Chapter 78: A God Never Rests Easy

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"Every war begins with a talk."

-Madara Uchiha, (Naruto Shippuden)

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<[Meta Enterprises HQ, Neo Genosha]> 

<(Atem POV)> 

"GYAAAAA!" A blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the entire building, leaving everyone inside the establishment wondering just which unfortunate soul had angered their boss this time. 

"You already took all the Vibranium I had, what more do you want from me? Please, just let me go. I give you my word that I won't try to sneak into the country ever again, I won't even step foot on this continent if you tell me not to... Please, I can be of use to you guys if you just let me go back." Ulysses Klaue begged with literal tears in his eyes as he softly ran his fingers over the scorch marks on his skin made by one of the fire-manipulating metahumans torturing him. 

"Klaue, you and I both know that this is not happening because you tried to sneak into my country to try your luck in the metahuman organ trafficking business. If I wanted to punish you for that, I would have already killed you instead of wasting my time like this talking to you. What I want is a piece of knowledge that you have stored in that evil, scheming little mind of yours. I want to know everything you know about Wakanda, its people, and its security, as simple as that. The moment you tell me everything is the moment you go free; you get my drift?" I asked without trying to mince my words as I stared at his ugly snot-filled face with a bored expression. 

By the way, I wasn't exaggerating here. The only real thing Klaue had that was even slightly valuable to me was the information he possessed about Wakanda. Of course, I would have liked to glean that information directly from his mind and avoid all this unnecessary drama, but it seems that Klaue who knew of the existence of metahumans, and telepaths, was very cautious of someone trying to get inside his head to get information about his "business" and had somehow sealed his most important memories including everything he knew about Wakanda deep inside his mind to avoid exactly these types of situations. 

The entire thing was done in a very skilled and smart way. Not only had he artificially developed natural mental shields around his mind, but it was also done in such a way that if any telepath or mind reader no matter how powerful or skilled ever tried to forcefully extract this sealed information from inside his mind, then his entire brain would automatically shut down with the hidden memories being shredded and scrambled beyond recognition. It was almost like he had made himself into some sort of secure hard disk that only he could open through his own voluntary will. 

Even powers like truth compulsion, mind reading, or mind-controlling him to give us the intel weren't successful in extracting the information we wanted from him. Of course, old-style physical torture to "make" him tell us everything voluntarily was still a valid method for bypassing this little security protocol he had implanted in his mind. And even if that didn't work, then we would have no choice but to resort to magic. But since we didn't have a solid idea how magic would affect him in this case, we were trying the safer option first. 

"I-I can't do that. They will kill me. The only reason those bald Wakandan bitches hadn't been actively hunting me is that they know that I am not stupid enough to voluntarily spread sensitive intel about their nation amongst others. However, the moment I start spreading that information, they will go to absolutely any length necessary to eliminate me along with everyone else who has access to that intel." Ulysses begged in a pleading tone. 

"So, that means you are more afraid of Wakandans than you are afraid of Metahumans, huh?" I calmly asked him before gesturing to a girl standing silently a few feet away from us. "Do you know what people fear the most, Klaue?... Of course, you don't, because their fears are never the same. Different people fear different things. Sometimes, even if people don't know what they are afraid of or why they are scared of it in the first place, it doesn't change the fact that they are still terrified." I stated before resting my gaze on the young girl who calmly put her palms around the bound Ulysses' head who was desperately trying to move away from the girl but wasn't able to because of shackles tightly binding him to his place.

"But the woman currently standing behind you knows. She can find out exactly what you are scared of the most in your life and then make you live through that fear in reality e.v.e.r.y s.i.n.g.l.e night." I whispered near his ears. "Until of course, you either kill yourself in which case I will just bring you back to life, OR you give up the intel." I confidently uttered as I felt a slight change in our surroundings.

"You will regret this." It sounded like Ulysses Klaue whispered the words more to himself than me while he stared at the corner of the room. 

"Not really... Now, time for me to go and leave the expert to her craft," I said while giving the unsure young girl a slight nod to encourage her before standing up to leave. "By the way, that's some dangerous-looking cuttlefish." I pointed at the ugly fishes floating in the air like hungry piranhas while a bunch of their kind feasted on a floating old and decrypted dead body that had just appeared out of nowhere in the corner. 

"You let me die, you ungrateful bastard. YOU LET THAT DAMN PANTHER SLAUGHTER YOUR GRANDFATHER." The corpse suddenly came to life and began to yell before rushing towards Klaue in rage. 

"No, please. I didn't want this to happen. Somebody, get me out of here. Please, I will do anything..." Klaue began to beg as he tried to move away and hide from the ugly and terrifying corpse of his grandfather, but he was unable to even move because of the chains binding him. 

I didn't stay to hear more and just left the prison cell. I had much more important things to do than watch a grown man pee in his pants due to a fear of his dead grandfather and a bunch of ugly cuttlefish. "People have weird fears," I whispered to myself with a snicker while wondering if I should one day tell her to use her powers on me to find out what I was afraid of.

But again, as much as I knew myself, I wasn't consciously afraid of anything besides permanently losing my dick, something that I didn't want to experience in an ultra-realistic nightmare, so it might be a stupid decision as well. 

***

"So, what is next on my to-do list, Zoya?" And don't mention tiring stuff like attending some boring meeting or interrogating another criminal. I have had too many of those, today." I groaned as I walked beside the floating Mother Box while thinking about the three-hour-long company meeting I attended with Emma in the morning. 

Really, her choice of dates was a little bit too weird, although I am not complaining since I got to have some "fun" with her in the conference room after the meeting was over. Also, after the sevensome I had last night, I don't think I am going to be complaining about Emma for the next few months. She might be a little boring in a purely romantic sense but man, was she wild in the bedroom... and almost everywhere else one could possibly imagine having sex. 

"You promised Wanda and Rogue that you would be taking them for a vacation this week. Also, you have 31 messages from Dr. Reed Richards requesting a sample of Hulk's or Abomination's DNA as well as 12 messages from Miss. Susan Storm asking you not to provide Richards with any such sample since she believes that he will only be using it to screw up their mutations further and make their situation even worse. In my opinion, you should visit them and calm them down, especially Mr. Benjamin Grimm who has already tried 7 different ways to kill himself although he failed in all of them." She advised with an impassive voice. 

"Oh right, I almost forgot that he had become the Thing now after his recent mutation... You know what, you are right. I should help him. I am pretty sure that the Miracle drug MX001 can cure his... deformities if it is slightly tweaked to affect mutates as well and even if it fails for some reason, I always have magic. A glamor charm or a Polyjuice potion will definitely make him as "handsome" as before if not even better looking." I nodded to myself, pleased at the arsenal of solutions I had for every single situation. 

"On another note, Dr. Victor Von Doom is in New York and asking if you can participate in the Solstice this year to rescue his mother from Hell. He will start the preparations if you agree since the Solstice is supposed to be next month. Also, Karnilla left a message for you a few minutes ago while you were busy with Klaue. She has some bad news; it seems that our new cyborg army has come across a hostile force led by a notorious criminal and Kree warlord named Ronan, the Accuser in the Eclipsing Binary star system M31V while traveling to Morag to secure the Power stone.

Although our army was effortlessly winning at first because of their advanced technology and weaponry, the tide of the war recently changed after a legion of the intergalactic army of a warlord named Thanos joined the war effort from their side. They are being overwhelmed with numbers and are requesting more soldiers as backup, ASAP. Karnilla is requesting permission to send Brunhilde this time as the war general along with more Para-Spike soldiers. She thinks that we would win much more efficiently that way. Brunhilde has agreed with her and is awaiting your command... She seems to have accepted you as her new King, at least temporarily." Zoya finished informing me of my task list. 

 "... Wow, I am a very busy person, aren't I? *Sigh* What a drag... Anyway, I'll go on that date with Wanda and Rogue first. I promised them that a long time ago and they deserve it after doing so well in their studies and recent missions. I'll go and visit the Fantastic Four after that to take care of the "Grimm" situation. Also, send a confirmation to Doom that I'll be taking part in his ritual on the Solstice this year and tell Morgana to do some magical research on Mephisto, we might need it since you never know what to expect from a Devil. 

As for the war, tell Karnilla not to send any backup for now. I want to see how long the spikes can hold on against Thanos' infamous army led by Ronan. I don't want to invest in trashy soldiers who don't just look like cockroaches but fight like one too. Tell Karnilla to only send backup if they succeed in eliminating a major portion of Thanos' army somehow or holding them off for a week. Also, inform her that I will be personally going to watch how Brunhilde leads my army in battle after the week is over." I instructed with a thoughtful look. 

Truthfully, I didn't really feel any pity for the Spikes, they were like cockroaches and were literally bugs only born to serve the ones above them in status, aka their Queen. They rarely even live for more than a few years. Even if they win the war, a quarter of them would be dead within the year. In fact, using this war to polish the skills of a few experienced Spikes and then evolving them through magic and science to give them better positions was the best thing that could happen in this war. 

'Wow, I am really becoming more and more like my so-called father, is my divinity influencing me again to reflect the properties of my divinities, or am I just behaving like any other person with limitless power would, in my situation?' I curiously wondered to myself in my mind.

"Perhaps, I should take a break and start trying to be a little more empathetic..." I pondered aloud to myself "Or..., maybe I should just worry about being kind and compassionate AFTER I conquer everything in this world." I thought out loud with a wide smile while wisely nodding to myself, ignoring Zoya who just curiously observed me with almost visible dots above her head. 

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