(Fun fact. This chap was flagged on my patreon and was removed. I was very confused at that time. Till now I didn't understand why it was removed)
[General POV]
"ARGH!" A tall, middle-aged man shoved everything off his laboratory table, causing the beakers and other apparatus to fall off. The glass shattered, the acid sizzled.
"Everywhere I go! It's NEWGATE NEWGATE NEWGATE!" he shouted, throwing a Bunsen burner at his TV, causing an explosion.
"I worked on the cure for decades! He came along and ruined everything for me!" he shouted maniacally.
He picked up an art piece from his wall and threw it onto the fire, his hatred seemingly growing larger by the second.
"He has a lot of money! He bought those awards! What Nobel?! What Knighthood? What UN Peace Award?! He fucking bought all of those—FUCKKKK YOU, NEWGATE!"
As he kicked and threw almost everything in his lab, he stood in front of the fire, huffing heavily.
Suddenly, he grinned. "I guess, since you're so smart, and want to be the hero so much—you're going to need a villain too."
He walked to the fridge containing samples of the viruses he was studying. Picking a few vials carefully, he placed them inside a briefcase and left the fiery room after adorning a trench coat and a fedora.
He cackled and said, "Wait for me, Newgate. I'm going to show you what happens when you take away something that belongs to me."
…
[Edward POV]
I yawned and stretched my arms as I walked to the kitchen after waking up this morning. It was a beautiful day—my cat was chasing butterflies in the garden, my coffee was at the perfect temperature, and the sun wasn't too harsh, making it pleasant to sit by the pool.
For the first time in a long while, I was alone in the huge mansion.
It felt… quite lonely.
My mother and aunt had gone back to Cuba, with my aunt showing her around the country in hopes of helping her regain her memory. I wanted to join them, but my aunt insisted I stay behind.
Linda, the psychiatrist who had been helping me before, was also working with my mother now, and she said I shouldn't go. My mother had developed a co-dependency on me, and giving her space to explore on her own was the best way, Linda believed, to help her psyche.
"Vader. Come on. We're going to the Dunphys' house," I called to my cat. She waddled toward me with her bloated, pregnant belly. I had checked her recently and found she was carrying six kittens.
I already planned to name them after villains: Megatron, Syndrome, Mary Jane, Joker, Walter White, and, lastly, Munchkin.
When I arrived, I noticed a huge cardboard lollipop decorating the Dunphys' front yard—Claire's handiwork, adding her sweet touch to the house.
On the way, I'd also driven past my old home, where my dad and Frankie were living, and saw they hadn't decorated at all.
"I should swing by later and help them out," I muttered.
I knocked on the Dunphys' door, but no one answered. Instead, I heard raised voices from inside—not their usual playful bickering, but a real argument.
Luke finally opened the door and waved me in.
"What's going on?" I whispered.
"Haley dropped out of college," Luke replied flatly.
"What?" I was stunned.
Phil was chasing after Haley as she stormed toward the door. "Honey! Think about this clearly! Your business is thriving now, but who knows how long that'll last? Dropping out after just a year to focus only on your clothing line isn't a great idea!"
"No! You don't understand!" Haley shot back. "I'm not learning anything in college. Why should I waste my time drinking and partying when I could actually be doing something meaningful?!"
She turned sharply, arguing as she stormed off toward the basement apartment she was living in—but froze when she spotted me.
"Oh. Edward. When did you get here?" Phil asked with an awkward smile.
Luke answered for me, "He knocked for like five minutes. I had to pause my game and open the door because everyone here's too busy yelling." He stomped upstairs, clearly annoyed.
I set Vader down, and she immediately sprawled on the sofa, already exhausted.
Haley seized the moment and rushed toward me. "Edward, you get it, right? I mean, you never went to college!"
"I could still go. I mean, I wouldn't, but technically I could," I said, avoiding taking sides since this was a family matter.
Alex came downstairs with her laptop still open, and I gave her a look of disbelief. "Your course has a Halloween party every year. Why are you home again?"
"I can still go! It's only a thirty-minute ride, and the party's tomorrow!" she said defensively, running away from my judgy look.
Claire huffed, emerging from the kitchen. "Phil, did we make our house too comfortable? Our kids just keep coming back no matter what we're doing."
"I mean, you can't be mad at that. That just shows how good of a mom you are," I said, which made Claire blink in surprise.
"Wait—when did you get here?" she asked.
I threw my hands up. "Anywhere else, people worship the ground I walk on. But here? I can't even get a proper hello."
Haley and Alex laughed, while Claire, embarrassed, brushed it off and pivoted back to the argument.
"Great, Edward. Perfect timing. I forgot I actually invited you this morning, so this works out. You can talk some sense into Haley. Tell her dropping out is a terrible idea."
Haley gasped, offended. "I'm not changing my mind! If you want me to get a degree, I'll just take Edward's online college courses. I'd still get one!"
"Really?" Phil asked, his resistance softening.
Claire, however, was unmoved. "Online colleges aren't the same as real colleges. Besides—" her tone shifted sharply, from reasoning to ultimatum, "you're not dropping out! And if you do, you're not moving back into this house."
"Fine! I'll find another place! I could even buy a house right now! Dad saw my business account—he knows I can afford a place bigger than this!" Haley snapped.
"We were even checking out listings a few days ago," she added.
Claire turned on Phil with a piercing look. He fumbled nervously. "I—I didn't know she was thinking of dropping out at the time! I just said, since she's making money and mortgage rates are at an all-time low, it'd be smart to invest in property…"
"Phil! She's 19 years old!" Claire scolded. "She has no idea how difficult it is to maintain a house, let alone deal with mortgage payments every month. What kind of realtor ropes a young kid into this?"
"Claire, you can insult my mistakes as a dad, but don't try to insult my work ethic as a realtor," Phil defended himself.
I turned to Haley, standing at her side, and asked, "So you didn't tell them yet?"
"I can't do that when they're like this," Haley said with a sigh.
"Tell us what?" Claire caught our conversation and asked hurriedly.
"Haley." I nudged her forward to face them. She was taken aback, gave me a short glare, then bashfully admitted, "Well… you know we have contracts with H&M for the stores in California. They decided to expand distribution, so we signed another contract—a bigger one."
As Claire and Phil stood stunned, she shyly added, "Also, they bought 40% of the company, so I'm going to… to become even richer than Grandpa next year."
"What?!" Phil was elated. "Honey, that's incredible news!" He hugged her tightly, beaming with pride.
Claire froze, staring at Haley in disbelief. Then she glanced at me, which left me wondering why she was looking at me.
[Claire and Phil Commentary]
"We always knew Edward was helping Haley with the company," Claire said with an anxious smile.
"From the starting loans—the factory, the distribution… Edward loaned it all to Haley. He trusted her completely," Phil added.
Claire whispered under her breath, "My dad invested in her too. Only we didn't fully trust her."
"Anyway… in only two years, she managed to pay the loans back and even sold the stake in her company? That's incredible," Phil continued, ignoring Claire's little comment.
"But we also need to acknowledge the Edward factor," Claire said firmly. "He kept posing for her designs, brought her magazine exposure, and helped her with the strategic approach in marketing the clothing line."
"Without Edward, she might have needed longer to do it. Not that I'm saying she's not capable on her own, but there's the Edward factor that really helped her."
Phil nodded in agreement. "Yeah. The Edward factor is real. I sold more houses because of the Edward factor too."
[Commentary ended]
"So, how much money did you actually make?" Alex asked after Claire and Phil finally left her alone, and we all sat in the den together.
Haley grinned. "After paying all the loans… around eight million?" Not including the stocks she exchanged the money to.
H&M bought the 40% stakes for 40 million dollars, which meant that her clothing line was valued at 100 million.
Haley paid off 15 million loans for the factory, gave her workers bonuses, then she exchanged the rest for stocks in my tech company, leaving her only 8 million for her to enjoy.
"That's still outstanding." I patted Haley's head with a proud smile. She grinned and accepted the pats gleefully.
Alex looked at me in disbelief, just staring for a few seconds.
I finally turned to her and asked, "What?"
"You know that's like, really inspirational for someone like her—"
"Hey!" Haley cut in. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'someone like her,' so I'm going to be offended first before you explain."
Alex sighed. "A slut with some creative talent and great luck, who at one time managed to screw the main character of the world right now."
"W-what?" Haley was flabbergasted. She didn't care about the slut comment, but she was bashful that Alex brought up the fact that we had done it before.
"That's too much, Alex," I said flatly, mistaking Haley's reaction.
"S-sorry. I was joking, but it didn't come out right," she apologized.
Haley sighed, then giggled. "Well, you're mostly not wrong."
"Anyway, my point is—someone like her becoming a multi-millionaire is already a miracle. Then there's you." Alex pointed at my face.
"You basically ignore every rule in the book and climb up to become one of the top ten richest men in the world in under three years. Tell me the truth—are you really not a time traveler?"
I shrugged. "Don't be jealous, Alex."
"I-I'm not jealous. I'm curious. There's a difference," Alex stammered.
"I think she's jealous. She can't do something like this," Haley teased.
Alex took that as a challenge and then picked up her laptop before showing the screen to me.
"What's this?" I asked, leaning closer.
She grinned. "A non-invasive glucose monitor. No needles, no strips—just wear it, and it gives real-time readings."
I raised an eyebrow and then began reading the research on her laptop.
"You have a breakthrough?" I smiled proudly.
"Yup," Alex grinned, tapping the screen. "Most prototypes are unreliable. I've refined a hybrid optical sensor system that could actually work. It's not a cure, but it makes monitoring effortless."
Haley whistled. "Why would people pay to track something they don't even need fixed anymore?" Since I had released the diabetes treatment, Haley didn't see the patent as valuable.
Alex shrugged. "Even with cures, monitoring health is valuable. Think athletes, diet-conscious users, or people at risk for diabetes. It's a niche market, but a profitable and achievable one."
I leaned back, thoughtful. "I like it. Smart, realistic, and you've clearly done your homework. I'll take it."
Alex's grin widened. "I knew you'd get it– Wait, what do you mean you'll take it?" She became confused.
"I mean, I'm buying the patent from you. I have a pharma company, you remember that right? This is a pitch is it not?"
"Wh– No, it's not a pitch. I'm just showing it to you–" Alex tried to argue, but I interjected.
"20 million for the patent. Then, you can get 10% royalties of every product sold."
Alex's jaw dropped.
Haley stood up and shouted urgently, "MOM! DAD! COME HERE QUICK!"
"Oh wait, you didn't research this at Caltech, right? Use their resources?" I asked.
Alex was still stunned, then she slowly recovered her mind and said, "I'm not stupid. I studied this in your lab."
"Okay. So they have no claims in it. That's good." I replied with a smirk.
"What– what happened?" Phil hurriedly ran towards the den with Claire following him from behind.
"Is anyone hurt?" Claire asked.
"My feelings are hurt! I worked for two years, only sleeping for 8 hours a day when I needed 10 hours! Yet, Alex just doodles something on her laptop and Edward is going to make her richer than me."
"What?" Claire was confused.
Phil was excited. "Alex. I didn't know you had a clothing line too."
"NO!-- Not that!" Alex interjected with disbelief. "I designed a glucose monitor. Edward wants to buy those! That is it. I'm not even sure I'm going to sell it to him yet."
I faked sadness and said, "So you'd rather sell it to exploitative big pharma that oppresses their consumers rather than my highly ethical company, which just wants to help people, all to get more money for the patent?"
"D-Don't twist my words!" Alex was baffled by my guilt trip.
"Alex." Phil said admonishingly. "No! Dad, I'm not trying to get more money out of this—Ugh! Fine. I'll sell it."
Claire hurriedly interjected, "Edward. Stop and think first. Maybe discuss it with your company. Twenty million is a lot of money, you know? And Alex is still young."
Alex turned to her mother. "Mom. Are you sure you're concerned about my age, or are you afraid I'm going to slip away from your control if I have money on my own, like Haley did?"
Haley gasped and turned to her mother accusingly. "That's why you can't be proud of me?"
"Hon—Honey! I'm so proud of you. Who says I'm not proud of you?" Claire immediately hugged and placated Haley.
"I'm just voicing concerns as the VP of the company," she added.
[Claire's commentary]
"Maybe a little about control. Now that they're branching out on their own, I like it when they ask me for allowances… it makes them pick up the call, which in turn lets me ask them what they're doing, how their lives are going, and anything else I want to know. Otherwise, it would be hard to get even a snippet of what they're doing."
"I guess I'm just trying to prolong the inevitable. My kids are growing up, so we have to adapt the way we communicate with each other."
[Commentary ends]
"I can do that right now," I said, picking up the call and dialing Robin. She answered on the first ring.
"Robin. Non-invasive glucose monitor patent. How much should we pay for it?" I asked directly.
Claire and Alex were astonished. Robin replied, "18–25 million, depending on the percentage of the royalty. Are you selling it?"
"No. Alex is the one who had that breakthrough," I said proudly.
Robin was silent for a while, then said, "I always knew Alex has greatness in her."
Alex beamed and blushed as she heard the compliment from Robin—the female feminist icon, CEO of my phone company.
"Thank—thank you, Miss Robin," Alex chimed.
"Oh, Alex. Are you listening too? We can get you the money next week. However, I suggest waiting until the tax reform, otherwise you will face double taxation and lose more than 50% of your patent money. Just like your sister, make sure to finalize every sale next year."
Alex nodded seriously. "Sure. I can do that."
…
After discussing the patent, Luke, Haley, Alex, and I went to my dad's place to decorate the house for Halloween.
"Mom was banned from doing the extreme horror house, so she wants us to use her plans," Haley said, giving Claire's sketches to me.
"I guess we can follow her idea since I haven't really started thinking about it yet. What does she want to do again?"
"Horror Mental Asylum. Quite insensitive, I guess, since your mother—" Alex stopped herself, realizing she might have crossed a line.
"Well, she is crazy," I finished for her. "I'm going to go to my aunt's house and see what they're doing for Halloween."
My Aunt May and Uncle Jim had moved to Abby's previous house in the same neighborhood since Uncle Jim got a job at my company. They were doing a normal carved pumpkin and scarecrow theme, similar to most people in the neighborhood.
Only people like Claire cared so much about Halloween that they took months to plan out their house-of-horror theme.
Haley tested out the scary nurse outfit, and Alex wore the patient's gown.
"Is it weird that this is turning me on?" I muttered as I saw Haley's short skirt and garter belt, and Alex's open-back patient's gown.
Alex rolled her eyes. "Yes."
"Which one? Who's turning you on more, me or Alex?" Haley asked giddily.
"Haley!" Alex admonished her.
"I mean, both. Both are great," I chuckled.
Haley joked, "What, you're trying to hit on both of us now? You want a sister sandwich?"
"Yes," I replied, before Alex could speak, which made her flabbergasted. "You pervert! Both of you are pervs!"
She stomped away. Haley giggled. "Aww. Someone's mad because she doesn't have any experience in sex."
"Shut it!" Alex gritted her teeth at Haley.
I laughed and continued decorating the house.
In the living room, after we were done, Haley said, "Edward. It's been a long time since I used the hot tub here. Want to relive the past and jump in together?"
Alex was stunned by Haley's direct approach. She pulled Haley away. "What are you doing, hitting on him? Don't you remember how hard it is for you to move on from him?"
Haley giggled. "Unfortunately, I never really moved on, so…"
"I'm telling mom!" Alex threatened.
The breaking news on the TV drew all of our attention.
["BREAKING NEWS: DEADLY VIRUS OUTBREAK IN ATLANTA—Health officials confirm a new, highly infectious virus, an evolved strain of Zika, with a gestation period of 14 days and a 99% fatality rate.]
"What?" Alex turned pale.
[Authorities are urging immediate nationwide quarantine. International spread confirmed in Europe, China, and India. The President has officially canceled Halloween festivities and ordered all citizens to remain indoors.]
We all froze, staring at the screen, the cheerful Halloween plans instantly overshadowed by the deadly warning.
*Ring Ring Ring*
I picked up the phone. On the other line, the President of the United States solemnly said, "We need your help."
(A/N: I kinda want to make a zombie thing referring to the Zika scare at that time, with additional covid-style quarantine episodes. I thought about it a lot, and then, I decided to just do it lol)