Super Sales on Super Heroes 5 -CH1- (Patreon)

Chapter 1 - Time Goes By -

Watching the beat up pickup-truck roll toward the dump point Felix sniffed and then scratched at his jaw.

After arriving here he’d realized he could get points from eliminating trash.

Everything after that had been a run up to this very moment.

From battling drug dealers, suppliers, then taking their jobs, then kicking off the first Super Hero fight at the gold bullion repository.

All of it had been for this inglorious moment.

Being far too excited for people to throw out trash into his dump.

“I’m going to go with… appliances,” murmured Felix.

“Trash! Bags and bags and bags of traaaaash,” Andrea countered.

“I think I’ll agree with my G-Grove-husband. Appliances,” argued Alma. “Old ones. Rusty ones. I’ll bet on it.”

“Nope! Not for me. I already owe Goldie and Faith too many Felix nights. No more betting till I’m not in debt,” grumbled Andrea.

Glancing to the side Felix looked from the Beastkin than the Dryad.

Andrea was as she always was.

Her excited mismatched blue and green eyes were staring out at the truck, eager to see what it would unload into the landfill.

Their betting on what was being dumped had become somewhat of a serious game now. To the point that Andrea even had an other at a white-board near the side that took down accurate guesses in a tally.

Andrea’s short dirty-blonde hair hung around her face in the normal style she wore, though one of her non-human ears swiveled toward him, displacing her hair.

She didn’t look away though.

Alma was on his other side though when he looked her way head practically jerked to the side to meet his gaze.

Being a Dryad she was of course gifted with looks and a body-type that was attractive to it being a fault.

Her eyes were deep, dark brown that depending on the light, looked to be dark red instead. Medium length light brown hair was pulled back in a loose style though suited her quite well.

Long gone was the slightly sick look to her. Now she shone with vitality and life. Her and Carlotta both did.

Looking back to the truck Felix watched as it turned to one side, put it’s tailgate to the pit, then began backing up.

“Appliances,” he said with a chuckle. “Rusty ones. Are you perhaps cheating in our game Mistress of the Grove?”

“N-no!” Alma said with absolute sincerity.

Which to Felix meant she was lying.

Alma could say many things straight faced, though they were more often than not absolute lies. When she was being honest was actually when she tended to look guilty. As if being truthful was harder for her somehow.

“Uh huh,” Felix said with a chuckle and then moved away from the window. Pulling his phone from his pocket he glanced at the screen to check the time.

They were only about five minutes out from the official “ground break” moment. When Legion could officially open up it’s first headquarters and move to the next phase of the plan.

Nodding his head he slipped the phone back into his pocket. Walking out the back door he found Faith and Carlotta engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The former was relentless in drilling the two new Dryads.

Focusing and honing their bodies and abilities day in and day out. Often with Andrea and Miu assisting her.

This didn’t look like the normal training though.

Especially since Alma wasn’t being forced to participate.

This looked more like just a spar to see who could bash the other.

The Dryads would often go until one of them was incapacitated, then the victor was responsible for healing the defeated. So long as it was never anything that even approached lethal.

Carlotta’s normally hazel-colored eyes were blazing a bright and eerie red at the moment. They were so into their battle that she’d slipped into utilizing her body to it’s full potential.

Being a beautiful and eye-catching knockout didn’t detract from the terrifying force she was putting into the attacks. Her long brown hair in it’s single braid was whipping about her with the speed of the blows.

Faith’s eyes in contrast were only glowing a faint green. She was tapping into her ability but not as deeply. She’d been training for many more years than Carlotta and had a great wealth of experience in combat.

The over-sexually-developed Dryad was taking every blow from her red-eyed and equally over-developed counter-part.

Carlotta would come in with an elbow, to which Faith calmly stopped with her own elbow, then brought up a wicked kick into the other Dryad’s thigh.

Faith’s blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail quite similar to Carlotta’s though it wasn’t slashing about. It hung down her mostly still.

Her movements were brief, lacking the same vigor of the other Dryad’s, and were just enough to stop Carlotta cold.

Hm. Seems like Faith is doing her own training.

Training to… minimize combat and her own power? I suppose it wouldn’t be that useful for her to go all out. Wouldn’t give her much.

“Come to join us in a three way?” asked Faith with a laugh, her eyes starting to glow more brightly when she saw him. “Won’t be as fun as last nights, but we can try.”

Unable to help himself, Felix snorted at that and came over to where the two Dryads kept fighting. He briefly considered flowing in and trying to get in close to Faith. He wasn’t as good as they all were, but he knew he would cause enough mayhem that Carlotta would get a chance.

“Ah… actually, don’t,” Faith said quickly as he came nearer. “We can play for reals later, Carlotta is in a bit of a—”

Pausing Faith snapped out a jab that slammed into Carlotta’s chin and knocked her head back. She put out a slower one at the red eyed Dryad that caused her to move back and become more defensive.

Ah… yeah… she’s training her. She hadn’t gotten offensive until Carlotta lost her focus.

“Have fun. I’m going to go get ready for the ground-breaking. I imagine Aunt Gaia and her people are eager for this,” Felix remarked with a wave of his hand.

“We’ll catch up,” Faith grunted and dodged to one side.

Realistically Felix didn’t need anyone with him. This wasn’t some formal event that needed everyone on board.

He could easily handle it by himself since it was primarily his power and his alone that’d be required.

To be frank, this was a non-event.

Everyone moving in, in fifteen to thirty minutes was the real event.

Felix walked a short ways away from the house to a large and slightly disheveled looking barn. You could see right through the top of it to the other side. The first floor was better though it did look almost as bad.

Going to the front he pulled it open and looked to the interior.

A number of Andreas were sitting at desks. Looking into monitors while typing away at keyboards or moving mice around.

Several were at the back with rifles held in their hands.

All of them were smiles.

“Third, Fourth, Fifth, Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth. A pleasure to see you all,” Felix said, addressing each and every one of them. Then he grinned and pointed at one of the Andrea’s in the middle of the room. “Don’t even try hiding Second. I know you’re in there with Twentieth. Good try though. Or are you still embarrassed and trying to hide.”

“I’m not hiding!” declared Second as she popped out of Twentieth. “I’m… I’m just… testing you. Yeah! Testing you.”

“Testing,” said every Andrea in the room.

“Oh? Mm. I guess if you’re all saying that, I can’t really argue the point, now can I?” Felix confessed with a grin.

Ever since he’d poked at them for having individual memories, things that they kept to themselves to be unique, they’d unified again. In all of them being their own Andrea, they’d ended up remembering that they were of course all Andrea.

The bickering had ended the same day he’d pointed it out.

“I’m lying, I’m sorry,” admitted Second, her head hanging low and her tail drooping. “They’re all covering for me. I’m a little embarrassed. I admit it.”

Felix only laughed as all the Andrea’s heads dipped down. All of them pausing in their work.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Alright. Open up the hatch. It’s time. So be ready to let all of Gaia’s children through. We’ll need to get them moving quickly,” Felix murmured. “It’s only been three months since they got here but I’m sure they’re tired of living in the forest.

“And speaking of, it’s probably about time we made that video and sent it out. We did say we wanted to time it so it’d be several months after the attack on the gold depository.”

“Nn, nn! I’ll have the space ready as soon as you’re done making it,” announced Third.

“Yes!” agreed several other Andrea’s.

“We already have all the video equipment. It’ll be a bit weird, might have a bit of a… uh… hehe… recorded in a cave kind of feel but it’ll be alright,” Third said while laughing. She turned and looked at Twelfth. “Remember when we blew up all those caves? They paid us so much money to clear out the tunnels!”

“Nn nn! With all the fwooosh we could put into it and then the screeching. It was kinda weird though how it went bang,” said Twelfth with a chuckle.

Felix realized they were talking about carrying out PMC operations in the middle-east. Likely clearing out insurgent caves with flame-throwers and explosives.

“I mean, when you use open flame almost anything can become explosive,” Felix said, walking over to the trap door in the middle of the barn. This was going to serve as a temporary entrance until everyone got in. Then he’d close it permanently once the awakening happened. He’d learned his lesson with being obvious and with a location that could be accessed.

“Flour is especially kaboomy,” agreed one of the Andreas. He couldn’t see who’d said but he nodded his head. He’d heard about that before.

Opening the trap door he saw the ladder there. Grabbing it he began to climb down quickly. If he had gloves on he’d probably slide down it as Andrea had showed him how.

Reaching the bottom Felix called didn’t call up his point bank. He didn’t want to see the number there because he wouldn’t have it for much longer.

Still kind of annoyed I have to spend so much but… this is what we need to do. We need a way to stay completely off the grid. This is how we do it. Get down under ground and then start taking care of our own needs.

Just like we did with Legion city, just better.

Holding his hands up Felix called for his desire. His want.

To build out the plans he’d developed for the new Legion. The secured underground location that they’d work out of and house everyone Gaia had sent his way.

The same people he was using as a basis for offered help along with all of the Andrea’s.

The excavated dirt would be piled up in a spot they’d cleared out for it. Not far from all the excavation equipment he’d rented out specifically for this.

Trying to do it without the proper tools or manpower would make the cost jump into the billions. Points so high in cost there just wasn’t a possibility of it happening any time soon.

Then all of the electrical equipment and finishing materials they already owned. All of it piled up in containers not far away, waiting to be used for this specific purpose.

Lots of the stolen cash they’d taken had been spread out to hardware stores across half the country. Most of it purchased by Goldie and flown back in a container.

A window popped up in front of him.

Wincing at the cost Felix closed his eyes and accepted the popup.

There was a grinding, groaning noise from the ground beneath and ahead of him.

Where there’d been hard set rock a second ago now there was a wall with a heavy and massive security door in front of it.

This would be the front door until he could give someone the ability to open portals or create a device that could open portals. Once that happened he’d be able to eliminate the entrance.

With that being said, it needed to be able to take in any type of item down below from here.

“All set?” called an Andrea.

“All set,” confirmed Felix. “Call everyone down. I’m going to head down to my office. I want to get a feel for it and see if everything is set out.”

“Okay! We’ll change out the trap door and get the big lifter put in. Then we’ll invite everyone in so they can start moving,” answered an Andrea.

The security door was already open and Felix went through it. Entering an equally large elevator that could easily fit a tank or two.

The doors shut and the panel lit up. Felix tapped the office floor button and it began moving down.

Quite quickly, too. It felt almost like he was falling. It was very much a Legion security elevator. He had no idea how Miu, Faith, and Goldie had managed to get all these plans and things put together, but he was glad for it.

I miss Mr. White and Felicia. I’ll need some new tech people.

But that’s why we’re doing this. Why all of this is happening.

To regrow Legion and bring it to the fore. This time as a neutral agency that stands between while controlling both sides. Never to become a target while letting everyone else take the hits for us.

I have the location, I’ll have some people, next is to bring in the ones I want.

There was a beep from his phone at his side.

Pulling it out of his pocket he glanced to the screen. He’d gotten a message on the Legionnaire’s Call phone app.

Opening it he flicked it to the messenger tab.

It was from Miu.

Zachary and David are dead. They were murdered. Looks a lot like it was done as an execution. No one has moved to try and take over their positions and no one from the inside is trying.

Word is that it was done by Stephen.

What do you want me to do?

Also… I love you.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you—

Felix stopped reading the endless line of “I love you”’s that probably went on for another sixty or seventy times. It was a fairly standard close of a message for Miu, honestly.

He took the phone into both hands and tapped out a quick reply.

The fact that Zach and David were dead was unfortunate. They’d been quite useful to him. Their demise did also help him.

They unfortunately knew of his existence as the Legate and that he was their supplier. They were connections from Legion to the underworld that he didn’t want.

He needed a layer between himself and the dealers. The money was needed, but the exposure was very much not.

Miu, I need a favor. Take whatever resources you need and kill Stephen. Then kill Stephen’s boss, and that man’s boss. Make sure no one ever comes looking for us again.

Either before that, or after that, I formally am giving you permission to go find the you of this world. We’ve put it off long enough and this feels like a suitable reward for you doing this.

Any concerns?

Staring at his phone he waited. He knew that Miu had been watching the screen. Waiting for a response from him.

More than likely she wouldn’t have stopped until he did respond.

At the bottom of the screen he could see that confirmed.

“Miu Campbell is typing,” he murmured and shook his head with a smile.

The elevators dinged and opened out into a security room.

It was empty of people since he was the first person inside.

Moving through it he found he was now in a near duplicate of the original Legion Headquarters office floor. Everything was laid out in a near similar way.

Holding onto his phone he walked through it. Looking around he felt an odd echo.

It was familiar but also not.

The windows were all monitors. They would end up projecting a computer generated view in the future. The program was currently being worked on by Jay’s team of programmers, but was planned to be handed over to Felix in the very near future.

He’d modify it after that and it’d be added to the library of Legion programs. This one would be for generating images, videos, and scenes that were realistic through using existing footage of other things.

Can’t wait to use it to make a dead person send video messages. That’ll be interesting to say the least. I bet I can rile up a whole bunch of people.

Wait till a few influential people die, say they’re in hiding, then start posting videos. Let it really just rip through everyone and see what they come up with.

Felix made it to his own office and entered it.

Everything was exactly where it should be.

Even the desk that Felicia had worked out of so often to keep everything on track for him. Without her, he’d never have been able to get the last “twenty percent” out of himself and Legion.

It was always easier to get eighty-percent and leave it there, moving on to the next project. Trying to get percentages past that started to invariably cost more than they were worth.

Sitting down at his desk, Felix looked to the laptop and the dock it sat on.

Tapping the power button he leaned back in his desk and looked to the monitor. It began to flash through it’s bootup sequence.

“Alright… first things first,” he said to absolutely no one. “We record a message to the governments of the world. Offering to help them evaluate people for Super Powers. That if they endorse us, we’ll be able to be the licensing and registration point for them.

“In return for that endorsement, we’ll provide them with every single person’s power type and a general psychiatric work-up. We’ll act as a third party, hire up the Supers we want, flag them for either the League of Villains or Guild of Heroes, then push it all along.”

Felix nodded his head at his own words.

“We play everyone against each other, hold the center, and roll along. All the while controlling it all from the background. We’ll just set up everything from the very beginning. That way no one can really come at us,” Felix conclude. “First things first then… the video that’s going to be sent.

“A video from Legate to the nations of the world. That now that he felt more comfortable with his role, he’s offering for his Legion to take up the mantle as the netural party. A force that comes between Supers and Normals. Offering to measure, analyze, and determine powers,” he continued.

Looking to his phone he saw it’d sent him a new message and he’d missed it.

Tapping it open he found it was from Miu.

I will take care of this!

I love you! I love you! I love you!

Felix once again skipped over the endless long of I love you’s.

Moving to Goldie’s contact he brought hers up.

My dear Golden One.

We lost our dealers as I’m sure you’re already aware. I need you to go set up the business with whoever’s in charge since they’re dead. Get it back on track and running smoothly.

Don’t mention Legion, the Legate, or anything else.

While I regret their deaths, this is an opportunity for us to break free of the association they had with us.

Putting his phone away since Goldie wasn’t likely to respond quickly, Felix let out a breath.

His next task was obvious.

The video for the world.

Looking to a closet in the wall he stood up and then walked over to it.

Opening it, he found his Legate armor on a stand inside.

He pulled it off the stand and began getting into it.

“Oh! Oh! Video time? Video time!” cheered a mob of Andrea’s as they stormed in through the door. “We’re making a video!”

“Yay!” called a second, while two others started into some type of dance.

“We’ll make a dance video when we’re done!” stated yet another Andrea. “With masks on! Then load it. We’ll be the Beastkin Girls!”

“Let’s make a different kind of video,” said a different Andrea. Her tone and volume had been just enough to break through the cacophony of what was going on.

It’s effect was immediate.

Every pair of Beastkin eyes had snapped toward Felix and were now gazing at him.

Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t… don’t look.

We can just do the video to the world, send it out, and then wait.

We have lots to do while they consider our offer. It’d probably be a month before they can even really give us an answer.

Focus on the work and—

“Oh my yes,” said Faith. “A video just for us. I really do like the sound of that.”

Felix heard the door slam and then lock.

“How fun,” murmured Carlotta. “I’ll get the camera.”

“I w-w-want to go first!” demanded Alma.

I fucked up. I should’ve waited for Goldie to get here. She would’ve stopped them if I promised her a reward.

Damnit.