Super Sales on Super Heroes 6 -CH8- (Patreon)

Chapter 8 - Slipping the Leash -

Sitting there, Felix waited.

Staring into the camera.

“Done,” Faith stated and stepped away from it. She gave him a thumbs up. “Great job. That’s the last of that video.”

“My turn!” Andrea said and bounced to the front of everyone in the meeting room. “I need to record some intro and exit stuff for my channel. Goldie’s content always brings a bunch of people and so does all my arms and armor unboxing, but I don’t have any normal stuff.”

Felix blinked, not quite understanding what Andrea meant.

“What about Romina?” he asked. She seemed like the best candidate to help out with this.

“Who?” Andrea asked.

Faith had an odd look on her face as well. Neither one of them seemed to recognize the name.

Eh?

Oh.

Ah.

Romina doesn’t exist or we never found her? Got it.

Well, that’s not very good but it’s not like I can change it.

I’ll try to find her just in case, but if we can’t, we’ll just do our best to find someone similar.

“Nevermind. Just put out an audition invite for anyone who wants to become a streaming star. Bring my mom along,” Felix suggested. He was really just putting forward something they’d already done and found success with. “Try to find someone with a super power that’s related to the goal. You can probably find something that might be workable if you look long enough.

“If you need something immediately… just… uh… well, where’s Carlotta and Alma?”

Andrea blinked, then laughed loudly and clapped her hands together rapidly.

“Yes! Carlotta! Alma! They’d be perfect for this wouldn’t they?

“Nn! Personality is second to looks when the medium is visual! Hot is hot!” Andrea declared, looking to Adrianna. “Anna, can you handle the recruitment? I’ll get some ladies to work in the gap for now. The two Felix suggested are perfect. Absolutely the right choice for it. They’re Dryads. Like Faith.”

Saying the last while pointing at Faith, the other two glanced at her. Then both grinned and looked to Andrea.

“Yes, good idea,” Myriad agreed.

“It’ll be fun,” Adrianna concurred. “Not to mention we’ll get to spend some time with our mother-in-law!”

“Andie, can we do your stream elements later?” Felicity asked coming over to the Elex women. “I’m not saying never, just later. We’ve already taken a great deal of time in this. I’m sure you’re a very particular and on point director. I can’t imagine you not spending at least an hour to get things how you want them.

“All I’d ask is that we take care of it tonight. Since you’ll probably want to borrow all this nice camera equipment anyways. Right?”

The three Elex women were nodding their heads in unison. Each looking to the other, then the next, before all turning to Felicity.

“Thank you, Fel,” they said in chorus. Then the three women split apart into different directions. Each moving away.

Sighing, Felicity came to stand next to Felix while he sat at the desk they’d had him at. She smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders.

“Not as if I can’t schedule myself time with you whenever I want,” Felicity murmured, then leaned against the desk. “Probably time for a proper meeting so we can all figure out where we’re at together. Any concerns about it in advance?”

“Not really. Going to broadcast it out to those who can’t be here?” he asked.

“Indeed. We’re going to use that Encampment program you had made. I asked Tribune to have it pushed out to every authorized device across the Legion network,” Felicity agreed. “For those of the right status or clearance level, they’ll be able to watch. Tribune is also handling the security for it.

“They can apparently tell if there’s anyone in the immediately vicinity, as well as devices. She said it isn’t perfect, but so long as they’re in an enclosed room with no windows, no one will eavesdrop.”

“Who’s missing then?” Felix asked.

“Oh, just a bunch of department heads that you wouldn’t know anyways. Honestly it’s all people who really shouldn’t have access to you anyways,” conceded Felicity. “What’s your goal, by the way? What should we be working towards right now?”

Felix took in a slow breath.

He knew how he wanted to respond but wasn’t sure of the wording. How to put it together in a way that didn’t sound idiotic.

“I want to fix my mistake. Fix my home world,” Felix admitted, looking up at Felicity. “I want to retake Legion City and the HQ above it. To retake everything that was ours and start pushing toward recovering the world.

“I’m sure there’s lots of survivors, new lives, and people generally looking to be rescued. That world was locked down after we left, wasn’t it? No one could go through that portal?”

“As far as we know, no. No one could enter or leave. Though I do believe I heard somewhere that it was moving at a faster rate of time,” Felicity said and gestured to Kit and Lily. “Their time, in fact. I think it’s been something like twenty years since they saw you. Even though it’s obviously been less for us than them.”

Twenty years? Twenty years is a long time to try and survive an apocalypse.

But… even then… I need to go back. I need to try.

Blinking, he met Felicity’s eyes.

She clicked her tongue, grinned, and held up her hands.

“I’ll make it happen for you. Besides, that’ll give me time more time to dial in to what’s going on here,” Felicity concluded. She looked thoughtful and looked up to the ceiling above them. “Tribune can help me out. I’ll work with Faith and the others.

“Who would you want to go into the old world with you? Anyone in particular?”

“Gaia, Miu, Andrea, Goldie, and some of her Dragons,” Felix said immediately. “Some Legionnaire base support since we’ll need a forward operations base and to work at it. Probably some other people as well that I can’t think of right now.

“Though… does that mean the time-delay is still ongoing? Damnit. I have no idea or even who to ask about it. I don’t think… I don’t think I’ll get answers from above anymore.”

“No?” Felicity asked curiously.

“No,” Felix affirmed, not really wanting to discuss it further. “You said we had an open portal room?”

“Yes. It’s up, functioning, and performing just as expected,” Felicity confirmed, looking at him curiously.

“I’ll just head that way with Kit,” Felix stated and then smiled. “Her portal ability should be working now, I imagine. The old connection portals should be closed now.”

Felicity’s eyebrows went up and she turned to look to the other side of the room. Where Kit was sitting and talking to Faith with a wide smile.

“I’m going to ring a dinner bell. Of sorts,” Felix explained before Felicity could ask him what his plan was. “There’s someone who… I think will help us. I just need to get her attention. I think if Kit just… opens and closes her portal to the world she was trapped on, and I go back and forth, then it’ll summon her.

“In fact… I can almost guarantee it. She’s the daughter of Ryker, after all. Chances are she’s already planned for me showing up and has some way to watch it. There’s no way she’d do anything less as the child of the Architect.”

“Nn, nn! You can just wander back and forth while saying, ‘I’m a young breedable man who likes to ruin plans! Can’t wait to ruin more! Especially long running plans!’” Andrea said with a cackle. “She’ll show up quick I’m sure!”

“What?” Felix asked, sounding incredibly confused. “What the fuck?”

***

Felix had went through the portal and left the world Kit had been on, returning to the current project world. He’d done so several times now.

“Maybe she isn’t watching?” Kit asked, watching him curiously.

“That just feels so impossible given who she is,” Felix argued, glancing at the portal a second before Kit closed it.

She took in a short breath and let it out. She shrugged, then opened up another portal.

“I’m opening one to our original world again,” Kit said and called up a portal once more. They’d started with that one but then shifted away after attempting it twice.

Clicking his tongue, Felix was somewhat frustrated. He’d been hoping that Bianca would show up and he could use her help to work on fixing this world.

Stepping back into the old world, he realized he was in his old office. Below the main HQ with it’s false windows. Set beneath the earth yet having everyone thinking it was actually at the top of the building.

Previously, Kit had put him out in a normal part of the world. A park that was distantly overlooking a highway that meandered it’s way through the scenery. It’d been interesting enough and secluded.

Felix’s HUD view from inside his Legate helmet picked up the light coming from behind him and utilized it effectively. Giving him a near perfect view of the room despite the fact that it had no light of it’s own.

He looked to his desk.

Sitting atop it was everything exactly as he’d left it.

Pens, paper, a file he’d been working on, a rubiks cube as a memento from his high-school presentation, several photos. It’d been a warm and comfortable place for him to work out in spite of the way they’d been operating in the world.

As well as the direction the world had been going in.

“If it hadn’t been for Skipper, I think we would have been fine here. We were doing a great deal of good,” Kit remarked, having stepped through the portal and standing beside him. “I just didn’t see it. I didn’t understand the scope of it. I was stupid. Young. Foolish. Now that I’m… well… probably almost twice as old as you, now I can see the reality of it.”

“Yeah, heard that from Felicity,” Felix whispered, staring at his chair sitting behind the desk. “You were apparently there for a while?”

“Long while, yeah,” Kit agreed. “It’s fine. It gave me a chance to wise up. Also a chance for Lily to mellow out. Just ah… be prepared to not shake her off real soon.

“Me, too, for that matter. We’re biding our time for the moment but it won’t be long though. Then we won’t be breaking away at all.”

Felix moved to the other side of the desk. His gauntleted fingers trailing across the wood. There wasn’t very much dust at all in the office.

It was apparently deep enough, away from the outside, and behind enough closed doors, that it was relatively clean. His fingers not leaving a trail but shifting a bit of dust around here and there.

Letting out a long and slow breath, Felix looked down to the chair. It didn’t look broken or weakened.

Sitting down in it he put his arms on the rests and looked to Kit.

She’d crossed her arms across herself and watched him sit down. Once he’d turned to her she’d looked away over to the couch she’d often sat on.

Lifting a finger she made a gesture with it and a phantasmal force swept over the couch. A small mound of dust appeared off to the side and settled near the wall.

Sitting down on it she crossed one leg over the other, then leaned back into it.

Felix looked to his wrist and then cleared his throat.

“Tribune. Any chance you can hijack the power in this building and start routing it?” he asked hopefully.

“Possibly, Legate. One moment, please,” Tribune stated.

“Well… we’re somewhat back where we started. Are we going to head back to your house at some point?” Kit asked. She’d sunk into the couch in the exact same way she’d often done so when they talked.

Flicking one ankle over his knee, Felix slouched to one side, pushed his hip out, and got into his favorite position in this chair. His elbow found the dent he’d made from doing this, and stuck his chin in his palm.

“Maybe. Might be fun,” murmured Felix accompanied by a shrug of his shoulders.

There was an odd crackling noise, followed by the light turning on in the office.

Bathing his once office in a flickering hue of off-white.

Then it solidified and remained on.

“The power grid is damaged,” reported Tribune. “There’s also a large number of invaders in the city below as well as many parts of the building.

“I’m currently utilizing basic emergency power from some solar panels that powered lights and signs. This will not last for longer than twenty minutes, but it was the best that I could comply with your wish.”

Kit laughed, staring at the side of Felix’s desk. Then she lifted a hand and pointed.

“It’s still there. Even after all this time. I forgot about it,” she said.

Felix frowned, leaned forward, and looked to what she was talking about.

On the side of his desk, under the lip and in a place he couldn’t see it, was a small sticker. It was just a single word in white on a black background.

“Okay,” Felix read the sticker aloud.

“Sometimes it was easier to just say ‘okay’ then to fight with you,” Kit admitted and then pulled her legs up onto the couch. She was now in a very habitual position for her. When she felt comfortable the couch became more of a quasi-bed for her. “That was my reminder to let somethings go when they weren’t with dueling with you over.”

With a cough, that fogged up his visor, Felix leaned back into his chair. He glanced over at the corner of his office. In the spot that Miu would have been.

Truth be told, now that he looked at it, he was fairly certain she was indeed there.

A sudden memory flicked into his thoughts.

Looking back to his desk, he reached out and opened top drawer. Looking inside he felt hopeful to find what he expected.

Resting atop was a picture of him and Kit at the company picnic. He couldn’t remember why Kit’s hair was a wild mess, or why he was in just a t-shirt and shorts, but they looked rather comfortable.

Scooping up the picture he set it down on the desk. He didn’t want to leave it here this time. Reaching into the drawer he started pulling out a number of other photos.

“Aren’t we taking this place back? Is there a reason to clean out the desk?” Kit asked in a quiet voice.

Felix froze even as he rumaged around in the drawers. Her question was a poignant one.

Was there any point in what he was doing if they were truly taking over the place again? Wouldn’t this office just become his office once more?

Or at the very least, his office for when he was here at this location.

“I’ll at least take this one with me. I was annoyed I left it here,” Felix muttered, sliding the photo of Kit closer to himself. The rest he pushed back into the drawer.

Then he spotted a picture of Lily.

She was wide eyed, angry, and was glaring at the photographer. Felix couldn’t remember why she was so mad, just that he’d been the one to make her that pissed.

And took the photo.

He slid that one aside as well to join Kit’s.

“I’m flattered,” Kit remarked. “I’m very flattered. I get the impression from poking around in your head, and others, that you’ve been working single-mindedly for my return. Or how you think of it, getting me back.”

“Yeah? Yeah. What about it,” grumbled Felix, his right hand coming to rest over the top of the photos protectively. He didn’t want to leave them behind.

“Nothing, Felix. I’m just flattered,” she said.

“You told me to come get you,” growled Felix. He was feeling defensive for some reason.

“I did! I did. I’m sorry I just… aaah… I’m just flattered. I didn’t think you’d actually come get me. I was such a pain in the ass,” Kit laughingly confessed, shaking her head slowly. “I’m glad you did, just didn’t expect it. My worth wasn’t very high anymore, I’d rejected you, pushed you back, then ran off.”

A grunt was Felix’s only response. Turning his head he looked to the window.

Or the fake window.

It was on and active surprisingly.

Right now it was displaying the outside as if he were at the top of the building.

Outside it was late evening and the sun was moving toward the horizon in the distance. Casting long shadows from buildings across one another.

For what buildings remained.

Staring out onto the ruins of the city, he was annoyed at what he saw. It was something he’d indirectly caused through the provocations of Bianca.

She’d seen through him perfectly and created a plan that would leverage him against himself. To utilize his strengths in a way that’d cause him to create his own issue.

“Well, I clearly didn’t quite agree with that assessment,” Felix allowed. His eyes tracking something as it slowly flew next to the building. It spiraled around on itself then dove onto something that was in the street. “Since otherwise I wouldn’t have caught up with you, would I?”

“Yes. That’s obvious. I can’t help but admit for a while there I felt a lot like a silly heroine in a story,” Kit mused. “I found myself in the middle of a mental break down a few years in and singing a terrible song that was quite literally called ‘I need a Hero’. Because when it was all said and done, even with my powers, without backing and infrastructure, there wasn’t much I could do.

“Lily helped me a lot in those times. Helped me get through it all.”

“Of course I did,” Lily said, stepping through the portal and entering Felix’s office. Her head turned one way, then the other. Before settling on the chair directly in front of Felix’s desk. “Damn, it’s just like it was. I’m almost more annoyed that it looks as if we’d just left, rather than it sitting here for years.”

Lily shoved the chair to one side, then just sat down on it. She didn’t seem to care if it was dusty or not.

Shifting to one side, then the other, she then leaned back into it. Crossing her legs one over the other she smiled at Felix, then Kit.

“Well, we just need Miu, Andrea, Ioana, and Felicia. Then it’ll be just like it used to be,” offered Lily. “Well, we’d probably have to go get our house back. I wonder if my room is still the way I left it.”

“I was wondering the same,” Kit admitted. “Though I’m very curious to see if the original pawn shop is still up. Or Legion City, really.”

“Good point. Though… if we find any long dead Legionnaire’s that we missed, or any that are undead and stumbling about, we can just bring them back, can’t we?” asked Lily, looking to Felix.

Blinking slowly he realized she was right.

In fact, he now understood just how he could go about reclaiming this world.

Ownership rights.

“I want to rebuild Legion HQ. Back to how it was before it went to hell,” Felix stated. Emphasizing what he wanted while pulling at his power. “To put it back to how it should be. I’m the original owner and I’ve come to reclaim it.”

There was no response from his power.

“Legally… you might not be the owner,” Lily offered. “You could be considered to have abandoned it I imagine. Then again, I have no idea what the law of the land is right now.”

“Fine… we just have to take ownership. Then I can fix it. Just like I do everything,” Felix expressed and slowly leaned back into his chair. “Fix it with points. That and overwhelming firepower.”

Lily snorted at that while shaking her head. Though the grin on her face was unmistakable.

“Ah… I’m expected to play the ‘hearts and minds’ card, right?” Kit asked then sighed. “That card only gets played now though after we’ve made sure we don’t need the biggest stick.”

“Biggest stick ever,” declared Andrea, stepping through the portal followed by a chuckle. She looked to Lily, then Kit, clearly making sure of who was here.

Notably, she’d also looked to the corner of the room Miu was probably at.

She then darted forward and wrapped her arms around Lily from behind. Two Others stepped out of Andrea at the same time. One sprinted toward the corner while the second jumped at Kit. Smothering the other woman in a hug on the couch.

The clatter and thump of the couch being knocked backward as well as the grinding noise of chair legs being ground across the carpet made Felix grin.

Followed by Miu complaining a second after Andrea bulldozed straight into the corner and caught the assassin around the hips.

He was feeling so much better about everything.