He was born to be a leader, his parents told him so, his teachers told him so, his classmates told him so. He was enigmatic yet engaging, a man of many talents and interests yet never spread too thin. Since asking his high school sweetheart to the prom, he knew they would one day be celebrating their 50th anniversary. His grades were impeccable, his wit unstoppable. The world bended to his every need and desire. As valedictorian and summa cum laude he gave compelling and sentimental speeches at both his high school and college graduations, making the audience beam with pride. He majored in political science and communications at an ivy league, worked all the right internships and jobs, getting the sparkling degree and experience to support his destiny.

Ten years after graduating and working his way up, the time had finally come. He would run for Mayor of his city. He hired the best team, he prepared his elevator speech, and the campaign began. Promises, he knew got people elected. The promise of a new transportation system, improving health care, reforming education, being a warrior for justice. So he dropped crumbs of promises all along the campaign trail, all the while keeping the best for last. Smiling and being relatable, supporting the people and listening to their needs, he was always a natural. But it was all a distraction, elaborate hand waving.

His real promises were not to the public, not to the people who had told him he was a born leader, not to the city he would govern. Men of money, means, and influence are whom he promised himself. He offered them the city, in exchange for the power to become one of them. Because underneath his charisma, his tact, his charmed life, all he cared for in the end was ultimate supremacy over the people who were too foolish to see through his facade. A sociopath who we could believe in, and so The Crooked Man rises.