Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

much more predictably than a normal reg. In truth, Methiochos had little power to keep these promises, but he needed root access and administrative privileges on the island control center to make his plans work. Once Methiochos was out there and could set things up, it wouldn’t matter what Archon wanted, or what Roger was expecting; both would be powerless to stop him.

From there, Methiochos could build up his power base. Form the type of government that the world needed for supers. He knew three main Factions were coalescing and trying to assert their views, but they all were diametrically opposed to each other, and there was little hope that they would be able to work out some lasting form of cooperation. There would be only competition and constant power grabs. Especially with all the egos involved, and Methiochos had a limited amount of patience for fools.

He had big ideas and was frustrated at how he kept getting shut down. Archon wanted to wait and see how things evolved. Methiochos wanted to guide that evolution! You could design something much more powerful than waiting for things to fall into place. What if waiting didn’t work? We would have wasted the time, seeing how fate would design the future. Forget that.

It was treason and betrayal, no doubt about that. But sacrifices had to be made. He just had to be smart about it, and cut his own ego off at the knees. Put on a smiling face when the future plans were discussed. He could see that reasoning with Archon was no use.

He was stubborn too, and the debates he had attempted to change his world view had only left them more distant and on edge. If Methiochos was to put his new plans into place, he needed to kowtow and walk the line. Be the good soldier he was meant to be in Archon’s eyes. If all went to plan, there would be no time to stop Methiochos before the island was protected.

Methiochos had brought Dara, a truth-seeker, to Manticorps. She was loyal to him and now they could vet anyone, find any spies, or those with subversive motives. Since she was of like mind with Methiochos, they could easily trick Archon into believing his total loyalty.

Methiochos would orchestrate that those loyal to him would be the first crew to make it to the island. The complement would include security, scientists, and support staff, so they could hit the ground running once arriving at the manor. Thus he would only allow them to select from the best of the best for this first crew. Once he activated the bio-stasis field, not only would they be protected from anyone trying to land on the island, they would be effectively cloaked as well.

The final part of the plan was scrubbing information from the few areas that had the exact location of the island. Only Archon and the other eight generals had access, and most of them were on assignment. Having seniority, he had no doubt he could obtain their copies under some pretense of updating the information or some other nonsense. They were loyal to a fault, and if they thought it was the Archon’s will, they complied without question.

The time to enact his plan would soon be here, and everything had been prepared. Anticipation and confidence that big changes were coming helped him maintain his mask of loyalty, allowing him to tolerate the sycophants all around him, enamored of Archon’s every thought. Only three days to launch, then it would all change.

###!###

Methiochos withdrew the two tentacles out of the magma and the memory winked out. He was reaching a saturation level of both absorbed energy and recalled memories. He would process this, grow stronger, continue to remember all that he had forgotten, and make his future plans. No one could stop him now. Unlike Archon, he didn’t let things like honor and loyalty keep him from his goals.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jump

Day 6 10:14 AM

9:02:22 remaining

Before cleaning up, Gus ran outside and grabbed an armful of fruit to take up to the suite. Gus shuddered a tiny bit at the thought of choking down another protein bar.

He took a quick shower and dressed. His closets were now full of the same jumpsuits he had found in the armory, with accompanying boots underneath. At least he didn’t need to worry about what he’d have to wear! Gus took a long look at himself in the mirror. He needed to shave; his patchy mess of facial hair would never be a respectable fully-fledged beard. It was in the itchy phase and it kind of made him look more haggard.

He took time to appreciate the effects the Nth had had on his physique though. He was never chubby, but he was definitely in the ‘soft’ category before the island. Now he looked great! He wasn’t exploding with muscles, but he had abs, and his lats became visible, forming a nice V to his torso. He hadn’t really felt like a super, deep down, but here he was, the change staring him in the face. He loved the thrill of leveling, but wished he would have time to pursue it at his leisure, and not have the threat of everything forcing him to survive. Still, he couldn’t complain about the results. Maybe it was the kick in the pants he needed.

After ogling himself, he set to shaving, until he looked much more like himself. Next job, unlock some facilities.

He was hoping that, by activating the Foundry, he could have access to additional armor crafting abilities. He especially wanted something to protect his arms. If the Mantid had been just a little off to one side, he could have been severely gouged and game over. Looking at his interface, he currently had 3300 FP. More than enough for unlocking both the Foundry and the extras he would need. He felt he should head there right away, but it was hard to focus. He needed to burn off