Super Sales on Super Heroes

Chapter 2 - Spend Money to Make Money -

Felix adjusted his necktie as he shifted in the seat of his rundown coupe. Glancing up in the rearview mirror, he found it almost looked right.

Almost. There was still a hint of a pleat in the middle.

The horn coming to life behind him made him jump in his seat. Felix gunned the gas and then jumped forward. Only to slam on the brake when he realized the light was still red.

Ha ha, ass hat.

Doing his best to not make eye contact with anyone, Felix slunk into his seat. He remained in “stealth” mode all the way until he pulled into the parking lot of work.

Felix looked up to the rotating hamburger above the squat red brick building. The windows were decorated with saccharine-sweet mascots and kids who looked like they’d been fed a steady stream of cola.

Pressing his lips together in mute disappointment, Felix clipped his name badge into place.

“Felix - Manager” read the top line. Underneath that was his “time served,” as employees called it.

“Eight years serving you,” he muttered aloud.

Eight years of serving up burgers, fries, and every other assortment of fast food under the sun. Eight years of watching young people roll in and roll back out when they realized fast food wasn’t easy and didn’t pay well.

It certainly wasn’t rocket science, but it had its own challenges. Namely the customers, really.

Whoever had coined the phrase, ‘the customer is always right,’ had clearly never worked in retail or customer service.

And if they had, well, then they’d need to be hauled out into the street and beaten to death with plastic spoons.

His phone began to chime gently, signaling his need to go clock in for his shift.

Felix huffed and then exited his car. Silencing the alarm, it took him all but a minute to drop his card past the electronic reader.

The day went by in a blur. Not to mention he had a hard time concentrating. His mind kept wandering back to the woman in her makeshift coffin in his garage.

He’d shut the lid and latched it back closed. Then he’d left her there, as he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do. Most of the night he’d spent tossing and turning, thinking about the fact that he now had a total of nine hundred points to spend.

It’d taken a bit of tinkering with options to figure that out, but he’d done it.

And he still had all those points to spend at the end. After cycling through all the options available, he’d ended up not being sure what to do.

In the end, he’d reverted the changes he’d made to her, since he didn’t plan on breaking the coma from her yet, and then gone to bed.

“Felix. Cover the window for me, I’m going to take a break,” demanded the imperious voice of Janessa.

Before he could even object to the lovely young woman’s demand, she pulled out her phone and wandered off.

The last one she’d thrown at a customer and he’d had to play go-between to appease the customer and get Janessa in the back room.

She was the most recent pet project that had been pushed his way by the regional manager. One that really wasn’t working out in any way, shape, or form.

So much so that had it been anyone else, Felix would have let her go already.

Felix didn’t doubt for a minute that Joe had ulterior motives, and wasn’t quite prepared to go up against him right now. Not over a woman who would end up quitting in the end. It wasn’t the right time or place to call the regional manager out on it.

Can’t trust anyone named Joe.

As the store manager, he had to deal with whatever the regional made him do as long as it was within company policy. Though he was slowly preparing all the right paperwork to walk the woman out despite that.

Beautiful, built for the eyes, and whatever else she may be, but an annoying, lazy, monster that could only be a shrew to whoever she was dating.

In his shame, he couldn’t deny he’d been infatuated with her for a short period. Days, maybe. That was how long it had taken before she’d revealed her dumpster fire of a personality.

“Hello? I’m ready to place my order,” said a voice in the headset at the window. She’d simply set it down and walked off without another word.

Vibrating his pocket, his phone demanded his attention at the same time.

Pulling out his phone, he glanced at the caller ID.

Restricted, unknown caller.

The regional manager liked to call him at all hours on different phones to test him.

Another worker slipped into his line of sight at that moment, and Felix thanked whatever luck he’d been granted at that moment.

“Steve, get the window, please? I’d really appreciate it,” Felix said to the young man with a smile. He flipped open his phone at the same time, which he hoped would end any argument before it could happen.

“Sure thing, boss,” said the young man.

Felix assumed part of that was the fact that Janessa would have to talk to him when she came back.

Holding the phone up to his ear, Felix said, “This is Felix.”

“Afternoon, Felix,” came the cool response.

He recognized that voice. He couldn’t quite place it.

“I happen to have two more items that fit your request for merchandise.”

Marcus!

“Ah! Marcus. Yes, yes. That’s great news,” Felix said, and he meant it. Where one super might give him a significant point boost, what would several more do?

He was pretty sure it all hinged on that slider at the bottom. The “Draw” slider. Nothing else had changed otherwise.

Looking around, he realized this wasn’t the best spot to have this conversation. Walking into the back office where he normally did performance reviews or paperwork Felix shut the door.

“Marcus? Ah. Nah. Today I’m Caldwell,” said the previous Marcus, now Caldwell.

“Alright. Caldwell. What’s the fee?”

“Five. This’ll be a delivery to boot. We were going to dispose of these two Dudleys, but I figured… why not make green on the side?” Caldwell chuckled at that.

“Definitely. Definitely. Do you need that fee today?” Felix opened his work computer and flipped to the Excel spreadsheet he kept his finances on.

Negative three hundred and sixty-two dollars and fourteen cents.

“Yep. I’ll have a courier pick it up out of your mailbox tonight after everyone’s out in that sleepy little neighborhood of yours. That is, if we have a deal?”

Felix chewed on that mentally. He didn’t have the money, and wouldn’t have the money. But… how often did you get a chance to power up your abilities?

I can go get a loan. My car isn’t in that bad of shape. I can sell it if I really need to clear the loan later. I don’t have any debt, either.

Get six thousand. Buy the two, set up a room that they can convalesce in. Use all my vacation and sick time. Get those three up and running to a point that they can care for themselves.

Then use that to upgrade things and make money.

Felix blinked.

It was a lot like those games he used to play when he was a kid. Spend money to buy upgrades. Use those upgrades to make more money, to buy new things that would help you make more money. Which in turn would let you buy upgrades for those items.

His power was literally that game, he realized. He might as well call himself Upgrade Man.

“Done.”

“Great, I’ll have it delivered to your place in an hour. They’ll pop the garage and leave it there. No need to meet us or even disarm your security. Don’t forget to use the box. You’ll need to do that for their loyalty and your safety to finalize.

“See ya later, Felix.”

The line disconnected suddenly.

Felix pulled his phone from his ear and looked at the screen.

From being essentially a nobody, to owning slaves.

He knew that the owner’s box he’d been given could hold up to ten thousand slaves without a problem. It used magic to bind them to their master’s will. That they couldn’t harm or work against their master.

Couldn’t use it on someone against their will, though.

It did leave open the ugly loophole of giving someone no choice but to allow it, but that wasn’t his problem today.

Looking to his phone, he dialed in the regional manager’s number and mashed the voicemail button the moment it started to ring.

“Hey, Joe. This is Felix over at number forty-two. I’m going to be heading home sick for the rest of the day. I’ll be out tomorrow as well. Sorry about the short notice. Just not feeling well. Everything here should be covered.”

Felix ended the phone call and then opened the browser on his smartphone.

He was generations behind the newest wrist phones, but he liked his old phone. It had a big screen and… well, it was one of the few things he’d been able to successfully modify.

It had taken him peeling it apart and upgrading individual components, but it had worked.

Tapping in a request for directions to the closest branch of his bank, Felix laid out plans to get the loan, buy supplies, and head back home. He’d have to build an impromptu ward and start treating his cash cows.

Having them die on him would be gut-wrenching now that he’d figured out how to increase his power.

Now that he could be somebody.

Before all that, though, he’d need to head over to the law offices. Today was his monthly visit with them.

Felix wasn’t looking forward to it. He never was, really. It only made him realize that those he cared for were gone.

Bank, supplies, home, meeting, home.

With a nod of his head, Felix started what he believed would be the changing point in his life.

Pulling in front of the office building, Felix shook himself and then ran his fingers through his hair. He hated doing this, but it was something he had to do to make sure his family dues were taken care of. Both in this life, and wherever they ended up.

Getting out of the car, Felix looked up at the sign hanging above the entrance to the building.

“Reznik, Blacketer, and Troy,” the sign read. Supposedly they were the ones who owned the business, though Felix had nothing to do with them.

Walking up to the front door, he pulled the handled and stepped inside.

Waiting for him was the same steel-haired matron he always saw behind the reception desk.

She never smiled, she didn’t say anything out of line, and Felix wasn’t even sure if she blinked.

Maybe she’s a robot.

“Felix Campbell. Monthly meeting for my trust,” Felix said, picking up the clipboard and signing himself in.

“Take a seat, they’ll be with you shortly,” said the woman without a hint of anything resembling a personality.

Rolling his eyes, Felix sat down in a leather recliner. The lobby was empty, and he couldn’t help but feel like they were making him wait to prove a point.

That they could make him wait.

Felix picked up a magazine and started to leaf through it.

He was halfway through an article about the fact that the economy was on the rise since the takeover before they called him in.

Tossing the magazine negligently onto a table, Felix followed behind one of the young associates as they led him to the same conference room they always went to.

She gestured to the lone chair that he always sat at.

Felix took the proffered seat. Looking up, he found himself facing the eight lawyers his aunt and uncle had contracted should something happen to them.

One of the clauses of those worst-case scenarios was if they happened to be missing. And that they were to be declared dead in absentia, providing that it was the appropriate amount of time they were missing.

Along with that provision came an impressive and full set of rules they’d had to put together to protect themselves, their estate, and Felix.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Campbell. Good to see you, as always,” said the lead legal expert. The group that had been put together was evenly split by men and women, though they seemingly came from every background imaginable.

The head honcho of this little group was an older man in his fifties by the name of Mr. Joseph, who had a head of salt-and-pepper hair and a clean-shaven face. He looked like your next-door neighbor—minus the fact that he was a bloodsucking bastard without a soul.

“First order of business, we’ve reviewed your request to have a regular gardener take care of the front and back yard,” said Joseph.

He’d gotten sick of mowing the massive yards and decided he might as well make use of the maintenance money that was set aside.

“It’s been approved and we’ll be hiring an appropriate candidate to take care of the grounds. Salary will be paid out of the maintenance account, of course.”

Felix nodded at that. That was fine. He didn’t like them picking the candidate, but he wasn’t going to argue with them. They’d just start quoting clauses and subsections at him.

“Second, and I apologize for this, as I don’t believe this is fun for anyone, we need to discuss your living arrangements.”

Felix lifted his eyebrows at this. “What about them? I’ve been living in that home for as long as I can remember. Grew up there.”

“Yes. Well. As you’re living there, we believe you should be paying rent. Should have been paying rent as well.”

Felix shook his head, his mouth opening and closing twice.

What the actual fuck? What stupid horse shit is this?

“To that end, we need to collect roughly one hundred and fifty thousand dollars from you in overdue rent.”

“Are you fucking kidding!?” Felix stood up, pressing his hands to the table.

Four of the people on the other side of the table looked uncomfortable, while the other four seemed sure of themselves.

“It’s all perfectly accurate, I assure you.”

“You want me to pay rent for living in a home that I’ve been in since as far back as I can remember?” Felix shouted at them.

“That’s correct. The amount is in your favor, I assure you, since it’s mostly free of interest. I’m sure this is a shock to you, so we’ll conclude our business with this item,” Joseph said with an oily smile.

“To that end, I believe if we were to set up a simple payment method, from you to your parents, and put it at a set rate, as well as your monthly rent, we can get this taken care of without a problem.”

“And what exactly are you thinking is the rent?” Felix asked, his anger starting to make his vision blur as his heart thudded in his chest.

“Well, according to the survey we conducted of the area…” Joseph said, looking for a paper in front of him.

A survey? They’ve been planning this. This isn’t random or ill-thought-out.

“The rent for the house would be roughly twenty-three hundred a month. Though since you’re a relative of the owner, we believe fifteen hundred would be more comparable.”

Felix shook his head slowly. This couldn’t actually be happening. This was insanity at a level he’d never thought possible.

This was something you saw on a terrible movie.

“I see that this has upset you greatly. We’ll discuss restitution and repayment at our next meeting,” Joseph said, stacking the papers in front of himself.

“No, we’ll discuss it now. Give me a damn copy of the agreement, now, as I know I’m entitled that, and show me where this is possible,” Felix said, grinding his teeth.

“That or I call the police and we have them sort this out.”

That got their attention. Suddenly everyone was a lot less confident.

Joseph blinked, and then withdrew a packet of papers from his briefcase. Coming over beside Felix, he set the papers down and flipped through a couple pages. Laying on the table face up was an entire section about “living in the house” and appropriate rental rates.

Damn it. Seriously? What the hell is this?

Felix started to read through the mind-numbing legal jargon before giving up. He was in no mood to try and ferret out where this clusterfuck of a shitshow went.

“Fine, we’ll talk again,” Felix pushed the words out between his teeth. Snatching up the documents, he stomped out of the offices, making sure to slam every door in his way.

It wasn’t until he pulled onto the road that his head cleared at all.

“They’re trying to drive me out. I’m sure there’s something they want. Something they’re after. Okay, during this week-long vacation, we’re gonna sit down and really go over the contract and will. We’ll get this figured out. Yeah.”

Felix sighed, and gripped the wheel tighter.

He couldn’t afford the rent, to be frank. A fast food manager didn’t exactly make stacks of cash. Not in the least.

No, this would end up with him falling into a never-ending pit of debt to his own family.

Growling, Felix slammed his hand into the steering wheel as his anger spiked again.