[Edward POV]
"It's finished!!!!" Pepper hailed the sky and shouted dramatically. Sitting behind him on his CEO desk–at his spot, I retorted, "The trailer only! The movie is still halfway done."
We were inside the CEO's office. There were empty sushi boxes on the coffee desk on the receiving guest's couch from where we had dinner and discussed the trailer. Judd was here for a bit before he went to the film set an hour ago.
We could've done the trailer edit in 20 minutes, but I wanted a scene which has unfinished CGI to be inserted in it, so it took longer. I used Robin's help to complete the CGI and it only took half an hour. I took only 3 seconds of it for the trailer.
After hearing my retort, Pepper widened his eyes in disbelief and turned towards me, "I thought we only had 3 more days of shooting?"
I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. "Three days to film the scenes. Then editing, CGI, test screenings, reshoots if necessary, background music, marketing—"
Inside my mind, I was wondering if I could use the Unreal Engine to actually make an animated movie. With Robin and myself collaboration, maybe? But even if I do try to make an animated film, it wouldn't be at this period of time.
Pepper held his head in agony and said, "Stop! You're making my head hurt."
I continued without sympathy, "We still have merchandising, and also, this is a very important part: the deal with the cinemas. Harvey almost finalized that, so we don't have to worry about it."
As I sent the trailer to Judd Apatow for evaluation, I said, "Wait, two days… Then release the trailer." It's now December 13th, so it will be released on the 15th.
Pepper grinned in satisfaction, pride radiating from him. "Finally! My dream will come true!"
"I thought your dream was to become richer than Britney?" I said with a slight chuckle. "Speaking of Britney," Pepper sat down in front of me, across the table, and said, "Her business manager, Lou Taylor, wants a meeting—"
"Definitely not." I widened my eyes slightly and said decisively. "Especially not her. No matter what comes out of her mouth, don't believe her in the slightest."
"Why? What has she done?" Pepper asked, intrigued by the potential drama. I smirked slightly and said, "If you're interested, then let me tell you the horrifying story of Lou Taylor."
(YouTube it if you want. I can't explain it simply.)
Pepper's face became increasingly paler as I told him the story. He then stammered and shot up from his chair. "T–This, and the Diddy thing… This industry… I had no idea there was so much darkness hiding in plain sight. Did I really make the right choice helping you step into this cesspool of filth—"
"Pepper, will you do to me the things they did to Britney or the other victims?" I interjected, cutting through his spiraling thoughts. He snapped back, "Of course not—"
"Then you have nothing to worry about." I aimed to soothe him. "Don't worry, Peps. I'm wrapped in protection—like a condom—while I waddle through this pool of waste. Besides, you've forgotten one crucial point."
"What is it?" He looked at me, still concerned. "Also, never forget your protection, especially when you go on a trip again," he chimed in sarcastically, but I ignored that.
I leaned back and replied with a smirk, "To trap me in their webs, they'll need to be at least smarter than I am."
Suddenly, the door burst open, and Frankie stomped inside. "If only they could see how clueless you've been these last few days, then that statement is invalid. "
"Um." Stunned, I turned toward her and said, "I've been meaning to call. I did text you back, didn't I?"
"A few hours ago," Frankie said with a stoic face, but anger radiated from her. I gulped and turned to Pepper. "Um, Peps, some help?"
"No, you are on your own." Pepper, also fearful, slowly walked out of the room. Before he left completely, he turned to Frankie and said, "Right, now that both of you are here, I'm reminded of that college you guys bought. What happened to that?"
Frankie turned to reply, as Pepper was still legally the boss. "The reconstruction is 50% complete. It's expected to be finished by next year."
"Oh, right. The community college. My way out of this," I muttered aloud without realizing it. Frankie turned back toward me with a look of confusion, but I was already calling someone through Pepper's laptop.
Within five seconds, Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler—Sheldon's future girlfriend and wife—answered the call. "Hello there, celebrity entrepreneur and budding scientist, Edward Newgate." Her face appeared on the screen as it was a Skype call. She wore her glasses and her lab coat as usual.
Frankie placed her hands on her hips and said angrily, "Really? You're calling someone right when I want to talk to you?"
"No, Frankie. I just remembered something urgent when you mentioned the college," I said, turning back to Dr. Amy. "How's the research going? Did you find a way to help Britta?"
The monkey bite and whatever toxins were flowing in Britta's bloodstream would require extensive research to address. So I outsourced it to the future Nobel Prize winner, and she did an amazing job.
"Britta?" Frankie mumbled, then she remembered the infected girl. "Oh, right. I can see why that's more urgent." She calmed down a bit and stood beside me.
Amy said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I was going to email you about the subject later tonight. In my report, it'll state that while I've identified the chemicals affecting the patient, I'm unable to provide a solution."
"Why?" I raised an eyebrow. "Can you send the report to me now?" I asked, urgency creeping into my tone.
"Certainly," Amy replied before she started typing. Soon, I received the report.
My brows furrowed deeper as I read the pages. "Does the cure require Strontium-90?" I asked, halfway through the report.
Amy nodded. "Yes. The harmful chemicals have already penetrated her brain. Only Strontium-90, used as a catalyst, can help her. However, at the moment, the byproducts from nuclear reactions are not available—"
"Let me guess, they won't give it to you," I interjected with a heavy sigh. Amy nodded slightly. "I have no influence over the Institute of Nuclear Energy. I've asked them to procure it for me, but all available Strontium-90 reserves are currently being used for high-energy nuclear experiments."
I thought about it briefly before asking, "How long does Britta have before it becomes irreversible?"
"About a week," Amy replied in a slightly somber tone. "After that, her brain will be severely damaged. She could experience hallucinations, dissociative identity issues, manic behavior, paranoia, and possibly suicidal or murderous thoughts."
"Poor girl," I mumbled to myself before turning to Amy with a smile. "I'm bringing her here. And I'll see if I can obtain the Strontium-90 myself."
"There are no legal ways to procure it right now," Amy warned.
I smirked and said, "Legality is just something poor people worry about. Anyway, the less you know, the better."
"I agree with that arrangement," Amy said easily before adding, "If there's nothing else, I'd like to focus on my experiment now."
"That's it. Goodbye, Dr. Fowler."
"Goodbye, Edward Newgate," Amy said before she ended the call. I turned to Frankie, who had a worried expression on her face, and said, "I have to take a rain check on that lecture. As you can see, someone's life is in jeopardy."
"One of these days, you're going to run out of people to save, and by then, I'm going to give you an earful," Frankie said, slightly angry.
I just chuckled dryly and said, "By the way, I should invite Abed too. He can take a look at the movie."
"Wait, you aren't really going to try to buy those in the black market are you?" Frankie asked with a slight alarm after thinking about my conversation with Dr Fowler.
I smirked slightly and said, "I'm just saying that to act cool."
Frankie breathed in relief, but was frazzled when I continued, "I already have that stuff in my lab. I'll just give it to Dr Fowler for her to synthesize the cure–"
"YOU HAVE IT IN YOUR LAB?!" Frankie shouted in shock. I was trying to recreate some weapons I saw in the memory of the Mass Effect world– not to sell it or anything, but I was curious to see if I could. So I had a lot of 'unusual' stuff inside my lab. Some were even used to upgrade my house's defense.
…
[General POV]
In Annie's apartment in Colorado, Jeff, Abed, Troy, Pierce, Shirley, and Britta decided to have Christmas dinner there instead of in the study room, as that place was under construction.
As Abed sat on the couch watching reruns of Friends, he mumbled, "Now that Troy and I are roommates, and Annie and Britta live together—"
"TEMPORARILY!" Annie chimed in as she brought a plate of yams to the dining table. The apartment she lived in was the one Edward had lived in before, making it the biggest compared to all the others.
Abed ignored Annie and continued, "Jeff is living downstairs… We need to decide who is who."
"Who is who for what?" Troy asked with an excited expression.
Jeff scoffed and said, "He's talking about which Friends characters we are. I'm telling you now, I'm not going to be Ross, even though I was the only one who lived alone."
Abed turned to Jeff and said, "You're not Ross."
"Thank you!" Jeff relaxed, but then Abed continued, "You're Gunther."
"I AM NOT GUNTHER! You take that back!" Jeff stood up from the couch, emotionally charged.
"Troy is Joey. Annie is Monica. Phoebe is Britta. I'm Chandler, and Shirley is Rachel."
"Aww! How nice," Shirley said sweetly as she placed her pies on the table. Pierce asked excitedly, "What about me? Am I Ross?"
Shirley grimaced instantly and said, "Now you're taking the fun out of it."
"You're Mr. Heckles," Troy teased Pierce. "How dare you!" Pierce wanted to snap, but then he asked, "Who's Mr. Heckles?"
"Just someone who looks exactly like you. Can we eat yet?" Jeff asked, wanting to change the subject when suddenly Britta said, "Who cares if I'm Phoebe or Rachel… or Chandler? I'm going to forget who I am soon enough."
Jeff retorted sarcastically, "You don't have amnesia. You're just going crazy."
"It's the same thing," Britta said. "When I become crazy, I'm going to forget who I am. What if I start to get a 9-to-5 job, climb the corporate ladder at a corporation that kills babies, or worse, marry a disaster of a husband and tell everyone that underneath all that, he's a good guy?"
Jeff snorted and said, "Sounds like you need to check your definition of crazy."
"But am I wrong to worry?" Britta asked argumentatively. Jeff thought about it for a while and said, "Maybe." He placed his hand on Britta's thigh and added, "So, before you actually become all that, you have a choice. Go out on a date with me."
Britta got angry and said, "I'm sorry, I'm here worrying about my brain, and you're worrying about getting in my pants?"
Jeff was a bit frazzled and replied, "Well, when you turn crazy, then I don't think I can ask you out anymore, as I would be taking advantage of someone who's mentally unwell."
"AH~" Shirley and Annie gasped at the same time.
"Britta's going crazy? Why?" Pierce asked with a slight chuckle, thinking everyone was joking.
Britta thought about it for a moment before saying, "You know what? Yes."
"Yes what?" Jeff asked, confused.
"Yes, I'll go on a date with you." Britta said, and everyone clamored. Jeff was a bit excited and asked, "You will?"
Britta avoided Jeff's hopeful gaze and said, "Well, if I'm going to lose my mind anyway, then why not? This may be the last decision I make, and I wanted someone to remember it other than me."
Jeff was excited, but he still felt the need to tease. "Again, you're not going to lose your memory; you're going to go crazy… for me."
"Ugh." Britta rolled her eyes and said, "I already feel like I'm going to regret this."
Pierce chimed in, "Look on the bright side: even if you do regret it, it won't be for long." Britta looked at Pierce with disbelief while Jeff chuckled devilishly, finally getting what he wanted.
As everyone was excited about the date, Annie asked, "Where are you going to take her?" Shirley chimed in, "I know a church if you decide to get married before Britta loses her mind. She's going to need the support of a husband when that happens."
Abed was in deep thought before he muttered something, turning the group silent. "This ain't right." Everyone looked at him in puzzlement. Shirley widened her eyes and asked sweetly, "Why is it not?"
Abed turned to Britta and Jeff before saying, "When Ross and Rachel get together, it feels earned—before the off-again, on-again situation. It was frustrating sometimes, but the buildup made it awesome."
"Abed, sometimes, in life—" Before Annie could finish, Abed stopped her and explained himself. "I'm not dismissing that there is something there between them. I'm just saying it's not time. So what's going to happen is that there will be an external element to stop it from happening. Like Ross when he came back from China with a girlfriend."
"Where is Jeff going to find a Chinese girlfriend?" Pierce asked. Everyone looked at him weirdly for a second before turning to Abed. Jeff said, "Abed, you cannot stop it, and there's not going to be an external force–"
Before Jeff could finish, Britta's phone rang. Jeff's smile dropped instantly as he turned to Britta. Britta widened her eyes as she looked at Jeff before she turned to Abed. Abed pointed to the phone and said, "See. It's not time yet."
Britta stood up from the couch to answer the call. After a short conversation, she turned to the study group again. Pierce asked impatiently, "Is that the Chinese girlfriend–"
"That's Frankie. She told me to fly to LA today." Britta said before her knees faltered as she felt relieved, and she flopped down on the previous seat– next to Jeff.
"Do they have the cure?!" Shirley asked gratefully, "Oh lord! You answered my prayers! Thank you!" She started praying.
Jeff's expression froze as he watched Britta's excited face. Britta was on the verge of tears as she replied to Shirley, "I'm not sure. But they asked me to come there, so I guess they found one."
"I knew it." Abed celebrated with a fist pump when he suddenly got a notification on his phone. He didn't tell anyone about the content, but he asked Britta, "How will you get there?"
"I'm just going to find an economy plane ticket," Britta replied with a slightly pained expression. "I don't really have a lot of savings right now."
Abed nodded and said, "We can meet on the plane, and I'll send you some wet towels from first class."
Everyone turned to Abed with confusion. Jeff finally snapped out of his state and asked, "What are you talking about, Abed?"
Abed explained, "Edward invited me to come too. He even sent me the plane tickets."
"REALLY?" Britta was flabbergasted. "But I need to pay on my own?!"
"I guess it's because you need to be there. I'm invited," Abed replied casually as he opened the ticket link Edward sent him.
Britta was still in disbelief. "I mean, if he's going to invite Abed, then why not me too? I'm the one who needs a cure."
Troy suddenly had a thought. "I guess it's understandable." Everyone turned to him, making him startled for a second before he explained, "I mean, I don't think the cure is cheap."
Abed pointed to Troy in agreement before he said, "He told me he sent the research work to a prestigious neuroscientist. He had to donate a new device to her lab to get her to accept it."
Britta finally accepted it. "Oh, that's quite understandable. He has already spent too much."
Jeff said, "I don't think you have to worry about his finances. But you do need to worry if he sends you the bills. It could be in the millions range."
Abed suddenly spoke, interrupting Jeff's words. "Oh, he sent me two plane tickets. So, who wants to come with me?"
Everyone turned towards Abed in disbelief and spoke at the same time, "The extra ticket is obviously for Britta!"
"Let's eat!" Pierce shouted, feeling hungry. As everyone sat at the dinner table, Annie whispered to Abed, "Did he say anything about me?"
"He did," Abed replied casually as he ate some food. Annie waited, but Abed didn't explain, so she asked again, "What did he say?!"
…
[Edward POV]
I returned home around 9. Dad, Frankie, and Maggie were at the house. I was nagged by Frankie for going no contact; however, I didn't dislike it. Not that I was a masochist, but it was nice to feel cared for. While we were eating, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it. Frankie, don't stop nagging him," Maggie said as she volunteered to check the door. I stopped her by grabbing her arm when she was wiping her mouth with a napkin and barely standing up.
"I already know who it is," I said. Robin told me. "It's Chloe."
"The detective? Is she already out of the hospital?" My dad asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
Frankie suddenly stood up and said, "I'm going to have a word with her too." I quickly grabbed Frankie's arm to stop her. "Calm down. It's official business."
I stood up and walked slowly to the front door after grabbing a box of files from my desk. As I opened the door, I handed the files to Chloe. "Ten more cases as part of my deal. It's all new, so you're going to have to open new investigations for them."
"Before that," Chloe stopped me, "I'm sorry." She apologized with a sincere expression. I was a bit taken aback. "What?"
"I'm sorry for not taking your advice and going alone. I almost lost my life, and worse, I placed you in danger too. Not to mention the things that happened at the hospital. You have every right to be mad at me." Chloe continued apologizing.
"It's fine. I accept the apology." I said dismissively. "It's not like we're going to see each other again, so you don't have to worry about it."
Feeling helpless, Chloe finally grabbed the box I handed to her. "What's these cases?"
"Oh, I don't want to deal with violent cases, felonies, misdemeanors anymore, so I decided to investigate the things I'm best at. Numbers. Here are 10 cases of frauds, embezzling, and other financial crimes. I already reached out to my contacts in the FBI, and they are going to work on this case with you. You definitely can't do this on your own. It'll do great for your career as I know you won't stop being a cop. The FBI are salivating on this evidence. Don't do the stupid thing and just give it to them."
"I–" Chloe was flabbergasted, "I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. I did this for Trixie." I said with an irritated expression. "She deserves to grow up with her mother. And as far as I can see it, you are a great mother to her. Remember this whenever you decide to do the stupid thing again."
"Are you giving this all to me to make sure we never meet again?" Chloe asked, a little depressed. I scratched the back of my head and said, "Not like this. If you invite me for a birthday party, I'll try to stop by, but I have had enough of investigating already."
Chloe showed a painful smile and said, "I see…I guess, I'll see you around."
"Goodbye Chloe."
"Goodbye Edward."
She gave me a light hug after putting down the case files and then left the house. I sighed in relief after everything was over. As I got back into my room, I noticed a case file on my desk. It was the TeaTime Strangler's case file.
"I forgot to give this back…Hmm, Eh, I'll do it when she asks for it." I mumbled dismissively before putting it back in its place.