Chapter 251: Feeling Blue. (Patreon)

(Major rewrite here)

[Edward POV]

"Morning," my dad greeted me as I walked into the living room wearing only a pair of shorts and a tank top. "Mornin'," I replied, yawning. I glanced out at the balcony through the broken window and saw it was empty. 

The sea breeze intruded the house from the gap in the wall, which Vader seemed to enjoy. She was lying down near the broken glass wall, curled into a C shape, sleeping silently there, enjoying the sun and the breeze at the same time.

"Oh yeah, your friend went home. His mom came to pick him up after seeing he was gone," my dad explained, knowing what I was looking for.

“Good. Was he yelled at?” I asked as I scratched my stomach. 

“Not by his dad. I don’t know if he’s scolded by his mother. From the looks of it, it doesn’t seem that good for him.” My dad replied with a wry smile.

“I’ll ask her to be lenient on him. After all, he helped me a lot.” 

Frankie walked to the sofa where my dad was sitting with a ledger in her hand. She got straight to the point and said, “There’s over 30,000 dollars worth of damages you’ve suffered. It must have been quite a party.”

“It was.” I replied jokingly.

I yawned again as I walked to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee. My dad smirked and said, "I've had to stop myself from calling the hospital when you didn’t wake up in the morning, but I checked your breathing and guessed it was fine." He checked his watch as he teased.

“It’s only noon.” I replied. My dad smirked and said, “Still. It’s a rare sight to see.”

I sipped my coffee and sighed with relief, "Ahh." Turning to my dad, I said, "I'm still a bit tired from last night."

"That's right, the hottest Halloween party in Hollywood - Teenagers Edition," Pepper said dramatically as he walked in, waving his hand. He then scoffed, "Well, it might have been, if those roaches didn't break your window. Harvey already sent the damage cost to that General Beckman you were talking about."

I shrugged and said, "It's fine. I'm kind of glad it ended early." My dad and Pepper exchanged a knowing glance, and I stood up from my seat. "I'm going to the lab. Call me when it's time for dinner."

"Aren't you going to eat lunch?" my dad asked with disbelief.

"I'm not hungry. If I am, I will just eat some cereal in my lab," I replied, trying to walk away, when Pepper stopped me, “Wait.”

I turned to him, and he asked, “Are you sure you want to cancel the whole thing with the DOD?”

“I’m sure. Just let Harvey handle it. Ooh, by the way, don’t go out alone or without protection for the next few days. Just in case they try to grab you and force you into something.” I threatened him playfully.

“That sounds like a fun Saturday night.” Pepper jokes.

Frankie looked worried and said, “We should talk about enhancing the security–”

“You can deal with that. I won’t interfere.” I interjected. Before I could walk away, my dad asked something that made me stunned, “Ed. What do you think about suddenly having a younger brother?”

I turned to my dad with a face full of surprise, and then turned to Frankie, before resting my eyes on her stomach, “You got Frankie pregnant—”

“NO!” Frankie interjected quickly. “Not me!”

“You got another girl pregnant?” I asked with an innocent face as I turned to my dad before smirking mischievously as I saw his bewildered face.

“I haven’t gotten any girls pregnant-”

“Yet.” I interjected my dad’s words again.

He scowled disdainfully and said, “Can you let me finish?”

“Why, Frankie didn’t let you finish last night?” I mocked again. Frankie was in disbelief and blurted, “I did–”

“Frankie Dear, halt.” Pepper intervened quickly. He glared at me and said, “Ed, listen to him.”

“Alright. What is it?” I asked with a chuckle. My dad sighed and his mood fluctuated for a few times before he said, “I might…have another son–”

Speechless for a second, my mind raced to figure out the reason he said that. 

“Stop. Before you go any further. Is this about that Harry kid you met yesterday?” I interjected. My dad widened his eyes and said, “You know him?”

I replied casually after breathing in relief, “Yeah. Who did you think sent him to you? I already know that you’re going to get all flustered when seeing his face. But don’t worry, he is not your son. That was just something I had him say to mess with you.” 

The short meeting with ‘Harry Styles’ last night has been weighing on my dad’s mind. 

He almost lost his sleep thinking about the possibility of the ‘kid’ telling the truth. Even if he didn’t see the kid’s face clearly, there was a familiar feeling that he couldn’t shake off. He even visited Mrs Henderson early in the morning to meet the kid again, but she told him he was gone.

“Where is he now?” My dad asked me.

“Canada I guess. I’m not sure. I’ll get back to you later.” I replied dismissively. “Anything else?” I asked.

Frankie said, “There’s nothing else going on. Other than a few representatives from the government are desperate to meet you and change your mind.

“Eh, they reap what they sow…Or in this case, tried to sow.” I said casually before I waved them off. “I’ll be busy for a few days, if you need me, just tell Robin.”

“What are you planning on doing now? Nothing treasonous I hope.” Pepper asked while pretending to shudder. I chuckled and looked at him, but I didn’t say anything and walked away, picking up the sleeping cat and placing her on my shoulder as I did.

Pepper was stunned and he looked at my dad, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

My dad shrugged and said, “It’s Ed. He won’t do something impulsive.”

I walked to the same room Haley and Tara entered when they were searching for my lab. Then, I walked to the shelf on the deepest side of the room, and pulled on my decathlon trophy.

A latch was unlocked, and a hidden door appeared. I entered my password and walked into my true lab as soon as the door was opened. Then, the door was closed again, separating me from the rest of reality.

…

BeleBeleBeleBele 

My laptop rang with a Den-Den Mushi sound effect as I received a call on my Skype. The sound disrupted my focus from the data and simulation I was running with my modified supercomputer. 

There were several monitor screens running at the same time inside the lab. One was playing the anime ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”. One was running the pokemon game, HeartGold and SoulSilver, while the other one was displaying some lab results for medications. 

I kicked the floor to roll my chair to the other table and picked up the call since it was ringing non-stop.

“Hello there.” I greeted.

“General Kenobi.” Max replied and made a lightsaber sound while holding a lollipop stick. It was only the stick since she had finished the candy.

“So, were you just masturbating and accidentally called me?” I asked mockingly.

Max grinned and replied, “How do you know? I meant to change the video, but my finger slipped.” She cackled and I chuckled.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing the great escapist, Max Black, today?" I asked.

“My pleasure.” Max replied with a dirty joke. She cackled a bit before asking, “How are you?”

“Aww, did you miss me?”

“Shut it.” Max made a gesture for me to zip my mouth. “I’m only asking because I saw the news.”

“Ah, that. I’m fine. It’ll blow over quickly.” I replied. Max nodded and was silent for a while. I kept waiting for her to continue, and then I got confused.

“Why do you keep staring at me…in silence?” I asked with confusion.

Max smiled wryly and said, “I figured I should ask you more about your life, but then I realized I never had the experience, so I don’t actually know what to do now.” 

I chuckled and said, “It’s fine~ You can just be yourself.”

“Phew. That took the pressure away.” Max said mockingly.

“Ah Max. When are you coming here for Thanksgiving?” I asked. Max was confused, “I’m going there? Well since I’m not ‘coming’ here– Wait, I can’t even joke right now. I’m going there?”

“Yeah. You’re family. Family gets together during Thanksgiving.” I said casually. Max was speechless and her face blushed a bit. She shyly avoided my eyes and said, “Shut up. We have only known each other for 2 months.”

“When you know, you know.” I replied. “So sis, should I send the jet to pick you up? It’s going to be hard to get tickets now.”

Max hesitated and said, “No. I have a shift on Thanksgiving–”

“At the GAP? Seriously, you chose to work at the GAP instead of working for the company?” I asked her disdainfully. Max was stunned at first, then she smirked.

“Well the GAP lets me steal stuff…” Max replied jokingly, I smiled and rested my head on my palm while my elbow was on the table.

Max said jokingly, “Wait, you lost energy? How long do you have till you pass away?”

“2 days. So come over to bury me.” I replied.

“I know I’m joking, but I’m pretty worried now.” Max said with worry on her face. “Why are you so tired?”

“I don’t know. The party maybe. I partied hard.” I replied jokingly.

Max was confused. “The party last Sunday?”

“Yeah.” I replied casually.

“But it’s Friday?” Max said with confusion. I smiled tiredly and said, “Oh, it’s Friday already?” I paused briefly and chuckled, “The last time I slept was Tuesday. I can’t believe it’s already Friday.”

Max looked at me with suspicion and asked, “Did you do speed or cocaine? Or…is it both!?”

“Stop messing around. Are you coming or not?” I asked.

“Umm…Can I take a few days to think about it?” Max tried to avoid answering, but I said, “If you don’t come here, then Pepper, my dad, Frankie and I will go to New York, and we will all crash on your couch.”

“NOOOO!” Max yelled anxiously. “Fine, I’ll go to stupid LA!” She added. “Are you happy now?”

“Very.” I replied lazily with a smirk on my face.

…

Inside the lab, the experiments I have been conducting have finally produced some result. 

“God, this took me an entire week. My full focus for an ENTIRE WEEK!” I mumbled annoyedly as I read the results on the screen.

Robin replied with a flat tone, but there was a trace of disdain in her words, “You have created something that will help the entire human race, but you’re dissatisfied because it took you a week to do that?”

“Yeah.” I replied casually, which made Robin lose interest in continuing the conversation. I chuckled as I read the data on the pill I had made. Needing an escape from reality, first I watched  the Frieren season 1 anime in my memory, and then I started working on the alchemist’s pill recipes I received in the gacha.

The work was extremely hard to do considering that most of the materials in the recipes were something out of this world, and needing special energy to create it.

First was the detoxification pill recipe, ranked number 5 on the list. If I had all of the conditions satisfied, the pills could detoxify even the deadliest poison on this earth. However as I needed to create the pills myself and substituting the ingredients with similar chemical formula, the effect was greatly lowered. I ate one of them, and it tasted like strawberries.

“Robin, take note.” I said as I swallowed the pill.

Robin replied with concern, “Sir, I have to warn you about the dangers of experimenting with unknown drugs.”

Shaking my head dismissively, I replied, “And again I will reply, Chill down Robin. You saw me eat hundreds of those in the last week. I’m still alive ain’t I?”

“Hmm, the drugs don’t really do anything to me. Maybe my body is too clean?” I recorded the effects after a while. I monitored everything I could after eating that. From my blood, brain activity, nerves, organs, and the drug didn’t change anything at all.

“Did I develop some resistance to it?” I mumbled out loud as I rubbed my chin. 

“Perhaps you need a little rest before you continue sir. May I suggest, watching the new Harry Potter film with your friends?” Robin chimed. “Miss Enid just bought the DVD, and she planned for a movie watching party in her house.”

I shook my head and said, “I have already watched it. Let's get back to work. See if we can derive something from it.”

…

[General POV]

Back to Thursday. 

Jay and Gloria arrived at Phil and Claire’s house.

“Hola Hola!” Gloria entered fabulously before hugging Claire.

“We’re here.” Jay greeted loudly. “Haley, Grandpa’s here.” He shouted up the stairs.

Claire was flustered and said, “Don’t call her like that. She’ll notice you’re coming here to talk to her.”

“I still don’t know why you can’t do it. Or Mitchell and Cam. They are more suitable for doing this than me.” Jay asked with frustration.

“We tried. None of us succeed. She hasn’t come out of her room for days now.” Phil said worriedly. “Honestly, the room is starting to smell, so I’m not that excited to try again.”

Gloria asked worriedly, “Ay, did she have her heart broken?”

Alex walked by and said, “Well something broke. And it’s my nose.” 

“Can’t we just call Ed and make them make up with each other?” Jay asked.

Phil, Gloria and Claire admonished him at the same time, “Are you crazy?”

“What? It’s just an idea.” Jay shrinked back and defended himself.

While the family was talking, Luke was watching the TV while bouncing a rubber ball up and down in the living room. He glanced at the adults with some anger in his face. And then he ran to the backyard.

[Luke’s commentary]

“It’s unfair. Why do all of us have to stop talking to Edward? He’s my friend too. Haley is being selfish. I don’t like this.”

[Commentary ends]

…

Friday. In Edward’s villa by the seaside.

Pepper and Ted were discussing Edward together in the living room with a face full of worry.

“He still hasn’t come out of his lab?” Pepper asked. “It has been days. Even his ex has turned up concerned from her initial amuk.”

“He only came out to get Vader or get something to eat. I tried to talk to him multiple times, but I got nothing.” Ted shared with some exasperation.

“Well, he did reply to whatever we asked. Are we being too presumptuous right now? He might just have puberty mood swings.” Pepper said. “I want to give him some space, but right now… We really need him.”

“Why?” Ted asked with confusion.

Pepper smiled wryly and said, “The President is coming here to meet him.”

“I’m sorry. What?” Ted asked in shock. Edward suddenly walked out of his lab, his hair was scuffy, and his eyes were strained. He walked straight to Pepper who exclaimed, “My god, have you been homeless for the past few days?”

“Pepper, good timing. Here, eat this.” Edward suddenly gave a pill to Pepper. Startled, Pepper took a step back before Edward could feed him the pill, “What– What is this for? G-GET THAT OFF MY LIPS!”

Ted separated Edward before he could pry Pepper’s lip open and push the pill into his mouth. “What are you doing Ed? Have you gone mad?”

“I’ll call Dr Linda now.” Frankie took out her phone and started dialing. “Robin, cut all the calls.” Edward commanded, so Robin had no choice but to do it.

Edward turned to his dad, and threw the pill into his open mouth skillfully, while his dad’s hands were busy holding him back.

“Ku-Hurk–” Ted choked, and accidentally swallowed the pills. “What did you feed me?” He asked with widened, fearful eyes.

Edward watched Ted with intrigue, only realizing his dad’s horrified look after a few seconds. He rolled his eyes and said, “Don’t spit it out. That cost me 1 million dollars. It’s the most potent one I will ever make.”

“What?” Ted asked with disbelief when a black tear rolled down his eyes. Pepper was horrified, “Oh my god, he’s killing his own dad.”

“And as witnesses, you guys will be next.” Edward turned to Pepper and said maniacally. As Pepper and Frankie panicked, Edward burst into laughter and said, “That’s just a detox pill. Well, it’s actually a cleansing pill, but it does detox you a bit.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Pepper asked with disbelief. “Just wait 10 minutes.” Edward smirked.

The minutes passed by quickly. Ted suddenly clutched his chest and he dropped to his knees. “I can’t…breathe.” He gasped for air. Frankie ran towards him, begging as she turned to Edward, “Call 911. He needs a doctor!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Edward dismissed her worries casually. Pepper grabbed Edward’s shoulder roughly and said, “Edward, that’s your dad! YOUR FATHER!”

“He just needs to puke and he’ll be fine.” Edward was still being casual. Ted’s eyes almost lost his light. He looked upwards to Edward and said, “Don’t worry son. Just know, I will never blame you–”

Suddenly, his gag reflex kicked in, and he started gagging. “Blerghh!!” A dark sludge came out of his mouth in a slow manner, almost suffocating him in the process. Ted could finally breathe after it passed.

“What the hell is that?” Frankie asked, her calm temperament had shattered completely. Edward squatted down and poked the sludge with a pencil. “Oof– Tar. You must smoke a lot before dad.”

“Tar– What?” Ted asked as he breathed shakily. “Oh my god, it’s coming out again.” He gagged and stood up immediately before running to the toilet. Edward raised both of his hands up in the air, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling of satisfaction.

“You…you’re not insane?” Pepper asked with disbelief. Edward scoffed and turned towards him, “Of course not. I have already tested the medicine before. It’s perfectly safe.”

Pepper finally breathed in relief. And as he opened his mouth to talk, Edward shot another pill from his fingers, and it entered Pepper’s throat instantly. Pepper gulped instinctively, and his eyes shook as he turned to Edward.

“Oh by the way, you will need to stay at the toilet for a while. It came out on the other end too.” Edward smirked mischievously.

“You devil!” Pepper rushed to the nearest bathroom he could find. Edward danced slightly, moving his hand as if he was conducting an orchestra before going back to his lab again.

“Robin, I forgot to ask, did anyone conduct the lab testing yet for the medicines formulas?” Edward asked.

“Yes sir.” Robin replied. “Although people are still searching for who’s responsible for them, some lab testing has been done, and some medicines are in productions.”