Greed God chapter 48

January 14th 2016 Pacific Ocean Airspace 3:00 AM EDT

Roy  woke up on fully on the plane. Which I really should have expected.  He'd started to come to back at the temple, but he hadn't had the  energy, so he'd passed back out and sort of been in and out of  consciousness since. When he finally came to, he was...belligerent.  Which caused me to get annoyed and just order him to shut up. Which he  did. Which made him MORE belligerent. Luckily Waylon was there to loom  over him menacingly and make him sit the fuck down and listen to what I  had to say.

I glared at him.  "Stay sitting, I'm not letting you talk until I say my piece. Now, today  is January thirteenth two thousand and sixteen. I don't know how long  you were on ice, but I know I was a while. I just rescued you from a  fate worse than death, so before you talk shit, ponder exactly where you  would be without me. Now, you can talk." I wanted to see what he would  say after realizing I could order him around. He just glared at me,  little shit had a serious attitude problem, but I could work with that.

He  stared at me for a minute before he spoke, finally using his damn  brain. "So what, you save my life and now I work for you out of  gratitude. You obviously implanted some kind of mind control. I'm  supposed to fall all over myself with gratitude because you wanted a  puppet?" His sneer was still belligerent, but also a bit nervous, he was  very obviously out of his depth here.

I  chuckled at the tough guy act. I liked the kid. "No. I didn't implant  mind control, it's deeper than that. I own your soul now." I nodded to  my minions. "Just like I own theirs. But there are...benefits to that.  You've been stuck in a tank for gods know how many years. They took your  arm, took your life, took everything from you. I can't undo that seal,  but I don't have to use it, I can let you go, let you run back to your  old life and your old friend, but the question becomes...do you want me  to?"

I  gestured for Whisper to step forward. "This is Whisper. She used to be a  small time criminal preacher for the Religion of Crime." I looked at my  viper. "Show him your wings, lovely." She did, unfurling the tattooed  feathered wings that shone with many colors. "Whisper was a normal  person Roy. Just like you. Now she's strong enough to take on mid tier  metas and getting stronger. She can fly fast enough to cross a large  room in an eye blink, and is strong enough to throw a...well not a car. A  refrigerator maybe."

His  jaw tightened. "And this costs me what? My free will? I do what you say  and you'll make me stronger.  I've heard that pitch before. It never  ends well." Despite saying that I could see his eyes flicked to  Whisper's wings. The kid wanted power, and he wasn't picky about how he  got it. I knew who he was. Speedy. Green Arrow's former sidekick.The  bonus for stealing him had told me he was part of the League and an  appraisal hold told me the rest. I didn't know what they did with his  arm, but they thought he was useful enough to keep for all this time so  aside from getting me into some assassin pussy he had to be good for  something.

I  sighed. "Roy, stand up and hop on one foot." He did. He was not amused,  but I just let him keep hopping. "See, I don't need to brainwash you. I  don't need to trick you. I own you, kid. That's not a euphemism, I could  literally tell you to jump out of this fucking plane and you would do  it. So this isn't me trying to turn you into a perfect killing machine. I  could make you that easily. Strip away your free will with complicated  orders so you would basically be a meat robot operating on my every  whim."

I sent  a silent command telling him to stop and sit down. "But I don't want  that. Frankly being your shadowy puppet master sounds fucking annoying.  It's time consuming and requires planning and foresight. I don't want  that hassle. It's so much easier for me if you WANT to work for me. The  thing about the stick is you have to keep whacking the person with it,  but the carrot just dangles there, and then they do all the work."

I  steepled my fingers, enjoying the imagery of the composed villain as I  gave him my pitch. "So this is the offer Roy. You want your arm back?  You want to be strong? Fast? You want money? Cars? Women? I can get you  those. And more importantly I can give you the chance to take revenge.  Maybe not today, or tomorrow, because I still have no fucking clue who  owns that tricked out monastery. But by the time I'm done with you  whoever it is will be very sorry that they ever fucked with you."

I  found myself hoping he took me up on it. I wasn't lying. I didn't want  to deal with any of the hassle of training him to be a lapdog. I'd just  compel him to keep his mouth shut and hand him over to Jade. I'd get my  milf fuck eventually and he'd never even seen my face so even if a  telepath got at him it's not like this shit would lead back to me  anytime soon. But I liked his spunk. He reminded me of me, albeit much  more pissed off and with a party sized bag of chips on his shoulder. He  was morally grey rather than the black and white the League like their  people to be.

He  bit his lip. "You...you could regrow my arm? And make me strong?" His  voice sounded vulnerable, and I felt for the kid. I nodded to Whisper,  nonverbally commanding her to help me reel him in. Damaged teens were  her bread and butter, and Roy was going to need a minder. He was young  and impulsive, Whisper would be able to channel that best. She could be  the kids new mommy and keep him on a leash.

I  grinned behind my mask. "Of course I can." I gestured to my bodyguard.  "You ever heard of Killer Croc? Waylon used to be Killer Croc. He was  stuck with a problem he wanted gone, and once he started working for me I  not only gave him the ability to transform to a normal human form, I  gave his other form an upgrade. Show him." Waylon knelt down, because  ten foot spiky lizard men don't fit well in private jets, and shifted  into his serpentine form and then back. Roy was gaping at him. "Now, if I  can do that, don't you think regrowing an arm will be a snap."

Whisper  stepped up next to him, resting a soft hand on his arm. Her soothing,  vaguely Irish lilt was comforting and kind as she spoke. "We know what  you've been through Roy. We've all been hurt before. Mammon wants to  help you. Sure, he might get something out of it, but is that so bad?  Isn't it only fair that your rescuer gets a reward? Does it really  matter to you if he benefits when you get all the things you want? We're  all you have Roy. Everyone else has left you behind, it's been years,  do you think they all just stopped and waited?"

I  stood up, walking over to the private fridge and taking out a pair of  black cherry sodas. Then I thought about it and took out two more,  merging them into a pair of I rank drinks. The ten points to upgrade  food was literally a drop in the bucket to me, so I did it pretty often  now. I was at a hundred and two thousand. Since Speedy was only I rank  and a non powered sidekick I only got a thousand for him, I was pretty  sure the system rounded down for the arm. I walked over, popping the top  and handing it to him.

He  took it numbly, taking a sip with one shaking hand. I sat down and,  deciding I almost had him, took my mask off. Showing him some trust  would speed up the process, and I wanted to get him fully on my side in a  few days so I could give him to Jade already mentally protected and  back in fighting shape. I wasn't sure what I was going to merge him  with, but I'd throw a mind defense pill into the mix when I made it to  keep them out of his head and then order him to keep quit as a safety  precaution.

He  seemed surprised by how young I was, but he didn't know me, obviously. I  smiled. "I'm Nicholas Lord. Everyone calls me Nicky. If we're going to  be working together I figured it would only be fair for you to know my  name like I know yours. Drink up, the soda is excellent." I took a sip  of my own, savoring the taste. I loved black cherry soda. It was one my  fathers few indulgences. He said drinking alcohol dulled the senses, and  the sweet drink was one of the rewards he allowed himself.

The  kid sipped the soda and his eyebrows rose in surprise as he stared at  the bottle. Which was fair. It was peak I rank soda. Real gourmet shit.  Now I just had to get the kid squared away and I'd be one step closed to  getting my hands on Jade's tight little ass. I needed a spy in my crew.  Barbie was useful enough but she was League, so I had to handle the  whole thing with her carefully. My personal team was much more...outside  the lines, and it was coming along well.

I'd  decided against adding Mal in the end, at least anytime soon. He owed  me and he would be a good source of intel and support within the League,  but it wasn't worth the risks to bring him in fully. Besides he would  be subpar as a bruiser compared to Bonebreaker and Waylon. I'd put Roy  on range, Whisper would handle our PR and mental shit, and Jade could be  my spy and assassin. With them and the information on the kidnappers I  could start taking my potshots at the big fish while I tracked down and  ousted Knightfall.

I  felt a buzz from my pocket and pulled out my phone. I was on a sat plan  so I got service pretty much anywhere. It was from Dinah. She didn't  know she was pregnant yet. I'd looked it up and the egg didn't attach to  the wall of the uterus for about ten days. It had been five so I had at  least that long. I didn't think even Superman could tell this early,  though for all I knew he could smell the hormones or some shit. She was  asking to come over, but I told her I was out of town on a trip with  some friends and I'd see her when I got back.

I  put my phone away and looked at the newest member of my team. Roy  wasn't big, five ten tops, and he wasn't intimidating. He was however,  in shape and based on body language pretty damn well trained. Not Barbie  levels, but GA had clearly put some time into him before letting him  out on the streets. I made a mental note to thank the emerald archer,  though I would probably need to do it before he found out I'd knocked up  his long term girlfriend. The question remained though, what exactly  should I merge Roy with for the best effect. Animal? Mineral? So many  possibilities. This was definitely my favorite part of recruiting.