Save State -Ch5- (Patreon)

Edmund waited until five minutes after the stocks had fully closed for the regular market. He didn’t like dealing with after-hours market and preferred to use it as a backstop.

Looking at the screen he memorized the single stock that’d performed over the last thirty days. One that’d started grown considerably and would help Edmund grow his own money.

“Okay… that’s… it I guess. This’ll give me a really great return for what I can liquidate and move,” murmured Edmund, his fingers pushing at his chin. “I just wish something would happen. Something big and stupid that I could make a lot of money from.

“But really… really the market is pretty steady right now. It’s just small moves and changes that aren’t really letting me leverage anything huge. But that’s fine. Thats fine.

“I’m in it for the long game. The long haul. Squeeze everything out of it that I can all without ever getting the government on my back.”

Edmund didn’t have to think hard about that.

There’d been someone who developed the power to win any game of chance they played. Given how the government watched winners closely for IRS purposes even before a superhero era, they’d found the individual very quickly.

Then took them to the cleaners and had them subsequently banned from more or less everything as well as assigning permanent handlers.

No thank you.

I’ll stick with stocks. That’s an easy and silly way to hide my ability with “good guesswork”. Just have to make sure I keep up with my reasons for investing.

Sighing, Edmund picked up his phone and read over all the notes he’d put into it.

Nothing had actually happened in the last thirty days that’d really need him to do much with his personal life. His sister hadn’t needed much more than what he’d figured out previously and the rest had fallen in to place without him doing anything.

The only question mark he had at the moment was Legion.

He’d quit the day he’d decided to walk thirty days ahead if only so that they didn’t bother him constantly. His work at Legion had him dealing with every department in one way or another.

“Being an assistant isn’t half as fun as I thought it would be,” mumbled Edmund as he slowly flicked through his notes. It was everything stock related in the end and not much of it mattered now.

He’d made his choice and there wouldn’t be anything left to do other than to shift resources over once he’d loaded the save state.

Sighing, he moved to his personal messages.

In the end, he’d gone completely radio silent with Romina. He hadn’t been able to process the rejection very well at first and by the time he had a handle on it, they weren’t talking anymore.

Letting himself wander through thirty days into the future had been a great way for him to get distance from the situation, without having to suffer from it at the same time. That he could load the save state and simply go to the situation with an unburdened heart.

Because as painful as it was for Romina to reject him, they’d had a few frank conversations where she’d admitted she was attracted to him, but hadn’t really thought of him as someone to date. That she hadn’t considered dating anyone.

A few posts on some online forums had given him the insight into the fact that this was a positive thing. He wasn’t starting from a negative, just a null state.

Waiting not a second longer, Edmund opened up the save states, selected the file he wanted, and bumped the world backward. Back to the the day Romina had rejected him.

***

Walking into the local Legion office grounds Edmund couldn’t help but grin. It’d been a farm not long ago. Felix had turned it into a waste disposal dump and used it as a way to bribe a number of politicians

Only to literally turn everything that was dumped into the dump into materials for other projects.

As a super villain, Felix had the ability to quite literally modify anything he owned. Even changing it into dirt, or nothing at all. Banking away the “points” as he called them for another project at another time.

As the owner of the dump, all the trash was his. Which he constantly converted to points and squirreled away for other situations.

“Working for a super villain is always interesting,” murmured Edmund as he walked up to the barn. It was a very fake barn that was the entry point to the underground Legion complex. Which was filled with a managerie of fairy tale creatures, monsters, and beasts Edmund had never thought truly existed.

Gaia had brought them all here for refuge. Now they worked for Legion and lived protected lives. Trading away living above ground for the safety of the deep.

Though, all those train stations Felix is building beneath all the complexes and linking them together will give everyone a bit more ability to move about.

Hell, I could get down here and back to the main office in no time at all. Visits to my sister could be every weekend.

“Edmund!” cheered an Andrea door-guard with a bright smile. “Hello! Are you here to go to work?”

A second Andrea door-guard was nodding her head at the question. Both of them held weapons and were wearing body-armor.

While they might look off-guard and silly, he knew firsthand Andrea wasn’t someone to take lightly. They’d have a look flash over their face and suddenly become a mercenary equivalent to Rambo.

“Yep,” Edmund said and pulled out his badge. He held it out to the closer Andrea. “I got permission to ‘work at home’ from the office here. Had some stuff to deal with.”

“Oooh? Is it a girl? I bet it’s a girl,” said a third Andrea, poking her head out from around the corner. There were two inside the barn on the other side that were acting as guards as well. “You should let us fix you up with a Beastkin like us later. We’re much better than anyone you could date here.”

“Oh oh! Yes! We should put him with a Fox! They’d do well with him,” said an unseen Andrea.

“What if I was dating someone like Romina?” countered Edmund while the Andrea he was next to scanned his badge against the Encampment application.

“You can do better than her,” argued the Andrea on the outside of the door. “She’s more like… a side heroine.”

“Yeah! Side heroine, nnn nnn!” said the Andrea who’d stuck her head out. “For someone like you, you only need like… one or two women in your life. You don’t seem as emotionally needy as Felix is so you don’t need as many women.”

“Doesn’t that make Felix the most emotionally needy man on the planet since he has all of you?” Edmund asked as Andrea’s phone beeped approval.

“Yes! It does,” they all said at the same time while grinning.

Then they all looked at each other, than back to Edmund.

“Romina should be a side heroine. We’ll get you a Fox or someone who can take charge,” said the Andrea who’d checked his badge. “We’ll tease Romina about being with Felix. That’ll force her to consider dating more seriously. She sees Felix as a dad figure, not a dating figure.

“That’ll make her be more likely to say yes to you! I’m sure of it. That’s what we’ll do. I’ll call Prime right now.”

Edmund really didn’t understand their plan, or even think it would work honestly, but trying to get Andrea to do anything didn’t work out very well. Best one could do was ask Felix to step in.

Saying nothing, Edmund headed into the office.

It took him a few minutes to get down to his office. It was on one of the lower floors of the building and a place he’d only visited once or twice so he could get it set up. Which really just consisted of a laptop dock, monitor, networking setup, and some basic furniture.

Felix had insisted on him having an office here just in case.

Edmund couldn’t argue that the man had been right since he could work out of it now.

Entering his office he flicked on the lights and paused. Everything was as he remembered it. Nothing seemed out of place.

In his pocket, his phone chimed.

He’d sent Romina a text on the way to the office. It’d been a simple and short message. While he understood that she’d declined the date, until she told him to stop asking her out or that she wasn’t interested in him, he planned on asking her out routinely.

Additionally to that, he admitted to her that he wasn’t going to hold back and would be open to dating others. As much as he wanted to try a relationship with her, he wasn’t to put his life on pause either.

He figured that notification was her responding to what he’d sent. While she would often leave him on read for a time, she’d eventually respond. She just tended to think out her messages rather than responding immediately.

Moving behind his desk he pulled his laptop out of his messenger bag and fit it into the dock for it.

No sooner than his laptop had hit the dock and the monitor flickered to life, than someone tapped on his door.

Looking up Edmund expected to find an Andrea or one of Gaia’s people.

Instead he saw Ryker standing in the office door.

“Hey, hi, hello,” said the man with a grin. Dark brown eyes stared into him in a way that always made Edmund feel a bit strange. As if he could see him in a way that no one else could. His straight black hair was pulled straight back at the moment.

“Hello Mr. Ryker. It’s good to see you,” Edmund said, pausing for a moment as he stood there. Then he gestured at the two chairs in front of him. “Feel free to have a seat. I just got in.”

Edmund sat down and tapped into his keyboard then opened the security screen. He put his thumb down on the reader and looked to Ryker.

The man had entered his office, though he also had brought two people with him. Edmund hadn’t realized that the man wasn’t alone.

Both individuals were young women who were likely Edmund’s age. Or so he guessed from the look of them.

The first had a rather stern cast to her face. As if she didn’t want to be here and was attending under duress.

She had black hair with wide green eyes. She had a figure and face that put her in the one-percent of the population. Strikingly pretty and put together that’d have her battling with attention from everyone.

The woman was also dressed in clothes that were very similar to what everyone else his age tended to wear rather than a business suit, business casual, or Legion armor.

Edmund wasn’t sure Ryker hadn’t just picked her up off the street somewhere and brought her here.

Next to her was another young woman who was practically beaming. Grinning from ear to ear and bouncing in place. Her attire matched Ryker’s and the rest of the building’s.

Dressed in casual business wear that made her look far more corporate.

She had long brown hair that fell down behind her back in a straight pony-tail. A hair-style that felt more at home with small children than a grown woman.

Bright green eyes were moving from Edmund, to Ryker, and back to Edmund, then everywhere else in the office.

There was a distinctive scar on her face though. It ran down from her hairline, across her eyebrow, over her eye, and ending at her cheek.

Surprisingly it didn’t mar the beauty that the woman held, nor did it seem to detract from her personality or hold her back.

Where the first woman could compete with some well endowed swimsuit models, this woman was more athletic, lithe, and slim.

“Edmund, we’ve talked about this. I’m not Mr. Ryker. Just… Ryker. That’d do just fine,” countered Ryker. “These are two associates who help me by the way. This is Dorothy. She’s my personal assistant, very similar to how you are with Felix. The grumpy looking woman over there is Alina, and she’s working toward the goal of becoming an assistant as well.”

“I’m grumpy because I was busy and you didn’t give me any time to change,” hissed the woman. She had pronounced canines that made her stand apart from others as well as a strange air around her.

Edmund felt like he was standing next to an electrical station, except he couldn’t hear any high-voltage lines buzzing away.

“Stop. You know how it is,” murmured Dorothy, reaching over to pat Alina on the wrist. “We’re here now and there’s no sense in being like that in front of Edmund.”

All three pairs of eyes turned back to him with his name being invoked.

“Uh… and… what can I do for you?” asked Edmund.

Ryker gestured to the two seats which both women sat down in. Ryker himself went to the wall behind them and leaned up against it.

“Well, first was introductions. Alina and Dorothy here will end up working with you in the future. I felt it best to introduce you all together now since we all had the time,” Ryker explained with a smile. “Good thing you came in today. Otherwise this meeting wouldn’t have happened.”

Err… I swear… sometimes it feels like he knows what my power is and when I’ve used it. I swear.

Its always uncanny. Coincidental to the point of it being almost obvious.

But ever since Ryker started stopping by, things started getting better. As a consultant to Legion, Ryker has never steered us in a wrong direction.

Not to mention Felix seems to trust him.

In fact, everyone seems to take whatever he says at face value and not question it. Maybe… it’s time I questioned it.

Edmund was feeling prickly right now.

There was a message likely from Romina that was a burning a hole through his phone at the moment. This meeting already felt rather strange.

Not to mention both women were rather attractive and it left him feeling annoyed for some reason. As if he were missing something and this meeting was actually going to be rather strange.

Rather than wait, he dropped a save-state down right here and now. Over-writing the one he’d put down at the trailer park from the night previous.

He now had a save from this morning and the one for his office right here and now.

Edmund had watched everyone very carefully when the save-state went active. To see if any of the three of them had noticed what’d just happened.

No one seemed to realize anything had changed.

“Right,” Edmund murmured. He was going to be a bit rude and direct since he’d just put down a save-state. There was no need for him to be polite. He could get all the information he could, in any way he wished, then reload and be polite. “What is it you all want then? How would I be working with them? What’re you expecting from me?

“Because so far you haven’t said anything at all that really says anything. You look like you’re just waiting for me to say something but I don’t have anything at all.”

Ryker began to laugh at that.

“See? I told you,” he said, looking over to Dorothy. “He takes after Felix in some ways, but not as acerbic about it. Almost, but not quite. He’ll push right up to the point of confrontation, but back off.

“That is if he isn’t going the full polite nice guy route. That comes up a lot.”

“I like it,” Alina countered. For the first time she smiled. “It’d be better if he actually pushed back, wouldn’t it?”

“Wouldn’t be him if he did,” Dorothy answered instead of Ryker. “But that’s how it goes. It’s just like you always say, Ryker. You can set everything up but it’ll all take it’s own course.

“If you set it up a hundred times, chances are it’ll even have a hundred different outcomes, too. Everything is a random chance.”

Edmund wasn’t too pleased with that statement. Any of it. It made him feel like they’d been studying him. Assessing him.

“Felix is going to hit some roadblocks inthe future,” Ryker threw in quickly. “A number of them, in fact. Alina and Dorothy will end up being here to help you out with them as my assistants. Likely I won’t be around to provide any help like I normally do for you.

“I’ll be running around with Felix or others. Trying to fix what I can. They’ll be here as stand-ins for me. That’s all. This really was just a meeting to introduce you all to one another.

“I gave them some insights about you that I knew of just so that they could get a handle on who they’d be working with. I mean, it’s likely you’ll three be working through some very difficult and strange situations. Better you start to know one another now, rather than later.”

Edmund wanted to be annoyed, but he couldn’t actually fault the logic behind that. It made sense. He’d seen Felix do it a number of times, or something similar.

Plant an idea, a concept, a belief, early. Let it mature all on it’s own.

The same can be said for a relationship. Plant it before it needs to be there, and let it grow steadily before the time it needs to be fully formed.

“Alright. Does that mean… they’ll be staying here with me?” Edmund asked, looking to Ryker.

“Dorothy will be here for quite a while. Alina will be here on and off. She’s got a lot of work she’s doing in another location,” Ryker answered. “She’ll be here whenever time permits though.”

“I mean… okay, sure. I’m just going to be doing some basic work for a while. Not a whole lot going on, really,” Edmund offered with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Best time for them to be here and learn about you. Best time,” Ryker pushed with a nod of his head. “Alright. I’m going to take off. I’ll be in touch in the future. Need to invest in a few things. Make sure it’s the right move, ya know?”

Err… again… it’s like he knows. He knows and he’s pushing at me.

Do I just talk to him about it? Tell him?

Maybe he’d— no.

No.

We tell no one.

Ryker left then and closed the door behind him.

Leaving Edmund alone with Alina and Dorothy.

The latter grinned suddenly and then turned to her side. Digging into her large purse she pulled out a laptop, thunked it down on his desk, and then flipped it open.

Next to her Alina was doing the same thing, though her bag was smaller and she’d retrieved a tablet.

“Let’s start with easy stuff!” Dorothy declared. “Self history, wishes, desires, and wants!”

Great.

It’s a get-to-know-you meeting.

Ahhh shit.

Fucking hate these. Always hate these. They’re stupid.

“I’ll go first and it’ll be short and simple,” Alina grumbled. “I’m Alina. I’m a vampire and part angel. I just want to get back to my own life and be done with all this bullshit. That’s it.”

Nodding his head, Edmund had no idea what to say to that.

“My names Dorothy,” said Dorothy before Edmund could say anything, putting a hand to her chest. “I’m a wizard, I’m nineteen, and I only have one family member left. I went through a war growing up and lost everyone.

“His name is Rob. He and Ryker really don’t get along but they put aside their differences if only because of me. It’s rather frustrating getting them to not yell at one another but it works out more often than not.”

Edmund blinked slowly, then put on his best corporate smile.

A wizard, a vampire, an angel.

I… ah… okay. Okay!

Okay.

Let’s not panic. Let’s not panic. We’re okay.

We’re okay and they’re here to hang out with me.

His phone began ringing at his desk.

Glancing at the caller-id Edmund could see it was Romina calling him. He had no idea if it was business or pleasure since it was on his work line, rather than his cell phone.

It rang six times and finally stopped.

Then it started ringing again.

“Well? Answer it already,” growled Alina. “Clearly they aren’t going to stop.”