Greed God chapter 51

January 14th 2016 Gotham City 7:00 PM EDT

Lady  Shiva looked...pissed, but wary. Which was fair. I'd just burned the  fucking mind out of her heavy hitter. With Devastation down no one could  hang with Fafnir, which meant this little shitshow had decidedly tilted  in my favor. Still, she had cards, and she played them. "We are but few  of many, and Devastation is not the mightiest of our number. You do not  wish to make an enemy out of my organization, Mr...?"

I  swept into an elegant bow. "I am Mammon, purveyor of fine wares, and  collector of beautiful things. Including, as it so happens, miss Nguyen  over there. I'm afraid I can't give up the things I set my eye on, it's a  matter of pride, but there is no need for us to be at odds. You simply  wish to ensure her silence, yes? You can turn her over to me. I'll make  sure she keeps her mouth shut, and should she cause you trouble, you  need simply come back to deal with us both, since it would be so simple  for you." I chucked mirthlessly. "You see...I too am but one of many."

Her  eyes narrowed. She didn't like that. She was angry that I was  challenging her pride, but smart enough to hold herself back. I  approved. She also had a nice fat pair of milfy tits under that tight  red top, which I approved of even more. I added her to my mental list.  She just sat there and glared, which was a problem, because Jade was  playing along for now but if they pushed she might rabbit. Which would  be annoying since I wanted to use this an opportunity to get her in a  position to put a Brand on that candy ass of hers.

My  best bet here was to assuage their pride. I believed them about not  being the strongest, Jade was way too scared of these people for this to  be it. If this was the whole crew she would have bolted and left me to  hold them off. Her sister, who was apparently much smarter than most  Leaguers, didn't say anything to interrupt my claim, which lent credence  to my assumption that this was a very delicate situation.

I  held up a hand. "We've gotten off on the wrong foot Miss Wu-San. I am a  businessman, first and foremost, not a soldier. I may have reacted a  bit harshly to your approach. I was nervous about your obvious skill and  capability. I think, perhaps, this situation can still be salvaged. In  ancient times, when one was lost, the one who ended their life would pay  a blood price to their lord. A weregild. Perhaps I might compensate you  for your loss. Would you be...amenable to such an arrangement?"

I  was betting she would, it was a sap to her pride, not to mention it  gave me something very special. A chance to test a theory. Jade was  League of Shadows, she ran away but they still considered her theirs. If  I paid the weregild for her and Devastation both, I'd essentially be  BUYING her. It might be enough to Brand her without consent, similar to  how I was able to Brand Roy by finding him when he was a popsicle. As I  suspected, Lady Shiva looked...pensive. I was a genuine threat to her,  but if she could turn this around then my ability would be testament to  her own skill.

Lady  Shiva was, from what I could tell, a kind of person I recognized. She  was a lap dog. Oh she was one of the formal ones, to be sure, she had a  'code' and 'lived by the sword' but in her eyes I could see the cold and  merciless resolve to do whatever it too to further the ends of her  master. If dying would do that, she would fight us to the end, but if I  could frame this in a way that benefited her and those she worked for,  then she might get a treat, and all good dogs loved treats. So I offered  her something shiny to bring back to her master for a pat on the head.

She  nodded. "I will accept this tribute. You will pay for Devastation's  life, and surrender the traitoress to us, and we will consider this  matter settled. We may even approach you in the future to hear more  about these...fine goods you purvey." Her voice was soft and even, but  with my senses detecting the smugness and the pride behind it was  child's play. She was practically monologueing about her victory to my  eyes.

Ugh. I  hated letting her think her shitbag bosses scared me. Sadly her shitbag  bosses DID scare me, or at least made me wary, and this was the easiest  way to get this done. "Disagree I offered weregild, but I didn't say it  would be for Devastation alone. I'm paying for both of them. I want miss  Nguyen for myself. I killed Devastation and was allowed to pay for her,  so you can just consider Jade as dead to your organization." I saw the  masked man, who had kept his mouth shut, tense at that. Boyfriend maybe,  or a relative, based on the baby girl comment.

Lady  Shiva's lips thinned, but she didn't say no. She stared impassively for  a moment or two before she said. "Make your offering. We shall see if  it is acceptable." I reached into my pockets and drew out a pair of  stones. Big stones. One of them was a diamond, the other a ruby, and  they were both the size of a box of matches. Unlike my other offerings  at penguins club though. These were H rank stones. The peak of what you  could find naturally. They were flawless and incredibly valuable.

Lady  Shiva studied them calmly, but I saw her pupils dilate, and the pulse  quicken in her throat. She knew what she was holding. I wasn't sure if  she was just really familiar with gems but her reaction told me she was  aware of the value. She nodded grudgingly. "Fine. We accept your  weregild, the girl will be delivered to you. But this is not enough.   This is an acceptable weregild for Devastation alone. We will collect a  second pair of stones when we come to see your wares. Do not think to  deprive us of our rightful due."

She  snapped her fingers and the ninjas melted into the darkness, she and  the masked man I remembered to appraise at the last second (Sportsmaster  apparently, the girls father) turned and strode off into the trees,  leaving Devastation's body behind. I nodded to Waylon, who strode over  and picked the big woman's living corpse up. Artemis turned to glare at  him, but I stepped into her line of sight. "We'll take care of her.  Attempt to treat the damage. No one else will be able to manage."

That  was a lie of course. I might be able to wake her up, but why bother  when I could just merge her with someone I could actually use. I turned  to Jade. "As for the debt you now owe me, I'll text you an address and  we can meet to discuss it. I trust you won't run away, because without  my protection you'll have to deal with them." I felt the mark blaze to  life on her ass cheek and grinned under my mask. I was thrilled with how  all of this had turned out. I turned to Roy. "I'm going then, are you  willing to go with them?"

He  glanced between them, then back to me. He was well aware I would have  Whisper follow him regardless, but knowing the Artemis was League made  this whole thing slightly more valid.  I knew Roy had been Green Arrows  little buddy, which at the same time meant he was probably the person  Dinah had been mentioning looking for at the coffee shop the first day  we met, and all of this was annoyingly complicated, but in general that  wasn't my problem. Roy was going to head back to meet with his old crew,  and since he couldn't talk about me because orders and his brain was  protected it was fine.

He  nodded. "I will. They seem like they're ok, and I want to try to find  some of my friends. I appreciate the assist." I was personally enjoying  how everyone was blatantly ignoring the fact that Roy just SPAT a  bullet. I figured they assumed he'd been experimented on. I wonder if we  could convince them The Reach had done it. It wouldn't hold up under  scrutiny, but the Leaguers had a tendency to leap first and ask  questions later. Regardless, Roy headed over to leave with the girls,  and made a mental note to text Jade asap.

Once  they were gone I turned to my people. "Alright folks, we're done for  now. Waylon carry that comatose bitch to the car. I can use her for  materials." I'd yet to try merging people with each other, but  considering I could designate a primary and Devastation was brain dead  now she was an ideal test subject. I considered who to merge her with.  Whisper was out, I wanted to push her further down her evolutionary path  to see how she would end up. I'd make more Arcadian Serpents to merge  into her to push her closer to rank up without diluting her abilities.

I'd  wanted to save Bonebreaker for a golem build, but I could always try  that with someone else. I'd merge Devastation with her and see what came  of it. If I lost her...well I'd get SOMETHING useful I was sure. Waylon  wouldn't mind as long as she could still fuck, and I was sure she  could. I wondered if she would even change physically. It would be good  to have a better handle on what my system could do at least. I climbed  into the back seat, Devastation went into the passenger side while  Whisper and Bonebreaker climbed in beside me. Once we were on our way I  took my phone out and texted Jade.

She  got my address text and responded immediately. "Why would I meet you  somewhere alone now that I have what I want?" Despite the content, I  felt like she wasn't asking rhetorically. She genuinely wanted to know. I  responded, telling her she owed me. She took a minute texting back.  "What are you going to make me do to pay off that debt. Or should I say  who?" Again, I got the sense that she wasn't upset, more amused.

I  figured I had a Brand on that ass anyway so I could just make her cum  until her brain broke if I needed to. Might as well be honest. "If you  think I'm not going to be the one fucking you, you haven't been paying  attention to anything I said." She didn't respond to that immediately,  but I didn't need her to. "Meet me at that address, and don't wear  underwear. Consider it a one time payment, once we finish you'll never  see me again." That was obviously a lie, but she didn't know what I  could do to her brain with both my abilities and that Brand.

There  was a slight pause before I got a response. "I'll hold you to that.  Bring condoms." I snickered internally at the comment, fairly sure it  was partially inspired by her getting knocked up and having to quit  being an assassin. I settled back in to enjoy the ride, putting my phone  away. I'd sent her to the abandoned house in Cherry Hill. The meeting  was set for tomorrow.

There was no  connection to me from there really, and even if Knightfall hadn't  ditched the cameras I didn't mind giving her a show. I was gonna fuck  that little bitch out of her mind so she would come crawling back all on  her own. Then I'd merge her with something interesting so I'd have a  proper assassin. I'd mentioned offhandedly being able to turn her into  the Cheshire cat for real, I wondered if I could follow through. I'd try  at least, that sounded like fun. I leaned back to relax as we drove,  thinking about the meeting with Jade. I just couldn't wait for tomorrow.