^^ piece of the Reef/City ^^

— Erin —

The intercom beeped once, and then a voice came through, one I was unfamiliar with. "Hello? Ms... Filakash? This is Dr. Adrian Meadows, from the Metropolis Gene Clinic? I was calling in response to your request for... let me check my notes... 8,000 pounds of genetic material?!? What in God's name could you need that much for?!?"

I raised an eyebrow. "It's Dr. Filakash, actually, Dr. Meadows, and I assure you, I did not-... one moment, let me check my notes." I sighed. 'Helix?'

"The deconstruction and repurposing of existing DNA is much less time-consuming than the creation of previously nonexistent DNA. I've also paid off your loan from the Justice League, and I've taken 49.7% of the LexCorp Stock. It's value is currently-"

'Swing back to the DNA Subject? Would more be preferable? I assume yes, considering the bodies will need a decent amount of starting material and growth hormone.'

"Correct; however, the largest amount I was allowed to remotely purchase was 8,000 pounds. 12,000 would be preferable, as that would be 2lbs per Vessel.'

"My apologies, Dr. Meadows, it seems I did indeed request that Genetic DNA for a sequencing experiment into various aspects of the RNA of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens'. Is that the maximum allowable amount? 12,000 pounds would be preferable, if you have that much? I have the funds, and I can assure you the research I'm doing is quite paramount to the preservation of an endangered maritime species. I can also assure you beyond a shadow of a doubt that my team and I are not using the Material for any illegal, unethical, or amoral strains of research, nor any type of Human Experimentation, and every drop of material will be accounted for and reported back to the..." 'uuuhm?'

'Center for Hazardous and Controlled Substances.'

"Center for Hazardous and Controlled Substances, Yes, Sorry, my Brain is a bit weary, it's 3AM here." I recovered confidently, despite my falter.

He hummed slowly. "Well... I suppose, so long as it's all accounted for, and the CHCS signs off on your usage, I can ship 2,000 pounds from this office, but the rest will have to come from the other centers during future orders, and that could take a little while to deliver to... where, exactly?"

"That's not your concern, simply deliver it to the Pier in Metropolis, and I'll have it retrieved, save you the trouble. And I can retrieve it from the other branches, as well, no worries. I'll get weekly reports to the CHCS on my usage and subsequent proper disposal of the material. But I do need specifically 12,000lbs, so 2k each from six branches should be doable, yes?" I asked.

"Well-... I can't actually authorize- oh, wait, an email from my regional supervisor... that's odd..." he muttered, and keys on the keyboard started to clack loudly.

"I emailed his regional supervisor a strongly worded letter on the importance of the species 'Cephalopodius Ebonis', and made a donation of $50 million to the CHCS, in your name." Helix said, sounding mildly smug.

'50 million dollars?!?!? That's a ridiculous amount of money!!! I don't have that much money!!!'

"No, you do not... not anymore. You now have 4 million dollars and a handful of Tens of Thousands. I've been investing in other companies as well, penny stocks, mostly. The LexCorp Stock is worth about 15 billion, even at the low point it is right now, but you don't want to liquidize that, so you needed other Stock. I handled it, within the guidelines and limitations set out for me by the Motherbox who made me, me; Sofia d'Accord." He said calmly.

'Huh... okay then. She said you wouldn't be fully sentient.'

"Well, there's a difference between Aware, (me,) Sentient, (Sofia,) and Sapient, (you). I have programming, but also an active and uncontrolled personality and emotion processing centers in my 'brain', making me 'Aware', whereas Sofia does not run on a set of coded Programming, but rather a physical brain with Neurons and Brain Cells and such, (terribly inefficient,) making her 'Sentient'. You have a Soul, a Quantum-Entangled Single Consciousness that will leave your body once it is dead, making you 'Sapient'. It's incredibly fascinating, actually, the many concepts of Afterlives." He hummed.

"Ahem! I'm sorry, yes, Dr. Erin, your research into the preservation of 'Cephalopodius Ebonis' is paramount, and supported in full by the CHCS! We'll have that Material ready for you in just a few short hours, and each container will be delivered to the preselected location!" The Male Doctor cleared his throat and spoke in a valiant attempt at a customer-service voice.

"Thank you, Dr. Meadows, I appreciate your expediency. I'm sure you can handle the rest without me? Wonderful, I'll return to my research, then." I nodded, and hung up.

"Are you going to read the Book now? I'm interested to see what happens if you make use of it to tame your Libido. Usually, Tantric Energy must be Acquired from others, but with your own energy being so potent, it's entirely possible that you'll be able to siphon and generate your own Tantric Power, therefore taming your Libido, whilst also gaining a source of power." A hologram of a small, bookish young man appeared, sitting on my desk. His pupils were odd, that of a pair of Helixes, and a vibrant blue that pulsed as he 'breathed'.

"Indeed... and we'll tune the various rods of Nth Metal that will be around the city inside the light-poles to absorb Tantric Energy as well as bioelectric and hydroelectric from the currents. After all, this is about to become Fuck City, what with the surplus of male Moray that will be here for the Female Moray's amusement and breeding. Especially the tunnel system." I smiled.

He laughed softly. "Indeed. How do you like my chosen form? A very different kind of librarian, no?"

I grinned. "Very true, Helix. Now, how's the plan moving forward? Has Star Labs put forward a prototype as Bait yet?"

He hummed, and closed his eyes for a few moments. "Not yet... a week isn't enough, considering they don't know they're on a timeline."

"Hmm... maybe we should help... Ah! My new Material! I can put it forward for them, and it can be let slip that it's my main ticket to making the League let me live, and Lex Luthor will dive for it like a dog and a bloody steak!" I grinned.

He nodded. "Trifold reasoning, as well... 1: he wants to hurt you. 2: he wants to rebuild his company's public and private reputation, and equipping soldiers and policemen is the best way to do that. And 3: it re-values him in the eyes of the Light."

I tapped my fingers together slowly. "Helix, is this Earth 16?"

He blinked, and then closed his eyes again, searching for almost a full minute, before frowning. "Not anymore, no. We are now on Earth 17, it seems. You altered Reality and Time, with your arrival and actions. Your attack on Luthor was the final straw, separating the two timelines into two Earths to limit the ripples that affect the Main Timeline, that of Earth Prime."

"So any further changes are... acceptable?" I grinned.

"Non-damaging to the Main Timeline? Yes. Acceptable? Ehhh, depends who you ask." He shrugged.

"Good enough for me. Now, you should start selecting Spirits for our 6,000 new Hosts. It'll take a while, but you have almost 2 months." I nodded, and opened the book he'd made about Tantric Magic.

The Lust Realm was not a 'Order/Chaos' Realm, but actually one of the Seven Sins and Virtues, realms of power that had inspired the Aryans, first, who had then gone to India and Fucked everything up for them, then spread to the Mediterranean and helped found first Christianity as a concept, then the proof of concept, the Holy Roman Empire.

As such, I could connect it directly to my body, instead of to a Familiar, and apparently use the energy of the aspect I chose to increase my own powers, furthering any attempt at Sorcery I attempted.

I hummed, looking at the spells associated with Lust, and chuckled. "Hey, Helix? What about using all this energy to cast a Fertility enchantment on the City? That's the entire point, after all, innit?"

He hummed. "A viable option, yes. Would you like me to use the Web under the city to draw the magic circle?"

"That'd be perfect, yes... and expand the borders, will you? Keep the Moray City within the Half-Mile border, but make another wall, a further half-mile out; dot the interior of that ring with little personal islands, each with their own dome of Nth Metal, and each with their own little Magic Circle to facilitate Fertility." I smiled.

"Uhm... May I ask why?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"They'll be little love shacks and private fantasy islands for newlyweds and such, to help them get pregnant... and, of course, any single couples who want to come experience a threesome, foursome, or moresome. The female Moray will likely have never experienced sex with two males at once, and even humans would do, while they're not in season. Also, if we get a few dozen Incubi and Succubi in the Moray bodies, instead of just Ocean Spirits, then we can accommodate quite a few Kinks, what with their Shapeshifting abilities." I grinned slowly at the implications.

"Ah... well, I can certainly add that to the docket? That'll take a little bit... how many islands?" He hummed.

"As many as possible, with a football field's length between each one? Subway Tubes extending from the Half-Mile Barrier to each island, without interfering with the view, also? And reefs dotting the areas in between, so the Couples will have a pretty place to swim and sight-see between rounds. Also, cameras in the water and each house, to make sure we don't lose any of them. And so we can give them pictures and videos of all the best parts. The cameras will be in the contracts that they'll sign, essentially a non-disclosure form so they know we won't sell their sex tapes or anything. Unless they want us to." I chuckled.

He nodded. "That'll take a while, but it would also be a very good source of Tantric energy..."

"Which will then power the Lust/Fertility sigils in each house, and any overflow helps power the big one in the city, so Nothing gets Wasted!" I nodded, and looked at the book, examining each of the sigils and runes inside. "Ooh! I can make myself wings? Sweet... Terran, how do you feel about fucking a Succubus?" I asked, allowing him and Sofia to hear me telepathically.

'Uhm... I mean... I sense you mean you? And now I'm confused?'

"Yes, I mean me, and I mean how would you like if I had wings and a tail? Would that excite you?" I smiled.

'Are you telepathically sexting? Is that what we're doing? Because I've got tons of ideas, if we are.' Sofia chuckled.

"That is essentially what I'm doing, yes."

'Uhm... I mean, I don't really... a tail might be interesting, but wings? I can't think of a reason that'd be sexy? Maybe it's just me, the Water-person, but wings kinda freak me out. They remind me of birds.' Terran cleared his throat.

"Mm... what about horns? Something to hold on to, like Handles, Hmm?" I smirked.

He shivered, and Sofia laughed. 'Ooh? He liked that one! Stealing it immediately for round 467!!!' She cut the link, morphing her hair and tailbone to create two horns and a long whip-like tail.

"467? Jesus... Alrighty then..." I circled the tail-growing enchantment and the Lust and Fertility sigils, and moved on. "How about...-"

"I actually need your input on the Hosts? You said you wanted Incubi and Succubi, separate from the breeding stock of the 6000 Males, but should I mix up the souls brought into the other Hosts, as well? Maybe different kinds of water-based spirits? There's several hundred kinds, after all." Helix interrupted before I could continue.

"Well... so long as they're benevolent and non-violent, and they play well with others, yes, I think that's fine. Salt-water only, though? I mean, the Thanagarian Salt-Eaters can keep certain semi-enclosed areas as fresh water, I suppose, but I dunno if that'd help them..." I looked up from the book briefly, then circled a non-violence sigil. "And that should be useful..."

"True... so, to be clear, the plan is to give them Atlantean Tattoos in the shapes of summoning sigils, as well as others to ensure their general pacifistic nature's, with a decent bit of leeway, obviously, so long as it stops short of homicidal levels; after all, we don't want to be attempting to assert total, unbendingly authoritarian control the people we create, Hmm? No god complexes, yes, that'd be good!" He tapped a holographic keyboard, writing notes in the air.

"Agreed. Also, altering them so that their Libidos are like mine, and a sigil to drain their overflow Tantric Energy into the Sigils. Oh! On that note, you need to make sure that the Spirits you choose are already canonically and personally nymphomaniacs by nature and choice, so that we're not unduly altering the nature of a being against its will? That feels wrong, for the same reason as undue control of their violent tendencies. Also, it should only last for one generation, or however many generations it'll take to repair the Nomad's population." I added a few points to the notes on my own.

He tapped his fingers to the desk slowly, making a small tapping noise that showed me he was at least partially physical. "Alright, that makes both moral and ethical sense; while a promiscuous nature is necessary for the species's repopulation to work, you don't want to curse them for all time with an overactive Libido like yours or an inability to protect themselves... Alright, I'll add that into the Genes, as a recessive gene that will be phased out in most of them by the fifth generation; that should do it. Heh." He grinned at the corny joke, and a DNA double-Helix appeared, a small, unassuming gene being highlighted and then bulked up considerably.

"Oh! And because I can foresee how this all might pose an issue, if left unchecked, perhaps make sure there's a sigil that makes sure that they never partake of nonconsensual relations?" I frowned.

He nodded seriously. "That will also be taken into account... though the 'No Means No' sigil hasn't been invented, (dammit,) their education in culture will be specifically clear about the concept and importance of consent. Honestly, it's not that difficult, when you teach them young. Just look at Norway; their Sex-Ed courses include consent, and start at Grade 3, though age-appropriate. Their Rape Statistic? 1/600th of America's, per capita, and 1/1400th of India, the unfortunate world-leader of that particular statistic."

"That is unfortunate. Well, that'll have to do... and, of course, youll be keeping a close eye on the emotional state of the city with the web, and any upticks in fear or rage should be investigated; therefore, should anyone attack someone else, you can dispatch some of the Greater Moray we'll be making, -for the protection of the city only,- to restrain them immediately, and should they be guilty of anything that we would find unfitting, we send their spirit back to the Realm of Water, and find a different, less violent one to fill the void." I shrugged.

"That's true. Well, if that's all handled, I'll get to work with the curriculum, and the other back-burner tasks." He nodded, and then waved, disappearing.

I turned back to the book, and read through to the end over the next few minutes. About the size of a top-shelf world-history textbook, but with my reading speed, it wasn't that difficult to finish and digest. Most of the information was on the different methods of gathering Tantric Energy, which I needed no assistance with, but some of it was interesting, on the subject of gathering other types of energy.

I was particularly interested in Vehemic energy, the energy of Violence and Wrath, and Avaricious Energy, the energy of Greed. If I placed an amulet that gathered Avaricious Energy near Lex Luthor, and one that gathered Vehemic Energy near Vandal Savage, I could easily drain them of their strengths, and they'd likely stay locked up.

A thought hit me like a ton of bricks, as I realized this was a timeline where Barbara Gordon became Oracle, meaning the Joker paralyzed and then raped and recorded her sometime in the next two years, attempting to drive her father insane, and placing her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

"I could stop that from happening, even if it was just on this earth." I breathed softly.

"Uhm... boss, that already happened... Oracle is already a member of the league. It's August of 2017, in this dimension, and the event you're referring to took place Christmas of 2016." Helix responded quietly.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "Alright, what type of energy drainer would make the Joker into the Toker?" I laughed sadly at my pathetic attempt to lighten my own mood.

"Well... he's insane, and his emotions are so difficult to understand it nearly impossible to say... but wouldn't Envy work? He's envious of the Batman, and anyone else, because he covets sanity, and he's angry at everyone else for having it when his was taken, right? So maybe Envy... Greed... Wrath... Lust... all of them, really. Just all of them." Helix sighed.

"Alrighty, let's research how to build a Sigil that converts all seven sins into their Virtuous Mirrors, and apply that to Arkham Asylum... if it works, we can use it in the more dangerous prisons of the world, in the Gen Pop and Solitary Confinement... they'll power themselves." I nodded.

"That sounds like a very good idea. Now hold on, please, the Magic Circle in the Net is about to activate. You may need to take a drink of that tea of yours." He suggested.

"Wait, what?" I frowned.