The traffic and noise of New York City swallowed me whole. I was now Orion, a name I gave myself. Sharp, distant, and celestial—a perfect fit for the predator I had become. My first slave, A-01, trailed three steps behind me.
"We need cash, A-01. And data," I commanded. "Tell me about your old life. Who has money? Where are the easy scores?"
A-01, his voice a dull monotone, recited details of a small-time loan shark operation. A cash drop was scheduled for that very night in a forgotten warehouse near the docks.
Small potatoes. But necessary. An empire needs a treasury.
The First Acquisition
I approached the warehouse. I wore the black leather jacket taken from one of my first victims. It gave me a dangerous edge that matched my glowing amethyst eyes.
Inside, three more thugs were counting stacks of banded cash.
"What do you want, pretty boy?" one sneered.
I didn't bother with a reply. This was about efficiency. A-01 moved, intercepting the one reaching for a weapon.
I extended my will. Two quick bursts of violet energy.
The accountant and the lookout dissolved into dust. Their life force invigorated me, sharpening my senses.
The third thug—the one A-01 was holding—froze, his eyes wide with primal terror.
Two bodies turned to dust. I need assets, not ash, I thought, focusing the energy.
I targeted him with the Dominion Protocol. The violent light enveloped him, burning away his identity. When it finished, he stood limp, his will utterly erased.
"Kneel," I commanded.
He dropped instantly, his head bowed.
{Asset acquired. Designation: A-02.}>
A-01, secure the cash. A-02, inventory this place. I want to know about the weapons, the vehicles, and the other safe houses."
In less than an hour, I had gone from having nothing to having two mind-slaves, fifty thousand dollars, and the keys to a low-level criminal network.
It was a good start, but it was too small. I needed to move fast. Mass disappearances would bring the wrong kind of attention—SHIELD, the FBI, or worse, that armored idiot in his tower. I needed clean, untraceable influence.
We need a legitimate front," I muttered, watching the dawn break over the East River. "Something that provides access to data and wealth without drawing the eye of the world's most paranoid billionaire."
My enhanced mind zeroed in on the tech world. Tony Stark obsessed over tech, which meant the infrastructure under him was ripe for exploitation.
A-01's memories had given me a name: Cain. A data broker. He specialized in digitally erasing problems for high-paying clients and laundering money through shell companies.
Cain would know the right people.
I used a burner phone and one of the thugs' old addresses to track Cain to a high-rise in Midtown. The building had guards, but they were predictable.
"A-01," I said. "Cause a major distraction. Make it loud."
A-01 walked across the street, picked up a brick, and deliberately hurled it through the large window of a luxury car dealership. The alarm shrieked.
As the two guards ran toward the sound, I slipped into the service entrance.
I took the elevator up. My psychic awareness—a natural extension of my power—told me exactly where Cain was: alone and unarmed. A focused pulse of bio-energy shorted the cheap lock on his office door.
Cain, a nervous man in an expensive suit, frantically clicked his keyboard, clearly trying to delete sensitive data.
"Who the hell are you?" he squeaked.
"I am your new silent partner, Cain," I said, stepping into the room. "And you are going to tell me exactly how you use your companies to clean money."
Cain tried to argue, but I had already initiated the protocol. This was my priority asset; I wasn't just erasing his will, I was imprinting my own ambition and operational goals onto his knowledge base.
The violent light filled the room. When it faded, Cain blinked. The fear was gone, replaced by unsettling reverence.
"Master," Cain whispered, bowing his head. "How may I serve the expansion of your enterprise?"
I smiled. This felt right. The power was a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.
"We will create a new corporation," I commanded. "Something international, vague, and powerful. We will call it Aethyr Dynamics—the boundless air. And your first task is to use it to acquire the company developing that new satellite communications array near New Jersey."
I walked over to the window, looking out at the city. The skyline belonged to Tony Stark, but the shadows now belonged to me.
<{Asset acquired: Cain (The Broker). Access to Financial and Information Networks achieved. Empire initialization successful.}>
"Show me the vulnerabilities of the world, Cain," I finished, my voice dripping with power. "And I will show you how to exploit them."