Chapter 223: Pre-Halloween.

[Edward's POV]

-The Dunphy's house-

"He's here. He's here," I exclaimed with excitement as I checked the front door. With a beige shirt and brown pants, I was wearing a clean-cut wolf-cut hairstyle, my hair was neatly trimmed to a length that reached slightly above the nape of my neck. Enid was going crazy every time she saw it , which means I'll need to cut it soon. 

Seeing Phil, Haley, Alex, and Luke stepping out of the car, I hurried to the kitchen where Claire was waiting. 

"Quick, hide with the camera," Claire instructed, pointing towards the living room. I followed her guidance swiftly, concealing myself from view.

"Honey, I'm home! We had to go to over 5 stores, but we finally found the spooky webs you wanted," Phil announced enthusiastically as he entered the kitchen, with Luke trailing behind. Alex and Haley headed to their rooms first, much to my disappointment.

Claire continued to slice the meat on the cutting board, her movements deliberate and slow. She didn't respond to Phil's statement, her face partially obscured by her blonde hair, adding an eerie touch to the scene.

"Honey?"

"Mom?"

Luke and Phil called out, their voices tinged with concern. Phil placed a hand on Claire's shoulder. "Are you mad—OH MY GOD!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

On the left side of Claire's face, there appeared to be decaying flesh. I hit the switch to make the lights flicker. Maggots wriggled out from her exposed cheek tendon, and her eye, devoid of skin, greeted Phil cheerfully. "No, honey. I've been expecting you to come home soon."

"AHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Luke and Phil alternated their screams, slowly retreating from Claire, who held a knife as she advanced toward them. "What's wrong, honey? You seem pale. Want me to cut you a nice slice of human flesh?"

She took the raw meat and placed it in her mouth, blood dripping onto her white blouse. Phil screamed in fear and grabbed Luke before fleeing. The girls rushed downstairs upon hearing the commotion, their eyes widening at the sight of Claire's grotesque appearance.

"KYAAHHHH!" Haley shrieked. Alex initially flinched but then curled her lips in disdain. "Calm down, it's makeup."

"What?" Hearts pounding, Phil stopped running and scrutinized Claire more closely.

"Aww, you're no fun," Claire remarked, rubbing her bloodied hand on Alex's face.

"Ugh! I know you're hiding someone here! You're the one who brought the makeup home! Come on out, Ed!" Alex called out with irritation.

I laughed until my stomach ached, slowly emerging from behind the couch, before standing before the family, met with the betrayed gazes of Luke and Phil.

"Ahahaha! We did it, Claire."

"Yeah, we scared them good!" Claire replied, holding her hand up for a high-five, which I promptly reciprocated.

"Halloween is one week away!" Haley said with dissatisfaction. "Stop trying to scare people! Gloria almost took out her machete!"

I laughed as I remembered the time Claire and I scared Jay, Gloria and Manny. We scared Mitch and Cam too by imitating the movie the ring, and Claire crawling out of the fake tv in disguise.

"Oh my god. Remember her saliva spitting out." Claire said as she burst into laughter. We cackled together under the judgy gazes of everyone else, and when Claire approached Phil, he curled up his hands to protect himself and immediately said with a fearful tone, "Maybe after you take off the Zombie makeup so please get that off first."

[Phil and Claire's commentary]

Phil said with a slight distress on his face, "One week ago. Edward came to our house and went looking for Claire. He wanted to learn how to celebrate Halloween properly because he never participated before."

Claire smiled gleefully as she heard Phil's sentence, but fell in disbelief as she heard the continuation. "He reached out to the wrong person."

[Gloria's commentary]

She spewed a lot of curses in Spanish before she said, "She's being a very bad influence to the kid. I can't believe that they inser…Inserted what?"

[Jay's commentary]

"They mechanised a humanoid robot doll, and made it chase us on all fours with its head turned back. It was really the stuff of nightmares. They are banned from the house until after Halloween." Jay said while rubbing his throbbing forehead.

He continued, "Manny has been sleeping in our room every night since."

[Mitch and Cam's commentary]

"When the TV burst, I was holding Lily." Mitchell said. "At that time. All I could think of was to chuck Lily at the ghost, which only made me have 2 nightmares now. One, the ghost coming out of the TV. Second, being a very bad father."

Cam said, "Aww Mitchell. As long as you have self-realization, you can become a better father–."

"You fainted Cam! And you fainted while holding me! I couldn't even run away with our child to get to safety." Mitchell said accusingly, which made Cam feel awkward.

Cam whispered, "That type of dramatic reactions is why I won't let you hold Lily while we are watching Tv anymore."

[Alex's commentary]

"He hasn't done anything to our friend group yet. But with mom around it was only a matter of time. God, that poor football team." Alex said while shaking her head. 

[Haley's commentary]

"Someone injected a red dye to the shower room water tank. And when the team finished their training and went to shower, they thought that they were bathing in blood. Worse, a corpse… suddenly fell down the ceiling, shocking everyone there! Their shouts filled the entire school. I think one of them even cried."

[Jacob Green commentary]

"Who cried? I surely didn't…I was not scared out of my mind when my hands were filled with blood. And it definitely isn't something I keep seeing again and again before I go to sleep." Jacob said with watery eyes. Then, he broke into tears and started sobbing again. "(Uhuk)…Make it stop."

[Phil's commentary]

"Both of them are unhinged. Claire cannot stop herself. She finally found the one person who LOVED Halloween as much as she did." Phil said worriedly. "I just hope that it won't escalate and they will be arrested for it. But if…IF they WERE to get arrested, Please oh dear god, don't let them come out until the holiday ends."

[Commentary ends]

[Edward POV]

"Vader? Where are you, girl?" Alex suddenly asked while Claire and I were laughing. I looked at her in confusion and said, "She's at my house. Why would she be here?"

"Why didn't you bring her here?!" Alex said disappointedly. I rolled my eyes at her and said, "Vader is already traumatized by you. Try not to feed her so much? She's gaining weight now!"

"That's being fluff! She's just becoming more fluffy!" Alex defended herself.

Haley smiled and interjected, "Enough about the cat. Mom, Ed, you guys seriously need to stop."

Claire and I looked at each other, smirked, and said ambiguously, "Got it."

"No. not stop with only pranking us. But with scaring everyone." Haley said.

"We understand that." Claire replied.

"No! I don't need you to understand. Promise us that you will stop. I need to hear it coming out from your mouth. Say you will stop scaring people right now?"

"I think I got a call. I'll be right back." I tried to retreat, but Haley grabbed my sleeves and said, "You're not going anywhere. Promise me."

"Geez. Alright Alright. I won't do it anymore." I said. Before she could be relieved, I winked at her.

"What is that?"

"What is what?" I asked, faking confusion.

"That! You said you wouldn't do it, but then you winked like you're still going to!" Alex added.

"I wasn't winking." I replied, faking innocence.

"Don't lie! Say it again!" Haley said.

"Hey I said it once." I said as I retreated a few steps. "But you winked!" Haley shouted in annoyance.

"No, I didn't wink." I replied. "Vader is calling my name. I need to go home now."

"VADER IS A CAT! She can't call your name!" Alex said with annoyance.

"Claire! It went pretty great. So, we're still on for tomorrow?" I asked for afar before I could get out of the backyard door.

"Yeah we're still on for tomorrow." Claire replied back.

"Stop it both of you. For the love of god. Stop!" Luke shouted with emotions.

[Claire and Edward's commentary]

"We were actually done." Claire said with a sly smirk.

"But they didn't know that." I said with the same mischievous smile.

Both of us chuckled as I said, "It'll be fun to see them squirm as they fearfully tread around."

"Yeah. Constantly on their toes. Thinking about the bad things that can happen to them every time they go somewhere or when they cannot see us." Claire added.

Edward nodded with respect to her plans and said, "It is a pretty devious plan. I am looking forward to seeing it."

[Commentary ends]

Two weeks had passed since the breakup, and although my house was no longer swarmed by paparazzi and fans, they hadn't completely left me alone. 

As I walked towards my house, I noticed several of my dedicated fans waving at me. Among them were the milder paparazzi, the ones who didn't bother people too much.

"Hi, you guys. It's getting cold outside. Make sure to wear a jacket or a sweater," I said to the girls sitting on the pavement before I went over to my house. 

Over time, I had adapted to the constant attention, and having fans around also had its advantages. Since the incident where the paparazzi had lunged at me while I was recovering at the warehouse after I was kidnapped, my fans had started shielding me from the paparazzi, obstructing their attempts to capture photographs of me.

Moreover, I had taken measures to further disrupt the paparazzi's efforts. I began wearing hyper-reflective clothing, such as scarves or jackets, whenever I ventured outside. 

This strategy effectively ruined the paparazzi's pictures of me, as the intense reflections made it nearly impossible for them to capture usable images. Many of them eventually gave up when they realized they couldn't make any money with blurry or distorted photos of me.

These tactics, combined with the support of my loyal fans, created a sense of protection and allowed me some respite from the constant invasion of privacy. A lot of celebrities had reached out to me in efforts to get the clothes for themselves. Right now, I was contemplating releasing my own clothing line, but had to postpone it because of my plans with Claire. 

Not that we didn't want to get our pictures taken, but we wanted to keep some events private and intimate. Like getting dinner with your family, or going to the museum. 

"Ah. Don't forget to check my live session tomorrow." I said to the fans. They squealed and cheered as they heard my words. As I entered the house, my dad who was sitting on the couch automatically raised his hands to guard, "What!? What are you doing now?"

"Entering the house?" I said with a sly smile. As one of the victims, my dad was also traumatised by the pranks. Everytime I made a sudden move around him, he would flinch and guard himself. 

"Nothing? No items in your hands? You won't try to tase me and bring me to Mexico?" He asked warily.

I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm not doing any of that! Ah, should we get Mexican food tonight?"

"And let you plant eyeballs and worms into my burritos? No thank you! I'll pick the food!" My dad said before running to his room. As he climbed the stairs, I snickered.

He stopped instantly and asked, "What? Did you do something in my room now? Should I not enter my room!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY ROOM!?"

"I didn't do anything." I said with a shrug. Then, I winked at him.

He gasped and whispered, "You're a monster." He turned his direction and rushed outside of the house instead. But he left his car behind.

"Hmm…I guess he thinks that I had cut the brakes or something." I shrugged while shaking my head and then walked to my lab.

The technology of the drone had been sold to the military for a sum of 30 million dollars, although it could have potentially fetched a higher price – cause who are we kidding? It's the military.

However, I had made certain modifications to the technology before finalising the deal. 

When the military realized that it was essentially basic drone technology, they were somewhat disappointed. However, they were unable to cancel the deal since they had been the ones insisting on acquiring it in the first place. The light refraction technology didn't really interest them after they knew how it works and it could still be detected from the radar – which was an aspect I downgraded from the original capabilities. 

The military soon discovered that they couldn't modify or add weapons to the drone without encountering issues. Any attempts to do so would result in noticeable sounds, eliminating the stealth aspect of the drone. 

Additionally, the battery couldn't handle heavy payloads, limiting its operational range to within their own territory or a mere 500 metres beyond their territories. They realised that extensive research would be required before they could develop their own lethal drones, so still bought the tech because they have people that could research it for them.

Despite their disappointment with the drone itself, the military was highly impressed with the codes I had developed to control it. They even offered me an exclusive contract to work as a contractor for them. However, I declined their offer and instead proposed selling them the codes. 

This arrangement provided me with a backdoor entrance to the military's servers without anyone's knowledge. It wasn't that I had any intention of initiating a nuclear apocalypse or anything of the sort. The backdoor access was merely a precautionary measure to ensure that I would be aware if they ever planned anything against me in the future. 

As I entered the basement lab, expecting to find the familiar sight of a clean workspace filled with various equipment, I was instead greeted by the disheartening sight of almost everything being boxed up. Chemicals, hardware, and even the machines I had meticulously crafted were being prepared for relocation.

"Hmm... I'll miss this place," I muttered, feeling a pang of nostalgia for the lab that had been my sanctuary for so long. With Robin activated, a blurry picture of a human silhouette appeared next to me, lacking a defined face or a steady image for her body.

"Good evening, Sir. Moving to a new lab is now 50% complete," Robin stated in her stoic tone. My project to create JOY-like AI from the Blade Runner 2049 movie managed to gain some success, albeit slowly. 

"Hi, Robin," I greeted. "That's good to hear. In less than a week, I'll finally be able to leave this place without any of the public knowing." 

"What are you going to do with the suits, sir?" Robin inquired.

"Make sure to transfer them in the end. I'm still working on it," I replied, my gaze fixed on the hyper-realistic Batman suit enclosed within a glass panel before me.

*Batman theme song playing*

Just kidding. I was only making them for Halloween.

"It would be great if I could modify my Dodger into a batmobile too." I muttered in contemplation while rubbing my chin. 

"Robin, they are coming soon, right?" I asked the AI.

Robin replied, "Yes. Dr Hofstader is coming here. You said 'they'. Did you guess that he wouldn't be coming alone?"

"Yeah I'm sure. That annoying theoretical physicist has never learned about boundaries growing up." I replied nonchalantly. "Wait. Maybe I have no boundaries too?" I had a random thought. 

…

[General POV]

In the Entertain company building, Max was lazing around on the couch when Harvey and Pepper entered the CEO's office, startling her.

"Oh-H-Hey. Hi." Max said while being startled.

"I told you to stop opening doors dramatically, Pepper." Harvey shook her head disapprovingly.

"Sorry. I just have a lot of extra energy today." Pepper squealed in excitement.

"If you have energy, you should go meet Ed." Harvey said. Pepper's face turned serious and he scolded, "And let him scare me too? I might have a heart attack and die! Or worse, make a fool of myself!"

"Dying is worse than making a fool out of yourself? Damn you rich people. For us poor people, there is no way that trampling our own dignity is worse than death itself." Max said sarcastically.

"Enough masquerading as a poor person. You earn a lot now. Especially with the extra side income you made, reporting Edward's conditions to a certain someone."

"Hey! She just wants to know how he is doing? It's not my fault she wants to give me money to ask for it on her behalf." Max said with an innocent yet mischievous smile.

"Yeah. A thousand bucks per question. Hell, even I'm jealous." Harvey said with a slight teasing smile. Suddenly, Donna, the hot redhead entered the office.

"Hi. Am I interrupting you or anything?" Donna said.

Pepper shook his hand and said, "Not at all. We're talking about Ed's reports."

"Ah the side income. Any more of that and the IRS will be looking for you soon." Donna teased Max.

"If they do, then I'll just change my name again." Max said. All three were a bit confused, and Max added, "What? Do you think Max is my real name?"

Donna chortled as she already ran a thorough background check on Max. "Oh right. I have 2 things I need to talk about. First, Max, Ed found out that you only have one subject short to get your highschool diploma. The good news is, you can retake the exam. We already called your former teacher and he agreed to it."

"WHAT?!" Max asked in disbelief.

Donna said casually, "Yeah. Ed said you needed to get your diploma to get into pastry school. He will cram with you if you want."

"Knowing him, couldn't he get me a cheat code or something? Or the actual paper itself?" Max said jokingly, not knowing that Edward could really do that.

Donna and Harvey shared a glance with each other before Donna said to Max, "He won't give it to you that easily. Alright. Another thing, this is about Harvey and I."

"Us? What's wrong with us?" Harvey asked, confused.

Donna reached into her purse and took out a thick stack of scripts. She gave it to Harvey and said, "This. We need to talk about this."

"Suits? Is this the new series Edward said he wanted to do? He even wrote the first episode himself." Harvey said as she started to read the scripts.

After a while, she muttered in shock, "Wait. Is this series about us?"

Edward had checked thoroughly, and he didn't find anyone else other than Harvey and Donna that mimicked the series. Harvey smiled as she continued reading and said, "Great stuff. But who is this Mike guy? And let Edward know if he wants to cast someone to act as me, I should be there."

Donna smiled and said, "There's only a script at this time. But I got to say, Edward really knows you well. The Harvey in the script and the one we got in real life are both cocky, unbearable, yet charismatic little pricks."

"Are you seducing me or insulting me, Donna?" Harvey asked with a chuckle.

"Wait. I thought Edward made the movie first?" Max asked.

"Yeah. He had the idea for the movie, John Wick. We will start making that one first after Halloween." Pepper said. 

"Is he acting in it?" Max asked in confusion.

"Nah…Maybe…We don't know yet." Pepper replied with hesitation.