The Lazy Lord 4 (Patreon)

The Lazy Lord
Chapter 4: Privilege of the Powerful

-VB-

“How do you see?”

I looked up to see Assault. Since he wasn’t making any moves, I did nothing to him either.

“I have a power slot specifically for vision.”

“So you can see without eyes.”

“Yes, including the shape and color

There was a pause as he digested that information, no doubt also listening to orders from Piggot or Armsmaster about fishing for more information.

“You are really starting a fish-rearing business.”

I could almost hear the squawk from his earpiece. Almost, or maybe I was just imagining it.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to be interested in this stuff.,” I drawled with a smile.

“I’m not. I’m just upset you’re going to smell like fish,” he grinned. He knew that I knew that he was “fishing” for information, and I was a man starting up a “fishing” business, a play on words that was sure to make some people laugh and others frown.

“Hey, fish is good!”

“Not when it stinks.”

“Fine,” I snorted as I slotted in an air-refreshing power and cleaned myself. “For your information, this kind of business is called aquaculture.”

Assault looked at the ten circular nets and the swimming fishes within them from the newly constructed wooden pier I built for my aquaculture (without permission).

“So what kind of fishes are you growing?” he asked, somewhat curious but also not very.

Too many Americans didn’t like fish, in my opinion. Good thing I intended to make them eat cheap fish whether they liked it or not.

“Oysters and clams.”

“... So you like clam chowder.”

I snorted in amusement. “Well, I do,” I admitted. “But that’s not why I’m raising clams and oysters.”

“Oh?”

“Do you know how much waste regular fish make when contained in a small area?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, algal blooms are a thing, and they destroy habitats.”

“... They do?”

I blinked before shrugging. I forgot that not many people dipped their hands and feet into diverse fields as I did, though most of my academic prowess was just barely average in most fields.

"Wait, why do you need a circular net if you are growing things that don't move?"

I paused. "Yeah, why did I get these nets? They're useless to me."

Assault barked out a laugh. "I guess even Eidolon's evil twin doesn't do everything right!" he joked.

"He ha. You mean Eidolon's better version?"

"Evil twins always say that."

"But I'm not evil."

"So you didn't kidnap a cape and keep them in your tower? Your gnarly and mysterious tower?"

Hmm. I was just hitting all of those "evil" points today, wasn't I?

"I do."

"And what are you doing with her?"

"Brainwashed her into being a loyal broodmare."

He pinned a flat glare at me. "That's not cool."

"She was planting bombs in people's heads. You should be happy I removed… thirty-ish head bombs."

"Head bombs?"

"Yup. The bitch was crazy."

"Was?"

"Crazy can be brainwashed away. Enough sex will leave them a nymphomaniac. Removing her power also seemed to help."

There was a pause before Assault paled.

"Oh. You can remove powers?" je asked tensely.

"Precision surgery. I just removed both of the coronas."

"Right…"

"Oh right. Dinah Alcott, mayor's niece, is a precognitive. She's not old enough for me to consider making her into a mistress, so you can have her if you can keep her."

Assault nodded jerkily before hurrying away.

I just kept staring at the net.

"I feel so stupid…" I bemoaned. "Now, I gotta make new ones."

I pulled the nets out of the water, and set about tearing and weaving with telekinesis the nets into compartmentalized net boxes. They kind of looked like crab traps, but would house growing clams and oysters.

I spent hours in it, ignoring the city around me. I didn't need the sleep, so I stayed awake the entire night, and finished it all by the next morning.

… Right, I needed to get myself some clam seeds. Wait, did Earth Bet even have aquaculture hatcheries? If it did, were there any in the area?

… I seriously did not think this through, did I?

-VB-

Okay, so it took some time to research, but the gist of it was thus.

One, due to the ever slowly declining population, demand for fish grew lower and lower and thus not profitable.

Two, Leviathan discouraged any buildup of coastal farming and trade. As a result of this, while people did move to cities as rural areas became more dangerous, these cities tended to be well-established cities, not because they were coastal.

A good example of such cities were not New York City and Boston but Sacramento, Los Angeles, Denver, and Houston. LA and Houston drew in crowds because of the Triumvirate’s protections, but Sacramento and Phoenix drew crowds because they were not energy producing (Behemoth’s target), politically important (Simurgh’s targets), or coastal cities (Leviathan’s target).

They were also close to military bases, which discouraged parahuman villain activities. As stringent as jurisdictions were, the military wasn’t exactly going to stand by and let villains ruin a city when it’s right next to their bases. Or if their bases were within those cities.

And three, the public’s perspective of the Bay was that of a graveyard. You don’t grow stuff in graveyards. It’s disrespectful and icky.

Honestly, I understood all of those points.

I didn’t think I would like apples from apple trees in graveyards when I don’t know if those apples sucked up dead people for nutrients.

Regardless, such were the reasons why Brockton Bay’s coastal areas were free of aquaculture and trade in general.

“So will you leave now that you have all of the information you have been looking for?”

I looked up at Director Piggot’s purpling outraged scowl.

“Oh yeah. Sorry about using your database like that. I couldn’t handle the curiosity.”

“Then please leave.”

I held my hands up in mock surrender, got off of her office chair, and walked out of her office. In the corridor, a dozen PRT agents, armored and armed, stood waiting with Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, and Velocity.

“Done?” Miss Militia asked with a flat voice.

“Yup! Thanks for the help!”

“Please don’t just invite yourself in next time.”

I dismissed her with a wave. “Bah, you guys did me a favor today! Just call it in whenever you want,” I said as I walked away, leaving a somewhat worried sixteen people behind me.

Just as I left the corridor and out of the hearing range, I heard Assault speak. “Wait, did we just get a favor from Eidolon’s evil twin?”

“Better twin!” I shouted over my shoulder.

“Sorry!”

-VB-

Honestly, I wouldn’t be doing this entire aquaculture stuff if it wasn’t part of my Conscious Geas.

Who would have thought that the Geas would tell me to do something so … normal?

You know, nothing like “go fuck a new woman everyday” like a pervert would suggest, “arrest a villain everyday” like a naive hero would suggest, or anything more in line with a superhuman world…

No, my Geas told me to go set up a fish farm and make it profitable. That and take territory, but fish farm was the more normal - and thus abnormal - part of this Geas.

But…

I liked this.

I smiled proudly at the carefully scattered clam seeds.

Something soft touched the back of my head, and pushed me forward a little.

“I really don’t get why you’re all so happy about some … stupid clams.”

I looked up. It was deja vu, a scene I was in with Assault only a few days ago, but this time, it was Bakuda, now just Jessica Washimada Vinnman (“Just call me Jess, you weirdo”) staring down at me.

Also, her boobs pressed against my head.

It’s been about three weeks in total since I’ve stolen her away and made her mine. It wasn’t romantic, nice, or even good. She was a bad girl, I was a bad man, and mind alterations were scary.

Even so, what we have was …

Well, it was something.

“It’s better than just staring at TV for who knows how long.”

She hummed. “Yeah. I guess.”

At this point, Jess didn’t really have anywhere to go. In her civilian identity, she was a crazy university bomber, and her parents had already disowned her. Bakuda had been her only life, and I took that away (for a good fucking reason).

Now that she wasn’t crazy anymore, she saw a lot of her own faults.

It was shocking and odd how little changes made people so different.

“So what are you going to do after you grow them?”

“Sell them? Eat them? What else?”

“I don’t think people will buy clams from a villain.”

“Bah!” I spat out. “Then they don’t know the joys of good quality cheap clams!”

“They aren’t even grown yet. How can you tell they will be good quality?”

“Because I’m making sure of it.”

“... You’re using your powers?” she asked while looking out into the ocean. Her eyes narrowed. “Why are there algal blooms near your farm?”

“Because that’s what the clams eat, you know? They’re filter feeders.”

“I knew that, lazy idiot.”

“Hey, I’m not-”

“You’re not proactive, you’re reactive, and you didn’t even properly study what you were getting into. I heard all about your little incursion into the PRT ENE headquarters.”

“Oh. How?”

“You never told me I couldn’t leave your tower. So I went out, got myself a decent computer, an internet connection, and stuff.”

“... Wait, with what money?”

She grinned. “You know, you changed my mind, literally, but you forgot to check if I had my own money stashed somewhere. With the ABB gone, no one even knows about them, too.”

“...Huh.”

“Like I said, lazy idiot.”

“Does Jess want to be dominated in bed again?”

“You made it so that I like that. Don’t ask pointless question, stupid.”

“Your words hurt.”

“Suck it up,” she grinned down at me.

-VB-

I sensed him first before I saw him.

The presence appeared out of nowhere, though I had a good idea of how it could have happened.

I immediately put on a pair of jeans to cover my modesty while Jess began to wake up from my sudden movement. Once I finished hastily pulling the jeans up, I switched out the inactive [Photosynthetic Enhancement] for [Counter], a simple power, just in case.

Then using my copy of Glory Girl’s power, I flew out of the room and out of the tower, using the cylindrical hollow hole in the middle.

I flew out of the tower from the top and stopped.

No more than a hundred yards from where I was, I saw him.

Glowing in subtle green against the rising sun, he certainly didn’t hold back on the drama.

“Eidolon,” I called out.

“... Alan Marris,” he spoke gravelly. “So you chose Brockton Bay as your home after your … murder?”

Murder?

“Which one?”

“Of the first parahuman, Scion.”

Oh, that… OH! Was that what he was here about?

“Sure. With him gone, it’s not like we have a sword of Damocles hanging over us.”

“So you knew.”

“Yup.”

“How?”

“... Are you sure you should be here?” I asked him with a smirk. “Rebecca already showed you what I did, right? She must have.”

I saw the PRT ENE gather up at the edge of my vision not to assault but in deference to Eidolon. Whatever he chose to do, they would follow, but the fear in them was palpable. Tangible in how they formed themselves behind their Protectorate comrades and vehicles.

Not that any of those would matter if David and I got serious in any fight.

“I did. What did you say to convince him to do … that?”

“I told him the truth, you know?”

“Truth?”

“Yup. He was never going to feel better. The poor bastard was depressed.”

Though I couldn’t see his face, David’s body language shifted to disapproving. I supposed that he had a show to keep up just in case anyone was keeping an ear out for this conversation. It wouldn’t do for one of the world’s premier heroes to celebrate the Great Hero’s death, now would it?

“So why are you here and waking me up?” I asked grouchily. It wasn’t even 6 am.

“I’m here to kick you out.”

I blinked. “Wait, you’re actually here to fight me? Did your master even give the permission?"

He scowled. "I am no one's dog,” he said as his fists clenched.

"Ah, the stage of denial. So are you going to start this or what?"

“Ye-” He cut himself off as he struck first, firing some kind of laser at me.

[Counter] did its thing. It redirected the attack right back at him. He flew around to dodge his own attack, which I presumed to be at least damaging if not outright lethal.

I hadn’t intended to do this, but I supposed that David forced my hand. I mean, this was the kind of thing that was just cliche, but right here and right now? I needed at least some advantage to take out the Triumvirate before me.

I spoke loudly as he continued to hammer against my [Counter]. “Hey, David!”

He stiffened for a second as I spoke of his civilian name. “How do you know that name?!” This time, he tried a gravitational pull. Even with Glory Girl’s flight, I was slowly getting pulled towards him.

I spoke the words that brought him down.

“You needed Worthy Opponents.”

For a second, he looked confused.

“Endbringers and you share a blindspot together, right? Scion doesn’t always know when they strike either. You’re their only plausible source.”

His whole body froze.

I swapped out my second inactive power for a sure kill attack.

With only a hundred yards between us, I blitzed forward Glory Girl’s power quickly enough that David didn’t have time to react before I was upon him.

My fist punched through his chest as if it wasn’t there, dragging out a heart at the other end.

And then I dropped the heart before lashing out with a kick, utterly obliterating the organ.

David hung in the air for a second with my arm through his chest but no blood spilling out, and then I pulled back. Still, there was no wound or a gaping hole in his chest.

What I had done was phase through everything but my target: his heart.

David wavered in shock, his eyes wide before they fluttered close, and plummeted.

There was a pause of shock before some of the PRT agents and Protectorate heroes abandoned their posts to rush and catch David.

They skid across the ground, piling their own bodies, and David landed on them.

Dead.

And I felt another power form.

I cackled as two more slots came into existence on top of the three pre-existing slots.

I showed it off by summoning a halo of light behind my head and a vertical ring of fire ten yards wide, and [Counter] showed itself just in time as a transparent hexagonal energy shield after it fully recovered from Eidolon’s assault.

They shouted.

They looked.

They feared.

I could see it. I held my arms out, palms up and fingers spread out.

“Scram, little lambs,” I laughed.

God, I loved this feeling of absolute strength!

It was only after I came back to ravage Jess in my post-victory dopamine rush that I didn’t even need to have [Counter] because [Aegis], one of the powers I had, would have done the exact same thing!

Ugh, I’m an idiot.

-VB-

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Topic: Eidolon is dead!

In: Boards ► North America

Bagrat (Guy in the Know)(Veteran Member)
Posted on May 19, 2011:

Today at 5:48 a.m., Eidolon was spotted flying near the Villain’s Tower, the outlandish base of a new Brockton Bay villain codenamed by the PRT as “Demiurge.” Half of the Protectorate ENE and Parahuman Response Team ENE was there to support him in what looked to be removal of the Deimurge, whether through death or arrest.

Deimurge flew out of his tower, and he and Eidolon conversed, which included the accusation by Eidolon and admittance by Demiurge that points to Scion’s disappearance last month.

Eidolon engaged Demiurge, but the villain only spoke, which caused Eidolon to freeze up, and die by Deimurge’s hand.

I currently lack the full detail to know what exactly was discussed outside of Scion or what caused Eidolon to freeze mid-attack.

But this is clear: Eidolon is dead.

God save us all.

Edit: Demiurge has been confirmed to be a Trump on par with Fairy Queen.

Shakuntala
Posted on May 19, 2011:

I’ve heard rumors here in India, but this … is big.

GStringGirl
Posted on May 19, 2011:

This is a lie, right? You’re trolling, right?

You have to be trolling.

FreakyFranklin001
Posted on May 19, 2011:

@Bagrat is this confirmed? @Tin_Mother can we have this thread locked down now until it is confirmed? Bagrat doesn’t troll, but someone can access his account.

Tin_Mother (Moderator)
Posted on May 19, 2011:

Edit: This thread has been unlocked. God help us all.

Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Posted on May 19, 2011:

I have been given the official permission from Director Piggot to release some information. However, before I do so, I urge you to watch this press conference.

Also, @Bagrat? We need to have words.

FalseKingEret (Veteran Memeber)
Posted on May 19, 2011:

All of you are just hyped on the latest news that none of you are giving one of the greatest heroes we’ve had the respect he deserves.

We also need a way to take out this villain that reduced the Triumvirate to Diarchy.

BrocktonResident0001
Posted on May 19, 2011:

@FalseKingEret I agree with you. We do need to have a moment of silence for Eidolon’s passing.

That guy’s a Trump. The moment he killed Eidolon, everyone watching him saw him sport two more separate powers. He’s a Case-53 (saw him myself) and has no eyes, but he can see. So that has to be a power. He’s flying. That’s two. Whatever he used to kill Eidolon is three. Whatever he used to defend against Eidolon’s Legend mimicry was four. And then after he killed Eidolon, he got this weird halo around his head and a ring of fire. Even if you group the last one together, that’s five powers, not including the telekinesis/ferrokinesis he used to build the monstrosity of a tower.

Bagrat (Guy in the Know)(Veteran Member)
Posted on May 19, 2011:

… So Brockton Bay has a Fairy King?

Yeah, I still don’t understand why people live there. You have a Nazi Knight, Asian Dragon, standard street drug kingpin, and now a S-class threat. Why do you guys live there? Are there jobs there?

XxVoid_CowboyxX
Posted on May 19, 2011:

Nah, that [REDACTED] doesn’t need to kill. That floating power looks too much like Glory Girl’s, and he did fight her, right? That was on the news. Also, why weren't the other Triumvirates here today?

Moderator_Edit: it is unwise to cuss out a villain who just killed Eidolon, especially if he sees this and wants to punish you for it. Have a week long ban just so we don’t have to deal with a rampaging villain - Tin_Mother

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