Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2

Chapter 3 - Omission -

The evening of the career fair found Felix hunched over his desk.

He was peering at the display of all the applicants on his virtual desktop. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like over ninety percent of the senior class had applied. He’d be able to get a final count later on when it was all pushed into an excel sheet.

Every department got at least one applicant.

“Quite a few interested in security,” Felix said, flipping through the applications. “Even a few with existing powers. I didn’t realize they had Powereds in the school.”

His bodyguard said nothing. Instead, he stood at the corner of Felix’s desk, doing his best impression of a men’s suit mannequin for a war zone.

Dressed sharply in a tailored black suit, clearly wearing kevlar underneath, and toting a SMG, he had the look of a trained operative.

Not surprising. We did start with our own people on the training program with the singular books. They might very well be the equivalent to some special forces.

The woman at the corner of the room gave him a glance, then resumed her duties. She was dressed similarly to the man, armed the same way, and had the same lethal air around her.

Sighing, Felix missed Andrea.

There was something about the bubbly Beastkin that made even the quiet moments… different.

Closing his terminal with a flick of his fingers he leaned back in his chair. Staring up at the ceiling, he tried to order his thoughts as best as he could. There was quite a bit to do, still.

Before he even got through a mental list of every task, let alone sorting them, his phone started buzzing on his wrist.

Falling into a normal sitting position he glanced at the display on the front.

Lily?

Tapping the connect button he pulled his earpiece out of his front pocket and slipped it into his ear.

“Hey, beautiful,” Felix said, grinning. “I miss you. You and that big brain of yours.”

“You say the most wonderful things. You compliment me on both sides, and reassure me that you want me for my mind,” came the purring voice of Lily on the other end of the line.

“I want compliments, too!” said Andrea, clearly in the same room.

“Stop, Andie, you know he compliments you endlessly,” Lily said with a laugh.

“I miss you both,” Felix said simply.

There was no response to the sincerity in his tone. Both Lily and Andrea seemed flustered.

“Well,” Lily began again. “That’ll be over soon. Wraith is on their way over to you. Should be there in an hour or two.”

That means the job is done.

Every witness who was lined up for every charge against anyone in Legion had been taken care of. Silence purchased, intimidated, or simply eliminated.

Hopefully as little of that last one as possible.

“Only two,” Lily said, as if she’d heard his thoughts.

“That’s great,” Felix said, feeling better.

Two out of six hundred was pretty low on how bad it could have been.

Me and mine first. Anyone else is an enemy. Legion first.

“We’ll be waiting about a week, and then joining you,” Lily said a touch breathily.

She missed me, too?

“Lauren’s been sending me status reports. Seems like everything is going splendidly,” she immediately continued on.

“Ah, yeah. Everything is. We had a really good turn out for Tilen High. We’ll probably be visiting all the other high schools after this. They’ll all get second tier preferential treatment, but still preferential,” Felix said, leaning back in his chair again.

“Good, good. Stop it, just—ok. Ok. You don’t need to give me that look, stop multiplying. Ok, here,” Lily said. “One second, Felix, Andie wants to talk.”

Felix laughed and nodded his head, even though they couldn’t see him. “Alright.”

“Felix!” came a thundering of voices practically shouting into the phone. Then it devolved into a tumult of voices. It sounded as if there were at least twenty of them all crowding around the phone.

“Any possibility of you getting down to Andrea prime? It’s a touch hard to understand with so many of you talking at the same time.”

The Andreas got quiet, and one of them was directing the others.

“I’ll go first,” said an Andrea into the phone. “I love you, Felix. I miss you.”

The directness of the words struck him at his core, and he felt his skin prickle insanely. There was a heavy feeling just behind his forehead and eyes.

“I… I love you, too, Andrea,” Felix said thickly. For the first time. And he meant it. Which was surprising.

“Nn! Feelings received. We’ll be there soon so just… just wait for us,” Andrea said huskily into the phone.

“Ok, next!” she shouted to someone else.

The phone made a rustling noise as it was clearly passed off.

“Felix! This is Andrea,” said Andrea.

Unable to help himself he chuckled. “Hi Andrea,” he said, wondering which one it was.

“This is number three. I was with you the night before you left,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I love you, Felix. I miss you.”

“I love you, too, Andrea,” Felix said for the second time.

They’re not going to pass the phone off to every—

“Nn!” said the Andrea, and then the sound of the phone being passed could be heard.

“Felix? This is Andrea!”

Oh god they are.

“Hi… Andrea. How many… others… are there right now?” he asked neutrally.

“All of us! We made a line. Myriad got us in order like when we’re prepping for a mission. She said she’ll go last so it’s fair. This is number four. I was a Death Other and you brought me back.”

“Ah. I should have guessed,” Felix said resigned.

“I love you. So much,” the ex-Death Other cooed into the phone.

Sighing, Felix settled in for what he suspected would be a long phone call.

Pulling the earpiece out, Felix blew a raspberry with his mouth and closed his eyes.

A deliberate shuffling of feet caught his attention. “Wraith is here?” Felix asked.

“Yes, sir,” said one of the bodyguards.

“Everyone please leave after Wraith enters. Please also track down Eva and send her over. Only people allowed in are Victoria, Miu, and Kit,” Felix ordered.

He heard everyone leave quickly, the door opening and closing only once.

“Wraith?” Felix asked quietly.

“Here,” came the echoing whisper.

To this day, Felix wasn’t entirely sure what Wraith was. His ability page seemed to say one thing, though his appearance countered it.

Since he was a conscripted employee, Felix didn’t really trust him.

“We’ll wait for Eva,” Felix said, relaxing into his chair. He was still processing everything that had just gone down with Andrea.

Five minutes ticked by before the door opened again.

Opening his eyes, Felix found Eva standing there in the doorway.

“Felix? What’s up?” Eva asked.

“Come on in, take a seat. Wraith is going to go on a mission tonight and I’d like you to accompany him. Time to test out those skills we put in your head, and some of those new powers,” Felix explained.

Eva nodded her head with a smile. Coming into Felix’s office, she closed the door.

After what happened at the school, and spending a long time getting everyone back from the dead, he’d begun experimenting.

Modified powers with massive detriments that made them cost few points.

Eva was a very good example.

He’d given her super strength. On par with some of the mightiest in the world. Except it only worked for a short period of time given certain circumstances.

As strange as it was, the power cost a touch under one thousand points. It was an economical power that was undeniably useful.

Then he gave her Lilly’s powers, with the same limitation.

Then Kit’s.

And Andrea’s.

Eva had an altered version of many powers. She was his personal nuclear warhead. Eva… was probably the single strongest super in his employ. Provided it only had to last a day or two.

And she didn’t even know it.

Because each and every power he gave her had a limitation. She had to have Felix’s approval to use them, speak the name of the power, and after the usage, that power would fade away.

Nor did she know about it. She had no idea about all these powers he’d put into her.

In fact no one did. They were originally just experiments.

After his success with these one-off powers, he’d begun making the books with similar powers within, instead of just medical training.

And soon, the library will be done.

Breaking free of his thoughts, he slid a small skill book across the desk to her. It’d been an expensive skill book to make. It had cost him a number of points.

“This is Wraith’s power set. I want you to go with him tonight on his mission. Learn from him. Let’s see you put to use all those other skill books we’ve been feeding you,” Felix said with a grin.

Every skill book created for every other department was given to Eva as well. She was a walking encyclopedia of the working knowledge of Legion.

Eva gave him a small smile and picked up the book. A few seconds later and it vanished into nothing.

Part of keeping the cost of books down was making them all single usage.

Now if only I could use those damn books myself.

Much to his chagrin, not a single book was usable by him.

At any level.

It lined up with the inability to modify himself.

Or to modify others to have his own power.

“When you’re ready, head out with Wraith. Oh… Lily and Andrea will be joining us in a week,” he said.

Eva had bonded with both of them. Lily for being Evan’s mentor, Andrea for helping her adapt to Legion life.

The young woman smiled brightly and couldn’t help but clap her hands together.

“Really?” she nearly squealed.

“Yes. Really. Now,” Felix said, turning to Wraith. “Your mission. I need you to infiltrate the local Hero HQ. We’re trying to find out why they want Kit. We know they want her. To the point that they’re willing to blow up schools. But not why.

“I want to know. Take a head set so I can follow along. Shouldn’t get in your way at all.”

Wraith, the black silhouette that he was, made no move to obey the order.

About the time it took for a single breath passed before he answered.

“Why not look into their memories?” Wraith asked.

Felix had contemplated that one already.

It wasn’t outside of his power, but it would involve hunting around in their heads. There was no guarantee that if he popped open those memories he’d locked out they would be containable.

Or that he could re-blank them after.

He’d done it while they were insane with agony and suffering. Truth be told, he wasn’t even positive he hadn’t damaged them in the process. Right now it was a risk he wasn’t willing to run.

Not when he could find the information through other means.

“It’s something I’ve considered,” Felix admitted. “Not something I’m willing to pursue at this time. Anything else?”

“No.”

“Go. Make sure you protect, take care of, and guide Eva. Assume she could eventually take your place since she can fade through objects,” Felix commanded.

“Of course,” Wraith said. Without turning around, Wraith inverted into himself and began walking to the door.

Eva gave him a nervous, yet excited, smile, and dashed off after the black shadow.

She was a bit too excited, but it was a mission where she was mostly on her own.

After the door closed, Felix let out a nervous breath. Pressing a hand to his temple he steadied himself.

“Gotta succeed on their own eventually. All you can do is prepare them. And she’s as prepared as someone who’s lived lifetimes,” Felix said, trying to assure himself.

Eva might be his wrecking ball, but she was also as close to a younger sibling, a daughter, a niece, as he had.

Part of giving her so many one-off powers was an insurance card. That she could get out of any situation should the need arise.

Provided he finally told her about it.

The problem was that the moment he told her about it, she’d probably try to volunteer for more dangerous duty.

Sighing again, Felix wondered if this was what parents went through.

Wraith slid along the external wall, dipping and diving through the shadows. Passing around and past guards as if they were standing still and looking the wrong way

From Felix’s point of view, Wraith was walking along obviously and should have been noticed.

He knew better though.

If Wraith didn’t want to be seen, and you weren’t aware of him to begin with, you simply wouldn’t see him. That was more or less his power.

The ability to kill someone in a single breath was actually all trained.

Wraith’s head turned fractionally and Eva was just in the corner of the screen. She was pressed in low to the solid thick wall and was more than halfway melted into it.

That’s one way to hide yourself.

Gliding forward, Wraith was off. They scampered along the perimeter and slipped inside without anyone the wiser, Wraith slipping between two guards, and Eva simply passing through the wall completely.

Felix couldn’t help but frown when they made it onto the main grounds. It was a wide open space. There was no cover, no greenery, nothing.

It was a blank enclosure that would highlight anyone trying to get across.

Felix suddenly felt as if he’d made a mistake.

This didn’t make sense and didn’t feel right.

Wraith would do his best to get through, but even he had his limits. Especially with Eva tagging along.

So why didn’t he say anything?

“Wraith, this is Felix. Double back, we’re done here. That’s a death trap,” Felix said into the mic.

Waiting, he watched as Wraith’s head swiveled back and forth, surveying the field.

“Wraith?” Felix called. “Retreat. Head back to home base.”

“Felix, I don’t think he’s wearing his earpiece,” Eva whispered softly.

Wraith’s head whipped around as Eva spoke.

Why wouldn’t he—shit!

“Eva, tell him Felix said stand down. Quickly!” Felix demanded.

From Wraith’s view, he saw Eva’s head dip down then back up as she got her orders.

Before she could even open her mouth, Wraith was darting across the no man’s land. Dodging between suspicious clumps in the ground Wraith kept on. His feet carried him onward at a breakneck speed.

He was doing his best to avoid everything and carry out the orders Felix gave him. The orders that he was forced to follow.

Damnit. I didn’t even think of him disobeying through the minutia of the orders.

Wraith was following all of his directives. Felix suspected that there was no way for Wraith to actually beat this section though.

“Stay put, Eva. Actually, belay that, get back here immediately,” Felix said.

All it would take is a thermal camera pointed in Wraith’s direction and that’d do it. Right? He might know about them, but without knowing where they are, he can do his best by moving quick.

Felix sighed and hoped the suicidal run wouldn’t be just that. He wasn’t optimistic though.

The Hero had played Felix rather well.

“I suppose that’s what I get for relying on a press-ganged recruit. Everyone else is mostly here of their own volition at this point,” Felix muttered to himself.

Wraith twisted around a corner as alarms started going off all around him. His view spun as he surveyed the scene and immediately adapted to the best of his ability.

“And now… he’s going to commit suicide while following orders. He’ll even do so in such a way that it’ll alert the entire Hero’s Guild,” Felix said. Shaking his head he felt the helplessness in his stomach. “He signed on so he didn’t die needlessly, then throws his life away to warn them? Why? What changed?”

A line of security officers with rifles sprang out in front of Wraith and leveled their weapons while firing.

Twisting as best as he could Wraith charged headlong into the riflemen.

Bullet after bullet struck the living shadow, the first several sending him crashing to the ground.

There was no letting up though. Felix couldn’t see much anymore as the headset had twisted around. All he could see were boots.

Boots and muzzle flashes.

Only when empty magazines hit the ground did the flashes stop.

There was no movement from Wraith. He’d been cut down and killed instantly from what Felix could guess.

Frowning, Felix berated himself again.

He should have seen it. Using Wraith was opening himself up to problems.

Felix knew better, too. His paranoia should have warned him.

Though that left him with only two people who could fill Wraith’s role now.

One was Miu, the other was Eva.

And Eva sure as hell isn’t being sent out on something like this.

Which means we need to upgrade Miu.

The view on the monitor changed, grabbing Felix’s attention.

A dark black pair of boots stood in front of the camera. For a second, as the newcomer tilted Wraith to one side, Felix got the view of a handsome man in a black and white costume.

Then inky darkness took over the camera, and the feed died.

And that was that.

Felix grunted, and rewound the footage. He took a screen-capture of the black and white costumed man and sent it over to Lily.

Closing up his terminal, he laid his hands on his desk and thought.

The best option was to power up both Miu and Eva.

Doing so to Eva would reveal everything else though.

Making a decision, Felix looked up at the closest bodyguard.

“Please get Miu, and send her over to me. We’ve hit a snag and I seek her counsel,” Felix said.

Nodding his head, the bodyguard turned to one side and said something into his mic.

So be it. We’ll need to go about this another way I suppose. The Hero guild might not be the only one who knows.

What about the Villains? Nothing wrong with seeing what they know, right?

Maybe they’ll even trade me for the information.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Right up until I have to kill them, at least.