Shiro's Sanctum

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 Priapus, Marethyu, Mike God of Lore, Beans, Old man of the mountain

The Guild of Gamers: The High Roller

Chapter 06: Chaos

– Amy Dallon (Panacea) –

She'd gotten used to being borderline untouchable. Despite her dislike for being Panacea, she'd healed too many people and attended too many Endbringer fights for any Cape to target her.

Well, except the crazy or stupid ones, like Skidmark, who hadn't been smart enough to consider the consequences of trying to kidnap her. 

That complacency meant that even with all the chaos that Sebastian had been causing, she'd never considered herself in danger. She was mostly just idly annoyed at how much healing she was going to have to do because of this lunatic.

But she'd forgotten something… it wasn't just the crazy and the stupid that were willing to target her. It was the truly desperate as well.

Kaiser stared at her from behind his mask, his confident stance not hiding his nerves. Sebastian had put a bounty on Hookwolf, but with the Night Parade and the new and improved Merchants pushing into the Empire's territory, other gangs were starting to smell blood. The Empire was a doomed organisation, and when you cornered a rat, it would lash out. For all his grandstanding, that was what Kaiser had become… a cornered, terrified rat.

"Do not make this difficult, Miss Dallon. You will heal Victor, Crusader, Alabaster and Rune; the only thing your obstinacy is changing is how painful this has to be for you," Kaiser said, trying to sound confident. "There is no need for you to suffer; simply do as I have requested, and you will be let go."

Very gracious for a man who'd had her grabbed from school. She was mildly worried about how he'd known when to strike so she wouldn't be with Vicky, but she just stared back at him.

"You're a doomed man, leading a dying gang. Even if my family and the PRT don't tear you apart for this, what makes you think you'll survive the week?" Amy spat back. "I don't heal villains, especially Empire scum." 

She'd outright refused to heal them at Endbringer attacks before for their actions against Fleur. What made them think she'd change that just because she got kidnapped? It reeked of utter desperation.

Stormtiger punched her in the stomach, making her let out a gasp as Kaiser sighed.

"I understand why you feel so strongly about this, and perhaps you think the Unwritten Rules will protect you? They will not. You are right; unless something changes, then the Empire is doomed. Sebastian has the world begging for his aid, to the point where the PRT is currently discussing Birdcaging the entire Empire roster just to get his approval. I've found that being so condemned has removed any hesitation I had," Kaiser explains, making her eyes widen. 

She'd heard of Hookwolf being made such a big target, but was the PRT truly so desperate for Sebastian's boons?

"Fuck you," Amy responded, staring back at him with a glare in her eyes. She wasn't doing it; she wasn't going to be blackmailed into healing a fucking villain. She might not get along with her mother, but she'd inherited Carol's sheer stubbornness despite the fear she felt.

Her family would be looking for her, the PRT as well. 

"Your bravery is respectable, Miss Dallon, but it will not serve you well," Kaiser replied. "Your sister is not as invincible as she likes to pretend. Fog is quite capable of bypassing her invulnerability and tearing her apart from the inside, a fact we've known for years, yet I was unwilling to cripple or kill the reckless girl. Was."

Amy went still, her glare intensifying. She knew Vicky wasn't immortal, and Kaiser wasn't wrong; if Fog went into his fog form and attacked Vicky… it could work; Vicky's forcefield wouldn't stop Fog from just going inside her and destroying her insides.

"You wouldn't dare, no matter how much you try to bluff, that you'd break the Unwritten Rules," Amy scoffed, glaring at the asshole. Stormtiger slapped her, backhanding her across the face.

It would be a final death sentence for the Empire, and she doubted the PRT would actually try and Birdcage an entire gang to get Sebastian's approval. At most, some hardass director suggested it and got ignored. 

– Max Anders (Kaiser) –

He actually respected Panacea for her bravery, but right now, the stubborn child was just pissing him off. He'd hired mercenaries through the Gesellschaft to grab her, muddying the waters, but it wouldn't hide their involvement forever.

Half his gang was crippled, and Hookwolf had to be hidden out of town to prevent the droves of capes looking for him. He had even heard that Eidolon was coming to find Hookwolf. His thugs were abandoning the Empire in droves, and with the target that Sebastian had painted on his gang, even retreating from the city was no longer an option.

People realised that Sebastian didn't like the Empire, and now they were hoping that anyone that took down an Empire cape could at least get them a discount on Sebastian's services. The rest of them didn't even have a bounty on them, but it didn't matter to the desperate fools who were hunting them in the hope that Sebastian would pay them for it.

He had stopped any of his capes from deserting, but the situation was getting increasingly dire. He'd had to send Krieg to acquire Aster and prevent Kayden from fleeing the city. Sebastian had started a war, and he wasn't going down so easily.

He had one real path to victory. He needed to capture Sebastian and force him to call off his attackers, using his boons to get the Empire back where it belonged. It was the only way the Empire survived, let alone won. Once they had Sebastian, they could use him to ward off the other gangs. It was this plan that had gotten the Gesselschaft to help them instead of just throwing them under the bus. They would be given Sebastian to train once he was captured. Panacea was also going to be handed to them to undergo the same training that Night and Fog underwent.

"Bluff? You are very much mistaken. Sebastian has flipped the board and changed the game entirely. This escalation means I no longer have the option of playing by the rules," Kaiser explained darkly. Years of work, torn down in a matter of days. "I will have Fog mortally wound Glory Girl, and if you are well-behaved enough, I may even let you go in time to save her life. Is your pride truly worth her life? Is it worth the pain and degradation you are facing yourself?"

Panacea went quiet for a moment, glowering at him hatefully. Even still, he could see that she either didn't believe him or that she was just so damn stubborn that she was still refusing.

"So be it."

– Lisa Wilbourn (Tattletale) –

Watching Kaiser fail to threaten a girl who took stubbornness and decided it was her entire personality, Lisa narrowed her eyes. She'd been keeping an eye on the Empire because they knew it was only a matter of time before Kaiser did something stupid.

Well, this certainly qualified. 

Kaiser's desperation was obvious, but then, he had the entire Cape scene and some unpowered civvies with guns wondering if they could take a shot at him, hoping to get Sebastian to give them just a taste of what he had to offer.

She'd chosen well; Sebastian had pulled off the exact thing that she needed him to. He'd made himself indispensable because, in a world of Endbringers and chaos, someone offering a very literal life insurance would always be invaluable. So many people were already placing orders through the new site, and all these people needed Sebastian to survive for their boons to stick around.

Leaving her tower, she made her way towards her boss with a grin. The Empire was doomed, its actions merely the death throes of a mortally wounded gang, and when they were gone… Brockton Bay would be exactly what Sebastian wanted. The seat of his Empire.

She was forced to admit that taking Othala had been a smart move. It had pushed them further into desperation as Sebastian had arranged for more and more Empire capes to be crippled. If he'd just killed them, Kaiser might have fled, but leaving so many of his capes maimed but alive tied the Empire down as they refused to leave one of the only people capable of healing them. Panacea's hatred of the Empire meant that she'd never heal them no matter what they offered her, so they had to resort to force. The Gesellschaft's Thinkers were easily able to discover that, even if they were utterly inferior to her.

Speaking of Othala…

Sebastian sat in his 'throne', which was a comfy armchair in the living room, with two blonde heads obediently between his legs. Othala and Ophelia, the cape and the maid, worked in unison to pleasure her boss.

"Is there something you need, Lisa?" Sebastian asked, utterly calm, as he was pleasured by the same girl twice over. 

"It's time. The Empire have become utterly desperate, and Kaiser has had Gesellschaft mercenaries capture Panacea," Lisa explained, watching as Ophelia stopped moving. Othala did not, mindless and unable to disobey the orders she had to please her King.

Ophelia knew she was listening to the end of her gang. 

"Ah, I did wonder if he'd be desperate enough. I was considering cutting off one of his arms first, to see if that pushed him to actually target the lovely Panacea," Sebastian replied with a smile. "Is everyone in position?"

"They are. Oni Lee is getting ready to raid the safehouse they're keeping Aster in. Without Aster, Purity won't fight for the Empire, but she might be a hard sell for recruitment," Lisa warned, making him wave her off.

[Tracker] meant that finding Aster and Panacea was child's play for her. She'd made a reputation online as a Rogue who could find anyone, regardless of how long they'd been missing. It was one of the skills that Sebastian didn't offer on his site, hoarding it for themselves as they turned the world's missing people into a source of income. Pinpoint, her second cape name, would 'join' Sebastian's Empire in the future, selling her services through his site.

A part of her wondered if Sebastian waged war on the neo-nazis purely because he didn't want to share the name.

"Leave that to me, my dear. Othala, you are to assist Oni Lee in retrieving Aster," Sebastian ordered, watching the clone of Ophelia pull her mouth off his cock. "Make sure you are seen."

"Yes, sir," Othala agreed, standing up. This is another nail in the coffin for the Empire, their healer helping the 'enemy'. 

"Ophelia, did I say you could stop?" Sebastian asked, making her jump as she leaned back in to take his manhood into her mouth again, but he stopped her. "Rise, bend over the table."

"B-but-" Ophelia tried, her attempts to protect her womanhood from Sebastian ending in failure as she trailed off, rising to her feet. Arching her back, Lisa watched her boss move behind the Empire's best support, flipping her skirt up and lining himself up before he thrust forward and claimed Ophelia's pussy for himself.

"Will Panacea heal them?" Sebastian asked her, making her pause as she watched him pound the neo-nazi sex slave over the table, Ophelia squeaking as she was split open by Sebastian's impressively large manhood.

"Not soon, but they're getting increasingly desperate. Panacea won't resist forever. They've already identified Glory Girl as her weak point," Lisa explained, making him nod. 

"Then we shall not leave her in the hands of that poser any longer than necessary. It's time Kaiser went the way of the Dodo," Sebastian agreed, speeding up as Ophelia desperately clung to the wooden desk and pushed down against it as her thighs struck the edge with each thrust. "Are you enjoying being my Spymaster?"

Sebastian's question caught her by surprise, but after a moment, she snorted.

"I have access to so many more powers, an endless wave of information and basically unlimited wealth. Of course I am," Lisa admitted with a vulpine grin. Being kidnapped was one of the better things that had happened to her, even if she wouldn't admit that out loud. "Plus, I can use Coil as a punching bag whenever I want."

Trapping Coil in an endless loop of gruesome deaths was highly therapeutic.

Sebastian just gave her a secret smile, making her wonder what was going on inside that head of his.

"Once Purity is neutralised, tell Rachel that she is free to start her operation against the Dog Fights. Our friends at Toybox are building the sanctuary for her; it'll be ready soon. Big Rig is highly effective at his work," Sebastian explained, his hand gripping Ophelia's hair as he forced her face down into the hard wooden desk.

Big Rig made drones, which then, in turn, could build things far faster than any construction crew. He'd been more than happy to trade his services in building some new buildings in the Savannah in exchange for his boons. Sebastian had easily gotten Toybox on his side because they knew he'd develop more Tinker powers in time, and they wanted in. It also helped that they benefited from their association with him, selling their tech through his site and getting the same protection that Sebastian was enjoying.

Rachel would be moving into the base, to take care of the horde of dogs she was about to rescue. Sebastian wanted a Houndmaster, someone to train him a pack of loyal, empowered hounds to serve in his Empire. Rachel might not want to endanger dogs, but since the various boons Sebastian offered also worked on them, it made things much easier for her to swallow.

"Will do; she's been eagerly waiting for this. Squealer has the truck ready to extract them, and the Merchants will provide support," Lisa said, amused at how quickly the Merchants had become a genuine threat under Sebastian's leadership, even if Skidmark deluded himself into thinking he was still in charge. 

Sebastian hummed, speeding up as she watched his large phallus sink into Ophelia's teenage cunt over and over again, filling the other blonde to the brim. Ophelia tried to mumble something about not finishing inside, but Sebastian ignored her as he pounded into her relentlessly, the sound of their thighs clapping together filling the room.

The former Empire cape's face was flushed and contorted with pleasure, and her blonde hair fell in disarray around her. She looked a complete mess, from where Lisa watched idly. Victor barely cared for Ophelia, being utterly hung up on his first love, but Ophelia would go through hell to try and protect him all the same.

"O-oh fuck, p-puhlease, not inside," Ophelia tried, her words intermingled with moans and whimpers as her body reacted to the thorough fucking she was experiencing. Sebastian ignored her pleas, sheathing himself fully inside his maid with a victorious grunt, his body bucking as he unleashed his seed into Ophelia's fertile teen womb.

He slowly pulled back, his cock slipping out of the exhausted girl with a small pop, and Lisa looked at her fellow kidnapee. Ophelia lay on the table, legs spread wide and a small stream of cum leaking from her abused, married cunt as it slowly closed up again. Ophelia was proof that trying to fight Sebastian was a failed endeavour; if she had just submitted quickly, then Othala would have been an important part of their coming Empire.

Instead, she was a set of holes for Sebastian to plunder for his entertainment. It was all too easy to picture herself in the other girl's place, confirming that she'd made the right choice in agreeing to become Sebastian's Spymaster.

"Enjoy the show, my dear?" Sebastian asked, getting a secretive smile in response. 

"Just confirming something," Lisa replied, looking down at his cock, glistening with cum and Ophelia's arousal. Ophelia hadn't been able to stop herself from cumming, despite her shame. "Would you like some help cleaning that up?"

Sebastian raised an eyebrow in surprise, nodding as she moved to her knees. Sebastian's biggest weakness was his love of women; almost everyone he targeted for recruitment was female, and she intended to keep her place by his side. 

Pulling out a tissue, she calmly wiped his cock clean of the aftermath, cleaning it of the cum and juices that were coating it. 

"You came prepared," Sebastian chuckled, watching as she made sure to properly clean him off before she gave his cock a few experimental tugs, her fingers wrapped around the thick phallus.

"You're predictable," Lisa teased, rising again. 

"For you, perhaps," Sebastian agreed, making her snort. Predictable, her perfect little ass, she could barely guess what he was planning to do at any given moment. "You're playing a dangerous game, Lisa; I am not one to back down when teased."

She just gave him a cocky smirk, turning and walking away with some sway to her step. Sebastian was going to rise to the top, and she was going to be with him all the way. She was mostly asexual, but she knew she was attractive, and her power didn't give her the influx of unwanted information when it came to Sebastian or any of the capes he'd given [Blank] to. She couldn't predict or read Sebastian, but that didn't mean she couldn't understand some things about him.

Becoming his lover was just the next logical step in ensuring that he didn't randomly decide to replace her with someone else. 

– Sebastian Fairfax –

Lisa's flirtation actually came as a surprise. For her hard work, I was willing to leave her out of my harem due to her lack of interest in such things, but her ambition is impressive. Of course, now she is going to be bred repeatedly, but such is the game she decided to play.

Getting ready for the next step, I hum to myself as I lug the coffin down to the sarcophagus room. 

Kaiser has almost impressed me, because even I'm not crazy enough to go after Panacea. Her power is rather intimidating even for me, and I didn't want to give her the chance to turn me into something unnatural.

So why not make someone else do it? I truly thought I'd have to cripple more of his men, and possibly Kaiser himself; before he went through with it.

Panacea is a rather dangerous young woman, with one blatant weakness. All I need to do is ensure that Glory Girl doesn't survive the attack the Empire had planned on her. 

How convenient for little Panacea that someone capable of restoring the dead has recently moved into Brockton Bay?

Fog is a deadly combatant, and anyone who breathes him in will find their internal organs devastated in ways that only the likes of Panacea could fix.

Of course, Kaiser isn't stupid, just desperate. He needs Glory Girl alive or else Panacea has no reason to obey his demands.

Unfortunately for Kaiser, he's predictable. Fog is the best choice to fight Glory Girl, except maybe Hookwolf who could overwhelm her, but then he needs to hide Hookwolf away from the world, doesn't he?

Coincidentally, Night and Fog recently got into a skirmish with the Merchants who are still pushing into Empire territory. They were pushed back, but not before Fog wreaked havoc on the Merchant thugs.

Or so he thinks.

I saved every single one, taking their injuries into me. With [Tracker] I can easily keep track of Glory Girl and Fog, and when he attacks her? He'll find his power unusually effective on her.

Normally I'd have to worry about the one day limit of redistribution, but I found a nice little cheat for that.

Right now, two of my clones are just passing the damage between themselves, inflicting it on one another only for the receiver to store it again.

I simply need to make sure one of my clones, shaved and dressed in raggedly clothing that I would never wear is nearby when they fight.

With Kaiser's communication network so thoroughly violated by my [Tinker Specialisation: Communications] I'll know when the time comes.

Then I just need Fog not to live long enough to tell anyone that it wasn't him.

But first, time for another nail to be hammered into Kaiser's coffin. Placing his beloved sister into the sarcophagus, I wait with a smile.

— Emily Piggot —

Everything was going to shit and she was pretty sure Sebastian was entirely to blame.

His store had caused utter carnage, but then, he was offering everything from superpowers to resurrection.

Already, she had the chief director breathing down her neck, having to explain that Sebastian seemingly had a grudge against the PRT and that it was probably Coil's fault.

Costa-Brown wanted what Sebastian was selling, and it was becoming incredibly apparent she'd toss Brockton Bay under the bus to get it. 

The PRT Director meeting was mostly just them arguing about who should get the budget to buy Sebastian's services first, or arguing about which hero should be restored to life. Never mind the fact that they were arguing for the right to be the first to pay a villain millions. 

She understood, to an extent. If the villains were the only ones to purchase his services then the PRT would be at an even greater disadvantage as every gang that Sebastian did business with suddenly doubled their cape numbers, empowered their thugs, and didn't have to fear death itself.

They had countless heroes, villains, rogues and even desperate civilians heading for Brockton Bay in the hopes of making a deal with Sebastian, or simply to hunt for the worlds most fucked man.

Hookwolf had understandably vanished, the Empire hiding him from the horde of people who wanted his head. Sebastian had essentially demonstrated his power to put a fucking Kill Order on literally anyone he wanted without consequences.

Not a single Director seemed to care that Sebastian was marking people for death, pointing out that Hookwolf was basically Birdcage bound on his next capture anyway, so why not put an actual kill order on him and benefit from it? They'd even suggested that the PRT be the ones to claim that bounty, with Eidolon volunteering to find Hookwolf and do the deed himself.

Sebastian could mark someone, and have the Triumvirate turn into his personal hit squad.

To top things off, while countless new capes arrived in the city… Panacea had vanished.

You'd think New Wave would take care to watch their most valuable member, but the world's premier cape healer had disappeared while Glory Girl (who was supposed to be watching her) insisted she was right there. 

Glory Girl still seemed somewhat shell shocked after having Sebastian explode and cover her in gore so Emily didn't actually blame her for that. She blamed the other idiots in New Wave who had decided that a traumatised girl who'd just watched a man turn into a cloud of gore in front of her was the right choice to handle the protection of Panacea.

Watchdog were proving useless in trying to find Panacea, being overworked with everyone throwing them questions about fucking Sebastian. 

She had New Wave breathing down her neck, like it wasn't their fault for not properly protecting Panacea. The PRT had offered Panacea their protection when the girl first triggered and Brandish had shot the idea down but now the PRT were to blame because they couldn't find the girl?

They were talking about trying to hire the new Rogue, Pinpoint, who seemed to be extremely talented at finding people (or their bodies) but frankly Pinpoint was swamped.

She (judging from their messages) wasn't based in the Bay, instead taking 'sales' from all over the world through PHO. All you had to do was send them a name and a photo and Pinpoint would be able to find them in 99.99% of the cases sent their way. Didn't matter if they went missing yesterday or ten years ago, if they were alive or if you'd only find a corpse at the location Pinpoint sent back. She was also able to find items if they were unique enough, tracking down some long stolen artwork in France.

She was well aware that the amount of missing people in the world was a hilariously high number, and while Panacea might have a considerable amount of fame she was just one of hundreds of thousands in the US alone.

Pinpoint would be able to find her when her commissions were open because all her slots were currently filled.

Somehow, she blamed Sebastian for this as well. Things weren't good, but they had at least made sense before the bastard showed up. 

At least things couldn't get worse, right? Oh, who was she kidding. 

— Eleanor Anders (Iron Rain) —

Waking up, something she thought she'd never be doing again, she sat up rapidly and looked around the strange room, rage flooding her.

Max.

Her ambitious little shit of a brother had tried to kill her, when their father heard about this he'd put that traitorous little shit down.

Seeing a bearded man standing over to the side, she turned her glare towards him as she realised she was naked, covering her breasts with one arm as the other moved between her legs.

"Who are you?" Eleanor demanded, not attacking in case he didn't know her identity yet.

The well-dressed man just smiled in amusement.

"Sebastian Fairfax, and you need no introductions, Iron Rain," Sebastian said, making her glare intensify.

Spears formed around her, each aiming at the man who just chuckled.

"Where am I? How did I get here?" Eleanor demanded, wondering if Max had sold her to some foreign gang. Sebastian sounded English.

"You are in my mansion, and you got here after I dug up your grave and restored you to life," Sebastian claimed, making her freeze. "The date is January 13th, 2011. You've been dead for a long time, Allfather himself is dead, the Empire now led by Kaiser."

"Lies, no-one can bring back the dead. I don't know what trickery this is, but I am not so easily fooled," Eleanor scoffed. What kind of scheme was this supposed to be?

"I understand your disbelief. I had to prove my resurrection worked by bringing back thirty random people for the world to realise I was being very serious," Sebastian agreed. "But I am telling the truth. Kaiser, your brother, now leads the Empire Eighty-Eight. Of course he's led them into complete stagnation, and they're currently losing a three way war, but that's neither here nor there."

That was the most believable thing he'd said so far, Max was too cowardly to do what had to be done.

Or so she'd thought before he attacked her, she remembered his attack piercing her chest and then… 

"But if you need more proof, attack me," Sebastian challenged, making her scoff before she gave him a dark look.

She wasn't one to back down, and one of her spears flew towards him and stabbed him in the chest, piercing his heart as she stared. She figured he had some way to stop it, but Sebastian just smiled.

Then the pain started, her own chest burning as she looked down at her own body. The gaping hole that had just appeared over her heart made her gasp, coughing up blood as she collapsed.

The last thing she saw was Sebastian causally pulling the spear from his chest, smiling down at her.

Waking up again, she clutched at her chest in shock as she turned back to Sebastian. She could see the blood coating the ground, right where she had fallen.

"Should I kill you a few more times to help you understand?" Sebastian asked, smiling calmly as she felt herself shudder.

There was something about him that reminded her of her father, the calm demeanour and utter brutality.

"Why did you bring me back?" Eleanor asked, making his smile widen.

"Because I need another noble, and Kaiser just won't do," Sebastian admitted, making her blink.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"This world is mine, but I cannot handle every single aspect of my empire myself. I need trusted people to rule under me. I have already subjugated the other two major gangs in Brockton Bay, the PRT have been made useless, and now all the stands between me and my first city is the Empire. I could kill them all, of course, but I find that wasteful," Sebastian explained cheerfully. "So I want to offer you a place in my coming kingdom, leading the Empire beneath me… though you'll have to rename your group, there is only one Empire that matters. Mine."

"You want to take over the world?" Eleanor asked, making him smile widely. "You're not the first cape to try that, it doesn't work."

"Ah, but you're forgetting something. They weren't me," Sebastian replied confidently. "Things have changed while you were gone, perhaps we should get you caught up before you make any decisions."

— Later —

Sebastian was mad, but his power was undeniable.

She had no idea what he was, beyond the strongest Trump she'd ever heard of, but suddenly his mad ambition might not be so crazy.

He'd shown her how he'd used his power to turn the two other gangs in Brockton Bay into powerhouses, even those Merchants which had been nothing more than junkies a month ago.

Her brother truly was leading the Empire, straight into destruction as he floundered around and failed to deal with the advances of a bunch of chinks and some guys who had been too busy snorting crack to be a threat just last week.

The Empire had survived Marquis, but now they were so damn pathetic. Sebastian was right, they weren't going to survive in their current state.

Still, she couldn't deny the simple truth, she had been dead for years. All because of Max.

"What do you want from me?" Eleanor asked, giving Sebastian an unpleasant look. She still hadn't been given any clothes.

"Exactly what I said, I want a noble. I want you to overthrow your brother and take the Empire, ruling them under me," Sebastian admitted, and she had to force down her anger. "If you'd rather, I can just kill you again and go with plan B. Total Empire extinction. I'm sure most of their capes can be convinced to swap sides after a few deaths."

"You expect me to be your servant?" Eleanor asked.

"A noble in my Empire, not a servant. Once you have control of the Empire, I will empower your capes and gang as I plan for you to bring the clans under your control and wage war against the Gesellschaft in Europe. All three groups will be united; under you, and then we shall choose a land for you to rule. As long as you remember who your King is, you'll be free to rule your domain as you see fit," Sebastian explained, making her freeze.

Her father had struggled to take the Bay from Marquis and the Teeth, but Sebastian was planning for the Empire to conquer and unite the clans (which Kaiser was reliant on for his capes) and their European 'allies'. 

It was insanity, but was it impossible? With Sebastian's boons and her men being effectively immortal? Perhaps not.

She could try and escape him, but then at best she'd be able to rip the Empire from Max's cold dead hands, placing her in the same losing battle Max was in.

Or she could accept his offer, and her father's Empire would no longer be in such a sorry state. 

She disliked the fact that Sebastian recruited from lesser groups, but she herself wouldn't have to work with them once she took her Empire and carved a new place in the world for them in ways her father and brother had failed to achieve.

If Sebastian proved a poor leader, she'd be in a better position to fight him once she had her own faction behind her, even if it would lose her any upgrades she was granted.

Either way, she knew one thing. Max was going to die screaming.

— Sebastian Fairfax —

Iron Rain is not a complicated woman.

Feat Achieved: Recruit Iron Rain (2 rolls granted)

Rolling: Uncommon Power, Uncommon Perk

[Flight] - Uncommon

You can fly, reaching around 100 miles per hour at your top speed.

[Immune Response] - Uncommon

You are resistant to all forms of poison, heat, electricity, and acid. You are totally immune to all forms of sickness and radiation. 

I have my answer before she even speaks, but I'm not naive enough to think that she's completely loyal yet.

Both my new perk and power are going to be good sellers, useful for anyone really. They might not be that exciting (beyond the appeal of flight) but they'd also both be great upgrades for any Cape.

"Where do we begin?" Elenor asks, making me smile. The Gesellschaft may regret going along with Kaiser's plan to turn me into their slave, because I've just got my own rabid attack dog.

She might be able to be trained, but if not? Sometimes you just have to put a rabid beast down once she's served her purpose. I hope for her sake that she can learn.

I'd hate to have to find someone to replace her, and breaking all the Empire's capes would take so much of my valuable time. 

— Bonus Scene — Dinah Alcott (Oracle)

Zooming around the skies above the savannah, she grinned widely to herself. Honestly, why were her family making such a big deal out of her being kidnapped?

It was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Sebastian gave her all the cool powers and he said she could play hero later if she wanted.

Lionel chased her, also flying through the air, but he wouldn't hurt her. He really was just a big cuddly kitty as long as you were on Sebastian's side, and she very much was.

Chance of Iron Rain betraying them?

76.36%.

Well, that wouldn't do would it? Sebby was a little too trusting, it was a good thing she was here to make sure the naughty Nazi didn't get any funny ideas.