Super Sales on Super Heroes

by William D. Arand

  “Ah, thanks, everyone. I understand that I owe my life to Felicia?” Felix asked, looking to the builder.

  The Dwarven woman crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked to the side, though eventually nodded her head.

  “Thank you. Your work is fantastic, as always.”

  Felix then turned his gaze on Lily.

  “And Lily, I understand you saved me from dying right then and there. Then managed a running offense to get us back to the car. I’m not sure how to thank you for that.”

  The woman in question arched an eyebrow at him. She looked as if she were hesitating, then gave him a shrug. “We can figure out something later. So far, you’ve done nothing but build up my power. Even as a slave, this isn’t something I can easily write off.”

  “Fair enough. Andrea—”

  “I want to sleep in your bed. I don’t like only watching over you, I want to sleep, too.”

  “I, uh… what?”

  “For my reward, I want an Other to sleep in your bed. She’ll sleep at the foot. Your feet are warm. Thanks!”

  Felix opened and closed his mouth twice and then nodded his head. It sounded annoying, but he didn’t want to push her away.

  She’d carried him bodily the entire way, and one of her Others had been mortally wounded for him.

  “How’s Eva, and where is she?” he asked, realizing that sitting around him were only those who had been part of the original group.

  “In school, and she’s fine. She got your credit card on the way out for you, by the way. We’ve taken her shopping several times since then, and she has more clothes than any teenager could want.” Kit pulled out a single sheet of paper from her binder and slid it across the table to him.

  Glancing at it, he realized it was a balance sheet.

  He didn’t care. He pressed a finger to it and passed it back without looking at it a moment more.

  “Thank you. I’m glad she’s in school. She like it?”

  “So far. Everyone wants to know who her sponsor is. Apparently, getting into that school isn’t easy.” Kit didn’t say anything more.

  It left the entire thing open to a question. One he’d have to ask Lily.

  Felix had to wonder how Lily had managed to get her in, but didn’t feel like wasting his breath. If she wanted to be coy about it, she could. He didn’t need to press them on every secret.

  “So… I suppose that brings us to the department head meeting we should have had. Felicia, how about you start us up?” Felix asked. He spread his hands to the dwarf and waited.

  “Hah. Ass. Why do I always have to start?”

  “Because you’re building our home. To me, that sounds like one of the single biggest, and most important, tasks to get updates on. First you go.”

  “Hmph. It’s fine. Common spaces will need you to smooth them out, and the training areas are only about half done. I put them on hold since you were injured and haven’t gotten back to them. Been working on the medical ward and its machines. You’ll need to smooth that one out too.

  “I’ve got everyone working with whatever best suits them. We got quite a few talented people out of that last purchase. We’re fabricating all sorts of great toys and things.”

  Felix couldn’t help but admire her progress, all things considered. “Great work, Felicia. You’re a credit to your race.

  “Ioana, let’s go with you since you’re next to her. We’ll go clockwise from there.”

  “Security forces are being trained up. Miu is assisting me with the hand-to-hand combat. Andrea has taken up firearms. Everything else is under me.

  “We’ll have our first security team ready for deployment in about a month. Class rollouts should be every couple of weeks after that as we stagger the classes. We’ll be drilling them one against the other for experience.”

  “That’s far better than I’d been expecting. Good job, Ioana. I’d like to get some time in your classes once I get my energy back.”

  “You’re already enrolled,” Lily said with a smirk.

  “Good. Kit?”

  “HR, which includes counterintelligence, since we’re all telepaths, is up and running. We’ve sorted everyone out by their abilities, tendencies, and desires. It’ll take time for everything to actually get off the ground, but with everyone ideally placed, it should be easier.

  “We did mark a few people who seem like they’ll be problems. Only three seem intent to cause a problem.”

  “Alright. Give them to Lily first and then put them in the sausa—”

  “No. Not yet,” Kit interrupted hurriedly. “We’ll give them time to adjust, counsel them, and only failing all of that will I… give them to Lily and the machine. There are many opportunities to get them on board.”

  “Whatever, attrition is your concern. And speaking of attrition, always looking for new hires. Did that auction happen?” he asked, looking between Kit and Lily.

  Kit nodded her head and held up a hand towards him.

  “It did. We picked up around two hundred unpowered normals. They didn’t even cost a fraction of what you paid for the supers. We now have: marketing, finance, legal, IT, facilities, kitchen, janitorial, motor pool, medical, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some. We’ll need to headhunt some key positions but by and large we did well.”

  Two hundred more people? I won’t get as many points for them as I do a super, but points are points.

  “We already expanded the housing project to accommodate them, and then doubled that for growth.

  “Princess over there managed to get us a permit to dig as far down as we like,” Felicia said, gesturing at Lily.

  “I see. So… we’re well beyond what a pawn shop could support. Did we pick up a few buildings in other areas to put in more shops?”

  “That’s been taken care of. It’ll take a week or two to get them outfitted and staffed, but they’ll be up and running soon,” Kit said. “Our bottom line is alright, but it would be good if you could convert some bricks in the next couple days. We’ve had our newly created finance department running the numbers to figure out our taxes.”

  Felix shook his head with a smile. “Good show. I assume that means you handled all the paperwork, Lily?”

  “Sure did. Everything is settled. I felt fun when I drew up the company name,” she held up a hand. “Ahem, we are Legion. All of us in one. The new legal team is actually rather good, so we moved quickly.”

  We are Legion.

  “Right. Anything else from the HR department, then?”

  “People are asking about bringing their families on board. I admit I expected it to eventually happen. We can either allow visitation, and risk all that entails, or simply deny it.”

  “Can we buy their families?” Felix asked.

  “What?” asked the telepath incredulously.

  “Their families. Can we buy them? So far we’ve been picking up people based on if they went to auction. What if we made it an employee perk program?” Felix leaned back in his chair, feeling more at ease.

  Solving problems of this nature always felt right to him. Corporate life never felt terribly difficult.

  “If they put in good work and service, we can offer to purchase their family at a fair price. As they’re selling themselves willingly, we would amend the contract to indentured rather than slave. They’d get a few more rights, like the promise of never having to face combat duty, the sausage machine, or anything like that.”

  Felix looked up to the ceiling as he thought.

  “Heck, at that point we may want to consider buying the buildings around us and expanding our subsurface expansion to include family homes, schools, and stores.”

  Felicia sat upright in her chair, her fingers pressed to the table. Apparently, the idea of expanding the fortress to an underground kingdom tickled her fancy.

  Kit sighed and trailed her fingernails down the inside of her forearm.

  “I mean, I’m all for being self-sufficient, and it would help encourage people to work h
ard. Though I wonder at what eventuality that leads to.

  “Can people begin purchasing themselves out of slavery and into indentured servitude? Do children born of such a relationship get born into indentured service?

  “Or do we purchase a semi-limited contract on them that expires at eighteen, and all services remaining that weren’t paid for become debt and they have to leave?

  “In the end, it sounds a lot like building an empire,” Kit said slowly.

  He could practically hear Felicia demanding he start this action now.

  “Mmm. We’d be a target. Well, let’s start testing out this ‘family package’ plan with those who asked for now. See what happens. Maybe we’ll get some serious work out of them. No one wants to work endlessly without a carrot, right?

  “Anything else?”

  “No. That’s everything for me. I’ll take the family plan idea back to the team and see what we can do.”

  “Great. Lily?”

  “Legal, marketing, and planning are all fine. We’re drawing up plans for commercials and some branding for the new stores. Get people in the door.”

  Lily paused to thumb a piece of paper out of her folio and spin it across the desk to him.

  “I took the liberty of purchasing a parking garage. It used to have an attached office. We’ve already started to convert it to a mechanic shop and housing location. It’s only a street away from here, so it’s nice and close.

  “Most of our fabricators who can’t help out here are already holed up there. Everything is now closed to the public, and cars purchased at the shops are taken there.

  “If you plan on expanding our purchases, do it in that direction so we can link everything up.”

  Felix nodded his head. The return on cars would be rather large since he didn’t have to technically pay his people the normal amounts you would for a mechanic. “Nice. That sounds fun. We should use it as a way to start purchasing company cars as well.”

  “On it. On the second page there in front of you, I’ve assembled a list of cars to be purchased at market value if they’re presented so we can convert them. Apparently, word spread quickly and people have been bringing cars in here. All purchased vehicles that fit the criteria are being stored in the parking garage.”

  “Huh. Lily, you’re amazing.” Felix gave her a grin, leaning forward.

  The immaculately put-together woman blushed and looked to the side, her hands folding into her lap. “Thank you. I admit I’m enjoying corporate life. It’s… straightforward.”

  Letting her off the hook with that, he looked to Andrea.

  “Armory and arsenal are being stocked. Most of the weapons we’re purchasing from No-Name and Dimitry.

  “We’re focusing on SMGs and pistols to get everyone trained quickly and have a common talent pool. Though we have set aside a budget for rifles once we have everyone equipped. Rifles cost more and require a bit more training.

  “Uhm, for gear, we’re looking into defense contractors. Vests, helmets, everything, all needs to be above military grade. Investing in the gear will keep your living investments safe.”

  Makes sense.

  “Good show, Andrea. Your skills as Myriad are definitely showing through.”

  Andrea gave him a bright grin and leaned forward in her chair towards him, her tail sliding up from behind her to wag slowly.

  “Miu?”

  “Facilities and internal security are up and running. We have requisition orders for everything we need, but all should be well in a matter of weeks. Ioana has created an extensive training program, and we’ll be fielding our agents from her security teams.”

  Ioana nodded her head approvingly at that.

  “I’d like to put that indentured service program in place for security. We can purchase mercenary contracts with limiting factors dictated by our HR department. They can sign deals with our resident magician that would bind their soul to ensure cooperation and secrecy.”

  “Huh. That’s a great idea. I approve of that. Let’s get that one rolling. That’d be a good way to shore up our manpower and maybe get you a few more trainers, Ioana.”

  The big woman slowly nodded her head. “It would help.”

  “Great. That seems like everything. What’s next on the agenda?”

  Kit picked up a box of something from beside her and dropped it into the center of the table.

  In the box were two crowns, and several bracelets. They all looked very similar to the one Dimitry’s boss had been wearing.

  “We were able to collect these from your attackers.”

  Ah. They haven’t given up.

  Chapter 18 - Power and Debt -

  “So,” Felix started, drumming his fingers along the table. “From home invasions to mid-day assassinations. I’d say someone really doesn’t like me.”

  Ioana snorted at that and gestured to the box. “That’s putting it mildly.”

  Kit pulled out one of the bracelets and laid it on the table.

  “It’s quality workmanship. Imbued with a high level of psychic defense.

  “I couldn’t break through to them when they were wearing the crown. I can’t confirm it, but I’m betting the bracelet does the same thing, perhaps at a lower power, though.”

  Kit fingered the enchanted item and nudged it to the side an inch.

  “That and the ability to control whoever is wearing it. I would suggest we let no one wear these, even to test them. I wouldn’t want to find out simply because we’re not sure how that mind control part of it activates. It would be rather awful to have someone suddenly being controlled by our enemy.”

  Felix sighed set his elbow down on the table, resting his chin in his palm. “Alright. Do we know anything? The one time we had a chance at information, he killed himself.”

  “Not a thing,” Lily said, spreading her hands out in front of her in apology. “All we can do is wait for them to make a mistake. Or capture one alive before they can end their own life. For that to work, we’d have to incapacitate them before they could do anything, though.”

  Felicia slapped an open hand on the table. “What about nonlethal? Lots of that on the marketplace. I’ll see what the lab can whip up and maybe we can catch a break.”

  “So long as we don’t risk ourselves doing it,” Felix said after a second. “It isn’t worth someone dying over it to find out that whoever is doing this was smart enough to keep themselves hidden just in case.

  “I mean, really now, do we honestly think that whoever is smart enough to do all this, keeping themselves in the shadows, would go to such lengths only to let someone see them because they’re wearing a suicide device?”

  Everyone sobered at that, frowns and creased brows spreading around the room.

  “That’s a good point,” Lily murmured. “It’s easier to believe our opponent is foolish or stupid.”

  Felix shrugged his shoulders with a wince. “Works out in my favor when I believe my enemies are smarter than I am. Overpreparation isn’t a terrible thing.”

  Looking around the room, he met each person’s eyes before looking back to the box.

  “I suppose all we can do for now is prepare and be ready. If there’s nothing else to be taken care of, I think I should probably go over the upgrades for the building and get back to laying golden eggs.

  “All that sleep put me behind considerably.”

  Andrea stood up quickly, sending her chair tumbling as she scampered out of the room on whatever wild thought had taken hold of her.

  Miu retreated to a quiet corner of the room while Ioana and Felicia left together.

  Kit and Lily looked at one another, then to Felix.

  “Either you both need to talk to me privately, or you’re working on the same problem from different angles,” Felix said, looking from one to the other.

  “You go first, Lilian,” Kit offered, adjusting herself in her seat.

  The sorceress looked to Kit and then shrugged. “We’ve gotten an emergency meeting request from Rez
nik, Blacketer, and Troy.”

  Felix quirked his brows at that.

  “I’m not sure what they want, but they barred it to anyone who isn’t legal counsel for yourself. Thankfully, I’ve been reinstated and my team is actually rather… accomplished.” Lily gave him a bright smile, leaning forward on the table and tapping her folio.

  “Glad to hear that. Did we have to drop a hefty bribe to get your license back?” Felix asked, curious.

  “Not really. It only took the simple promise that I never head back to my home city. Which isn’t a problem, since I cleared out my lair and don’t plan on going back.”

  “Hm. Alright, set up the meeting. Sooner the better. I know it’s out of nowhere and we have no way of knowing what they want, but prepare the best you can for it.”

  “Done. Thanks, Felix. You’re a doll.” Lily stood up, gathered her folio, and slipped out of the room.

  Looking to Kit, Felix scrunched his face up in confusion. “Doll?”

  “She likes you. Feels like you value her for who she is, rather than what she is,” Kit explained.

  “I do. Not a hard thing to do when she’s as talented as she is,” Felix said a touch skeptically.

  “She’s still listening at the door,” Miu whispered from behind him.

  Felix snickered at that. “Go, Lily!” Turning to Kit, he then gestured to her. “What’s up?”

  Kit’s eyes flicked up to Miu and then started to move to Felix but stopped. She stared at Miu, her eyes focusing in on the self-proclaimed bodyguard.

  As quickly as it happened, Kit broke eye contact with Miu and looked to Felix.

  “Right, uhm. I… I’m not sure how to say this.”

  “With words. Direct words that leave no room for misinformation,” Felix prompted.

  “Ah, yeah. It’s hard since I can’t read your mind. I can’t get a fix on—”

  “Welcome to what the rest of us do on a daily basis. Kit?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, right, okay. I’m not a superhero anymore.”

  “Nope. You’re not.”

  “I’m practically a villain. I’ve taken the lives of other heroes.”

  “Not a villain, per se, but definitely the life thing. Probably more down the road as well. Sorry, the price of living in this city now.”