Solomon Damonet felt incredibly foolish. When Mephisto's avatar met him in the school laboratory, the old devil had already hinted at his animosity toward Marduk and even mentioned the "Son of Satan." Back then, Solomon had played it cool and brushed it off, not bothering to probe further. What he hadn't realized was that Mephisto's scheming had dragged both him and the lunatic Marduk into the same trap. Regardless of who won or lost, Mephisto would walk away unscathed and victorious. He might even use the situation to ignite a war between Hell and the Abyss, solving Hell's inflation problem in the process.
No matter how the events unfolded, Mephisto would emerge as the winner.
Solomon mulled over the situation, trying to find a way to break free from the devil's manipulations. But Mephisto had left no visible openings. Even if there seemed to be an obvious flaw in his plan, Solomon assumed it was just another baited trap, and stepping into it would lead to far worse consequences.
Of course, no one else was aware of Solomon's troubles. For most Americans, the biggest crisis right now was the fact that the President of the United States had been kidnapped. Police departments in every major city were overwhelmed with calls, as the terrorists broadcast a live feed showing the President about to be burned at the stake. The streets were in chaos, with people spreading doomsday theories and claiming the terrorists were an instrument of divine punishment—only to be promptly arrested.
However, these arrested individuals didn't remain in custody for long. The temporary jails in police stations couldn't accommodate so many people, and the prisons were reserved for actual criminals. The doomsayers, though annoying, posed no real threat. So, they were released, much to everyone's relief.
The chaos was worst in New York City, where Police Commissioner George Stacy was arguably the most stressed man in the entire country. In fact, he might well be the unluckiest police commissioner in America. Just a few days earlier, there had been a series of murders near Mount Athena's orphanage. The police had found bloodstains but no bodies, not even murder weapons.
Then, as if that weren't bad enough, the police department's records room was broken into. All the security cameras went offline that night, the locks on the doors remained intact, and yet the case files on those murders vanished without a trace. Even the hard drives of the computers in the records room were burned. The perpetrator left no clues, and no one had any idea how they pulled it off.
And now, just as Commissioner Stacy began investigating those incidents, the President had been kidnapped. The entire country was in turmoil (except for the impoverished neighborhoods, where people didn't care who the President was). The NYPD was receiving emergency calls every few minutes. Petty thefts seemed trivial by comparison, as many shops had been looted by impromptu protest groups. These groups included human rights activists, religious sects, racists, and even animal rights organizations. No one knew why an environmental group joined the fray, but apparently, they were protesting the terrorists for burning barrels of oil and polluting the environment.
It was as though every societal nerve had been touched at once. Various groups poured into the streets to march, and even the police couldn't stop them. Left with no better options, George Stacy deployed armed officers to separate the demonstrators, hoping to prevent clashes between the different groups.
That was all the NYPD could manage. But despite their best efforts, fights inevitably broke out between opposing protest groups. Commissioner Stacy found himself constantly dealing with emergencies while trying to shoo away third-rate reporters who lacked access to firsthand information about the President's kidnapping.
Sixteen hours had passed since the President was abducted. The terrorists periodically released videos of President Ellis, who was suspended mid-air by two iron chains, with massive barrels of oil beneath him. At the designated time, the barrels would be set on fire, and flames would engulf everything above them.
Peaceful New York City had turned into anything but.
"This is quite the spectacle," Solomon remarked, standing on the rooftop of a tall building. With a pair of binoculars, he observed the various protest groups scattered across the city. He extended his free hand, and a warm, paper-wrapped item was placed in his palm. "Care for a bite, Dr. Maya Hansen?" he asked, putting down the binoculars and taking a bite out of the Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich he was holding. "I bought several. Chicago beef sandwiches are a must-try delicacy."
"You don't need to use my full name and title," Maya Hansen replied with a frown. "You still haven't told me why you saved me. By all accounts, I should be dead. Yet here I am, without even a scar."
"You'll need to understand what your future boss does for a living, Doctor," Solomon said politely. "My time is limited, and I can't learn every piece of knowledge in the world. But I have a pressing need for your expertise in virology. That's why I sought you out. Don't worry—you'll be paid, though you'll need to take on a new identity. Maya Hansen is officially dead, and the military won't hesitate to use you as a scapegoat."
"What do you want me to do?" Maya asked with a bitter smile. "Do you want Extremis?"
"No. Something else," Solomon replied, ignoring her sarcastic tone. "Diseases caused by viruses, those caused by bacteria—I need your help to create them. Let me put it this way: I'm not much different from Killian. I, too, will create a group of enhanced individuals. The difference is that these people will also have minor magical abilities. They'll be my assassins, my shadows, gathering intelligence and eliminating my enemies. Your role will be to engineer the viruses that grant them immunity, monitor their vital signs, and oversee the entire experiment. My alchemical mutation potions do have side effects, after all."
"Alright, boss magician," Maya said, emboldened. "What's your endgame? World domination?"
"That's not on my to-do list at the moment," Solomon replied with a shrug. "My enemies aren't from the material plane—they're from outer dimensions, hidden cults, and black magic creatures. Devils, nightmares, beasts, and all kinds of entities that pose a threat to humanity are my foes. I'm in the middle of a war against devils, and I need manpower."
"Sounds noble. Can I know more?"
"You're quite curious," Solomon noted, lowering the binoculars and glancing at the disheveled virologist. "Yet you didn't seem the least bit surprised when I opened a portal."
"I should be dead already. I should be in hell," Maya said, shaking her head with a scoff. "I know what I've done. I assumed everything I saw was just a hallucination before death."
"In that case, you should eat something," Solomon said, discarding the sandwich wrapper. "I spent quite a bit of diamonds to bring you back, so at least make sure your digestive system is working fine. Don't look so down—you'll get to learn things you've never encountered before, like alchemy."
"Can I ask you a question?" Maya said.
"Go ahead."
"How many people are in your organization?"
"Uh… The one I belong to has plenty of spellcasters. But the one I'm founding, which operates in the mundane world…"
"And?"
"For now… you're the only human member."
"What does that mean?"
"There's also a homunculus. She handles the management side of things."
"Alright," Maya said with a faint smile. "A boss who can bring the dead back to life, mysterious contracts, and portals that lead anywhere—I'd say my day has been quite eventful."
"Oh, it's about to get even more exciting," Solomon said, opening a portal. "You're about to see an organization that has shaped human history. It has thousands of years of legacy, with members like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tesla, and even Howard Stark. Now, its legacy belongs to me. You'll have access to all its knowledge. What I've uncovered so far is just the tip of the iceberg."
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! Only $5 per novel or $15 for all!!] [[email protected]/Mutter]
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]