New System, Who Dis?

Friday, April 19th, 2069

“Yeah, just stand there with the school in the background,” Kristen said. It felt kind of awkward staring at the Phoenix Academy across the street, but at least Dave was beside me.

“Why do I suddenly feel like a Japanese school-girl shooting for her Only Friends?” I complained, trying to burn off the nerves of being back here. Honestly, the nervousness wasn’t because of the attack. I was surprised by that. It was because I realized that I’d felt like I’d come so far from my old life as a mild-mannered college student and I didn’t want to get sucked back in, as if the school was some blackhole waiting to swallow me up.

Kristen snorted. “Stop it. You’re making the camera shake.”

We’d arrived at Legion just to be ushered toward a computer and shown a video. It was a masterfully edited piece from news and other sources—starring Morgan Hallsbrad. They’d left some scenes in to depict what they wanted to add—and this scene was one of them. Clearly Mrs. Stovall had already informed them of a great deal.

“How are you feeling about maybe taking us through what happened in the alley?” Kristen asked, her voice filled with concern. It was still sunny outside, and even if it was dark I doubted the alley would be able to cause me any fear with Mental Fortitude. So, I shrugged, and then pointed to the campus housing Dave stayed in.

“We can start at Dave’s place, since that’s where I was before it all went down.”

“Perfect!” Kristen exclaimed with excitement but then modulated her tone a bit. “But if it gets to be too much, we can stop at any time.”

“Too bad you deleted those messages and blocked the Shop,” Dave said. “It would have been a good piece to add—since it’s part of SwiftGram.”

“We don’t want to promote that it was on the Gram that he was targeted. The video would get taken down faster than we can upload,” Kristen corrected. “Plus, we could get them if we really wanted. We’ve decided to use a fake, third party program and just make it look like they were chatting there.”

“Good thinking,” I replied, realizing I had been on the same wavelength as Dave, and that Kristen and Geneva had thought this through a lot more than we had. Still, I was relatively confident I would have arrived at the same conclusion if I was editing the footage.

That or my brain was a bit preoccupied with studying the school, and rehashing what had happened here. Yes, with Mental Fortitude, it was spookily calm and logical, but even the sound of the bus brought images of the events that happened near the transit station.

A chill ran up my spine as I relived some of those memories, but it was because of my recollection of the fear I’d felt in that moment. Not because of anything I was feeling now. We went up to Dave’s room, and he gave a quick tour, before we posed for some shots of us watching TV.

Sitting there Dave asked, “Won’t the waning daylight make it a bit off?”

“I’ll adjust the lighting to look like night. It’s why I pulled the blinds and turned the lights on too. The next bit will be more of a retelling and I’m really not sure how much of it we can use, but it will be good to have for future snippets and advertisements, if this video gets the traction we’re hoping for.”

That wasn’t the subtlest of hints, so I took it. “Well, after seeing the news about a serial killer in New York, I decided not to take the shortcut back. I’ll show you.”

We walked the campus heading through the quad and seeing the jubilant, tired, and free students along the way. I found it strange. To think I would be with them having lunch or heading to class if…

A few students called out to Dave, distracting me enough to snap me out of my spiraling thoughts. Still, even the ones who also knew me didn’t wave. I wasn’t sure if I should feel hurt by that, until Dave said, “I would have mentioned it earlier, but you look different, man. Like stronger, and taller or something.”

I laughed. “I’m the same height I always was, and I’ve actually just been mining, no gym.”

“Dude, your arms are jacked, if nothing else. It’s part of the reason I wanted to get in on the whole mining plan with you,” Dave responded with a wink and flex. Kristen smirked behind us while leveling the 3d camera in our general direction.

It was difficult to have a normal conversation after realizing everything was on film, and I could tell Dave had seen it too. Still, we didn’t have to go far to arrive at the doors that led to the campus’s wide sidewalks. I moved through the moderate traffic of students before arriving near the exact spot that Morgan had ‘ambushed’ me. I turned to the alley behind me, and could almost see his shadowy figure step into the lamplight.

I stretched my neck and jaw feeling them tighten up at the recollection. Then I began my story. I paused numerous times as my memory of the events made me picture it again. Still, the replays had no sharp edges, which I was thankful for.

By the faces of Kristen and Dave, though, the pauses made it seem like I was traumatized, which could only be a good thing for the video. I knew enough about acting to lean into it here and there, not embellishing the story, but making sure I replayed the emotions I had felt in that moment—a gun leveled at me, threats of Husking being thrown around, actually being assaulted and Mana-pulled.

I was exhausted mentally and emotionally when I finished. Kristen dropped us back off at the house in her somewhat older Volkswagen Bug. Even as she coasted to a stop in front of my driveway, she was looking at me with sympathetic eyes. “I’m going to get this up tonight or tomorrow morning. Be ready to respond to messages, and set up a CashPal account—send me the link for donations.”

“I’ve already got one, because I was hoping for some donations from my Swift a while back. I think I got a hundred bucks, actually.”

“Perfect, let me take a quick picture of the QR code and the link then.”

Kristen didn’t elaborate on the possibilities of me getting any money from this, but I could tell she was staying silent so I didn’t get my hopes up. You just never knew with Swift. Geneva and her might be fantastic at their jobs, but having a video go viral needed a bunch of factors that no one could control, even if the people behind the video were the very best at their jobs.

Walking in the door I wasn’t prepared for the group of excited people speaking over each other in my far too-small kitchen. It seemed like my father and mother had made some phone calls. Fat Gary and Dave were there along with a good portion of the other miners I’d seen over the two and a half weeks I’d worked with Portals, Portal’s, Portalz.

The conversation stopped when Dave and I walked in but only to give us a quick acknowledgement and continue. Dave and I stood in the doorway listening, and it was as I suspected. This had to do with the prospect of us starting a new company. It also turned out that without Specialists, Jagger had lost the job they were on today, and once again ‘temporarily’ laid off the non-Specialists.

Everyone seemed excited to leave P-three. Probably because right now all the pieces were lined up, like a bit of a perfect storm.

That mood lasted until we received a phone call from Mr. and Mrs. Stovall. They were coming over and their tones didn’t make it sound like it was to deliver the good news.

Because of confidentiality we were forced to excuse everyone but Dave, Willa, Jarred, my mother, father, and me for the meeting. Mrs. Stovall looked between everyone, but Mr. Stovall just stared at me. After a moment he said, “Were you aware you unearthed about twelve new minerals, ores and materials?”

My head shook before I thought twice. Then I realized I needed a bit more of an answer and said, “Well, I did see a bunch of colored ores I’d never seen or heard of, but I wouldn’t have been able to say they were ‘new’.”

“Did you also know that the Portal closed after your encounter? Even without the Snowbirds beating the boss?”

I stared at him wide-eyed even as I let my much more emphatic shaking head give answer. He continued, “The Snowbird’s had been certain this might have been a permanent Portal. And an F-to-E rank permanent Portal is basically a money printing machine, not to mention a fantastic training ground for their recruits.”

“Why are you bringing all this up?” Dave asked.

John nodded and hiked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the people outside of this room. Not the Miners that just left but the world in general. “Well the UNMH has staked their claim on the new materials, and ores. They’ve also expressed interest in the Golem Core and Heart.”

“That’s great news! They’ll pay top dollar—right?” My dad said, his tone going from excited to confused as the Stovalls’ faces fell.

“It is great news, but the prestige and top dollar—maybe even his hatred toward you all—has Jagger hiring big name attorneys. He’s going to turn this into a fight, which could be great for us in the long run. Precedence will be in our favor, but as soon as he files, the evidence will be frozen in place till the trial ends. Due to the contention of ownership, the Crown also won’t put any money up anymore.”

“In a way, Mr. Stovall’s filing hurt my case,” Mrs. Stovall concluded. “While I can go after Jagger for the bonuses—my guess is he will try to bundle everything together under this case to avoid paying you. It seems like something he’d do out of spite.”

My father explained what had just happened with Jagger losing the contract and laying off all his miners. Mrs. Stovall nodded to herself when he finished. “That would certainly do it. Jagger has basically lost an entire arm of his company, which he relies on to get contracts. None of the big guilds like to hire piecemeal if they can help it. Why have Cleaners from x, miners from y and herbalists from z if you can get them all in P-three.”

“But surely he’ll need money to hire Specialists then?” My mom suggested.

“Well, in the long-term, sure—he’s going to need to rehire, which takes time. But if you’re hoping to wait him out or put him in a financial bind then… Nah, he has the capital without it. So, he’ll just go into his own accounts if needed. He can survive this easily. The problem is, can you all?” John said, looking at us in concern.

“How long are we talkin’ here?” Willa asked. Jarred nodded along with her.

“If the courts are expedient, which they never are, at minimum a month. If this drags on, which will certainly be Jagger’s tactic—as long as a year.” Jarred whistled at John’s timeline.

“Ain’t no way I can make it that long without a job and that bonus,” Willa said, and Jarred joined in right on her heels with the same admission.

“Us either,” my mom and dad said. “Do we have any recourse?” My mom finished.

“Not yet, but there’s a few avenues we can explore,” Mrs. Stovall said. “Don’t get your hopes up, but we might be able to try to get per-diem payments against the value of the Ores. The problem is that they would come from a third party, and you’d all be paying out the nose for them.”

Everyone leaned forward but John coughed politely. “Additionally, it’s a bit of a gamble. We’re pretty sure that you’ll end up with possession of the Ores, but if you don’t. You’d owe back that value…”

“There’s no other way?” I asked.

“Sure,” John began. “There are several, but they are all either even more distasteful than this, or long shots.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Varnish seems to want something from you Brodie. If you figure out what it is, then maybe we can get him to not only let off the gas, but also help you.”

Another head shake, but this time I was joined by most of the people around the table. Even Mrs. Stovall. “He wants Brodie to plead guilty, Mr. Stovall.” I could tell she wanted to say John but changed it out for a very pointed almost barbed use of the professional address. “He clearly was acting in self-defense.”

“As I said, it’s distasteful, but I think the ‘plead guilty’ portion might be a play to get the second part of the offer,” John said slowly.

“The community service under the Larvae Guild?” My mom asked. “Where do they even operate?”

“Europe,” John admitted and everyone around the table made wide eyed, transferring looks between John and me. I shook my head. “I figured, but you asked. The other way would be to start renting the Pickaxes you can purchase. It would—”

“I only have the five of them and can’t buy anymore for a bit. Not without Smegma. Also, I don’t want to start giving them out. What if someone discovers that it isn’t really a repair mark. It’s already risky having only people I trust use them…”

“So, we should go with the third party per-diem option then? Should I be asking for everyone here or just the Flacarada’s?” Mrs. Stovall asked.

Everyone looked at me, and it took me a second to realize why. Technically, I owned all the Ores, not them. So, they needed my permission.

“I assume this means that the bonuses will also be impossible to get, at least in the short-term if it's going to likely get tied up in this whole mess with the mining materials?” I asked. John and Mrs. Stovall nodded. I made a gesture to include the Miner’s that just left. “Then I vote for everyone here for per-diem, and they still get their bonuses,” I said without hesitation.

“Okay, we’ll do our best,” John said with a fond smile. He pushed off our kitchen table as he stood. “Probably a good idea to wait on the bonuses though. If we leave Jagger with a percentage he will still be required to pay them—just saying.”

I nodded to the large man, taking his suggestion. Sure, I wanted everyone paid their bonuses but if they already were going to get them from Jagger, I was greedy enough to want to keep more money for our new business.