Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2

Chapter 15 - Litter -

“No. You can’t force it. You have to draw the runes. Each finger must take part for it to construct itself accordingly,” Lily said.

Felix froze at the sound of her voice. He hadn’t seen her since the prison meeting the previous day.

“I can’t. It’s too hard,” came a young man’s voice.

“Of course you can. I did it for many years before Felix adjusted my powerset,” Lily said encouragingly.

Realizing that Lily didn’t know he was there, Felix crept around the corner. Peering into the training room, he found Lily and Evan standing with their backs to the entry. They were both facing the far wall. It was a steel-reinforced, magically-backed monstrosity. Built for the sheer purpose of absorbing attacks.

Evan looked the same as Felix remembered.

Cleaner though, and certainly looking far more healthy.

Felix didn’t spend much time with him though. Much in the same way he didn’t spend much time with Lily’s brother.

They had their own things going on.

So why do I spend so much time with Eva?

Felix frowned at the thought. It wasn’t something he wanted to explore right now. Especially since he owed a conversation to her about what he’d been doing to her.

On her behalf.

Without her knowledge.

“Can’t you just ask him to change my powers for me?” Evan complained. “Make mine just like yours? Everyone says he’s more likely to do things for you or Andrea since you’re his girlfriends.”

“I could ask him. And he’d probably do it for me if only because I asked. That doesn’t solve your problem though. You need the control and the practice. Changing your powers now wouldn’t help you in the long run,” Lily said. “Learning with your hands and fingers first is ideal. Master that, and I promise I’ll ask Felix.”

“This would be so much easier if—”

“No. Try again,” Lily said firmly.

Evan sighed dramatically and lifted his hands up.

Slowly, painfully, he began to draw in the air with his hands. Runes and symbols began to glow in the air. Faint and shimmering, they were translucent.

Even Felix could tell they were not at the level of power or clarity that Lily could put out. Nowhere near close.

“Good, good. That’s actually fairly accurate. Your will isn’t forming it completely though. See how it wavers? How it looks misty? You have to focus as you do it,” Lily said.

“Ok,” Evan said. “I’ll… I’ll just try again, then.”

“Good. Concentrate. Move through the spell sigils slowly, and build them correctly,” Lily said. She demonstrated with her hands, the spellwork flowing up immediately and trailing her fingers.

It was as solid as if it were real, strikingly so. It radiated power and certainty.

As ever, it was beautiful.

Elegant.

Just like her.

Felix smiled, and slipped out of the entryway.

Andrea gave him a curious look but said nothing. In her new role as the Andrea-net, the day to day hadn’t changed. At least around him, that is. He knew the floor she’d requested had already been built out, and that her Others were occupying it.

Turning down the hall, he left Lily and Evan in the training room alone and moved on down the hallway.

He didn’t want to intrude on her lesson, as he couldn’t imagine it helping at all. Though he thought about asking her about it later. In fact, he probably needed to get involved a bit more with the up and coming Legion members with powers. They’d need training and assistance.

Something to talk with Kit about.

Right now though, he was here to help Miu adjust her powerset, and to give her orders.

As was her fashion, she had chosen the last training room. She had also more than likely brought a lock so that she could secure the door.

And more than likely cut the feed to the cameras and audio sensors.

Taking a moment outside of the closed door into the training area, Felix gave himself a quick once over.

He had dressed in clothing he could move in. Clothes that he could add padding to if she brought it. Clothes he could rough-house in and go tumbling to the mat.

Miu was anything but gentle with him in their one on one sparring sessions. She figured he could hop in a healing tank as easily as a bath tub, and so she was essentially causing him no harm.

Even if she broke his arm.

“I’ll get the tank ready,” Andrea said happily. “Do you want to have lunch after this? You could come down to the Andrea-net!”

“And there’ll be pancakes?” Felix asked with a knowing smile.

“Of course! But other things, too. Doctor Andrea said we need to try and balance your diet,” Andrea said.

Doctor Andrea? They did requisition a medical skill book. I wonder what she’s up to.

“Thanks, dear. Yeah, let’s do lunch after this. I’ll see you after she’s done with me,” Felix said. Andrea gave him a wide grin then nodded her head once.

Opening the door, Felix stepped inside.

“Lock it,” Miu called from the center of the room. She was dressed in yoga pants, a sports bra, and was barefoot. She seemed to delight in wearing outfits like this in their training now. As if it was some type of victory in doing exactly what he’d teased her about.

And that was a lesson learned. Don’t make fun of the crazy person.

Felix locked the door, clicking the padlock into place as she’d instructed him. Then he stepped out into the center of the training area.

It was a simple square room, sized for lots of movement and empty.

She gave him a wide frantic smile, her eyes glued to him.

Clearly she’d already dropped her control over herself and seemed ready and eager.

“I want to adjust some of my powers after this, but first, I think we should do some hand to hand sparing,” Miu said, putting her hands on her hips.

“Alright. Let me warm up and we’ll—”

“No. You’ll go into this cold. As if it were a fight you weren’t expecting. Here I come,” Miu said, then promptly charged at him.

Her fist practically blurred with the speed of the punch she threw at him.

Stepping into the attack, Felix blocked her inner forearm and drove forward with an elbow. Miu caught it easily with her free hand and shoved it to one side. Her doubled strength was enough to knock him off balance. Felix did his best to move with it, working to keep his footwork and balance in check.

Turning around he caught sight of a fist just before it caught him in the mouth. Stumbling backward under the force of the blow, Felix got his hands up.

Miu wasn’t the type to let up, and dropping your guard after a hit would only invite another.

Seeing him defensive, ready for her, she stopped.

“Good. Your reflexes are getting better,” Miu said.

He knew for a fact that she was incredibly talented in martial arts. Her powers made her gifted in everything and anything.

Lately she’d been training much more diligently as well. Her strength, speed, and agility were skyrocketing.

Felix sniffed, and rubbed the back of his wrist against his mouth. Looking at it he saw bright red blood.

“You hit like a freight train,” Felix said. Or tried to. His mouth was actually filling with blood rather quickly.

Poking around with his tongue, he found he’d split the inside of his lip open. Sucking on it for a second he spat out a mouthful of blood onto the mat.

Cleaning crews were assigned to clean up bloody messes just like that, Felix reasoned. He didn’t worry about it.

Miu’s fractured smile spread across her face. She looked from him to the blood, and then back.

“I hit much harder. I’ve been training. I’ll be your bloody blade, gladly,” she said.

Felix didn’t let his guard down. Instead, he started to slowly back up, trying to give himself a bit more space. Miu had a tendency to attack when he wasn’t expecting it.

He figured she was practicing her own techniques at the same time, but that didn’t mean he was going to make it easy.

“Speaking of being my bloody blade, I wanted to give you your orders,” Felix said.

Miu began to move as well, stalking him. Though she was moving much slower.

“I want you to go through the personal lives of some people. In particular, all of my opponents who have a similar disposition as I do, who might be going after the same voters. I need to clear the field of anyone with the same base as I do,” Felix said. “The goal is to do it with pressure if possible. Giving them an opportunity to drop out if we know the skeletons in their closet. After that, probably a subtle bribe from Lily. If that fails… you or a Fixer finishes it.”

“So… non-human supporters. Anyone who thinks the Heroes guild is too big for themselves. And anyone promoting better security and defenses,” Miu summarized.

“Kinda, yeah. I mean, everyone ascribes to some of that. But I want to make sure I’m the one pushing it the hardest. So anyone who’s running it as part of their main platform would be on the target list,” Felix said.

“I shall take care of this for you. Now…” Miu said, pausing.

She reached down and dragged her fingers through the blood on the mat.

The blood he’d spit up.

With shivering fingers she wiped it across the bridge of her nose and down her cheek. Then she licked her fingertips and quivered from head to toe.

Gasping, Miu closed her eyes and began sucking on her fingers. She pressed her left hand to her chest as if she couldn’t contain herself.

Slowly, only after she’d cleaned her fingers completely of blood, she opened her eyes. Opened them and locked them on him.

Or to be precise, locked on what felt like his bloody mouth.

The look that she gave him was a mixture of desire, revulsion, and need.

Exactly what he expected from her.

“Let’s see how you do, and what you’ve learned. Then we can go over what powers I need,” Miu said, and then sprinted at him.

Crazy and dangerous. Thank god she’s on our side.

Felix braced himself and was ready for her.

Stumbling out of the training room, he practically ran over Eva.

She was sitting next to the door, working on a tablet.

“Holy crap,” Eva said, looking at him.

Felix knew he looked as if he’d gone twelve rounds in a heavy-weight bout.

Partially because he had. Miu looked diminutive but had the strength of a champion boxer.

“Training,” Felix said.

“Eva said she needed to talk to you,” Andrea said, smiling. “I saw you had a note that you needed to have a meeting with her so I scheduled it for right now. We can go have lunch and put you in the tank after.”

Felix sighed but couldn’t disagree. It was a conversation he needed to have.

“Oh, and Kit sent over an email to you. She listed the contents as secure and your eyes only, so I didn’t read it.”

That’d be the answers she promised me.

“Right. Thank you,” Felix said. He was only mildly annoyed, but that was more about the situation than what Andrea did.

She was only doing exactly what she felt was right, he couldn’t blame her.

And it was right, he just didn’t like it.

“Come on, Eva. We’ll talk over lunch in the Andrea-net.”

“Andrea-net?” Eva asked. She got up, giving her bottom a brush off.

“Yeah. It’s where all the Andreas gather and do Andrea things,” Felix said. “I don’t think she lets anyone else in, so consider this the only chance you’re likely going to get to see it.”

Andrea smiled at them when they both looked at her. “We know Eva is important to you. We’d let her in if she asked.”

Felix wasn’t sure how to respond to that, and fell silent.

Eva and Andrea chatted back and forth and left him out of the conversation, for which he was thankful. He was using the time he had to try and figure out how he wanted to have this conversation with her. He hadn’t planned on it being so soon, but he knew this was as good a time as any.

Lost in his inner turmoil and thoughts, Felix didn’t break free until they stepped out of the elevator.

Two Andreas with SMGs gave him, Eva, and Prime a once over before they even cleared the doors.

“Thank you,” Felix said earnestly for their dedication to the job.

He smiled at the two Others as he followed Andrea out.

“Felix,” they said in unison.

Everywhere he looked were Andreas. Working at various desks, monitors, and tables.

At the sound of his voice, ears began swiveling around towards him. Slowly, every Andrea he could see, was looking his way.

Giving them a grin, he held up his hand and waved. “Afternoon, Andrea. Here for lunch. Anyone care to join me?”

“Nn!” came the chorused response. They began closing or putting away whatever they were all working on. Chattering with each other excitedly as they put their tasks on hold.

Being caught up in the flood of Andreas, Felix and Eva were escorted to what could only be a lunch room.

Chairs and tables were spread throughout the room haphazardly. Seats were being filled quickly as certain Andreas broke off into smaller groups to eat with others.

Prime caught him at the elbow and guided him to a seat at the center of the room. Seating him, she took the chair to his right and indicated the chair to Felix’s left.

“Sit right there, Eva. Food will be along shortly,” Prime said, smiling widely at them both. “It’s so exciting to have you here, Felix. You should eat with us more often.”

Felix couldn’t help but laugh and spread his hands out in front of himself. Andrea always managed to put him into a good mood somehow. “I just might do that. Especially if you can cook other foods as good as pancakes.”

“Yes! We’re good at all breakfast foods. Lunch… isn’t that bad, but not great. Dinner is better off as breakfast,” Prime said.

In other words, it’s sandwiches or breakfast food. I’m not surprised in the least.

“I suppose it’s a good thing breakfast is the best meal of the day then,” Felix said. Looking to Eva, he found she was trying hard not to stare at him.

He figured she was probably trying to figure out what he wanted to talk about, and what had happened previously.

“Eva…” Felix said. Her eyes snapped up to him, her body going rigid. “Calm down. Nothing’s wrong, first and foremost. Yes, I wanted to talk, but it’s all positive. I promise.”

Eva gave him a flat smile and bobbed her head. “Ok.”

“So… yes. Kit’s right. I treat you differently and I worry over you. Perhaps a bit too much, but I do. I’m not really able to express it in words any better than that. But there it is,” Felix said.

“I kinda get it. I’ve been thinking on it. Is it how you’d worry over a family member? Like a niece or… or a daughter?” Eva asked.

Feeling the awkwardness settle over him like a blanket, Felix wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“I don’t know. I don’t have any family. All my life my family members have vanished or died around me. I think so, though? I mean, it seems like it? I don’t quite understand it myself,” Felix admitted.

“Ok. Uhm. It feels like you worry over me the same way Evan did when we were younger. So… I think I’ll go with that,” Eva said.

Felix wasn’t any good at this sort of thing. He could help develop people into whatever version of themselves they wanted to be. But explaining his own feelings and emotions?

Not a damn clue.

“Alright. With that in mind, and that I do worry, I’ve been… modifying… your powers,” Felix said. His volume was low, and his speech slow.

This was much harder than he thought it would be.

“You’ve been modifying me?”

Felix nodded as an Andrea laid a plate down in front of him. It had a toasted sandwich of some sort on it with a small salad to one side. She laid a napkin down next to the plate and put down a tall glass of water as well.

“It’s a grilled cheese sandwich with ham, tomatoes, and thousand island dressing. You’ll like it. Promise,” said the Andrea practically in his ear.

Then she was off and away, serving up a meal to another Andrea before he could even say thanks.

Prime was eating already, watching the conversation without saying a word.

“Yes. Well, no. They’re all one use activation powers. They’ll last for a period of time, then fade away. I’d have to put them back for you to use them again. Because they’re single use, they cost very little in the way of points.”

“What kind of powers…” Eva said. She picked up a french fry from her plate and started chewing at it. He’d hadn’t even noticed an Andrea had dropped her off a hamburger with fries.

Eva, though, never broke eye contact. Her eyes were drilling holes through his skull.

“More or less every power that my inner circle has. I have a list somewhere in my office if you want to read it over,” Felix said. He picked up the sandwich and then took a bite of it. Eva looked like she was figuring out what she wanted to say next, so he’d give that time.

Damn. Andrea was right. It’s pretty good.

Felix eyed the sandwich and took another bite, enjoying this lunch quite a bit.

Whenever he tried to take lunch in the cafeteria, or a restaurant, he got beaten down with stares and whispers. Eating amongst the Andreas was weird, but not unpleasant.

“What’s the activation?” Eva asked, her eyebrows drawing down.

“One is permission from me to utilize them. Which I now give you. The second is knowing the power you want to use and thinking the name of it in your head. Followed by the desire to use it. That’ll activate it.”

“How long does it last?”

“Not really sure. When I made the powers I was shooting for twenty-four hours, but this was all experimental at the time. Yours are the strongest, tailor-made versions of the powers I’ve been handing out. For all I know, you might be able to focus all of a power into a few minutes for a massive use. Or maybe slow it down and use it for months. Dunno.”

Eva grunted and set down the hamburger. “Why make me a guinea pig? What if it went wrong?”

“Then you’d have a power I never authorized you to use, and you’d never have known about it. As for why you… because… I worried. I worried what would happen to you or what could happen or if someone tried to kidnap you and use you against me or—”

“Ok, ok, I got it. Just… just in the future, ask me?” Eva said, looking down at her plate.

“I promise. I will,” Felix said. He felt better coming clean about it.

“So, could I take Ioana or Miu in a fight?” Eva asked

“Power to power? Definitely. Skill and experience? Dream on, kid,” Felix said, grinning at her.

Andrea clapped her hands together in a happy way and then leaned forward over the table.

“You’re like his daughter!” she whispered loudly. “When I have my first litter, will you be their big sister?”

Eva started at that, her hands freezing in mid air. Then she started to laugh.

Reaching out she grabbed Andrea’s hands with her own. “Sure. I can do that, but it’ll be a while before I call you mom.”

Andrea grinned and bounced in place at the table.

All around, the Andreas were bouncing in place, clapping, or reaching over to pat Eva.

Litter?

First litter?