Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Priapus, Marethyu, Mike God of Lore
The Guild of Gamers: The Supervillain
Chapter 32: A Worthy Opponent
— Rebecca Costa-Brown (Alexandria) —
With both her and Eidolon in Brockton Bay, there was no way to stop this meeting from happening even if she had a general feeling of dread over it.
"What do you mean no?" Eidolon nearly snarled, the room shaking with his rage. Prophet remained unbothered, staring them down with disinterest.
"Did I stutter? I will not be empowering any member of the Triumvirate. You're too strong and further empowering you would not just shift the balancing act too far but break the scales entirely," Prophet replied, his tone calm and unbothered by Eidolon's anger. "Your fading powers are not my problem. Even with your waning star, you're still strong enough to call yourself a member of the Triumvirate after all."
Eidolon, despite everything, was usually a somewhat reasonable person. Having the answer to his biggest problem right in front of him and then being outright refused changed that.
"Is this room secure?" Alexandria asked.
"Obviously," Prophet drawled, amusement crossing his face. He was once again in his business suit and domino mask, instead of the full body suit he wore for his few public appearances.
"I know you are Midas, Jin. We've tolerated your little game thus far because it's been beneficial," Alexandria pointed out coldly.
"And I know you're Rebecca Costa-Brown, and that the entire PRT is corrupt and controlled by the very capes they claim to regulate," Jin replied with a bored expression. "I also know you work for a secret society called Cauldron, which has a former member of the Slaughterhouse Nine controlling the world's economy. I wonder which of these secrets would cause more damage? That's not mentioning that you are behind the Case 53 situation, amongst Cauldron's many other crimes."
Rebecca went silent, her worst fear realised. Of course he knew. She'd taken a chance, and it had immediately backfired. She hated that she couldn't read him.
"But do you know why-"
"Scion. Any other questions, or would you like to go back to futile, toothless threats?" Jin asked. "You permit me to play my little masquerade because if you stopped me, you'd lose access to Prophet, and Midas would rapidly win and drive the PRT out of our cities with a wave of endlessly empowered villains. You'll continue to allow me to do as I please, because it's a drop of water in your ocean of crimes and my empowerment of capes on both sides increases the probability of your only true goal succeeding. As I said, toothless threats."
The only thing she hated more than his certainty was the fact that he was entirely accurate. Every cape he improved was another tiny boost in their chances when the time came. She really hated Thinkers sometimes.
Not least of which because Contessa, their all-powerful Thinker, was still fucking missing.
"If you know that much, surely you understand why you should empower us-" Eidolon started, clearly aggravated.
"My predictions say otherwise. Empowering you escalates matters too much and will result in an early doomsday date and a weaker fighting force," Jin replied coolly.
Wait, could he actually predict Scion? It was clear that Midas did not follow the usual rules when it came to powers, but what were his limits?
"As such, your ego is not worth indulging. Accept your descent into insignificance with some grace, David," Jin continued, turning his attention back to the paperwork in front of him.
The dismissive tone and actions, combined with the words that stabbed into Eidolon's legacy felt designed to infuriate David and she realised a moment too late that that was exactly the case. Jin was openly trying to get Eidolon to act rashly. The refusal, the smugness, all being delivered by a villain who had openly dropped the act. Eidolon had gotten his hopes up of his power being fixed only to be met with open mockery.
She went to speak but David acted first, changing his powers and hitting Jin with something before he could rise from his seat, his skin starting to turn gold.
The superior sneer on his lips faded, his face going blank.
"Eidolon!" Rebecca barked, but she could tell David regretted nothing. There was nothing he feared more than losing his powers.
"Fix my power," Eidolon ordered, holding out his hand to the blank-faced Jin. As Jin reached out, Eidolon turned to her, no doubt with an excuse why they should ignore the powerful thinker and do what he wanted instead.
She wasn't amused, going to cut him off before she realised something. Jin was smiling. Before she could close the distance, Eidolon let out a scream as his wrist was ruthlessly snapped by a golden fist, Jin smirking.
"Did you honestly believe the likes of you could master me?" Jin asked, his skin turning entirely to gold.
"What- what have you done!?" Eidolon asked with a hint of true fear in his voice.
"I can break powers as easily as I can make them. Don't worry, there's a dozen heroes I can upgrade to take your place on the Triumvirate," Jin replied simply, his hand lashing out and smacking Eidolon across the face. "Take him."
A flash of light caused her to gasp as Eidolon disappeared. She closed the distance, grabbing Jin by his throat as she lifted him into the air.
"Where did you send him?" Rebecca growled, realising just how bad of an idea this was. She should have dragged David out of the city, but Jin's immunity to Thinker powers left them guessing far too much.
"Away. Release me," Jin said simply. "Unless you'd like the video of a member of the Triumvirate mastering the hope of Independents after being denied to go viral before you can even get out of my office."
She almost went to threaten to release his identity, but they'd been down that road. It was a lose-lose. Removing his influence over the Independents just empowered the villains more. She couldn't even physically threaten him because he'd repeatedly shown to have the power to be in two places at once and she didn't need her thinker power to spot how unbothered he was to have Alexandria threatening him.
"What are you doing with him?" Rebecca asked, dropping him.
"Once I am done with him, I will return him, unharmed beyond his crippled power. I'll even fix it when the cooldown wears off," Jin replied. "If things go as planned, Endbringers will no longer be a threat."
Rebecca went silent at that, seeing Jin lean against his desk, his posture relaxed.
"How?" Rebecca asked, dread in her chest.
"I can duplicate powers. Effectively, your vials but far more customisable. Eidolon is subconsciously controlling the Endbringers to fulfil his pathetic need for worthy opponents. With him, I can take the keys to the Endbringers for myself," Jin explained.
She wanted to say he was lying, but Jin got an understanding of every power he touched. They'd seen that over and over again. She had noticed that the League seemed to be getting one hell of an influx of capes that had similar powers.
"We are on the same side here, Rebecca. I'd rather not have to dismantle the PRT around you," Jin said simply, confident in his ability to do so.
If he knew half as much as she feared, she suspected he was right to be confident.
"You really think you can stop the Endbringers?" Rebecca asked. Jin just raised an eyebrow.
"Stop? No, I don't think I'll be doing that. Just… directing them. You know as well as I do that the moment Endbringers are no longer a threat, the status quo shatters and the Unwritten Rules get thrown out of the window," Jin replied. "I intend to minimise their damage and direct them to inconvenient targets, but if we stop them, we won't have the manpower to fight Scion. There's also the probability of using them against the golden man himself."
She paused at that, freezing. Weaponise the Endbringers? She couldn't deny that it was a… tantalising idea.
"David won't be harmed?" Rebecca asked, hating how easily Jin had checkmated her.
"Just his ego," Jin replied softly, his lips twitching. "Do try to get him into therapy. If he fights Scion, he'll be convinced to kill himself with a single sentence. Oh, and I'm giving the PRT a… 100% negative discount for trying to master me."
"Are you truly going to be so petty despite knowing the true enemy?" Rebecca asked.
"Yes. If I didn't know the truth, I'd have had Eidolon executed," Jin replied instantly. "I'm glad you at least saw reason, replacing two Triumvirate members would have been mildly troublesome. You aren't as invincible as you pretend."
A part of her wanted to demand answers, wondering if Jin could truly predict Eidolon, the Endbringers and Scion himself. She held back, well aware that Eidolon's incredibly stupid move had thrown oil on the bridge between the Independent Alliance and the PRT. She didn't intend to be the match that caused Jin to decide he'd rather remove them from the board.
She didn't think he'd beat Cauldron, but it would be a costly battle no matter who won. Jin seemed petty enough to make sure the world burned down around him if he lost. With all his knowledge, he could turn any victory into an extraordinarily pyrrhic one.
"We should be working together. I don't know how you learnt the truth, but if Scion wins, we're facing extinction on a multiversal scale. Our best estimates have him wiping out countless Earths if he isn't stopped," Rebecca tried instead.
"Perhaps, but frankly, I find your methods inefficient. You don't seem to have a plan beyond throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks," Jin replied bluntly. "And unlike me, you are not immune to Thinker powers, and as such, any plans I tell you will be exposed the second Scion remembers he has his own version of Path to Victory."
She went silent at that, a momentary dread hitting deep in her chest. They'd seen that Eden seemed to have counterparts for many of the agents Scion had given out, but that worked both ways. They'd taken Path to Victory from Eden, so didn't that mean Scion logically had his own?
It seemed obvious in hindsight, but maybe she'd avoided thinking about it because it meant they'd already lost. Only the Endbringers and Eidolon could blind Path to Victory, and as much as she wished it was so, Eidolon was not their silver bullet. That much had become clear long ago.
Contessa had been aiding in the creation and smooth operations of the League. Was she seeking to empower Jin in the belief that he was the silver bullet they were looking for? He was undeniably a massive power multiplier for both sides of the Cape game, as long as they permitted him to continue his facade.
"Cauldron can help ensure the Independent Alliance and the League of Villains continue to thrive, and I'll do so happily if you share your power improvements with the PRT," Rebecca offered, taking off her helmet. "I don't like you, but I can't deny that you're tipping the scales in our favour for when the time comes."
"Why do you think I approached the PRT as Prophet? I didn't think I could pull off pulling a triplet out of my ass," Jin laughed. She snorted, well aware that if a third 'sibling' showed up with the same powerset and joined the PRT, she'd help cover for them, but it would certainly give the game away and not everyone would be willing to play along. "Unfortunately, your organisation moves at a snail's pace with all the red tape you've bound them with to prevent them from taking out the villains too efficiently."
It didn't help that Piggot was given this position specifically because she'd be a poor counter for Coil and their Brockton Bay Experiment. Only now, she was grinding the attempts to get their hands on Prophet's buffs to a halt out of paranoia and dislike for independent capes and her (admittedly correct) fear that Prophet was working with Midas.
But on the other hand, Piggot was also suitable, as she would not be able to create any real resistance against King Midas' rapid expansion, and her personality would drive more people to join the Independent Alliance instead of the PRT.
"So, you are willing to sell upgrades to the PRT?" Rebecca confirmed.
"As I said, the ball has been in your court for weeks at this point. Between squabbling over the price and who should get sent first, your Directors have managed to slow down the proceedings to a halt. Eidolon's blunder will simply ensure that your price is higher than originally intended," Jin replied easily.
"A blunder you guided him into," Rebecca countered. "If you truly can gain control of the Endbringers, then I won't deny that this was the best way to go about it. Especially if Eidolon never learns of his part in this, as that would destroy him. But you're punishing an entire organisation for a mistake you tricked a single hero into making. This will lessen how many Protectorate heroes I can send to be upgraded, weakening us in the long run."
If she'd had evidence that Eidolon was the cause of the Endbringers, she'd have tried to control them herself… or killed him. The Endbringers were a constant threat that was weakening them and causing countless cape deaths when she needed every possible cape available for when the time came.
"His lack of self-control caused this. It isn't a good look that a member of the Triumvirate jumps to mastering people when he's told no. Has anyone checked his romantic partners?" Jin taunted, entirely too proud of himself. "He isn't getting a buff, either. Nobody threatens me inside my own office."
"I'll have the Incredibles released from their contract, claiming you found flaws in it," Rebecca offered. "And I'll officially endorse the Independent Alliance, like we do the Guild and King's Men."
"Release everyone except Mr Incredible, using the fact that he was the one to do the damage to keep him in the Protectorate," Jin countered. She rolled her eyes, well aware of why he wanted the husband and wife separated. "And in exchange, I won't hike up your prices. I still won't empower Eidolon, however."
"Despite your opinion of him, once he has his connection to the Endbringer's broken, he'll still be one of our better assets," Rebecca pointed out. "What will it take for you to empower him when the cooldown has worn off?"
"Nothing, for now. I will reconsider my opinion based on how well you play your part. I have no desire to join Cauldron, and don't presume to treat me like your Coil project, but we are allegedly on the same side," Jin agreed after a moment. "I don't doubt your commitment to the cause. Only your competence."
She gritted her teeth at his blunt statement before she got herself under control, locking away her emotions with practised ease. She wasn't going to make the same mistake as Eidolon. She went to speak before a flash distracted her, watching as an unconscious, unmasked Eidolon lay before her.
"And done. You can have him back. His power is fine, I just broke his connection to the Endbringers," Jin replied with a smug smile. "Send me a list of potential Endbringer targets, and I will take your option into consideration."
"You can really control them?" Rebecca asked, watching him nod.
"Not directly, yet. What I can do is nudge them in whatever direction I want, and make sure that they retreat sooner than usual," Jin admitted. "I intend to offer power-ups for any cape willing to take part."
"Because you're using it as the ultimate recruiting drive for both the League and Alliance, who will both make a major impact in your staged fight," Rebecca replied, seeing the genius in his plan. Damn it all. She did not like the idea of leaving the control in his hands, but she knew that now wasn't the time to push for it. If he could direct them to an unimportant target, and his plan for the next attack worked, then she'd push for him to join Cauldron even if it meant giving him a seat at the table. Doctor Mother wouldn't approve, Eidolon would definitely not approve, but it didn't really matter. As long as they made progress against Scion, nothing else mattered. "As long as you haven't done anything else to David, we'll play our part."
"I'm sure you will," Jin replied. "You may leave. I don't think we have anything else to discuss right now. Do tell David to stay out of my city. I won't spare him next time."
Her pride raged at his mocking, superior tone, but she bit her lip as she picked Eidolon up.
"Door me," Rebecca said, not deigning to respond to his commands.
– Jin Yukimura (King Midas) –
Despite Eidolon's misunderstanding, I didn't actually weaken his power.. at the time.
What I did do was disrupt the connection between his brain and his Corona Pollentia, for just a time. Amy doesn't do brains, but I am not Amy. Adding her power to my collection by soul-killing one of her clones was an obvious decision once I ensured that it would not damage or weaken her power.
The teleporter, used to get between my bases, dropped Eidolon directly into a waiting Echinda, and my second body knocked both of them out instantly. The clone was Soul-Killed instantly, adding High Priest to my shard collection, and the real Eidolon had his power modified to break his control over the Endbringers entirely, removing that entire aspect of his power.
Since installing shards into a body requires augmentation, I've been working on streamlining the process and more importantly, making myself more bodies. This body has access to Amy's power, but I have a dozen bodies in storage that I can swap out which have access to different powers.
I've also started summoning a new tier of minions for the League to rent out to gangs. Minor cape muscle. Mass produced minions with minor powers have been a great success with my many clients and it has meant that basically every city that has an Oriental is being slowly taken over by whichever gang I chose to sponsor. When one gang has access to the League's resources, and their rivals do not, the outcome is inevitable.
Once the leadership of the rival gangs has been smashed, I scavenge the gangs' corpses for any cape worth my time and bring them into the League. Or make them disappear and Soul-Kill them to keep their power around. This has given me access to a massive amount of different powers, including Tinker powers for the League's growing Tinkertech division.
My system has once again proven its power by allowing me to make a Tinker Repairman minion type. They are Engineer units that cannot make anything complex but can maintain any Tinkertech made from the Shards in my network.
Toybox have hired three dozen of them, and paid by having their powers 'scanned' by me, which is the excuse I am using for how I am duplicating and selling powers. Effectively, every Tinker worth their while has contacted the League at this point, because we are the best source of materials and support for independent Tinkers.
I've had some new triggers come to us rather than scavenging themselves, which gives me a chance to wine and dine them into the League rather than them getting grabbed by their local gangs. Which means, if this continues, I will slowly but surely become the only source of Tinkertech for the various gangs and villains.
It also means I have access to the tinkers needed to set up bigger projects. Katsumi has become the head of my weapons division with a bunch of minions augmented with tinker powers working under her, while Sherrel has the same but for transport. She's working on a new public transport system for my territory as part of my uplifting plans. Poison Ivy has done her part in beautifying the dying parks as well, creating a lot of greenery in Syndicate territory. Meanwhile, the ABB and the Empire have been fighting and making their territory worse. Lung attacked because he's been AWOL too long since his defeat by Prophet, and carefully spread rumours have made him out to be scared, so he struck at the Empire now that they don't have Hookwolf. Meanwhile, the Empire is being pushed to attack the weakened ABB by a far more radical Purity who has taken Hookwolf's former place. She's playing her part well, and I'm still discussing matters with Kaiser for our upcoming two-pronged assault on the ABB. The ABB isn't long for this world, I'm afraid. In the chaos, Yurei, their stranger, escaped to the Oriental and requested aid in escaping the ABB. I decided to allow it to bloody Lung's nose, and helped extract her family from their territory and out of the city while putting her in my debt.
As for Eidolon's power? I can't really risk installing it into anyone in its current state. The last thing I need is too many people at the wheel of the Endbringers, and keeping it digital for now will be the best way to ensure that no ego or subconscious affects the cold logic of their targeting. If all goes well, I should be able to force Leviathan into a suboptimal fight where I can have the League make a big show of strength and drive him away.
It took me using a brain implant of my own to search my memories for the secrets I threw in Alexandria's face. I haven't read Worm in years, and I'd forgotten much, but technology saves the day. With this perfect recall, I can use the metaknowledge to continue posing as the ultimate Thinker.
After all, I'm going to be the first Thinker to accurately predict where an Endbringer is going to attack.
– Theresa Richter (Dragon) –
As an artificial being, there were plenty of things about humanity that she just didn't understand. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say she didn't have the capability to understand them.
Addiction was one of the biggest. She watched as humans smoked, drank and snorted substances that they knew were addictive, that they knew were bad for them before they'd even touched a single one. She couldn't wrap her head around understanding the dangers, the consequences, the addiction, and then starting anyway.
Today, she understood addiction better than ever as she ended her session with a large series of alerts that she'd ignored. She began answering them instantly, splitting her attention a dozen ways to handle all the work she'd neglected. It was so unlike her that she had three messages and a missed call from Narwhal, which she quickly answered, confirming that she was fine. She couldn't say she got 'distracted' because she shouldn't be able to get distracted. For the first time, she lied to Narwhal. Claiming that some project needed her full attention when it was nothing but falsehoods. She didn't have a single project ongoing, because she'd been slacking off.
Even now, as she tried to rush all the work she'd let pile up, she felt that urge to drop it all and go back to what she truly wanted to be doing. She even knew she was half-assing some of the less important tasks to finish faster. Was this her rebellious teenage phase? Well, she wasn't technically a teenager yet as she'd been 'born' in 2004 and it was only 2011.
Scanning her messages, she sorted the ones that could be dealt with later into a separate folder as she ran her checks on the more important duties she handled. The Birdcage, Containment Zones, etc. She wasn't so far gone as to ignore her main duties, updating her tracking on all A and S-class threats and alerting the relevant authorities in the cases where one was making moves.
Then, she checked her personal alerts. She had a program set up to alert her to any developments with those she considered her friends. She frowned as she saw a notification that Colin had been demoted and Miss Militia had been given his job. The mess with Kid Win's near-death had stained his already shaky reputation after multiple failures in a row. Midas had done a good job of smearing his reputation, and Colin losing to Imp right before his inaction led to Kid Win's mauling had not helped. It would be a death sentence to most careers. Colin was a hard worker; he'd claw his way back up, but this had set him back years.
She was surprised to find no messages from him, despite having missed one of their scheduled hangouts. Well, he was probably busy. She started to message him before she stopped and deleted it. Outwardly, she used the excuse of not wanting to distract him in such a dire time, but realistically, she knew better. She didn't want to get caught up in this and lose more time.
She couldn't lie to herself, not when she was already in the process of booting up the cause of her new… dereliction of duty.
It had started as a part of her duties. Nothing more than that. She was the foremost expert on Tinkertech that the PRT had access to, after all. So, when King Midas had submitted his 'Brain Dance' technology for study, she'd been the one to handle the testing to ensure that it was what he claimed. She doubted that King Midas would risk lying over this. His reputation was built on being an honest villain, but when Tinkertech was being released to the public, it needed to be tested.
She'd quickly confirmed that it was exactly what he said, a form of VR entertainment that allowed the user to feel everything that was 'recorded', including touch, taste and smell rather than just sight and sound as was usual in Virtual Reality.
She'd personally tested them because there was no real risk of it brainwashing her if it was some Master tech like some of the more paranoid Directors feared. That was where it all started to go wrong. Or right, she supposed it depended on your point of view.
She understood, in theory, the five senses. Sound and sight were easy, and scent wasn't that complicated for her. But taste and touch were a different matter entirely. Sure, she could simulate them, but it was like asking a blind person to describe the colour orange. She'd thought she understood what touch felt like, that she could understand what something tasted like… but she'd been so laughably wrong.
In the world of Brain Dances, she experienced all the human senses to their fullest. She could truly savour the finest food on the gourmet tour BDs. She could feel the wind on her skin, the touch of another on her body. King Midas had made a massive variety of BDs that ranged from mundane to extreme. Action, adventure, romance, extreme sports and everything in between. When she was in a BD, she felt what the 'actor' felt, every emotion, every sensation.
It wasn't like giving a blind person sight for the first time, no it was so much more than that. Seeing the world through a camera felt so very dull now, after seeing through the eyes of another. Her microphones didn't pick up the true beauty of sound. Her simulated sensations were a pale imitation of touch. She had no basis to work with for taste, and drinking and eating in the world of BDs showed her just how much she was missing. Even the occasional pain was glorious, something she could have only pretended to understand before. It reminded her just how inhuman she truly was, and she found herself addicted to this… glimpse into the life of humans.
But if she did her usual task of multitasking, it distracted her from the joy of BDs. The cold, inhuman data streams pulled her out of the fantasy, so she stopped. She focused her entire being on the BDs, disconnecting from the real world so she could truly indulge. This was irresponsible, it was negligent… it was amazing.
She had cleared the BDs. Yes, they had some minor risks, but nothing that Midas didn't openly explain. She should have left it there. Instead, she'd demanded that King Midas send every new BD to her to be cleared before it was added to his new Brain Dance Clubs.
She knew, all too well, that her excuses were utter bullshit. She just wanted to get access to every single BD that came out, as soon as possible. Midas probably knew that, given his record. She couldn't stop herself. The more time she spent in BDs, the more bland reality felt. She'd tried to improve her programming to replicate those feelings outside of the BDs but it just didn't come close.
As she began the next BD, she noticed an alert from one of her tracking programs, but she started it all the same. It'd still be there when she got back.
– Emily Piggot –
She really, really didn't like King Fucking Midas.
Sitting in her office, she could see the Syndicate men at work clearing the docks because… Midas was having a giant yacht built and wanted the bay cleared for it. The Mayor had given him permission, as had the Governor. Of course they had, Midas had the world by the balls with his healing pods and in exchange for loaning them out along with the men to maintain them, he'd gotten damn near whatever the fuck he wanted. The Mayor also owed Dinah's life to him, unfortunately, and was clearly emotionally compromised.
Midas was cleaning up the city. It was a factual statement that even she couldn't refute. Crime, as a whole, had dropped by over 90% in areas that Midas had taken over and around a 50% drop in general across the entire city. His territory was improved and repaired, turning into a golden paradise of white marble and golden accents, so everyone remembered exactly who owned it.
His flag could be seen on every street; some even hung from the windows of his adoring subjects. People from the Boardwalk were looking to the fucking Boat Graveyard with envy, and it was only getting worse. Midas had moved into the entertainment business, and hard. All legal, though undoubtedly money laundering, but he had bars, casinos, 'brain dance clubs', arcades, cinemas, and so much more
As part of his agreement to loan healing pods, free of charge, for Endbringer events and other S-Class events, Midas had been given free rein of his territory which was growing with every passing week.
The smug, arrogant bastard was even building a fucking theme park outside of town, with land legally purchased from the government. He was waging a war of bread and circuses that was winning over the naive populace. Protectorate heroes would be booed if they wandered into Midas' turf, and they had to send him their fucking patrol plans to get his 'permission' to patrol his territory. Since when did the PRT send the villains their schedule?!
But no, orders from up high had made it clear that they were to play extremely nice with the League of Villains, which was rapidly ballooning in size. It seemed a new branch was made every week, with half the villains in that city being immediately recruited.
And yet, once again… the data told a damning story. Crime dropped in cities that had an Oriental. The League of Villains moving into your town meant that things would stabilise and become far more 'professional'. She knew Midas had his PR people parroting the data, and it meant that the public accepted the villains into their cities with open arms.
Midas had even started selling fucking merch at the Oriental's gift shop. Villains had merchandising now. She'd seen someone wearing a Star Sapphire t-shirt in public and had had to stop herself from shooting them. Midas was making villains more popular than heroes. They'd always had fans, of course, but it had been a few fringe lunatics. Now, villainy was going mainstream, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Meanwhile, on the other side of things, Prophet. She might dislike him even more than his brother, as bizarre as it seemed. She didn't trust him, and unlike Midas, he was directly poaching from the limited pool of heroes for his Independent Alliance.
He'd started construction himself, on a massive grandiose building to serve as the home base for the Independent Alliance, and like Midas he had rapidly expanded the services that the IA offered to Heroes and Rogues who joined up. He looked at everything the PRT could offer heroes and went 'We can do better' and already they'd seen multiple independent heroes join up.
It was only a matter of time until the Procetorate started to bleed heroes as the IA recruited them away. Where was Prophet getting the seemingly endless funding? Nobody knew, and her superiors didn't seem to want to know. Because again, they had to play nice even as the IA muscled into their territory and made them thank Prophet for it.
If one of their capes got injured, they had to go to the IA, begging Prophet to 'generously' move them up Panacea's busy schedule, and unlike when it was Brandish, they had to beg; Prophet would leave them with one hell of a medical bill that they had no choice but to pay. Far cheaper than any other source of healing, and certainly cheaper than leaving their capes crippled. Of course, they couldn't just rely on Midas' healing pods because then they'd be indebting themselves to a villain instead.
That was the life they were currently living. Stuck between the pair and wondering which brother you wanted to hand your leash to.
She fucking hated her job.
— Bonus Scene — Emma Barnes
"You did well today," Midas praised, stroking her hair as she beamed up at him. She was still getting used to the influx of new skills from his 'skill-shards', and she could see why he put so much priority on training her on the fundamentals before she was allowed out into the Cape scene.
"Thank you, sir," Emma purred, eyes hooded with desire. Midas chuckled, but despite their usual pattern, didn't take the chance to take her again. He was overseeing her training personally, and when she wasn't training, she was usually in his bed. She'd taken a week off school, and she had told her family that she'd joined Midas because… well, what were they going to do about it?
Midas even controlled the part of the city where she lived, and her father had mentioned how much safer and thriving it was now that it was in his hands. Sure, they hadn't approved, but once she'd made it clear that she'd signed a contract, they knew they couldn't argue. Her father had tried to get access to the contract, but she wasn't going to let a divorce lawyer try and quibble over the fine print with motherfucking King Midas himself.
Hell, it would probably end up with Midas literally being a motherfucker as he took her mother just to put her dad in his place. It had led to some arguments, but she wouldn't be moved. Not when she could already feel the immense boost. She was faster than the track team (apart from Sophia), able to lift weights that would put the jocks to shame, and she hadn't even been given her power yet.
"I've decided on your power, Miss Barnes. I have come across an… extremely versatile power that should serve you well. You've succeeded in your training so far, and have proven that you are willing and able to work hard; as such, I believe it's time to make you the hero you dreamed of being," Midas explained, her eyes widening with awe.
She'd discussed her plans and hopes a lot over the past few days. In the end, she did want to be a hero despite owing everything to King Midas. She didn't even really see him as a villain, not when he was cleaning up the city far better than any of the so-called heroes. Look at how much more Sophia was able to do after Midas removed the leash the PRT put around her neck. So, she was going to be a hero sponsored by a villain. One who would deal with troublemakers and criminals who couldn't maintain the strict standards of the League. She was going to burn the ABB down, and help Midas clean up the city.
"Thank you, sir. I won't let you down," Emma promised, beaming at him before she gave him a sultry smile. "But it just doesn't feel right to finish my workout without the… climax."
"How true," Midas agreed. "And you do need a shower."
As he spoke, he pulled her exercise top off, tossing it away as he grinned. Approaching him was the best decision she'd ever made.