WilliamDArand
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Super Sales on Super Heroes 6 - ch 14-
🕑 Added 2023-05-25 02:34:06 +0000 UTCChapter 14 - Clarified -
Felix was working through his emails. His fingers tapping away at the keyboard. His answers were short, to the point, and clear.
If there was anything in his correspondence that could be viewed as vague, he didn’t get results that he wanted, he found. Being transparent and direct had worked best for him so far since founding Legion.
The door to his office clicked and then opened.
The Elves and Dragons had turned to face the door. Their weapons had gone from being unready to a low ready in a second. All of them staring at the door.
In walked Faith and Felicity, who were stopped by Andrea Prime. She glanced into the hall beyond and likely saw the Andrea’s on guard there, then smiled at the two women.
At some point Myriad had left and been replaced with Myriad.
“Okay!” called Andrea, looking at the body-guards and the work team. “Everyone can leave for a time. This is a meeting that requires greater secrecy.
“The body-guard lounge was just restocked and new amenities put in. I’ll handle security for this period of time before you take back over.”
Felicity and Faith were both nodding at these words, though Felix wasn’t sure if they carried any weight in this.
Now that the thought crossed his mind, he had no idea who actually was the head for the body-guards. For all he knew it was Ioana running the security department.
As if in response to his unspoken thought, Ioana stepped in out of the hallway. She was dressed in her Legion military uniform and carried her side-arm at her hip.
Surprisingly, next came Erica and Jessica of all people.
Both were unnaturally attractive and hit Felix in a weird spot as far as his strike-zone went. He couldn’t deny he apparently had a preference for the Beastkin women.
Erica was a brown eyed and quite attractive demi-human with Rabbit ears that came out the top of her heard. She had soft features that lent itself to a cute if bright personality.
Her long dark black hair was gathered up in a pony tail behind her head.
Dressed smartly, and exactly as she would if she were doing a new piece, she looked immaculately put together.
Beside her was Jessica, a Fox-Beastkin as far as Felix knew. She had much taller triangular ears than Andrea and her tail was much bushier.
Jessica brown hair was trimmed short now and styled in a way that framed her sharp and lean features. Her hazel eyes always had a predatory look to them.
Even the way she dressed felt more direct. Pulling more effectively at her attributes and drawing the eye to her body.
Surprisingly, the two had gotten into a relationship with each other despite the fact that they often worked counter to one another in public. Working for Legion in tandem.
Often, opposites do attract. Though not always
As my dear Kit told me… cliches tend to be founded in reality.
“I’m gratified you still hold my words to heart,” Kit replied quickly from inside his own head. Causing Felix to stare at the two Beastkin as he contemplated Kit being there, in his mind. Without being here in person.
In fact, last he knew, she was still in Legion City.
Blinking, he realized that this wasn’t anything new.
Jessica and Erica weren’t looking his way, thankfully. They were both looking toward Faith and Felicity instead.
Then Erica snuck a glance his way and looked right back to Faith.
Sighing, he shook his head, then stood up.
“Alright. I’m sure you’re both in lock-step now. That or you’re here to figure out the last pieces together,” Felix started as soon as the door closed behind the last Dragon.
Surprisingly, Evie didn’t leave. She’d instead taken a seat near the wall.
“We’re all set. Just need directions and orders,” Felicity confirmed with a wide and picture perfect smile. She came over to stand beside him, then surprisingly, kissed him. She lingered there for a moment before pulling a chair over to sit down right next to him.
Pushing him down into his own seat at the same time.
“Oh? Then how about you update me then because I feel like I’m not all set personally,” Felix remarked with a dry laugh.
Jessica, Erica, Faith, and Andrea Prime had all taken their seats. They all had pulled out original Legion tech tablets with holographic interfaces.
“Tribune, I see a few line item changes?” Felicity asked suddenly.
“The Legate requested some changes. I slotted them in where I believe they would be suitable, but I can’t be sure,” answered Tribune. “I wished to have Vice-Legate Felicity inspect it, as she has a better view on where resources could be most effectively used.”
“Don’t demean yourself, Tribune,” Felicity murmured, her finger flicking through several things in front of her rapidly. “You will be to me, what I am to Felix. Together we’ll get everything all nice and tidy.
“There. I only made a few changes. Mostly based on intuition and instinct rather than efficiency or statistics.
“Now… well, with these changes in mind, I can say for certainty that my proposed plan fits in quite well. I assumed you wanted to withdraw from the world and build the association into the true world power in the background. It’s that the simplified way to say it?”
“Yeah, that’s about it. There’s no longer a need for us to be in the spotlight in any way,” Felix agreed. “It’s time for us to bow out, move forward in the shadows, and build out the power of Legion, through the Association.
“I have Hero Kit and Hero Lily more or less in line with my desires. Additionally to that, I also more or less own the leader of the Villain’s League. Anya.
“Given our national approval, there’s no reason to not take a step back.”
“I agree completely. Though I have two points that we’ll need to address in your statements,” Felicity countered and then leaned over, presenting her tablet to him. “Hero Kit and Hero Lily are no longer here. They’ve gone missing. No one has seen them since the operation went down.”
“What?” Felix asked. That didn’t make sense since they’d asked for meetings. That meant they’d come back from the operation just fine.
“They’re missing. No one has seen them. There’s been no pings on their cell phones to any towers, nor has there been any charges to any of their credit cards, or debit cards. Their social media accounts have gone silent and there’s no one at their places of residence,” Felicity laid out one by one. “They’re quite literally, missing. As if they were put into a safe and dumped into the ocean. They’re just… gone.”
Shaking his head, Felix wasn’t really sure what that meant. If it had been Edmund and his world breaking movements, Hero Kit and Hero Lily would have ceased to exist.
No one would remember them at all.
Nor did Felix have any memories of them vanishing and existing at the same time. As he did for Andrea’s death or a few other things. That ruled out Edmund completely on both ends of this.
That meant their disappearance was more mundane, or something else entirely.
Opening his mouth he hesitated, then let out a slow breath.
“Mrs. Architect, should I be leaving Hero Kit and Hero Lily alone, or do I dig into it? I don’t want to cause you any problems as I did your father,” Felix tried cautiously. Given that this was a new relationship that had started off as enemies, he was trying to cozy up to her to a degree.
“Hm? Ah… oh! Err, one second,” came back Bianca’s surprised response. “That-it… really? Huh. Huh, okay. Yeah, just let that one go, Felix.
“I’ll add that to my checklist and see what I can do but… just let it go. You won’t be able to do anything that’d help it. Before you ask, they’re fine. Leave it at that.”
“Fantastic. Also, hey, I’m going to be heading off to a bar tonight with Rene and Melody after work. Only going to be there for an hour or two before I go to dinner, but thought you should join us,” Felix offered, looking up at the ceiling.
“Tonight? I really shouldn’t le— you know what, yeah. Yes. I need time away from this,” Bianca said, her voice firming up at the end. “I’ll be there. Thanks for the invite. I’ll show up around five, is that okay?”
“Five is great. See you then, Bianca,” Felix said.
“Yeah. See you then, Felix,” said the young woman.
Felicity was watching him with slightly widened eyes.
“That’s Bianca. She’s the new Architect. We’re colleagues. I’d like to be her friend in the future,” Felix stated. He wasn’t sure if that’d trip Bianca’s ability to listen in on him again, but he wanted to be straightforward just in case it did. “Alright, next point?”
Felicity clicked her tongue, looked back to her tablet, then to Felix.
“We need to hold a conference. To discuss the results of the Association’s actions, what our steps were to rectify the situation, changes in our beliefs, and how we plan to move forward in case another such situation arrives,” Felicity declared. “People must know that our goals are singular and without compromise. To be absolutely transparent with the populace.
“We did our best in our first company as we stuck to that line of communication whenever we could. Admittedly we hid five things for every one we admitted, but the public didn’t know that.”
With a grunt, Felix couldn’t deny that line of reasoning. It made perfect sense. If he was being honest with himself he’d considered the idea of a conference and then abandoned it.
Because he didn’t want to be the one talking.
Except the Legate was the one who’d have to speak at it. Given his attendance at a recent congressional hearing, there wasn’t anyone else who could hold a conference and speak to the people other than him.
“Alright. What else?” he asked, looking at Felicity, then to Faith. Then finally Erica and Jessica.
“The social media aspect is going faster and further than expectations,” Faith offered when Felicity turned to look at her. “There’s no reason to push into actual media or anything like that.
“Alma and Carlotta are opening up a channel in favor of Heroes. They’re… ah… viewer base is a bit… rabid, so far.”
Given they were incredibly pretty Dryads, Felix didn’t doubt that at all.
“Jessica and Erica have elected to take up the opposing view. That Heroes aren’t Heroes,” Faith continued, then gestured at the two women. “Jessica will push the extreme view, that Villains should be elevated, and Erica will push that Heroes aren’t Heroes. Add them together and we cover that political range.
“Alma and Carlotta will be doing the same but on the opposite. Heroes are greatt and Heroes should be in charge. As the two ends of the spectrum that is. There really isn’t much in between that’d be a valid viewership.
“We’ll just structure all the coverage to benefit the association one way or the other. We’ve already created a number of shell companies that tie off to nowhere. Given we can just supply them with cash and then launder it through other businesses it’ll work out fine.”
“Speaking of money laundering,” Felicity purred with a laugh, turning to look at Felix. “You went full Villain. I’m surprised. I knew you were a bit on the darker side of the spectrum, but that was surprising.”
“I… was motivated to do what I had to,” growled Felix. He wasn’t exactly proud of his actions, but he’d taken them to further his goals.
Which were alive, well, and working in Legion City. He’d already spent dinner with each of them individually, and then surprisingly, the evening as well.
Jessica laughed at that and put her chin in her hand. Erica looked rather amused as well. Neither said anything, though they looked like they were taking mental notes.
He figured they were probably laughing as he could distinctly remember hearing them sharing a similar reason for why they wanted to drag him into their relationship.
“Well, speaking of that. Did we completely disconnect succesfully, Tribune? Anything lingering at all? Or did we shove it all at Anya and let it fall off.”
“It was all given to Anya, Legate. Our businsses are no longer involved in anything of that nature,” confirmed Tribune. “Other than Anya, herself. You have a meeting with Anya after this. There is a thirty minute time between so that you can travel to her hideout.”
“Given recent developments, it’s likely she is aware of your dual personality as Legate and Felix,” warned Felicity. “Goldie isn’t someone who can remain out of the eye of the public very well. With the written reports I saw as well as Anya’s involvement, it would be beyond the scope of reason to assume she is no longer aware.”
WIth a nod of his head, Felix closed his eyes, leaned back into his chair, and sighed. That wasn’t a statement he wanted to hear, but he couldn’t deny it was correct.
“Hero Kit and Hero Lily are missing. Anya knows of my identity,” murmured Felix as he drummed his fingers along the arms of his chair. “Activate Legionnaire Mikki. She can take over the Guild of Heroes. I’m sure she can handle being their leader without any assistance really. Miu, and therefore Mikki, is a strong woman like that.”
Frowning, Felix wondered how hard it’d be to get into contact with Miu.
Then he realized his mistake.
“Actually, scratch that. In fact—”
Turning in his chair, Felix looked to the corner.
There was a slight shadow there cast from the location of his ceiling light.
It was where Miu often hid when she was in his shadow. Last he heard she was out on a mission, but he didn’t actually believe that.
It was far more likely that she’d organized a group, gave them a mission plan, and sent them. Then remained with him instead.
“Miu, come here,” he ordered, staring into that corner.
He heard a questioning noise from someone behind him but he didn’t look.
Staring into the corner he only had to wait for a few seconds. His casual stare was always more than enough to get Miu moving.
The shadows shifted and then Miu stepped out of them. She was holding his gaze with her own, her pupils skittering wildly back and forth.
“Yes?” she asked in a breathy whisper. Her footsteps came to a stop directly in front of him.
He pulled her down into his lap and put his arms around her waist. Causing the mentally unwell woman to tip into him. She stuck her head under his chin and clung to him.
Spinning the other way, Felix looked to another shadow. One that looked like it’d be a good place to post up if you wanted to be near, but far enough away to escape.
A place a scared version of Miu might be. One that wasn’t sure of her position and was battling her own emotions more often than not.
He’d dealt with that version of Miu once already.
“Mikki, please join us if you don’t mind,” requested Felix.
The result was instant.
Mikki, this world’s Miu, oozed up out of the shadow. As if she’d been there all along. She was just as good at it as Miu was, in fact.
Looking at her, he now couldn’t tell the difference between Miu and Mikki, however. They were identical twins in every regard.
Miu had been prettier previously due to her own efforts, but apparently Miki was now doing the same.
“I’m here, Legate,” whispered Mikki, coming to stand at the side of his desk. Further away than Miu had been, but still close.
Smiling, Felix began to lightly pet Miu’s hair and the back of her neck.
“I need you to take over the Heroe’s Guild. Take it over and dominate it. I’d like you to be my puppet over there,” Felix asked, though his tone didn’t actually sound like there was room to decline. The words could be a little open with a Miu, but the tone needed to be set. “Do you need anything to make that happen?”
Mikki’s pupils were slowly starting to quiver the longer he looked at her. Her shoulders creeping upward as if she were going to hide into herself.
“Strong bodyguards. Just two, perhaps,” whispered Mikki.
“Not a problem,” Evie promised from the wall. “Goldie has three Dragons that she was going to transfer out of the Wing for being docile. They were new and not quite settled yet, but better to nip it in the bud early.
“Other than needing more direction than most Dragons, they otherwise will be perfect bodyguards for you. I can’t imagine you being in danger with them around.”
“That’d… that’d be good. Thank you, Legate,” whispered Mikki, her twitching gaze falling away from him. She turned the entirety of her body away from him and practically leapt back into the shadow she’d come from.
Holding to Miu, Felix continued to pet and stroke the insane woman. He could feel her teeth grazing across his neck.
She was holding herself back from actually sinking her teeth in, though.
Hmm. It’s been a bit. She’s going to be a bit bitey, isn’t she?
Ah well. I can use the travel time to Anya to help her out.
“Sounds like we need to move on Anya then. Anything else?” Felix asked smiling at the women. “And before you ask, yes, I accepted your dinner invitation for tonight.”
“Perfect,” Jessica said with a dulcet purr. Then she turned to look at Faith and Felicity. “You two are coming, right?”
“Of course,” Faith answered, smiling.
Felicity only nodded her head slowly.
All while staring at Felix.
Who was still holding onto Miu.
Damn.
I forgot that Felicity can get possessive, too.
I haven’t really been paying her any attention, either.
I’ll need to take some time out to make sure she feels valued. It isn’t a chore if it’s someone you care for.
Comments
William D. Arand
Mm. :)
Direwolf1618
Huh wonder what’s going on with hero Lilly and Kit. That’s a thread I have been eagerly awaiting since last book and now… poof?
David Fletcher
Love the story and character progression.
