Chaotic Clusterfuck 29 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Definitely Not Dio

Chaotic Clusterfuck

Chapter 29

-VB-

So.

For the past week, Brockton Bay was a scene of constant fighting.

I was someone who caused some of that, but ultimately, a lot of it wasn’t caused by me or my clones. 

… I could even see a cycle of the conflict as more of it raged across the city that was damaging itself more than the Batarian raid did. 

First, there are catalysts that bring the locals to conflict. The first one was the Batarian raid and the salvage they left behind.

Second, the conflict leads to a temporary rise in negative emotions. This causes the Grimm, which … I didn’t really pay much attention to, to start prowling and poking at the edge of the city. 

Third, humans being humans generally focus on each other and not the problem that they cannot see immediately and don’t think to do much about potential problems that they know are there beyond the here and now. 

Fourth and finally, a peak is reached when the people realized belatedly that the Grimm and whatever other monstrous problems that isn’t part of the original problem/opportunity is now too big and definitely here to stay if they don’t do something immediately. Local factions put aside their operations temporarily to independently push the Grimm back.

Fifth, the temporary alliance calms the situation and, most of the time, they decide to shelf the issue and return to normalcy. 

And that was exactly what happened to the Batarian salvage in the hands of the Empire Eighty-Eight. 

But unlike most issues that were not solved by the end of the cycle, my Ghosts snuck in and stole the eezo and made it clear that “they” were the ones who stole it by blocking and attacking anyone who tried to go after the ajins retreating from the scene with the loot in tow. 

E88 was furious. They lost their hard earned paycheck to a bunch of Strangers who they couldn’t even track down. Or fight. Because the Ghosts’ involvement in the scuffle made that very clear to everyone. They could not be hurt by conventional attacks, and even esoteric attacks took time to take effect. 

ABB was upset. Lung personally came to steal the eezo for himself but couldn’t even see the container it was in. Hell, he didn’t even know about the fact that the eezo got stolen until after the battle came to an end when the “Grimm Tide” got too big to ignore. 

Unlike on Remnant where the average Huntsman wasn’t powerful enough to take on a hundred Grimm by himself, the likes of Lung, Kaiser, and even Hookwolf made the Grimm Tide not as big of a threat as it would have been. Also, lots of American made bullets. That definitely made things easier for the folks here. Like … most American citizens who own an artillery don’t spread the fact that they own an artillery but they were out there and there were a lot more of them than people think, especially in this day and age where giant man-eating beasts (Grimm and others), dragons, villains, and pirates roamed land, air, and sea. 

So where was I involved in all of this? 

Aside from stemming the initial Grimm Tide as the Four Muskteers (and thus indirectly giving myself a popularity boost even though that wasn’t what I was looking for) and stealing the eezo, I continued to operate my businesses, expand into more industries and businesses, and look for girls who were freaky enough to have a go at me and my clones. 

With a spare source of eezo that no one knew I possessed, I got my Gamer-powered clones with any kind of tech class to start tinkering with it with a focus on developing an eezo FTL drive. 

At the same time, I had some of my mercenary clones approach ABB’s pirate cohort to take them - and unknowingly, their ajins - to the Dark Continent to where the Batarians were. 

Because if I failed to develop my own eezo FTL drive, then I could just take the Batarian ships and reverse-engineer from those. 

And while I had those clones doing that, I was finally getting down to business selling my “only” portion of eezo on the auction in Boston in a small but clean white room with seats and a black screen at the back. 

Big names were starting to show up. Accord, Uppercrust, Big Rig as Toybox representative, and so on. Hell, there were even PRT traders here under disguise. There were private bidders, too, ranging from foreign and American to individuals, corporations, and even banks. 

It was … going to be very interesting. 

And what was most interesting was how Uppercrust had one of his minions come talk to me not in Boston where the auction was taking place but at my water treatment plant in Brockton Bay. 

“Please, have a seat,” I said while gesturing to the armchair across from mine in the corner of my office at the water treatment plant. 

The minion in question was tall woman in a crisp white business suit with a pencil skirt. 

But what got me was her face. 

She could have been a real life actor shoe-in for Inoue Orihime if Bleach ever became a decent action movie adaptation. Large, sparkling eyes. Long, luscious orange hair. A voluptuous body with all of the right proportions for top celebrity. She was similar to Zoe, actually. At least on the surface. 

“So, what brings you here?” 

Also, I was getting a lot of business/law people visiting me. First, it was the PRT lawyer and now her. 

“My name is Zinnia Koto, and I’m here on behalf of my employer Uppercrust … but also on behalf of the wider Elite.”

I leaned back into my own armchair and clasped my hands in front of me. 

“I see. And what does the Elite want with a backwater businessman like me?”

She smiled. “A backwater businessman? Please, you are probably one of the richest and most powerful businessman on the East Island.”

East Island. The name still tripped me up. Even though it was my choice with the CYOA that changed this version of Earth Bet, I found myself still shocked occasionally whenever East Island got mentioned. America being cut in twain was my fault, after all. 

“Most powerful? Me? Please,” I scoffed. “I can barely defend what’s mine.”

She nodded. “That is part of the reason why I am here, Mister Marris.”

I paused and stared at her. 

“The Elite wants to invite me?”

“Yes,” she replied bluntly. “Everyone knows that even if you do not act as a cape, the fact that you have an anti-Thinker Stranger power that covers not just yourself but everywhere you have operatives gives away the fact that you are a parahuman on par with any of the Elite branch leaders. The Elite merely wishes to establish a cordial relationship with you.”

Well, shit. Now, I had more bugs coming in. 

“I … have no desire to become a cape, and joining the cape in any semi-official or even official capacity would change that.” Then I paused as I leaned forward. “But I am not against being friendly with the Elite. Of course, I hope the Elite does not mistake being friendly with subordination or an obligation now.”

Zinnia paused. “I cannot say that I have any say in how the leaders of the Elite decide their policies,” she replied professionally. “I am merely here to extend a hand on their behalf and test the waters.”

I tapped my index fingers against each other. 

“Then they must have a business proposal for me? I highly doubt the fact that you are here to just say ‘hi,’” I hummed. 

“My employer, Uppercrust, definitely does,” she replied with a smile. “He wishes to inquire what the price would be for the element zero you elected to not sell on the auction.”