Super Sales on Super Heroes 5 -ch12- (Patreon)

Felix didn’t leave the conference room as everyone else filed out. The government agents and employees had all collected their paperwork and filed out looking quite pleased.

Joyful, even.

In fact, if Felix hadn’t looked away from the door he wouldn’t have noticed that even the dour looking woman had a smile on her face.

As it closed he didn’t shift his gaze away.

He stared at it.

Or more accurately, through it.

While the double serving of coffee he’d drained had prodded his mind into action, he still felt a deep and desperate need for sleep. That he wasn’t at peak performance and wouldn’t be without rest.

It didn’t help that for the last several hours Felix had been dickering back and forth on pricing, ownership, and who was responsible for what when it came to the prison.

While the government hadn’t stonewalled him, or really been much of a problem when it came to getting a good price for himself and Legion, there’d just been a lot of ground to cover.

Then he’d been forced to push the conversation for the Heroes Guild and bring it back up throughout. That they’d be the ones tho handle the jail, really

So much so that Felix had to bring up repeatedly, even going so far as to make sure it was all laid out before he was willing to finish up the conversation about the prison.

Faith had undersold how much the government really wanted him to put together a prison. How much they were willing to do to make it happen was significant.

“I distinctly remember saying that I would remain with Legion,” Mikki said through the helmet coms. “It seems I must restate my desire and wish as it wasn’t heard as clearly as I intended it to be. I wish to remain with Legion.”

“I heard you. I did hear you previously as well. And you will remain with Legion. Working almost directly for me, in fact.

“Just by being a sleeper agent inside the Heroes Guild,” Felix explained. His brain restarted in that moment and he looked away from the door and to the conference table. He hadn’t expected Mikki to push at the moment, but he supposed in retrospect it was obvious. It’s what Miu would have done and who was she if not Miu? “Honestly… I don’t think I can handle you right now, Mikki and I get the impression that you’d end up falling into Miu’s pace almost instantly if you haven’t already. Just by being here it’d bleed off into you because it’d feel almost too correct for you, because you’d see yourself already doing it through Miu.

“All that means is the best opportunity for you to be your own person, find what you want to do, and how you want to do it, is probably for some time away. Away from Legion, away from me, away from Miu.

“With that said, I also want to respect your wishes, so I’ll I’ll accept you into Legion. As a Legionnaire and part of the group. I just won’t be accepting you to work directly with us at this time so you can grow into your own person.

“That and I could really use your help, Mikki. Even without me spelling it out piece-meal I’m sure you can see exactly how I need someone running the security for the guild.

“So… please… go into the Heroe’s guild and act as a sleeper agent for me. It’ll be fine and you can get your feet under you. Find your breath and some stability.

“In the meantime, I’ll keep working on how I can go about modifying your powers to match Miu’s at the same time. I’m sure I can figure out how to do it, it’ll just take time and a lot of points.”

Points I don’t have right now.

Because if I have to build that prison, I’m going to have to do a bit of a tap-dance to make this happen. They’re going to have to bring most materials for it to be made than the actual cost of the building.

I don’t have any points at all right now.

I’m as poor as when I first came here.

Just need mey landfill to be full and—

“Tribune?” asked Felix

“Yes, Legate?”

“You’re already putting together a prison aren’t you,” Felix said. It wasn’t a question, really. He assumed she was throwing it together based on what the parameters were that the government had given them.

“Yes, Legate. I’m only working to solve the basic layout, general areas, guard quarters, and oversight. I’m not working to solve the cells, holdings, or anything that involve prisoners.

“I assumed you would wish to design and modify them yourself directly as you are likely to disagree with the parameters that were given.”

Felix opened his mouth, then closed it with a chuckle.

“Good thinking. That’s accurate,” Felix mumbled and then stood up to his feet. “I need you to include a requirement to the building materials part of the request.

“Tell them I need access to as many landfills that they own, and wouldn’t mind me emptying to a degree. Phrase it as me needing to find particular elements, items, or parts. That even in a degraded state I can still use them.

“Let them know that it’s fine even if it’s a radioactive site. Toxic or otherwise. Doesn’t matter at all.”

“Of course, Legate,” Tribune answered.

“You’re out of points, aren’t you?” asked Faith, standing up next to him.

“Yeah. Pretty much bankrupt. Couldn’t make a paper-clip out of a spool of wire even if I wanted to. Spent pretty much everything.”

“I don’t think they’ll argue about the landfill,” said Faith with a tilt of her helmeted head. “They might even respond with a few landfills they’d like you to clean out for them.”

“That’d be amusing. Alright, going to go… find something to snack on. Let me know if you need anything… otherwise, get some rest. Try to sleep if you can. We’ll be building a prison soon I imagine,” Felix said with a heavy exhale. Moving to the door he opened it and stepped out.

All three women followed him out, with one of them closing the door with a click.

“Alright, F-Felix,” Miu said in a strained voice. “We’ll… take a rain check on the control for another day. Mikki and I are going to start setting up security for the Guild of Heroes. I have a lot of experience with this so… it’s best I work with her.

“Given that we’ll need to also setup for a prison that’ll be going up soon, we won’t have a whole lot of time to prepare.”

“Ah, yes. That’s a good point,” murmured Mikki.

“I need to get us ready for the next phase of Super interviews,” Faith said with a yawn. “Alma and Carlota have been working on that in my stead for a while now.

“We need to bring everyone in to formally test for powers, provide readouts, and all that testing stuff you planned for them.”

Faith hung her head forward and let out a groan. Her whole body wilting to one side.

“Why did you have to make it so complicated? We already know everything,” she complained.

“Precise for that reason,” Goldie said, moving toward them down the hallway. “To obscure and hide the fact that it was that easy. That and we do need to get the Legion technology front and center stage for this.

“That serves it’s own purpose in and of itself. To push Felix away from the spotlight and put it more on something or someone else.”

Faith moaned loudly as if in complaint since she couldn’t argue the point directly.

Miu and Mikki looked to one another, then moved off without another word. The two of them clearly having some type of wordless conversation.

Not bothering to stand upright, Faith moved away, hanging over at the waist like a dying flower left in a vase.

Moving off after the other two, she seemed resigned.

“Now, you, my dear,” Goldie whispered, walking up to Felix.

She put her hands to the bottom of his helmet and then began to pull it up and off. Unfastening it deftly without any snags.

Putting it beneath her armpit she reached up with her free hand and patted him on the cheek.

“Let’s get a pastry in you, Nest-mate, because you have a meeting with Georgia,” suggested Goldie. “One you can’t put off any longer. It needs to happen for both of your sakes.

“Now… I may just be a silly Dragon house-wife, but I can offer some advice when it comes to this.

“Just be honest with her. Don’t fret over it and tell her everything. She’s already aware of far more than you think because she’s been using your suggestion to push her power further. Much further.”

“Oh, goodie. That’s… you know… great. Great,” Felix grumbled quietly.

“It is, actually. It’s something that you can actively solve and maybe, just maybe, actually get to know your mom a bit better than the long distant memories you have,” Goldie countered. “Because while she isn’t your mother, she’s very similar to the person who gave birth to you.

“As similar as someone could be without being a twin, no less. Right? So why not use this as an opportunity to gain some insights into your mother, through her. I imagine there are many who would willingly take such a chance.”

Felix sighed, pushed his face into Goldie’s hand, and nodded his head. She was right of course.

He was just tired, sullen, and worn out.

“Good. She’s in your office already. I got her some coffee and a few pastries,” Goldie admitted with a chuckle. “She’s a very nice woman, though I can see where you got your analytical side from. You do have a tendency to organize everything till it’s a certain way.”

Not waiting, Goldie patted his cheek once more, put his helmet under his arm, and then went after Faith who was much further down the hallway now.

The Dryad had managed to stand up straight but still looked to be moving quite slowly. Goldie was also moving slower than he expected when he looked at her.

Everyone needs a rest. We’re all run down to nothing.

Clearing his throat, Felix adjusted the helmet he was carrying and set off for his office. He shouldn’t keep Georgia waiting any longer than he had to, really.

Felix forced himself and started toward his office. Which he reached sooner than he was mentally ready for.

Pushing himself, he opened the door and went inside.

Sitting at the small coffee table with seats to one side was Georgia. There was two settings down. One was clearly put there for him and had a pastry as well as what looked to be some type of drink put there as well.

“Oh, hello,” Georgia said with a smile as he entered. “I… hm. Now that I can see you I’m honestly surprised. I thought there’d be… some familiarity, but there isn’t.”

“Take after dad,” admitted Felix, his mouth moving to one side. “You… err… my mom would always tell me I had her father’s ears though. Apparently they’re a bit pointier than normal.”

Moving over to the table, Felix sat down and looked to the drink. Leaving it there he instead picked up the pastry and took a large bite out of it.

His stomach promptly responded by growling loudly at him.

“I su-yes, you’re right. They really are,” Georgia remarked in a nearly shocked voice. She was leaning to one side and staring at the side of Felix’s head. “My goodness they’re almost exactly like his ears. Ha… that’s kind of funny.”

“My mom used to tell me I was a lot like him,” Felix said after a hard swallow. “Swore up and down we’d be able to probably sit with one another and have a staring match where no one won.”

“So who won then?” Georgia asked, taking a small sip from her own drink. “You or my dad.”

“I… uh… he died?” Felix replied in an almost questioning way. Georgia’s head was slowly shaking back and forth. “He died along with your sisters. It was a car crash when you were in your twenties, you said.”

“I mean… they were certainly in a car crash,” Georgia admitted with raised eyebrows. “Dad had a window-smasher seatbelt cutter thingie. I don’t know the name for it.

“Was in his glovebox. Used it to cut everyone free and smash the window open. They got out before the car could flood. They’re all alive. So’s my mom.”

Blinking rapidly, Felix really didn’t know how to proceed.

“Well… I should probably say it since we’re just dancing around it,” mumbled Felix. He’d rather attack the one piece he knew, rather than the fact that he might be able to meet all his mother’s family.

Something he’d never been able to in the past.

“I’m not from this universe. I’m from another one,” Felix deadpanned with a shrug of his shoulders. “My mother was Georgia Marin. My father was Austin Campbell.

“I was the only child they had and they… haven’t been a part of my life for a long time. I miss them both.”

“I see,” Georgia said with an odd smile on her face. “How old are you?”

“Uh… I should be in my thirties. Time… time’s been a bit weird around me. I get the impression my age isn’t really… relevant anymore,” Felix answered.

“That certainly wouldn’t make sense. That means I would met this Austin some time after the accident. What… state did you grow up in?” she asked, her brows slowly pressing together.

“Wasn’t a state,” Felix murmured with a shake of his head. “I’m not really sure my dad exists here. In fact… I’d bet he doesn’t.”

Georgia opened her mouth, paused, then sighed. She nodded her head, looked down to the table in front of her, and went silent.

“I don’t think he does either. Or if he did, it was a brief existence,” she lamented. “I always felt like something was missing. I suppose I was right.

“Well… well that’s fine! That’s fine. Because you know what? I’m going to make the best of it!”

Georgia nodded her head once more, looked at Felix, and gave him a grin.

“Because you know what, Felix, you’re not my son. But… you are my son,” Georgia continued with a wide smile. “When I looked at your gauntlet, it said it was my son’s. Not Felix Campbell’s.

“So, regardless of anything else, this universe sees you as my son. So you’re my son. We’ll have to go visit your grandparents and aunts at some point and introduce you. I’m going to have to make up some excuse about… giving you up for adoption a long time ago though.

“That’ll be rather awkward to say the least but… mm… the alternative isn’t very palatable. If they’re disbelieving about it we can just do one of those silly DNA tests and give it to them.

“Oh, that looks like it’d work out. Or so my power says. It’s rather amusing… I’d never really considered doing what you suggested. Once you’d made the point, I’d been playing a great deal with it. I just have to run a long list of hypotheticals situations against what ‘my answer’ would be and I can eventually sus it out.

“Just takes a little time. That and it can be a bit of a mental work out, but it isn’t so bad. It’s rather nice, actually.”

Felix was staring at the woman and didn’t know what to say. If her power had recognized him as her son before he’d introduced himself, that meant that this world saw him as the only Felix Campbell, and her as the only Georgia Marin.

How… how close is this world to me as a person, but further away from everyone else? Is this world that much closer to my own possible life?

Or is it just how Ryker moved me over here, actually.

Is it nothing more than forcing this world to accept me?

“We’ll go as soon as you have some free time,” Georgia said waving a hand at him. “They all live close to one another so we can get them all in one family gathering easily enough.

“Given who our guests were today though, I imagine there’s a number of things that we’ll be busy with. More than our fair share of work I’m betting.

“Though I’m finding Project Management to be far easier than I thought it would be. I just have to make sure I correctly organize, label, research, and then test each and every possibility.

“That young man, Edmund, has been quite clever as well. I swear there are times where what would have taken me hours to do, he just manages to finish in no time at all. Almost as if he knew the answer before we even started.”

Felix nodded his head a bit.

“Well, anyways,” Georgia said with a laugh, then waved her hand at him. “Look at me running my mouth. Let’s talk about you, son.

“I want to know all about your life. Tell me everything. From the start, all the way to now. We have a lot to catch up on.

“Once we get yours all figured out, I can fill in everything from my side. Then we’ll just go from there!”

“Alright,” answered Felix after woodenly swallowing down his pastry. “Uhm… well… errr… do I really start from the beginning?”

“Yes! Please. Do. From the moment I birthed you, if possible,” Georgia said with a dip of her head and her hands clapping together.

From the moment she birthed me.

I… see.

Okay. We’ll just roll with it. It won’t hurt me and this woman really does seem to be exactly like my mom was. She just never met my dad.

Never found “her man” as it were.

Which she’d have discovered with her power as soon as she started dating anyone. A power that would let her know the right answer within only a handful of words.

Makes more sense now why it felt like they were perfectly matched to one another.

They had been. Without there ever being any doubt in her mind.

Which meant she’d never left any doubt in his dad’s mind either, given how she was with him.

“I… you gave birth to me—” Felix started, settling in to give her their life story.