System Supervillain, Chapter 91 (Patreon)

Chapter 91 – Problems

Midnight’s words may have been as close to a compliment as she got when talking about men, but I was under no illusions that she had changed her thoughts about me, personally. As she said, this and that were two separate things. She had a strong dislike, possibly even hatred of men as a whole, and those who acted as I did were even higher on her shit list.

Still, there was no need for me to concern myself with that over-much. As I approached the General, I nodded to him, and called out, “Been a while, General. How are the troops?”

“Ah, Iceblade,” he nodded in return. “All is well. I slowed recruitment drives for a while, as I took some time after this ‘System’ came online to adjust to how things worked. I’m sure you’ve experienced changes in your own abilities, as well. But then, you’ve had some high-level recruits to your team, yes? Can’t say I don’t envy you, being able to recruit talent like that.”

“Well, part of it is being in the right place at the right time. However, more of it has to do with my other abilities. Trying to prepare for everything I can throw at someone is pretty much impossible, you know.”

“Fair enough. Don’t suppose there’s any way I could convince you to sign on? There’s a lot we could do if we worked together.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, General. While I don’t have any particular disagreement with you, or the way you want to take things in this country, that doesn’t mean I’m willing to sign up. Best I can do is that I don’t intend on directly opposing you, unless you start threatening my interests. But, since we’ve always worked well together, I’ll at least give you fair notice, so you can choose whether or not to change tactics.”

The General considered me for a moment, and then nodded. “I suppose that is the best that I could hope for, in the situation. I certainly don’t want to make an enemy out of you, so I will take any warnings you give under advisement. But there are always going to be things I cannot compromise on.”

“Naturally. But until and unless those things come up, I see no reason why we can’t agree to keep out of each other’s way, at the very least. Oh, but if you ever need something stolen, my rates haven’t changed.”

“Heh. I’ll keep that in mind, Iceblade. So, changing topic, who do you think will be the first ones to ‘take things outside’? With all these egos, I think a fight is only a matter of when, not if.”

I chuckled, and said, “Well, if Mistress Midnight hadn’t gone out of her way to calm Hypnodomme down, I was pretty sure she was about to light things off. She still might, actually. After that, my next bet is on either Puppetmaster, Brain Drain, or Dollmaker getting their panties in a twist at one of the women here not showing them what they think is proper respect.”

“Not the Tamer? They have that complex about being treated as a child, after all. Fairly well known for it, too.”

“Well, I considered that, but everyone knows him, and his triggers. They’d have to go out of their way to treat him as a kid, especially at this gathering. Meanwhile, the ones I talked about get pissy every time a woman doesn’t immediately fall all over them, and downright murderous when they tell them to take a hike. No, they’re the ones I’d keep an eye on tonight.”

“Pardon, Master, but there’s always a third option,” Web Mistress cut in.

The General raised an eyebrow. “Oh, and what is that, Web Mistress? You’re hooked into all the networks, from what I’m told, right? Any inside tips to share?”

Web Mistress smiled, and said, “It is no great secret that Stepford is hosting a party here tonight. While it was only talked about on places like Guild forums, that doesn’t mean no one but those of us here know about it. If someone was going to try and take out a bunch of villains at once…”

“I see your point,” the General nodded. “Any specific intel? Or just whispers in the net?”

“I haven’t heard anything specific, since that would mean cracking encryption on Guild servers, but there are people here who have plenty of enemies. Some of them have been reaching out to each other. In particular, Sword of the Faith has been pushing for some action, though the Knights of the Order are also on board.”

The General’s frown at that name mirrored my own. “The Sword of the Faith? I thought he was too busy trying to wipe out every non-Jew in Israel. What brought his attention all the way over here?”

“I cannot say for certain, but the searches I’ve been able to intercept suggest that the Sword is looking for someone who has gone missing. Most likely a friend or loved one. This is conjecture, but I’ve been doing facial recognition searches on all the ‘minions’ here.”

“As expected,” the General nodded. “I would have done the same, if I had powers like yours. Have to know who is who in situations like this.”

“As you say, General,” Web Mistress smiled. “Most of the people come up clean. The normal missing persons reports and the like, but nothing out of the ordinary. There are a few that I haven’t been able to identify, such as Mistress Midnight’s thralls, but one of Hypnodomme’s pets concerns me.”

“Aren’t they just some random football players?” I asked.

“On the surface, yes. But one of them, Akim Moses, is suspicious. University student studying abroad from Israel on a student visa. Except it is all too clean. This is just a guess, but around the same time Akim came to the US to study, Heavenly Champion, Sword of the Faith’s sidekick, stopped showing up. The two are close enough in age that they could be siblings.”

“How sure of you about this?”

“Sixty percent, max. Like I said, Master, it is still just basically guesswork, given who is talking to whom, but the data tracks.”

“Fine, what about the rest? Why are the Knights of the Order working with someone like the Sword? Those zealots aren’t exactly known for tolerating anyone who isn’t Christian, and they barely tolerate non-Catholics.”

“The Order of Saint Iacopo is one of the successors of the Knights Templar. As you said, they are well-known for being religious fanatics. Unfortunately, Master, the reason they’re joining forces with the Sword is because of you.”

I sighed, knowing where this was going. “Let me guess. Serafina?”

The General laughed, and said, “I guess too much of a good thing can come back and bite you, eh, Iceblade? Not that I blame you for going after the angel girl. Looks aside, having a healer on call is always a smart move.”

“Unfortunately, General, I’m afraid you can’t laugh too hard. And neither can Dollmaker, if he hears about this. Patriot is working with them, to try and bring you in for a court martial, and Inviolate is looking for a chance to take down Dollmaker. They’re helping the Sword and the Order.”

The General grumbled at that news. “Aw, hell. Patriot’s a right pain in the ass, but he can be shot, same as anyone. Inviolate is a tricky bitch to handle. Her whole thing is being damn near impossible to hurt. Not to the same level as Indomitable was, but she’s still a tough cookie.”

I took a breath, and nodded. “So, how many are we looking at, and how soon?”

“Exact numbers unknown. However, a privately owned Boeing 747-8 landed at Denver Airport five minutes ago. The flight was hastily scheduled, which is why it caught my attention. Passenger complement for that model is 20 to 50, depending on configuration.”

“I trust you’re sharing this information with Stepford’s security people?”

“Naturally. However, if the Knights attack in force, with Patriot, Inviolate, and the Sword backing them? Those minions won’t do anything but slow them down for a couple seconds. Especially if they come in, ready to kill.”

“Always assume the enemy is coming to take your head,” the General said in a tone that brooked no dissent. “Makes it a pleasant surprise if they are only trying to capture you.”

At that moment, one of the drone-like security guards entered the room, making a bee-line towards Stepford, who was currently chatting with Maestro. The various conversations in the room stopped, since even people like Dollmaker understood something was up. I caught the eye of Mindtaker and Party Girl, and they both made their way over to join me and the General.

“Iceblade, you look like you know something,” Mindtaker said, as soon as she got close. “What’s happening?”

“Web Mistress was keeping an eye on different digital forums. It looks like having so many villains in one place that wasn’t officially under Guild protection was too tempting a target. Patriot, Inviolate, the Sword of the Faith, and as many as fifty Knights of the Order are coming this way.”

Web Mistress cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but the Denver Heralds just sent a message to the local police, informing them of potential superpowered combat, and urging them to make a perimeter. They’re mobilizing, as well.”

Party Girl frowned. “Damn, what a bunch of buzzkills. That’s way too much firepower for us to handle.”

The General nodded. “And the teleport inhibitors keeping us from leaving are the only things keeping them from teleporting straight in on top of us.”

I looked over to Web Mistress. “How many can you digitize at once?”

“Sixty-four. Counting all guests, and their attendants, as well as the twelve guards on duty, and the four people working the kitchen? That’s twelve over the limit.”

Mindtaker frowned. “Digitize?”

“Web Mistress can take people into the digital world. It is how we managed to slip about fifty members of Storm Front into the Klowns’ Karnival, enabling them to rescue Firebug and take out the Klowns for the foreseeable future. However, that would involve some trust on the part of everyone here.”

“Speaking of trust,” the General said darkly, “don’t you think this is all a little too convenient? For the people flying in, this could not have been a spur of the moment thing. Especially with the Knights of the Order. Even nonstop, that’s twelve, thirteen hours in the air.”

“You have a point,” I nodded. “While it has been essentially common knowledge on the Guild forums that Stepford would be having a birthday party, as well as the guest list. There are some people here with vendettas against others in attendance, and, since this isn’t a Guild function, it isn’t technically against the rules to hand over information, though it is in poor taste. The question is who?”

Mindtaker frowned. “Well, if we can assume those of us in this circle are clear?” She looked around, and the General, Party Girl, and I all nodded. “Then we can also eliminate Stepford, since he’s the host, and he would typically be the first suspect. He isn’t that stupid.”

Party Girl nodded, and then added, “We can also strike Hypnodomme and Mistress Midnight from the list. I know they both hate you, Icy, but neither of them is likely to go along with anything the Knights or Sword-man says. They’re men, after all.”

“I think we can eliminate Dollmaker, as well,” I added. “Inviolate and him despise each other, so he wouldn’t bring her in on something like this. Even if she agreed, they’d probably end up fighting, anyways. He doesn’t like that kind of risk.”

Mindtaker grinned. “So, Brain Drain, Puppetmaster, The Tamer, or Maestro, right? How do we figure it out? And how do we prove it?”

Web Mistress smirked. “Once in the servers, I can ensure that no mental powers work, and we can start interrogations. They’ll find that lying is quite difficult when the room is set up as a lie detector. But we have to get them to agree to come into the server, first.”

“If I might have a moment of your time,” Stepford said, moving to the center of the room. “It appears that someone in this group is a traitor, and has alerted several hero groups to this gathering. At least seventy heroes of various levels are coming to try and capture or kill us.”

“Well, that makes things easier,” I muttered. Then, I called out, loud enough to be heard over the frantic conversations that erupted. “I can arrange for everyone present, excluding the security and staff members on site, to be uploaded to a digital space where the heroes will be hard-pressed to intercept. Those who are willing, may join us, under Guild rules for hospitality, and those who are not can go their own way, for all I care.”