Felix took a breath and looked around at the audience. “The answer to that one is more to do with making sure that businesses aren’t segregated, or treated differently. A shop that specifically caters to Ogres or Trolls could and should be opened anywhere they wish.”
“And is that how it is in your communist state known as Legion? Everyone is the same in the eyes of Felix?” Dave asked, the disdain practically dripping from his lips.
“Everyone is indeed equal in Legion. There are no benefits given for being any race. No preferential treatment of any sort. It’s a meritocracy, and everything is earned,” Felix said immediately. “Legion pays salaries to all of its people, we subsidize all of their living expenses, and offer them the ability to shop at Legion owned stores. We don’t require it… but it’s certainly hard to beat our prices. I shop there myself. The price on white bread is outstanding.”
That got a chuckle from the audience.
Felix grinned and looked to the moderators. “Next question please. I’m delighted to address our state tonight. Though, I really do worry about those rules. Invitation remains open, of course.”
Chapter 17 - Understanding -
By and large, Felix was pretty happy with the outcome of the debate. He’d successfully turned it into the Felix Campbell and Legion show. Their points and platform were obvious, and defined.
He’d even managed to set himself up as a rival for the lead contender for what he’d consider his opposition party. When it came down to it, being the rival of the lead contender to a party almost always gave you more credibility.
Other than feeling worn out, Felix felt successful.
Staring out the window, he could only wonder what would be coming next.
Other than that interview tonight.
Or the Email!
Felix sat back in his seat in the back of the sedan. Reaching to the side he opened up his messenger bag and pulled out the tablet that Andrea had purchased and set up for him.
He didn’t want to try and read the email on his phone, he imagined this might be a rather lengthy email.
Tapping the device on, entering his password, and navigating to the email interface, he found her email. It was marked as important, filed to the “read me” section Andrea had set up, and unread.
Opening it, Felix began to read.
Hi Felix,
Among your many questions, the predominant one was why didn’t I try to escape from the guild. The answer to that is… well I want to say it’s complicated, but it’s not.
I was being selfish. Selfish and not very understanding of you.
Or Legion.
I felt like as Augur, with my powers, I could have done so much good for the world. But only because of all the changes you made to me. Only because you made my life so much easier. That you fixed what was wrong with me.
For all of the good I’ve done in Legion, and the community, I felt like I could do more as a hero. And I selfishly wished to go back to that life, despite everything that had happened.
Then you were there. Fighting your way through a base filled with super heroes to get me. To take me back from what you believed was forced captivity.
I didn’t know what to do with myself, except that I knew I didn’t want you to die. So I involved myself at that point.
As for how I was able to act… the crown didn’t work on me. If I had to guess, either your ownership of me, or the slave magic, were too much for the crown to overcome. It was just a really heavy hat.
I’d imagine that it doesn’t work for anyone in your employ, under contract, or slavery. Your power might simply be too strong.
For everything that happened after that… it was too hard to talk about. To discuss. To try and work things out with you, because I couldn’t see a way through it.
Then you opened your mind to me. Let me see everything from your point of view.
You were right. I couldn’t function without being able to see behind the curtain. Not everything is so easy for the non-telepathic. But you cut right to the heart of it and solved it.
For me.
And the only thing I saw in your mind, was everything that you’d been telling me.
Minus the shower thoughts.
I’m unsure of how to express this, so I’ll say it directly.
I’ll never be Augur again. But that’s by choice. Augur ceased to exist when she was turned into a corpse and sold. And I’m comfortable with that. She wasn’t very fun to be.
Who am I now is different.
I’m Kit.
I’m Legion.
I’m one of many.
I’m yours.
Felix closed the email and frowned. She didn’t answer all of his questions.
But she did answer the one he actually needed an answer to.
He needed to get the crowns out to Tilen and do some tests. Have a test study and do some variable elimination to determine what it worked on, and didn’t work on. Knowledge like this would be ideal to plan how to handle whoever it was that was making these things. If there was no fear of the crowns, then it was a trump card to hold on to.
There was no hiding the warm and fuzzy feeling he felt bubbling up in his chest. Kit had definitely put to rest any concerns he had with that email.
Everything she said made sense for her personality as well. He found no fault with it, or her logic. He imagined that many might have made a similar choice in her position.
Chauffeur Andrea opened the driver’s door and stepped in.
“Hi dear!” she said, looking at him in the rear-view mirror with a wide smile.
“Hello,” Felix said, grinning. “Are we all set?”
“Nn! Victoria and Miu were going over some preparations for your interview later with Lily,” she said. She adjusted her mirror and then went through a systems check for the car.
Chauffeur Andrea took her responsibility seriously. He hadn’t been driven by anyone else since the Andrea-net went active.
Andrea Prime opened the rear driver’s side door and slid in next to him. At the same time, Miu did the same on the right.
At first she seemed hesitant, having to be so close to him. She met his eyes and he gave her a small nod to her unasked question. Her lips twitched, and she pressed her shoulder, leg, and knee up to his, getting in close to him.
Victoria opened the front passenger door and got in and gave him a glance, then a hooded look for Miu.
“Vicky lost!” Chauffeur Andrea said from the front. “So Miu gets to sit next to you.”
For his part, Felix only shrugged.
“Ready to go?” Andrea Prime asked.
“Let’s hit the road. If possible I’d love to use the restroom and get a bite to eat before the interview,” Felix said, nodding his head. “One never knows what’s going to be thrown at you. Best done with a meal and a restroom break.”
Chauffeur Andrea said something into the microphone on her lapel and then eased the car out into the road.
Felix smiled politely and waited for the next question.
“—brings us to your life. Your family specifically. How about you tell us about them?” asked Charles. He was an older man with brown hair fading to white. His brown eyes were soft, and the way he dressed matched a statesman’s air.
He had a history of sometimes going off on wild tangents, but those were few and far between. Mostly in his youth. Charles was extremely well respected in the television interview circuit.
“It’s a rather simple story. No brothers, no sisters, one paternal uncle. A very small family full of only children, really,” Felix laughingly said.
“My parents were out of the picture at a young age, and I ended up in the care of my uncle and aunt. They took me in rather than make me a ward of the state thankfully. It was a whole mess of paperwork at the time,” Felix said. He could remember his uncle signing for what seemed like hours at a time.
Looking back from an adult’s perspective, it was more than likely only minutes.
&nbs
p; “Much later, they went on a trip and I haven’t seen them since. The estate is moving forward with a death in absentia. At the time I felt it was a betrayal. How dare they say they were missing and probably dead. As if they’d given up hope on them.”
Felix frowned and looked at the ground.
“In retrospect it was a good call. I’d have waited far too long. Believing that if I somehow moved forward with the case, I’d be admitting they were gone.”
“I can definitely see how that’d impact a young man. You were in your twenties at that point?” asked Charles.
“That I was. Twenty something and feeling like the world was collapsing down around me. That the world was conspiring against me. I took a job at a fast food chain that’ll remain anonymous thank you,” Felix said, smiling for Charles and then the audience. “Let’s just say I had time served.”
A number of audience members smiled, laughed, or nodded their heads. Quite a few people had similar starts in life at the very same chain, he imagined.
“Then Skipper came,” said Charles.
“Then Skipper came,” Felix repeated. “The strange part is… nothing changed in our daily lives. The only glaring thing was that Heroes were on the run instead of Villains, and most vices were legal.”
“That seems fairly hard to believe,” said Charles.
“And yet there it is. And here I am. I travel freely back and forth between Skippercity and Tilen without a concern.”
“But this was when you founded Legion, isn’t it?”
“It is. I took out some money, scraped everything I had together, and made a purchase from what was now called the grey market. I leveraged that purchase into the great river of trade and began to build Legion, brick by brick,” Felix admitted.
“Done through also purchasing slaves, and using their powers and bodies to set your foundation,” Charles said.
Felix didn’t quite like the way he’d phrased that, but it wasn’t wrong either.
“I bought anyone the government was trying to get rid of, that I felt I could save, help, or use. A large number of those people are now free, working here in Tilen for Legion. Slavery of course isn’t legal here, so that all expired the moment they crossed the borders with me.”
“And they stay with you.”
“They stay with me. I’ve had people leave Legion. But that’s to be expected with any large corporation,” Felix said.
“We’ve actually talked to a few people who left about Legion. No one is willing to say anything about it at all. Even when pressed or coerced. They won’t say anything. Or they can’t,” Charles said.
A warning sign began to flash inside of Felix’s mind. He definitely didn’t think this was going into territory he liked very much.
That was a good amount of digging for what was supposed to be not much more than an interview.
“Legion is a family. I’ll be happy to confirm there is a non-disclosure agreement between everyone who joins Legion and the company,” Felix said. He kept his answer much shorter than his previous answers up to this point.
The interview should be winding down, and Felix was feeling a bit paranoid.
“Speaking of family. When we were looking into yourself and Legion, we found a number of connections between you and a known loan shark by the name of Dimitry,” Charles said.
With his heart lurching in his chest, Felix smiled and nodded his head, doing his best to look unconcerned.
That’s a loose end if I ever had one. I need to get that taken care of. Immediately.
“I won’t deny I know the man, because I do. I borrowed money from him. A personal loan. It was part and parcel of how I founded Legion.”
“More than that though, isn’t it? My understanding is you actually do business with them directly. Buying guns, selling information, helping each other?” Charles pressed.
“Goodness, no. Our dealings have been very limited since I borrowed the money. Mostly it’s repayment of that loan, and borrowing more money,” Felix said with a laugh. “Do I look like the type to be having dealings in those kind of sectors? I think I’d lose my mind if I was in a situation like the one you’re describing.”
Charles didn’t immediately respond. Instead he turned to the monitor between them on the wall.
“This footage was recorded during the prison break out. The camera was confiscated almost immediately and so this is all there is,” said Charles.
The monitor popped on, and on came a cell phone video. It started after a second and the sound picked up.
It was kept low to the chest, filming upwards as they walked. Clearly it was being recorded without the Legion security forces knowing.
The dark uniforms that looked somewhere between soldiers’ uniforms and SWAT team outfits were everywhere. They were funneling, checking, assisting, and guiding the citizens.
“This way everyone. This way,” called a voice off camera. “If you have elderly or children that need special accommodations, please approach anyone in a uniform for assistance.”
“Thank god,” said a woman to the camera holder’s right. “Thank god. We’re safe.”
There was no aggression on the part of the security forces. Everywhere the camera was directed, Legion was actively working to help and assist citizens.
Felix knew the reason for that. The Fixers were scanning minds and tagging people. Security really only had to protect civilians and work the lines.
Behind the cameraman was a shout.
Every single member of Legion froze for a second, then as one lifted their weapons and converged on an unseen target.
“Everyone get down!” shouted multiple voices from Legion security forces.
The crackle of gunfire was immediate after that and everyone dropped to the ground.
The camera was cradled tightly, and the view half obscured.
Looking like something out of a sci-fi movie, a suit of futuristic looking armor stepped into frame.
Shit.
It had a raised pistol, fired twice, and continued off frame.
Twenty seconds later and Legion security was rushing back into positions.
“Don’t panic,” came a raised but calm voice. “The situation is under control. Everyone please look around you for anyone wounded. If there is, please flag down a security officer immediately.”
The cameraman stood up just in time to see the suit of armor heading back up the library steps.
All around the courtyard, soldiers with pistols, bags with a red cross on them, kevlar vests, and helmets simply appeared. They began to fan out, taking hold of anyone who had even a minor injury, and vanishing as soon as they got a hand on them.
“Oh thank god. Thank god,” said the same woman’s voice.
A hand came into view and snatched the camera away, and the recording cut off immediately.
Felix tried to look pleased and nodded his head. Looking to Charles he waited.
“I’d like your thoughts on that video,” Charles said finally.
“It was the prison break, as I’m sure everyone could tell. That was the Legion processing center. Where Legion security forces were acting out of,” Felix said calmly, confidently. “As you saw in the video, we did our jobs quite well that day. Loss of life, possessions or property was minimized. That was an incident where a large group of prisoners were trying to infiltrate into the citizenry and escape. They were identified, neutralized, and removed. Not a single civilian was lost in that brief encounter, though a few were injured by stray rounds fired from the prisoners.”
“And that armored soldier?” Charles asked.
“A member of Legion. The suit is something we’re testing. It’s part of a few initiatives we’re working on,” Felix said.
“Were the people who appeared and disappeared the same thing?”
“That they were. Very similar in scope, but different function.”
“What happened to all the wounded prisoners?”
“There were no wounded. Legion securit
y forces are all marksmen certified with their weapons before they’re allowed to carry them on duty. Unfortunately, all of their shots resulted in fatalities,” Felix said.
And the ones that weren’t immediate were turned into sausage after having their souls pulled out.
“The bodies never turned up. There are a number of missing prisoners,” Charles said. It wasn’t really a question.
“I can’t speak to what happened after Legion quit the field. We left the corpses behind to be policed and recorded appropriately,” Felix said. It was the truth, too. Anyone killed then and there was left on the field. Only the wounded were carted out to be used.
“The National Guard did confirm that. There were even some super villains you left for them.”
“Indeed. Legion security is extremely well trained, outfitted, and ready. We’re not just a pawnshop, anymore. Not at all. We’re in the automotive industry. Primarily used cars. Antique identification and restoration works too. And we’re always looking to explore other options,” Felix said with some pride.
“As has become readily apparent as of late. I even saw a news report that you’ve been purchasing every junkyard willing to sell for a reasonable price,” Charles said.
“I can’t deny that, and won’t. It’s nothing secretive. We’re in the business of restoration. Why does it have to be limited to cars and antiques? Why not anything and everything that we can? It’s a simple enough shift of scope. And with today’s online market, it isn’t as if we can’t reach a market. We’ll have our own shop, and make it available to other online retailers,” Felix explained.
He hadn’t intended on revealing that. At this point though, he honestly thought this interview would get heavy ratings for the clip of the prison break alone.
Felix had every intention of making that work for Legion’s benefit.
“That makes a lot of sense. I can definitely see the appeal,” Charles conceded.
“I mean, take it a step further,” Felix said, leaning forward. “Instead of dumping your old product at the junkyard, as you would normally do, what if you could simply have it repaired there? Cheaply, too. Much more so than buying a new item, or having it refurbished.”
Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2 Page 19
