It's dark in the sewers, but there is enough light for the group of five heroes to make out several Vahzilok a distance away from them. The heroes prepare for battle. "Ready?" one hero asks, and everyone nods in agreement. Suddenly a flash of blue light surrounds one of the Vahzilok, who reappears right next to the hero group. They fall on it with aggression - the Mortificator doesn't have a chance to react before it is beaten into submission. All of the heroes relax for the moment. "Well, that was easy," says a Scrapper. "Next!"

Such scenes can be seen repeated all over Paragon City. Using this technique, heroes can pull villains into pure beatdown situations and possibly remove the challenge from any conflict.

Some citizens have no problem with this - the perception is that any tactic that is successful in beating back villain groups must be a valid one. The use of teleportation in this way is definitely a useful tool, but some believe that such methods hurt heroes in the long run.

Mason Hammer, a retired hero and now hero commentator, dislikes seeing teleport foe used with such frequency. "I understand that it makes the job easier and can really appreciate that. But it also means that heroes are able to increase their security level without gaining the experience of dealing with large, chaotic situations. Such situations can occur at any time in the life of a hero, so those who are used to having villains just served to them on a platter are just setting themselves up for a fall later on."

Mr Hammer also commented that the Rikti invasion should serve as a warning to all heroes that disaster could happen at any time, so heroes should prepare themselves for everything and go up against as many different villain groups as possible for "training".

Heroes that were contacted regarding their use of teleport foe refused to comment in depth about the issue, except to say, "If it ain't broke, why fix it?"

The streets of Paragon City are packed solid with gangs - Hellions, Skulls and Trolls, just to name a few. The big question is: where are they all coming from?

Look around. It appears that half the street population of the City are villains, not that I'd volunteer to take a census. They are everywhere - in front of shops, in our parks, in back alleys, sometimes even dominating entire zones. The total numbers are massive. But no-one has been able to account for where they are coming from, especially given the number that are still around despite plenty being beaten into unconsciousness by heroes.

Some suggest that Paragon City's legal system just isn't harsh enough - that villains should be incarcerated for longer. This just ignores the stress the system is under already in dealing with a crime boom and long absence of experienced heroes. Holding cells are already packed, yet still more villains appear to clog our streets. And have you had a look at the Ziggurat lately? It's not in a pretty condition.

Others suggest that the gangs are bolstered by an influx of members from other cities - New York has reported huge drops in crime, as has Alaska and Detroit. It's possible that gang members from these cities are making their way here.

But why? What is drawing them to Paragon City? Yes, there are fewer heroes about, but that's about to change - new heroes are arriving by the busload in Galaxy City and Atlas Park. It won't be long before the villainous will have to face near-equal numbers of heroes on the streets. Your everyday thug wouldn't be coming here just to get knocked unconscious.

Here's my theory - with only eight great heroes left, many villains see Paragon City, the Birthplace of Tomorrow, as an empty space. They see a power vaccuum that is just waiting to be filled and have rushed in. I'm not talking about your street gangs - no, they are just a symptom. It's the big guys - the Tsoo, the Family and probably others we don't even know - that have rushed to claim the streets of Paragon City for there own. It's the lower down the rung who just happen to be more visible. But it goes all the way to the top of the villain groups' world.

Heroes need to stop wasting their time with the Hellions or the Skulls and get onto facing the big guys. That's the only way to reduce crime on the streets of Paragon City.

Hero and citizen groups alike have slammed the Paragon City legal system for its inability to keep known criminals in jail for more than a few minutes. There have been many, many cases of named villains being defeated by heroes, only to be back on the streets in an instant.

"Such a situation is intolerable!" says Jamal Isaacs. "These villains have been caught red-handed, but the police let them out on the streets with a slap on the wrist. No wonder Paragon City is in such a terrible condition !"

A city representative says that the situation isn't as simple as Mr Isaacs makes out. "Firstly, to hold someone on criminal charges, we need evidence, witnesses or some other kind of proof that the alleged 'criminal' actually did something illegal. Unfortunately very few heroes hang around long enough to give police statements and often keep the evidence as a souvenir."

"Secondly, some alleged lawbreakers have very good lawyers - I believe the Family have seven high-priced attorneys who just wait out the front of Paragon Police Department in case one of their men is wrongfully accused of something."

"Thirdly, Paragon City is already straining under the rebuilding efforts following the Rikti invasion. We just don't have the resources to provide to the courts to prosecute everyone who comes through the doors. This means that some criminals are probably prematurely released, which is unfortunate, but at the moment nothing can be done about it."

"All we can do is be thankful that the heroes were there to stop whatever scheme they were up to." The city representative indicated that re-establishing a strong court system was high on the agenda of the current Paragon City mayor.