The Fallen Gamer

Chapters 46-50

It had been a week since the crazy excursion to AIM. I hadn't heard much from anyone since. Tony and SHIELD had gone radio silent. To be honest, that was perfectly fine by me. I could let them deal with the remnants of that fiasco. I had more important things to do myself. Mainly, I was finally in the process of finally getting my own place! Even if it was a bit slow going…

"So what do you think about this abode? Isn't it just…grand?" My realtor asked me hesitantly as she spread her arms wide and gestured all around the apartment. It was large, I'd give her that at least. It also looked like it was infested with fleas and may have been a meth lab at one point as well. This was definitely another no from me though. I was starting to lose faith in the competency of my realtor. She was clearly fresh out of whatever made-up little college realtors went to because she was doing a terrible job. She was cute though, which is mainly why I picked her.

[You trusted your horniness and it backfired on you.]

The system had hit the nail on the head. 'Pretty much yeah.'

"Listen, um…" Crap, I forgot her name. I'd been too busy staring at her ass as she took me from one shitty apartment to the next. I couldn't help it though. There were literally dozens of experienced realtors in New York I could have gone with, but I let my horniness choose for me and it picked the dumb hot blond. Now I was paying for it as she kept taking me to all these should-be-condemned apartments that had absolutely none of the specifications I'd given her.

"Karen, my name is Karen." she answered enthusiastically. "And is this not what you're looking for again?" She asked with a pout. As she asked that, a cockroach crawled out of the nearby floorboard and scurried between her feet. She glanced at it for a moment before turning back to me like that didn't just happen. "It may have a small bug problem, but that's easily remedied."

"Right… Karen. I told you what I was looking for in an apartment. You know… a high-rise with lots of square footage that overlooked the city. I told you money was no option as well," I explained. And where had she taken me currently? We were in some flea-ridden damp hideaway in the middle of a neighborhood where people don't go outside at night. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if her car was being broken into right now because she parked it right out front.

She bit her lip and had a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry, I just started at my agency, and they only give me access to the crummier listings! It's either this place or Wilson Fisk's old penthouse! And I don't think you'd want to live there! He was a major criminal after all." She explained.

Wilson Fisk? The Kingpin!? The penthouse of a man who ran a criminal empire sounded pretty good to me! It must be absolutely decked out with all kinds of amazing things. "Why didn't you start with that!?" I exclaimed. "Let's go there right now!" I said excitedly as I grabbed her and dragged her out of this dump and back towards her car.

"Wah…" I didn't give her time to protest as I wanted out of this insect ridden building asap. When exited the run down building, to my not-surprise, her car was currently being broken into.

"Hey, get away from my car, you hooligans, before I call the police!" Karen shouted at four teens that were surrounding her car. One of them carrying a portable tire jack. Wow, they were really planning on stealing her tires in broad daylight. The four of them startled at being caught. They started to run away when they heard the word 'police' at least.

"Fuck you, Karen! Stay out of our neighborhood!" One of the teens yelled out as they all ran away. That was extremely rude and yet pretty much what I'd expected from this neighborhood.

"How did they know my name?" She turned to me and asked.

"I think they were just calling you a Karen in general…" I said and she pouted.

…

"Whoa, this place is awesome! You should have taken us here first," I exclaimed as I looked over the Kingpin's old penthouse. It really did have everything. It was three floors totaling over 10k square feet. The lowest floor had an actual indoor pool and a full gym. The middle floor had every kind of entertainment room you could think of, including a small movie theater and a bowling alley. The top floor was the residential with a bunch of large bedrooms and a high-rise view that overlooked all of the city. It was definitely the height of luxury. The rent was also 20k a month… but I had that million from Tony that should last me a while. It's not like I'd ever be hurting for money as a Gamer anyway.

"I'm glad you like it…" Karen said with a strained smile. "...are you sure you want this place, though? It belonged to Mr. Fisk. He's been in prison for a year now, but I heard he was getting out soon. He might want his home back and will be displeased if someone took it from him." She explained to me. I feel like there was more info there that she wasn't sharing, but I honestly didn't care. Wilson Fisk had the best penthouse in the city and soon it would be all mine! No way I was giving it up! I'd like to see him try and take it back.

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. Where do I sign, and when can I move in?" I asked her.

"Well okay then." Her frown turned to a smile as she reached into her bag and pulled out the source of all the world's evil…paperwork.

Karen and I spent the next few hours going over the dreaded paperwork and my name was put on the lease. This place was awesome, and I wanted to emulate Tony and buy this whole building outright one day soon. But for that, I'd first need quite a bit more money. On the upside, I was able to move into my new place today. I'd finally be done with constant hotel hopping. I could finally have my own place away from all the prying eyes…

I'm pretty sure multiple government agencies had bugged every single hotel room I had stayed in the past few days. I'd also noticed myself being tailed by the 'men in black' every time I'd gone out and explored the city this week. I definitely was not existing incognito. I could understand where they were coming from. I was a Biblical Angel with a pretty high body count just meandering my way around the human world as if that was perfectly normal. My existence probably terrified all the government big wigs.

That didn't stop people on the streets from occasionally swarming me for autographs and photos though. I'd actually taken to wearing large sunglasses and big hats to try and hide myself when I went outside at this point. I needed to learn some illusion magic. The only people I could think of that were any good at that were Loki and Frigga though. I wouldn't even be able to get to Asgard until Thor officially started.

"Okay, and with this all completed, you are all set," Karen said as she finished organizing all the completed paperwork and handed me a set of keys. "Here are your keys; it was a pleasure helping you find your home, Miss Layla. Would you mind if I listed you as one of my clients on my profile? It would really help my career if people knew I was the realtor of such a big celebrity…"

I told her it was fine and thanked her again as she left. Once she was gone, I went all around and admired 'MY' penthouse. I giggled at the thought of such a luxurious place all to myself

"Now then…" I muttered out loud. "I wonder if good ol' Wilson Fisk kept any secret safes full of money or jewels anywhere in this place?" Although it was possible the police found them all when they raided it and took him into custody a year ago.

[Quest Started! -This is Mine Now!- →Discover Wilson Fisk's secret safe that is hidden somewhere in his old penthouse! What treasures could be inside?]

[Reward: ? and ?]

"Now that's what I'm talking about. Treasure Hunt!"

XXX

The treasure hunt did not go well…

"I'm going to need to hire a professional there or something to help me find Fisk's safe," I muttered out loud as I walked the streets of New York. I had spent HOURS searching all the obvious locations in my new penthouse and found nothing for it. I checked behind every picture frame and beneath all the beds. I even checked in the pool. Hollywood lied... Finding someone's secret safe was not as easy as they always portrayed in spy movies.

[If it was easy the police would have found it a year ago when they arrested Fisk.]

'Can you even tell me what's in the safe?'

[No, that would be spoilers.]

That made me just want to find it even more! If it was just money or jewels, the system would have just told me. The fact that it was keeping the contents a secret meant there was something amazing inside!

I was currently taking a break and walking the streets of New York. Relying on my enhanced luck stat to guide me towards something interesting. Maybe I'd get lucky and stumble upon the Black Cat and I could ask for her help finding the safe.

[Felicia Hardy and Peter Parker are both 12 right now…]

Aw, that sucked. There would be no cool spiderman shenanigans for at least three years then. And I was looking forward to seeing which version of spiderman I got.

[Anything but Toby Maguire's version…]

"Agreed." This world didn't need that level of cringe. I would go out of my way to prevent the spider from biting him at that point.

[If you're bored, you could be trying to complete one of your current quests.]

"Nah, all those are on hold temporarily. I can't defeat the Hand members until I actually know where they are. All I know is Madam Gao is somewhere in New York, which isn't a lot to go on. Voldemort has gone into hiding, and there's been no Death Eater activity since Snake Face got spanked by me and Iron Man. And the 'save the world' quest can't advance forward either until SHIELD finishes interrogating Aldrich." They had been radio silent towards me so I had no idea how any of that was going.

"Excuse me, miss. Could I beseech you to point me towards Rand Corporation's Headquarters? It's been a while since I've been in the city, and I can't seem to remember where it is." A young man with curly dark blond hair walked up to me. He looked borderline homeless. His clothes were filthy, and he looked like he had just been washed ashore... Ah crap, I knew who this was. Damn you Luck stat! This was not what I meant when I said I wanted something 'interesting' to happen!

[Quest initiated! - Iron Fist Unleashed! → Help Danny Rand recover his—]

'Nope!' I cut off the system before it could finish giving that quest. No fucking way! Iron Fist was the dumbest Marvel show, and I was not being swept up in that poor excuse for an action/drama.

[Well...ok then…]

I think I had apparently shocked my system into speechlessness.

"Um, miss? Do you know where it is?" Danny Rand, AKA the Iron Fist, asked me again. "I would be greatly honored if you could assist me," he said as he actually bowed to me. People nearby were staring at the weird display. Thankfully, way weirder things happened in this city daily. So a homeless white kid bowing to a lady wearing an obvious disguise didn't even register to most people.

"Yeah, sure, just let me check a map..." I sighed as I pulled out my phone and proceeded to Google Rand Corp headquarters. I then gave him the street number. New York's streets being properly numbered made giving directions a lot easier. He bowed to me again in thanks before proceeding to leave. I wanted to let him go just like that, but I supposed I couldn't let the opportunities that came with his arrival in the city pass me up.

"Wait," I called out before tossing him a piece of paper with my number on it. "If you ever run into Madam Gao of the Hand, give me a call so I can come and take care of her." I told him.

"You shouldn't speak of the taking of life so casually. In K'un-Lun, they teach that nobody is ever above redemption." Danny said to me. I just wanted to scoff. This was a woman who's been alive for centuries and probably done countless unspeakable acts in her cult's name.

"Yeah, sure... whatever," I said dismissively. Her death was worth a free level up, and every ten of her minions was still a free stat point. I was absolutely going to wipe out the New York Hand sect. "Just make sure to call me, Iron Fist." His eyes widened when I mentioned his title.

"You know who I am?" He asked. "Then you must be aware of my sacred duty to destroy the Hand!? Will you assist me!?"

[Quest Initiated! Help Iron Fist Destroy the Ha—]

"No thanks, I'll handle it on my own," I said plainly. I already had a pretty good track record against them anyway.

He looked confused at my statement. "...What?"

"Yeah, you K'un-Lun guys have been feuding with the Hand for like 1000 years. At some point, you have to throw in the towel and let someone else do it. That someone is me, so call me whenever Gao approaches you for being the 'Legendary Iron Fist.'" I added with a snicker. Father no-longer-above, his powers were so lame... All he could do was punch stuff really hard sometimes.

I turned and started walking away before I had to deal with this kid any longer... This was what I got for trusting my luck to find something interesting. At least that's what I thought.

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG...

I was just passing Central Park when I heard an absolute torrent of gunfire going off nearby! It sounded like a full-scale war was going on!

"Oh my God! Run!"

"Terrorists are shooting up the park!"

"There are still a bunch of people in there caught in the crossfire!"

People nearby and park-goers who were lucky enough to be far from the shooting started fleeing in all directions. Hearing the shooting and what was going on, my six black wings appeared from my back as I took to the sky to locate the shooters.

"It's the Angel from the TV!"

"We're saved!"

I launched myself towards the sounds of gunfire, and my eyes widened when I reached it. There looked to be a full-blown gang war taking place right in the middle of the park. There were three different groups all blasting at each other at the same time. What made it even worse, in my eyes, was that they were all going out of their way to target civilians as well. I could already see over a dozen innocent people bleeding out on the ground. I should be able to save some of them, but not unless I took out all three gangs first.

[Emergency Mission! Save the Innocent Park Goers!]

[Reward: 1 Free stat point for every life saved. 1 free stat point for every 5 gang members defeated.]

XXX

My arrival in the park went unnoticed by the three groups of shooters… that was until I decided to make myself known. I rapidly conjured two Lightspears in my hands and immediately hurled both of them towards one of the groups. Two shooters went down as my spears struck true. I repeated this two more times until I had taken out two people from each group.

"Marco! Miguel! They are dead!"

"Comrade Ivan! Comrade Boris! No!"

"Dammit sarge! Lieutenant Alvarez is dead. So is Private Westly!"

All three groups shouted out at my sudden interruption. The first two groups seemed to be Latin American and Russian. The third is what confused me, though. They were referring to each other by military ranks. Were these soldiers? Shooting up their own people? I supposed it was possible they were remnants of Hydra. I should probably capture them instead of taking them all out… but my points.

[You only have to defeat them to get the Free Stat Points. Whether you capture them, they surrender, or you kill them makes no difference.]

'Thanks system.' I should capture at least some of these guys alive to find out what was going on.

"Alright, you assholes. You've all caused enough damage here. Lay down your weapons and surrender, or I will take you all down!" I declared loud enough for everyone to hear me. I was currently floating 30 feet in the air between all three groups, so it was no wonder they hadn't yet spotted me.

"Oh, fuck, Sarge! It's the Angel we've all been seeing all over the news! What do we do!"

"Dios mio!"

Two of the groups stopped and seemed to hesitate upon realizing I was here. The third group did not. They opened fire on me.

"Avenge our comrades. Kill the mutant freak!" The Russian gang cheered as they all raised their guns and started firing on me. Most of their bullets missed completely, but a few struck me and bounced off. I felt nothing from them. There were about 10 of them remaining in total. After a few seconds, all of their AK-47 clips were empty as they ran out of ammo.

"Fuck! That did nothing!" One of them cursed loudly. "It must be a trick! Reload and keep shooting her!" The others proceeded to try and do just that.

I let out a sigh upon figuring this group wouldn't be coming quietly. I dove rapidly towards the ground and landed between them. What proceeded was a high-speed beatdown. I admit, I don't really know anything about hand-to-hand combat–but when my strength stat was at 25, it didn't matter. All it would take was a single hit to each of them, and they were sent flying. Grunts and screams rang out as I rapidly delivered blow after blow upon the gang until they were all lying on the ground in pain from the numerous broken bones I had delivered upon them. That was awesome! I felt like Batman beating them all with my bare hands!

[+2 Free Stat Points!]

I knew I was still on a tight timeframe with the civilians though. Many were still on the verge of bleeding out, and I had to act fast. I took back off into the air before glaring at the two remaining groups–

"Aw, dammit, they're running away," I said. The Latin gang and the military group had taken off through the trees. I could chase them all down, but frankly, I didn't have the time. I still had to save all of the innocent people hurt by them. At least I captured all the Russian's.

I didn't waste any more time as Twilight Healing's rings manifested on each of my hands, and I flew down towards the nearest civilian that still had a heartbeat. It was a man who looked to be in his mid-20s who had been in the park jogging. He was riddled with seven bullet holes. It was a miracle they hadn't hit anything immediately vital. I crouched down and started healing him. I didn't have time to heal him completely, but I did enough so his life wouldn't be in danger. Following him, I proceeded to go from person to person and do the same. I had saved seven other people at that point before a man called out to me.

"Please, Angel! Save my children, please! They're dying!"

I rushed over towards the man and saw he was cradling a young boy and girl who had both been shot. Nearby, a woman who I assumed to be their mother was lying still. I immediately placed a hand over each child and started healing them at the same time. The healing was slower this way, but neither of them looked like they had even a second to spare. It was an agonizingly slow 30 seconds before I started seeing the bullets ejected from their bodies and the bullet holes closed up. Their father next to me was completely silent as he watched on.

Once I was finished, I let out a sigh of relief. Including these two kids, that was nine people I had managed to save. Unfortunately, the three groups had killed a lot more… That was something to dwell on for later though.

"It's okay, they're out of danger. I'm sorry about your wife though…"

The man, who looked oddly familiar now that I saw him, grimaced but still looked at me gratefully. "I know, she was… shot in the head. Our children though. I'm just so glad that they are alive! Thank you so much! I promise you that I will pay you back!" He said.

"You don't have to pay me back for anything," I said back to him. "You should get your children out of here though… I don't know if the shooters will come back."

He nodded to me before grimacing at his wife's body. "You're right… My kids are the most important thing right now. I'll see you again, Angel. I promise." He still had a determined look in his eye that told me he would try, and I would be seeing this man again in the future. As he picked up his young son and daughter, I used observe on him.

[Frank Castle Lvl 7 – Frank Castle was a captain in the Marine Corps and is one of the most deadly men on the planet when it comes to modern combat. He is currently burning with hatred at his wife's murder while being filled with gratitude towards the Fallen Angel who saved his children from the same fate.]

Woah… I just saved the Punisher's kids.

[+9 Free Stat Points]

XXX

"Daddy, how long are we going to be staying here? And where's Mommy?" Frank Castle's son asked as we entered my penthouse. I had offered to let him and the two kids temporarily stay here until Frank sorted out his 'business' with them. By that, I mean he was probably about to go on a killing spree and wanted to leave his kids in a safe place. And as far as safe places went, my penthouse was pretty secure. Wilson Fisk spared no expense tricking this place out with the latest of everything. Security systems included.

Frank's youngest didn't quite understand that his mother was gone. Frank's daughter did understand, though, and had hardly stopped crying the entire time.

"Sorry about the lack of necessities," I told Frank as we got the kids situated into one of the bedrooms. "I just moved in today and wasn't expecting guests." At least this place came fully furnished, so no one was sleeping on the floor.

Frank still had a somber expression on his face over his wife's passing, but he still gave me a small smile. "Don't worry about it. This place is great..." He trailed off. He looked very distracted.

"Do you want my help?" I asked him. We both knew that I was talking about helping him get revenge. He seemed surprised that I offered but shook his head 'no.'

"No. They killed my wife. Two of those soldiers you killed... they were my former comrades from Operation Cerberus. I thought we were brothers. I can't believe that they would try to kill me and my family!" He said angrily. He looked ready to smash something but held himself back. He probably didn't want to wreck any of his benefactor's stuff. "Just give me some time to sort out a proper safe house for my kids and we'll all be out of your hair." I didn't bother insisting that they were free to stay here. He was a prideful man and I could tell that such an offer would make him believe that I thought him weak.

I didn't talk to Frank at all after that. He went inside his own temporary room to stew in his rage while I went out to stock up on food now that I had some unexpected guests. A few hours later, after they had cried themselves out, Frank's kids left their rooms in search of food.

"Sorry, I didn't get either of your names earlier," I said to them as I sat down on my couch with a slice of freshly cooked pizza. I had no need to actually eat, but there was no way I'd ever be giving up food.

"I saw you on TV! You were really cool when you and Iron Man stood up to that bad wizard! My name is Frank! Just like my daddy!" The younger boy enthusiastically responded between bites of his own pizza.

"My name is Lisa... Thank you for saving us. It hurt so much and I thought we were gonna die." The girl said with less enthusiasm than her brother. She was still obviously distraught by getting shot multiple times. Especially since she looked to be no older than 12 or 13 years old. The younger brother looked to be 6 or 7.

I gave them both a large smile. What happened to them both was horrible. Frank Jr. hadn't quite grasped it due to his young age, but Lisa had. I was hoping to distract them from it for a bit and I had just the thing. I told the two to follow me into one of the entertainment rooms on the second floor.

"Wow, that's a really big TV!" Frank Jr. exclaimed, pointing at the 120-inch mounted TV on the wall. "I didn't know they made them that big! Can we watch something?"

"Sure thing. Put on whatever you want to watch," I said as I passed them the remote.

"Awesome!" He exclaimed as he took it and started randomly mashing buttons. "Hey, Lisa, what's the Disney channel?"

"It's 33," she answered automatically while cracking a small smile.

"Ok," the younger boy replied as he seemed to ignore her answer and just started randomly mashing random numbers on the remote. I snickered at that.

His sister chastised him and tried to take the remote from her little brother. "You're typing it in wrong! Give it to me!" She said as she tried to grab it.

"No, I want to do it!" Frank Jr. stood up and started running all around the room as he kept mashing buttons. His sister stood up and started chasing after him!

"No, give it here!"

"No! Stay away!"

I sat off to the side quietly laughing as the two siblings squabbled with each other over the remote. I know it had only been a couple of hours since the worst event of their lives, but they seemed like strong kids who would overcome it.

CLICK!

"Huh?" A loud metallic click sounded out from behind the large TV. The large screen then did something that I was not expecting. It started sliding along the wall where it was mounted. It moved over a few feet along some invisible tracks before it moved along far enough to reveal a mid-sized safe that was hiding right behind.

[Mission Complete! You have discovered Wilson Fisk's Secret Safe!]

He hid it behind the TV… the one obvious place I didn't check. The TV just looked so expensive I didn't want to mess with it in any way. In fact, that's probably why the police never found it either. I looked over at the two kids next to me who almost had stars in their eyes. Somehow, during their funny scuffle over the remote, they must have typed in some secret code to reveal the safe. Was that a result of my Luck?

[Doubtful, that was a 7 digit number code those squabbling kids just randomly typed in. Your luck is high, but not that high. That was nothing more than pure coincidence… or was it?]

I ignored the System's ominous question as I stood up from my seat and walked over to the safe to see what was inside. The safe itself also looked to require a passcode but I didn't even bother. I conjured a tiny light dagger in my hand which easily melted through the steel and soon I had the safe open. Inside wasn't a bunch of cash or jewels like I had expected. It looked like a bunch of stock certificate papers… for Oscorp?

-A Large Corporate Building Across The City-

Knock Knock!

*Cough* "Come in!" A raspy voice called out. The owner of that voice was Norman Osborn. He used to be one of the wealthiest and most envied men on the planet. He still had the wealth of course… well most of it, but the envy had long since dried up. Now all he received in his life were looks of pity. Norman was laying in bed in his office/hospital room. A few years ago, he had contracted a rare and incurable genetic disease. With that, came the news that he only had a few years to live! Norman would never accept that! His only heir was his idiot son, and if Norman died he knew his company and legacy would fall to ruin shortly after.

So he hired the brightest minds on the planet and spared no expense in funding any of their research in search of a cure. In order to fund all of this… Norman ended up selling off large portions of his company's stock. That later turned out to be one of his greatest regrets… Everyone still incorrectly assumed Norman still ran Oscorp. They were wrong.

"Excuse me, sir…" Norman's latest secretary/caregiver entered the room. "You asked us to keep you updated on anything related to… Mr. Fisk." The secretary said the name of the man who held the majority of Norman's wrath these days. Fisk had been the one to purchase the majority share of Oscorp's stock... under the table. In his foolish search for a cure, Norman had allowed Fisk to become the secret owner of Oscorp almost overnight. The Kingpin liberally used the tech company's massive resources to further his own criminal agendas. Norman was helpless to stop him and could only lament as his company was slowly corrupted.

That was until a certain 'Devil' vigilante had ended up doing the impossible and taking down the Kingpin a year ago. While in prison, Fisk could no longer influence his company but he still technically owned it. In order to rectify that and regain control, Norman had all of Fisk's assets secretly searched to try and recover those stock certificates but he never found them.

"Someone moved into Wilson Fisk's old penthouse, sir. They actually moved in today." His secretary informed him.

"That's what you came in here to bother me with!?" Norman rasped out in annoyance. "Who cares. We had all the police on our payroll search that place over ten times. There's nothing there. That place is worthless. No… Fisk was far too clever to keep those certificates anywhere in the City. I'm sure he's hidden them in some offshore bank that would be much harder to find." Norman speculated out loud.

"Of course, sir. You're right as always! Sorry for bothering you. Just one more thing. Your son wanted to know if you would be attending his birthday party this year?" They asked him.

Norman scowled. "Of course I won't be attending. I have far more important things to do! Now go away!" Norman shouted, and his secretary left the room in haste. He sat back and cursed Fisk once again. He vowed he would regain control of his company no matter what!

XXX

Chapter: 50

My eyes widened as I looked at the certificates in front of me. "There's absolutely no way these can be real, right?"

"Is there any treasure?" Behind me, Frank Jr. asked as he tried to peer into the safe with his sister. The two siblings were excited at the prospect of discovering some 'secret treasure.'

"Aw, it's just some boring paperwork? Why would someone put that in a secret safe?" Lisa asked me. I wondered the same thing. If these stock certificates were indeed real, why were they hidden away? It didn't really make any sense. With these papers I now held in my hand, I had the controlling interest of Oscorp!

[Wilson Fisk ran a secret criminal empire. If his identity as the majority shareholder of Oscorp was discovered, then his life of anonymity would be over. Government agencies would have been scrutinizing all of his financial transactions much more closely.]

The two kids soon lost interest and sat down on the nearby couch to watch TV. Meanwhile, I was still scrutinizing these documents. This was a game changer! Oscorp wasn't quite at AIM's level when it came to genetics, but they were close. The Green Goblin formula was basically the super soldier serum with a touch of insanity on the side. If they solved that though… I'd have an alternative to saving the world's people than completely relying on Extremis. Plus, I can't say that having my own company wouldn't be pretty awesome! I could kick out Norman, and the Green Goblin would never come to be… along with a whole bunch of other super villains now that I thought about it. Oscorp should have really been shut down for all that…

[Billionaires never get punished for anything… and now you're a billionaire technically.]

"First things first," I said as I shuffled the certificates in my hands. "I need a lawyer."

"Hey, Miss Layla, do you wanna watch Star Wars?" The kids called out to me from over on the couch. Oh right, I was technically watching these two for the moment. Their dad should be a bit better tomorrow.

"I suppose I can call a lawyer tomorrow." I hopped over and plopped myself next to them. Woah, the Star Wars actors were all different in this reality. I wonder if the story is still the same?

…

The next day Frank was doing mildy better and took over watching his kids. I know he wasn't the kind of man who would impose on someone more than absolutely necessary.

"So, Layla, what made you choose our firm? Not that I'm complaining, mind you. If anything, we're ecstatic to have the business of someone so high profile," Foggy Nelson said across from me. I was currently sitting in the office of Nelson and Murdock. Next to him, Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, also looked curious as to why I was here. He also seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with my presence. That was disappointing because I was inwardly fan-girling being in the presence of one of my favorite heroes.

"You put on quite the gruesome display in Central Park two days ago. Are you here looking for legal representation after what happened?" Matt asked me.

Legal representation? For what?

[You did kill 6 people… and 2 of those were technically active-duty soldiers.]

'Oh… you know it still is a bit weird that not a single government agency has come to talk to me about that.' Now that I even had a physical address, I would have expected it even. They must just still have no idea how to deal with an actual Angel.

Matt noticed my confusion, probably with his enhanced senses because he obviously couldn't see my facial expression. "Your existence has been all the major news organizations have talked about for the past few weeks now."

"Speaking of, can I get your autograph?" Foggy asked me.

Matt turned and gave his friend a glare that caused me to laugh.

"Sorry, that was unprofessional…" Foggy said.

Matt continued. "As I was saying, you've been somewhat known as a loose cannon as everywhere you've gone, you've left a trail of bodies behind." He said while frowning at me. I remembered Daredevil had a big problem with killing. Which was odd because he worked with the Punisher on occasion.

I supposed he wasn't wrong about that. It's not like any of those situations were my fault though. "R-right, I suppose it may look like that, but honestly, I'm not some bloodthirsty Angel of Death. Before I came to the human world, I spent hundreds of years peacefully in Heaven."

"Hundreds!?" Foggy exclaimed. Matt also looked startled at the revelation. Whether that was because of my age or the fact that Heaven actually existed, I wasn't quite sure.

"W-well, be that as it may, you've still left quite the impression on the people of the world. There have been many calling for your arrest, which is why we assumed you came to us," Matt said.

"Yeah, we're pretty good at criminal law and getting people who were falsely charged acquitted." Foggy said. "We can also help you with public relations. Our newest hire, Miss Karen Page, is actually a brilliant paralegal, and she specializes in that."

"Hm…" This meeting was turning out to be more interesting than I originally anticipated. I supposed I had been basically running roughshod all around the world, and the common people were probably freaking out over my existence. "Are the people really that freaked out about me?" I asked the two of them.

Both nodded firmly. "Oh yeah!" Foggy said. "Evil Wizards and magic were literally exposed to the world during the attack in Monaco, and no one seems to care about that! The only thing anyone wants to talk about are Angels being real! It's made people wonder what else is real out there." Foggy said with a laugh.

"Pretty much everything is real." I replied bluntly, causing him to choke on his laughter.

"E-everything?" He squeaked out. I nodded to him.

"Are Devils real too?" Matt asked me. I noticed that Foggy gave his friend a strange look. From it, I was able to interpret that he was already aware of Matt's alternate identity.

"Yes, Devils are real. They're not exactly well-liked by the rest of the supernatural community. In fact, everyone pretty much hates them." I said.

"Why's that?" Matt asked.

"They invented a method to turn other races into Devils in order to 'bolster their numbers'," I said while using air quotes. "In reality they're just tricking all of these new Devils into slavery. Sometimes they don't even have a choice as Devils can just kill people and revive their corpses as their eternal slaves."

The two of them gasped. "That's horrible!" Matt exclaimed. I agreed. The truth of the matter was that the majority of Devils weren't as kind as Rias Gremory was.

"Any Devils who try and go against their new masters… meet with unfortunate ends," I finished cryptically. There was no reason to fully get into the evil piece system and the concept of stray Devils with them at this time.

"Is that so…" Matt said with a touch of somberness. I wondered what he was thinking, so I used observe on him.

[Matt Murdock, AKA The Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Lvl 7 — Matt is currently upset that he has based his vigilante image on beings who are not only real but worse than he imagined. He's seriously contemplating changing his vigilante moniker.]

"Well anyway, I suppose I should tell you both why I'm really here today. I am interested in everything else we discussed, but for now, I wanted some help with these—" I said as I reached into my inventory and pulled out the Oscorp stock certificates.

"I'm sorry, I can't read those," Matt said. Oh right, he was blind. I hadn't been treating him as blind the whole time because I knew he could actually "see." He wasn't able to actually read though.

"T-these are… how did you get these! You didn't kill someone for this, did you!" Foggy exclaimed as he gave me an accusing look.

I should take offense to that–but I could understand where he was coming from. "Of course not! I discovered them fair and square! So, can I do anything with them?" I asked.

"What's on those papers, Foggy?" Matt asked.

"These are all stock certificates for Oscorp. Real ones! All these together should make Layla here the majority shareholder and therefore owner of Oscorp!"

I smirked when he said that. Layla of the Fallen— billionaire businesswoman had a pretty good ring to it.

"Really!?" Matt asked. "Where did you get them?"

"Should I actually tell you two that?" I asked them. I don't really know if these were all acquired legally.

"NO! No, you should not!" Foggy said. "Plausible deniability and all that. The fact of the matter is that you have them, and that's all that matters."

"If no one can prove you acquired them through less than legal means, then officially you are the owner of Oscorp…" Matt added. I did a fist pump at hearing that. "So you want us to help facilitate your control of the company?"

I smiled. "You bet I do! How soon can I take control of the company?"

The two of them gave each other a glance— which was funny because one of them was pretending to be completely blind. "Um? Immediately?" Foggy said.

…Immediately… I liked the sound of that. I couldn't wait to call up Tony and brag I was now almost as wealthy as he was.

XXX