As soon as the Emperor stepped outside he was met with a most foul scent. The scent of a busy city that never slept, if it was day or night. It made him sick. Nauseating. He slowly descended the stairs to the sidewalk where the rest of his small travel company stood waiting for him. Tools as he liked to view them. Nothing more but tools for the grand scheme to transform this city. If it could even be called a city at all. It had him wonder about the stories he had heard from the grand cities of Vector and Midgar but this seemed to surpass even them. Gothic stylish buildings plumped along with modern skyscrapers. Vehicles that passed with unrelenting speed and more such things. As one such vehicle passed them by the Emperor once more felt that he was going to throw up but he had to keep strong. If the tools saw him like this they would already take their fate in own hands and that was something he couldn't have happen. Not yet anyway.
As he finally came upon the sidewalk he gave each of them a good watch and valuated their usefulness. Ultimecia the time witch that had gone along with him outside was always a very useful tool. Even if she would tell herself different she was always a tool that played right into his hand. If their goals weren't so similar he might have found in her a worthy opponent. As it was though he had to rely on her just as much as anyone else. Though dangerous in their worlds, her usefulness had to be seen here. Even if she could stop time but for a minute it could be useful enough. Then there was her little lackey and his friends. Seifer. A sharp tongued young man that wasn't afraid to speak his mind openly. The Emperor would have killed him from the first meeting but since he had been named as Ultimecia's sorceress knight he had no choice but to accept her. The same couldn't be said of his friends. Raijin and Fuujin were every little bit alike as water and fire. Fuu was calm, silent and only spoke when need be. Something the Emperor took keen notice of. Her companion on the other hand was rough, dumb and very quick to say something stupid. Alongside them the Emperor noticed two new faces that had decided to join up with the royals. Jihl Nabaat and Yaag Rosarch had served under a different leader in the past, one that was said to rule a giant city in the sky. As absurd as it sounded the Emperor had no reason to not believe them and had tested their loyalty out once before. Unlike other ones they were very talented and quite smart and thus very useful tools to use. At the very last there was Borghen. A small little slime ball that never seemed to get enough of kissing Mateus's boots. Not that he complained but he served little purpose outside of that.
"Well Borghen…" Mateus spoke as he turned towards the small man that already began bowing upon hearing his name. "Tell me you made yourself useful and kept tabs on where everyone planned to go." He said to the slime that was almost already on the floor to kiss the Emperor's feet. His actions didn't meet out that much happiness as Yaag and Jihl looked utter disgusted while Seifer looked ready to burst out laughing. "I have my liege!" Borghen crowed out nearly proud of himself. "I noted that the judges went due north… the tree went south… others went their own way." He proclaimed as he finally realized this wasn't something to be proud of. On the contrary. Mateus only shook his head as he looked annoyed at his captain. "Borghen… remind me again why you're here and not dead like Seymour?" he asked as Borghen nearly rolled on the floor and went cleaning the boots of the Emperor. "Ah yes… I remember again." He said pleased again as he turned towards the others. "As for you… tonight means that our true worthiness is tested. So what is our true worthiness and mostly what does it mean to me." He said to them. He quickly earned a glare from Ultimecia who seemed very displeased to once more be remembered what the Emperor actually thought of her. "Not you dear." He quickly apologized bowing his head. It felt like a humiliation to bow his head to a tool but as long it kept her in line than it was necessary.
Jihl was the first to speak to the Emperor regarding this little discussion. "Yaag and I have been trained to endure many things. Military training of Sanctum. I doubt there is any better training available." She said as Yaag nodded and added something to it as well. "As well we are capable of piloting these vehicles probably with more ease then any of you." He said looking at Seifer and his friends who just gave them an angry glare back. Ultimecia on her turn stared right at Seifer so that he would contain himself and wouldn't instead go caveman on them. The Emperor on the other hand was humoured by the statement of these two top trainees of Sanctum. "You should know that it could mean very little in this world. If that is so then you mean very little to me. As well don't worry about returning to your little world." He suddenly added as well. Jihl and Yaag looked nearly shocked. They hadn't talked about it out loud how much they wanted to go back but somehow the Emperor already knew this. "I'm sure your official has already replaced you. Tools are just there until they are no longer needed after all." He said. Jihl barely contained herself thanks to Yaag who put his hand on her arm to restrain her from striking out against the Emperor. If they did the odds were immediately out of their favour.
"What of you Seifer? What worth do you represent here?" the Emperor asked as he turned his gaze towards the young man. He seemed undeterred with the attention placed on him as he grinned at Mateus. "First off goldilocks, I am loyal to my lady Ultimecia. Not to you. Secondly I don't plan to kiss your boots like those officials and your little goof ball. Thirdly, I do whatever the heck the situation calls for." He said smirking. Fuu only seemed to nod in agreement but Raj seemed to deem it necessary to add something to it. "Seifer ain't taking orders from punks like you, you know." He added. They were immediately given an angry glare by Ultimecia who deemed their little talk to be far too rude to someone like Mateus. He on the other hand chuckled as he approached the young man. "All that keeps me from killing you Seifer is your lady. The moment she however forgets to tug on your leash I will gladly put you back in your place filthy dog." He said as he turned towards Ultimecia who looked very sceptical. "So… " she said. "If this concludes the question hour, would our benevolent leader finally tells us what way we should go?" she asked holding a very sarcastic tone in her voice. It irritated Mateus but he let it once more slip knowing she still had her uses. "First it might be helpful to find out who has the charges of this cesspool of a city. Someone with might and power that extends very far. Judging from the looks of it we should find them less hospitable then what we are used on our own worlds." He concluded as he started to walk forwards. Borghen came after him, followed by Ultimecia and then the warrior rabble. As it was the tools were still in line and should be kept like that for the night was young and sure to turn far more darker.
Penguin had seen a lot of creeps in the Iceberg lounge but this was even going above him. Some armoured dude, a guy that dressed like a gal and a bloody jock that could give Bane a run for his money had nearly invaded the place. The girly guy was the most annoying of them, demanding only the best services, like he was some fancy prick. The armoury was the most mysterious of the bunch just standing still and watching the television, taking the news like it sucked him completely in some illusionary world. Then that bloody jock. He started to make his own little bets that he could defeat all of his guys in an arm wrestling competition. As soon as he had beaten the first of Penguin's lot guys from Two Face, Black Mask and even Riddler and Scarecrow came showing off, each of them being trashed completely with a broken arm. Whatever drove that guy, it was something more than pure steroids. As their annoyance was reaching the limit, the armoured man demanded utter silence and for a good reason. The news report showed Batman being chased by some clown dude that wasn't Joker. Worse it seemed like he was in a really big mess. Penguin, the three strangers, the entire lounge fell silent watching intensively as they saw the change of the city unfold before their very eyes.
Ra's Al Ghoul sat with a heavy weariness on his throne. He had just heard the news of some of his best assassins. Apparently Hugo had been so stupid as to try and create a dimensional breach between different worlds… that were nothing like their world. He was very much so aware of that Strange had big plans but not that these included information the League of Assassins had safeguarded for many years. It felt like a hammer stroke that a mere outsider had gotten clear way with it and now had paid probably the consequences of those actions. Ra's would indeed be very angry if this wasn't all part of what he had planned. He had hoped that Strange would create the dimensional breach. For years he had been seeking a successor and when he had found one he had rejected his offer of cleansing crime from Gotham City along with most of its population as a minor casualty of course. The detective alluded Ra's, angered him and drove him to make even more drastic choices. This was one of those choices. Having given clear instructions for Strange to operate, having bribed man to work for him, given him slight use of the what assassins the League could miss, had all amounted to this. News had reached him that the detective was now on the scene… but then his heart skipped a beat of another clown that was going after him. By some divine trick of fate he might not have gotten the conclusion to his problem but instead the very doom of the city.
