Super Sales on Super Heroes

Chapter 9 - Changes -

Felix flipped the vase over in his hand. Then he viewed it with his hypothetical ownership window.

Name: Imitation 19th century glass vase

Created In: 2013

Appraised Value: $10.00

Created By: Frank Putz

Actual Value: $10.00

Condition:Lightly worn

Asking Price: $3,200.00

Durability: 90/100

Mint Price: $12.00

Cost to Repair: 50 points

Shaking his head, Felix pushed the vase across the countertop. “I’ll give you ten for it, and that’s because I can probably resell it for twenty. It’s fake. Sorry.”

“What? You can’t possibly know that, if you—” started to complain the man who owned the vase.

“Sorry, not interested in it for anything more than ten. Is there anything else I can help you with?” Felix leaned onto the glass counter and looked around the shopfront.

The man grumbled, and walked out without another word.

Ioana opened the door for him, watching him with a hawk-like stare as he passed.

Kit, Lily, and Miu were working the shop counters. Andrea was working with Felicia in the back.

Felix was on appraisal duty. Kit had once again provided him with insight into his own power he didn’t realize he had. Rather than focusing on the upgrade and material aspect of his power, she had him focus on the ownership and item side of it.

Now he was an antique appraiser with an instant turnaround and perfect accuracy.

Word had spread about the eccentric pawn shop that had an employee who could appraise anything in minutes.

They now charged a small fee for his time, but provided no documentation. At least not yet.

Lily was working on that.

Sure is nice having a lawyer on the team.

Felix let his eyes wander over to Lily while thinking about her. He’d lucked out so far. Everyone he’d picked up had their own area of influence and ability.

The villain known as Mab was happily chatting with an official-looking older woman.

Beyond that, Miu and Kit were engaged in individual sales.

Miu was responsible for haggling and Kit was on mental sweep duty. Her power was dialed up to ten percent, and she casually monitored the store as she worked.

This was temporary. They’d need to hire more people soon. They were far more busy than he had expected.

It’d only been two weeks and they were drowning in merchandise and money.

“You the antiques and memorabilia guy?” came a man’s voice in front of him.

Felix nodded and didn’t bother looking at the person. “Yep. Put it right here,” Felix said, indicating the counter in front of him.

He didn’t lift his eyes, ask for a name, nothing. He didn’t care to meet another person, hear another sob story, get told another lie.

Everything and anything someone could do to get him to pay more.

I can only imagine Kit’s life now. Always knowing the other person’s thoughts.

Looking up across the room at the mind reader in question, he caught her staring at him.

Probably pissed this guy off and that got her looking this way.

He gave her a lopsided grin and turned back to his counter. The man had put a torn-up baseball covered in signatures on it. It looked like it’d been roughed up pretty bad.

Felix picked it up and activated his power.

Name: Historical Signed Baseball

Created In: 2001

Appraised Value: $40.00

Created By: *Truncated for size limits

Actual Value: $50.00

Condition: Extremely Damaged

Asking Price: $100.00

Durability: 13/100

Mint Price: $42,000.00

Cost to Repair: 1,150 points

“It’s the game-winning ball from the first all-Beastkin team. It was the last time an all-Beastkin team was allowed as well. Everyone signed it, including the coach. This is the ball that drove in the last run,” said the would-be customer.

“Do you have a letter of authentication and ownership?” Felix set the ball down and looked up at the customer finally.

He was interested in this item. It would be easy to repair and resell at a much higher price. These are the kind of items he was looking for. Waiting for.

They didn’t pop up often, maybe once every few days, but he’d found a few. Most didn’t have as much of a resale value as this one did, but they added up.

“I have ownership papers, but no authentication,” admitted the man, now unable to meet Felix’s eyes.

He looked ordinary, everyday. See them one minute, gone the next.

“I’ll give you one hundred for it,” Felix said. Reaching under his counter, he pulled up an electronic pad that he used for sales forms.

“Done.”

Felix nodded his head with a grim smile.

Miu was due to make a trip to the other side of the city and sell all of their antiques, memorabilia, and other items to collectors and museums. It was how they’d really started pulling in the money. Everything else they simply repaired and resold here.

The buyers had been hesitant at first, having everything appraised and certified.

Now they paid out the requested amount and had the appraisal and authentication done afterwards.

Felix wanted to preserve that mentality, so he made sure nothing ever went over to them at an incorrect price or listing.

He’d take care of this fixer-upper beauty tonight and add it to the shipment with his notes on the expected price.

Felix’s phone started buzzing on his work desk. He sighed audibly, working through the purchase entries for the day on his virtual work screen.

Andrea slammed bodily into his desk in her haste to get to his phone. She groaned in pain and held up the phone to her eyes.

Felix looked up at her with a small smile over his virtual workspace.

“Well, Miss Beastkin secretary? Who is it?” Felix asked. She was cute in an adorably dense way. Always happy, and sometimes said the most profound things.

“I’m your secretary? That’s great! What’s my salary?” Andrea said, bouncing from foot to foot, her ears twitching back and forth. “I promise I’m worth it, whatever it is.”

Felix chuckled and reached out to take his phone from her hands and flipped it over.

“No-Name.”

He tapped the accept button and held it up to his ear. “Good evening, No-Name. How are ya?”

Wedging the phone between his ear and shoulder, he went back to work.

Or tried to.

“What are my duties as your secretary? The only thing I know about them is they usually sleep with their boss. Wait, do I have to sleep with you?” Andrea asked, scratching her head.

Felix frowned and looked back to Andrea.

“I catch you at a bad time, Hoss?” No-Name said, amusement clearly in his voice. “I can call back later after you’ve worked out your job duties with your secretary.”

“Unnecessary,” Felix said.

“But why not? I mean, I don’t think I want to, but maybe I do? I’ve never been propositioned before. Oh goodness, it’s warm in here. I should go talk to Lily about my promotion. She’ll know what to do,” Andrea said with a squeal, then skittered off.

Dashing out of the office, she bounced off a crate, apologized to it, and kept on running.

“She’s excitable,” No-Name said.

“Yes. She is. It’s cute. Like watching a baby bird trying to figure out how to fly.”

Felix looked back to his work, then saved and closed the program.

“So what’s up?” Felix asked

“Big auction coming up. Lots and lots of supers. No previewing this time, though. It’ll be as is, as seen. Most powers will be a guess,” No-Name said.

“That’s… odd. What’s the deal?” Felix asked, leaning back into his chair. Felix hesitated on calling on anyone else. Then he reached over to the intercom and thumbed it twice in rapid succession. “Hold on a second. I need to get a pen and paper.”

Felix muted his phone and set it down on the desktop. Pulling out some paper and several pens, he then waited.

Kit and Lily came into his office at the same time. With a gesture at the chairs in front of the desk, they seated themselves.

He’d long gotten used to the idea of them being his “Intelligence Center.”

Between the two of them, they had enough intelligence and experience they could give him advice. Advice that would be better than his natural decisions.

He was smart enough to know they were smarter than him.

“No-Name has another auction coming up. He was just starting to give me the details. Was stalling for time,” Felix explained. He pulled off a single sheet of paper from the pad and set it in front of himself and took one of the three pens.

Kit and Lily looked at each other, then back to him.

Apparently I’m the only one with a bad memory.

Felix popped the mute button again. “Sorry about that. Alright, so you said that you won’t even know what powers they have, but it’s a big auction. Why the lack of info?”

No-Name chuckled and the sound of a chair creaking could be heard over the line. “Funny story for another time. The short and sweet version will do for now. A bunch of Dudleys and Snidelys teamed up and launched a coordinated attack on our glorious leader. They were defeated without fatalities on either side. Now we have something like… four hundred of them up for grabs.”

“Got it. That’s quite a few. You were pretty accurate on the sale price last time around. What are you thinking this time?” Felix asked.

“Not really sure. Since the powers are all going to be a guess, based on what our people saw during the battle, it could be high or low. Might be dirt cheap, might be astronomical. Sorry, Hoss, not a lot of knowledge here.”

“Right. Give me a second. Need to look at my books.”

“Sure, sure,” No-Name said.

Felix flicked the mute button.

“Thoughts?” he asked, looking to Kit and Lily.

“I don’t know. We have a lot of debt right now. We’re doing very well, but there’s no guarantee it’ll continue to go this well,” Kit said, then looked to Lily.

“Kit’s right,” Lily said, holding out a hand towards the telepath. “We’re well in the black right now. We could easily pay Dimitry, the bank, and about one hundred thousand of the rental debt we owe to your family’s estate.”

Lily reached out and tapped the desk as if to emphasize her next point. “But, buying more supers would increase your power load. I’m all for increasing power. Worst case, we kill Dimitry, I take his soul, we buy some time while they figure out what happened.”

Kit grimaced at that and laid a hand to her temple. “You’re so bloodthirsty, Lily. We could pay off Dimitry now and take the money for the rent to the auction anyways.”

Lily rolled her eyes and sat back into her chair. She folded her arms across her chest and then nodded her head. “You’re right. We could. Though, if we did increase my power, it would increase his power, too,” Lily said, looking to Kit.

Kit frowned and then shook her head. “Yes, that’s probably true, but—”

From the back of the warehouse there was a crash, followed by several shouts.

“Intruders!” came Ioana’s shout from somewhere in the warehouse.

Felix hit the mute button. “I’ll call you back, No-Name. We’re on board, though, so send us the information and the invite.” Hanging up, Felix pulled up his character screens for each of his people and put the draw to zero.

“You have your powers,” Felix said quickly.

Kit’s head snapped around at the same time that Lily’s body burst into an electrical aura.

“Lily, no deaths if possible. Immobilize or stun if you can. We need Kit to run rampant through their heads to figure out what they’re doing here. You can pop their souls after,” Felix cautioned.

Lily didn’t respond, but instead made a sigil with her hand and vanished.

There was a chorus of shouts, followed by the crash of metal.

Felix didn’t kid himself, he was no use in a fight. He’d wait for this one to run its course before he did anything.

An explosion of light and the crackle of electricity running free filled the building.

Seconds ticked by before he finally heard one of his girls call out.

“Safe! Come over,” Ioana yelled.

Felix and Kit left the office, walking towards the back corner of the warehouse. It was the back of the building that adjoined the alleyway.

Lily stood there, one hand held above her head and lightning crackling along her fingers.

Ioana stood by her side, a club resting on her shoulder, her sword still in its sheathe.

On the other side of Lily was Miu, her hands loose at her sides, though her knuckles looked bloody.

“Six unconscious scumbags. A couple have dents in their skulls, but I think they’ll live.

“Snuck in earlier, I’d wager. Were waiting for us to go to bed. Just happened to stumble across them during my patrol,” Ioana said, using the club to prod at one of the unconscious men.

“Good work, Ioana. I’m not sure what I can offer in thanks, but let’s chat later about rewards,” Felix murmured, squatting down next to one of the men.

Lily closed her hand with a pop, the glow fading immediately. “The others live, though I may have fried nerve endings.”

“That’s fine. Andrea?” Felix asked, looking around.

The Beastkin girl popped out from behind a box and nervously looked around. “I’m here.”

“Can you split a few times and help Miu get these… people… into separate areas? I imagine interrogating them individually will yield the best results.”

Kit nodded her head at that, her fists clenched.

“You alright at one hundred percent of your power for now, Kit? I can dial it to—”

“I’m fine. I’ll tear the secrets from their minds. I’ll leave nothing left. I’ve been resting for a long time. I could handle anything right now,” she said. Her voice sounded nothing like what she normally sounded like.

Can’t forget she was a hero first. They’re not exactly bloodless. Deaths happen.

“Thanks, Kit. Felicia, you around?”

“Here, you nitwit. Look right over me, did ya? Do I need to ask to be taller? Make ‘em bigger?” grumped the half-breed Dwarf from the side.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m a bit frazzled. You all might be used to this kind of thing, but I’m new to this. Felicia, Lily, come with me while they tend to our guests.”

Felix shook his head and stood up.

It’s never ending. Always something else going wrong.

A brief walk back to his office helped him clear his thoughts. This was a time to act. To move forward and take steps toward preventing this sort of thing.

He wasn’t sure who was behind it, but he doubted they were simply here for a smash-and-grab.

No, a smash-and-grab would have hit the front office. Not the rear.

Which meant they were directed. By someone.

Annoyed, and angry, Felix sat down on the edge of his desk. Lily and Felicia took the seats in front of the desk and looked to him.

The Dwarf looked angry, as always. Though she certainly filled out her clothes better now. He doubted her personality would ever change.

“What?” Felicia said, meeting his gaze.

“I need you to build a machine. Preferably sooner rather than later. I need it to be able to dispose of bodies efficiently. I need it to leave nothing, and create no waste. I’ll expand the warehouse to have a basement tomorrow for you to work in,” Felix said, laying out his need.

“I can do that… I’ll need my wits,” cautioned the Dwarf.

“I know. You actually already have them back. I’ll give you a week. After that, we’ll have to figure out something else,” Felix said. Looking to Lily, he gave her a feral grin. “When we’re done pulling out their thoughts, you’ll be killing them and taking their souls. Any concerns?”

Lily grinned at him and shook her head. “Do I get to keep my powers for a bit?”

“Sure. Till about a minute before midnight. So you’ve got a few hours. Maybe you could see about putting some magical wards on our home?” Felix said, gesturing at the walls. “Anyways. Do you need anything, Felicia? Is it too much to ask?”

The Dwarf scoffed and stood up, adjusting her blouse. She’d definitely been wearing clothes that emphasized her figure as of late. “No. I’ll get you what you want. Though it’ll be sad to give up my wits after that.”

“Do a good job. Show me your worth. I guarantee I’ll have more jobs for you that’ll require your wits. The more you show me, the more I want, the longer you keep your wits. It needs to be worth more to me in your head than as points.”

Felicia grimaced at first, then frowned. After a moment, she laughed and clapped her hands together. “You’ve challenged my abilities, then? I’ll win, you wait and see. You’ll be begging me to use my wits. You wait and see.”

With a snort, she left him there with Lily, stomping her way out of the office.

Lily ignored both of them and began to make sweeping gestures with her hands. Blue energy coalesced and flowed into shapes and patterns, creating sigils and runes in the air between them.

Felix watched, enjoying the impromptu lightshow for a minute. Then he returned to his logs.

There was always work to be done.

Roughly an hour later, Kit came back into the room.

A single glance told him that it’d be in his interest to push her to one hundred percent draw. Taking a second, he did just that.

The tension in Kit fell off instantly, her shoulders sagging and her taut face smoothing out.

“That is so refreshing,” Kit said, a smile slowly creeping over her face.

“Glad to help. So, what do we have?” Felix asked, closing his desktop window.

Lily shook herself out of her own private thoughts and listened in.

In fact, everyone was here. Andrea was resting against the desk, Miu was sitting on the couch, Felicia had been tinkering with some device in a corner, and Ioana stood by the door. Ever the watchful guardian.

“Honestly, I’m not completely sure,” Kit admitted, taking a seat in one of the chairs facing the desk. “Their minds were fairly well wiped clean. What I got was fragmented. Using all six together gave me a direction, though.

“A restaurant across from what I think was where you worked. There were pictures of you in your uniform.

“There was also a black-haired man, with narrow eyes and a small face. Couldn’t have been taller than five foot one.”

Felix frowned and leaned forward over his desk. He propped his chin up in his hands and tilted his head.

“Well, that rules out Dimitry. I wonder, maybe one of his peers? Or his boss, even? I suppose it isn’t out of the question,” Felix mused aloud.

“Isn’t Dimitry our friend? As your secretary, I’ll call him and set up a meeting! Then we can make this all right,” Andrea said triumphantly. Her hands went to Felix to probably dig around for his phone. “I’ll make pancakes and it’ll be fine.”

Andrea clawed at his clothes, her fingers trying to get into his pockets.

“Andrea, stop. It’s okay. I don’t think Dimitry is the problem. Promise,” Felix assured her, fending off her quick hands and quicker fingers.

“Secretary?” Miu asked softly.

“Misunderstanding,” Kit said, turning her head to the ex-security officer. “She thinks Felix gave her a job. She thinks one of the job duties is sleeping with him, and she can’t decide if she wants the job or not.”

“Oh. I see,” Miu frowned prettily, her dark eyes fastening on Felix.

Felix slipped his phone from his pocket and under his ass. He held up his hands and let Andrea do as she would and then looked back to Kit.

“Anything else?” he asked as Andrea opened his breast pocket and stared into it. Her nose twitched, then her ears as she seemingly considered the problem.

“Not really. I get the impression they were here to kill us, though. Not rob us. They were waiting for us to fall asleep.” Kit tilted her head to one side, watching him.

He imagined she was evaluating his response.

“Then they die. Let’s keep them alive for a few days while Felicia builds me my corpse dispose-o-matic machine.

“Lily gets the souls.”

Felix stood up and thumbed the computer off with his right hand, his left hand covertly grabbing his phone.

“We’ll have a long day tomorrow. Let’s get those six secured. I’ll build a basement tomorrow for Felicia to work her magic in. I’ll be reverting everyone to zero for the night. Except for Andrea, who will remain at a fraction so she can have a few extras watching our guests, and Felicia, as I’m sure she’ll keep working.”

Felix sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Any questions?”

“I’m not sure if I want the job or not. I’ve only been intimate a few times, and that was years ago. I’m not that easy.

“I mean, well, I might be willing. Your scent is amazing, after all. And you are kinda my type,” Andrea said slowly. “Can I use one of my Others for the first time?

“There’s a couple who already said yes.”

Felix pressed his palms to his eyes.