Fate/Heroes - Chapter 36

Gray walked down to the kitchen area of his penthouse and frowned when he saw Artemis covered in pancake batter. The rest of the kitchen similarly had splotches of a thick pancake batter covered everywhere, but none were more so doused in the substance than Artemis, whose gaze looked more deadly than her arrow tips.

“What the hell Wally! Just because you can move as fast as a machine, doesn’t mean you are one!”.

The machine for mixing the batter laid in the corner of the kitchen, every part of it covered in the batter, except for the metal spinning rods which were designed to mix the ingredients.

Gray let out a deep sigh which made the rest of the Team aware of his presence.

Wally used his super speed to clean up Gray’s apartment, making the entire kitchen and surrounding areas clean once more, with the exception of Artemis whose gaze further narrowed at the yellow speedster.

The Pseudo-Servant guided the blonde archer towards the bathroom and let the girl clean herself up, the sound of a shower turning on just a minute after Gray left made him realize that the archer didn’t have a change of clothes.

He rubbed his temples once more.

“Can someone please get Miss Crock some clothes? Anyone but Wally”.

Conner and M’gann volunteered to fetch the daughter of Sportsmaster some clothes and vanished down Gray’s elevator quickly heading to the nearest clothing store.

With a glare that could kill, Gray gestured for the members of the Team to sit down at his dining table, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed at the group of teens.

“You guys have to leave. If you need anything in from Lancer than I’m sure he’ll be happy to help. If you need anything from “Gray” say it and then head back to whatever blacksite the League has for you guys”.

Cassie pouted at Gray, hoping to move the young man with her cute expression.

“But it’s so stuffy back at the base. You live in New York City! The city that never sleeps! Shops, restaurants, parks, Broadway, sports! Everything is in this city! Can’t we stay here? Pretty please?”.

Wally and Robin shot an envious glare at Gray, whose narrowed eyes didn’t falter, despite the demigods bursting personality. Kara and Zatanna narrowed their eyes at the niece of Wonder Woman, wondering if the blessing of Aphrodite could be taken away somehow.

“No. This is my house and my land. The entire building is mine and I get a say on who lives here, and who doesn’t”.

The beautiful demigod crossed her arms and showed another pout. This one more angry looking than the previous. Mareena, the princess of Atlantis smiled at her friends antics, but looked at Gray with a reasonable expression.

“So, if we apply to live in the building, it would be possible to pay rent on it?”.

Gray’s eyebrows rose slightly but gestured for the girl to keep going. The metaphysical scent of money could be smelt coming from this conversation.

Mareena smiled but didn’t show any other outward change in emotion.

“I would be correct in saying that you would not have a problem with non-humans living here?”.

Gray nodded.

“And would you prefer cash or card?”.

“Cash”, he said.

Aquagirl glanced at Cassie, Kara, Barbara, Zatanna and Artemis whose voice could be heard from the shower. The daughter of Aquaman smile grew bigger, before she nodded at Gray, placing a large red gem on the table, the size causing Wally’s eyes to widen to epic proportions.

“One Atalantean. One Homo Magi. Two Humans. One Amazonian. One Kryptonian and maybe one Martian. I’ll take the floor below this one for as long as the gem will allow for”.

The more the female members of the Team smiles widened, the more Gray’s smile became crooked and twisted. He was smiling so much that one couldn’t see his eyes, yet it was not a happy expression on his face.

“It would be a shame for the media to find out that a prominent pro-alien supporter would kick out non-humans of his building. Isn’t that right, everybody?”.

The Atalantean received several nods in unison, while Kaldur, Dick and Wally looked at the rich princess with pleading looks in their eyes.

“We’ll only spend our downtime once we’re not on missions and stuff so we won’t be here all the time. And we won’t interfere with Lancers business in New York, so don’t count on us unless the city is in danger or anything. But until then, we’re in your care, Landlord!”.

A formless pressure was pressed down onto the members of the Team, coming from the smiling face of Gray. It was a mixture of killing intent that Lancer had cultivated over the countless years of battle, and could knock out a normal person just by looking into Gray’s eyes.

Those silvery white eyes of his.

“I don’t like being blackmailed Miss Curry, regardless of whether the intent is harmful or without harm. I’ll allow your presence in the floor below mine and the gem should last for the entire year if you plan on paying for all seven of you. It will include access to the facilities of the building, including the gym in the basement which I am working on, as well as the restaurant on the bottom floor.”

“But I just want to let you know, that if you try and bluff me again with the intent of trying to get something from me, trying to stop me from building the school which would bring Earth closer together as a whole….”.

Several floating crimson red spears appeared above the heads of the Team, their tips glowing a crimson neon red. Robin and Batgirl didn’t seem bothered by them, and neither did Kara, Cassie or Zatanna. But Wally, Kaldur and Mareena looked a little peevish in the face of the bloody spears.

“Not even the owner of your fathers spear could stop me. I’ve killed Gods before, and I’ll do it again”.

The pretty platinum blonde nodded and the formless pressure Gray generated completely vanished, a warm and gentle smile replaced the scary one.

“Now…. who likes pancakes?”.

The members of the Team watched as their new Landlord went into his kitchen and pulled out the pre-made pancake batter before the scent of fluffy goodness filled their nose. Mareena sent Kara a subtle glance and the ċhėstnut blonde smiled before whispering,

“Thank you…..”.