System Supervillain, Chapter 163

Chapter 163 – Reflection

It was going to take four hours for the team heading to the center of the devastation to reach their target. Not terribly surprising, given that a literal bomb had been dropped on the city. They had supers with them that could move rubble and clear the road, but there was a difference between ‘clear a boulder out of the road’ and ‘a building has fallen across the road’, and neither were the same as ‘secondary explosions removed the road’, so they couldn’t just go in a straight line. Still, thanks to Web Mistress’s navigation data, they were able to arrive fairly quickly, all things considered.

The other Brits weren’t just sitting around during that time, though you would be forgiven for thinking that, just by looking. They were organizing. There were twenty sites across the planet where there were signs of living sapients, including the Authority of Conquest’s crash site. None of them were exactly close-by. That meant they needed to organize vehicles to travel, or gather supers who could rapidly move long distances (preferably while bringing others along), and get them sent out to those sites. However, because the entire planet’s infrastructure was basically trashed, along with its ecosystem, they needed to ensure that they had supplies to not only get there, but also respond to conditions in the field, and so on. That was not something you just rushed.

Of course, there was also the fact that no one knew what effect changing the environment on a planetary scale would do to the weather. We hadn’t stuck around to catalogue the changes, but there was definitely a chance that suddenly changing temperatures could lead to storms, and it was certain that returning to the planet’s normal heat would cause ice to start melting all over the place, likely turning large parts of the planet into a muddy mess. That wasn’t even counting what might happen if the air going into a jet’s engine suddenly changed temperature rapidly. I wasn’t an engineer, but I doubted the air going from ‘sub-zero’ to ‘jungle summer’ in an instant would do good things to the engines. So, it was better for everyone if the teams waited until things settled before heading out.

My people weren’t entirely idle either, even though I wasn’t exactly helping out with things directly. Sibilia was using her powers to try and force a vision of where we should go after we left Thraxl. Half the girls were training, in one way or another. Web Mistress was busy reconnecting the communications satellites that the Gel-nak had in orbit, so that the Brits could use them to coordinate globally. Unfortunately, while the satellites were working properly, the lack of power in many areas meant that receivers were in short supply, so she couldn’t just use her abilities to warp people around the world. Probably for the best. Wouldn’t want anyone coming to expect us to do their grunt work for them.

So, since I wasn’t going to volunteer myself for any jobs I didn’t want to do, I was back in my room on the Rhuk, taking Lucy Morningstar from behind as her tail coiled around my waist. Even when she was in a submissive role, she still liked to have a bit of control. Not that I minded, especially since the succubus really tightened up when I started using her horns like handlebars. Her climax triggered my own, and I enjoyed filling her, same as always.

As we were laying in bed after our little quickie, Lucy turned to look at me. “So, our first two stops haven’t been anything like what you thought they would be, when you first promised the Gel-nak that you would be bringing bloody vengeance to them. What are you thinking about that, Master?”

I chuckled. “Well, I’ll admit that I was not expecting the Empire to fall apart so spectacularly. I mean, when I started planning, I was gearing up for what I thought would be a campaign of guerilla warfare and assassination, opening up portals on different worlds so that the different countries could cause as much damage as possible. Things changed a bit once Sibilia added herself to the team, since we found out that there was a possibility that we could undo the Gel-nak’s ordering, not just on them, but possibly on their slave species, as well. The idea remained the same, though. Kill enough Gel-nak so that they could never be a threat again.”

I shook my head, looking up at the ceiling. “But once we got out here, it became obvious that the Empire is nowhere near as strong or as stable as we once believed them to be. If taking out one person is all it takes to completely collapse an interstellar empire, then that whole thing was just a sandcastle at the beach, in denial that the tide would rise.”

“Poetic,” Lucy chuckled, her tail stroking my leg. “But understandable. The Gel-nak Empire appears to have been built upon the concept of layers and layers of control being added, to ensure rebellion or dissent has no place to grow, and personal ambitions are limited. This has the effect of creating a very stable system, when things work properly. The system can absorb a few troubles and remain functioning. If the Emperor’s spawn had lived, there would likely have been a few months of political instability as one candidate emerged above the others, and then a period of consolidation as the new Emperor ensures the leaders are loyal to him. The Empire as a whole would have continued to function, despite the disruption.”

“That was my read on it, as well, especially with what data Web Mistress was able to get from Gel-nak systems during the invasion. But then, the information in the navy ships was mostly military, with some star charts and basic data about the Empire. We had some more information that we could access through the Administrator interface, but it was limited. More demographic data than anything. Nothing that would have allowed us to plan for what happened.”

“Which is why Daddy always says that you should never make plans that rely on everything going just the way you planned. Someone is always going to mess things up. Even if they didn’t intend it, someone, somewhere is going to ruin any plan that relies on everything going perfectly. You just have to be ready to adapt once things start going off track.”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, there’s only a few times I’ve really planned out every step of a job. Pretty much just the two times I hit the Louvre, actually. The security there was too good for anything less than a perfect plan. There’s a reason that I’m the only one to successfully rob the place in over a hundred years. The Rouge clan really is that good.”

“Mmm, yes. They actually asked me to look at things, after your latest attack, you know. Wanted to see if there was any way to keep your Web Mistress out of their systems.”

“Yes, I suspected that they would try to patch that hole, once I uncovered it. Don’t suppose you’ll share how they decided to go about it?”

Lucy laughed. “They went low-tech with it, actually. There was no point trying to guard the systems digitally against someone like Web Mistress, and any wards I could put on the tech would have interfered with their other wards, leading to gaps in coverage. So, they made it impossible to jump in through the wires to an area not covered by the main defenses. The alarm now has several activation points around the building, each of which are in the areas protected by all the other nonsense the security system has to play with.”

“Ah, that’s actually the smartest thing they could have done,” I nodded. “They might have actually made the place impossible to crack, now, without having a traitor on the inside. The first time, I needed to use the blood of one of the guards to mask myself to some of their senses, and had to work hard to get around all those different stasis fields and other nastiness.”

“Out of curiosity, how did you escape, the first time?”

“The wards against teleportation had an X/Y lock, but Z was open. In other words, you could only teleport if you kept the exact same position in two dimensions, but only changed your position up or down. It wasn’t a problem, since most teleporters don’t have a means of flight, and the ones who can do blind teleports, where they don’t have to worry about coming out inside of a wall, usually have some kind of delay before they can use it again, even if they could keep their cool while freefalling to Earth with priceless art in their hands.”

“But you didn’t need to worry about that, because you had the storage dimension in your sword, right?”

“Yeah, the whole heist wouldn’t have been possible without it. The paintings I stole literally disappeared into the pocket dimension, so the screaming sensors never had a chance to go off. That bought me a few more minutes, and let me get to the Mona Lisa. I actually sent the Rouge clan a letter the next month, telling them how I did it.”

“Why? I would have thought you’d want to keep those tricks to yourself, so that you could use them again?”

“No, I’d left enough evidence behind, what with the guards who had been only tranquilized, instead of killed, and the data on the security systems. One of the drones was watching as I dropped through the single-use portal, anyways. So, there was no reason to keep it all a secret, and it kept them from hiring any heavy hitters to try and bring me in so that they could get their answers, as well as their pound of flesh. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that they have some very scary toys that they can use, if they choose to.”

“Oh, yes. I knew the first Mademoiselle Rouge when she signed on with the Louvre. The Flayer Field was considered a little too sadistic by the museum’s board. Something about how it removed all of a person’s skin and hair. leaving their muscles open to the air, with the field keyed to ensure that the intruder suffered maximum pain, for the longest period of time, likely forcing them to go into shock and rendering them helpless. So, instead, there were stasis fields, locking someone in a single instant of time, so they wouldn’t even know anything happened until they woke up, with a gun to their head.”

“Oof, that’s nasty. Some real supervillain work, there,” I chuckled. “Well, most mad science types are at least halfway to supervillain status, just by the very nature of what they are. They too often get caught up in the science, and forget about silly things like ethics or morals. And, eventually, they always have an experiment that gets out of hand. Sometimes, it is bad enough that even a pure hero is branded a villain because of the collateral, and how they disregarded the risks in the pursuit of science.”

“Sadly true,” Lucy nodded. “There is a reason why Daddy makes extra certain that any mad scientists that end up in his realm after death are kept well away from anywhere too important. Especially since those types tend to start experimenting on themselves, when they don’t have other subjects, and he usually has to spend time ripping skills and powers out of their souls before they are safe even for isolation.”

The intercom clicked on at that moment, and Nemesis’s voice came through the speakers. “Iceblade, sensors are reading a massive environmental shift in progress. It appears that Technician’s team has successfully deployed her Reset Device. Projected patterns indicate that this area will soon be tropical, in temperature, though it will take some time for the rivers and oceans to thaw. New flora and fauna will need to be introduced to repopulate the ecosystem, as well.”

“Thank you, Nemesis. Let me know when Technician returns to the spaceport.”

“Understood.”