Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Mike God of Lore, Priapus, Old man of the mountain, Marethyu
The Guild of Gamers: The Supervillain
Chapter 29: Coiled
– Circus –
Waking up in Midas' bed, she shuddered at the feeling of his dried semen sticking to her inner thighs. Whoring herself out to Midas was never ideal, but she was making enough from Coil to retire far away from Brockton Bay once this was all over. She scowled at the salty taste in her mouth and the cum staining her hair and breasts.
She'd entertained him alone last night, as he'd had use for Harley and Punchline elsewhere. It wasn't ideal, as Midas liked it rough, and Harley wasn't there to take the brunt of his aggressions, but it did give her an opportunity as she slipped out of bed. Midas was a surprisingly heavy sleeper, but then again…
Midas was arrogant. He was utterly defenceless, but he was too busy thinking with his dick to care that he was letting his guard down around her. His arrogance was her profit as she moved over to his computer, limping slightly due to the way her ass was aching from last night. It wasn't locked because she'd arrived while he'd been working and he was too confident to ever assume that she'd betray him or that anyone else would get this far into his base.
Keeping an eye on the sleeping cape, she worked fast as she went through the most recent files. There it was, the plans for the raid on Coil's bases. He'd even started the outline of the plans for what to do after Coil was taken out. She didn't know who was going to win, but she knew she didn't want to be here when it happened. If Coil won, she'd likely never get his claws out of her, and if Midas won, he'd find evidence of her spying on him in Coil's systems. She'd take the money, transfer it to a Numberman account and unmask for a good long while.
She'd looked up where the League had branches, picking which countries to avoid. Some of the Mediterranean countries were looking very appealing as the League didn't have as many offices in that part of the world.
Copying his records to a flash drive hidden away in her hammerspace, she froze as she saw a single line in his post-Coil plans.
'Deal with Circus.'
Nothing else, but there was only one reason that Midas would have her name in the post-Coil plans. He knew. She glanced over at where he was still sleeping, her heart pounding in her chest. She considered attacking him but changed her mind fast as she grabbed her outfit and got dressed quickly.
Moving as quietly as possible, she moved to the door and took one last look at where Midas was still fast asleep, not a care in the world as he slept next to a traitor. Opening the door, she went to move before her finely honed senses screamed at her to dodge a mallet swinging for her head.
Dodging back, Harley gave her a wild grin as she rested the mallet on her shoulder. The ball gag Midas made her wear after the clussy incident was around her neck, unfortunately allowing her to speak again.
"It ain't nothing personal, Circy, but the boss-man don't like traitors," Harley said with a dark smile. Punchline just gave her a cruel smile.
"Don't make this too hard; you're just embarrassing yourself. Did you enjoy your drink last night?" Punchline asked, a smile on her face as Circus' eyes widened. Punchline sprayed something into the air, and immediately, Circus' body started to rebel. Punchline was a chemical tinker; she'd doped Circus with something that needed a second chemical to activate. It was a common trick for her, letting her delay the poisoning for days, and Circus could only struggle against the drowsiness as Harley swung into action.
Her supernatural reflexes failed her as the mallet struck her in the side of the face, sending her tumbling back into Midas' bedroom. As her senses failed her, Midas stared down at her with cold, knowing eyes.
"Excellent work, girls," Midas said, not a hint of sleepiness in his tone. Had he even been asleep at all? Had he laid there, knowing she was tightening the noose around her own neck? As she felt her body give up, Midas easily picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder, carrying her away.
– Jin Yukimura (King Midas) –
My little Coil gambit has paid off very well.
Even without the other benefits, it has served me well by allowing me to find traitors in the League. Coil had put out feelers to try to hire several League members to spy on me, and by taking advantage of that groundwork, I managed to convince several League members to betray me. Circus is the most noteworthy, but several minor capes took money to spy on the League. They will pay for that betrayal; examples have to be made.
I've already arranged for a replacement member of the Jokerz, and Punchline is currently sweating behind that smile because she's starting to wonder. If I knew that Circus was spying for Coil, do I know that Punchline is spying for Prophet?
I'll let her marinate in her fear for a while as she watches Circus be punished for her betrayal. This little gambit has given me the perfect opportunity to clean house, and I plan to take full advantage of it.
– Carol Dallon (Brandish) –
The fact that they were dancing to Midas' tune made her scowl, even as she flew towards Coil's mercenaries in her ball form. Yes, she knew that it was important to rescue both the child of Kaiser and the Mayor's niece to remove Coil's leverage, but doing it on Midas' request just made the entire thing feel slimy.
Amy was following behind them, guarded by Wonder Girl and Glory Girl, the twin blondes serving as the healer's bodyguards. Midas had found information that the girls had been drugged with some tinkertech concoction to ensure their… obedience. Amy wanted to be a part of this despite the risks, and she could purge the drugs from the hostages' systems. Plus, having the healer there meant they were in less danger.
It did mean that she was being doubly sure that the thugs went down and stayed down. Prophet had managed to disable a lot of Coil's security system, but that left the more physical defences.
Wonder Woman jumped in front of her, shield raised as something struck it hard, bouncing off Wonder Woman's shield as the powerful heroine glared towards a man in a red bodysuit.
Ballistic, one of the Travellers. Midas had been right; Coil had sent them to watch the hostages.
Before Wonder Woman could speak, a… cyborg triceratops charged towards her, bursting through one of the walls, making Wonder Woman's eyes widen before they jumped into action.
Prophet had given them all files on the Travellers; this had to be one of Genesis' projections. Lady Photon sent a beam of light towards Ballistic, who retaliated by sending a metal pipe firing at her at incredible speed. Instantly, a red and golden forcefield appeared in front of Lady Photon, the pipe bouncing off it even as the forcefield broke.
Laserdream's forcefields were far more durable after Prophet had upgraded her, able to withstand any hit, even if they'd break after it. Before, that pipe would have blasted through the shield like it wasn't even there.
Lady Photon sent a proud smile toward her daughter before she focused. Sarah had gotten her own upgrade in preparation for this fight, and with ease, she shifted her entire body into a bolt of white energy that shot forward at speeds approaching the speed of light, laughably faster than she could fly before.
The beam struck Ballistic, sending him tumbling back as Lady Photon shifted back and started using her forcefields to lock him inside a sphere of light. Laserdream joined her mother in capturing Ballistic, who shot some ball bearings against the forcefield before he shouted in pain. He was not the smartest man, clutching his injured body after the ball bearings bounced off and struck him.
Wonder Woman decapitated the unholy techno-dinosaur as Starfire held it down, aware that it was not real and having no reason to hold back.
Genesis wasn't here in person, but it would put her out of commission for a while if the reports were right.
Moving forward, they bulldozed their way over the remaining mercenaries as they moved through the base. Midas had supplied them with a map, marking the most likely place where the hostages were being kept.
Bursting into the room, she froze as she spotted the leader of the Travellers. The top-hat-wearing man had a knife to the throat of Dinah Alcott. The eleven-year-old girl was obviously drugged and almost naked, as she'd been stripped down to nothing but a pair of panties with a teddy bear on the front.
"Stay back, and this doesn't have to get messy," Trickster spat, the last few mercenaries holding the white-haired child and the toddler, who was probably Kaiser's daughter, at gunpoint. A power-armoured Tinker was standing beside Trickster, who she identified as Chariot, one of Coil's capes.
"You are surrounded; Coil is being taken down as we speak. Give up, and this doesn't have to be so bad for you," Wonder Woman barked, and as Trickster went to speak, Chariot made a move.
From his armour, a thick purple mist came out and engulfed the surprised mercs, his armoured fist grabbing Trickster's arm and snapping it, making him drop the knife as he screamed in pain and confusion. His confusion didn't last long, Chariot punching him in the back of the head with a powered fist and knocking him out.
"Wait, chill out!" Chariot said, raising his hands. "It was just a sedative; I work for Midas. He knew this would happen."
Of fucking course he did.
"That was reckless, young man. What if the mercenaries had fired?" Lady Photon asked, arms crossed.
"Nah, they couldn't. Midas designed a localised EMP that disabled their weapons. He's good at fucking with Tinkertech," Chariot said, grabbing one of the guns and holding it in the air as he pulled the trigger. It didn't fire at all, making Carol sigh even as Amy moved forward to help the kids. Fucking Midas.
"How long have you worked for Midas?" Carol asked, making Chariot run a hand across his armoured head, almost sheepish.
"Like a week? Look, Coil paid well and got me some good gear, but nobody said anything about kidnapping kids or blowing up the city. This got way too intense for me, you know?" Chariot admitted, confirming her suspicions that there was probably a teenager under that mask. "I don't even really work for Midas; I'm not part of the League or anything. He just offered to help me get out of Coil's grip. It was fine at the start, but Coil doesn't let people go easily, you know? He knows who I am under my mask, and when I tried to get out, he threatened my mom."
"Have you tried not working for villains in the first place?" Vicky scoffed, making Chariot rub his neck.
"Yeah, hindsight is a bitch. But a Tinker has gotta Tinker, and I didn't want to get grabbed by any of the gangs. Let's just say the Empire would love me right up until I took off my helmet," Chariot laughed. "Plus, Coil got me before the Syndicate showed up, and I couldn't get out to join the League."
Ignoring the idiot, she moved up to Amy and watched her adopted daughter work. Amy looked up at her, a scowl on her lips.
"They'll be fine, but I put them to sleep. The drug they were under was strong, and going straight to being clean would be a shock to their systems. Better for them to sleep it off," Amy explained, making Carol nod, giving her daughter a proud nod. "I've removed the addiction. Luckily, the toddler wasn't on anything since it would probably have killed her. Dinah and Eri have had that shit in their systems for ages, Eri more so, but beyond that, I couldn't find any signs of abuse. No physical or sexual abuse, at least. I can't speak for their mental states."
"Good work, Amy," Carol said, seeing the brief look of surprise on Amy's face as she nodded. "We're done here. Photon, send word to the other teams that we succeeded in our part but didn't see Sundancer or Genesis, just her projection. Laserdream, can you secure Trickster and Ballistic for the PRT?"
"Yeah, no worries," Crystal agreed, pulling out a blindfold. Trickster's power needed eyesight, and Crystal got to work putting him in the same bubble as Ballistic (who Amy reluctantly healed before she put him to sleep as well).
"Err, I don't suppose you can put a good word in with the PRT for me? I didn't wanna join the Wards, but I think I'm done with villains," Chariot asked awkwardly. "Don't get me wrong, Midas seems nice, but so did Coil, and it went from 'make this' to 'hold these children hostage in the bunkers that are rigged to blow up'."
"...please tell me this place isn't about to explode," Lady Photon asked with a calm tone.
"Oh, no. I disabled that as well. See, I'm helpful, right? No need to throw me in jail," Chariot joked as they waited for the PRT to arrive. Midas had arranged for them to stay out of things due to how infiltrated their organisation was by Coil, but they still had some use. Prophet himself was working as the coordinator since he could do more with the information coming in if he wasn't in the field himself.
Still, one blow to Coil. Dinah and Eri were going to the PRT, but the unnamed child was going to be picked up by Midas' people to be given back to her parents. Carol scowled at that, but she wasn't about to try to kidnap Kaiser's child.
– Rose Wilson (Ravager) –
Knocking out the mercenary, she watched as Babs worked at the computer. It was strange to see Batgirl in action again after Babs had put so much effort into pretending to still be a cripple, but Babara didn't want to risk trying to guide them through hacking into Coil's systems.
Huntress and Cassandra both kept watch. This really was the perfect job for them because they all specialised in infiltration and espionage. With all of Coil's bases being hit by the League, Coil's mercs didn't have time to reinforce this base, even if any of the guards they'd knocked out managed to get off a signal.
"How bad is it?" Huntress asked, watching Batgirl go over the mountain of intel that they were copying and erasing from Coil's systems.
"So far? The identities of every hero in Brockton Bay, along with their home addresses and family members. Including us, by the way. An ungodly amount of blackmail on PRT agents, government employees and more. Prophet was right; I don't want to think about what Midas could have done with all this," Barbara admitted, making Rose frown.
Was Prophet really fighting against Midas? That was the big question: were the brothers truly enemies? She, of all people, knew that family didn't always get along.
"We've got company," Barbara said, gesturing to the security cameras as Rose's eyes widened at the sight of a very familiar man moving through the base silently, followed by a blonde girl.
Deathstroke and Terra.
Midas had sent them to get the data for himself.
"How long do you need?" Rose asked, all business.
"Four minutes to finish purging the data; they'll be here in one," Barbara replied, making Rose nod as she shared a look with Huntress, Black Canary and Cassandra.
Cass made some hand movements, giving her a concerned look as Rose laughed.
"Appreciate the offer, Cass, but I'm not worried about facing my old man," Rose explained, drawing her sword. "I'm looking forward to it."
Prophet had given them all a boost, but hers was less useful one-on-one. Her power gave her a combat precog against a single opponent, letting her see what they'd do a second in advance. It was useful, but she could still be blindsided if she faced multiple people. Prophet had given her his magic touch and gave her a general danger sense that worked even if she wasn't focusing on the attacker, helping her avoid getting blindsided while she was using her power on one person.
Moving out, the Birds headed to intercept her father, a smile on her lips as she prepared for a rematch.
– Marissa "Mars" Newland (Sundancer) –
She'd been kept in reserve to protect Noelle and Jessica's body, not wanting the attacks to accidentally unleash Noelle. She heard from the mercenaries radio as Krouse and Luke were attacked, unable to help as they lost contact with that base.
"Stop struggling. The boss doesn't want you dead, but don't think I'll hesitate if you make so much as a spark," Blackfire warned as Star Sapphire bound both Jessica and Marissa in violet chains.
"You don't understand, you can't go in there. Noelle is-" Marissa tried, the chains tightening around her.
"No, you don't understand. We don't plan to go into your pet monster's den," Star Sapphire scoffed as a short girl in a gas mask and black trenchcoat moved forward. "Is it ready?"
"It is. This place is ready to blow; we need to get out of here," the girl replied, a slight Asian accent clear in her voice. They were going to kill Noelle…
She struggled, but sick of the complaints, Blackfire just punched her in the face hard, her head snapping back as she desperately clung onto consciousness. She was almost certain that Blackfire had just broken her nose, her head swimming as she tried to stay awake. As she failed, she sent a silent apology to Noelle, knowing that she'd failed.
"Good work, Bakuda. If this works as promised, you'll have proven your worth," Midas' silky smooth voice said over a radio. She heard the young girl scoff and say something, but Marissa couldn't make it out as she passed out.
– Kayden Anders (Purity) –
Pacing around the League hotel, she checked her watch again. She should be out there, helping, but she also knew that Midas was right not to want to risk anything by letting her get involved.
Max sat patiently, seemingly unphased by the fact that his daughter was out there in the hands of Coil. But then, she'd come to realise how heartless and pathetic Kaiser really was. She couldn't believe she'd ever loved the fool when all she felt for him now was contempt.
The door opened, her head snapping to it as Midas walked in, her eyes locking on the toddler in his hands.
She rushed forward, and Midas offered her Aster immediately, a distasteful look on his face. He was not fond of children, and he wiped away some snot that had gotten on his suit as she cooed at Aster, who cried happily at the sight of her.
"Was she harmed?" Max asked, making Kayden look to Midas for the answer.
"No, fortunately. The other captives had been subjected to tinkertech drugs, but it seemed he was at least smart enough to realise that Aster would not survive being drugged at her age. Panacea claims she found no sign of abuse, and I trust her expertise in the subject," Midas replied easily, making her let out a sigh of relief as she hugged Aster tighter.
"And Coil?" Max asked as she fussed over her daughter. Midas snapped his fingers, and two of his minions entered the room, dragging an all-too-familiar figure behind them. Unmasked, Coil was still wearing the rest of his black and white bodysuit, bloodied and bruised, as he stared at them defiantly.
"His bombs have been disarmed; his organisation is being dismantled as we speak," Midas explained as Coil was tossed to the floor. He went to rise, but Midas simply placed his foot on Coil's back and forced him to the ground. "We all agreed that Coil had to die; the only question is which of us gets the honour of putting this snake down for good."
"He's mine," Kayden growled, handing Aster over to one of the minions. Max blinked at her just deciding to give Aster to a stranger instead of him but he didn't speak as she turned to the man. "Can you take her outside, please?"
The man, a large, bald white man, looked toward Midas, who simply nodded once.
"D-don't act like you didn't moan like a whore for me," Coil spat out, coughing up some blood as Kayden started to glow. He was clearly badly injured, barely clinging to his consciousness.
"I do hope you aren't planning to unleash a blast inside my hotel," Midas drawled, making her freeze as she turned to him. Midas reached into his jacket and pulled out a fancy-looking pistol, handing it over. "It's easier to clean gunshots, and you can't afford the repairs. This room is worth more than your house."
Despite her rage, she just snorted at his candid, calm words as she aimed the pistol at Coil's head.
Her rapist just stared back, but as he went to speak, she pulled the trigger and put a bullet clean through his skull. Then she kept pulling the trigger, emptying the clip into Coil's body until the pistol clicked, telling her it was out of ammo.
Handing the gun back, she gave Midas a grateful look as she spat on Coil, heading to the door to get her daughter back. She heard Midas order the other minions to incinerate the body before he started to talk with Kaiser, but her mind was elsewhere as she cuddled with Aster, happy the rooms here were soundproofed. Aster was safe and back in her arms; that was all that mattered. Midas had brought her daughter back to her.
Max left several minutes later, and the pair headed to the car and waited outside. Not once did Max check on his daughter as they got into the car and headed back towards Empire territory. The moment they were alone, he was back to business as he made several calls, spreading the news that the Empire and the Syndicate were officially at peace.
It was time to prepare to take out the ABB.
With every minute of him ignoring the daughter that had been held hostage by a sociopathic rapist, her anger at him grew. Whatever lingering guilt she'd had over betraying Max and agreeing to be Midas' agent in the Empire faded away.
Midas' suggestive words, the offer to show her what it really felt like to be submissive to an impressive man. Max would hate it, even if they were separated. He still saw her as his, and he'd be furious if Midas took her from him…
Good.
– Emily Piggot –
Despite the PRT being essentially told to fuck off and not get involved, they'd been all hands on deck, ready for anything to go wrong.
But, as arrogant and frustrating as Midas and Prophet could be, they ran a good operation. She wasn't too proud to acknowledge that. The PRT had even profited from this colossal shitshow.
Mayor Alcott knew his niece was only alive because of Midas, which was a bad look, but Dinah would be joining the Wards, and she was a powerful pre-cog thinker. Watchdog already wanted to get their hands on her. Eri was downright dangerous and very traumatised by both her captivity and her past.
Finally, Chariot. Trevor Medina, a dumb teenager who'd gotten in too deep when he'd figured he could handle Coil. He was on probation, obviously, but he was also a very talented transport Tinker. On the bright side, he seemed to have gotten the hint that dealing with villains was a mistake, choosing to join the Wards instead of going with Midas.
Then there was the new problem. Sure, the Independent Alliance was their ally on paper, but she still didn't trust Prophet, and having him follow in his brother's footsteps really didn't help with that.
New Wave, the Birds of Prey, Starfire, Wonderwoman and Wonder Girl. It was a good start, and the Alliance had just proven their skill and worth by rescuing a high-profile hostage from a villain and taking part in saving Brockton Bay from Coil.
The PRT wanted to keep it quiet, but Midas had already announced their victory on PHO, with a lot of evidence. None of the evidence unmasked Coil, but there was enough there for the armchair Thinkers to realise that Coil had to have some connection to the PRT. It was another black mark on their faces, while Midas and Prophet looked like the heroes of the day, disarming Coil's bombs and putting a stop to his plans.
The League showed their power to take down rivals, and the Independent Alliance got some amazing PR for their debut. This would make recruiting people harder for the PRT, since Prophet obviously intended for the Alliance to spread its wings much like the League had. They'd already snatched Starfire out from under them after Gallant had worked hard to try and convince Starfire to join them.
And then there was the dossier. Coil's blackmail documents, secured by the Independent Alliance. She'd wanted to shoot Calvert when she found out just how large it was, and it had nearly ended up in the hands of Midas.
Names, faces, home addresses- it had everyone's identities, and if it got out, the PRT would lose the faith of their own capes for failing to protect them. Not to mention the names of hundreds of moles, along with the blackmail Coil used to keep them in line. The PRT was currently working to arrest all the traitors in its own organisation.
If Prophet hadn't recruited the Birds of Prey, Midas would have gotten it, as they'd had to fight Deathstroke and Terra to secure it. They'd been driven off by the empowered villains when reinforcements arrived, but not before Oracle, or Batgirl again now, had managed to purge Coil's records and escape with the only copy. No matter how gentlemanly Midas acted, if he had gotten his hands on this dossier? Well, the PRT would have had to lie back and think of Earth Bet as Midas fucked them as much as he wanted.
This meant the PRT owed the new Alliance a lot, and Prophet knew it. Batgirl claimed that Prophet had never seen the information himself, but that was a tiny silver lining on one big fucking storm cloud. Prophet, who they already were desperate to get power upgrades from, now had them in his debt. That wasn't even mentioning the fact that Panacea was now in his Alliance, and they'd have to negotiate with him to keep using her services.
Only the other Directors knew just how devastating Coil's blackmail documents had been, but they also had mentioned something else. This was the first time that Midas had lost. Sure, he'd taken out Coil, but his true goal, the documents he wanted for himself to cripple the PRT, had been snatched away.
Prophet and the Independent Alliance had beaten King Midas and his League of Villains. For the first time, Midas didn't get what he wanted. That alone gave the Alliance a lot of legitimacy and helped dispel the fears that Prophet was working with his brother. Prophet didn't have a copy of the blackmail material; he never even saw the drive that Batgirl had saved it to, so he hadn't squirrelled away a copy for his brother. No, Prophet had genuinely denied Midas something that would have assured his victory.
Batgirl had her own suspicions about Prophet; she wouldn't share anything she remembered and hadn't kept a copy for herself. Was Prophet really only focused on stopping his brother?
Of course, even when Midas 'lost', it still had him winning. This victory against Coil had gained him a lot, including a worrying alliance with the Empire. He'd gained Coil's wealth, territory, and who knew what else, but his true prize had been snatched from his fingers. She could only imagine how angry Midas must be after this.
Despite the utter mess that this entire thing had been, she'd take comfort in that, at the very least.
– Jin Yukimura (King Midas) –
"Go on, you can handle it," Harley cheers, her hands on her new teammate's shoulders as she pushes the younger girl down onto my cock. A dusky-grey pussy splits open as my cock sinks into Jinx's teenage cunt, the pink-haired girl wrapping her arms around my shoulders to brace herself as she loses her virginity with an audience.
Given how perfectly everything has gone, I decided I deserve a reward, and replacing Circus will keep the Jokerz useful to me. My hands grip her skinny waist as I guide her further down until she has taken my entire cock, her eyes widening and her mouth hanging open.
Harley takes that as an invitation, kissing the younger girl as Punchline leans against me, kissing my neck. She hides her nervousness well, even as she realises the danger she's in.
I've gotten to work capturing all the capes who were spying for Coil, and she's had a front-row seat to me disciplining them along with Circus. She knows it's only a matter of time until I find out about her; she heard me discussing a mole hunt with the other higher-ranking members of the League. The noose is tightening around her neck, and she knows it.
She doesn't show it as she slips onto her knees, fondling and suckling on my balls as Jinx starts to ride me. Bouncing in my lap, Jinx gasps into Harley's mouth as I play with her small grey breasts, making sure to keep the teen on the edge of her climax.
Lifting her lithe body, I carry her over to the bed and toss her onto it, never letting my cock slip free of her tight, grey pussy before I mount her, one leg hooked around my waist as I start to pound the newest member of the clown crew into my bed. Harley cheers, clapping at the sight as Punchline lays next to her new teammate, naked and ready for her turn.
Circus probably wishes she was in my bed, despite her distaste for it, but she has a new bed in my cells, currently sleeping after her operation. [The Science of Slavery] gives me plenty of ways to keep people in line, and Circus is the lucky first person to get my prototype slave chip implanted into her spine.
I don't care that she was spying on me for me; she betrayed me and tried to outsmart me. Her punishment has only just begun.
But that's for later; it wouldn't be fair to Jinx to be distracted during her induction, would it?
– Katsumi Bakugou (Bakuda) –
Returning to her cell, she put her trenchcoat away as she looked around the lab that served as her prison. It blew anything the ABB had ever offered her out of the waters, but then Midas took having the best in everything very seriously.
'You are the solution to the world's biggest problem, Katsumi, and what did Lung have you doing? Giving Oni Lee new and exciting ways to blow himself up. I want to see what you can do when you are given the resources you need to reach your potential.'
Lung had never really respected her; she'd just been a way to make Oni Lee more dangerous. A tool for his tool. Midas saw her as so much more than that- saw what she could become.
The Endbringers, her targets. It was a long-term project, but she would succeed where everyone else had failed. She was even working on special explosive bullets that would end the threat of the Slaughterhouse Nine. She wouldn't be the one to deliver the blow, but she would get the credit. The world would know that she was the best Tinker, better than Dragon or Hero.
Midas saw her potential; she could almost forgive him for kidnapping her as she got to work with a crazed smile on her lips. He couldn't leave someone as powerful as her in the hands of his enemies; of course, he couldn't. The upgrades he'd given her nearly made up for the rough recruitment, and when she killed an Endbringer, her name would go down in history.
Putting in a request for a very rare chemical, she laughed as Midas sent back a confirmation less than an hour later, telling her it would be delivered to her lab within the next two days. Yeah, Midas was a far better employer than Lung, which was why she felt no guilt over the bomb sitting in her lab, custom-made to kill the dragon.
The world would know her name, even if it meant she had to work with Midas to make it happen.
— Bonus Scene — Noelle Meinhardt
Looking down at her legs, she stared at them in utter disbelief.
"H-how?" Noelle asked, looking back up at Midas, who was sitting behind his desk.
"I have many talents, Miss Meinhardt. Acquiring you a new body was child's play. Your original body has been destroyed, as your uncontrolled power was a threat to my city. I will not apologise for removing your powers, though I suspect you do not mind," Midas said with a slight smirk.
"W-what happens to us now?" Marissa asked, looking nervous as Jessica did the same.
"Ballistic has been sent to a high-security prison, as has Perdition. Despite your unfortunate circumstances, the Travellers are responsible for a considerable amount of deaths," Midas explained, making them all wince, guilt overcoming her. "Trickster, as your leader, has taken much of the fall. He is Birdcage-bound."
Noelle felt her heartache. What crimes he'd committed, he did for her sake… but she knew there was no getting out of the Birdcage. Their crimes had finally caught up to them.
"Sundancer and Genesis will be joining the Syndicate as payment for me not handing you over to the PRT. And frankly, Miss Meinhardt, you owe me a lot. That body did not come cheap, and you work for me until you have paid it off," Midas said, his tone blunt and merciless. "You each owe a debt to me, and I intend to collect."
They shared a look, even as Noelle wondered what he could want her for. Without her power, she was just a regular girl. But… Midas had given her some semblance of normality back. She was no longer a malformed abomination; she had legs and wouldn't be a death sentence to anyone who got close to her anymore.
It was a bittersweet moment, given that Krouse would never see her like this, but she couldn't help but feel an intense amount of gratitude toward the pragmatic villain sitting in front of her.
Marissa nodded to Jessica, who touched her healed legs with a mixed expression on her face before they turned back. There was some negotiation over their new employment, but none of them were good at negotiations; Krouse used to handle it, and Midas had them dancing in his palms.
Despite it all, she couldn't bring herself to mind.
– Jin Yukimura –
After leaving my new recruits to settle in, I make my way to the teleporter connecting my bases. Chariot was a good acquisition, making movement between my bases far smoother as I teleport to my new main base.
On an allegedly abandoned island in the Caribbean, my minions work hard to expand our new lair. It even has a volcano that we use to power the place, like a true supervillain. Reaching the deepest part, I smile to myself.
Noelle's original body lays there, unmoving and mindless. The tech I used for this isn't quite the same as the one that I used to allow me to control multiple bodies. Noelle's mind is here, but she has been locked out of her own body. As far as she knows, that new body (made by Amy and implanted by me) is her only body.
But her power was far too useful for me to just give it up. Chuckling to myself, I close the cell with a smile.