Super Sales on Super Heroes

by William D. Arand

  Each and every one of them made eye contact with him as they went by, though. Their cheeks turning a pale red and their eyes flashing yellow at the center as he met their eyes.

  They all filed into his bedroom, a never-ending train of them.

  The last Andrea entered the office, turned, closed the door, locked it, and then entered the bedroom. Watching her go, he waited for her to vanish from sight, and then he opened an email to Lily.

  He filled her in on everything that had just happened with Agent Smith, and his questions and concerns, then sent it.

  If anyone could figure out what was going on, it’d be Lily.

  Getting up, he wandered over to his bedroom as casually as he could make himself be.

  The door was already open and inside was a trio of Andreas, waiting for him.

  This’ll be fun.

  I think.

  A week passed in the blink of an eye.

  Felix spent most of that time either making gold, or putting his people back to rights.

  They’d only lost a few people in that final push.

  Missing limbs, blinded, mental problems, everything was swept away under an onslaught of spent points.

  He was also well aware of what that did for his reputation. Everyone began treating him as something much greater than a mere employer.

  They all treated him like he was their personal superhero. That nothing was too great for Felix. That if for whatever reason something failed, Felix would be there to fix it.

  Personally, Felix ignored it. He had other things to worry about.

  Like the fact that their assets had been frozen and they couldn’t access anything electronically that was directly tied into Legion.

  That was a pretty big worry right now. They’d only been tied up for two days, but it was already enough to be a problem.

  Lily had her entire team jumping through hoops to get it all figured out and sorted, but for the most part it seemed as if it was a government hold.

  Which really only left Agent Smith.

  No one else knew them or had even tried to put any pressure on them from a government position.

  “Now I don’t feel so bad about sending Wraith after them,” Felix said, leaning back in the chair in front of his personal computer.

  Wraith, the incorporeal shadow hero they’d captured, had signed on as an indentured servant. It was that or get his, her, whatever, soul ripped out and stuffed into the sausage machine.

  Since Wraith had never revealed their form, Felix wasn’t even sure how to address them. Not that he cared how to address them. They were Wraith. That was all that mattered at the moment.

  And at that moment, they were infiltrating Agent Smith’s organization and doing a bit of intel gathering.

  The speedy guy and Tanker had both declined his generous offer. For some reason, they had seemed to think he wasn’t going to go through with killing them.

  Felix wasn’t your average cliché villain, though. He did what he said he would do.

  Tanker had been turned into many, many sausages. Most of the enemy captured prisoners had been in fact dumped into the machine after having their soul stripped, just like Tanker.

  After they’d all been thoroughly interrogated, of course. Any who were willing to sign a contract were given a chance and were being put through their paces.

  “Why would you?” asked Victoria. She rarely left his side now. After Miu had attached Victoria to him, Miu had taken a back seat and was working with her team more frequently.

  “Dunno. Seems rude to do that to someone who up to this point has genuinely only been annoying rather than a problem.” Felix interlaced his fingers behind his head. “Whatever. Wraith will figure out what they can and report back. I think Lily said she was expecting something today or tomorrow.”

  “She did!” Andrea chirped happily at his side. She tapped at her tablet and then nodded her head. “She has another meeting tomorrow with you.”

  Victoria took a number of steps to one side, and then paced back the other way. Her sword clicked as she turned and started back the other way.

  “Stop pacing.”

  “Sorry. I’m not used to this yet. I was just on a security team a bit ago, and now I’m protecting you.”

  “It’s been a week already.”

  “And? Still not used to it.”

  “Whatever. Take a seat or Lily is going to be annoyed. Miu would tell you to post up near the door. Probably.”

  “She would,” Andrea confirmed. Her eyes peered at him for a second over the top of her tablet.

  She’d changed since they started actually started sleeping with each other.

  She was her normal and chipper self; she touched him casually a little more often, but nothing obvious.

  Then there were times where she touched him when they were alone somewhere, times when her touch was far more intimate.

  The door opened and Lily entered. She was dressed in a dark black jacket, white blouse, and dark black pencil skirt. Her hair was tied back in her professional style, though most surprising was that she was wearing glasses.

  “Agent Smith should be arriving in fifteen minutes.” Lily crossed the distance to where he sat at the conference table and dropped into the chair next to him at his left side. “Andie, Vicky.”

  Both women nodded their head to Lily.

  Felix quirked a brow, smiling at Lily.

  Reaching up, she adjusted her hair with a touch and then looked down at herself. Looking back up to him, she frowned. “What? You’re looking at me in a strange way.

  “And not in the normal, stripping me of my clothes and devouring me way.”

  Felix snorted and reached out. He pushed her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose. “Didn’t realize you had a prescription.

  “And how would you know what I do to you in my mind while looking at you?”

  Lily pressed her lips together into a line. “Yes, I’m a bit nearsighted. I ran out of contacts and forgot to order more.”

  “Wear the glasses more often. Your eyes are lovely, it brings the focus on them.”

  Lily smiled at him, then looked to Andrea over his shoulder. “He’s been much more of a smooth talker since you tamed him.”

  Andrea chuckled, not arguing the point.

  Felix wasn’t quite sure how he felt about the fact that everyone knew Andrea and he were sleeping together.

  “Anyways. My eyes aren’t the topic, though thank you for the compliment. Agent Smith is definitely the reason we’re all tied up financially. I also found out what’s going on with that slave tax bologna.”

  “Bologna?”

  “Complete bologna. Yes, there will be a tax, but it isn’t being put into place for a while yet. They’re still going through the assessment faze. He’s trying to shake us down.

  “The freeze on our assets is probably part of a toolset to help them determine what we should be paying when the tax goes live.

  “Best I can tell, it’ll be repealed tonight.”

  “Huh. Good work. How’d you find all this out?”

  “Wraith and our police informant. Doesn’t hurt that we kept all that petty cash on hand. I’ve been using it to grease wheels. We’ll need more.”

  “You know what, Lily? You’re fantastic. I cannot imagine Legion without you.”

  “You still owe me, remember? Now you owe me two nice things. Spoil me, already.”

  “Fine, whatever. Two favors of your choosing. Get it put down in a meeting and we’ll take care of it. No limit, except anything along the lines of ‘free me,’ cause that ain’t going to happen. Sorry, too valuable.”

  Lily lifted up a hand with one finger held up. Her shoulders were set and her body had gone rigid. “Anything?”

  “Well, anything within reason. But yeah, I can promise to be receptive to whatever you ask.”

  “I’ll hold you to that. We can talk after this meeting. I do have a favor already in mind. I’ve been working on getting it set up, one of th
e reasons I didn’t bother you about it yet. I finally got most of it taken care of.”

  Felix was curious now. He really didn’t know much about Lily. She kept to herself when it came to her past and about herself in general.

  “You damn tease. That’s all you’re going to say, isn’t it?”

  Lily’s tension melted away in a heartbeat, replaced with the vibrant soul-stealing monster.

  “Of course. I have to keep you coming back for more. Ever since you started playing bedroom games with your wolf over there, you don’t pay me as much attention.”

  Andrea started giggling at that. “Bedroom games?”

  “There’s lots of games. We’re having lunch tomorrow, aren’t we?”

  “Uh-huh. You promised me a different type of pancake. Creepies or something.”

  “Crepes, but yes. Not quite pancakes, but similar enough.

  “We’ll talk about games then. We haven’t talked recently. I think our little leader here has been trying to keep you away from me.”

  “No. Just busy. We were setting up the Other armory.”

  Felix sighed and looked to Victoria as the two kept chatting.

  “As you can see, I’m a passenger most of the time. Just along for the ride.”

  The swordswoman shrugged her shoulders. “Most of us kinda assumed you were already sleeping with Lily and Andrea. There’s even a pool going as to how big you’re going to make your harem and who’s next.”

  “A pool? Seriously?”

  “It’s not that surprising. People bet on anything. And you do kinda own everyone.”

  “Huh. So, who’s in the lead in the pool right now? Maybe I can swing it in my favor with a rumor and split the payout with the person.”

  “Ah… that is…” she started.

  “What, Kit? Ioana? I mean, seriously. Ioana isn’t my type, and she’s with Felicia. Kit… don’t get me wrong, she’s pretty, but she’s a touch on the girl scout side for what I do for that to work.”

  “Right now, it’s me. I spend the most time with you among anyone in your senior leadership circle. I’m… I’m at the top of the pool.”

  “That’s… unexpected. I mean, you’re definitely in my strike zone, but we just met a week ago.”

  Felix shook his head. He never quite understood how people perceived relationships in that fashion.

  He tried to deal with everything from a black-and-white perspective. Relationships were very much not black or white.

  “—then I gagged and almost threw up,” Andrea said sadly.

  “You need to practice first.” Lily shifted in her chair and leaned towards Andrea.

  Felix sat up straight and jumped into their conversation.

  “Yeah, no. That conversation is over. Let’s get ready for Smith,” Felix said quickly, slapping his palms to the table.

  It was one thing for everyone to know he was sleeping with Andrea. It was altogether too much for him when they discussed their sex life aloud as if it were polite dinner conversation.

  He turned a full glare on Andrea, who only smiled at him. She lifted her tablet up in front of her face, only covering her nose and mouth, her eyes watching him.

  “Seriously, is there anything I need to know?”

  Lily shook her head and then lifted her hands up in surrender. “Realistically, there’s not much more we can do but wait to talk to him. We can’t do anything more till then.”

  Andrea tapped her tablet and Lily’s chimed in response.

  Lily picked her tablet up, tapped at it, then laughed.

  Oh my God, they’re sending messages about it since I told them to stop talking.

  Chapter 27 - Favors -

  The conference phone in the center of the table started to ring.

  Felix quirked a brow, forgetting Lily and Andrea altogether.

  Tapping the accept button, he leaned over the speaker.

  “This is Felix.”

  “Mr. Campbell, I have Agent Smith on the line. I believe we were expecting him in person, but… he’s trying to call in,” came back the Andrea secretary’s voice.

  “Alright. Patch him through, then.”

  Felix didn’t care for this; it felt weird and didn’t make that much sense to him. Smith had set this meeting up and had asked for it to be in person.

  Tapping the mute button, he looked around the room.

  “This isn’t right. Lily, any chance you can get a report from Wraith as soon as possible?”

  Lily nodded her head to that, already working in her tablet. “On it.”

  “Mr. Campbell, so generous of you to pick up. I wasn’t sure if you would,” Mr. Smith’s words came floating in through the speaker of the phone.

  Felix sighed and flicked the mute button. “Yep, I’m here. Though I thought we were supposed to meet in person. You requested it. Even went so far as to request the attendees, who are here.”

  “Ah, that’s a shame I can’t see it. I’ll be sure to make an appointment to swing by later. Sorry.”

  Felix didn’t respond. Silence would be his weapon in this battle. The less he offered Smith, the better.

  “Felix?” came the eventual question.

  “Yes?”

  “Ah, sorry. Anyways. We were going to talk about your taxes and what that number is for you.”

  He’s being rather vague, isn’t he?

  “Yup.”

  Felix swore he could hear a chair creak and papers being shuffled.

  “Ah… well, uh.” Felix smirked at the verbal pause to fill the gap. People really didn’t handle silence very well in general. “That number is going to end up being rather hefty. We’re not done assessing it, but I can safely tell you it’s already going to be higher than a hundred thousand.”

  Looking to Lily, Felix’s hand was halfway to the mute button.

  She already had a hand up in a placating gesture, nodding her head at him.

  Okay, so that falls within her own projections. Or at least close enough.

  “Got it,” Felix said. He idly began tapping his thumb on the table, his index finger hovering over the mute button.

  “As we discussed previously, I’d be happy to work with you to get this handled.”

  “I see. And when is the money due in whole?” Felix decided to cut to the chase and see if he could catch the man lying. He’d feel better about it if he could.

  “Not yet. Again, we’re still assessing things. I’m sure you noticed your assets are frozen. I’m afraid that was our doing, as we needed to get an idea of your finances.”

  Rolling his eyes, Felix waited. The man wasn’t very good at the “government agent” thing he was trying. Then again, it probably helped that Felix had a group of people who were watching out for him.

  Once again, he treated Smith with silence. A big, happy heaping helping of it.

  “Felix?”

  “Yes?”

  “Err, never mind. So, yes, your account is frozen for a bit.”

  “I noticed. When will you be releasing it?”

  “I’m not sure. I could swing by tomorrow and talk to you in person about it.”

  In other words, come by and sleep with one of my people.

  “Afraid I’m all booked up, Agent. With our account being frozen, everyone is certainly a lot more busy right now.”

  Felix didn’t want to leave anything to chance, or give Smith a chance to not state something. “Any idea on when you think that’ll unfreeze?”

  “Not at this time,” Smith said in a clipped voice.

  “Alright. I’d appreciate it if you could send over the agency directive name and passed regulation that allows you to freeze my account. Along with all the pertinent details about what’s allowed. For documentation purposes, of course.

  “Oh, and please also send me all the tax law information as well. Trying to get everything put together.”

  Smith was silent. Maybe Felix had pushed it a bit too far, but he wasn’t in the mood for games. Smith was actually hurting his business
and his people at this point.

  “Sure. I’ll get that over to you today. Have a good day, Felix.”

  Shaking his head, Felix hit the disconnect button.

  “Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.” Felix leaned back in his chair.

  “Kit said he wanted you to prostitute one of us for favors,” Andrea said.

  “That he did. Which is why after he rides back out on his horse, the horse can fuck him.”

  Felix pressed his hands to his face, closing his eyes.

  “Whatever. Lily, let me know when we get in touch with Wraith.”

  “Of course, though there’s another problem. I just got another emergency meeting request with Reznik, Blacketer, and Troy.”

  “Great, now what?”

  “They wouldn’t say. They’re sending their people over now to see us. This was after I told them we were unable to leave the office today.

  “They’ll be here in—”

  The conference phone in front of them buzzed.

  Felix dropped his hand on the phone, hitting the connect button blindly.

  “Yep?”

  “Mr. Campbell, I have a group of people here representing Reznik, Blacketer, and Troy to see you.”

  “Tell Miss Aston we’ll see her shortly, we’re finishing up a meeting.”

  “Of course.”

  There was a pause. “Mr. Campbell, Miss Aston is no longer with the company, but they’re waiting.”

  “Huh. That’s interesting.” Felix opened his eyes and rested his chin in his palm. “Now why would they get rid of her? She didn’t seem unintelligent.”

  “She’s actually pretty good, as far as lawyers go. Graduated near top of her class, multiple offers for employment, spotless contract record,” Lily agreed, a frown crossing her pretty face. “I didn’t specify that Miss Aston was a problem in our complaint, nor did we ask to have anyone removed in it. If they got rid of her, it’s for their own reasons.”

  Which means she refused to play ball, probably.

  “Victoria,” Felix said, looking to his bodyguard.

  The swordswoman came to attention, her head snapping around to him.

  “Get me a Telemedic, the petty cash briefcase, and a brick of lead.”

  Victoria hesitated, looking to Andrea.

  The Beastkin apparently understood something he didn’t, as she suddenly split three times. The three Others left the room immediately, Victoria remaining in position at the door.