WilliamDArand
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Super Sales On Super Heroes 4 -CH1-
🕑 Added 2022-03-22 00:43:48 +0000 UTCChapter 1 - Root Cause Analysis -
Felix blinked, lifted a hand, and rubbed at his eyes with his wrist.
It didn’t seem to really do him any good.
Sighing, he leaned back in the chair, moving away from his desk and the work he’d been doing. The light terminal in front of him held a very detailed report on everything that’d gone wrong with Legion as a company.
From the beginning start-up with him and just a handful of Heroes, using their points to make gold, and buy a pawnshop.
It hadn’t been any of his actions originally that’d caused them problems.
At least not any of his actions he’d taken as a CEO.
What’d caused them the biggest headache for the early days of Legion had been owning Kit Carrington. The Telepath known as Augur.
The Heroes guild had been desperate to free her and use her to fight Skipper. Going so far as to attack Legion constantly and even blowing up a school.
Hmph. Though to be fair, if it wasn’t for all that they did to stop us, I wouldn’t have had all the opportunities I did.
Or to really bond with Eva the way I had.
So… definitely was an oversight on my part but it wasn’t the real problem. At least, not in the end. That was correctable.
Looking at the screen he found it was right where he left it. In the dead center of the monthly profits and losses back in that period of time.
There were incredible gains they made. Pushing themselves ever higher almost at every turn.
“That was when we did the best,” he muttered to himself.
“Dear?” asked Andrea.
“Darling?” Adriana said at the same time.
“Love?” Myriad prompted.
Turning his head, he looked to the couch that sat in his personal office.
The Powered mercenary who he’d picked up at that time frame was seated there in all three versions of herself. Or more accurately, the three Elex sisters.
They all shared the same look between them.
Blue and green mismatched eyes that always held a love of life in them gazed back at him.
Even Myriad had put whatever demons she’d had to rest since returning to the fold
Andrea reached up and curled some of her dirty-blond hair around an ear and tilted her head to the side. Adrianna’s brown hair and Myriad’s black hair were just as short, and actually cut in the exact same hair style.
“Oh, just… going over the final report I had put together,” Felix murmured, swiveling in his chair to face them. “Felicity did most of the heavy lifting for the data and analytics and put in her own thoughts.
“My turn to review it and add whatever I see fit. Didn’t mean to say anything aloud.”
All three Elex women gave him a broad smile at that.
“Nn!” said Andrea, nodding her head quickly. “Work later, come pet us. Pregnant Seconds deserve petting. More petting than any Other or prime.”
Adriana and Myriad didn’t respond to her words, though both of them just stared at Felix. Adriana had a flirty smile on her face while Myriad had raised an eyebrow.
He still found it rather surprising that Myriad had snuck back into the city after they lost the HQ in Wal. The servers going down had brought her around to find out what’d happened.
Or more accurately, to find out why Felix had stopped writing her.
Which he hadn’t, there’d just been an issue with his email settings.
“You know, it’s good to have you all with me,” Felix murmured rather than responding to Andrea’s request. “Any Others we need to retrieve? Is there any of you running around out there that I need to get back? Call me selfish, but I want all of the Elex girls.”
All three women looked thoughtful, looked to one another, then back to him. He was certain they had some type of ability to talk to one another that they’d never let on about.
“No,” they said in unison. “We’re all here.”
Nodding his head at that, Felix turned back to his desk.
Standing beyond it was Felicity.
At some point she’d snuck out of his bedroom that was joined to his personal office and joined him.
She was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. She looked incredibly casually dressed and quite comfortable with herself.
Not to mention beautiful and well suited to such clothes.
Her pearl gray skin tone made her clothes all the brighter in contrast it seemed to him. Her dark eyes and pitch-black hair certainly added to that belief.
Lifting his eyes upward he found her smiling at him.
“Good morning,” she murmured at him. Then she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips, her hand coming up to gingerly drag across his cheek. “You snuck out without even waking me.”
“An Other took his place! We thought you’d sleep longer if someone was in the bed!” Andrea cheerfully provided from where she sat. “You were so cuddly and warm. We didn’t really know what to do.”
“I realized that after I got a handful of you, Andie,” Felicity said in a dry tone, turning her head to look toward the Elex girls. Then Felicity gave Felix a wink and stood up.
“Huh? Oh. Oh! Is that why you got all handsy with us like Felix does? You were a bit rougher than him. Be more soft next time,” Andrea asked.
Felicity looked somewhat surprised at the words and instead grinned.
“What?” Adriana asked, turning to look at Andrea before the Elf could say anything.
“Here!” replied Andrea in a loud whisper that everyone could hear. “Take seven. She has the memories of it and what Felix did to her yesterday morning on the couch!”
Adriana nodded her head quickly as an Andrea materialized out of the Andrea on the couch.
She stood up, turned, and then vanished into Adriana.
A few seconds later an Adriana Other stood up off the couch, stepping away from Adriana, then moved into Myriad.
Another couple seconds passed before a Myriad Other bounced off the couch and returned to Andrea.
“I… okay then,” murmured Felix and then went back to the report. In the years since knowing the Elex women he’d only learned one thing.
Don’t try to understand it, and just move with it.
He did wonder for a moment about the fact that they were sharing an Other considering they were being so paranoid about that only a month ago.
“Oh, you’re just being soft Andie. That wasn’t that rough, Fell,” Myriad said, reaching up to touch her own breasts experimentally.
“Maybe some pinching next time, Fell. Just a bit,” Adriana finished, leaning back into the couch and crossing her legs.
Felicity nodded her head, then gave it a shake, before finally looking back to Felix.
“I thought I wanted some of the Elex fun, but I’m not sure I have the patience,” she remarked in a concerned tone. “Or… the stamina, maybe.”
“They’re a lot of trouble. Especially Adriana when the mood strikes her I’ve found. But they’re all worth it,” Felix answered conversationally as his eyes started to flick through the report again. “Faith is a definite need to make sure they’re all taken care of.”
“You do get a little Miu-y sometimes,” Myriad murmured, turning to look at Adriana, thought there didn’t seem to be any judgement in her words.
“Don’t lie, Ria. We all know you like when I share those Others with you,” Adriana said defensively. Then she looked at Andrea as if daring her to say anything.
Andrea only nodded her head and didn’t look up. She was busily working away at what looked to be troubleshooting an issue with a pistol. Pulling back the slide while pointing the gun down toward the floor she peered into the ejector.
“I… I’m going to have to really think about my previous statement,” Felicity said in a whisper and went and got a chair. Dragging it over to where Felix sat she set it down next to him. Sitting in it she put her left hand on his thigh and looked to the display.
Felix smirked as he kept reading through the financial results.
Then he sighed and flicked to the next section. One he didn’t actually want to get into because he knew this was where he’d started to make mistakes.
“I wouldn’t blame yourself,” reassured Felicity from beside him. “There was no way of knowing running for government in Tilen would do that. There’s no way anyone could of known of that kind of result.
“Skipper was too off the rails. Too random. No one ever managed to pin her down on an expectation.”
With a grunt, Felix read through what was written.
It was more or less what he expected.
Moving to Tilen, taking over and hiring through high-schools, and becoming somewhat of a government functionary.
This time he was able to note several points where profits dipped and almost became non-existant. As well as when there was a clear lack of funding in their bank accounts.
“It’s like… looking at every single instance I decided to get involved in the government, or politics,” Felix grumbled and pointed out a few points. “It just… every time I stepped up to a stage, it got worse.
“Whenever we kept low, behind the scenes, we were fine. I just kept pushing it all up to the top though. Making a target out of myself. Then Legion by proxy.
“It was never Legion that was the issue. Just me.”
Felicity let out a slow breath that sounded like a balloon being deflated. She didn’t argue with his statement, she only squeezed his thigh in response.
“Even when Skipper invaded and I get ripped into Skippercity with Eva, it was all because I’d painted a giant target on me,” Felix continued, his voice rough and angry. Then he flicked the report further along. “And this whole period is all because of me. Almost no profits. Constant losses of people. Bleeding out reserves almost as fast as we replenish it.
“If it hadn’t been for Vince and everything he gave me I’d have lost it right there. Without everything that came from Yosemite, from Dragons, Elves, Dryads, and you, Legion would have been ground to nothing.”
Shaking his head he sighed and closed the report completely. He couldn’t look at it anymore. It was too much frustration and far too many issues to realistically sort through without him getting emotional about it.
“Is that so?” asked Felicity while leaning forward. It forced her out of his periphery and more into his view. Her gaze was hard fixed to his own.
“I mean… yeah? Kit was deeper into her own head than she’d ever been inside anyone else’s. Lily was doing what she could for me but I’d already locked her out.
“Same goes for my poor Beastkin over yonder. All locked out.
“You had to forcefully break your way in, then break me open, till I finally… till I finally stopped breathing my own farts.”
Felicity grinned at that and wrinkled her nose. She reached up with her right hand and cupped his jaw and gently patted him. The hand on his thigh squeezed him again.
“You say the best things in the worst ways. You really are a turd, dear. It’s a good thing you’re worth the effort and I love you as deeply as I do.
“Also ,I’m pleased that you feel that way and think of it so,” whispered Felicity, her eyes moving back and forth across his face. “It’s wonderful to know you view me so highly, my sweet little Ixy.”
Blushing at the pet name Felix did his best to pretend he hadn’t heard it. Instead he cleared his throat.
“Well. Anyways, I kept pushing. More politics, laying waste to our enemies, and forcing Legion to be a target by my own actions,” continued Felix. “To the point that deities were acting against me. Till I got locked on a different plane. Right up to causing an enemy to rip apart an entire government and using me as the tool to do it.
“Wal wouldn’t have fallen if it wasn’t for me always pushing everything to the front. It’s like… like watching everything falling apart and realizing I was the one who caused it all.”
“You were also the one who built it all,” Felicity reminded him, her hand on his cheek still. She hadn’t moved away from him at all. “May I remind you Legion is growing again? We’re also bringing in fresh recruits here and there that we can scavenge from the old world.
“Those missions bring back resources that aren’t just material in nature. People as well. They almost immediately accept as soon as Legion is mentioned. Your Legion.
“Your Legionnaires. You built all of it. So much so that Vince, that aggressive and chaotic warlord, wanted nothing more than to heave all of the government onto you.
“He’s quite happy now as a general. Very happy to simply lead the military arm of the Legion of Yosemite. Which is still just called… Legion.
“Could just anyone of done that? I know I couldn’t have done it. I know how to manage what you’ve built, but I couldn’t have gotten it to where you did.”
Felix couldn’t help himself and felt his mouth curl into a small smile. His eyes dropped down to the desk in front of himself as he considered her words.
“She’s right, of course,” stated Miu. She’d been in the corner this entire time. Simply staying in his presence.
Ever since her death, zombification, then return to the living, she’d become less insane.
Or at least Felix thought so. No one else seemed to agree with him though.
Maybe I’ve just fully accepted my pet monster.
My little psycho.
Looking to the corner he knew she was in, despite there being nothing to indicate she was there, Felix smiled. His eyes didn’t move form the corner and he waited.
Felicity had been forced to let her hand on his face drop but she still had a hand on his leg. She was now looking in the same direction Felix was.
It wouldn’t take Miu long to become overstimulated from his gaze. Even if he couldn’t see her, he knew it would have an effect.
In fact, he imagined it would only take ten or twelve seconds. Counting them off in his head he waited.-
Six, five, four, three-
“Fes, help me. Ask… ask him to look away,” pleaded Miu. Not yet appearing though clearly having an issue. “He… he can’t look at me… like that. I’m… I’m on duty. I’m not his Miu right now. I’m Legion Miu.”
“Fes?” questioned Felix, actually turning to look at Felicity again. He knew that word given his relationship with Vince.
Fes what was his people called the woman in charge of a marriage.
“Fell is Fes,” Myriad answered for him.
“Our Fes is the best!” cheered Andrea a second before she pulled off the slide from the pistol. “She always smells kinda like Felix now so I’m a little interested. Lily told me that Fell would probably let me join her and Felix in bed.”
“I mean… our Fes did say she wanted some of us. She wouldn’t have gone all gropey unless she wasn’t interested after all,” Adriana offered as an answer. “Maybe we should join her the next time she’s with Felix. We could just drown her in Others like we do Felix. He always gives up and lets us do what we want. We could just pile on both of them.”
“Oh, yes, yes, that could be fun. Fell is very pretty after all,” Andrea blurted out. Then she leaned forward and held out the slide to Myriad. “Ria, I don’t think this is fixable. Opinion?”
“Hm? Lemmie see, Andie. Back up, Anna. Your boobs are in the way,” Myriad murmured, looking to the piece held out in front of her while manhandling Adriana’s chest to push her backward.
“Sorry,” Adriana said with a shrug as she was moved. “And that does look pretty mangled. The hell did you do to it, pistol whip someone with the barrel?”
“Twenty-seven did it back when we left Wal and hid it from us till a week ago. It was eight’s favorite pistol,” grumbled Andrea.
Myriad, Adriana, and Andrea fell into their own conversation about the gun, leaving Felix to stare at Felicity in a private silence.
Felix looked back to Felicity, wondering about the title she’d been given.
“I… well… Kit and Lily aren’t here,” Felicity said with some hesitation. Then she winced and looked down to his desk. “Someone has to lead your wives. Andie is… Andie. Miu is Miu. That really just… leaves… me, I guess.
“I’m not Kit or Lily, but I’ll do my best. My absolute best for you as Fes.”
Felicity lifted her face and her eyes locked to his. There was a steel-determination in them that left no room for any other answer for her.
He knew her motto and what she believed in. She’d told him in no uncertain terms.
“Felix first,” Felicity said in a breathless whisper. “Legion second.”
“Felix first,” answered Miu as if it were a call to action.
“Felix first,” replied the Elex girls.
“Pancakes a close second. Very close,” added Andrea.
“Waffles,” proclaimed Adriana.
“French toast, actually. Superior to both and I can add as much powdered sugar as I want. A lot easier to make in the field, too,” Myriad countered, resulting in a sudden and profound silence from Andrea and Adriana.
“Heathen,” hissed Andrea. “At least a waffle is just a pancake with abs.”
“Betrayer,” Adriana growled, both of them now looking at Myriad.
“Well, how can I not join in. Though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t swing that way at all,” chimed in Felix’s benefactor. An Overgod by the name of Runner Norwood. “Felix first?
“Oh, who am I kidding. I’m not handsome enough to pull off something like that. Now… if I had a name like Sameerixis. Or maybe Alexander. Then maybe I could make something happen.
“Also, if I had to pick from those three, I’m afraid I’d throw down just for bacon. Nothing else. Just bacon, with bacon, and a side of bacon. Maybe with a little extra bacon.”
Appearing in the seat near the wall of his office was Runner.
He looked incredibly normal as he always did. Dressed in clothes that’d fit in almost in any modern day setting.
His bright blue eyes were directed the ceiling rather than anywhere else and his black hair hung back behind his head without any styling to it. He didn’t give off the feeling of an all powerful overgod.
Even though he really was one.
“So… how’s it going… see you’ve got three very pretty Beastkin ladies,” Runner said and then looked over to the Elex women. He gave them a finger gun point. “Beautiful and pregnant. The Elex sisters. Your litters… will be amazing. You know that?”
As soon as they saw Runner, all three Wolf girls had bristled. Their ears flattening and their tails rising up.
Now they all looked as if they weren’t sure whether to smile and thank him, then talk about the weather, or draw weapons.
“Nn! Why thank you!” Andrea said and clapped her hands together then twisting to one side. “We’ve really been thinking of names Mr. Overgod. Can you tell me what’d be best in the future?”
Runner blinked at the question, then laughed.
“Wouldn’t that spoil the fun?” he asked instead as Adriana and Myriad slowly grew less tense. Apparently Andrea’s words had hit the right switch in them as well. “You’ll do fine, Miss Andrea. Just fine. Keep to the beliefs in your head and never change that.
“Your Prime always tells you the same, does she not? You wouldn’t be wearing the silver earring otherwise.”
Each Second Other wore a silver earring. The Prime wearing a gold one. The third wore bronze. It was an easy way to tell important Andrea, Adriana, and Myriad’s apart from the others.
All three of their Primes were currently visiting the children of Vince in Yosemite. Something they did often.
“Oh! You’re so very right, Mr. Overgod. Can… can you tell me how many of my litter… will make it? There’s always a few that don’t make it. That’s what mother told me,” asked the Beastkin in a far more worried and nervous tone.
“Consider it a late baby-shower gift but your litter will survive in it’s entirety. All three of your litters. Right, then,” Runner said and then looked back to Felix as the Elex women squealed and chattered to each other. “I’ve come to make you an offer. One that I think you’ll like.”
“Listening,” said Felix, meeting his benefactor’s stare.
Silence works even on gods. Doesn’t it?
“Yes… it does,” muttered Runner, then he sighed and sat up. “I want you to go take over a world for me. Do exactly what you did with Legion on your own home-plane, but this time with all the lessons you learned previously.
“And before you say no, I of course do have a carrot to offer as well for this. One I think you’ll take and not hesitate for. A motivation and a reward all at the same time.”
Felix shook his head. He didn’t want to go through what he’d already gone through once. His leadership had led to a stunning defeat.
“If you complete this task, it’d open the way to get Lily and Kit out. They’d be a single day away after you finished. Literally,” clarified Runner who then went absolutely silent.
He just stared at Felix.
Waiting.
Unable to help himself and feeling the weight of the silence, Felix felt the question coming up from deep inside him.
A question he couldn’t stop, regardless of how much he knew the silence was working against him this time.
“When do I start?” he finally asked a second before a wolf-like smile spread out over his face.
Comments
Drew Risch
Damn good first chapter for a return to a series we've all been dying for!
William D. Arand
Lily being Lily. It wasn't like she wasn't aware of what was happening. Especially after she spoke to Berenga.
DiabolicalGenius
"Lily told me that Fell would probably let me join her and Felix in bed." Lily either showed incredible foresight to say this before she and Kit got stranded, or it wasn't Lily who said that. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
