Greed God chapter 182

April 4th 2016 Brightedge City, Warehouse District, 6:00 PM EDT

I  settled things down in the undercity quickly after the oath. I had  quite a bit to think about after Tamlin filled me in on more of my mom's  story. He'd told me several detailed accounts he'd heard of her  performance in the war, not to mention her rise to power, and I'd come  to one inescapable conclusion: There was no way that crazy bitch didn't  have at least ten plans to get out of wherever she was being held.

Tamlin  hadn't known the location of her prison, and probably wouldn't have  told me if he did. That information was closely guarded. In the end  though, that didn't matter. She had somehow managed to sneak some kind  of vessel or simulacra out into the real world as recently as two  decades ago at most. There was no way the cunning lunatic that he'd  described to me hadn't set up at least fifteen redundant escape plans.  This wasn't star wars. I wasn't her only hope. I was probably  like...hope thirteen. Tops.

Which put me under serious  pressure to get this fucking City under control. Since I didn't own it,  even after merge, I should be able to get a fresh infusion of points  from taking it. That infusion would be enough to take ten more of my  people to D rank. It was an unexpected benefit of the situation.  Normally things I merged were already mine, so I got no points for them  ranking up and missed out on the benefits.

Merging things  that weren't mine was...risky. It only worked on objects, since people  needed to be Branded to be merged. I avoided it like the plague for most  of the time I had my power because things I merged and lost control of  could be used against me, but the system had been clear enough when it  initiated. I could merge items to make better items, and I could get  points by owning things, but those two functions were entirely distinct  from one another.

I let out a long sigh, and Amy raised an  eyebrow at me questioningly from where she say in the passenger seat of  my car. "You aren't actually worried about this, are you?" She sounded  shocked at the idea, and I didn't blame her. The concept of me being  SCARED of two bit pissant wannabe gangsters like the Court of Owls was  laughable. They were whiny tryhard cowards who hid behind mad science  meatshields to feel superior.

Maybe she thought I was taking this seriously because I was masked. Wearing my mask had actually been Barbie's idea. When I originally told her to contact Silver I'd intended to have her name drop me, but she'd talked me out of it. Having a buffer between the identity I was using to deal with the Court and our house was a more important concern than taunting some blonde slut neither of us liked.

It was  some extra nonsense to keep straight, but it being enough to worry me was so ludicrous I actually snorted out a laugh, breaking myself out of my funk as I  adjusted my mask. "No. Not even a little. Other things on my mind. I'll  tell you about them back at the house." I still needed to upgrade it, and I was damn sure going to make sure there were extra privacy features. No way Superman wasn't getting back soon, and I didn't want  that nose boyscout fuck poking his nose in my business.

Of  course, he wouldn't have much time for that anyway. He and Batman were  going to be stepping all over each others dicks trying to suss out  territory. It had been one of the more entertaining reasons for my  master plan. No better way to distract the two most effective Leaguers  than to pit them against each other. Of course, it would never get to  open blows or anything, they were far too established and much too  familiar with each other, but the tension would be a good smoke screen  even after they returned from filming their episode of Space Judge Judy.

Speaking  of which, whoever had arranged this whole thing was kind of brilliant.  Granted, using the court system against the League was just common  sense, but someone had gone through the trouble of searching the whole  fucking galaxy to find the most convoluted mess of a court system  possible and then arrange for the League to get sucked into THAT red  tape nightmare. You had to respect that kind of research and  forethought, even if they didn't seem to be doing much with the time  they'd bought.

"Alright." I said, checking the time. "The  meeting was supposed to start ten minutes ago, so we should be heading  in." She shot me a reproachful look, and I shrugged. "What? Those  assholes are going to ambush us anyway. Kicking their teeth in isn't  enough of a statement. They should be honored my draconic ass is even  showing up for this dog and pony show. They're lucky I only made them  wait ten minutes. If I wasn't in a hurry I'd have cancelled on them  entirely a few times to set the tone."

She snickered  softly at that as she got out, adjusting her own mask. It wasn't really  anything special as masks went, but she felt that putting one on was  thematically appropriate and said it made this feel more like a date. I  thought it was cute enough not to bitch too much. Letting the wife do  what she wanted wasn't too big a deal when it was just playing dressup,  and it might earn me some brownie points when I eventually did something  that annoyed her.

Offering her my arm, I led the two of  us into the warehouse, strolling casually up to the door and knocking  smartly. There was a brief pause, and then the door creaked open  dramatically, spilling light from the setting sun into the dim recesses  of the warehouse as we stepped over the threshold. Further into the  darkness sat a woman in a black wooden chair, legs crossed at the knee  and sipping wine elegantly from a gold rimmed wine glass.

The  woman wore a long silver sequin dress with no sleeves and a plunging  neckline. Her tits were pretty decently sized, DDs probably, and she was  about five foot five with a cascade of silver blonde hair. Her blue  eyes sat behind a stylized masquerade mask that covered her face from  the nose up, revealing a perfect cupids bow mouth that I distinctly  remembered stuffing with my cock when we were younger.

Her  pretty pink lips sneered as she saw me enter. "Well, it seems the new  player in town sees fit to grace us with his presence. You must be  Mammon. Charmed, I'm sure." Her voice was laced with the kind if  disapproval you normally only hear from mother in laws and ex  girlfriends who find out you slept with their moms. "Well, we've delayed  long enough, please, do come inside... I insist."

The  door slammed behind us with a bang, leaving us in a poorly lit  warehouse. We stood in near darkness, the place lit only by the candle  sconces on either side of Silver's chair, until slowly the darkness  began to fill with pairs of glowing red lenses. I took in the scene  critically, waiting until all the Talons had shown themselves, then  turned to Amy. "What do you think? Decent ambiance, but the bitchiness  takes away from the intimidation. Hard to be scared of someone who  probably came up with the tableau while scarfing down pinkberry after a  pilates class."

Silver froze, her mouth dropping open in  offended shop. "I beg your pardon?" Her teeth were gritted as she leaned  forward, flashing me a ton of cleavage in a way that was far too rushed  to be intentional and made me knock off another few points for a wasted  opportunity.

"Oh don't start begging now." I said wryly.  "We won't have anything to work up to. But I was saying this is all a  bit contrived. Not that I'm too surprised. I don't know was a expected  from illuminati barbie. Seriously Silver, do you actually DO anything  for the Court of Owls, or are you just a bouncy pair of tits to take  their minds off things during long meetings?"

She stood up  in outrage, sliding a hand into the slit in her dress before flicking  it right at me. I casually reached up and caught the dagger about a foot  from my heart, hand firmly clasped around the hilt. "Huh." I said in  surprise. "I...was not expecting that. Seriously. Good for you. I  figured you'd let us get ambushed and then wail like helpless bimbo when  we turned the tables. I'm legitimately impressed though. That was a  dead on throw, and decisive as hell. Gold star."

Silver  looked almost apoplectic with rage. "How dare you!" She hissed.  Seriously, she hadn't had nearly this much spine last time I saw her.  I'd been planning to keep her as a sex toy because...well, why not? But I  wasn't opposed to maybe putting her to use for other talents than  having fat tits and no gag reflex if she kept this up. Of course, that  was assuming she adjusted to the situation when the tables turned.

As  expected, she looked up at the Talons and barked out. "Kill them both!"  I was surprised she lasted so long through the shit talking. Most of  the Court (from what I remembered my dad saying) were whiny adult babies  who blue screened in righteous fury when anyone dared to underestimate  them or not give them their royal due. To put it more simply, they were  the useless product of decades of nepotism and lack of resistance.

I  could see perfectly in the low light, of course. so I had no problem  tracking the thirty six (wow, I was honored, that would have been  overkill for almost anyone else) Talons as the flashed forward at us. I  debated doing something really flashy like firebombing them with dragon  breath or frying them with lightning, but in the end, I decided less was  more. I let the Primal Force roll over my skin enough to light my  figure with flickers of electricity, then reached over and gently pushed  Amy back.

I could literally FEEL my wife pouting as the  Talons closed in, annoyed at me for taking the fun for myself when we  were supposed to be on a date in her mind. It didn't matter though.  These scrubs might be undead, but they were H rank, with a few older  ones touching G. Just past human level strength and speed, with their  main powers being training and insane regen.

The first  Talon reached me in a blur, and I reached out...and shattered him. It  wasn't fancy, or elegant. I didn't use martial arts. I just demolished  them as they came. The Talons rushed me en masse, and they broke against  me like waves against the cliffs. I tore away limbs, crushed skulls,  pulped organs. I snapped bones and ripped out spines, tearing them apart  like a kid opening a christmas present in a hurry christmas morning. I  scatted the pieces everywhere, without a care in the world.

Despite  the ease with which I did it, I had to give the Court credit. They made  solid disposable minions. It took about twice as long to destroy the  Talons as it would have a normal person (two seconds per Talon instead  of one) and they never stopped coming. When I was done, I stood them  among the carnage, the room to either side soaked with blood and viscera  like someone had thrown a live chicken into a woodchipper.

Silver  just...stared. Her eyes were wide with horror as she watched what she  probably considered invincible warriors murdered in succession with no  more effort than most people would take wiping off a dry erase board. I  stepped forward menacingly, then stopped with a grimace as I felt a  squelch. Looking down I saw an eyeball that had been crushed under my  feet and I groaned in annoyance.

Scraping off my shoe, I  dispensed with the menace since I'd ruined my mood anyway, and turned to  Silver. "Now." I said, my voice silky and sweet. "Since we've taken  care of all the unpleasantness, why don't we have a nice relaxing chat,  Silver. I came here in good faith after all. I have big plans for this  city, and the Court has infrastructure that can help with that...that  is, if you're interested." Might as well let them do all the work before  my hostile takeover. Work smarter not harder, I always say.