“Wait, you can upgrade powers?” Lily asked, surprised.
The pad in front of them chimed. The word “Purchased” flashed across the screen, followed by a box that took up the whole window as it asked, “Authorize payment?”
Felix thumbed the confirmation box and looked to Lily. “I can indeed. Why, something you don’t like about your power?”
“I hate using my hands to write the sigils. I’d rather use my mind because it’d be so much faster. Instantly projecting them instead of drawing them out,” Lily said, turning her entire body around to face him. “Can you do that?”
Kit froze in her seat, her eyes stuck to Lily.
“Maybe, one second.” Felix focused on the idea of changing Lily’s power. From a physical ethereal projection to a mental one. That the projections would be instant and from her mind’s eye.
After a few seconds, the upgrade window came into existence.
Power Upgrade: Mental Etheral Projections
Required Primary Power: 50 (Met)
Required Intelligence: 80 (Met)
Upgrade?(10,000)
“Yeah. I can. The price is hefty, though. Ten thousand points. So it’d take an entire day’s worth of points,” Felix said, looking back to the pad.
A woman in her forties was brought in front of the camera.
“Do it,” Lily demanded.
“Do what, upgrade you?” Felix asked. Then he motioned to the pad. “Kit?”
“Builder. She’s mechanical, though. Nothing magical about her. If she’s cheap, pick her up. Worst case, she can keep everything working.”
The price that flashed up on the screen was only a thousand.
Felix hit the bid button.
“Do it. Tonight. After we’ve bought everyone, you’ll have more than enough points.” Lily had inched closer to him; she was practically in his face now.
Looking at her with a small frown, he sighed. “Why? What benefit do I get, Lily? I know what Kit’s bringing to the table for me. What the change in her powers did.
“Besides. Your powers are useful, but… up to now, you’ve been far more important to me for your mind and your thoughts. More of Lilian Lux than Mab.
“If anything, I’d rather spend the ten thousand points pushing your intelligence and wisdom up.”
Or that awful luck of yours.
The pad chimed again. Looking only to confirm the auction win, and authorize the payment, he tried to keep his attention on Lily.
“You don’t understand. I could cast spells that would currently take me minutes, hours, days, in seconds. My potential would become near limitless. I… no, you asked what’s in it for you.
“I would be limitless potential for you. I’d do anything for you. Anything. I’ll never fight with you, or make fun, or snark—”
“Stop,” Felix said, holding up a finger in front of her. “I’ll purchase the upgrade tonight. If I can do it before midnight, all the better. As for what you’ll do, be you. Be who you were up to this point. Fight by my side, rather than for me. I need that elegant brain of yours, Lily.
“Not your powers. Deal?”
Lily turned her head to the side, watching him from the corner of her eye. Her lips were turned down in a pouty frown.
“That’s it?” she asked suspiciously.
“For about five more seconds, yep. Next purchase is coming.”
Lily held out her hand. “Your word on it, then. A deal.”
Felix shook her hand and turned back to the screen.
A teenage boy took the stage. Felix put him at probably eighteen years old.
He looked roughed up but healthy enough. Clearly, he’d continuously tried to either provoke his captors or escape.
While he didn’t seem to bear any wounds, his clothes bore tears, smears, and rough wear.
Whoever was running the auction realized what people were looking at and put the starting bid at a low five hundred dollars.
“The boy is a mage. A natural one, though, not runic, mystic, or elemental. He focuses natural energies,” Kit said.
Tapping the bid screen, Felix waited. The sale went through quickly and he confirmed the payment.
The handler who escorted the young man off the stage shoved him roughly off screen.
Almost immediately, he was replaced with another teenager. Felix put this one at fifteen. It was a little hard to tell, though.
Her face was swollen, her eyes puffy, and she looked like she would collapse any moment.
Whatever had been done to the teenager before this one now seemed light in comparison.
Her clothes were in far worse wear, and it looked as if she’d been pushed through a garbage chute.
Felix focused on the girl and popped open a screen for her as if she were already purchased, getting the hypothetical view.
Name:
Eva Adelpha
Power: Intangibility
Alias:
Secondary Power: Mind Control
Physical Status:
Gravely Wounded
Mental Status:
Shock
Positive Statuses:
None
Negative Statuses:
Crippling Fear, Paranoia, Hunger, Thirst, Internal hemorrhaging
Strength:
35
Upgrade?(350)
Dexterity:
43
Upgrade?(430)
Agility:
46
Upgrade?(460)
Stamina:
56
Upgrade?(560)
Wisdom:
41
Upgrade?(410)
Intelligence:
61
Upgrade?(610)
Luck:
84
Upgrade?(840)
Primary Power:
91
Upgrade?(9,100)
Secondary Power:
02
Upgrade?(200)
“What would you say, ‘intangibility’ means? Because that’s her primary power. That and mind control, but that one’s very, very weak,” Felix wondered, pressing the bid button. She was only going for five hundred dollars too.
That and he doubted anyone would bother to look into that internal hemorrhage. He imagined that whoever bought her would have less-than-honorable intentions to begin with. She was as good as dead with anyone but him, he wagered.
“Hum,” Lily mused, chewing on her lower lip. “I think I heard that mentioned once… I’m not completely sure, but maybe she can pass through walls?”
Kit made a soft humming sound and then tilted her head to one side. “Ah, there it is. Yes. Her mind control gives her a limited ability to shield thoughts. A touch of telepathy in that control. She’s shielded her ability even from her own mind.”
On the screen, the girl pressed her hands to her head and bent over for a second, looking around at everyone near her off screen.
Kit pushed a little hard, maybe?
Someone else bid it up to three thousand, to which Felix hit the button immediately on, moving it to four thousand.
Then it flashed “Sold” after a ten-second delay.
Tapping his thumb against the table, he waited. He’d need to get her looked at immediately. She could be incredibly useful with a power like that.
Felix raised his eyebrows with a sudden thought.
He called up his point totals.
Received
Spent
Remaining
Daily Allotment
150
0
150
Miu Miki
1,000
200
800
Ioana Iliescu
1,100
220
880
Kit Carrington
2,250
2,250
0
Lilian Lux
2,600
2,600
0
Andrea Elex
1,400
1,400
> 0
Felicia Fay
1,550
310
1,240
Benito Hernandez
750
0
750
Carlos Hernandez
900
0
900
Enrique Hernandez
850
0
850
Ignacio Hernandez
1,100
0
1,100
Ruby Todd
1,300
0
1,300
Antony Adelpha
1,700
0
1,700
Eva Adelpha
1,600
0
1,600
+ Loyalty Bonus
685
0
685
DAILY TOTAL
18,935
6,980
11,955
He had far more than he’d expected, points wise, but that was whole reason he was buying people, wasn’t it?
Next, he focused on Eva’s Negative Status of Internal Hemorrhaging, and that he wanted to correct it.
Status Correction: Internal Hemorrhage -> Healed
Correct Status? (2,000 points)
“Kit, can you put a thought in the girl’s head?”
“I can. Why…?”
“She’s bleeding out internally. I’m going to fix it,” Felix explained. “Let me know when you’re done.”
“I… yes. It’s done. She’s very confused and scared and trying to talk with me now,” Kit said after a second.
“That’s fine. Nudge No-Name and see if he’s willing to bring her directly to us if you think it’d be worthwhile.
“Car might be a bit cramped, though. And…”
Felix tapped the button, confirming the status correction.
Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and looked to the tablet again. “There. I’m tired. Feel like getting some pizza on the way home?”
Lily looked like she was going to explode. She clenched her fists in front of him and took a deep breath.
“That’d be fine, Felix. Though I think we should probably discuss how much you really can do with your powers,” Kit interjected.
“Probably a good idea. I had no idea I could fix an active wound until this moment, though. Cost two thousand points to fix her internal bleeding. Seems expensive. I mean, we knew I could do limbs and whatnot, but an actual bleeding wound? New.”
Lily growled, shaking visibly. Slowly, she turned from him, facing the monitor. “Oh yeah, healing power the likes of which has never been seen before. Done in seconds. Doesn’t even have to be nearby. Or actually see them. Expensive,” she grumbled.
Chapter 12 - Building Upward -
Felix stared at his points screen and then poked at it with an angry grunt. Bending his will to it, he tried to force it to reorganize itself for him.
He didn’t want to see every damn name. It felt like an endless list. He wanted it organized by power type under who it would be rolled up to. He wanted it organized like a corporation.
He knew those. Corporations made sense. Org charts kept everyone in line. It was a civilian military system.
Trying his damnedest to get his way, he used the example of the Hernandez brothers rolling up to Ioana because their power sets were similar. They’d end reporting to her as if she were their supervisor.
With over a hundred additional people, it was going to take some time to get it all sorted out.
Right now, they had some time. Felix had spent his time buying up the undocumented masses cheaply. The rest of those participating in the auction were now fighting over the high-value known individuals.
Felix couldn’t deny his interest, but not at those prices. Instead, he got to work.
He had to check his terminal a few times to confirm his thoughts against his notes, but eventually he got it to a view he was happy with.
He left Eva out because he wasn’t sure where her powers would fit best.
Received
Spent
Remaining
Daily Allotment
150
0
150
Miu Miki
1,000
200
800
—Direct reports
12,875
0
12,875
Ioana Iliescu
1,100
220
880
—Direct reports
24,720
0
24,720
Kit Carrington
2,250
2,250
0
—Direct reports
20,600
0
20,600
Lilian Lux
2,600
2,600
0
—Direct reports
12,360
0
12,360
Andrea Elex
1,400
1,400
0
Felicia Fay
1,550
310
1,240
—Direct reports
13,905
0
13,905
Eva Adelpha
1,600
2,000
-400
+ Loyalty Bonus
1,610
0
1,610
DAILY TOTAL
97,720
8,980
88,740
“Weeeell. Ending total right now is just shy of one hundred thousand points. I’d say our money troubles are well and truly over. We’ll need to be careful, though, and not overdo it and make ourselves too rich. That’d just draw attention we don’t need.
“I say we go with the original plan. Use the pawn shop as a front to launder the points through into money,” Felix said, closing the window.
“But I do your laundry,” Andrea said sleepily from her corner.
“That you do. Hey, I wanted to ask you about that. I appreciate you doing that for me, I wasn’t expecting it, but it feels like everything is off by a week.”
“I don’t understand?” Andrea asked, rolling over, putting her back to him and curling back into a napping position.
“The clothes you dropped off yesterday were from two weeks ago. It’s… weird. It’s like there’s a delay.”
Andrea started to snore softly, leaving Felix’s question unanswered.
Felix harrumphed and looked to the screen. The amounts were getting ridiculous.
Pointless. I can turn Eva into a wrecking ball. Or the boy into a second Lily. Bidding on an end result is pointless for me. I can take the untrained and bring them up.
Trainer of newbs.
Felix smirked at his own thoughts and waited for the whole thing to end.
Looking at the young girl next to him, Felix kept himself from sighing. Technically, he’d told Kit she could do this. He had only himself to be upset at.
The rest of them were being shipped in busses tomorrow morning, since it was already late in the day by the time they’d gotten out of the auction.
No-Name had set it up for him and seemed rather pleased with himself. Felix didn’t care. He imagined the man would get a cut of Felix’s purchases, and that was fine with him.
It was a relationship they both benefited from.
“You bought my brother? You swear?” she asked again for the tenth time.
“If she asks me the same question again, I want you to put her to sleep, Kit,” Felix said, ignoring her.
“Eva, he bought your brother,” Kit said, turning her head to face the young girl. “Please don’t make me put you to sleep. I won’t have a choice in the matter. Remember what I said about his power and your power? It doesn’t exist right now.”
Eva shuddered, looking at Felix out of the corner of her eye. “And you’re Augur?”
Kit nodded from the front seat.
“And
you’re Mab,” Eva said, turning her head to face the rearview mirror.
Lily glanced up at the girl and then flashed her sparkling white teeth at her. “I am.”
“And you’re Myriad.” Eva’s finger pointed to Andrea, sitting next to her.
“Yep!” Andrea happily said, smiling at her from ear to ear. “I haven’t killed anyone in a long time, and I don’t have to anymore. Felix buys me all the pancake batter I want, and gives me fun things to do, and he lets me sleep in, and I get to build a basement and—” She paused to suck in a deep breath. “He smells awesome. When we get home, you’ll see.”
Andrea leaned in close to Eva and whispered conspiratorially, except her voice carried easily to everyone in the car.
“If you want something from him, all you have to do is phrase it in a way that will benefit him, and how he can’t live without it. Works every time. Watch.”
Andrea sat up and gave Felix a broad smile. “Felix?”
He shook his head looking at Andrea, laughing. “Yes?”
“He heard you,” Eva whispered at Andrea, trying to stop her.
“Can one of my Others sleep in your room tonight? I think it would be good for you to have someone watching over you. Just in case.
“Your life is important and you should have a bodyguard.”
Felix blinked at that and his smile faltered.
His inner paranoia kicked up a notch, and he found himself wondering what could happen at night.
It’s not a bad idea. At all. I could probably use a bodyguard. Not to mention if it is one of Andrea’s Others, it wouldn’t really matter.
“Huh. Sure. That’s not a bad idea, actually.” Felix felt better in agreeing to that. It’d be odd at first, he was sure, but it’d help.
Super Sales on Super Heroes Page 13
