[Edward POV]
As I opened my eyes, I was already back in my lab in the original world. I was stark naked, but I quickly used transformation jutsu to create clothing on my body.
Robin, Woo-Jin, Yuri, Mikasa, ZeroTwo, and HanXiao were all in my lab, kneeling on one knee.
"Welco back, Lord Newgate."
I was taken aback by the greeting and complained, "I told you guys not to call that. Robin, Han, help with creating the replicator."
Straight to work. I didn't want to waste any more ti and decided I'd check what happened during the day I was gone once I got started.
"Would you like so assistance, sir?" Robin asked after I handed her the blueprint for the replicator.
"There's no need." I split myself into five people, which startled the android lifeforms.
ZeroTwo comnted, "He's getting weirder now."
"I heard that," I said, which made her giggle nervously.
"How's Jenna doing?" I asked Robin as I directed her to take care of Jenna.
"She's still under assisted sleep. The antibiotic is helping, but she's not getting any better," Robin replied.
I nodded. "The death rate?"
"Don't torture yourself with the numbers. It's not your responsibility, no matter how many people died—"
"Robin," I cut her off sternly.
She sighed. "Only six hundred people died worldwide. The antibiotics were too late to reach them."
"I see… Their fam—"
"Their families are being compensated by the governnt, and they have no dical debt. I made sure of it," Robin said firmly.
I nodded and went back to work, though I was curious about how she managed that.
"Robin, call the various doctors around the world into a conference eting. I'm going to share the cure and let everyone work together to make it."
"You found a cure—in one month?" Robin was taken aback. It was the first ti I had ever seen her look so shocked.
"Yeah, the other world had similar research," I replied casually.
I called a few scientist friends of mine before the conference: Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler and Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz.
"Hey, what can we do to help?" Bernadette asked imdiately as the call connected. She was at ho, and I could see Howard lounging around in the background.
"Is that Edward?" Howard dropped his phone and walked up to the cara.
Amy also joined in. "Hey, do you need any help?"
"Were you both standing by in case I called?" I asked, slightly touched.
Bernadette smiled. "Not only us—our entire pharmaceutical staff has been on standby."
Amy giggled. "After you threatened to kill the Boravian Pri Minister, we figured you were going to need all the help you could get to find the cure."
"I threatened the Boravian Pri Minister?" I was shocked.
Howard interjected, "That's right. Smart strategy. Fake temporary insanity and keep denying you ever said it."
I couldn't tell if he was joking or serious.
"Anyway. I found the cure, so I'll need worldwide coordination to get it distributed. The virus is airborne, so we—"
Amy interrupted, "Sorry, I think sothing's wrong with my connection. Did you say you found the cure?"
"Yes. I'm testing it on a real patient right now," I said dismissively. I opened my mouth to continue, but Bernadette interrupted next.
She snapped in her high-pitched voice, "YOU FOUND IT IN THREE DAYS?!"
Howard asked, "Did you do research on this beforehand?" Then his eyes widened. "Wait… you didn't plan this entire thing, did you? There's no Hargrave—you're the mastermind."
"Oh." I was slightly taken aback. "Is that what it's going to look like?"
I thought about it for a mont before saying, "Never mind. I can handle the villain conspiracy theory as long as we survive this plague."
Robin suddenly interjected from behind : "It's classified information, but Hargrave sent his research data to Edward and taunted him, saying he can't do anything and let people die. It helped him solve it faster."
I turned to Robin, my eyes asking, 'Is it true?'
She shook her head slightly, telling 'No.' Follow current novels on NoveIＦire
All three of them looked at with pity. Howard turned and said, "So he's like your nesis? He's the Joker, you're Batman. But—wait—are we going to face another virus even if we survive this one?"
Robin shook her head. "No. Hargrave was struck down by a U.S. military drone last night. He's dead."
"Oh, thank God!" Howard pumped his fist, his face full of celebration. Bernadette and Amy looked relieved too.
I wasn't clear about what Robin had planned, but I just followed her lead.
"Yup. That's exactly what happened," I said.
"That bastard," Bernadette gritted her teeth.
"There was an inconceivable amount of hate in him. It should have been directed at the governnt, but instead, you beca his target," Amy added with a pitying tone.
"Can we stop with all this and get to work? I'm going to release the cure to the world now. I need staff for coordination. I don't trust the people at WHO," I said as I began the conference.
Nothing against their ability, but there's too much bureaucratic red tape at WHO, and involving them would only slow things down.
The six-hour lecture on the creation of the cure was joined by 2,000 scientists from around the world. The event was reported by various news outlets, but none of the sensitive information was leaked.
After the conference was done, I finally checked the internet.
Then I asked Robin, "Why did the article say I wanted to kill a country's president?"
"In my defense… he deserves it," Robin replied.
I was taken aback at first, then I agreed with her.
"Replicate the cure and make sure it reaches everyone—if the governnt of a country tries to block it, bypass them."
"Or destroy them," Robin added.
I raised an eyebrow and enunciated, "Bypass them."
"Got it. Destroy them." Robin nodded before walking away.
"Robin! Make sure not to leave any evidence…" I reminded her.
"Ehh, she's not going to go crazy." I waved it off and returned to my work.
One of my duplicates ca to with the golden sling ring he had recreated.
"Let's hope this works." I wore the ring and swirled my hand, imagining a portal opening in my mind.
Nothing happened at first, but then a small, golden circular spark appeared.
"Nice! I can create a portal here too!"
Taking a few doses of the cure with , I left the house and went to Palisades Hospital.
Stealthily, I snuck into Jenna's room using a portal—after my AI confird no one was around by tapping into the CCTV feed.
Jenna's face was full of contusions and pus; her beauty was unrecognizable.
Without saying anything, I injected the cure into her arm. I waited for a few minutes and saw that the cure was doing its job. It would take so ti for the blemishes to disappear—maybe one or two days.
Then, I did the sa for Jenna's mother, and every single patient in the hospital. Twenty people were quarantined there, all infected by the virus.
The world celebrated when they heard about the cure being found. Yet, there were a lot of mixed reactions too.
So questioned the validity of the cure, demanding further testing.
So believed the virus wasn't anything serious.
So claid the entire plague was a hoax for the governnt to inject brain-control chips into people's blood.
"Let's have the governnt handle that," I muttered.
The main issue was the airborne virus. Even if the cure was made, people would still get infected, and the cure might not reach those with weak immune systems.
To protect the vulnerable, I created a smaller version of the chemical cloud purification device I had once used in the Zom-World.
By targeting cities instead of the entire world, I planned to stop the spread of the virus within two months.
"Which ans that in two months, people have to stay inside their houses," I muttered.
It was Covid's lockdown all over again.
I suddenly thought of sothing and began calling my talents.
"I need to make sure no one from my side sings Imagine and starts the snowball effect leading to the eventual collapse of Hollywood's star image."
Social dia truly was the bane of Hollywood celebrities.
…
A few days passed. I bypassed a lot of the trials for the cure and sent it directly to hospitals, earning outrage from WHO mbers and so governnt officials.
However, the cure did work. Thousands had already woken up from assisted sleep, and their pus-filled skin had dried up.
Within a single day, the narrative shifted—from being an egotistical madman to the one and only savior of humankind. A narrative I didn't even control.
I visited Jenna a few minutes before she woke up from her sleep. The female doctor there narrowed her eyes at suspiciously and said, "How did you get into the room without anyone noticing? When did you administer the cure?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." I played dumb, my attention fixed on Jenna. I took out my phone and recorded her face as she was waking up.
The doctor rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. "I'm not going to hold you accountable for anything! Just tell the truth!"
"The truth is… I can open a portal anywhere in the world, and I used that portal to sneak into the room late at night," I told her.
"Fine! Don't tell !" She relented, assuming I was making up outrageous lies to trick her.
The doctor was one of my acquaintances—I owned this hospital. All of my employees received free healthcare here.
"Edward… Is that you?" Jenna slowly opened her eyes, still dazed.
I held her hand and said, "I'm right here. You're okay now, Jen."
"Really? Was I really cured? Or is this heaven?" she muttered with slight confusion.
I chuckled. "Unfortunately, you're still on Earth."
"I guess that's true. If I were in heaven, you'd be shirtless." Jenna smiled faintly, which made the doctor snort.
I turned to her and said, "Are you here just to watch?"
"Oh. Right. Miss McKenzie, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" The doctor imdiately went to work, checking up on the patient to ensure there were no side effects from the disease.
There was a high risk of brain damage if patients were exposed to Alienpox for an extended period, so we had to run a thorough examination on Jenna. Thankfully, there were no side effects for her.
Jenna and her mother reunited that night, hugging each other while crying and sobbing. Her mom was filled with guilt, knowing she had been the carrier of the virus that almost killed her only daughter.
…
Back at my place, five days after the cure helped save the world.
"The infection rate has finally gone down," I said, finally relaxing my shoulders. As I massaged my neck, I sat down on the couch and said to Oracle, "Still, don't slack off. Right now, I'm more afraid of humans than the virus."
Oracle comnted, "We can have a fresh start. Robin said she could eliminate all the congress mbers in less than a day—"
"Let's put that as plan B," I interjected.
I wasn't sure what had happened while I was gone, but my androids were all trying to push into resetting the world. They believed it would be better for the country to fall under my hand rather than let self-interested people run the governnt.
It only got worse when the cops ca to strap a device to my leg.
Yeah, I was on house arrest.
Robin almost short-circuited when she heard that.
Suddenly, Alex called through video. I picked it up and saw Luke, Alex, and Haley on the screen, in that order.
"Hey, you got arrested?" Luke asked, almost excited.
"Yup." I lifted my leg, showing the ankle monitor. Alex and Haley gasped in disbelief, while Luke grinned and said, "Aweso. Now you're a felon."
"Not exactly." I pursed my lips and squinted. "They can't charge with anything since they have no evidence. I volunteered to put this on."
"Evidence of what? Did you actually slice off that Boravian President's neck?" Alex gasped in horror.
Haley frowned. "Why are you even volunteering? Shouldn't you already be out of the country by now?"
I actually did slice the Boravian President's neck while he was asleep. After the cure was found, he wouldn't stop clamoring about putting under arrest for threatening him, so I opened a portal to his bedroom and nicked the skin on his throat—not fatal, but enough to prove I wasn't bluffing.
He imdiately changed his tune. And when the country decided to put on house arrest anyway, he went on social dia begging for rcy.
But the issue wasn't with him.
"Why did they arrest you?" Alex asked after forcing herself to calm down.
"It's because the cure kept showing up for free in countries that tried to make their citizens pay for it," I replied casually.
The procedure was thrown out the window once they started playing their gas, so I bypassed them all to reach the patients.
"Oh. So they're arresting you… for saving people?" Haley was taken aback.
Luke scowled. "That's la." Then he walked away.
The governnt wouldn't ignore soone disrupting the system, even if it ant millions would die because of it.
Alex comnted, "So you're using the ankle monitor to prove your innocence while your subordinates hand out the cure for you?"
"Yup. The work is almost done anyway, so I'm just resting at ho. This doesn't affect at all." I smirked slightly.
"Besides, you can already see the negative impact of the governnt's decision on social dia. If we weren't in lockdown, there would be protests in the streets," I added.
"True." Haley picked up her phone and showed her DMs. "A bunch of people are asking if you're alright."
"There's also a guy hitting on you in your DMs. His opening line…" I squinted at the screen, "'I'm going to spread your legs like peanut butter and jelly on bread?'"
"What? Oh. That guy's from my college. He's a little weird." Haley brushed it off, fluttering her eyes nervously.
"Anyway, since you can't leave your house, do you want to co and keep you company?" she offered.
"That… might not be a bad idea." I admitted ekly. "I also want to et Vader's kittens, so if you could stop by my place and pick them all up for …"
"Sure. I'll go get ready now!" Haley skipped away happily. Alex was left alone on the screen.
"You sure about this?" she asked.
"About what?" I asked back, confused.
Alex narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure if you're pretending not to notice, or if your brain's just fried from all the stress."
I tilted my head, still clueless about what she ant.
Alex grinned. "I'm sure you'll find out soon."
"Alex… you goof." I said awkwardly. "I'm going to take a little nap, so goodbye for now."
Alex waved goodbye as I cut the call. Before I could sleep, another call ca in. Actually, a few of them. From my ex-girlfriends.
First it was Taylor, then Abby, then Nessa.
Even Annie called. I guess they had all been worried since everything went down, but they didn't want to disturb while I was working. Now that the news was out that I wasn't doing much, they finally reached out.
Taylor called for just a minute, acted annoyed the whole ti, and hung up once I ntioned that Haley was coming over.
Abby was in New York, and she was more interested in the virus. I sent her so of my research papers to read.
Nessa decided to stop by too, just to check up on . When I appeared at the world leaders' conference before, she'd been extrely shocked by my brash behavior.
She admitted she'd wanted to call earlier, but was afraid I'd cuss her out like I did with them, so she didn't.
"You really thought I was going to cuss you out?" I looked at her in disbelief.
She shrugged. "You were in a bad mood. It was a fair assumption."
"It's not fair for you. You know . I would never do that to you," I said, flashing her a sincere look.
Nessa seed struck by guilt, and she offered to co keep company too.
My thoughts drifted to Zomworld as I waited for the girls.
One day here ant one month over there, and I had already been gone for a week.
"Seven months… I guess they've achieved a lot by now, huh?"
I was woken up from my nap by the doorbell alarm. When I opened the door, Haley was standing there with a pink suitcase by her side and a basket of kittens on the other.
Vader walked into the house without greeting , as if saying, "The kiddos are your problem now."
"Hey." Haley greeted casually as she waltzed inside. "I only brought so clothes for three days, so I'm going to need to borrow your clothes afterward."
"Wait…" I finally realized what Alex had been talking about.
Just behind Haley, Nessa also arrived with her own luggage. "Hey, I saw that Haley is here," Nessa said awkwardly. "So how do you want to do this? I'm honestly fine with it if we're keeping things casual."
"Do… what?"
"Edward, aren't you going to play with the kitties?" Haley called from behind .
I turned around, startled by her words, only to see her holding the kittens up to her face.
"Oh. Right. Kittens." I rubbed my sore forehead. The girls were clearly planning to stay here for the entire month during lockdown.
"This… is quite a dangerous situation I'm finding myself in." I gulped as I watched them giggling together on the couch before both of them batted their eyes at seductively.
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