April 24th 2016 Brightedge City, Wayne Manor 6:00 PM EDT

Wayne manor's security actually was pretty impressive, at least from what I could see. Nothing that could STOP me, mind you, but I was pretty sure I couldn't enter undetected. This was more of a net of detection (hah) than anything else. "You know." I said to Barbie cheerfully. "I get the impression your old boss isn't a big fan of company. Or surprises."

She snorted. "Bruce's trust issues have trust issues. I'm honestly sometimes surprised he can even function. I suspect it helps that he's a pathological control freak with nearly limitless resources and a brilliant tactical mind."

I gestured to the massive house. "So, is there anything you can think of we might need to look out for? March is pretty obviously planning something. If I had to guess it has to do with the location here. Batman's hideout will have become an overflowing well of fearful imaginings. He probably has a ton of monsters in there."

"Maybe more than that." Said Zee quietly from one side. I glanced at her and she mulled over what she needed to say, "Your power is similar in some ways, right? Well your power works on places as well as people."

I froze. "Shit. You're right. He probably converted the whole cave into a fear construct." I glanced to the side at Cherry, who was situated next to Amy, my wife mothering our little ghost girl half to death out of worry. It was sweet to see, even if it seemed to make Cherry kind of uncomfortable. "You still ok going in?"

My personal investment in her had started with sex and blackmail, and that was footing she knew. Amy was just being nice, and it weirded my dysfunctional psycho right out. Still, she gave me a bright smile of acknowledgement. "Of course, daddy. I'll be fine. This is what I do, after all, and if something tries to get me…" She held up a hand, and her nails lengthened to brutal looking black claws, sparking with misty blue ghostfire.

"Not sure you can rip the soul out of a construct, but I doubt having someone's hand in your psyche would be comfortable either way." I said musingly. "I take it there's more to your power than just that?" I hadn't had a chance to run any comprehensive tests here. Her powers were new and that could make things tough to predict.

Flicking her claws through the air, my Crypt Queen left a trail of blue energy as she ripped the fabric of the world apart for a moment, the scars fading from the air like rapidly healing wounds. She gave me a smug but dangerous grin. "I have a few tricks. The soul thing isn't bad, but I can also plunge enemies into a living nightmare." She paused. "Though thinking of it that might not work so well on something that IS a living nightmare. I can cut a lot of shit too if that helps."

My bloodthirsty little nutcase was preening a bit, and I laughed, leaning down to kiss her. "That's nice to know, but remember I'm checking that you can defend yourself. This is a recon mission, I brought the cavalry here. You find out what's in there and then get that cute little ass back out here so we can go in together. If you sound like you're in over your head, we come in after you."

"Speaking of which." Said Zee solemnly. "Take this." She hung a large teardrop ruby pendant around Cherry's neck, then pulled out a bronze shield polished to a mirror sheen. "This will let us see what you see, as you see it." She set the shield against a tree next to us.

I nodded thoughtfully. "Any chance he's got something to jam that? I don't know shit about magical foci like that." Which was true but not the whole story. Sadly my appraisal didn't give me every detail, and possible jamming methodology wasn't on the list.

She shook her head. "No way. These are thaumaturgically linked. You could theoretically sever the connection if you had a sturdy enough magical shield, but the power needed to run something that dense would be absurd. You'd basically just be cutting out a pocket dimension."

I considered us lucky that the Black Diamond wasn't around this time. That had been something it could do. The Systems didn't really work that way though. You had to build up, and while March might be able to cheat a bit with sources of fear, I was sure it was still a similar setup. You needed to earn that shit.

At the very least I was less worried about Cherry going in as long as we could cover her. I would tear Batman's fucking house down if I needed to, negative attention or not. Zee muttered a few incantations, and I looked over to the shield to see my own image appear on the shining surface. I waved at myself in amusement, and Barbie rolled her eyes.

"Alright." Said Amy firmly. "You be safe in there. Your duress word is apples. If you're in to deep use it and we'll come to save you." At her proclamation I snorted out a laugh, and she glowered at me cutely. "What exactly is so funny?"

I stifled the laughter, holding my hands up in placation. "Whoa, I was just laughing because traditionally a duress word is something a bit more…innocuous. Apples is more of a safe word like you'd use for sex. But I like it either way. It's very US."

She pouted, but didn't respond, turning back to Cherry. "ANYWAY." She said forcefully. "Be careful, you're important to our family. I know Nicky would be sad if something happened to you." She gave Cherry a warm hug, and I saw my very confused ghost girl stiffen slightly, her cheeks flushed with an odd blue blush.

With all that set up, Barbie gave her directions to a well on the property that would get her into the cave without using the manor as an entryway. She was sure March would have entered from outside the manor, because the security system upstairs were just as good, and linked to the League facilities while Batman was out of town, where the cave systems were self contained.

I turned to watch the shield as Cherry floated silently across the estate, blurringly fast and absurdly nimble as she slid around trees and under logs like…well like a ghost. When she reached the old run down well with boarded up top, she phased through the wood and slid right into it, slowly floating down the length of the shaft.

She touched down at the bottom, silently, before whispering. "Ok, I'm in. I don't see any magical defenses, and as a Crypt Queen I'm in tune with those sorts of things. I'm moving deeper, try to keep an eye out around me." It was fine for her to speak, she still had the magic of the hand of glory in her, keeping her unseen and unheard. She began to drift further into the cavern, along the tunnel, until she finally came to a break in the path.

Stopping, she looked back and forth. "I can't tell which way we need to go here, either would work. Also, am I the only one noticing the shift in the rocks? Because…that doesn't bode well." I leaned in to get a better look in the low light and winced as she turned left. She was right, that was igneous rock, which meant…

Emerging from the tunnel, she cursed silently as my fears were confirmed. Magma. Lots of it. Rivers of it in fact. Islands of black stone filled the molten cauldron, and along those islands stalked…things. They were odd, torsos of men with the head and legs of goats. They carried brutal looking obsidian weapons and had glowing red eyes.

"Shit." I cursed. "Can she hear us?" I directed the question at Zee, who nodded distractedly, and I leaned down to speak into the surface of the shield. "Cherry, do NOT engage. Try to skirt along the top of the cavern. It's bigger than it should be, probably March's doing, but its not THAT much bigger."

I was assuming he'd used a smaller area so the concentration of power would be higher. Sort of like a D-ranked city was less powerful than a D-ranked town because most of the rank came from sheer quantity.

She nodded, stepping to the wall and scaling the black stone, maneuvering herself perfectly over the rocks like a spider due to her complete lack of weight. She crossed the cavern quickly and without notice, though there was a close call when she jostled a rock loose. She faded from sight though, and the goat men didn't notice.

When she made it through the cave, she moved on, and came almost immediately to something much different. A massive hotel building, like a casino built from bones and dark red flesh. Lines of infernal power pulsed through the meat, lighting up the cave in flashes like a heartbeat, each line shifting into a new configuration.

I wished I could appraise the damned thing, but sadly I couldn't use that ability through the shield, when I tried it just appraised the shield itself. Cherry drew close, and whispered aloud. "Now I'm finding protections. I can avoid them, they're weaker than I am. I imagine he designed these defenses to keep out more direct threats."

Hard to blame him there, having access to a D-rank inflitrator wasn't exactly universal. The bastard had no reason to suspect it. I was guessing he knew about as much about my Greed System as I did his Fear System, which was to say not much if anything.

Through the magic of the shield we could see Cherry's perception of the defenses, lines of arcane sigaldry and runes spun around spiderwebs of mystical energy, woven into complex fractals and expressed in a dozen other styles. I wasn't sure who'd done his defensive work, but they had eclectic tastes in magic.

Finally she reached the casino itself, and began to climb, scaling the building looking for openings like windows. She found one about fifty feet up, but the opening had an eyelid over it, closed and blocking the view, and she had to phase through it to get into the lair.

Once she was in, she slipped into the halls, heading for the top floor with a whisper of a tip because March seemed like a top floor guy. I agreed with her there. When she arrived, she looked inside to see March sitting with a collection of haphazard monsters, speaking to them and to someone…else.

Rising from a pool of what looked like blood was a miniature figure of a woman. She was pretty curvy and kept it tight, but the effect was ruined by her stupid horned helmet. "Your preparations are complete?" She demanded in a lightly accented purr. "I found you and brought you into the Judas Tribe all for this day. Do not fail the House of Conquest."

March bowed low. "Of course, my lady. The true origins of the Judas Tribe remain a mystery to even those who number among its leaders. I must ask, however. Is it truly wise to destroy the vessel? Your grasp of Rage far outstrips my understanding of Fear. Could you not cow the boy, and add a weapon to our side?"

She snorted. "Greed cannot be contained. It cannot be bound. It cannot be trusted. Greed is the most difficult gift of all to deal with. It is safer to kill him. As I did his ancestor." I froze. Swallowing hard. That was…not good. Because if she was talking about the ancestor I thought she was talking about, this shit had just gotten a lot more complicated. I wasn't in Crassus's weight class yet. Seemed like there was more going on here than I had expected.

April 24th 2016 Brightedge City, Wayne Manor 7:00 PM EDT

We had Cherry dip out immediately, because I had another information source to tap before we went in. As she came out, Amy glomped onto her, squeezing her tightly as she emerged. "You did so good in there Charise!" She squealed as she squeezed the life out of my Crypt Queen. I had to choke back a laugh at the uncomfortable expression on her face.

The funny part was that Cherry wasn't uncomfortable at the contact. She was uncomfortable with the emotion behind it. I thought having someone fuss would do her some good, and it would distract them all while I stepped away to talk to someone I hadn't spoken to in a while.

One unintended side effect of regaining my humanity had been that it made me rethink some of the things I'd said and done. While most of my choices I was fine with and would redo again, my interactions with Crassus had become distinctly uncomfortable for me to consider with my emotions restored.

I avoided interacting with my ancestor, if my 'other self' had taught me anything, it was that you can't trust voices in your head, no matter who they belong to. Combined with the inherent creepiness of him living in my brain and I'd been very careful not to rouse him from his timeless standby mode for anything.

Sadly, if the horned woman had been someone he knew, I was going to have to talk to him again, and worse, I was going to have to trust what he said. Stepping into a side clearing after letting Barbie know to wait for me, I cleared my throat, focusing hard as I said. "Crassus."

"Nicholas." Said the voice of my ancestor immediately. "Did you need something?" I knew my ancestor didn't exactly notice time passing when he wasn't talking to me, so I wasn't surprised at the lack of attitude about the wait. Weirdly, I DID think he could see what I did most of the time, though maybe he had to be reminded of what happened? Or maybe my discomfort had shut him out somehow.

Either way, he needed to know what had happened, so I recapped what had just gone down for him. "So, care to tell me who this horned bitch is? She said she killed my ancestor, which I'm assuming is you."

"Most likely." He said tiredly. "I'd hoped she was dead by now. I should have known better. She was already ancient when she ended my life, no wonder she's still around. You need to be careful, she's had millions of years to hone her craft, though her acquisition of the Rage system wasn't until later in her life, I believe."

"So she's…what? An S ranker? Because if so I'm pretty legendarily fucked." I couldn't SCRATCH an S ranker. Hell, I'd never even seen one. KRYPTONIANS were only A rank. I had no clue how I would begin to fight someone that strong.

He made an uncertain sound. "I'd tend to believe not. Probably A rank by now, however. Just as the Greed System grows the fastest. The Rage system grows the slowest. Anger isn't rage, it's deeper than that. True rage is hard to kindle, it takes time and patience, and it's nearly impossible to manage on a wide scale."

"Well that's good to hear, I guess." I said wryly. "Now how about you tell me who exactly she is? Because that's the information I really need."

"Kyra Arg." He said the name quietly, like even inside my head he was afraid to be overheard. "The Infinite Woman. An ageless immortal warrior from the dawn of time. A contemporary of Vandal Savage. She's the leader of the House of Conquest. She's been the Rage host for centuries at least." He paused. "I…I suppose I'm free to talk about other hosts now? Perhaps because they are involved."

"Ok. So if she's that old, why hasn't she like….taken over the world?" Something else occurred to me. "Hell, why hasn't she completed the objective of her system? I know you said slow growth but even then."

"Counterforces." He said flatly. "She has other system users working against her. I remember that. Though not much more. I think I had more specifics a long time ago. I suspect the Greed System took the knowledge, to prevent me from giving away too much before it was time."

I still didn't know what the system actually wanted, I had never gotten a straight answer on that. Regardless, now wasn't the time. If she had counterforces, it explained why she hadn't just shown up to murder me. She'd mentioned that Greed couldn't be contained or trusted, which told me she knew how people with my System worked. We wouldn't ever truly be loyal when threatened.

The smart play would have been to show up and kill me herself, but clearly there were other factors at work. Which meant she probably wasn't going to show up to help March in person. She'd have arranged for him to murder me himself. She also wasn't infallible, since she didn't know Cherry was there.

I needed more information on what she could do, which meant I needed to find someone who knew her. Crassus had mentioned at least one person. Vandal Savage. The immortal caveman. I'd never met him myself, but dad had mentioned him a time or two. Apparently he was a pathological narcissist with delusions of grandeur, but that described a lot of supervillains.

Which meant I had a next step after I got rid of March. I groaned internally. I was trying to ride the fence and avoid taking sides. I didn't want to deal with the League's bullshit when the big timers got back. Sadly, if I had to play nice with Vandal Savage that had just gotten far tougher to do. Fun.

Thanking Crassus, I turned and walked back to my posse, the girls all having finished up their powwow. They were waiting for me now, preparing to go in, because regardless of insane over the top nonsense we had to deal with later, right now I had a fucking Fear Host to put down. He'd helped kill my dad, raise Lilith, and any number of other terrible things that really pissed me off. That douchebag needed to die.

"Everything ok?" Asked Barbie carefully when she saw me. My redhead was one of my first girls and she knew me well. She could tell when something was bothering me easily. I shot her a comforting smile, ignoring the unhappiness I knew she had coming. Working with Savage was going to be unbearable to her, reasons aside, especially if we came up against the League.

She'd do it, if I asked, but it would hurt her. I hoped we could find a way to avoid directly confronting them. My policy on killing superheroes remained unchanged. It was a bad fucking idea and not worth the trouble.

"Learned more about our mysterious string puller." I said, deciding some truth now would make things less awkward later, even if I didn't tell her the whole story. "Called in a favor from a friend. She's…going to be a problem, though probably not one here. For now all we have to deal with is March."

She nodded. "I recognized a few of the constructs he had up in the meeting with him. They seemed like twisted versions of some of Bruce's enemies. Mr. Freeze, Mad Hatter. I saw a version of Batman in the back too. He and Scarecrow looked like the biggest threats."

"Probably around Amy's level for the others." I said worriedly. "But those two will probably be about the same level as the Joker Abomination." A pair of C rank constructs would be a bitch. Raven and I could take them. The D rankers I'd leave to Cherry and Amy, with some backup from the others. I was just glad he only had four of the damned things.

Speaking of Raven. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. "Hey, I need your help with something. You up for a group date?" Listening to her response I smiled and gave her the address. "Thanks Rae. See you soon." I made a note to make something better to bind her powers and disconnect her from her father. I could really use those points.

I looked up at the girls. "Our backup is incoming. Once she arrives we can head in." The shadows warped and stretched, a bird forming from darklight then pulling back to reveal my goth bombshell in all her busty hooded glory. She fucking worked that leotard. I made a mental note to fuck her in costume, which I suspected she noticed because her big purple eyes turned to me as her lips quirked in amusement. I winked at her.

Gesturing down to the estate, I said. "Ok, we're about to head into this place to fight an entrenched battle. Anything you can see that we need to avoid or that might help us bypass their defenses?" Cherry had gotten in no problem, but she was a literal ghost, so I couldn't exactly use her as an indicator. Though I did suspect she'd have noticed any defenses.

Her eyes flooded with darklight for a moment, somehow standing out even in the darkness of the hood obscuring the top of her face (which had to be magic, because it wasn't possible for the darkness for swallow just the top half of her head but leave her mouth exposed like it did). "Nothing I can detect. Not up here. I assume you have some method of ingress?"

I pointed down the grounds. "There's an old well that way. We'll use that. All of our recon was based on that entrance so it doesn't make sense to do otherwise." Plus that giant lava cavern was more than big enough for me to stretch my wings if needed. The casino was cramped and well defended, but if I broke bad all over his goat things he might send his people to deal with me.

Barbie was on the same page. As we walked, she broke down her view of things. "We're going to spring a trap on them. If we bust in with Nicky going apeshit as a dragon, the rest of us can hide with Charise and Raven. Between the ghost and shadow powers there's no way they'll notice us. If it's just Nicky they'll try to swarm him then we can counter ambush."

I grinned at her. "It's like you can read my mind. That sounds perfect. I'll sprint ahead. Cherry, Rae, the two of you setup concealment, Zee, you help if possible. Once we engage I want you girls dealing with Freeze and Hatter. Rae and I will take Scarecrow and the Bat. Make sure to get in the best possible position before you attack."

They all nodded, and I burst into a jog, heading for the well. A quick look over my shoulder showed me they'd vanished and I grinned and hit the wood on top of the well in a massive leap, bursting through and plummeting down the shaft to land at the bottom in a hard crouch. Then I took up a runners stance, pumped the Primordial Spark through my legs, and bolted down the tunnel toward the cavern.

As I came down the passage I hit the exit as a blur, hurling myself out into the magma filled chamber as I exploded outward into a massive green and gold dragon, roaring my exultation at unleashing the beast and vomiting forth a torrent of blazing white shine all over the nearby goat men.

They screamed and burned, and I heard another few dozen begin to shriek out bleating cries, turning the cavern into an echoing cauldron of goat sound pandemonium. I grinned a draconic grin as I sat and waited for my bait to work. Sometimes being sneaky is about being quiet, and sometimes its about being loud for someone else. The second kind of sneaky was always my favorite.

April 24th 2016 Brightedge City, Wayne Manor 8:00 PM EDT

Whatever the goat things were, they were NOT designed to penetrate C-rank dragon scale. They started attacking me, some with slings and arrows, some throwing spears and some throwing magic. It all bounced right the fuck off me. I'd straight up melted about twenty of them with my first attack, but there were dozens more coming from nowhere, rushing me as one.

I felt like a kid playing godzilla in a tiny model city, swinging left and right through the cavern, held aloft on Primordial Spark infused wings. I was swatting them like fucking flies, roaring a challenge as I ripped through their ranks easily.

A shrill echoing laugh bounced off the walls of the cavern. "Well, well, well." Cooed the smug tone of Lincoln March. "I have to commend your timing. I was just discussing you with my friends here. I said there was no way you'd be stupid enough to storm this place. I suppose even I'm wrong at times. Where's your little whore parade?"

I snarled at him, glaring around to try to spot the bastard. "Fuck off. Only I get to call them whores, and only when they're into it. I'll add that to the list of shit I'm going to tear out of your hide. Like my dad's life. You were the one who encouraged Mary and her crew to use him as the sacrifice right?"

"Guilty." Chirped the annoying, self satisfied asshole. I knew he was stalling me, letting his people surround me, but I didn't mind because MY people were waiting to surround them. March had the same problem almost every villain had, in the end. The same problem my father spent literal years drilling into my head to avoid.

Villains are self centered and narcissistic, and are far too willing to believe something they wish was true. They don't question good luck, which means they were easy to ambush. "Wizard's first rule. People will believe anything if they're afraid it's true, or wish it was." Fear and arrogance are the key to fooling anyone.

"Why?" I roared, making my voice quaver with draconic rage and pain. I knew why, it was pretty obvious, but I needed March running his mouth instead of his brain. Always catch them monologuing. It's tradition. Even I did it when I was sure I'd won. Some things were too much fun to ignore, even if you knew they were a bad idea.

March's cold laugh echoed off the walls. "Because I knew you'd do exactly what you did. Come running to save daddy. Of course, I should have guessed Lilith would be too powerful and unpredictable to control. I can't believe she let you live. Oh well. It distracted you while I set up my little operation here. And as a bonus you sucked Nightwing into it. My brother's brats can be such a distraction, kudos for keeping them away."

I could sense the energy around me shifting. Nothing as specific as a map or anything, but it was clear I was almost surrounded. Once that happened I needed to keep him talking. Which meant it was time to do what I did best. Piss him off.

"Well sure." I rumbled, still floating on magic imbued wings. "Don't want to damage the bat kids. Big brother might come back and spank you. That IS why you waited until this mess happened to strike right Lincoln? The big bad Fear Host is terrified of his scary big brother."

There was a tense silence, before I heard a near whisper of. "I am NOT afraid of him." The rage in that snarl would have made me smile as a human. Bingo. Nerve touched.

"Of course not." I said snidely. "You waited until he went into space to put this plan into motion because you find him laughable and incompetent. You definitely didn't hide like a rat for your entire life so Big Brother Bruce wouldn't have a reason to challenge your preparations. Even after all this time though, all the planning, all the preparations. You still couldn't face him. Not really."

"Shut up!" He screamed. "I'm in charge here! This is MY home. He's gone, and I took my rightful place. I'm a Wayne, and this should have been mine to begin with. He should have just died in that alley with our parents! But no, he had to survive, to stay and loom over my birthright, to deny me everything I deserve by his very existence."

I laughed, mockery and scorn thick on the rumbling sound echoing from my draconic lungs. "Listen to you. Looming over your birthright. You're pathetic. Hiding in his hole in the ground couldn't be more appropriate. You're LITERALLY in his shadow. You couldn't have picked a better metaphor if you'd tried."

"You think you're so smart." He sneered. "So powerful and impressive. But the most relevant thing about you was your daddy. Now he's gone. Who are you without your father?"

That one almost bowled me over with the hypocrisy. "Your NAME is Thomas Wayne Jr.!" I said incredulously. "Talk about coasting on daddy's success, not even your fucking name is original. No wonder they kept Bruce and farmed you out to the Court of Owls. How did that happen anyway? Were you such a disappointment that they could tell you were worthless from the moment of your birth?"

"ENOUGH!" He howled in rage. "ALL OF YOU ATTACK! KILL HIM!" My eyes flashed and I turned, barely catching a torrent of ice with a breath attack before it hit me. Luckily, I also created a cloud of steam when my Primordial Spark breath hit the icy beam Freeze had hurled, and the cavern filled with hissing vapor, occluding everyone's sight.

I saw a flash of darklight through the steam as Raven hit Freeze head on, and the sound of fights exploded around me as the girls engaged their targets, but I was more worried about something else. The Batman construct. I was pretty sure, since I wasn't just dead, that it was only C rank like me, but I suspected it was powerful in that rank like I was, especially here. This wouldn't be an easy fight.

I cut the magic to my wings, letting myself drop as a slight twinge of instinct told me to move. A dark shadow roared over my head, slamming into the wall above me. It took a second for the steam to clear enough to reveal my assailant, and I almost wished it hadn't.

The THING attacking me bore as much resemblance to Batman as a pig bore a water buffalo. Huge and twisted, with chalk white skin under the black as night cape and cowl and extremely beady red eyes. He had similarities to the joker abomination, but there were plenty of differences too. For instance, where the joker was yoked, the Batman-thing was tall and spindly, almost disturbingly thin.

It hissed a disgusting cockroach like laugh at me. "Beast." it rasped, voice like cold wind in dead leaves. "You've sealed your doom. This place is ours, we-" I shot a beam of light at its head with no warning, but it just casually shifted its freakish long body out of the way. I finally decided to do an appraisal.

[Appraisal function activated. Fear construct detected. The Pale Bat- C rank. An unnatural amalgamation of all the fears surrounding the Dark Knight, with a bit of extra thrown in. An extremely dangerous enemy.]

Well that was helpful. I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. He was C-rank, though I wouldn't underestimate that last bit. The system didn't give warnings lightly. "You were saying?" I rumbled, my draconic voice lending bass to my speech.

The thing hissed. "You dare?" It flicked its fingers and spears of shadow leapt from the walls, trying to pincushion me. I rolled my eyes and flared my magic around me, driving back the dark with the unnatural brightness.

"Yeah there isn't much I don't dare." I grunted, flapping my wings as I added magic to my rush like I had back when I'd just been using force. I sped through the air, but the pale bat melted into the wall, leaving me to strike stone with my claws, tearing a deep furrow from the cavern. "Do YOU dare to stand the fuck still?"

The bat seemed disturbed by how easy it was for me to counter him. Shadow powers was a scary ability, especially down here, but it was the wrong one to use on me. I wasn't stupid enough to believe it was the only one he had either. I expected him to rush me again, but he didn't blending into the darkness again and vanishing in silence.

Grimacing, I roared to Raven. "Hey Rae, you want to swap? This one is squirrely, and I think I'm pretty well suited to deal with the ice cube."

"Sure." Said her voice from right by my ear. It was quiet enough not to be audible from further away. "Do me a favor, turn your back and leave yourself open." I grinned, lighting my wings with magic to keep me up after a single flap as I circled to head away.

Sure enough, there was a sound from behind me, and turning I saw a massive bat shaped shadow hit one that looked like a bird and twist into knots as it screamed an unearthly chorus of agony. I swore I heard Raven's voice snarl. "Mine!" As I sailed away, but it might have been wishful thinking.

I headed for Mr. Freeze, landing hard in front of the construct, which was also C-rank, but much less powerful based on the impression I got from both my senses and the appraisal I did. The ice blue man was stocky and powerfully built, he also didn't need a suit.

"So, since he ripped off Freeze, did he make you a Nora? Because I've seen pictures and I'd love her to take a lick of my popsicle if you know what I'm saying." Which was true, Freeze's wife was one ironically hot piece of ass. But mostly I wanted to see if this construct had a hair trigger like the original when it came to his frosty bombshell.

Sadly, the test was inconclusive, because the Freeze construct just screamed with uncontrollable rage and hurled a wave of ice at me, which was what he'd been doing to start with. I blew out a wave of light, making sure the superheated shining magic was hot enough to dissolve the ice before it hit me, then rushed the bastard.

It was easy to smash him down, considering his complete lack of physical strength. Like Zee, the construct was entirely focused on non-physical power, and my magic was a hard counter to his ice, a quick snap and I bit his head clean off, turning to try to find Scarecrow.

The fight had been nearly instant, so I hadn't had time to think about it, but the C ranked Scarecrow construct hadn't appeared, probably sticking with March. Little coward seemed like the type. It took me a minute to spot them and take off in pursuit.

Raven had the Batman construct, I knew she could pull off her ring if she really needed to take him down. Scarecrow seemed more…nebulous. The Fear system was bound to have given him quite a bit of power, given his skillset.

I soared over the battle, confirming the girls were fine, especially since taking out Freeze meant one less D rank to fight. I locked onto March bolting for the casino and winged after him at top speed. I'd catch the bastard before he could hole up behind whatever defenses he had on hand, there was no way he would escape.

As I landed, I saw a flash of yellow as the Scarecrow construct stepped out from behind some kind of stone edifice and hurled a ball of potent looking yellow gas at my head. I inhaled before I had a chance to react, and I felt my world fade at the edges as fear consumed me. Shit. This wasn't going to be fun.

April 24th 2016 Brightedge City, Wayne Manor 9:00 PM EDT

I admit. I wasn't sure what my worst fear would be. It was odd, but being what I was for so long, seeing the world how I did, made me…different. In a lot of ways really, but one of the biggest was the way I processed emotions. For so much of my existence fear was dull, weak, barely there. I had survival instinct, but I never knew FEAR. Not really. Not until I became human again, ironically after leaving my humanity behind.

The fact remained though, fear, for me, was associated with emotion. With feeling. I only knew fear once I could care, and fear came from that place. I'd denied it, ran away from it, tried to suppress it, but it was true. My worst fear. My only real fear. Was losing my girls.

It felt pathetic to admit that. No matter how many people claimed it was the case, told me I was in love, that it was ok to care. It felt sad and weak. But the truth doesn't care what makes you insecure. Doesn't care what you want.

Standing there, in my home, looking at the butchered bodies of my women, I knew that for certain. Knew, without a single question, that this was my nightmare.

Oddly enough though…that helped. This was awful, and nauseating, and even heartbreaking. But it wasn't real. This couldn't be real. And then March stepped from the dark. He was grinning like a madman, eyes burning with glee as he stared down at my blank expression. "So." He said cheerfully. "This is you fear? What makes you weak. What makes you vulnerable."

I didn't speak, I was straining to process all this emotion. I was using the exercises Raven taught me, ignoring the way my demoness stared down at me accusingly from where her body hung on the chandelier above me.

March snickered. "Apparently so. It makes sense, you know. The Greed Host fearing losing his prizes. The Lady told me I should be afraid of you, you know. She said the Greed System grows the fastest. It's why they're killed so often. The others fear you being left alone. The oldest are always the slowest to grow. Rage of course, but also Will. Jim Corrigan has been the holder of the Will System for decades now."

I forced myself to focus, because this was important. Looking around, I tried to see past the illusion. I needed to find the Scarecrow construct. To destroy the damned thing so I could break free of this. I needed to keep the asshole talking. Again. "It's funny." I rasped. "How much of your grasp on fear comes from your brother. I wonder why she didn't make sure HE got the Fear System?"

Of course, that wasn't how it worked, and I knew it. People were born with the systems. Lincoln must have been a magic used or something, at least if the Fear System worked like mine did. Or maybe the reason he'd blossomed so late in life was because he wasn't. Nothing for the system to cannibalize. Maybe for other weaker systems that just delayed things instead of killing you.

I expected him to flip out again and go on another rant, which would have distracted me from the mutilated corpse of Barbie impaled on a wooden spike ten feet away. I felt a surge of nausea flood through me, but I focused on my exercises and it subsided. I could hear a buzzing in my ears as I tried not to let the fear and grief consume me.

Sadly, he did NOT flip a bitch. "She chose me because I was superior." He said smugly. "My brother is weak, pathetic. Our parents deaths rule his life, he'd not even a man, he's an empty shell of grief."

That sounded like cope to me, honestly. I had quite a few uncomplimentary things to say about Batman, as did my dad, but even we wouldn't call him WEAK. I snorted. "Of course you'd say that. Mommy and daddy loved him best. But hey, you have your new mommy to take care of you. Picking the brother with Oedipus Complex was a no brainer I guess. Tell me, she actually let you tap that ass? Or does she just lord it over you to get you to be a good boy."

It was almost sad how that froze him up. Anger, guilt, lust, self-loathing. I focused on it to drive back the buzzing in my head, scenting weakness like a shark scents blood. "Oh you want it don't you. But you don't have the guts to ask. What if your new mommy leaves you like the last one. No, you can't risk that. You probably just beat your meat to her every day. Or hell, maybe she SCARES you. Is that it? She spread those immortal legs and you couldn't get it up? The mighty Fear Host pushing rope because he's too afraid to get hard."

He snarled at me, and the scene changed, the bodies beginning to stir, slowly crawling towards me, their dead eyes glazed but focused. Charming. I didn't even know if I'd gotten it right, but I'd certainly pissed him off. Maybe that was HIS greatest fear.

"Why aren't you breaking?" He spat. "This is what you fear most. You should be screaming, curled up and sobbing like a child."

I just shrugged. "Because all my emotions feel like this. Overwhelming. Terrifying. I've been learning to deal with it, but this is my baseline. Grief, fear, guilt. I've tasted them all lately, for the first time in some cases, and I've learned to process them. Or maybe it's more like…I remember what it's like not to have them. This is awful, but it doesn't exactly…connect. Not when I remember years without it."

My exercises had pushed the buzzing down to a manageable roar in my ears as I climbed to my feet. His eyes widened. "At the end of the day, I think this actually helped me. I can finally admit it. I love my girls. The thought of losing them scares me. After feeling what it was like to lose my dad, I can't imagine anything worse. Pain can be healed, death will just be the end, but watching them die…"

I looked around at the bodies, crawling slowly towards me, and I felt sorrow unlike anything I'd ever known tear through me. "But…I'd survive it. I would live, and move on. And that means that it doesn't have the power over me that it would have over someone else. I'm the Greed Host. I always want more, which means nothing is ever enough. The fear of loss matters most if you're content."

Stepping forward, I glared into the eyes of Lincoln March. "I'll never be content. Never have enough. They know it, and they love me anyway. Just like I love them. And if they died, if someone took them from me, I know exactly what I'd want. I'd want to make the person who took them suffer."

"You…you can't. The Lady will kill you! You can't touch me." He was backing away, stuttering and looking around desperately, presumably for his construct. It was impressive he could even interact with me inside this delusion, Fear System bullshit I expected.

I just shrugged. "She's not exactly throwing my ass a welcome party as it is. I'll collapse that bridge when I come to it. You won't need to worry about any of that though, you won't have to worry about anything."

March's eyes were burning as he backed away, and I felt a shift behind me as I spun and wrapped a hybridized clawed hand around the throat of the Scarecrow construct. The bag headed monster's eyes glowed yellow as it kicked and struggled, and the scene around us dissolved as the struggling became more frantic.

It was interesting to note that March was in the same spot, scrambling back from me. I glared at the Scarecrow, leaning forward to expel a torrent of white light right into its face. The head was destroyed and I dropped the corpse to the ground as it dissolved into motes of yellow light.

"Please." Said March desperately. "You're a rational man. You don't let sentiment get in the way. I've seen how you operate. We can work something out. I can help you. Pay you. This doesn't need to get violent. I messed up, you're the better man. Don't do anything stupid here."

I shook my head with a chuckle. "You know the funniest thing? That used to be true. There was a time I'd have taken that offer. I always did my own thing, and while you're a slimy little snake, you're connected. I could use that, could exploit it. You do have some things I want."

His shoulders started to sag with relief. "Of course, we can work something out, like I said. I'm sure whatever you need I can ge-"

"But that was then." I cut him off pleasantly. He froze, staring up at me in horror. "That was when I was still part fae, when I didn't care. But that's not me anymore. I care now. Too much, probably. You killed my dad. You made me watch my girls die right in front of me. You tried to murder me, to murder them."

I reached down, shoving my hand INTO his chest, in a way I didn't really know how to describe, and my hand closed around the shard of power I knew was the Fear System. It started to dissolve, moving onto the next host. Most of it at least. A small piece though, I managed to tear free, I felt it melting into me, becoming part of me, even as it ceased to be part of him.

My own system changed, just a bit. I could merge up to three things together into a whole without needing to do multiple ranks or pay that cost. Three items into one H rank to make a G rank item. It would give me flexibility I didn't have now. And let me save points. Interesting.

March was on the ground, shaking and shuddering, almost foaming at the mouth. I don't think he knew I could do that. I don't think the other system users could. It made sense though, considering what the Greed System was.

He was just a man now, not a host, not relevant. The other changes he'd made, the constructs, they faded away as his connection to the Fear System broke. I saw a Brand on his forehead, and I grimaced. I'd had to take ownership of him to break the link, and I hated it. I didn't want to own something like him.

"You disgust me." I told him shortly. "Like, you make me physically ill. You're pathetic, and I don't want you to exist as you do. You don't deserve to be a person. If I was like your brother, I might turn the other cheek, send you to siberia or something, but I'm not. I want you to suffer, and now I guess you're mine to do with as I want. So I'll make sure you do."

I focused on him, then on the boots I had on my feet. I focused and triggered a merge, and I saw his eyes go wide as he dissolved into light, merging into the shoes.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Boots of infinite agony-F rank. The sentient soul of Lincoln March bound into a pair of shoes, to be tormented with agonizing pain with every step the wearer takes. The screams of the damned are contained within the boots, but can be silenced at a whim.]

I grinned down at the boots, which I could almost feel looking back at me. I took a step, heard a scream in the back of my head and shut it off. That shit would get old quick, he could keep that to himself. I chuckled, turning to head back into the Batcave proper to find my girls now that the place was turning back to normal. I had to admit, These were damned comfortable shoes.

April 24th 2016 Brightedge City, Hall of Nevers 10:00 PM EDT

I didn't steal any of Batman's stuff as we left. I REALLY wanted to, but Barbie looked super uncomfortable about it, and I was still kind of courting Raven, who didn't seem enthused either. I knew where the place was now, and I could always send Cherry back to get a souvenir if the Bat pissed me off, so I decided to let it go in return for harem happiness.

Dinah and Whisper threw themselves on me when I got back, and Sindara and Emma waited until they disengaged to give hugs of their own. My sister looked terrible, and had clearly been worried sick, but I'd managed to convince her to stay back to guard my baby mamas. Partly that was a legit worry, but mostly I just hadn't had a chance to work with her yet so I didn't really trust her field experience.

Waylon and Sally had stayed back as well, neither up to this kind of mission until I'd had a chance to upgrade them again. I slumped down on the couch as I filled my people in one everything. The interesting new trick with the Greed System would bear experimenting with, but it wasn't too urgent. For now I mostly wanted their opinions on our next move.

Editing the System stuff mostly out since most of them didn't know what was up, I laid out what was going on in broad strokes. I also left out my new boots, letting them assume I'd killed March. "So. What the hell do we do here? Honestly I'm tempted to just let this sit for a while and build up. This…Kyra Arg woman seems hesitant to engage directly. It'll take time to set up another proper attack."

She'd burned assets she had spent decades and even centuries grooming for the attacks so far. I couldn't imagine how long it took to get the Fear system into a position to be groomed like that. I wouldn't be shocked if she'd had the Waynes killed herself to arrange for Lincoln to end up with the Court. Something to think about revealing to Batman in the worst case.

To my surprise, Whisper was the one to respond. Honestly I hadn't spent much time with her since getting back. Whisper was fun and a phenomenal fuck, but she was kind of intense, and with my humanity back it made me kind of uncomfortable being around her. Dinah and Ingrid had been working on untwisting the knot of crazy her brain had been tied in, but they were having limited success.

"We should approach the League." She said bluntly. We all looked at her in shock and she smiled eagerly, happy to be useful. "This woman is clearly a powerful and dangerous threat to the world. The League would be thrilled to take her out, and worst case they have sources of information we don't."

Zee, who had been quiet up to now, nodded. "Plus, I was waiting to tell you, but we just got word things on Rimbor should be over soon. It might behoove you to give them something to aim at when they get back, so we can settle things here without their interference."

I considered it. They had good points, but I wasn't biting. I didn't like the League. I respected some of them, but they were far too restrictive. "No." I said finally. "I'm not going to involve them directly. We can drop some hints and let them run their own investigation but I'm no superhero. No, I want to get in touch with Dr. Fate. I've worked with him before, and he tends to be less…moral."

I wasn't sure if he had his finger on the pulse of what was going on, but I was guessing the lich in a can was old enough to have run across this bitch and possibly the systems. What I really needed was to get in contact with this 'Jim Corrigan' guy. He sounded strong, and I'd need an intermediary based on how March and Arg had talked about the Greed System.

I occupied a strange place from what I could tell. Somewhere between too dangerous to trust and too useful to dismiss, depending on which side of things you landed on. The girls look uncertain, and Whisper looked upset she hadn't been helpful.

Pulling her into my lap, I palmed that bowling ball ass, enjoying the soft jiggle of her cheeks. Fuck I loved that ass. Whisper was the first woman I'd ever gotten pregnant, and I'd been avoiding her. It didn't seem right. I made a mental note to spend some time with her after this meeting. Rough sex would be a bit dicey given her pregnancy but I could always do her ass. Plenty of cushion back there.

Forcing down the thoughts of buttfucking my fat bottomed baby mama, I turned to Barbie. "Can you arrange for Batman to get onto this? Without tipping him to my involvement? The fight in the cave took place in an altered world that faded when I got rid of March, so there shouldn't be any physical evidence."

She bit her lip. This was a big moment, a test of sorts. Batman still held a place of respect for Barbie. She was mine, body and soul, but til now she'd been acting for me rather than against the League. She'd briefly involved her ex, but she had mixed feelings there. This was actively picking a side.

I didn't push. I could figure out another way if needed. Barbie had already done more than most. If this was her line I'd respect it. I owed her that much for all the loyalty she'd shown me. Which was a weird thought honestly. Up until now, loyalty from my girls had just been…my due. That it was a two way street now was odd.

"Yes." She said firmly, eyes hardening with resolve. "Yes, I can. Especially considering her possible involvement in the death of his parents." I wasn't surprised she pieced that together. Occasional sex doll or not, my Barbie was sharp.

"You going to catch any shit for not being as active?" I wondered aloud. "You haven't been patrolling or whatever it is you do since you got back. At least not as much."

I'd told her she was free to be Batgirl, since it was advantageous to me anyway and it made her happy. But we'd been under attack since minute one of our return for one reason or another, and she hadn't had as much time as she'd have liked.

She just waved me off. "Hardly. The new city is a huge shakeup. Adjusting, especially after my 'trip' isn't going to raise any red flags. Though them not being able to find this place might." She looked to Zee. "You're going to claim to have done the warding yourself, right?"

We'd already arranged an alibi for that, luckily. I just hoped it would hold up to Batman scrutiny.

Barbie had said it before, people mythologized him, but he WAS dangerous. Very few things in the world are as annoying as an obsessive lunatic with no real life and access to billions of dollars. It was like facing a more competent and tech savvy version of the Spanish inquisition. Nobody expects that shit.

Fearing Batman as some sort of bogeyman was stupid, but being cognizant of the threat faced by someone who would fanatically check every detail of a situation with nearly unlimited resources was common sense. If Barbie could distract him it would be ideal, but she would need to account for everything.

I glanced to Dinah. "As for you, I was hoping you might have another in. Unless you think the League members coming back will turn on you like some of the others?"

She smiled slightly. "No. Diana isn't going to abandon me. The anti-male prejudice may be hidden but it's there. She'll subconsciously blame Oliver. Superman is too loyal to abandon a friend, and Bruce knows and likes me better than Oliver. Not to mention my pregnancy is far enough along that the latter two will go all mother hen on me. You want me to make contact?"

I nodded. "If you're comfortable. Your mind is protected, like all the girls, but if you think it'll put stress on the baby we can wait. Even if not, I don't want you on missions." I grinned at her challengingly. "You're a mother now, not a superhero."

Despite the possible demeaning nature of the comment, I could feel her desires flare. Dinah LIKED that thought. She'd probably get over it and decide to get back in the field after the baby was born, but by that time I could fully upgrade her for safety.

Worry about the babies was weirdly NOT new. Even as a sociopath I'd cared somewhat about my kids. It had been a distant thing, aping my own father, but it had been there. Now though…I was excited and terrified all at once.

Dinah smiled sweetly, kissing me on the cheek as she laughed. "They won't push me into the field and I won't go if they try. My duty is to you and the baby." She frowned. "You aren't going to hurt them, are you?"

I took her hand. "Like I told Barbie. Attacking the League is stupid. This whole Kyra thing just illustrates it. It's all a matter of managing problems. My goals and operations are…insular. With the mental protections they won't know about the Brand, and other than that any small illegal activity I do looks like a low priority. I'll let the League play with the mustache twirling idiots while I build my power base. By the time they come for me I'll be too strong for them to deal with."

Superman, based on his cousin, was probably an A ranker. A rank seemed to be a hard limit to break. It explained why this damned game was still going on after thousands of years. I wasn't sure, but I suspected the Greed System wanted me to hit S rank. I was pretty sure all the systems were aiming for that.

The fact that none of the Hosts, even the millenia old immortal, had managed, was telling. But there had to be a better chance for me, otherwise why make a point of killing off the Greed Hosts. We were the ringers, all we needed to grow was something to merge.

Amy watched with happiness as I talked to everyone. She didn't have any connection to the League, but she loved seeing me bonding with the other girls. She really saw us all as a family, and the others were all her sisters. I'd gotten damned lucky.

Speaking of luck, I slipped my phone out and shot a text to Jenny. Alan Scott was a magical mover and shaker, and he was another avenue of exploration for Arg, not to mention I wanted another crack at his daughter's jiggly green tits.

I might be mostly happy where I was, but I was still a dragon. Jenny was sexy, intriguing, and her magic connected with mine in a unique way. Plus I could use some more points until I completed helping Raven.

Finding a way to sever her connection with her old man for good would be a good next step while I looked into the whole Rage system thing, which meant I would need to start researching demonic cleansing and exorcism. Clapping a hand to Whisper's ass I let everyone know they could go and that I wanted to spend time with my first baby mama.

I'd worry about all that stuff later. For now I had my favorite pair of cheeks to clap and it had been far too long since we had some alone time. As me gorgeous lunatic tried to basically crawl down my throat I had to laugh at myself. Weird how the discomfort faded so quickly when I felt that grade A ass in my lap.

As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent. hope everyone enjoys.