Season 3 / Andrew Edgeworth - "Time Is Money" [The Third Trial Projection]

Andrew Edgeworth

The video in the first folder opens in some kind of bland conference room, but the plastic furniture and plain glass walls on four sides aren’t what immediately holds your attention. Andrew is in the middle of a discussion opposite to a woman who looks like she belongs on an avant-garde runway rather than an office.

The website of a certain Zaira Caro opens up on the right monitor. It seems that she’s an Italian fashion designer with a bit of a cult-following who’s still well-regarded in the high fashion space. While her company isn’t nearly to the same scale as Bright Future and Co., nothing on the website implies that she has any intentions to be.

The details of their discussion aren’t all that important, but it stands out to you that Zaira and Simon had made some kind of temporary deal for a fashion line collaboration.

“My deal with your brother isn’t complicated, why go all the way out here to re-negotiate it?”

Andrew opens up a folder in front of her. Regardless of your own financial literacy, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by just how many numbers there are.

“It’s in both of our best interests to look into what’s going to happen after the collaboration is over. I have good reason to believe that any ownership clauses that Simon has brought up with you are further reaching than he’s letting on.”

This folder is a history of other smaller companies he’s done this with in the past. After their respective deals have ended, there’s a trend of legal fees that sneak up on them later that threaten the partner company’s survival. Once it’s put in writing, it’s near impossible to get out of.

“…I know it’s a big opportunity to work with Bright Future and Co., but I’d like to ask you to reconsider taking on the partnership if possible - even if it’s only temporary.”

Zaira listens intently, flipping through the pages as Andrew explains. Then she laughs.

“Of course I knew he was sleazy, but never did I think I’d be approached barely five minutes later to be told not to take a deal that’s too good to be true!”

You can hear Andrew softly exhale, amused. “…I’d hope that’s not a bad thing.”

They continue discussing logistics for a while; it’s not quite so simple as to just decline Simon’s deal, but the two are able to lay out enough details to make it work. A firm handshake later, and Andrew is off on his way. He takes advantage of a winding stairwell to decompress, letting out a breath he was holding before taking his phone off of Do Not Disturb.

Immediately, the phone in the video is bombarded with notifications, messages, and emails demanding his attention. Even at first glance, you can tell they’re all regarding meetings like the one you just witnessed - to reduce the company’s spending. Dozens pass by and stack up in just the few seconds you see the phone in the video. Is Andrew going to all of them?

From the corner of your eye, you see a couple years pass by on the date on the phone.

Andrew Edgeworth

The video in the second folder starts rather quietly, following Andrew’s perspective as usual as he makes his way through an empty office building to get something. It’s liminal, how empty and lifeless the space is in the dark, only some soft red emergency lights to give him sight. He steps confidently, like he’s used to the setting.

After Andrew opens the last door, the video jumps slightly when he spots someone he clearly did not expect to see. No, more like the presence of anyone at all was what startled him rather than who it was specifically. Unlike the dark and empty environment up till now, the brightly lit room shows a blonde, teenaged girl in office attire at one of the desks. Whatever she was working on in front of her is temporarily forgotten as she stares agape at Andrew.

On the left monitor a huge folder opens up and starts flipping through what feels like an endless number of different files: employee records. Eventually, the files slow to a halt on one ‘Lindsey Bell.’ You see the girl’s portrait above her abridged company information. She’s on an accounting internship through her college’s undergraduate finance degree at 19 years old.

“…um…! Mr…Edgeworth! Didn’t expect to see you at…this hour…” Of course she didn’t, you can see a clock in the background of the video showing that it’s midnight. Understandably, Lindsey is on-edge after jumpscaring and getting jumpscared by her boss’s boss’s (ad-nauseum) boss, and Andrew clearly picks up on the nervousness.

“It’s alright, I won’t be long. I’m only here to pick up the final reports.”

For whatever reason he has to do this in person for, his reassurance makes Lindsey pale and it’s quickly apparent why. When Andrew goes to pick up a thick folder and briefly check that everything’s in place, there’s a conspicuous gap where a few sheets are missing. Ah, that’s what Lindsey’s staying so late at the office for. The point-of-view doesn’t allow you to see Andrew’s face, but you get the feeling this intern would be reacting the same way no matter how he reacted.

“I wasn’t being lazy, I swear! No matter what I do, there’s always flags in the spreadsheet that I have to correct-!”

Through her flustered and panicked explanation, another set of files pops up on the right monitor; Lindsey’s disciplinary record within the company. Spotless for behavior…but riddled with complaints from her manager over her missing her deadlines.

Andrew blinks a couple times.

“…I need these tomorrow, anyway, I might as well look to see what’s wrong.”

Lindsey conspicuously scoots a bit further than she needs to to give him space to look at her computer screen. The minutia of what’s in the spreadsheet just kinda blurs together for anyone who isn’t versed in this, but it’s not difficult to notice that all the numbers keep going up…

As for the actual issue with the spreadsheet’s completion, it turns out that the formula she was using was only one symbol off and skewing everything she put in - blah, blah, blah, the riveting world of finance stuff. Mortified as Lindsey is that she needed to accidentally stumble upon such a high-level superior to solve her problem, she’s visibly grateful that Andrew did.

“Heh…thank you, sir!”

“…you’re welcome.”

Through the humming of the printer and Andrew filing the corrected sheets away, Lindsey seems to have something else on her mind.

“…i-if it’s not overstepping to ask, is it true that you’re planning to quit soon?”

On the right monitor, the disciplinary folder closes on its own, bringing up several chat messages. The names don’t stick out to you, but you can tell that these are between the interns and staff members of the HQ accounting branch.

The main subject is gossiping about Andrew’s increasing absence in the building even though he used to be there all the time. The prevailing sentiment is everyone just writing it off as run-of-the-mill C-suite negligence, with some speculation that Andrew is trying to leave the company. You don’t see Lindsey’s name much aside from a couple messages showing some curiosity over the state of the office from before her internship. The late time and the empty cans of energy drinks you’ve occasionally spotted in the trash cans in the video are probably the main catalysts for such a bold question. Andrew’s hands still for a moment.

“…I can assure you that I have no intention to quit for a good while. More importantly, you should head home and rest as soon as you can. Stay safe.”

From the corner of your eye, you see a few years pass by on the date on the phone.

Text appears on the center screen: The company keeps growing far faster than it can profit. What did he do next?

Two options that you can click on pop up under the question. On the left: Mass Layoffs; on the right: Mass Wage Cuts.

Kaoru Naito

Over-expansion? He gets that more. Like a home in the walk restaurant that shouldn’t have started a dumbass chain.

“Shoulda fuckin’ quit…”

He looks bothered. He has no idea what’s right this time, both?

“Maybe ‘s wages now…? ‘r maybe he didn’t touch those till ‘e had to…”

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

“…It seems Andrew was really running himself ragged to fix what I assume to be his brother’s mistakes. It’s… very kind of him to have tried so hard to help people, but I can tell already it wouldn’t be sustainable on a personal level.” He had really cared that much about the company though, huh? Vincent hasn’t realized before this projection that Andrew seems to have been one of the Founders of it in the first place.

…He frowns at the two options, though.

“…I still think wage cuts are the less ethical of the two, but… neither options are good. It seems like he tried everything he could to avoid it coming to this, but…” In the world of Buisness, it was impossible to avoid if your losses were too great, huh. …Vincent is suddenly glad he was mostly just a receptionist and not the one making these kinds of calls.

Robert McCay

“Now that’s a goddamn fit,” Muse mutters to themself when Zaira first appears on screen. They don’t have much else to say as they watch the negotiation and the interaction with the intern, not til the videos end.

“…Seems like a nice guy. Nasty situation to be in.” Understatement of the year. “I guess layoffs…?”

Emmy | Akemi

Oh, a somewhat familar face. That wasn’t something Akemi expected.

“Zaira Caro, of all things…? That seems an odd collaboration, indicative of some broad outreach for partnerships, but…clearly Andrew was invested in making sure these deals didn’t backfire on their partners, all the while. Was he the only one taking on these tasks? Just how on earth was one man meant to patch this many holes in a sinking ship…? For every one thing he fixed, no doubt another situation was created that needed his attention.”

Akemi frowns, Kaoru’s words ringing all-too-familiarly. She’d had this exact conversation with Andrew, already.

“He would have been well within his rights to quit. Perhaps he should have, but…I suppose I know well enough what loyalty and sentimentality lead to when mixed with business. Walking away is…simply not an option, when there’s the chance that something can turn it around and keep the things that matter to you in one piece.”

Akemi sighs at the options before them. More unfair choices.

“Well, my thought is that mass layoffs would at least allow for some people to maintain their livelihoods, or allow those displaced to seek alternate employment or unemployment insurance, whereas wage cuts hurt everyone equally.”

So, she clicks Mass Layoffs.

Andrew Edgeworth

Emmy | Akemi So, she clicks Mass Layoffs.

The screen flashes a big Incorrect message before returning you to the options.

Emmy | Akemi

Once again, incorrect. Even as much as she and Andrew have in common, it seems their business-senses are not completely aligned.

“Hah…I wonder…Andrew even distinctly remembers a young intern, her face and name. I suppose the thought of leaving any of them jobless would be difficult.”

It’s not difficult to imagine that Andrew had pondered the same sorts of things she had– if choosing differently, earlier on, would have made any meaningful difference at all.

She clicks on Mass Wage Cuts.

Andrew Edgeworth

Emmy | Akemi She clicks on Mass Wage Cuts.

The screen flashes a big Correct message before returning to the locked folders.

Numerous little gashes stab themselves into the wall, bringing in little red pinpricks of light into the room like blood spatter. More red LED numbers appear to cover them up, all the six figures overlapping onto each other. Of course it’s not enough to mend them all the way.

The air gets just a little bit heavier; the noise a little bit louder. You can hear your heart beating in your ears.

Kaoru Naito

Urgghh. This is the most he’s felt like he’s in a horror movie, it’s hard to explain. Maybe it’s because everyone else kind of makes sense to him? He gets killing, he gets hate, he gets desperation…

Whatever. He decides not to care and approaches next.

Andrew Edgeworth

Kaoru Naito He decides not to care and approaches next.

The yellow light grows when your hand gets near.

You notice that you feel compelled to pull in a way that you might not in real life. First and foremost, you feel pain. Disconcertingly for everyone in the room, smoke and the growing stench of burnt flesh comes off of your hands where you touch the wires. Maybe a million different feelings of every kind hit your head at every angle like hammers; rage, sadness, empathy, even a fondness that inexplicably makes you want to shake your head in exasperation.

It’s only when you hear the clatter of machine parts hitting the floor that the pain and smoke dissipate. You find that large burn scars have imprinted into your palms, leaving you with a singular, inexplicable thought: you feel heard. The new scars don’t even hurt, seeming to already be on the path to healing. Though of course, you won’t continue to carry them once the projection is over.

While you pull, images flash across the screen. It occurs to you that these are moments that Andrew has observed of you that are significant to him, such as you delightfully brutalizing the bacteria plushie after getting a nickname, your face backlit by the raging projection room inferno with a manic grin, and your hastily-enacted apology.

The yellow light disappears, leaving the purple LED remaining in the cavity.

The metal panels of the machine’s hair subtly split while the ones on its clothes fuse together into solid pieces. It looks a bit more real; some half-way combination of man and machine. On the center monitor, two folders unlock.

Kaoru Naito

Looking at himself makes him think, wow, I’m an emotional rollercoaster to deal with. He doesn’t like thinking of himself in third person. He has to say anything to lighten the mood, it’s dire.

“Damn, dya think ‘e likes me?”

He will lean in and look at the new folders…

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Vincent looks alarmed at the scent of Burning happening there, looking between the (primarily cute????) images of Kaoru being flashed on screen and to Kaoru himself in the bewilderment of not knowing whether Kaoru was being horribly hurt right now or not. He seems???? Fine????

“…I think so????? Or at least, it seems… complicated, but not fully a bad thing??? …Do your hands hurt at all, or-“ Tf went on there. Clearly the Fire was a pretty big impact on Andrew, but maaaaaybe things had turned out okay after???

Andrew Edgeworth

Kaoru Naito He will lean in and look at the new folders…

The first folder’s video starts behind the wheel of a car. It’s a very nice vehicle in very good condition; the lower end of luxury is still pretty damn nice - but that’s not the important part. A GPS map opens on the right monitor, following the movement of Andrew’s car through the streets. He pulls into a hotel’s parking garage, immediately taking his wallet, a coffee, his phone, and a slim briefcase with him out of the seat.

Before leaving the vehicle, he lifts the center armrest console to check for something inside. You can see him briefly dig for an Airtag that has fallen beneath other items and place it on top for good measure before closing the console.

His perspective takes you away from the parking garage and onto a public train. It then fast-forwards, skipping through his commute to important business buildings and meetings. All you can really glean from the montage is that they’re related to the entertainment industry and the company. The GPS map, however, stays completely still, the marker remaining on his car in the parking garage.

Eventually, the perspective - and Andrew - return to the car. Going inside is normal enough, though he checks that the Airtag is still there once more. How many times does he feel like he needs to check this thing?

In a few minutes, he pulls out of the parking garage, and the GPS marker on the map resumes following the movement of his car.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see a few years pass by on the date on the phone.

Andrew Edgeworth

The video opens up on a balcony. You’ve seen the skyline before, though in a different time. It’s a slightly different angle of the Chicago skyline from the big window above the computer monitors, and at night. Zaira and Andrew are standing next to each other, taking advantage of a night without smog. It’s beautiful, how all the little pinpricks of light cut into the inky darkness of the clear sky. The full moon almost pales in comparison while Zaira grows agitated about something.

Even from first person point-of-view, you can tell that Andrew’s posture is more relaxed than what you expect from him. Of course he’s polite and attentive, but there’s a slight, casual lean that he’s allowing himself while Zaira speaks.

“I’m telling you, Andrew, that boy needs to be taken down a peg! I don’t care if he’s some almighty celebrity CEO, you don’t deserve to be stalked by your own fucking brother!”

“It’s…not like that.”

The video jumps the slightest bit, as if Andrew cringed after saying that. He rests a couple fingers on her shoulder in reassurance.

“It’s enough that you believe me, I just have to keep going as I am and everyone will keep their heads above water.”

“Come on, you can’t do this forever. ” Zaira shrugs his hand off her shoulder to clasp it in her own. “He’s beyond seeing reason, and he’ll just keep being that way!”

“It’s not like I like it, either. There’s not much else I can do when it’s his word against mine if I try to get him removed internally. I don’t even know why he’s clinging so hard to his position, when he hardly seems like he wants it, anyway.”

Something flashes in Zaira’s eyes.

“Then what if it’s our word against his?”

“…what?”

“Sue the shit out of Simon, Andrew. Sure, Ophelia’s got the legal department locked down, but even she can’t control a whole team of top-notch lawyers I know! What he’s doing to you and the rest of his company is legally dubious at best, and you know it!”

She immediately pulls back to word it more delicately, though still holding his hand.

“…sorry. I…know it’s not easy to talk about, much less bring to court and have it treated like a circus.”

There’s a long bout of silence. In the center of the city, there aren’t even crickets to fill the silence.

“…okay.”

“Okay to…what?”

“The lawsuit.”

“You don’t have to play along, I was just heated…”

“No, really.”

Zaira rolls her eyes, and you can hear Andrew chuckle shortly after.

“I know better than anyone that I can’t do this forever. I’m…just one person. I hate doing things this risky, but…I know I’m going to hit a wall if I don’t. Every time I issue a cut…it hurts.”

He sounds so, so tired.

“Then…that’s that, huh?” That flash in Zaira’s eyes is growing to a fire. Their hold on each other’s hands grows tighter. “There won’t be anything left of that twink by the time we’re done with him!”

The video cuts off as soon as Andrew begins to ask her what ‘twink’ means-

Out of the corner of your eye, you see a few years pass by on the date on the phone.

Text appears on the center screen: Lawsuits often take years before getting to court. What did he do in the meantime?

The same set of options appear under the question: Mass Wage Cuts, Mass Layoffs.

Kaoru Naito

“Nah, ‘s chill, I like being burned,” Kaoru says to Vincent. Which is to say ‘no but we cope’.

The video is interesting… He thinks they should just kill Simon but he knows not everyone is cool and awesome in the head like him. He’s a visionary.

“Cut everyone ‘r just a few… tough choose.”

Though he doesn’t have to guess, he’s pretty sure he remembers. He picks Mass Wage Cuts. (It wouldn’t be the other if he said it like that, right…? Always a chance he didn’t get it…)

Andrew Edgeworth

Kaoru Naito Mass Wage Cuts

The screen flashes a big Correct message before returning to the locked folders.

More wounds into the walls, more numbers, more red. Through the sickening haze, you just manage to spot a thin, golden thread stitch itself into one of the gashes - the only one without numbers, actually - tightening itself shut.

You're starting to 𝐂hoke on the air. You can’t really tell if your ears are ringing.

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

“Of course you do,” Vincent says with a sigh at Kaoru- Which is to say, of course he’d say something like that.

He frowns at this entire predicament, though.

“So… He had at least one ally looking out for him, trying to help him right the wrongs his brother was doing. Yet in the meantime, that ship was still sinking,” Vincent summarizes. “…She seemed like a cool person.”

After saying that, of course, Vincent starts coughing a bit as the air is getting harder and harder to breath. Urge. Bad situation he was still left in despite that ray of hope….

Emmy | Akemi

Akemi quickly covers her mouth to conceal the smell of burning flesh. Whatever had caused that smell, and whether or not it hurt Kaoru, Akemi couldn’t quite tell. Before she knows it, Kaoru takes over control of the computer, and she makes no move to stop him. After all, she will need to go finish what they’ve started with the automaton soon enough.

She wordlessly watches the videos, taking it all in. Stalking, no doubt a result of trying to ensure Andrew couldn’t take a step out of line. Zaira certainly seemed confident, and Akemi may have taken a little more time to admire the beautiful woman were they not in the midst of an assault on their senses. But there’s no time for that.

Currently, Akemi’s hard expression reflects just how deeply she understands the position Andrew had been in. No wonder she and him got on so well. The battles they’d fought ran parallel in so many ways even if the choices they made were so different.

“So he wanted to face his brother, and prevent him from doing more damage, but he had to keep everything afloat long enough to even make such an attempt and see it through.”

As Kaoru clicks the correct prompt, and they once again reach a point where they cannot progress, Akemi looks toward the automaton with a sad, yet fearful expression. She doesn’t want to do this, really, but she’s the only one left.

She hesitates, before ultimately grabbing at the chain herself.

Robert McCay

No goofy comments from the Muse this time. The atmosphere and the painful noise are wearing them down, as well as the sort of melancholy one gets from being the lone stranger in a room of friends. Watching the screens has told them this– they really don’t know anyone here, not the prisoners nor the guy whose head they wound up in.

Even seeing Zaira again just leaves a sinking feeling about just how this is all going to end up. They brace themself for what the machinery will do to Akemi.

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