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Chapter 98: For God's sake!! I
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"Wahhhhhhahha!" The sound of weeping reverberated through the coffee. There were only a few people within it at this time though none of them were paying any heed to the cries of need.
The one crying seemed to notice that as she quickly changed her tactics, "Boss! please don't leave me here alone, pleassse!?"
Ian rubbed his temples, somewhat speechless, "Layla, why isn't she learning anything? I mean, she's very useful, but sometimes she can be a little too wild."
"Ahem, I might've underestimated her a bit, but I also underestimated her usefulness, so..." Layla looked a bit embarrassed. She was however still confident in Harley becoming someone worthy of following Ian.
"Wha?? I'm already plenty useful, and I'm obedient!!" Her words hold some truth. It was truly surprising how much chaos a girl with a bat could bring, and her success rate in missions is nearly one hundred percent.
"If you make any noticeable progress when I come back, then I'll take you with me on my next adventure, alright."
Harley let out a pout of dissatisfaction but still obediently nodded nonetheless.
Ian turned his attention to a man seated on a chair, Multiplex, "Danton, you said that you want to do it yourself. I've taught you the art of distractions, so you should be fine, but just to be sure."
He brought out a vial from his pocket and handed it to him, "Just one drop is enough to do the job. I wouldn't want to lose a guinea... A genuine friend, now would I?"
Ian was stone-faced even as Danton's face twitched several times, but the latter still took the vial as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
All the torture his clones went through for the past month since his arrival in Gotham was forgotten. Anyway, only his clones suffered through the experiments... It was discrimination. Ian on the other hand didn't discriminate, he saw them all as guin... Friends!!
"Now! Ralf, Barney, and Mike! I've told you all this before, but let me emphasize it. Make the enemy underestimate you. Don't show them your new powers lest they become more cautious.
I will only be away for about three months, so I expect perfection when I come back... I didn't give you those gifts for nothing after all, understand!?"
"Yess!" They all responded immediately like soldiers though their expressions were a bit different. Barney was very clearly happy, his eyes shining with a bright light.
Mike on the other hand looked depressed while murmuring quietly, "It's not fair, not fair at all. Why do I end up having something like this while he... Aghh, I hate it."
He was discreet but Ian still heard him as he eyed him with a bit of amusement, "Honestly, I'm starting to think that you're cursed with bad luck. Like, I tried many times, but you always end up with shitty superpowers... Or curses."
Barney laughed loudly at that as he smacked Mike's back, "Don't worry about it. At least the one you have now is useful."
"Aghh! wh!!" For some reason, Mike groaned in pain, instantly eyeing Barney's hand, noticing its strangeness. It appeared to be entirely made of diamond-like material, extremely hard and painful.
"You son of a bitch!! you're making fun of me now huh!!!" As he spoke, his rage got the better of him as he shone with a blinding red radiance.
Everyone instantly perked up in curiosity, watching without blinking. The only ones who know of his superpower are the three of Ralf, Barney, and Ian of course.
Then there was silence for quite a while before his screams resumed, "Useful you say!? How is this useful in any way?? A fucking dragon he..."
His speech halted as he lost his balance, falling on his butt with a thud, "So fucking heavy!!!"
Indeed, he transformed into a dragon nonetheless!! Unfortunately, only his head can transform into a huge red dragon head, and he can barely walk with it let alone use it for anything.
"But you can use fire, right?" Selina asked curiously, hiding her amusement.
"I..." Mike slumped back to the ground, losing his spirit in desperation, "I wish..."
"It's actually super co! Pfftahahahahhahahaah! Sorry sorry, I couldn't hold it in hahaha, but it's really cool!!"
Someone who couldn't hide their amusement was Harley as she quickly approached him, her bat in her hand, her intentions with her complement becoming obvious by the second, "Can I hit it? Will you head break? I hear dragons are strong? You won't die, right? Please let me try?"
"What? Hi, he's my friend you can't hit him! He might just break down, but you can hit me... Hahahahaha," The sliver of hope Mike felt when Barney started talking began to crumble the more he listened, "I wanna die."
Just as Harley was about to take him up to his offer, a string of hair enveloped her bat, taking it away out of nowhere.
Its source was none other than Ralf. He was looking quite different, his baldness seemed to have disappeared as he had very long hair and an even longer beard, style in Viking fashion reaching his belly.
His hair was dancing wildly around him as he calmly advised though the experienced in the ground could faintly notice a spark of glee in his eyes, "Calm down all of you. We're here to send the boss out, not to show off our powers."
"..." He didn't say, but his facial expressions were telling it all, Mike was having suicidal thoughts.
'It's such a breath of fresh air...' Ian was kind of proud of the community or family he built, it just never failed to amuse him, and he could see that it will only get more entertaining from now on.
He got everyone's attention with a clap of hands, "Alright Mike, don't be so down now. I should have more control in the process when I come back, and who knows, perhaps I will make you a full-fledged dragon."
Indeed, all of their powers were granted to them by Ian who made use of a glitch in the matrix. Once he eliminated the dangers of the Red Kryptonite, it all became too easy.
All he had to do was to infect people with it, and see what kind of power they acquire though the majority of times, they end up with a negative effect. If the effect is not to his liking, he uses the tweaked green Kryptonite energy to reverse the process.
It's basically a process of trial and error until he scores the lottery, and his staff of all things made things incredibly easy.
In fact, he doesn't believe it'd have been possible if not for it. His control of the two energies was miraculous, to say the least.
"Ralf, Layla, I will leave everything to you. I left you the tools you may need in case of an emergency, so don't hesitate to use them.
Also, all of you, don't forget to continue with your training with Richard... Things should only get more dangerous from now on, understand?"
Everyone nodded with a serious expression. The time for laughs was over, it's something they can do plenty of when Ian is present, but when he's away... Things change.
"Hmm, what? Oh, right!" Ian felt Ivy pinching him slightly, trying to get his attention, seeming to be quite cozy while hugging him from behind, a common occurrence to the group by now.
"Ralf, I told you about the button, right?" To which, the old man nodded, leading Ian to continue, "If in desperation, tap it. Don't ask what it does."
Selina was also in Ian's embrace, leaning back at him from the front, with his arms around her. She added to the conversation, "And remember what you should do when the guests arrive. It's very important."
The meeting went on for a while more before parting ways. The only people going with Ian were Selina, Ivy, and Raven.
A private jet was already waiting for them, its destination was a very distant location.
"Does such a place really exist?" Raven wondered with a pout, "If you told me earlier, then I could've gone there and made so much progress."
"Hmm, taking my advice about knowledge seriously now, are you? To answer your question, yes it does exist, I sent people near there to verify its existence long ago, and you can not just go there and enter. I had to prepare a few things."
"Nanda Parbat was it? How about we take over it, it does sound like an amazing place. I can build like a colossal tree there, and surround it with all of the exquisite plants we've made."
Ivy was already fantasizing about converting the place green, her obsession was truly something else.
"We'll also have plenty of time to make more plants, invent fascinating kinds of flora, and spread it all around the world!!" She was giggling just like a little girl, her happiness written all over her face.
Ian has come to discover something about Ivy. She wasn't as annoying as he expected her to be, in fact, she was very obedient and cheerful, especially when talking about plant life.
She was way easier to tame than he expected. Then again, he tamed Gotham in less than a year, so is there really anything else he can not tame?
'I still need to fix her though... The effect the Green has on her is way too strong to the point I can not judge whether she's loyal to me, or if she's just influenced by it. I guess I can only find out when it's time... But the Green huh? How should I do it? Fire perhaps... Wait...'
An odd brilliance emerged within Ian's eyes, his expression becoming strange. A project of his will surely be completed very soon, 'And I need someone to 'voluntarily' take the blame for me...' Sigh, what is he thinking now?!