Mod Superhero

Chapter 7.62 - Midas 3

Midas paced the deck of his requisitioned flagship with increasing irritation.

There were things that needed to happen that were not happening, and things that were happening that were not happening fast enough.

In the not happening category were things like Magnus Venture dying a gruesome, painful death. There were similar bullet points for his two young wards.

In the not happening fast enough category were things like the destruction of the Resistance and the restructuring of the Allied States government. Since the Resistance started, only a handful of the traitors had been caught or killed. Far too few for Midas. It should've been quick and easy. Instead...

Midas pushed the thought aside and tried to control his temper. If he thought too long about the Resistance, another servant biomech would meet an untimely end.

Across the room, a cleaner bot swept up the crumpled remains of one such servant mech. As the tiny bot pushed the scrap down the hall, metal scraped against the floor. Another bot followed behind it and mopped up the rainbow of leaking fluids.

In a few seconds, the floor would look like nothing had ever happened. In a few hours, the wreckage would be repurposed, the mech rebuilt, a new brain inserted. And a few minutes after that, another serving mech would come back to pester him. Eventually, Midas would destroy that one too.

This cycle of destruction and rebuilding had become somewhat routine for Midas. The technopath wasn't sure exactly when it had started—sometime after the destruction of Vault Alpha. There were other things he could've done—drugs or exercise, or drinking like Savanus; maybe he could kill one of the many prisoners in Brotherhood custody. One that may or may not be associated with the Resistance. But that would no doubt catch up to him and result in more questions and paperwork than it was worth.

Destroying the servant mechs was the only appropriate release valve for his fury. Their frames were metal, but those broke just the same as real bones, and they bled fluid and brain matter almost like a human. Besides, Savanus could make more biomechs. She didn't seem limited by scrap metal or cloned brains, and she didn't care how many he destroyed.

Midas tried to console himself that at least the restructuring of the Allied States was happening—

Even if it was far slower than he would've liked.

Between the Menagerie's hive-mind and the Brotherhood's surveillance, they'd either assimilated or blackmailed enough politicians to have a supermajority in the House and Senate, as well as control of the President's cabinet and the Supreme Court. Now, it was just a matter of changing a few laws and whittling away at holdouts in the lower offices.

It was going to be a new era—one in which the true superheroes ran things. Midas thought about the Summit of Heroes, the mages' guilds, the vampires, and all the so-called heroes and villains... They only had a seat at the table because they had powers.

Fools—all of them.

Superpowers didn't matter anymore. Technology mattered. With Bastion and the drone fleet, Midas could rule the world.

He wouldn't rule alone, of course. He was benevolent enough that a few other handpicked technocrats would serve as advisors and underlings. He'd already refined his list of like-minded inventors, CEOs, and authoritarian-minded politicians.

This new era would be ruled by the rightful heirs. Ones with vision and intelligence that would rule with an iron fist. Technology would propel them, make them immortal, and give them power beyond reproach. Their reign would be absolute and never-ending.