While the American Factions had been busy, so too had the New World Order. Scientist worked within the bowels of the Order preparing for Rothschild's visit. Empty rooms that had once held test subjects had been mopped and bleached clean. An older doctor walked through the doors of a sealed room. Inside, imprisoned surviving Americans stood cuffed to the wall. They were weakened and they all knew what it meant when that doctor came to pay them a visit.
"REJOICE! All of you rejoice! Upon this day, you shall assist me in creating the new demon lord of this world."
Before they could speak, the door opened a second time to reveal a much younger looking Rothschild.
"Doctor."
"Ah, my master. It would seem the first successful use of cellular regeneration has done wonders for you, my lord."
"Indeed it has. Thanks to you, metahumans are now a possibility and death has lost all meaning upon humanity, my chosen humanity."
The imprisoned Americans looked on at the two as they made their way to the back of the room.
"H-hey! Stay away from them!" called out a man. Rothschild stopped within his tracks and slowly turned to the man.
"My, my... Would you look at that Doctor. One of your subjects had decided to find the courage to stand up to the demon lord before him." Rothschild grinned as he choked the man up against the wall.
"You... you're a monster." a weak voiced said to him. As Rothschild turned his head, it was the mother of the Ghost.
"On the contrary my dear. I may have killed the boy the pest-son yours fell for, but it was you who told me everything I needed to know. You think he'll forgive you now? In what world, you naive fool. I didn't force you to tell me, no, you did that of your own accord." Rothschild grinned a he dropped the man to the ground and faced her fully. "Here the kicker for you, he still tried to save the holographic beings I made of you and that daughter of yours."
His grinned sent chills down the spines of everyone in the room. He laughed something sinister as he grabbed her by the head.
"You must be the dumbest woman I may have ever encountered. You may not have told me where he would base himself, but you gave me all of the tools to break and crush a hero. In my world, the perfect world I am creating," Rothschild leaned down to look her in the eyes. "People like your son deserve to be broken, deserve to be defiled, discarded, ripped into pieces and tossed away. Should you ever see him again, do us both a favor.... kill him for me, as it will be a far more merciful fate than the one I have planned for him."
As he entered the pod, the doctor several soldiers drag people onto tables. There, needles began to bleed them dry. Their very dna was stripped down to its base, and combined with traits of animals, plants, wild beasts, things that could all prove useful to the new master of the world.
"Doctor, tell what this one will do."
"My master, this is going to be the base ability that going to make you the demon lord of this world... I have stolen the mosquito's ability to drain blood, the camel's ability to store water and thanks to all the test subjects, we've identified something we believe to be the human soul. Combining these will give you an ability, to drain the soul's lifeblood from a target. rendering them... dead within minutes."
As the machine crackled to life, the different pure concentrated liquids began to pump into Rothschild's body, bonding to his very DNA. He laughed, he could feel the very essence of power flooding his body, bonding to the dna he'd been blessed with, all as the test subjects withered away to dust upon the tables.
As the Americans looked at the pod in horror, the man spat at the Ghost's mother. "You are worse than him for what you have done."
"I did the best I could. I am his mother, what else was I supposed to do?"
The man's cold gaze locked on her. "Die for him, like a mother should in this scenario. You're only interested in saving one of your children and it's painfully obvious. At least the one you willing discard is fighting for the rest of us. The other, will probably sell him out, reduce the chances of us seeing our families again to zero."
"She's strong than him, better than...." They were interrupted by Rothschild grabbing the man's neck and trying out the new ability. A purple energy seemed to drain from the man, his body trying to break the demon lord's grip to no avail.
Rothschild grinned as he crushed the man's neck like a toothpick. "Flow state, adrenaline, none of it will save you. None of you will return home nor be given a shot at redemption. This is and has always been your fates. Oh, but this man did have it right. Your daughter, is already broken, a pawn of mine, in trying to understand what it is that drives that pathetic son of yours to such lengths, going as far as to even rip my arm clean off. I knew he'd put up a dogid fight, but that level of hatred, wasn't always directed at me.... was it?"
As Rothschild walked out, the massive doors sealed, keeping everyone inside trapped yet again. As he made his way up the stairs, the Ghost's sister was chain up in the next room. "Dear girl, tell me what it is I want to know, and I shall return you to your mother.
"I already told you... I don't know! He told us nothing! Not me, not my mom or dad!"
"Then WHO DID HE TALK TO! EVERYONE HAS SOMEONE." Growled Rothschild as the guards tightened the chains.
"Our grandma.... She was the only one who could get him to open up."
"So where is this... Grandma you speak of?"
"Dead. Her death pushed him damn near over the edge."
Rothschild paced for a moment then left the room. "Where there's a Grandma... there must to be a Grandpa. Have our archivist locate the Grandpa of this Ghost, and stress the.... importance.... of this operation. He knows things, the old man knows everything the Ghost told his precious Grandma. If I am to win, I must shatter the very fabric of his reality, starting with an old man."