Felix hit the button again. It was probably his last possible bid he could throw up.
Before his number had even finished materializing, it was gone, the bid rocketing up to thirty thousand.
“Fine, whatever. For fuck’s sake,” Felix grumbled.
“It’s alright. I wasn’t expecting to get him anyways.”
“And who are you expecting we’ll get, then?” Felix asked, still grumpy.
“Andrea Elex and Felicia Fay.”
“Those were… the multiple one and the inventor?” Felix asked after a moment.
“The very same. Felicia was at my own point value, I think, and Andrea just under it, right?” Kit asked, tossing her empty soda can across the room to clatter into the trash bin.
“Yeah. I think they were about that. Why so sure on those?”
“Mind reading. There’s some seriously bad vibes going through here. But those are two names I haven’t really heard from anyone else. And those that are interested are going for the lowball bid.”
“Huh. You’re way more useful than I gave you credit for. Sorry, Kit.”
Kit shook her head and then started to laugh softly. “Yes. World’s strongest telepath. Useful for getting good buys on slaves.”
“Sorry. You’re not… er, I don’t care that you were Augur. Never paid much attention to supers anyways. You’re just Kit,” Felix said, slinking into his chair.
“No, I get that. It’s fine. Just… unexpected. Ah, here’s Andrea.”
Felix looked up to the screen as a young woman stepped into frame. She looked like a college student to him. Or so he thought, based on her face and demeanor. It made her seem out of place.
That impression was ruined when he took in her clothes.
She was wearing what looked to him like a harness and webbing for military hardware.
You could easily call her cute, maybe bordering on the side of “girl next door” pretty.
Two large ears peaked through her mess of dirty blonde-colored hair. One eye was a crystalline blue and the other a dark brown. Behind her was a limp, bushy tail that swept outward. She looked to be about five foot six and held herself awkwardly.
“Huh, she’s a Beastkin.” Felix thumbed the bid button the moment her price of five-thousand popped up.
“Yes, and she’ll be very useful for us. She’s a multiplier. Creates clones of herself.
“I think you’ll get her for six or seven, but our last one will cost us.” Kit sighed and pressed a palm to her forehead. “Can you dial me out to ten percent?”
Felix nodded and flipped her draw up to ninety.
“That… is so special,” Kit murmured, melting into her chair.
Looking back to the screen, he realized Andrea was now at seven thousand. Felix thumbed the button, pitching it up to eight grand.
The bids stopped and nothing further came through. Then Andrea was his, and she shuffled off the stage.
The camera shifted its view to center a young woman who couldn’t have been taller than five feet.
She had dark brown curls that hung short around her face. She had a petite look to her and a small hourglass frame. Her face was on the cute side of the equation, but held a fiery look to those light brown eyes.
“Oh, there’s Felicia. Lucky us. She’s an inventor. After this, we can relax.
“I almost forgot, there’s supposed to be a new season of that dating show starting tonight. The one we were watching last week. I forget the name,” Kit said, snapping her fingers as if trying to remember.
“You said she’ll be pricey?” Felix asked as the woman lifted a hand and yelled at someone off stage.
“Think so. Probably about twenty. She’s worth it. The Fiancé? What was it again?”
Felix acted quickly when the screen flashed to Felicia’s starting price of five thousand. He jammed the button ten times.
And up her price jumped. From five to fifteen in a second, with Felix’s number in the corner.
Someone else pushed it to sixteen, to which Felix flicked the trigger twice. Pushing it straight to eighteen.
The bids ended as quickly as they came in. He was pretty sure he’d made his point to whoever else was bidding.
With a buzz, Felix now owned an inventor.
Then the channel switched as Kit held up the remote, changing the channel to normal cable.
“Wish we had snacks. Snacks would be kickass. Dial me to zero?” Kit asked.
No-Name popped in eventually with his three new slaves in tow.
“Sorry, Felix. Didn’t realize they’d put you in here.”
“I know, awesome, right? No need to be quiet or even worry about eavesdropping. Remind me to get you to invite me again next time,” Felix said, standing up.
“Yeah, really helped. Hey, are there any snacks around here?” Kit asked, leaning her head back on the headrest of the recliner
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Across the hall, actually. As long as you’re happy, then, Felix.”
No-Name stepped to the side and let the three newcomers file in.
“I’ll need the purchase amount in full. Once I’ve got that, these are yours. I’d recommend using your Pit immediately.”
Nodding his head, Felix picked up his briefcase and counted out twenty-seven stacks of one thousand dollars. They were still wrapped in the numbered bands from the bank.
No-Name pulled up a briefcase Felix hadn’t noticed and transferred the money into it.
“Great, pleasure doing business with you, Felix. I’ll hit you up again if I hear of another auction. Similar merchandise? Willing to settle for less? Or more?” No-Name asked.
“Sure, hit me up for any of that. Not a problem. Let me guess, you get a cut with me as your guest?” Felix said with a grin, holding his hand out to him.
“Damn skippy,” No-Name said, shaking Felix’s hand. “See ya, Felix.”
“Later, No-Name.”
“Leon.”
“No-Name.” Felix shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes as No-Name left.
Turning to the three newcomers, Felix fished out his owner’s box. “Index finger please, Felicia.”
Felix held it out in front of the diminutive woman. She said nothing, but glared at him as she stuck her finger into the box.
“You’re up next, Andrea.”
The Beastkin’s ears lay flat to her head as she glared at him from under her bangs. Then promptly put her finger into the box.
Moving to the beautiful magician, he smiled and held out the box to her. “You’re up, Lilian.”
Lilian’s eyebrows drew together and she stared at him for a long second. “And how do you know that name?” she asked finally, pushing her finger into the hole of the box.
“What, that your name is Lilian Lux? Does it matter?” Felix put the small box back into his coat and then adjusted it. “Time to go home. You three need to earn your keep tonight.
“First, though, we need to go buy some things.”
All three women eyed him.
Opening the rear van doors as he passed by, Felix picked up the weights and went inside house.
He’d already taken the time to revert Kit to how she was pre-auction. He wanted to put Miu and Ioana back together to a more normal state before the newbies saw them.
Both Miu and Ioana were in the living room, watching TV. He targeted Miu and put her back together, then Ioana.
If he didn’t get them put back to rights before the points reset at midnight, they’d be lost points.
Waste not, want not.
Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as Kit herded his new recruits into the house.
Setting the weights down onto the coffee table, he activated his current point balance.
Received
Spent
Remaining
Daily Allotment
150
0
150
Miu Miki
400
0
400
Ioana Iliescu<
br />
800
0
800
Kit Carrington
1,500
0
1,500
Lilian Lux
2,500
0
2,500
Andrea Elex
1,300
0
1,300
Felicia Fay
1,550
0
1,550
DAILY TOTAL
8,200
0
8,200
He’d bought a bunch of fishing weights that weighed out at about half a pound each. They looked more like cannonballs than fishing weights.
Then again, he’d never been fishing.
Seemed boring.
Focusing on the first half-pound fishing weight, he pulled up the upgrade screen and selected the material.
To convert a half-pound fishing weight to gold was five thousand points.
It’d leave him with over three thousand points left over.
Hitting the confirm button, Felix chuckled as the weight became pure gold.
“Damn,” Kit said from over his shoulder.
“Yeah. So that works. Can’t keep doing this, though. Someone will eventually wise up. Hence the pawn shop idea.”
“Pawn shop?” Kit asked.
“Miu and I were talking about it the other day. A pawn shop would be a great way to launder my powers into money, without raising the ire of our overlords.”
Felicia’s hand shot forward and she picked up the golden ball. She smacked it into one of the other lead weights. She immediately pulled it up to her eye, intent to inspect it.
The dent it had caused was easy for everyone to see.
“This is gold,” she said, her voice a surprisingly low tone.
“Yep. It sure is. It’s also how we pay back the bank, the loan shark, and get our pawn shop.” Felix leaned back in his chair, resting his hands behind his head.
Chapter 7 - Investment -
“You will wake up now.” The melodic voice brought Felix out of a deep dream.
Blinking a few times, he managed to slowly focus on Lily standing above him.
“Morning, Lily,” Felix said, and then yawned. Looking over at the clock, he saw it was a touch past seven. “Little early to wake up. I don’t have a job anymore. Self-employed.”
“You will release me,” said the lovely soul-stealing monster.
“Uhm, no? Seriously. What’d you wake me up for?” Felix rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands.
“I… you will rele—”
“No. I won’t. And just a hint, none of your powers will work on me. The Pit pretty much ended that problem. On top of that, I took your powers away to fuel mine.
“Completely. You’re just a beautiful young woman right now. That’s it.”
Felix swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sending Lily scurrying backwards a few steps.
Sighing, he bent over his knees and slapped his hands into his temples twice. “Breakfast. Need food.”
“No… my magic can’t be gone. It can’t. I can’t… I can’t do anything. This is… no,” Lily said, making strange hand gestures.
“Well, temporarily gone. I can turn it back on whenever we need it. Is something burning?” Felix asked, sniffing the air.
“Temporarily? Give them back to me!” Lily stepped in close and loomed over him.
“Yeah, no. Seriously, though, it smells like burnt toast.” Felix stood up and pushed Lily back with one hand as he left his room and headed for the kitchen.
“Now, you’ll give them back now!” Lily shouted at his back, trailing him.
Entering the kitchen, he found Felicia sitting on the floor with what looked like a toaster spread across the tiles. She looked very confused, her hands holding the shell of the toaster.
The grunting snores coming from the living room on the other side of the island drew his attention. Sprawled out on a couch and sounding much akin to a chainsaw going through a zombie was Andrea.
“I can’t fix it. It wasn’t working right. I can’t make it work.” Felicia mumbled. She looked up to him and held up the toaster shell. “I’m broken.”
Letting out a slow breath through his teeth, he pressed a hand to his head.
“Powers! Now!” Lily shouted in his ear.
Andrea snorted and fell off the coach, jumping up to her feet. She threw her arms to the left and then the right while yelling incomprehensibly.
Her face twisted up in a confused frown and she hopped in place twice.
“I can’t split. I can’t split? I can’t split!” Andrea yelled while looking at Felix.
“Be quiet for two minutes, all of you. For fuck’s sake.” Felix sat down on a stool and shook his head.
Kit, Miu, and Ioana stepped out of their shared room. All three looked confused, or annoyed. Ioana somehow managed both.
“Sorry. They’re just now figuring out I took their powers. I probably should have explained more last night,” Felix apologized to the three. “I’m going to set everyone to a small percent of their power back. This isn’t permanent.”
Felix called up each woman’s screen and set the draw to ninety-five percent. That left him with seven thousand eight hundred some odd points.
“There, you all have a fraction of your power back. Except for you, Kit, I have yours still off.”
“Thanks, leave it off. Are you making breakfast today?” she asked, sliding into a stool across from him.
“Was going to, but Felicia decided the toaster had to die. So that removes anything from the toaster menu.
“Whatever. Maybe we should go get some breakfast or something. Need to sell that gold and do another conversion today. Then use the rest of the points on you three.”
“You will give me my powers back. Now. All of them. Then I’m leaving,” Lily demanded, her hand resting on his shoulder.
“Lily, what part of this haven’t you gotten yet?”
“My name is Mab!”
“No, it’s Lilian Lux. You’re twenty-six years old, and you don’t have magical powers. You actually have ethereal projection. You honed it to the point where you could draw magical symbols and runes with it.
“Now, here’s something you should know.”
Felix looked over his shoulder at the enchanting face. “You’re my property. You can’t harm me, or tell me what to do. So far, I’ve been tolerant, and I will continue to do so. That tolerance will eventually run thin.”
Felix blew out a breath and then scratched at his head.
“I don’t plan on using you against your will, but you will remain my property. You can live a fairly normal life, but you won’t be running rampant with your powers again. Any questions?”
Lily’s mouth hung open, her jaw worked as she seemingly tried to find the words.
“No? Alright. Felicia,” Felix said, turning to the woman with his toaster. “Did you murder it, or can you fix that with the small amount of power I put back in you.”
“I can fix it,” Felicia said, already hard at working putting the whole thing back together.
“Goodie.”
“I can make pancakes!” Andrea said loudly, bouncing back and forth in one spot. Then she separated into two people.
Felix looked from one, to the other, then back again.
“We can do it! Leave it to us,” they said in unison.
Picking up a marker from the table, he looked to the Andreas. “Which one of you is the prime?” he asked.
The Andrea on the left held up her hand high above her. “Hooooooi. That’s me.”
Felix walked over to the prime Andrea, pulled the sleeve of her shirt up, and wrote a big “P” on her shoulder.
“We’ll need something more permanent. I’m betting metal won’t be duplicated when you clone yourself. Maybe a ring or a necklace. Anyways.
“Right. Start in on those pancakes. Thanks, Andrea Prime and Andrea One.”
The Beastkin and her clon
e looked at each other. “We never thought of that,” they said at the same time.
Then they cheered in unison and they both leapt over the couch to get into the kitchen.
“I suppose today can be interview and job assignment day. Each of you, please come see me one at a time in the study. We’ll get this sorted out now before we get any later in this whole…” Felix made a jerky vague movement with his hands as he spoke. “Whatever this is.”
Sliding off the stool, he pushed it under the counter and went to the study. He popped the power button on his computer as he went, sitting down behind the desk.
The door slammed shut and Felix looked up.
Lily sat down in the seat across from him, her hands pressed to the desk.
“You will start with me,” she said ominously.
“Hooray,” Felix deadpanned.
“Do not mock me,” Lily said, leveling a finger at him.
“Why not? So far all you’ve done is bitch and moan. All I’ve done to you so far is drain your powers. Give me a reason to not treat you like a spoiled, conceited little princess.”
Felix typed in his password and flipped through a few virtual pages that came up on the desk terminal.
Firing open a spreadsheet with an attached word processor, he began writing in her basic information.
“I don’t—no. Stop. You will not do whatever you like.”
“Yes, I will, Lily. Keep it up and I might lose my temper and tell you to sit in a corner for the day. You’d be forced to obey. That or I tell you to never speak again.”
Felix angrily hit the holographic enter key and glared at her across the desk space.
Lily frowned and then looked at the desk. She clasped her hands together and then glanced back at the shut door behind her.
“You don’t fear me,” she said, looking up at him through long lashes.
“Not in the least. Now, let’s start with where you are now and what you’re worth.” Felix called up her character sheet with his power.
Name:
Lilian Lux
Power: Ethereal projections
Alias: Mab, Soul Stealer, Demon
Super Sales on Super Heroes Page 7
