Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2

by William D. Arand

It was a normal Beastkin reaction to this world.

  “Nn!” Andrea said. She leaned in close to him, her tail trembling behind her.

  “Well, run along then. My understanding is the surrounding area isn’t completely safe though, so be on your guard.”

  Andrea nodded rapidly, then split into seven different Others and took off at a run. One remained behind with a sad look on her face. Felix noted that even the Prime had taken off.

  “Don’t worry about it, Andrea, I promise to spoil you later for taking one for the team.”

  The Andrea Other gave him a big grin, her ears twitching atop her head.

  Adriana Prime assumed that permission had been given to her as well, apparently, since she split six times and sent her Others chasing after Andrea, though Adriana Prime remained.

  “I’ll stay with you,” Adriana Prime said, peering up at him. “I want to be spoiled.”

  Taking a moment to collect his thoughts as he laughed at that comment, Felix wasn’t sure if he really wanted to ask the question that was at the forefront of his mind.

  The more he thought about it, the more things didn’t quite add up for him.

  “Good. I meant to ask… and you don’t have to tell me but… where did Myriad go? You and Adriana are… well you’re fairly similar. And you clearly have all of Myriad’s skills, but I haven’t seen her personality in a while. It’s almost as if she’s been submerged too deeply.”

  Adriana looked down, her shoulders tensing up. “She left. Myriad didn’t feel like an Andrea or an Adriana, she said. That she didn’t belong. She promised to keep in touch but… she still left. She’s out here on this planet somewhere.”

  Frowning, Felix couldn’t help himself from shaking his head. “I’m sorry to hear that. Was it something I did or something I didn’t do?”

  Adriana’s head whipped up, and the Andrea grabbed his arm. “No!” they said in unison.

  “She just didn’t feel at home. The Death Others feel the same way at times.,” Andrea said.

  “The Death Others feel like they are still one of us, though,” Adriana said, picking up where Andrea stopped. “Myriad… didn’t. I think it’s partially that she was the original Prime.”

  Suppose that makes sense. I wonder how that worked out in the end. I mean… she didn’t even say goodbye and Andrea and Adriana didn’t want to bring it up.

  A problem for another day.

  There was a deep whumping noise that made the hairs on the back of Felix’s neck stand up. An Adriana stepped in front of him and began tracking something to his left. Turning his head, Felix found a bright red flare in the daylight sky. Then it got brighter, and bigger. Belatedly, he realized it was a fireball, and it was heading straight for the base camp.

  The sound of the crackling fire could be heard as the giant ball of flame got closer and closer.

  A beam of white energy shot out from the base camp and met the fireball. It broke apart into fiery shreds and burnt out into nothing, as if it had never been there.

  “That was different,” Felix muttered. “And I’m starting to wonder if Michael owes me a bit deeper of a report. There was no mention of giant flaming balls of death.”

  “That’d be because those only started up after my last report,” Michael said. Felix looked to the man as he approached.

  He hadn’t noticed him. The fireball had been a real attention-grabber. “They also have tried lightning. One of the main reasons we’ve got all that lovely iron-age decoration everywhere. It’s all grounded deep in the earth.”

  Felix grunted at that, holding out his hand to his site commander.

  Michael shook his hand with a smirk. “Welcome back to Legion. We’ve been calling this place Fort One. Not very creative, but it describes it accurately.”

  “Considering I named the planet Legion, I’m not one to complain,” Felix said, releasing Michael’s hand. “So what’s with the lightshow?”

  “Locals are all up in a rage that we don’t worship their gods. No one from Hern’s group, or the group we saved,” Michael said.

  “Hm. I take it my mercy is reaping its reward?” Felix asked.

  “And then some. It’s not terrible, but it’s growing. Come on, let me show you what we’ve accomplished. The attacks are annoying, but ineffectual so far.”

  Michael gestured towards the nearest wall and started walking. Felix wasn’t quite ready to let the subject drop, but he was more than willing to let Michael show him around.

  There’d been a lot of change since the last time he’d been here. It had the look and feel of a functioning military encampment now.

  Michael led him up a set of stairs and straight to the wall. Laid out in front of him was what looked like what he saw in old war movies. A training camp made of tents, wooden buildings, and areas with long benches.

  Men and women moved around the entire length and breadth of it. They were clearly working as both groups and individuals.

  “This is our first batch of recruits. First class everyone has to pass is of course learning the language. Only after they get a mastery in that do they move on. Our lone Fixer has been killing himself simply working on the new recruit entry, let alone anything else,” Michael said. “For those who look like they’ll fail the language, they get put with him to see if they’re worth training directly.”

  Nodding his head, Felix could well understand the problem. “Identify some candidates. We’ll do some training the trainer once they get a pass from Kit. It wouldn’t be a terrible thing to start the new talent in an HR role. They’ll be better able to understand the situation,” Felix said.

  “Understood. We can do that, sir,” Michael said. “That’d help immensely.”

  Pausing, and clearly reordering some things in his head, Michael continued, “The vast majority of the new recruits are going to be brought up to speed in security, infrastructure, and the basic jobs. As much as I’d love to have a department for everything, gotta start with the foundation.”

  Can’t disagree there. Especially in a hostile location. With everyone pulled in, we really have too many people right now. Kit said she was getting a lot of transfer requests. What if we just moved them before they even asked.

  “My understanding is Kit has approved a number of transfers to here. With the recall, I can’t imagine a universe where that number hasn’t already skyrocketed. And since we’re all in defensive bunker mode, a lot of normal functions won’t be carried out.” Felix turned to Andrea. “Let’s put a meeting on the books to talk to Kit about doing a massive temporary move. It’d help morale and get people working, rather than sitting around doing nothing and worrying.”

  Andrea nodded her head as she recorded a note down.

  Felix’s wrist chimed a second later, and Andrea lifted her head with a grin. “Done, dear,” Andrea said.

  Michael blinked and looked from Andrea to Felix. “I get the impression I should have been asking for things sooner than this.”

  “You have your budget, Michael. Everything else is a request. They may or may not be granted,” Felix said. “Now, how about you continue the tour. I’m curious to see how you’ve done, and I don’t really want to head back to HQ yet. It’s been nice to stand outside without worrying about sniper fire and being attacked.”

  “Do the fireballs count?” Adriana asked, a serious look on her face.

  She’s as bad as Andrea is, just not in the same ways.

  Sitting at a table in the center of camp, Felix had been answering questions from the locals for an hour. Andrea and Adriana had just finished shooing everyone away when it was clear he was getting weary.

  Taking that moment to return, Michael was allowed to pass through the ring of Adrianas.

  “And where did you slip off to, hm?” Felix said with a trace of irritation.

  “Anywhere else. Politics isn’t for me, and honestly, I try not to attend any meetings here I don’t have to. I typically leave it to the HR and Legal people. I’m just a Jarhead. Give me a target
and a rifle, and I’m good to go,” Michael said.

  “Too bad. Sit down. Hern is supposed to be arriving relatively soon and we’ll both be meeting with him. I’d like to talk to him about what he knows of those attacks, and then figure out what we can do to try and put an end to it if possible,” Felix said.

  Grimacing, Michael took a seat on Felix’s right hand side.

  Andrea looked from Felix to Michael and then back again.

  “When are you going to spoil me?” Andrea asked in that loud whisper of hers.

  “Tonight. I plan on heading into Legion city tonight and have a meal. In person, no less. Without a mask. And you and Adriana Prime will be coming with me,” Felix said.

  Andrea’s ears perked up and she clapped her hands together excitedly.

  Adriana Prime, who was standing five feet away, nearly had the same reaction. Though with an SMG in hands it was a bit muted.

  “Yay!” they said in unison.

  The other Adrianas began immediately talking in hand signals between themselves.

  “They’re arguing about who gets to go with her,” Michael said, watching the exchange.

  “Mm, maybe I need to get someone to teach me whatever that language is that they’re using,” Felix muttered.

  “Don’t look at me, I actually have no idea about the language, but an argument is an argument, and that one seems pretty obvious.”

  Felix couldn’t help but start to laugh. Now that he was watching, it was obvious to anyone that the Adrianas were arguing.

  Overthinking things, Felix… overthinking things.

  Michael shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t hurt that I’m a Fixer. Their thoughts are about as subtle as a knife.”

  “Felix, here comes Hern,” Andrea said, standing up from the table.

  Michael and Felix did the same, holding their hands out to Hern.

  It wasn’t until Hern shook his hand, and a bit strangely, that Felix realized that handshakes might not be the custom here.

  Another thought for another time, but it might be part of the very problem we’re facing here.

  “Hern, welcome. I don’t want to waste your time, as I know it’s valuable. I’ll keep everything short and to the point,” Felix said, indicating the seat directly across from himself.

  Hern grunted and sat himself down. He looked as crotchety and grumpy as ever. The man stared at Felix and waited for him to continue.

  “How are you feeling about our arrangement?” Felix asked, getting straight into it.

  Hern fought to keep something from showing on his face before he wrinkled his nose. “Everyone said you were direct… I’m happy with the arrangement so far. I worry about the fact that you’ll not share your magic with us without us signing one of your papers… but I understand. Magic is a powerful weapon,” Hern said, his voice slow as he puzzled out what he wanted to say.

  “Indeed, it isn’t a matter of faith or trust in you, it’s more of a belief that our foes are stronger than we wish. Now, is there anything you’d want to add to the deal as it exists today?” Felix asked, redirecting the conversation.

  Hern looked at the table, his thoughts clearly turning inward. “Not that I can think of.”

  “Ok, do you feel like you’re being cheated in any way?” Felix asked

  “No… but I do worry that eventually we’re going to run out of recruits for you… at that point… what happens to our arrangement?” Hern asked, setting a hard stare on Felix.

  “It remains. There’s one thing you need to keep in mind, and I think this might be a great opportunity to discuss it. When word spreads about what’s going on here, there will be many, many people who migrate and move here,” Felix said, laying his hands flat on the table and leaning forward. “And when they come, they will see your community as the entry point. And while many will join Legion, not everyone will. In fact, I imagine quite a few will have family in your community, even though they work for me.”

  Hern had become motionless, listening intently to Felix.

  “So while you’re losing many of your people to Legion now, that’s only your original investment. Your return will be coming as word spreads. Especially that the local pantheon was summoned, and then left. While they may power spells and beliefs still, their direct intervention is no longer possible.”

  “The thirteen will hear you,” Hern whispered, making some type of warding sign on his chest.

  “If anything, I’d prefer that they did hear me. The more their followers attack this camp, the more we’ll be forced to retaliate. I don’t want to have to fight, but I’ll not hesitate if I feel like we’re under attack. I’ll not stop their beliefs, but I will take their lives without a thought,” Felix promised.

  Hern glanced upward, and waited.

  Nothing happened. There was no response of any sort.

  And that’s part of the problem, isn’t it. Gods are real. You’ve seen some, Felix. How do you even counter that? How does one protect against that?

  Need to figure out something, because believing they won’t attack us directly is naive.

  I’ll put in a request to Lily to add a “no worship of any deity that is not sworn to Legion” clause. It sounds awful, but not taking the preventative steps now would create more problems down the road.

  He couldn’t help but sigh over what he knew would be a contentious point. It was likely they were about to lose some people. That was better than opening themselves to attack later though.

  “Speaking of that, what do you know of the attacks that have been ongoing? I saw a fireball heading this way earlier,” Felix said.

  Grumbling, the old man tore his eyes from the heavens and looked off to the side.

  “The young and stupid, the overly zealous, and the cast offs. They lure people in with the promise of an amazing afterlife for service to the gods. Few of my tribe hear them out, less even consider their words,” Hern said.

  It didn’t take a mind reader to realize he was embarrassed and ashamed at the same time.

  “Hm. Radicals, then. I suppose that’s fairly straightforward. Have there been any attacks on your people?”

  Again, Hern’s face flickered with something Felix couldn’t quite discern. “Nothing serious. A beating, and some harassment.”

  Felix drummed his fingers on the table. This was a question of ideology, rather than combatants.

  He could easily hunt down people, storm houses, and round them up in the way a modern army might do.

  But we have so many more tools than they do.

  “I understand. Great. I think that’s more or less everything I need. It’s been a pleasure to meet with you again,” Felix said. He stood up and held his hand out to Hern.

  The older man stood up as well, shaking Felix’s hand.

  “Thank you. I appreciate your direct nature. Goodbye,” Hern said, turning and heading back the way he’d come.

  Once he was out of earshot, Felix made his decision.

  “First, let’s get eighty percent of the long range Wardens here. They’re not doing much sitting underground right now. We’ll need to construct platforms for them to use, but they should make excellent long range defenders,” Felix said.

  “Additionally, while we’re waiting on training up a contingent of local Fixers, let’s pull about thirty of the Fixers from Earth’s pool. For those thirty, I want them trained in guerrilla warfare, special operations tactics, and counterinsurgency. Then I want them to spend every day and night in those camps,” Felix said, his eyes hard. “Tell all of them that this’ll be a weapons free operation. If a target is discovered, they’re to act with their own discretion.”

  That might actually help us figure out what we need to do at a cultural level here as well.

  “I’ll get that done,” Andrea said, immediately diving into her terminal.

  “I’d suggest monthly check-ins with a few of the counselors back at HQ. Make sure they’re not overloaded,” Michael said at Felix’s side. “It’s one thing to get d
esensitized to the whole thing, it’s another to lose yourself.”

  Felix gave a brief nod of his head. “We’ll need a new name,” he said offhandedly, staring out at the encampment.

  “A new name?” Andrea asked.

  “Fixers are for HQ and security. What I just ordered put together is anything but that,” Felix said.

  Andrea puffed her cheeks out and furrowed her brows. Then she smacked one hand into another and turned to him with a grin.

  “Minders!” she said happily.

  Not exactly what I was looking for but… not bad. It’ll do.

  “Great. There we go then. A new department for HR is born. Though I get the distinct impression this might have some overlap with Ioana. Oh, speaking of, has Miu checked back in?” Felix asked.

  “Nn! An hour or two ago. I think she finished debriefing a while ago and was prepping to head back to Wal,” Andrea said, her eyes jumping back to her terminal.

  “Call her in. I want her here for a few days. I think Ioana can survive without her for a time. If not, we can train up a second Miu for her,” Felix said. “List of candidates for that please, by the way.”

  “Got it, dear,” Andrea said, typing into her terminal. “I’ve notified Miu. She’s probably on her way.”

  “From everything I hear about her… the fact that it’s Felix asking for her means she’ll be here as fast as a dead sprint can carry her,” Michael said under his breath.

  “Faster,” an Adriana said. The ring of Adrianas shifted their positions to create a slight gap that faced towards the portal.

  I wonder what that’s about. She’s not killing even more of them lately, is she?

  … I bet she is.

  Looking beyond the space the Adrianas had cleared, Felix could see the portal. It was left open at all times and guarded from both sides right now.

  Someone came sprinting through the portal as if the blazes of hell were behind them. They came to a sudden halt almost as fast as they’d arrived.

  Felix got the distinct impression that they were looking his way.

  Then they were off again at a dead sprint.

  Straight for him.

  It only took a few seconds for him to realize it was Miu.