Chapter 91 : Wandering eyes (Patreon)

James dug into the earth, once more excavating an underground passage between the sewers and one of his bases. Tentacles as hard as steel pierced the solid material before him before elongating and throwing it back, a task made easier by the fact he was currently only a bunch of wriggling tentacles with no body, each limb uniquely doing its part, with the middle ones not only passing the debris to those after them but also infusing the rubble and condensing and fusing it, reducing the size of the pile of material while keeping its mass and improving its structure. It was somewhat nostalgic to reuse this technique that made handling the consequences of digging easier, although James had indubitably improved since the last time.

The location in the sewers he was connecting to his new warehouse was a fake lair, it had a few rooms and Mischief had to patrol it but in truth, it would be utterly insignificant without the tunnel James was currently working on. It wasn't the first time James infused patches of bricks to throw off people looking for him, and this new fake lair was only one among the dozen other additions he had made to prepare against Runar's forces' next assault. To be on the safe side James had tried to make these fakes in such a way that they roughly formed a circle, with his actual lair being away from the center. Hopefully, anyone looking for him would be fooled by the stratagem, and Techlord would have the time to come up with some new surprises to welcome them once they showed up.

At last, James reached the surface - or more accurately, the other half of the tunnel he had preemptively dug after preparing the entrance in the warehouse. Rather than reuse the original passage James had originally made for the ratlings to sneak in from the early days, he made a new one after determining what he wanted to do with the place with Techlord.

James continued through the tunnel, trusting the members of Mischief tasked with gathering debris to do their job, and rose to the surface to emerge from a crate of black wood, reforming his body into a more visually pleasing form as he reached the warehouse's floor. All around him black humanoids ran to and fro, transporting tools and supplies as some lifted and moved large wood panels to form new walls to delimit new rooms inside of the warehouse, cutting back on its efficiency when it came to stocking but furthering James' designs.

As conflicted as he was about transforming people against their will, he couldn't deny the result. The infused workers, all former thugs from various origins - with a hefty addition since Pierce Evil's attack - worked as though they were all on the same page, not quite to the point of a hivemind but none of them hesitated to drop non-important tasks when another requested help and they all worked in perfect harmony, changing their strength and posture to work best with their fellows. None of them stood out as a leader, for they worked as a team, and even physically it was hard to distinguish most of them, though a few did have more unique features, like the small goblin currently hammering two panels together over a pole into a corner, or the one that could only be described as a werewolf that was offering its hands for the goblins to stand on.

James planned to keep those two around to act as leaders for the rest of them in the future. The shaman he had fought not so long ago, right before his encounter with the demon Sydakors, had been able to still use its magic when James had asked it to, though instead of the light green energy it had showcased in the past it now produced an incredibly dark green one, and James had to admit he was surprised it hadn't become pitch black. The werewolf-looking one he had encountered early on in his expansion plan, and seeing it so docile and cooperative was strange when compared to the lone and unthinking feral beast he had to fight after it attacked him out of nowhere. He knew its strength could put him to shame, and ever since its infusion its claws had become able to actually cut into him rather than just pass through, which James hoped meant that it could damage non-material entities. There was another notable thing about the werewolf, namely that it had no eyes when he had first met it, a large scar running over they should have been and across the snout. Now? Now, it had two black flames emerging from its skull instead, hard to distinguish amidst the black fur most of the time, although the creature had showcased these flames could grow and become more obvious when it so desired or when fighting. The goblin had needed a partner for its demonstration, after all.

The plan was pretty simple, all things considered: James would put a fake workshop in the middle of the warehouse and leave his infused forces to watch over it and fake making products when in truth everything would be brought in from the secret tunnel. People would assume this was the heart of James' business, and anyone looking to harm him would aim here first, unaware that the only things they'd find would be loyal and powerful fighters as well as a lot of traps, with a special something ready to deal with the most dangerous foes in the worst case scenario. Mundane people would be hired to help take care of the actual warehouse portion of the building and help transport crates to and from the shop, with some infused fighters acting as guards and managers. Although James had some doubt about the intellectual abilities of the infused when it came to directing workers, their work here was hopefully proof that they could do it.

Not that James would keep his entire infused forces here, only half a dozen or so. The rest would be spread through his various holdings in the Sunken City to keep watch over his latest unwilling employees and protect them from threats. Techlord was currently working on a device that could replicate the infusion process at an industrial level using the infused Core of the Titaroach James had kept for so long, and if he succeeded, then all those former racketing and drug dealing gangs would instead have the task to infuse the various items that would end up in the shop, with those meant for James' and his forces' personal uses instead being made directly in either the sewers lair or the orphanage, to ensure they couldn't be tampered with. Though, judging by how much cursing James heard from the teen genius' room, he assumed it might take some time before everything was ready.

I really need to find him a coworker, or at least an assistant... Goliath won't suffice for long.

Now that the tunnel was finished, James could only watch as the infused continued their work. He had already taken care of the windows and the original structure of the warehouse a while ago so there was truly nothing for him to do, bar perhaps standing guard and keeping watch. Which, as he considered the thought, could be a very good idea. There should have already been thugs and goons from various gangs outside to check on the new changes.

After becoming a twisting shadow twisted and slithering outside, James could assert that yes, there were a lot of people trying to stay hidden to spy on his latest operation. Not all of them appeared to come from gangs, some seemed to be locals curious about the change, there was also a team of three individuals in light combat armor standing in the shade of a small makeshift camp on top of a building further away, keeping watch over the warehouse with a pair of binoculars - in fact, it was the reflection of the sun's light on the glass that brought them to James' attention. Another odd thing watching over James' acquisition was a crow, which didn't sound all that strange until you took into account the fact that James had never seen a crow in the slums, and from what he knew these corvids preferred to stay in groups - murders, to be precise - and therefore a lone individual was uncommon. James was also familiar with Norse mythology, and although he doubted Odin himself had taken notice of him the concept of using crows as spies wasn't alien to him. For all he knew, the thing standing on a neighboring building's roof wasn't even a bird but some kind of drone. The Empress was known for using robots of all kinds, after all.

James was half tempted to confront those more discreet spies, but the whole point of this warehouse scheme was to give them something to look at over searching for more. Still, he'd warn the others to keep an eye out for them. At least he would warn his infused, he doubted the others could feign not noticing those more alert eyes.

So far, no one seemed willing to try and break in. Whether it was out of fear after his fight with Pierce Evil on the Black Block or to protect their cover, James wasn't quite sure, at least for some of those groups.

Now, all he could do was wait.

_____

In the shade of a makeshift camp abandoned by a small gang a few days ago, three members of Zalcien's police force watched over the latest big name in these parts of the slums. Their dark blue light armor and dark grey bodysuit that covered their entire body and hid their skin were the distinctive signs of the department in charge of more dangerous situations, and this specific group had been stationed at the Black Border for a few years now. It wasn't their first time in the field, but all three were more used to dwelling in actual buildings and acting as border guards than acting as scouts.

They took turns to keep an eye on the dark warehouse below, and right now it was the shortest one who looked through his binoculars to study the situation while the other two alternated between relaxing and filling their reports.

The tallest in the group turned from her sudoku to address the lookout.

"Anything going on, Maurice?"

"Nothing so far, Dak."

The third one, without looking up from his paperwork, joined in.

"Could you tell us who's around right now?"

"More or less the same guys as two hours ago, G. Local civilians have come and gone, I only spot five right now. Independent thugs have mostly cleared out, there are only two left as far as I can see. The scout from the gangs had a shift in personnel but it's the same groups."

"Anything about Runar's goons?"

"No knight or mage so far, but his guys here all have at least one piece of runic gear."

"Great. And the bird?"

"Still there."

G scoffed.

"Great. Awesome, even."

"What about our new friend, Maurice?"

"As I've already said, Dak, nothing so far. I haven't been able to spot any of those black humanoids the locals said they saw, and the mystery man himself hasn't shown up yet."

The two pencil wielders returned to their respective works. The trio stayed silent for a few long minutes before Dak opened her mouth once more.

"What do you guys think?"

"What's the definition?"

"It's sudoku, not crosswords G. And I was talking about the guy. Silhouette, I think? Is that right Maurice?"

"Yes, that's the name."

"Thanks, Maurice. So, G, what do you think of him so far?"

"Why do you ask? It's not like it's the first time a new crimelord shows up here."

"Sure, but this one bested another established crimelord's top fighter AND caught a Black's attention."

Hidden behind his combat mask, G rolled his eyes.

"He didn't win, eyewitnesses said it was a draw at best. Without Black, he wouldn't be here."

"But you can't deny Black is interested in him. You saw the bird."

G groaned.

"I hate that bird."

Dak was about to retort when Maurice interrupted them.

"I've got movement."

The other two went in a mad shuffle to get up and join him before bringing up their own binoculars, just in time to catch the end of a shadow appearing from the warehouse's door before it disappeared in the rest of the warehouse's shadow.

The three stayed silent as they kept watching, but as the minutes passed with no change Dak and G put their binoculars back down before returning to their previous spots, Dak speaking up once more as she dropped down on the ground.

"Hell, that's Super territory."

For once, it's Maurice that entertained her instead of G.

"We can't be sure. It could have been a trick of the light, or our man could be a god of darkness. We can't be sure with so little information."

"Yeah. Say, did you record it?"

"You know I always do."

Although they took turns, the trio had agreed Maurice was best suited to keep watch during the day and therefore took longer shifts. Maurice had a Core, and one that gave him an incredibly useful ability: he could see three seconds into the future. The drawback then was that he couldn't toggle it off, and so he could never see the present - not only that but his ability was limited to sight, none of his other senses were affected. There was a reason why he preferred books to audiovisual entertainment.

"Awesome. So, you didn't answer me: what do you guys think of this Silhouette guy so far?"

G groaned.

"If it will shut you up, I will tell you what I think: I think this guy has what it takes to become a permanent addition to the local gangs, but his overconfidence may get him killed before he manages that. Black won't save him every time."

"Thanks, G. And you, Maurice?"

"From the information we've gathered so far, he appears to be a new neutral party. No stealing or racketing, he only has his shop and this warehouse so far if what we know is correct. There is no evidence he might prove a threat to Zalcien. As for his future, I agree with G, if he plays his cards right he could become a local powerhouse. Even gangs would defend him if his wares are good enough, and if he's lucky some guy from the city might sneak around here to bring his stuff back."

Her eyes widened behind her mask.

"Drats, didn't think of that. He's only selling basic stuff right now, nothing that is guaranteed to be lethal, but if it gets out of hand the higher-ups might have us put an end to it."

"You're overthinking it, Dak. They won't risk sending a team and angering the gangs if he gets big enough, otherwise, they could hire mercenaries to strike back. No, they'll just clamp up on his contacts, maybe give him a subtle threat, and stop there, leaving him to try again, and again, and again."

"Woah, such optimism, G."

"Meh, I prefer to call it 'experienced realism', it ain't my first rodeo."

"You're the same age as me, G."

"Yes, which means you should grow up."

As they were about to banter again Maurice stopped them.

"Don't move."

The duo froze and held their breath, keeping their eyes on their colleague as he too did his best to stay still - even more than he already was laying on his front to watch over the warehouse.

They stayed like this for a minute before Maurice spoke once more.

"The coast is clear."

"What the hell was that, Maurice?"

"That, Dak, was a shadow appearing on the next building over before slithering down to the ground."

"You don't mean..."

"G, write down in your report that Silhouette is fully aware that he's being watched. No aggression, though I'm unsure if he's aware we know."

Their watch was much tenser after this.