POV Rio
"You know, you're the prime example of the worst of humanity. But congrats. You're about to be famous," I say to the man strapped to the operating table.
"Please let me go! I-I'll do anything!" the man says with fear.
"Tch, Tch, Tch, how many kids begged you to stop as you were making them have sex, huh? And you have the gall to plead for mercy. The courts have failed to bring you to justice. So it is up to me to ensure that you sing to the world about the evil you did on that island. Oh, and I suppose I should thank you for all that evidence you have been using as blackmail against all those people. It will make sending them to jail that much easier. If they even make it that far, isn't that right, Spirit of Vengeance?" I ask the Ghost Rider.
"Just hurry up and do your thing. Once you're done with him, I'll give him true Pennace," Ghost Rider says.
"No problem. Now, Mr Epstein. Listen closely. 12, 1, 5, 4, 8, 2, 11, 19, 4, 2," I say and continue to list the command numbers as his eyes become more and more glazed over.
"Yes, Master Steiner," Epstein says calmly.
"Go tell the world what you did," I say with a smile.
He gets up from the table and is swiftly teleported to where he needs to go. In five minutes, he would give the interview of a lifetime. And the chaos would be beautiful as everything he says is about to be released to the internet, and every news agency in the world would get a copy.
"I still would prefer to burn them all now," Ghost Rider complains.
"I know, but while that will punish them, it will not create lasting change. At least this way, their crimes are revealed to the world, and it can distract humanity from the economic crises. And it's not like you won't still be able to punish their souls. And I hope you make sure every last one of them suffers horribly for the sins they committed," I say with disgust.
"They will suffer my Pennace Stare. That alone should be enough. If they are truly guilty, they will burn with the power of both Hell and Holy Fire," Ghost Rider says confidently.
"Glad to hear it. Now, here's the info I promised. According to my sources, the head of the Sinaloa Cartel is hiding there," I reply while handing him the location.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Ghost Rider says before summoning his flaming bike and disappearing in a flash of fire.
I had reached out to Ghost Rider myself to test a few things. The first was to see if I was immune to the Pennace Stare, it turned out I was. Sort of. I could still be affected, but only so far as to see what sins I had committed, but it didn't torment me or hurt me; it was like a reminder of what I did. And it turned out it wasn't much. Especially since much of what could be classified as a sin wasn't done for evil or even in a cruel way. It was mostly in moral grey areas. It also helped that my soul was deemed unclaimable and, to some extent, immune to judgment.
But anyway, the other reason I reached out to him was that I had been given info from John Wick saying that Ghost Rider was in Central America, ripping apart the Sinaloa Cartel and other gangs. As such, I had info they could use, and I needed their help. In this case, I wanted those pedophilic bastards to suffer the worst pain imaginable, and the Pennace Stare was the best choice. Thus, I contacted him and explained the situation, and after testing me, he agreed to help me.
So I kidnapped Jefferey Epstein and used Friedrich Steiner's abilities to the max to brainwash him so completely that when he heard the right code, he would do whatever I wanted him to. As for his safety? Ghost Rider was handling that. And if that wasn't enough, I had added a lot of spells to him that would make him a right pain in the ass to kill. And he can't be a danger to himself, as whenever he considered such an idea, he would start hearing the numbers, and he would forget what he was thinking of. Right now, he believed he was on a mission from god to expose all the evils of his fellow filth.
This was all a part of an effort I had been making to clean up the filth on Earth. Another part was to cripple and eventually dismantle the High Table. To do that, I had to destroy the various smaller groups and hinder their influence wherever possible. The High Table would never let 'Ndrangheta lose, no matter how much they may try to appear impartial. The fact was that the relationship with the Camorra was irreparably damaged. And as such, they would do whatever they could do to support 'Ndrangheta as long as they can still claim they aren't getting involved directly. Code of Thieves and all that.
In far less grim news, Jessica Jones contacted me. I set her up in the home I had in NYC to use as a detective agency, which was an official subsidiary under Wayne Enterprises. Speaking of Wayne Enterprises, I had used the financial crisis that many are calling the Second Great Depression to expand the company and also help many people. Stimpaks were released and were flying off the shelves, as I didn't care if someone tried to replicate them. To do that, they needed magic. The recipe was impossible to recreate without it. And even if they did replicate it, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.
Many companies were hit really hard by the financial crisis, and basically every nation in the world had nationialized their oil supply. The US has a sizeable strategic oil reserve, but given that they can't get more, they are being very conservative with it. Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises have risen to become the most important companies in America and, to some extent, the world due to our nearly limitless energy production. This has led to some issues with the US Government being a bit pushy with Stark and, to a smaller extent, Wayne Enterprises. Bruce Wayne is a very busy man, you see, and doesn't make many public appearances. Officially, only two people can contact him: Selene and me.
It also doesn't help that nobody is sure where Mr Wayne is from, as he isn't even a US citizen, nor any country's citizen for that matter. Mostly because he doesn't exist. Well, he does, but he's me and not me, so it's complicated.
But back to the situation in the world. The financial crisis had stopped Global Trade almost completely. There were a few ships that still ran, but they were almost all strictly military vessels. And with winter already setting in, many island nations are in danger of famine. Then you have the issue of transporting people back home when there is often no fuel to do so. You can imagine the nightmare that PR is. The countries that still have their fossil fuels are under immense pressure to share those resources, but even if they did, it would never be enough. There was also the very real threat that there might be many deaths from the cold. Power is in limited supply, and everything is being focused on keeping heating on.
Though I was working overtime to make sure that everyone could survive this winter. Honestly, it was fairly likely that everyone would be okay. If everyone is careful, they should have enough stockpiles to keep things on. Europe is especially fine, as they were already decently well-equipped with clean energy alternatives. The US will be fine. South America will also likely be fine, given that most of the country doesn't get that cold, as long as you don't go into the mountains. Japan and South Korea should be okay. Russia and China might struggle a bit, but they do have massive oil reserves and plenty of alternative energy sources, and basically, anywhere else is too warm to worry about freezing to death.
That said, I still helped evacuate those in danger because of where they lived. I also helped deliver as much food as I could to various islands to make sure they could survive long enough to either evacuate or quickly switch to self-sufficiency. Thankfully, most islands were already self-sufficient, so it wasn't that hard to supplement what they already had.
It was also almost Christmas, which made me wonder what Santa was doing. Despite Genie saying Santa existed, I didn't have any memory of him appearing, nor did I find any concrete evidence.
'Maybe it's the depressed Mutant Santa version.'
If that were the case, I would need to do something to fix that. This world needed Santa. After all, what's Christmas without Jolly Old Saint Nicholas?