I arrived on time for my appointment with Wesley at the Hero Wear headquarters and stepped passed the security guard and the sliding doors. I had decided to one of my few button-up shirts because my usual clothes and jacket were all repurposed clothing from the company. In the interest of avoiding conflict, I didn’t wear any of their brandings even if it meant I did not have my protective layers on.

The security guard waved me on through the entrance once I gave my name. Signs hung around the entryway with marketing speak describing the work of Rodriguez Labs and its subsidiary Hero Wear. The sign proclaimed the company’s recent hard work in ‘Material Science’, ‘Artificial Intelligence’, and ‘Military Weapons’. The guard pointed toward the reception area where Wesley was already waiting for me. I put on a smile and adjusted my posture when I saw him as I had practiced with Caleb and jumped into the first lines I had practiced to get the conversation going while probing for the information I lacked.

“Hey, how are you?” I asked.

I looked over at Wesley. He was wearing a similar outfit to the party I saw him last at. This time though he was wearing a different tie and less dressed up hair.

“Times are busy for me and for you I suppose. I have many projects to complete,” said Wesley. He led me past the reception area and through a set of doors where we found seats in an office. He had a computer next to him while I sat across from him.

“And you want me to help you with them I suppose,” I said.

“Yes, that is true. Now tell me how I can best make this deal move forward. I know you are at least somewhat interested because you haven’t outright rejected me.”

“My future could be with your family’s company but why don’t I look at your contract proposal once more because I feel I wasn’t as thorough the last time we discussed the contract. I would like to look at it again and if I want to make changes. I know that both of us would like to see this negotiation finished promptly and without extraneous things wasting our time. I am sure you like I am a busy man,” I said.

I went through my practiced lines with a few tweaks at points to push Wesley to show me the contract. I was in the dark in this negotiation, and I didn’t want him to find anything off. I also had to remember what my purpose in coming here was. John was a mixed bag like a boss. So far he had given me some freedom in what I wanted to do but controlled other aspects of my life and picked who I worked with as customers. While each of them was great to work with so far the handle on the people in power my job gave John and me indirectly was not something I necessarily craved. If Wesley could give me convincing reasons to switch employers I would. It was all on him.

“I was thinking similarly, and I have already added a few pieces to the contract in your favor because I know your value,” said Wesley. “All of the changes I bolded for you on the pages.”

He took out two sets of papers and passed one to me. I began scanning it as quickly as possible and looked for the bolded pieces. The contract was a four-year contract instead of my first one five and came with an updated pay raise and access to a different set of tools and some old ones for my work. The contract had also been modified to add a note about freely accessible spaces for personal projects as long as materials were paid for. Finally, a non-compete clause was either added or modified to read two years. I worked to keep my face unchanging as I read through the contract. The contract included information on my daily requirements including hours worked and expected assignments. I wouldn’t be resting as much as I had recently, and my workload would increase to a point expected of my dead alt self. He was a great worker from what I could tell, and I had barely touched on what he could do. I moved on knowing that it would be an issue in the future if I accepted. As I reached the end I realized that the contract did not specify something I felt pretty important to the future of my work that might change the type of business I did.

“I notice that information on the future of my current clients has not been addressed in this,” I said.

It was a gamble because I did not know if we had addressed this in the past or if there was a precedent expected for this that I should have known. Regardless I was showing my lack of knowledge at this moment. Wesley adjusted in his seat and started explaining the information I lacked in a manner that seemed genuine but also felt as though he was speaking to me like I had missed out or forgotten a teacher’s lesson.

“That is a bit more completed because it is your contracts with them that dictate whether they will follow you the individual, your company which might move on without you, or they can go elsewhere as soon as you leave. Did you not reread them before coming here?” he asked.

“I did not.”

Wesley sighed, “That does not bode well for your management abilities, but I want you for your engineering skills and not your business skills. I assume Mr. Malone handled that for you?”

“He does handle much of it for me so I can focus on fulfilling orders. I have only had to order supplies and do a few other things on occasion if he needed me to get something done for him.”

“And how has he been as a boss and manager for you so far?”

“He has been largely hands-off but keeps me busy with projects,” I said thinking back to my few experiences with him, “It has been a fine experience so far.”

“What about your personal projects. I assume you will continue working on them. If you wish Rodriguez Labs and Hero Wear may be interested in buying the patents and creations that you produce. Can you tell me about your personal projects? I already know most of what you have built publicly I am just trying to get an idea for what else you will bring to my production lines,” said Wesley. He got closer and pushed aside the keyboard.

“Well, I am interested in continuing my personal projects, but we can go over them in more detail if this deal goes through,” I said not wanting to reveal everything my old self had designed, “but I thought you were the one trying to convince me to switch employers with this contract.”

I motioned to the papers on the table between us and he nodded.

“It is fine if you don’t want to divulge much about your projects to a current competitor, but I would hope you can tell me about your work regularly. You have to understand that your achievements stand on top of others who have helped to build your workshop and made connections with clients. I know that you added Miss Tabitha Jace to your roster of clients. You can’t tell me that you did that on your own. See the thing is I wonder why should I choose you and hire you for a higher price when I could choose others?”

I could tell what he was doing, and Wesley was making a good point. John had seen potential in my old self enough to help him set up a business but what was it now. I was just coasting off of its success and the connections that John continued to provide. Should I provide my old self’s designs to Wesley and what could I provide to him in the future? I thought over my answer for a moment longer before continuing.

“You would find them lacking,” I answered confidently.

“Why would that be?”

“I know that you want this deal to be done as soon as possible and me on your team soon. It was evident by your message and the very enticing adjustments to the contract. You are working on something that requires my creations,” I said.

I thought about the ARGO device. Still missing, it would be of interest to him if he had heard about it. If he could mass produce it the device could improve production and profits greatly. I wasn’t sure if he knew about it, but he acted as though he knew something I didn’t. I considered briefly whether he had hired the stranger to attack me. Maybe this was just another avenue from which he was working to obtain it? It frustrated me that I couldn’t be sure about much in this conversation. If he did hire the stranger then he should have grabbed me as soon as I went in the doors today.

I moved on from those thoughts to the more pressing issue. What was Wesley’s motivation and why was he in a rush to get this done? The only two personal projects I know of are the ARGO and modified clothing. The clothing should be easy with his resources to replicate. Are the ARGO and its intelligent systems that hard to recreate?

“Do you want to share what that might be?” I asked Wesley throwing the hard question back at him.

Wesley smiled and sat back in his chair. “I would not. I really like you and you interest me. You came out of nowhere and have made an impact on me.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“I want you to sign this contract,” said Wesley. He pulled out a pen from his jacket pocket and set it down on top of the papers, “Is there anything else you want to go over before we sign this thing? I don’t want to pressure you, but I do have other things to attend to after this is wrapped up,” said Wesley looking to his watch and back to me.

“How about a tour of the facilities? “ I said as I watched watch hand tap his chair. I still felt that there were a few things I wanted to think about, and I wanted to delay my choice for as long as possible. His business savvy was clear from my research on him and this interview. If I hadn’t been coached by Caleb I might have signed the contract much earlier. His contract offer was much better after all, “I should see where I am going to work after all.”

Wesley paused and glanced at his computer.

“I don’t see why not. Just give me a moment to check some things about our facilities to make sure that I know what areas are classified to you for now.”

Wesley turned the monitor away from me so I couldn’t see it. He performed a quick scroll and typed some stuff before standing up.

“We are good to go on your tour. Just follow me.”

Wesley led the way through the hallway to an elevator. We passed a few people, and they went by without acknowledgment. He scanned his keycard, and we went to the second floor. We stepped into a marked containment area that had signs about hazardous materials.

“Put on the lab coat, gloves, goggles, and shoe coverings,” said Wesley pointing to hangers with the items in question. “I thought it would be best to start with this area. It is where our chemicals are mixed and tested.”

I started putting on the outfit and he followed.

“What is the size of the operation you have here?” I asked. The information was not provided in the contract nor was it easily accessible on the internet.

“This building is the main one that you will be at though there are other specialized factory locations for special material production and special prototype testing. The upper five floors of this building are all in use by me for my projects and their assembly. Follow along the railings here and we can look over the mixing process for one of the safe mixtures. You won’t need a gas mask but please don’t stand too close to the edge.”

“Will do.”

I followed his instructions and we walked through a hallway with small laboratories and a few workers busying themselves inside.

“This is where small tests are performed and formulas for mixtures are perfected, side effects are measured, and so on are done before they are certified for the waitlist in one of the larger machines. I would want you ready to work with the larger machines. From there it is produced in large quantities as needed and bottled or contained however these procedures usually go.”

“What are you doing on a day to day then? I know how John works as a boss but what is your management style like?”

“I am more hands-on when I need to be,” answered Wesley, “Though paperwork and filing and accounting make things a bit harder at times. I think I will initially try and be as hands-on as possible until I get a feel for things about you. After that is done we will have to see.”

We walked through the end of the hallway, and it opened up to metal stairs and into a tall ceiling open area where tall vats were stationed evenly apart from one another. Wesley started up the stairs and I continued. I looked over the machines they had available, and they were nice almost too nice.

I paused at the top of the stairs and looked over it all. I was an amateur at best at all this business and engineering stuff. Maybe my old self would have jumped at the idea of joining the big leagues and joining this company, but I couldn't. I might not be growing my past self’s fame by joining but I had to think of myself. I thought about the salary and benefits, and it was too much. I was a different person and an imposter at this point walking around holding on to the identity of a dead man. I couldn’t continue with his credentials. Not for much longer at least. Within my private workshop, I held less scrutiny. I wasn’t sure what would happen after my contract was over between John and I was over but I couldn’t continue with this deal. Wesley would just have to find someone else. The person he was looking for was already dead.

“I’ve come to a decision,” I said slowly.

Wesley had been speaking about the facility. He stopped and turned around.

“Oh, what is it. Is something wrong?”

“No. Everything is fine. But I am done with this tour. It has been great, but I have decided that I won’t be joining your employ in two months. While this is all great,” I said motioning to the expensive production facility, “but I don’t think this is for me.”

“I see. That puts me in a bit of an awkward situation. Why don’t I show you the rest of this area at least? And thank you for being honest.”

“What do you mean?” I asked a bit confused.

“I could already tell that you were a bit apprehensive about this meeting. I’m not sure why you did come through, but I am glad that you did. It is not often that I would be able to see you otherwise. You like me can be a very busy man and hard to meet with. Come through here. I’m sure this next area is of some interest to you. I know that you have been making more smoke bombs recently.”

I walked by the next vat that Wesley pointed to. The workers were in the middle of producing the chemical mixture for pressurized smoke. The vat had been sealed but workers were adding stuff through a side intake that could be evacuated to prevent air or contaminants from entering the creation process. In many ways, it was much like the small version I had at my warehouse. I looked over the vats and wasn’t paying attention to what Wesley was doing. Then the crucial thought came to be a bit later than it should have. Who did he find out I made smoke bombs from? And how? That was way before the tracker incident. When I turned around to see Wesley he wore a gas mask and a man behind him with a bull’s head wore a modified version of a gas mask to fit his face as well.

I barely had time to say a word as fumes entered my lungs. Wesley held up a canister with a face-covering attached. He grabbed my face and the bull-man helped as the fumes were released. I tried to struggle but I felt something in my arm pop and then a shot of pain as I tried to struggle against the bull. Wesley had a wicked smile on as the stuff continued to leak out. My head felt light, and it felt like nitrous oxide at the dentist's office but several times worse. I lost my balance and couldn’t stand upright. My mind felt out of touch with my body and the feeling didn’t recede when Wesley removed the mask and I fell back, and my body hit the side of a vat before I fell unconscious.