Group Seed: Business Agency Delivering Great Educational Resources (BADGER).

Business Agency Delivering Great Educational Resources (BADGER)

Logo: A snarling badger, one paw raised as if to strike. The badger wears a generic jumpsuit and a tactical earpiece/HUD display.

…They came up with the name and the logo first, then found a backwards acronym generator afterward. And, yes: even supervillain companies use those. Ain’t computer technology grand? 

BADGER would object to being called a ‘supervillain company,’ though. True, they teach people how to be minions, henchmen, and even lieutenants for villains. So noted. But they don’t actually break any laws. Or, at least, no more laws than the average person or company does. It’s not illegal per se to learn things, at least in free countries, and BADGER’s curriculum doesn’t offer courses like Fear Gas 101 or Advanced Demon Summoning.

So, what does BADGER teach? The basics: general mechanics, firearms safety, first aid, tactical driving, bodyguarding, situational analysis, locksmithing, electronic security, social engineering, vehicle operation and maintenance, HVAC repair, computer engineering, wilderness survival, and so forth. Nobody takes all the classes: the company has a half-dozen ‘certifications,’ each of which typically require that the student pass several related courses. BADGER doesn’t have a campus, exactly: whenever possible, it rents generic commercial space on a long-term lease. In marked contrast with most educational facilities, BADGER’s textbooks are cheap, selected for their availability. The curriculum does not qualify for student loans.

Obviously, the precise relationship between the company and law enforcement is complicated. The company doesn’t cut financial or legal corners; every one of BADGER’s classes is equivalent to its mainstream equivalent. It also avoids being too confrontational. For example, there are no courses teaching marksmanship or combat classes, because they get hassled enough for the courses they do teach. At the end of the day, BADGER runs for-profit educational services in a very specialized field, and it acts like it. 

It’s just that BADGER doesn’t ask questions about how its fees are getting paid. Everybody ‘knows’ that their students hope to go work with a supervillain after they get certified, or possibly end up at a shadowy group with no name (there is one certification that looks tailor-made for an entry-level clerical position with the Men in Black). But the company’s own business practices are perfectly innocuous, and even staid. The corporate attitude is that flamboyant behaviors and intricate plotting are things that their students’ (alleged) future employers do. What they do is obey the law. And there’s nothing illegal about teaching a legal skill.

On that note… BADGER has excellent lawyers. The kind who fight like their corporate mascot, in fact; they’re not aggressive, but they’re as territorial as Hell. Don’t go after the company via the legal system unless you like being in courtrooms for the next five years, because the opposing counsel absolutely loves doing that, and thinks it’s all a grand bit of fun.