Super Sales on Super Heroes 5 -Ch7- (Patreon)

Chapter 7 - Indoctrination -

Anya sighed and leaned her head back. Looking up to the ceiling above them.

“I was honestly hoping you two would have more money,” she complained. “You barely have enough to get by. I’ll have to move some money over to you both just so you don’t end up having problems.”

Anya groaned and then put her hands on her head.

“Michael will get pissy. He hates giving away money,” grumbled Anya who was shaking her head.

“His opinion doesn’t matter. Only yours does,” Felix interjected. He wasn’t sure if the charmed would behave like this, but he didn’t care at the moment. He needed to start somewhere. “Without you, he’d just be a thug. He depends on you and Thomas. He doesn’t even deserve to be in your company.”

Anya blinked and looked at him in shock. Felix suddenly felt the presence of her power. It settled over him and forced his thoughts back to how they’d been when he’d first met her.

On a leash.

As soon as it settled into place, Goldie popped it open again. Crushing the charm outright and scattering it.

“Tell me what you really think,” Anya asked in an odd tone.

“Michael is using you. He’s a detriment and likely going to be a problem. You should be leading everyone. It’s by your will alone that you set all our minds in motion,” offered Felix. “In fact… he’s a weak link.

“If he were to be captured by a Super Hero, or brought into a federal agency’s circle of attention, he wouldn’t even be able to do anything. He’s a weakness as glaring as having a foot wide hole in the middle of body armor.”

Anya looked incredibly shocked now. Her eyes wide and staring at him as if she was seeing something and someone else entirely.

As if she’d heard this argument already before.

Thomas must be trying to steer her clear as well.

“He would never—”

“Some Super Heroes can read minds. He wouldn’t even have a chance or a choice unless your protection is on him. Is it?” Felix asked.

“I… no. No he’s not… no. Neither is Thomas, though,” Anya argued.

“This isn’t about Thomas. It’s also why he’s a weakness, too, however. He shouldn’t be in the lead, nor should he be allowed to go out without your protection.”

Anya’s face was still screwed up in a picturesque view of a woman torn. Yearning for one thing while considering another. One that she really didn’t want to think about.

“Leave here and go back to your normal routine. I need you to contact the supplier. Let him know we want to do business with him in the place of the older gangs. We’re taking over and… well, we’re taking over,” Anya instructed. “Come back here tomorrow in the morning. Preferably before noon but… stick to your schedule, too.”

Felix and Goldie nodded, then turned around. They quickly left the building and stopped just outside.

Standing there, they hesitated for several seconds, looked at each other, and paused further.

“Did we want to talk about dinner soon?” Felix asked in his best “we were just chatting earlier and this is a follow up” type of conversation. “I was thinking maybe like… tacos. I could really go for tacos.”

“Tacos sound fun,” Goldie agreed.

Felix turned his head and looked to the front door.

In the window there was a sign that said “the doctor is in”.

Ah… so yeah… that’s how they determine if Anya and Thomas are in the building. Unless that signs up, I bet they’re told not to talk about anything.

To discuss nothing so there’s no possibility of someone catching something said.

So… very interesting.

I can definitely use this to my advantage. The League of Villains will be able to withstand quite a bit. All without me getting involved as the master of Legion.

***

Doing as instructed, Felix and Goldie returned the next day in the morning.

They’d done just as instructed and went on a pretend schedule. One that people who they were pretending to be, would do.

No one attempted to follow them.

No one kept tabs on them.

No one was verifying their story.

It’s a bit of a blind spot but I get it. They have absolute belief in their powers.

Walking into the bar Felix noted the sign in the window was turned out to signify Anya was here. Though in that moment Felix wondered if it was a “Anya and Thomas” was in, since when they combined their powers were they at their strongest.

Having only one or the other just wouldn’t be as safe.

Walking through the room Felix and Goldie went straight for the back. Where Anya had spoken to them with Michael present.

Sitting in the same exact spot as last time was Michael. Anya wasn’t present, though Thomas was here. He was in the back fiddling with what looked to be a laptop. His black hair was hanging down in front of his blue-eyes and he seemed entirely focused on the device.

“Oh, you two,” Michael growled, looking up from his phone. Then he smiled and looked to Goldie. “Give me a lapdance. You can really work it, too.”

“I could do that. But only if you wanted me to break your head open and scoop out your brains as if they were tapioca pudding,” Goldie responded with a saccharine sweet smile.

“I… what?” Michael asked.

“Why would my wife give you a dance?” Felix asked, shaking his head slowly. As if they were in the middle of clearing the effects of Anya’s charm.

“Nevermind,” Michael said quickly, looking back to his phone.

And that’s that. We’ll have to use this to push Anya.

“Why would my wife give you a dance?” Felix asked again, taking several steps toward Michael. Causing the man to look up again.

His face was somewhat shocked looking and he didn’t have a response.

“Answer me you piece of shit,” demanded Felix, looming over the other man.

“Look, this is just a mistake. We’ll just wait for Anya,” whined Michael, holding his hands up.

“Why? So she can clean up after you? Are you a sniveling child? You can’t own up to your own actions?” Felix continued, then he grabbed Michael by the collar. “I should pound your face into hamburger. Then we can wait for Anya.”

“Whoa, whoa. Hey, let’s dial it down,” Thomas said, inserting himself between Michael and Felix. Apparently he’d noticed what was going on.

“Why? He just propositioned my wife. Why would I dial it down?” Felix said, skirting the truth to a degree. It was enough to push the situation up in escalation but not a bold faced lie.

“You what?!” Thomas shrieked, looking at Michael.

Michael now looked like a man who very much wanted to run away. A man full of bravado on his home turf, that’d state his opinions unasked, and bully anyone he could.

Only to whine and flee when called to task.

“I didn’t!” screamed Michael. “They’ve clearly broken their charm!”

“Anya will hear of this. She told us to come back. You shouldn’t have told my wife to do that,” growled Felix, letting go of Michael. He stepped away from the two men and moved back to Goldie’s side.

“An… Anya told you to come back?” asked Thomas.

“She told us to contact the supplier and come back this morning,” provided Goldie. “We went about our normal routine, contacted the supplier, came back.”

Perfect.

Just keep making cracks between the three of them.

For Thomas, that Michael doesn’t respect or value Anya.

For Michael, that we don’t listen to him and think he’s the weak link.

For Anya, we boost her confidence and her leadership.

“Slimeball,” Goldie hissed. “You should treasure your woman rather than trying to demand things of others.”

Thomas was wide-eyed and staring at Felix and Goldie. There was a significant amount of anger in his face as well.

“Whatever, this is stupid. I’m leaving,” Michael declared and then got up. Rushing out of the backroom.

“Run coward. You’re the weak link here,” Felix called after him. “Everyone would be better off without you even existing! Run back to your momma. Maybe you can ask her to do what you did my wife!?”

Michael’s spine stiffened but he didn’t stop.

Felix and Goldie stared at his retreating back until he was gone. Then they both looked ahead and went silent. Staring into nothing as if there wasn’t an issue at all.

Waiting for Anya as any good charmed person would do.

Thomas looked at them, looked away, to his feet, then back to Felix and Goldie. Watching them carefully he seemed extremely confused, as well as upset.

“Did he really do that?” asked Thomas.

Felix didn’t say anything as it seemed like he was asking Goldie.

“He did,” confirmed Goldie, not looking away from the empty space between the wall and herself.

“Great,” hissed Thomas. “Just… great. I guess it was only a matter of time. And you’re just… a walking wet dream so… ugh. Damnit. Damnit!”

Shaking his head, Thomas stamped off to where he’d been sitting previously. His entire body filled with tension.

Neat. That worked out rather well.

Now we just wait for Anya. Hopefully she’ll get here relatively soon.

***

Anya stormed into the room some time later. Perhaps an entire hour had passed. The very second she entered she slammed a Dire Charm onto Felix, then held it there. As if making sure this would stick and remain.

Felix briefly thought about the fact that this wasn’t too terrible. He imagined Michael had already gone crying to Anya. Likely on his cell phone and demanding she do something about him and Goldie.

This was going to be her version of an interrogation.

His only real concern was if she asked him if he was under her charm when he came in this morning.

Then his thoughts became the gooey type that Anya’s power forced him to be.

Except she didn’t say anything, nor did she ask him a question. She stared at him, or more accurately, through him.

There was a blank part of his mind that registered the fact that she couldn’t actively hold a charm and do much else. It likely required a great deal of concentration on her part.

Eventually she finally released her hold. Followed by her panting for several beats. In the exact same time Goldie had already sprung him free from the power. Leaving him in control of his mental faculties.

“Michael said you lied,” Anya started.

“I did not. He made a pass on my wife and propositioned her. I almost beat him to death right there for it, the scumbag,” Felix growled.

Anya winced and actually leaned away from him. As if his words were a physical assault on her.

“The only reason I didn’t was Thomas stopped it. He’s respectful to you and a good companion. Michael is scum,” continue Felix. “If he made a pass at my wife, I’m sure he’s done it to others as well.”

Anya looked to the side and closed her eyes. She pressed her hands to her face and was clearly not wanting to be part of this.

“Did he proposition you?” Anya asked, opening her hands briefly to look at Goldie.

“He did,” confirmed Goldie.

Shaking her head rapidly Anya turned away from them and walked over to Thomas. They began to talk quietly and Felix couldn’t hear any of it, though he imagined Goldie could.

She’d relay whatever was said back to him later if it was important at all.

Anya froze, held up a hand and looked back to Felix.

“What’d the supplier say?” she asked.

“He’s willing to do the same deal with you that he had with the others. He just wants his cut and his rules followed. That’s it,” Felix answered. “I should mention that… he’s capable of slaughtering everyone in your organization. Now that he’s aware of you, it’s very likely you’ll receive a list of rules he wants you to follow.”

Anya’s mouth hung open, staring at him with shock once more.

These three seemed prone to being surprised. They didn’t seem to be looking ahead to what might be coming and was just looking at their current situation only.

“He served as a counselor to Zach and Dave. He wasn’t expecting a super to show up,” Felix explained a bit more.

“I… but… what?” Anya asked, unable to put her thoughts into words. “He was in charge? Then… how did we take them over?”

“He wasn’t in charge. He doesn’t want to be. He just wants to supply you under a set of rules. They’re pretty easy to adhere to. Just comes down to making it a commercial product rather than how they normally are,” Felix answered.

“I… see. Okay. Well. That’s not really good news,”muttered Thomas. “Maybe we should just go with who we were already working with. I’m not sure we should get involved with someone like this.”

“Yeah, we’ll think about it. That’s a bit too much for us. Especially if he won’t ever meet face to face,” agreed Anya.

That’s fair.

Having the meeting be now wouldn’t be as effective as later.

“What do we do for now?” Thomas asked, looking to Anya.

“We move ahead with our police connections. See if we can’t keep expanding them,” Anya decided. “These two… I don’t want them here at the bar for now.”

“You mean around Michael, not the bar. Since it’s likely he wants to try and force Dee here into a bed,” Thomas cursed. “He’s a danger to us. Literally the reason we’re now involved with the supplier who wants to dictate rules to us, is because he really wanted to take over other crews.

“We could have just kept expanding the way we were and not causing an issue. We only did it at all because Michael wanted it and you can’t tell him no.”

“No! No, that’s not it. That’s not it at all,” Anya shouted at Thomas. She was up in his face now, one hand jabbing a finger into his chest. “You just don’t like Michael!”

“I never liked Michael! He’s always been a drag on us. Always! Everytime we start to make progress, his big frickin’ mouth ruins it for us! Now he wants to rape people under control?

“What the fuck Anya! When we started this we promised it’d be more like a club. Sure we use people but we’re going to do what we can to keep them safe! Give them a better life!

“Michael is already ruining that for us and it’s getting worse! Worse by the day! If this keeps up we’ll all be done before we start!”

Anya glared at Thomas for another ten seconds before she stormed off.

“Do whatever Thomas tells you to do!” she called over her should as she walked away.

Felix would say she left in a huff, if he had to describe it to someone else. A woman who clearly didn’t want to believe the truth laid out in front of her.

Gaslighting and manipulation then. She’s completely turned upside down around him.

It’ll take a good bit to force her out of it.

Sighing, Thomas came over to stand next to Goldie and Felix. They were both watching him now. Waiting for orders like a good charmed person would do.

“Just… ugh… I’ll introduce you to your boss,” Thomas mumbled. “He’ll provide you with tasks and your job duties. Just follow what he tells you in regards to the outfit. Otherwise just… go about your normal business. We’ll get in touch with you if we need to.”

Felix and Goldie just kept staring at Thomas. Waiting for him to lead them off.

“I think you were right,” Felix said suddenly as Thomas stared into nothing. “I think Michael is a terrible person and he’s likely to ruin it all.

“If he got flipped by the cops… that’d be it for everyone involved. They’d just use his word against everyone else and round us all up.”

Thomas nodded his head and then began moving finally. Leading Felix and Goldie off.

I wonder how organized this is. It’ll be interesting to see what they’ve put together.

Always a pleasure to wander around a rival’s place. Look at what they’re doing and see if there’s anything to learn.

Perform a review and see if we can make any changes.

Glancing to Goldie he gave her a grin as they began walking along behind Thomas.

She caught his look and gave him a smile in return. There was a glimmer in her eyes that was faintly giving away her eyes weren’t normal.

I wonder what that’s for.

Is it because I got so angry at him for saying what he did to her?

Goldie’s smile widened.

Ah. Yes. Being possessive over her.

As much as she insists she isn’t a normal Dragon, she is indeed a Dragon.

Need to remember that always.