Buying My Way Through the Multiverse

As soon as Gray walked into the prison courtyard, he spotted Glenn and told him to call an emergency council meeting right away. Five minutes later, the entire leadership group was sitting down in a private room. Merle was not technically an official member of the council, but he had tagged along anyway and sat in the corner.

Rick looked at Gray, his expression serious. ”Where have you been, Gray? Someone tried to check on your quarters earlier and you were nowhere to be found.”

”I was in Virginia,” Gray replied.

He pulled the laptop from his inventory, opened the screen, and played the new footage JARVIS had compiled. The council members leaned in, their eyes widening as they watched the video tour of the pristine, loft-style apartments, the clean water recycling plants, the fully stocked indoor mall, and the heavily armed droids patrolling the stone walls. While the new fortress was smaller than the 5-mile safe zone in Atlanta, it looked completely ready to be lived in.

Shane stared at the screen, then looked up at Gray with a furrowed brow. ”What’s this? You finally leaving us behind?”

”No,” Gray replied calmly. ”It’s just that when I saved Negan and his wife, the drive took almost ten hours to get them back here to Georgia. I figured since I can make bases much faster now, it makes more sense to build new settlements closer to the survivors. I already found around five separate communities in Virginia alone. Instead of forcing everyone into a massive, grueling road trip down south, I chose to build another safe space right in their backyard.”

Rick rubbed his chin, nodding slowly as he processed the logistics. ”Alright. It makes sense. What exactly do you need from us?”

”I need people who are willing to relocate,” Gray told them directly, looking around the table. ”I need people I can actually trust to help run the new base. I’m already in close contact with one of the local settlements up there, and over the next few days, I plan on extending the same helping hand to the others. I can’t be in two places at once, so I need someone reliable to take care of the Virginia base in my stead.”

Merle was the first one to speak, a grin spreading across his face. ”I’ll go,” he said, leaning back in his chair. ”It’s getting too damn peaceful around here for my liking. I want to roam around that state, explore a bit more, and get to shoot some things. I’m starting to feel rusty just sitting on these walls.”

Next, Glenn and Maggie looked at each other for a brief second and gave each other a firm nod. Turning back to the table, Glenn spoke up. ”We’ll relocate too, Gray. We can help set things up.”

Hershel watched his daughter from across the table but chose to keep quiet. He knew Maggie had a partner now, and if she wanted to start a new life somewhere else with Glenn, he wasn’t going to stand in her way.

With a solid core group ready to go, Gray stood up from his chair. ”Alright, pack your things and come get me at my house when you’re ready.” He then turned to the rest of the council. ”Ask around the residential blocks. If anyone else or any of the Woodbury refugees want to move to the new place, let them know the doors are open.” Rick nodded, promising they would spread the word.

Gray walked back to his house. The moment he stepped inside, he formed a quick hand sign and created a single shadow clone. ”Go back to my room at the Kingdom and act like nothing happened,” Gray ordered. The clone nodded understandingly and instantly teleported away.

After about an hour of waiting, Gray heard a knock on his door. He opened it and came face-to-face with Glenn, Maggie, Merle, and Oscar, who had brought his wife, Tamara, and the rest of his family along.

”We’re ready,” Glenn said, holding a duffel bag.

To make the trip instant, Gray gathered his chakra and spawned a few shadow clones right there in the hallway. Glenn, Maggie, and the others widened their eyes in absolute shock as multiple Grays suddenly materialized out of thin air. Before they could even ask any questions, the clones stepped forward, touched each person’s shoulder, and instantly teleported the entire group straight to the empty Virginia base.

Once their boots hit the pavement of the new town square, Gray gave them a full tour of the facility. He showed them the indoor mall, the pristine loft apartment complexes, and the massive underground facility. During the tour, Merle nudged Gray’s shoulder.

”Hey kid, you need to get me another INKAS Sentry for this place,” Merle said with a grin. ”I need my own wheels if I’m gonna roam around these parts and start clearing out walkers.”

Gray sighed, but opened his system shop, bought the heavily armored vehicle, and placed it in the town square. ”It’s already dark out, Merle. Wait until tomorrow morning to start roaming around.”

Merle grumbled at the delay but ultimately nodded and agreed. ”Fine.”

”Glenn, Maggie, I want you two to join the leadership team here and help manage the base,” Gray said as they continued walking. He then looked over at Oscar and his wife. ”Oscar, Tamara, what do you guys want to do around here?”

”I’m perfectly fine with protecting the place,” Oscar said, adjusting his gear. ”Put me on security.”

Gray nodded in approval. ”You got it.”

”Anywhere is fine for me,” Tamara added. ”I just want to help out.”

”You can handle hospitality,” Gray told her. ”Help the new survivors settle into their homes when they start arriving.”

Finally, Gray led them all inside the residential blocks to choose their new living spaces. Maggie and Glenn picked out one of the smaller, cozy loft apartments. Oscar and his family chose one of the larger multi-family layouts, which featured three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a much bigger kitchen and living room space.

Merle claimed one of the single loft apartments for himself. ”I’m taking this one,” he said, turning to Gray with a smirk. ”Need to see if I can find myself a girl up in this state.”

He gave Gray a knowing look and nudged him again. ”You need to do the same, kid. Or hey, if you swing the other way, I wouldn’t judge you either.”

Gray simply punched Merle firmly in the arm. The strike made Merle stumble back, rubbing his shoulder and loudly complaining about the intense pain from Gray’s Saiyan strength.

The lofts were still completely empty of furniture, so Gray asked them what kind of interior style they preferred. As soon as they picked their themes, Gray used his system to instantly buy and manifest all the high-quality furniture, beds, and appliances they wanted, filling the empty rooms in seconds. Once they were comfortably settled into their new homes, Gray called JARVIS over in his Synth body.

”JARVIS, watch over them and help them get comfortable with the layout,” Gray instructed.

With his people successfully moved in, Gray walked into an empty corridor, activated his Jumper ability, and teleported right back into his locked room at the Kingdom, seamlessly swapping places with his shadow clone, who vanished in a small puff of smoke. He laid down on the bed, entirely ready for the morning tour with Ezekiel.

As soon as morning arrived, Gray heard a few knocks on his door. He had already been awake for a while, sitting calmly in the room. He opened the door and came face-to-face with Ezekiel and Jerry.

”Good morning, Sir Gray!” Ezekiel announced grandly. ”The morning feast is prepared. Let us break bread, and then we shall journey forth to lay eyes upon thy domain.”

”Sounds good,” Gray nodded, stepping out. ”Let’s go.”

Gray followed them to the dining area, but he didn’t want to take too much food from their limited stock. He only ate a small plate of scrambled eggs. His Saiyan stomach was still incredibly hungry, but he decided to just make himself a massive meal once they arrived back at his base. While they were at the table, Gray turned to Ezekiel.

”How many people are coming with us to check out the base?” Gray asked.

”Myself, faithful Jerry, and two of our finest vanguard guards,” Ezekiel replied.

”Since it’s a bit far down the highway, you can sit up in the front passenger seat with me,” Gray suggested. ”We can have the other three ride in the back box. Since we completely unloaded all the supplies last night, there’s plenty of room, and it’ll save us from wasting gas on a second vehicle.”

After breakfast, the group loaded up and could be seen driving down the open road. The truck had its heavy rear doors wide open for air, showing Jerry and the two guards sitting comfortably inside since the cooling unit was turned off. Gray drove steadily while Ezekiel sat in the front passenger seat, looking out at the cleared highway.

It took Gray around 30 minutes to make it all the way back to his base. Ezekiel’s eyes went completely wide the moment the massive stone walls came into view, staring in awe at the armed guards actually standing on top, keeping watch. Gray didn’t say anything to boast. He simply drove straight up to the heavy gate, where Oscar was already pulling it open.

”Welcome back,” Oscar called out, waving them through.

Once inside the courtyard, Gray parked the truck. He led the visitors out and formally introduced Ezekiel and his group to JARVIS, Glenn, and Maggie.

”Ezekiel, this is JARVIS, Glenn, and Maggie,” Gray said. ”Glenn and Maggie are the co-leaders of this entire place.”

Ezekiel stepped forward. ”Greetings, noble leaders! I am Ezekiel, and these are my companions. We are honored by thy invitation.”

Gray turned to the group, preparing to slip away. ”I have to go and report our travel logs real quick. I’ll leave you with Glenn, Maggie, and JARVIS to start the tour.”

In reality, Gray just wanted to find a private area so he could buy more Synth bodies from the system shop to make the base look a bit more populated. In total, he bought 10 more Synth bodies, 6 male and 4 female. JARVIS took full control of them all instantly. Gray instructed the AI to send some of the new bodies over to the indoor mall, ordering them to act like regular workers refilling the shelves and tidying up the stores.

Next, Gray hurried over to the fenced pasture area. He opened his Dimensional Farm and spawned a large number of Minecraft chickens, cows, sheep, and pigs into the fields to make the ranch look active.

Once he was completely done setting up, he casually walked back and rejoined the main tour group. At that point, Ezekiel looked entirely flabbergasted. Every single loft building they inspected had full electrical power and running water, and absolutely everything looked brand new. Even the indoor mall looked fully stocked with goods. But as Ezekiel looked down the clean, modern streets, there was still one glaring thing he didn’t expect.

Ezekiel stopped in the middle of the courtyard, looking around the quiet streets before turning to the group. ”This place... it is a marvel beyond words. Every comfort of the old world stands restored. Yet, I must ask, where are the masses? Why is this paradise so empty?”

Glenn immediately looked towards Gray, completely frozen and not knowing what to say. Realizing he had forgotten to brief Glenn and Maggie on this part of the plan, Gray stepped forward to answer.

”We are just the first wave,” Gray explained calmly. ”Our core group was sent here specifically to secure the perimeter and start bringing in survivors. This is actually our second settlement.”

Ezekiel’s brow furrowed in surprise. ”A second settlement? And pray tell, where is the first domain located?”

”Georgia,” Gray replied.

Right on cue, JARVIS stepped forward in his Synth body and smoothly handed Gray a laptop. Gray opened the screen and pulled up the files, showing Ezekiel the massive Atlanta prison base.

After seeing the exact same style of buildings and infrastructure, Ezekiel was completely speechless. He still had absolutely no idea how any group could have constructed a place like this so fast during an apocalypse, but he chose to keep his questions to himself.

Ezekiel turned around to look at Jerry and his guards, seeing how completely awestruck and desperate they were to live in a place like this. He took a deep breath and looked back at Gray. ”Thy offer is incredibly profound, Sir Gray. I must return to my kingdom and speak with my people before a decision of this magnitude can be made.”

”I understand. Thank you for coming out to see it,” Gray smiled. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the keys to the refrigerated box truck they had just driven, and pressed them into Ezekiel’s hand. ”Here, take the keys. Use the truck to get back. We don’t really need it for now anyway, so keep it.”

Ezekiel stared down at the keys, deeply touched by the gesture. ”Your generosity knows no bounds, my friend. I shall contact you via the walkie-talkie the moment our counsel has reached a verdict.”

”Sounds like a plan. Safe travels,” Gray nodded.

Ezekiel, Jerry, and the guards climbed into the truck, started the engine, and drove out through the heavy reinforced gates, leaving Gray and his core group standing in the courtyard.