Valen, along with a few other security staff, escorted the Greaters out onto the show floor after they had a minute to relax after the panel and eat a quick lunch. “The only thing left on your agendas is autographs in a few hours, so you’re welcome to explore the rest of the event or do whatever you want. We want you all to enjoy Fiendcon as much as everyone else, so let us know if there’s anything we can do. You’re welcome to branch off and go do something on your own, but we ask that you let one or two security members accompany you just in case.”
For now, the group decided to stick together. Valen surrounded them in some of Rezin’s blood, turning them invisible to outside eyes so that they wouldn’t cause any disruptions from their very existence. Since they were still over by the exhibit halls, they decided to stroll past them and see what else was being presented.
At the same presentation room they were just at, a crowd was lining up for ‘Being Human in the Fiends For Hire’, hosted by Deborah and Andi. It looked like Crucion was also participating, and unsurprisingly, Mallea was not. She was most likely still back at the compound to keep things in order while letting her protege have some fun. Vank and Hazzle, the only two other humans in the organization, also weren’t mentioned anywhere.
Next was ‘Art of the Steal’ with Roque, and it also had the tagline, ‘I will swindle you!’ Valen decided she better explain it, “Audience participants are allowed to put an amount of money on the line, betting that Roque can’t trick them out of it. The idea was originally to have it done in a closed room with just the single participant, but he said having the entire audience watch would only spur them to participate since they believe they can do better.”
There was a lot of ominous panting and groaning coming from the next hall, which would have led to some wide eyes under other circumstances, but nothing less could be expected from Nachi’s ‘The Fiend Regiment’. She was leading the crowd through the average everyday workout of Fiends For Hire members. A few participants came stumbling out of the room with death on their faces, and the Fiends quickly got a flashback to their first few days.
Next up was Rusa’s panel. She was putting on a Q&A similar to their brief teaching stint in Constead. The audience could ask her anything about the world, history, science, or whatever intrigued their minds, and she’d do her best to answer with her vast array of knowledge or find the answer for them quickly. Since she was later in this life, it definitely made her look like a wise old woman with limitless insight.
And finally, the last panel was ‘Stream of Consciousness’ with Dura. “Really, Dura’s here?” Xard was the most surprised. He went up and pressed his ear to the door and winced when he heard a familiar voice rambling away. “Yup, that’s Dura.”
“He was the only CP Fiend who answered our invitation,” Valen informed them. “He seems to have quite the gift of gab, so we’re just letting him have an open panel for the entire convention to see if he ever gets tired and runs out of things to talk about. There’s even an open betting pool among the organizers.”
“I’d take that bet,” Xard suggested. “He will never stop talking for as long as he lives.”
As soon as they arrived at the show floor, the group was immediately led over by their noses to the concession section even though they’d just eaten lunch. Most of it was standard convention food, but there were a few unique Shindig specialties and restaurant sponsors promoting their dishes.
And, Vank and Hazzle also had their own small food stand. They were just selling a few treats, but their line was the longest by far. Probably because their stand was called ‘A little taste of Fiendish’.
Valen briefly visibled herself to go get food for everyone, to save some poor vendor the heartattack of having their supply float away. They stayed far from the old couple’s stand simply because it would take the entire rest of the day to get it.
After cravings were quashed, they headed over to the artist atrium. Drim and Kada went for a browse, but Phon and Xard decided to abstain and wait around once they saw some of the pieces on offer. “Are those pictures of us on large pillowcases?” Phon had asked. “I just don’t get it.”
When the two shoppers returned, Drim had purchased some hand-carved wooden bookmarks. One of them had a lovely depiction of Pox and Drimini playing together, and another was mockups of their public warrants.
Kada, meanwhile, returned with at least a dozen bags of goodies. There were posters, scarves, drawings, figurines, and even a jacket she’d probably never wear. “I like to support hardworking artists, okay?!” she defended herself when asked about her frivolous purchases. Valen offered to put it all in one of the compressing chests made of Rishaki’s blood and then stored in the dimension made from Roque’s—alongside Valen’s own chest of merch.
Before the group could make it to the next section, they were nearly knocked off their feet by the sudden shock of a loud crash and then the roar of a crowd cheering. “Oh, Itsy is performing a demonstration of her car-cannon outside,” Valen mentioned as if that was a normal thing to say. “Would you all like to go take a look?”
Of course they wanted to go take a look, and it was less of a demonstration and more of an event. She was bowling with cars, firing them out of her cannon and into stacks of oil drums. “Heya fellers,” Itsy somehow noticed them despite their camouflage. “Yall want a turn?”
The invisibility was removed so the crowd could watch the Greaters each fire off a car, and they all had to admit, it was a blast—pun certainly intended. But before they could leave, a fan ran up to them and pleaded that they launch his car through the cannon. The group initially refused, because of the liability and trying to keep the fan from doing something stupid while he wasn’t thinking clearly.
However, he insisted that his car was a piece of junk and he was planning to sell it to a scrapper in Shinding since he doubted it’d make the trip home. And he even showed them proof that he’d bought a skycraft ticket, and he was willing to sign a waver. Phon then teleported his car from the lot to make things simple. The fan asked for Kada to be the one to fire it, for whatever reason, but she insisted that he fire it with her, so they pressed the button together.
After those bouts of wanton destruction, the group resumed their trek through the convention center. They finally made it to the main floor where the 3rd party vendors were selling their wares. Rishaki had a tent set up to peddle, but she was the only Fiend directly selling items that they saw.
A monster hunting supplier was selling weapons—not actually directly to attendees but they could try them out and have them shipped to their home. A book chain was selling books related to Fiends which Drim went to browse, and it included a compendium of all currently known Fiends and their profiles.
Also in the area were the autograph tables, which had packed lines and were basically just a sea of people. A lot of the other Fiends like Tize and Chorus were getting them out of the way now, since it’d be even more chaotic when it was the Greaters’ turn. Laurim was also in that area, but not doing autographs specifically. Instead, she was offering to turn into any monster that the attendees could come up with so they could take pictures with it.
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A few of their fellow coworkers were also offering similar and unique services. Rezin was in a popup auditorium providing hallucination experiences for small groups at a time. Niloy was providing makeovers to promote her products, and Farian was offering free check ups since there was a good chance a lot of the attendees hadn’t been to see a doctor in quite sometime.
Dice also had a booth set up where fans could bring him anything they wanted and he would slice it into as many pieces as they wanted. But he was one of the few newer Fiends around. Most of the others probably didn’t feel popular enough to attend or just didn’t care for the idea of being the center of attention—something that they’d sadly have to get used to over time just by being part of a group. If this convention told them nothing else, the Fiends For Hire were now a household name and there was no escape from fame.
“One of our most requested exhibits was a booth where Kaizu would judge everyone’s morality,” Valen mentioned to them. “For obvious reasons, it was rejected. Especially since there is a good chance that she would try to kill them. And even if she didn’t, some things are better off not known.”
Besides the Fiend exhibits, there were a couple other neat experiences. There was a hover-platform obstacle course set up by a tech company desperately trying to catch up to Nathym’s inventions. So far they’d just gotten things to float with actual movement still a long ways off.
And there was also the ‘Artillery Simulation’ from a game developer. The attendee could put on a headset and experience what it was like to fly around as Xard, and they could also use his powers through responsive gloves that let them fight some robots. The man himself insisted on giving it a try. “That’s actually pretty close to the real thing,” he had to acknowledge to the developer.
While he was playing, the convention had announced the winner for the cosplay contest. It went to a Kada cosplayer who was also wearing the mermaid skirt from when she fused with Tize. It had a drawstring in it that pulled the bottom of the skirt taught with a fin that flipped down, making a faux mermaid’s tail.
Before they could do anything else, a siren started to blare around the convention center, so they rushed over to see. “Ah, someone must have tried to touch Pox,” Valen explained to them. An attendee was currently pinned to the floor by Drimini’s vines, who was currently wearing a security guard outfit with a siren attached to her back.
Pox was indeed there, and whacking the person repeatedly with the scepter he was holding, matching his royal attire. On his back was a sign that said ‘Photos okay. Do not touch unless permission is given.’ Apparently, he’d been wandering around the convention center as one of the main attractions with his sister in tow acting as his security.
From Drim’s perspective, it was good to see her become well-aware enough that she could participate in something like this. Lately, she had been seeming more conscious of her actions and able to focus on something besides just flying around chaotically. His offspring was growing up so fast.
Now at last, it was finally time for the Greaters to hold their autograph session. The current group of Fiends cleared out and security reset the line, though anyone who was still in line at the time got the first opportunity to queue up again. Only when everything was put into place did Valen remove their invisibility shroud.
Within microseconds, a fan called out their presence and all heads in the area turned towards their tables. A symphony of dings and notification beeps rang around the hall as word quickly spread. And then the room started to rumble as a stampede of fans rushed over to join the line.
Security thankfully acted quick, getting everything swiftly under control and orderly. Since there were so many autographs to get through, the Fiends unfortunately couldn’t feasibly give the fans the super-special and unique experience that each of them probably wanted.
Every attendee was only allowed for up to 3 items to be signed by each of them. Also, they were limited to a handshake and a photo at most. Or that was the rule anyways. Plenty of them had specific requests, but as long as they were kept short and simple, no one would raise a fuss—nothing that made the Fiends have to leave their seats to streamline the process.
Some of the special requests included having Kada melt something the fan had brought and asking to punch Xard so they could feel the kinetic energy being drained. Some people brought plants along with them that they wanted to watch Drim absorb, and others had specific requests of plants they wanted him to make.
For Phon, most people wanted her to teleport them across the room when it was time to leave so they could experience it. She made sure to always teleport them next to a vacant trash can in case they were going to throw up.
Requests that were more general included wanting to arm or thumb wrestle, asking for high fives, fist bumps, or to be slapped in a few cases—which were never completed, officially anyways. A few fans offered to tell a joke themselves or asked for one on the spot. Thankfully, Kada always had one to offer. Most, though, just wanted to ask some specific questions that they couldn’t at the earlier Q&A.
And gifts! There were so many gifts. It got to the point where Valen had to direct specific staff to take and box up all the gifts, but only after the Fiends got a chance to admire them first so the gifters wouldn’t feel slighted.
Unfortunately, not all the interactions were gems and smiles. There was a lot of awkwardness to be had as well. Some attendees thought it a good time to ask the Fiends on the spot about specific requests that hadn’t been completed yet or had been rejected, not really understanding how their process worked and that they couldn’t get to all of them.
A few more fans just got so nervous that they’d bolt from the line. Some broke down crying on the spot, others threw up, a few fainted, but thankfully the good experiences vastly overshadowed the bad.
And there were a couple that were just plain weird. “O,h are you cosplaying as one of Laurim’s monsters?” Kada asked someone who was dressed fully in a mauve colored monster mascot costume.
“Uhh sure, let’s go with that,” was all the fan replied. Those who knew could only stare awkwardly for a while as Kada came to the slow realization.
“What the hell is this under the paper?” Phon ripped apart a picture of herself since she’d seen something lined on the inside. “A marriage certificate? The Mawhg?!” Right under where the fan had asked Phon to sign was the blank spot on a carbon-papered legally-binding certificate that would marry them on the spot.
Valen had security drag the man away, and none of the Fiends dared to ask what would happen to him after that. But needless to say, the rest of the crowd was furious, as if he’d gone against some sacred oath that they were all bound to. That was probably the worst situation, except for a bounty hunter who failed miserably at trying to throw a numbing bomb to capture them.
“Well, the signing is officially closed,” Valen mentioned to the exhausted looking Fiends. “And there was an after party I was going to invite you all to, but…” her eyes drifted to the line where the end still couldn’t be seen.
“Cap off the queue, Valen,” Drim ordered. “If someone hasn’t joined the line by now, that’s on them. But we will see that everyone already here gets their turn.” She did as instructed and then left briefly to procure some food and energy drinks. The Fiends held to their word, and it took them well into the next morning. But they made sure every fan got their chance, and hopefully made it a Fiendcon they’d remember forever.
◆◆◆
Chorus barged into the living room of the generals’ mansion, ready to tease them about all that had happened and rhetorically ask them if they’d enjoyed their time off. They fully expected to get responses from the workaholics like ‘Does our organization allow selling back our paid time off?’ and ‘I’ll be working nonstop for the next month’. But they never got the chance.
Instead, they found the four of them passed out on the living room’s couches, all sleeping soundly or snoring loudly. Even they had the wherewithal to not disturb them in this case, and made sure that they were all tucked in under blankets. But before Chorus left, they made sure to get a few good shots, since it was the most relatable thing yet.