fics I read

January 31st 2016 Wintermark Castle 6:30 PM EDT

There are a lot of movies and books that talk about people having an aura or a presence. They tell you that the impression that something powerful can leave is sometimes dramatically different than it's appearance. This was the first time however, that I was experience that in person, because holy fucking shit, Doctor Gotham was terrifying. Seriously, just sitting there looking at him was like staring at the shadow of a fucking megalodon under your boat. It was just a very small hint at something WAY scarier.

Externally he actually seemed like a pleasant guy. Calm blue eyes, hair as white as bone pulled back in a sophisticated ponytail, and smile lines on his weathered face. But just standing in his fucking presence made me want to fall to my knees and throw up blood. He seemed to be aware of the impression he was making, and more than that, to actually enjoy it, but he kept a kind and welcoming smile on his face as he looked at us. "Well? It's rude to come into someones home and not introduce yourself. Where exactly are your manners?"

I shook off the feeling that I was a field mouse being stared down by a hungry tiger and reasserted my calm. I didn't get all whimpery and bent out of shape over a bit of menace. I just needed to take a beat and center myself. I offered him a cocky grin, fake it til you make it and all that. "My apologies, I'm Nicholas Lord, and these two charming ladies are my companions, Zee and Cherry. Sorry to disturb you. We were looking for a place to...entertain each other. Didn't mean to interrupt your model building or whatever."

When in doubt, be a himbo, seemed to work great for Bruce Wayne. Doctor Gotham raised an eyebrow. "No. You're here trying to destroy the model of the city I'm using to anchor my augmentation spell. I'm old boy, not senile. Nicholas you say." He trailed off, squinting at me suspiciously. "You seem familiar? Do I know you?" He waved off my answer. "No, I've been asleep for forty millennia and you're a child. Still, there's something about you I recognize."

He narrowed his eyes and I had to fight down a swallow. I really hoped he didn't recognize the Greed System. Though now I knew why Crassus hadn't mentioned hearing about this guy. Forty thousand years? Christ. I needed to appraise him, even if it might be a bit risky I had to find out what I was dealing with. Fingers crossed the Greed System wasn't what he noticed about me and he'd just met another Lifestorm Wyrm or something. With a silent prayer to any listening gods and whichever ones had an answering service, I went ahead and triggered appraisal.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. The Sun King- A ranked warlock monarch. A primordial sorcerer who has lived for nearly half a decemillenium, the Sun King was a peer of the fae monarchs at a time when faerie intersected heavily with earth. An ambitious man with aspirations to build a kingdom of his own to rival the lands of the fae, the Sun King began the process of perfecting a ritual to dramtically increase the mystical density in the area. The ritual was understandably unpopular with his subjects given the number of horrible human experiments needed to refine the process so they overthrew him and locked him up under what would one day become Gotham City. In case it wasn't clear, you should run.]

I swallowed. Hard. A rank. That was...a lot. I absolutely could not stop this guy from doing anything. This was a fucking sorcerer on par with a kryptonian in terms of power. Supergirl had been A rank, but she was a fucking teenager, not fifty thousand fucking years old. Now I was standing here planning to ruin the ambition of a magic user that made every other being I'd run into look like a fucking chump. I was pretty much down to groveling or getting the fuck out of dodge as my options. But to my surprise, I didn't get smote or anything, Doctor Gotham just flicked a finger and chairs appeared behind us, knocking our knees out and plopping us on our asses.

He chuckled at our expressions (my absolute bodily control was just as useful for a poker face in this instance as it was for not pissing myself). "Oh calm down children. If I wanted you dead I could have erased you from existence before you even noticed my presence. No, I'm not at all inclined to snuff out such bright talents. A king needs subjects after all, and I'm certain you'll be ambitious and dedicated servants to the crown once I've taken control of the city. I'd love to hear your takes on my plans, assuming you know them. Your attempt on my focus implies an understanding of my goals."

I blinked as a saucer and teacup appeared in my hands, which were now in the proper position to hold them. A silver platter of finger sandwiches also blinked into existence at about chest height, floating in the air for us to choose from. I selected a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, taking a bit and enjoying the refreshments after appraising them to make sure they weren't poisoned or laced with mind control potion or something. They weren't presumably because Doctor Gotham didn't actually need to do any of that.

I chewed slowly, thinking over what to say. "So, not to be a buzz kill, because I genuinely don't care that much, but do you have any security measures in place to stop the monsters and new magic users from killing off all the locals? Could be hard to run a kingdom without any subjects." I actually didn't care that much, I was pretty sure I'd be getting the fuck out of this city as soon as I could get home and pack up my girls. Still, he seemed excited to talk about it so I figured I'd humor him.

His pleased grin made it clear I'd made the right call. Apparently being literally older than dirt didn't mean you stopped loving to hear yourself talk. "Oh, not at all my boy. My kingdom only requires the few and elite. Brave souls such as yourself and your women are more than welcome within my borders. The creatures of magic born again when the power floods this land will simply be a form of...trial. I have full faith you'll rise to the occasion, and any of your women along with you. Anyone who does not is simply not someone I have a use for."

Wow. That was actually pretty cold blooded. I kind of liked his style actually, but considering how many ridiculously hot women would probably die I felt like it was a bit of a waste. Though I could always open up the palace as a shelter, only hot girls need apply...no, not getting sucked into this magic kingdom bullshit. Safer to just bail as soon as I got home. I could find hot girls anywhere, but Gotham and Metropolis were probably going to be absolute anarchy for a while, best to let other forces handle this.

Honestly I regretted even coming here at this point. At first I'd assumed the world would be ending, and then I just wanted to stake my claim on the city, but if I'd known how fucking powerful this asshole really was I'd have bailed sooner. This seemed...unlike me. I'd check with Crassus later, but this seemed distinctly similar to the dumb shit I'd pulled with Donna. I had a feeling the Greed System was interfering with my decision making again and I wanted to know why and how the fuck to stop it.

Regardless, now was not the time. We needed to get the fuck out of here, and hopefully away from the party unscathed. I was curious about one thing though. "So I have to ask though, why the party? I figure based on what you said its not some kind of mass sacrifice, which is great because...you know, I don't want to be sacrificed. But why invite all these people here? Just want to have them around to witness the birth of a new age?" I was hoping that was the reason, because I was getting some pretty alarming vibes know that I'd met this guy. Doctor Gotham was the go big or go home type.

He just chuckled again, but this time the sound had a cold edge to it. "Why, if I told you that it would spoil the surprise my boy. Run along back to the part now children. Enjoy yourselves, dance, drink, be merry. The main event will happen soon enough. Don't worry too much about the entertainment. I can assure you. This is going to be a night that no one in Gotham will ever forget."

He flicked his fingers lazily and the tea, sandwiches, library and model all vanished. I thought he dropped us into an abyss or something for a second until I realized we were just standing in the dark hallway. I turned to the girls. "So...that was really fucking ominous right? Because the sounded really ominous to me. Like, I might be reading too much into this, but it kind of sounds like some really terrible shit is about to go down here." I turned to Zee. "Listen, I know it's not your thing, but I really think we need to get out of here. I-"

She held up a hand. "No. I get it, and I agree. I should have called in Doctor Fate when I heard from Sargon, but I was too stubborn. I felt that guys power though, and it isn't anything I can even touch. We get out of here and regroup, call in reinforcements. Maybe the Shadowpact or someone similar. Just anyone we can find. This is out of my league solo." I was pretty relieved she was at least sane. Zee was a great fuck and fun to hang with, but I would absolutely have bailed without her. I hadn't marked her yet, and me and my girls were priority one.

I started back the way we came. "Then we get back to the party and get the hell out of here first thing. We can worry about everything else later." By which I meant never because I wasn't ever coming back within sight of that fucking monster again. At least until I'd reached the same level as he was, or maybe higher. It was easy enough to find our way back to the entry hall given my perfect memory, and we slipped through the door without being noticed, rejoining the crowd as I scanned for Barbie and my guards.

It only took a few minutes to find them in the throng, and I grabbed my redhead as soon as I was within range, pulling her away from a discussion she was having with a business magnate I was ninety percent sure she was somehow stealing information from. Probably mirroring his phone or something. Regardless, I made polite noises and got her away fast. I leaned down to whisper in her ear. "This party is most likely some kind of trap, we need to fucking leave right now. No argument."

I was worried she might fight me on this, Gotham was her home, and Barbie had that annoying noble streak, so I was ready to push on the Brand and force her to comply, regardless of her own reaction, but I never got the chance. The lights in the room all snuffed out with no warning, and a single spotlight of golden illumination shone down, highlighting Ivan Drench. "Apologies for the interruption ladies and gentlemen. But tonight's main event is commencing. I assure you, the disruption will be worth your time. Tonight's entertainment will be...to die for."

January 31st 2016 Wintermark Castle 7:00 PM EDT

Drench was radiating smugness under the spotlight, not that the expression seemed out of place on him. "My employer has invited you here tonight, to bear witness to history in the making. But more than that, to be a part of that history, even as it is written." There was a rumble under the castle, and light flooded the chamber, but not from chandeliers or lightbulbs. The light that washed over us all came from below. Rivers of power blazing to life under our feet even as they began to slowly shift in position, overlapping each other in some places.

Everyone was understandably unhappy about...literally every part of what was going on right now, and several of them started bellowing in rage, but I just told everyone. "Grab onto me, do not let go no matter what. I have a way out of here but we need to all be touching for it to work."I sent a command through the Brand for Strega to get her ass over to us too. The Babylon Candle should get us past any defenses, and all I had to do was aim us home and I could collect my baby mamas and get the actual fuck out of town.

Drench seemed completely uncaring of the screams of Gothams powerful, content to wait until they settled down to continue speaking. "Now, I know you may be wondering what I mean by that my friends. And I am of course happy to share with you. Tonight, Gotham city changes forever. The great Warlock Doctor Gotham, who was once known as the Sun King has decided to grace this land, so touched by his influence with the honor of being the capital of his new kingdom. You have been invited, as the Elite of Gotham, to take part in the founding of this kingdom as potential nobles in the new order to come."

His face was a weird mix of excited and sadistic, and I couldn't honestly tell if he wanted us to be happy or sad about this shit. I also really didn't like how vague he was being about how exactly anyone here would get to be nobles of this new kingdom. i wasn't the only one either. Penguin spoke up, his voice ice cold despite the obvious fury tending his body. His voide cracked across the room like a whip. "Putting aside how he plans to form this kingdom without our consent, or even if we would want to be subservient to another, I fail to see anyone here agreeing to be controlled by any of the rest. I assume some of these nobles would be above the rest? How do you expect to choose?"

There was a murmur of agreement through the crowd. No one here wanted to work for the others, and they weren't down to become Doctor Gotham's bitches either. Still, the display of power was enough to evoke caution in even the most hotheaded of those present. They weren't going to allow this, but they would let cooler heads prevail until they felt out how extreme the threat was. The rioting light of powerful magic surging beneath our feet was a hell of a warning about what these people could do.

The sorcerer was delighted at the question. "Why, we won't! We couldn't possibly select just a few of you fine people. The reason we gathered you all here tonight is to allow you to choose for us. Or rather, to be chosen for us. We're looking for very specific qualities in our leadership, and all of you have some of the qualities in question. There is one thing that will set some of you apart however. One aspect of your worthiness that will become obvious very soon, and show us all who deserves to be on top." His grin turned vicious as he snapped his fingers. "Survival."

Webs of glowing runes blazed to life along the walls of the room. The doors all melted out of existence, the walls flattened and smoothed into featureless stone, and the balcony itself was swallowed by the wall, removing Ivan Drench from the room full of very angry, very powerful people who he had just informed of their imminent fight to the death. There was a brief pause. A silence as every person in the room realized what the hell was going on and had to process exactly what was about to happen before all hell broke loose.

I looked around, saw Strega two steps away, and stepped forward with the hand not holding the candle to grab her. My movement broke the calm before the storm and everything exploded into motion. I found myself lifted bodily and hurled away from the others as the nearest person to me, a masked man Barbie had introduced as Johnny Warlock in passing, lashed out at the first sign of movement with some kind of force magic. I hit the wall nearby with a crash unharmed due to the Mantle's defenses, and before I even made contact I used the Brand to command Waylon and Sally to protect the girls until I could reach them again.

I stood up from the cratered stone, annoyed at having been thrown around, and triggered my transformation. I was absolutely not going to let some random Gotham assholes get away with fucking with me. Bane roared and came toward me in a fury the rioting crowd closing behind him and cutting off my people, and I caught his hands as he brought them down on me, easily managing the meager force even an enhanced human body could manage. Bane was G rank for sure, but I was F rank myself, and on the higher end. This guy wasn't Waylon, he was just a roided out gym rat in a gimp mask.

I yanked the weight lifters arms aside and bit his fucking throat out with a roar. A nearby form, the man I recognized as King Snake snarled in fury and attacked me head on, but I backhanded him away casually into crowd. I headed toward my group, absolutely not willing to let these assholes cost me any of my women or my guards. I started hurling people aside, tanking bullets and attacks easily, until about ten steps toward my group I got hit with something actually annoying. Fucking ice. A wall of the stuff swallowing me and about ten mobsters around me, locking me in place.

My eyes flicked over to the direction it came from and I saw Mr. Freeze with that obnoxious fucking gun. I called to the storm inside me, and electricity began to play over my skin. Being a wyrmkin that wasn't a big problem for me, though the melting ice conducted the electricity enough that it was a big fucking problem for the mobsters, who all jerked and spasmed in silent death throes as I tore myself out of the ice. I considered going after Freeze, but he'd been swallowed by the rioting crowd, and I needed to get the fuck out of here. I resumed my trek back to my group.

Doctor Death was the next actual threat I ran into. I didn't bother killing every one of the people in my way, I didn't have time to finish them all. I just threw them all out of the way without bothering to look back. Death though forced me to actually stop, so I ripped out a few of his bone spurs and shoved one through his eye. I left his corpse on the ground and kept the other bone spur in case I saw someone I didn't like.

I got sick of bothering though and just cranked my electricity full blast from my entire body. A few idiots tried to get close but didn't manage much before collapsing, unable to stand with the charge going through them. I spotted a few bigger threats in the distance, people like Solomon Grundy, who was incredibly visible in this crowd, but I didn't feel the need to get sucked into this bullshit. I wanted out before Doctor Gotham showed up and I got pressganged into his nobility whether I liked it or not.

I couldn't imagine what was happening outside, so the Babylon Candle was my only real way home. With the city going nuts the trip would be a nightmare. Hopefully Jade had taken my warning seriously and brought Roy to stay with the girls, and probably her own kid too. A baby would give them something to focus on instead of freaking out about me being in danger. They would all be fine in the Palace, aside from being nigh unbreachable by anything around here except Doctor Gotham himself, it also stopped anyone from sensing anything inside, so no one strong enough to get in would have a reason to actually try anything.

Regardless, I made it back to the others without any real incident. Waylon had transformed into his massive terror croc form and people were mostly staying the fuck away. Barbie look relieved when she saw me. "Nicky! You're ok. Also you have horns, those are new, but now isn't the time. You said you have a way out of here?" Even my gung ho redhead wanted to leave, so I knew it was way past go time.

I reached into my pocket again as I ordered them to grab hold of me, then I took the candle out of my pocket and held it up. The amulet came out with it, and as it activated, the green flame of the candle lighting itself, I couldn't help but stare into the Amethyst as it sparkled. I wondered briefly what kind of place Gemworld actually was...and then the candle triggered. There was a massive explosion of green flame as all of us were flung through space faster than I've ever moved before, and then a crash as we all slammed down into the ground.

I groaned in annoyance as I climbed to my feet. "Ok. Well, that thing had a hair trigger, but at least we're out of that hellhole. I still have one use of the thing left so I can get us home. Is everyone ok at least?" They fucking better be after I burned one use of my fucking lifesaving super candle. If anyone had gotten hurt I was going to be pissed. Doctor Gotham had seriously fucked up my day, and I wasn't letting this shit go. I had a plan to completely screw up his bullshit kingdom, but it was more long term than anything, I'd need a ton of Greed Points to manage it.

In the meantime everyone got up and looked themselves over. Zee spoke up. "I think everyone is ok. Also where the fuck did you get that magic candle? Because seriously, moving that many people through space what seems like a pretty reasonable distance is major sorcery. That thing is insanely valuable. Don't lose track of it. Also where are we? Because I'll be honest, the purple trees kind of give the impression this isn't Gotham." She sounded jealous, and I had to admit I was a bit smug at managing to find the Babylon Candle.

I chuckled and stepped forward to let everyone grab a hold of me, raising the candle and amulet again...except it was just the amulet. There was no candle. My eyes went wide. "Everyone freeze! The candle is missing, look around for it." Despite saying that, I felt a feeling of dread start to creep into my stomach. It had been literally wrapped up in the amulet, which I was still holding. The candle SHOULD be here. But I remembered wondering back when I got it how the hell someone had managed to lose something that useful. With a sinking feeling I focused on the exact wording of the Babylon Candle in its description in my memory.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Babylon Candle- E rank. A powerful magical artifact with only two remaining uses. By lighting the candle and speaking the name of your destination, any place in the multiverse can be reached. The Babylon candle paves the way past any barrier or defense, but gives the user no information on what may already lie at their destination.]

I felt myself growl in frustration. Paves the way. As in creates a path. It didn't say anything about the candle coming WITH us. Which explained why something that stupidly powerful was only E rank. I didn't have much experience with the higher levels of the ranking system so I hadn't considered that this one should probably be even higher than it was. I stared down at the amulet. It had a function for traveling too and from Gemworld, which was were we were, so weren't completely screwed. Annoying as it was, I guess my hunt for a real life princess was getting moved up.

January 31st 2016 Gemworld 8:00 PM EDT

The knowledge that we were stranded in another dimension temporarily was understandably not comforting to most of my crew. Zee seemed kind of excited, and Cherry didn't care, but Barbie looked pretty annoyed. "So...we're stuck in some alternate world while Gotham is being consumed by who knows what kind of horrible monsters? You got us here! Why can't you get us home?" She sounded panicked at the very idea of what was going on, and honestly I got it. Her dad was a police commissioner, he was probably going to be pretty much screwed during the kingdompocalypse.

Still, I put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, calm down. I'm not happy about this either Barbie, but we WILL get back. The pendant has a function to take us home, we just need to find someone with the Amethyst bloodline to use it. In the meantime..." I grimaced. I didn't want to mention my ability in front of Barbie. She still didn't know about it, but I did want to get in touch with Dinah and Whisper and make sure they were ok, and I knew at least one surefire way to do that. "I have a way to check in on everyone."

I had my cell phone on me, and while there was no possible chance it would get service in another reality, it WOULD still be upgradeable. I was guessing at F rank I could probably manage to get in touch with the house. I needed to warn all my girls to stay in the Palace where it was safe until we got back. Of course, I also needed to find some actual materials for that. I had about twenty five thousand points from recent deliveries from Galaxy, but it might be a while until I could stock up, so finding something more valuable to use as mats would be the clear move here.

Barbie looked suspicious, and Zee looked interested, since neither of them knew about my ability, just my lifestorm wyrmkin powers. Luckily Cherry was around and she knew how my abilities worked (minus the whole points thing, I'd never told anyone about that). My blonde psycho phantom decided to distract everyone by pointing out the obvious. "We should probably figure out some shelter or something. I don't think anything here is going to be a threat to us with Waylon and Sally around but it's probably not a great idea to risk it."

My redheads suspicion was allayed as she processed that were were standing under the moonlight in a purple forest on an alien world basically. She didn't mention it being a good idea because Cherry was the one who said it, but her competetive streak was clearly aggravated by the comment. "We should be able to put together some kind of temporary structure for ourselves tonight. We can start looking around in tomorrow." She looked at Zee with distaste, but clearly found her less objectionable than Cherry because she actually looked at the sorceress. "If we get some of these trees together do you think you can use magic to fit them together?"

That wasn't a bad plan actually, though if we stayed in the structure more than a night I was just going to upgrade the damn thing at least once or twice until it was livable. Still, once Zee nodded Waylon, Sally, and I got to work tearing up trees and stacking them together in a loose square shape. Zee started applying spells to take the roots off and change the shape of the logs so they fit together, and within probably an hour we had a functional, if somewhat rough shelter. We even lashed together a bunch of branches to set on top of the hut, and Zee made sure to leave an opening at one corner we could use as a door.

In the end we wound up with a pretty basic shitty house, and an application of my lifestorm powers generated just enough wind to blow all the leaves and shit outside. I hadn't realized that was a thing I could do but it was good to know. Once that was done Zee lit a fire (which was blue and generated no smoke thankfully) and we all sat down to take stock of the situation. Despite Cherry's save, I was positive we would need my ability on this trip. I'd worry more about consequences when we were home.

I cleared my throat. "So, like I said, I have a way to reach home, and to do some other things. I have a method of combining objects together. Barbie, I assume you've suspected I had some source for powerful objects, but I don't. The smart glasses I sell and most of my interesting gear is self made. It has limits, I can only combine a certain number of objects per day, and those limits are more extreme the more powerful I make the object in question. Still it lets me make magical treasures that will absolutely help me get in touch with everyone back in Gotham, and maybe even help you get in touch with your dad to send him to the house. My place is protected, so he should be safe there."

I was hoping the offer would distract her from asking too many questions. I was also hoping that claiming to have a limited number of merges available per day would hide how my points worked. I didn't want anyone figuring out the actual source of my powers or how they worked. The less they understood about them the less likely someone would hear a story or something and manage to figure out what the Greed System actually was. I was pretty sure the emergency nature of the situation would take up her attention for a while, so all I needed to do was use this time to make sure Barbie would keep my secrets. The girl was crazy about me, wrapping her around my finger a bit more wasn't that big an ask.

I don't know if it was because of her dad, or because of the situation, but the string of questions I expected from Barbie didn't come. She looked...almost vindicated. It occurred to me that she probably had at least some idea, which I guess I should have expected. Still, she obviously didn't ACTUALLY know anything about my powers or she would have noticed all the bullshit, so whatever she had deduced wasn't accurate enough to worry about. She shook off the ideas she was having visibly before forcing herself to focus. "Ok. Well if you have a limited number of combinations I assume that means you need better materials." She grimaced a bit at being forced to ask but finally turned to Zee again. "Zatanna, do you have a spell that can find magical objects?"

The sorceress, who had been shockingly polite to my redhead after literal years of constant bitchiness, held up a hand and waggled it back and forth. "Kind of. I have a spell that reveals magic density, but it doesn't really get into causes. It should be useful for materials though. Does it have to be natural magic though? Like, if I cast a spell on a tree would that count as a magical object you can use? Does it even have to be magic?" She seemed fascinated by my abilities, which I'd been expecting. Zee was obsessed with learning more about magic, and getting excited about this kind of thing was pretty on brand for her.

Still, she made a decent point. "Yeah, that should work as a material, and no, it doesn't have to be magic. Anything made of extremely high level material works, hell even tech would be viable, but I doubt we're going to find any high ranking technology lying around Gemworld, unless I've massively misjudged this place. Then again who knows, we've seen a tiny portion of one forest. We can keep an eye out either way." I had this place pegged as a magic fantasy land, but I was kind of jumping to conclusions. "In any case, tomorrow is going to have to be soon enough to reach out to our people in Gotham. Getting lost in the dark woods seems like a bad plan when we don't know what's out there, like you said."

That last comment was aimed at Barbie. Who begrudgingly nodded. She didn't want to wait obviously, but since it was her idea she was going to have to live with it. In the spirit of helping with that though, I decided the aformentioned house hut upgrade would be a good way to take everyone's mind off of things. Plus I was kind of hoping there would be a bed, I wasn't an animal, I had no desire to sleep in the dirt.

I tried to redirect their attention. "How about we try and fix this place up so I can show you how it works. This is just small enough that my power should work on it." Another lie to hide how my powers worked wouldn't hurt anything. Everyone seemed up for it, so we all headed outside. The whole lost in the dark thing wouldn't be an issue if we stayed close at least. I appraised the hut itself first thing, not entirely sure what rank it was at.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Makeshift hut- H rank. A crudely constructed shelter made from makeshift Gemworld trees and magic.]

That was fair. It was basically a full sized lincoln logs house, but still H was actually pretty good. I appraised one of the trees to get an idea why.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Wonderbark Pine- I rank. A species of trees native to Gemworld with magical sap and unusually tough bark.]

That explained it. It also made this easier. "Alright Waylon, tear up another tree. Zee, I want you to put whatever enchantments you can on the thing to make it stronger and harder to spot and...whatever else you can think of." Walyon headed off to get another pine, and I noted that he'd transformed during the party, which meant Barbie knew,,,something. Maybe that he was Killer Croc? Hard to say given the changes. He dragged the tree over and Zee cast a few spells on the thing before I appraised it again.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Enchanted Wonderbark Pine-H rank. A Wonderbark pine enhanced with powerful magic to increase its durability, camouflage, and elasticity by the magic Zatanna Zatara.]

That would do it, I focused on the two items, and merged them together, concentrating on a nice and livable place, preferable something bigger than what we had. I initiated the merge, and winced at the light show, but there was no real way to avoid that. I used up a thousand Greed Points and The entire place...shifted. The light expanded, the walls thinning and rising as the shitty hut changed form into something altogether different. By the time it was done, there was a small cottage sitting in the forest (small for a cottage but still much bigger than the hut given the walls weren't three feet thick anymore). I appraised the new place.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Wonderpine Cottage- G rank. A small but cozy house in the forests of gemworld. Crafted expertly from Wonderbark Pine, the surprisingly spacious interior is stocked with comfortable furniture made from the same. Surprisingly durable and difficult to spot in the forest.]

I turned to the opther with a grin, gesturing to the small yet still two story cottage with the thatched roof that was now occupying the empty space taken up by all the trees we'd uprooted. "Like I said, this will probably be a bit more comfortable. It's the most powerful object I can make, and this will leave me tapped out for the day, but it should be worth it." I decided G rank would be a good baseline for objects until I had a decent source of points here. I still had twenty four thousand GP left and G ranked items were nothing to sneeze at despite only costing a thousand.

The last thing I needed was to go into crazy mode again, though I did need to talk to Crassus when I had time about why the hell I'd been acting like Gotham was my personal property. In the meantime, I led my absolutely stunned group into the surprisingly comfortable if sparsely furnished house, made my way upstairs and dropped down onto the bed I was happy to see was there. The description had been right too. This place WAS surprisingly spacious.

February 1st 2016 Gemworld 8:00 AM EDT

I slept pretty well. The G ranked cottage had a pretty decent bed. Cherry was the only one who climbed in with me, Zee and Barbie mostly deciding to look around or just generally being too wired to sleep, though Zee cornered me for a blowjob after I woke up to top herself up. I admit I loosened up a bit after getting my dick sucked, and she certainly seemed much perkier after. I wondered if my cum could replace the need for sleep entirely.

Still, now that I was awake I needed to get going, working on some gear to get us through this. So now I was outside with Zee and Cherry, getting ready to scout for some materials. I needed to upgrade my phone to get in touch with people back home. I let Zee go ahead out into the forest with Cherry to search though, because I had a conversation I needed to have. "Hey, Crassus, what the actual fuck has been going on? In retrospect a lot of the decisions I've been making have been fucking stupid. Like why would I try to fight for Gotham instead of just bailing before?"

I remembered the logic I'd used, and it had seemed legit at the time, but thinking back I couldn't see a viable reason not to just leave. I'd lived in Gotham for like a month, there was zero reason for me to be attached enough to go through any of this. It felt like I was in the middle of some kind of post nut clarity here, looking back and seeing how this had all been a giant waste of time.

[Oh, that. You decided to claim Gotham. In your mind the city is yours, and your instincts made you want to drive off challengers. Haven't you noticed how much more possessive you are of your girls? Even the ones you initially didn't like you get all snarly over. Not in a romantic way, but because the idea of someone taking whats yours makes you angry. I honestly figured you would have put that together by now.]

I groaned. "Yes, I obviously noticed that. I figured it was part and parcel of the whole Greed System thing. I just figured it only applied to shit I actually own." It did make sense though. I'd decided to conquer Gotham, staked my claim so to speak. I'd just need to watch out for that in the future. "So, any advice here? Because I've been going over my options and it seems like I have limited options here. Find the Princess or some other Amethyst noble to get our asses home, or upgrade the pendant. The thing is F rank though so I'd need a hundred thousand points, plus another like twenty thousand for the component parts."

[Plus once you're back you have to go get your girls and they're in the middle of a city run by an A rank psychopath. I trust you have some plan to deal with Doctor Gotham? Or at least to deal with his control of Gotham. He's probably basically invincible in city limits given that the energy in the city is all his and its been massively augmented. Or are you planning to abandon Whisper and Dinah? It would make sense I have to admit.]

That wasn't an option. The Gotham thing might have been bullshit, but Whisper and Dinah were MINE. Carrying my fucking kids. I wasn't sentimental about pretty much anything, but letting my own children die was a no go. Nobody got to shed Lord blood and walk away. Plus my house was fucking expensive to make. No, I DID have a plan. "I can take care of Doctor Gotham. Or at least I can take care of what he did to Gotham, once I can get back. After that the Shadowpact or Doctor Fate can deal with his bullshit. I need some points in the bank before I go back to do it though. A LOT of points."

[That changes our priorities somewhat. Assuming your women remain safe behind your walls there isn't a need to rush back. We can build up a proper force here and return with a stockpile of artifacts and points that will make any plans you might have much more plausible. That means we need to build ourselves a faction from the ground up here. We have admittedly excellent tools for such an undertaking. Still, we should probably get some kind of lay of the land before we choose a spot to start something like that.]

That sounded time consuming but...kind of fun. I always loved kingdom building games. Plus the reputation from that would help me find some of the Amethyst bloodline. I wondered if they were purple? I loved the color purple, and fucking a purple chick would be kind of hot. I shook that off. For the moment our priorities remained the same. Reestablish contact with my baby mamas and warn them to keep their luscious asses in the house. Hopefully they weren't alone there, that would certainly help with things.

I caught up to Zee and Cherry. "Alright, so what we need is some magical materials to help me put together a phone upgrade. This is Gemworld so rocks are probably a viable thing, or maybe some magic plants. I honestly don't know, just find me anything with high magical density and I'll give you a rundown on what I can do with it." I didn't mention being able to tell them everything about the object. Cherry knew that, but Zee didn't and I was tipping my hand as little as humanly possible.

The sorceress was glowing. Not literally, except her eyes slightly, but with health and vitality, my cum had her running in top form and she seemed excited to use some magic. She closed her eyes and started murmuring to herself a bit, and after a few seconds a pulse of energy ran over the area around us, eliciting glows of varying strengths from literally every object here. In terms of user friendliness I had to say this was a top notch spell.

The glow of the nearby trees wasn't too bad, but it wasn't what I was looking for. While technically any two things could be combined, getting exactly what I wanted was something of an art form. I had an instinct for what I needed to get certain results. Trees absolutely were not what I needed to mix with my phone for long range calling. There were a few plants with a similar glow and a couple of rocks. I appraised everything with more magical density than the trees, just to be safe.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Everbloom bush- H rank. A beautiful piece of shrubbery that grows special rapid growth flowers every day at sunrise. The blooms increase in size over the course of the day and fall off the bush at dusk, only to begin growing again at the next sunup. Everbloom blossoms never wilt and are an excellent catalyst for healing tonics and growth potions.]

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Immature Carmine Daisy- H rank. A flower made from living growing stone. The carmine daisy grows for a century absorbing sunlight into its shimmering red stone. A fully mature carmine daisy contains enough solar energy to melt a glacier.]

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Adamant Moonstone- H rank. A chunk of durable stone far beyond the limits of most mortal materials. Once removed from the earth the marble must be shaped within three moonrises or it sets in the shape it's in. Once set Adamant Moonstone will retain its shape and integrity unless its durability is exceeded, at which point it will crumble to dust.]

The stuff here was fascinating, I couldn't lie, but none of it was really useful right now. And this was only H rank bullshit lying around a forest. I was looking forward to some of the amazing shit I might find in this place once we got all the important stuff handled. My phone was H rank, an Elite Smartphone I made using the same construction model as the glasses, but using a more traditional touch screen phone instead so as not to draw attention. I could make an H rank catalyst out of a pair of I ranks, but with this much material to work with I felt stupid wasting the points.

Finally I spotted something I was pretty sure might be the answer to my problems. It was a flower rucked back behind some trees, a gorgeous bloom that was glowing brighter than most of the things the spell had shown us so far. It was clearly magical as well as being gorgeous, and as soon as I appraised it, I knew that it would be what we needed to reach the girls.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Whispersurge Lily- H rank. A beautiful flower imbued with the power of elemental lightning. By whispering into the bloom a message will be carried through the stormy sky to the target of your choice during the next thunderstorm. Upon receipt by the target the lily will wilt and die.]

It was perfect. I slid my phone from my jacket pocket and set it down next to the lily on the ground, initiating the merge for the thousand points necessary to create the G ranked phone that I figured would be enough to get me the result I wanted. Twenty three thousand points left, though I was planning to collect some of this H rank stuff to keep for the points. I just had to figure out what would be useful and how much I could carry. I couldn't wait to see how this thing turned out. Hell, if I was lucky it wouldn't just be calls, maybe it would connect me to the internet. That would be nice at least.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Whispersurge phone- G rank. A phone that carries a signal through mystical electricity. With enough charge any location can be reached. The more distant the call the more electricity required by the phone. As an elemental material of lightning this phone can hold an unlimited amount of charge, though it can only absorb a certain amount of voltage at a time when being charged.]

I grinned down at the phone. Perfect. Well, not perfect, it couldn't connect me to a network still, but hell that was something I could worry about later. As a lifestorm wyrmkin I could generate lightning. I suspected it would take a while to charge this damn thing enough to call another dimension but a while was better than never. I stared at the glowing blue phone in my hands, admiring the sleek lines of the blue and black metallic exterior, and I couldn't help but be excited for what I might discover in this world.

This place was amazing. Magic, women (presumably if there were princesses there were women), lands to conquer, I was so excited for this I could barely sit still. I was going to build up my forces and make my way back to Gotham, and then I was going to completely ruin Doctor Gothams year. My plan was a bit crazy, but I knew it would work, and I knew once it did the world would never be the same. Doctor Gothams magic funhouse experiment was nothing compared to what I was planning, and I couldn't wait to see the results of it.

I concentrated on my hand, surging power along my skin and watching with pleasant surprise as the phone just sucked up the lightning playing across my hand. I'd expected to have to use some sort of port or something, but this thing just drank electricity. I knew it had a limit and I'd have to make sure not to exceed it, but I had tons of juice in me, and I knew I could get this thing charged enough for a call home within the next day or two. Once that was done it was on to step two. Time to build a kingdom.

February 1st 2016 Gemworld 8:00 PM EDT

The rest of the day was specifically dedicated to charging the phone. It took tons of electricity to get the damn thing to a point where I could call Gotham. The one nice thing was that it gave me feedback that let me know when I could call and how close I was to that goal. Unfortunately my lightning reserves weren't actually infinite. They were huge and I recovered fast, but the only thing saving me from passing out in the grass was that I had a limited acceptable output for charging the phone. If I could have gone any faster I'd have dropped like a rock after an hour of that shit.

Finally though, I finished. I was lying on the bed in the cottage when I got done, trying to avoid falling over when I overused my power, but once I finished I sat up and whooped with joy. Barbie came sprinting up the stairs excitedly as she heard the sound, clearly excited to reach out to our old world and check in. Despite that excitement I had to shoot her down. "I get that you want to call your dad but we need to get in touch with the girls first. They're pregnant and I need to make sure they stayed in the house. Plus your dad will need them to let him in anyway."

The comment visibly crashed into her, wiping the excitement and energy from her as a scowl stole over her face, but despite not being happy about it she didn't complain. She got the logic, she didn't like it, but she knew it was the right call even if she wished otherwise. It still took her a minute to breathe through the kneejerk reaction to hearing she couldn't talk to her dad after such a long wait. "Fine. You're right. But you're going to stay up and charge it again so I can call her next right?"

That sounded annoying, but much LESS annoying than telling the her I wouldn't and having her decide to start prying into my abilities. She was respecting my privacy right now, and I wanted to reward that, because that stubborn bitch could melt my brain from sheer frustration if she wanted. "I promise. Once we finish talking to them he's the next thing on my list. And I'm sure he's fine. He raised you, and you're a badass. I doubt either of us needs to worry about our fathers in this mess."

I didn't really do 'empathy' but I figured she would be worried, and reminding her how badass she was might help a bit. I doubted she would just get over it, but hey, any small bit of calm she managed would lessen the pain in my ass so I was down to try anything. Once she gave me a tired smile to show she appreciated it I moved on, pulling up the screen on the phone and setting the call to ring through to Dinah. There was a surge of power in the device and then an explosion of sparks and suddenly, I was looking at a holographic image of my baby mama.

Dinah's eyes went wide in shock. "Nicky? Oh my god you're ok!" She hurled herself forward, the angle changing as she tried to tackle what I assumed was a hologram of me. She blinked a bit but adjusted, flushing slightly but still thrilled. She yelled over her shoulder for Whisper before focusing back on me. "I'm so glad you're safe. Where are you? Things are crazy outside. Jade and Roy showed up a bit after you left and told us to stay inside so we've all been holed up in here. There was news for a few hours but the TV stations are all out now. What the hell is going on?"

She sounded rushed and worried and I found myself almost...happy? That she cared. It was a strange sensation, but it was kind of nice that someone gave a shit that I was alive. Probably a Greed System side effect or something, that didn't seem like a me thing. Regardless I gave her a reassuring smile. "We're fine. The party got a little out of hand, and not in a 'the line of coke I did off that hooker was laced with something' kind of way. Suffice to say DO NOT go outside. The Palace comes stocked as part of the magic, gluttony being a sin and all, so you should be good for food, water, and power."

She rolled her eyes at my hooker comment, but with a small smile on her lips. "We can stick around here a while until this gets figured out, but what about you? When will you be home? Where exactly are you all? It sounds like you escaped whatever happened, did you get stranded somewhere?" She was sounding demanding now, like she wanted to take charge of the situation. I figured that was Black Canary coming out and honestly it was a little hot, but sadly for her she wasn't going to be able to come get us.

I waited for her to finish pinning me with questions before responding. "We're...far away. I had an exit strategy in mind but it didn't got as planned. We have a way back but it's going to take a while to put into effect. I know staying locked up like that sucks, but the house is huge and has literally everything you could possibly want. We're going to be sending Barbies dad over to stay with you, so make sure that you let him in. Otherwise I want you to promise you're going to stay in the house. All of you."

She scowled at me. "For how long? Weeks? Months? You can't expect me to just ignore all the people in the city. If things are that bad they need help, they need someone to keep them safe. I can be that person, and I need to do what I can for everyone in town. It's my job, Nicky." I winced, I'd been hoping she wasn't going to give into her heroic tendencies. Heroism was stupid enough normally, but during the evil magic apocalypse it was an especially dumb idea to run around trying to help randos you didn't know.

Since I knew pointing out personal risk was a lost cause though, I went with the simplest and most obvious guilt trip I could manage. The baby. "No Dinah, it isn't your job to protect everyone. You know who it's your job to protect? Our baby. You are responsible for exactly one person aside from yourself, and that's the one you're literally growing inside you right now. You could make an argument for Whisper too since she's carrying our babys sibling. So are you going to go out into the middle of gods know what and risk our kid so you can feel better about yourself? Or stay at home where it's safe? Because there are other people coming to help Gotham I can almost promise you."

She glared at me. Which was fair, that had been a pretty low blow, but I didn't give a shit. The glare remained for a minute or so before she dropped her head. "You're right. I don't like it, but if things are as bad out there as everyone makes it sound it's a big risk for the baby. Hell who knows what all that crazy magic will do to an unborn child. The League will be coming to take care of it anyway. I imagine Doctor Fate is already on scene or will be soon. If this is supposed to be magic shit he would know best how to deal with it. Plus we do have our own civilian. Ingrid is here still. "

I nodded encouragingly, despite being pretty sure that in a magic doctor fight Doctor Gotham would bitch slap Fate into next week. I knew Zatanna's dad was hosting some kind of ancient spirit of order, but Doctor Gotham was almost fifty thousand and had access to supercharged magic until someone undid his ritual. Still, if it made her feel better I wasn't going to shoot myself in the dick here. She looked to the side and frowned. "Ok, it seems like Whisper can't get into the call, but she wanted me to let you know that she's worried about you, but not to rush and come home safe."

I gave her an encouraging smile. "Tell her I will. You guys take care of each other, and take care of Jade and Roy. Glad Ingrid is safe with you too, make sure to talk to her about all this, I'm sure she can help." I was also sure that if anyone could offset the stress of being prisoner in their own house for probably weeks or months it would be Ingrid 'I might be made of actual sunshine' Karlsson. I was lucky as hell she had ended up visiting when she had. I'd just been trying to distract Dinah while I was gone so it had worked out.

After we clarified that everything would be fine and that I would get back as soon as I could (with some wiggle room for making myself stronger) we said our goodbyes and I promised to call and check in every few days to let them know we weren't all digesting in some magic dragons stomach or something. Once I was done I turned to Barbie. "Alright, it'll be a few hours until we can call your old man, so I have a few things I wanted some feedback on. In order to get a meeting with the princess or someone else in her bloodline, we're probably going to need an actual reputation. I plan to form a power base here to that effect. I could use your advice."

Barbie might like playing the good girl, but she was one of the sneakiest most tactically brilliant people in Gotham. If there was one way to get closer to her while we were here it was letting her be my advisor, and I was betting helping me build a literal magic kingdom of our own would be fun for her. Sure enough her eyes lit up with an obvious excitement. "I mean, it's not a bad idea. We could use some support around here, and I know your power will be useful in getting that." She stared at me flatly. "You know we are going to talk about that eventually right?"

I didn't actually, I was hoping to put it off until she stopped caring, but I nodded seriously anyway. "Of course, but now isn't the time. There are so many things to do still. Can you help me with building our resources?" She looked at me suspiciously for a second before nodding slowly and I grinned. "Excellent, well in the spirit of sharing I think our first move should be recon. You're the best we have at information gathering. I want you and Cherry to go out and get me some information to work with. You are not allowed to kill or injure each other, nor through inaction allow each other to be harmed."

I used the Brand for that last bit, I wasn't going to put up with their sniping if it deprived me of resources here. Besides I was pretty sure Barbie couldn't actually hurt Cherry at F rank, and trying might get her killed if I didn't head it off. She looked pissed at the order but nodded again slowly. "That...makes sense. We can head out after sunrise tomorrow. After I finish my call with my dad."

She glared challengingly at me, but since she was actually behaving I didn't have a problem with that. Once it was decided she looked around sneakily. "Now, since you'll be in bed for the rest of the night charging that thing, why don't we spend some time together." She threw herself onto the mattress, snuggling up to me, and I couldn't help but smile a bit. Even when she was seething over being forced to work with her archenemy she wanted me. I wasn't down to fuck when I was spending this much energy, but I wouldn't mind getting my dick sucked. She didn't seem to mind either as I pushed her head down. It was nice to know there were still things to look forward to here.