It’s not easy being a supervillain. The public hates you, the police chase you, superheroes track you down and beat you to a pulp. All you’ve ever asked out of life is the chance to become rich and successful by using your powers
to steal instead of having to work, but the world’s against you. Now you have someone on your side. Last Resort is here to make your life easier and maximize your chances for success in your chosen career. Let Last Resort handle all the little details while you implement your master plan.

Beginning with his inspired (and ultimately successful) defence of supervillains lawyer Herbert Avechetti became one of the best-known “villain defence attorneys” in the nation. When a villain needed the best legal representation he
could obtain, Avechetti was often the man he called. Sometimes Avechetti even took a case for a greatly reduced fee because of the publicity he could obtain. In 1998 Avechetti was confronted with a problem that ultimately led him to transform his business from an ordinary law office into what he now calls Last Resort. A new client, a supervillain was worried about his two young children. He knew the villain game could be a dangerous one, and he wanted to make sure his kids would be all right if the worst happened to him. He asked Avechetti to set up a trust fund for them using money he had earned so far, and to insulate it from the authorities as much as possible. Avechetti took care of the matter, but it made him think. What other sorts of services could villains use that I could make money providing for them? He could think of plenty of things off the top of his head — money management, insurance, and bail bonding, to name just three. Never one to turn down a chance to make more money, Avechetti began laying the groundwork for his new enterprises. In 2001, word began to filter out through the supervillain grapevine about Last Resort, a support service for villains. Many supercriminals were sceptical at first, suspecting it was some sort of sting operation by the Force of July, but after a few of them tried it and gave glowing reports of it’s services, Avechetti’s business boomed. Today he’s still known publicly as an ace criminal defence attorney, but to the villain community he’s much, much more than that.

Last Resort is a series of small companies all linked together through Avechetti, though he’s used his legal skills to conceal as much of what’s really going on as he possibly can. They’re all based in an office building in the Downtown district that Avechetti owns through several shell companies. To the ignorant eye the various “branches” of the company look like separate offices run by separate firms — but once someone gets inside and takes a careful look around, he discovers they’re all interconnected by stairwells and private elevators. Although Avechetti tries hard not to engage in blatantly illegal activities he knows that some of what he does it at the very least questionable. Since he has no intention of going to prison himself, he’s made plans for a speedy escape if necessary. Parked in the back of his office building is a nondescript vehicle that’s actually a high-tech wonder he had specially designed by one of his clients. Able to reach sportscar speeds, it also features a detachable computer system to which all of Avechetti’s records are backed up each night. Concealed in a special compartment are five sets of false identity papers that Avechetti can use to flee the country if necessary, as well as $100,000 in cash to supplement his various offshore
bank accounts.

Last Resort is simply structured thanks to the fact that it grew out of a oneman law office and is basically still run by one man. At the top sits Avechetti, who meets with nearly all the clients at some point and even considers a few of the more mentally stable ones his friends. One step below him on the organizational ladder are the heads of the various “branches” of the company, the bonding department, the medical department, and the Insurance department. Like Avechetti himself, each of them typically has a small staff (often no more than a single person) to help run their “businesses” and provide a decent cover should anyone come snooping around. Avechetti takes great care when choosing employees for Last Resort. He needs people who’ll remain loyal to him despite the odd clientele and the sometimes illegal nature of the company’s activities. He interviews prospective employees carefully, searching for people with enough scruples to “stay bought” for the large salaries he pays but not so many scruples that they’ll betray him to the cops. So far he’s succeeded admirably.

Last Resort’s corporate culture revolves mainly around the charismatic Avechetti, who’s liked, even adored, by his employees. He has a real knack for handling people and knowing how to get the best out of them; in return they tend to work hard and obey his orders without question. None of them have any illusions about what they do for a living; they don’t think they’re actually working for heroes or other “legitimate” clients. They’re just the sort of people who are willing to work for supervillains in exchange for a nice, fat salary.

Last Resort provides an array of services for its supervillainous clients:

Legal Representation - The only part of Last Resort that’s known to the public at large is The Law Offices of Herbert Avechetti, Esq. — Avechetti’s first and most successful business. As a criminal defence attorney, Avechetti ranks among the best, and as a specialist in superhuman criminal matters he’s even more exclusive (and thus can charge very high fees). Only about one-fourth of his clients are supervillains, but their cases occupy about half of his working hours... and bring him enormous amounts of publicity. Avechetti’s legal services for villains go beyond the courtroom, though he keeps any other work as hush-hush as possible — they’re a Last Resort service, not a Law Offices one. He establishes trust funds for villains, helps them market their images (if necessary), sets up corporations for them (provided he thinks it’s legitimate), prepares wills, and so forth.

Bail Bonding - Through the front of Deardrew Bail Bonds, Last Resort provides bond money for supervillains. Primarily Last Resort does this for longterm Avechetti clients it knows it can trust, or other villains who seem reliable — it won’t fork over any money, usually tens of thousands of dollars (if not more), for someone it thinks will bolt before trial. On a few occasions Avechetti has let a villain work off some of his legal debt by tracking down and capturing a bailjumper. Roger Deardrew, an oily little man who tries his best to seem debonair, sophisticated, and worldly-wise, runs Renfrew Bail Bonds for Avechetti. Although he likes his job, privately he’s deeply jealous of Avechetti, and if pushed a little too hard might turn on him.

Costumes - The typical supervillain can’t just waltz into any old tailor’s shop and ask to have a new costume made, so Last Resort has stepped in to fill this gap. Tania Shezez, serves as costumer to the supervillain set — and armourer too, in some respects, since she often has to work with various types of armoured cloth. Her sartorial skills combined with keen eye for fashion have improved the look of many a supercriminal.

Equipment - Last Resort won’t obtain illegal gear for a client, nor gear it thinks is specifically intended for use in a crime (see below). But Avechetti has no qualms about helping a client acquire “legitimate” equipment that’s legal for anyone to own, such as a sportscar. He’ll even arrange the paperwork so the true identity of the owner remains obscure.

Insurance - Few villains can get any sort of insurance, especially if they have public identities — and those who can discover that the insurance company will void the policy if how they got hurt or killed becomes known. Last Resort, on the other hand, is willing to provide life and health insurance to supervillains knowing who they are and what they do. The premiums are not cheap by any means, but it’s the only way most villains can get a policy they know will be fairly paid. And Last Resort is scrupulously fair about these matters, since no one wants to have an angry supervillain around..

Mediation and Negotiation - Supervillains often have differences among themselves, and they usually settle them with a good old-fashioned brawl. But that’s not always the solution, and they can’t avail themselves of society’s other mechanisms for resolving disputes, such as filing a lawsuit. Last Resort addresses this by providing mediation and negotiation services for the supervillain set. All participants have to voluntarily agree to the process, and to be bound by Avechetti’s final decision. Anyone who violates this pledge is barred from using Last Resort’s services (sometimes for a specific period, sometimes permanently), so very few villains have ever gone back on their word after Avechetti made his ruling.

Medical Care - There’s no such thing as a Critical Care for supervillains, so they have to make do with what Villainy
Unlimited can offer. Hidden behind the facade of a medical research clinic, the doctors and nurses provide basic medical care, trauma medicine, and even surgery to supervillains and their families. The only drawback to this is that there’s no “secret entrance,” so villains who are injured after the building closes have to have a way to sneak in or the
ability to fly to the clinic’s window. Each major city in the world will have an illegal clinic which treats criminals for money.

Money Management - While Last Resort won’t help villains launder money, it does provide financial and investment advice, help them set up bank accounts under false names, and so forth. It does this primarily for villains it can trust not to abuse the process, but it tends to err on the side of doing the work (and collecting the fee) when what the villain wants isn’t clearly illegal.

What Last Resort won't do - Whenever he first meets with a client, Avechetti is careful to outline not only what Last Resort can provide for a client, but what it won’t do. He doesn’t want the company or its employees to engage in any activities that amount to blatant assistance in committing crimes or hiding from the law. Among other things:
Last Resort will not provide a villain with anything that directly helps that villain (or anyone else) commit a crime. This includes, but is not limited to, things like obtaining the floor plans of a building, putting the villain in touch with someone who can build him gadgets he needs to commit crimes, and the like.
Last Resort will not help a villain hide out from the law. It won’t provide its clients with safehouses, fake identity papers, or anything like that.
Last Resort will not directly launder money for a villain, for example by helping him invest it in real estate or a business. But it will use that money to set up offshore bank accounts, trust funds, or the like — Avechetti doesn’t object so much to using the proceeds of crime as he does to hiding the source and nature of those funds from law enforcement, which could get him into serious trouble.

Enemies