Jim woke up a full day after he had been released from the hive mind. Apparently he had been aware the entire time, just unable to control his actions. He had also been in direct communication with the hive mind itself, as well as all the voices that it was made up of.

Stella’s assistant had a lot of information to share, but any intel he gave was secondary to the fact that an hour after he woke up the emissary arrived. Grim was sure that the arrival time was not a coincidence. The hive mind had carefully planned it to demonstrate that there were no ill effects to Jim once it had departed his body.

The emissary was another issue entirely.

The creature was nothing but a small black blob. No other descriptor could accurately be given to the creature. This just demonstrated that, once again, parasitic hive minds were as dangerous as they were varied. With creatures to fill damn near every role and purpose, custom tailored and evolved to be more efficient than their natural counterparts, a hive minds versatility was unrivaled.

This found Grim sitting in his new office on the second floor of the administrative building. Tetra, Rat, Stella, and Jim were with him on one side of the meeting table. On the other sat the black blob. In the back of the room sat an impassive Axil, who was simply observing for now. The parties stared at one another for a solid fifteen minutes before Rat finally broke.

“Fuck Boss, why are we here? This thing hasn’t said a single word!” whined the Anubian demon.

The blob jiggled and then spoke, startling everyone but Grim, “I was not aware I was supposed to speak first. To be honest, I am unaware of your cultural requirements when it comes to negotiations. Your group is much more advanced than any other I have spoken with,” it replied. Grim didn’t miss the nervous tone the response was worded around.

“This is an easy enough set of goals,” Stella began, stepping forward and verbally taking control of the meeting. “We want a peaceful coexistence, outside of the hive mind of course. A secondary goal between parties is usually to set up some kind of trade agreement. Resources, manpower, immigration, territory management. These are usually at the top of any negotiated agreements.”

The blob jiggled, “I see. These are not things that I have considered. I am unsure what I can offer outside of peace.”

Grim leaned forward and tapped the table, causing the group to look at him, “Lets start with something much simpler. It annoys me, and doesn’t help simplifying anything, if we don’t know your name. You are what I classify as a parasitic hive mind, although unlike any other I have met before. So having you provide a name, or giving you one that agrees with you, goes a long way to demonstrating trustworthiness.” He paused, “Not to mention its fucking annoying calling you the ‘hive mind’ all the damn time,” he finished lamely.

The blob jiggled. “My progenitor gave me a name many, many years ago before they left this world. It is not one that I have used frequently if at all, but it makes this easier then please refer to me as Jesse.”

Grim blinked, then grinned. Everyone but the blob instantly shivered as he flashed a smile that didn’t seem to quite fit into the confines of his face. “Jesse? Short for Gestalt? That’s hilarious. Fine. Jesse it is,” he chuckled. “Stella, lets move on to trade and mutual defense.”

The Succubus nodded. “Generally, after peaceful relations are established the groups involved move into trade and military agreements. I can give you a long list of our needs but let’s start with yours.”

“Hmm,” the blob said, jiggling. “Food mostly. Being able to travel on your sky vessels would be great as well. I want to see and experience the world without having to fight for the privilege. I am not interested in expanding, that didn’t achieve my goals of expanding my knowledge and exploring this world.”

Everyone nodded in understanding as Stella continued, “Good. You want freedom, rights to explore, and food. Those are all achievable, not immediately, but they are achievable. We need resources, particularly metals, wood or carbon, and land.”

“Oh! You can have the entire space outside the forest. I don’t need it. I am happy to lead you to the cavern network as well, there is plenty of raw minerals there. I consume some from time to time to explore various ideas,” Jesse said, bubbling happily. “Food would be great too. Being honest here, I am running low. I may need to begin cannibalizing units soon, not something I want to do. You killing off the two hundred I… mistakenly probed you with has helped a lot actually.”

Grim leaned forward, “It helped us too. I can always use more organic material, in time I may explain why, but we can set that aside for now. I have another question, why are you so low on food? What do you eat anyway?”

“Anything really. Organic matter is really all that is required. But I have been… defending myself from other aggressors. Ones that prevent me from leaving the forest, which is woefully short on any kind of edible organic materials. Axil knows the creatures of which I speak, but I will elaborate as he rarely explains himself in a way that makes sense.”

That got a snort from Grim as the hive mind continued, “On the far side of our plateau is a colony of Formicidae. They are… single mindedly aggressive and expanding this way. There are also the flying creatures that sometimes raid the nest. They usually come my way as well but haven’t bothered since I fully moved back into the forest.”

“Fucking monsters everywhere,” grumbled Grim. “Giant flying lizards, giant ants, hive minds. Fuck. Well, we can help with that, certainly. I can always use more materials.”

Stella nodded in agreement, “That explains a lot and moves us into the next topic of conversation, military agreements.”

“Oh yes, this I know a bit about. I have made such agreements in the past. However, they have never worked out as intended.”

Stella tisked, “Did anyone ever lay out the terms in writing? Clearly defining what roles and responses each party are responsible for?”

“… no.”

“There’s your problem. We would be laying everything out, clearly, in writing,” the succubus said, assuring Jesse that everything would be above board. “It sounds like you have made very simple agreements in the past. Ours will not be so simple, and will require more conversation, but will be much more thorough.”

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“Oh, that does sound complicated. But it also sounds much different from my previous… agreements,” agreed the hive mind blob.

“It will be. Clear terms are easiest to work with, and the contract is sacred to me,” Grim interjected, surprising everyone but Jesse. Their Boss was not known to be forward about what was important to him or how he felt. Getting even a small admission like that was startling.

“R-right. Master has stated that precisely. As long as the terms laid out and agreed to are held, or exceeded, there is no reason for us to become hostile to one another,” Stella agreed, still giving Grim the side eye. “I feel that there is a lot we can offer one another, but a simple pact of mutual defense may be the best to start with. We don’t attack one another, and we come to the aid of one another if we are attacked by anyone outside of our pact. We will not respond or assist one another in regard to aggressive measures taken towards other without prior agreement.”

The blob that was Jesse’s emissary jiggled in agreement, “This sounds promising. I agree to this. I would also like to request that any surplus organic matter you have be traded to me first. I will be happy to have my units dig and trade minerals for such resources.”

“Sounds good. We can certainly add that into the contract between us,” agreed Stella. “Now, about territory?”

“My forest is mine. That’s all that I really care about. I can certainly trade wood harvested from it,” the hive mind explained. “Outside of that I really am just curious about the world. I don’t need to expand as long s I can freely explore and learn.”

Grim tapped the table again, bringing everyone’s attention to him, “That sounds fine. I do want to make it clear that a buffer of a quarter mile outside of the forest is to be included in that assessment as well. People have a habit of misconstruing things, and this buffer will provide leeway for everyone to avoid misunderstandings. Power usage can be wide ranging and need room for error.”

“A valid point. I agree,” the hive mind said immediately, although sounded a bit curious about Grim’s last statement.

Stella was about to continue when Tetra jumped, “My turn!” she said, a gleam in her eyes that were simply blazing with questions that needed to be answered. “Let’s talk technology. My power tells me you use near instantaneous communication between your units. Is there a range to that? How many times can you split your consciousness? How many things can you directly control?”

“These are… very personal questions. How heavy are you? What is your age? Are you qualified?” Jesse shot back in an annoyed tone, taking the feline demon aback. “I would no more ask you your capabilities than share mine. I may be a bit unlearned, but I am not stupid.”

Grim interceded before Tetra could explode, “Don’t mind her questions. She doesn’t want to offend you. Her powers force her mind to consider anything she hears and apply that towards scientific advancement.”

“Powers. This is the second time you have mentioned them. What are you referring to?” the blob asked, curiosity evident in its voice.

Grim considered how much to say for moment, then shrugged. “Most people develop abilities that we commonly refer to as powers. It can be energy manipulation, the power to grow plants, flight, or a myriad of other abilities intrinsic to the individual. We commonly refer to the as superpowers, or powers for short. Individuals with powers we call supers, or super powered beings.”

“Fascinating. I wish to learn more, and in return I will share information on my capabilities with you,” said Jesse greedily. Apparently knowledge was going to be a readily traded commodity between them.

“Grand. Talk with Tetra and Rat. Those two know most things there is to know about powers,” Grim said, surprising the people there by including Rat.

“Me Boss? Why me?” he asked, pointing to himself.

Grim frowned, immediately causing the Anubian to break into a cold sweat. “Don’t be fucking annoying. We both know you are far smarter than you pretend to be. I made Stella to be my spy, buy you fill the role far better than anyone else. So don’t be a shit about this and work with Tetra,” he ordered.

The aloofness of Rat suddenly faded, as he stood up straighter and grinned, “I was beginning to wonder Boss, if anyone would ever catch on. You got it, I wont let you down.”

Grim nodded. None of his converts were able to work against him or disobey a direct order. It was part of the conversion process and was hardwired into their very beings. Working against him would, at its worst, be immediately and irreparably fatal.

Grim stood up, “Stella with me. You three keep chatting.” He walked out as Tetra and Rat dove into technobabble that he wasn’t about to pretend to understand. Rat was insanely smart. Not a tech genius like Tetra, but certainly someone who was capable of achieving scientific feats if he bothered to apply himself.

The two walked out and down the hall to Grims quarters. The five-room apartment was, without a doubt, the largest in the building. Between the reception area, staffed by a cute but highly combat capable receptionist, dining room, living room, and bedroom bathroom combo, it was luxurious by any standards.

Grim acknowledged the receptionist, then walked through the doors to the living room. Tossing himself on the couch, Stella sat down across from him.

“Your thoughts on this whole mess?” Grim asked.

Stella took a moment to compose her thoughts. “We would have had to, more than likely, go through this anywhere we ended up. The world is vast, the races here numerous and diverse. I have no doubt that we will at some point come across an equivalent to the human countries we left behind. It has certainly been eye opening since we left. I can’t believe this was all out here.”

“This and more. I can feel the life below us, even at this range. There is so damn much of it. Outside of the dystopian cities you all lived in seems to be an untouched paradise. Like some kind of managed preserve,” Grim explained. “I think the Custodians were doing more than limiting human expansion. I think they were creating this place to be a haven for as many races as they could collect.”

Stella was quiet at that for a moment. “Like a zoo?”

Grim shook his head, “No. Like I said before, a preserve. From what Mr. R said, I think they got bored with the whole thing and left to conduct their own experiments. Create their own races. I don’t know where they will end up, but based on their actions here they aren’t out to help anyone.”

“That… is a lot to take in,” the succubus said quietly. She slipped off the chair and slowly walked over to sit in Grim’s lap. “What else… Master?” she purred.

“Jeeves database. How is that coming along?” he asked, not entirely immune to Stella’s advances.

The succubus bit her lip with a sigh and leaned back a little, only to have her breath catch in her throat as Grim wrapped his large hands around her waist to hold her in place. “Good,” she said quickly. “Tetra is integrating it slowly into our systems. The… the crystals Jeeve was based in are a completely different branch of technology than our own. Tetra seems to be moving towards that solid circuity concept you explained a while back.”

Grim traced a finger up her side as she sucked in her breath. His idle finger toying with her hair. “Hmm, good. Now, the imps. Tell me about them.”

“I can make more,” she said quickly. “As many as you want. Easy enough now. We are printing them out of the vat that Tetra made. It’s not set up yet, and we need a lot of organic matter. But its-“ she cut off with a squeal as Grim stood up, picking the succubus up with him.

“Succubae are demons of lust. They feed off lust, consume it to increase their abilities and powers,” Grim explained calmly as he walked across the living room and opened the next door.

The one that led into the bedroom.

“You, since your creation, haven’t fed. You have strength, power, and agility. But none of your abilities have manifested,” Grim explained, slowly closing the door behind them. “It is past time that we fix that oversight.”

“Is that why you are bringing me in here? Because I haven’t been… fed?” Stella asked with a lusty full-throated purr. Grim just gave her a small grin in response.

“Nope,” he said as the door closed fully.