Chapter 278 Matters.

Chapter 278: 278 Matters.

"C’mon, boss," Psyren cooed, her glowing eyes wide and pleading. "I was a very good girl today. Don’t I get my treat?"

"Oh, fine," I sighed, finally dropping the stern facade as a smile broke across my face. "We’ll have some fun just as soon as I finish up the administrative prep work for tomorrow."

"Woooo!" Psyren cheered, throwing her arms up in the passenger seat. She was beaming so hard that a literal, glowing pink halo of psychokinetic energy flickered to life around her head.

I shook my head, chuckling as I focused on the winding mountain road, pressing my foot a little heavier on the gas pedal.

Sure, I played the hard-ass boss at work. But honestly? I was just as excited as she was to get back to the master suite and blow off some steam.

Soon enough, the heavy iron gates of the chalet rose out of the dense pine trees as we rounded the final corner. The estate was an imposing, gothic fortress at the best of times, and it certainly looked the part today.

I eased the Cruiser to a halt at the main gate. The heavy security speaker mounted on the stone pillar immediately crackled to life.

"License and registration, please," demanded the perky, infinitely smug voice of my resident evil genius, Rhea.

"Haha. Very funny. Open the gate, Rhea."

"Aw. You’re no fun," Rhea whined through the static. But with a heavy, metallic groan, the massive iron gates swung wide, and I piloted the armored car up the winding driveway toward the main house.

To reach the garage, I had to carefully navigate around the massive central fountain, which currently featured a brand-new, two-story ice sculpture of myself looming menacingly over the front lawn, my heavy iron boot firmly planted on a cracked, frozen model of the Earth.

I sighed deeply. I really wished Glacia would pick up watercolor painting, or maybe knitting. But she always seemed to carve out time to sculpt a brand-new monument to my ego every single week.

And since it was technically excellent target practice for her cryokinetic powers (and, if I was being entirely honest, incredibly flattering), I never formally objected.

Speaking of my second-in-command, I spotted Glacia standing at absolute attention on the stone steps of the chalet, her hands officiously clasped behind her back.

Despite the sweltering afternoon heat, she was dressed in her pristine, pure-white winter coat. Her icy blue eyes brightened noticeably the second I stepped out of the Cruiser.

And by now, I very much did exactly that.

"Glacia," I said, walking up the steps to meet her. "How are things holding down the fort?"

"Excellent, sir," she replied with a crisp nod. "And how was your corporate meeting?"

"Went well. Right, Psyren?"

"I got new hot pants to try out!" Psyren announced, popping out of the passenger side and slamming the heavy door. "Literally, the hottest of pants."

"I am quite sure they will look excellent on you," Glacia said without missing a beat.

"They are gonna look even better getting aggressively taken off," Psyren noted gleefully.

Glacia offered a small, surprisingly indulgent smile. I had been incredibly nervous at first about managing a household with multiple powerful, highly lethal women who were all actively vying for my attention, but the girls had somehow negotiated a functional, bloodless dynamic.

It definitely kept my schedule completely packed, though.

While we were talking, Nibbles made a sudden appearance. The creature bounded aggressively out of the rosebushes, slavering with absolute, unhinged happiness as it bolted toward Psyren.

"Nibbles!" Psyren cried out, eagerly scooping up the horrifying little monster. "How’s mommy’s favorite boy? Hmm? How is my precious little crime against the natural order? How’s my cutie?"

Ugh. I watched her pet and affectionately nuzzle the writhing, multi-eyed creature with deep, unfiltered loathing. I still hated that thing.

I turned my attention back to Glacia to spare my sanity. "Anything new on the docket?"

"Yes, sir," Glacia said, falling perfectly into step beside me as I headed for the heavy oak doors. "Regarding the freelancers."

"The new villains?"

"Yes. The candidates we officially decided to try out for the expanding syndicate."

Honestly, I was never cut out for the grueling, nitty-gritty administrative nightmare of running a massive evil organization.

Paperwork was, and always would be, the absolute bane of my existence. Not to mention the payroll taxes. You want to talk about true, unadulterated evil? Yeesh.

Fighting the Five in a burning building completely paled in comparison to enduring an audit from the IRS.

Fortunately, Glacia had proven herself terrifyingly adept at the whole ’hyper-competent evil right-hand woman’ routine.

Which made perfect sense, seeing as she was raised from birth as the sole heir to one of the biggest supervillains on the planet.

"Right. That project," I said, loosening my tie as we entered the grand, shadowed foyer. "How did we do?"

Glacia fetched a sleek, encrypted tablet from inside her coat and flicked the screen on. "I have been in direct contact with the specific villains you selected from the preliminary interviews.

"A formalized training session to further winnow down the applicant pool has been officially scheduled for two days from now. You have no major contracts between now and then, so it seemed the ideal window in your schedule."

I took the tablet from her, genuinely impressed. I shouldn’t have been surprised by Glacia’s terrifying competency by now, but she always found a way to outdo herself.

I flicked through the attached personnel files, recognizing most of the freaks and weirdos after a second glance. It was incredibly tough work selecting reliable talent in this specific industry.

"I have also drafted a standardized employment contract with the direct legal assistance of Lilith, sir," Glacia added, tapping the bottom corner of the glowing screen. "Should you care to review it."

"A contract?"

"Rules and stipulations by which your new villains shall strictly abide, or they will be immediately cut loose from the syndicate."

I had absolute, unwavering confidence in the legal section. Being a literal demon from the pits of hell, Lilith was a foundational expert in predatory legal jargon. It heavily helped that her species basically invented the Latin language.

I quickly scanned through the dense contract, nodding in immediate approval. There were some incredibly solid, iron-clad conditions in there.

I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to transition into running a specialized temp agency for costumed megalomaniacs, but that specific role seemed to be barreling toward me like a runaway freight train strapped to a damsel on the tracks.

Oh, Glacia had even structured a comprehensive benefits package. Nice.

Truth be told, supervillains always offered fantastic benefits to their minions on paper.

The massive catch was that the healthcare usually came directly through a mad scientist’s unhinged laboratory.

Sure, free, comprehensive dental coverage sounded amazing during orientation, but then you went into the clinic for a routine cavity and woke up with an automated steel bear trap bolted to your jaw.

Or you went in to get your appendix removed and found yourself grafted to a prehensile alligator tail. And you absolutely, positively did not want to know what happened if you needed a routine prostate exam.

Spoiler alert: it almost always involved surgically implanted venom sacks.

"This looks fantastic," I noted, handing the tablet back to her.

"Thank you, sir," Glacia said, preening just a fraction under the praise. "With this binding framework, we will be completely assured of retaining a highly disciplined roster of excellent villains."

"Absolutely," I agreed.

"And there is one other pressing matter, sir," she added, her icy tone dropping just a degree.