Super Sales on Super Heroes

by William D. Arand

  “We ready?” he asked.

  The soul-eating mistress of death glanced at him and then gave him a cocky smile. “We’ll tear out their souls.”

  “I’ll leave that to you. The whole beautiful soul-eater thing isn’t me,” Felix muttered. He pulled the keys from the ignition and stepped out of his aunt’s SUV.

  “Remember what I said,” Lily reminded him, opening the front door and walking in ahead of him.

  “Yes, dear,” Felix said in a whiny voice. Lily turned her head and gave him a piercing glare, blocking the doorway. “Sorry, yes, I remember.”

  She arched a brow at him. It reminded him that she’d supposedly killed a couple hundred people in her career as a villain.

  Only after having ripped out their souls to use as power.

  After another second of Felix being forced to bear that heavy stare, she finally relented and moved forward.

  “Felix Campbell and associate,” Lily said in a firm voice to the receptionist.

  The receptionist blinked at Lily, then looked to Felix. “I… alright. Please follow me.”

  They usually make me wait.

  Lily gestured to the ground with a subtle move of her hand. Felix took the indicated spot, one step ahead of her and to the left.

  As they moved to the conference room that he always ended up in, Lily grabbed a chair from an office that was empty as they passed.

  The receptionist gave her a look, but then wisely decided she didn’t want to argue with Lily.

  The looks on the faces of the normally placid board changed dramatically when they saw Lily.

  Felix couldn’t place it, but he was sure they were annoyed and hoped they were afraid.

  “Mr. Campbell, good morning. May I ask who you’ve brought with you today?” one of the board asked.

  “This is Lilian Lux. She’s an associate of mine I’ve recently employed,” Felix explained. He’d been warned repeatedly by Lily that she was not legal counsel, but only there to provide her opinion and advice to him. Especially since she wasn’t a lawyer.

  “I’m afraid that we can’t allow you to retain your own counsel, Mr. Campbell,” Joseph started.

  “She’s not a lawyer. She’s here simply to provide me with her advice and opinions,” Felix clarified. “Please proceed.”

  Joseph looked rattled. Clearing his throat, he looked to his paperwork in front of him and back to Felix.

  “The first order of business is the discussion of the rent you owe,” Joseph said slowly.

  “Good. I agree. First, do you hold to the statement that I owe payment for rent to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Yes?” Felix asked.

  Joseph looked to the others on the board and they began to nod their heads. “That is correct, we—”

  “Next. Who has deemed that I am the renter? In other words, who is the named landlord?”

  Joseph turned his head a fraction of an inch to the side and then gestured to another person. “Mr. Jen is the landlord.”

  “Good. That means you’ve collected wages for the seven years up to this point as landlord?” Felix asked, turning to Mr. Jen.

  “I, uh… yes,” said the man.

  The room was getting more tense by the minute. Lily had coached him very well, and it was clear she knew what would happen. Each question was provoking responses.

  “Would you agree that the amount of that pay would be… roughly four hundred thousand dollars? Plus five percent of the rent as a bonus.”

  Mr. Jen nodded his head.

  “Could someone please provide me the document in which I agreed that Mr. Jen would be the landlord?” Felix asked, looking around the room.

  Everyone froze. No one responded.

  “If no one can provide that document, I’m afraid we have a problem.”

  “No, no problem here, Felix. There’s no requirement that you—”

  “Yes, there is. Per…” Felix had to look at the sheet of paper in front of Lily. “Section six, subsection c, listed as ‘approving of contractors and personnel,’ I’m listed as an approver. I did not approve. Therefore, the selection is invalid.”

  Joseph opened his mouth and then closed it. “I… that is—”

  “You are in breach of contract unless you can provide that document this very minute. Are you in breach of contract?”

  Again, there was no response.

  “If you do not provide the document in the next minute, or state that you can provide it in the next ten, I’m moving to have you in breach.”

  Joseph swallowed and held up a hand. “Perhaps we should move to set this entire situation aside and—”

  “I rule you in breach. Now that you’re in breach, under section ten, subsection a, all accounting will now be done through me. I am officially moving to hire an accountant this evening who will now be part of this board.”

  “Now see here—”

  “In addition, I move to elect myself the landlord of my own property,” Felix said, cutting Joseph off.

  “Those in favor?” Felix asked.

  No one but he raised their hand.

  “Those against?” Joseph raised his hand immediately, as did Mr. Jen and a few others.

  “Per my rights as the primary beneficiary to dismiss two people from the board every quarter, I move to strike two people from this board. Mr. Joseph and Mr. Jen. You’re no longer needed, thank you. Per my rights of breach, I move to strike one additional…” Felix looked at one of the men with his hand up. “You. You can leave as well.”

  The three he’d selected were dumbfounded.

  Felix picked up a packet that Lily pulled out of the case she was carrying.

  “I have here a formal grievance for Reznik, Blacketer, and Troy. Once I send this, I’m sure I can have every one of you replaced. And have myself as the approver of every single person who comes into the board next.

  “Now. With the departure of Mr. Joseph, Mr. Jen, and whatever his name is, I cannot remove anyone until the new quarter. Which happens to be tomorrow. I’ll be convening an emergency meeting tomorrow.

  “Just to make sure everyone understood my previous question, I’d like to ask again to be made the landlord of my own estate and ask for a vote,” Felix said with a grin for the remaining five people on the board.

  Felix raised his hand, and all five of the remaining people on the board raised their hands.

  “Good. I’m glad you’ve realized the severity of this situation. Let’s hope you all remember this day.

  “Now for you two,” Felix said, looking at who he believed to be the instigators of this situation. “I expect to be paid the entirety of the four hundred thousand dollars by this evening, Mr. Jen, Mr. Joseph.

  “Otherwise, I will be forced to move to the next section of the breach clause, which is when I hire an attorney for myself, and you lose all access to the trust, as set up by my aunt and uncle. Then Reznik, Blacketer, and Troy get a black eye when I report it to the media. I imagine they’ll hold you liable and you probably will never work in your chosen career again.”

  Lily slid a card in front of him. “Thank you, Lily,” Felix said, smiling to her. “This here is my bank account. I’ll be checking it promptly at eight o’clock tonight.”

  Felix stood up and stretched his arms above his head. “Whew, that was fun. Do you have any questions for me before I leave?” he asked, addressing the five remaining members.

  “No? Good. I’ll see you five tomorrow, and you three, never again.”

  Felix collected his papers, leaving the card on the table, and left the room. Lily followed at his heel.

  He didn’t say anything until they got back into the SUV, where he let out an explosive breath and doubled over. He rested his forehead against the steering wheel.

  His stomach hurt. The anxiety and stress of the situation rubbed him raw.

  He really needed to use a bathroom.

  “That was well done. A little dramatic, but… well done,” Lily said from the passenger sea
t.

  “Thank you, Lily. Without you, that would have gone much worse.”

  “Not over yet. We need to get our money first. But I think they’ll pay it all up. I imagine you might even get a phone call once they’re done, asking you to please not discuss the situation with their bosses, or why you asked them to step down. They’ll probably spin it as if they themselves asked to step down.

  “For what it’s worth, it’s probably worth letting it go at that point. It’d earn you a win with those who remain on the board.”

  Lily clicked her seatbelt into place and crossed one leg over the other. “Take us to lunch. Then we need to hire an accountant. I’ll handle that.”

  Felix nodded a bit. He felt drained. He wasn’t cut out for talking to people. Slowly, he sat up and got the SUV moving.

  They’d ended up not needing to hold that second meeting after all. Lily took care of the accountant that evening, and the books were cleaned up that night.

  The rent would still need to paid, as it had been initiated.

  He still owed the hundred fifty grand in rent, the forty grand to Dimitry, and the five grand to the bank.

  The annual salary from the landlord’s job, about fifty-five thousand, would definitely help.

  The bank debt could wait, as could the rent, since he was his own renter. He’d also get that percentage back.

  The only problem was his debt to Dimitry. He had about two months to get that paid off or he’d be liable to get stabbed. That or be turned into a permanent debtor.

  All of this was good to know, and hadn’t stopped Felix at all in purchasing a storefront that doubled as a home.

  It was more of a warehouse with an attached front office, and a set of rooms at the top level that somehow had been zoned and approved as a live/work residence.

  The front office would do the job of the storefront, and the warehouse as the “shop floor” for work. Which could be anything. Or even just housing purchases.

  The neighborhood was decent and seemed on the lower side of middle income. There’d be no problems with clients being afraid to visit. Nor would there be access issues, since it was right off the freeway exit.

  No, the biggest problem would be spreading the word. Advertising. They wouldn’t be able to purchase ads or anything like that.

  It’d cost him almost every penny he’d made from the landlord back payments, and the gold he’d been turning into cash.

  Now, though, now he could really start to make money. Everything he did here, he could also disguise and legitimately pay taxes on.

  First, he’d need to transmute a few lead weights into gold over a few days. That’d be the seed money to build up his pawn shop purchasing.

  Then he could start converting that quickly and easily into items. Items into sales.

  Word would spread quickly about a pawn shop that bought almost anything.

  Hell, in this day and age, in a month he could have an online store open to sell everything he bought locally.

  That’d have to wait for another day, though. Today was moving day. They’d spent some time making sure only items that he owned went with them.

  The rest of the furniture they’d had to buy from wherever they could get the right piece for the right price.

  Miu had been ideal to take with him on those trips. She had a knack for getting people to accept less than they wanted.

  Andrea had offered herself up as the moving team. There was now something like two hundred Andreas running around the rear delivery entrance and throughout the building. Felicia was acting as floor supervisor for them and directing them as they needed.

  They’d backed up a moving truck into one of the loading bays and let her have at it. In return, she’d been allowed full control of her power for the day.

  Most of them were exactly like Andrea Prime, though there were a few who were clearly very different.

  They carried themselves differently, spoke in a different tone of voice, or even responded in a different fashion to the rest. They’d look right at a sudden noise, and one would cower and take cover.

  Ioana had simply followed him around, dressed up in leather biker clothes. He wasn’t sure when and where she’d gotten it, but the hilt of a long sword angled out from her hip.

  Now that he thought about it, everyone was running around today in clothes and things he knew he hadn’t purchased

  “Ioana?” Felix asked, turning to look at his escort.

  “Mm?” grunted the warrior. Her eyes swept the street up one side and down the other.

  “Where’d you get the sword? In fact, where did everyone get all these clothes? I don’t recognize any of it. I’m not mad, only curious.”

  Felix looked back to the storefront where Miu, Kit, and Lily were setting up the interior of the store.

  Ioana met his eyes and then gave him a feral grin. “We raided our own safe houses. Whatever they did to us, we didn’t give them the safe house locations. Bank accounts are cleaned out, though.”

  Didn’t trust me enough to tell me, and I didn’t think to ask about it.

  “Probably got that through your bank cards. I imagine they probably raided your homes,” Felix said with a sigh.

  “You think this’ll work?” Ioana asked him, throwing a thumb at the building.

  “Can’t be any worse than what we were doing. Not to mention, I didn’t want to sit around and wait for things to change.

  “No, playing it slow up to this point was excruciating. It’s time to make it work on my own terms.”

  Ioana turned her head back to the street, watching it. “Good. The bold live more freely, even if with less time.”

  Chapter 9 - Changes -

  Felix flipped the vase over in his hand. Then he viewed it with his hypothetical ownership window.

  Name: Imitation 19th century glass vase

  Created In: 2013

  Appraised Value: $10.00

  Created By: Frank Putz

  Actual Value: $10.00

  Condition:Lightly worn

  Asking Price: $3,200.00

  Durability: 90/100

  Mint Price: $12.00

  Cost to Repair: 50 points

  Shaking his head, Felix pushed the vase across the countertop. “I’ll give you ten for it, and that’s because I can probably resell it for twenty. It’s fake. Sorry.”

  “What? You can’t possibly know that, if you—” started to complain the man who owned the vase.

  “Sorry, not interested in it for anything more than ten. Is there anything else I can help you with?” Felix leaned onto the glass counter and looked around the shopfront.

  The man grumbled, and walked out without another word.

  Ioana opened the door for him, watching him with a hawk-like stare as he passed.

  Kit, Lily, and Miu were working the shop counters. Andrea was working with Felicia in the back.

  Felix was on appraisal duty. Kit had once again provided him with insight into his own power he didn’t realize he had. Rather than focusing on the upgrade and material aspect of his power, she had him focus on the ownership and item side of it.

  Now he was an antique appraiser with an instant turnaround and perfect accuracy.

  Word had spread about the eccentric pawn shop that had an employee who could appraise anything in minutes.

  They now charged a small fee for his time, but provided no documentation. At least not yet.

  Lily was working on that.

  Sure is nice having a lawyer on the team.

  Felix let his eyes wander over to Lily while thinking about her. He’d lucked out so far. Everyone he’d picked up had their own area of influence and ability.

  The villain known as Mab was happily chatting with an official-looking older woman.

  Beyond that, Miu and Kit were engaged in individual sales.

  Miu was responsible for haggling and Kit was on mental sweep duty. Her power was dialed up to ten percent, and she casually monitored the store as she worked.

>   This was temporary. They’d need to hire more people soon. They were far more busy than he had expected.

  It’d only been two weeks and they were drowning in merchandise and money.

  “You the antiques and memorabilia guy?” came a man’s voice in front of him.

  Felix nodded and didn’t bother looking at the person. “Yep. Put it right here,” Felix said, indicating the counter in front of him.

  He didn’t lift his eyes, ask for a name, nothing. He didn’t care to meet another person, hear another sob story, get told another lie.

  Everything and anything someone could do to get him to pay more.

  I can only imagine Kit’s life now. Always knowing the other person’s thoughts.

  Looking up across the room at the mind reader in question, he caught her staring at him.

  Probably pissed this guy off and that got her looking this way.

  He gave her a lopsided grin and turned back to his counter. The man had put a torn-up baseball covered in signatures on it. It looked like it’d been roughed up pretty bad.

  Felix picked it up and activated his power.

  Name: Historical Signed Baseball

  Created In: 2001

  Appraised Value: $40.00

  Created By: *Truncated for size limits

  Actual Value: $50.00

  Condition: Extremely Damaged

  Asking Price: $100.00

  Durability: 13/100

  Mint Price: $42,000.00

  Cost to Repair: 1,150 points

  “It’s the game-winning ball from the first all-Beastkin team. It was the last time an all-Beastkin team was allowed as well. Everyone signed it, including the coach. This is the ball that drove in the last run,” said the would-be customer.

  “Do you have a letter of authentication and ownership?” Felix set the ball down and looked up at the customer finally.

  He was interested in this item. It would be easy to repair and resell at a much higher price. These are the kind of items he was looking for. Waiting for.