It didn’t take long for Grim to locate and pilfer a decent pair of work pants from a nearby locker, much to the disappointment of Tetra and Stella. It took much longer, four days in fact, however, for the imps to repair the wall and disguise it from the outside. The battle had left considerable damage both inside and outside of the old villain lair. But between the dozen newly created imps, Tetra’s fabrication and inventing abilities, and Jeeves vast quantity of knowledge, repairing said damage went fairly quickly.
During this time the rest of his team hadn’t been idle either. Rat had experimented fully with his abilities, creating a network of rodent informants that spread through the sewers like an underground gas fire. They infiltrated groups of criminals, distribution networks, lairs, and even a few hidden hero outposts.
Tetra had created a slew of new materials and devices after working with Jeeves. The AI was very self-aware, putting to shame Grims’s theory that he was nothing but a program. The AI assisted in all aspects of the operation of their new base, but made it clear should they abandon it, or the knowledge repositories be threatened he would surrender in a heartbeat to preserve it all.
Stella expanded her demonic abilities, as well as her efforts to learn proper torture techniques from both Grim and Jeeves. She was determined to lean into her new role, almost nothing remaining of the hero that she had once been. Her devotion, at least from what he had seen so far, seemed to be completely to him and his cause.
His cause, however, had shifted slightly.
Over the days that he had helped everyone fix the base he had also been reviewing the history of the world. It seemed, at least based on what he could figure out, that time passed significantly faster in this isolated universe. Which actually made him feel a bit better. He could do what he needed to do… and then break free with an army. If everything went according to plan that is.
Based off Jeeves somewhat broken records, the AI had been here, on this Earth in one form or another, for nearly six thousand years local time. That was insane. He had been moved multiple times, his databanks having taken numerous different forms across the millennia, including at one point what seemed to be a kind of sentient rock. Thus, he had records of nearly each time an extinction level event happened. And this tied neatly into Grims own plans.
Each event had been perpetrated by a group of beings that were perfectly met the description of God’s. However roughly five to six hundred years ago, they all vanished. Disappearing into the nether to leave the world they apparently prevented from expanding into the universe to its own devices. And they never came back.
Grim suspected they managed to escape, somehow, back into the primary twelve universes. This left him with questions, but also one very important answer; every time this world got close to a technological revolution, they swatted it down. Why wasn’t answered, only the who. But one name seemed prevalent across Jeeves records, a single name that Grim was actually familiar with.
Adam.
Setting everything else aside the fact this one name has been found, and translated, from multiple ruins that various civilizations across a vast span of time have found and excavated only confirmed what Grim had suspected. There had been God’s here. This fact meant that there was a way out. But also that they had stayed here until they wanted to leave.
That, in turn, showed there was something of value here. Immense value. He just wasn’t sure what it was yet.
This circled back around to just why his plans had changed. At first, he was determined to glean what he could from this reality and escape. But now… now he was determined to conquer this world and anything in the universe he could get his hands on. He would use that, coupled with his expanding knowledge of these so called superpowers, to build an army. Then he would rescue his remaining friends and family that weren’t already dead.
To do that, however, required him to become the thing that most of this worlds populace and heroes referred to as a villain. But no simple villain, no, he would have to become the lead supervillain in a way that allowed him total dominion over the Earth. A, by how it had been explained to him, supervillain that would be uncontested in power on any level.
This led him to their current meeting. Sitting in the room was Joe, Stella, Rat, and Tetra. In the back were the dozen imps and listening in over the speaker system was Jeeves. Grim had asked them all to be there so that he could explain his plan in detail. And get any feedback on things that he was potentially missing. Afterall, history was written by the winners and anyone who won tended to leave out a lot of important information. Like the actual truth, for starters.
“Alright listen up,” he grumbled, bringing the casual chatter to an end. “Long story short, I’m taking over,” he said.
Rat raised a hand then froze at a glare from Grim. Lowering it quickly he said, “You’re already in charge, Boss. How much more in charge do you want to be?”
Tetra and Stella slapped the Anubis demon on the back of the head simultaneously. “Dipshit,” said Tetra, “he’s talking about taking over the country. Maybe the planet,” he explained.
Grim nodded at that. “Yeah. To do that we need to bring all the supers in line. That means a ton of fighting very, very strong enemies,” he said, agreeing with Tetra’s assessment. “Unfortunately, we lack the resources for that right now. I have neither the demons, the money and materials, or the manpower for a campaign of that scale. So, we are going to start small.”
Joe nodded, “That seems like a good plan. I’m guessing you want to take over the local criminal enterprises. Use them for resources or intel?”
Grim wasn’t surprised by Joe’s idea of what he had planned. The man, regardless of his recent blunder with Trevor, was a trained and adept spy. His knowledge would be valuable going forward, but that didn’t mean he trusted him. He was a fucking spy. He did spy shit. That included selling out anyone necessary for any reason he could attribute to the betterment of his own country.
“Got it in one. Tetra,” he said, shifting his attention. The mad inventor sat up straight. “I want you to work on weapons and armor. In my universe, and in several others, there are inventions called androids. Jeeves has some very crude information on early ones. If we can get a few dozen of those going we can use them in various roles. It would expand our manpower. We also need to talk about breaching reality. I need real demons. And soon.”
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Tetra nodded gleefully, and Grim could already see the wheels turning in her mind as new concepts and ideas were being connected rapidly. “I got you Boss!” she exclaimed, saluting sloppily. “I’m going to need way more materials than what I have on hand here though. I mean, they fully stocked the warehouse, and I can get some basic shit together. But the advanced stuff? These… woah…” she muttered as her power went into overdrive, dilating her pupils.
“Rat,” he said, moving on and leaving the demonic villainess to her thoughts, “You said you had your little friends all over the industrial district right? I want you to find as many gang hideouts as you can. Any minor villain lairs are good too. I want to wipe them out and convert any useful thugs or villains into demons. The more advanced the better. We can feed those any super science or materials to Tetra.”
Joe cleared his throat,” Grim, I have an alternative to that,” he said tentatively. Grim waved him on, so the spy continued, “Instead of murdering most of them, I suggest you take them under you. Powered thugs are going to be additions to your power base that are human. This means they can fit in and aren’t as noticeable or… adversely reacted to as your demon creatures.”
Grim paused and thought about that. Joe made an excellent point. There wouldn’t always be people that accepted the demons into their ranks… or even their surroundings. On the other hand, there were plenty of people willing to throw away their humanity for power. He didn’t always have to forcibly convert them. Maybe even use it as a reward? He got the feeling he could tweak their powers during the conversion process.
“Fantastic. Just remind me when the next conversation takes place. I want to test that out ASAP. Or… we can always use an imp,” Grim thought, suddenly thinking of his custom-made minions. They were great labor, but not highly intelligent… and very, very mischievous. Sometimes deadly so.
“Good point. No super imps. Not unless we get desperate,” Grim agreed with a shiver. Not much deterred him, but the thought of an ultra-powerful and completely uncontrolled imp? May as well be a weapon of mass destruction.
“Well Boss, I know of a dozen spots real close by. We can hit most of them in an afternoon if you want,” bragged Rat, his tail practically wagging at the attention. “I only know of one nearby lair. Some guy who calls himself the Sprinter.”
“Ooh! I know him,” proclaimed Tetra, finally coming back to reality. Her loud outburst brought Grims’s attention to her. “He’s a speedster. Not the most dangerous guy, but he runs a fencing ring for stolen goods. He probably knows lots of people.”
He considered that. “Will he have some of the materials you need? Do you know anything about his defenses?”
But Tetra shook her head, “I gotta shut that frame of mind down here Boss. Sprinter will work much better as an intermediary. He has… a reputation for not betraying clients. He’s not strong, but he has very, very heavy hitters in his pocket and is well known for getting rare if not impossible to find things for people.”
“So, what, use him as a contractor?” Grim asked, a bit incredulous. He didn’t like this whole restraining himself thing. He would much rather smash his way through an opponent or obstacle, take what he needed, and the retreat to plan the next offensive action. On the other hand, he knew to listen closely to any subordinate who was willing to speak up against an idea he had. Those usually proved to be the smarter ones, worthy of leadership roles.
Tetra nodded, “Exactly. The guy is obsessed with money. Like, he would rather burn a church of orphans to the ground than give up a few credits. On the other hand, he gets most of his money by being discreet. So discreet that I don’t even know who else he deals with outside of the couple of people who spilled the beans to me when bragging about him,” she explained, her wings twitching excitedly.
“Very well,” Grim acquiesced reluctantly. “We try it your way for now. If he messes up, becomes a burden or a liability, I’m going to convert him. He can stay in the same role and do the same thing but working for me directly.”
Tetra looked at her Boss thoughtfully. “Boss… question. You said that, uh, converting someone increases their powers right? Would you be willing to convert someone with less of a…. binding contract? Because that could be valuable.”
“Valuable enough to trade for a whole lot of what we need?” Grim said, catching on immediately. “Does this Sprinter guy do trades?”
The feline demoness nodded, “If its valuable enough. And a boost to your powers? Permanently? With little to no side effects? That, Boss, is fucking invaluable.”
“Set it up then. If we can get what we need without wasting resources then go for it. But for now,” he said, turning back to Rat, “Lets talk about that hero outpost.”
The Anubis demon nodded, tongue lolling out as his tail wagged a bit. “Sure Boss! Supers usually run in teams of three to six. This outpost has six moron do-gooders in it. A Class III and five Class II’s. I think they are an intel team of some kind, not sure though. I do know that offensive teams usually consist of nothing but Class III’s and above,” Rat said, relaying the information his rodent friends had gathered.
“Good info,” Grim said causing Rat’s tail to wag harder. “I think that should be our first target. We don’t want word of our consolidation of power in this area to leak back to anyone. If that team suddenly disappears, how likely are they to replace them?”
“Not likely,” Joe said, interrupting. “The Guild doesn’t restaff outposts that go dark. It tends to just get messy and cost them more personnel. They cut their losses for anything other than a major installation.”
“I hate intelligent and tactical opponents,” grumbled Grim. “Right. So we wipe them out, quick and clean with no ability to phone home about us.”
“That won’t do at all,” Stella said, speaking up for the first time since their meeting started. “That won’t do at all.”
Grim was going to ask why when Bag spoke up as well.
the demonic assistant explained.
Being unable to hear Bag, Stella said more or less the same thing, but took it one step further. “You are, for all intents and purposes, an unknown. When I was a hero the first reaction of my stupid moronic flea-bitten superiors was to gut you, imprison you, or beat you into submission outright. But they still have no idea who you are,” she said with venom.
“So, creating a, what? A villain persona? This will help me?” Grim wondered.
Stella nodded, “It will. Everyone, Hero, Villain, and Independent alike have personas. Gimmicks if you will. Their names become synonymous with their actions and deeds. If those heroes vanish, quick and quiet, there is going to be more alarm bells that go off than if you take responsibility for it.”
“So, I have to literally become a villain? That wasn’t quite what I had in mind,” Grim admitted. “I don’t even know where to start unpacking that problem.”
Stella smiled wickedly, causing even Grims heart to miss a beat with its revealed savagery. “Well, that’s easy, Master. Your gimmick is plain for all to see. You are Lord Grim, The Man Who Wears Demons.”