“I need… I need time. I need to get control. I’m not in control. I need control,” she said to herself. Her voice was so low, Felix almost didn’t hear it.
Jogging a few paces to catch up to her, Felix laid a hand on her shoulder. “Miu—”
Only to have it thrown violently to one side. Miu stared at him with eyes that flickered and quivered.
Miu was gone.
Whoever, whatever, this was, wasn’t his cool, collected assassin.
“No, no, Felix. Please, no,” Miu said. Turning her face forward, she started walking again towards the warehouse. “No control. I need it. Need time. Need to… need to put myself together.”
Felix stared at her, unsure of what was going on. He’d never seen her like this.
She wouldn’t hurt him, he knew that. But he was starting to doubt if she was sane.
Going to need to have Kit do a deep dive into that head of hers. She said she was unique, apparently that stands for batshit crazy.
Miu slammed a palm into the door in front of her, blasting it to the side and walking in.
Felix bit his lip and eventually followed her in. It was better than standing around alone by himself out here.
“Miu, we really shouldn’t—”
Something pounced on him from the side, blindsiding him.
A woman pressed down on top of him, her hands closing in on his throat.
“Hold, hold still, baby. I need… I need a fix. This’ll be quick, I promise. Just your cash. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’ll be painless,” hissed a crazy-eyed drugged up woman. She smelled like the back end of a garbage truck and had the face of a life lived hard and short.
There was a shrieking yell and a fist crashed into the crazy woman’s temple before Felix could throw her off.
She went down in a heap next to him.
Before he could even think, Miu was on top of her. Miu screamed even as she grabbed the now unconscious woman’s arms and gripped them tightly.
“He’s mine! Mine! MINE!” Miu shouted into her face.
“Miu, stop! We don’t need to kill her. A corpse is the last thing we need,” Felix said, pressing his hands to her side.
“No! Don’t touch me!” Miu shrieked, shrinking away from Felix as he touched her. Cowering low, she slunk to one side and moved into the shadows of a corner. “Don’t… don’t touch me. I need control.”
“Miu, what the fuck is going one? Control over what? I don’t understand,” Felix said, following but giving her some distance.
“No. You can’t know. You won’t know,” she said. Foamed spit was visible on her lips, her eyes darting off into every direction.
“Tell me. I think I’ll understand,” Felix said soothingly, holding out a hand to her, but not touching her.
Miu tightened up until she was unmoving. Rigid. Stone-like.
Then she deflated in on herself.
“Your touch burns me. Your eyes scorch me. Your words penetrate me. My soul resonates,” Miu said tonelessly. “I have to hide it. Bury it. Fight it. You know my power, yes?”
“Yeah. Your natural abilities are multiplied. Twice as strong as any other person kind of thing,” Felix said.
Miu flinched, her head teetering as if on a rubber band.
“Yes, and yet no. Everything… is doubled. Everything. If I hate someone, I loathe them. I would harm myself to see them hurt,” she said.
“You loathe me?” Felix asked.
“No. I love you. I love you so much it hurts. I want to kill Andrea… I want to turn her skull inside out. I want to kill Lily in her sleep. I’ve stalked them both. I watch them. I know their patterns. I could kill them both so easily. They shouldn’t touch you. I should touch you. Not them. Not them.
“No! No, no, Miu. No. Control, you need control,” she said, trailing off into a repeating loop of muttered curses.
“I love you. I love you in a way that you should be loved. They don’t deserve you. I deserve you. I’ll kill any woman who looks at you. Victoria minds her distance, but I want to kill her for touching you earlier. No one should touch you. Only me,” Miu said, looking up at him.
In those eyes was madness. Madness and devotion.
Oh shit she’s crazy.
“Ok. I… understand. So… everything is doubled. Which means you’re…” Felix paused, unsure how to describe it.
“I’m a Yandere, if you need a word for it,” Miu said, a fractured smile slipping across her face as her head jittered back and forth. “It fits. I looked it up once.”
Whatever that is, it doesn’t sound like a good thing in her own mind.
“Don’t know what that means, but alright. The long and the short of it is… you love me to the point that you want to kill any woman around me,” Felix said.
“And eat them. I want to eat them so that I can absorb whatever they took from you,” Miu added to his statement. Her eyes dilated for a minute as if whatever went through her head with that thought struck a bit too deeply.
“But you haven’t done anything like that,” Felix said. Hoping to god that this was all in her head, and hadn’t been an action.
“I haven’t. I want to. I’ve tried. Your commands forbid me. I have to… I have to stay away from HR. They’ll read my mind. They’ll know. I fill my head with thoughts of slaughter whenever they peek. I can always tell when they peek. Their eyes start to unfocus when they look into me. Blood, death, massacres. That… gets most of them. Some of them it doesn’t. I start screaming at them instead. They leave. They always leave,” Miu said woodenly.
“How can I help?” Felix asked. He let his hand fall to his side. He imagined touching her might not help at this moment. “I could modify your powers to—”
“No! I am me, and always have been. Don’t change my power. I… just need control. I’ll be fine after that,” Miu said, interrupting him. “I am me.”
“Ok, and how can I help with the control?” Felix asked. He genuinely wanted to help.
Miu suddenly made a lot more sense to him. All the way around, even.
She wasn’t avoiding him, she was controlling herself.
She didn’t despise him, she loved him, and hated herself.
“Don’t… look at me. Let me rebuild my defenses. I just need time. If I can get a f—” Miu stopped, her eyes unfocusing. “Someone is suppressing my power.”
“Isn’t me, but Victoria did mention that villain around here. Come on, we need to go,” Felix said. Looking around, he found the exit and started making his way over.
Miu grabbed him and pulled him through a doorway and into an office. She immediately went about reorganizing the room, moving things in front of the door to block it.
“They already know we’re here, I could hear them, right before my power was squashed. We’re surrounded. We’ll need to hold out till help arrives,” Miu said grimly.
“Miu, no one knows we’re here,” Felix said, watching her from the corner.
“I know. But the good news is in squashing my power, they also gave me my control back,” Miu said, shoving a filing cabinet over.
Felix shook his head. That was a strange thing to be happy over when people were slowly encircling you for god only knows what.
“Come on out. We’ll be taking everything off you, then deciding what to do from there,” called a voice.
Yeah, fuck that. That usually ends up with a gang bang and a bullet.
“Don’t answer that, we’ll pretend we’re deaf for the time being. Ammo count?” Felix asked.
Fumbling through his pockets, holster, and belt, he found he had his pistol and all three clips.
“Didn’t plan to. Offers like that never stand up. Forty-eight rounds,” Miu said. She’d moved everything heavy to the door, and now was crouched low in a corner nearby.
“Hey now, come on out. We can make this quick and easy. Painless even,” called the voice again.
Felix pulled two of his clips from his belt and underhanded them to Miu. “You’re a better shot,”
he said by way of explanation. He kept the clip that was in his pistol, and a second for himself.
Settling back into his original position he held his pistol in both hands, waiting.
“So… you’re not… sickened with me?” Miu asked.
“Huh? Oh, no, not really. You sound a bit on the cracked side but… so do most of you. I mean, you should have heard Kit before I started poking around in her power set,” Felix said seriously. “I’m flattered in a way. Not sure what I did to deserve your attention.”
“I’m unsure myself, but I cannot help but admit I was attracted since the start. Not in love, but attracted. It built slowly,” Miu said, leaning her head against the wall. “And here we are. I finally lose it, you find out, and don’t even seem to care. And we’re going to die here.”
Pursing his lips, Felix couldn’t exactly disagree with that sentiment.
Looking around the messed up office, he tried to take stock of everything, and what he had available to him.
There really wasn’t a whole lot. Everything you’d expect in an office.
Even an old landline phone.
Felix snatched up the old cordless phone and pulled the receiver off the hook.
He got an immediate dial tone.
“Ha, no signal to block or deny. It’s a hard-line,” Felix said. Flipping his wrist over, he checked his personal phone. With a flick of a finger, he looked at his address book.
Who to call? Who would be the most likely to get here as quickly as possible. They could rush us down at any second.
Wait.
No.
Lily and Andrea worked in these circles. Let’s… let’s try them first.
Looking from the phone to his wrist display and back, he began to dial Lily’s phone number.
“What are you doing?” Miu asked.
“Calling Lily,” Felix said, pushing in the last number.
“Lily? What?”
Smiling at Miu, Felix pressed the phone to his ear.
The line began to ring.
Felix held his breath. He didn’t stop to consider what to do next if she didn’t pick up. Or if her signal was bad as well. Or if—
“Legion, this is Miss Lux,” came the silky voice of Lily.
“Oh thank god,” Felix said into the phone. “Lily, it’s Felix. I’ve got a bit of a problem here.”
“Felix? What are you—wait, no. What problem? How can I help?” she asked.
“Do you know anyone by the name of… what was it, Miu? Neutralizer?” Felix asked.
“Yeah, Neutralizer,” Miu said.
“Neutralizer?” Lily repeated curiously. “I’m not sure. It sounds familiar. Andie, do you know Neutralizer?”
“Huh? Vaguely. You sure you don’t want another pancake? Who are you talking to? Can we leave yet? I want to see Felix,” came the faint voice of Andrea.
“I ask because he’s got us cornered in an office. Miu and I, that is. His special power is literally neutralizing others’ powers,” Felix said.
“What!? How’d that happen! Where’s Vicky?” Lily asked in a dangerous tone.
“Long story. Short version, lots of shit,” Felix said. “So, anything on this Neutralizer I can use? Kinda stuck h—”
“Andie… Andie. Andie! I need Myriad, Felix is in trouble,” Lily snapped at Andrea.
The chattering on the other side of the line went deathly silent.
“What?” Andrea asked finally after a few seconds.
“Someone named Neutralizer has Felix cornered. Do you know anything about him he can use?” Lily asked, the phone slightly muffled.
“Yeah, put me on the phone with Felix,” Andrea said.
“Ok, here. One second Felix, here’s Andie. Oh, before I go, does Neutralizer know it’s you? That it’s Legion? Start there,” Lily said.
Then the phone was audibly passed to someone else.
“Lily is right, first check and see if he knows who you are. This might be easily avoided,” Andrea said into the phone. Her natural personality was gone.
Myriad was here.
“One second,” Felix said, covering the phone receiver. “Hey! My name is Felix! Felix Campbell. Owner and CEO of Legion. I think we should talk before this gets any worse.”
“Oh! A CEO? Great. Let’s talk about your bank numbers,” called back the same voice.
“No go. They don’t know me. If they do, they don’t care,” Felix said back into the phone. “Any possibility they’d know you? Can I use you and Lily as leverage and a fear factor?”
“Yes. Throw the phone at that idiot. I’ve met him a few times. I can end this immediately. I’ll tell him exactly what’s going to happen if he doesn’t fuck off and leave you alone,” Andrea said into the phone.
“Hey! Does it help if I tell you Mab and Myriad work for me? In fact, Myriad says she’s even met you. I have a phone in here with me and she’d like to talk to you,” Felix called out.
There was silence in return.
Seconds ticked by and Felix was starting to wonder if this was about to go sideways on him.
“Myriad and Mab?” came the voice again. Less confident this time.
“Yeah, they work for me in Legion. Along with Augur and War Maiden,” Felix added, sensing this might be his chance to make this swing in his favor.
Again the silence for a response.
Miu smirked and shook her head. “I now wish I had worked harder to make a name for myself. To inspire fear in the hearts of your enemies.”
“Well, considering I pushed your powers into a whole new dimension the other day by giving you all of Wraith’s and a few others’, I’d say earn your name now. In Legion,” Felix said.
He really had given her Wraith’s entire powerset along with an on/off switch. The only problem was that it was just as vulnerable as her normal powers to this Neutralizer fellow.
“I… think I will do so. To be known for my work in supporting you would be acceptable. I’ll need a good name though. Miu is not very impressive,” said the crazy woman who wanted to kill and eat the women around him.
“Actually, Miu is a decent name for that. Just have to make it work for you. I mean, if w—”
“Throw me the phone. I’ll talk to her,” came the voice from outside.
“Turn our powers back on first and I’ll get the phone over. Otherwise it’ll take a while to be able to get the phone out,” Felix called in response.
A second later and Miu shivered from head to toe. Her eyes glazed over and her hands trembled.
“Miu, I need you to get in control. Now. For me,” Felix said, imploring her.
Ordering her.
If I have a crazy person in my employ, maybe I can use that crazy as a control rod?
The trembling, shivering, broken Miu froze, and then became much more like her former self.
“Yes. For you, by your command,” Miu said, her body becoming loose and fluid again.
“Punch a hole in that wall, Miu, so I can shove this thing out to them. You there, Andrea?” Felix asked into the phone.
“It’s Myriad,” said Myriad.
“No, it’s Andrea. Who is also Myriad. We’ve talked about this before. Knock it off,” Felix said.
“I… yes, dear. It’s… it’s Andrea… who is Myriad… Myriad and Andrea who love you,” said an unsure Andrea with Myriad’s voice.
“Good. Love you, too,” Felix said.
Miu promptly punched a hole in the wall with far too much force and held out her hand to Felix. Her face was hard, stony even.
Gotta remember to play down the other women in front of her crazy ass.
“See you later. Giving you to Neutralizer,” Felix said, then promptly gave the phone to Miu.
Miu shoved her hand back through the hole with the phone held out. She stared at the wall impassively.
“So… since we’re way past the point of no return. Any chance I could talk you into training me in hand to hand combat? I get the impression you’re far more lethal then you�
��ve ever let on.” Felix asked.
Miu’s eyes went wide and she turned her face to him. Her cheeks flushed a deep, dark crimson. Then she licked her lips, her eyes dilating slowly.
“Yes. So long as I don’t have to be in control,” she said finally.
“Alright… I can agree to that, but maybe we should talk about what that control means,” Felix said.
I wonder just how insane she’ll get at that point.
“And privately,” she amended.
“Alright, and privately.”
“I’ll be sure to wear yoga pants and a sports bra,” she said with a strange edge to her voice.
…Shit… don’t tease the crazy person.
Chapter 6 - Catching Up -
“Hello?” asked a muffled voice on the other side of the wall.
Miu retracted her hand from the hole, and took a few steps away.
“I… yeah. Neutralizer, yeah. Yeah. Wait, no. I didn’t—no, of course not. But I—you what?!” asked the man in a strangled voice.
“No, no, no, no. Not a thing. I swear. Yes! What? A frying pan…? I get it. I get it. Yes! I get it! Wait, who? Mab?” asked the voice.
“Uh, hello? Yeah. No, I already—” The man stopped talking. “I promise. I swear. Yes. I understand. I’ll make sure it happens. Yes. Tomorrow? O-ok. Yes. Goodbye.”
The silence after that strained one-way conversation was odd for Felix. He could only imagine how both Andrea and Lily had torn into the man. Felix felt a certain sick sense of pride. He wasn’t responsible for it, but he did take a certain glee in it.
“Mr—Mr. Campbell, I go by the name Neutralizer. I’m so sorry for this misunderstanding. I do hope you can forgive me for it,” said a voice from directly outside the door.
“Not a problem. I assume my people have arranged an exit strategy for me?” Felix called out.
“Yes. Yes they have. I’m going to escort you personally back to your Headquarters. Mab—ah, Mab told me to come back tomorrow when she arrives. She’d like to discuss my current… current job status with her,” said Neutralizer.
“Oh? She doesn’t take recruitment lightly. She must know something about you that she’s willing to take a chance on,” Felix said. “Alright then. Well, time to go I suppose.”
Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2 Page 6