Greed God chapter 95 (Patreon)

February 1st 2016 Gemworld 8:00 PM EDT

The  rest of the day was specifically dedicated to charging the phone. It  took tons of electricity to get the damn thing to a point where I could  call Gotham. The one nice thing was that it gave me feedback that let me  know when I could call and how close I was to that goal. Unfortunately  my lightning reserves weren't actually infinite. They were huge and I  recovered fast, but the only thing saving me from passing out in the  grass was that I had a limited acceptable output for charging the phone.  If I could have gone any faster I'd have dropped like a rock after an  hour of that shit.

Finally though, I finished. I was lying  on the bed in the cottage when I got done, trying to avoid falling over  when I overused my power, but once I finished I sat up and whooped with  joy. Barbie came sprinting up the stairs excitedly as she heard the  sound, clearly excited to reach out to our old world and check in.  Despite that excitement I had to shoot her down. "I get that you want to  call your dad but we need to get in touch with the girls first. They're  pregnant and I need to make sure they stayed in the house. Plus your  dad will need them to let him in anyway."

The comment  visibly crashed into her, wiping the excitement and energy from her as a  scowl stole over her face, but despite not being happy about it she  didn't complain. She got the logic, she didn't like it, but she knew it  was the right call even if she wished otherwise. It still took her a  minute to breathe through the kneejerk reaction to hearing she couldn't  talk to her dad after such a long wait. "Fine. You're right. But you're  going to stay up and charge it again so I can call her next right?"

That  sounded annoying, but much LESS annoying than telling the her I  wouldn't and having her decide to start prying into my abilities. She  was respecting my privacy right now, and I wanted to reward that,  because that stubborn bitch could melt my brain from sheer frustration  if she wanted. "I promise. Once we finish talking to them he's the next  thing on my list. And I'm sure he's fine. He raised you, and you're a  badass. I doubt either of us needs to worry about our fathers in this  mess."

I didn't really do 'empathy' but I figured she  would be worried, and reminding her how badass she was might help a bit.  I doubted she would just get over it, but hey, any small bit of calm  she managed would lessen the pain in my ass so I was down to try  anything. Once she gave me a tired smile to show she appreciated it I  moved on, pulling up the screen on the phone and setting the call to  ring through to Dinah. There was a surge of power in the device and then  an explosion of sparks and suddenly, I was looking at a holographic  image of my baby mama.

Dinah's eyes went wide in shock.  "Nicky? Oh my god you're ok!" She hurled herself forward, the angle  changing as she tried to tackle what I assumed was a hologram of me. She  blinked a bit but adjusted, flushing slightly but still thrilled. She  yelled over her shoulder for Whisper before focusing back on me. "I'm so  glad you're safe. Where are you? Things are crazy outside. Jade and Roy  showed up a bit after you left and told us to stay inside so we've all  been holed up in here. There was news for a few hours but the TV  stations are all out now. What the hell is going on?"

She  sounded rushed and worried and I found myself almost...happy? That she  cared. It was a strange sensation, but it was kind of nice that someone  gave a shit that I was alive. Probably a Greed System side effect or  something, that didn't seem like a me thing. Regardless I gave her a  reassuring smile. "We're fine. The party got a little out of hand, and  not in a 'the line of coke I did off that hooker was laced with  something' kind of way. Suffice to say DO NOT go outside. The Palace  comes stocked as part of the magic, gluttony being a sin and all, so you  should be good for food, water, and power."

She rolled  her eyes at my hooker comment, but with a small smile on her lips. "We  can stick around here a while until this gets figured out, but what  about you? When will you be home? Where exactly are you all? It sounds  like you escaped whatever happened, did you get stranded somewhere?" She  was sounding demanding now, like she wanted to take charge of the  situation. I figured that was Black Canary coming out and honestly it  was a little hot, but sadly for her she wasn't going to be able to come  get us.

I waited for her to finish pinning me with  questions before responding. "We're...far away. I had an exit strategy  in mind but it didn't got as planned. We have a way back but it's going  to take a while to put into effect. I know staying locked up like that  sucks, but the house is huge and has literally everything you could  possibly want. We're going to be sending Barbies dad over to stay with  you, so make sure that you let him in. Otherwise I want you to promise  you're going to stay in the house. All of you."

She  scowled at me. "For how long? Weeks? Months? You can't expect me to just  ignore all the people in the city. If things are that bad they need  help, they need someone to keep them safe. I can be that person, and I  need to do what I can for everyone in town. It's my job, Nicky." I  winced, I'd been hoping she wasn't going to give into her heroic  tendencies. Heroism was stupid enough normally, but during the evil  magic apocalypse it was an especially dumb idea to run around trying to  help randos you didn't know.

Since  I knew pointing out personal risk was a lost cause though, I went with  the simplest and most obvious guilt trip I could manage. The baby. "No  Dinah, it isn't your job to protect everyone. You know who it's your job  to protect? Our baby. You are responsible for exactly one person aside  from yourself, and that's the one you're literally growing inside you  right now. You could make an argument for Whisper too since she's  carrying our babys sibling. So are you going to go out into the middle  of gods know what and risk our kid so you can feel better about  yourself? Or stay at home where it's safe? Because there are other  people coming to help Gotham I can almost promise you."

She  glared at me. Which was fair, that had been a pretty low blow, but I  didn't give a shit. The glare remained for a minute or so before she  dropped her head. "You're right. I don't like it, but if things are as  bad out there as everyone makes it sound it's a big risk for the baby.  Hell who knows what all that crazy magic will do to an unborn child. The  League will be coming to take care of it anyway. I imagine Doctor Fate  is already on scene or will be soon. If this is supposed to be magic  shit he would know best how to deal with it. Plus we do have our own  civilian. Ingrid is here still. "

I  nodded encouragingly, despite being pretty sure that in a magic doctor  fight Doctor Gotham would bitch slap Fate into next week. I knew  Zatanna's dad was hosting some kind of ancient spirit of order, but  Doctor Gotham was almost fifty thousand and had access to supercharged  magic until someone undid his ritual. Still, if it made her feel better I  wasn't going to shoot myself in the dick here. She looked to the side  and frowned. "Ok, it seems like Whisper can't get into the call, but she  wanted me to let you know that she's worried about you, but not to rush  and come home safe."

I  gave her an encouraging smile. "Tell her I will. You guys take care of  each other, and take care of Jade and Roy. Glad Ingrid is safe with you  too, make sure to talk to her about all this, I'm sure she can help." I  was also sure that if anyone could offset the stress of being prisoner  in their own house for probably weeks or months it would be Ingrid 'I  might be made of actual sunshine' Karlsson. I was lucky as hell she had  ended up visiting when she had. I'd just been trying to distract Dinah  while I was gone so it had worked out.

After  we clarified that everything would be fine and that I would get back as  soon as I could (with some wiggle room for making myself stronger) we  said our goodbyes and I promised to call and check in every few days to  let them know we weren't all digesting in some magic dragons stomach or  something. Once I was done I turned to Barbie. "Alright, it'll be a few  hours until we can call your old man, so I have a few things I wanted  some feedback on. In order to get a meeting with the princess or someone  else in her bloodline, we're probably going to need an actual  reputation. I plan to form a power base here to that effect. I could use  your advice."

Barbie  might like playing the good girl, but she was one of the sneakiest most  tactically brilliant people in Gotham. If there was one way to get  closer to her while we were here it was letting her be my advisor, and I  was betting helping me build a literal magic kingdom of our own would  be fun for her. Sure enough her eyes lit up with an obvious excitement.  "I mean, it's not a bad idea. We could use some support around here, and  I know your power will be useful in getting that." She stared at me  flatly. "You know we are going to talk about that eventually right?"

I  didn't actually, I was hoping to put it off until she stopped caring,  but I nodded seriously anyway. "Of course, but now isn't the time. There  are so many things to do still. Can you help me with building our  resources?" She looked at me suspiciously for a second before nodding  slowly and I grinned. "Excellent, well in the spirit of sharing I think  our first move should be recon. You're the best we have at information  gathering. I want you and Cherry to go out and get me some information  to work with. You are not allowed to kill or injure each other, nor  through inaction allow each other to be harmed."

I  used the Brand for that last bit, I wasn't going to put up with their  sniping if it deprived me of resources here. Besides I was pretty sure  Barbie couldn't actually hurt Cherry at F rank, and trying might get her  killed if I didn't head it off. She looked pissed at the order but  nodded again slowly. "That...makes sense. We can head out after sunrise  tomorrow. After I finish my call with my dad."

She  glared challengingly at me, but since she was actually behaving I  didn't have a problem with that. Once it was decided she looked around  sneakily. "Now, since you'll be in bed for the rest of the night  charging that thing, why don't we spend some time together." She threw  herself onto the mattress, snuggling up to me, and I couldn't help but  smile a bit. Even when she was seething over being forced to work with  her archenemy she wanted me. I wasn't down to fuck when I was spending  this much energy, but I wouldn't mind getting my dick sucked. She didn't  seem to mind either as I pushed her head down. It was nice to know  there were still things to look forward to here.