After coffee, breakfast, and a quick once over to fulfill my obligations to the bargain I had wrought, I felt significantly more coherent.

Unfortunately that last one took me the better part of an hour and a half, and that was both ignoring the couch, and taking advantage of the fact Eli ran a tight ship tidiness wise.

While loosing out on an hour wasn't really a big deal to me, it did worry me when I realized just how much that'd add up. Particularly given Leviathan was due to hit the bay in only a week less then three months time.

On the bright side... it gave me time to muse on that very issue.

"This would be so much easier if I could just summon minions," I muttered to myself. "I don't suppose you're one of those rare first circles who happens to be a sorcerer?"

~Wait, are you talking to me?~

"Why not?" I questioned. I mean It was certainly possible after all. The Navigator of Unknown Skies, was the personal work of both Ligier, third circle of Malfeas, and Alveua, second circle of The Ebon Dragon. Two of the greatest craftsmen in all of Malfeas. He might not be a second circle, but that was about as close to nobility as demons of the first circle got.

~Ah shucks boss, you're making me blush~

I blinked for a moment thinking back at the figure I recalled. How would a living statue animated by-

~Metaphorically boss. And... no. Sorry.~

"Damn," I sighed. "Well it was worth a shot," I supposed. Certainly wasn't his...her...My Coadjutor's fault.

Well it kind of was, but I wasn't going to blame them for not undergoing a long and arduous process that would have gotten a death sentence put over their head if they'd fulfilled it. Particularly not with the probable attention given to someone in their position.

~You know it's statements like that that remind me of why I like working for you boss~

I thought you were more my watch dog?

~Tomato tamato~

Riiiight.

Anyway, I'd be able to figure that out later... well outside the tutorship aspect. There were ways to get by on that by just expanding on myself spiritually under the guidance of another but that entire process sounded like it'd probably take more time then it would save. At least initially.

Which meant I needed another work around, or just to make up the time somehow. Turn it into training time maybe? Go full Karate kid? It was possible.

"Need to work out the motions... Maybe polishing dishes with the motion of parries? Bojutsu sweeping? Shame Eli only has one car," I muttered to myself smirking slightly.

I thought on that a bit more seriously. He did strike me as the kind of guy to wax it though...

Dismissing that thought I finished my work and looked out at the fading sun. Still several hours before night came, and the cape scene was due to take off.

Which meant I had time to make more waves.

"Call up Bitch and hit up the last few dog pits? They'll see me coming, but they can't stop me either... not unless they mass against me," and it'd send one hell of a message if I smashed through that redoubled resistance. That's exactly how Lung got to where he was after all.

"Nah too much risk of setting everything off," I grimaced. That very reason also made it to dangerous a choice. Lung might see it as a challenge and I was not ready to fight him. I needed to weaken the empire more. Give them more fires to put out before I slew that dragon.

Metaphorically. Lung was scum, but he was powerful scum. A useful hitter in the end game in the original timeline, and potentially a decisive advantage against the Endbringers. If I hit him hard, fast, I could disable him without killing him. His regeneration was only powerful after his wings grew after all. Preserving him as another ace up Earth's collective sleeve wasn't so much effort to not be worth it.

"So that leaves The Merchants, getting started on the ABB, building up alliances, or finding a different thing to attack," I thought over each option. Hitting the Merchants or the ABB was something I'd need to do eventually, but didn't work to preserve the momentum I had against the empire.

"Unless I can provoke the Empire into striking after me," I considered. It wouldn't even be hard. They'd just been dealt a blow. To preserve 'face' they'd want to show their strength even if it committed even more resources...

I struck it out immediately, "Too much collateral," I sighed. I couldn't stop the inevitable spill over, but if I struck hard enough, often enough and in the right places, I could delay it enough to minimize the force behind hit.

That leant itself to going after the Empire again.

But maybe not.

"This will be my last real chance to build up allies before I go all out," I considered. Friendships could be made and broken on the battlefield, but it was better to seed them beforehand. The Empire had just suffered a critical blow to their PR, but they'd also gained a lot of resources. There was a decent chance Kaiser would be busy for at least a day or two yet getting everything in order. Particularly with the fire I'd started on his front lawn last night. They'd be stronger and less off balance if I waited, but if I found useful enough allies it'd be worth giving them the prep time.

I'd not burnt my bridges with the PRT yet, but I'd certainly not built much on them either. New Wave was a possibility. They were independents like me, who had a lot of firepower, and Brandish at least was enough of a hothead that I could probably get them to at least take advantage of my raids.

The Undersiders were arguably a better one. I wasn't sure if I could convince them to go Grey hat, but as other villains Lisa was ambitious enough to want influences like Lung and Kaiser out, and she knew I was sympathetic enough to her that I wouldn't come after her once I was done with them.

The question was if it was worth risking her turning me to her cause. She wasn't a true master manipulator. She could read people like a book but she always defaulted to the same behavior under pressure. Dreg up people's buttons and press them. That... wasn't likely to work well on me. I was a mess, but I knew full well why I was one. All her saying the things racing through my head out loud would do was make me like her less.

You couldn't carve off a limb that was already nothing but a bloody stump.

Still shewasgood. Talked me into things in the past, would definitely talk me into things in the future. That I was sympathetic to her gave her a further edge...

But maybe not one I would mind falling on.

I really was a mess. I mean the only reason I wasn't outright suicidal was that A, that'd just leave someone else, someone likely a lot less benevolent with this power. And B, I wasn't the sort to let loss destroy me. It hurt, oh gods it hurt. I'd lost everything. My family, my friends, my work, my world. I was put through ungodly hell and provoked into doing things I never wanted to see if I was capable of.

But I was still alive, and there was nothing to be gained by changing that. Trying to escape the pain by denying it would just spit on the face of everything I lost. Just as important I didn't want to die on a raw animal level, even if living meant hurt.

So at the very least I'd discard my life for free. Not without spending it on something of value at least.

Ironic that that ability to endure was actually a disadvantage at the moment. Lisa had a soft spot for suicidal nutjobs.

...But that gave me a good idea on one potential resource I could tap.

One that could be far more potent then anyone in Brockton Bay would see coming.