Ashton had expected Amber to be offended by his demand for negotiation, but she simply smiled. “Making sure I have what you need before you commit to anything. A wise choice. This is why I wanted to recruit you,” she told him, “Why don’t we begin with what you need from me?”
Since she seemed like a straightforward person, Ashton decided to just tell her his demands outright. “I will need temporary housing at the very least,” he told her.
“Temporary? Why not permanent?” she asked.
“I would like to work for a trial period before I sign any more contracts that will bind me for years,” Ashton explained, “I will keep whatever confidentiality is required regardless of how the trial goes.”
“That is a bold thing to ask for,” Ms. Gale commented, “What makes you so confident I would agree to these conditions?”
“I’m not,” Ashton admitted, “but I have already fallen for this trap before with SI, and I was burned.”
“Fair enough. You had to put in all that work, but SI was ruined before you could get your reward,” Amber agreed, “Very well. I will write up a trial contract for now, and you can sign the official contracts after the trial is over. You must understand, however, that your trial will be treated as a training period and you will not be doing the same work.”
“But I will be learning about the work I will be doing?” Ashton checked.
“You will. I can also arrange for more permanent housing after you finish your trial if you wish to remain. Does that sound agreeable to you?”
“It does,” Ashton agreed.
“Wait here,” she told him, and left the room.
He presumed she was probably writing up the paperwork like she had said she was, however she came back a bit too quickly to have written up the long document she presented. Most likely she had just edited an existing one, which probably meant this wasn’t the first time Gale Research used a trial contract.
Ashton took the contract and read it over. It covered the basics of most employment about pay to work ratio. This would be a salary position rather than an hourly wage. The salary for the trial wasn’t too bad, but he wouldn’t be getting any of it until the end of the trial.
This would not be a problem, though, because room and board was covered during the duration of the trial. He would be lodging in a room on site, so all of the security rules applied. Confidentiality played a major role as well. He could not expose any company secrets, and he could not bring anyone else onto the premises. Some parts were stricter than SI but many were more lax. Hopefully that would not be only for the trial period.
Ashton looked the contract over a second time for any tricks or traps before signing it. It was a good position, and he would still have the opportunity to back out after the trial if he needed. After he signed, Ms. Gale collected the contract and set it aside.
“I will send you your copy once we are done here,” she assured him, “Would you like to begin the briefing?”
“I would,” Ashton confirmed. Mostly he wanted to know why she had been so determined to recruit him now of all times. The answer was both surprising and not.
“As I am sure you are aware, part of the role of SI was collecting individuals with potentially dangerous powers and administering my serum if needed,” she explained, “Depending on the level of understanding or personality of the individual they would become a hero or a villain to play a part. There were also villains planted among them to supervise the others.”
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“I never played a role in any of this, but I was aware,” Ashton confirmed. It was also why he had been so convinced Summer had more potential. No one was recruited as a hero or a villain unless they were seen as a potential threat.
“Now that SI has fallen, that role has fallen onto me,” she explained, “However, I have different methods in mind. I am sure we both agree that dragging this spectacle into the limelight was a foolish decision even if they did have a plan in mind.”
Ashton nodded. She wanted him to play a more direct role, it seemed. One out of the limelight. So far it didn’t sound so bad, except for the fact it was getting a bit too close to real hero work for his liking.
“I have decided to assemble teams to research, observe, and neutralize the powers of real threats. I don’t mean those with great power. I mean those who abuse it, whether the power is great or not. Especially those who slipped under SI’s radar.”
“Like MysteriousMaskz,” Ashton muttered.
Ms. Gale smiled. “Exactly. Your little case with him is exactly why I recruited you. SI never succeeded in finding out his real identity but we did discover he has some sort of computer based ability.”
“Something like hacking or more like coding?” Ashton asked.
“It’s hard to say for sure, but we do know he has been misusing it. He is one of our marks, and you happen to have a connection with him.”
“I won’t drag Summer into this,” Ashton warned.
“Of course not,” Ms. Gale assured, “Though I did consider recruiting her as well.”
“So you want me to join one of these teams?” Ashton asked, deciding to ignore that last comment. He had to remember that she was his boss now.
“For the trial period, yes,” she confirmed, “After that, I would like you to lead one. I will even give you the opportunity to build your own team based on your experience of the field work.”
That was a lot of information to process. Ashton didn’t see himself as someone with the leadership skills to lead a team.
“Shouldn’t these things be left to the special forces and police?” Ashton asked instead.
“They are bound more by the law than anyone else. It is because we are not an official government agency that we can do this,” Ms. Gale explained, “Especially with the new hero agencies popping up. They pose a threat in a different way. Take a look at this.”
She presented him with another contract that said it was from Heroix Superhero Agency. The contract was horrible. They would be paid based on commission, and those commissions would be little better than vigilanteism. They could also be stolen the moment that the actual law enforcement arrived.
There was no backup. No insurance. No safety. They were signing up to be constantly on call to risk their lives with no guaranteed reward. It reminded Ashton of the heroes in old comic books who fought villains and got nothing in return. The main difference was that this one you had no choice. Heroix reserved the right to take punitive action against any hero who refused to answer an emergency call.
“This is horrible,” Ashton commented.
“It is,” Ms. Gale confirmed, “SuperView has an almost identical contract for their agency. There are a few others as well, but those two are the most dangerous.”
“What can we even do about them?” Ashton asked.
Ms. Gale pointed at a portion of the contract that stated any hero who lost their powers would be freed from all responsibilities. “We save them.”
“No one would sign a contract like this,” Ashton argued despite himself. Something about her method of saving gave him chills, even though he had always wanted his powers to disappear.
“Unfortunately, Heroix has been gaining a lot of publicity recently because of the Hero Support Group.”
Yet another name Ashton didn’t recognize. Things had gone completely out of control since SI fell, and he had been too busy with his own problems to pay attention to it. He waited for Amber to explain.
“The Hero Support Group has released a video interview with an ex-hero of SI who has signed up with Heroix. They do not paint it in a perfect light, but their honesty has attracted many.”
Ashton passed back the contract. “When do I start?”
Ms. Gale gave him a schedule with his new hours, as well as a keyboard to get into the gate and the building. He left feeling a bit conflicted about everything he had learned. SI had been a sham, but perhaps it had been worth it after all.
As he left he noticed a text from Summer with a screenshot of an invitation to the very Hero Support Group Ms. Gale had warned him against. This wasn’t good. Especially not with her very valid concern that followed.
“I just got this invitation. Do you think my identity will be leaked?”
“I will look into it,” Ashton promised in reply, “I heard about the interview they uploaded.”
There was a long pause before Summer replied. “Your opportunity has nothing to do with Heroix, right?”
“It does not,” Ashton assured, “It is not SuperView either.”
He was glad she was looking out for him, but a bit disappointed she thought he might fall for something like that. Instead, he decided to thank her for her help. Besides, he could at least tell her where he was working.
“Thanks to your advice the negotiation went well. I will be starting my trial period at Gale Research soon.”
“You’re welcome,” she sent back with that little yellow smiley face tacked onto the end. Ashton had never been one to use emojis but this one made him smile.