He had a history of sometimes going off on wild tangents, but those were few and far between. Mostly in his youth. Charles was extremely well respected in the television interview circuit.
“It’s a rather simple story. No brothers, no sisters, one paternal uncle. A very small family full of only children, really,” Felix laughingly said.
“My parents were out of the picture at a young age, and I ended up in the care of my uncle and aunt. They took me in rather than make me a ward of the state thankfully. It was a whole mess of paperwork at the time,” Felix said. He could remember his uncle signing for what seemed like hours at a time.
Looking back from an adult’s perspective, it was more than likely only minutes.
“Much later, they went on a trip and I haven’t seen them since. The estate is moving forward with a death in absentia. At the time I felt it was a betrayal. How dare they say they were missing and probably dead. As if they’d given up hope on them.”
Felix frowned and looked at the ground.
“In retrospect it was a good call. I’d have waited far too long. Believing that if I somehow moved forward with the case, I’d be admitting they were gone.”
“I can definitely see how that’d impact a young man. You were in your twenties at that point?” asked Charles.
“That I was. Twenty something and feeling like the world was collapsing down around me. That the world was conspiring against me. I took a job at a fast food chain that’ll remain anonymous thank you,” Felix said, smiling for Charles and then the audience. “Let’s just say I had time served.”
A number of audience members smiled, laughed, or nodded their heads. Quite a few people had similar starts in life at the very same chain, he imagined.
“Then Skipper came,” said Charles.
“Then Skipper came,” Felix repeated. “The strange part is… nothing changed in our daily lives. The only glaring thing was that Heroes were on the run instead of Villains, and most vices were legal.”
“That seems fairly hard to believe,” said Charles.
“And yet there it is. And here I am. I travel freely back and forth between Skippercity and Tilen without a concern.”
“But this was when you founded Legion, isn’t it?”
“It is. I took out some money, scraped everything I had together, and made a purchase from what was now called the grey market. I leveraged that purchase into the great river of trade and began to build Legion, brick by brick,” Felix admitted.
“Done through also purchasing slaves, and using their powers and bodies to set your foundation,” Charles said.
Felix didn’t quite like the way he’d phrased that, but it wasn’t wrong either.
“I bought anyone the government was trying to get rid of, that I felt I could save, help, or use. A large number of those people are now free, working here in Tilen for Legion. Slavery of course isn’t legal here, so that all expired the moment they crossed the borders with me.”
“And they stay with you.”
“They stay with me. I’ve had people leave Legion. But that’s to be expected with any large corporation,” Felix said.
“We’ve actually talked to a few people who left about Legion. No one is willing to say anything about it at all. Even when pressed or coerced. They won’t say anything. Or they can’t,” Charles said.
A warning sign began to flash inside of Felix’s mind. He definitely didn’t think this was going into territory he liked very much.
That was a good amount of digging for what was supposed to be not much more than an interview.
“Legion is a family. I’ll be happy to confirm there is a non-disclosure agreement between everyone who joins Legion and the company,” Felix said. He kept his answer much shorter than his previous answers up to this point.
The interview should be winding down, and Felix was feeling a bit paranoid.
“Speaking of family. When we were looking into yourself and Legion, we found a number of connections between you and a known loan shark by the name of Dimitry,” Charles said.
With his heart lurching in his chest, Felix smiled and nodded his head, doing his best to look unconcerned.
That’s a loose end if I ever had one. I need to get that taken care of. Immediately.
“I won’t deny I know the man, because I do. I borrowed money from him. A personal loan. It was part and parcel of how I founded Legion.”
“More than that though, isn’t it? My understanding is you actually do business with them directly. Buying guns, selling information, helping each other?” Charles pressed.
“Goodness, no. Our dealings have been very limited since I borrowed the money. Mostly it’s repayment of that loan, and borrowing more money,” Felix said with a laugh. “Do I look like the type to be having dealings in those kind of sectors? I think I’d lose my mind if I was in a situation like the one you’re describing.”
Charles didn’t immediately respond. Instead he turned to the monitor between them on the wall.
“This footage was recorded during the prison break out. The camera was confiscated almost immediately and so this is all there is,” said Charles.
The monitor popped on, and on came a cell phone video. It started after a second and the sound picked up.
It was kept low to the chest, filming upwards as they walked. Clearly it was being recorded without the Legion security forces knowing.
The dark uniforms that looked somewhere between soldiers’ uniforms and SWAT team outfits were everywhere. They were funneling, checking, assisting, and guiding the citizens.
“This way everyone. This way,” called a voice off camera. “If you have elderly or children that need special accommodations, please approach anyone in a uniform for assistance.”
“Thank god,” said a woman to the camera holder’s right. “Thank god. We’re safe.”
There was no aggression on the part of the security forces. Everywhere the camera was directed, Legion was actively working to help and assist citizens.
Felix knew the reason for that. The Fixers were scanning minds and tagging people. Security really only had to protect civilians and work the lines.
Behind the cameraman was a shout.
Every single member of Legion froze for a second, then as one lifted their weapons and converged on an unseen target.
“Everyone get down!” shouted multiple voices from Legion security forces.
The crackle of gunfire was immediate after that and everyone dropped to the ground.
The camera was cradled tightly, and the view half obscured.
Looking like something out of a sci-fi movie, a suit of futuristic looking armor stepped into frame.
Shit.
It had a raised pistol, fired twice, and continued off frame.
Twenty seconds later and Legion security was rushing back into positions.
“Don’t panic,” came a raised but calm voice. “The situation is under control. Everyone please look around you for anyone wounded. If there is, please flag down a security officer immediately.”
The cameraman stood up just in time to see the suit of armor heading back up the library steps.
All around the courtyard, soldiers with pistols, bags with a red cross on them, kevlar vests, and helmets simply appeared. They began to fan out, taking hold of anyone who had even a minor injury, and vanishing as soon as they got a hand on them.
“Oh thank god. Thank god,” said the same woman’s voice.
A hand came into view and snatched the camera away, and the recording cut off immediately.
Felix tried to look pleased and nodded his head. Looking to Charles he waited.
“I’d like your thoughts on that video,” Charles said finally.
“It was the prison break, as I’m sure everyone could tell. That was the Legion processing center. Where Legion security forces were acting out of,” Felix said calmly, confidently. “As you saw in the video, we did our jobs quite well that day. Loss of life, possessions or property was minimized. That was an incident where a large group of prisoners were trying to infiltrate into the citizenry and escape. They were identified, neutralized, and removed. Not a single civilian was lost in that brief encounter, though a few were injured by stray rounds fired from the prisoners.”