Super Sales on Super Heroes

by William D. Arand

  Felix tapped the woman in the middle on the shoulder. “Name?”

  “I am Ioana Iliescu, the War Maiden, and you’ll release me—”

  “No, I won’t. Sorry. Like I said, this is a villain’s city now. As long as they’re in charge, you’re my property, and I’ll be using your powers to my benefit.

  “Now, Ioana, do you have an actual question?”

  “I have a statement. If you even try to rape me, I’ll rip it off.”

  “Good to know. I have no plans to abuse you three against your will. I stand by my earlier comment, this isn’t charity. In the same breath, I’m not a villain, though. You’ll live, work, and stay with me, but you do still have certain rights. I think ‘not being raped’ is definitely one of those rights.”

  Felix walked around Ioana’s bed and approached the third woman. He tapped her shoulder gently.

  Her head turned up in the direction she probably thought he was, and then smiled.

  “My name is Kit Carrington. I can’t hear your mind. I can’t hear anyone’s minds. Everything is silent. Is everyone dead? Are we all dead?” she said wonderingly.

  “No. The takeover went rather smoothly. Only heroes ended up dead or missing. Pretty sure all the civilians were allowed to walk out with a clean slate. I’m pretty sure I’ve depowered you, and boosted my own power. Do you have a question for me?”

  Her earlier question felt more like a panic response than an actual question.

  She processed that and then nodded her head.

  “Can you fix me completely without repowering me?” she asked.

  “I can and plan to do that. You’ll be as fit as any other human out there. More so if we have the time to bump up your stats. Though even if I did repower you, and I might, depending on what my needs are, I could just as easily turn it back off.”

  Kit nodded her head at that and then lay back down comfortably in her bed. “If you can keep it as quiet as it is right now, I’ll serve. Willingly. Call me Kit.”

  The woman named Ioana made a sound of disgust at that.

  “Kit Carrington? You’re Augur?” Miu asked.

  “I was Augur. I’m Kit now. Only Kit.” The woman sighed and snuggled into her bed, adjusting her sheets. “Can I have some water, or tea, and maybe something to eat? I’m not hungry, but I think I’d like a snack and a drink.”

  Augur. As in the strongest telepath? Arguably the world’s strongest? Who rumor said she spent hours at a time in a catatonic state when her gift would overwhelm her? Wow.

  “Oh, yes. Here.” Felix loaded up a tray with a bowl of pudding, Jell-O, and one of the jugs of water. Wheeling over the cart to her, he set a spoon in her palm and then gently wrapped medical tape around it so she could use her mangled hand to some degree.

  Then he adjusted the bed so she was sitting up, taking a moment to reset her blankets.

  “The bowl on the left is pudding, the middle bowl is Jell-O, and on the far right is water.

  “I wasn’t sure what condition you would all be in once I woke you, so we’re sticking to simple things for now. Things that you can digest regardless of whatever condition your insides are in.”

  “Good plan. Makes sense,” Kit said, dipping the spoon into the pudding and then trying to guide it to her mouth.

  “Could you get me some as well?” Miu asked, her voice soft.

  “Of course, give me one second while I get that all prepped,” Felix said, moving over to her.

  “So, you can fix amputations. Quite a power set. What do you plan on replacing next?” Kit asked, closing her mouth around her spoon. “Oh, chocolate.”

  “Either your hands or your eyes. I can only do so much in any given day. It resets at midnight every night. Then I can do it all over again.”

  “Hands, please,” Miu said. Felix adjusted her bed and then wheeled her full tray over. “Eyes can wait if I can take care of everything else myself.”

  Kit nodded her head as she tried to reposition her spoon. “Maybe hands. I think maybe eyes, personally. I’m not keen on being blind so far.”

  This was all rather unexpected. They were actually reacting better than he’d thought they would. That or they were playing with him, waiting for an opportunity to do something.

  Wouldn’t matter, though, since they were magically bound in their contracted states to him.

  Behind him, Ioana grunted and then said with a stern yet soft voice, “A tray for me as well, if you please. I admit the same as Kit. I do not hunger, but… I think I would enjoy having something to drink and eat.”

  Felix grinned at that. “Sure thing, Ioana. I’ll take care of that.”

  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 acti
vated, 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 i
t 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.