" exclusive about the city's homeless and destitute, she was I conversations with the billionaire philanthropist Kagae Kishi who supposedly had come up with a plan for dealing with the city's problems...particularly its indigents.

Beatrice Fuller: "I'm here live with Billionaire Philanthropist Kagae Kishi who has called in from the construction site of one of his "Markio Foundation" projects to talk to us about what he promises will be a helpful boon to handling the city's homeless and crime problem. You're on Mr. Kishi..."

Kagae Kishi: "Thank you Miss Fuller. As you are aware this city has a real problem with the homeless. Some are here on the streets because of situations beyond their control. The economy and recession hit a lot of people badly and not everyone recovered. Those who didn't stay here in the tent city's or the ruins of the far side eventually joined up with the criminal gangs of the city for food, money and shelter. It's one of the reasons why crime is so high. We've ignored the problem so long because we didn't see them as our fellow human beings who need help and so instead of solving the circle of crime and violence in this city...we allow it to perpetually circle with our indifference."

Beatrice Fuller: "The mayor and city council believe that the REFORM act, which will force the homeless off the streets to somewhere else would be a better idea than wasting money on rehabilitation, and a lot of people in Lunar City seem to believe that. Are you saying you have a better solution?"

Kagae Kishi: "Yes I do. Sending them away is not solving the problem. It's shifting the problem onto others. We must take responsibility for our city's problems if we are to solve them. The poor and the criminals who really are what they are because of society's indifference to their plight. They see them as walking trash on the street. These are not trash ladies and gentlemen. They are fellow human beings and they are stuck in a pit of desperation, and need a ladder or a rope in order to get out...that is where the Mariko Foundations newest project comes in. We call it H.O.M.E.S.T.E.A.D"

Beatrice Fuller: "H.O.M.E.S.T.E.A.D"

Kagae Kishi: "It stands for Humanitarian Organization for Managing Economically Situated Transients Emergence Away from Destitution."

Beatrice Fuller: "So it's a homeless shelter?"

Kagae Kishi: "No, not just a shelter. It's a temporary home and institution to help those indigents get back up off their feet and for those street criminals who want out of that life to learn to be integrated back into society. I'm sure within a few months we'll start to see results and more H.O.M.E.S.T.E.A.D centers will be made in the following."

Beatrice Fuller: "It's very interesting Mr. Kishi, but how can you be certain this plan of yours will work?"

Kagae Kishi: "its simple math and social examinations based on careful examination Miss Fuller. If we want crime to go down, we need to eliminate it's contributing and long lasting factors...both sides of them. Whether it's politically correct or not, there are always two types of criminals. Those who do this because they are desperate and need to steal and rob to survive, and the ones who do it because they are sadistic sociopathic gun totting thugs who use society's understanding of 'society is to blame' as an excuse for what they are instead of it being true fact. As a result it makes it harder to distinguish between the two, but easier to just lump them together and declare this problem to be a lost cause. We must never mix them up with one another. We must segregate them. With HOMESTEAD we can start to help the latter of the two criminal types and leave the rest for the men and women of the LCPD to handle. I assure you, we do this...and very soon you'll see less bad guys on the streets. Maybe one day you'll be able to go shopping for food again without worrying about some nut with a gun showing up to rob you of your money...or worse."