About two months had passed since I left Wesley’s bunker with my friends. Since that event, I began rebuilding my life and learning more about my ARGO system in between some hospital visits. Frey helped restore my arm and the rest of my body over time with intensive healing sessions over two weeks. When my cast came off I started to do some physical therapy to rebuild the muscle and body mass I had lost because of the injuries. Frey’s healing powers worked like magic as usual, and they caused all signs of my injuries to disappear without scars. It amazed me each time I went in for a healing session for an hour every other day. I laid down and got the healing with only a heavy appetite as a side effect. After a final check-up and examination of all of my old injury locations, I was cleared to go and was as healthy as before.
In between the sessions, I got assistance in establishing my life fully in this world. Any hint of Jason’s death was removed thanks to Linda and the heroes. Jason’s body was removed from the morgue quietly without documentation stating he had ever been there and only a small funeral ceremony with an unmarked grave was left behind. A few heroes showed up to say farewell and I promised them and myself that I would make the most out of the resources left behind. I wouldn’t be wrong to say things were awkward for me to be there. I was essentially taking over most parts of his life because I had been thrust into this world by supernatural forces before solving my own murder in a sense.
After Linda’s visit, I was left with fragments of the old Jason. Largely in dreams, I processed them and started to ‘remember’ things that had done and stuff I had learned. The memories like déjà vu also came to me while I worked in the warehouse once it was back up. I would be following the same steps to process material for manufacturing and then the feelings and pieces of memory would come. One of the many things I remembered in parts was Jason’s interactions with Wesley, few as they were. They were all similar and often covered the same topics. In hindsight, I recognized how naive both of us were and the signs that were left behind and I vowed to do better with the mix of combined knowledge I know had. If I had realized the same signs earlier maybe I could have done something at the party or after I had first met him but back then I was too focused on trying to not stand out and learn more about a world that I didn’t belong to yet. So much had changed since that day.
It took a month for the warehouse to be rebuilt and I took a small vacation while I waited. I also started to plan my return to school. Because I had canceled my semester I needed to reenroll for the next semester instead and this time I would be taking completely different classes. Because I had a partial credit towards a psychology degree and the old Jason had credit towards something completely different with credit towards biology and STEM. Something I was unequipped to jump into in his place. In the end, I studied this world’s textbooks on psychology and took the tests necessary to get back into the classes I needed for my degree. Some finagling was required to switch majors and update all the coursework I had taken at another university, in another world, but John helped me make the switch and prep me for a new semester in two months.
While I waited for the month of reconstruction to complete I did a bit of vacationing and I studied for my eventual return to work. The construction was fast-tracked by a superhuman construction crew that returned the building to new extremely quickly. And on Rachel’s recommendation, the assembly of the warehouse was modified to have better security and built better to withstand heavy damage. It would be able to take on an attack from the Bull-man in the future and meet the expectations of any other superhuman-ready defense structure. It by no means was completely impervious but if I had to I would be safe within the warehouse for a while until I was rescued.
Using the small tools, I had at home and a mix of different videos I practiced using the ARGO. I had already seen parts of its power while escaping and I was ready to dive deeper into using the technology. Using the main system, I picked up from Frey I was able to better use the system and explore its settings. Toggling its notification settings to different modes was by far my favorite one but there was so much more. Using the ARGO, I kept up my practice of manufacturing and the skills required while improving them even more.
The trial went by quickly and I was only required to show up for one day out of the ten-day trial that occurred shortly after he was apprehended. Some time was taken to gather evidence, but it was overall a pretty open and shut case. He along with the Bull-man and a few other of his followers followed him to jail. Wesley’s attitude throughout the whole event was a mix of anger and insanity I had started to see while I sat with him in his bunker. There was a lot of yelling by him and glaring once he had been shut up. He was creepily quiet and frozen while I gave my statements and testimony during the trial. He was locked up in place but continued to stare and watch my every move as I spoke.
Along with the evidence found in the bunker, his father assisted the prosecutors greatly in finding out more and pointing them towards the gangs that he worked with in other illegal activities. He and his wife handled everything well all things considered though he also had a PR spin to play. The executives at Titan Tech were probably thrilled to get the news that the assets of their competitor were seized and some of their reputations were damaged as well.
It allowed me a great opportunity to take a few jobs from them when the warehouse was finished, and the new machines were installed. With the help of ARGO and some practice, I took on a few small jobs from local heroes. These jobs that were usually handled by one of the Rodriguez shops now went to me. Usually, it would just be a repair job or a repainting of a suit after a fight. The small jobs went by quickly and were great to my wallet and John who had spent some extra money upgrading the tools and resources I had available to me in the warehouse beyond the options thanks to the insurance company.
These jobs didn’t have guides or blueprints for me to follow so they took more time to complete but gave me more experience overall. I could open up the electronics of other manufacturers and examine their techniques for assembly and then document them using the ARGO. I also began integrating my new knowledge and memories into my work. The memory fragments were unsettling at first, but I was able to accept them over time and understand them as a part of myself. Not all of the memories were useful to me so some of the time I took to process all of Linda’s gifts was put towards organizing it all in my head before putting it all to work in the warehouse or elsewhere. I wasn’t quite to the heights of the old Jason and wasn’t going to be there for a while longer, but I was getting there with the help of the ARGO.
Over the course of the two months, I became more comfortable using the ARGO both for my business and in my daily life. Setting reminders, making notes, working on suits, and more were easy to do. With the continued practice and the help of the ARGO, I was making great progress with producing hero gear and knowing where not to make mistakes a second time. The integration of the memories also helped me in this aspect. Pieces of his muscle memory made themselves known and I practiced them until it all came more naturally thanks to the memories which I used to improve my skill further. Some parts were still incongruent, but I was slowly making it work. It had become an integral part of my daily life until the point where I was barely noticing its messages and I relied on it regularly throughout the day to keep me busy, on task, and let me work solely on one thing at a time.
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After the warehouse was finished John stepped away from me and so did the others to a degree now that I had a regular job to do and stuff to keep me busy. Due to the damage and repairs required my list of tasks to do had grown. Almost everyone except for Nate needed stuff done for their suits or expendable gear. Even Nate was going to need new shoes soon. I was glad to have given him extras earlier, but he was running the soles down to nothing and would need new ones soon. I started with the highest priority first and worked my way through all of the suit repairs and equipment manufacturing requested.
I was glad to keep busy. After the repairs were completed on the warehouse and I was able to return I was starting to feel vacation fatigue. I had been traveling around the continent for a while seeing some of the sights, but I needed a return to routine and home. Working with the small portable tools was great but I had started to miss the warehouse. The first day I returned to the warehouse I stayed up late in the warehouse to work on things and was pumped. I had work to do, and people appreciated it. Things were great.
<-0-0-0-0-0->
The sounds of active machines buzzed around me. Today I was working on some knives for Harmony. This was one of the easier jobs I had to do which was why I had decided to work on it today. Occasionally she lost the knives she threw for telekinesis, or they broke thanks to an annoying supervillain. I was towards the end of making a dozen knives she requested when John opened the door and came inside. I had recently finished casting and hammering the knives and now the belt sander was humming as I sharpened the edges of one of the knives. I was almost done with that last step but still had to test them out and make sure they had no imperfections. I looked up from my work and turned off the machine.
“What do you have for me today?” I asked. I picked up the knives I had been working on and resumed my work. I stood up from my spot in my chair and walked to the other side of the warehouse.
“I’ve got an opportunity. One you won’t want to miss and one that will help build up those business skills you’ve been missing out on,” John said.
He wore his standard grey suit that extenuated his piercing eyes. They continued to creep me out even more now because I now knew what they could do despite the kindness he carried in them. I had felt my heart stop for a moment when he used it on me for only a minute and I couldn’t imagine having the feeling of fear and overbearing weight held on me for as long as Wesley once did.
“I think my business skills are just fine thank you very much, but they probably aren’t the best. What would you have me do?” I asked recognizing that his arrival in person was rather important despite my nonchalance.
I held the knives in one hand and began throwing them with the other. A wooden board with black circles on them hung on the other side of the warehouse. The board shook when it was hit. The first two I through hit the board but didn’t stick and instead clattered to the ground. ARGO automatically gave me adjustment suggestions until the knives I threw hit the dartboard near the center of the awkward oval I had painted and actually sunk in all the way.
“The updates in the news have allowed us to take advantage of. You have been watching the news right? Or have you been more interested in the new toys around the shop I paid for?”
I set down my last knife and turned to him. He had found a spot next to my computer to lean against.
“It was the insurance that paid for this, but I guess you do make the insurance payments so fair point. I assume this is about the Frost Cloak news?”
“Yes, he is officially retiring now because of his cancer. That and his current age was the final nail in the coffin of his career. He might go around with the hero circles for a while longer but not officially anymore. This leaves his title to his only daughter Miss Sydney Ortega. She at 17 years old will be taking over one of the greatest superhero titles in the world. She’s been working with the teen hero groups up until now so her gear has been funded through the Dynasty’s Hero Foundation up until this point, but she will soon need to pay for her gear repairs, upgrades, and everything else as an adult and as a fully licensed hero. She’ll be looking for sponsorships, deals, and a place to work regularly along the east coast. You need to convince her that she should stay local if that is in question and stick with you for at least a one-year deal if not more. You need to make a nice impression and present yourself well. Her father usually worked with boutique and private shops for his hero needs because of his ice power requirements so she may also be inclined to go that route as well.”
“That bodes well for my chances to get her away from the people at Titan Tech and Hero Wear. So, I need to talk with her and convince her to take me up for business? I think I could do that but why can’t you talk to her instead?”
“I’ve got other businesses to take care of and you need this experience. I also expect that it will go better overall with you convincing her instead of me. You know this business well and you are smart enough to come up with the sales pitch to rope her in. That and your similar enough age should help. I got you the Legacy deal. It is time you got your own long-term customers.”
“I don’t know. I’ve been pretty slammed recently with all this backlog. I’m not sure if I can take on another client.”
“You only take care of six customers at the moment. I’m sure you could bump it up to seven if you try. Most of their assignments don’t require you to work for more than a full day on their stuff. And if it takes longer you usually have time for it. I’ve seen Jason do it for years and I’m sure you can do the same thing as well with the two extra people. You don’t need to do much for Dan and Barry anyway. They take care of their suits well enough that they only need equipment. And if you do have issues you could always take on an assistant.”
“That’s not happening. I like being able to work here on my own in silence. An assistant would only slow me down for most things. It’s not necessary. I’ll be fine on my own,” I grumbled, “Send me her contact information and I’ll set something up. Do you have anything in mind?”
“Not really. A dinner chat would be nice but just get it done this week. I’m sure you can make having another client work. That’s what your ARGO-assisted training is for.”
“This week. Yeah, I can do that,” I said as I picked up the knife I had on me and played with it.
I brought out my phone and saw that he had already texted me the necessary information. I saved the contact info into my phone and looked it up.
“Thanks for bringing this to me,” I said to him. “Really. This will be great for me if I can get this done. I’m not sure what I would do without you.”
“Of course. I’m your manager. It’s my job. You’d probably be out on the streets. With your talents though, even if they aren’t to Jason’s peak are getting there. I couldn’t have a competitor snatch you up. You mean too much to me,” said John by the door.
“For your profit,” I replied.
“For my profit and everything else,” he said before walking out.
I started composing a text message for Sydney while I gathered the knives back into a pile. I read it back to myself to make sure there were no spelling mistakes before sending it to her.
SO: Hey, this is Jason Watterson. I was hoping that we could meet sometime this week. I’m sure you’ve had a lot of messages recently, but I was hoping you could find a to meet in between your busy schedule. Let me know what options are available to you and I will make it work on my end. I look forward to meeting you in person sometime.
I set my phone back down and returned to work on the knives. I twirled that last knife I had on me one last time and then threw it. The knife hit the center bullseye of the homemade target board and cracks started to form in the wood when I went to take it out.