Super Sales on Super Heroes

Chapter 4 - Point of View -

All three of the heroines had passed out as soon as they’d cleared their bowls.

Rather than working on them as they slept, he decided to wait till morning.

Staring up at the ceiling of the ward room, it took him a minute to orient his thoughts.

Sitting up, he rubbed at his eyes with his hands, the sleeping bag bunched up around his middle.

“Good morning,” Kit said pleasantly, her eyeless face swiveling towards him.

“Uh, yeah. Good morning,” Felix said, coughing into his hand. Stretching his arms over his head, he inspected his supers.

Ioana slept, Miu looked… lost, and Kit seemed chipper.

“Miu,” Felix said. Her head slowly turned towards him, but she said nothing. “What’s wrong?”

“I… can’t see anything,” Miu said slowly.

“Yes. Your eyes, well, they were removed.” Perhaps they hadn’t accepted everything as easily last night as he had thought.

“I’m blind. I’ll never see again,” Miu murmured, her head sinking.

“Ah, no, I can restore them.” Felix stood up from his bag and walked over to her bed.

“Lie,” Miu hissed. “No one can do that. You only wish to use us.”

Felix couldn’t argue with that. He did want to use them. Instead, he opened up Miu’s window and selected the Blinded condition.

“Left or right eye, Miu?” he asked.

“What? What do you mean?” she asked bitterly.

“Left or right eye?” he asked again, not giving her any more information.

“Right,” she said in a mocking tone.

Felix picked the right eye of the blinded condition, then hit confirm.

Miu sucked in a breath as the dark socket of her eye started to boil and shift. A few seconds in and already he could tell her right eye was regrowing itself straight out from her brain, behind the sunken eyelid.

Ten seconds from the confirmation button and all was still on Miu’s face.

“Try opening your right eye. Don’t be shocked by what you see. As I said, and have now demonstrated, I can fix it.” Felix left her there and wandered over to Kit’s bed.

“I… I can see! I can see… oh my God,” Miu said, her voice catching. “What did they do?”

“They did what only the truly evil can,” Kit explained. “And yet, here we are. Alive, under care, and being given the chance at a normal life. I’m grateful. I choose the left eye; it’s the least problematic of the two. I might even be able to see the TV. I’ll need to get a new pair of glasses.”

Felix smiled to himself as he focused on her sheet. She did indeed need glasses originally. Since the eye was being rebuilt, though, it’d only take a few extra points to modify it. To make it so she wouldn’t need a prescription.

“That’s a pity. I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave the house for a while,” Felix said, mentally thumbing the confirm button.

Kit smiled sadly at that but didn’t respond. In ten seconds, her left eye had been reformed.

“Then again, I fixed your eyesight. You won’t need eyeglasses anyways,” Felix said with a prideful snicker.

Ioana had been stirring as they spoke. She’d probably wake soon.

Felix turned around to face her. Picking her right eye, he hit the confirmation button. After it activated, he walked over and sat down on his stool.

Amazingly, he still had points left. He wasn’t sure how many, but he still had some. He was at least twelve times as strong as he used to be just by going by the point values already.

“That’s quite impressive, Felix,” Kit said, looking around with her one eye.

“Anything I own, I can modify,” Felix said with a shrug. Ioana’s single eye fluttered open.

“What?” she muttered.

“We started with a single eye for each of you, Ioana. It seemed like a good demonstration that, yes, I can repair you completely, and that, yes, it’s exactly as I described to you. Seeing is believing, after all.”

Felix looked over his shoulder at the unpowered TV. Pointing at it, he continued, “The remote to this is in the bedside between Ioana and Miu. Full cable access and every station under the sun.

“I’ll be undoing your restraint today as well. I’m telling you to stay in this house, though, and please do not attempt to contact anyone else.”

Felix sighed and looked back to the three one-eyed women. “All you’ll accomplish is bringing the authorities down on us. You’ll get sent to… wherever they send supers, and I’ll probably be fined for not handling you correctly.”

“Fined? For not handling us?” Ioana asked darkly.

“Yeah, fined. I told you, the city is run by a supervillain now. Heroes are little better than lampposts right now. All the borders are under checkpoint and patrolled by supers and the military alike.”

Felix shrugged and stood up. Working quickly, he undid the restraints for each woman. They still looked like the walking dead, but they seemed energetic enough. They weren’t in pain, either.

“How long will it take… take to fix us?” Miu asked.

“I really have no idea. I’ve never done anything at this level. I do plan on taking the next week off for vacation, though, to get you three put back together as much as I can.”

Felix looked at each of them in turn. “Any other questions?”

Kit got her feet onto the ground and then flipped her sheets off. “Can I wander the house freely? You wouldn’t mind whatever room I went into? I’d like to explore a bit if I’m going to be cooped up here for a while.”

“Uhm, sure. You’re all allowed to wander the extent of the house without restraint. Just please don’t go outside, contact anyone, or even try to contact anyone.” Felix scratched at the back of his head. He had hoped to keep them locked up in the ward, but that had gone out the window.

“Thanks, thanks,” Kit said. “Oh! Slippers.”

Kit stuck her feet in the blue slippers and shuffled her way out the door into the living room.

Miu took a second but immediately did the same, following Kit out without a word.

Ioana stared at Felix with her one eye, watching him as if he would attack her at any moment now that they were alone.

Holding up his hands, Felix walked out of the ward to the kitchen. “I’ll make breakfast.”

His week of rebuilding heroines was coming to a close. For the last five days, it’d been nothing but updating them on events of the city, remaking their bodies, and generally hanging out around the house.

All in all, it was actually rather enjoyable after the first couple awkward hours. Miu and Ioana had started doing some limited training in his basement with his uncle’s weight set, and Kit had simply enjoyed herself.

Though the three of them really did infinitely more eating than him. Truth be told, they ate through his entire pantry. He’d already gone to the grocery store once to restock.

He’d heard supers could put away calories, but this was impressive for people who were in their condition.

They were taking a giant bite out of the small amount of money he had. With this trip, he’d be going into the negative on his credit cards.

A loan, debt on my cards… this is going to get worse.

Felix gave himself a small shake, breaking himself free of his thoughts. Turning the keys, he killed the engine and looked to his passenger.

Kit looked uncomfortable. She watched people going in and out of the grocery store like they’d attack her.

She was dressed in a sweater and a pair of jeans.

The ladies were able to face the public on a general basis. Mostly. He hadn’t fixed any of the flesh, muscle, and bone that was covered by clothes. They were still quite lacking of breasts and were all scar tissue.

The points involved for that were simply much higher, and progress was slowing down. For the most part, though, they were restored to normality.

Kit ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it to one side, and then looked to him.

Now that she didn’t look like a corpse, he’d call her cute. She had wavy dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a finely featured face. She wasn’t pretty, but she wasn’t unattractive either.

Then again, she didn’t look quite healthy yet. Or even put completely back together. He got the impression that might change his opinion of her not being “pretty.”

“I don’t think I can do this,” Kit said quietly.

“Sure you can. I guarantee you won’t hear them unless you want to.” Felix unclipped his seatbelt and pushed his keys into his pocket.

“Promise?” Kit asked, her hands balling into fists in front of her.

“I do. Come on, let’s go. I’ve noticed Ioana gets feisty if she isn’t fed regularly.” Felix wasn’t really kidding, either.

Pushing open his car door, he stepped out into the fall morning.

Adjusting his windbreaker, he looked across the top of his car. Kit finally opened her own door and stepped out. With a quick tap of the door control, he locked the car and shut it.

Felix stuck his hands in his pockets, looking around him as he walked to the front of the store.

“I was thinking. The way you described your power,” Kit said from beside him. “It’s… strange. One would think someone else planned it for you.”

Felix sighed and looked over to Kit, who met his eyes and then looked away.

“Yeah. I know. Same thought I’ve had about it. That or I’m crazy. It makes no sense, though, when you consider that I didn’t even have enough points to use my power.”

The doors slid open and Felix grabbed a shopping cart. Angling it towards to the left, they started off into the produce aisle.

“That makes me wonder. Have you tried visualizing other things? Like, a bank account listing how many points you had, and from what source?” Kit asked, picking up a bag of potatoes.

“Huh. No. Never thought about it. And I don’t talk to people about my power, so it’s not like I have a sounding board for it.” Felix adjusted where the potatoes sat in the cart and picked up a sack of oranges.

“Give it a try? I’m going to go get carrots and celery. Making soups and stews will stretch the pantry further.”

Felix shrugged and concentrated on what she’d suggested. A bank account-looking screen that showed all of his points—where they came from and how much he had for the day and where he’d spent them.

Much to his chagrin, the screen instantly appeared.

Received

Spent

Remaining

Daily Allotment

150

0

150

Miu Miki

400

0

400

Ioana Iliescu

800

0

800

Kit Carrington

1,500

0

1,500

DAILY TOTAL

2,850

0

2,850

“Shit,” Felix said, closing the window.

“Worked?” Kit asked, dropping both carrots and celery into their cart as she returned.

“Yeah. You’re worth twice as many points as Ioana. Miu isn’t even in the same league you’re in.” Felix reached into the cart and readjusted everything till it fit the way he wanted it to.

“Not surprising. Telepathy is kinda rare in comparison to battle senses or inhuman strength. Miu is more or less on the lowest end of the power spectrum and is more like an enhanced human.” Kit stopped talking and picked up a bottle of salad dressing and dumped it into the cart.

Felix frowned and moved the bottle. Not saying anything, they cleared the produce aisle and started working their way up and down each lane.

“How about this?” Kit said suddenly. She held up a skillet in front of her. Felix opened his mouth to tell her he had to own it first, but she kept going. “Let’s try to take it one step further. Focus on this and try to use your power on it. Except I want you to… envision it as a hypothetical. As in, what would be available to you if you owned it?”

Frowning, Felix did as she instructed, and the skillet’s window popped up immediately.

Tilting his head to the side a fraction, he closed the window and looked up to her.

“Worked, didn’t it?” Kit gave him a bright smile, going from cute to “attractive” in a heartbeat.

“Uh, yeah. It did.” Felix set the skillet back into its place on the rack. “This only makes me more nervous, though. Were these prepared in advance, are they reacting to my desires, or am I just… crazy?”

“Who cares?” Kit asked laughingly. She picked up a carton of toilet paper and slid it under the cart. “Your power works, and it’s truly unique.”

Felix couldn’t argue with her right now. Everything she’d made him do so far had worked. Results always spoke for themselves.

“Alright. Next test. Can you give me back my powers?” she asked, turning her fingers inwards to point at herself.

“I can. I… yeah. What percentage of it do you want back?” He scratched at his jaw and turned his head; it made him nervous when she stared at him.

“Oh! That’s perfect. I thought it’d just be an on/off switch. Let’s try… ten percent?” She grabbed the front of the cart and got them rolling again as she spoke.

“Ten, okay,” Felix agreed. Flipping open the window as Kit took control of the cart, he lowered the draw to ninety percent and accepted.

Kit slowed for a second, but then continued on as if nothing had changed.

Felix said nothing, and instead held up the list he’d made. Scratching off toilet paper, he looked around himself to figure out what was next.

“They’re so quiet. It’s like constant muttering,” Kit said, reaching up to pull down a pack of paper plates. “Put it to one percent.”

Felix obliged, and then checked his account balance.

Kit was listed as one thousand four hundred and eighty-five points now. Exactly ninety-nine percent of her value.

“I really have to focus to hear anything. To the point that it hurts. Urgh. How about five percent?”

Felix flicked the slider over four percentage points.

“I can hear them if I think about it. That’s… rather nice, really. Do you mind leaving it there?”

Felix wasn’t going to worry over something like seventy points right now. Not when he could always take it back just as quickly. “Sure.”

“Thanks. You’re an okay guy for a slaveowner.”

Felix chuckled at that and shook his head. “You’re a smart, telepathic lady. Read my thoughts. You’ll find I’m not that nice.”

Kit stopped dead in her tracks and slowly looked at him. She tilted her head to one side, then the other. “I can’t. I actually can’t… read your mind. I’ve never had that happen. Put it to one hundred percent real quick.”

Doing as she requested, he popped it up to zero percent draw and looked to her.

She staggered as if struck and then looked at him. Her eyebrows drew down, and he got the feeling she was exerting immense pressure to open his mind.

Felix looked around to see if anyone was watching. It looked more like she was angry at him than anything. It was honestly rather embarrassing.

An old woman passed by them, eyeing Kit, then him. Felix made an apologetic gesture at the woman and gave her a weak smile.

“I can’t,” Kit said finally, shaking her head. “I actually can’t read your mind.”

Felix flipped her back up to ninety-five percent draw and then shrugged. “Okay? Goodie goodie for me. I’m betting it has to do with the slave master thing.”

Stepping in front of Kit, he took the cart and got them rolling again.

“No, you don’t understand. I can’t tell if you’re lying or telling the truth.”

“Okay? Yeah, that’s normal. Welcome to being human.” Felix shook his head and turned the cart across the back aisle towards the dairy section.

“You’re right. So, tell me, then,” Kit said, grabbing a two-gallon jug of whole milk.

“Tell you what? The slaveowner thing?” Felix scratched off milk from his list and then pointed at the cheese section.

Kit nodded her head and grabbed a bag of shredded cheese.

“You’re a source of power. A battery. Income,” Felix explained slowly. He wasn’t sure why he was telling her this. He was giving up some power over them in favor of… trust, maybe?

“Ah. I see. Keep us happy, healthy, and cooperative and it’s easier for everyone.” Kit nodded her head, dropping the cheese into the cart.

Felix grunted his agreement, immediately moving the cheese into the right spot.

“Smart. I get it. I think I’d probably do the same. Well, if we—” Kit stopped, a smile frozen on her face. “Someone is watching us. They recognized me as Augur. The things he’s pushing at me mentally are… can you turn it off? Please?”

Felix nodded his head and pushed her back up to a full draw.

Kit blinked and then laughed suddenly, pressing her hands to her stomach. “Oh, that’s rather nice. No helmet required, just… boop, gone. Haaaaa. Other than the whole slave thing, this is rather nice. What’s next on the list?”

Looking to the list, Felix scratched at his head. “Meat. Ioana wants a lot of meat.”

“Meat!” Kit said loudly. She jumped up on the back of the cart, sending it skittering forward as she pointed towards the indicated section.

Sighing, Felix followed along behind her. He didn’t blame her for her actions. He imagined her life up to this point had probably been full of the thoughts and emotions of others.

She lived for herself now.

Well, through me, for herself. All fifteen hundred points of herself.

Felix stopped dead, staring at nothing.

He had two thousand eight hundred and fifty points.

A grin popped up over his face, and suddenly, the world seemed a much brighter place.

Felix smiled at Miu and Ioana as they opened the garage door. Felix turned the keys and shut the car off. Opening his door, he tossed the keys to Miu.

Giving them a quick wave, he slipped by them and entered the house.

“What?” Miu asked, catching the keys and looking to him.

“If you could please unload the car, I’ll take care of lunch in a bit. I’m sorry, and thank you,” Felix said over his shoulder, heading straight to his uncle’s study.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Ioana called after him. “Felix!”

“Gotta check something. Might just solve a whole buncha problems.”

Felix opened a dresser drawer and pulled out a solid ingot of lead. It weighed five pounds and had been one of his early experiments.

He knew that he didn’t have the points to turn it into gold.

Focusing on the heavy metal, he called up the window for it.

Picking the “material” section, he changed it to silver, then looked at the point value needed.

Two thousand points. Exactly as he remembered it from when he’d tried different materials.

Grinning, he hit the confirm button. The five-pound lead bar was replaced with a five-pound silver bar.

Laughing, he picked up the bar and flipped it over in his hands. It was real. It existed. It worked.

“We’re in business.”

“And what business is that?” Ioana asked from the door, her arms folded across her chest.

Felix looked to her and gave her a big smile. “Whatever we want it to be. First, we need to buy a lot of cheap metal. Whole lot of it.”

Then Felix realized something even better. He could quit whenever he wanted if this went as he hoped it would.