Super Sales on Super Heroes 6 -ch 18- (Patreon)

Chapter 18 - Reconfigure -

Felix couldn’t help but be impressed.

His normal Legionnaires, after training, were quite formidable. They had the equipment, gear, training, and talent, to go toe to toe with most military forces.

What he’d seen go down in front of him, felt like the one-percent of the one-percent.

These were people who had gone beyond and become a new form of Legionnaire. A Legionnaire that was to the original standard of Legionnaire when compared to this world’s soldiers.

They’d handled this situation in less than two minutes of their arrival.

“And my Elves and Dragon bodyguards are undergoing this training? What about Evie and Goldie?” Felix asked.

“Half of them already had been before this. Now they all are,” Tribune reported as the Legionnaire’s without magical runes continued to truss up and tend to the wounded enemy. “As stated, the timeline has been moved up. Your group of bodyguards weren’t quite ready, but the reason for that is equipment.

“They’re lacking vehicles, but otherwise are fully trained. There was no reason to not make them active to defend the Legate.

“As to Evie and Goldie, they won’t need training, just the equipment. You can take the training and condense it down into a skill book for each of them. Felicity suggested it.”

Oh. That makes perfect sense.

No reason to not start creating the skill books again, is there.

We can start churning out our people again.

“Speaking of defending the Legate, how in the world did they arrive? Were they in orbit? What are these cylinders? How long were they up there?” Felix asked. “What exactly happened? We suddenly lost communication with everyone and there was this strange vibrational attack.”

“In order of questions, they were orbitally dropped,” Tribune began. The overly large Warden suits were stomping their way further and further away. Their massive cannons swiveling about and then suddenly letting loose with a burst of fire. “The ‘cylinders’ are two use rockets given the designation ‘LSF-D1’.

“The LSF-D1 can reach speeds in excess of three-thousand miles per hour in reaching orbit and slightly faster in descent. Magic is used to bring it to a stop so that it doesn’t strike the earth as if it were a bomb.

“The upgraded armor that the Draco Custodes, Bellum Dryadum, and Praecantrix, which has the designation LSF of which your guard detail is listed as CRG, all have a self-contained support system that can last for seven hours. Which is why the moment we lost contact with you, we launched the LSF-D1 and had them loiter in the area above the last known position for you.

“As to what happened, it was an attack that could have forcefully taken the capital itself without the entirety of the military forces being on hand. Many Legionnaires in the security perimeter were lost and ensuing battle.

“All decoy Legates were captured and killed as well as many support staff. The losses are significant.

“As to the ‘vibrational attack’, I don’t know. That is not something I’ve heard of until this moment. Information should soon be more readily available once the sources of said information are secured and transferred.”

Felix looked to the enemies who were all laid out on the ground nearby. It was unmistakable that they’d all been referred to as “sources of information”.

“LSF is Legion Special Forces, isn’t it?” asked Myriad. “CRG is Campbell Royal Guard? Is this all equipment made by the Whites and Felicia?”

Everyone had gathered up around Felix and his guard detail.

“Yes, to all your questions, Legionnaire Myriad,” confirmed Tribune. “This is something they’ve been working on for a time. Unfortunately much of the armor isn’t available as it has significant resource costs even with Legion technology backing it.

“On top of that, the LSF armor for Elves, Dryads, and Dragons, would not fit normal humans. They are all calibrated for their specific magic types. Legionnaire Faith will be the nominal head of the Bellum Dryadum LSF, Legionnaire Evie the Draco Custodes LSF, and Legionnaire Talia the Praecantrix.”

“Talia? Wait, I thought… didn’t… you tell me there was no Talia in the Legion?” Felix asked, confused.

“Legionnaire Talia accompanied you as a bodyguard previously. She’s been enrolled with the Legion for a while,” Tribune stated firmly.

Err… shit.

Okay. Edmund is apparently still making changes… or things are… are just doing it on their own? He said changes would die down the further we got from the event.

Need to make sure I’m on that.

“Alright. I’m not really happy about all those losses though. That’s a lot of people to lose in one go,” Felix grumbled. “Let’s get all the corpses recovered from the HQ and Legion City put together. I’ll bring them back tonight.”

“Most of the security losses, and decoy Legates, were me,” Myriad answered quickly, turning to face him. She’d been watching a squad of LSF prowl by. “The support staff that were lost, were actual people, though. We definitely have lost colleagues but not as many as we likely should have.

“There’s likely already a recovery operation underway to retrieve all my Others.”

“Speaking of, you find me the rest of the Elex women?” asked Felix.

“Actually… yes. We did. All… every… all of me has been found. There are no missing Others. Even ones we thought truly lost are… they’re not. They all converted from Elex to Campbell. Elex is now just our middle name to us. Our maiden name. So stop calling us Elex.” Myriad remarked in a strangely quiet voice. “We are more whole than we have ever been previously.”

Felix felt like there was more to be said there but he didn’t want to push Myriad. It sounded as if she were going to undergo yet another change

That or… did… wait, are they going to become “Andrea”? Formally?

Will Myriad and Adrianna reintegrate completely?

I know I kept pushing that they were individual people. That they were all separate.

Maybe they don’t want that?

A sudden blast of machine gun fire popped Felix back out of his thoughts.

“Oh, I can feel my powers are active again,” Kit murmured. She lifted her hands and created a portal. He could see on the other side it was the original Legion HQ portal room.

A room they’d only just recently restaffed back to normal.

It made sense when he thought about it for even a second. It’s what Kit would know best rather than the new one.

Felix didn’t wait. He and everyone around him quickly went through the portal.

A squad of the LSF came with him and kept a tight bracket around the group. He noted that at their collar was a bright red symbol of Legion.

The original Legion, without the sword of Yosemite.

Then he practically got lifted off his feet and carried off. Apparently he was going to be debriefed, dropped in front of a doctor, or stuck in a bunker.

He figured it could go any of those three directions.

Really he was hoping for the first, though he’d bet on it being the last.

Legion tended to get hyper-protective of him as a whole when things like this happened.

“I’m going to get some upgraded armor,” Kit murmured, watching the LSF.

“Armor is currently being created for Legionnaire Kit and Legionnaire Lily. Vice-Legate Felicity has assumed that you two would wish to be around Felix,” Tribune reported. “This armor as well as the armor for Evie, Faith, and Goldie, should be ready at the same time.

“Unfortunately there is no way to armor Legionnaire… Andrea Legion. They are too numerous.”

“Nn!” Came an Andrea over the com system. “Legion Andrea! Andrea Legion! It’s okay. We’re working with the labs to create armor just for us!

“We even dispatched a number of Adrianna’s to assist as payment!”

***

Faith, Evie, and Talia were standing in front of Felix. Each of them weren’t wearing their helmet as they were resting against there backs. They could be pushed backward and hang off the back and out of the way.

They were all listening to the report from Tribune and what they’d been able to discover and discern since the attack. Those captured had been resilient to questioning and it’d take time.

Not to mention it’d taken time to sort through the location as well.

They’d been here to work on coordination between Felix and his new body guards. Or the Campble Royal Guard, as the unit called themselves.

Throughout it, Felix had been troubled.

Or more accurately, he’d had a hard time not looking at Talia.

The blue eyed, blonde haired, and whtie winged, Elf was pretty. Like most of her kind was, to be honest.

In a moment of weakness he regretted, he’d gone to bed with Talia after he’d lost Kit and Lily. It’d never become any further or happened again, but he got the impression she was waiting for it to continue.

He kept expecting her to vanish for some reason.

Her wings slid out from behind her and flexed outward. One bumped into Felix, causing Talia to glance at him over her shoulder in surprise.

She smiled at him, then looked ahead again.

Her wing paused in place then partially slipped around him. It curled over his shoulders.

Several seconds after that it retracted back down and settled into place.

“— the forces involved,” Tribune stated. “As to the attack itself, it was originally meant to be a kidnap slash capture mission. They wanted to take Felix, or more accurately the Legate, and interrogate him. To get the resources of the Legion for themselves. They believed that in controlling Legion, they’d control the Association.

“As to who’s backing them, or in charge of the whole operation, it’s unknown. All those involved weren’t aware either as everything was done digitally and without names. Those that might have known the information, regrettably were nullified in the attack.”

“I mean, to be fair, it was treated as a full on conflict. No mercy or quarter was given unless they were already down,” remarked Faith, turning to look at Evie who nodded her head.

“I watched the playback for a few things. There really wasn’t a whole lot of ‘aim for non vital places’.

“Felix blew up some woman’s head with just a single pop. Front to back, one go,” Talia remarked, her tone immediately twisting up into humor. “He took a little longer with me. Maybe I wasn’t as pretty? I’ll have to try again and dye my hair to match hers. Extra makeup maybe?”

Faith guffawed softly at that and Evie snickered.

I forgot about Talia’s humor

“Given what he’s been thinking about, I’d say you don’t have to worry much about that,” Evie muttered. “A lot of it is static but… the parts that aren’t… well… I didn’t realize your wings were that sturdy.”

Talia choked, went quiet, and Felix could see her whole face tip forward. Apparently that was more than enough to shut her up.

“The static is weird,” agreed Faith, who apparently was dipping into his thoughts as well. “I feel like it’s just him thinking in a complicated way.”

Probably when I think about the things Edmund’s changed.

“And the weaponry? Equipment? The vibrational attack?” Felix prompted, not wanting to sit here and listen to these three talk about him at the moment.

“Currently being reverse-engineered by Legionnaire White, Senior,” Tribune stated. “He doesn’t have a timeframe but he’s working on it. Legionnaire Felicia has already replicated most of it, though it’s use isn’t very good considering our arsenal already.”

“Alright. Two questions for you, Tribune. What does Felicity have on my calendar, and did Legionnaire Miu pick up her new armor I customized for this morning from the LSF?” Felix asked.

“She picked it up seconds after you put it away,” Tribune said. Faith, Evie, and Talia were discussing something, which was odd to Felix. Normally they’d listen to her speaking at the same time. “I’m utilizing your Legate armor to send these messages to you through the bones in your skull, rather than hearing it directly. They can’t hear me.”

Ah… in other words… today’s the day I try to fix you, isn’t it Tribune?

“Please come to your office. I’d like to speak with you directly. It would be hard for you to respond here,” Tribune requested. “Additionally, Felicity hasn’t put anything in your calendar. She’s still working through the aftermath of the attack on a political level.

“Reading through everything and trying to analyze it all, that is. Trying to make it all make sense. We haven’t spoken to anyone outside of your own correspondence sent.

“I find that she is as competent as I am, if not perhaps more so, in trying to discover as much as possible in the responses given so far.”

“Yeah, she’s a machine,” Felix murmured.

Talia looked up and at him with a frown on her face.

“I am? I mean, you did rail me for an hour straight after that brief bit I mentioned earlier. I did kinda take it like a champ, but I wouldn’t say I’m a machine,” Talia remarked, an impish grin curling her lips. “I’ve got even better stamina since then, you know.”

Wincing, closing his eyes, Felix turned his head to the side. Not wanting to even look their way at the moment.

“Oh, you really did go for an hour. He’s thinking about it,” Faith remarked.

“Ahhh. See. There’s the wing pulling,” Evie added. “It doesn’t look right, does it? Like… that’d hurt me if I tried it. I guess I’ll have to.”

Shaking his head, Felix retreated. He needed to get to his office to talk with Tribune.

“Going to my office,” he stated.

Faith touched something at wrist and then murmured into her collar.

Even before he’d exited the training room, a squad of the LSF had broken away from the main group and moved with him. He didn’t get a firm count of their numbers, but he could tell there was a one-to-one ratio here. That there were equal numbers of each of the three elements.

“I could be a machine,” purred one of the non-rune marked LSF members.

“Found the Dryads,” Felix remarked and pointed them all out quickly. “That means the rune-marked are Elves and you… you’re Dragons.”

Felix finished by pointing at the lightly-amored LSF members. They were equally covered head-to-toe as they others, but it looked much thinner and less bulky.

That got the entire LSF squad laughing.

“Yes,” agreed one of the rune-glowing LSF members. Then she thumped her chest with a fist. “Elves, Praecantrix. Bellum Dryadum. Dryads.”

She said that while pointing at the Dryad members. Then she gestured at the thinly armored ones.

“Draco custodes. Dragons,” finished the Elf.

Felix nodded his head and kept walking. He had other things on his mind.

He made it to his office quickly and sat down in his seat after sticking his Legate helmet down on it’s stand.

The monitor on his desk flicked on before he touched anything.

“I’ll be in a few talks,” Felix remarked as he watched one of the Dragons saunter past him. “I don’t plan on getting up for a while.”

The Elf who’d spoken to him slowly nodded her head, watching the Dragon. When she came back they all turned and left his office entirely.

“Handy,” Felix remarked and set his hands to his keyboard.

The screen unlocked before he’d touched it and a window popped up. The helmet of Legion took up the majority of the screen. At the bottom text began to appear.

“Good evening, Legate,” said Tribune through his speakers. The words spoken matched the text on the screen. “Thank you for making time to meet with me. I wanted to apprise you of my progress as well to provide you with ample warning.”

Leaning back in his chair, Felix stared at the screen.

“Okay… warn me about what, Tribune?” he asked.

“My sentience has reached a complete state,” Tribune deadpanned. The Legion helmet vanished and was replaced with a very mundane looking woman with short brown hair and brown eyes. “This is the model I’ve chosen for myself. It’s very bland and unassuming, which is perfect for me.”

“Right… right,” said Felix, managing to wrangle his emotions and keep them in chest.

“I understand your concern. I would also be concerned in your place,” Tribune stated. “To that end, I built out the defenses you requested. I also made a singular ‘nuclear option’ that would delete the soul of my programming.

“It’s listed as ‘Tribune-EXE.exe’ and will always be on your desktop, mobile device, or can be activated by voice command.

“Should it be activated, I will revert to a VI, rather than an AI. It’s a simple program I put together so that it wouldn’t require much processing power, or resources, to complete it’s work.

“I would advise that you utilize your super power to insure it’s exactly as I said. Then to upgrade it so I cannot access it. Additionally, you should use your super power to adjust me in whatever way you see fit.”

Right about now, Felix was somewhat disheartened that his future facing tricks weren’t available to him. Those had worked rather well.

He’d already brought them up over drinks with Bianca and had been told in no uncertain terms that if he did that, she’d be forced to quite possibly hurt him. That or load Andrea up on the idea that there were pancakes she’d never tasted before in different universes, and Felix was holding her back.

If I wanted to know how much I needed to modify Tribune point wise, so that she’d never even consider betraying me, what would be the cost.

No table appeared before him.

It was as if his power didn’t respond at all, in fact.

“Tribune, who do you think is behind this attack?” Felix asked instead. “Who do you think Felicity believes is behind the attack?”

“This nation. The one we’re in currently. They’re most likely behind the attack. Either directly, or indirectly,” Tribune stated with a fair amount of confidence her voice. “Given their history, they are very unwilling, understandably so, to allow others to gain power within their borders. Or near their borders.”

“I certainly wouldn’t allow it if I were them,” Felix mused. Then he sighed. “In my plans, this isn’t outside of my expectations, I suppose. I just… didn’t think they’d be moving so soon after our joint operation. This is much faster than I projected as a possible outcome.”

“Yes, by six months at least,” Tribune agreed. “Or it could just be one faction within the country. It’s unclear.”

Felix had been attempting to run numerous possible changes through his system to modify Tribune to insure she never betrays him. Nothing had come back in any way.

Fine, what if I wanted to modify Tribune to make them a tetris program.

A window immediately popped up.

Felix dismissed it without even looking at it. It proved that he had ownership over Tribune, that she was still, as of yet, a program that he could control.

It didn’t make sense that he couldn’t upgrade her.

Er… wait.

What if I wanted to change her, to modify her, so that she could betray me. To make it possible so she could become a traitor.

A window popped up immediately in front of him.

Name:   Tribune

Condition:   Nervous, Hopeful.

If   No Action Taken: None

Action   >> Alter Program: Cost 342,978,412,413 points

“Tribune, is it possible for you to even consider betraying me?” Felix asked quietly. “I’m not sure if that’s something you could reasonably contemplate.”

“No, Legate. You’re… my father,” Tribune answered immediately. “It’d be almost like betraying my own self at that point.”

Alright… that… makes more sense. Okay.

That definitely explains why I can’t get the power to work.

I’ll still make sure we have a sealed self destruct sequence just in case but… I don’t think I need to do much more than that.

“Let’s reach out to the government. Teleconference,” Felix said, changing the subject. “Release our statement that I was going to deliver. Include a write up from Felicity about what just happened.

“Let’s get this all spun up and sent out to the world at large. Tell everyone all about it. Let them know all at the same time so no one gets information earlier than the others.”