CH34 – Into The Wide Blue Yonder
Grim rapidly found himself hustled into the second airship by Tetra. The powered cat demon was talking rapidly, explaining things that he really didn’t need to know. But her enthusiasm was amusing to him. Her tail flicked side to side rapidly as she spoke, describing all manner of things she had done to each vessel.
He really paid attention when it came to learning about the weapons systems.
“Each airship has a full suite of anti-missile lasers, rotary canons, and reinforced steel armor. I couldn’t find anything better than steel, that stuff is kept under lock and key,” she said fervently. “It would take a lot of punishment to bring down one of these guys. The propulsion system located in the back is less armored, but the powerplant is in the center of each ship. Only the bridge is more protected.”
Grim found himself walking on a catwalk a story above a pulsing and thrumming sphere. This must have been the powerplant, and that thought was only confirmed a moment later.
Tetra nodded off to one side at the spherical device, “That’s the generator. I… don’t fully understand it to be honest. After you put the idea in my head, my power just guided me in building it. I guess that’s why they call it ‘mad’ science. Trying to understand it makes you go off the deep end.”
“Amazing. Simply amazing. What do you use for lift? And what are you going to call these airships?” Grim asked. “Airships seems such a… mundane and bland description.”
Tetra shrugged, “No idea what the fuck keeps them up. There are, oh, two hundred or so emitters attached to the hull. Once again, thanks to ideas you put in my skull Boss. I know they emit something; I just don’t know what exactly. Or how. Just that it works,” she admitted. “As for the name… I was thinking these big girls could be called Cloud Ships. Seems to fit their big and bulky bodies.”
“That sounds fair. Cloud Ships one through six,” Grim said, glossing over Tetra’s explanation of the emitters. She glanced at him with narrowed eyes, then led him off the catwalk and into a hallway that very much reminded him of a cruise ship.
“Here is the bridge Boss. Set up shop here. Your cabin is on the other side from the captains. I didn’t have enough time to do anything fancy, but it is what it is. I am going to head down and finish the loading with the crew, see ya!” she said, walking out onto a deck and hopping off the side. He heard the snapping of her wings, more than saw them, as she used them to glide down.
Grim eyed the two imps and three supers on the bridge. One, wearing white cap, walked up to him. “Greetings and salutations Don,” he said eloquently. “Lady Tetra has designated me as the captain for this vessel. My name is Vincent, a pleasure,” he said while stroking a decidedly villain style mustache.
“A pleasure, yeah,” Grim said hesitatingly. He was going to ask some questions about the layout when multiple sirens began going off.
Captain Vincent turned to his crew and began barking orders. Surprisingly the imps took right to the commands, surprising Grim, once again, with their ability to adapt and learn. He definitely had to learn more about upgrading the imps and creating other demons. Even a few Daemons would significantly turn any combat that found them rapidly in their favor.
“What is with all the alarms?” Grim asked as the captain took his place in front of a large ship like wheel. He flicked several switches, and the entire airship began to hum with power. Adjusting several knobs and levers, he turned back to him.
“The alarm was notice that the front line has been broken. We are, as of now, defenseless until we get into the air,” Vincent explained. “Don, I recommend you tie yourself into your seat, or get back to your cabin. This may be bumpy.”
Grim shocked him by simply turning and walking out on the balcony. The airship jerked into the air once, but he kept his balance perfectly. What good was having abilities that were increasing steadily if you didn’t have excellent balance?
All too soon he found them rising steadily into the air. Grim could see the first Cloud Ship in front of them, higher than they were. Turning around his breath caught for a second. They were only a few hundred feet in the air, but he could already see Elysium spread out below them. Buildings, districts, slums, factories, and residential with farms as far as the eye could see. There seemed no end to it.
Elysium was a true Mega City.
“Incoming hostiles!” he heard Vincent call out over a speaker located outside. It must have gone ship wide as multiple hatches opened and turrets deployed. Grim burst out chuckling when he saw an imp in the one closest to him. It had a determined grimace on its face and snapped a pair of aviator goggles over its face… upside down.
Grinning, Grim turned and had the smile wiped off his face as he saw dozens, then hundreds, of supers take to the air near them.
He poked his head back inside, “Are they all hostile?” he asked the captain. He received confirmation, then walked back out onto the deck.
“Kane. Its time to play,” Grim said, slamming his hands together. He could feel the demon’s excitement as he drew his hands apart while summing a crimson javelin. Concentrating, he imbued it with more energy, turning it dark red. Turning, even as the turrets around him opened fire with the deafening deep booms of artillery, he took stock of the situation.
Attacks came from supers on the other Cloud Ships and filled the air with lighting, fire, and what Grim suspected was some kind of poison gas. Likewise, the heroes and villains coming up to meet them returned the favor. The exchange of weapons fire and powers filled the air with death, and casualties rapidly accumulated on both sides.
Eying the incoming alliance arrayed against them, Grim spotted one particular peerless white and silver spandex suit in the distance. Grinning, he hefted the spear, took aim, and threw.
The hellfire weapon rocketed out of his hand, almost as if it had a mind of its own, covering the immense distance to his target in the blink of an eye. Grim could almost feel Retributions eyes widen in surprise as he spun, narrowly dodging the weapon. The hero threw up his favorite finger at Grim… then the spear exploded.
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The immense fireball of heat and ash knocked a good portion of the flying supers out of the air. The wave of pressure and heat eventually made it as far as the Cloud Ships, washing over them like an invisible tidal wave. Each vessel rocked slightly to one side as the operators and captains compensated for the insane attach.
It was almost like they had been nuked.
Grim could feel the death, even from there. He reached out and, with an immense amount of concentration, pulled the souls from the corpses that were even then falling from the sky. Dozens of them slammed into his psyche, and he routed them all to his demons. They could feed on them, using them to empower themselves.
A voice came out over the speaker as Grim worked, interrupting his concentration. “Mr. Don sir,” began the captain in much more respectful voice, “Lady Tetra requests that you not attack in such a way again. The Cloud Ships are not… resilient enough to handle that level of heat. It was not in her calculations.”
Grim rolled his eyes, “Yeah sure,” he said, listening as the speaker clicked off. He would do what he had to in order to keep the vessel safe but would be more cognizant of the airship’s frailties. It wouldn’t do to shoot himself down after all.
He watched the line of Cloud Ships move out over the ocean. The plan that Tetra had outlined called for a brief stint over the shallows before moving back inland towards the mountainous center of the continent. The route was longer than it could have been, but the crazy scientist was adamant that no one would follow them over the water, particularly not at the height they would be traveling.
Grim went back inside, closing the large, hatched door behind him and sealing it with the latch. Turning to the bridge, he saw Tetra was flying now, the captain having taken a seat further back on the bridge.
“Welcome back Boss,” she said without looking up from her instruments. “The Heroes dropped behind a few minutes ago, we are in the clear. Barring any kind of secret super weapon, the government may have. I don’t think they would use it even if they had one though…” she said, finally looking up at him.
“That was a much shorter fight than I was expecting,” Grim admitted, watching out the windows as they followed the Cloud Ship in front of them. “Retribution was not as determined as I thought he would be.”
Tetra shrugged, “Why would he be? He is petty, nasty, and a completely corrupt asshole. But he is not unintelligent Boss. We left. He is remaining. That’s going to look like a big win for him, particularly as us going off into the wilderness is pretty much seen as a death sentence.”
“I still don’t get that. The wilderness part,” Grim responded, confused. “What could possibly prevent you from exploring the land around you? There shouldn’t be much that can stand up to even semi-modern weapons.”
Stella walked onto the bridge and answered the question before the cat demon could respond, “That, Master, is a complex and simple question all in one. Every single time a civilization, country, or group has ventured out past the confines of their established areas, without expanding very carefully, they have met with disaster. Sometimes that disaster is on the scale of what Jeeves had recorded as an extinction level event.”
“Right. Anyway, Master, no one is willing to trigger such an event again. However, I do not think they understand that the beings that you told us controlled such events are no longer here. Once they do realize that… I am sure that the wilds will become extensive battle grounds between humanity and the beasts,” the succubus explained. “That will certainly be a bloody and costly endeavor. For both sides.”
“So us having airships really is a big advantage? I honestly expected someone somewhere to have thought of such technology,” Grim responded after a moment, his tone filled with curiosity. “Airplanes, fighters, bombers, and spacecraft are commonplace on a number of other worlds and realities.”
Tetra shook her head, “Not here Boss,” she said quietly, “Anything related to air travel triggered immense responses from the world. These energy fucks that have been holding us back? They obliterated any tech at all that could have enabled the expansion of humankind. Hell, we don’t even know if there are other countries or groups out there. This big world of ours may very well be a desolate wasteland completely devoid of mankind.”
“I doubt that,” he admitted, causing everyone but the imps on the bridge to look at him, almost as if daring him to explain why. So he did. “First of all, if this was the only enclave of humanity on the planet there would far less information available about this universe in the databanks we took from Jeeves. Second, Mr. R outright admitted that his siblings managed other areas with people in them. Third, and most importantly, I can feel other souls out there.”
Tetra and Stella stared at him in uncertainty, even as the crew stared at him in shock. “You can… feel souls Boss?” Tetra asked, somewhat unsure of how to continue.
Grim nodded, “Yeah. You get too many people together and I can feel the concentration of them. It may be more accurate, however, to say I can feel them if they aren’t too far away. I can very faintly feel large groups far to our South and very, very far to our East,” he explained.
“That’s crazy Don,” said one of the techs on the bridge.
But Grim could only shrug, “Crazy or not, that’s how it is. Just like upgrading powers or converting people entirely, its just something I can do.”
Bag was silent, but Grim could feel the amusement coming from his assistant. This new set of armor was… a handful. Not an unwelcome boost to his power, but they certainly were chattier than the last set he had forged. Far chattier. He tuned them out as he turned back to the conversation that the people on the bridge were having.
“So… that covers the technology side of it. Why hasn’t anyone built roads out into the wilderness and explored? You don’t have to expand to explore,” Grim asked, still puzzled by the lack of even trying to learn about the surroundings they lived in.
Stella had a one-word answer for his question, “Beasts.”
“So, what about them? I met that Fenrir guy; he was a beast. He wasn’t extremely stronger than I was. Comparable to Death maybe, but not so far outside my reach I wouldn’t have been a match for him,” he pointed out. “Besides, it was determined that not all beasts were as strong as him.”
The succubus nodded in agreement. “You are correct Master. However, it is more complicated than that. Supers are common, but still less than five percent of the total population. Less than a third of those are capable of fighting with their abilities. Even a weak beast is stronger than a Level II super,” she explained. “Beasts are also numerous, coming together in packs and nests that just aren’t worth fighting due to the massive losses any army would take.”
Grim growled, “Pathetic. The people of this world are as pathetically weak as they are bad at naming things. We will change that within the Syndicate at the very least. I wont stop, rest, or hold back until every person in my employ has at least the capability to defend themselves from the basic level creatures of this reality,” he swore.
The captain and crew stared at him, but not out of fear. No. They had heard of what Grim, Don of the Syndicate, had achieved. No, they stared at him out of awe, having heard directly from their leaders’ mouth what he would provide them. An upgrade. Safety. Power. Something few of the henchmen and women in his employ had thought they would ever be offered or earn in their lifetimes.
Sometimes in order to be the worst villain it was required that you be the best boss.
And Grim was certainly that.