Super Sales on Super Heroes

Chapter 22 - Old Friends -

As they sped along the streets, Felix had the distinct impression things weren’t getting better.

Maybe it was the shadow they’d thrown in the trunk. Or the Others being slaughtered. Or the fact that Kit seemed nervous.

Or the massive flying, angry, screaming man that landed on the roof of the car.

Crumpling as if it were a soda can, the car folded in on itself.

Shouting with rage, the man known as Tanker started ripping handfuls of the roof off.

Andrea pulled a pistol out of somewhere and rammed the nose of it up into the man’s junk, then pulled the trigger.

The yelling turned into shrieking as Andrea emptied the entire clip.

A massive hand came down swatting at her, before leaping free of the ruined car.

Andrea’s arm was bent at an unnatural angle at the forearm. After a second, blood began pumping as the wrist and hand detached and fell free from her forearm.

The massive monster had managed to tear off Andrea’s lower arm in a single hit.

Andrea screamed in pain, clutching to the wheel with the other hand as she kept them moving.

Felix leaned over the console and reached down towards Kit’s midsection.

Grabbing a hold of her skirt, he yanked at it.

“Felix, this isn’t the time!” shrieked Kit, her eyes wild as she looked at him.

“I need your belt,” Felix replied. Pulling at her skirt again, he got eyes on the prize.

Unbuckling it, he snatched it free of her skirt and then grabbed the stump of Andrea’s arm.

Looping the belt quickly around the elbow joint, he cinched it incredibly tight and looped it back around. Giving it a final jerk, he tucked the belt loop into itself.

“That’ll hold you while I fix it. Keep going while I see if I can get your arm to grow back.”

Felix called up Andrea’s character sheet, then dismissed it when a thought came to him.

Half of Andrea’s problem was she had no resiliency.

“Fuck it,” Felix said, focusing on the idea of giving her extreme and controlled regeneration.

Third Power(Unlock): Directed Complete Regeneration

Required Stamina: 70 (Unmet)

Required Intelligence: 40 (Unmet)

Upgrade?(35,000)

Felix immediately upgraded Andrea’s stamina to seventy, and her intelligence to forty, and then upgraded her with a third power.

Name:

Andrea Elex

Power: Multiple Self Projections

Alias: Andrea, Andie, Lex.

Secondary Power: Partitioned Mind

Physical Status:

Wounded

Third Power: Directed Complete Regeneration

Positive Statuses:

None

Mental Status:

Concerned

Negative Statuses:

Bleeding

Strength:

44

Upgrade?(440)

Dexterity:

62

Upgrade?(620)

Agility:

71

Upgrade?(710)

Stamina:

70

Upgrade?(700)

Wisdom:

81

Upgrade?(810)

Intelligence:

40

Upgrade?(400)

Luck:

53

Upgrade?(530)

Primary Power:

31

Upgrade?(3,100)

Secondary Power:

79

Upgrade?(7,900)

Third Power:

50

Upgrade?(5,000)

Andrea shuddered, her head dipping forward as the power opened inside her mind.

She groaned, dodging a head-on collision by inches as they barreled along.

Felix glanced at her right arm as he grabbed the wheel, keeping them in the right lane even if he couldn’t control their speed.

From the ruins of her right forearm, the bones shifted, muscle growing outward, and skin immediately covering it. In a handful of seconds, her arm was regrown and whole.

“What’d you do?” Andrea asked groggily, her head lolling towards him.

“Gave you a third power. Andrea. Andrea! I need you to focus. Please. You’re driving.”

What was left of the roof tore off suddenly and went hurtling away.

A lightning bolt crackled across the street and caught Felix in the chest.

The armor took the hit, but the force of it sent him careening into the back seat this time. His helmeted head clanged off the glass and shattered it.

Groaning, Felix tried to move but felt like his arms and legs were made of pudding. Nothing was responding to his commands.

“Felix!”

Another lightning bolt zipped by as Andrea spun the wheel end over end, sending them down a cross street.

They bounced off another car and wiped out a mailbox as they went, car parts and letters filling the air.

Sitting up, Felix found himself staring at Tanker at the end of the street.

They herded us here.

It looked like they could swerve around him.

Felix’s head was pounding. He couldn’t tell if it was the lightning or using so many points so fast.

“I can’t move him, he’s too heavy,” Kit called out.

“Brace yourself, Kit, and act as soon as you can,” Felix said, calling open Kit’s window.

He pushed her second power all the way to ninety, then focused on the idea of giving her another power.

Illusions. Illusions to the point of physical manifestations.

Third Power(Unlock):Illusions (Physical Projections)

Required Intelligence: 70 (Met)

Required Wisdom: 70 (Met)

Upgrade?(60,000)

Felix mentally slapped at the upgrade button.

Kit wavered in her seat, a hand coming up to her brow.

Tanker was seconds away.

Then he was sent tumbling to one side by a gigantic fist.

He blew through a wall and disappeared into the interior.

Blowing past at near seventy miles an hour, Felix only had the brief flash of the man Andrea had gutted and decapitated.

He was covered in blood and looked fine, hiding behind a wall.

Looking back, Felix saw the man lift a rifle to his shoulder.

“Down!” Felix shouted, standing up and lifting his arms behind the heads of Kit and Andrea.

Heavy rounds slammed into his back and arms, drilling him into the back of the headrests.

Andrea took another turn at incredible speeds. The tires skipped and skidded across the road as their rear end swung out behind them.

The car smashed into a streetlight with the fury of a wrecking ball. Unfortunately, streetlights didn’t give way as much as street signs.

The rear right tire exploded from the impact, the car lurching towards the left.

Andrea floored it and took them into a parking garage. The wooden arm of the toll gate exploded into a shower of splinters as the car zoomed by.

Felix slumped into the rear seat, feeling as if he’d been beaten with a rubber hose all over his body.

Squealing around another turn, Andrea rushed up a ramp towards the second floor.

Grinding and scraping filled the entire parking complex as whatever was left of the tire went flying away.

Taking another ramp, Andrea bounced the car off a cement wall, and then off another car.

Feeling a lot like the ball in a pinball machine, Felix pressed his hands to both sides of his helmet.

“Sorry, handles like a bathtub on wheels right now. One more ramp?”

“One more ramp,” Kit said, nodding her head.

Andrea charged the dying vehicle up another ramp, spinning them around the turn and bouncing the rear end from wall to wall.

Each crunch and impact left paint and bits of the car everywhere.

She pulled them into a secluded corner next to the slotted openings that looked out over the street below.

Felix hung his head, then crumpled completely into the floorboards of the back seat.

Eventually he felt hands on him. Hands struggling to get him moving. Or at the very least out of the car.

“Come on, Felix, time to go. We don’t want to be here when they arrive.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Felix muttered. Trying to get to his feet, he got two steps before he collapsed to the cement.

“Oh, can’t forget. I’ll get the shadow,” Andrea said.

There was the pop of the car trunk, and the thump of a body hitting the ground.

“Over here, Andie.” There was the shriek of metal being torn and then the clang as it was dropped to the ground.

“Drop him on, then get Felix on it. Hold on tight to both of them. Not sure if this’ll work, but… at this point, it’s our best shot.”

Felix was dragged a short distance and dropped. Then Andrea was there, holding tightly to him and pressing him to the ground.

Closing his eyes, Felix tried to get his brain working. Between the lightning bolt, the adrenaline wearing off, and probably spending so many points, he felt drained.

The world around him jolted.

Opening his eyes, Felix turned his head and saw the dead man, Tanker, and what looked like a living bolt of lightning sprinting up from the ramp.

The ground shuddered again, and then of all things, the ground vanished.

Rather than the simple sensation of floating away, Felix realized he really was.

Floating away, that is.

As quickly as it had started, they were outside of the parking complex and speeding off into the sky.

Looking down, he realized they were on hood of the car.

Twisting his head around the other way, he found Kit standing nearby, her arms spread out in front of her.

A lightning bolt came out from the parking complex but died halfway to them as Kit continued to pour on the speed.

In a couple of heartbeats, they were soaring through the sky towards home.

“This is amazing,” Andrea said.

“Felix boosted my power set again. Considerably so. Gave me the ability to make living illusions. Actual physical projections.”

“He made me regenerate to the point that I think it’d be very hard to kill me. He also moved my intelligence up again,” Andrea replied.

“Not sure how I feel about that. I think… I think I might now understand some things I wish I didn’t.”

Slowly, hesitantly, both women started to laugh as the wind whipped by them.

Felix closed his eyes and let himself drift off for a moment. They had it under control. They didn’t need him right now.

Jolting upright as the car hood slammed into the ground, Felix looked around.

They’d touched down in the garage bay.

Home sweet home.

Felix sighed and slumped where he sat. It’d probably only been a few minutes that he’d drifted off, but he felt better for it.

“You okay?” Andrea asked. She was in front of him, bending down to meet his eyes.

“Yeah. Tired, but okay.” Felix got to his feet, his armor creaking.

Kit clapped her hands together and then stretched her back out. “That was certainly unexpected. Though it definitely gives us some ideas as to who’s been attacking us.”

Felix reached up to pull the helmet off his head. Pulling at the locking latch under his jaw, he grunted when it came free.

The fresh, cool air bathing his head reminded him of why he generally despised hats and helmets. It always felt like he was being smothered in his own sweat.

“And what ideas are those?” Felix pulled his helmet up under his arm and looked around.

Everything seemed fine. There wasn’t anything going on or out of the ordinary. Which meant the attack had been aimed primarily at him and no one else.

“Heroes association. Those were all heroes. Wraith here”—Kit indicated the living shadow bound at their feet—“is a hero. As was Tanker, Lizard, and Bolt.”

“Okay?” Felix stood up. Ioana and Miu were going to lock everything down, or so he remembered. The fact that they weren’t here was a little disturbing.

Maybe they’re at a different location making sure everything is secure? This would be the most likely location to get through an attack without them.

The automated defenses that Felicia had been putting up were formidable. Turrets, locking bulwark doors, electrified rooms. She’d really gone for the full “supervillains hideout” cliché.

“That means that the people we’ve been fighting this whole time would seem to be the hero association. I honestly… didn’t even consider it.”

“Oh, but I did,” said a cool voice.

Looking over, he found Lily walking towards him.

“Did you miss me?” she asked, walking up to Felix.

“Maybe. Though I think you missed teasing me more.” Felix pointed at the paper she had in her hand. “Got something for me?”

“I sure do.” Lily walked up and tapped his breastplate with a single fingertip. “I also have information.”

“Stop flirting and tell him. I’m going to take Wraith here to ‘the room’ in the meantime. Meet me there,” Kit said. She grabbed hold of one of Wraith’s ankles and dragged them off.

Lily sniffed delicately, then held out the paper to him. “The hearing with those lawyers was indeed a setup. The entire firm was purchased by a holding company.

“Tracing that company took some time, it went through a couple others of course, but we found it went back to, surprise, the hero association.”

Felix read over the paper, which listed out the owner of each company as it moved back up towards the real owner.

“Huh. Seems almost too easy,” Felix muttered. He looked up from the paper to find Lily watching him with a smile.

“It was. So either they’re incredibly stupid, and underestimated us, or they’re a puppet.

“Oh, did I also mention someone is opening up pawn shops next door to ours at every location?”

“Huh? That’s… strange.” Felix handed the paper back to Lily.

Felix had noticed Andrea had been coming in closer, slowly, out of the corner of his eye.

Now she wedged herself between Lily and himself.

Both he and Lily looked at her with a bit of a surprise.

“I don’t like it when you’re so close to him,” Andrea said. Her voice was soft, almost the point they couldn’t hear her.

Then she looked from Lily to Felix and turned a bright red. Pressing her hands to her face, she fled, her tail hanging low behind her.

“What… did you do?” Lily asked. She’d watched Andrea leave, but now turned her eyes back on him.

“I raised her intelligence. It was the only way I could give her a new power.” Felix shrugged.

Lily made a humming noise and tilted her head to one side. “I’ll talk with her. No more upgrading people without consulting me.” Lily smacked his forehead with the rolled-up sheet of paper. “I’m your account manager, both monetary and points; don’t do things without consulting me.”

“Yes, dear,” Felix said in a mocking voice.

“Good, so long as you understand. How am I expected to balance the household income otherwise?

“And about our budget. We’ll need to rely on you making our money for a while. These pawn shops are literally doing everything they can to drive us out of business.”

“Huh. What exactly are they doing?” Felix set the helmet down at his feet, then reached up and started to take off his armor.

“Oh, the usual. Undercut our prices, buy things for more, sell them for less. Honestly, they’re probably hemorrhaging money doing it.

“They’re definitely making more money than we are, though, since we’re not making any at all.

“Without you backstopping our finances, we’d be out of business in a few months.”

Felix frowned at that, dropping the breastplate and its undergarment to the ground. “Which means they knew our finances when they concocted this plan, but not the extent of my powers. Interesting.”

Scratching at his bare chest, Felix thought on that.

Reaching down, he pulled his boots off.

“I would almost think we had a rat, except for the fact that no one can discuss anything about us, with anyone. Maybe I should look into upgrading the building with anti-listening measures.”

Lily nodded after a moment and then leveled her paper at his chest. “You’ve lost weight.”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Miu and Ioana kick my ass daily, then make me work out.” Felix looked down at himself as he spoke. He’d had a tummy when he’d been working. Free fast food saved money, even if it did nothing for his physique.

“Not eating fast food every day probably helped as well.”

“Hm. Get a haircut and start shaving more regularly. You’re not unattractive as you are, but with a little work, you might actually get a girlfriend.”

“Heh. Who wants to date a slaveowner and be bound by an oath to not speak of anything they saw?

“No. My social life will be even worse than it used to be, I’m afraid.”

“Why not date an employee, then? I’m sure there would be those who were willing.”

“That seems almost worse. No way to tell if they were dating me for the perks, or for me.”

Felix reached down and got the lower portion of his armor free.

After a second, he got it unlatched and stepped out of it, letting it clatter to the ground.

“Gah, free. Free at last.” Felix twisted himself one way, then the other, getting his spine to pop.

Lily met his gaze with a smirk. She deliberately ran her eyes down along him slowly and then back up.

For whatever reason, getting out of his armor had taken precedence over caring that he was only wearing boxers underneath.

Now, however, standing such in front of Lily, he was forced to realize that this had not been a good idea.

Lily had no interest other than provoking and prodding him. And all he’d done was give her an easy target.

The fuck is wrong with me? Like something out of a terrible movie.

“Uh. I think I want a shower.”

“Is that so? We can continue this discussion in your bathroom, then.”

“Ah, no. That’s fine. We can pick this up later.”

Felix turned and marched off with as much dignity as he could muster.