Super Sales on Super Heroes 6 -Ch 22- (Patreon)

Chapter 22 - Became the Villain -

Felix felt odd walking into a house that felt familiar, and also not. The decorations, paintings, and colors, were all the same from the house Felix spent so much time in.

Like a familiar song.

A cover made by another band that sounds extremely similar to the original.

“I told him you’d be coming. He seemed excited and upset at the same time,” Melody admitted, guiding Felix deeper into the home.

Talia, Faith, and Evie remained in the living room. Around the home Felix didn’t need to check to know that a full contingent of the CRG were fanned out around the modest single family home. Likely even having a Draco Custodes or two on the roof.

“That’s not entirely unexpected, is it? I get the impression that… well… when we talked to Bianca the other day… ya know?” Felix tried. He had no idea how to really talk about it.

How to say it.

That Miles had betrayed Runner and Ryker and had been funneling information to Zeus. Feeding them what they needed to hit unspotted pressure points.

There was likely countless lost lives on this side of the war that were directly caused by Miles. For all intents and purposes, he was a traitor that was yet to be punished.

“Yeah,” Melody muttered, then sighed. They paused outside of what looked like a bedroom door. The young woman shook her head and looked crestfallen. “Runner hasn’t said anything about it. He hasn’t even visited, in fact. Dad says it’s because he has no idea what to do with him. Whether to punish him or to let it go.

“I mean… how do you really gauge or judge it? What do you do about it? I’m sure he’s also trying to balance-well, us. Us as in you, me, and Vince. I’m sure at some point Runner may want to call on us to help out.

“Maybe that’s the price for Dad not to get what he deserves? Is that a price we’ll be expected to pay in his stead?”

“I don’t know,” Felix confessed, frowning. Realistically speaking, it was something he would do if he was put in Runner’s position. He would gladly leverage one person’s fault to gain the assistance of three others. It was a three-fold increase against the single loss. “It’s what I’d do if I was Runner. He seems equally more ruthless, and more human, than The Ar-Ryker was. Ryker always hell-bent on one direction.”

“Yeah. The more I talk to Bianca the more it feels like he had a master plan he was following. Apparently this whole thing, you, me, Vince, were all part of a grand plan he was following. One that would give everyone the ending he wanted.

“Even his death was expected. Then uh… then-err something happened. I thought I knew what it was but when I think about it things get fuzzy.”

Felix really was the only one who remembered Edmund existed. Even the young-man’s sister didn’t remember him. Though Felix did find that her life was significantly different than what he remembered. She was in a foster-home with loving parents, surprisingly enough.

“Yeah… I guess that’s our burden to bear then. If it results in me working for Runner to keep Uncle Miles from suffering from his choices, I’ll pay it,” Felix said, meeting Melody’s eyes. “Besides, Runner isn’t that bad. When you get through his gruff exterior he’s far less an asshole than I am.”

Melody flashed him a relieved grin and then hugged him.

“Oooh, big brother. Pulling off that eldest sibling role so well all of a sudden,” Melody gushed. Then she sighed, patted him on the shoulder, and pulled away. “Go talk to Dad.

“I’m going to go call Vince. Those satellites that you booped out onto his planet gets pretty good cell reception now. I’ve been working with this funny little Warlock. Apparently a Contractor is pretty close to the same thing, just with different pros and cons.”

Felix nodded his head and watched Melody leave. He knew she wasn’t his sister, not really, but he still felt like he was her big brother.

Genetically she’d be like a half-sister, I think. Since dad and Miles were twins and all.

Whatever.

It’s still not as convoluted as macro economics.

Felicity had spent a few hours trying to walk him through world issues that really didn’t concern him. Whether a few countries ended up going bankrupt or not due to their super problems really didn’t concern him.

“You coming in, Felix, or you just gonna stand there?” asked Miles from inside the bedroom.

Flinching, Felix grasped the handle and opened the door. Stepping into the room he saw Miles sitting at a couch. The rest of the bedroom was what he’d expected.

Bed, chest of drawers, TV on the wall, bedside table.

There was a slider that led out to the balcony, a doorway that looked like it went to a bathroom, and that was all.

It was entirely nothing out of the ordinary.

Miles nodded at him and gestured with one hand.

“I’m not a hundred percent and it’ll be a while before I am, but I’m still the damned Curator. I was Guardian, you know,” grumbled Miles. “As far as Runner goes, yeah, probably what he wants. He won’t want to punish me, knows he needs to, and will just… let you three pay for my crimes instead.

“Solves everything and lets him get away without taking action against me. And before you ask, I did. Yes. I betrayed everything. At first I was acting in Runner’s and Ryker’s stead. Doing what I thought they wanted.”

Entering the room, Felix went and sat down at the sofa as well, turning partly to face his uncle. He hadn’t wanted to jump right into this conversation but it seemed Miles hadn’t changed at all.

“After a while, I realized no matter what I did it wouldn’t matter. No matter how many forces I knocked down, there’d just be more on the other side. So I started giving them information to do the damage to us instead,” Miles concluded with a shrug. “I thought it would end it all faster and… and I was bitter. Bitter and broken. Then Trish showed up, I met Gus and Sam, Mel got involved.

“Everything was just… it all spiraled away from me. I was too deep to get out, too involved to pretend I wasn’t, and there was no way out. Well, until you three showed up at the end there.

“That and-and whatever happened, happened. I’m still kinda shocked that Ryker’s dead. He always felt like he knew exactly what was happening. Shocked that the war with Zeus is over. I don’t understand how, or why, but I know better than to question. There’s something more going on but no one knows.

“Other than Runner, maybe. Not really a conversation starter though. You know, the whole traitor thing and all. Now I just… my time’s over. It’s time to pass all this stuff on to the next generation. You and your friends who served as lieutenants can take it all over.”

“I dunno about that,” Felix muttered with a grin. “I’m still having problems taking over the world I’m in. Feel like I’m fighting against Bianca again.”

“The world-oh. If you mean the one Ryker sent you to, it’s probably just Skipper,” Miles grumbled with a wave of his hand. “Fucking bitch stabbed me with that cursed blade, you know. She’s the one that nearly killed me. When you finally get a hold of her, please make her death painful.”

Skipper? Skipper!

That almost makes too much sense! Of course it’s her!

Why wouldn’t it be her?

In fact… in fact, I bet that whole thing at the end there, with the mission to put down a Skipper clone, was her. Her pushing things along to see what would happen!

Shit!

She’s been trying to see how things would turn out because she can’t get too close to me. This world’s Kit probably functions in the same way my Kit does.

I bet Skipper keeps getting futzed information because I was spending a good amount of time around Kit. Or maybe even the other telepaths.

Damnit all.

“Ah, well, I’ll be sure to do that,” Felix said with a smile. Then he thought of something. “On to better topics. I kinda… well, Ryker used to yell at me a lot. For breaking things. I think I might have gone above and beyond.”

Felix fished out his phone and flipped to his gallery.

He’d tasked Tribune with taking some photos of his parents as they went on their first date together. Apparently their first date had gone well.

Very well.

The next two days afterward had also been dates for them. After that he’d asked Tribune to stop because he was fairly certain that things would escalate and he didn’t want her to catch his parents doing something he didn’t want to see.

“I might have really gone the extra mile and broke my world this time,” Felix said and held out his phone to his uncle. It was a picture of his mother and father at a restaurant eating dinner.

“Oh? I dunno about that. Ryker handled some pretty—”

Miles words fell away as he stared at the image on the phone. Staring at it without moving.

“There’s more. Feel free to thumb through them,” Felix urged.

“When… where… what?” Miles asked, his thumb coming up to lightly slide across the phone.

“I kinda-sorta-maybe ripped part of the world open. I pulled that world’s version of my dad through, to meet that world’s version of my mom. They hit it off instantly,” Felix said with a chuckle. “Kinda late in their lives to meet but… better than never having met at all, right?”

Miles lower lip had come up and was pushed to the upper one. His cheeks were clenched and it looked like the man was fighting back tears.

“I think he’d love to meet you. He said he was an only child,” Felix offered, interpreting what was happening as Miles missing his own brother. “He’s not your brother, obviously, but… he could probably be a good friend. He’s not my dad, after all, but… you know… it’s not terrible having him in my life. I don’t think my dad would fault me. Or my mom.”

“They wouldn’t,” choked out Miles with a small nod of his head. “They wouldn’t fault you at all. They’d be happy about it. Sounds like I’ll have to man up and go talk to Runner. See if we can get you a meet-up with your mother and father.

“He’s the Overgod, remember? He can drop in for daytrips in any world he wants. That includes the afterlife. You can just go talk to them.

“And now… now with Zeus gone, all the restrictions he used to live by, the covenants he made, don’t apply at all anymore. There’s no other Overgod for them to turn to.

“If they’re worlds within his control, they’re within his control absolutely. He’s probably planning take-over’s of them all. Moving forward with forces to flush out the remnants of Zeus’s armies and hangers-on. Once they’re gone, he’ll have control and that’ll be that.”

See my mom and dad? I can talk to them?

A lot more to do all of a sudden. Always more to do.

***

Kit sat down at the newly renovated cafe in Legion City and looked around with a small smile. All around them were Legionnaires moving about their lives.

The vast majority of them were armed and armored, but they looked happy regardless.

While the city wasn’t clear yet, in fact you could often hear distant gunfire, portions of it were now clear. The “Green Zone” was ever expanding.

Which meant Legionnaire’s were able to return to the city they once called home. Many of them going right back to the shops and homes they owned.

Everyone knew Felix planned on returning it to how it had been once it was clear and he had the points. Which meant all they had to do was ease the point cost in whatever way they could as they got back into their old lives.

Some wouldn’t come back though. Some had made new lives on Planet Legion amongst the tribal peoples there. Their alliance grew ever stronger on that planet as they kept bringing in more and more recruits.

“You know, I really thought it’d take a lot longer for things to go back to how I remembered them. That I’d be a relic from ‘old Legion’ and wouldn’t be needed at all. Wouldn’t have a place to go at all.”

“Last I heard you took over the HR department again,” Felix offered and took a sip from his coffee, grinning. “Didn’t take you long.”

“Well… they kind of forced it on me,” Kit admitted with a nervous laugh. “As soon as I walked in the door they just all threw it onto my lap, then scurried off. All the Fixers and— you know what, it’s fine. I’m happy to take my old job back. Very happy. I know Lily and the Lauren’s did the same thing. They briefed her on everything then just threw it at her again. Evan was pretty happy to see her again as well.”

That made sense to Felix. A master and apprentice relationship wasn’t something that could be shaken with time if it was a real relationship.

“She won’t ever say it, by the way, but she’s especially grateful that you’ve been taking care of her brother. He was lacking in life experiences and she was a bit nervous that she’d had to leave him behind,” Kit said a second before a Legionnaire in an apron came by and dropped the coffee he’d ordered for Kit in advance off. She eyed it then picked it up. “Oh, why thank you. So sure of my tastes?”

“Very,” Felix stated. “And of course I took care of him. Why wouldn’t I? That’s just a stupid worry. Though, and I’m sorry for changing the subject, I’m glad you’re back in charge of HR.”

“You have a job for me, don’t you? And no, I’m not in your head. I try to stay out of it. It’s too much like reading the end of a good book. It spoils everything that comes before,” Kit said and took a long sip of her drink. She looked pleasantly surprised, then looked back to him, smiling. “I have no idea what it is, but I like it. A lot. I’ve never had something so perfect as a coffee, before.”

“It’s called Kit’s Drink. It’s only available here,” Felix said and then pointed to the name of the cafe above them. It read “Felix’s” and was indeed his. He owned it, and the recipes they used. Each drink had been made with only a few points to be the “perfect drink” for a vast majority of people.

People could request a “drink for me” and he’d pay the points for it and deduct it from their salary. It wasn’t exorbitant by any means and more than a few people had put in requests. He’d covered the costs for everyone close to him personally.

“And yes, I do have a job for you,” Felix continued. “A bit of a big one, actually. We need to create a net of telepaths to cover the globe. Cover the globe and generate feedback like your original power did. All for the sake of running Skipper down.

“Miles told me she’s likely active on this world. For one reason or another, she’s still running around. No one managed to catch or end her. I’d like to put an end to her. Finally. Because I think once we do… quite a few of our difficulties will end. If not all of them.”

“She’s always had a real soft spot for you,” Kit grumbled and then nodded her head slowly. “We could do that. Shouldn’t be too problematic but… it’s going to give people problems. I had problems just with the area around me. If we’re going to cover everything, it’s going to be a lot harder, won’t it?

“We don’t exactly have a huge number of telepaths. Quite a few of them already have jobs they can’t be pulled away from.”

Admittedly Felix had expected that answer. He knew for a fact there wasn’t more than ten or twelve telepaths they could pull on that they could effectively use.

Which meant he had to give strangers telepathic powers. Kit would get to that next he imagined. Then it’d be just a question of dickering over placement, usage, and how to take care of their needs.

There was a buzz from his phone causing Felix to pull it out of his pocket.

“— have to create them I suppose. That’s not too difficult given your ability to grant powers to people,” Kit continued along the path Felix had assumed she would. “I wonder if we can predict a lower point cost given certain mental attributes. That’d be interesting to look into.”

Glancing at the screen, Felix saw the message he wanted.

He’d ordered Tribune to create a list of people available for a power change in their current roles in Legion. They were actively recruiting people directly into Legion from all worlds now.

His not-parents were actively tag-teaming a never-ending flood of interviews and between the two of them, they were able to figure out who would fit. Within minutes, no less.

Apparently his father’s base super power in that world was a creative talent. To see the extent of what something could become if given time and effort, and how to get there. A planned path to put something into action and modify it to an end goal.

Still somewhat odd that when you combine their talents it’s almost my power perfectly.

Ryker sure was a bit overly meticulous, wasn’t he.

Felix set down the phone in front of Kit and tapped it twice.

“Here’s the list of people Tribune put together that can have their powers modified and get into an active role,” Felix murmured.

“You’re ahead of me? You’re ahead of me. Damnit,” Kit growled a second before Felix felt something flicker at lightning speed through his mind. It was a brief as a sigh and as hard to detect as a whisper in a bar. “Ah, yes. That makes sense. Placement and strength of power will certainly be the next goal.”

Grinning, Felix took a deep sip of the “Lily’s Drink” and smiled. He’d expected it to be bitter, yet found it to be almost so sweet that he worried for his teeth.