HERO BEAT: THE NARCISSIST

On May 12^th, 2012, Sean Cavendish walked into the Marcoli wake to pay his respects. He kissed Lisa Marcoli, grieving widow of suspected hitman Giovanni Marcoli, shook hands with suspected underbosses, capos, and high ranking soldiers of the Tozzetti Crime Family, and then detonated his suicide bomb vest. At that exact moment, at 4:20 PM, Sean Cavendish also walked into the offices of Benito Tozzetti and shot both the suspected crime boss and his consiglieri and daughter, Emily Tozzetti, before being gunned down by Benito’s bodyguards.

How did Sean Cavendish get close enough to the Tozzetti Crime Family to behead its leaders? He’d been a member of their organization for the last seven years, moving up in the business as a trusted lieutenant and moneyman. How was he in two places at once? Well, until then, Sean Cavendish appeared to be a baseline human. After that, however, everyone discovered he was, in fact, a metahuman with the ability to create clones of himself. Rather than denying the allegations, Sean Cavendish embraced them and adopted the moniker of the “Narcissist,” a fitting name for a man known for his considerable ego.

What followed was a summer of confusion and speculation. The New York District Attorney’s office went after Sean Cavendish, expecting a slam dunk case, but Sean Cavendish’s legal team made short work of what they called “biased and unwarranted attacks against their client by anti-metahuman elements within the government.” Their main defense was that Sean Cavendish created autonomous clones who were responsible for their own actions. And as a result, the two clones who committed the murders were acting of their own accords. The desperate DA tried everything as their case unraveled. They tried to use Sean’s clones to testify against him. They said that Sean Cavendish was ultimately responsible for the actions of his creations since they were effectively him. They said his clones were following Sean’s orders, and then they claimed that Sean should never have created doubles of himself without understanding the full implications of his powers.

It all came down to one question, however. Who was ultimately responsible for murdering all those people? Sean Cavendish’s lawyers filled the jury with enough reasonable doubt that he was acquitted of all charges.

The DA’s office had been given one chance to stop Sean Cavendish from filling the void left behind by the Tozzetti Crime Family, and they failed. Instead, the Narcissist took over the remnants of Tozzetti interests as a one-man army, rebuilding the empire he helped shatter according to sources that have asked to remain anonymous. With his involvement in the finances of the mafia empire, he was rumored to know the location of every offshore account and safe house money drop, and he used that knowledge to fund the rise of his own empire.

In recent months, more rumors and allegations have surfaced that indicate that the Narcissist has created a downright hedonistic regime that makes the extravagances of bacchanalian Rome look tame by comparison. He’s been accused by several heroes including Malleus and Griffe of using his own clones as his private sex slaves and been instrumental in introducing the New York club circuit to a variety of new party drugs.

The Narcissist is a rarity in today’s landscape. If superheroes have a short shelf life on the Tour, then most would-be villains are nothing more than embers that live and die in the moment. It’s hardly surprising when most metas who adopt the cape want public adoration, and while heroes can play the anti-hero, a villain is still bad PR. And then there’s the fact that the world and the various governments have spent the last 70 years learning how to fight metas and the last 20 worrying about the worst possible scenario when a powerful meta adopts an unsanctioned philosophy.

Few villains last long against that kind of experience and training, so when a new threat emerges and stays the course, they are often more than the traditional comic book inspired bank robber or mad scientist. Be they the strange Bangarang whose powers and mysterious aims make him difficult to predict or apprehend, the water-wielding Mitgh who navigates inside non-extradition countries while running her criminal empire, or Khevtuul, the mysterious human trafficker in Southeast Asia known only by his name and shadow abilities.

There are more villains to be sure, but Narcissist is unique among his kind. He operates in plain sight and readily agrees to interviews and public appearances. He has built an empire on smart planning and through legal maneuvering using his clones as fall guys and alibis. If the authorities ever hope to build a case against him capable of hurting his criminal empire, it won’t likely be through any superhero battle, but the RICO Act, the same Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act that hurt the Gambino Crime Family, the Latin Kings street gang, and the Lucchese Crime Family. If there are any plans to bring the Narcissist’s empire down, however, there aren’t any indications it’ll happen anytime soon.