Who Stays Behind?

When the Break Brothers came to Manhattan, they were met with three rookie heroes, undercover agents and the NYPD. That was the line of defense left for a population of over 8 million people, days after Bump-In-The-Night was hospitalized and weeks into a period of clear instability.

The Break Brothers did not choose this moment by accident. They knew that New York was vulnerable and the people capable of stopping them were elsewhere. There's nothing wrong with sending our heroes out to places that need them; when the world calls upon their help, such is their duty. However, New York is not some quiet posting that can afford to empty the cupboard whenever another part of the world calls. We have organized crime families operating across the five boroughs, superhuman criminals, recent coordinated attacks, a major GDA presence and companies like Vantage holding technology and resources valuable enough to get people killed over it. Yet, when the time came, rookies were expected to stand and defend one of the busiest pedestrian hubs in the world. A city under elevated threat, like New York City, should require more coverage, not less.

That is unfair to everyone involved. It is unfair to the civilians depending on them, and it is unfair to the young heroes being thrown out there and told to punch above their weight.

The casualties at Vantage were horrific, but I'm of the opinion New York got lucky that night. The Break Brothers came for something specific, in a targeted attack on Vantage headquarters. Had their goal simply been bodies, it is unacceptable that three rookies may have been all that stood between them and Times Square.

So what’s the solution? Here’s what I propose; there should be a minimum coverage requirement for New York. Before a major team or heavy hitter is deployed out of state or overseas, the GDA should be required to maintain a baseline of experienced responders here - enough people to handle a major superhuman incident without gambling the city on the performance of rookies.

This is not complicated. Fire departments do not send every engine in a borough to the same fire. Hospitals do not empty one emergency room to staff another.

I implore the GDA to consider this requirement before New York is forced to learn this lesson again. The Break Brothers' strategy should not be one that works twice.