10
Across the world, various organizations, countries, criminal organizations, and powers came to the attention of the so-called 'Alien' calling Metropolis, Hell's Kitchen, and Gotham home.
Spies, Criminals, Agents, and villains flocked to these three cities to confirm for themselves whether this 'Alien' truly did have such...supernatural goods for sale, goods that could be paid through multiple methods, one of which really caught the attention of these organizations. After all, paying with one's Karma, regardless of whether it be good or bad, interested quite a few of the leaders of these organizations.
How is Karma calculated? How did this Alien know whether people did good or bad?
Was it really an Alien, or just some mutant bullshitting for attention?
So many questions, yet there was only one way to get them.
Then, there was the fact that the creature illuminated some topics that most had no clue about.
There were different types of mutants? Or metahumans, in Zeref's words.
Who were these Inhumans? Where were these aliens? If Superman was an alien, does that mean that other aliens would be Human as well? How many aliens called Earth home? Then, there was the creature's talk about magic, making people and organizations worry that the defenses they had in place would be pointless against something as unusual as magic.
Many countries were already, to some degree, aware of magic, but countless more were not. The United Kingdom was one of the few countries aware of the supernatural community and one of the few that actively employed them. London itself was a safe haven for the supernatural, with the city housing the largest supernatural community in the world, hidden from the mundane world through magic. Despite that, the Supernatural community was still greatly entwined with the mundane world.
When they discovered someone—no, something—trying to reveal the supernatural side of the world to the public, many in the supernatural community believed that the creature needed to be silenced. In contrast, many others saw this as a chance for them to reveal themselves to the world finally. After all, why would they be any more shocking compared to the events that happened yearly in the mundane world? Not to mention, they already had a member of the supernatural side of Earth representing them as heroes, Wonder Woman, the Demi-God of the Greek Pantheon.
Various people in the supernatural community began making plans. Some booked flights to see this creature themselves, some decided to reveal themselves to their closest mundane friends and family, and others began seeking out Wonder Woman, hoping that she would be able to help them or stop the creature from revealing them to the mundane world.
...
BANG, BANG, BANG!
In quick succession, three shots rang out from a small caliber pistol in the middle of Hell's Kitchen, taking down three men in suits.
Creeping up into the alley was a man seeking vengeance, a man who held a grudge and wasn't willing to look past it.
That man was none other than the Punisher, who was kidnapped not too long ago by SHIELD and tortured for days while his friend was disassembled and turned to scrap.
Frank was out for revenge, and he was making progress.
Dropping down to the bodies, he began examining them, stealing their phones, guns, and anything else noteworthy before retreating from the alley.
Since his escape, Frank has been chased day in and day out by these SHIELD agents in Hell's Kitchen, and so far, Frank has found that he is only managing to keep ahead of them due to his training and knowledge of the local terrain.
Now, he just needed to crack the phones and get a bead on more hideouts for these SHIELD and Hydra agents.
Frank was fully convinced that Hydra had completely taken over SHIELD. He had made it his mission to take SHIELD down, whether he died trying or not, and has already cleared out multiple of these hideouts, but it seems that SHIELD has started making their mission to take him down, as they now shot at him on sight and actively searched for him.
He wasted no time in returning to his safehouse, taking the long route to avoid being tailed and making sure he was not being followed.
When he was sure that nothing and no one was following him, he entered an abandoned factory. There, he was met by a man in a brown patchy duster wearing strange riot armor. They worked on an assualtron on a workbench.
"How is she doing? Making any progress?" Frank asked, looking down at the Assaultron on the workbench.
"I'll be done with her soon. Luckily for you, her memory core is intact. However, I did notice that some of her weaponry and a great many internal systems were ripped straight out. I'm afraid she will not be combat-ready for quite some time until either I manage to get her up into shape or get her into a different body," Kyle gave his diagnosis, stepping away from the ripped-apart Assaultron.
"Keep me notified, and Kyle?" Frank asked before saying, "Thanks."
"No worries. Just don't involve me in your mess, and we will be fine," Kyle said, moving to a different workbench while multiple eyebots floated around the factory, working on Kyle's pet project, the creation of a sentry bot.
"You check out the news?" Kyle asked nonchalantly.
"No, what about it?" Frank asked, placing down the stolen phones, ripping them apart, and disabling any trackers that were on them, knowing full well, with the jammer Kyle had in place, that the two would not have been tracked.
"The boss got interviewed; he's become famous; it's a good time to start hitting the Cafe again if you're worried about being stopped by those agents if you want to pick up supplies and weapons," Kyle informed Frank.
"Really? Good for him. You made any progress with Fallout?" Frank wondered.
"I have. I'm onto Fallout New Vegas, which is quite an interesting place, though the heat is...annoying," Kyle commented half-mindedly.
"It's worse than California?" Frank asked.
"Without a doubt, it feels cramped compared to the other games, and It seems limited to the area around Vegas, or New Vegas in this case, and it is chock-full of animals, abominations, raiders, and other bullshit, not to mention the heat is a fucking killer, I died from heatstroke twice now," Kyle complained, showing his clear annoyance with the Mojave Wasteland.
"Seriously? Have you tried, I don't know, drinking water?" Frank sarcastically replied, only to meet a deadpan expression from Kyle, making Frank crack a smile in his friend's annoyance.
"Anyway," Frank said, moving on, "How are you doing with Fallout's tech? I know you said you're trying to learn and master everything possible; how close are you?" Frank asked, curious.
"Not even. There is just too much to learn across Fallout, and I seem to run into new things to learn or study constantly. For example, somehow, the Mojave Wasteland has its own population of supermutants. I wonder if there's a source of FEV hidden somewhere or if the supermutants instead migrated to the area," Kyle answered before rambling about the things he was learning and found strange about the Mojave Wasteland and New Vegas in general compared to the first two Fallout games and wastelands that Kyle personally roamed for years.
Shaking his head and letting his friend continue to talk, Frank got to work on cracking the phones, soon easily doing so after having done the same dozens of times before. He scoured the phones of all contacts, map destinations, calls, voicemails, their search history, and whatever else he could get his hands on.
Letting out a savage smile, Frank realized he had found his next target when he looked at the map data in their phones, finding several points across the city that the agents searched for and used the map app on their phones to find.
...
Meanwhile, roaming hell's kitchen, a flaming skeleton in a motorcycle leather jacket, blue jeans, and cowboy boots, a horrifying devilish creature roamed the streets at night, leaving dozens of piles of ash behind as criminals, soldiers, and countless other sinners swarmed the crime-ridden area.
The city's crime rate was undergoing constant changes, rising and falling daily. Some days, no crimes happened at all, and others, there was a spree of crime.
The Spirit of Vengence continued his hunt.
[A/N: When you've been writing for so long, you can't even remember what you've written anymore. XD]
As I watched the edited footage of the interview Lois and Clark recorded, I couldn't help but crack a smile. My plan proved to be a resounding success! Sure, revealing the fact that I was once human could end poorly, but I felt it would act more as a boon than a curse. If they knew I was once human, then they'd know I can be reasoned with and am not just your average Eldritch Horror from the Stars.
It would also serve as a way to attract more customers; after all, one of the Humanities' most known traits was their curiosity, which bordered on suicide in many cases. I was betting that my store would attract Thrill seekers and people who wanted to experience a different life, something that many in my old world wished for, and I was betting that many would also want to experience the same thing here. That's why I showed not only the Simulator but also why I showed off Joshua. If they believed that someone like Joshua really came from another world, perhaps that would give humanity the push it needed to get off this small planet in an incredibly large universe. They'd also come to talk and meet with Joshua as well, bringing me in more business that way.
Speaking of Joshua, as he was my employee, I felt it was only fitting to give him his own quarters, wage, and benefits. He was commission-based, so he would earn around 25% of the training fee when he started getting students. He also received three meals a day, free healthcare, and other necessities and amenities to make his new life more comforting.
However, he did say that all of the 'luxurious' items I was offering were too valuable for him to use, something I proved him wrong about as I proceeded to fill his bathroom with dozens of rolls of toilet paper. Man...if the people who hoarded toilet paper during COVID could only see their bathroom now...ah, those idiots and it only cost me 3 Karma.
[A/N: If you feel called out by the joke above...you should -_-]
I also purchased a wide range of equipment for Joshua, who wanted to add them to his curriculum, specifically medical supplies, and several different guns and types of weapons, ranging from Primal to advanced energy weapons such as Gauss Rifles. How he even knew what they were, I had no idea. I doubt he ran into any of them while working for Ceaser, a man who was stupid enough to think using guns was a sign of weakness in a post-apocalypse where there existed quite a few things that you would want nowhere near you, such as Deathclaw, it would not be pretty.
He was taking his role as a teacher quite seriously, designing multiple courses for different types of people—his words, not mine. For example, he seemed to be designing a course specifically for Guerrilla Tactics, while another was based on leadership skills. I certainly did not expect Joshua to be such a competent man with such a wide variety of skills, but hey, it just means he will do a good job. Even if he doesn't, there's bound to be some that take to his teachings, though I doubt that would be the case, as he was in charge of teaching a bunch of tribals how to fight and was a general in an army.
Of course, I let him know that I was available if he ever needed help and that he could freely use the Simulator during his training sessions. I let him try out for a few hours, where he really pushed the limits of the Simulator and his own skills. Specifically, he chose to fight against insurmountable odds, where he would, without a doubt, eventually lose.
I let him be, but with the Simulator not having any sort of time acceleration, he could only use it for a few hours before I forcefully terminated the Simulation and told him to go to bed.
Of course, a few hours had passed since he went to bed, and it was already nearing the opening of the Cafe, but I decided to let him rest; after all, this was the first ever modern bed he'd slept in, not to mention a peaceful rest.
Speaking of my store's hours, I realized that with my expansions, with me planning on another door expansion soon, I would not be able to open at the same time at all of the locations due to the different time zones. I had a few choices on how to go about my store's hours in the future.
First, I could simply choose to be open 24 hours a day, which would mean I wouldn't have to worry about time zones as I open my store up to other parts of the world. Another option was to say, fuck it, and keep my hours, regardless of the problems it'll cause when the time zones are greatly different in other countries and states. The last option was to try and make a specific schedule that would cater to specific regions, such as being open in one area for a few days before closing and moving onto another area, sort of like a wandering caravan.
Checking the time, I waved my hand, and a literal tsunami of customers flooded into the store—far more than I was expecting.
Knowing my little store would not be able to cater to this many customers, I used a decent chunk of my Karma and Cash from the past few days to expand the cafe once again, adding quite a few new computers and more seats in the cafeteria area. I also split myself once again, allowing three of me to work at the main counter and two at the Cafeteria.
I have roughly 250 Computers now, and their prices have increased linearly, going up 25,000 cash and 10,000 Karma after every purchase when it came to purchasing the VR Computers in bulk.
As customers formed lines and rushed to get their breakfast or a computer, all of my clones froze in their steps. I heard the sound of glass breaking in a small corner of the cafe.
At once, all of my heads turned toward the source of the noise. I was met with a bald-headed woman in an orange robe who caught my attention, yet no one besides me noticed her presence.
She acted completely normal until I decided to try something different. You see, I was curious about something, and so I tried it.
One of my clones split once again; this cloned body walked up to an empty area, and with a purple miasma covering the clone's hand, I reached out into the air and grabbed it.
With a pull, I tore open space, imagining where I wanted to go, and with a mere thought, I stepped through, finding myself in a strangely similar version of my cafe, one completely empty.
Ah...the mirror dimension, good to know that I can do that now.
A moment later, I heard the sound of glass shattering and found the Ancient One standing before me. Yet I also saw everything on the other side, as my customers freaked out from my actions but quickly calmed down.
"The Ancient One, I presume?" I asked, simply.
"You guess correctly, and who do I have the luxury of meeting?" Baldie asked.
"Ah, you may call me Zeref, your local Cosmic Horror," I introduced myself, showing off a brief glance at the void to the baldie, using [Gaze of the Void], opening that tear where the eldritch horrors squirmed and freaked out on the other side before.
"I see...and what are your intentions on this planet?" The Ancient One asked rather directly.
"To the point, aren't you? The answer is simple, for fun and a bit of enlightenment," I answered her question. I had no doubt that the Sorcerer Supreme wouldn't believe my answer of 'I just showed up here,' so why not give her an answer that may satisfy her and could be clearly seen with my activities so far on this Earth?
"Enlightenment?" She questioned, face stoic but clearly concerned despite the lack of reactions.
"Quite, Humanity, as you should know, has quite the predicament for its future, quite a few things that even your successor will find impossible to stop. My goal, so far, is to uplift humanity to a stage where it can protect itself while giving it a peak at what's possible across the Multiverse," I explained, and if her frown was anything to go by, she clearly did not like that answer.