Chapter 153

  Alexander woke to sunlight streaming through the windows of his third-floor bedroom.

  He sat up slowly, giving his body time to adjust. The time zone shift still pulled at him, a lingering fatigue that would take time to fully shake off.

  The shower helped. Hot water beat down on his shoulders, washing away the last remnants of sleep. Steam filled the bathroom, fogging the mirror and muting the world beyond the glass door. He stood there longer than necessary, letting the heat work into muscles that had grown accustomed to recycled air and artificial gravity.

  After drying off, he dressed in casual clothes and stepped out onto his balcony.

  On this side of the building, the morning air carried the salt tang of the Mediterranean mixed with the scent of various citrus trees left untended. Birds called to each other. Below, waves murmured against the beach in their endless rhythm.

  Alexander rested his hands on the railing. The fingers of his left hand registered the texture of weathered wood with perfect clarity, transmitting data his brain interpreted as touch. Interestingly, Technopathy improved the illusion, rather than breaking it. Perhaps that resulted from a subconscious desire.

  A year ago, he’d been an electronics technician. Working on broken tablets and damaged third-class cybernetics. Keeping himself isolated from the world, but going through the motions day by day.

  Now he was on a private island, planning how to shape the coming apocalypse. Recruiting a guild of superhumans. Negotiating with space station crime lords. In control of a hyper-advanced gateway to another reality.

  The world got stranger every single day. In a way, the consistency was comforting, because at least it meant the world was crazy, not him.

  Though that was probably exactly what a crazy person would think.

  He took one last look, then went back inside.

  The mansion was quiet as Alexander made his way downstairs. No sounds of movement from the second floor.

  The smell of coffee and cooking drew him to the ground floor. In the kitchen, Augustus worked at the island counter, assembling what looked like his usual continental-plus breakfast spread.

  “Morning,” Augustus said without looking up from the fruit he was slicing.

  “Morning.” Alexander crossed to the kitchen. “Need any help?”

  “Table could use setting.”

  They worked in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Alexander arranged plates and cutlery while Augustus finished preparing the food. Most of it went under covers to stay fresh for later, when the others finally woke.

  “Where is everyone?” Alexander asked.

  “Most of them went to bed around three or four.” Augustus poured two cups of coffee. “Annie was up until five watching something. Felix and Gilly were still down at the beach well past midnight.”

  He gestured toward the ceiling with his coffee cup. “I heard Carmen moving around earlier. Don’t think she’s slept at all.”

  Alexander shook his head. He wondered if she was adjusting to the time zone shift or if she simply couldn’t stop a project once started. “She’ll work herself into the ground at this rate.”

  They sat at the table with their own plates loaded.

  “How are the training plans coming?” Alexander asked.

  “We’ll have them finalized today.” Augustus bit into a pastry. “But I won’t start the actual program until tomorrow. Give everyone time to rest.”

  “Good idea.”

  Augustus sipped his coffee, gaze drifting toward the windows. Through the trees, the path opened to reveal the Mediterranean stretching endlessly beyond. Light played across the water in shifting patterns.

  “Nearly every day since you and Annie walked into my bar has felt normal when compared to the one before,” he said. His voice carried something thoughtful, almost distant. “But when I step back and look at where we are now, what we’re planning...” He trailed off. “There’s no normal left to find.”

  Alexander chewed slowly, studying the man across from him. Family in everything but blood. The wistful expression on Augustus’s face spoke of things carefully controlled, emotions the old soldier had learned to compartmentalize long ago.

  Augustus took a quiet breath. The pensiveness washed away, replaced by his usual composure. He turned and caught Alexander watching and smiled.

  “Don’t mind me. Just reminiscing.”

  Alexander smiled back. “It hit me this morning too. I think it’s the contrast.” He paused, considering. “Everything is so peaceful here.”

  A beat passed.

  “Until Annie wakes up, I mean.”

  Augustus laughed with genuine warmth.

  “But the truth is always there,” Alexander continued. “In the back of our minds. Waiting to intrude.”

  He took another bite of toast. Chewed thoughtfully while gathering his thoughts.

  “The world is spiraling into chaos, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it,” he said finally. “We can only prepare.”

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  Augustus nodded. His expression turned serious again. “On that note. I know our new members won’t be ready for some time. Training first, then the serum, then more training. But once they are, and we know who wants to be Aesir and who wants to be Vanir, what do you want us doing?”

  Alexander set down his fork and leaned back. His gaze drifted to the trees beyond the windows. The light filtered through the leaves in shifting patterns.

  “I told Maximilian I want to stack the deck,” he said. “I was referring to the prophecy and people like Flashpoint. Remove the bad actors before they can become divines. Make sure whoever rises to power during the calamity isn’t someone who’ll make everything worse.” He paused. “I think that’s the best use of our time.”

  Augustus took another sip of his coffee.

  “Beastworld training to get them ready. We need them capable of working in teams and independently.” Alexander met Augustus’s gaze. “Then I want people out there eliminating the chaotic elements. Just like we did with Mercy and Pandora.”

  “That’s what I was thinking too,” Augustus said.

  Alexander picked up his fork again, but didn’t eat. His mind turned over the logistics, the necessary steps. They’d need to start small. Talia would identify suitable targets based on the intelligence from the Queen. Missions that would allow them to verify who was truly fit to be Aesir and who wasn’t.

  Because between the cultivators, knights, wizards, cultists, and their own reality’s superhumans, most of the threats they’d end up fighting would be human. That required a certain mentality. Someone who could make hard choices and live with them afterward.

  Not that Augustus needed the explanation. The old soldier understood hard choices better than most. Had likely been prepared to convince him of the need, even.

  The breakfast continued in comfortable silence. Augustus refilled their coffee. The covers over the remaining food kept it warm for whenever the others finally emerged from their rooms.

  “I should check on Carmen,” Alexander said. “Make sure she’s actually eaten something.”

  Augustus nodded. “Good idea.”

  Alexander finished the last of his coffee and stood. “Thanks for breakfast.”

  He returned his dishes to the kitchen, then headed for the stairs, leaving Augustus to his own thoughts and the peaceful morning light.

  Alexander climbed the stairs to the second floor. Carmen’s door stood ajar.

  He paused at the threshold. “Knock, knock.”

  Carmen turned from where she stood before a massive pin-board that hadn’t been there last night. Printouts covered its surface, organized with colored tabs and highlighted sections. A pair of empty coffee mugs and a plate with the remains of a sandwich sat on the desk beside her tablet.

  The organized chaos from yesterday had evolved.

  “Good, you’re here.” She pulled a pin and retrieved several papers from the board. “I’ve got the perfect candidate for you to look over. Narrowed down a handful of backup options too.”

  Alexander took the documents, thumbing through the pages. It still amused him that Carmen had embraced the medium so completely.

  He started reading.

  “Jasmine Sharp,” Carmen said. “Thirty-one. Graduated top of her class from Columbia Law, clerked for a federal circuit judge, then worked at Morrison & Webb before starting her own practice in Brooklyn. She’s specialized in contract law, civil rights, and superhuman law.”

  Alexander’s eyes moved down the first page. Educational credentials followed by case history and early career wins.

  “She built a solid reputation representing victims of superhero negligence,” Carmen continued. “Small cases mostly, but she won them. Also has a long list of contract dispute cases. Then she took on a collateral damage case against two superheroes that should have been open and shut. Except AEGIS recruited them despite the upcoming trial.”

  Alexander turned to the second page. Court documents. The case details.

  “One of the largest law firms in New York was hired to crush her. They did, but they didn’t stop there.” Carmen’s voice carried something hard. “AEGIS bought out her business loans through shell companies and restructured the debt with predatory terms. Then they repeatedly filed frivolous bar complaints through proxies, alleging incompetence, conflicts of interest, failure to communicate, misrepresentation. Forced her practice to close within a year.”

  The timeline was laid out in detail. Loans taken. Debt bought. Terms restructured. Interest rates spiked. Fees added. Her own lawyer costs to fight the bar complaints.

  It mapped out the systematic destruction of a career.

  “She’s been working as a public defender in Brooklyn for the past two years. Takes pro bono cases on the side because apparently she can’t help herself.” Carmen paused. “Most of this is public record. I woke Talia up to dig into the financials and confirm the AEGIS connection.”

  Alexander’s gaze caught on a number near the bottom of the third page. They’d turned her student, personal, and business loans from a reasonable few-hundred thousand into a high seven-figure debt.

  And it was probably all legal, too.

  He looked up and met Carmen’s eyes.

  “She checks every box you mentioned,” Carmen said quietly. “Has the correct specializations, and she’s someone we might bring into the guild. But there’s something about her story that felt… very Grimnir.”

  He understood why she’d picked her. Jasmine was someone who’d done everything right and been crushed for it. Like Carmen and many of the crew, she had nothing left to lose. And every reason to want justice against the people who’d destroyed her dreams.

  “You’re right. She is the perfect candidate.” Alexander studied Jasmine Sharp’s professional portrait photo. “But she won’t join us.”

  Carmen looked surprised. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because some people can’t bend. They won’t compromise their beliefs, no matter what it costs them.” He flicked a finger against the document in front of him. “She’s drowning in debt, they’re still filing bar complaints, and she’s still taking on pro bono work she can’t afford.”

  Carmen glanced at the pin-board. “I have other options, but I didn’t have time to investigate their backgrounds.”

  “No.” Alexander folded the papers. “She’s the right choice.”

  “But if she won’t join us—”

  “Grimnir exists because we refuse to bend in the face of injustice.” He smiled at Carmen. “Doesn’t mean I can’t compromise on what I want. I can accept our lawyer being a permanent hire, rather than being a member if that’s what it takes.”

  Realization dawned on Carmen’s face. “Joining means knowing everything we’re involved with, which would conflict with her ethical obligations.”

  “Exactly. As a permanent hire, she can work for us and keep her hands clean.” He headed for the door. “I’ll deal with this one personally.”

  Carmen nodded. “I figured you would.”

  “Get some rest,” Alexander said before stepping into the hallway. He missed her response, his mind already working through the problem ahead.

  Brooklyn was pretty far away, and they would undoubtedly have plenty of superheroes in the region. And then there was the question of how to approach the meeting with the lawyer.

  Getting there was easy enough. Astra Omnia offered a premium transport service to most major cities around the world, and few were more major than New York. Talia could provide a quick rundown of the superheroes to keep an eye out for.

  Convincing the lawyer was the real challenge.

  Then again, maybe he could just book an appointment and tell her the truth. Grimnir needed permanent legal representation. Someone to handle contracts in-house and with external parties. Review vendor agreements for the construction projects. Negotiate real estate purchases as they expanded operations globally. Draft employment agreements for new hires. Deal with the regulatory maze of selling advanced shield emitters across different jurisdictions when he got around to it.

  Basically, they needed someone to navigate the legal complexities of operating a multinational superhuman organization. Because he had no clue how to even begin.

  He sighed and knocked on Talia’s door.

  Honesty was the way. It had worked out pretty well for him so far.

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