Greed God chapter 75

January 25th 2016 Bamonte's Restaurant 6:00 PM EDT

I  ended up meeting Zee for dinner the next day. Barbie wanted to go with  me, but she had classes. She was basically incandescent with rage over  the fact that I was going to be meeting "that big tittied slut" (she got  vicious about Zee when she was jealous apparently) and even moreso when  I mentioned we were friends and had lunch together on occasion. I did  not mention my slow attempts to seduce the busty magic user, because I  figured she would assume anyway, and confirming that would be stupid.  Still, it was a two birds one stone kind of thing, I got to flirt with a  gorgeous woman and enjoy some good food while working on my backup for  the Harvest Festival.

My main concern was finding out  exactly who was putting this thing on and who would be there. That was  another reason I called Zatanna, because as a Gotham native she might  have gotten an invite and could know more about this than I did. I'd  also managed to spin this particular meeting into a dinner invite since I  had legit business with her, which put me a step closer to potentially  getting into her panties. Sure enough, she was at least a little  interested, because when she showed up to meet me she was dressed to  kill.

I had to take a moment to appreciate the tight tiny  black dress practically painted across that fantastic body. Her huge  tits pushed the already plunging neckline even deeper, showing inches of  milky pale cleavage, and her plump thighs and fat ass pulled at the  hem, making it ride up enough to show plenty of leg. She was wearing her  hair braided over one shoulder and her makeup was smoky. She looked  good enough to eat. She smiled at me as she sat down, clearly enjoying  my gaze.

Her bright red lips quirked up into a lazy smile.  "I was happy to get your invite to dinner. I do love a chance to dress  up. I have an...affinity for formal wear." She raked her eyes over me,  enjoying the suit I was wearing. "Clearly you feel the same. I've seen  you in a suit before, but you seem to fill that one out a bit better.  Expensive tailoring, no doubt." It wasn't, it was literal physical  restructuring because of my lifestorm wyrmkin physique, but good  tailoring was an easy excuse so I took the out.

I wanted  to get right to things, but I had to smirk a bit. "I'm surprised you  dressed up for me like this. I was under the impression you wanted to  keep things platonic. Something change your mind?" I was getting a much  different vibe from Zee this time around than our last few meetings. I  wasn't complaining, but either she was really down for the magic I was  putting out or something had happened to change her outlook on me. Hell,  maybe it was a bit of both.

Her eye twitched in  annoyance. "Well Barbara's phone call and two hour rant about how much  of a whore I am certainly helped. Honestly I'm not sure where all this  hostility is even coming from. Dick and I were just friends when they  were together. I TOLD her that. But when she found out we'd been having  lunch together lately she lost it. She seems much more possessive of you  than she ever was of him, which is strange since a mutual friend  mentioned that the two of you aren't exclusive."

I closed  my eyes, sighing in annoyance. I was going to have to have a talk with  Barbie. I didn't think this was an issue of me seeing other women as  much as she had a complex about Zee, but I couldn't have her calling  women I was trying to seduce to scream at them. That shit was  counterproductive. At least...normally. I grinned at her. "So you're  saying you were so annoyed by the verbal abuse you're considering  sleeping with me just to get back at her? Since you know we're open to  other people."

She giggled at that. "Let's not get ahead  of ourselves. I'm annoyed, but not quite that annoyed. Despite the anger  she was a friend for years." She leaned in to give me a better view.  "Still, I figured a picture or two of us out to dinner might make its  way onto my social media. Not exactly the way to make peace, but I'm  more interested in getting her back for all thos nasty comments than  anything else right now. So enjoy the eye candy Mr. and we can talk  about maybe taking things further another time. Regardless, you said you  had something important to talk to me about? You sounded flustered on  the phone. What's this favor?"

I took her up on her offer  and stared at those fat jiggly tits for a few seconds before answering,  getting a knowing smirk. Zee was NOT body shy. Finally I pried my gaze  away to respond. "I got a visit from someone, someone who I'd never met  but who seemed to know me pretty well. He invited me to a party or  something on the thirty first. Considering he said this was for Gotham  locals who had some power I thought you might have gotten the same  invitation, and might have some kind of info on his boss."

Her  playful smile vanished. "Oh. You got invited to that. Ivan Drench I  assume?" I nodded. "I think he was the one who handled to big names. I  heard a few others got invites from different people. I got mine a few  days ago. I've been looking into him and his employer but haven't found  much. Drench is a low level sorcerer, just enough juice to extend his  life. He's been around a while but hasn't made waves until now. Whoever  his boss is gave him a power boost or something because I could feel the  magic coming off him in waves. Whoever he was before he's a real player  now."

The appraisal had told me as much, but it hadn't  mentioned quite how penny ante the guy had been. "There's that much of a  difference? He carries himself like he's used to power, like he's  familiar with being a big fish. I didn't notice anything about him that  seemed overeager or power hungry. He just struck me as competent and  stable. I could see why someone would pick someone like him to give that  kind of power to." Drench was solid ice when I met him, and apparently  he was old, old dogs don't learn new tricks, and that kind of nerve  isn't something you pick up overnight anyway.

She shook  her head. "He was always bottom of the barrel, but smart. Stayed off  everyone's radar, picked his moments. In poker guys like him are called  grinders. The wait for the perfect moment patiently and then take what  they can before backing off. He was never a real power player in the  community though. He had the nerve but not the muscle. He was a decent  pick for a representative, but his selection speaks to the sort of  meticulous planning and research that you don't see from many magic  users. Not ones strong enough to juice him up like that."

I  could read between the lines. "Which means you don't know who his boss  is. You talk like you have some ideas, but if they had panned out you  wouldn't be beating around the bush like that. Fair enough, I don't know  either, though I'll ask around and let you know if I find anything. Do  you at least have some sort of clue or idea I could chase down? Any lead  would help. My sources aren't exactly steeped in the magic side of  things. I figure you have a better chance of finding a place to start."

The  annoyance on her face wasn't aimed at me, I could tell, but it still  bled into her voice. "No. Nothing. I've been shaking every tree I can  find and I have absolutely no idea who it might be. I checked the  Oblivion Bar, summoned every spirit I could think of, even went to the  League about this. I didn't realize he was involving civilians or I'd  have pushed harder on the League side, but without Batman our best asset  in Gotham is gone anyway. Regardless, no matter how much I look or dig  I've got nothing."

Her eyes met mine. "Which isn't good.  It means one of two things. Either this is a very new player, one who  hasn't had time to make their bones yet, or the opposite. It could be  someone old. So old that we've all forgotten them, and they've just been  sitting there, in the dark, waiting. Either way things are bad.  Newbie's are stupid and impulsive. prone to mistakes and shows of force,  especially when they have this kind of muscle. But the alternative is  worse."

I knew why too. "Because that kind of patience is  rare. Someone with enough power to make Drench an overnight badass and  the patience to plan out a big event like this without leaving a single  clue is someone to fear." I knew what she'd ask next too. Just like I  knew I had to say no. This party was going to be a game changer, a real  shakeup of all of Gotham, and since I lived in Cherry Hill and was  expanding into the city I was one of the lords of Gotham. I'd been  summoned, and whether I went or not the city was going to change. I  needed to be there to guide that change or get swept up in its wake.

Sure  enough she reached out and took my hand, eyes pleading. "Nicky this  isn't going to be a rich people party where CEO's throw their wallets  around to impress some fresh faced models and sorority girls. This is  going to be a conclave, a meeting to decide the fate of the city.  Mobsters, Villains, Monsters, the worst of the worst are coming to this  thing, and more that are much harder to define. Stay home. Please? I  know you're a smart guy, and cocky, and I like that about you. But your  daddy's name isn't going to matter to the people who are coming to this.  This is meta business, and you could get hurt or worse."

It  would have been easy to take that the wrong way, to get annoyed at her  underestimating me. But that would have been fucking stupid. I went to  great pains to be underestimated, and getting pissy about it when it  wasn't convenient would be ridiculous. Still, I couldn't commit to that.  As much as I wanted Zee to owe me one, I had to go to this, it was too  big, too important. I was expanding into Gotham and I needed to control  the city. This was probably the best first step. I'd be able to appraise  all the movers and shakers and see what I was facing before I could  REALLY own Gotham.

I squeezed her hand, and she closed her  eyes with a sigh. "You're not going to back out. I should have expected  that." She sounded half annoyed and half fond. "Fine. I can't stop you.  But at least come as my date. I'll be able to protect you and keep an  eye on you. You can use your two plus ones to bring your bodyguard and  someone else you think might be useful. Hell, you can use both of mine  too. Just let me watch out for you at this. It's not going to be a game  Nicky, you could easily get hurt."

I grinned at her. "I'd  be delighted to escort such a lovely lady to the big show. And I'll take  you up on your offer, thank you." Four plus ones meant I could bring my  whole crew. Minus Jade but I didn't want that cat out of the bag yet to  the general public anyway. The mask should keep people from connecting  me and Mammon directly, though the news that I was working for him would  be pretty widespread by now anyway. I had some planning to do in either  case. Until then though, I just smiled at my date. "Now. With business  out of the way, what say we order. I'm starving." Sadly what I wanted  most wasn't on the menu...yet.