He was a conqueror of worlds. A general of Apokolips. One of Darkseid's chosen elites.
He was Steppenwolf, and he would not be caged by this perfidious—
"Ah, dammit!"
Mortal hands, hands he would have crushed for the mere sin of touching him, gripped this cursed body like iron.
Steppenwolf writhed with all his might. As a New God, he could shatter the earth and crack the sky, but now...
Fat, short, stubby legs kicked uselessly in the air.
Wrath flooded his mind at this mere mortal daring to treat him like a pet.
Filled with nothing but fury, Steppenwolf opened his mouth, ready to swear this mortal to endless agony and enslavement on Apokolips.
"Yip! Yip! Yip!"
"Ooo, aren't you so cute? Heh, makes me want to steal you away from the boss." The mortal man prattled on, making strange faces that no doubt were meant to mock him. "Unfortunately, rules are rules. Gotta stay in your area, lil Fatty."
He was deposited once more into the small plastic pen.
After hours of effort, after finally getting that damn door open, he was back again in this chamber of untold torture and humiliation.
"I'll leave your favorite as an apology, Fatty."
The mortal poured something into a food bowl and gave a little wave before walking away.
A heap of some wet meat slop, fit only for the lowest of creatures, was placed before him.
How dare they! He would dine on this planet's screams and fill the air with their agony for this disrespect.
Saliva leaked from his mouth.
This accursed body. He had humiliated himself enough already. He would not...
The scent of meat drifted up to his nose, and his stomach rumbled with hunger.
Perhaps... one bite. He would need to maintain his strength if he were to escape this blasted place.
Reluctantly, Steppenwolf lowered his head and dug into the slop. The fact that it tasted so good only humiliated him further.
No matter. It did not matter what form he wore. He would always be—
"Enjoying the food, Fatty?"
Steppenwolf's head snapped up.
You!
It was you who caused this.
"Yip!"
He lunged to attack, but all that came of it was his tiny body scratching uselessly at the pen.
"Cute. Sorry, I interrupted your meal." The wretched mortal who had caused all this overlooked him, no doubt ready to torture him. "I got you something as an apology. You'll love it."
In his hands was some strange doll, shaped like one of this planet's beasts.
Hmph. How dare he think Steppenwolf would succumb to whatever weak torture device that was?
He would endure any such thing and then inflict it back upon him a thousandfold.
A squeak echoed as the man shook the doll.
Why... why could his mind not look away? Why did it seem so tantalizing?
Another squeak came as the man shook it from side to side.
No. No, what strange sorcery was this?
A third squeak left his body rigid and tense.
It could not be. He was not this weak. It could not...
"Fetch!"
The doll flew through the air, and his body launched after it before he could stop himself.
Nooooo!
"Yip! Yip!"
—
I watched the dog clumsily run after the little squeaky toy I'd gotten him.
The fat Chow Chow puppy tried to savage the doll, but it was so much bigger than he was that all he could really do was drag it around in a slow, pathetic little struggle.
Heh. Cute.
Sometimes I could almost forget he was some alien god.
Keeping him in my room had absolutely been the right call. Looking at his dopey face was a much-needed stress reliever after dealing with the four idiot stooges and those dumbass cops.
Unfortunately, I couldn't stay all day and harass my polymorphed prisoner, no matter how much I wanted to.
People trying to kill me were, regrettably, not something I could just ignore, no matter how badly the attempt had gone.
I turned and left my room, then strode toward my office with Simmy trailing behind me. A few people in the halls either gawked or nodded their heads at me, which normally would've entertained me a lot more, but, well...
After getting out of jail and interrogating the rest of the corrupt cops with Simmy's guidance, plus a generous helping of terrifying presence, the whole thing had painted a pretty obvious picture of who was after me.
Every last one of the cops had either been a plant or bribed by one of the mob families.
Almost flattering, really.
They'd all worked together just to try and kill me.
I should've felt elated. Being feared enough that multiple families needed to cooperate just to arrange a hit on me should've been a proud moment. Instead, any joy I might've gotten out of it was thoroughly murdered by how badly they'd botched the job.
Sure, I had a literal psychic angel and absurd golden luck on my side, but come on.
My first mob hit going that badly could make any man sad.
So it was only polite that I show them how to really plan one.
My hand reached for my office door when a small chorus flitted through my ears.
I looked at Simmy, who had been floating behind me. Without a word, she raised a tablet in front of me. The screen flickered on, revealing a camera view of my office.
A familiar woman came into sight, sitting in my swivel chair with its back turned toward the door.
Huh.
Had the mob hired Lady Shiva, too, or was this someone else?
Another soft chorus brushed against my thoughts, asking what I wanted to do. As I stared at the feed, though, an idea slid through my head.
I could fight her here, but I really didn't want Gary or Stu wrecking everything. Simmy could probably take her, but I still wasn't risking my office over it.
So...
I mimed running.
Simmy just gave me a confused look, but she acquiesced after reading my thoughts, and I floated away with her hand guiding me along.
...I wondered how long she'd sit there before realizing I'd bailed.
***
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I have advanced chapters on my Patreon if you wanna read ahead.
Power went out when I wrote this, so it ended up shorter then I wanted. Ticket got cutoff but not forgotten!