In under a minute, he solved the cube and held it up.
“I did that? I did that… I can solve a Rubik’s cube,” Jeff said with a laugh.
“Here, try again. Each one you solve in under a minute I’ll give you a fifty for,” Felix said. Pivoting on his heel, he took an open box from one of the assistants. Inside were ten Rubik’s cubes.
Setting it down in front of Jeff, he turned back to Kit as the second boy was being escorted into the cell. Thumbing the mute button he gave her a critical look.
“It’s working. I can read everything in their heads. Without them even knowing. Check your point values?” Kit asked.
Nodding his head, Felix turned back to the Rubik’s cube master.
Focusing in on Jeff, Felix wanted to know what it would cost to change Jeff’s hair color.
But only if he owned Jeff. Not a hypothetical option.
Physical change: Blue Hair
Required Ownership: (Met)
Required Permission: (Met)
Change?(400)
Below that was the accept button.
The contract worked, and the training worked when changed to a video format instead of a book.
Which meant they could probably train an entire class at the same time.
“We’re golden,” Felix said, dismissing the window.
Kit gave him a relieved smile and then nodded her head.
Holding up an arm, Felix pointed to the two doors his people had come in from.
“Those who want to see the other two lessons may of course remain,” Felix said into the mic. “Those who want to find out what departments are hiring in Legion, all of them, and speak to someone about that, step right on outside.”
Two of the movers had anticipated his statement and were waiting at the doors. As soon as he invited everyone outside, they opened the doors. Light from outside flooded into the gym.
“Thank you, everyone, for your attention, we’re going to move to the Q and A session now. All questions regarding certain departments should be taken to their respective booths. Generalized questions to HR.” Felix stopped next to one of his people. “Or you can speak directly to me if you like. Enjoy the career fair. I hear the corndogs are awesome.”
Handing over the mic to the black suited man, Felix walked outside.
All around him were booths and tables. Decorated and labeled by their respective departments. From janitorial to HR. Motorpool to security. Everything was here.
Victoria was beside him, matching him pace for pace. His destination was obvious. There was a booth at the center of everything that had one empty chair behind it.
The placard on the top of the booth read “applications.” Beyond that was an area with arranged tables, chairs, pens, and men and women waiting on hand for questions.
Felix could smell the sweet siren call of the food stands off to both sides. Everything was free to anyone who could provide their school ID.
We really did go all out on this.
“I think we’re going to be drowning in applicants,” Victoria said from his side.
“That’s a good thing. If we can catch them out of high school, and do it right, they’ll never want to leave,” Felix said, nodding his head.
Moving around to the back of the booth, Felix sat down in the chair. He didn’t bother to offer the other one to Victoria, she wouldn’t take it.
She’d be too busy staring everyone down who came close.
Instead, he picked up a stack of applications and a pen. Giving the top of it a click he checked to make sure the ink could write.
Sighing, he retracted the pen tip and set it down next to his right hand, arranged the stack of applications, then folded his hands one over the other.
High schoolers were spilling out of the doors in droves. They were looking around as they went, and then heading immediately to whatever booth they were interested in.
“Hm. How are things?” Felix asked to Victoria.
“Same as ever. I did catch a few Powereds trying to get in close. I made sure that they understood there was a limit to my patience,” Victoria said. “The change in my secondary power helped,” Victoria amended softly.
“Wasn’t that big a deal. We just moved your observations to heightened reflexes. Didn’t even cost much. Though… do you find yourself fighting it at times? Is it an always on kind of thing? I know you said it’s almost as if time slows down when you’re pushing it.”
“It’s controllable for the most part. I find myself knowing things I don’t want to. Smells, changes in body posture, pupils constricting, increase in heart rate. All signs of people lying or… or other things. Overall though, very beneficial. Definitely makes it much easier to babysit you,” Victoria said with a smile in her voice.
“I’ll give you something to babysit,” Felix said. “Maybe I’ll decide we need to go on a late night trip to a fast food joint at two am and I’ll be eating on the curb.”
Victoria snorted at that and didn’t respond.
Yeah, pretty unlikely.
From inside the press of teenagers, a small open area formed at the back.
Grinning, he already knew it was Miu and Kit. They were the only people he knew who could make a path like that without hurting people.
Proving his thoughts true, Miu and Kit stepped out of the throng of young people.
Catching Kit’s eyes, Felix smiled genuinely.
“Your heartrate sped up and you’re leaning forward. I’m not sure which one has you so interested, or both, but your tongue might as well be hanging out,” Victoria said softly. “The problem with me noticing these things, though, is I’m sure Kit has read my thoughts and knows these things as well.”
Felix froze as he processed all that.
Then he shrugged.
“Don’t care, they’re both extremely attractive in their way. Besides, Miu can read lips. She just doesn’t like to let people know. Don’t you, Miu, you beautiful tiny princess who I’d like to see in a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra,” Felix said.
Miu tripped over nothing, catching herself immediately as her face turned a deep scarlet.
“See?” Felix asked with a snicker.
“You’re a horrible man,” Victoria replied.
“Only with Miu. She’s a delight to prod at because her reactions are so… sincere. It’s not my normal disposition to flirt,” Felix said honestly. “All of my previous girlfriends asked me out first.”
It really wasn’t his inclination to be the aggressor. Almost all of his relationships were something someone else initiated.
Kit had turned her attention to Miu and was making sure she was alright. Only letting it drop when they stood in front of Felix.
“Well,” Kit began. “Everything is pretty much what we suspected. There’s a few memories here of people seeing me across the street. Or hearing of me being there. We’re on the right track.”
“Great. That’s what we were hoping to confirm. One step closer to finding out what they wanted you for. One step closer to getting them off our asses,” Felix said grimly.
“Sorry. We can—”
“Stop talking,” Felix said, interrupting her, pointing a finger at her. His eyes turned cold and dangerous. “Not a word. You’re important to me, and I’ll not hand you over to people who blow up schools to justify their goals. They’re petty, stupid, and intolerant. That’d be like someone dropping a nuke on Skippercity,” Felix said hotly.
“What?” Victoria asked, shocked. “That’s just stupid.”
“You and I would agree. But there are some crazy, very stupid, very basic, low IQ individuals who would do something like that. They’d damn hundreds of thousands of people, to take out one villain. Poison the earth for hundreds of years. Kill thousands upon thousands with the radioactive fallout afterward. All for one villain who was in control of a city, and running it, rather well all things considered.
“It sounds insane, and bizarre, but there are those people out there. Some uppe
r echelon nutjob with a name like… Corinne, David, Victor, or Noah. Yeah,” Felix said with a sigh, naming off previous employees he remembered.
Everyone collectively shook their heads at the thought of it.
“Anyways, that’s beside the point. Don’t even think to offer up a suggestion like turning yourself over, as that’s pure idiocy.
“Besides, you’re not even a slave anymore. You’re only indentured. You were able to break your contract the moment you came to Tilen with me,” Felix said, looking back to Kit again.
It’d be a heck of a break price, but you could do it.
The telepath said nothing and merely stared back at him.
Then with a small smile she nodded her head a fraction. “And here I’ll remain. You’re not a Hero, Felix, but you’re not a Villain either.”
“Pretty much. Just a guy looking out for his own. Oh, here we go,” Felix said with a bit of excitement in his voice.
A group of six teenagers were walking up to his booth, questions in their faces, arms braced against themselves with nervous energy.
Felix gave them a smile and waited. Whatever questions they had, he’d answer them honestly.
And with any luck, I’ll be giving them an application.
Forty minutes later and Felix had managed to clear his queue. He had doubted that it was going to last as long as it had, but he was glad to have finished up that group fully.
No sooner than they cleared out, Jeff came trundling up with a wheeled trashcan. Behind him was two younger girls who vaguely resembled Jeff. Each one of them had a trashcan they were pulling as well.
“Jeff, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Felix asked. He leaned over his desk and set his chin on his folded hands, watching.
“I wanted to collect on that deal. You didn’t give me a time limit or anything so…” Jeff said hesitantly.
“Go on,” Felix said. He already figured out what Jeff had done and was doing his best not to laugh.
“So I went across the street. There’s a toy store. I bought as many as I could afford and… solved them,” Jeff said. He pulled his trash can over to Felix and lifted the lid.
Inside was nothing but solved Rubik’s cubes.
Unable to help himself, Felix started to laugh. Looking up at Jeff, he clapped his hands together a few times.
“Well done. You’re absolutely right, and I’ll pay out. On the condition that you put in an application, Jeff. I like that kind of thinking. Quite a bit,” Felix said.
He needed more people to throw into Lily’s department. Smart creative thinkers were dangerous in legal departments.
Chapter 3 - Omission -
The evening of the career fair found Felix hunched over his desk.
He was peering at the display of all the applicants on his virtual desktop. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like over ninety percent of the senior class had applied. He’d be able to get a final count later on when it was all pushed into an excel sheet.
Every department got at least one applicant.
“Quite a few interested in security,” Felix said, flipping through the applications. “Even a few with existing powers. I didn’t realize they had Powereds in the school.”
His bodyguard said nothing. Instead, he stood at the corner of Felix’s desk, doing his best impression of a men’s suit mannequin for a war zone.
Dressed sharply in a tailored black suit, clearly wearing kevlar underneath, and toting a SMG, he had the look of a trained operative.
Not surprising. We did start with our own people on the training program with the singular books. They might very well be the equivalent to some special forces.
The woman at the corner of the room gave him a glance, then resumed her duties. She was dressed similarly to the man, armed the same way, and had the same lethal air around her.
Sighing, Felix missed Andrea.
There was something about the bubbly Beastkin that made even the quiet moments… different.
Closing his terminal with a flick of his fingers he leaned back in his chair. Staring up at the ceiling, he tried to order his thoughts as best as he could. There was quite a bit to do, still.
Before he even got through a mental list of every task, let alone sorting them, his phone started buzzing on his wrist.
Falling into a normal sitting position he glanced at the display on the front.
Lily?
Tapping the connect button he pulled his earpiece out of his front pocket and slipped it into his ear.
“Hey, beautiful,” Felix said, grinning. “I miss you. You and that big brain of yours.”
“You say the most wonderful things. You compliment me on both sides, and reassure me that you want me for my mind,” came the purring voice of Lily on the other end of the line.
“I want compliments, too!” said Andrea, clearly in the same room.
“Stop, Andie, you know he compliments you endlessly,” Lily said with a laugh.
“I miss you both,” Felix said simply.
There was no response to the sincerity in his tone. Both Lily and Andrea seemed flustered.
“Well,” Lily began again. “That’ll be over soon. Wraith is on their way over to you. Should be there in an hour or two.”
That means the job is done.
Every witness who was lined up for every charge against anyone in Legion had been taken care of. Silence purchased, intimidated, or simply eliminated.
Hopefully as little of that last one as possible.
“Only two,” Lily said, as if she’d heard his thoughts.
“That’s great,” Felix said, feeling better.
Two out of six hundred was pretty low on how bad it could have been.
Me and mine first. Anyone else is an enemy. Legion first.
“We’ll be waiting about a week, and then joining you,” Lily said a touch breathily.
She missed me, too?
“Lauren’s been sending me status reports. Seems like everything is going splendidly,” she immediately continued on.
“Ah, yeah. Everything is. We had a really good turn out for Tilen High. We’ll probably be visiting all the other high schools after this. They’ll all get second tier preferential treatment, but still preferential,” Felix said, leaning back in his chair again.
“Good, good. Stop it, just—ok. Ok. You don’t need to give me that look, stop multiplying. Ok, here,” Lily said. “One second, Felix, Andie wants to talk.”
Felix laughed and nodded his head, even though they couldn’t see him. “Alright.”
“Felix!” came a thundering of voices practically shouting into the phone. Then it devolved into a tumult of voices. It sounded as if there were at least twenty of them all crowding around the phone.
“Any possibility of you getting down to Andrea prime? It’s a touch hard to understand with so many of you talking at the same time.”
The Andreas got quiet, and one of them was directing the others.
“I’ll go first,” said an Andrea into the phone. “I love you, Felix. I miss you.”
The directness of the words struck him at his core, and he felt his skin prickle insanely. There was a heavy feeling just behind his forehead and eyes.
“I… I love you, too, Andrea,” Felix said thickly. For the first time. And he meant it. Which was surprising.
“Nn! Feelings received. We’ll be there soon so just… just wait for us,” Andrea said huskily into the phone.
“Ok, next!” she shouted to someone else.
The phone made a rustling noise as it was clearly passed off.
“Felix! This is Andrea,” said Andrea.
Unable to help himself he chuckled. “Hi Andrea,” he said, wondering which one it was.
“This is number three. I was with you the night before you left,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I love you, Felix. I miss you.”
“I love you, too, Andrea,” Felix said for the second time.
They’re not going to pass the phone off to every—
“Nn!” said the Andrea, and then the sound of the phone being passed could be heard.
“Felix? This is Andrea!”
Oh god they are.
“Hi… Andrea. How many… others… are there right now?” he asked neutrally.
“All of us! We made a line. Myriad got us in order like when we’re prepping for a mission. She said she’ll go last so it’s fair. This is number four. I was a Death Other and you brought me back.”
“Ah. I should have guessed,” Felix said resigned.
“I love you. So much,” the ex-Death Other cooed into the phone.
Sighing, Felix settled in for what he suspected would be a long phone call.
Pulling the earpiece out, Felix blew a raspberry with his mouth and closed his eyes.
A deliberate shuffling of feet caught his attention. “Wraith is here?” Felix asked.
“Yes, sir,” said one of the bodyguards.
“Everyone please leave after Wraith enters. Please also track down Eva and send her over. Only people allowed in are Victoria, Miu, and Kit,” Felix ordered.
He heard everyone leave quickly, the door opening and closing only once.
“Wraith?” Felix asked quietly.
“Here,” came the echoing whisper.
To this day, Felix wasn’t entirely sure what Wraith was. His ability page seemed to say one thing, though his appearance countered it.
Since he was a conscripted employee, Felix didn’t really trust him.
“We’ll wait for Eva,” Felix said, relaxing into his chair. He was still processing everything that had just gone down with Andrea.
Five minutes ticked by before the door opened again.
Opening his eyes, Felix found Eva standing there in the doorway.
“Felix? What’s up?” Eva asked.
“Come on in, take a seat. Wraith is going to go on a mission tonight and I’d like you to accompany him. Time to test out those skills we put in your head, and some of those new powers,” Felix explained.
Eva nodded her head with a smile. Coming into Felix’s office, she closed the door.
After what happened at the school, and spending a long time getting everyone back from the dead, he’d begun experimenting.
Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2 Page 3
