Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2

Chapter 34 - Setup -

Felix had been drifting in a haze of pain and fear, his thoughts fluttering around wildly. Sitting, waiting, hoping that Miu showed up before they got rushed, was playing with his mind.

The sudden chatter of rifle fire shook Felix from his thoughts. It was deafening in the stark quiet that’d been squatting over them.

Lifting his head up, Felix focused on his people.

Julia, Eva, and Adriana were all lined up behind the crates. Julia’s muzzle flashed as she fired another burst of rounds.

Following the line of fire, Felix saw the problem.

Skipper troopers were trying to get down into the tunnels with them. Either this was the only entrance, or they thought they could simply muscle their way through.

It’d cost them two people already. They were groaning and rolling around on the floor. Their arms flopping back and forth as they bled out.

Shifting in his chair, Felix’s leg screamed at him.

The pain of the wound and tourniquet itself were kept his thoughts scattered. Bouncing around in his head like a couple of screws in a tin can.

“Save the ammo, let them bleed out,” Adriana said.

“But, we could try and sa—”

“Do you really want to finish that sentence?” Julia said, interrupting her. “Haven’t your goddamn goody-two-shoes wishes given us enough trouble?”

“I didn’t mean for thi—”

“No, you didn’t, and you didn’t think a damn bit of what could happen. You just charged in because you wanted to help. If you didn’t notice, your dad back there is dying because of your need to help,” Julia hissed at her. “Shut your stupid mouth, and let the adults fix your mess.”

“Julia… this isn’t the time or place,” Adriana said. “Stow it.”

Scoffing, Julia gave her head a shake and muttered something under her breath that Felix couldn’t make out.

Eva got quiet after that.

He didn’t doubt for a second she was more than likely boiling with guilt and anxiety about the situation.

But he wasn’t going to correct Julia either.

Unfortunately, even though he cared deeply for Eva, he didn’t feel like Julia was wrong.

Soft headed morality was the shortest and quickest route to getting yourself killed, hurt, or taken advantage of.

You don’t have to step on the heads of others to get ahead, but you’ll never do it by letting others step on your own head. Then again, people in Legion are different. We’re all united in our purpose and cause.

As his thoughts started to slip out of his control, several groups of armed Skipper troops came sprinting around the corner.

They all opened up as they came.

His Legionnaires returned fire and started to drop targets

Rounds shattered into walls, the ceiling, and passed all around in both directions.

Felix threw himself to the ground, trying to limit his profile. He wasn’t good to anyone right now and was a liability.

Adriana spun to one side and went down in a heap.

Several heartbeats later, the bullets stopped flying, though there was a clinking sound he’d never heard before.

Rolling around between himself and his people was a small green sphere.

A grenade? A grenade.

Felix froze, unsure of what to do. He didn’t think he could get away quick enough with his leg in such bad shape.

Julia dove on top of the grenade before Felix could come up with a valid plan.

She covered it up completely with her chest and stomach, lying flat over the top of it.

Her head shot up and she locked eyes with him.

“Bring me back, or I’ll haunt you,” she said, and then exploded.

The blast was particularly large, cutting her in half and emptying out her chest cavity as if the armor she’d been wearing had done nothing at all to protect her.

Her torso flopped to one side, her eyes wide open and alive.

A bullet passed through her temple as she took in a struggling breath and exited the back of her head, her eyes going glassy and flat in a moment.

“She’ll thank me later,” Adriana said, turning back to the ramp after having delivered the mercy shot.

“This is all my fault. All my fault,” Eva said, her voice breaking.

“Keep your head in the game, Eva. I need you right now,” Adriana shouted, her rifle opening up again as more enemy soldiers stormed down the ramp.

This time Adriana returned the favor, tossing a grenade as they turned the corner.

The detonation dropped half of them, and the other half was dazed.

Holding the trigger down, Adriana dropped them all and emptied the clip at the same time.

With a rapid magazine change that’d impress even the hardest of soldiers, Adriana leaned back into the cover.

Waiting.

“Damn. That was close,” Felix muttered.

Levering himself up to a sitting position, Felix swiveled around to face Steve. “How you doing over the—”

Felix stopped when he realized Steve wasn’t breathing. His head was leaned back against the wall he’d been propped up against.

Unmoving.

Dead.

Looking away, Felix wasn’t sure what he could do anymore.

This is why you stay in the rear, with the gear. Remember? Sure, they trained you up just in case, but this isn’t your forte.

The sound of movement came from the tunnel.

Felix briefly wondered how many more waves they could survive.

A large black mech stomped around the corner. It had a large sword in one hand and the other was empty.

Emblazoned on the shoulder was Legion’s brand.

He didn’t recognize it as one of the Warden models he’d seen.

Sliding around behind the Warden, because that was clearly what it was, came Victoria in her personalized suit.

Feeling a hiccupping laugh escape his chest, Felix lifted a hand and waved.

Not trusting himself to talk, that was the extent he could handle right now.

The Warden oriented itself on him and then moved quickly towards him, only stopping when it loomed over him.

“Felix. I’m here,” came Miu’s voice through the speakers.

“I’m glad to see you,” Felix said. “I’m afraid I have another hard one for you. Get me, Eva, and Adriana out of here.”

Victoria was talking to Adriana and Eva, a hushed conversation with violent gestures.

“I understand,” Miu said. “You are wounded.”

“Yeah. It’s… not good. I think it’s worse than Adriana is letting on. Think you can get us out?”

“No.” Turning in place, the front of the Warden faced Adriana.

“If the Beastkin lets me kill her, we can escape quickly. She left a piece of herself at HQ and can be brought back easily,” Miu said. “It would increase our speed.”

Adriana stopped talking to Victoria and stared up at Miu. After three seconds she looked at Felix. “She’s not wrong, darling. I’m healing but not fast, I’d slow you down. I’ll take care of it in a moment. Please remember your promise, won’t you? I’m currently designated as forty-two,” Adriana said.

Not sparing them another word, she returned to her conversation with Victoria.

The Warden rotated around and lined up on Felix again.

“I will take Felix, and go back to HQ,” Miu said. She reached behind her back and the sword clanged into place in its holder.

A pod attached to the left hip of the Warden cracked open. Kneeling down in front of him, Miu indicated the pod. “Medical kit. Use the painkillers,” she said. “You need to stay awake, and I think the pain might become unbearable once we set out.”

Reaching into the pod, Felix pulled it out and cracked it open.

There were several pre-set injectors hooked into the sides. The idea was that anyone could use the kit even without training.

Felix didn’t know what was in them, or how to use it, and didn’t even care.

Instead, he pulled one out, flicked the tip off it, and jammed it into his forearm.

Miu leaned in after that was done and scooped Felix up under his armpits and knees.

She’s not actually going to princess carry me… ah crap she is.

“Throne acquired,” Victoria said to what he assumed was the communication network. “Hook returning, requesting escort along R-2.”

Felix saw Eva clamber onto Victoria’s back at the same time that Adriana put her rifle down between her knees, put the rifle to her brow, and pulled the trigger.

The single boom and the explosion of her skull splattering the ceiling was shocking for some reason.

Crumpling to the ground, Adriana’s corpse went rigid.

Miu didn’t stop, and stepped over the blood-gushing corpse and started towards the ramp.

She turned the shoulder of the mech as she got up to ground level. Felix had a momentary thought that she’d done it to shield Felix in case there were more troops. At the same time, Felix got a view of the back of the camp.

The pain in his leg was rapidly fading away.

He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but at the moment, it sure felt good.

There was a straight line of wreckage through the camp that led right here.

Nothing tried to stop them as Miu headed out of the camp.

“We sent a group of people towards the back alley,” Felix said.

“We found them,” Victoria said, loping along beside Miu as the Warden began to gather speed. Eva was wrapped around her back like a backpack, clutching tightly to her. “They’re already being evacuated.”

“I sense a but in there,” Felix replied dryly.

“Skipper figured out where you were. She’s mobilizing everything. A lot of the new religious forces are apparently moving as well. The only group not interested in eradicating you is apparently the federal forces,” Victoria said.

“I… see. What you’re saying is… we’re going to have a lot of company real quick,” Felix summarized.

“Legion is already taking the field. Everything is being turned loose. The new recruits from Fort One as well,” Victoria said. “We did send all the students and their families on to Wal though. They weren’t ready for this. At least, Lily and Kit didn’t think so.”

“Where are they,” Victoria said, her head swiveling around.

“Where is—” Felix stopped when he saw an entire platoon of Wardens stomping their way towards him. They were fully loaded, and looked as if every Warden across the entire country was there.

As if it were by plan, the Wardens closed in around Miu and Victoria. A solid shield-wall of mechs and munitions.

“Hook is ten minutes out,” Victoria said.

Either she’s extremely nervous and forgot to turn off her external speakers, or she’s taken damage.

From a side alley of the street they were running down, a group of Skipper soldiers stumbled out. Several Wardens on that side turned as they ran, leveled their weapons, and fired. Solid magnetic projectiles launched from the railguns and bodies literally exploded.

The entire group didn’t even miss a beat in their running speed.

“Had contact. Position may be compromised,” Victoria said, pausing as if listening to a response.

“Understood,” she said, several seconds later. “Line change, R-2A.”

The platoon began shifting towards the left side of the street. At the next intersection, the group turned left down a large street. After that they took the next right into another street.

They shifted over one to try and break contact. It must be much worse than I—

Up ahead there was a checkpoint of sorts. The center of the intersection was hastily barricaded with gutted cars and broken chunks of anything. Arrayed behind that haphazard cover were four squads of Legion security forces in full combat gear and two armored personnel vehicles.

The squads stood up when they saw the Wardens heading their way. Their officers made a couple of quick gestures and everyone began rapidly piling into their heavily armed transports.

Before Miu and the rest had even cleared the barricades, both vehicles had started forward.

“Good,” Victoria said. “That helps.”

The turrets were manned, and the vehicles slowed to match the Warden’s pace. The designation on the rear of the APC marked it as belonging to SC:HQ though.

They now had a point guard from vehicles that shouldn’t be here.

“You actually mobilized everything?” Felix asked.

“Everything,” Victoria said. “No one was told a lie, everyone was aware you were gone. We were united in purpose, but we all knew you’d be found. Was only a matter of time.”

“Felicia had to expand the portals from base to base. All Teleport and Portal functions outside of the city HQs don’t work though. It’s like someone took Neutralizer’s power and threw it on the entire city. Otherwise we’d have already ported you out with a Telemedic,” Miu’s voice startled him when she started talking. She’d been quiet for a while.

This wasn’t an accident in any way, shape or form. This was an elaborately orchestrated attack to kill me, specifically. But it doesn’t quite make sense.

“Speaking of Neutralizer, he said the night you disappeared he felt a power trying to reach into HQ. He disrupted it as best as he could, but he’d never encountered it before and didn’t know how to do it,” Victoria said. “He’s confident he can block it if he runs up against it again though. He also shared his knowledge with his department.”

“I wonder if that’s why I ended up where I did. They didn’t get to use it the way they wanted, maybe,” Felix said. “Remind me to thank him. Actually, I have an entire list of people I need to reward and thank.”

A boom sounded out from somewhere to the left. It was a deep, resonating thing that shook the pit of his stomach.

Gunfire filled the silence afterward, only to be drowned out by a deep rumbling of a high powered machine gun.

The APCs entered what appeared to be a large single level parking lot and peeled off to the right.

When the Wardens made it into the lot, Felix realized it was anything but empty. It was bristling and full of Legion forces and equipment.

Machine gun emplacements, vehicles, even Powered soldiers were everywhere.

For all the world, it had the appearance of a fort perched on the edge of a battlefield that’d be held to the death.

Then people started to realize Miu and her Wardens had just passed the perimeter.

It started as a single cheer, and quickly progressed to a deep rumbling roar.

The Warden guard came to rest at the center of the fort.

Felix wasn’t sure where it had come from, or if it had been there, but he was happy that there was a building there. One that looked like it had thick walls and maybe a nice seat.

Kit, Lily, and Ioana trooped out of that building, and rushed over to him.

He was surprised when he saw them because they were all wearing costumes.

Kit was in what looked like her original Augur outfit. He knew she’d kept it in a locker, and hadn’t touched it since she retrieved it.

Lily was wearing a suit of the light combat armor that Miu typically favored.

Though this one was different. The black fabric had red stitching and graphics worked throughout it. The shimmer of magic bled back and forth across it as she moved. She’d clearly spent some time enchanting and modifying it.

Ioana was in a suit of armor similar to Victoria’s, though much more bulky.

“Felix!” Lily said, quickly moving to his side as Miu set him down. “Oh, thank god. Oh my god, you’re wounded.”

Unable to help himself, he smiled as Lily began to methodically check him over, her fingers light and tender.

Andrea and Adriana Prime squirmed in at Lily’s sides.

Adriana began to quickly go over his wound while Andrea fussed with his face and hair.

“Stop, back up, he’s fine. But we should get him under cover,” Kit said, muscling her way between everyone. “Here, I’ve got him.”

Lily, Adriana, and Andrea all took a step back. They all wore worried smiles, but were clearly glad to see him.

Pulling her helmet off her head, Kit smiled at him, her short hair blowing out around her. Without a gesture or word, Felix floated up off the ground. Completely supported and weightless.

The door to the building opened on its own, and Felix was floated inside.

“I imagine Miu gave you the rundown,” Kit said, following him in.

“She did. I’m not sure what good I am though. My powers have been messed with. I assume it’s a unique powerset or… well… divine intervention,” Felix said, trying not to panic at the fact that there was nothing between him and the ground.

The room was simple. A few chairs, a table, and a computer desk with a huge bank of monitors with live camera feeds.

“That’s not a problem,” Ioana said from the doorway. “Your job is to build us up and guide us. Fighting is the job of me, and my people. You’ve done everything possible, now it’s our turn to show you what we can do.”

Kit lowered Felix down into a padded chair.

Relaxing, Felix oozed into it, trying to get comfortable.

“Then you have my permission to engage as you see fit, and do what must be done. I place my full trust in you, Ioana. My Warmaiden,” Felix said.

Ioana stood up straighter, her hands clenching. She seemed as if she couldn’t respond to that.

“Go forth and conquer,” he added.

Saluting smartly, she spun on her heel and charged back outside.

Lily leaned over him, hugging him tightly, pressing his face into her shoulder. “We were all so worried,” she said into his hair.

Then Adriana and Andrea were there, hugging everyone at the same time.

“Sorry. I did everything I could to get back as quickly as I could. And before I forget… Adriana, one of your Others found me. Helped me. Provided assistance above and beyond. I’m not sure if you have a second, but I think it’d be a suitable reward for what she did for me,” Felix said.

“Nn, I can do that. Where is she?”

“Dead. She took her own life so we could move faster in escaping. She said she left her finger with you. That her current designation was forty-two,” Felix said.

Adriana nodded her head and then kissed him.

Followed by Andrea doing the same.

Lily only wrinkled her nose at them.

“I’ll wait till later, when you’re not covered in Wolfgirl slobber,” she said with a broad smile.