The next morning, I began working on a profile of myself and those I was likely to meet at the party. I had no divine gifted memories, so I had to do it all by hand. I began assembling a bulletin board of sorts on the basement wall across from the office. On the top half of the board, I had information on my former self while on the bottom I had information on the guests and birthday girl.

I was unsure of exactly who would come to the event because I had no access to the guest list, but I made some informed guesses based on her family, family friends, and online presence. I pulled up old clips of the ‘classic fights’ for both Rachel and her father. I ended up doing the same for all of the other currently active dynasty heroes. Their most famous battles or amazing feats had already been completed by superfans so all I had to do was write them down.

Finding information on some of the possible guests and extended family was often hard to find and I suspected it was intentional. After spending a bit too much time trying to map out their current family tree I gave up and promised myself that I would try to avoid anyone I couldn’t already match a name, face, and three facts about them using public info.

In my search for people that might show up I only found one person to be wary of. As soon as I heard their powerset I stopped searching for their face. Within my search, I had followed Rachel’s mother who currently had a living parent, Rachel’s grandmother, and she had the uncommon superhuman ability of telepathy. When I saw that she had telepathy I had to search for what that would mean. After comparing a few FAQs, I found a credible source. It read:

“Telepathy is the art of reading the mind and communicating without what could be considered normal means. If you are around a telepath you largely need not worry. Most telepaths can only sense thoughts and surface-level feelings especially when not one on one with an individual. This means unless you project your memories or thoughts they are unlikely to be read. Memory reading in particular requires intense focus from a trained telepath and consent from the host’s mind for scanning. This can be broken forcefully but mental defenses provide a strong way to stop the intrusions. If you would like to learn more about mental defense training follow this starter guide…”

After reading through the website information, I was I bit more relieved.

‘I don’t have the time to go through mental defense training, but I should be safe at the party. There will be lots of people there and more there just for the fight. I think I can keep my mind off my situation for three hours. And right now, I don’t know what the grandmother looks like so I can try and avoid shouting my situation in my mind. I’ll just go there and have fun and relax like I promised Rachel I would.’

I turned back to the bulletin board. The section on myself was half as filled as I had wanted it to be. I had put up on the board all of my regular clients, the best sellers, and specialty items I sold which included their description and price, general school info, and recent club activity. I decided to adjust the truth if anyone were to ask about school. As of today, my hold on school classes had gone through so I was officially not be taking classes there for now. If anyone asked me I would tell them I had decided to pause school to pursue my business ventures. It was close enough to the truth that it was pretty much not a lie.

Within the files on my computer, I had learned a bit more about my business. The abandonment of my school might cause some long-term issues because my business is indirectly tied to my education. Normally the steps to get the business license I have would require me to have my graduation certificate or else I would have to work under someone else. The only way I was able to get away with the business was through a sponsor my old self had. The sponsorship pays for my school and some of the business expenses but less so now that I have been making items for a few years. And I had screwed it all up.

I should probably resume classes immediately and it is a definite possibility. I had no interest in being exposed this early as a fraud. If my sponsor started to investigate then he could spot me as a fraud. From what I could find he scouted me five years ago while I was in high school and set me up with this gig. I was unsure of why he was sponsoring me or what made him choose me because I was unable to find the deal or contract for our agreement, but I have had a long two days in this world with much more pressing issues. Case and point a text message from the man himself John Malone, my sponsor an hour after I got the email confirming my classes had been dropped I got a new one saying the change had been reversed along with the text message.

JM: I heard that you were going to drop all of your classes for this semester. That is unacceptable and you know it. If you were going to make decisions behind my back it stops now. This is your last warning. You already had strike one when you took on that street hero. Call me back.

I read over the text message and frown. From the way he sounded, I already didn’t like him. I was unsure of how to respond. For now, I would put off calling him until after the party.

Me: I will call you after the Legacy fight. If you are there we can speak there instead.

I decided to go for a formal tone and decided to omit the birthday party part. I felt that he might be annoyed I was skipping out on him and school to go to a birthday party. I put away my phone and returned to my work.

The memorizing of names, and dates was probably the easiest of my tasks to do before the party. Matching names to faces was the next difficulty. In all, I had decided on twenty people from the Jace’s and other families I should know. Most of the people were ones near my and Rachels on age with a few of the older generation thrown in so I could talk history.

But the hardest part of planning my actions at the party was how I should act. There were only two reference points I had for it. The first was my quick talk with Rachel. She had seemed to see something off about me. I thought back to our conversation but could not come up with anything concrete that had tipped her off. Maybe I was a bit too forward in my questions or maybe I should have talked to her about something? I didn’t like the uncertainties.

The second reference was from footage I found. My previous self had set up cameras around the warehouse and tapped into the ones around the gated community. I scrubbed through the footage and had the computer search for myself. It pulled up all of the times my previous self had entered or left the warehouse and in my car. I watched the first few. It was weird seeing myself do actions I had never done. As I clicked through the videos I tried to look for similarities and see if I could spot something. None of the videos I looked through showed me talking which was a bummer. As I looked through the videos I saw the same things they might help me slouch and walk like my old self, but it was overall unhelpful.

As I began closing out the camera feed I noticed something. In the corner were the dates and times of the events and the latest one on file before my arrival Thursday at 2 pm was a Monday morning visit to the warehouse 3 days prior. I pulled up the cameras again and began to manually scrub through to confirm. For three days my other self had not been back to the house or the warehouse.

‘Where did my old self go? Did I die only to be resurrected three days later? Was it intentional or was it a coincidence?’

I watched the most recent video from Monday of me entering and then leaving an hour later.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

‘I don’t look worried or cautious. It is just another day. Maybe I am overthinking this. I wished I had someone to communicate with. I don’t know if I can fake it forever and definitely not without help.’ I sighed. ‘One problem at a time. I’ve got more productive stuff to do before the party.’

I looked through the setting on the cameras and set an alert to occur if people other than myself appeared on the cameras. So far no one else had appeared from the footage I looked through, but it felt weird that no one else had gone to the warehouse. I would have expected a customer or two at least to pick up their things in the past week. I didn’t know anyone in this world, not really and no one knew me. I could not trust anyone with my secrets yet and I was unsure when that would be possible if at all.

Lunch came and went in my house, and I finished up my work in the basement. If I was going to find out anything else it was too late. I picked out my attire for the afternoon and changed out of my more casual clothes before leaving. I punched the address into my GPS and drove off.

<-0-0-0-0-0->

My car rolled up to the mansion and stopped by the entrance. A valet greeted me, and he took my keys as I walked up to the front doors. I followed a few others in front of me into the building and mentally prepared myself for an afternoon of acting.

The exterior of the house was gorgeous with well-trimmed hedges and pathways leading to the front patio. As I approached I heard quiet sounds of water and people chatting in the backyard. A waiter of some kind opened the door for us as we approached and gave our names. This was also an opportunity for me to learn the names of the people I was behind. The inside of the house was as well-decorated as the outside and had several old painted portraits of the oldest Hercules and Legacy. They had not always worn their current costumes made from unbreakable fabrics but instead looked like people of the era. Big frilly clothes with lots of buttons and heavy makeup covered their skin in the portraits. When I entered the group turned to face me. One of them in a very nice suit introduced himself first.

“I’m Vern Jace. Your last name Weber sounds familiar. How do I know you?” he asked.

I recognized his name when I had looked at Tabitha’s social presence. He was her older brother.

“I make super equipment privately though I do sell some more general stuff, not on a commission. I’m not from one of your superhuman families.”

“Oh yes. You are that kid. Rachel gets stuff from you. How nice. How is that business going?”

“It is good, and I am happy working in a small business. Are you excited about the fight or the food?” I said motioning towards the table of appetizers.

Vern and the others chuckled.

“A little of both I suppose,” he said looking around.

“Then we agree.”

Vern looked around at the guests already in the backyard.

“I’m sorry to cut this short but I have many other people to speak with. You will have to excuse me, but I have business with others.”

“No, I understand. I will let you be on your way.”

I took a step back and Vern and his two followers went to the backyard. I decided to get a small plate before joining them. I tried looking for Rachel through the windows but didn’t see her. I kept my plate of food small but packed with my favorites as I stepped outside. The weather was nice, and the sun was out making it perfect for a gathering like this.

I nibbled on the food and made my way around the backyard. In one corner near the entranceway, the waterfall I had heard was flowing gently. As I walked around I was suddenly stopped by someone next to me. I turned to see Rachel’s father, Todd Jace, he looked like a bodybuilder, and his suit contorted around his body to fit him.

“Hello, Mr. Jace. Thank you for putting on this pairing of events. Your home is beautiful.”

“Well thank you. I’m glad you can enjoy yourself though I am surprised you made it.”

“Am I truly such a workaholic most of the time? Should I go back to my workshop instead?”

“No. No,” he said patting me on the back lightly, “You should definitely stay now that you are here. I heard from Rachel that she invited you herself. I can’t turn you away. But I do want to check on your workshop sometime. I want to make sure you are making quality work for my daughter.”

‘Shit I don’t need or want to be giving any tours to show off my basic understanding of what I should already be a master at.’

I put on a larger smile. “When would be a good time for you to come in. I am taking three or four more days off from work and then I would be happy to accommodate you whenever is best.”

“Good. I will have Rachel forward you the details. Probably later next week.”

“Next week it is,” I said.

“Daddy. Are you teasing…” Rachel seemed to come out of nowhere and stood beside the two of them.

“I’m doing nothing to your friend,” he interrupted. “I’m just interested in the workshop, and I want to make sure everything is done well there.”

“You really don’t need to be worried about me,” I said.

“I won’t force you to stay if Rachel wishes to drag you along elsewhere.”

“Is there something you need from me?” I asked Rachel.

“Yeah come with me,” said Rachel. She grabbed me and pulled me through the crowd. “I want you to meet someone.”

I waved goodbye to Todd Jace, but he had already turned to speak with other people.

“Who are some, one?” I emphasized. “I already know who most people hear my name or reputation. I can find the people I want to talk to just fine.”

“They work with a lot of technical stuff. You will get along great. He’s one of the Rodriquez brothers.”

That clued me in about who to prepare for, but I was in no way ready to speak about calculus to anyone. Let alone most other subjects. Most mathematics’, physics, and other fields had theorems and studies performed by completely different people than in my world. Isaac Newton was born in 1642 two decades after superhumans were created. Who knew if he invented modern physics and calculus or not in this world. It was probably more likely that one of the Rodriquez ancestors did it instead. I was not ready to get into a deeply technical conversation with anyone.

“Just because we follow the same things and build stuff doesn’t mean we will get along. I actively try and compete with their family’s business model,” I protest.

“It will be fine. Let me introduce you.”

I didn’t listen to Rachel’s introduction and was instead trying to keep it together inside. When she said Rodriquez and when I saw their face I knew who I was meeting. Wesley Rodriquez was the second son of a stern father and supposedly a brilliant designer who was making his way within the company. He greeted me first.

“It is nice to meet you again. I didn’t think that you would bring yourself to these events. How are things with work?”

“I’m taking a short break from selling to support Rachel of course and to work on other projects. What about you? What have you been working on since we last spoke?” I asked trying to figure out our relationship.

“I haven’t started anything new quite yet. I haven’t gotten the inspiration quite yet. You know? Maybe I will show you it when it is a finished product. For now, I would welcome you to my family’s labs. You are always welcome back.”

“I think you already know my answer to that,” I bluffed.

“Of course. You and your shop with your sponsor. It is a shame I have yet to meet your sponsor,” he said as he seemed to see into my soul.

‘Well neither have I,’ I thought.

“He seems like an interesting man. How did he find you?” Wesley continued.

I thought through my possible answers and chose one vague enough to be true. I found it interesting that he and my sponsor knew each other. I wished I had done more research on him. I had run out of time for researching this morning so my information on John Malone, my sponsor, was near nothing.

“He saw some of my natural talents and help me get set up. It has been good working together.”

‘Or at least I assume so because it has been a few years.’

“That’s good. I will have to leave you here. It has been nice seeing you again and well. I am sure we will see each other again.”

We exchanged goodbyes and I was left on my own again. I wandered through the party and greeted a few people throughout. Most didn’t know who I was because they already had their own suppliers of superhero gear either through Hero Wear or elsewhere. Some thought I was going to try to pitch them in my store which made it awkward.

As 4 PM approached there was an announcement made to everyone that they should begin heading to the arena. They had scheduled the fight from 4 PM to 5 PM but only half of that time would be the fight itself. The rest of the time would be getting people in and out of the arena. I had seen glimpses of it from the corner of the backyard. On a lower level of the backyard, a newly built arena had been assembled for the ‘Legacy Fight’. The arena had been built to fit the 200 or so guests currently at the party along with some additional guests coming in just to see the fight.

As I followed the other guests down the ramp I receive a message on my phone. I checked it and wanted to disappear.

JM: I got myself into a seat in the arena. We will meet afterward at the ramp down to the arena. Don’t take too long.

I sent along my reply to John.

Me: See you then.