WilliamDArand
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Super Sales on Super Heroes 5 -Ch20-
🕑 Added 2022-07-05 04:21:23 +0000 UTCBlood, bone, muscle, chunks of man, went in every direction. Splattering everyone around him, the ceiling, the chairs, in a whole body’s worth of gore.
Except there was no detonation outside of the man blowing apart.
There was no fire or flame.
No boom.
Just a deep thud like noise that seemingly liquefied the man.
Everyone stood there in shock. Staring at the spot where the man had been only moments before, yet was no longer.
Not a single person had enough warning to react in any way.
“I… he was working for someone else,” Kit said after a number of seconds had passed. “I was just starting to go through his thoughts when he killed himself.
“He-he used his power to make some type of sonic boom inside of his body. It was almost like he was more terrified of me finding out who he was working with.
“Or… or for. He was approached after he’d joined the Heroe’s guild. Someone had approached him and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
“Wait… why didn’t you know this before?” asked someone from the crowd.
“I don’t know. One minute he was as much of a blank slate as always, and then the next moment I could actually see his thoughts,” answered Kit. “I don’t go around forcing my way into people minds you know. I just figured he had a way to block me and didn’t want me to nose around.
“I try really hard to respect all your privacy whenever possible. I’m not… I’m not the mind-reading police here, ya know.”
“Maybe you should be,” interjected Felix. “Maybe the idea of having personal rights and liberties while inside of a secure, military secret like building, is ludicrous.
“Perhaps joining such an organization removes the very same privileges you’d be looking to protect for others. While the guild in turn would protect you from the government.
“Somewhat akin to a union I suppose. Though, I’m not officially a member here. I’m not really part of your guild. I’m an outsider looking in.”
Getting to his feet, Felix made a show of rubbing his hands together. As if he were washing himself of this situation entirely.
Then he held up his hands in a neutral pose.
“I will put the full support of Legion and the Association behind Kit Carrington. I believe she’s the right person for the job and has the right disposition to make sure everyone follows the rules,” Felix proposed. “Whatever voting power I have, goes behind her. Along with Legion and the Association.
“If you have any needs or requests Miss Carington, please don’t hesitate to put them forward to me by email. I’ll earnestly consider them as if they were coming from inside Legion.
“In the mean while… I’d say you have a more pressing issue than whatever it is you were working on. Someone infiltrated your facility. An outsider had access to your information and data.
“Best you discover how deep the exposure went. How bad this breach is. You’ll need to be able to understand how deep that rabbit hole goes before you can get an idea of what you need to move to protect and cover yourselves.”
Felix slowly walked down from the back of the auditorium and moved to stand beside Kit. He slowly looked around the area to get an idea of the crowd.
They were still in shock at what’d just happened.
Here, in their little sanctum, surrounded by people who thought they were far more than the rest of humanity, they were exposed to the fact they were vulnerable. They were just as likely to turn on each other, as anyone else was.
“Its good that this happened the way it did. Before things moved further along and things reached a point where real damage could be done,” Felix consoled them. “A lesson given without harm and likely minimal damage.
“As I said earlier though… my support is firmly behind Miss Carrington. If not her, than Miss Lux. Or both of them together. Whichever way you see it, I trust in them personally.”
Felix turned and left, heading for the exit.
He needed to let them launch their own investigation into this. To find out their own answers. The more he involved himself with it, the more likely they’d want to blame him, or find fault in his conclusions.
“Tribune,” Felix muttered. “I want to know what the hell happened just now. If you’re only here at this facility, consider it your number one priority.
“If you have any conflicting priorities, concerns, or otherwise, address them with me and I’ll clear it up right quick for you.”
“Yes, Legate,” Tribune answered.
“Wow! He just went KERSPOOM all over,” Andrea said, catching up to him. “It felt a lot like a breaching charge going off, really. The same thump of the detonation had that solid thud to it.”
Not for the first time, Felix wondered about Andrea. She was really starting to seem like a fluid blend of all her personalities. Swapping between her self described “extra” self, her military and disciplined mind, and her rather high sex drive, without being a different person.
To him, it felt like she was becoming a true and whole person.
Rather than several fragmented people.
“It was a surprise,” Miu snarled as they continued to exit. Their destination was the Association truck that was parked out front.
“Considering he used his own power to blow himself to bits, I don’t think there’s anything we could have done to prevent it,” reckoned Felix. “It’s not like we weren’t aware of what his power was or the scope of it.
“That’s the risk we run in dealing with Supers. Everyone could be a nuclear weapon and you never know what will set them off.”
Miu growled in response to that but she didn’t say anything more.
“Miu, work with Mikki and Tribue. I want to know who that man was in contact with. See if we can’t run it down to where this started from,” commanded Felix. “From the beginning I’ve felt like that maybe we’re not as far ahead of this race as I thought we were.
“That maybe we’re actually much further behind than we suspected or considered. This only makes me feel like thats more the truth. If they can turn a Super in the guild that easily and quickly, there’s a lot of power, influence, or danger in the Super world.”
“Y-yes. I’ll take care of it,” Miu said in a whisper. “I’ll work through Mikki for most of it. I’m sure she’s more than capable of taking care of it.”
In other words… you don’t want to leave my side.
The question is will you say it or will it—
“I don’t want to leave your side,” confessed Miu.
Color me surprised.
“That’s fine, I understand,” Felix said as he opened the door and stepped outside. His eyes flicked to the corner of his HUD to see what might be next on his schedule.
Tribune or Andrea would have filled it out for him this morning to make sure he was kept on task.
“We’re meeting with Juno and several other potential Legion influencers,” Andrea announced moving past him. “People from other parts of the internet that she wants to push.”
“Goodie,” Felix said sarcastically. “Just what I wanted to do.”
“You’re not allowed to do Juno,” hissed Miu.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it. You’re just playing the ‘I’m a crazy girl’ card now,” growled Felix, getting into the truck. Miu came in right behind him.
Laughing loudly, Andrea got into the driver’s seat and turned the engine over.
“He’s got you there, babe,” Andrea murmured and began pulling them away from the building.
“I am not… well… err… maybe… maybe a little,” Miu admitted, her shoulders hunching and her helmet facing the ground. “I’m crazy, yes. You’re not allowed to sleep with Juno.
“I’ll kill her and pull her apart and eat what she touched of you. Not allowed.”
“Yes, but that’s not what I meant,” Felix laughingly accused, laying an arm around Miu’s shoulders. “You know full well I want no part of her. You’re playing the card, only because you felt like you should, or could. I can’t tell which.”
Miu shrugged her shoulders and then slowly leaned toward him.
“Would you still love me if I wasn’t crazy?” she asked in a confused way.
“Well… the crazy makes it fun in the end, and that’s never going to go away,” Felix asserted and pulled her in close to his side. “You don’t need to lean into it when it wouldn’t come out naturally though.
“I mean, come on. I’ve surrounded myself with people that are all… not right. I mean, look at Andrea to start with.”
“We’re not crazy,” Andrea said, voicing the combined thoughts of at least twenty other Andreas.
“Uh huh, and which one of you just said, ‘at least as much’, because I guarantee one of you did,” Felix countered.
“Five did,” Andrea said after a pause with a grumble.
“Then there’s Goldie,” Felix continued. “I don’t need to talk about Goldie. Or Faith, even. We know what Faith and the other two Dryads are like.”
Miu grunted at that and then pushed her head up under his jaw.
“That makes you crazy, right?” she demanded. “Crazy for crazies?”
“Well, I display a number of psychopathic tendencies. Or at least that’s what Kit often told me,” Felix mused, his thoughts drifting backward. “It’s not that big a deal if you ask me. You all seem to have responded to my tribal nature by pushing even more tribal nature forward.
“I just have to make sure that we slowly take over everything. So that everything, and everyone, is in our tribe. Once we’re all bound together, I can’t even begin to imagine what we might accomplish.”
Felix leaned his head back and looked up to the interior of the truck.
It’s a lot like being a new leader.
Step in, change, break, and alter everything. Make everyone hate you, but get the job done. Do it completely so there’s no room for going backward.
Then hand the reigns off to someone much more well liked, who will make small concessions to appease people. Yet never put anything back to the way it was.
A rapid and life-altering change, followed after by small drips and drabs to make people feel more comfortable.
“I want to bite you and taste your blood in my mouth,” Miu demanded then grabbed his arm with both of her hands.
“Fine, fine, just don’t be so rough about it,” allowed Felix, working to remove his right gauntlet.
***
Rolling up to the gated and fenced off industrial building, Felix felt rather proud of it.
To the casual observer, it looked a lot like an every day industrial warehouse and facility. Even if one were to peer in through the windows without trespassing, that’s all they’d see as well.
It’d been done up almost exactly like the farm, where at a casual look it appeared as one would expect. A warehouse that Legion operated supplies out of that were of common nature. Uniforms, food, plastic trays, utensils, things that you might need for any long term corporate building.
Once one got inside though, past the false exerioer, they’d realize it was a safe-house, storage, and lab.
This was also where Felix could get to and from the area from Legion HQ in the future. A train station was being constructed beneath it so that it could connect to everywhere else.
With so many stations needing to be built, though, this one was not a priority.
A helicopter pad and flight clearances had been established here so that any member of Legion could come and go as needed. He just had to make sure he didn’t use it too often or predictably, otherwise someone could set up an ambush for him.
Felix lost track of what was going on as he thought up all the ways he’d likely ambush someone himself and was surprised when the doors opened suddenly. They’d already moved into the loading section and entered the building with the vehicle.
“Juno here, ready for her Jupiter!” declared the young woman who’d thrown the door open.
Miu and Andrea had apparently exited through the front leaving him in the back.
Alone.
The camera on Juno’s shoulder which was attached to her armor was red and clearly on. Recording her interactions with Felix.
“Then you have me, Juno,” Felix said honestly.
While he didn’t care for the role, he knew that he needed to appeal to the younger crowd. To get into their head space and win them over.
Because it was them who would most likely receive the lion’s share of Super powers. The previous generations would of course have their own, but they’d be far fewer in number.
Getting to his feet Felix walked to the end of the truck only to find Romina had her hand up for him. As if to help him step down.
Taking it, he exited the truck as two other Legionnaire’s came up and closed the doors.
“Success!” Juno cheered and her fingers closed in tight to Felix’s hand. He could feel her gauntlet powered grip clutching to his own. “Now, we have several new people I want to see what you think of.
“To see what their powers are and then share it with our viewers. They’re all very curious if it could really be as simple as we always claim.
“So… Juno had an extremely wrinkly brain moment, followed by a smooth one unfortunately. Now we have our winners from a contest and here they are!” explained Romina. Though Felix wasn’t sure if it was for him, or her audience. “Also, everyone say hi to Legionnaire Dragon! There she is!”
Turning partly, Romina made sure the camera on her shoulder framed up around Goldie who wasn’t far off. She was standing in a very flowy and comfortable looking sun-dress of blue. It suited her quite well.
“Romina, you know that’s not how you should be addressing me or even Legate,” chided Goldie, coming over. She took Romina’s hand from Felix and then patted the back of her wrist several times. “What’s the proper address for me.”
“Legionnaire Goldie,” Romina said, her entire personality shifting rapidly.
“And how do we address our Legate?” prompted the beautiful Gold Dragon.
“Legate, or Sir,” answered Romina. “Sorry, Legionnaire Goldie.”
“It’s fine dear, it’s fine. You just need to make sure you show proper manners. You can’t really expect our potentials who are watching to address you just as informally, can we? That’d be rude,” Goldie said, then looked to the camera. “I expect all of you to behave admirably.”
Leave it to Goldie to house-wife mom everyone right into the ground.
It’s good for it to be seen like this. Her image makeover is definitely proceeding in the right direction with her interacting so often with Romina.
“Junoooooo,” called an Andrea in street clothes heading their way. Felix immediately noted that it was Third.
“Andrea!” Romina said excitedly, practically forgetting that she’d just been scolded. “Oh my god I love that blouse! Yaaas. You should be a model!”
Andrea took that as a request to begin strutting in a way very similar to how Goldie walked, while also adopting a vague non-interested and lost look to her face.
Then she laughed, squealed, and hopped quickly over to stand next to Romina.
“No, no, no. Nobody wants a Beastkin like me as a model. My tail gets in the way for most things,” Andrea said and whipped her tail around, practically slapping it against Romina’s chest. “Now… these are the winners?”
Andrea was a regular presence on Romina’s stream. Everyone loved the spunky, energetic, and fun personality of hers.
“Yep! I just went to get my Jupiter so he could give them a quick once over,” Romina said, looking from Andrea to the six people who were standing nearby. They all had smiles on their faces, looked far too excited, and didn’t know what to do or how to hold themselves. “Here, let’s go introduce them all to you!”
Goldie wandered over to stand next to Felix and gave him a brilliant smile. Her gold eyes flashed as she stared at his helmet.
“After we’re done with this, you need to come with me down to the basement,” murmured Goldie. “I have many things for you to look over. Many things to possibly bring back from the past. It should be interesting and exciting for both of us.”
Blinking, Felix had to get his brain out of the gutter and latched onto to what she was actually saying. Rather than her smile and her eyes.
“I made sure to bring the gold rings I promised,” Felix said, trying to pitch the external mic as low as it would go. “I wonder how many you earned?”
Goldie’s eyes flashed and her smile became a grin. Her teeth bright white and shining as she gazed at his helmet.
“I’m sure I can earn them in other ways for however many you brought with you,” she purred.
Then Romina came back and grabbed him by the shoulder, dragging him off to go finish off her contest.
Be polite, be cordial, be Legate.
Professional, inviting, but neutral. We want to inspire people to join the Legion. To be more than just a Hero or a Villain.
To achieve the middle.
“Jupiter, this is my first winner!” announced Romina, pulling him up to a small asian woman.
Here we go, then.
Comments
Eliseo Rios
Ah, ok. That makes sense now, felix was just going along and not questioning it at all, so I thought that they had discussed it previously
William D. Arand
ayup
Drew Risch
I think it's just implied that Juno does a lot of stuff on her own and Felix kind of gets dragged into it when necessary?
Eliseo Rios
Wait, contest? Was that mentioned in a previous chapter and I just missed it?
