Save State Hero -Ch14- (Patreon)

“No,” Edmund said, shaking his head with a fake and forced smile on his face. “No, no, no. Just… leave. No.”

“Yes!” declared Andrea as she looked around his office. “Nnnn… ah! There.”

Moving off to one side she set down a stack of papers on an existing pile. One that was around at the height of Andrea’s hips.

“Andie… what… what are you doing? Why? I can’t get through all this,” whined Edmund with a long sigh.

Looking to the numerous stacks of papers in his office that’d all been brought in by various Andreas, Edmund felt hopeless. Absolutely hopeless and lost.

“I know!” said the Andrea turning to face him. She put her hands on her hips, lifted her chin and smiled. “Mwa ha ha ha ha ha. It’s all part of my devious and evil plan. One that took months of crafting and thought.

“Pouring over Legion handbooks, manuals, and Terms of Service agreements. Painstakingly making sure everything was perfect with every form so that they could all be handed over to you at this exact moment.”

Ellie was standing in one corner of the office, slowly flipping through one of the unending piles of papers. Lifting one, reading it, then setting it down.

“I don’t get it,” Dorothy said, turning to look at Andrea. “What exactly is your plan? To flood Edmund with paperwork?”

“All submitted expense reports must be responded to within forty-eight hours of receipt,” Andrea said, lifting one hand and holding it up. “To get through all of my expense reports in time, you’ll just have to sign them all and turn them in. Otherwise… you’ll fall outside of compliance!”

Edmund blinked slowly, his mouth hanging openas he stared at Andrea.

“Andie… even if I did sign them all, and then turned them in, Felix would still have to sign off on them,” Edmund murmured. “I’m not actually the Legate. In fact, I’m sure Tribune is actively monitoring this right now and already putting together a report for him.”

“Correct,” affirmed the Virtual Intelligence. The Legion watchdog was always watching.

“That’s fine. I’ll just do sexy things to Felix then give him to Faith when I’m done. He won’t even remember afterward,” Andrea explained with a wave of a hand, her tail swishing back and forth slowly behind her. “If he does remember, he won’t care, cause I’ll just do it again to him. And again. Till he stops asking about it.”

“It is likely Legionnaire Edmund won’t get anything done given the amount of work you’ve given him,” Tribue warned.

“Nn, nn, that too! Double that!” Andrea said enthusiastically and balling her hands into fists in front of herself. “So if something goes wrong today, or you make a mistake, you can just blame me and my paperwork! Then-then-then refer back to my earlier statement about sexy time with Felix.

“Consider it as a favor to me. A favor you owe me. See? You can even put in any reimbursement forms you want to on top of mine and he’d never even see it. Just submit it in the middle somewhere.”

“That’s rather crafty,” Dorothy admitted with a chuckle. “And why do you want Edmund to owe you a favor?”

“Because I’m gonna go hook Edmund up with a Beastkin! There’s lots where I came from!” Andrea gushed, looking at Dorothy. “Beastkin are much better than normal people. We’re better in every way! If he owes me a favor, he can’t say no to going on a date with one!

“In fact, the Others and I were talking about it and we know a Bunny that works as a a clerk. She’s single, his age, and super pretty.

“Also a lot smarter than me. She can’t date very well because of that. Men get a bit intimidated by her.”

“Ah,” Dorothy said, the single word sounded like a door slamming closed in a way. “I’ll handle it from here, Andrea. You can just leave any future papers outside the door. I’ll collect them.”

“Great! Thankies!” Andrea said and then bounced off, jetting out the door and nearly bulldozing through Alina. “Ooouuu! Sorry, sorry. Oh, you smell weird. Like fire and blood. Bye!”

The angelic vampire watched Andrea run away with a strange look before turning to look at Edmund.

“I just came to say bye. Just had a really stupid conversation with a friend of mine and then Ryker,” Alina grumbled with a slow shake of her head. “Going to be going back to my day job, probably won’t be back for… a long while, actually.

“Ryker said I could come back when it’s done though. So I’ll swing by after that. If you don’t mind?”

“Course not, why would I mind?” asked Edmund with a chuckle. He realized he wasn’t going to sign any of these papers.

The look on Dorothy’s face was determined as she begun constructing some type of spell in front of herself. She was also paying attention to the conversation at the same time, however.

Her mental strength and ability to multi-task was frightening.

“Oh? It’s all starting then?” she asked with an odd edge to her question.

“Yeah, it is,” Alina agreed with a nod to Dorothy. She looked at the other woman for a little longer then looked to Edmund and closed the distance to where he was sat behind his desk. Standing directly in front of him. “You might mind because I wouldn’t be coming back as a consultant. Probably just to hang out or see what’s going on with Legion. Things are happening faster than expected so my consultancy gig is going to be ending much sooner.

“Whether Dorothy wants to admit it to herself that this includes her or not isn’t really my issue, but it’d technically be over for her as well.”

“I mean… yes? But no. Doesn’t matter at all. Ryker needs to get his head adjusted if he thinks I’m leaving. Bussin me leaving doesn’t mean diddly squat,” Dorothy growled, her eyes turning back to the spell. “I’ll leave when I’m needed and not before that. I still have a job to do here even if the consultancy ends early. Doesn’t mean the work is done.”

Errr… that’s exactly what that means though?

This is because she wants to stay with me, isn’t it? I should discourage that.

Later.

When I’m alone with her so that I don’t… mock her. I wouldn’t want to be mocked for chasing Romina around so there’s no reason to harm Dorothy.

“It has nothing to do with you, Edmund,” Dorothy emphasized. “I admit I’m rather dissapointed you said no to me asking you out. Again.

“But I’m enjoying being here. It’s quite enjoyable and very different from my own home-land. This is the first time I traveled away from it after my residency training.”

Alina stared at Dorothy for a short time then shrugged her shoulders.

“Whatever. Anyways,” Alina conceded and put her eyes back to Edmund. “You really wouldn’t mind?”

“No. I really wouldn’t mind you coming back to just hang out or just watch Legion. Though for the latter you’d have to get permission you know. I’m just a cog here.

“But… no, I wouldn’t mind.You’re kinda grumpy at times. Come across a bit boomer-y more often than you look like you should, but you’re fun to be around when that fades. You know, when you pull the stick out of your ass that is, Alina. You must really enjoy riding that thing cause that doesn’t happen that often,” Edmund offered with a smirk. He actually didn’t mind Alina. He figured most people found her grim and taciturn.

Edmund felt that she was more probably a bright and warm person that’d been beat down one too many times. That she was only just starting to lift herself back up as a person and didn’t know how to do it.

She asked for redemption to save her, right?

Let’s use that language. Encourage her to come back.

She’s incredibly powerful and a good person to have as a friend.

That and she really isn’t that bad. Kinda reminds me a bit of Ryker, just not as funny.

“I’m sure you’ll find your redemption here if that’s what you’re looking for Alina,” Edmund offered in a much softer tone. He hoped it wouldn’t carry over to where Dorothy was constructing her spell. “Whatever is chasing you… I probably can’t help directly, but I can at least listen. Make a space for you to set the weight down and talk about it. Not every conversation has to have a problem to solve.

“Sometimes just talking really is the best course of action. Even if all it does is make a lot of noise.”

Alina’s eyes had never left his face as he spoke.

The features of her face didn’t shift or change in any way either.

It was like looking at a stone statue.

Then she suddenly blinked, a small smile spread acros her lips and she tipped her head fractionally toward him.

“I’ll keep that in mind. And no… the stick hurts. I’m really sick of it but it helps me do my job. I’ll… I’ll try to… pull it out more often,” Alina offered in a very quiet voice, then sighed. “I’ll pull it out more often. I won’t try, I just will.”

“Great,” Edmund said with more volume and patted his desk. “Now, are you leaving immediately or do we have time to go to lunch? Cause I’m betting our dear Dot over there is going to pop a spell off in a moment and all these forms are going to be incinerated or approved in a flash.

“Can’t tell which way it’ll go, but it’ll go one way or the other.”

“I can do lunch,” Alina allowed.

“Signing them,” growled Dorothy and then pushed her hands forward. “But we’re signing them in an obvious and stupid way so that Felix knows it. Then we’ll go to lunch.”

The spell activated and there was a loud scratching noise that lasted for several seconds. When it ended, Edmund couldn’t tell if anything had changed.

Then he looked to the document he had in front of himself.

It was a reimbursement form for fifty-six waffle makers. A photo had been attached to it that showed a very destroyed waffle maker that’d clearly been shot several times.

At the bottom was a signature that wasn’t his name.

All that was written there was “Acting Legate - Form #57” and nothing else.

Well, that’d definitely get Felix’s attention.

Signed, but signed incorrectly. As well as numbered.

***

“Acting Legate Edmund,” Tribune’s voice said through his phone.

Flinching Edmund took his attention away from the computer screen. He was so deep in going through his project work that he’d tuned everything out.

Doubly so since he was alone in his office.

Ellie and Dorothy had taken up guest offices nearby and Alina had left.

“Something very strange has just occurred,” Tribune reported.

“Err, okay? What is it?” he asked.

“Legionnaire Andrea died,” continued Tribune.

“Oh, which one? And how this time? I know one fell down an elevator shaft somehow the other day. Didn’t one get run over by the train, several days ago?” asked Edmund, looking at his phone.

Andrea’s ability to make copies of herself and absorb them after death gave her a casual dismissal of her own mortality.

She died often for fun or to experience something.

“They all died,” Tribune answered.

Frowning, Edmund just stared at his phone.

“Huh? What, did they all eat poisoned pancakes or something?” Edmund asked, wondering how all the Andrea’s died. “Alright. Contact Andrea Prime or one of the Others in another location and get them to come over and pick up her corpses. I wonder what the hell they were thinking.”

“Prime is dead.”

Edmund didn’t know how to process that.

“Every Andrea is dead,” Tribue stated. “There isn’t a living Andrea that can be found in any facility, on any roster, or in any location. The only Andrea’s unaccounted for are on assignment.

“Given that all the deaths were without warning, cause, or warning, as well as at the same time, it is safe to assume something occurred. Something that affected every single Legionnaire Andrea.”

“That’s not possible,” argued Edmund.

“They are all dead that I can account for and without cause. There is no logical conclusion or reasoning,” Tribune countered. “The deduction that something occurred on the mission that is outside parameters is a fair one. This deduction must assume that the Andrea in the mission area encountered something, or someone, that killed her in a way that killed all of her.”

Edmund was shaking his head now. That wasn’t an acceptable answer in any way. Not one he could accept.

Andrea was strange, she was on the border of what he’d call insane, but she was his friend. Someone who had done her best by him, even when she made his life hell.

It’d never been boring around her.

“Alright,” Edmund said in a quiet voice. He needed more information. There would be no possibility of saving Andrea without understanding exactly what’d happened to her.

That meant he had to stay in this timeline for some time longer. Long enough that he could understand everything that’d occurred.

For now, all he could do was wait for Felix to come back. To talk to him and find out the details.

Then he could act.

Realizing he was going to be resetting this save-state soon, Edmund decided he might as well look at stocks. He could do some quick buying and selling once he rewound time so that he could earn some more money.

There wasn’t a reason not to, anymore. This timeline was no longer real.

To Edmund, it didn’t actually exist.

This was only a shadow of the true world since it’d be reset.

Nothing here mattered anymore.

The people here weren’t real.

None of it was.

Letting out a long and frustrated sigh, Edmund shook his head and started digging through stock news. He had a healthy bank account now but there was always room to grow it.

He settled into it.

“Functions transferred from Acting Legate to Legate,” announced Tribune from his phone. The sudden announcement broke Edmund out of his newsing.

Glancing to the clock he saw that three hours had passed since he’d heard the news about Andrea. That meant Felix was back and Edmund could get the answers he needed to make the moves he wanted to.

“That was quick,” Edmund said to himself and then leaned back in his chair. Blinking several times he put his hands to his eyes. “Roll the short sale and… that’s it. That’s the only thing I can manage in the short period of time I’ve got.”

“Short period of time?” asked a voice at the doorway.

Looking up he found Dorothy standing there.

“Pretty sure you’re probably gonna have a long and healthy life. Unless you’re not telling me something,” Dororthy pointed out. “Because I’ll be honest, I’m pretty sure you’re hiding something. No-one calls me Dot but… but a very few close people in my life. Very few.

“The fact that you knew Alina’s full name is another one. That’s some really weird stuff for you to pull out of nowhere.”

“I imagine,” Edmund admitted and agreed, nodding his head. Then he clicked his tongue and grabbed his phone. “Tribune, is Felix here? How’d he get here so fast?”

“The Legate is in his office. He was brought here by Dragon at maximum speeds,” Tribune reported. “He wished to confirm the death of all Andreas. The Legate is not faring well.”

“Yeah, that tracks,” muttered Edmund with a short exhale. “I can’t even imagine what he’s going through. Was it just Andrea?”

“Wait, what?” asked Dorothy.

“Many Legionnaires fell. Only Romina and Gaia safely returned. The list of KIA includes Faith, Miu, and Goldie. Felix has promoted you to act as his co-legate just as Faith did,” Tribune stated.

Holy fuck.

Holy fuck!

That’s damn near everyone that’s important to him.

“Not faring well” is probably a damn under-statement, Tribune. For fucks sake.

“God-Emperor preserve,” whispered Dorothy in a shocked tone.

“God-Emperor?” asked Edmund and exited his office. He turned and began heading for the elevator. He needed to go talk to Felix and get details. “Who the hell is that?”

“I… hes… don’t worry about it. Unless you wanna tell me how you know the name Dot but not of the God-Emperor?” Dorothy tried instead.

“I have a power that lets me rewind time,” Edmund answered honestly and punched the up button on the elevator. “I do that often. Had to do it more than a few times to save Alina from being her stupid-ass self in that big box store.

“I learned the name Dot from you directly. I needed a way to stop you cold and get you to listen in one go. That’s what you told me to say. Same thing with Alina but her middle name. Then I rewound time again and did it all over once more.”

“Thats-thats how… that’s how you knew exactly how to move. You already knew everything that was going to happen,” Dorothy whispered, coming to stand next to him.

“Ayup. It’s easy to figure everything out when I can just bounce back and forth. I just need to make sure the ol’ noggin doesn’t explode,” Edmund explained as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. “So long as the brain is working, I can do my thing. If I die… that’s the end of it.”

Dorothy hesitated as he stepped into the elevator then joined him. Watching him quietly.

“How many times have you told me this?” she asked quietly.

“This in depth with all the details? Never,” Edmund admitted and tapped the button for Felix’s floor.

Dorothy stared at him as the elevator doors closed and began to move upward.

“It’s like Groundhog Day,” she mumbled.

“What now?” asked Edmund, looking at her.

“Nevermind. It’s not something you’d understand. Though… wait… you asked Romina out, right?”

“Yeah. She said no.”

“Why didn’t you just… keep rewinding time until you could talk her into dating you? I mean… like… learn everything about her, know what’d make her happy, and talk her into it?” inquired Dorothy. There was an odd inflection to her words. As if it was part curiosity but also part expectation.

“Because that’d just be weird, really,” Edmund said after a slight pause. He’d considered doing that once, than dismissed it. “None of this is real, right now. This is just a time between rewinding time. This timeline won’t exist as soon as I find out what I need to know.

“If I sat there and figured everything out about Romina, it’d be about shadow Romina. It wouldn’t matter. It wouldn’t be the real Romina answering.

“That and honestly that sounds kinda fucking creepy. Super creepy.”

Dorothy opened her mouth, then closed it. Finally she just shook her head as if she didn’t understand.

“It’d be like playing a video game with the walk-through open on my first playthrough. What the fuck is the point of playing the game at that point?” Edmund asked. “I could just read the walk-through and get the same enjoyment out of playing it, really. It wouldn’t even be any different.

“Figuring out the perfect way to get Romina to date me would solve the immediate moment but… but not the future. If she didn’t love me for being me, why would it matter if I could talk her into it?

“She’d just leave me later on wouldn’t she? Not unless I wanted to pause everything and talk her into it again. And again. And again. That sounds just… pointless.

“That isn’t love. That isn’t caring for another person. That’s more like… parasitic infatuation. It’d be entirely for my benefit and little else.

“Learning everything about her as a relationship grows and sharing everything about me? That takes time. Effort. Care.

“It isn’t a cheat-sheet so I can get the answer perfectly.”

“I tend to use them after I’ve already beaten the game,” Dorothy offered up with a nervous chuckle. “But I think I get what you mean. If all you did was that then it would just… boil the whole thing down to nothing. I get it.”

“I… yeah, me too. But yeah, haven’t done that. Thought about it, never did it. I’ll just keep pursuing her in my own way,” Edmund said. “So… Groundhog Day is a movie or a book or something then?”

“Movie. You wouldn’t have seen it. Ends with him giving up on getting the girl and just trying to live his life. Every attempt he made to… to get a cheat-sheet, ended up with it going badly,” Dorothy answered though it felt like she left something out.

“See? I’m the only one who thought of it that way. Wouldn’t mean anything at all if I did it that way. I mean… you barely exist right now as it is Dot,” Edmund cheerfully explained with a laugh. “I could shoot you in the head, rewind time, and you’d never even have an inkling of it. You exist right now, but not really.

“You’re not Dot. Dot will exist as soon as I reset time.”

“That doesn’t sound… right… Edmund. That doesn’t sound right all,” warned Dorothy though her voice was tinged with concern. He didn’t feel any threat from it, just worry.

Not wanting to consider her words, he deliberately shut the conversation down at that moment.

Then the elevator dinged.

“I’ll see you later. I need to go talk to Felix and then rewind time,” Edmund said and threw a thumb at the hallway beyond.

“How far back are you going?”

“To just when Faith asked me if I wanted to go on the mission. I’m going to go this time. Make sure this doesn’t go so bad this time. That’s all.”

“Oh. Well. Make sure to take me with you. Just… just call me Dot, again, I guess,” mumbled the woman. “I’ll follow you if you call me Dot.”

“I know.”

The elevator doors closed a moment afterward.

“Fuck… I didn’t ask her who the God-Emperor was,” Edmund cursed.