by Skyler Grant
With our business plan that wasn’t necessarily a terrible thing. The more fights brought to us, the more we might benefit.
“And your thoughts on the golem?” I asked.
“An old sidekick of an old god. He’s pretty much a nobody. He’ll have some enemies, but not big ones. Still, he is tied to Greek myth just like one of your existing acquaintances. You strike up a bond with him, you move into that world and he might be able to help Jules develop her abilities down the line,” Uma said.
This was all useful, but she wasn't actually making a suggestion. She only seemed a good bit more dismissive of the golem.
“So the demoness is risky but with some potentially big rewards. The golem you’d say is safer, but with less of an upside,” I said.
“Is that what I’m saying? Sure, but it all goes beyond this choice. Remember it going forward. I don’t think either of these two will clash with your current tenant or staff, but in the future you’ll want to watch out for that,” Uma said.
“I think we’ll go with the demoness. A princess can only help our reputation and we need the assistance,” I said.
“I can respect that choice,” Uma said, fluttering down to land on a toadstool. “So! Since we’re such great friends I need a favor.”
Here it was, I didn’t think she was making all this spectacle just to offer me advice.
“You off to infect some other system?” I asked.
“No, I kind of like it here. Oh, I know I’m a virus and so totally untrustworthy, but I really do hope we can become good friends,” Uma said.
Maybe she was being sincere, not that it meant I wasn’t going to find a way to get her out of me. Niles had been looking, but so far there was no trace of her. Whoever had programmed Uma had been beyond Niles' skills.
“And what do you want?” I asked.
“This is more along the lines of a long-term goal. You’re not ready, but I want you thinking about it. There is a certain crystal in the secure archives of STRONG. I want it—well, my creator wants it and I’d like to give it to her.”
“And your creator is?” I asked.
“Disaster,” Uma said.
I’d seen the names on maps. Mastermind owned his own island nation, Disaster owned another. That meant she was probably an S-Class.
S-Class were the most powerful supers on the planet, and for whatever reason they were all villains. Perhaps evil really did help one to grow stronger. At any rate it was the only reason their territories were able to persist.
There were far more heroes, but their strongest were A-Class and it took a team of them working in unison to hold their own against an S-Class.
If Uma was Disaster’s creation, it explained why Niles wasn’t able to detect her. Uma was stronger than I was, and by several orders of magnitude.
“Why involve me?” I asked.
“Villains don’t usually work very well together. But you? Call it a hunch, I think I see something. STRONG tower is pretty much unbreachable, but I think you might just be able to do it. And the rewards if you do ...” Uma said.
She didn’t have to go on. Disaster would be a terrifying enemy, and an exceptional friend.
19
The attack had come out of nowhere. We were still working on getting Kleo, as Kli’zza preferred to be called, settled in.
A wave of water smashed our front doors down—I really did need to give them another upgrade—and the Aquatic Gang swarmed in.
The aquatics were just what they sounded like, water-dwelling animal hybrids. Ducks, toads, they even had a few fishmen with massive helmets filled with water.
They had a girl with them that looked to be composed totally of water, her body shimmering blue. I got a scan as soon as I could.
Amy Chou
Dynamic
Unregistered
Elemental
Power Level: 1,100
Abilities: Elemental Form, Hydrokinesis
All of the invaders wore armor of some kind, and most carried strange-looking weapons connected by tubes to chambers on their backs.
I wouldn’t figure an aquatic gang would be using flamethrowers. Some sort of powered water? That seemed likely.
I sounded the alarm throughout the facility and ordered all personnel to hold back. I had improved the traps already existing, but hadn’t made a lot of upgrades so far. We’d been busy and were still recovering from the beating the heroes had given us.
“Place looks quackin' abandoned, boss,” said one of the duckmen.
“We know it isn’t. Those heroes showed up to hit somebody here. There has got to be something worth taking. Check the reception computer,” Dynamic said.
That was what I wanted to hear. Yes, foolish water creatures, fall into my brilliantly laid trap.
Several ducks wielding shotguns waddled over to the reception desk computer and one began typing away at it.
That was my moment, it was as good as I was going to get.
I triggered the pistons.
Four ducks were reduced to paste in an instant and then I hit the steam jets. I’d added a generator and the lights didn’t flicker this time as I poured power into them.
Ducks screamed as the spray hit them. Then Dynamic gestured and the steam folded back, forming tendrils that that struck back against the release pipes.
Electrical feedback hit the system and I had to kill the charge before I wound up frying some of my own circuits.
That hadn’t gone quite as well as I’d have liked. It had at least bought us a few moments of distraction.
I opened side panels in the walls and my henchmen crouched behind cover. They all had some sort of firearm now, a few rifles, but mostly pistols. They opened fire.
To say that they had any sort of accuracy would be giving them far too much credit. Still, when you put enough bullets in the air you sometimes hit something important. One fish went down as their helmet shattered. The others returned fire.
They were in a bad place. They couldn’t charge forward or they’d walk into the pistons, and the wall offered them nothing in the way of cover.
At least that was the way it was going until Dynamic got involved, waters forming shards of ice in midair that began to fire at any henchmen who put their head up. I already had two down, icicles driven neatly through an eye.
“Well, this sucks,” Niles said, hiding in the conference room and typing away at his notebook.
“It does, and I’m going to need you to get out there. I’m sending instructions to your notebook. I need you to release the clamps and blow that pipe,” I said.
Niles studied my instructions for a moment and nodded. “Right, have I mentioned I really hate dying? I mean hate it, really hate it. Really would like to avoid it.”
“Then don’t do it. I’ll send out Ox as a distraction.”
For a massive slab of living muscle, Ox wasn’t all that vicious. The man could take an immense pummeling, but he wouldn’t wield any weapons I tried to give him. It was frustrating, yet he was still useful.
I sent him out.
Less than a half-dozen aquatics besides Dynamic were still standing and they opened fire on Ox the moment he appeared. The man didn’t care, lumbering slowly out. Lumbering at least until a wave of water send him crashing through a wall.
Down wasn’t out and he was charging back in a moment later.
“Ox!” Ox roared.
Somehow the line worked better in a fight. It almost seemed to make sense. Perhaps that was because most people babbled such nonsense in a battle.
“You’ve lost a lot of people. You don’t want to keep pushing this fight,” I said over the comms.
“Because I’ve lost people, I’m not going to let this go. In it to win it, and you haven’t got a person that can touch me. Go with the flow and just give me something worth my time,” Dynamic said.
Great, water puns, as if I didn't dislike her already.
“Anytime you’re ready,” I said to Niles over his comm.
&n
bsp; Niles had crawled into the ductwork, a wrench loosening several bolts before he pulled free a clamp. Next to the pipe he attached a small explosive before scurrying quickly away.
I wondered if he had a little rodent in him.
I blew the explosive. The pipe collapsed, falling straight onto Dynamic and slicing right through her.
“Is that the best you’ve got? That was just … sad,” Dynamic said.
It wasn’t. The pipe was designed to rapidly extract toxins from the air, but the pump was strong enough for water. I activated it.
Dynamic let out a surprised little burble before she was drawn in. I routed her to the third floor cryogenics. I’d freeze her and scatter her ice cubes across the city. I figured that wouldn’t kill her, but it might take her weeks to reform. That was even better than killing her would accomplish.
Without their leader the remaining aquatics didn’t put up much of a fight. Their armor and equipment would be enough for me to equip a few new henchmen, and their bodies would let me grow a few new slimes.
20
I still needed better defenses. Up until now I’d been relying on my original traps and it was clearer than ever that wasn’t going to work. The giant kill room was a problem. In theory I’d hoped it would let me eliminate an invading force in a hurry. Instead it was getting us into a shootout with enemies that were often more powerful than us.
I reconfigured the floor layout. Rather than hitting them with big resistance immediately on entry I made the first level a twisting maze of corridors and small rooms, with multiple junctions immediately after entry.
The plan was to split up invading forces. If they wanted to properly sweep the building they’d need to divide their forces and that would let me pick off units one by one.
We’d gotten the teleportation room up and running. Now a console could open a portal to either the second or third floor, and our residents or henchmen could use them to enter and exit.
I allowed fairly quick access to the teleportation chamber through false walls that could be slid aside. The room itself I lined with drop-down walls like I used to have in the lobby so gunners could open fire on anyone unauthorized attempting to use the portals.
The weapons there were the heaviest ones we’d claimed from the clinic, armor-piercing rounds and with a high rate of fire.
Anyone that got far was tougher than most and protecting our residents was the highest priority.
On the second floor we’d surrounded the portal room with hallucinogenic plants. On the third floor cryochambers holding frozen slimes ready to be unleashed were waiting.
My data network had been fully set up through both.
Unfortunately, it ate up almost all of the funds that we had left. I’d gotten a decent price liquidating most of the medical equipment—Kleo had no interest in it. Even so we were down to under $50,000 after upgrades. We could launch an operation, maybe two, but we needed a win.
I called a meeting of the team to discuss it. Jules showed up—with her tactical knowledge we benefited a lot from her being involved.
“You all know why we’re here. The third floor wasn’t a bust, but we didn’t get all that we wanted out of it. We have yet to really score by digging down,” I said.
“We will. I’m sure of it. This place was important back in the day,” Niles said.
“Ox,” Ox said.
“I think he’s right. You might not have gotten a big haul so far, but you’ve got two spaces that are long-term income earners. And somewhere down there is going to be a treasure vault, a bank, or a secret lair of someone important,” Jules said.
Hopes weren’t profits. They might be right, but with our limited funds I didn’t want to take a chance on going down to level four yet.
I said, “Right now we’re doing the other side. Tactical planning. We need jobs to take to one of our residents, or both. Something they can pull off and will want.”
“The princess is easy. Anything angelic she’ll have an interest in taking down,” Jules said.
“Finding a target isn’t hard. Finding one she can reliably take down and we can get a nice payday from is,” I said.
Looks were shared around the table.
The main display flicked on and Uma appeared, the pixie fluttering around the screen.
“Hi! Walter has been totally rude and hasn’t introduced me yet but I’m Uma, a virus infecting him. Go team!” Uma said happily.
Jules turned a long look towards Niles, “Were you aware of this?”
“I’ve been trying to disinfect him. It’s a really good virus,” Niles said.
“Disaster made her,” I said.
It was my turn to get the long stare from Jules, directed at the nearest speaker.
“She and Mastermind don’t get along, so I’d keep that to myself. He might have you deleted as a matter of principle,” Jules said.
“And that would be a waste because I’m so good! I mean, Niles is pretty good at hardware, but I’m the queen of software,” Uma said.
“That is what we have Walter for,” Jules said.
“Just because he is software doesn’t mean he understands it. You’re meat, but I bet you couldn’t patch a bullet wound,” Uma said.
“You’d be surprised at what training I’ve had. Still, your point is taken,” Jules said.
“So do you have targets for us?” I asked Uma.
Jules said, “Leave me out of it. I need to go get ready for tomorrow and I don’t trust this thing.”
“Party pooper,” Uma said.
Jules shrugged and headed out the door.
“Well, now that stiff and boring is out of the way, of course I have some ideas!” Uma said bouncing on the screen. “Partygurl is easy. She’ll jump at a chance to take on any of the college hero organizations and there are a lot of them. And I know, I know, you want ones that can turn you a profit.”
“We already got a nice profit from her. Maybe it's best we don’t push the colleges any more. Got anything angelic?” I asked.
“Charity auction taking place. Now, the actual auction is at a big ball with lots of supers and I don’t think all of you stand a chance. But the donated prizes look pretty nice and I think you might be able to get to them in the banquet hall before the party. The entire thing is being arranged by an angel named Ganadron,” Uma said.
I liked it. A straight-out robbery was something we hadn’t done yet, and it seemed a lot better than coming into head to head conflict with heroes. The fact that it would humiliate an angel meant it was just the sort of thing that the princess would go for.
“We’ll pitch it to her. Either she can handle everything herself and we’ll provide information for a twenty percent cut, or if she wants logistical support we’ll take fifty,” I said.
That got nods around the table. Low risk and a decent reward suited our tastes just fine. We needed a win.
21
It was a rainy night in New Londonarium. The streets were almost vacant at three in the morning.
Kleo was surrounded by a flaming aura, the rain droplets sizzling into steam as they hit her. I took a moment to get a proper scan of her. I liked to know who I was dealing with.
In most ways she looked like an incredibly fashionable young woman, right down to her high-heels. Only the pair of horns and faintly reddish tint to her skin showed her demonic heritage.
Kli’zza (Kleo)
Registered Villain
Infernalus
Demonic
Power Level: 8,500
Abilities: Sorcery, Pyrokinesis, Rapid Healing, Immortality
Based on past readings I thought that Infernalus must be her villain group, and I hadn’t known that she’d had one. When we provided a lair for her we really were making some connections. Some of those connections were with her now.
One man stood around eight feet tall, a pair of massive horns growing out of his head, and he wore nothing but for a loincloth. Instead of red, his skin was a dark purple.
Hel
lbeast
Registered Villain
Infernalus
Demonic
Power Level: 14,200
Abilities: Rapid Healing, Immortality, Super Strength, Demonic Resilience
The other figure with them was a woman that looked just a year or two younger than Kleo, her complexion red with greenish blotches, and her attire nothing but tattered rags.
Pestilence
Registered Villain
Infernalus
Demonic
Power Level: 23,000
Abilities: Immortality, Rapid Healing, Disease Touch, Flight
I was only present by way of a drone. They hadn’t wanted our help in terms of manpower for the job, but welcomed technical assistance if it was required. That meant me and Uma were looking on through the drone, and Niles was on comm back at base to consult if needed.
I’d bought a second drone. This one lacked a shotgun or any other offensive capability. However, it could fly.
It was interesting to observe Kleo's team. Obviously her name counted for a lot and while younger and less powerful than the others she seemed to be calling the shots.
We’d all come through a portal, red light shimmering. Kleo gestured and the portal closed.
Niles had tried to hack us a control line through the hero communication towers. It was working, but the throughput was rather terrible. If I was going to keep running operations in New Londonarium we’d have to figure out something better.
Pestilence sniffed at the air. “Wards, little one. They know we are here, waste no time.”
Kleo gestured once more, quick passes of her hands, and several runes became visible on the building before us. They glowed with a reddish light, shimmering violently for a moment before with an oomph and a ripple of air they faded.