The Protagonist System

258 Cementing Loyalty

I still had to wait another two days for the cement to harden, since I couldn't openly cheat with magic to set it faster. The most I could do was pre-build a few of the downstairs walls to put into place when it was ready, so that's what I did. I took a break for lunch when it was time and returned to the trailer, only for lunch to be made already.

“We hope you like it, master.” One of the more humanoid looking demon slaves said and bowed deeply.

“Which one of you poisoned it?” I asked without needing to check first and three of them gasped and looked guilty.

“HOW COULD YOU?!?” One of the monstrous ones that looked more like a pterodactyl yelled and tackled one of them to the ground, which started them all fighting.

“He saved us from decades of torture!” The prettiest one said and punched the jaw of a gargoyle-like demon. “Even me! The hideous one!”

Yeah, I definitely have an uphill battle ahead of me. I thought and watched as they fought, glad that I had already cast protection charms on everything. I mean, they're demons and probably have never been around normal things before, so stopping them from breaking everything or tearing everything up with their clawed hands and feet was a must.

I sat down and started eating the food. Since my danger sense wasn't going off, I knew there was nothing inside that was going to hurt me. I had just guessed right about how a demon freed from prison was going to act to try and free themselves from their new master.

The fighting slowed down and then stopped when the three perpetrators had been beaten and tied up. The other seven slaves looked satisfied at a job well done and then gasped when they looked at me for approval and saw I had eaten half of the meal already.

“Master, no!” The pterodactyl shouted and lunged forward to knock the food out of my reach.

I gently caught the edge of her hand that was actually a part of her wing. “Thank you for your concern, Yahcheth.” I said and she looked shocked, then she blushed. “It'll take more than a little poisoning to do me in.”

Yahcheth let out a little squawk, almost a protest, and didn't try to pull her hand out of mine. “How do you know my name?”

“I know all your names.” I said and ignored the surprised sounds from the others as I kept eating. When I was finished, I stood and kept hold of her hand. “Now, I know you all kept and hid the food I set out for breakfast, so I have to insist you all sit down and actually eat lunch.”

They all looked surprised and then guilty. I didn't have to use telepathy to know the were squirrelling away food to save for when I punished them and decided they would starve for a while. Since I was never going to do that, I took out something I hadn't used in a long while. Army rations.

A quick lesson on how to work the things, which had all ten demons in awe at creating nearly instant meals, and they all chowed down on the delicious food. I made sure to give them all two meals each, from the smallest near human one to the large gargoyle, just so there would be no complaints of favoritism.

I also set out an entire crate of the rations at the side of the kitchen. “I'm just going to leave this here for no reason.” I said and walked over to the sink and washed my hands. “I'm going back out to keep working on our future home.”

I ignored the sounds of cracking wood as I dried my hands on a towel. When I turned around to go to the door, I was not surprised to see that the crate was completely empty. Not one of the demons could look at me or at the clearly mauled crate, making me chuckle. I also noticed that the three poisoners were free. Despite their attempted murder of me, their fellow demon slaves were not going to let them starve.

I left the trailer to go back to work and Martha pulled up in the old truck. Before I could greet her, Illyana jumped out of the passenger side and ran over to me.

“You have to save me!” Illyana exclaimed and jumped into my arms, then she half-turned and pointed back at the truck. “She's a demon spawn straight from the depths of Limbo!”

Emma giggled as she hopped out of the truck and waved at me. “Lia's funny!”

I had to hold in my laugh and saw my mom was in the same state.

“Last night was quite an adventure.” Martha admitted and picked the little munchkin up.

Illyana shivered and hugged me tightly. “Don't make me go back there! I swear I'll behave! I swear!”

A touch of telepathy let me know what happened. “Teddy Bear Tea Party?”

“With a Disney movie marathon.” Martha informed me and Emma clapped.

Yeah, that'll do it. I thought and laughed, unable to hold it in anymore. All the cuteness would have been torture for someone raised around the rough and tumble demons. “I'm just building the outside walls for when the basement's set.”

“We're here to watch and I'd like the story of how you found a teenager wherever it was you went last night.” Martha said and glanced at the little girl in her arms. “Sanitized, of course.”

I nodded and we piled into the golf cart I bought to help me go through my greehouses.

“I really should have Johnathan get one of these things, too.” Martha said and sat in the back seat with Emma.

“I'll pop by in the morning with the tractor to flatten out the farm trails and he can't use that as an excuse not to.” I responded and Martha patted my shoulder.@@novelbin@@

“He'll never use it.” Martha said, a little defeated.

“It's not for him, anyway.” I said and glanced back at her and Emma.

Martha smiled and nodded. She could use the thing whenever she wanted and didn't have to rely on the old beat up truck, even if I had fixed it years ago to never break down and it barely used any gas.

Illyana climbed into the passenger side and gave the golf cart weird looks. “What is this thing?”

“It's technically a miniature car.” I said and eased the pedal down and we started rolling forward with barely a sound.

Illyana grabbed onto the seat and looked surprised. “How is this thing moving? I don't hear an engine or anything! Is it magic?”

Emma giggled from the back seat.

“You can explain it to her later.” Martha said as we rode along the long driveway to the back of my property. “What happened and how did you get so many people living with you?”

I did not ask her how she knew there were more people living in the trailer, attributing it to mom powers and leaving it at that. “It's a bit of a long story and starts with people playing with things they shouldn't be playing with.”

“That's not fair.” Emma said and pouted. “My scissors didn't work and I needed mommy's.”

“I'm glad I got to you in time to stop you from cutting up anything else besides my favorite catalogue.” Martha said.

“I wanted those pretty horsies and daddy won't buy them for me. Why can't I have the pictures?” Emma asked.

“I told you we need to wait for Clark to finish his farm before we can talk about bringing horses here.” Martha said with a sigh, because she was tired of explaining it all the time.

“But I want horsies now!” Emma demanded, petulantly.

“The most I can do is give you more plushies and toys.” I said to placate her.

“OKAY!” Emma yelled, back to her happy self.

“From the depths of Limbo.” Illyana whispered and shivered.

I chuckled a little and started to tell an edited version of what happened the night before. A discreet muffle spell was applied to Emma's ears, just in case, too. She did not need to know about those kinds of things for a long time to come.

*

Yahcheth used her best stealth technique to continue watching her new master. She was deeply in love with the ugly thing and didn't wonder why, because his magic sang to her and the container didn't matter. It was the most beautifully haunting tune she had ever heard that she was enamored with him from the very first moment they had been magically bonded.

“You're drooling.” Poludara whispered. She was the most pinkish of them and could pass for a human when necessary. As long as they disguised her horns and painted her claws, the humans were too dumb to notice she wasn't one of them.

“I can't help it.” Yahcheth whispered back. “Did you hear his tale? He brought only a tiny force to fight against the Ursurper and killed all three of his sons. I want to have at least one clutch of his babies when he bids us to expand his demonic forces.”

Polundara shook her head. “He said his breeding pit won't be done for a few days and I doubt either of us will be the first.”

Yahcheth sighed. “Dimetara and Ajatha are the largest and toughest.”

Polundara softly laughed. “You could always challenge one of them for the right to breed first.”

Yahcheth hugged herself with her wings. “I'm brave, not stupid. I wouldn't last more than two blows before they tore my wings to make me hurt and then finished me off.”

Polundara nodded and patted her back. “At least you had the honor of being the first he touched.”

“His hand stubs even caressed my dewclaw!” Yahcheth said, happily. “Do you think he likes my wings? Maybe he'll heal my severed tendons and let me fly and I can take him with me, too!”

“Shhh!” Polundara hissed and they both had to duck behind bags of unused cement when the older human glanced over at them.

“Sorry.” Yahcheth whispered. “I can't help getting excited with all this fresh air and no brimstone dust clogging my lungs.”

“I know what you mean.” Polundara whispered back and they both stuck their heads up to keep watching their master. “It almost hurts how clean things are here.”

“It's almost paradise.” Yahcheth said, barely above a breath. “We have food we don't have to fight over. Water whenever we want. A magic window that shows things from all over the world...”

“The only thing missing is the breeding pit.” Polundara added and Yahcheth nodded.

Both of their eyes went to the large wooden structure that would be where they were going to live in a few days, their very own breeding pit. It was called a basement in this realm for some reason, making the demons wonder why humans thought they always had the right to rename things.

Their eyes went back to their master and both had similar thoughts about the man that had rescued them. Perhaps it wouldn't be too disgusting to allow a non-demon to breed them, as long as his protuberance was large enough to let them feel it. The last thing they wanted was to feel disappointed when it was their turn to birth the first generation of The Demonic Army of Atlas.

*

I had to laugh as Emma pretty much dragged Illyana into the truck to take her home. She wasn't super strong or anything; but, Illyana didn't want to hurt her or her feelings and let herself be dragged away.

“I promise it's only for another two days.” I told her and waved.

“We'll be back to visit again tomorrow.” Martha promised as well and Illyana didn't look as devastated as they drove away.

“Most people wouldn't want to temper their weapons by using others.” The large gargoyle named Dimetara said when I entered the trailer. “How can you guarantee the right results if you don't do it yourself?”

“Trust and knowledge.” I answered. “I know exactly what Magik is going through, because I went through it myself and my mother will make sure it won't be too painful for her.”

That comment had all of the demon slaves exchange looks and a few whispers. There was a little jealousy and one comment about why the upstart was getting preferential treatment.

“It's because she's mostly human and can fit in with only a little adjustment.” I said and looked at Polundara. “I would have sent you as well if I didn't know you have no experience with what living like a human was like.”

“I would have had more training?” Polundara asked, surprised.

I nodded. “You will have more training, as soon as you all become more used to living here on Earth instead of Lleh and whatever Lord Dormammu's dimension is called.”

That had them chitter and whisper a lot, too. Apparently, learning to be more stealthy was a valuable goal for all of them.

“For now, I'll have supper and then we can sit and talk for a while. When it's late enough, we're going on our first mission.” I told them.

Most of them gasped and a couple of them said they weren't ready.

“Don't worry. I wouldn't bring you anywhere if I didn't think you were ready for it.” I reassured them and most of them relaxed, except for the three that had tried to poison me yesterday. Their thoughts were about them meeting their end during the mission to allow me to easily dispose of them. “What are your thoughts about ninjas?”

All of them growled, even the humanoid ones.

“They all need to die in a fire.” Dimetara said, her stone-like mouth simmering with some hellfire. “They've killed scores of my brethren with their swinging from hooks and lines, assassination attempts, and even their training.”

I had to smile at that. “Then you're going to love tonight's mission. We're going after a group called The Hand that has a recruitment station in New York.”

“That doesn't sound fun.” Ajatha said with a grunt of disappointment.

“It might not start out that way, I agree.” I said and they looked surprised. “However, we're going to raid them and find out who funds them, then follow the trail back to their headquarters. If there's time before morning, we'll sack it and take everything they have, which will give us the information to track down all of their members. If not, we'll go there tomorrow night first thing and then we'll work every night until we wipe them all out.”

The ten demons exchanged looks, nodded, and turned to me and bowed. “We are yours to command, master.” They said as one and then stood up and cheered. “Death to the ninja! Consume their souls! Burn everything they have to the ground!”

I may have underestimated how bloodthirsty for fighting that female demons were in comparison to the males. I thought as the demons hugged, cheered, and pledged the first heartblood would be given to the best master they've ever known.

I ate supper while they celebrated and eventually calmed down. I then made them eat and we all went into the living room to talk and to get to know one another. It was a little weird to try and have a normal conversation with demons that had no idea what small talk was or cared about why I wanted to get to know them.

However, I was their master and they tried to do what I wanted, which included letting me touch them and healing them of all their injuries. Most of them wanted to keep the superficial scars, though. They didn't complain about anything, because they had to wait until nightfall anyway when we would head out to plunder The Hand for everything they were worth.

As a last thought before we left on the mission, I stepped over to the guest room at the Kent Farm and saw a horrified and still wide awake Illyana Rasputin being cuddled like a teddy bear by Emma. I slipped her out and put a life-size plush of her in her place, so Emma wouldn't notice the difference.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Illyana breathed and hugged me tightly.

“We're going on a mission...” I started to whisper.

“Yes!” Illyana hissed quietly. “A million times, yes!”

I nodded and stepped with her back to where I had gathered the ten demonic slaves. After talking with them all, I found out their preferred clothing, armor, and weapons, so that's what each of them had. They all looked inordinately pleased and eager to put them to use.

“Atlas, I need my powers to make...” Illyana stopped talking when her soul sword appeared in her hand and she stared at it, because she hadn't manifested her corrupted armor.

“Allow me.” I said and transfigured her clothing into a similar shape and function as what her whole body would look like if she was fully corrupted by her demonic powers.

Illyana looked down at the full suit of armor with gratitude and looked at my face. She held her sword up and crossed it over her chest as a salute. “You... are my... master.” She admitted, reluctantly. As she did so, power flowed between us and her sword glowed brightly. “What... what is...”

“Acknowledging Master doubles your power.” Yahcheth said and spread her healed wings. “Tonight, WE FLY!”

The demons cheered and lifted up off of the ground, even the nearly normal one. Illyana gave me a searching look.

“It was the only thing they asked for.” I said in my defense and held a hand out to her. “Do you want to ride along or use your own transport disc?”

Illyana put her sword away and took my hand. “I need to converse my power for the fight.”

I took her hand and we rose up into the air to join the group of demons.

“To New York!” I ordered and pointed.

“TO NEW YORK!” They shouted and we took off at a speed that defied physics, thanks to magic.

Tonight, the group known as The Hand would be slapped down hard.