Greed God chapter 37 (Patreon)

January 9th 2016 Gotham City 11:00 PM EDT

Dinah  didn't know she was pregnant now. She wasn't aware of the little quirks  of Eros and Psyche, or even it's existence, so I was easily able to  send her off to her party with a smile and a kiss so I could think. I  however, was entirely aware of how my ability worked, and I knew that my  little slip up there meant that now I had a fucking kid on the way.  Which would be...awkward, for her to explain to her boyfriend I assumed,  since I knew they hadn't had sex since the first time I was with her  and wouldn't be again.

I didn't  actually care about that obviously. Fuck that guy. My main concern was  twofold. First, apparently Eris and Psyche wasn't just a super fun cheat  power that let me fuck girls senseless. It was also a double edged  sword. It hadn't been an issue before because none of the women I'd been  with had been feeling things like Dinah had, so I hadn't gotten sucked  in. Barbie just wanted to fuck, which I completely agreed with, and  Whisper...Whisper had been kind of brain fried to start and I'd barely  been in her head.

I'd  gone in deep with Dinah though, and it had bitten me in the ass. I was  going to have to learn to work more subtly with that ability so this  shit didn't happen again. My other concern, obviously, was...Dinah was  PREGNANT. Now I was an asshole, no doubt about it. I cared about almost  nothing except myself and to some extent my girls. But I wasn't a  fucking monster. I was going to have a kid. A child. That was half me.  Actually... "Hey Crassus, you had the greed system for a long time, will  my kids inherit the changes I've made to myself?"

[Have  you ever noticed you only bother to talk to me when something goes  catastrophically wrong in your life? Not that I care, mind you, but it  would be nice to get the occasional hello that isn't followed by. "Also  is this going to fuck me?" To answer your question though, I would  imagine the Blood of Apophis will carry over. Eros and Psyche is  more...spiritual, so probably not.]

That  was...good? I didn't want this weird sexual mind power anywhere near my  fucking kid anyway. The Blood...well I'd cross that bridge when I came  to it. Honestly I still wasn't sure what the description meant by  possible side effects, and that worried me more than anything. Still, my  brain and body were top notch, and if my kid inherited all that I was  pretty sure they would be fine.

It  also introduced a slight problem. I needed to get Dinah on my side. I  wasn't...comfortable, brainwashing the mother of my child, even if I  could have gotten away with it unnoticed. Well not overtly. Good old  fashioned manipulation was fine, and I was going to abuse my empathy to  pull that off, but part of me wanted Dinah to come over to my side  willingly. That however, would be an extremely long term project. For  now I would play the normal boy toy, and make sure Barbie didn't slip up  and let the cat out of the bag before I figured out how to handle my  Canary.

Luckily  I had weeks before Dinah even noticed she was pregnant, though given  she was in close proximity to Superman on the regular it might be a bit  less. Until then I decided to focus on what I needed to do. Find the  kidnappers and exploit the shit out of them, and track down Roy Harper  for Cheshire to do it. Plus bonus points if I got to fuck that little  bitch, because I bet all that assassin training taught her how to work  those hips very nicely. Other than that I had to make more training  weapons, but that was a bit of a ways away too.

I  needed some kind of next move. Something that didn't involve the League  or any of my minions aside from maybe Whisper. Specifically something  that could help me get stronger without anyone else knowing would be  helpful. I needed an ace in the hole. I needed someone who I could  manipulate into working for me and potentially even taking the brand  without having to employ too many of my resources. I booted up my  computer and started searching for potential candidates.

I  dismissed basically everyone in Metropolis. Even if they weren't too  strong Superman was all up in the city and he would notice. Gotham was  fine, but I couldn't afford to mess with Arkham or Blackgate at my  current level. I was ambitious, not insane. Gotham had plenty of  freelancers to pick from still though. I wanted someone who needed help  that only I could give, someone I could sway to complete loyalty by  giving them the thing they wanted most.

A  shocking number of villains in Gotham fit that bill actually, but most  of the things they wanted were crazy or too much work. I narrowed it  down after an hour of searching to three candidates. First, Killer Croc.  I could give him his humanity back, I was sure of it, and I was betting  he would be pretty grateful, especially if he kept the powers. Second  was Mr. Freeze, he desperately wanted to help his wife, which was  something I could help with for sure. The last was Catwoman, who I may  or may not be able to just fuck into a drooling mess, but after the  thing with Dinah I decided to wait on that.

I  decided my best bet was Killer Croc. I'd need to make some preparations  to get him fixed up, but if curing his life long disfigurement didn't  make him loyal nothing would. Plus having someone with his power and  reputation working for me would be an excellent deterrent to people who  didn't know not to mess with me. I shot off a text to Whisper to find me  his location. The Religion dealt with lots of people who were down on  their luck, so I was pretty sure finding a giant crocodile hybrid was  doable.

I sat  down to clear my head and figure out my next move. Rushing into things  was sloppy, despite my current instincts. I knew from dad that when  people felt helpless or panicked they often tried to force themselves to  take action as a way of asserting control, and just as often they made  stupid mistakes. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. Crassus was  quiet, probably letting me think and I let my mind play over everything  that had happened to me the last week and change. I had plans in place.  Needing to make a move was just an illusion. I needed to calm down.

Once  I was centered I stood up heading out the door and making my way to the  garage to take a drive. It was a testament to the stealth skills of the  person who spoke up from the open office door to one side of me that I  jumped when he spoke. "Nicholas." My heart almost jerked out of my  chest. I froze. "Come in here please." I turned woodenly and walked into  my fathers office with a swallow.

Maxwell  Lord sat behind his desk, looking actively amused at the situation.  That being that he had almost definitely just watched a well fucked  blonde in her thirties walk past his door when she left. His lips were  twisted in a smirk. I slumped into the chair across from him. Trying not  to make it obvious that I was worried about pregnancy. "Hi dad. Didn't  know you were home. I'd have ordered dinner or something. How  was...wherever it is you go when you aren't home?" My father, aside from  being a business mogul and occasional supervillain, was also some kind  of spy, and would regularly vanish for months on end.

He  waved the question off. "I'm gone for a few weeks and you seduce the  long time girlfriend of Oliver Queen. I don't know whether to be  impressed or exasperated." I just shrugged, but he laughed it off. "A  bit of both I suppose. At least you had the good sense to do it here.  You know I don't like video evidence of the things I do, even for  personal use. Still, an impressive enough achievement to warrant  congratulations. Miss. Lance is a beautiful woman. I'm frankly surprised  you managed it."

I  was at least partly sure he knew about her secret identity, but then,  it was hard to tell with him. Still, Black Canary didn't wear a mask, so  chances were pretty good. I had no idea how she was considered to have a  secret identity, but then again I hadn't known she was Black Canary  until Barbie told me, so whatever weird magic or alien tech was  responsible was clearly effective at least. "Thanks. I was actually just  heading out though, maybe I can talk when we get back?" I absolutely  did not want to be around my dad when my head was spinning like this.

My  dad was a lot of things. Smart, ruthless, ambitious, but he was not  usually compassionate. Not that he didn't love me, I knew he did. But  after my grandpa Albert committed suicide, my grandmother Maxine became  obsessed with eliminating all weakness in the family. She'd instilled  those values in my dad thoroughly and if he saw me in a state like that  he would try to push me to either adapt or break.

Parent  or not, Maxwell Lord was a predator, and you never wanted to expose  weakness in front of a predator. Luckily, he was a predator I had a ton  of experience with. While I hadn't inherited my old man's telepathy, I  HAD learned to think around it pretty early on. Granted it was only weak  surface level stuff, or else that would have been impossible. Which was  the main reason I needed that mask, there was no mental trick to  avoiding a mind probe from someone like the Manhunter. But with my  current level of mental control after taking the Blood, avoiding  tripping my fathers senses was pretty simple.

He  looked at me a bit suspiciously, but eventually nodded. "We're having  dinner tomorrow. You'll report your activities while I've been away.  You've clearly been busy, and I'd like to catch up." I had perfect body  control so I didn't give any outward indication that I didn't really  want to do that, but honestly it sounded exhausting to spend an hour or  two avoiding his mental probes. Still, one does not say no to Maxwell  Lord so I just smiled and nodded before going on my way.

My  drive was a short one, mostly because I got a text from Whisper right  after I left. I debated on ignoring it. I'd already decided not to do  anything hasty. But I believed that getting Croc on side and back to  normal would be my best option even if I hadn't done anything to make me  panic. I decided to at least meet with him and feel out if he would be  willing to work for me. With my mask it's not like anyone would know it  was me.

Unlike  with Mal, I knew no one would notice if Croc was compelled, so I was  free to get him to accept the brand in exchange for fixing him. I was  pretty sure he would do it willingly. I just needed to figure out what  the hell to merge him with to get rid of his reptilian features. Some  kind of beautification product maybe? Or maybe some kind of artwork. I  had more than a few ideas, and was eager to have someone to test them  on. After all, I was betting I could make something pretty amazing if I  didn't have to worry about ruining my sex toy.