“Kit? What’s—”
“Felix, there’s a problem,” interrupted Kit.
“I kinda figured since you called me, but—”
“Shut up and listen. There’s been a super-villain breakout. Literally. That isn’t the entirety of the problem though. The Heroes guild is handling that. The other part of the problem is that in their breakout, they smashed a supermax prison apart and there’s a flood of prisoners and convicts running around the city,” Kit said.
Felix sighed and closed his eyes. He pressed his free hand to the middle of his forehead.
“Pull everyone in, get the generators up, and set the defenses on active,” Felix said.
“What’s happening?” Lily asked.
“Prison breakout,” Felix said, pulling the phone from his mouth.
“—id all that. We’re safe and everything’s buttoned up. But I was thinking. This might be a good opportunity to mobilize some of our resources. I mean, we have emergency responders for this situation. We should use them, the Telemedics, the Security teams, even the Fixers. Put Skippercity on a lockdown and transfer the resources here,” Kit said.
Huh. I guess we could. Might help a bit with our local PR problem. Thankfully we’re not getting into a dirt flinging contest with the guild.
The guild!
“Is the Heroes guild responding as well?” Felix asked, his entire attention now on the matter at hand.
“Yes. They’re dividing their forces up. Half to go for the villains, the other half to work in the city,” Kit said, her voice sounding weary.
“Alright. See if Felicia got the portal up and running for everyone else. I’ll need you to put a portal down to my current location. Do I need to tell you where I am or can you call it up with a camera? Oh, and don’t worry about checking on Felicia. Just tell her you wanted to see what her progress is. Chances are she already got it up and running just to spite me. I’m betting it’s already working. Get all the resources over after locking down Skippercity HQ. I need Miu, Eva, and a Fixer who’s been trained to multi-skill out to Miu’s department,” Felix said.
“I’ll take care of it. What else do you need?” Kit asked.
“A huge number of GPS transponders. I want one for about… three hundred Others,” Felix said. “We’re going to arm up the Andreas and send them out in a massive patrol but I want to recover any corpses they leave behind.”
“On it. Anything else?” Kit asked again.
“Nope. Date went fine, you didn’t interrupt anything. See you later,” Felix said, closing the phone and turning it off.
“I take it that was work?” Lily asked, the irony not lost on him.
“Indeed. And this time, I think we can use it to our advantage. The Heroes guild is going to be distracted with this. We’re sending Miu, Eva, and a Fixer in to get the information we need. At the same time, we’ll be assisting the local government and working on our public image. Get your pretty face ready to go smile into the camera, Lily. You’re about to go do some meet and greet with the press I imagine,” Felix said.
With one hand he started to work through a series of menus for the Skippercity HQ. Calling up pre-existing modifications he’d built in that he was now activating.
“Why me?” Lily asked.
Felix snorted at that and closed up the screen. He was ready.
Then a blue dot appeared to the side and started to slowly open up.
And there we have Kit’s portal.
“Why you, you ask? Because you’re the most attractive woman we have in Legion, and have a smile that matches. Doesn’t hurt that you’ve got a killer intellect on top of that. Now, I hate to date and run, but I think this is our ride out of here, and Kit doesn’t have the best control over it yet,” Felix said.
“I can hear you, Felix. Don’t make me close this up on you while you’re halfway through,” Kit said from the other side.
Felix froze in place and then shook his head. “Actually, can you keep it open for a bit? I need to zip up to my office and grab my armor. I’m thinking it might be best if I was on the scene and helping to organize the efforts from an operation base. I think everyone would agree with me doing that in the suit.”
“I… yes. That’d probably be wise. I’ll start opening a portal inside of your office, and move this one to the staging area in SC:HQ. Be a dear and activate the right protocol? I’m sure you already turned on all the right upgrades, but don’t forget the people,” Kit called through the portal, and then closed it.
“Protocol?” Lily asked curiously.
“HR loves having a process and procedure for everything. Leadership is expected to read through them all, it’s those online trainings that everyone gets pushed to their work stations or tablets,” Felix said. “I would hope since you’re in Legal you’d be—”
“Yes, yes. I’ve read all the ones pertinent to me. I just didn’t realize there was one specifically for a prison break,” Lily said.
“There isn’t one. But there is one for mobilization. Now. Let’s go get my armor,” Felix said, setting off at a jog, moving with the crowd.
“Do you even know where you’re going?” Lily called after him.
“The same place everyone else is, the elevators,” Felix said back.
All around them, people were starting to get messages from co-workers. They were all looking at their wrists or phones.
Felix imagined it was them being told about all the modifications going live. They would all be assuming something was about to happen.
Word tended to spread with something like that.
Those who had been notified first were already on their way to the elevators was Felix’s guess.
Sure enough, when he lifted his eyes to the horizon, he could see the outline of a massive column reaching up into the recessed lighting above.
That’d be the place.
An alert chirped on his wrist and he flipped it over to check the screen.
It read “R&D lab” and was from Felicia.
Well, she’s quick on the draw. New suit, maybe? Also should probably find out how she knew.
“We’re heading for R&D,” Felix called over his shoulder to Lily.
As they got closer to the elevator, he could see that it was part of a large plaza.
Sitting in the center of that plaza was the wrecked mech Felix had piloted.
Legion’s Fist.
It looked no different than what he remembered, half salvaged by his own hand.
Except that when he finally got up close to it, he realized the entire thing had been bronzed or recreated in bronze.
I thought she was repairing it. I’ll have to ask.
Felix noticed the placard as he passed and quirked a brow.
Legion’s Fist-Year One: Piloted by Felix to eliminate the Heroes Guild of Skippercity.
He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about being immortalized like that, but he wasn’t about to naysay them right now.
The time was right to strike.
Chapter 11 - Mobilized -
Felix stepped out of the elevator and found himself in the middle of a fantastic mess.
Felicia and White’s people were scurrying around in every direction. Loading crates, packing boxes, and generally making ready as if they were going into the field.
Everything was being shifted to a gigantic freight elevator in the back. It required both White and Felicia to unlock it to actually be used.
“Over here!” called the voice of Felicia from a corner.
Felix ducked his head at the shout and followed it.
He’d lost Lily somewhere along the way. He imagined she probably went to talk to her department for one reason or another.
Probably to get ready for the camera and prep anything legal-wise.
“Felicia, I’m not sure how many more times you can upgrade the suit before it hits a plateau,” he called out over the hubbub.
“Obviously there was at least one more, idiot. Get your scrawny ass over—oh,
there you are. Stand in the bay,” Felicia said, stomping over to a large pod.
It was reminiscent to the medical pods she’d been building for the hospital ward.
“Uh, alright? And what is this going to do exactly?” Felix asked, stepping into the indicated position.
“Put your armor on, what else? You ask the stupidest questions sometimes. It’s a wonder we’re doing as well as we are,” Felicia grumped.
“You know what? I’m going to cut funding to your department one of these days. Just to see what you can do with a shoe-string and some gum,” Felix said, looking up into the darkness of the machine above him.
“No. You won’t. You like the toys I build you too much. Stop whining and put your arms down or you’ll lose them,” Felicia said, slapping a button he only noticed as she hit it.
“I’ll what!?” he shouted and pressed his arms down to his sides. “Swear to god, Felicia.”
The Dwarven woman snorted and moved to the other side, holding up a tablet.
“It’s more or less the same as your last one. Just better firmware and some onboard hardware. Nothing out of the ordinary. You’re so damn hard on everything though, I decided to shield it a bit more. That’s a bit more power draw than I thought it would be,” she said absentmindedly, staring at the tablet.
“What is? Wait, if this is the same suit, why this alcove thing?” Felix asked, still holding still.
Before she could answer, or choose to, the whole thing roared to life around him.
Metal doors slammed closed in front of him and shut him in the darkness. Felix felt his body being pressed in tight by padding, and then become rather chilly as his clothes simply ripped away. Unable to prevent a shriek from escaping, Felix wanted the ride to be over.
He also suddenly wondered if this was anything like the corpse-o-matic sausage machine.
Before he could finish that thought, the padding was pressing down on him again.
A series of rapid clicks and a hiss was the only warning he had before the entire thing opened up again and he was staring through his helmet at Felicia.
“Going to hurt you,” Felix said, his voice coming out at a natural volume through the helmet.
“No. You’re not,” Felicia said, looking up from her tablet. “Everything is fine. Your gear was already packed up. Sorry. I’ll have it shipped to the operational base. Get the fuck out of my lab.”
Waving her hand at him, Felicia wandered off, going about whatever it was she had been doing.
Mr. White stepped up and gave him a grin. “She must like you. Always takes the time to actually talk to you. Other than me, that’s rare.”
“Hm. Anything I need to know?” Felix asked, looking at White.
“No. It really is the same as the previous, just some upgrades in it. Anything you need?” White asked, holding up a tablet.
“No?” Felix replied without any confidence.
“Great. Use the elevator in the back, it’ll take you to the staging area.” White left as quickly as Felicia had.
I think I need to hire someone with a bit more of a social personality down here. Like an assistant or something.
Heh… or an Andrea.
Plotting his own version of revenge, Felix trod over to the elevator and waited with the crates.
He synced his system up with his phone and then dialed into Lily’s.
“Felix? What is it. I’m trying to get ready with my department,” came Lily’s voice
“I need to get a hold of the governor. Make sure he’s on board with us actually moving in to assist.”
“No one can find him. His lieutenant-governor has taken over for now but he’s not being proactive in the least. He’s honoring the deal we made with him, but he’s useless.”
“Damn. Get him to agree, just a yes in a written format, preferably with a signature. I’ll get everyone moving as if he had already done so. I’m going to go set up a forward operating base in the city. Probably a library or something mildly government based. Better sense of authority.”
“Alright, I’ll get on that. Are you heading back to your room or—”
“No, heading down to the staging area. You use the portal in my room. Signing off,” Felix said and promptly disconnected the call.
Pulling up the war-net, he activated the mobilization process formally.
All the lights immediately dimmed. Blue running lights came to life along the sides of the walls. On every display a single word showed up: “Mobilization”.
Five seconds later and the monitors returned to normal.
The freight elevator turned on, and took its load down to the staging area.
During that ride down, Felix began to contemplate a run for governor. It’d solve a number of problems, put him charge, and give him more than enough leeway to leverage Legion desires.
Felix for governor. Governor Campbell?
Governor.
Felix stared out at the streets below from the top of the library steps.
The early morning sun was providing them with some light to see by. A lot of their arrival and setup had all been done in the darkness with limited visibility.
This location wasn’t where the reporters were, though. That was elsewhere.
Far, far from here, the reporters were trying to interview refugees from the safety of the police barricades.
Where Lily was. Doing her job.
Being the face of Legion and putting on a show for the entire country to watch.
Watch a company take control of a city, quell a riot, return order to the city, and establish peace.
No, where Felix was was where the operation was actually being run from.
All along the perimeter of the library were his security forces. They were dressed in full gear for an assault or defense.
Kevlar enforced armor and helmets with automatic rifles in hand. The entire area was on lock-down. It was also where refugees were being directed, and funneled through manned barricades.
His people were screening the refugees for weapons, then sending them into the library to be processed.
Fixers were actively screening the refugees as they went by and were processed. Working alongside their armed counterparts in similar gear. They were discreetly tagging anyone of interest for one reason or another to be picked up. Those special people were grabbed by Telemedics and dropped at SC:HQ to the tender mercies of the rehabilitated Death Others.
Those survival-driven Andreas had taken it up as their personal duty after returning to Prime. They seemed ideal to be guards and interrogators. Loners who preferred to work in the dark and quiet with situations that seemed unpleasant. Felix could only imagine their personalities were skewed from being Death Others.
Not that they acted any different around him, but he didn’t doubt they were probably different.
When Legion arrived, Felix and his crew had quickly broken into the library. The basement was promptly cleared and pulled apart. It was now a fully functioning medical ward, and the entire building was a refugee center.
There was also a steady stream of Legion vehicles making runs from the library’s enclosed parking lot to the front line of the police barricades.
For the wounded who couldn’t wait, the Telemedic squads were making the leap from site to site.
Legion as a whole had gotten their formal approval from the lieutenant-governor in the form of a signed letter to act within the confines of the law to bring order to Tilen. Which meant Legion was free to act with impunity.
And illegally, provided there were no witnesses.
The sound of gunfire, distant shouting, and muffled thuds that were probably explosions could be heard. It was all coming from deeper in the city.
Once the power went out, and there wasn’t any possibility of getting it back on any time soon, sections of the city had broken down to rioting and looting.
“What a mess,” Felix muttered to himself, staring down the street.
“It really is,” Victoria said at
his side. “Security teams are actively expanding the perimeter. Ioana is leading the way down the center towards the prison. They’re working with standard Rules of Engagement.”
“Remind me to put in weapon, armor, and supply caches throughout the city in our buildings. In fact, let’s buy buildings just to do that. If we had people stranded out here, this would have been the time it could have helped them,” Felix said.
“I’ll coordinate it with Kit and Lily,” Victoria said immediately.
Mentally Felix called up the war-net map and then reviewed it. The map was filled with dots. Blue, Red, and Green.
Blue was obviously their own people. Red were known locations of combatants. Green were noted refugees or holdouts operating in areas.
The Legion security dots were gradually, slowly, expanding through the city. They were taking the city back block by block.
Armored cars and Wardens were acting as the mechanized backbone, providing the hardened center that could soak up attention.
Suddenly Felix was quite happy he’d had the number of Wardens and Armored cars increased dramatically.
“Mm. Everything seems like it’s going in the right direction. I want to step off to the side for a second and check up on the other operation. Think you can play goalie here for a bit and keep people busy? Or at least out of my way?” Felix asked, turning to look at Victoria.
She nodded her head and rapped her knuckles against his breastplate. “I can do that, Felix. Just keep an ear out if I start calling for you.”
“Right, right,” Felix said. Waving his hand at her he took several steps towards a planter that put him out of line of sight from the street.
Felix then focused in on his war-net map, filtering out everything else from his mind. Multiple windows popped up in front of him as he opened up a number of items with a thought. Flipping through several maps, he found the one he wanted.
It was on a secure channel on the war-net, and buried under a clearance wall that only allowed him, Kit, and Lily to see it.
Eva, Miu, and a Fixer Kit sent along were in the process of infiltrating the guild of Heroes in Tilen. They’d been dropped into location from a portal. It opened up directly onto the roof of the guild.
Super Sales on Super Heroes: Book 2 Page 12