Greed God chapter 41

January 10th 2016 Gotham City 8:00 PM EDT

Coffee  with Zee was a blast. She was just a cool chick to hand around with,  and she really loved her magic stuff. She could talk about it for hours,  and between my senses and my normal charming personality I made decent  progress with the sexy sorceress. We agreed to meet for breakfast in a  day or two, but sadly I had to cut things short because of my dinner  plans. One does not flake on Maxwell Lord, unfortunately. Waylon kept  his distance, though I'm pretty sure Zee noticed him, even if she didn't  mention it.

Once I said my goodbyes I flopped into the  back seat and had Waylon drive us home. Now that I had a bodyguard there  was no reason for me to drive myself. I groaned as I laid in the back  seat with no seat belt, arm over my eyes. "Ugh. Dinner with my dad is so  exhausting. I have to second guess everything I say, third guess  everything he says, and then figure out what he actually wanted me to  take away from the conversation afterwards because he'd never direct  about anything."

Waylon chuckled. "He can't be that bad  boss. Plus that magician girl had a fantastic body, so you have to be in  a good mood after flirting with her for a few hours." Which was a fair  point, but since I'd made about zero progress my mood was less uplifted  than one would expect. I texted Dinah, not about a booty call but just  to check in. I knew there was no way she knew about the baby this soon  but I was feeling...protective.

I also texted Barbie.  She'd been poking around some of her leads lately and I hadn't seen her  in a bit. I was hoping for another sparring session sometime soon, and I  missed that hot little pussy. That girl fucked like a rodeo champion.  Whisper had her ears out for potential leads and I was still waiting on a  response from the Calculator on where Roy Harper was. With all of that  double checked sadly I was out of things to distract me from my  impending family dinner. When we pulled into the garage I sent Waylon  ahead to his room and made my way up to dining room on my own.

Unfortunately  when I arrived I realized that while I had the good taste not to bring  my bodyguard my old man hadn't extended me the same courtesy. The severe  looking woman standing behind my fathers chair gave me a measured look  as I came inside. I just rolled my eyes. "Fantastic, Sasha is here. Bit  paranoid to bring your attack dog to dinner with your own son, don't you  think pop?" I sat down across from my father, tucking a napkin into my  collar to cover my tie.

Games at Lord family dinner's  began on entry, and making the opening move was a new experience for me.  My father thought the same thing because he raised an eyebrow in  surprise. "You were of course free to bring your new hire with you.  Miss. Bordeaux had been a loyal and capable assistant to me, I'm sure I  would be lost without her." He turned to smile at the stoic woman.  "Would you care to join us for dinner Sasha?"

I nodded he  head to concede him that one. Having her as a guard makes you look weak?  Make her a dinner guest. She sneered at me and sat down in a chair she  fetched from a dining closet. My dad's bodyguard was a frigid bitch at  the best of times, and we'd never gotten along. I didn't trust her after  her less than sterling exit from Bruce Wayne's service, and she thought  I was a spoiled brat.  Which to be fair I was, but fuck her, bodyguards  should be seen and not heard. She'd been with the old man for almost  half a decade now though so we were used to each other even if we didn't  like having to get that way.

My father snapped his  fingers and an honest to gods chef came out of the next room pushing a  dining cart. He had the hat and the coat and everything, and when he  stopped in from of us and took the silver cover off the platter I had to  stifle an eye roll. The eye roll came anyway when I saw the third plate  on the platter, proving my dad had been expecting my jab about his  bodyguard and had prepared for this exact situation. It was just as  annoying being around him as I remembered.

At the very  least the her encrusted rack of lamb and garlic mashed potatoes that  were for dinner tonight smelled amazing. He gestured for me to start  eating, and when I did so he began to speak. "I've been following your  recent movements with interest Nicholas, well, some of them. You seem to  be illusive at the worst times, but I've managed to piece together a  rough timeline of your movements. Getting in contact with that fence,  moving on to the Religion of Crime of all things, then getting in bed  with Cobblepot. Not to mention seducing Jim Gordon's darling daughter.  You've been...ambitious."

I froze with a fork halfway to  my mouth for a split second but I forced myself to keep going, acting  completely natural. My father took a bit of his own lamb, giving a  delighted hum of approval before continuing. "Don't get me wrong Nicky, I  approve wholeheartedly. Granted you've made some rash moves, but being  able to conceal a good portion of your whereabouts from me over the last  few days even when I looked into it is impressive. I'm...dare I say it,  proud of you. However, I would be remiss if I didn't ask why? Why the  change of heart? Why the sudden interest in the family business?"

So  he didn't know much. Didn't know about the system, and knowing him he  was probably less than sure about most of the things he said. This was  fishing. I needed to make sure he caught something small and worthless  so he didn't fish up my bigger secrets. I had no fucking clue how that  mask worked but however it managed to "conceal my secrets" it was  incredibly impressive. It seemed to work partially even when I wasn't  wearing it, somehow sealing any information regarding my Mammon persona.

I  kept my face neutral, because I had zero idea how much he knew, so I  tried to feel him out a bit. "I was approached by my current...business  partner. A masked scientist named Mammon. He gave me access to some  unique artifacts and before I knew it I was neck deep in all this. I  know you've moved out of the supervillain life...or at least I think you  have since I haven't seen you trying to kill Superman on the news or  engaging in your usual criminal foreplay with Wonder Woman."

Keeping  contrary thoughts out of my mind was a difficult trick to pull when talking about my secrets, but my mental control certainly came in handy  here. Judging by his expression he was at least partly buying it. I was  just glad I'd made sure years ago he really didn't have cameras around  here, it would have been a disaster. He gave me a level look and then  nodded to Sasha, who got up to close and lock the door.

He steepled his fingers. "You're right. I haven't been in the villain game in a while. I've been...otherwise occupied. You've noted my espionage  skill set and I know you suspect me of being a spy. You could say that I  suppose, though perhaps calling me a spymaster is a better term. I work  for a government funded espionage organization called Checkmate. In my  capacity as the Black King I direct their operations."

I  raised an eyebrow. "As much as I would like to think you're getting  ready to induct me into your order and pass me the keys to the kingdom  that isn't your style. You aren't the type to give something like that  away. So...why? Why tell me any of this? Am I being pressed into service  as an agent? Do I get the old 'join up or die speech'? Because while I  don't expect familial warmth exactly I always figured you drew the line  at actively forcing me to work for you?"

He chuckled.  "Boy, if I cared as little about you as you seem to think you would have  been an agent of mine before you could walk. You think some random  offspring I don't care about could get away with spending the better  part of the last years as a useless layabout. No, I'm not offering you  the keys to the kingdom, but I am offering a foot in the door. You've  proven yourself at least competent enough not be dismissed. I came back  to town to handle a little...issue, but I think you might be just the  man for the job."

That was...surprising. But I let him go  on. "There's been a recent rash of home invasions and assaults in  Gotham's Cherry Hill district. We aren't sure WHY this is happening, but  whoever is doing it is paving the way for a relatively stealthy  business venture to start buying up run down houses in an attempt to  gentrify the area. There have been...rumblings, that the influence at  work might have some relation to a UK counterpart to Checkmate called  Spyral. Either as an agent or a potential recruit."

That  wasn't what I'd been expecting. "So...what? You want me to track down a  team of thugs beating up poor people so they can but property to flip to  rich people? Because I'll be honest, that had a much less grand destiny  sort of vibe than you seemed to be pushing a minute ago." But that  wasn't what he wanted, and I knew it. I wasn't sure why he was telling  me this exactly, but I knew what he wanted me to do with the  information.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't be petulant. You  know what I'm proposing. You're eighteen now, you've been investing in  your own business. I want you to find out who is making moves in Cherry  Hill and dispose of them. Make sure Spyral can't get a foothold in the  US, but more importantly, stake your claim on the area. Show me this new  leaf isn't just a flight of fancy, and I'll give you access to  Checkmate as an agent. Nothing too restrictive, but if you're half the  man I think you are you'll be more than capable of using the resources  available to accrue much more power than you could manage on your own."

I  wasn't so sure about that, but with my own abilities and the tricks I  had up my sleeve I could use an organization like Checkmate to great  advantage. It would put me on a global scale of operation much sooner  than expected. It would let me find the kidnappers and deprive them of  their ill gotten gains, and it would let me move around the League more  easily without having to worry so much about the power disparity, at  least assuming they were as scary as the old man made out. "I won't  commit to anything before I know what's going on, but I'll look into  it."

He gave an approving nod, flashing a sharklike smile.  "Spoken like a true Lord. As mentioned we only have rumblings of what's  being planned or who is involved, but I was able to suss out at least a  tiny bit of information on the person operating the gang of thugs." He  took another bite, savoring the lamb and then chasing it with a fork  full of potatoes and a sip of wine. He loved to draw things like this  out to be dramatic. When he finished he dabbed his napkin at his mouth  before finally deigning to address me. "Apparently the group works for a  figure calling themselves 'Knightfall.' "