After disengaging himself from the, more than he was willing to admit, distracting sneak attack from Stella, Grim headed out to the main floor where he had told the imps to hide. Imps were, at their best, mischievous creatures. Excellent builders, able to follow directions, and smart. But mischievous.

Taking a look around the very large hall, Grim was unable to see where they may have hidden. Annoyed, he called out, “Alright you two, get out here!”

Nails on steel sounded out above him and revealed two imps climbing out crucible. Of course, they would hide where he had just stored a bunch of dead decomposing bodies. That certainly would help their smell. On the other hand, that was an excellent spot to jump down on enemies from. So, he couldn’t really blame them for the choice.

They landed on the floor and began to tussle, pushing each other back and forth like annoyed siblings. Which, in retrospect, he supposed they were. First batches and all that. They weren’t your grandmas demons, but he had baked them in the furnaces of hell all the same.

“Just stand over there and be quiet for a second,” he said, shooing them off to the corner. The duo went happily, grunting and shoving the entire time.

Tetra sauntered out of the stairwell; the succubus close behind her.

“Hey Boss, so what’s the plan? I don’t think we can stay here, way too big of a target painted on this place. Lots of other spots out there too, the whole damn district is full of half rotting ruins we can use. Not to mention I’ve scavenged a few things here but to be honest there’s not a lot left. Bunches of raw materials but really nothing of use that I can build something from,” she reported. “Stella here remembers some things from the area but doesn’t have a lot of ideas either.”

Grims eyebrows went up in surprise, “Stella?” he asked, curious.

“I chose my own name. Surprise. Cant exactly call me Solaria anymore. Because I’m not, you saw to that,” the succubus huffed. “All these weird urges and needs. Its… its weird. Also I can hear your heart beat.”

He blinked at that. “You can… wait that’s not a part of what a succubus is supposed to be able to do,” Grim said aloud slowly. “Do you have an urge for blood? Does eating flesh sound appetizing?”

Stella shook her head. “No. No blood or flesh. But… I know this is going to sound weird, at least weirder than what’s happened so far at least, but I want to eat your emotions. That’s the only way I can explain it.”

Grims eyes lit up. “Oh. Oh wow. Okay. That’s… that’s fucking awesome. I really wasn’t expecting this,” he said, turning away and thinking.

“Oh cough it up Boss, is she still a man killing sex monster or something else entirely?” complained Tetra. The two turned to stare at her for a moment. “What? I think its fucking hot,” she continued without apology.

He could only shake his head. Some of his minions were… less miniony than he had thought they would be. “I think you may have some wraith in you,” Grim said slowly. “Could be a play on your powers of flight and light. This universe is different from others I have been in, but I think your powers are tied to your soul and not your body. That’s a first for me, but I think you confirm it. I will bet anything you can manipulate shadows, have crazy stealth, and can still fly. Am I wrong?”

In response to his question, without saying a word, Stella took a step backward into the shadow being cast by the crucible. The moment she was fully in the shade, she vanished.

“Woah that was fucking rad,” Tetra said breathlessly, her tail twitching back and forth. Stella’s hand popped out of her shadow and gave her tail a yank, causing the super genius villain to yowl in surprise even as the succubus’s laughter rang out.

Stella stepped out of the Grims shadow and took two small steps away before floating into the air. She hovered there for a moment, then gently set herself down on the concrete floor.

“It was as you described. And your surprise and fear was… delicious Tetra,” she said.

Grim nodded. “Yeah. Some kind of succubus wraith hybrid. And you kept your powers, but they were inverted according to your nature. I bet you that was because of the contract that you had signed with me. Fascinating. Maybe… maybe we shouldn’t leave this world Bag,” he said while playing with a new idea.

his demonic assistant responded, confused.

“Imagine this. We have a universe that is untouched by the System. One where we can, at will, create demons empowered by these weird… abilities. This would be a great place to conquer and use as a launching point for my war,” he said excitedly.

Tetra raised her hand. “Uh, Boss? We’re lost,” she said, gesturing to herself and Stella.

Grim stared at them for a long moment, long enough that Tetra began to jitter nervously. Stella was, by contrast, seemingly unconcerned.

“Once Rat gets back we can have a discussion. Preferably while on the move to find a new base,” he replied.

He saw girls stiffen even as he heard a familiar voice behind him call out, “I can probably help with the!”

Turning, Grim saw Joe and Trevor walking towards him. Joe was carrying a small suitcase while Trevor had a backpack on. The two supers were, apparently, here much earlier and far quicker than Joe had assumed they would be. Narrowing his eyes, he noted that they seemed a bit more scuffed up than when he had seen them before.

“Taking care of the Hounds was a tad annoying. They didn’t want us to go, being down several guys now,” Joe explained, reading Grims emotions to the letter. “Even gang bangers want to feel important. You squishing their leader was probably the best thing to happen to them. Unfortunately the rest of them happened to get into an accident on our way out. They just couldn’t let go of the past, and it bit them,” the large man said with a grin.

Tetra clapped her hands, “Ooh! That sounds like it was fun. I always enjoy a good fight. Well, a good fight where I don’t get smashed into ground meat,” she said, glancing at Grim. “Yeah. Definitely prefer to do the smashing.”

“I don’t think I want to know,” admitted Joe. “Regardless, I may have a solution to your issues, well, at least in regards to finding a place to hole up in. It’s… an interesting spot, but the access is unrivaled. Tell them Trevor,” he instructed the man.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Grim turned his attention to the trembling, sniveling individual he had first met. A few short hours had turned the man around one hundred and eighty degrees. He wasn’t, by any means, imposing or confident. Bu the nervous wreck of a man was gone, replaced by a solidly curious intellectual type.

“Yes. Yes of course Joe,” he said, pushing up the wire frame glasses he had gotten from somewhere. “As my… benefactor here was so kind to impart, I used to be a member of the Republics scientific team to increase powers. A highly secret, controversial program that was wanted but not well received. Or funded for that matter,” he explained.

Seeing that they were following he continued, “One of the problems we had was finding a secure location to conduct experiments in. EW moved many times, to avoid suspicion from other countries and groups, however one of our earlies locations was here in the dock district. There is an old, old underground industrial train station that still has partial access to the subway system buried nearby. We should have access from the surface man hole cover. It would make an excellent, if clandestine, base of operations.”

“Why isn’t this place claimed? Something that valuable should be on someone’s radar already,” asked Grim, a little doubtful that such an amazing location wasn’t already claimed.

Trevor pushed up his glasses. “Well… its not claimed. Not really. Not by people,” he said nervously. Then he put up a finger to forestall the coming questions. “two floors, a commissary, kitchen, several offices, and a bunk house were built off the station itself. The issue is that several experiments got… loose. This resulted in the sealing, abandonment, and purging from all records the location of the base. The only people who ever knew it was there were myself and the three researchers who died inside. I promise you the politician funding the base never bothered to visit.”

“So… what, there are monsters loose in the base?” asked Grim curiously. He wondered what he would be able to create with a few super powered monsters. This could prove to be a double boon. A secret, well built base coupled with fresh materials and whatever had been abandoned inside?

“Yes. No. Maybe,” said the scientist. “I doubt anything could survive long term in there, and it has been years since I was last inside. However, supers and beasts have an odd habit of surviving the worst and coming out on top. I would not put it past those creatures to find a way to survive, if not escape.”

Joe looked at the small man. “Creatures? You didn’t use the plurality of that when we spoke,” he said, chiding Trevor for his lack of details.

“What kind of opposition will we be looking at?” asked Grim. “I need information. Numbers, powers, abilities, anything else in the base that may be of importance or value.”

“Six of them to be precise. Each with super strength and augmented endurance. If they are alive, killing them will be difficult,” he admitted. “The research labs were stocked with advanced equipment. I am sure your… inventor will be able to create many wonderful things with the materials there.”

Grim stared down the man, who grew progressively more nervous. “Can you continue your research?” he asked, surprising both Trevor and Joe. “I have abilities I could use your consultation on. I’ve noticed odd things happening in this universe that haven’t happened in others. I need perspective, and yours would be valuable.”

“Other universes?” questioned Trevor as Joes opened wide.

The group was interrupted as Rat came dancing through the main doors, two huge rottweiler sized rodents on his heels, each one having two large crates hanging off their sides. “Oh Boss!” the dog headed demon practically sang. “I got some great things for… oh, hi there,” he said, coming to a halt in front of the group.

“Welcome back Rat, I was beginning to get a bit worried. I can see you’ve been having… fun. What’s with the ROUS?” Grim asked, eyeballing the giant rodents.

Rat blinked, “Ah. A new ability since you upgraded me Boss. Turns out I can combine… and split my rat friends,” he explained. Gesturing at one of the larger rats, it split into dozens of smaller ones while the crats simply dropped to the floor smashing a few rats. They went scampering away into their various hidey holes even as Tetra and Stella looked on in mild disgust.

“Dogs, no sense of decency,” hissed Tetra. Rat just stuck his tongue out at her.

Grim shook his head. “Enough. Rat, you seemed inordinately happy for a soul claiming demon. What did you find?”

“Oh Boss, I filled up your little storage thing. I ran into a large group of drug dealers in a warehouse several blocks south of here,” he reported. Then he grinned ferally, “I had my rats swarm them. Not a single one made it out of there. After some creative body disposal I realized that while I got you a ton of energy, there was way more in that warehouse than I thought.”

Now Grim was curious. “Define way more,” he ordered.

“Well, we left the drugs there. Didn’t have much of a use for them, and I have no idea where to sell them,” the Anubis demon said, walking over to one of the crates that had dropped to the floor. “But the drugs were secondary to all the cash I found,” he said, grinning. His lips pulled back to display rows of razor sharp teeth, giving Joe and Trevor the shivers.

The top of the crate popped off to display rows upon rows of multi colored bills. Joe gasped and even Tetra looked impressed, albeit grudgingly.

“Not bad for a mutt,” muttered the mad scientist.

“There has to be a couple million Lin in there,” said joe appreciatively. “That’s a solid haul.”

Rat nodded, “Yeah. Pulled in at least two and a half mil,” he bragged. Then he walked over the other, still existing, massive rat and popped open the crate. “But I found a bunch of guns too. Those crazy bastards even had a few grenades and a chunk of plastic explosive.”

Trevor nodded appreciatively at that. “Perfect timing. We may need that to get into the laboratory.”

“Good job Rat,” praised Grim as the Anubis demon walked over and handed him the containment cylinder. “I have to admit that I didn’t have high hopes for you. I am very, very pleased to see that you proved me wrong.”

Rat’s tail was practically wagging. “Thanks Boss! It was a solid haul, and no one was alive to witness anything. I gotta say, it was a win win.”

Nodding, Grim held up the cylinder and absorbed the contents into his armor. Bag reported almost immediately.

“I planned on it. Oh, maybe I should give my new minions and allies a show?” he wondered mentally back to Bag.

chuckled Bag.

“Perfect,” he breathed out, the cylinder losing its luster. Then he looked at the group. “Want to see something cool?”

Grim held out a hand, a spell formation weaving into a circle. Trevor’s mouth dropped open as the others took a step backward. The energy in his palm flowed into the grey sweat shirt in preparation to alter the material.

Bag reported.

“Run me through them really quick,” Grim ordered.

“The Cloth for sure. I can’t rely on the Shedim. I only have three left. I need my own weapons,” he said, annoyed at his lack of capabilities. “Do it.”

He began feeding the sweat shirt energy, its material turning from a grey cotton material to a light brown nearly bronze hue. The Energy flooded into it, and Grim watched as his energy plumet from sixty eight to forty. Then it halved to twenty. That must have been his reserves expanding. It was good to know the new cloth armor effectively doubled them.

He looked up at the stunned group. Holding up a single finger, he summoned a crimson fireball.

“Oh yeah, I’m back in business,” he grinned coldly.