Greed God chapter 90

January 31st 2016 Wintermark Castle 6:00 PM EDT

The  inside of the castle was, as one would expect from a castle, really  fucking big. I mean, I was used to big, I grew up in a mansion, but  still, this was larger than most buildings. It was also absolutely  PACKED with people. Wall to wall I could see crowds of men and women in  suits and dresses and even costumes standing around drinking and  laughing and in some cases sneering. It was just like I'd been  expecting. All the movers and shakers in Gotham were here. I recognized  the Penguin, but he didn't know me out of costume so I steered clear.  The mask would prevent him knowing who I was, but it was better to just  avoid interacting in any case.

Zee stepped in close,  pressing herself against me. I could feel the tension in her body, and  it actually made me smile a bit when I realized she was trying to  protect me. I didn't need it, but it was cute that she was trying. The  others stuck close as well, and Sally, who was the only one of use who  wasn't in the know about Gotham politics and crime aside from Waylon,  bit the bullet for my bodyguard and asked the question I assumed was on  his mind. "So...who exactly are most of these people?"

I  figured telling them wasn't a big deal, besides I imagine the girls  probably knew a few I didn't. I'd done some research when I moved to  Gotham, and I knew more than a few of them before then, but still I was  bound to have missed someone. I decided to start with the ones I knew  myself and let them fill in the gaps as we went. "Well, The Penguin is  obvious. Cobblepot is legendary in Gotham, and he's easy to recognize by  sight. Same with Two Face, over there. They each have distinguishing  features that make them more than recognizable."

I pointed  to another group of men gesturing to an older silver haired man.  "That's Carmine Falcone, much less notable appearance wise, but just as  famous. The man has been a fixture in the Gotham underworld for decades,  and considering how fucking nightmarish this place is, it's easy to  guess just how dangerous that makes him. The Roman is a living legend,  despite having zero powers. He's probably the closest criminal analogue  to Batman if you think about it. His family is massive and in every  level of government and business in town."

I pointed to  another group standing opposite Falcone's crew. "Sal Maroni. Not as much  to say about him. Maroni knows his place, keeps his nose out of really  scary shit, but he's more than dangerous enough in his own wheelhouse.  He's street level and he's fine with that, but his organization is  expansive as hell. He and Falcone are theoretically rivals, which is  impressive in it's own right considering how low a profile he manages.  Ask anyone in the city and they can tell you who Falcone is, but unless  they're a cop or involved with his crew most people couldn't name Sal  Maroni, and that's the way he likes it. It's kept him alive longer than  most criminals in the city."

I looked around, a bit  surprised to see who was missing. "Bruce Wayne isn't here, which is a  bit of a surprise, though he's been out of the public eye lately. I'd  say he was sick or injured but honestly that guy just loves to keep  people guessing. The Scarecrow is here, which I kind of expected, but no  one needs him to be introduced. The Sirens are over there, looking  gorgeous as ever too. I don't know everyone here though, Barbie, I  assume you have the down low on some of the ones I missed?"

She  nodded. "Yeah, some of the people here are a bit more subtle, or just  less attention grabbing in general. Maxie Zues for instance." She  gestured to an absolute bear of a man who towered over even me. "A  ruthless crime lord who believes he's the greek god Zeus. No actual  evidence to support the claim, but he's an absolute beast of a man with  absurd amounts of physical strength, and a surprisingly intelligent  criminal when he's not running plans into the ground to prove he's a  deity."

The next person she gestured to was a pretty  freakish looking guy with a hood and bulging eyes. "Doctor Death for  instance is a mad scientist obsessed with protecting the human body with  bones. Turned himself into a freakish monstrosity but never lost his  intelligence. The rest of these people are pretty terrifying too. Hush,  Bane, Clayface, Black Mask, King Snake, Johnny Warlock, the list goes  on. Every serious player or powerhouse in Gotham is in this room  tonight, and it's honestly making me worry. I knew he would invite the  big names, but I don't know what exactly he did to make them show up. At  least half of these people want to kill each other, but they're all  just standing around being civil."

I'd noticed that too. I  imagined he must have flexed on them a bit. I wondered if I hadn't  warranted that, or if sending Drench WAS a flex. Maybe he had some way  of knowing I could appraise people. I'd certainly demonstrated a  knowledge of my enemies. Speaking of Drench, the slippery bastard had  apparently finished door duty, and was on his way up one of the two  large staircases ringing the hall to stand on a balcony overlooking the  massive receiving room. When he reached the top he looked down on  everyone with an oily smile, raising a glass to the sky and tapping it  with a knife.

The low murmur of talking cut off, everyone  in the room looking up at the sorcerer, who smiled politely. "Welcome,  welcome, friends and allies. My name, as I'm sure at least some of you  know, is Ivan Drench. I've spoken to some of you directly, and some of  you know me in passing. Still others have never heard my name, and I  can't fault you for that. This night isn't about me. My employer has  welcomed you all here with the promise of information, of spectacle, and  of course, with the promise of power. These things will come with time  or course, but for the moment, preparations are still under way. So  please, eat, drink, and be merry. The big event is coming, and I assure  you, it WILL be worth the wait." His smile took on a sharp edge with  those words, and I wondered if they sounded as ominous to everyone who  didn't know the plan.

Regardless, he  turned and slipped into a door on the landing, and despite a strong  urge to follow him, I knew I had to wait. Everyone would notice if I  slipped through the door right after. No, what I needed was to find  something I could use to slip out down here. I'd also need at least Zee  with me to get past the wards, and I was keeping Cherry next to me for  safety. I looked at Waylon and Sally. "Alright Zee, Cherry and I are  slipping off for a bit, I want you to stick with Barbie at all times." I  turned to the aforementioned redhead. "That means you too. Stay with  them. Do your thing if you need to but stay safe."

She  looked pretty murderous at that actually, and I could tell she didn't  want to. But I could also see that she remembered promising to listen to  me if I let her come with, at least to an extent. Protecting herself  was a reasonable thing to ask so she couldn't really fight me on it,  since I had straight up told her I would enforce any orders with the  Brand if needed. I wasn't losing my business manager and most talented  hacker because the decided it would be fun to try to feed the animals  without anyone around to back her up. I trusted Waylon and Sally to  watch her ass, they were powerhouses.

I  put an arm each around Zee and Cherry and we headed out among the  guests, doing our best not to actually run into anyone who would want to  talk to us. Luckily everyone seemed pretty focused on whatever die hard  enemies they had in the room, and no one looked like they were really  interested in meeting new people. When we made it to the edge of the  room I looked around to make sure no one was watching I turned to Zee.  "Alright, we need a tracking spell or something to get us a direction.  Cherry can help us actually get there once we have a heading." Aside  from ghost abilities, Cherry's thief powers courtesy of the hand of  glory would make getting past most defenses a breeze, and Zee could  handle any wards she couldn't.

The  sorceress shot me a cheeky grin. "I know how to do my job Nicky. Just  sit tight, I can track the model, even if he did put up defenses. It's  just a matter of finding the right way to get around the protections."  She closed her eyes and started mumbling a string of nonsense words  rapid fire. Cherry and I took up positions alongside her to block her  from view as she did her thing. She looked annoyed at first, her spells  clearly hitting some kind of wall, but she kept trying, stacking magic  on top of magic until she finally managed to get a location, or at least  a heading.

She  opened her eyes with a long sigh. "Damn. Can't get a clear picture, but  I do know it's that way." She pointed out of the hall, through a small  wooden door that was tucked her behind a set of drapes identical to ones  that hung around the entire room. We made our way over to the thing and  she put a hand just over the surface without touching it, mumbling  another string of nonsense. Nothing came of it and she cursed. "The  obfuscations were light because he was relying on the external wards for  most of it, but the lock spell is way too powerful for me to disarm any  time soon."

I  snickered at that. "Well, then it's a good thing I brought my skeleton  key." I gave Cherry a smack on the ass, drawing a happy squeak from my  psychotic thief, and she stepped forward to eye the door. She bit her  lip, eyes scanning over the surface for a while to identify exactly what  she needed to do to open it. I had no clue what she was seeing, but  whatever it was I guessed it was good enough because she held up a hand  to the door. Her fingers flared up with candle flames, each one blazing  brightly for a moment before they started to go out. Four of them  snuffed before the final finger, the pinkie, flared up and the door  clicked open.

I  grinned at the girls, pulling the door open and stepping through first.  They were much more fragile than I was, mantle and wyrm blood being  what they were. We stepped in and closed the door behind us, and Zee led  us down a hallway. Cherry kept her eyes peeled for traps as we walked,  but she saw none, which given the strength of the ward on that door  didn't shock me. Only an idiot would leave active traps strewn about  EVERY part of his own fucking house.

Finally  we came to a new room. A library sprawled out before us, wall to wall  books in a massive room, only vaguely lit by free floating candle flames  that swam through the air. Zee repeated her spells, and we followed her  further in until we arrived in front a table. I exhaled in relief as I  spotted a model of the city sitting there as if waiting for us. We all  stepped forward to look at it closer, only to freeze as a low chuckle  resonated through the barely lit room. One of the candle flames drifted  slowly to the side enough to show a dapper well dressed older man in a  ponytail. "Oh look, my guests are early. Hello." Well...shit.