“I’ll give you something to babysit,” Felix said. “Maybe I’ll decide we need to go on a late night trip to a fast food joint at two am and I’ll be eating on the curb.”
Victoria snorted at that and didn’t respond.
Yeah, pretty unlikely.
From inside the press of teenagers, a small open area formed at the back.
Grinning, he already knew it was Miu and Kit. They were the only people he knew who could make a path like that without hurting people.
Proving his thoughts true, Miu and Kit stepped out of the throng of young people.
Catching Kit’s eyes, Felix smiled genuinely.
“Your heartrate sped up and you’re leaning forward. I’m not sure which one has you so interested, or both, but your tongue might as well be hanging out,” Victoria said softly. “The problem with me noticing these things, though, is I’m sure Kit has read my thoughts and knows these things as well.”
Felix froze as he processed all that.
Then he shrugged.
“Don’t care, they’re both extremely attractive in their way. Besides, Miu can read lips. She just doesn’t like to let people know. Don’t you, Miu, you beautiful tiny princess who I’d like to see in a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra,” Felix said.
Miu tripped over nothing, catching herself immediately as her face turned a deep scarlet.
“See?” Felix asked with a snicker.
“You’re a horrible man,” Victoria replied.
“Only with Miu. She’s a delight to prod at because her reactions are so… sincere. It’s not my normal disposition to flirt,” Felix said honestly. “All of my previous girlfriends asked me out first.”
It really wasn’t his inclination to be the aggressor. Almost all of his relationships were something someone else initiated.
Kit had turned her attention to Miu and was making sure she was alright. Only letting it drop when they stood in front of Felix.
“Well,” Kit began. “Everything is pretty much what we suspected. There’s a few memories here of people seeing me across the street. Or hearing of me being there. We’re on the right track.”
“Great. That’s what we were hoping to confirm. One step closer to finding out what they wanted you for. One step closer to getting them off our asses,” Felix said grimly.
“Sorry. We can—”
“Stop talking,” Felix said, interrupting her, pointing a finger at her. His eyes turned cold and dangerous. “Not a word. You’re important to me, and I’ll not hand you over to people who blow up schools to justify their goals. They’re petty, stupid, and intolerant. That’d be like someone dropping a nuke on Skippercity,” Felix said hotly.
“What?” Victoria asked, shocked. “That’s just stupid.”
“You and I would agree. But there are some crazy, very stupid, very basic, low IQ individuals who would do something like that. They’d damn hundreds of thousands of people, to take out one villain. Poison the earth for hundreds of years. Kill thousands upon thousands with the radioactive fallout afterward. All for one villain who was in control of a city, and running it, rather well all things considered.
“It sounds insane, and bizarre, but there are those people out there. Some upper echelon nutjob with a name like… Corinne, David, Victor, or Noah. Yeah,” Felix said with a sigh, naming off previous employees he remembered.
Everyone collectively shook their heads at the thought of it.
“Anyways, that’s beside the point. Don’t even think to offer up a suggestion like turning yourself over, as that’s pure idiocy.
“Besides, you’re not even a slave anymore. You’re only indentured. You were able to break your contract the moment you came to Tilen with me,” Felix said, looking back to Kit again.
It’d be a heck of a break price, but you could do it.
The telepath said nothing and merely stared back at him.
Then with a small smile she nodded her head a fraction. “And here I’ll remain. You’re not a Hero, Felix, but you’re not a Villain either.”
“Pretty much. Just a guy looking out for his own. Oh, here we go,” Felix said with a bit of excitement in his voice.
A group of six teenagers were walking up to his booth, questions in their faces, arms braced against themselves with nervous energy.
Felix gave them a smile and waited. Whatever questions they had, he’d answer them honestly.
And with any luck, I’ll be giving them an application.
Forty minutes later and Felix had managed to clear his queue. He had doubted that it was going to last as long as it had, but he was glad to have finished up that group fully.
No sooner than they cleared out, Jeff came trundling up with a wheeled trashcan. Behind him was two younger girls who vaguely resembled Jeff. Each one of them had a trashcan they were pulling as well.
“Jeff, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Felix asked. He leaned over his desk and set his chin on his folded hands, watching.
“I wanted to collect on that deal. You didn’t give me a time limit or anything so…” Jeff said hesitantly.
“Go on,” Felix said. He already figured out what Jeff had done and was doing his best not to laugh.
“So I went across the street. There’s a toy store. I bought as many as I could afford and… solved them,” Jeff said. He pulled his trash can over to Felix and lifted the lid.
Inside was nothing but solved Rubik’s cubes.
Unable to help himself, Felix started to laugh. Looking up at Jeff, he clapped his hands together a few times.
“Well done. You’re absolutely right, and I’ll pay out. On the condition that you put in an application, Jeff. I like that kind of thinking. Quite a bit,” Felix said.
He needed more people to throw into Lily’s department. Smart creative thinkers were dangerous in legal departments.
Chapter 3 - Omission -
The evening of the career fair found Felix hunched over his desk.
He was peering at the display of all the applicants on his virtual desktop. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like over ninety percent of the senior class had applied. He’d be able to get a final count later on when it was all pushed into an excel sheet.
Every department got at least one applicant.
“Quite a few interested in security,” Felix said, flipping through the applications. “Even a few with existing powers. I didn’t realize they had Powereds in the school.”
His bodyguard said nothing. Instead, he stood at the corner of Felix’s desk, doing his best impression of a men’s suit mannequin for a war zone.
Dressed sharply in a tailored black suit, clearly wearing kevlar underneath, and toting a SMG, he had the look of a trained operative.
Not surprising. We did start with our own people on the training program with the singular books. They might very well be the equivalent to some special forces.
The woman at the corner of the room gave him a glance, then resumed her duties. She was dressed similarly to the man, armed the same way, and had the same lethal air around her.
Sighing, Felix missed Andrea.
There was something about the bubbly Beastkin that made even the quiet moments… different.
Closing his terminal with a flick of his fingers he leaned back in his chair. Staring up at the ceiling, he tried to order his thoughts as best as he could. There was quite a bit to do, still.
Before he even got through a mental list of every task, let alone sorting them, his phone started buzzing on his wrist.
Falling into a normal sitting position he glanced at the display on the front.
Lily?