Five capable young women were now standing in front of Darkseid. Each had her own areas of expertise, even if some, like Dreamer, still had ways to go. During their trip to New Genesis and the eventful return home, he was quietly watching his companions, taking mental notes, judging their character. He was cautious about not letting them come closer to him, as he still didn't know them personally. Of course, he had his meta knowledge, which allowed him to pick his Furies, find Suli and choose Dreamer as his bride. But he had little to no personal knowledge of them currently; their future self could never come to be. As he changed a lot about the future of Apokolips.
Already, several bad actors were gone: Heggra was dead, Granny Goodness was dead, DeSaad – his right-hand man in the original timeline - was not picked up by him from New Genesis, and so was his sister, Bernadeth. As far as he was concerned, the two sadistic siblings were now New Genesian problems to deal with. Despite their capabilities, the two of them were untrustworthy characters; scheming was their second nature. That was why he had never let them join his ranks, maybe as low-level clerks, but such ambitious characters as DeSaad and Bernadeth would never agree with being just clerks.
Barda, standing first from the right, was the second tallest of them all. She was a strong, muscular woman with a headstrong temper. He picked her to be part of his Furies not only for her battle prowess, but also because of her tenacity. It was also that tenacity that allowed her to hide from him after she would betray him in the original timeline. Her betrayal was the most painful one, as she was his best warrior.
The next one in the line was Aurelie, wearing her green bodysuit armor, designed for higher mobility. She was a close-range, swift striker. Aurelie was also a defector who left after getting heavily abused by one of the Elites of Apokoliptian society. It warmed his cold, dark heart that that man would be executed for embezzling soon. The only officials spared by Drax's anticorruption reforms would be those working for the Oracle. Thus, Aurelie was avenged, and just like Suli, the reason for her demise was now gone. Unknowingly, she escaped her own death. In the original timeline, she was akin to a beaten and chased down prey, timid, paranoid and afraid of her surroundings. But current Aurelie was a confident leader of the Furies, an expert in weaponry and tactics.
Standing in the middle was Tina, a purple-skinned hulk of a woman. She was the bruiser of the Furies, able to sustain an incredible amount of damage and push weights several times overall her own. She was a genetically modified experiment of Granny Goodness. In the original timeline, she was branded a failure and discarded. She ended up joining the ranks of the enemy, the protectors of the Earth. She was the softie of the group, kind and merciful, considered a failure for exactly these characteristics, but in reality, they balanced the team out. Being the youngest out of the three warriors, she was a little sister to the other two. One that they were taking care of.
In fact, all of the current Furies were betrayers in the original timeline. The fact that they were also the best performers out of the Orphanage told a story that was hard to swallow. The original training system of Apokolips failed. It was barbaric and inefficient. That was the reason why the first thing Darkseid did was take matters into his hands and change the soldier training radically. Now there will be several years, perhaps even a decade, before serviceable recruits would graduate from the Academy, but in the long run, it was all worth it.
Next in line was Suli, his beloved. The woman who made the best out of him, somehow, was able to make him kinder, softer. One would think that as a god of tyranny, he would, but he really didn't mind. What he minded was that his love was perverted by Hogyoku. The all-powerful artefact that fused with his being was influencing the reality around according to the deepest desires of his soul. And it ended up being love. His feelings for Suli were amplified out of proportion to the point that he was able to feel the change inside of him. That's why he was apprehensive with her, why he didn't pursue her romantically. He was afraid that Hogyoku would twist his feelings or her feelings even more, making them perverted and cursed.
She was still so beautiful. Her deep red eyes, a prominent feature of the native Apokoliptians, were shining like blood gems, rich and powerful. There was a challenge inside of them, something that made her so… sexy.
But here she was standing outside of his reach. Probably afraid of him, apprehensive of his high status and his strength. To him there was no doubt that she feared him, especially because he pulled her into that whole mess with New Gensians, Terrans and H'sans.
The final woman before him was Dreamer. A beautiful black-haired New Genesian who was forced to become his bride overnight. She was just a student of the Celestial Academy in Supertown, overnight she became the future queen of the Apokoliptian Empire. Quite a turn of events. Darkseid was unable to get to know her, as they had spent no more than a day with each other. They were strangers to each other, and yet they were now to be wed in a month.
Now, after their first mission, and in the case of Dreamer as a means of saying sorry for stealing her away from the New Genesis, he wanted to do something nice for them.
"I ask you to tell me what you want to do in the future. What are your dreams and wishes?" He looked them over. The five of them stood there in stunned silence. Barda and Aurelie visibly fell into their own thoughts, thinking over his words. Tina looked torn about something, as it clearly made her nervous. Dreamer looked skeptical about his words. Of course, she thought him to be some kind of evil lord, and while she was entirely correct, it didn't mean that he wouldn't take care of his people. Suli… She looked unshaken, her face was unchanged. Maybe she was trying to hide her feelings?
After a long and awkward minute, Aurelie took a step closer to the throne with a face of resolve.
"I want to become stronger. Please train me personally, my liege", she took the knee and bowed to the ground. "I know no one more capable than you; your reputation and fame are that of an unrivalled warrior".
At first, Aurelie was doubtful of the rumours that were circling about their ruler. But then he killed Granny with his bare hands. In the Orphanage… or rather Academy, people were telling tales about her death, most of them actively gloating over her demise. She was not liked by anyone in that slave camp, so the story of her death became a legend fast.
Everyone knew that Darkseid had entered her chambers unarmed, and in a minute, he was already out of the room. That means that he killed Granny with his hands in under a minute! A feat that no one would think to be possible, considering how terrifyingly strong physically Granny was. She often trained the recruits herself, enjoying beating unarmed teens and children down to a pulp. She called it "tough love". Ridiculous.
This was an opportunity to become even stronger and to solidify her own status as the captain of the royal guard. Of course, she was afraid for her own life just like all other lowlies, regular citizens of Apokolips. People of Apokolips could die at any time just for breathing in the wrong place, such was the reality of this hellish world.
Making herself useful and ideally irreplaceable would make her an unlikely target for any elite wishing to kill her. Hard training wouldn't be a bad price to pay for her own safety. And if she became closer to Darkseid himself, it would be the largest boon she could ever receive.
"Me too, my liege", Barda followed Aurelie's example and fell to the ground. As a loyal warrior of Apokolips, Barda would never ask for anything other than being able to serve her duty better. Training with their master meant performing their job obligations in a better way. "Tina, you too!"
Barda wanted the youngest of the Furies to train with them. After all, if all three of them become stronger, they would be unstoppable. Group training was essential; they needed to learn how to fight together as one cohesive unit.
"I… I…" Tina, however, was unsure if she wanted to train harder. All her life, she was training and training, from dawn to deep at night, it was about being a better warrior. About reaching Granny's unreachable demands and standards. There was no end to this; Tina had always seen herself as cursed to be a failure. And training wouldn't miraculously make failure a success. At least she didn't think so. And then Darkseid chose her. From hundreds of others, he had chosen her to be in his elite squad of warriors. It was an honor that she thought herself undeserving of. Surely it was some kind of mistake; no one would choose her.
It would be better for the Emperor not to waste his time and effort on her. It would all amount to nothing. Instead, she thought of something else. Something else that she could do. She enjoyed doing it from her early days. A talent that Granny disapproved of. But maybe, just maybe, Darkseid would find it good enough?
"My lord, grant this lowly servant just one wish, and I would be eternally grateful to you" Tina fell on the ground just like her teammates had previously.
"Speak". he allowed her to speak freely, as Darkseid only wished for all of this to end sooner. He wanted to make their lives better, of course he would hear out their wishes.
"I had always enjoyed sewing. Please allow me a workshop for myself somewhere here at the palace. I don't need much, just a sewing machine would be enough".
Tailor? Did she want to be a tailor? Fascinating. It was an old-fashioned hobby, one that was of little use in the modern era, where machines and robots were capable of much more for far less. But there was no reason to deny his warrior a time of respite from the battle and war. There should always be a time of peace when the war ends.
He ended up agreeing to all three requests. Training was, of course, greatly welcomed by him. He wanted to train all Furies personally anyway. He had some free time, and those three were responsible for his safety and his family.
Now, for the two that were left. He looked at Suli expectedly. Her expression was still unreadable. A stone-cold face with no emotions. Maybe she didn't care for a wish from him? Strange, he thought to himself.
"I want a child."
Suli proceeded to drop an atomic bomb in the throne room.