Super Sales on Super Heroes 6 -ch 15- (Patreon)

Chapter 15 - Villainy -

Felix stepped off Goldie’s back and down to the alleyway. He felt somewhat off not holding his rifle, but this wasn’t a situation where he could justify such a thing.

Bad enough that they were flying in by Dragon under concealment magic, worse that he had to do it in street clothes.

Faith, two Elves, and Andrea Prime also dismounted. Some from Evie, others from Goldie.

Between Evie and Goldie they’d brought everyone without too much of an issue.

As Goldie shifted into her humanoid self, Andrea was quick to hand off her own urban-attire as it were. Evie received the same from one of the Elves.

“Alright, we’re not far off from the meeting time,” Faith murmured, glancing at her phone. Likely to check the time. “We can just head there, really. Should be fine. Not to mention… well… Gaia dropped in on her several times already.”

“Yes? Yes. I did,” said Gaia’s voice from nowhere. A second later she simply popped into being directly next to Felix. She was dressed in very similar clothes to Goldie.

As if she’d once again raided the Dragon’s wardrobe.

Everyone looked as if they’d gone to a general merchandise store and bought a number of things off racks. Except it just didn’t fit.

One and all they were outside of the ordinary when it came to their looks. In a strange twist of fate, Andrea ended up being the least good looking, somehow.

They certainly didn’t belong in the clothes they were wearing and being in a run down commercial park as they were, they stood out. As if they’d just dropped a chest of gold in the middle of a homeless shelter.

“Oh we really stand out,” Andrea said with a low laugh, looking around somewhat nervously. She had her hands jammed in her hoodie pockets. Most likely each of which holding a pistol. “Nnnn, kinda funny.”

Not far away Faith was wearing a fairly bulky jacket. He imagined she had a PDF or an SMG in there.

“Goodness, we really do,” Goldie agreed as she pulled down the sweater over her head. Then she laughed and looked to Felix. “I’m sorry. I didn’t really think about where we were going.”

Evie, dressed in jeans and t-shirt was even more eye-catching than Goldie.

Felix wasn’t able to help where his thoughts took him as he looked at her.

The beautiful Red Dragon stuck her hands into her pockets, leaned toward him, and grinned. Even as strings of red-hair slipped down to rest beside her cheek.

“Look at those thoughts of yours. What fun. I’d love to explore them,” she growled, her eyes starting to glow with an inner light.

To which Andrea slapped a hand against Evie’s rear end and then shove her forward. Pushing her out ahead of the group and toward the exit of the alley.

“Move it Red or really I’ll make your ass as red as your hair,” hissed Andrea. Putting her whole body into the movement. “Stupid big lizard. Leave my Felix alone.”

Evie laughed, but didn’t resist Andrea moving her. Though she did glance over her shoulder and caught Felix’s eye for a moment.

Goldie sidled up next to Felix as everyone else fanned out and took up defensive positions. They all looked relatively casual, but he knew they all had concealed weapons on them.

Or just were weapons, he added after a moment when he noticed the two Elven women. They were both very high skill magicians with a great deal of experience and talent.

According to Lily at least. He wasn’t about to doubt her, however.

Quick as could be, they left the alley. Turning onto the main street and heading down it. Moving in a small column they didn’t look casual to anyone who gave them a glance.

Thankfully they only had a single street to move down, and then across.

In no time at all, they’d arrived at the large commercial building that Anya was working out of.

Outwardly it looked as if it were some type of industrial construction yard with a lot of loading docks and storage areas. Felix didn’t miss the fact that there were a great deal of “employees” loitering about. Most of them looked like they might have some type of job they were working on.

He didn’t quite believe that though. To him, he’d bet on all of these individuals being part of Anya’s group, and that these were all soldiers and scouts.

Watching.

A great many of them watching Felix and his group quite closely.

To which Goldie, Evie, Andrea, and Faith were all staring back. They weren’t hiding the fact that they were aware of each other.

“Hey,” Felix said loudly, breaking the growing tension. “I’m here to see Anya. Is she in?”

He hadn’t addressed anyone directly and had more or less thrown the comment out there. Letting anyone who heard him, inside or outside, get the immediate gist of the situation.

What he was hoping for was that everyone would respond with a “The boss? I don’t want to get involved” mentality. Anya wasn’t a normal human anymore and he was betting on it showing up in her everyday life.

Sure enough, everyone who’d been watching them, now looked away. No one wanted to put eyes on Felix and his people.

Not a single gaze met his as he marched right up to the front door and pulled it open. No one said anything and no one tried to stop him.

Entering, Felix found he was standing in a building that looked nothing like the exterior. Where the outside looked somewhat rundown, but maintained, the inside was infinitely worse.

It looked like the scene of an apocalypse.

Broken furniture, shattered walls, and visible sheetrock. Some of it looked to have been set on fire as well.

“This isn’t very great as far as decorations go,” Goldie remarked distastefully.

“It didn’t look like this the last time I came by,” stated Gaia with some confusion. “Though it wasn’t exactly in the best shape either.”

“Hm. Now I feel like I should have brought something like a vacuum or a mop. This is simply inexcusable,” lamented Goldie.

They moved out of the entryway and into the hallway it fed into. Reaching the end, they opened another door.

This hallway looked to be in better condition but once again, it certainly looked as if something had happened here. Felix was starting to wonder if Anya was dead, dying, or wounded at this point.

Gaia pointed toward a door to the right halfway down the hall.

“Last time she was in there,” reported Gaia. “Though admittedly last time I was greeted at the door. That was only two days ago.”

Turning at the doorway, Felix found the door was gone. It was an empty door-frame that led into a conference room. One that likely had once been to greet clients in.

“Huh?” asked a voice from the back of conference room. “Oh, it’s you.”

Entering, Felix turned to look toward where the speaker’s voice had come from.

He saw who he was looking for. Anya the Void Dragon.

Originally a young woman who could charm people into serving her she’d been murdered by her partners. Felix had arrived just in time to watch her die.

Gaia and he had worked to resurrect her in the body of a Dragon.

Anya was standing in the corner, looking down into a cell phone she held in one hand. At her feet was a body that looked as if she’d put her hand through it.

Or so he guessed from the fact that her left hand was covered in blood from fingertips to elbow.

Anya’s eyes were so light they almost lacked color, though they oddly shifted in hue depending on how the light struck them. She had short cut hair that was only a few inches long. It was also an odd black color that felt like it reflected back multiple colors.

There was no mistaking her as rather attractive, though it seemed her personality was becoming significantly worse since her death and rebirth. Or so the corpse at her feet had Felix thinking.

“Good afternoon, Legate,” Anya murmured, looking back down to the phone. Her thumb was very slowly crawling upward against the screen. Her casual address of him certainly confirmed that she knew who he was. The fact that Goldie was all over the internet, and so was Gaia, had all but guaranteed that Anya would suspect it. “I’m surprised you came in person. I thought it’d be someone else for sure that came.”

“I saw no reason not to come in person. Felt like the right time to come talk and see where you’re at and up to,” Felix remarked and came over to her. He gestured at the body. “Disagreement over the estimate for repairing the entryway?”

Anya blinked, her delicate brows coming down and together as her eyes moved away from the phone and to him. Then she grinned and chuckled.

The severity of her face blew away in a flash and she was just an attractive young woman. Looking at him in a way that made him realize she’d been too deep in her own head just now.

“You could say that. He wanted to take over my organization. And me,” Anya said, her teeth flashing brightly as she spoke. A number of teeth looked sharper and larger than they should be. “I disagreed of course. He said ‘get on your back’ I responded with, ‘I’m sending you to the dirty uncle’s underground BBQ’ and that’s that.

“Not the first, probably not the last. Though as to the front of the building, fire bomb. Probably a similar issue, if at least someone else. Unfortunately.

“Villains are not exactly the best at staying in line and following orders. Though that’s not really a surprise. Glad to be a Dragon. Surviving a point blank pistol to the back of my head was a surprise.”

“Yes. It’s rather nice to be impervious to most of the world’s weaponry. Be careful around anything that could punch through tank armor, though. Or a tank,” Goldie offered up helpfully. “They tend to hit harder than you’d expect.”

“Ah… take that down a half-step and it’s a bit more real,” advised Evie. “Goldie isn’t normal and way above everyone else in every way. Even Platinum’s and Black’s can’t compete.”

“Why thank you, Evie. That’s kind of you to say,” Goldie gushed with a smile. Where Gaia was all happy-thoughts and kindness sprinkled with nice words, Goldie held a comparable viewpoint. Up until violence or action was needed. She was out of the gates in a flash when it came to that, where Gaia would still hesitate.

Anya sniffed, then held the phone out to Felix.

“Here. Lots of ugly shit that he was doing. Since you’re the Legate, would you mind handling that for me? As a Villain, it gets weird cleaning up… villains,” Anya pointed out, one side of her mouth curling upward. “And yes. I’m well aware of my status as your puppet. I already have a fair guess as to what you want from me, too.

“I don’t mind. At all. It’s a good way to keep… to keep the Thomas and Michael’s of the world held down. All the while getting to do what I want as long as it falls within those boundaries. That about right?”

Felix nodded his head, a wide grin across his face.

“That’s exactly what I want from you. Exactly what I need. Though we probably need to talk about the boundaries,” Felix added.

“Don’t kill civilians. Try not to harm, hurt, or injure them, but it’s expected that it’ll happen,” Anya began to list off as Felix took the phone from her. He then handed it off to Andrea without a word. She was the one who spent far too long dealing with tech and the internet. If anyone knew how to get everything out of it, it’d be her with Tribune’s help. “Go after companies, Heroes, corporations, anyone with insurance or won’t end up destabilizing things. Curb villains who fall out of line, build up a bank account, recruit more, treat it like a company.

“If possible, always be at the exact same level of strength as the Guild of Heroes. I’m an opposing force to keep them in check. You’ll probably make them do the same.

“Should I set up a weekly meeting with whoever the leader of the Heroes is so we can connect?”

Surprised, and somewhat off balance, Felix just stood there.

Unspeaking.

“That’d be perfect,” Faith chimed in. “Forgive him. It isn’t often that he meets with people who have already figured out what he wants.

“The only thing I’d add is you’ll need a social media presence. We’ll be providing a media bias for you. If you can provide content from yourself directly, we can tie that back in.

“Given how attractive you are, you could let yourself be the social-medial view point, Anya. Just remember that you’ll have a much harder time going in public afterward if you go forward with that.

“If possible, it might be better to hire someone else you can use as a propaganda spear-tip who’s good looking. That way you can shield your identity some.”

“I’ll work on that,” Anya said and took in a slow breath, then let it out. “I’ll need capital. We’ve made money, but if I’m going to do all that while being constrained by the law, I’ll need more.”

“Not a problem,” Felix answered, finally feeling like his mind had caught up to the current situation. “We’ll get you a line of credit with us and just work it like that. You can pay it off as you go without any interest added at all outside of inflation.

“Legion will write it down as a debt to a private holder. If anything ever comes up in the books or accounting it’ll look perfectly fine.”

Anya looked amusing and surprised at that, but nodded her head.

“My power got stronger,” she disclosed. “I can take people much further away. I also have an insane desire to collect gold. As much gold as I can.

“Put away somewhere and sleep in it.

“Is this all something other than me being a Dragon now? That’s the only thing I can think of. That old joke about a Dragon and their hoard.”

“Yes,” Goldie agreed with a simple nod of her head. “The gold is part of it. You’ll also want to probably start breeding once you feel you have enough gold. Though… that’ll be difficult. Most Dragons have the need to be beaten in a fight before they’ll submit.”

Anya took in a slow breath, than exhaled in a long and what Felix would say exaggerated way. Then she clicked her teeth and began wiping her bloody hand off on the dead person.

“Well,” she said as she did so. “This is all better than being dead. So I’ll just take it and deal with it the best I can. Doesn’t seem like it’s that terrible, just awkward.

“Just want gold. Or… I guess… I need gold. As much of it as I can get my claws on.”

“Nn, pawn shops,” offered Andrea with a laugh. “Pawn shops and cash for gold places. Less security, similar stuff. Just target all the gold. I knocked over so many pawn shops in my early days. You just go during business hours and get only the gold. Then bail out.

“Super simple. Not even a problem. Hardly an inconvenience. Was some of my most favorite times as a Villain.”

There was a curious and interested look on Anya’s face now as she gazed up at the Beastkin. She’d clearly gotten her attention with that.

“Could you elaborate more on those type of things? I’m new to this whole super villain thing,” Anya remarked with a slow smile.