Grim sat at his desk and ran a pale hand across the smooth, finished wood. The last few days since his return through the Hell Spike portal had been busy… and frustrating.
On one hand he had found out what happened to his home, realized that his father was still alive, and set the pit within the Palace to auto create Daemons and imps. He also had a new, and vastly improved, armament. His demons were several grades above anything that he had created before, and Sunder was something else entirely.
On the other hand, he now had far more questions. The time dilation didn’t help his lack of demons, as it would take a month for even a single Daemon to be created. Yes, he could create imps and Daemons here with enough energy and raw material, but only those spawned from a pit had the capability of become true demons.
And now, on top of all of that, he apparently had an organization to run. Which he hated. Management was stupid, tiring, and a waste of time. He was a warrior and a killer, not a leader. That was more for people named Ray or David. Smarter people. People who knew how to deal with… fucking people.
Grim was not a people person.
He sighed in annoyance and stood up, he would still do it though. This was a good opportunity and method to taking over this world and, by proxy, the universe that they were in. But the constant meetings were still incredibly annoying.
In fact, he had just come from a meeting with Stella and Jim to discuss their official declaration of third-party ship. Namely the notice that the Hallow Syndicate was now a force and could be negotiated with. This required sending the equivalent of diplomats to the Guild, the League… and Elysium’s ruling government.
Something that was apparently very dangerous.
He was about to leave when a spot on the back of his neck began to itch. That only happened when…
A clear portal ripped open where he had been standing, tearing his chair in half. He came up from his role and spun, seeing a man in a black suit and dark sunglasses step through the portal and onto the top of his desk. That annoyed Grim greatly. He loved that chair.
The portal snapped shut as Grim growled, “Who the fuck are you? Don’t you people fucking knock?”
“I mean, usually yes. I think… I think the portal was a bit off?” the man said uncertainly, looking around. “Crap. I’m in your office aren’t I? My apologies. Our schematics of this area are obviously very, very off. I meant to show up in the front lobby.”
Grim blinked at that. The man was far too concerned with the mistake to have intended to nearly assassinate him. He could survive a lot. Being torn in half by a portal was not one of those things.
He stood up, eyeing the man warily, “Yeah. You were off by a floor. And you ruined my chair. I liked that chair,” he snarled.
“Woah, easy there!” the man said, holding up his hands placatingly in front of him. “I am very, very sorry. I promise you that I will ensure a new, and far more comfy, chair is sent to you. I will expense it directly to the government of Elysium!”
“Yeah I figured as much. This guy is a complete tool, and not the bad kind. The ignorant kind. Someone probably sent him here to see if I would murder him. Mistake my ass, this guy was sacrificed. That’s… savage, even by my standards,” Grim admitted over their mental connection.
“Right. Well, I guess we can forgive the occasional mistake. No harm no foul,” Grim said casually. “Now. What the fuck do you want?”
The agent chuckled nervously, adjusting his tie. “I appreciate your understanding and magnanimity, but I forget myself. I am Thompson Green, but please call me Agent Green or Tom. I am here on behalf of the Elysium government to discuss terms and the intentions of your organization.”
“Just like the terms and intentions you set up with the League of Villains and Heroes Guild?” Grim asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Green chuckled, “Somewhat. Those two relationships are different than the one we would be establishing with you. Villains are… notoriously difficult to wrangle into a particular category. They even fight one another fairly frequently. You, on the other hand, fall more into the ‘organized crime’ column.”
Grim nodded, agreeing with most of what the agent was saying. “That’s fair and reasonable. I certainly don’t conduct myself like a Hero, but I am nowhere near as destructive as even the most mellow of Villains. Well, the bank being an outlier of course.”
“Of course, of course,” Green nodded in agreement. “We have noticed, though not interfering observation of course, that your organization has taken over most of the arms smuggling and drug trade in this region. My employers want to know if your intention is to expand into the rest of the City, stay here, and what an end goal may be.”
Grim laughed, then sent a snippet of energy to Stella. She formed out of the shadow of his desk, the darkness flowing up to create an outline of her body. Once the outline as stable, she simply stepped through it, teleporting from where she had been directly to where he had requested she be.
“Yes Master?” the succubus asked, looking up for an extendable tablet she was holding in her hands.
Grim grinned, the too wide smile making the agent extremely uncomfortable. “Give Agent Green here a projection of our long-range plans. Make them… descriptive.”
Stella smiled and began explaining what she had just covered with him not more than an hour ago, “Agent Green, we plan on subsuming the criminal enterprises for the entirety of Elysium. We will continue arms and controlled materials trafficking, drug importation and manufacturing, and supplying manpower and mercenary services to various factions. What we will eliminate entirely is human trafficking, slavery, and anything that damages small and mid-sized businesses from operating. Afterall, their profit is our profit.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Green nodded as Stella continued, “The industrial district will be rebuilt, the homeless and gangs in the area absorbed and trained or outright eliminated. We can use either result as resources.”
“This is going to cause a lot of issues with some higher ups in the Government,” Green admitted after Stella paused to let him speak. “Lots of people have their fingers in pies or are subsidizing gangs and their activities for profit.”
Stella shook her head, “Not anymore. They can certainly enter into investment agreements with us, but gangs will be a thing of the past. There will only be the Hallow Syndicate going forward.”
“And if the Government of Elysium decides to retaliate?” Green asked.
Grim didn’t fault him for the question. Knowing the intentions of your enemy was valuable, however they had never had any intention of operating in the shadows. No. That was reserved for things like removing obstacles quietly. Not for an entire organization.
He held up a hand to forestall Stella from answering that. Instead, Grim said, “Agent, are you aware there is a massive network of caverns under nearly the entirety of Elysium?”
Green seemed confused at the abrupt topic change, but still answered. “No. No I was not, but I don’t know how that applies.”
“Within these caverns,” Grim continued, ignoring his statement, “Are roughly twenty-thousand hibernating beasts.” Green was pale now, but Grim continued, “And can you happen to guess just where the entrance to these caverns happens to be?”
Green didn’t move, but his eyes instinctively flickered downward.
“That’s right. Right below our feet. Now, granted, we have sealed it off and prevent anyone from entering. It wouldn’t do to essentially remove an entire nation, that wouldn’t make us money or expand our influence at all. But don’t kid yourself, it is an action we would certainly survive.”
Stella smiled at that. “Our goal, Agent Green, is to unite this world. Period. There are many things you are simply not aware of, even about this world and reality. A place you have lived your entire life. But we know what is truly going on. Many of those that were a part of the council that ran the Guild and League knew. They left, so that leaves only us and maybe a few others that we don’t know about yet. Or who aren’t admitting it.”
“And what… is going on?” asked the agent with a tight, dry swallow. “What isn’t that no one knows or is admitting?”
Grim laughed softly, “That would be telling Agent Green. That would be telling. But here is what you can go tell your superiors. We are here. We have the methods and capabilities of ending the nation. We have abilities and powers that you can’t classify or fathom. And, most importantly, we are here to take over.”
A portal tore open behind Agent Green, this time in a location that didn’t damage anything. Through the portal a very comfortable looking chair was rolled.
“Well, that’s my ride. Here’s your chair Mr. Syndicate Master, as promised. No bugs, listening devices, or booby traps. I swear. But I need to run. Thanks for your time!”
With that the man plunged through the portal, dropping a cell phone on the floor behind him. Before it could snap shut Grim stepped forward and caught the edge of the portal with his hand, preventing it from closing.
Picking up the phone, he tossed it through to the now very pale agent and his friends on the other side. Green caught it as Grim smirked and said, “Don’t forget your phone, agent. Have a pleasant day.” Then he allowed the portal to snap shut with a click.
Stella burst out laughing, “That was evil Master. You scared them to their bones.”
“I disagree, he was far to organized in his retreat for my liking,” Grim ground out, “Green came here with the intent of getting information and getting out. That’s what he did. I think we may have tipped our hand a bit too far in one direction, particularly about the beast caves.”
Grim had yet to encounter a beast in this world, as all of his time had been spent within the, mostly, civilized confines of Elysium City. However he had been assured that Class IV and Class V Heroes were regularly employed along the front lines to do battle with them. Even Villains got in on the action if circumstances were bad enough.
Stella nodded with a thoughtful look on her face as he continued, “I want you to talk with Tetra about getting some anti-power defenses up. Teleporting directly into our base? Much less our headquarters? Fucking unacceptable,” Grim growled, annoyed. “I also want all of… all of my people to have the best equipment and training I can. They aren’t demons. They’re squishy as fuck. Get them proper armor and training.”
He paused, thinking his next request through before saying, “I also want volunteers to test out expanding powers. I… I have no idea what the process may do to someone. It could outright kill them. So be blunt when you tell anyone who is interested,” he explained.
“Understood,” Stella agreed as she wheeled his new, and far fancier chair, behind his desk. Kicking the husk of the old chair aside she summed up the requests, “Get Tetra on defenses against teleportation and supers, find volunteers for power upgrades.”
“Bag, we need to figure out a way to track our energy. We don’t have the luxury of the Palaces generation. We either need a source of energy, a way to bank and store it, or a way to use far less of it,” Grim said mentally towards his demonic assistant.
Grim snorted in amusement, “Sure, whatever floats your boat. What’s my balance looking like compared to what it was when we arrived?”
Grim pondered doing that for a moment. A gem pillar was essentially a solid pillar of a particular gem type. Immensely valuable to mortals just for the materials, it was valuable to him as merely a giant battery.
“How many units would a two foot by one foot pillar hold?” Grim wondered.
Grim had another question he was going to ask when Rat and Joe burst into the room, not even bothering to knock. Grim had wondered where the two had been, but Stella was adamant that they were just out ‘doing what they needed to do’. Some kind of surprise apparently.
“Boss we got a serious issue, the Guild and the League are heading this way and it looks like they brought nearly everyone they fucking could with them,” Rat said, a bit out of breath.
Joe nodded, “I have informants in both organizations. This is going to be bad,” he said. “Death is on the move with the remains of the Leagues council as well, its not just the underlings. Jim was helping me put everything together, resourceful fellow.”
Death, a powerhouse of a Class V super, had beat Grim down within the first five minutes of him being on this world. He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t looking forward to a little bit of payback.
Grim grinned, and unlike his previous smiles this was a full one. His mouth stretched nearly to the tips of his ears, his tooth filled maw far too wide to be entirely human. Rat and Joe took a tentative step back, cold sweat starting to bead their foreheads. They claimed the news they had brought was bad news, but Grim disagreed. This was good news.
These guests needed a proper reception, and he was more than happy to oblige.