A\N: Just binge read Third Time's the Charm. It's a recent ongoing fic where Tanya gets isekai'd a second time into a new fantasy world. I know nothing of Konosuba, yet I found this fic very entertaining. Can be found on FF or AO3.
Also, a big shoutout to all the commenters who mentioned Howard Hughes, it gave me what I hope will be an entertaining direction for this story.
Chapter 13
Dr. Wesley scowled down at the smoking wreckage of his latest prototype computation orb. Then he turned his scowl at me. "Miss Ecks, did you really have to destroy it just to prove your point?"
"Doctor, I'm afraid that
is very much the point. It doesn't matter how efficient your new spell designs are, you cannot cut corners on robustness. Not for a device meant for combat."
Grumbling under his breath, he carried the remains of his prototype of to the lab to study what component failed this time. And yet for all his curmudgeonly nature, the man was a vast improvement on Dr. Schugel. Perhaps not in scientific brilliance, but the man was at least willing to accept feedback from those with practical experience, no matter how grudgingly.
Part of his difficulty lay in the fact that this was his first foray in developing combat-rated computation orbs, as well as for Hughes Magic Works for which he was head researcher. Prior to this the company had focused primarily on developing orbs for medical applications, and it showed. All their prior designs emphasized precision and sensitivity over all else, and Wesley himself was a medical doctor as well as an engineer. After entering the world of combat orbs, they were slowly and painfully learning that robustness and power output mattered more than anything else.
It was not all bad. Medical spells were not only extremely precise and efficient but also capable of handling highly complex instructions. While I'd never had time nor inclination to pursue medical magic before, now that I was associated with a company with a history in the practice I was finding the new perspective quite illuminating. Simply studying the techniques involved had allowed me to make some minor improvements to my illusion spells.
In the end, it turned out Hughes Magic Works wasn't some sort of ploy by Being X, or at least, they were a very long term one. After getting in touch with them through Mayor Hague I'd discovered they were still struggling to create a functional single core combat orb, never mind quad core.
However, I'd still gone ahead with my plan of investing in the company even if it cost me most of my cash reserves to do so. After all, it was quite the coincidence that a civilian orb company would set up a workshop with the stated goal of developing multi-core orbs right next door to me. Being X had long since taught me to distrust coincidence. If I'd ignored this company, I just knew that bastard would have intervened somehow to my detriment. Now that I was a partner, I was in a position to at least try to quash attempts at divine interference.
There was also the bonus that the American government was so desperate to catch up to the Empire they were pretty much throwing money at anyone who seemed to have any chance of success. Hughes Magic had managed to finagle a fat government grant even before they built their first combat prototype. As long as they could show some kind of progress, at least one of my investments would be more or less recession-proof.
Still, keeping that juicy grant meant I couldn't simply allow the workshop to flounder. So I'd seconded myself to Hughes Magic Works as a combat magic consultant. This way I could help guide their development with my own experience. Plus, my consultant's salary was a big raise over what I'd been paying myself as Jennifer Ecks, and the burden of paying it was now on Hughes Magic Works.
As a consultant, one of the first things I'd persuaded the CEO of Hughes Magic to do was put their multi-core orb research on the back-burner. While I didn't know the exact figure, I had a ballpark for how much the Empire had spent on developing the Types 95 and 97. Presenting these figures as information gathered by Velvet Iron's Waldstatten-based parent company Manpower Plus, I'd pointed out how even with the government grant Hughes Magic Works simply didn't have the finances to duplicate such an effort. Instead, I proposed we focus on developing a single core combat orb that would still be an improvement on the current American standard, and convince the government to make us their primary orb manufacturer. Once we had secured this revenue stream, we would have the wherewithal to pursue multi-core orbs without bankrupting ourselves.
I was quite confident in this strategy because of how much room for improvement existed in the current American mage arsenal. Their so-called cutting edge orbs, the 6F and 4U models from Bell Labs, were inferior to the Standard Type 13 that I'd been using in my first battle over Norden. Recently the US Navy had tried to modernize with the model G58 developed by the Charles Churchill Company, but that had proven a failure. There was an opportunity here to steal the primary government supply contracts using a decent single core orb while everyone else was busy chasing dual and quad cores.
Steven Simmons, the CEO of Hughes Magic Works, proved surprisingly receptive to my suggestions. I'd initially expected some pushback since I was an outsider, but he positively leaped at my idea and the whole Workshop had changed direction within a matter of days. It was only some weeks later that I learned Simmons had been agitating for such a direction change for a while.
It turns out this whole emphasis on multi-core orbs was the brainchild of one John Felix Hughes, current majority shareholder of Hughes Tool Company, the parent organization to Hughes Magic Works. The founder of Hughes Tool, Howard Hughes, had passed away just a few years ago, leaving his fortune to his then 19-year-old son John. The teenager had an interest in magecraft, and had insisted that Hughes Magic Works, the magical branch of Hughes Tool, start focusing all their attention on multi-core combat orbs. And then, in typical rich dilettante fashion, he had developed a new obsession with the film industry. He and his wife had taken off for Hollywood, and Hughes Tool Company had started hemorrhaging money to fund his forays into the world of the silver screen.
With funding from their parent company in jeopardy, Simmons had been pushing for the workshop to aim at the lower-hanging fruit of an improved single-core orb. In the end, my 'brilliant' strategy was already known to the company, but thanks to my halo of an 'outside expert' the company finally had an excuse to get off its ass and do the needful. Well, let none say I wasn't earning my consultant's fee.
As for the orb itself, even though I was giving Wesley a hard time, I was privately impressed with how fast they were moving. Even though I had carefully concealed my ability to cast spells without tripping detectors, the company's own experience meant that they were long used to optimizing spells for efficiency and my advice helped bridge the gap between civilian and military applications. The orb they were creating was not only going to be more capable than the Standard Type 13, but it was also going to be a lot harder to detect, and its spell library was going to take less magic to utilize. It had taken them some months of trial and error, but as we headed into June of 1927, I gave them two weeks at the outside before they had their final prototype. Right now their testing revolved around the sweet spot between power and expense. Simply put, barring divine interference, the more power an orb can handle, the more difficult it is to manufacture. The level of precision and the quality of the gemstones in even a mediocre combat orb was nothing to sneeze at. The latest prototype had seemingly cut a few too many corners.
I say seemingly because I had deliberately put in just a bit more energy than I was supposed to during the test. The reason for this was simple - I wanted a few orbs of my own, and since the law prevented me from owning them legally, I just had to use unethical means to acquire them. Today was the fourth more-or-less functional combat orb that had 'burnt out' in testing over the last few months. Once the labs were through the remains would be disposed of - only instead of being dumped or recycled, the orb would find its way into my hands via a bribed custodian. I would then take the orb to a watchmaker who was also one of V.I.P.'s clients, and he would painstakingly repair it using notes on the design that I'd acquired through my position as partner.
It was honestly ridiculous how open companies of this time were to industrial espionage. It's a good thing I'd come in as partner or the workshop's designs might very well have ended up stolen. As it is, I'd spent the last few months plugging up any security holes apart from the one I was exploiting. Although, I figured I'd acquired as many orbs as I could without arousing suspicion. With the design's constant improvement, it would start looking odd if more orbs got damaged. I'd have to be satisfied with the four orbs for now. Four orbs - now if I had three other trustworthy combat mages to go with it, I'd have a platoon.
Unfortunately, Barrow was the only combat-rated mage I had access to, and he was still in Londinium. Even if I brought him back, training an adequate aerial mage takes at least a year when starting from scratch. And that assumes I could find a location we could train without being detected. No, building my own mage platoon would be a very long term project, particularly since I couldn't employ them within the Unified States.
Putting aside my daydreams, I tuned back in to the debrief I was giving Dr. Wesley. While getting combat orbs of my own was wonderful, I honestly did want the final product to be a success, which means I had to make sure it was the best we could make.
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June 15, 1927, Reina del Angel, Unified States
How did it come to this? Oh right, it's because I forgot my small size and youth and tried to drink like the salaryman I used to be. Not only did I end up making a fool of myself in front of some very important people, but as a direct consequence of my idiocy, I was now facing down a full company of American aerial mages, armed and ready.
Really, it was a good thing we were all technically working for the same person. But that would mean nothing if they detected the illusion spell I was using to make myself look like an Irish redhead several years my senior. Thankfully none of them seemed the slightest bit suspicious. I guess you simply don't expect to encounter an international fugitive on a Hollywood movie set. But really, if I get through this safely, I swear I will never take a second drink in public for the rest of this life. How on Earth did Hughes convince the American army to give him an entire mage company for his movie's battle scenes, anyway?
The whole mess started just a few days ago at the New York headquarters of the Hughes Tool Company.
The Hughes Magic Works' parent company had thrown a party to celebrate the workshop's successful development and demonstration of their new prototype Hughes M27 high-efficiency combat orb. The American army seemed extremely interested, and everyone was expecting a big order. Not only were all the bigwigs from both companies present at the party, but our absentee owner had decided to make an appearance. John Felix Hughes had flown himself down from Reina del Angel (the man was apparently a licensed pilot) to personally congratulate us.
Whatever his other failings, there was no denying the young man was charismatic. He turned a stuffy company affair into a casual bash in short order, and soon the booze was flowing like water and everyone was having a good time. Unfortunately, I got caught up in the mood. It was somewhere around my second glass of wine that I heard spoken my real name of Tanya Degurechaff.
Naturally curious I sought out the conversation and found John Hughes explaining to an admiring audience the plot of his latest cinematic masterpiece. It was titled 'Arenne' and would be an action epic focused on the destruction of the city. The hero was naturally an American soldier who was on leave visiting the family of his newly wedded wife, and he would find himself caught up with the plucky French resistance as they fought desperately to protect the civilians (and the hero's extended family) against the evil Imperial forces, led by yours truly.
I was more amused than annoyed. All things considered, the only surprise was it had taken this long for someone to make a movie butchering the true tale behind that whole sordid affair. However, I couldn't help but let out a loud snort after Hughes started reading some of the lines for his Tanya character.
When I found myself the center of attention I should have made some excuse and pulled out. But I was overflowing with Dutch courage and so instead of backing down I doubled down. "That is your Tanya? A rabidly violent
child who can barely make a coherent speech? Are we talking about the same person as was in that Albish trial? The girl who by age eleven was known as Argent Silver by allies and the Devil of the Rhine by her enemies?"
At that point, I was so caught up in my own speech that I remember jumping on top of a table and polishing off my glass before continuing, "Now, if I were to imagine how the Devil of the Rhine would be giving a speech to motivate her people to commit one of the most brutal acts of the war, it would go something like this!"
Drawing up on my memories of a conversation I had with one of the mages of the 203rd, Lt. Grantz, I took the basic arguments I'd given him and dialed the drama and bombast up to eleven. "Soldiers of the Empire! Today is the day we turn the beautiful town of Arenne into one more blasted hellscape! We do this not because we want to, but because we must! For we have received our orders, and we. Are. Soldiers! We do not ask why, we simply do and die!"
At this point I had dropped my voice into a lower register, and started glaring down the party-goers as if they were a bunch of recalcitrant recruits. "Some of you may be tempted to spare our enemies. To think that you can let them go because they are no threat to us. That is naive! All of us were civilians at one point in our lives, and yet here we are, guns in our hands and blood on our souls! Today's civilian is tomorrow's soldier, and to allow an enemy soldier to live is not only foolish, it is treason! Our orders are clear! This city is to be cleansed of the Republican taint! So take up your guns and start shooting! And you will not stop until the enemy is dead or it is time to reload! For the Empire!"
My little performance had been greeted by stunned silence, but by that time I was too drunk to care that I'd made a public spectacle of myself. I only remembered pieces of the rest of the party, but somewhere along the line Hughes had convinced me to fly back with him to Reina del Angel to try out for the role of Tanya von Degurechaff.
Fast forward a few days, and here I was, ignoring all my responsibilities to play at being an actress while simultaneously being forced to socialize with people who likely had standing orders to shoot me on sight. At least I wasn't completely defenseless. Hughes had somehow gotten permission to issue me a brand new M27 orb as part of the movie props. Still, with any luck, Hughes would quickly realize I had no acting ability at all, and I could be back in New York within the week.
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June 27, 1927, Londinium, Albion
Two young ladies sat at a cafe in Londinium, enjoying a delightful sunny day in the Albish capital. Elya considered it somewhat ironic. She remembered passing many an idle hour doing exactly this with Visha back on the continent. Now she was once more accompanied by a young female aerial mage, but her current companion was very far from even the loosest definition of 'friend'. And of course, there was the fact that they were technically on the job.
"There he is," came the eager whisper from her companion.
Elya glanced up, then said casually, "Stop staring like that, you'll tip him off. And are you sure?" The person in question was part of a group of three men, all of whom were armed and wearing full-face helmets.
Her companion flushed at the rebuke, before replying coldly, "Yes, I'm sure. He's easily the most powerfully built man there. Besides, you can smell the magic on him."
"I'll leave smelling strange men to you, Mary dear," came the sickly sweet reply. Ignoring the girl's sudden flush, Elya continued, "But you have a point. That's a nice little enhancement suite he's running, isn't it. On top of his physique, he can probably tear the head right off a civilian. Interesting though that he can afford to keep it up constantly, even on a civvie orb. That's something you usually see only in aerial mages."
"Maybe he is as powerful as an aerial mage," muttered Mary. "An aerial mage can keep a weak enhancement like that running all day easy."
"Which then begs the question what an aerial mage is doing as a groundbound rent-a-thug."
"Does it matter? What matters is that guy is running combat spells on a civilian orb. I managed to get a look at it the other day, it's a general purpose American engineering model. That's not something you see normally. Someone has to have taught him how to do that."
"Maybe he figured it out on his own? You shouldn't assume he's dumb just because he's black, my dear."
"I think no such thing! And don't call me dear!"
"But you are assuming he couldn't figure out how to apply an enhancement using a civilian orb on his own. If he's combat mage material, then maybe he actually had combat mage training, and he's just decided he likes working as a civilian."
"Doubtful. We've confirmed he's American."
Elya focused on Mary. "Why should that matter?"
There was a definite blush on Mary's face as she muttered, "There's an unofficial policy not to recruit... people of color... to the aerial mages." Her blush grew more pronounced at the patronizing look Elya bestowed on her.
"Don't worry dear. America is still a young nation. God knows the Empire has its own share of foolishness in its history," stated Elya, her words dripping sympathy.
Mary couldn't keep the scowl off her face. "All right, first, I'm Legadonian, insulting America is not going to work on me. Second, history, really? Might I remind you the Empire has managed to piss off every single civilized country in the world right now?"
"Bah. Nothing but the jealousy of the lesser toward their betters."
"Finally," growled Mary. "The real point I'm trying to make is that there's no way this Joe Barrow learned enhancement magic from an official trainer. Considering he's part of an American company that was founded recently, and who are now associated with a close friend of Lena Fernandez, it bears investigation."
Elya smirked and made a show of counting on her fingers. "Joe to his company. Company to Murdoch. Murdoch to Lena. Lena to Tanya. Wow, only four degrees of separation from our objective. Tenuous, much?"
"Shut up, Roth. It's not like we have any better leads."
This was in fact, true. Over the past three months they'd done their absolute best to put pressure on every single facet of Lena Fernandez' past and Tina Kurosawa's former associates, and had been met with a stone wall at every turn. Even the warrant that had been out for the gang leader Murdoch due to suspicion of his involvement in the big shootout had to be withdrawn due to lack of evidence. One would think a known gangster would have all sorts of weaknesses, but the man had cleaned up any traces with an efficiency that was as impressive as it was annoying. He was still carrying on his protection racket, only now under the guise of a legitimate private security firm. Even the 'clients' he was extorting were completely tight-lipped. Elya had seen poorer operational security out of the Empire military. Their last best lead had been an identity forger named Duffy, but when they got to his hideout he'd vanished. Whether it was into hiding or to the bottom of the Thames was anyone's guess.
"All right. So our best lead is to try and convince the black behemoth to spill the beans on the people who trained him. Any suggestions?" asked Elya.
"We get Captain Strong's friend the judge to give us a warrant and we haul in him for questioning. In a matter of national security we can hold him for a week without a lawyer. Then all we have to do is get him to crack," declared Mary confidently.
Elya rubbed her head in pain. "Mary, we tried that once with Murdoch. That fucker simply stared at us for the full week and then we had to let him go with nothing to show for it except a lawsuit for false arrest. Even if Scotland Yard is willing to indulge us a second time, if a common thug can hold out on us, what are the chances we can crack someone that may have been trained by Degurechaff? You did read the part of her bio on her training methods, right?"
Mary collapsed in her seat and threw up her hands. "Then what's your bright idea?"
"We'll have to be subtle," replied Elya, a sly smile spreading across her face as she tapped her lips. "Mary dear, I do believe this may be the time to exercise our feminine wiles."
"W-what? You mean you want to... to..." spluttered Mary.
"Seduce him? If we have to. And really, think of that body. Would it really be such a hardship?"
"Well, I'll just leave it to you then."
Elya laughed and threw some money down, then swiftly got up and tugged Mary up as well. "None of that dear, come along, we have to be quick!"
"What... we're going after him now??"
"Don't be silly, we're going shopping. Interpol gave as an expense account, and it's time to use it. Dresses, makeup, hairstyling... if we're doing this we're doing it right!"
"Look, why do you even need me along?"
"Two reasons. One, most men have a type, and it might be your homely girl-next-door look is his."
"H-homely..?"
"And second, it's always good to have a wingman. Don't worry, your job will be to make me look good in comparison. It should come naturally to you."
"....I hope you catch gonorrhea and rot in hell."
"That's the spirit. And remember, if all else fails, there is not a straight man on the face of the earth that can say no to a threesome!"
"Three - no, I changed my mind, we're not doing this. It's immoral... it's unethical....it's - Roth! Slow down!"
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August 3, 1927, Reina del Angel, Unified States
I couldn't believe this was happening. I'd blame it on Being X except this was too absurd even for that absurdity.
It turned out the movie industry was in a transitional phase between silent and talking pictures. So when Hughes had brought me along to audition, instead of being up against a bevy of industry veterans I was up against a bevy of silent movie beauties who had no vocal training and professional singers and radio stars who'd never been in front of a camera. Still, seeing as how I had experience with neither, you would think they would find someone else to play their villain. But no, Hughes had sat in on the auditions and insisted I was the only one for him.
Things only got worse when I took to the air for the first time. Turns out, American mages had all the bad habits I'd worked hard to break in the 203rd, and then some. It didn't help that the M27 was a much better orb than their 4U models. Even when I held back, it was obvious at a glance that I was a much better mage. When people started noticing this, I was deathly afraid I'd blown my cover.
Instead, I found myself an object of both admiration and jealousy from the American mages, and when they weren't busy challenging me the male ones were trying to flirt with me. Hughes didn't improve matters - once he realized what was going on, he started redesigning the aerial battles, this time with me as the choreographer.
Still, at least the whole affair wouldn't last longer than a couple of weeks, or so I thought. In spite of being the main villain, Tanya had relatively few lines, the shooting for which could be done in a couple of days. The fight scenes took a lot longer, but here there was a hard limit on how long the army was willing to lose a company of mages, so again, the whole thing would have to be wrapped up quickly.
Now it was past two weeks, the American mages had returned to their posts much to my relief, I'd pocketed a cool $5,000 for my efforts, and I should have already been on my way back to the east coast. Instead, I was staring down Hughes as he explained to me how he was considering expanding the role of Tanya in the movie, and it might be quite a while before shooting could be finished.
Fighting to keep a lid on my temper, I replied, "Not a chance. Our contract is already concluded, I've done what you asked of me, now I need to get back to my proper job!"
"Well of course I'll pay you! Name your price!"
I was tempted to blow him off, but then I remembered he was the owner of a major company and the senior partner in our business relationship. Refusing to his face would be impolitic. But since he had asked me to name my price, I shot back, "$5,000 a day. And by that I mean $5,000 for every day I have to spend in Reina, including Sundays."
"Deal! I'll get the contract drawn up!"
As he left after shaking my hand, I was left in a daze. $5,000 a day whether I worked or not! There was no way an amateur thespian like myself was worth that much!
I spent several minutes puzzling over Hughes' strange insistence. Then it clicked, and I could only curse myself for missing the obvious. Suddenly, several interactions I'd had with the man was thrown into a new light. Even though he was married, Hughes would often go out of his way to invite and escort me to various nightclubs and posh restaurants, ostensibly to introduce me to his friends in the film industry. Fool that I was, I'd taken his reasoning at face value, even though it was clear in hindsight that the man had been courting me.
This was a situation that required a bit of thinking. Now that I was going through puberty it was pretty obvious I'd retained my preferences from my past life. One of the constant sources of embarrassment had been how hard I'd had to fight to keep from openly ogling all the beautiful Hollywood ladies that I was running into on a daily basis. As for men, while I could intellectually appreciate a handsome man (and Hughes was handsome indeed), I felt no attraction towards them. But on the other hand, neither did I feel disgust at the thought of doing the dirty with a man. If it was someone incredibly rich and generous, I felt I could bear acting as their mistress for the sake of financial security.
Now, Hughes did check the boxes for very rich and very generous - he was paying $5,000 a day simply for my company! As a bonus, he was also young and good looking. The fact that he was married was neither here nor there. However, just because I could do something didn't mean I wanted to, and right now I was earning enough in my current work that I had no need to seek such alternate sources of income. Finally, and most importantly, there was no way I could keep my true identity a secret through any kind of intimate relationship. Until the day I could walk free in my own skin, settling down with anyone, male or female, just wasn't on the cards.
The upshot of all this was that there was no way I could encourage Hughes' suit. Which would be a bit awkward since he was now paying me $5,000 a day just to keep me around. No, the best way for this to end would be if he decided he didn't want me around after all. And the best way to do that would be to irritate him until he decided he wanted me gone. And I'd just been handed the perfect tool to do so. Whatever his loins were telling him, it was obvious he really genuinely cared about this movie. So all I had to do was keep messing up under the guise of 'helping', and he would eventually grow tired of me. I'd have to be subtle though, if he realizes I was deliberately antagonizing things might get messy.
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"No, please, let them go!" came the pained voice of a dying man. "Why are you doing this? We've already lost, please!"
The young girl pauses in aiming down her rifle at something in the distance. "Why, huh?" A glance into the camera where the voice was coming from. "Normally I'd talk about patriotism and following orders - but since it's just us and you're already dead...."
The young girl's lips stretch into a mad grin, as she goes back to aiming her rifle into the distance. "I grew up in an orphanage where I was lucky to eat twice a day and not freeze to death in winter. And then I joined the army. Hot food, warm clothes, a steady paycheck, even a pension! It was everything I dreamed of, and that... is worth fighting for."
The rifle fires. An explosion and screams sound in the distance.
"Worth killing for."
It fires again. Another explosion. Now the girl is turning around, the rifle aiming straight into the camera. Her teeth are bared in a rictus and her eyes glow in an unholy light.
"Worth going to hell for."
The muzzle flash blinds the camera.
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I carefully concealed my smirk as I studied playback of the latest scene alongside Hughes. I'd gone totally off-script, but for whatever reason the director hadn't bothered to interrupt me so I got through the entire spiel.
As Hughes turned to me with a questioning stare, I gave him my reasoning in my sweetest voice, "It just came to me as we were shooting the scene, but if we keep making Tanya look like this fanatical patriot, that's not really very villainous. So instead, she could secretly be someone who is just doing it as a job, and doesn't actually care for her country at all. Now she's a proper villain, right?"
While those words might sound good, any person of intelligence would know how stupid my reasoning was. Who wants to watch a movie about a villain who's doing everything for a paycheck instead of some grand dramatic reason or tragic flaw? How could that appeal to an audience that was used to the overacting of the silent era? And if I did have an issue with the script, I could have raised it beforehand instead of wasting time and money by going off the rails while on camera.
"Ah... I see... you also shot the scene the way it was scripted?"
"Oh, yes of course. But because we had to go through it so many times things got delayed a bit."
Strangely, Hughes didn't seem very annoyed. Instead he said, "Do you have any other suggestions for the character?"
"I might, but the thing is these thoughts only show up in the heat of the moment. If I try and plan it beforehand I just come up blank."
"That's all right. If you do have any other ideas, just go for it. We can always reshoot the scene after."
"You... don't mind?"
"Not at all. This alternate interpretation to Tanya is very interesting. We might actually end up using some it, so feel free."
Well, damn. That backfired. Now I had to film scenes both for the original script and the 'alternative interpretation'. I would be stuck here even longer. Well, nothing for it. I'd just have to go back to the default plan of being cool and professional and never being alone with Hughes, and sooner or later he'd grow tired of paying me for nothing.
Credit to Hughes, he ended up going the distance. We shot the original script, the alternative scenes, and then he wrote brand new scenes to further flesh out the alternate. All told, I was there for a total of fifteen days under my new contract, and at the end of it there was enough footage to make two movies.
Seventy-five thousand dollars was a small fortune that I immediately transferred to a Wald bank since they were as protected from a recession as was humanly possible, after paying my taxes of course. The taxes took a large chunk, but I still cleared fifty thousand. But while the money was good, I was more relieved at finally getting away from Hughes' attention.
Naturally, he was disappointed to see me leave. Thankfully, he didn't make a scene. Instead he brought up something else that we'd argued about it. "Are you sure you don't want your real name on the billing?"
"I'm absolutely sure. Jennifer Ecks is a professional mage and security specialist, not an actress. While the money was nice, I won't be doing this again. Put down the actress who played Tanya as Jenny E. and leave it be."
He finally seemed to get the hint that I really wanted to make a clean break from him and Hollywood, and he saw me off.
As the plane took off for New York (along with seven other stops on the way. Air travel in this time
sucked), I was already turning my mind back to my various businesses and all the messages I'd received over the past weeks.
Velvet Iron Protection had continued expanding and now had 200 agents and 8 mages on the payroll including me and Barrow. There had been a few injuries while I was away but no fatalities or major incidents.
Speaking of Barrow, Tilbury Security in Londinium was apparently going from strength to strength. He'd also found himself a girlfriend, or something? Reports were unclear.
Household Magicks had 12 C-rank mages including Lin, and one B-rank mage who was currently too young for combat training, so I'd snapped him up for Lin instead. I figured once he got close to eighteen I could persuade him to transfer to the aerial mage group I was building. As for Household Magicks themselves, even with so many mages they were worked off their feet meeting the demand for their services. Word was spreading nicely, it seemed.
Best news of all, the government had come through with a big contract for the M27 orb. Hughes Magic Works was riding high on the success and raring to go into multi-core territory. That was where I needed to pay the most direct attention to.
While this whole film nonsense had proven surprisingly profitable, I was glad to put it behind me. My only worry was that John Hughes' desire to be a filmmaker might end up draining his fortune and leaving his businesses in the lurch. After all, look at how much money he'd spent holding on to a complete amateur like me. Thinking with his dick was going to get him in a lot of trouble. Hopefully the massive losses he'll sustain when this movie flops will teach him a bit of caution.
A\N: Writing Elya - Mary interactions has proven surprisingly entertaining for me. Comment, would you kindly?
Also who else feels sorry for poor Joe Barrow, his smokin' and kinky girlfriend is being relocated to the States while he's stuck in dreary Albion. 
