There are a few things that come up when you have memories of an evil supergenius from a fun video game series. The list includes a couple of things. Like the constant urge to monologue.

Standing in front of a whiteboard I found, I let my mouth run as I thought.

“So I need to think on a few things now. First,” I spun the board in front of me around, looking it over. “Ahti sent me here for a job. Clearly, he wants me to clean up the world. The world of the Boys. So either he has no idea what an ‘entry-level job’ entails, or he just wanted to send me somewhere horrible and see what happens.”

I threw aside the thought, quickly writing. “Here are some big problems. First. The Sev- No, fuck that. First, superhumans,” I crossed out one word and wrote the other, stepping back to look at it. “A bunch of random people who are given extraordinary gifts. I make a single move to ‘clean’ the world, I need to prepare for them. So-called ‘superheroes’- Gah, stop that!”

I had never talked like that. Not sincerely. Stupid Eggman memories.

“...You know what though, that’s a fair way to call them. So-called. They’d rip me in half if they thought I was messing with their bottom line. So put most of them in that big round circle of assholes. Except for Homelander and Starlight I think,” I wrote their names. “One is dangerous enough to count as his own character. The other is a Golden Age hero in an Ennis nightmare,” I thought about how often she cussed. “Maybe Silver Age. Which is fine, more my speed.”

“But, then I have something else to worry about! Vought!” I wrote the name dramatically, spinning around to point at the ocean. I quickly moved out of the pose, sighing. “Okay. Vought. Giant company that runs the world. Or is trying to at least. They’re the big threat. They’re also the big target, right?”

I circled the word Vought. “Okay. I need to take out Vought if I want to… ‘clean’ this world. Right? What do I have at my dispo-”

Memories spun to the front of my mind. I rolled through the list, thinking faster than I ever had in the past. The pieces came together in my head. Using that circuit board, those wires, that bit of a piston, if I could weld the steel together and build a strong enough frame-

Blueprints flowed in my head faster and faster. Weapons of war, robots, ships, energy converters, flying nations. Impossible, over the top, and insanely powerful creations. Things no one deserved to have pointed at-

The Robotnik memories ended. And my own took over. Of heroes killing, raping, and maiming. All while one organization enabled them in the name of money.

The memories of a supervillain. Against a corporation full of evil ‘superheroes’.

“Heh. Heh. Hehehe. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

I leaned back, my arms stretched outwards, and let loose a bellowing laugh, my voice echoing outwards. “WAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!”

On the list of things that came with supervillainy memories, the evil laughter was kind of a fun one. Liberating really.

------

Exploring the boat brought up two things. First was a note from Ahti, resting against the steering wheel. I could almost hear his voice as I read it.

“Congratulations on the new job. I gave you a new identity. Someone varakas, wealthy dumb child lost. Embrace it. No more old world, so sorry. Family will be safe and rich. Menneen talven lumia, Julian.”

I looked up the Finnish words. Varakas meant what he said, rich, wealthy, haves. He built me an identity as a rich asshole named Julian. No offense to people named Julian, but it was the kind of name rich assholes often had in comics.

Menneen talven lumia. The snow of the past winter. Forget about old snow, snow that was long gone… I was never going home.

I almost broke then.

Looking up the name he gave me brought me to Julian Ivo (Of course it was Ivo). A rich kid who had gone to MIT, specialized in robotics and was on the cusp of graduating… Then his billionaire parents died. He inherited their money but was left with no other family. So he bought a boat and disappeared for four years.

Thank god Ahti saw to giving the yacht an internet connection to let me do this kind of research… Actually…

I looked up Ahti. No mention of the game Control, which made sense in a world of comic superheroes dominating all media. Just a wiki page for the Finnish God of Water. Or a Finnish hero. History was complicated.

God of Water who worked in a mythical organization that fought monsters and could send people to other dimensions.

I found something else, saved on the computer. A news article about a Muslim family whose rich uncle died, leaving them millions. A photo of my family sat there.

I stared at it for a moment. Trying to hold onto it. Then I closed my eyes. Okay. Okay. Then I’d get to work.

I’d delete the photo later. I couldn’t risk anyone finding it. But after I’d committed it to memory.

For now, I looked into the computer more, still fighting the weird sensation of two muscle memories battling. The writer and super-scientist in me were both annoyed at how slow my typing was, but I got enough done. My research was enough to tell that Starlight hadn’t joined the Seven yet, which was when the show kicked off. I had time. Tons of. And I had space. Out here, no one was going to bother me as I got shit done. A quick look at my, no, Julian’s finances showed I had something in the neighborhood of 100 million. More money than I’d ever had… Okay, that was a gross understatement. It was an insane amount to me, a poor kid all my life.

But... a pitiful amount if you were trying to build anything like the Eggman empire at even a medium level of power.

Well. Time to see how far these ignorant savages had gotten at testing the laws of physics.

I got up and went to the board again.

“Okay, ‘Julian’. What is it you need? Capitol. Yes, enough money to begin building in earnest. I’ll have to take the long route. Sell my technology, create a company. God, having to pander to people like that-” Wow. Both my writer and supervillain side hated the necessity of trying to become a super rich guy. My poor kid side always had some disdain towards big money types, and my supervillain side wanted to do science and tech for the joy of dominating the world, rather than pandering to things like marketing teams and shareholders.

But the money was for a good cause. Logic won out.

100 million to start. I’d need to purchase land to build on. Until I could make more automation in the lab, I’d also need employees. Supplies with which to build. While the stuff on the boat was enough to get my prototypes up and running, eventually I’d need to start building in earnest to make things like special alloys, personal energy converters, all of that mess. I didn’t care as much about housing and such, since I planned on living wherever I worked anyways.

The big thing was security. I needed to make something to protect myself with. A bodyguard who could protect me from supes.

I ran through the mental list Eggman had.

“With the material I have, I can’t make something really impressive yet,” I stood and paced, my arms going to the small of my back as I monologued. “Funny enough, the Badniks tend to be pretty darn advanced. Same with things like Qubot and Orbot or the other ‘dumb’ aides that Eggman had following me-HIM. They may have been idiots, but oddly it takes really advanced computer systems to make a robot smart enough to do dumb things. Foolishness is a sign of sentience I suppose. Sapience, rather.”

On thinking of robots, I ended up drifting from Eggman’s memories to my own. Terminators, Amazo, other cool bots. One that made me smile was Atomic Robo, the adorable badass. Then I went back to Eggman. As cool as those bots were, I had to stick to tried and true.

“Innovation is done in safety,” I stopped, tapping my chin. “Think basic, mass produced, dumb but would follow orders to the letter. Strong and durable… I can go big later, build something truly diabolical. For now, I need what works.”

I reached out for a blowtorch and metal face mask. “I have just the thing in mind!”

With that, I got to work.

------

It took me a full day. I worked through the night, building as best as I could. My challenges were many. I felt like I had been in some terrible accident that made me relearn my muscle control. I lost a wrench when I tossed into the ocean in a rage midway through twisting a bolt.

Eggman would have been finished with such a rudimentary creation in a couple hours. I took solace that a full day was still fast for a guy who’d only built some PCs in his time.

I stuck with it. I built a basic skeleton, making sure that it was strong and solid. I didn’t have enough power to do something really crazy, so I was forced to stick ports for batteries all over the thing. I had to make the thing short. Only about 140 centimeters. Not enough power for something sexier. Smaller design meant I could put that energy into more function.

I could feel Robotnik/Eggman/Whatever you want to call him inside my head. Not really. It was just memories. But if he had seen what I was reduced to, he would have been of two minds. On the one hand, he’d mastered robotics on an insane level. Not just robotics. Science was a playground he had studied every inch of, played across all parts of. After starting from nothing and getting to the point of creating machines that ran off fundamental forces of the universe, this current pitiful machine was basically a lego brick compared to the Taj Mahal I could be making.

On the other hand, it was nostalgic. Starting from scratch with just a workshop and a dream, just like the old days.

I finished up as best as I could. Couldn’t make it look really clean, unfortunately. No paint, nothing I could do to clean those rough welds. Its appearance didn’t matter though. As long as the shell was solid and the insides worked. I’d made sure the gears were well oiled. Now to turn it on.

I stepped back from my creation, looking it over. My hands had several burns on them, small cuts, oil all across my arms and body. I reached for a switch on a wall and hesitated.

This wouldn’t work. That was my first thought. I wasn’t an engineer. I was a punk. A half-assed writer-

Before I even noticed it, the switch flicked on. I turned to face the machine as the lights in it’s eyes flickered.

“Right. No time for self-esteem issues.”

I watched in avid silence as the robot before me creaked. It sputtered, shaking in front of me. For the first and millionth time, I watched my creation rise before me.

Was tempted to scream ‘It’s alive, it's ALIIIIVE’.

But instead, I simply let the satisfaction fill me as the robot stood tall. Well, stood short. It buzzed, beeped, and screeched before finally settling. Two large light bulb eyes stared at me.

“Hm… well, you aren’t as powerful as the first. And not as advanced as the latest. More like a child of them. So I’ll call you… Ah. The E-Boy. Why not? You-”

I held back the sudden cruelty. I was about to say I’ll just toss it out when I was done with it. Fuck that.

Eggman had grown out of treating his creations like trash only to be surprised when they betrayed him. And I’d always been sentimental.

“The E-Series E-Boy, my defender.”

The robot beeped aloud in acknowledgment. A miniature version of robots like the E-1000’s or E-123 Omega. The tiny thing shook in place, up and down. It had a blue barrel-like torso protecting the main components, thick arms and legs with black pieces of steel surrounding the forearms and calves, claw-like feet, and massive clawed metal hands.

“Okay, my Boy. Come along,” I walked to the front of the boat, grabbing the steering wheel. “Let’s head to New York City.”

------

Beginning our journey, a sudden thought struck me. Victoria Neuman could explode peoples heads… At least, I thought so. Goddamn.

I pushed the thought away. I didn’t have a way to do anything about that. About Homelander. Hell, even Eagle the Archer might be able to turn me to a pincushion.

Some part of Eggman found humour in the thought. Excitement even. Anyone could kill me. The game I was playing was harder than it had ever been in some ways.

With that weird thought, I slept. Only briefly, in short intervals, constantly checking my position every time I woke. E-Boy clinked and clanked in the corner, always watching my back in his rudimentary way.

The journey was like that for a long time. Resting, checking my route. And most of all. Planning.

I needed money after all. So I needed to sell shit.

Start simple. A computer. It needed to be cutting edge, cheap enough to undercut the competition, and easy to repair. I doubted I’d ever be able to outsell the likes of Apple or Microsoft, not for a good while, but it would get me there.

Because my real plan was simple.

Become a merchant of death, baby. Start selling weapons to the US Military. Give them super tech. Nothing I wouldn’t be able to take down of course. But Vought wanted into the military… it would be a good idea to shut that down.

So I planned and piloted. Until, eventually, after some time, I reached the East Coast. I reached New York City. Well, Manhattan mostly. Man, why did the city keep showing up in my life?

Paying for a dock online, I pulled into a harbor on Hudson Bay and parked my boat there. It would be my base of operations for a bit, considering it had all of my current items there until I could get someplace more defensible.

I left the boat behind and walked out onto the dock after tying down. E-Boy followed me, step by clanking step. An elderly man sitting in his boat watched us walk by, me in my sand-covered clothes, and E-Boy whirring as he followed.

“The fuck is that thing?”

“An X-Box.”

The old man let out a disapproving grunt, immediately ignoring me. He’d likely seen stranger things. Even a normal New York City had strange shit, let alone a superhuman one.

The plan for the day was to walk around Manhattan for a bit. Just get a feel for the city, the environment in general, see about maybe buying some small necessities. Like caffeine.

I entered an alleyway, planning to cut through it to get to a pawn shop down the road-

An arm wrapped my neck. I began to struggle, only to feel a cold edge against my back. A knife.

I froze immediately.

“All right kid, just drop your wallet and it’ll be okay,” a slightly stale breathed voice said against my cheek. “Over there, against the wall.”

You know? I found something in common with Eggman then. We both fucking hated getting mugged.

“E-Boy. Be a dear.”

The guy behind me let out a sound of confusion. “E-Wha-”

There was an almost comical sound like defibrillators charging, then a ‘snap-hiss’ of a gas pistol firing.

“Oh- SHISHISHISHIZEZEZEZEGAGAGAGAGAGA,” I stepped away, turning to look at the guy who had been threatening me.

He danced in place, arms and legs twitching, his tan face crinkled in pain and shock. E-Boy was behind him, a pair of wire stretching from one arm to a pair of metal prongs in the muggers back

“I have to wonder, when you pick a target in the future, if you’ll be a little more discerning?” I asked casually, watching as he fell to the ground still sputtering. “Better yet, rethink the career choice, because robbing people in a world where anyone could have superpowers just isn’t a business that will ever be sustainable. But then, I’m not here to give you business advice. E-Boy, hit him at, I don’t know, heavy, no, middleweight boxer level.”

Sckeeeek. A metal fist smashed into the man’s chest and sent him bouncing into a wall.

“Heh,” I patted E-Boy on his head. “Good bot.”

“Scrush, scrush,” E-Boy rose and fell briefly. The Eggman part of me knew he didn’t have the intellectual capacity to be pleased. The rest of me found him adorable.

“Come on, let’s go grab some shit.”

We went on to the pawnshop, leaving the mugger behind.

------

After I grabbed a change of clothes and some energy drinks, I went to an electronics store and bought big bunches of all sorts of things. Circuit boards, soldering iron, TVs, you name it.

I also had to rent a van to get it all to the harbor. All in all, I must have spent thousands of dollars.

I headed back to the boat with E-Boy sitting comfortably in the passenger seat. That brief walk and drive told me enough about the neighborhood overall for me to form a solid map of the place. Now, to use the massive budget that Ahti had given me. As E-Boy watched me, I got to work on finding what I needed next.

I put in a call to purchase an old brick factory that had been empty for a couple years in Manhattan, a place that had long since been taken over by graffiti and alcohol bottles. Based on what I could tell from a couple hours of intense research, it had been an automobile factory. I wasn’t sure if automobile factories in Manhattan had been a thing in my world, even before companies started outsourcing that kind of thing, but it had been in this one.

Which meant I found a building that was made just for creating big machines using big machines.

I made plans for meeting the realtor there in a few days, then started looking over the supplies I needed.

Metal, for one. LOTS of metal. Of all kinds. Industrial steel, copper, good old iron, small amounts of gold for certain wiring. But also various plastics, lab equipment, and much much more.

I kept on having the issue that every time my Eggman side started taking things for granted, I’d need to drag it back to reality. I didn’t know that the physics of the Boys was entirely compatible with the physics that Eggman was used to twisting. I kept wanting to build these grand things, armies of robotic badasses, powerful death rays, but then I’d be reminded I didn’t even have the most basic of things that lead to those.

“A robot isn’t just putting pieces together. Even something as simple as E-Boy is a miracle of modern science in this primitive world, and he can be beaten by a Badnik from the first Sonic games.”

I looked over at him, then continued pacing and monologing.

“I have to reinvent so many things. More advanced circuitry, software, various false musculature, power sources, energy converters, cooling systems…”

“Hm… Maybe I can take some cues from other media? It should be more than simple for me to replicate their success?”

Oh, so that’s what villainous arrogance feels like.

“Of course, in the end, one thing that keeps popping up is quite simple. I need to hire... a lawyer,” I said with a hint of disgust. “Until I can make a robot who can do the job better, I’ll need a lawyer to be able to help me with paperwork.”

I took a look at the dozens of lawyers in New York City. No Matt Murdock unfortunately.

“Too bad,” I sighed, hunting through the files. Back in my old world, I had a friend who was a lawyer. He’d once told me that incorporating in Delaware was a damn good idea. Unless… maybe I could become a P.O.C. A privately owned company. Then I’d need to get into the nitty-gritty of government contracts at some point.

After the most basic perusal of law in New York City, I felt like crying. I laid out in a deadpan voice, feeling like I was losing my mind.

“The factory will need someone to check on zoning, property, and labor laws. Making my machines will require someone looking into patents, intellectual laws. And then I need someone who knows about government contacts, transactional lawyers, litigators-”

“GAAAAH! Confound the American Legal System and it’s horrific laws!” I smashed a fist onto the desk. “MAKE SENSE DAMN YOU!”

Once I calmed the mustached side, I rubbed my face.

“How the hell does Lex Luthor make this shit seem so easy?” I mumbled, checking on my next on the list. “Okay. I don’t need a single lawyer. I need a firm.”

That thought narrowed things down. Okay. A firm. A massive company of lawyers. People who knew what they were doing, who had thousands of lawyers, and all the expertise I needed.

I needed evil ones too.

“Well, maybe not evil, so much as purely ruthless,” I amended quickly. “They need to be ready to fight anyone that Vought sends my way. Actually, that also means I didn’t want anyone who has business with Vought. Basically, ruthless, doesn’t have relations to Vought, big enough to have a lawyer to help with any and everything. Should be easy enough.”

After a long hour of work, I found the perfect candidates. Addams, Slant & Waldorf. I actually noticed them because of the fond memories the names gave me.

They were not lawyers most thought fondly of. They were very good at their jobs, followed the laws implicitly, and won huge amounts of cases. While also doing it on behalf of real dickwads. I’m talking about insurance companies refusing payouts, companies responsible for environmental disasters, all that stuff. They did the lawyer thing of at least making sure any victims got payouts, but it was clear these guys were more Wolfram and Hart than they were Atticus Finch.

They looked like the perfect types of lawyers to fight any Vought types.

I sent a message off to them using the ‘contact us’ page on their website, explaining my plans and ideas for building a company, then moved on. Hopefully the ability to wave money under their noses would be enough to get them on board.

I took a look at when Robin had died again. Damn. Morbid that I was using an innocent girl's death as an, I don’t know, check point on the timeline. Her funeral wasn’t for another few weeks. Died two, now three, days ago, funeral four weeks later, a full month after her death. A bit on the long side to get started, as most funerals went, but I imagined the controversy of her death had led to some delays.

By that time, I’d need to accelerate certain sciences in this world by a thousand-fold to get myself capable of fighting back and intruding on the events of this world. I doubted Ahti wanted me to wait until the end of season 2 to step into things.

So I’d need to take some shortcuts. I needed some small inventions now, things I could make with materials at hand that I could start selling.

I’d used most of my stuff on the boat for E-Boy, but I still had some basics and a van delivering my shopping. I put on a lab coat and grabbed a circuit board. Time to get to work.

------

I pulled a bunch of shit out of the van and got to work putting it together. My idea was simple.

“An energy converter. Something I can make that will turn large portions of waste heat into power. That will be useful for myself down the road. But I also need something sexier!” I spun in place, pointing at E-Boy. “Do you know what that is, E-Boy!?”

“...Scrunch, scrunch,” he bounced in place, waiting for an order.

“RAMS and graphics cards. Cooling systems! Those are things companies are desperate to find better and better versions of. OH! Mental memo: Build prototypes for atomic waste scrubbers. I am sure the government will pay a pretty penny for that copyright to get me some extra capital and make a splash in the papers."

Then I went back to my original point, putting some more pieces together and soldering a bit more, my hands moving quickly. “Anyways. Stronger, studier, cheaper, and overall more universally compatible graphics cards and RAM. That’s gonna be a good way to get consistent profits, once I can get started on patents.”

I lifted my new experiment in front of my eyes, looking it over. “For now, we’re on our way, E-Boy.”

“Scrunch, scrunch.”

------

A week later

After a week, I stood in an empty room of concrete, staring at dozens of crates.

“We all good, sir?” a large black man in workman’s gear said, walking over to stare at the crates.

“Yes we are, Sam. Got all the materials needed. Now we just need to get to work. Your men ready?”

“Just tell us what to do.”

“Excellent. MUHAHA-” I cut myself off, coughing. “...Sorry.”

“It’s cool. I got used to it.”

I sighed. “All right, get the guys moving.”

------

It had been a good week full of progress.

On the first day, I worked all through the night, chugging more energy drinks than was healthy. At some point I’d need to come up with a better alternative for staying awake, but for the time being it worked.

By the time I was done, I got an email approving my meeting with the lawyers. Tomorrow. That was quick.

At least, until I remembered that I was Julian Ivo, confirmed rich kid. They must have looked me up. Money really does open up doors for people, huh?

By then, I was done. Well sort of. My first prototypes were… rough. They had none of the power of my original designs, none of the sturdiness. Barely adequate in any way.

Compared to the best this world had to offer, they were an upgrade in every way. Good enough as examples as well.

With my upgrades in hand and E-Boy at my side, I put on a suit I’d gotten from the pawnshop. Later I’d get something nicer, but I’d take what I could get. Then, I went to meet the lawyers.

------

I sat across a desk from a Latino man who was looking over my prototype graphics card with a pair of white gloves on. My other stuff had been sent to be looked at by his scientists, but apparently, he was curious enough to look at the card on his own.

The dude was... Impressive, to say the least. Mr. Addams' office had been on the top floor of the very fancy building his firm worked out of. His office was bigger than any apartment I had ever lived in, including bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and living room.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Mr. Addams, is it common for the top man of a firm to meet with a potential client?”

The Latino man looked up at me, then smirked. When he spoke, it was with a hint of an accent, enough to give his voice a suave elegance. “Oh, no, not at all, Mr. Ivo. Usually, I would have my men looking into this alone. But I wanted to gain your measure. And my, what a measure it is! Your little friend there caused quite the ruckus when you arrived, didn’t he.”

We looked over at E-Boy, the tiny bot resting peacefully next to my chair.

“I must ask, why didn’t you include him in your list of creations? He is by far one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen, and I once saw Queen Maeve lift a car. I have yet to see any bipedal robot move with such fluidity and balance, let alone capable of following spoken commands so easily.”

“You know a lot more about computers and robotics than I would have thought.”

“Ohhh, I am a man of many, many interests. Now, that aside,” he put down my graphics card, looking curious. “What are your plans, Mr. Ivo? To sell graphics cards and RAM?”

“No,” I leaned back in my chair, sinking into it. As I sank into the soft armchair, I also let the real ‘me’ sink as well. I let a bit of Eggman come out. Not the mad lunatic that sometimes seeped out, but the calculating and calm genius.

I still didn’t know if I had a specific version of Eggman in my head. There were the games, the cartoons, anime, the Archie comics version. But whatever one I had, he was experienced. More than that, he was dangerous.

I let a bit of that out, and Mr. Addams stilled just a bit when my eyes snapped open.

“My plan, Mr. Addams. Is domination,” I pressed my fingertips together. “I am planning on creating an empire of technology. Computers are the start, of course. Easy to market and easy to sell. A good way of establishing a brand and cash flow. But I want to go beyond that. I’m planning on selling weapons to the military, of course, but I also want to accelerate the fields of science massively. I have the money to purchase everything I need. I simply need lawyers on retainer to make sure everything I do is legal and above board.”

Mr. Addams quirked an eyebrow, his thin mustache twitching. He chuckled, eyes flickering to a photo on his desk. “Domination, hm? My wife would like you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“As well you should. Well Mr. Ivo, you have more than enough to hire us on. And I believe I might take special interest in your case, depending on how you open things up. My lawyers will begin writing up-”

He started going over the legal stuff and I listened closely. As I did, I began running through the list in my head one more time.

I was on my way.

------

Once I had Addams, Slant, and Waldorf filling out paperwork and helping me with the legal side of things, I was able to meet a realtor for the place I wanted.

------

“-used to be an automobile factory, as you know,” a young brunette woman said, turning to give me a quick smile. “I know, the graffiti and dirt makes this place look horrible, but the foundation is solid, the location is large, and much of the infrastructure is intact.”

“Not by much,” said another young woman. Destiny Simmons, an older black woman and the property expert working for Addams, Slant, and Waldorf, had a pinched look on her face as she looked about the dirty rooms. “Especially for your asking price.”

The brunette woman flinched, her composure fading before she bravely gathered it up. Poor girl. She must have been trying to get rid of the place.

Luckily, I made up my mind to take it already. The place was perfectly situated in Manhattan, with a good amount of distance from Vought Headquarters that I had a good view without being so close I wouldn’t be able to see an attack coming, as well as a good distance from the harbor so that I could ship products across the world.

The actual buildings were solid as well. It was a complex of sorts, four buildings set in a square pattern, with a wide courtyard in the center. With room to expand out and up if need be.

All brick, stone, and pipes, with peeling paint, dirt on every surface, and lots of trash. Every single window was cracked, dirty, or gone. In the room we were in, the walls had been ripped apart, leaving stone pillars standing about at regular intervals. Empty boxes were strewn about, several shelves had been ripped apart. And oddly, baseball cards. Lots and lots of baseball cards, all tossed about the place, hundreds of them, a bunch of them unopened in their wrappers.

Still. Even with the clean-up and repairs I’d need to do, it was much cheaper to fix up this place and purchase it than it was to build an entirely new building.

“Look, it’s clear you want to get this off your hands,” Mrs. Simmons said, walking up to the realtor confidently. “And my client can buy it. But I need you to work with me. Let’s talk about-”

I let her handle it, my gaze looking about. Later, I’d need more. A shipyard, for example, to build the larger weaponry in my head. But this place was perfect for now. Four large buildings, and a ‘racetrack’ of sorts to the north of the area. The place smelled like potential. And urine. Lots of urine.

Step two was done.