[Edward POV]
The next morning, at the film set, the crew chattered loudly as I walked by, their surprise evident.
As I greeted the assistant director, he said, "To be honest, I didn't expect you to come here today."
"Why?" I asked, momentarily confused until the realization hit me. "Oh, right. Because of the whole supersoldier fiasco."
"Yeah, so are we not taking a day off today? I kind of set up a date with this beautiful Swedish girl, expecting not to have to work," he said playfully.
"I'm afraid you'll have to let her down; I'm definitely shooting the scene today," I replied, playing along with his joke.
Leslie Carpenter, the assistant director, guffawed and slapped my shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you around the set. We're 80% finished, but we haven't tested it yet, so I can't say for sure if it will work."
I checked my watch. "We have five hours to make it work. We can shoot the rest of the scene afterward, but we definitely need to hit 2:43 for the blueprint scene."
"I think we can make it," Leslie replied, flipping through the set schedule. I joined in on the set building despite numerous protests, primarily from my dad. Determined to help, he stood by my side, intercepting me whenever I reached for something heavy.
As I drilled a screw into a wooden cabinet's leg, I made sure it was anchored firmly to the floor.
Two hours before shooting began, the actors were finally called to the set. RDJ strolled in wearing a white suit, a blue scarf, and a fedora—his quirky choice for the character. Lyndsy Fonseca and Tye Sheridan followed closely behind.
"Is this where the magic happens?" RDJ asked coyly. "It doesn't look that impressive."
I rolled my eyes. "Why are you dressed like my godfather, Pepper? Seriously, it's the exact outfit he wore to his party."
RDJ was flabbergasted. "Wait, he wore this exact outfit? I don't believe you."
I quickly pulled out my phone, opened Instagram, and navigated to Pepper's profile. A few scrolls down, and I had the proof.
RDJ's eyes widened, and he exclaimed to the staff, "Now whose idea was it to dress me like a gay man heading to Saturday brunch?"
As he stormed off, Lyndsy and Tye approached me hesitantly. "Hi, it's nice to finally meet you. I trust you've learned the script?" I shook hands with both of them, adopting a professional tone.
Tye nodded. "Yeah, I'm clear about today's scene, and I'm still working on sleight of hand with the magicians, just like you asked."
Lyndsy, slightly nervous, added, "Also, you're trying to keep everything realistic, so you're not going to handcuff me in a tub full of hungry piranhas, are you?"
"We'll see," I smirked at Lyndsy which made her laugh in disbelief. Before the shooting, I made sure to explain to everyone thoroughly what we were doing. Every step, camera movement, their expressions and going over the lines with them again.
RDJ wanted to ask me questions about the incident, but he kept it to himself during the entire shoot.
We began filming the scene where the Horsemen gathered in front of the New York apartment after acquiring the cards. Atlas, the leader, noticed something strange about the cards and decided to merge them like a puzzle.
A depression in the shape of a key appeared at the center of the four merged cards. Lyndsy and Tye gasped in wonder during filming, and I decided to include their reaction in the movie.
RDJ's character, Merritt McKinney, noticed something odd inside the house as they all walked in, triggering the mechanism that locked the door behind them.
"I think I can open it if you give me some time," Tye, as Jack Wilder, said.
Atlas stopped him. "Don't. I guess we need to find the key to get out."
"Newsflash, genius. We already searched the entire room, and there's no key inside."
"No keys. Yet," Atlas replied, an idea forming. He approached the dresser with three cabinets of different sizes and placed the card beneath one of them. "The size... This middle one is twice as big as the right one, and the left side is smaller than the middle but larger than the first."
"Give me the ratio."
"2.4.3."
"2.43... I guess we have to wait," Merritt concluded.
Lyndsy's character, Henley Reeves, discovered another clue. "There are some markers on the floor. I guess we have to stand there."
The crew grew anxious as time ticked away. Everything was shot in one continuous take, making it impossible to cut in the middle of the scene. A minor mistake would mean we'd have to wait until tomorrow to try again.
At 2:43 PM, sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows, which depicted the themes of the four Horsemen. The shadows cast on the floor merged to reveal the outline of the next stage performance. Lyndsy quickly snapped a photo.
She noticed a beam of light focusing, and she, along with the others, guided it into the keyhole of the cabinet.
Then, something melted and flowed into the key depression on the card. Finally, they had the key. After letting it cool for a moment, they used it to unlock the cabinet door, revealing the blueprints and orders inside.
"This is great and all, but how do we get out of the room?" Merritt asked sarcastically.
"Cut," Leslie declared.
Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief as the scene wrapped. The staff applauded enthusiastically, and the actors joined in.
I immediately checked the footage, feeling a wave of relief wash over me. After the shoot ended at 5 PM, RDJ said, "It's a pity you don't have anything to release in theaters right now."
I nodded in agreement. "If I had something, people would flock to the theaters like crazy."
Social media, the news, and even dinner conversations buzzed with the supersoldier story. People were desperate to know more about the incident. Mickey had even accepted an interview invitation from a local news station that had been respectful and offered a generous sum for the interview, avoiding any invasion of my privacy. Even Jake and Rosa were ambushed with questions from reporters.
"Too bad you can't shoot a movie in just one week," RDJ exclaimed casually. I chuckled, then my eyes suddenly lit up.
"Wait… or can I?"
…
The Penthouse.
"So, can you do it? Write the script?" I asked Paige, who looked at me with disbelief on the laptop screen. She didn't move for about a minute, making me wonder if the screen had frozen.
The doorbell rang, and Vanessa called it from the kitchen, "I'll get it!"
"You want to write about what—the terror attack or the torture scene?" Paige asked frantically. "Didn't you sign an NDA or something to keep everything under wraps?"
I smirked and replied, "Actually, no. Also, I'm in the brainstorming process, so it's not really certain yet that I'll make the movie."
"That makes sense. A lot of filmmakers want to make a movie about your first kidnapping. This one has a totally different scale, so it's hard to say the public won't be interested. But do you really need the money? Aren't you still injured?"
I interrupted before she could continue, "I'm not saying I'm going to act in it myself—" then I whispered, "Although it would be stupid if I didn't."
I resumed in a normal voice, "And I'm not going to keep the money. I'll donate all proceeds from the movie to charity, which will be a nice tax break without doing anything."
"Really? What if the box office surpasses a billion dollars?" Paige raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical.
I shrugged. "Then I'll donate $500 million to charity. It's really not that big of a deal."
"Huh… Are you really Edward? Did they somehow manage to change you into another person? Is the real Edward still locked away somewhere?" she said sarcastically.
"Ho-ho. As expected of a writer of your caliber. Super dark storyline. I love it. Write it down and send it to me tomorrow."
"Wait—no—" Before Paige could reject my idea, I cut the call and closed the laptop.
I heard footsteps from behind the couch. When I turned, my smile froze at the sight of Vanessa, arms crossed and glaring at me.
Tapping her fingers, she said, "That's just Mickey. What's with the smile? Are you really that happy your ex is coming here?"
"What? No, no. I'm smiling because I just saddled Paige with a lot of work. It's a sadistic grin, not an expectant smile." I stood up and walked toward her.
"Really? Because it sure looks like that to me. Expectant with a hint of longing."
"The only thing I'm longing for is to play with you while you wear that nurse's outfit again." I smiled and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her closer.
"Uh-huh," she said flatly, clearly not believing me. "Do you want me to leave so you can have some alone time with her?"
"No. Three's definitely better than two. Wait, I mean… Yup. I'm screwed."
Vanessa rolled her eyes and pinched my arm, pulling away before walking off. Just then, the doorbell rang, and Abby finally arrived.
"Hi!" She entered cheerfully, carrying a sling bag and numerous papers. "Shoes off or on?"
"Off," Vanessa instructed. "Why are you carrying your homework with you?" I asked, confused.
Abby beamed. "It's not homework. I'm going to show you something really interesting. You can look forward to it." She winked.
"HA! I knew it!" Vanessa laughed madly. Abby looked at her in confusion but decided to ignore it.
We sat on the couch, and Abby opened her laptop. I asked teasingly, "You're not involved in any MLM schemes, trying to pitch me 'financial freedom,' are you?"
Abby rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to. If you don't want to see it, just tell me. I'll pack up and leave—"
"No—no. Please tell me." I grabbed her wrist as she tried to stand up. Abby fixed her wavy brunette hair and took off her jacket, revealing a short tank top that hugged her figure.
Vanessa's jaw dropped, and she immediately glared at me, as if I were the one in the revealing outfit.
Vanessa yelped and stormed off, saying, "I'm going."
Abby stopped her casually. "Hey, if you're going to the kitchen, I won't mind some snacks or tea."
"Tea?" I looked at her in disbelief.
Abby was startled, "I've already had, like, four cups of coffee today. So yeah, …tea."
"Ah!" Vanessa yelped, offended and she retorted, "You realize I'm his girlfriend, right?"
Abby turned to Vanessa and smirked. "Not legally. I have a simple rule: if you can't admit you're dating to the cops, then you're not really dating."
At first, I thought Abby was just joking, but she was serious. I said, "Abby, what are you doing?"
"Actually, I'm doing nothing. I'm just stating the facts," Abby replied with a slight shrug. "Besides, I'm officially part of the country's justice department. I'm not doing anything." She turned to Vanessa and said, "That's enough, isn't it?"
Vanessa flinched but then became docile. "And what kind of tea do you like?"
"Let's go with chamomile," Abby smiled casually at Vanessa.
Taken aback by the entire exchange, I stared at Abby for a moment before she noticed. She beamed. "What? Can't take your eyes off me because I've become prettier?"
"Prettier face, but a darker heart, so it balances out," I teased.
Abby rolled her eyes. "With the things I see on a daily basis, it's a miracle my heart hasn't turned completely black."
I nodded in understanding. Abby worked as an intern at the National Forensic Support Laboratory, exposed to ongoing criminal cases in the country. She must have seen some disturbing things.
Abby smirked and lightly touched my arm. "Enough about depressing topics. I promised to show you something interesting. Remember two years ago when all the porn, viruses, malware, and pop-up ads on the internet disappeared within minutes? People called it the Great Internet Reset."
"Yeah, I remember," I replied casually, my heart skipping a beat. I had done that during my digitized state—subconsciously, of course. The internet was so filthy that I had to clean it up back then.
"Even now, people can't upload any pornography to the internet, or else their computers will be bombarded with viruses." Abby clicked on her mousepad and showed me the data she had investigated.
"See here? This is the data cache for one of the prominent porn websites in the world. What's left of it, of course." Abby opened a few images of broken code.
As I looked at the codes, I couldn't help but burst into laughter. Abby looked at me curiously and asked, "What? Why are you laughing?"
"I don't know. We meet again after three years, and the first thing we do together is look at porn."
"We're looking at porn codes!" Abby exclaimed in disbelief, a mix of annoyance and amusement on her face. There were about eight images of code on the laptop screen.
"Can you see it?" Abby asked.
"See what?"
Abby smirked. "Maybe you can see it if I arrange the images like this." She overlapped the codes together. Just then, Vanessa returned with the tea and gasped, "It's a fingernail."
More like the tip of a finger. My finger.
"Yup," Abby said excitedly. "I'm checking the source codes from all the sites that were shut down. It could be a coincidence, or there might actually be a living thing on the internet."
I poured myself a glass of tea and drank it slowly, then spat it out in shock.
"It could be an intelligent lifeform. So, as a leading expert on artificial intelligence, what's your opinion on this?" Abby looked at me challengingly.
"It's a plausible theory. It gained sentience. It didn't want to live in a dirty environment, so it decided to clean house." I agreed easily. "Can I scan the images a bit?"
"Sure!"
Vanessa furrowed her brows as she watched Abby and me engage in an in-depth conversation about code and the internet. It was so boring for her that she almost fell asleep.
After I scanned the images, I asked my AI to find similar patterns in the internet code. Abby was astonished by Oracle's ability as it managed to find another nail and half of a finger.
The more images we found, the more it seemed like there was a humanoid artificial lifeform residing on the internet. Abby got goosebumps while I pondered ways to cover my tracks. So, I signaled Robin.
"Wait, maybe writing a program to trace its trails isn't a good idea," I said suddenly.
Abby, who was extremely excited, turned to me and asked, "Why not? We're uncovering so much."
"I know. But if this thing is on the internet, then when we try to track it, it can track us back," I said seriously.
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered, and the laptop screen turned black for a few seconds. As the light returned to normal, Abby shouted in despair, "Noooo!! Everything was deleted!"
The surge had wiped everything from the laptops. Abby turned to me begrudgingly and said, "You were right! It was tracking us back! UGH! And we were on the brink of proving its existence too!"
I chuckled. "Well, whatever it is, I don't think it's a bad amalgamation of code. It just deleted traces, not doxxed you or anything. Leave it alone, and it'll leave you alone."
"Nope." Abby shook her head furiously. "Don't you see what this means, Edward? It was trying to remove its traces from the internet, which means it could make mistakes. I'm not going to stop until I can finally prove that it's real. Otherwise, the last two years I've spent working on this will have been for nothing."
"It may be. Or it could be the decision that saves you a lot of hassle in the future—or maybe even your life. Who knows if your persistence will rub it the wrong way and lead it to eliminate the threat?"
Taken aback, Abby was speechless for a full minute. Seizing the moment, Vanessa changed the subject. "So, Abby. You're Edward's first girlfriend, right?"
Abby narrowed her eyes at Vanessa before replying, "Yeah."
"How did that happen?" Vanessa feigned interest.
After recounting the story of our relationship, Abby finally let her guard down around Vanessa. Vanessa poured some wine and even lit up a joint.
Abby, who had introduced me to it, joined in and lit another one. Soon, all three of us were smoking weed together in the living room.
Vanessa laughed and said, "I'm sure you have a lot of boyfriends after him, right?"
Surprisingly, Abby replied, "Well, no. I've never dated anyone since I moved away from California."
Shocked, I turned to Abby. "Wait. Really?"
Abby laughed and lightly touched my chest. "Yeah, silly. I have no time to date. You're the only one I've ever had."
"Wh—why haven't you… found anyone else?" Vanessa asked, her voice shaky.
Abby thought for a moment before responding, "I don't know. I tried to move on by dating other guys, but I couldn't even get past the talking stage before I got bored with them. Unlike Edward, they couldn't understand what I was talking about."
"Maybe you never gave them a chance?" Vanessa suggested again.
"Edward did it after three years of us not seeing each other. Just like that." Abby snapped her fingers, laughed, and then touched my arm again.
Abby's eyes became dazed as she squeezed my bicep. "Wow. This has gotten so big now."
"Okay, girls. We're encroaching on dangerous territory here, so we better stop for today." I stood up from the couch.
"Hmm?" My phone suddenly dinged. It was Robin asking me to turn on the TV.
"What's wrong?" Vanessa asked, concern etched on her face.
"It's nothing. Mickey just went on the news and said some stupid stuff," I replied with a grin as I grabbed the remote.
On the screen, the host was asking Mickey questions about the incident, trying to get him to spill some information about me.
{"So, do you think Mr. Newgate considers himself a hero?" the host asked, pen in hand as she leaned forward.
Mickey replied, "Actually, I know for a fact that he hates being a hero."
"Oh? Why is that? Wouldn't everyone dream of being a hero?" the host pressed.
"Because a hero has to shoulder people's burdensome expectations. Rather than Spider-Man or Batman, Edward wants to be more like Monkey D. Luffy from the One Piece anime series."
"Why did he pick Monkey D. Luffy?" The host had no idea who that was, but she asked nonetheless.
"Monkey D. Luffy isn't a hero by intention. He doesn't want the glory. He doesn't want the thanks; he does it because he purely and personally believes it's the right thing to do. And because it's something fun to do."}
The interview continued with Mickey saying a lot of good things about me. I stared at the screen in disbelief before turning it off, not wanting to watch any further.
Behind my back, Abby and Vanessa kept pouring wine for each other until both were thoroughly drunk.
…
"Good morning," I greeted the two girls as they stirred awake in the bedroom.
"What—what happened last night?" Abby asked, breathing heavily and squinting her eyes against the glare, a hangover headache evident on her face.
I smirked and replied, "If you're worried that something sexual happened because Vanessa is sleeping next to you, don't be."
Vanessa woke up, turning her head toward me, still groggy.
"But if it's something else—like both of you ripping off my shirt while trying to pull me in different directions like kids fighting over the same doll—you might have reason to be concerned," I added casually, sipping my coffee.
Memories of the previous night flooded back into their minds, and both of them turned incredibly embarrassed. What started as playful fighting had escalated into tears and bonding before they clashed again.
Vanessa had decided to sleep in the same room to keep an eye on Abby, not wanting her to sneak into my bed. After a struggle, Abby finally managed to get out of bed, knowing she had to go to work.
Before she left the house, Vanessa asked, "So, Abby. Are we hanging out at the same time tonight?"