Greed God chapter 233

April 15th 2016 New Jersey, Rosewood, 6:00 PM EDT

Emma  didn't actually talk much. She stood next to me uncomfortably but my  statement had just garnered me a nod of acceptance and then near  suffocating silence. That was fine. I wasn't really that interested in a  heart to heart either. I glanced down at her ass again, admiring the  view, but that seemed like it might cause problems if she noticed too  early so I stopped and just glanced up at the portrait.

After  getting nowhere for a while I gave her a nod and we went to go find out  room. I was a bit sleepy and I decided to take a nap before the whole  reading of the will thing. I didn't want to play welcome wagon, which I  would absolutely get sucked into doing if I was out and about as people  arrived.

Barbie and Amy were already up, my redhead doing  my wife's hair in front of the mirror as the blonde chattered away  happily. I sat up with a smirk. "Well, you two are in a pretty good mood  for funeral guests."

Barbie flinched a bit, but Amy just  shrugged. "Death is common in Gemworld. Our funeral customs are less  morose. I won't be chipper in public, since I know it would reflect  badly on you, but I can't say I'm not excited about being Amaya Lord in  proper society for the first time." Her smile wilted. "Oh. Am I being  insensitive? If this is bothering you I can tone it down."

I  just chuckled, waving her off. "You're fine, Ames. If I want you to be  sensitive I'll spank that cute little ass until you can't sit down. I'm  not exactly happy about dad being gone, but this feels...like I'm  participating in a game he set up. Like I'm part of a masterpiece. It  doesn't feel like a funeral. Hell it almost feels like he's right here  with me, making irritating overly critical comments about how I'm  doing."

Amy gave me a bright smile, then yelped as Barbie  flicked the base of her skull. "Stop moving around so much damn it."  Grumped my redhead. "I'm trying to do your hair and you're making it  damn near impossible." She looked over at me. "And you, go get dressed.  We have dinner in about a half hour, and then the reading of the will  after that. Everyone should be here by now."

I rolled my  eyes, slipping out of bed and padding naked across the room, enjoying  the sight of the two of them watching me in the mirror. Now wasn't the  time though, so after a quick shower I slipped a suit on from my bags  and was ready to go within about fifteen minutes.

Barbie  was glaring at me. "Men are the worst." She sneered. "I've been working  on her hair for almost an hour. You just stumbled out of bed and through  some water spray and now you look like a fucking movie star."

"I'm  a dragon." I said imperiously. "I always look better than mere mortal  men." I raked my eyes over them. "You two look pretty sexy though too."  Amy was wearing a purple velvet dress that matched her eyes and Barbie  had on a black knee length off the shoulder thing that made her look  fantastic.

That got a blush from my redhead and a pleased  smile from my wife as I held out both arms. "Now her hair looks done to  me, so what say we head down early and mingle before dinner time."

Ignoring  Barbie's grunt of annoyance at the interruption, Amy shot to her feet  and dashed over to take my arm, and I couldn't help but notice the small  smile on Barbie's face as she did the same.

Heading  downstairs, we headed for the dining room, since most of the guests  would probably be seating themselves early and it would give me a chance  to see exactly who was around for this, aside from the few people  Barbie had mentioned. A large crowd was gathered at the table, and I  recognized some of them, though some I didn't. I exchanged a nod with  Siegfried, and a glare with Sasha, as well as offering a smile to Emma  before appraising everyone around the table.

First  I did the two old men. Respectively Ted Kord and Alan Scott. Kord was  almost a boilerplate human. He'd apparently had his genetics tuned up  quite a bit while connected to a Reach device, according to his  appraisal, but it had moved on since then, so he was back to a normal  person, albeit one who was at basically peak human efficiency for  someone his age (in his seventies, though he looked about fifty) and was  a brilliant inventor. He was H-rank, which was decent for a person with  no actual powers.

Alan  Scott, who had showed up with a green sex bomb in a slinky dress with  tits that were the color of watermelons, like the rest of her, though  not quite the size. Despite that, she was still pretty busty, and she  radiated a type of energy I hadn't sensed before, and was extremely  interested in. A quick appraisal told me more about her.

[Appraisal  function activated. Treasure detected. Jennifer-Lynn Hayden- D rank  Metahuman. Daughter of Alan Scott, the first green lantern of earth, and  the supervillainess Thorn, Jenny, who calls herself Jade in costume,  inherited her powers from her father due to his exposure to the  Starheart, a mystical magical energy source. They resemble the powers of  a green lantern, but no ring or battery is required.]

That was damn interesting, and made appraising Scott, who was her old man, a necessity as well.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected.  Alan Scott- C ranked Metahuman. Formerly the Green Lantern of sector  2814, Alan lost his ring in battle. As a replacement, he picked up the  Starheart, a repository of ancient magic, and was altered by his close  proximity to is, giving him the ability to manipulate a green flame of  the Starheart, as well as reduced aging. He is currently under a  glamour.]

I  could have guessed the latter given the whole lack of aging thing, but  still knowing there was a C ranker here was pretty jarring. I appraised a  few others. Including Carol Ferris, who was a busty (what was it about  heroics and villainy that bumped up the cup size?) sensual woman with  thick black hair and pouty pink lips that made me think of getting my  dick sucked. The lust made more sense when my appraisal revealed she was  some kind of love lantern, and an E ranker in her own right.

There  were others there. Killer Frost, who was D ranked with ice powers. Etta  Candy, who was a normal human. A guy named David Reid, who went by  Magog and was apparently empowered by some kind of ancient god to D  rank. All of these power players and more than a few human criminals and  businessmen that I didn't know or care about, up to and including  Morgan Edge, who I hadn't seen in ages.

When  we took our seats at the opposite end of the table from Emma (we each  got an end seat) Hobbes officially decided to start the meal, and stood  up to clink his knife on the champagne glass. "Ladies and gentlemen." He  said solemnly. "We are here tonight at the bequest of Master Maxwell.  Some of you were friends of his. Some enemies. But all were people that  he respected, in one way or another."

I  heard a snort from Killer Frost, but everyone ignored it. I didn't give  enough of a fuck to start anything with her either. Pretending she  hadn't spoken, Hobbes continued. "Tonight we will be enjoying a well  cooked prime rib, Master Maxwell's favorite dish, before we retire to  the drawing room for brandy and the reading of the will. Each of you  have been left something specific to your situation and relationship to  Master Maxwell, with the exception of a few guests." He nodded to  Jennifer and to Barbie. Surprisingly he didn't acknowledge Amy, implying  she'd actually gotten something to, which was a surprise.

He  made a few comments about dad, some idealized bullshit that no one was  petty enough to argue despite every one of us knowing it wasn't true.  Then he called for the servants and they carted out a big ass prime rib  that they proceeded to carve at the table. I got a big ass slice and  some garlic mashed potatoes, as well as some black cherry soda that  Hobbes stocked in the kitchen, because I was feeling nostalgic.

The  brandy was a surprise given my dad's lack of interest in alcohol, but  it wasn't like he was here to drink it, and despite not indulging he'd  had a pretty sizable collection of bottles as a commodity. I took a sip,  enjoying the drink, and then the food, then I glanced across the table  at the busty green skinned girl. "Excuse me." I said, pretending not to  know who she was. "You look familiar, have we met before?"

I  could tell she was annoyed at the comment, but since she was at a wake  basically she decided to be polite and offered me a smile. "Probably  not, but I do some modeling. You might have seen some of my ads." She  glanced down at her emerald cleavage. "I'm not exactly easy to miss."

Nodding  and putting on an embarrassed smile, I said sheepishly. "Ah, sorry  about that. I'm sort of out of it. Dad's death was...not expected. I'm  sorry to bother you." I put a bit of self deprecation in my tone as I  looked down in what she would almost have to assume was shame. Honestly,  in some ways understanding emotions made manipulating women even  easier.

Sure  enough, I could almost hear her wince as she scrambled to fix things.  "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I didn't even realize." She leaned over, giving  me a nice view that I had to actively work not to enjoy, and offering  her hand. "Jenny Hayden. My old man and your dad were...competitors, a  few times. I never met Maxwell, but I heard he was a dangerous a  competent guy." She paused. "Damn, that's kind of an awful thing to say  as a tribute to someone's dead father isn't it?"

I  smiled up at her a bit guiltily. "It's fine. I know he wasn't perfect.  But I loved him anyway. He might have been a prick to most other people  but...he was my dad, you know?"

As  expected, the daughter of a supervillainess got my drift, her smile  turning warmer and less formal. "I do. I get that more than you might  know." She jumped when Scott cleared his throat. "Oh. Sorry." Her cheeks  flushed darker green. "This is my dad, Alan Scott. He was the one with  the invite."

Scott  nodded. "You must be Nicholas. Max and I were never friends, but he did  mention you once or twice when we met off the battlefield. He was proud  of you, you know? Even when you decided not to follow in his footsteps.  Being a lazy hedonist might not be the most honorable lifestyle, but he  always respected your choice to say no to him and go your own way."

I  blinked. I hadn't thought they were that close. I knew the lines of  ally and enemy could blur, but that was more knowledge of my life than  my dad would normally have allowed anyone he considered a threat. It  told me Scott could be predicted enough to be considered a trusted foe  at least. It also...felt nice to hear.

Jenny  looked surprised, but Scott quelled her next comment with a look.  "Anyway. I doubt we'll have much time for dinner. Might as well get  through the meal. We can talk more at the reading, when we have a nice  glass of brandy and some time to digest." And with that, he went back to  his food. Weirdly, I had no desire to argue, the food was good, I had  things to think about, and a dinner show of fat green jugs stuffed into a  dress, jiggling while Jenny sawed at her prime rib, was hardly the  worst entertainment. This night was turning out more interesting than  expected already.