Super Sales on Super Heroes

Chapter 16 - The Color Red -

Once again, Felix sat at the breakfast table looking at the blueprints Felicia had laid down in front of him.

“Everything is done, as promised. Once you go spend your points for the living quarters, they’ll be done. Which is on the point calendar, as Lily requested,” Felicia said through gritted teeth.

The beautiful ex-lawyer and busty Dwarf didn’t really get along. Keeping them in each other’s company was very similar to putting two unfamiliar cats in a box.

“And while you’re down there, you can finish off the dining halls. We made better progress than expected. Training rooms and common areas should be later this week. Since we don’t have a facilities department yet, I put in the initial orders for everything the kitchens will need. Or at least I think I did. Might not be everything.” Felicia shrugged her shoulders. “Not my problem. Off to work. See you later.”

Ioana moved in and pulled out Felicia’s chair as she stood up. The Dwarven woman eyed Ioana curiously.

A thought popped into his head. “Felicia, could you spend some time with Ioana for the training rooms? She’d know best what we need in terms of space and equipment.”

“Eh? I could do that… fine. Come along, then,” Felicia said softly, turning and leaving them there.

Ioana looked to him and gave him a grin.

Felix threw her thumbs-up. “Go get ‘er,” he said quietly.

Ioana took off at a light trot, chasing down Felicia.

“I didn’t know,” Eva said quietly around a forkful of pancake.

Kit smirked and tapped Eva’s plate with her own utensil. “It was very subtle. We’ll work on learning the difference between surface thoughts and things people hide. Maybe after you get home from shopping today.”

“You sure you can’t come too?” Eva asked, looking to Kit, then Felix.

“I can’t. Felix needs people here at the same time. Besides, I’m putting together my department today, remember? It all starts with HR, which means me,” Kit said apologetically.

Lily turned her head to Felix, smiling as ever.

He often felt like she knew something he didn’t.

Too often.

“There’s a public domain auction on slaves in two days. I plan on attending and will need Kit with me. They’re all non-supers, just civilians. It’ll be a chance to pick up some people for specific roles. Any objections?” asked Lily.

“None. Be sure you keep it cheap and run the numbers by Felicia so she can build out accordingly. If our FTE keeps going up, we’ll have to build accordingly. It’s not like we’ll have attrition.”

“FTE?” Andrea asked, dropping a pancake onto his plate as he finished up the third.

“Full-time equivalent, or full-time employee, depending. Attrition is when you fire people. Can’t really fire a slave, though.”

Lily pointed her fork at Felix. “Actually, we might end up having attrition. Not everyone will fit a role perfectly. Eventually we’ll run out of places to put them if they keep fouling up. You’ll need to consider what we do with those people. They’re a poison and would eventually corrupt the rest of the workforce.”

Kit sighed, placing a hand to her ear. Then she slowly shook her head and looked to Felix. “She’s right. I don’t like it, but she’s right.”

Felix shrugged his shoulders. He’d already thought of that to a degree. It wasn’t something that would be pleasant, but a simple answer.

Sausage machine.

Felix pushed his plate away. “Sorry, Andrea, delicious as always, but I’m full.”

Andrea smiled and took the pancake away. Then she suddenly leaned over the table, knocking over an empty cup while doing so.

Licking her thumb, she rubbed it against the corner of his mouth. “Syrup. Messy, messy.”

Felix sat there, frozen in place, staring into Andrea’s face.

“Thanks.” He didn’t know what to do in this situation.

“Nnnn! As your personal secretary, it’s my job. Now, I’m going to go change so we can get going.” Andrea pushed back off the table to her feet and then left quickly.

Lily started to laugh. Then Kit did, followed by Eva.

“Maybe she’ll give us lessons,” Lily said, turning to Kit.

Felix let his eyes wander around the department store. Lily, Andrea, and Eva were all in the changing rooms going through the clothes they’d picked out.

Kit, Felicia, Miu, Ioana, and a team of Andreas were back home working on moving their shop across the street. Lily had completed the purchase, pushed the paperwork along, and even rebalanced their books.

She was really showing a natural aptitude to corporate work. Then again, she’d trained as a lawyer, so it couldn’t have been all that different.

A store clerk flashed by him, asking him if he was okay, and leaving even before he could fully respond.

Shaking his head at the lazy work ethic, Felix turned his mind to the rest of his day.

He still owed Lily her power buildout. Depending on what she asked for, he should have enough points left for the day. Felicia’s finishing touches had cost him a good amount, but the effort hadn’t bankrupted him.

“Flirting with the help?” Lily asked.

Felix turned to find Lily approaching him by herself. She was wearing a black dress that she filled out well. It pulled the eyes into dangerous territory.

“Not really. I don’t really have time for that sort of thing right now.” Felix stuck his eyes to her face and kept them there.

Lily tilted her head to one side, watching him. “I’d like my third power now.”

“Alright. You still haven’t told me what it is.”

“I want to be able to store power. I’d prefer it to be in something physical so I could pass it off to others if needed.

“I want to be able to make Lily batteries.”

“Oh. That’s… not what I was expecting. I don’t think that’d be too hard to add, since it’s more of a utility thing.”

“It differs?” Lily ran her fingers through her hair. “And what were you expecting?”

“Well, yeah. Bigger powers cost more. A utility power probably won’t cost that much. As for what I was expecting… something destructive?”

Lily gave him another one of her feral grins, pearly white teeth slipping free of her pale pink lips. “I’m happy to surprise you. Realistically, though, you’ve given me a number of students to watch over. Being able to practice freely will increase their experience. To practice, they need power. I have it in abundance as of late since I’m not constantly under attack. So, Lily batteries.”

Felix smiled back at her and held up his hands in defeat. “Makes sense. I’m glad to hear you taking your responsibilities seriously. Alright, let’s see…”

He called up Lily’s window and focused on adding a third power to her.

Third Power(Unlock): Energy Transfer

Required Secondary Power: 70 (Unmet)

Required Stamina: 50 (Unmet)

Upgrade?(20,000)

“Huh. Your power isn’t strong enough and neither is your stamina,” Felix said, pulling up her character screen.

Name:

Lilian Lux

Power: Ethereal Mental projections

Alias: Mab, Demon, Soul Stealer

Secondary Power: Mana Manipulation

Physical Status:

Healthy

Mental Status:

Happy

Positive Statuses:

None

Negative Statuses:

None

Strength:

37

Upgrade?(370)

Dexterity:

55

Upgrade?(550)

Agility:

53

Upgrade?(530)

Stamina:

42

Upgrade?(420)

Wisdom:

67

Upgrade?(670)

Intelligence:

88

Upgrade?(880)

Luck:

21

Upgrade?(210)

Primary Power:

64

Upgrade?(6,400)

Secondary Power:

59

Upgrade?(5,900)

“That’s… disappointing,” Lily lamented, pressing a hand to her cheek.

“Gimme a moment. I’ll just push your stats up, then get the power for you. The cost of the power is pretty low, so giving you the points needed isn’t that big a deal.”

Felix tapped in the individual point upgrades, pushing her secondary power to seventy and her stamina to fifty.

“I forgot that you could do that. Any chance you can kick my luck up a bit? You said it was pretty bad,” Lily asked. She tilted one shoulder towards him, turning partially sideways while her hand slid from her cheek to her neck. “I am kinda unlucky.”

The pose was ridiculous and he knew she was messing with him.

Felix pursed his lips and then moved her luck up to thirty-five. It was pretty low, and he could see that going poorly for them at the wrong moment.

“Fine.” He hit the accept button and then gave her the third power.

Calling up the screen again, he confirmed the changes.

Name:

Lilian Lux

Power: Ethereal Mental projections

Alias: Mab, Demon, Soul Stealer

Secondary Power: Mana Manipulation

Physical Status:

Healthy

Third Power: Energy Transfer

Positive Statuses:

Protective

Mental Status:

Happy

Negative Statuses:

None

Strength:

37

Upgrade?(370)

Dexterity:

55

Upgrade?(550)

Agility:

53

Upgrade?(530)

Stamina:

50

Upgrade?(500)

Wisdom:

67

Upgrade?(670)

Intelligence:

88

Upgrade?(880)

Luck:

35

Upgrade?(350)

Primary Power:

64

Upgrade?(6,400)

Secondary Power:

70

Upgrade?(7,000)

Third Power:

50

Upgrade?(5,000)

“Done. Consider this a promotion. Or a merit increase? Maybe a bonus? Something like that.

“I hope you work as hard as you did up to this point, if not more so.” Felix dismissed the window and looked to Lily.

The soul-stealing mass murderer’s eyes were clouded. She looked like she was in pain, even.

“Kit said it felt like someone had punched her brain. Do you want to sit down? Here, I’ll get a ch—”

“No, I’m alright. I just need a second.” Lily lifted the hand on her neck to her temple. “It felt like my mind expanded. I even know how to use it, I just… push my energy into it. There’s no limit to how much I can put in an item, other than what I can personally channel in one sitting.”

Felix checked his pockets to see if he had anything she could practice on.

Nothing. House keys, phone, and some lint.

Looking around, he saw the cash register. Pushing off the pillar he’d been propped against, he moved over to the checkout stand. He started looking around for the impulse buys that any good checkout had.

Something innocuous. Something that people would overlook that you could charge. Something that would be—

Ah!

Sitting to one side of the register was a glass display case. Inside were a number of silver bracelets with charms.

The bracelet, and each charm, could function as a battery, he was willing to bet.

“Can I help you?” asked the cashier. He was a younger man, probably in his early twenties.

“Give me that,” Felix said, pointing to the bracelet he’d been eyeing.

“Huh? The necklace or the bracelet?” said the clerk, leaning over.

“Uhm, give me one of each.”

“Okay. That’ll be four hundred and ten.”

Felix flipped a credit card onto the space between them. “Hang on to that, they’ll be out with a bundle of clothes, I’m sure.”

Picking up the bracelet and necklace, he went back to Lily.

She’d watched him but hadn’t moved at all. To him, she appeared as if she were still recovering.

“Here. Bracelet and necklace. Both have a bunch of charms on them. Maybe you can turn them into individual batteries?” Felix held out the two silver pieces of jewelry.

Lily held out her wrist to him. “Put it on.”

Grunting, Felix laid the necklace on his shoulder. Holding on to the bracelet, he unhitched the clasp and then wrapped it around Lily’s wrist. Slipping the clasp into one of the links, he let go. It dangled but seemed well fit.

Turning around, Lily lifted her dark hair up from her shoulders.

“You can put this on yourself,” Felix grumped.

“Put it on,” Lily demanded.

“Seriously, you—”

“Put it on.”

Taking the necklace in hand, Felix reached around Lily and draped it across her neckline. With a quick flick of his fingers, he latched it shut.

“There. Practice away,” Felix said. Taking a few steps back, Felix leaned up against the pillar from earlier.

Lily let her hair fall and glanced at him from over her shoulder. “Hmph.”

Breaking eye contact with him, she walked back to the changing room.

Felix let out a slow, even breath as she went. Lily made him uncomfortable.

Maybe it’s because she’s too damn pretty. Kit and Andrea have their own thing going for them, but Lily is just… forbidden fruit, maybe? Soul-eating seductress. Maybe I should rename her to Succubus instead of Mab.

He chuckled, giving his head a shake.

An explosion of sound went off behind his head, and his entire head felt like it’d been struck by a hammer.

He felt his legs go out from under him, unwilling to respond to him in any way, shape, or form. There was another explosion from feet away, and this time his side exploded in red-hot agony.

The world flashed white as screams echoed throughout the department store.

Felix couldn’t do much of anything. The cold of the tiled floor felt great on his face. The rest of him was a bubbling quagmire of pain and heat. Everything hurt.

In fact, he was pretty sure he was dying. There was too much pain for it to be anything else. Or so he believed.

He tried to roll over onto his side and accomplished… nothing. Fingers flexed against the tile, his shoes squeaked, and that was it.

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and flipped him over.

Everything was blurry. Blurry and red.

Someone leaned down into his face. They said something. He couldn’t figure out what they were saying. Now that he thought about it, those weren’t screams he was hearing, but ringing. His ears were ringing.

Yanked to his feet, Felix tried to stand up but his knees wouldn’t obey. He began to collapse as fast as he’d been stood up. His eyes felt heavy and he blinked.

Felix must have blacked out for a moment, because the next time he opened his eyes, he was being carried. His arms were held across two people’s shoulders and they were practically sprinting with him between them.

“Hang on, Felix,” said the one on the left.

“Stay with us,” said the one on the right.

Oh, they’re both Andrea.

Felix tried to ask what had happened, but only made a gurgling noise instead.

“He’s awake!” the one on the left said.

“Good, keep him that way. Being awake is better,” came back a call from up ahead. There was a burst of light, followed by an intense explosion.

“I need two Andreas up the left side. Clear out that hallway!”

Felix felt himself pressed up against a wall.

An Andrea appeared in front of him, smiling at him from an inch away. “Going to just take a peeky peek now. See if you’re a leaky bottle of ketchup again.”

Her fingers slipped along his side, which was apparently now bandaged and very red.

Red like blood.

There was a black marker line where the bloodstain ended, all the way around.

“Nothing new, but that’s no guarantee,” Andrea said. Then she stood up and gently turned his head to the side.

Felix’s brain slipped out of his skull and hit the ground. Or that was what it felt like, at least.

Felix focused on the tile beneath him and the fact that he wasn’t dead.

“No change here either. Damn. I wish we’d spent more time in that hospital. We need to send an Other there after this,” whispered the Andrea in front of him.

“Nn, nn,” said the second Andrea.

“Is he okay?” Eva asked. Her voice wasn’t far, maybe behind Andrea. Maybe. Things didn’t sound right.

“He’s… alive. Lily! We need to move!”

Another explosion came from further ahead. “Clear, move up. Garage is right ahead of us. You think Chauffeur Andrea is still there?”

“We would never leave. We would die first,” the two Andreas said in unison.

Before he could really start to follow the conversation, it was over. They picked his arms up and pulled him back over their shoulders again.

His head lolled forward, his eyes watching the tiles pass underneath his dragging feet.

Body parts and blood were liberally painting the floor.

As he watched, the tiles became dark pavement. A burst of gunfire tore through the air.

Return gunfire came from the Andrea on his right and from up ahead.

“In, in, in,” shouted Andrea from ahead of them.

He heard car doors opening, then he was being shoved bodily into the rear seat. Eva was already inside and pressed up against the glass on one side.

As the Andrea who was guiding him in got him situated, her clothes blew out around her.

She dropped bodily into the car, her head falling into his lap.

In a last burst of strength, she somehow got the door closed and lay still, staring up at him from his lap.

Chauffeur Andrea got in and stomped on the pedal.

“Where’s the other—” Eva started.

“I absorbed her. No room,” Chauffeur Andrea said.

Felix laid his hands on the Andrea in his lap. Her mismatched eyes stared up at him. Her mouth was wide open as she gasped for breath.

“It’s… my lung. Shot in… the lung,” she got out between gasps.

Felix understood that at least. She was probably dying faster than he was.

Carefully, he brushed her hair back from her face. He gave her a smile and ran his thumb along her eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Felix said lamely.

“It’s… okay. I’ll… come back. Myriad… never really dies,” Andrea said, giving him a bloody smile.

Her face twisted for a second and she pressed her hands to her mouth, coughing into them.

Blood seeped up between her fingers, splashing down the sides of her face and neck.

“I’m sorry, Andrea.”

Felix gently stroked her forehead, smoothing her hair back. She coughed into her hands again, blood spilling unendingly from her hands. Her eyes gazed up at him, full of pain and fear.

“Andrea, can you absorb her before she dies? I-I think she’ll suffocate at this rate,” Felix said lamely, looking up to the driver’s seat.

Sunlight poured in through the windows as they escaped the garage.

“Kit, this is Lily. Felix has been shot. We’re on our way back. Tell Felicia she needs to come up with something quick. Do we have any supers with healing powers?”

Chauffeur Andrea looked back at him when they hit a stoplight. There was no way she could run it since there was a constant stream of cars driving in either direction.

After what looked like a moment of indecision, Chauffeur Andrea reached back and pressed her hand to the Andrea in his lap, and she vanished.

She was there one moment, and then gone the next.

All that remained of her was the blood that stained his pants.

Letting his head sink back into the seat, Felix felt the world slip out of his grasp.

“Lily? Felix is…”