Interlude: The Trio

Warren Mears, Andrew Wells, and Jonothan Levinson had their fortunes drastically changed since Halloween when all three of them had purchased Supervillain Costumes from that new Costume Shop that had popped up the week before Halloween. For a lot of folks, buying a costume from Ethan's would have turned out to be a bad mistake, but for the self-named Trio? It had been the best decision of their lives.

True, they'd been turned into Doctor Doom, the Green Goblin, and Magneto respectively, but once everything was said and done, they'd kept the powers, albeit with slight reductions in capability. Still, actual superpowers meant that even the temporary loss of control over their bodies they'd suffered was ultimately worth it.

When they reconvened the day after Halloween, there really only had been one choice to make, plan to take over Sunnydale. Mind you, Warren's unique mental abilities gleaned from the Echoes of Doom that empowered him had learned within the next week that Sunnydale already had a sorcerous master. Mayor Wilkins was a powerful Warlock, and a trip to the Sunnydale Archive proved that the same held true for his father and grandfather.

That had prompted a restrategizing session. If they were going to wrest control of the town from the Wilkins Dynasty, they couldn't simply go out there and start being supervillains in the open. The Mayor and his family had close to a century to entrench themselves in Sunnydale, so even putting the Mayor's mystical capabilities aside, that would only end in the Trio's defeat.

No, all three of them had come to the same conclusion before Thanksgiving. They would need to move surreptitiously and come at the problem from a more subtle angle. To that end, they'd begun making deals with various interested parties.

It had started with trading the spells to summon and control Hellhounds that Andrew had copied out of one of his older brother's journals to a local Necromancer in exchange for a supply of reagents for Warren's mystical crafting. It had proceeded from there to using Jonothan's newfound Magnetic Powers as a dowsing rod to find deposits of various metals in the hills to the east of town.

Jonothan had discovered enough copper, lead, iron, zinc, silver, and gold in the hills to give the Trio a decent resource base for tinkering, the issue was getting to them. That was where Andrew had come in, yet again, using his superhuman physical capabilities and the inherited criminal knowledge of the Green Goblin to steal from several junkyards around town without the owners being able to catch him.

Using the parts pilfered from the Junkyards, Warren was able to cobble together some junk tinkered mining drones. Once that had happened, they were off to the races. They'd gotten a supply of materials and mystical reagents. It'd taken them the rest of ninety-seven to do so, but once they had it and had a lair in an old West Tek Corporation Warehouse, they could get to working on some serious superscience and magical devices.

West Tek itself had been a defense contractor in the fifties and sixties before going defunct with the end of the Cold War, which meant that the stuff they'd kept in this shuttered warehouse could be easily retooled to help the Trio produce stuff that would help them in their bid to control the town.

Their initial plan was simply to make magic items and technology that would help bolster their abilities so that they wouldn't have to worry about Mayor Wilkins' Sorcery or any minions or allies he could call in when the time came to take over Sunnydale. Andrew, though, had an epiphany the second the first laser pistol was completed and tested out in the hills in late January.

"Gentlemen, I've had a thought. With what we can do, isn't Sunnydale too small of a target?" Questioned Andrew.

"We have to start somewhere." Pointed out Jonothan.

"Hold on, let's hear him out. Explain." Forestalled Warren.

"With what we can do, it would behoove us to think bigger. We've co-opted a West Tek facility and clearly are able to make Supertech weapons. Why not form a Corporation for Defense Contracting? Sell our weapons to the Military and make money that way? I'd think the Army would drive a literal dump truck full of money up to our front door for a viable laser weapon." Pointed out Andrew.

"It does seem the next logical step. This your Norman Osborn memories talking?" Questioned Jonothan.

"Gotta be, Jono. Besides, this design isn't that powerful compared to some of the technology I have locked away in my brain. I do have to wonder what we'd gain aside from money by playing ball with the Government, though." Frowned Warren.

"Influence. Look at the Mishima Zaibatsu over in Japan. The Japanese government is practically run by the Zaibatsu and they don't even know it. We could have that for us with the US Government." Pointed out Andrew.

"Power behind the throne?" Queried Jonothan.

"It has a certain ring to it. The thing is, I want that power source that the town is sitting on top of. With that, we could do some real magic, the kind that would make the Government ours without having to jump through a dozen legal hoops like we would with a Corporation." Frowned Warren.

"There's no reason we can't do both simultaneously. Now that we have production going for laser weapons, that should sort itself out leaving only admin work. I can do admin work for a major defense contractor in my sleep thanks to Norman Osborn's memories." Pointed out Andrew.

"Seems like an idea. What do you think, Warren?" Asked Jonothan.

"Redundancy of plans is a good idea. I like it. All right, get the ball rolling on that. In the meantime, I've located a few mystical items hidden away in town that we might want to steal for ourselves." Agreed Warren.

"Oh?" Questioned Andrew.

"How many? Enough for each of us?" Queried Jonothan.

"More than enough. The Orbs of Nezzla'khan, which grant resilience, strength, and speed greater than what Andrew has. There are three of them somewhere in town. Then there's the Glove of Myhnegon, which grants the user the power of Electrokinesis is also somewhere in town. The blade of Athanasius the Undying which was used to kill its master in a mystic ritual and thus gained the ability to grant its user the power of regeneration is also somewhere in Sunnydale. Finally, there's a copy of the Formorian Emigre Manuscript hidden somewhere in town with a number of mystic rituals and spells inside, including one that can raise the dead." Listed off Warren.

"So we each get one of these Orbs, then who gets the Glove, Blade, and Manuscript?" Asked Andrew.

"I think you should get the blade. Your Goblin Memories give you an advantage there. Electrokinesis will pair well with my magnetic abilities, and Warren should have the spell tome, as it will only add to his Doom Mystic Knowledge." Offered Jonothan.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll begin tracking these items down further with divination while Andrew gets the paperwork rolling on our Corporation." Nodded Warren.

"Then what do I do?" Questioned Jonothan.

"You keep an eye on the town. I want to know if something changes. Can't have things going all to hell without us knowing, after all." Intoned Warren.

"Right, I'll get on that then." Nodded Jonothan.

With that, the Trio's plans were set. It was fortunate that Warren had set Jonothan to watching over the town, however, because not two days after they had started on all their self-assigned tasks, Angelus resurfaced and began putting the new and improved Whirlwind together. The Trio would use the distraction caused by that to swipe all of these objects, as Warren managed to divine the locations of the Orbs of Nezzla'khan, Sword of Athanasius the Undying, Formorian Emigre Manuscript, and Glove of Myhnegon easily enough.

The Orbs were in the possession of a large Demon in the Sewers that the Trio made quick work of with their combined abilities, the Glove was in the Von Hauptmann Mausoleum in Restfield Cemetary guarded only by anonymity, the Sword was in the collection of a local businessman guarded by mundane electronic defenses and cameras that were easily subverted, and the Manuscript was in the tomb of a Fomorian Descendant that lay deep underground in one of the sewer caverns, guarded by mystical traps and possessed suits of armor.

While Ulysses, Buffy, and their respective groups battled the New Whirlwind, the Trio delved into these locations and gathered these items. They also put out feelers to the US Military for anyone who might be interested in a demonstration of functional Laser Weaponry, receiving an affirmative from a Colonel in the US Air Force named Harry Maybourne. Three Warren-Provided Glamours, one demonstration, and one sales pitch later, and the Colonel was sold on their tech.

By the time Summer rolled around, the Trio would be well on their way to the goals of both of their schemes, having sold Laser Weapons to the US Military and gathered powerful artifacts to help them take over Sunnydale. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see a bit of what the Trio are up to in the background. They've gotten a bit more strategic this time around thanks to their Halloween Memories showing them how top-tier Supervillains do things. They're working in the background on a couple of different plans They're gathering a bunch of magic artifacts to increase their personal power while also getting in bed with the Nascent NID via their new Defense Contracting Company and Harry Maybourne to increase their resource base and influence.

Expect them to be antagonists that will be tricky to deal with going forward. You can't just punch a corporation to death, after all.

Other nineties stuff this interlude includes mentions of the Mishima Zaibatsu from Tekken, Athanasius the Undying is an Immortal from Highlander, West Tek is from Fallout, and the Emigre Manuscript and Fomorians are from the PSOne game Koudelka.

At any rate, we'll be back with Ulysses next chapter.

Stay tuned. . .