An Indecent Proposal Pt. 2

Posted on Thu Apr 16th, 2026 @ 1:13pm by Watch Leader Frederick Hollywood

Mission: Findelion Watch - Villains
Location: Orlando, Florida
Timeline: 1919

So he called the people forward to the podium. Once Aryel had escorted the five of them to the front in the order he had picked, he shook their hands, “Okay so the first person I have here is Bill right? And you put down that your rent has gone unpaid right?” He held out a rather large envelope to the disheveled young man. “Well Bill, I think this will cover you for the next six months or so.” Then he shook Bill's hand again and told him he could sit back down.

Then he looked at the crowd and waved his hands, “Now I know, I know, paying a bill is nothing special, but hey bill needed something and there it was, that's the idea.”

Frederick walked up to the next person in line. “So Margarette? You said your Father’s farm is about to be foreclosed on by the bank. Well...” He handed her a large manilla envelope with a big smile. “Why don’t you tell the people what you see there.”

She began to sob as she spoke looking at the papers she pulled out in a state of near disbelief. “It’s a lease for my father’s farm, so that as long as we live there we can stay.”

Frederick placed his hand on her shoulder. “Does it say how long that is?”

The farmer’s daughter looked closer and then her eyes widened. “For as long as our family lives there.”

The madman nodded, “Yes yes even your children's children will be able to feed the hungry people of the future if they choose and if nothing else have a place to rest their heads.”

Aryel walked her back to her seat and also thanked her for putting her faith in Frederick and letting them help.
“Thomas? You said you had lost your Father’s watch. Can you tell everyone just how long ago that was?” Fred smiled as he knew the answer and felt it would aid his cause.

Thomas thought for a moment, “Well jeez mister that must have been over ten years ago.”

With that Frederick handed him a fine box. “Now why don’t you tell me if that is what you came for and if it is, show the people gathered before us today.”

Thomas opened the black leather box and inside was his fathers pocket watch. Still ticking. After looking at the back to make sure the inscription was there he held it up for the crowd to see. “Thank you Mister I was sure I would never see this again.”

“Next we have Florence and her son who has been plagued by The Sleepy Sickness. Isn’t that right? ” Then he put his hand on the woman’s shoulder. “She asked that I cure her boy. How could I say no to something like that?”

Then he gestured to the back of the bar as Aryel was already heading to the door to the store room. “Well Florence I have a special gift for you indeed.” As Aryel walked out with her son he announced. “Your boy is cured and not only that he has no side effects whatsoever.”

Florence raced over to her boy and hugged him tightly. “Yes yes folks. All things are possible right?” He gave them a moment letting the crowd drink everything in. Aryel then escorted them from the front.

Then he held up his hands again. He looked at the woman last in line and most likely the big ticket for the night. “Now Elizabeth, I really want to thank you for giving me a chance to help you. Your husband died in the war right? And if I am not mistaken he died in France,”

The young woman nodded as she looked at him.

“And he was buried not far from here?” He had thought of just walking her out to recover her lost love but thought that might be too much for the first night besides although there may be less do gooders in this era he knew for certain there were some.

Again she nodded, “Oh yes he was buried with honors in Greenwood Cemetery here in Orlando.”

Frederick had someone bring a chair up for her and he kneeled down and looked her in the eye as Aryel went to the store room. “Elizabeth I want you to know, that your husband is here and eager to see you,”

As Elizabeth's husband Henry walked out the crowd gasped and she nearly fainted. Henry worried that it all might be too much for his wife. “Lizzy are you okay?”

In answer his Lizzy simply ran to him and jumped into his arms sobbing. Frederick nodded, feeling quite confident he would have a hard time topping that. He had Aryel come to the podium with him. With her hand in his he lifted a glass to the crowd. “You can stay as long as you wish but that's what I came to say and do. Again we will be meeting again next week and again we will see if we can help more folks in need.”

Now after the show he invited everyone to stay and have a few drinks on him. He made sure to tell everyone leaving that he was happy they had come to see the show. This of course like the show was met with mixed results. Some of the women wouldn’t even shake hands. While others, although polite enough to say goodbye, instantly began whispering about how he had seemed like a snake oil salesman.

That was okay though. He wasn’t looking for numbers. He was looking for a few dedicated souls that could carry his dream into the present day he had just come from. The social gathering that came next would be a big part of that. If anyone that he had blessed had stayed they would be prime targets. Some might join something like The Watch simply because it was in their nature to be followers and that would be fine as well.

So he mingled with the stragglers. He was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few had stuck around to ask questions and of course have a few more free drinks. He spoke to each of them individually trying to pay special attention to who they were and what role if any they could play. In his mind almost anyone could help but he needed a keeper of sorts.

Someone good with business and enough of a strong mind to handle a lot of details.

He promised them all an even bigger show next week but that the meetings wouldn’t always be like that. He did add that he would always try to ensure that the visitors were taken care of as in food and drink and at some point sheltered if need be.

Both Frederick and Aryel danced and drank and lived life like it was the 1920’s because it was the 1920’s after all. He made many promises and tried to make a few friends.

-----

In the weeks to come he would change things up. The upcoming week was even more ostentatious than the one before. He picked five people from the crowd like a mentalist. Although the trick from his end was far more simple than that. When the time came for the crowd to write down what they desired he stopped time for himself and walked around and looked quickly at what the people asked for. From those he not only picked the best because of how they might look but also if something that stood out about the nature of the request.

This time more people tried to gather for the meeting and when the hall was filled he had kids hand out gifts of food and drink to the crowd outside as an apology of sorts.

By the third week he would have a list of ten people whom he considered VIPs and those he not only would have reserved seating for but he had a special room and table created as a meeting place for them in the future.

As time went on someone would always receive some sort of blessing from Frederick but he did explain that it wouldn’t always be so because his time there was limited. The after party would become more organized with the VIP’s being taken to the new “cigar room” to discuss future plans for The Watch. One of the key points he tried to hammer home was that each Watch Tower would be given an endowment to help those in need and a charter to follow. Also the various Watch Towers Leaders would meet once a year to vote on major projects for the watch to help with if need be. He explained he would most likely be present for those yearly meetings.

So he repeated this grand process in places all over the word although for the most part not quite as far back in time as this one. Beijing, Berlin and Koga, would be after World War 2 quite simply so they were not destroyed in some way by those events. He also planted Watch Towers in Sydney and in Moscow.

In the coming decades rumors would start that Frederick would attend many of the meetings at the same time, but because they were always held behind closed doors and often in disguise those rumors remained just that. Although most of his true believers by that point had no doubt it was possible.

He stopped showing up to the meetings two decades before his arrival giving his followers time to be faithful but at the same time he kept a watchful eye on them. Greed or evil or almost any sort was dealt with biblically often resulting in a quite public death of the evildoer.

Frederick was a little concerned about how this would change him. Of course one thing nagged him was that what if he had divine powers and just could no longer use them for one reason or another like a fallen angel cast out of heaven. All though he thought that wouldn’t change things and in the end he could at least do what Aryel had said and try and make things better even just a little at a time.

-----

It was 1960 in Koga Japan. It had many beautiful sites for Frederick to show Aryel on their stop in the 60’s. He took her to see the cherry trees. The Ninja Village that would one day soon be nothing more than a theme park. Then of course he took her to get food. There was a market he liked visiting from time to time because he had read about it in one of his favorite novels.

They went through the small walkways lined with shops selling freshly cooked foods of all sorts. Each one of them had at least one specialty. Some of them were set up a bit more like meat markets or produce stores.

Frederick picked on they could sit in front of. He also chose it because the dumplings smelled delightful. They ordered tea and some of the dumplings as well as a combination meal that was listed on the small menu.

Aryel made a face. “I am not crazy about the tea Frederick. I mean they do not have sugar on the tables or honey.”

Frederick nodded smiling and reached into his coat pocket and handed her a handful of sugar cubes. It was a simple trick but hey he wanted some also. He had never been a big fan of straight green tea either unless he was for a reason.

After lunch they had started to explore many of the mazes of back alley shops that stayed hidden from plain sight from the main market. Lorde explained to Aryel, “Many of these places are somewhat unsavory and run by the Yakuza but there are normally a few that have interesting things." By that he meant things like curio shops and gambling. He loved games of course and wondered if any in the area were open to the public.

Frederick hadn’t been watching and or on as high alert as normal. Like many of the places they had just visited he thought the odds of bumping into a superhero or villain seemed at least a little narrow. Also he was having a bit of nostalgia thinking of much of the trip as a second honeymoon.

In one of the darker alleys red glowing eyes began to surround the couple. A deep rumbling voice came from all around them. In Japanese the leader spoke. “How dare you come here! The hand will not allow Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu to gain power here once again.”

That caught Hollywood off guard. How did anyone here know about his time training in martial arts? He had been careful on this trip not to flaunt anything like that, especially in Japan. He wasn’t quite sure what to do. Sure he could kill fifty ninjas, but could he do it without messing with time and maybe his plans for the watch.

Like an answer to his prayers a small woman landed just a few feet in front of the couple with her arms spread wide. When she opened her golden war fans Frederick thought for a second that Absynthe may have come to save them. That was until the small woman looked back over her shoulder and on her white painted face was a smeared red smile. “Oh Daddy you really do get into all sorts of trouble don’t you?”

Without another word Miko began her dance of death. Swirling her adamantium fans like a tiny ballerina. The Hand fell upon her like wheat in clouds of green smoke and poison. The threw shuriken and weighted chains. Wheat upon a bon fire. Each one was killed in his own special way. The last one was cut from his groin to the neck but just so that the two halves stayed together until he fell to the ground.

After her dance she bowed to the pair. “I apologize for the intrusion, AI Aryel said you had missed something on the itinerary that I could help with.” and just like that she was gone. Had his AI really sent her to help or was there more to it? Couldn't she have just sent a message? He would have to remember to look into that. For now they had to go so his face wasn’t in the papers surrounding the slaying of these people.

The End?