fics I read

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 12:00 PM EDT

Since I'm not a fucking idiot, I did NOT bring the spawn of Batman into my house and leave him alone to plant cameras or some shit. Admittedly, I considered it for the sheer shock value. Letting him plant them and then detecting them would have let me stage a threesome with Barbie and Zee, just to show him I was doing it right where he had fucked up. In the end though, it would have been a huge security breach for momentary amusement, and even my hedonistic ass couldn't justify that.

So I led him to a nearby warehouse, with Amy clinging happily to my arm. I caught him looking and just kind of sneered. "Oh, right." I said with amusement. "I should introduce you. This is Amy, my wife. Amy, this is Nightwing. He and Zatanna go way back." Zee vanishing when we did would have been noticable. We couldn't acknowledge Barbie here because it would have let on we knew who he was, but Zee was open with her powers and identity in every facet of her life, so it was still within bounds for her to mention him in his hero guise.

Nightwing's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Wow, wife? Aren't you like, eighteen? You must care about each other a lot. Congratulations." I appreciated the sentiment, as did Amy, who preened and thanked him, clinging to me even tighter, every inch the blushing newlywed bride.

Being around Nightwing was weird for me. Not because I hated him or some nonsense, but because I really didn't. If anything I was grateful he was a scrub who couldn't handle his women, or I wouldn't have two of my best girls. That did not, however, stop my draconic instincts from treating him as a potential challenger, no matter how impossible I knew it was for him to take either of them.

It ended up with a weird conflicting mental state where I was predisposed to like him while also wanting to rip out his throat with my teeth. I was able to contain the latter easily enough with my bodily control, at least enough that I didn't think he noticed it. I wasn't willing to let my instincts rule my decision making, so I decided to be at least friendly to the guy. Plus if Zee and Barbie found out he was hanging around, I knew them well enough to predict a ton of PDA from at least my redhead, and that sounded like fun.

When we got to the warehouse, Nightwing took up a position in the shadows, staring out at us dramatically from the darkness like a total showboat. Batman had clearly taught the guy bad habits. Clearly feeling more comfortable, he sized us both up, and I kept my damn mouth shut. I had no fucking clue what the League did and didn't know, so it was best to be evasive and selective about what I said.

Finally, after a minute of silence, he cleared his throat and spoke ( a clear breach of Jack Donaghy's rules of negotiation). "So, our sources near the river noted you and an unknown blue female in..." He glanced at Amy sideways, noting how she was clinging to me. "Less than ideal condition. Arrive on the scene. Doctor's Gotham and Fate were seen making an appearance there slightly afterwards. While there are no cameras and there weren't any witnesses at the river itself, the timing of the incidents was close enough together that we suspect you may have seen something crucial."

Ah, that wasn't as bad as expected. Also kudos to him for purposefully editing his commentary about Leslie's state of dress to something that made me sound heroic for the missus. He could have blown the whistle on me easily. Granted, she already knew, but he wasn't aware of that. There were no accessible cameras within any reasonable distance of the Palace. Not ones accessible to anyone but me anyway. One does not hack an E-ranked security system, especially not one designed to obscure things like remote viewing, both magical and mundane.

I took a second to structure my comments to be as open seeming as possible while being completely unhelpful. "Oh, definitely." I said with a rueful smile. "I rescued that girl on the way to the river by distracting her captors. She had like...electricity powers or something, and she was able to get loose when they were paying attention to me." I had gone from flight to coming out of an alley, so there was no way they could really connect me to anything supernatural. I'd gotten REALLY lucky. Some of it was caution, mind you, so I wasn't too pissed at myself, but I really needed to remember that Earth was covered with cameras. Wearing my mask on jobs was going to be a necessity.

Nightwing gave me an easy smile. "Ah, we were curious how you managed that, but that makes sense. Good work, not many people would try to intervene in something like that." I got the impression that the bodies hadn't been there when they ran across the scene if they even had. The merge probably took care of them. Seriously. I had so many bad habits to unlearn. Barbie was going to bitch me out for an hour when she heard about this, and rightly so. Ugh. I missed Gemworld already.

He waited patiently after my comment, showing that he was at least competent enough not to interrupt and give me more distractions, so I continued as vaguely as possible. "The run to the river was kind of crazy. I'd talked to Doctor Fate about meeting there when I got back, we escaped from Doctor Gotham's big party a few months ago and I figured he would come after me. The big lightshow and then the fight were both pretty jarring though. I have no clue what happened really. That whole experience was kind of surreal."

Judging by his grimace, he believed me. He probably figured one of the Doctors had been behind the merge. I was basically a nobody as far as everyone else was concerned. Mammon was quickly making a rep after my activities last night, but the mask prevented anyone from connecting us, so there was no real way for him to know I was anything special. He could probably link me to Barbie, but if anything, he probably thought she and Zee had protected me while we were gone.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "That's what I was afraid of. We think Doctor Gotham did something to merge the two cities as a last ditch effort to stop Doctor Fate. Fate hasn't exactly been helpful about this whole situation. He's had some plan cooking for months but has refused to elaborate. Sorry you got caught up in it. If you're back, does that mean Zee and...Miss Gordon, are back too? They vanished at the same time, and even with the city under siege we were able to confirm commissioner Gordon was staying at your home. Great security by the way."

I grinned internally. Zee and Barbie had been in masks when we patrolled last night, and it appeared they knew their shit enough to avoid detection. Externally I gave him a shaky smile. "Of course. We only got back because of them. I don't know what would have happened if they hadn't been with us. They really saved my ass over there." I put on a fake shudder. "I don't want to talk about what happened though, you can ask them. They handled that whole thing a lot better than we did." I pulled Amy against me. "I'm just lucky I met my wife over there. I'd have gone crazy without her."

Amy just about glowed at the praise, and I could see Nightwing trying to decide what to say. While he most likely knew nothing about my criminal activities, he almost certainly DID know that I had impregnated Black Canary. He probably thought it was awkward to bring up, and I didn't do it for him. I wasn't supposed to know she was a superheroine. She and I had gotten past that while I'd been gone via long range communications, but as far as he was concerned I was an innocent if slightly baller civilian with an evil dad.

He just shook his head. "Well, I appreciate you letting so many people stay at your place. We saw more than a few refugees holing up in there. Even if you weren't home at the time, the people you left watching it probably saved a lot of lives, including the commissioner, which I'm sure Miss. Gordon appreciates. I'm also glad she was helpful to you wherever you ended up. Her father has trained her extensively from a young age. She's a very impressive young woman." His voice held notes of regret and relief, and I figured he was thinking of their breakup.

He seemed to lost track of what he was saying for a minute, before shaking that off. "In any case, now that you're back, I was hoping you might be able to put up one more. One of our retired members, Troia, is a close friend of Barbara. Her home was destroyed during Doctor Gotham's occupation and she was forced to flee the city. She was the one who connected your appearance to Barbara's possible return. She asked me to pass on her request to stay with you for a while, alongside another young amazon she's recently started training. She said you'd met and you knew she could be trusted."

I didn't know anything of the sort. I DID however, know that she was basically blackmailing me with knowing I was a methuman. It was irrelevant anyway though, a rematch and an opportunity to fuck that greek bitch into the pavement was more than worth a new house guest. Amazons weren't Batman. I wasn't worried about cameras, and I wanted to put my hands on that tight little oiled up ass again.

Once he finished asking questions that I mostly avoided answering, he left and Amy and I were alone in the warehouse. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. Amy cooed in sympathy and rubbed my back. "What is it baby? Are you upset you agreed to let the Amazons stay? I don't remember much about them, but I don't think they'll be too big a problem. From what I remember they tend to be thugs and they like women. We have plenty of those in the house to keep them occupied. I can have Emerald make friends with them if you want?"

I tried not to get hard at my wife's willingness to whore out her best friend, but that wasn't my issue at the moment. I just shook my head with a sigh. "No. I'm just thinking shit is going to get complicated with the junior Justice League around. They'll be a pain in the ass to avoid, but engaging directly is a bad decision considering their connections. I don't know when they big dogs are getting back, but it has to be soon. I need to develop some kryptonian countermeasures before Superman gets back."

Actually, that made me think of Kara. I doubted she was listening in on me right now, considering everything else going on, but once she was reminded of me it would be something I would have to handle. The Palace would block her hearing, and the mask would make it impossible to connect my identities, but I needed to arrange some sort of artifacts to prevent any sort of long range detection.

After a few minutes of talking over strategy with Amy in vague terms (thinking about kryptonians made it clear I needed to get into the habit of watching what I said at all times) we headed out to check on the territories we had grabbed up. I kind of wanted to just go home, but it wasn't an option right now. We had things to do before I could head back to the house. Once that was done though, we needed to start preparing for guests. I should make sure we had enough olive oil stocked in the kitchen.

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 6:00 PM EDT

I was relieved to see that Donna and her protege weren't at the house yet by the time we got back. We'd made the arrangements for them (not hard to do in a house the size of mine) and gone by all the territories to check up on our new subordinates, enjoying each other's company. Amy was a blast, her aristocratic upbringing showing in rare moments of tyrannical expectation that she wasn't even aware of. My new wife definitely had layers to her.

When we got back though, she called Barbie in to debrief us. When we had called to arrange the rooms for Donna we'd told Barbie to reach out to any sources she had and try to get a grasp on what was going on in the city. I asked everyone else except Dinah to wait outside and the four of us took up a position in one of the spare offices (one that looked suspiciously like the one Barbie and I had fucked in at galaxy). Once we were all in the office, I looked around at the makeshift war council with a sigh.

First thing though, I caught Dinah and Barbie up on everything since I'd gotten my system, bar the workings of the system itself. Dinah had guessed I was less than upstanding, but she didn't have details, and I'd been a bit vague with Barbie in Gemworld. At this point though, I wanted to make sure everyone was up to speed, because they both needed to know what I needed to know. Their sources could yield a decent amount of info but I couldn't micromanage everything, and I had my claws in deep enough that I was pretty sure they wouldn't turn on me.

One of the biggest mistakes people like my father made is they let paranoia become a matter of sentiment. Their fear of betrayal made them terrified to trust others, refusing to delegate and creating situations where they could be weakened by lack of support. My personal policy on trust was completely objective. Risk versus reward. I had more to gain from having faith in my persuasive and perceptive capabilities in regards to my best girls than I did second guessing myself, so I wasn't going to fall into the classic supervillain blunder of fucking myself over by alienating my closest subordinates with obvious distrust.

Dinah had guessed some of it, but not all, and she was surprisingly blase about what I told her. I made sure to highlight my lack of murder sprees and relative good conduct compared to other villains, and she seemed receptive. She already knew some of it, and so did Barbie, but neither they nor Amy knew everything that had happened. Once I was done, I gave them time to sort through everything...for about a second before I changed direction and prioritized the problems the city would be facing. "So, Barbie. We know the junior Justice League is in town. You were spotty about the details when you told me about them. Anything to share?"

As expected, rather than immediately just spill her guts, Barbie looked troubled. "I don't know Nicky. I was ok letting you in on Dick's identity because...well, you're better than him in every way and part of me wants you to rub it in his face. The rest of the team though...There are some innocent people on that team, people I care about. As much as I trust you to take care of me and the other girls, some of the Team members aren't people you can fuck, and I'm worried you're going to get rid of them if they become a nuisance."

Once again, I smiled easily. It was a good sign that she felt comfortable telling me that instead of making excuses. It meant deep down she wanted me to convince her she was wrong. Which she was, not that it would really have mattered. To my surprise though, it was Amy that decided to swoop in and play good cop. My wife placed a gentle hand on Barbie's shoulder. "Your compassion and loyalty are two of your finest features Barbara, but you don't need to worry about that. If anything, telling us the details of this Team will allow us to arrange for them to be protected as best we can."

I nodded. "She's right. The last thing we need is the Justice League busting down our doors because one of their apple dumpling gang got popped by accident. There's pretty much no possible action any of the capes could take that makes pissing off the whole League by killing or really even damaging them. We have methods of managing them that are much more effective, and they have much bigger priorities than us. All we have to do is make sure both of those things remain true and we'll be fine. In order to do that though I need to know as much as possible so my plans can take them into account."

The degree of relief that Barbie radiated was almost palpable. She desperately wanted to remain loyal to me and keep her self image as a 'good person' at the same time, and I had no problem making that possible. Dinah looked a bit relieved by that as well, and I made a note that her maternal instinct meant younger heroes would be a sticking point for her too. i didn't mind those instincts since they were part of how I fucked her to start with, though I'd went and plugged that hole in her psyche nice and full when I put a baby in her.

"Okay." Barbie said after a minute. "I can work with that. I don't even mind the crime stuff. There's going to be crime in either case, you'll at least make sure to look out for my friends when you're doing business. If anything, this is going to keep them even safer." She gave me a drained smile. "I...I've been a bit worried about things since our talk, but I think I was building things up in my mind to be worse than they were. You just want what's best for us. Even if it's not sentimental, you do care what happens to me and I should trust that."

I grinned. "Not to mention your sexy little greek friend is coming. Don't tell me you don't want to sink your teeth into that toned olive ass. I remember her giving you lots of looks back before you finally decided to open up about your sexuality. You're a master detective, there's no way you didn't notice Donna wanted to take a trip with you to the isle of Lesbos. You planning to get a visa the first night? Or wait until she comes to you."

She rolled her eyes. "Wow, I think that's both racist and homophobic. Unlike you Nicky, SOME of us aren't constantly hungry for pussy. I'm excited to see my friend, yes, and I'm aware of her interest. Something may happen between us, but it's not like sex is all I think about. Some of us have restraint."

"Sure." I said sarcastically. "Which is why poor Hildie was starting to develop lock jaw before you and Emerald decided to become special friends. I was pretty sure I would need to upgrade the poor girl with some sort of mouth based endurance power to prevent her from getting TMJ. I don't think you can claim to have restraint as much as just being extremely thoroughly satisfied, but that's fine. I have a rematch with that muscle bound warrior slut coming anyway."

Barbie's cheeks flushed, though at which comment I wasn't sure. "I...I guess you do. I won't get in the way of a battle. Donna wouldn't appreciate it, but can you at least not mount and fuck her into submission in front of Cassie? The poor thing JUST turned eighteen, and she looks up to Donna so much. I don't want her to see what you're going to do to her after you win."

That made me grin. "So you're so sure I'll break her in right? I mean, winning the battle is a matter of course, I'm a fucking dragon, but what makes you so sure Donna won't take my dick like a champ and walk off unimpressed?" She just gave me a flat stare and I grinned back at her.

Amy rolled her eyes. "That won't be happening. Neither of those things. Barbara tells me that Amazons are matriarchal. If she's going to be wrestled into submission it's going to be by the woman of the house." She gave me a sweet smile. "I'm happy to share with my hubby after I win her. If any of the implications I've heard about the Amazons are true she'll most likely be a skilled lover as well as a warrior. Perhaps once I subdue her with brute force she can teach me a few things."

Barbie looked positively lustful at the thought, and I briefly noted that her obedience to Amy might not be entirely based on Emerald's tongue game. My sweet little wifey was wrapping my redhead around her fingers, and that statement was likely to be literal soon if it wasn't already. I shook off all the funtime thoughts sadly, turning to Barbie. "Regardless, Donna and the other girl, Cassie you said? Will be helpful with local problems, but I need to know what the Team is going to be doing around here."

She shook off the daydream she was drifting through after talking to Amy and refocused. "Right. My sources on the Team aren't what they used to be, I've been gone a while, but I was able to get a few answers, as was Zee. They're primarily here for general defense, expecting the same shit storm we are, but Nightwing apparently also came to follow up on some unusual activity. Some kind of shadowy society native to Gotham is making moves. Weird undead soldiers popping up and waging war on some of the Metropolis natives for territory. They call themselves the Court of Owls."

I groaned. "Oh gods, Not them. Dad dealt with them a few times when I was a kid. The St. Cloud family was our point of contact." I paused, remembering fondly. "Man, that Silver girl had a banging body. Never got to fuck her, we were both like fourteen, though I talked her into a blowjob. Convinced her I would talk dad into ceding them a few blocks of territory. I think she tried to hire someone to kill me for that, though it obviously didn't work. Didn't know about the undead assassins though. Kind of glad she apparently didn't have access to those."

Barbie rolled her eyes. "What a surprise, a story about you that ends with some poor girl debasing herself for you and getting no personal benefit while you get away scot free. I would probably feel bad for her, but I've actually MET Silver St. Cloud. Being stuffed with dick is about the best possible use of that poisonous sluts mouth. Not a shock she's part of a clandestine criminal society." She sighed as she saw me smirk at her maliciously. "Oh please don't make me contact Silver St. Cloud to arrange a meeting."

I grinned at her. "Hey, consider this a chance to help your friends. If I can get Silver on our side." By which I meant on my dick, if she was half as hot as when I'd last seen her. "We'll be able to take apart the Court of Owls from the inside before they become a problem. I for one don't plan to let them get their claws into Brightedge like they did Gotham. It'll be impossible to root the bastards out if they do. Make the call, tell her Nick Lord wants to meet." She groaned in frustration but I could tell she would do it. "Now, catch me up on the Team. If we're about to make moves I need to know who to avoid." After that I had a few things to do. First on that list was finally upgrading to D rank, and I couldn't wait.

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 7:00 PM EDT

Checking my pouch, I easily found the Iron Dragon Cestus I was planning to use for my bump to D rank. My physical body was strong as hell for an E ranker already, but the Vital Tempest bloodline leaned more towards inner power and I wanted to try to balance that. The Cestus would massively increase my physical abilities so my body could keep up with my magic, and should evolve my bloodline to something a bit more balanced. I didn't want to lean too hard into the magical and lose one of my biggest advantages as a dragon. I double checked the cestii to make sure they were what I needed.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Iron dragon cestus- E rank. A pair of battle gauntlets made from the fangs of a powerful earth dragon. Set into black star iron, these brutal striking weapons amplify physical blows by three times, and boast an absurd penetrating power against mystical wards and armors. Despite this, they are considered poor weapons due to the abnormal weight, which makes them a bad fit for most noble bloodlines.]

They were perfect. The magic penetration aspect would synergize with my current power well, the weight and durability would reinforce my flesh, and the physical amplification would dramatically boost my strength in combat. Not to mention earth was still nominally part of the lifeforce vibe I went for with my bloodline, and the combination should allow me to come out of this with something on brand.

This next merge would cost me a million points, but I was still over five million, so that was fine. With how crazy things were getting I felt like I could use the security of this transformation. Brightedge was going to get crazy and some extra physical durability and power would be good insurance against some of the things I would run up against. I wasn't going to be kryptonian levels of power, but D rank should be plenty to stop almost anything else one on one. Zee had been D rank herself and she was pretty much top of ladder in terms of magical power, aside from Doctor Fate and people like Raven.

I was slightly worried now that I was back honestly. Unlike Gemworld, where the bloodline system was coherent and pretty holistic, the real world was much more chaotic when it came to power. You had people like Zee who were D ranked magic users but human levels of strength, or Kara who were A rank demigods of alien might who could lose a fight to a glow in the dark rock. If I wasn't much more durable I could easily find myself killed by the random bullshit of this world before I could effectively conquer anything.

Weighing the cestii in my hand I considered where I should do this. It might be big and flashy, and even if it wasn't I would probably be emitting tons of energy. I'd planned to wait until I got back to earth to avoid scrutiny, and if I wanted to keep that plan alive I couldn't find a better place than the Palace. It was designed to isolate the inside from detection and entrance, so no one should pick up my merge. Still, this might be destructive, so I carried the weapon in my hands down to the same training room where I'd first fought Waylon after his upgrade a while ago.

Luckily the training room was empty. There was a bit of wear and tear that made me suspect someone had been using it while we were gone, but it was a big house and there were lots of people staying here. It had probably been Jade or Barbie's dad or something. The ring was still in good shape, so climbing up into the center, I prepared for my upgrade and then triggered my power, merging myself with the Iron Dragon Cestus in a swirl of rioting energy.

Just like last time, I felt my body melt into a cohesive blob of energy as the cestus did the same, and its energy blended into mine. The sensation of feeling changes in the energy that made me up went beyond the physical, being positively indescribable for someone who spent so long as flesh. I half expected to ascend to being a full dragon, but my aim hadn't been that. Dragon status was down the line, I wanted to perfect my bloodline before I transcended it. When I regained my physical form, I reached into my pouch and pulled out the E ranked mirror from the treasury.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Nicholas Lord- D ranked Dragonkin of Primal Force. The possessor of the Greed System, and a recently transformed dragonkin. A distant child of a force of nature. An echo of a great song. Primordial might chained within a mortal form. An unending torrent of ancient power.]

I felt the shift in my nature even as I appraised myself, the differences clicking into place. My power still encompassed the storm, but it covered so much more. A volcanic eruption of life energy, a tsunami of vitality and destruction. All force sprang from the origin, from the primal. The first and strongest power. Life, death, destruction, creation. I was all these things, a walking cataclysm bound in mortal flesh.

I could feel the rioting strength inside me, and I expected to have to separate it from the older magic of the tempest, but I found that I didn't. Physical, magical, it didn't matter. My body was as my will, merely an extension of the prehistoric might inside me. Physical and magical action were no different from each other. Both were an exercise of my unending strength.

Letting the scales roll over me, my body transformed, blazing green scales rolling over flesh that increased in size and density. I could see plating of dragon scale even thicker than before in some places, my new body made for physical combat in a way my other never had been. I felt like a fucking living hurricane right now, and it was amazing. Deciding I needed to test this out, I reached through my brand and out to Amy, drawing her toward the training room.

My D ranked wifey showed up within a few minutes, and when she saw me she gave an appreciate squeal. "Oh you look so intimidating!" She proceeded to disprove that particular claim by speeding across the room and hurling herself onto me, her D ranked body slamming into mine with absolutely zero reserve. At least she proved I was stronger, because I didn't even twitch at the impact despite the power behind it.

I grinned and gave her a squeeze as I put away the mirror. "I've officially reached Marquis level, same as you. Thought I'd see if you were interested in a little sparring. I've still never seen you fight, though I know that you're pretty good at it. You used to do the combat thing all the time during your travels right? I'm curious to see what you can do now that we're at the same level."

Amy was one of my strongest assets on earth, along with Emerald, but I'd yet to assess either of their combat abilities. The other girls were all E ranked but Amy and Emerald were powerful D ranked nobles and had been for literally years. They weren't just strong, they were trained, though Emerald's ability lent itself more to non combat. Beast taming, plant growth, that sort of thing.

I'd heard a lot about the Amethyst magic, but I'd never seen the so called strongest house in Gemworld in action (outside the bedroom) since I was going to have a kid with that magic at some point (probably a few at this rate) I wanted to test things out for myself. This would be my first time fighting a real D ranker too, and I couldn't help but be excited about the possibilities.

For her part, Amy looked ecstatic. "That's a great idea! I don't have any supplies for permanent crafting really, but we can make ourselves simulacra that work temporarily even without imbuing the magic into a stable Amethyst structure. It's a bit power intensive, but much more versatile anyway. It might be a bit destructive though. Are you sure you want to do this here?"

I just shrugged. "It's a training room, we're training. The house will protect our fight from drawing attention remotely too, which is something to worry about on earth. I know you haven't been using much magic so it hasn't been an issue, but be careful not to go all out when you're out of the house unless you have someone else there watching your back." The last thing I needed was some evil sorcerer cabal capturing her after she was worn out fighting an army of amazons or some shit.

We headed up into the ring, which was a bit ripped up along the top from my ascension, but was structurally fine Amy took up her position across from me, nearly bouncing on her toes. She was wearing a pair of purple yoga pants and a black tank top, and her hair was up in a ponytail. She looked like she was going to a fucking zumba workout, not a battle, but I was hardly going to let her take me off guard.

"Alright." She said cheerfully. "Just let me know when you're ready to start ok? But you should know, I'm pretty fast, so be careful when you start the match." I found it faintly amusing that despite her protestations of worry she was completely relaxed. I wasn't too worried anyway, my reinforced body should be pretty durable even for D rank, my current bloodline should be pretty much at the peak of the rank in both enduring and outputting force.

I shot her a grin "Alright. G-" I didn't even finish the word go before a fucking train car sized pillar of glowing Amethyst energy smashed into me at an upward angle and sent me hurtling up into the air off the stage. It was jarring, and a total shock, but it wasn't enough to throw me for long. The pillar chased me up into the air for a second hit, but my wings snapped open and beat once, sending me slicing toward the ground as it went right over my head.

As soon as it missed the pillar shattered, raining shards of Amethyst light into the air and creating a field of hazardous obstacles for flight based maneuvering. If I'd still been what I was I'd have used some kind wind magic, but I could be more direct now. I flapped my wings with a sharp crack and dove at where Amy was standing, ignoring the shards of light. As I did, I imbued Primal Force into the dive, sending myself blurring forward as a green comet of energy.

I twisted my wings slightly, sending myself corkscrewing as I dove at her, but before I even hit, a dome shield of condensed Amethyst energy blazed into existence. My strike shattered it on impact, but more Amethyst grew from the cracks so fast I could barely perceive it, bleeding off the force of my blow even as it tried to consume me. Amy wasn't a stranger to combating stronger enemies. She had experience with dealing with powerful impacts it seemed.

I used the remaining force to shove myself back, breaking free of the grasping energy constructs, and landed lightly on my feet, holding up my hands to stop. With barely any lag time, the constructs shattered, this time into dust, which floated down over the training ring, highlighting my blonde bride like she was on a victoria secret runway, sparkling lights drifting around her angelically.

She gave me a cherubic smile that I returned with my own wolfish grin as I cracked my neck. "Alright. You made your point. I'll start taking this seriously." She said with a manic gleam in her eye. "Again." This time, I was gone before the pillar of energy hit me. I wasn't going to let the same trick get me twice, but I had a feeling she had plenty more. I couldn't wait to see them all, even if it took all night.

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 10:00 PM EDT

Amy and I fought for hours. I'd gone into it pretty confident, and I had done well enough. I learned fast because of the leftover enhancements from the blood of Apophis which helped make up for the steep learning curve. Still, it was far from a curb stomp. Amy was pretty much at the peak of D rank. Since the Amethyst bloodline was considered the strongest in Gemworld, that wasn't a shock, but she was also much better trained and far more used to her powers.

My own abilities were fairly instinctive, but that wasn't always a benefit. I tended to get caught in feints easier than I should, even if I also tended to shrug them off when they hit. The work I'd done on learning to resist my draconic impulses was definitely worthwhile, because I'd managed to avoid getting smashed a couple times by doing just that. Still, all in all I was a powerhouse, my indomitable physical and magical power was just the direct sort and it matched up badly against Amy's nearly flawless crowd control and massive wellspring of sorcerous energy.

After a few hours, we finally called the constant battles to a stop. Weirdly, my warrior princess was extremely affectionate and turned on by how long we'd been able to go, and her incredibly affectionate treatment made her offer to come up to her room after this enticing as hell, but sadly I had other things to do at the moment. I leaned down and pulled her into a hungry kiss as she plastered herself against me, pulling away reluctantly and with a small smile. "Hold that thought love. I have some things to take care of before bed, but I'll definitely be there."

Her pout was sexy as hell when combined with her flushed cheeks and dilated pupils. "Fine. But you have an hour or I'm dragging Emerald out of Barbara's room and we're starting without you. If you show up late we'll just make you sit there and watch." She gave me a saucy wink and strode out of the room, a little extra sway in her hips as I enjoyed that mental image. I absolutely wouldn't have just sat and watched, but it wouldn't matter. I hadn't been lying, I did have something I needed to do, and it wouldn't take too long.

Looking down at the mirror that I had used to see the results of my upgrade, I ran my eyes over it slowly. I'd noticed that reflection weirdness again, though it was much more subtle this time. Still, it caught my attention, and I was damned sure going to find out what it meant. Luckily this particular mirror was special, and I'd selected it for this exact purpose. I gave it a quick appraisal.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Eye of Oberon-E rank. A mystical mirror given to Titania by her king and consort. Allows the user to perceive secrets both distant and closeby, and peer to the heart of a matter.]

That was vague, but vague wasn't a bad thing in this context. Most E ranked items were vague in my experience. Secrets was close enough that I should be able to use if for my purposes. Something was wrong with my reflection. It was difficult to pin down, being incredibly subtle most of the time, but I'd checked multiple mirrors and they weren't the issue. This one should be just what I needed to get to the bottom of things. Closing my eyes, I reached for my magic, for the primal force that thrummed in my veins, and I pushed some of it into the mirror as I cast my consciousness into it, searching for the secret behind my reflection's oddities.

"FINALLY!" I jumped, eyes snapping open in a large ornate room with every conceivable amenity. The voice that had jerked me out of my reveries was behind me, and I spun to take in the owner of the familiar tone, only to see...me. Well. Sort of me. He was taller, and thinner, and weirdly much paler. His features seemed a bit more aristocratic(mine were more masculine, probably from the dragon blood) and his eyes were an unnaturally bright shade of green. Still, this was definitely me. "It took you long enough."

I raised an eyebrow at other me. "Well, sorry the weird ghost in my reflection wasn't a priority. I've had women to fuck, cities to conquer, you know, fun stuff." I looked around in interest. "What is this place by the way? Some kind of section of my subconscious you've managed to co-opt for yourself? Also, addendum, who the fuck are you and why are you inside my brain you asshole?" I suspected it was like, my id or something. Maybe some side effect of the Greed System.

To my surprise, that got a snort from other me. "I'm you, asshole. Or at least, what you were supposed to be. Also we aren't in your brain, we're in your soul. I'm the reason the Sun King recognized you, as well as a few other oddities you've gone through. I was SUPPOSED to be part of you actually. Your other half. Sadly, that didn't end up happening. The Greed System cannibalized our fairy powers to jump start itself. Probably for the best though, otherwise it would have just killed us like most of the others."

THAT brought me up short. "Wait...what? Killed us? Also, I'm half fairy? Wait, is that why I don't really have some of my emotions?" That explained...weirdly a lot, actually. Fairies were known to be pretty much completely self involved and were manipulative sociopaths by nature. The emotions I DID have were probably from my human half, but it made sense it would only be the ones that were compatible. "Ok, start from the top asshole. You're really bad at telling stories."

Other me rolled his eyes. "Fine. As you may have guessed, we were born half human and half fae. We were ALSO born with the Greed System. Crassus was an ancestor on dads side, and we got our fae heritage from mom. The greed system consumed our fae powers to implant and start itself. As for killing us, yes. It killed several of the hosts. Crassus was probably some kind of supernatural and didn't know it. Maybe a demigod, based on when and where he lived. Regardless he most likely never KNEW that, because it isn't something most people notice happening."

Well, at least Crassus wasn't hiding some shit like that on purpose. That begged the obvious question though. "How the actual fuck are you still around then? I assume it's not usual for fragments to be left, or else Crassus would have probably talked to his."

"Nope." Other me said smugly. "That's all us. Our fae side has a knack for mirror magic. Mom was a scary bitch, and I was able to instinctively shunt part of myself away. I ended up here, and have spent most of our life as a fragment, watching you waste our existence on booze and parties. Not that I didn't find your antics amusing, but the fae part of us that got cannibalized had most of your ambition. If the Greed System wasn't pushing you to want things I suspect you would probably still be lazing around in a hedonistic blur."

I could definitely see how that might have worked. "Ok. Fair enough. But it also begs the question...why? Why reach out to me. Like, I'm not giving you my body, obviously, and integrating you at this point seems way too risky. Are you really content to just sit here inside my soul for eternity? Is this some fairy trick to get out? Because I'm not an idiot, I'm not making any deals with you. Assuming you even had the power to manage them after being cannibalized by the Greed System."

To my surprise, Other me just shrugged. "I'm not in a hurry. Fae don't really experience boredom like other races. We're basically eternal, and we can be patient. I AM interested in getting out, but lucky for us, I don't need to take your body to do it. With the Greed System, you can just merge me into a prepared corpse at some point. Like I said, no rush, but I DO have information that you don't, and I'll need an agreement to get me out of here before I give you any of it."

That was less awful than expected, but it kind of made sense. Eternal life and all. "I'm assuming you want me to make you a powerful fae body? I'm not...completely against idea if I get the chance. But your information would have to be valuable." I also really wanted this fucking thing out of me. Even if it used to be part of me, it wasn't now, and I absolutely didn't want it living in my fucking spirit or wherever it was hiding. Giving it it's own body was a win win for me.

Other me gave me a scathing look. "I'm not exactly thrilled to be trapped in some malformed abomination either. Plus I dislike all the sentiment. You're getting so attached to your women. It's gross. Between your draconic instincts and the possessive pull you feel from the Greed System you might as well be writing love songs in here." He shuddered theatrically, which I didn't appreciate, and I flipped him off.

"Fuck you." I said flatly. "I care about whats mine. If that's a problem for your broken ass, you can eat a dick. You're a shattered fragment of an alien half of a hybrid psyche. Your opinion means less than nothing to me. I'm not against making you a new body, though I'll be building in safeguards so you don't try to like...kill me with it or something. That said, your timing is going to be relevant. I assume you agreed to wait so you could get a more powerful form? This is, of course, all contingent on you telling me something useful, which I'm not convinced you can. How would you even know anything?"

He shrugged. "I know some things. Instinctive information if you will. I might be a fragment, but I still have parts of our native magic. It comes with some small bits of understanding. Some of it was mom actually. The version of her that was summoned to this plane seduced dad because she was pretty sure he could help her escape, and we were the tool designed to help her do that. Sucks for her the Greed System completely ruined her plans. Personally I'm not broken up about not being a brainwashed fairy sleeper agent."

That one made me wince. "Ouch. Yeah, bullet dodged. You mentioned mom before though. The fairy thing I get, but who is she exactly? If the Sun King knew her she must be old as dirt. I assume that's why he recognized us, and what you meant when you said it was because of you?" I had to admit I was a bit curious. Dad had...well, not raved, dad didn't rave, but his recollections of mom had been much fonder than I'd heard him speak of anyone. Though the vessel thing explained how she had died in childbirth. I wondered who had summoned her originally and why.

Other me grinned, exposing creepily sharp teeth I hadn't noticed before. "Oh that was one of the few bits of programming that survived the consumption of our powers. I think she really wanted us to know that, probably because it would be impossible to do the mission otherwise. You'll have to do your own research on her, since I have no clue what the name means, only the implanted understanding of how terrifying she is. When you get a chance, stop by Shadowcrest with Zatanna and check the library. You're looking for any mention of Tsaritsa. The might behind the mirror."

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 11:00 PM EDT

As much as I would have liked to go bang my wife into a sex coma, I was unfortunately going to need to discuss this whole mess with some people who could actually give me decent advice. Zee was at Shadowcrest. She'd been splitting her time between here and her old place, but with Barbie so wrapped up with Hildie and Emerald, and me busy with business and Amy, she hadn't really had much reason to be around.

I still needed to talk over the Brand with her, I'd been putting that off, and this seemed like as good a chance as any, since I could distract her with shiny new magic knowledge. So I gave her a call and asked her to come over for a discussion, and to bring a few books on the fae. I debated mentioning my mother directly, but I figured the curiosity would be good motivation. My lightning phone made contact safe from prying ears, but information was still a resource to be hoarded.

She headed over immediately, bringing Jinx, who she'd taken back to her place with her, along and sending the girl off to explore the house as we settled down to talk in one of the studies. When we got inside, I gestured for her to sit down and deposit her bag of books on the ground before finally addressing the elephant in the room. "So, get any cool tattoos lately?"

Whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been that, and she snorted out a laugh, taking a second to regain control of herself as her tension melted away. "Finally ready to talk about that? I mean, I noticed it obviously, but since you weren't actually DOING anything with it I didn't see a need to bring it up right away. Still, that was mostly an emergency situation thing, and now that we're home...for some values of that word, I would kind of like to hear more about it."

That was...surprisingly practical. I shouldn't be surprised. Zee was usually practical, it was one of the things I liked best about her. I hadn't considered she would be able to tell if I used the Brand on her. Seemed like my hands off policy had helped my case here. "Fair enough. So, what do you want to know? There are a few things I'm sure you already guessed, and I'd rather not go over things you already know."

She smirked at that, clearly pleased I had such faith in her perceptive abilities. "Alright, well first is the most obvious. I'm pretty sure of this, but just to confirm, is the mark the source of your ability to upgrade people? I've noticed your magic trick is only done on people extremely close to you, or ones who drink from that cup. It wasn't too hard to figure it out, especially with Barbara's recent jump in power, but I'd like it confirmed, and it would be nice to know how it works."

I held up a hand and sawed it back and forth. "Yes and no. I can't upgrade people without the Brand, but I can use my power on objects without any real conditions. I usually avoid doing it to objects that aren't going to be under my control because they can be used against me, so it's a bit of a tradeoff." I didn't mention points or anything related to how my powers worked. There was no reason to tell anyone the details of my abilities. I got no benefit from it and it was a bit of risk I didn't need to take.

She nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting. I've been keeping an eye on the mark, and based on the little interaction I've had I feel like I'd know if you used it on me. Since you have it, and I could possibly get stronger from it, I'm not opposed to leaving it alone for now." That was shocking, but before I could respond she held up a finger sharply. "BUT. I have a condition. I want you to make sure all the other girls are completely at my disposal. I saw some of their abilities, and at least a few of them are magic based. I want to conduct research on how their powers work. Especially Strega, since I have a pretty solid baseline on what her abilities were before the upgrade. Plus I want to help design my first upgrade."

I blinked. That was...a lot better than expected. I could live with that. "Fine. But keep me updated on your progress, and don't do anything permanent to them. As for you... that's going to take a while. I have to wait longer to stockpile the power for higher levels of power. You're at the same level as Amy and I, and upgrading you even once is more difficult than upgrading all of the current girls to our level. I can and will do it, but it'll take me a while. You'll have to be patient."

Getting anyone to C rank was going to be a fucking nightmare, much less multiple people. My only real lead on that was figuring out how to cleanse Raven of her demonic father's influence. She'd been incredibly high ranked, and getting her under my control would pay out enough GP to do some serious upgrading. I still had four million plus right now, but like I'd told Zee, that wasn't even halfway to what I'd need for a single C rank upgrade.

I was only willing to tell her that much because I was keeping up the fiction that my power accrued over time. It was the easiest way to give a reasonable explanation and still keep things in reserve. With my current stockpile of GP I could spam a few of the girls to D ranker if I needed to, and that was a good card to keep in my back pocket. For now though, E rank should be plenty to keep them safe.

With the messy nonsense out of the way, and much faster and smoother than expected (I really had been a good influence on Zee) I turned my attention to the bag of books. "Now, did you bring the books I mentioned? There's a specific fae monarch I was hoping to find out more about. She might become relevant to us sooner or later and I want to have the best possible grasp on her that I can get. Do any of those books have any references to 'the might beyond the mirror', or Tsaritsa?"

Zee looked contemplative. "Maybe? It sounds familiar. Give me a second. I've read all of these, but it's been ages and even my memory is only so good." I wasn't shocked she had enhanced memory. Her D rank was mainly mental and magical, and she had some kind of weird magic brain gem or something from what I'd seen. She rifled through the bag, flipping through the books to try to find passages she half remembered, and finally came to a single red leather bound tome with yellowing pages.

She flicked through it for a minute before grinning up at me. "Got it! This is the one." She stared down at the pages, skimming over them to summarize. "Tsaritsa, the might behind the mirror. Ancient sorceress of fae origin, used to rule the world way back when. Apparently she was such a huge asshole that humanity rose up and ousted her, banishing her. Mostly forgotten over time, she's still remembered in the form of a fable, and sometimes reaches out to the unwary through reflections to try to return to our world."

I reached out to pluck the book from her hands carefully, skimming over the pages thoughtfully. The text was handwritten, clearly the result of someone's personal research, but even though the basics were there, I couldn't see any real details. It was a couple paragraphs on Tsaritsa, no details on where she was banished to, how she chose who to contact, or anything about her manifesting through a vessel to have kids. I groaned in frustration. "This isn't much, do you think you have any other texts on her?"

Zee just shook her head. "Doubt it. I wouldn't have even thought to bring this if you hadn't mentioned fae monarchs. Guiseppe Zatara, the ancestor who wrote this, had an affair with a fae and became kind of obsessed. He spent his life tracking down and cataloguing the various types of fae. I don't think the connection between Tsaritsa and the might behind the mirror is even common knowledge. I get the impression her name has mostly been forgotten over time. Not that the might behind the mirror is a household name, but its at least recent."

I cursed, passing her back the book. That was...unfortunate. Information would have been helpful. I leaned back with a sigh. "Well shit. It's fine, I can look into other sources. How are things going with Jinx by the way? You have her going down on you yet?" I grinned at the mental image, but Zee just rolled her eyes at me.

"No." She said in an annoyed tone. "Contrary to your impression, your life isn't ACTUALLY porn. I know it's close. But since I'm not Barbara, I don't feel the constant need to dominate other women. I enjoy sex with her, and with you, but it's not all I think about." Her eyebrows drew together. "Or it WASNT. Since our little vacation in Opal land I've been way hornier than usual. Luckily when I'm not around you specifically I can mostly keep a lid on it. Hence me spending so much time at Shadowcrest."

I grinned widely at her. "Is that why you haven't been around? You were worried you'd be too tempted to fuck and wanted to get work done?" I paused. "Actually I can kind of see that. My life IS pretty close to porn sometimes. Still, if you don't want me to fuck you for a while just say so. I can focus on the other girls and let you do your own thing. It's no fun if you're not into it."

She snarled at me. "You KNOW I don't want that you asshole. You know how hard it is not to jump you right now, and that the idea of forgoing sex with you completely makes me jittery. Offering to ignore me just to make me jealous is petty. I do think that I want to limit how much sex we have. Not all of us are weird energy dragons that can have marathon fuck sessions for days on end. Honestly I'd still be jonesing if Shadowcrest hadn't been helping me detox from that ridiculous energy rich cum of yours. Were you trying to fuck me stupid or was it just a happy accident?"

I just shrugged. "Little of column A little of column B. Your magic and mind are useful, so I don't want them gone, but I can't say turning you into a squealing cum drunk mess isn't fun and appealing. I have to go fuck my wife actually, but you're welcome to join us if you want. She thinks you're very pretty and I know I saw you admiring her sweet little ass a few times."

Closing her eyes Zee let out a long breath, gritting out. "No, Nick. Not tonight. We can schedule something later. I'm going to go home and do a once over of my library just in case there's something on Tsaritsa I missed. You aren't exactly the 'hypothetical nonsense' type. So I have a feeling we might need the info soon." She stood up, her face smoothing as she walked over to give me a sweet smile and a kiss on the cheek. "Go plow your princess and let me get some real work done, will you?" Despite her saying so, the sway she put in her hips drew my eye to that fat ass of hers as she walked away. With a sigh I stood up to go have one on one sex with just my wife. I guessed being married did have SOME downsides.