Chapter 165 Bonus.

Chapter 165: 165 Bonus.

"Exactly," I said, pointing the dry-erase marker at Glacia, genuinely relieved she grasped the corporate structure so quickly. At this rate, she was absolutely going to earn those ’Evil Number Two’ stripes.

"Though we’re operating under a single league, you will all also be your own distinct villainesses. Not every heist you pull will be at the behest of the parent body. The same way The New Order doesn’t micromanage its members’ solo patrols, you’re more than just my lackeys. You’ll be making independent appearances and building your own Q-ratings."

"Really? Cool," Psyren said, scratching Nibbles behind the ears. "Does that mean we get our own Octoporians?"

"We barely have the operating budget for the one," I noted.

"Can we get them as Christmas bonuses?" Psyren suggested.

"I actually have some rough schematics for a pocket-sized Facemelter 3000," Rhea observed thoughtfully.

"Awesome name for a band, by the way. The Facemelters! I claim dibs!" Psyren said, pointing a finger around the table.

Nibbles barked in agreement.

"We’ll table the budget for pocket-sized war crimes for another time," I said patiently, steering the meeting back on track. "Back on topic. You’ll each be individual villains beneath an umbrella organization.

"It’s common practice for villains who band together to take down a specific hero to go by numbered names—the Sinister Six, the Evil Eight, The Five... things like that. We could do something similar."

"No way," Psyren said, scrunching her nose.

"Uh-uh," Rhea added, shaking her head.

I looked at them blankly. "No?"

"I concur with the others, sir," Glacia said, rising slightly and placing a hand gracefully over her chest. "We have come together under your command with the express intention to menace heroes with you as our leader. We must insist that your name be the one which we are marked under."

"Yeah!" Psyren agreed loudly. "I’m not getting numbered like some generic goon. I want anyone who sees me to know you’re my boss, boss!"

I... honestly wasn’t sure what to say about that.

Even when I’d been invited into partnerships in the past, it was always as a subordinate.

Villains were notorious ego-maniacs, and heaven help you if they started to think you were getting more famous than them. More evil leagues had imploded over disagreements in name order than by actual hero interventions.

Having them demand my name be the brand was a genuine surprise.

"Um... alright then," I said, tapping the marker against my chin. "I guess we can workshop something for that."

"Like Polaris’s Bitches!" Psyren cheered.

"What?" I said, staring at her. "No! We are absolutely not using that."

"Aw, come on!" Psyren whined. "It would be fucking awesome! We could even get, like, matching collars and dog tags with your initial on them, boss. And, just pointing it out, if you had a leash, it could be a ton of fun in the bedroom. Super kinky stuff," she added with a highly suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Oooooh," Rhea hummed, eagerly nibbling on her lower lip.

I cleared my throat, feeling the immediate heat of a flush rising to my face beneath my visor.

"No. I am putting my foot down on that one right now. No profanity in the primary brand. We don’t want something that’s impossible to market to corporate sponsors. Hero brands are more lenient these days, but not that much."

"Indeed, sir," Glacia agreed primly, though she shot Psyren a withering look. "It would be most difficult to name ourselves anything beyond a PG rating and still expect high-end contracts. But Psyren’s suggestion of possessive branding does have merit. Therefore, I propose our working name be Polaris’s Proxies."

"Mmm. Not nearly as fun, but fuck it. I’m game," Psyren said with a lazy shrug.

"Thirded!" Rhea chirped.

"Polaris’s Proxies?" I said, mulling it over.

Well, I was a sucker for some good alliteration, and the structural design could be a good jumping-off point until we locked something better in.

"Alright. That works. We’ll keep it in mind and save the big public proclamation for a later date." I turned around, my marker squeaking loudly against the whiteboard as I wrote out POLARIS’S PROXIES in bold letters. "Working name is locked. The symbol and where it actually goes on the gear, we can figure out later."

"Totally!" Rhea said. "And just saying, if literal branding is a no-go, we could always get tattoos," she suggested. She rose out of her chair, leaning suggestively over the Big Table and giving her own plush ass a playful spank. "Right on the cheek here, Miles. No one even needs to see it. Just throwing it out there."

"We’re not doing that either," I said firmly. "No one is getting my name tattooed on their ass."

"Awww..." Rhea whined, sliding her elbows onto the table and propping up her pouting chin in her hands.

"Good. Now that the HR boundaries are cleared up," I said to the room at large. "The second major item we need to coordinate is the henchmen outfits. And for that, I’ve brought on a specialist who has generously—and aggressively—volunteered to do some preliminary design work."

I gestured toward the heavy oak doors, using a subtle tug of my magnetic powers to swing them wide open.

My trio of villainesses turned just as Lilith practically exploded into the room.

"Hiiiiii, everyone!" Lilith squealed, her impossibly bubbly voice echoing off the concrete walls.

She was a towering blur of crimson skin, bounding through the doorway with three massive fabric swatch books clutched to her chest.

She had completely ditched the severe studio attire for a pair of skin-tight leather pants and a sheer, violently pink crop top that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Her spaded tail was whipping back and forth so fast it was practically a blur.

"Lilith!" Psyren shrieked in absolute delight, jumping up from her chair and rushing toward the demoness.

Lilith completely dropped her expensive fabric books on the floor and caught the punk psychic in a massive, crushing hug, spinning her around effortlessly while burying Psyren’s face directly into her demonic cleavage.

"Oh, Psyren! It is so good to see you! To see all of you!" Lilith gushed, finally setting the gasping girl down and clapping her hands together as she beamed at the rest of the table.

She practically vibrated with excitement. "I have so many ideas! We are going to make you all look so incredibly naughty!"