Time Kept Passing

Peter felt as though he had just heard the most absurd thing in the world.

"You? Protecting the homeless? I won't even bring up that new shelter you opened. The old Kingpin protected the homeless too."

"Of course I did. Not just me—the ones you caught in that prison holding superpowered people, Hammerhead, Tombstone, Silvermane... they were all part of the line protecting New York's homeless. I know it may sound unbelievable to you, but that is the reality."

As he spoke, Kingpin rose to his feet. The hulking man, nearly six feet three and built entirely of muscle, stood before Peter. "I don't know whether you understand how the homeless live... perhaps you do. They have no fixed homes and no source of income. They collect relief payments, beg, steal, scam, sell the bodies of dead homeless people, and even rob others."

"They'll do anything they can to get money. They'll even sell food they struggled to obtain. When another homeless person gets too high, too drunk, or falls asleep, they kill them and sell the body. But in the end, they need money."

Peter could not stop himself from retorting, "You sell enhancers to them. That's why you need them—you need customers. That isn't protecting them at all."

"I wasn't the one selling them. Of course, when I first got the name 'Kingpin' in prison and worked under Silvermane, I did that. But once you become the true Kingpin, you no longer need to. Those gangs will naturally attach themselves to you. You don't need to do it yourself. Still, you have to give those people shelter within your territory."

"But you so-called superheroes swept us all up in one go. Maybe we can still contact the outside world from in here, but at the end of the