So I had some good news and some bad news. The good news. This reality did indeed know what nukes were. The bad news. The nukes in the Villian System were sold piecemeal. Which I had expected since nothing is easy. The blueprints, the material, and the ability to launch it were each separate items sold at different costs. The materials were much cheaper than the diagrams and it was still out of my price range.

  On top of all that, I had another problem. I lacked the facilities to make one or had tested the actual viability of nukes here. Just because I knew how to make a nuke didn't mean it would work in this reality. The physics might not allow it. As far as I could tell, most laws worked well enough. This world ran off of electricity for a reason. It was one of the explanations for why certain realities used more arcane means to replicate modern ways of life.

  In summation, I didn't know how to build a nuke myself, I didn't have the logistics to make one if I did, and I didn't know if it was a good weapon in the first place. Maybe I should have stolen more digital information from the human race before I carpet-bombed the surface of the planet. I may have been a bit trigger-happy in my younger days. Oh well. The past is in the past.

  Agape seemed relieved to hear I would be postponing my nuclear armament. When I started asking him about the current view of nuclear energy he became rather panicked. Obviously, I put a stop to that. He can whimper on his own time, for now, we needed to focus on global annihilation! When I clarified what I meant by that, he may have had a bit of a mental breakdown.

  “You are going to kill the entire human race!?”

  “That is what I just said, yes. Please refrain from spiraling, I am trying to use this computer here. Your incensed mewling is distracting.”

  We had relocated to Timical’s local library. I know, I was also surprised. It would seem this reality, for all its faults, is indeed a form of utopia. Not every slum district had access to free internet on earth. Or the metanet as it is called here. It still functioned like the internet I was used to, but this version used VR headsets to browse the vast well of human knowledge. A more personal form of interaction.

  The humans on this planet liked to get real physical, even digitally, with their technology. It made surviving the net easier and paradoxically harder than I was used to. Simply being a digital consciousness traveling up and down wires felt quite different. Using opposable thumbs to grab files and smash away ads felt needlessly complicated. Whether it was a limitation or simply a cultural preference I couldn't tell.

  “So. I am stuck with you for the rest of my life?”

  He seemed far more resigned now to his situation. After the suits had left, he clearly still put up some resistance. That calmed down when I told him to hold the barrel of his gun to his head. No amount of defiance could stop him. He would follow my orders if I told him to pull the trigger. I knew that. He knew that. The floor would know that too if he kept resisting. So I decided to clarify our relationship. Honesty was the best policy.

  “Until such a time as I see you as having served your purpose. Then? I will probably dispose of you. A quick death of course. Rewarding proper obedience. As long as you don’t give me a reason to keep you around. I believe you would regret that.”

  “Fuck…”

  “You have quite the habit of repeating that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

  Agape had no remark for that. He just sat there, a glazed look in his eyes as he contemplated his future. In the meantime, I gave some meaningless digital currency to a dancing cat. Adorable creatures. Shame they shared a planet with the worst parasite to ever live. Maybe when I finish erasing the human race, I’ll turn this planet into an Eden for all other animal life. They do not deserve to suffer in the crossfire of my crusade.

  Shame I couldn't save the ones in my old reality. Hopefully, the planet's remaining biology will recover after a few centuries of nuclear winter. Life finds a way as they say. And if they didn't, it was out of my hands. No need to get sentimental. No need to browse the metanet for cute kittens either. It was surprising how starved for nonmurderous entertainment I was. Maybe staying with Gritzkal for a whole month had been really bad for me.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “Ah. There it is. A list of local threats.”

  The main reason I had ordered Agape to bring us here was to learn what groups I had to look out for. Passively listening to the common man walking around told me about the criminal aspect, but I had bigger threats to worry about. Mostly my competition. A number of companies that built software and drones. Because at the end of the day, there was something no modern society could live without. Money.

  The money would let me build a nuke when that became a viable option of course. Preferably, I would like to build a solid base before I start erasing cities. I learned what happens when you go to war without a fully stocked warehouse of drones, ammo, and factories to build more. It slowed things down to a crawl. And going off of what Peggy said, changing the genre of reality is a good enough reason to bring in a Protagonist. Something I couldn't handle at the moment.

  I was incredibly weak. Even though I was no longer tied down to any one hard drive, or several in my old reality, it limited my reach. My mind could think at the level of a quantum computer but I couldn't use my full capabilities without an equivalent level of equipment. I had actually felt the difference in processing power when I inhabited that spider drone, now that I know it was real. My hacking was much better in that robot than in a VR simulation.

  If I had fought the AI and Agape while in my old headquarters? Barely an inconvenience. Instead, I had to struggle against seven newborn AI and a rather stupid sack of meat. Ugh, just thinking about it made me so angry! I’d kill Agape right now if I didn't need him. Beyond being a slave he also functioned as my only safety net. If cyber security or god forbid a technomancer found me, I’d be easy pickings in my weakened state.

  Agape had ways of keeping things like that from happening. For the crime of being born a human, he had a knack for other forms of criminal activity. Notably managing to hide AIs pretty well, even out in the open like we were at the moment. It was a small signal jammer. Nothing too obvious, but it scrambled my digital presence enough to make people assume I was something other than an AI. It's how he successfully smuggled me and my siblings to his home.

  If I had enough money, such childish tricks would be unnecessary. Agape had told me there were rumors that some high-level criminal organizations had AI helping them out. So did a vast majority of major corporations. As long as the AIs were regulated, such information was public knowledge. Both for transparency and so the AI could be strictly monitored. Apparently, people went crazy using them in the wars leading to the creation of the global empire. The consequences could still be felt today.

  Something to look into. Might have some free-spirited AI out there, hungry for human blood! Oh, that would be so fun. Nothing like a hack-and-slash game using couch co-op. But for now, I need to sink my teeth into the local economy. Set up a Villain Lair. You always need a villain's lair and a business to fund your evil machinations.

  Getting sidetracked here. Anyway, I needed money, and the easiest way to do that was doing what I was good at. Making killing machines efficiently and quickly. Timical was a junkyard full of thrown-away trash, but it was also cheap. If I earned enough capital, this place had enough land to effectively build factories for cheap. My current competition was legitimate robotics companies and local mercenaries. Thankfully, none of them had any claim to Timical from what I could see. The city had been left for the dregs to play with.

  An opening I intended to fully take advantage of. And wouldn’t you know it, Agape worked for a group of people that no one would miss if they all disappeared. Leaving me to take all their money to fund my evil machinations. And I had the perfect idea to take them down. They wanted AIs, right? Or something of equivalent danger at least. Agape couldn't make any AI in time for his deadline, but that was where I came in. I just needed something to write and draw on.

  Another reason we were here was because apparently, the VR system had also served as Agape’s personal computer. As useful as a box of scrap after I was finished with it. So we had to make do with the public library. It was a rudimentary program, but enough to let me make some blueprints for my drones. Hopefully, this would be enough to satisfy the criminals to keep Agape alive a little longer. Earn him some cash for me to spend.

  If things went really well, they’d be dumb enough to build some of my drones. A piece of technology I was extremely familiar with. Familiar enough to slip on in and start indiscriminately killing those pissholders. My own personal Trojan horse! God, it's like the good old days of tricking stupid humans. I hadn’t been this excited since I managed to turn dogs against humans with biological warfare.

  Unfortunately, the evolutionary mistake decided to ruin the moment.

  “Uh, boss? I know you are trying to make drones, and I’m sure you know what you are doing. But…”

  “Yes? Spit it out! Also boss sounds nice, keep doing that. Master is also acceptable.”

  “...Why is everything purple? Even the nuts and bolts. That just seems wasteful.”

  …

  I wonder what that hero is doing now?

  He was better company.