WilliamDArand
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Super Sales on Super Heroes 5 -Ch19-
🕑 Added 2022-07-02 02:26:53 +0000 UTCFelix followed the assistant that had guided him through the Heroes hall. They escorted him right through the central area that was available to visitors, and had skirted around anything that was designated for Heroes.
In this simple situation he saw that there was already a disconnect inside of the guild of Heroes. Lily and Kit felt he was a member, someone else didn’t feel that way. Whoever gave her the instructions to bring him inside, was quite likely not in the faction he wanted to support.
“By the way,” Felix said, raising his voice a bit in volume to make sure the helmet would transmit his voice accordingly. “Who left the instructions to guide me inside? When I spoke to the others, they had only told me to go to the assembly conference room.”
“Uhm, I’m honestly not sure,” admitted the young man in front of Felix. He had a slightly confused look on his face as he considered it. “It was just in the meeting invite to escort you accordingly. I’m sorry, was there something else that you were supposed to do first?”
“No, no, it’s fine. I was just curious,” Felix lied, trying to appease the man into forgetting he’d even asked. He needed something to distract him, in fact. “Have you been enjoying your work here?”
“Yes! It’s actually really rewarding to be part of something so… so big. This is such as massive change that it’s almost other worldly at times.
“It’s not something I ever thought I’d ever be a part of, that’s for sure. I’m very much just an every day person with… you know… just… every day stuff.”
“I find the world is completely built upon the backs of every day people,” growled Felix. He’d never quite shed the chip on his shoulder given how big business had treated him through his adult life. “Upon their very crushed corpses, in fact. I can’t imagine it’ll get better any time soon before it gets much worse.”
“You sound like my dad,” said the man laughingly.
Uh… huh… I guess… I’m old enough to be a dad now.
Don’t look like it anymore but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m technically in my forties.
The outside isn’t showing the wear and tear anymore, but my brain is. Starting to feel like I can’t even connect with the younger generation anymore.
That or they’re so jaded that it makes even me feel appalled.
Leading Felix through the hallway they took a turn, then another. Eventually ending up in the assembly conference room just as he’d expected. Felix entered and then looked around for several moments.
There didn’t seem to be any name placards laid out, nor was there any type of designations for who would sit who. In fact it seemed almost like they expected anyone to be anywhere.
Turning, Felix looked to the young man who’d brought him.
Except he was gone.
Only Andrea and Miu were there. He’d been allowed two bodyguards to come with him. The former had demanded she be there, and the latter had done the same.
Felix had no argument for it if only because no one else he’d want to bring was available. His mind often went to wanting to drag Goldie and Gaia around with him.
Between those two he could probably kick-start world war three.
“Back. Far back,” Miu demanded and then started forward. She wasn’t going to let him sit just anywhere, after all. She was going to pick the right spot for them based on security needs.
Andrea came up behind Felix and gave him a gentle pat as Miu began moving up to the back of the amphitheater.
“Up up and away,” urged Andrea. The Centurion helmet and it’s front to back red bristle stripe had made her quite pleased to put it on. Miu was also wearing a similar helmet.
Not fighting them, Felix did as instructed. Moving up to the back of the seating arrangements and plopping himself down in the chair Miu was pointing to.
“Legate, I have received your signal, and linked in with your armor,” Tribune reported to him through his helmet.
“Splendid. Good work. You’re the Tribune that’s in the Legion base directly under the Heroe’s guild building, right?” he asked, wanting to make sure he knew exactly which Tribune he was talking to. There were three right now, which was down from four.
The prison Tribune and Association Tribune had integrated themselves into one VI now.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Great. Anything to report?” asked Felix. He flipped open the wrist panel and began moving his finger across the controls. He wanted to get into the file system and pull up the internet.
If he was going to be stuck here waiting for this meeting he wanted to at least be entertained. He’d rather be working but that wasn’t something he could very well get done here.
“There have been many people coming and going throughout the building, Legate,” Tribune stated. “More so than there should be. I suspect they’ve had intruders. Legionnaire Mikki is of course working to find these interlopers, however, the guild itself is making it difficult for her to do her job effectively.
“They’re preventing her from acting in the best interest of security and are elevating the rights of the individual over securing the location.”
Sounds about right.
You’d think they’d understand a building like this eliminate individual rights to a degree.
I’m all for rights and liberties. Just not when they’re put in front of the well-being of the nation in a location that should be classified as a military secret.
Shaking his head, Felix realized not for the first time he’d be a tyrant.
A despot.
King to all, leader for everyone, democracy and a republic for those he allowed to have it.
At least I can admit it.
A ping sounded in his helmet and a small box appeared in the corner. It was a link it looked like.
Sighing, he saw who sent it.
Romina Rohis
Tapping into it it popped up in the corner of his view.
“Juno here!” called the beautiful and wide eyed woman. The collar of her Legion armor was clearly in view as the background moved behind her. She was walking and holding her phone out in front of her. “Just got to the Association and I can’t wait to see everyone.
“But we have to do things right. In Legion, you have to make sure protocol is followed dependent on you, and your job.
“Because in Legion, Legion comes first. That means I have to do my due diligence as Juno.”
There was a large mob of people that were rapidly showing up around Juno as she moved ahead. Quite a few people all had their phones out and were taking pictures of something else.
Really does her job as the Rising Star of Legion quite well.
Not too fond of the naming convention but… it works, I suppose.
“Ah! There’s my Jupiter!” Juno called out as the phone swung around the other way. Felix had a great view of himself standing in front of the building. Looking out at everyone assembled there.
The armor looked perfectly immaculate. The way he stood was at a loose attention.
Beside him was Andrea in with her Centurion helmet, and Miu on his other side. Fanned out on either side in both directions were more Andrea’s in regular helmets.
“I got my Centurion helmet, too! We’ll have to look it over later and really check it out,” Juno gushed. “I was already looking at it, and it’s so damn cool. It has a display and everything.
“But for now… Legate! Your Juno is here!”
Felix’s armored head snapped to the left and locked on the camera Juno, or Romina as she was named, held and stayed there.
“See? Jupiter always hears me when I call out,” Juno reported and then began bumping her way through the crowd at the same time two Andrea’s moved forward. They quickly carved out an aisle for her and she was promptly deposited in front of Felix.
“Legate, Jupiter, Juno is here,” reported Romina, moving to stand in front of him and flipping the camera around. “Alright! Let’s have an amazing Legion day! Legion First!”
“Legion first,” agreed Felix, Miu, and Andrea who were all in the frame with Romina.
Groaning, Felix closed the video.
It’d been a successful meet-and-greet as far as he knew, it’d just felt like a waste of time. He’d done his best to project the personality of Legate, though of also being welcoming.
This was no different than when he’d thrown on the “happy CEO” face back in his old world.
“Nnn, nn. Juno does her job well,” Andrea said quickly. “I like her.”
People began filing into the auditorium and taking seats. A great many of them all paused to look up at Felix and his position. As well as those directly around him.
No one didn’t spot him or note his presence.
Which was likely a good and a bad thing, he figured.
Mikki came into the room and her eyes began to scan and flick over each and every person inside. Picking across each face before slowly switching to the next.
She spared Felix, Miu, and Andrea no more time, nor any less, than the others. Scanning them visually before she finally went to stand in the corner.
Miu looked to Andrea who gave her a minute head nod. Then she began moving down from the upper seats to go stand next to Mikki.
The two Miu’s had a very similar way of standing and carrying themselves.
“They’re friends. They talk a lot,” whispered Andrea. “It reminds me of when I first figured out I had friends that were just like me in my head.”
“See, when I say things like that, people tell me I’m crazy,” Felix responded.
“Silly, you are crazy. I’m not,” deadpanned Andrea.
The room continued to fill until almost every seat was taken.
Lily and Kit had also joined them and joined the rest.
Eventually there was an audible chime that came through the speakers.
Kit stood up from her seat and walked over to the front of the room. Standing there, wearing her Augur helmet, she struck deep at the memory’s in Felix’s mind.
Far too many of them, in fact.
“Thank you all for coming,” Kit said with a hand gesture to the room. “We have a full attendance today. That means a lot.
“We of course invited the Legate as he… well… he’s the Legate. He may not be an official member of the Heroe’s guild, but without him, we wouldn’t be here. It’s better that we make a habit of including him and treating him like one of us. Because he is.
“He’ll also be responsible for helping us recruit everyone we’ll need in the future. After all, all the information we get is directly through his comprehensive testing.”
“If it’s even all of the data,” groused someone from the audience.
Felix didn’t mix it when Kit glanced his way, or when everyone else did the same thing. While it wasn’t going to be an issue if he didn’t say anything, it was actually quite likely that they did want him to respond to that.
“All data that was promised, was delivered,” announced Felix. “The only thing withheld were those employed directly by the Association or Legion. This is to protect their identity as they’re no longer classified as normal citizens.”
“So he says,” grumbled the same speaker from earlier.
This time Felix had spotted them when they spoke. They were wearing some type of mask over their face that hid their features away. He was dressed in a black outfit with a great deal of tailor work to make it stand out.
Right… maybe they’re the problem for Kit and Lily, too?
“I do indeed say. I’ll be happy to provide to you the list of powers I hired as well as what position they were hired into after this meeting,” offered Felix. “None of them would be very useful to the Heroe’s guild, but quite useful to the Association.
“As an example, I hired someone who can easily identify almost anything they touch. It makes it much easier to make sure who we’re interviewing, is who they claim to be. A very useful power to make sure we’re accurately providing documentation to who comes in.”
“If that’s really all of the data,” said the man, apparently still stuck on that point.
“Whether it’s all of it, or not, I’m not legally obligated to provide you anything that what I contractually did,” countered Felix. “I’ve offered additional information if only to try and provide some good will for you.
“It seems it’s misplaced. You seem particularly set to be steadfast against the Legion and myself. Is there something I’ve done to you personally, sir?”
Now that Felix had made it a personal thing, everyone was quite willing to turn around and look at him and the other speaker.
“No, I just don’t see why you get to hold data back,” the man complained, folding his arms in front of himself.
“For the same reason you get to wear a mask and not reveal your identity to everyone else,” argued Felix. “One just suits your purposes more than the other does.
“I find it amusing how often people will gladly trample upon the rights of others, if it will allow them to use their own rights or morals more freely.
“Perhaps we could ask you for your own name? Your identity? Where you hail from? Your family? Your power?”
The man was now shaking his head, looking down to the seat in front of himself. It seemed he didn’t want to discuss the subject anymore.
“Legate, given the communication heuristics program in my suite of tools, that man isn’t a problem,” reported Tribune. “However, there is an individual three rows down, and two seats to the right, that I’ve identified as being problematic.”
“Problematic?” Felix asked as Kit cleared her throat and tried to wrestle the conversation back to her own agenda.
“His posture is stiff, his breathing forced, and his body-heat and heart rate are much higher than they should be,” explained Tribune. “While they mimic much of the body functions that the other Legionnaires, or primarily the female ones, exhibit while being around you, this is a male.
“Given the data provided and my previous examples, I believe this individual to be a problem. Additionally upon review I’ve determined that he often moves in strange ways through the guild.”
Unable to help himself, Felix was now interested in that.
Except he couldn’t quite believe it either. The simple fact was that there shouldn’t be anything that could block out telepathy outside of his own creations.
Which would mean his power was something that allowed him actively block or nullify Kit’s powers. That’d be something he’d have noted and kept track of, if he’d come across it.
“Does his identity match the records on file?” asked Felix.
“Match to facial features and database,” answered Tribune. “Power listed is the ability to utilize sound waves to mimic anything that can be heard.”
Anything that can be heard?
Not something that’d counter telepathy.
Thinking, Felix wasn’t paying attention to Kit’s speech. She was currently working through a presentation that was being displayed on the screen behind her.
Mimic.
Well.
Could… could someone else have mimiced the Legion helmets to a degree? Could someone else have utilized a power to duplicate one just on sight?
It’s not like there isn’t strange one off powers out there.
Hm. Something to look into I suppose.
Need to make sure that we upgrade Kit’s helmet so she can… actually… let’s do that.
No reason to wait.
Reaching out with his power, Felix focused in on Kit’s helmet.
While he’d given it to her, it was on a loan. He owned it and retained all the technology that went with it.
His request was simple.
To modify her helmet so that it grant Kit the power to overcome and overwhelm any power, technology, or magic that might defeat her own power.
The only limitation he set on it was that it wouldn’t work against active Legion members. That was the only exception he put on it.
Her regular telepathy without the helmet would be defeated by the Legion rings after all.
Kinda cheap considering how many points we have.
Felix accepted the change and then looked to Kit to see if she’d notice it.
“— working to sto… to stop… criminal… organizations,” Kit mumbled, her head turning to one side and then the other. As if she was hearing something she hadn’t expected.
Slowly, her head rotated around until she was looking straight at the man that Tribune had marked out.
“Huh, maybe you were right after all, Tribune,” Felix murmured with a chuckle.
Looking up to the screen he froze.
There on the screen was a picture of Michael. The very man that Felix had assumed would become a problem for Anya and Thomas.
There was some information off to the side of his mugshot but Felix couldn’t quite make it out. He didn’t need to though, it was obvious he’d done something to get the attention of the Heroe’s guild.
“You got this downloaded, Tribune?” Felix asked. “The presentation that is. I think I’m going to have to make a visit after this. See if I can’t save Anya and Thomas from their Michael problem since it seems like he’s going to become one.
“While that’s going on, if you don’t mind, dig into the computers and servers here at the guild and see if you can’t find out how they discovered Michael. It’d be great if we could track it back to somewhere so we can figure out if we need to carry this further back.
“We can’t leave anything behind that would endanger those two if they’re going to fit into my plans.”
“Yes, Sir,” answered the VI. “I’ll make sure that happens, Legate.”
Hm. It’s about time I checked in on them more so than I have been. They’ve just been keeping it all small time so far. Doing small grifts and cons, not really pushing up.
Not moving the needle or making the radar blip, so to speak.
This’ll be perfect timing for me to swoop in and rescue them. Push them toward the Villain’s League.
“Great. I’ll need it so I can sort through it and—”
The man that Tribune had picked out, and Kit was staring at, exploded.
Comments
William D. Arand
Thank you, I'll double check this.
Nick Cartwright
As a prior service soldier I can tell you that service men and women get no rights of privacy on the military installation. It has to be so for proper security. So I personally wouldn’t consider it tyrannical to run the hero guild (from my understanding a military branch) as such. However I can understand that some of these hero’s are not going through your usual military indoctrination.
Nick Cartwright
Just to point out. When his mom asked his age he said he was in his 30’s. Now he said he was in his 40’s.
Niko
that's what i want to know. did kit make his brain go pop?
Jeremy Patrick
BOOM!
Jameric
I hope so that would be an amazing distinction between them
Jeff Ford
Kit did it
Alex Lindsay
Always fun and a bit unexpected with WDA! I love his stories. 😀
KiwiHermit
Heh. Instant dislike for that grouchy little man in black. I get the feeling he's gonna be an annoying little twit until someone smacks him down or just downright kills him.
Kenneth Darlin
Oh shit
Eliseo Rios
Damn I knew he was trouble, but I did think he was just gonna kamikaze himself,
Drew Risch
Are we talking like exploded as in chunks of person going everywhere, or exploded as in a burst of power radially out of him, I wonder
Kori Prins
Pop goes the weasel?
