RE: No Regrets For The Future

This is part of the original script (based on my No Regrets and No Extra Regrets visual novels) and uses a large chunk of dialogue from the latter:

The protagonist's (Kayleigh) first solo mission, was actually a suicide mission in the Sonoran Desert, USA (due to being regarded as a sanctimonious do-gooder); Grendel's teacher, wearing a pink jacket, despite the heat, and who should have been keeping an eye on Grendel's class project, was actually enjoying the delights of a female teaching assistant behind some rocks.

Whilst Kayleigh was walking to her mission's location, her boss, Charles Mount-Acre was looking at the order that sent Kayleigh on her doomed mission. Kayleigh had been making waves even during training - her kindness had helped fellow trainees through tough times; she had rebelled against various orders the instructors gave, deeming them wrong. If that wasn't bad enough, Kayleigh intervened in the punishment of a trainee. The training facility had hoped to be able to get rid of Kayleigh, but the answer was a firm "no". She was staying put. Charles had sent Kayleigh off with the minimum intelligence available: "There is something going on in the Sonoran Desert, and we don't know what."

It was a lie, of course. Charles knew full well who was there, and was expecting Grendel to take care of The Custodian's little problem one way or another.

Outside Charles's office, normal Custodian work - the usual misogynistic attitudes towards females, especially the younger ones - continued. Charles had tried to stop this, but with no luck. The reply back was effectively "boys will be boys", but it a more officious wording.

Grendel's incorrect wiring of her plasma tower (which was designed to hypnotise everyone in Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California) - from these hypnotised people, Grendel was going to force many people to become her friends, via a "Friendship Agreement" form, binding them into a very one-side agreement in favour of Grendel) causes a cascading explosion; protagonist rescues Grendel; they hide in a cave. With Grendel shocked at her failure and that she hasn't been killed by an enemy agent (Grendel knew Kayleigh was arriving due to her intelligence briefing, which had been conducted by Professor Grief, who didn't trust Grendel to do it).

Grendel tells Kayleigh how her parents (Abigail Herrera and Frederick Jinx) were always away and that she was basically lonely. Grendel doesn't state that her parents are the founders and leaders of The Council, which are based somewhere in New Hampshire, USA. She then takes out a "Friendship Agreement" form which she asks Kayleigh to sign. Kayleigh does, more out of pity than anything (and believing it's just an item to comfort Grendel, she signs without reading the Agreement and without realising Grendel's dedication to it.

Alerted by the tower's destruction, a helicopter rescue team is sent to rescue Grendel. When they arrive, Grendel warns Kayleigh to only leave when the helicopters have left. Grendel skips off happier than she has been in a long times, despite her knowing she'll be severely punished for destroying Council property. But she has at last found a friend - a best friend.

The protagonist eventually returns back to The Phoenix Custodians (which are based somewhere in New Hampshire, USA, although neither rival knows about this), and confronts her boss, Charles Mount-Acre. He readily admits the idea was to send her to death, as she had ruffled too many feathers, and allowing her to leave was not possible. He admits that whilst she was an unwanted problem within The Custodians, he did regret sending Kayleigh off on her mission - it was, unfortunately, an order. One he followed, when perhaps, he shouldn't have.

Charles Mount-Acre is impressed that Kayleigh returned back alive and that she kept her ethics and mortality, something he should really have promoted earlier - a mistake he will rectify by immediately putting in a resignation letter. He also tells Kayleigh about his predecessor - a woman that was hounded out of her job not through office politics or anything she did, but Grendel's constant antics and his predecessor's inability to stop Grendel. She apparently retired due to extreme stress. The current explains that most of the protagonist's fellow workers here would like nothing more than to string Grendel up to the nearest lamppost. Not only will the protagonist be fighting against The Council, rival organisations, perhaps even a few conspiracy theorists in the general public, but more importantly against your own people. Don't let any of these break you. It should also be noted, that despite the presence we project to the public, we're not angels. We could be considered worse than The Council in fact. It's not too late to leave The Phoenix Custodians - the protagonist won't be on any rival organisations radar so resigning would be fairly safe. Charles Mount-Acre was going against Custodian policy - working for the Custodians was regarded as "job for life" - no matter how long that lasted.

With Grendel safely home (much to her father's disgust), and suitably punished (fined heavily, her allowance stopped for a month and having to hoover the top 10 floors of The Council's massive base - an addition Frederick gleefully added), Abigail Herrera finds the protagonist's rescue of Grendel very intriguing - most Custodian are more than happy to kill her people without a second thought. Abigail contacts her double-agent, Esme Weeks (although known to the protagonist as Chloe Yeats) embedded within The Phoenix Custodians to keep an eye on Kayleigh, and report back on her behaviour. Esme Weeks and Kayleigh have known each other for a while, during initial training (where Esme had been sent to infiltrate the training base and report back on students who would be willing to defect as well as those who may be trouble later on. Esme had flagged Kayleigh then, but Abigail at the time hadn't paid much notice, as her attention had been on those who could cause trouble). With reports coming back detailing Kayleigh's ethics, morality, working style and more, Abigail realised that Kayleigh would, unexpectedly be a good fit for The Council. A person with fresh ideas, willing to defend them and suggest others, bring a different energy to world domination. It may be perverse, but bringing in ethics to blackmail, extortion and so on, could make these activities even more potent.

Independently, Grendel also realised she needed Kayleigh to join The Council. Deep down, Grendel knew that sending in a swarm of squirrels to (try) and sing all the songs from HMS Pinafore would only result in laughter at best and animal control at worst. She needed someone who could up with sensible ideas, plan them properly and the execute them thoroughly, whilst she, Grendel Jinx, just sat back and waited for the world to come to her. She also needed a footstool. Can never have too many footstools. Grendel needed Kayleigh .

30,000 feet above the ground, in their airborne aircraft carrier, Xavier and Emily were putting the final pieces of their plan together. They look up and smile when a man, wearing a pink jacket approaches.

Elsewhere, the well regarded Mr. Nibbles Fortune Holdings, the sole guinea-pig insurance company in the city was, surprisingly enough, was doing a very brisk business. So much so, the day receptionist, couldn't keep up with enquiries. Possibly profits would certainly make a certain Malik Brok, one of the "insurers" very happy.

At the "Happy Glowstick Funtime Re-education Camp", based in the Lomonosov Ridge, in the Arctic, Professor Utsunomiya was going about his daily business... a new batch of "volunteers" had arrived, as requested, and now his experimentation for human transformation can continue, whilst elsewhere a "Cognitive Enhancement Drug" is being tested - this will allow people of "interest" to be more compliant - perhaps write confessions or perhaps detailed instructions on who to sell a company to.

Over the next few weeks, Grendel turned up Kayleigh's unannounced (to add to the fun), not only to poke her around in her house (Kayleigh's possessions were Grendel's possession's as dictated in the Friendship Agreement), but also to find out what Kayleigh was like. It turned out Kayleigh was a vegetarian (something that left Grendel speechless for a good 10 minutes - after all who doesn't like Kobe beef?), her dress sense was uninspired and frankly boring, and she had a collection of female anime figurines in lewd positions (dad's idea of a joke - he wants to me to settle down) - a scene that left Grendel flabbergasted for a further 10 minutes, and that Kayleigh didn't like Dr. Not-Nice Against The World, an ultra-violent Japanese anime (which left Grendel stunned for another 10 minutes). The whole thing left Grendel realising that Kayleigh needed a complete makeover - ditch the librarian clothes and become and epic trendsetter. Grendel also knew that she could make Kayleigh absolutely love Dr. Not-Nice. It would be hard, but Grendel loved challenges, especially if she could rope someone in to do all the hard work.

A month later, Grendel Jinx woke up early with a start. She suddenly realised that she hadn't handed in any of her 17 100,000+ word homework assignments for the past term, a standard amount for pupils at her school. The topics for her assignments ranged from detailed battle plans for urban warfare to studying military strategies of past leaders - all perfectly normal.
Her mother's prophesy of failing school if she spent too much time playing computer games and watching anime could well become true, a galling experience Grendel did not want to contemplate. No! There is a way around this problem. Grendel could send Miss Potts, her teacher off to some remote island for a few weeks, but Grendel liked Miss Potts, and the feeling was reciprocated, unlike Professor Grief - he of the Sonoran Desert. The Professor had managed to essentially get away with failing to look after Grendel, which really annoyed her.

Unfortunately, the Professor's dislike of Grendel resonated with Frederick, and along with blaming Grendel for the disaster (omitting his own errors), the Professor was just told off and moved to teaching in The Council's higher education system.

Grendel could use The Council's AI system to create all the essays, but that would be easily detected. Grendel was good at hacking, but the Engineering Department was better. They would inform Miss Potts, and then Miss Potts would tell Grendel off and give her detention. That was not something Grendel wanted on the last day of term.

Grendel thought for a moment, before realisation hit her. Grendel quickly got dressed into her school uniform (casual clothes and then school uniform would waste time), and headed off to the maintenance bay to commandeer a vehicle. Grendel knew that, as The Council "owned" the city that she lived in, she wouldn't be stopped for any reason - and if any insolent police officer did stop to question a 14 year old driving a high-powered and expensive vehicle, they would be quickly demoted).

As Grendel put on special shoes (a sort of stilt that is tied over her current footwear, but more comfortable, that allows quick removal and appliance, with a very long heel and sole.) to be able to reach the car pedals, and placed the booster seat (available at all good baby shops, although Grendel got hers "free") on the driver's seat, Grendel sat down, started the engine and zoomed off in the direction of the one person who could extradite Grendel from a mess that she had created. Grendel was determined not to allow her mother's prophecy from coming true ("Grendel dear, you should be spending more time studying and less time playing computer games and watching anime"). As Grendel weaved in and out of traffic, she knew that her "Best Friend", Kayleigh was ready, willing and eager to help Grendel progress in her academic achievements.

The shoes and booster seat came about when Grendel was learning to drive. Originally, Grendel had moved the drivers seat as far forward as possible and was kneeling on the seat to peer over the steering wheel. She used a stick to press down on the brake and accelerator, although due to accidentially pressing the wrong pedal, Grendel managed to plough her car into three police cruisers, and then promptly tried to run away. Her mother, along with the police commissionare were not pleased, although the latter's temprament changed when presented with a large suitcase full of money and a request to keep quiet about everything.

Grendel screeched to a halt outside Kayleigh's home, and ran to the front door and started to urgently press the doorbell. Soon, Kayleigh, blurry eyed from another very long day at work, opened the front door to a blabbering Grendel. Kayleigh stood looking at Grendel, but in her dozy state didn't see anything and soon shut the front door. Grendel was stunned, but her thoughts soon turned to the fact there must be something wrong. Perhaps Kayleigh was training a troupe of squirrels to re-enact the Battle of Hasting, and one, deciding that front doors were anachronistic, decided to shut it. It must the only reason possible. Grendel pressed the front door bell several times again. Kayleigh reappeared again, this time much more focused. She patiently listened to Grendel's jabbering of her self-inflicted problem, and then with a firm but fair voice stated that she wasn't going to write 1.7 million words for her school assignments; she should organise her time better and that Kayleigh needed to get to work. With that Kayleigh closed the front door. Grendel just stood there gawping like a fish. Her Best Friend... going against the Friendship Agreement by not instantly wanting to help her. This was... unprecedented, and something that would not be accepted.

All pupils at the Council's "School For Gifted World Rulers" are required to carry a side-arm, usually a tazer, at all times. It is usually kept hidden in a pouch under a skirt for girls and a secret pocket for boys. Grendel had her tazer with her, and she was going to have to use it.

Grendel continually pressed the door bell again. Kayleigh, opening the door, started to berate Grendel for not respecting boundaries and so forth, whilst Grendel secretly extracted her tazer and activated it. Whilst Kayleigh was now ranting something about time, Grendel struck, quickly rushing forward, Grendel tazered Kayleigh in her side. With arms flailing and body jerking, Grendel deactivated her tazer and put it back in it's holster, letting Kayleigh crumple unconscious to the floor. With a lot of difficulty, Grendel managed to drag Kayleigh into the back of her vehicle. Grendel closed Kayleigh's front door, put her special shoes back on, and gunned the engine. Time was now of the essence. Grendel needed Kayleigh secure in time for school - Grendel wouldn't be able to drag Kayleigh to her bedroom and then attend class before school starts, so the plan was to bind and gag Kayleigh, drag her into class before everyone else and put her in an empty school locker. Grendel had to bind Kayleigh way before she gained consciousness and so as soon as Grendel arrived back in the maintenance bay, she quickly removed her special shoes, ran down to the armoury (quicker than using the lift) and grabbed some supplies from the armourer - namely 4 zip ties and a ball-gag. Running back upstairs and panting heavily, Grendel bound Kayleigh's arms behind her back with the zip ties, her feet crossed over and bound too, after which Grendel shoved the ball gag in her mouth and tied the strap behind her head. Abigail would be so proud of Grendel's finesse.