97 Chapter 97: Bedlam Syndicate Part 2

After hearing the names of both individuals, Arias extended his hand to offer a greeting. He had never heard of either individual before but chose to play the part. "A pleasure. He muttered in a somewhat friendly tone.

He exchanged handshakes with both individuals before Baron Bedlam spoke. "The pleasure is all ours, we are glad to have a new partner on board."

Baron Bedlam wore a bright smile as he said those words, although it looked very fake. His thick accent and formal manner of speaking made his words seem all the more convincing.

But Arias wasn't buying it.

People like him would do and say anything necessary to make a potential investor feel welcome. One look at the man and Arias could feel he had lofty ambitions. Such people couldn't be trusted, but at the same time, they were easy to manipulate.

Arias wore a smile while sizing up the two. Normally who would have pretended to be in a lower position but with his current public reputation, such was impossible.

He had to assume that both parties were now cautious towards him even if he wasn't seen as a big threat. So how then could he make use of them?

The simple answer was, he couldn't. Leaving only one solution, absolute takeover.

Unaware of Arias's thoughts, Baron Bedlam continued to speak honeyed words before finally getting down to business.

"So, then Mr. Markovic, regarding the amount you want to invest, If you could increase it to 800 million united states dollars, our project could really take off."

"Right now, the success rate of awakening the meta gene is barely 50% and demand is on the rise. Many countries are willing to pay millions upon millions to get their hands on child metas for obvious reasons."

"Right now, our base of operations is in a poor location with very little equipment. Our friends from the light have many projects so they refuse to fund us anymore. Because of this, we may fall behind the competition in regards to finished products."

Arias listened keenly and at least acted like he cared for what was being said. Unknown to Baron Bedlam, he was already planning how to oust him, but this information wasn't enough so Arias inquired more.

"I see, how many members are there in this project. I need to know how profits will be split." He asked, making it seem like he cared greatly for money but in truth, he just wanted to know who the other big names in the project were.

Baron Bedlam was none the wiser and happily answered. "Haha, naturally you and I would have the biggest shares with 40% each, 10% goes to Count Vertigo, he usually oversees the projects and handles the deliveries and security. The other 10% would be split between Doctor Simon here and his colleague, Doctor Helga Jace. It is a relatively new project but I assure you, the profits shall be immense!"

Arias's smile grew wider. Baron Bedlam naturally thought it was because of the rate of profits but he couldn't be anymore wrong.

Two hired scientists, one hired overseer and an ambitious leader. It was just too easy in Arias's mind. With this, he at least confirmed that no other member of the light had a hand in this, making it prime for the taking.

The only question now was, how could he best achieve this? The easiest way was to kill Baron Bedlam but he couldn't go this route until he was sure the other members had no close relationships with him.

If they were only in it for money, Arias could kill Baron Bedlam and distribute his shares among the other members without ruining the foundation. But if they were close ties, he risked having the whole thing fall apart.

"Sounds like a good plan to me. But what is your end goal? Surely a man of your stature has big dreams like myself. Perhaps we can help each other." Arias's words were chosen carefully with a goal in mind.

Using Baron Bedlam's ambition against him.

Hearing Arias's words, Baron Bedlam saw an opportunity… not knowing it was just bait.

"As you can likely tell from my attire, I am royalty, Markovian royalty to be exact. Fredrick Delamb, I am the commander of Markovia's security forces. The king is my brother-in-law; however, he lacks vision. As long as he carries on with his policies, Markovia shall never truly rise…"

Like a feminist, Baron Bedlam began to rant about his ambition and vision for the world the first chance he got.

Simon doubled up on the drinks he was taking, making it clear this wasn't the first time he had his boss speak on the matter.

The rant lasted over half an hour but Baron Bedlam's enthusiasm didn't fade throughout. Filtering out all the nonsensical information the Baron gave. His ambition could be summarized in one sentence.

I want to become King and make Markovia a global superpower.

Arias could almost praise the level of effort Baron Bedlam put to making his lofty ambitions sound right. 'He lies better than a Burmese virgin hooker.'

But with the rant over, Arias saw an opportunity that Baron Bedlam couldn't refuse.

"If that's your goal then we can help each other. You said your current base is in old subway system under Markovia Children's Hospital, correct? We can use this to better your image to your people."

"By saying you brought in a foreign investor, not only will you earn prestige. It will allow us to make changes to the base below the hospital more fluidly by renovating the hospital as a cover, perhaps even upgrading it to general level hospital."

"You get prestige and public approval, the people get the health services they so desperately need, and we get more people we can test the meta gene on as well as high level facility to carry out the project without drawing too much suspicion."

Baron Bedlam's eyes lit up and he showed wide smile before laughing loudly. Even Simon was hooked by Arias's bait.

The real reason he worked for Bedlam was because he couldn't conduct his research elsewhere due to ethical reasons. Arias's offer was akin to receiving a huge research budget, how couldn't he be happy?

His idea was immediately accepted and after further discussion on some details, the meeting came to an end.

Slade and Arias returned to the original yacht where the party was still in full force. For the sake of appearance, Arias decided to stick around so many can attest to having seen him should the need arise.

He chose to spend his time there sipping whisky while admiring the view on the deck. Slade stayed close and was on alert should anymore of the league's people make an attempt on their lives.

[ Greed will be that fool's downfall ] Apeiro's voice suddenly emerged and commented.

'That it will. And it presents a very interesting opportunity.'

[ And what might that be? ]

'The opportunity to takeover an entire country.'

A/N: Well with the polls done I can finally return to my roots. Harley and Barbara got the most votes so the next arc will focus on the following, Joker, Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Harley, Barbara.