Chaotic Clusterfuck 16 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Definitely Not Dio

Chaotic Clusterfuck

Chapter 16

-VB-

“Is the steel supposed to glow-?”

BOOM!

I watched as three of my clones rolled out of the explosion and smoke, hacking and coughing as they rolled away from the steel.

Like always, my clones were hard at work to make all of us rich, and transmuting common materials to precious metals was the easiest and the simplest way to do it. And we didn’t only do it with gold. With so many clones working at the same time, we actually stopped selling the more than half of the transmuted materials because we began using them ourselves! 

Funny thing, actually. 

Once I decided that I wanted to start building my own defenses, it became easier for me to decide that I wanted to make my own bullets and guns. From there, things kind of escalated until I purchased the lands and an abandoned factory and started filling it up with machines of all kinds. Some of these were for the sake of making the bullets that my anti-air guns were going to use. Others were for reverse-engineering and building more of those same anti-air guns but with design twists. 

But all of this was not really important. It was a background improvement that got me increased levels of defense and preparation as well as wealth.

Who knew that people would be interested in buying ammo in a city full of pirates who went out to shoot bullet at people to steal their loot…?!

Me becoming an arms dealer as a side effect of not wanting to draw attention to myself by selling too much gold was beside the point.

The important bit was that I had one of my clone’s ajins inside PRT ENE’s headquarters and, more specifically, inside a meeting of the PRT and the Protectorate.

So while I lounged around in bed surrounded by my three lovely ginger women, I listened in on the PRT and the Protectorate sitting in stiff plastic chairs inside a barely air-conditioned and dimly lit room. 

“... far, we have designated these Strangers as ‘Stalkers’ because they have …”

Oh yeah.

All of the ajins made by me and my clones seem to be horror prank lovers. They weren’t me, though they were dependent on me to be “alive” in a sense and that they accepted my suggestions and orders. Chasing people around while interacting only with water for that invisible person effect. 

Anyways, most of the ajins acted as spies, gathering all sorts of information. I knew exactly what was going on inside ABB’s internal hierarchies. I knew which ABB enforcer wanted to fuck which girl and which brothel madam intended to poison some idiot who cut up one of her girls. I saw the E88’s gangsters roaming and killing blacks and latinos they didn’t think anyone would miss. How they planned their attacks and received their drugs from a serious of proxies that started at the Medhall Corporation. I saw pirates buying and selling at the black market. Hell, I even saw a stall that was buying human meat.

I saw all of this and did nothing because I saw this as a chance to gather blackmail on everyone.

I wasn’t here to fix anything.

I was here to make a fortune and become a powerhouse for myself! 

Which was also why one of my ajins was in that meeting room. The clone that the ajin came from was transcribing everything it heard from his ajin. 

And, oh boy, I wondered what Kaiserand Lung were each going to pay me to have a full transcript of each PRT meeting.

-VB-

Being Terapin was a rather odd experience aside from having to wear a bastardized version of Ancient Greek Hoplite equipment. 

Terapin was a clone that I limited to using only magecraft and chakra, both of which were part of the wider systems of power present on Earth Bet. However, most of the people with magecraft and chakra were not as advanced as I was.

Why would they be? Neither came with instructions like the Shard-based parahuman power and both needed exacting discipline to become powerful. The most powerful magecraft cape before the appearance of my clones in the form of the Four Musketeers was some occult guy in France who could perhap a number of formalcraft rituals. And all he did was make people younger with more vitality by sacrificing 

So in the eyes of everyone who interacted with Terapin, he wasn’t just a villain but a master combatant of magecraft and chakra. 

And I think it was a combination of this mastery of combat and the juicy intel he intended to provide that had Lung hear my clone out. 

Lung’s eyes slid side to side as he finished reading the last page of the transcript. He took off his glasses (his lower face was covered by a tight face mask) and then put his dragon mask back on.

“This is a very interesting bit of information,” he rumbled. “And worth a lot.”

“Which is why it makes for a fine appetizer, doesn’t it?” I asked as Terapin. “We can provide you with more of these transcripts for a fair price.”

He stared at me before setting the papers down. 

“One  thousand dollars per transcript as base pay. Additional one thousand if the transcript has anything to do with the other organizations of the bay. Additional five hundred on top of that if it involves my confederation.”

Oh? He considered himself more as a member of the confederation of pirates than he did as the leader of his own gang? Interesting. 

… It would make sense if he was intending to use the intel I provided as a way to grasp more power within the confederation, which was a larger organization with more manpower and assets. 

But still…

“Eh? Only two thousand five hundred for intel relating to your people? That’s kind of on the small side. This isn’t something people can just stumble into. That intel was gathered actively. That is a transcript of a meeting that is fresh from this morning.”

Lung paused.

“This morning?”

“Yes, Lung. Less than three hours ago.” I leaned forward. “You just got your hands on a fresh intel on how the PRT is directing its people.” I put my elbows on my knees and clasped my hands and put my armored chin on them. “Even if Kaiser is our enemy, he would pay double that, minimum, for the information.” Then I grinned. “Jory is not high enough on the PRT rank to get you that.”

And now, Lung froze.

He met my eyes, and they were those of a leader who realized he stumbled into something he couldn’t ignore. 

“Interesting,” he muttered as he leaned back. “Very interesting.” He paused. “I regret that I did not evaluate you correctly. Let us discuss fruitful relations. But know this. If you lied to me about this…”

“I wouldn’t lie,” I grinned. “Just like how I wouldn’t lie about how you took ****** road last night.”

He shot up. The previously polite mask ripped off as he glared down at me.

“You dare…?”

“Just a way to prove that I do not lie, Lung. If I really wanted to use it against you, then I would have gone to Kaiser, not you. But here I am… and none of my teammates are. You aren’t someone who we would attack, not if we want to get out of it alive, and certainly, we would gain nothing by attacking you. We don’t have territory, after all.” Then I paused. “Aside from killing villains, of course, but you and your pirates aren’t exactly attacking the bay, are you?”

He slowly sat back down. 

“I see. I understand and I assume you do as well.”

A single word about where he was, of where he lived in his civilian identity, would see this city burned to see me dead.

“Of course! We do not lie.”

We can’t, anyways.