ONE FAILED SALVATION

The Rich

A/N: This isn't angst, but merely a further proof of something that'll be revealed later. It's also a chance to give some wholesome moments to these poor characters. Alas, read on.

"Thank you for investing in our company sir" Victor shook the hand of his interlocutor and both got up. In this world, Victor was the CEO and owner of EA Tech, EA standing for Erodeus-Angevin, the last names of the company's cofunders, and as such he was absurdly rich. He was a genius, billionaire, philantropist, and according to some a playboy too. There wasn't much truth behind it, but he liked meeting girls once in a while. He did have a girlfriend, Ciara, but she was a gold digger and only cared about his money, and he kept her around just because it was nice to invest on someone else, and he had a few billions to spare. He didn't feel bad if he happened to spend time with other girls, and she was seeing something like four other men, so they weren't exclusive. It was a fake romance in the end.

Victor got in his car. "Where are we going?" Techno, his driver and old friend, asked.

"Let's go back" Victor replied. 'Back' was a luxury skyscraper Victor's company owned and usually rented. Victor himself lived overseas, in a mansion in Italy. However, a few weeks ago some business had required him to move to New York, and for a month and a half he'd been living in the attic. Sometimes other people came and went, but on this particular day the only people staying there were Ciara, Techno and Victor himself.

Techno turned on the engine and began to drive trough the busy streets of the Big Apple. Victor lazily looked out of the window, and once again he noticed her. She was sitting on the ground, holding a paper cup with a few coins and shivering under a torn blanket. Her clothes were torn and oversized and her blue hair was dirty and messy. She was a homeless person, the kind who sat on the side of a street begging for money and slept on grates to keep warm. Victor saw her every morning and every evening when going back and forth from the building where he would meet his clients and the skyscraper where he slept. Since his business there was done, he'd leave the following day, and he would probably never see her again. For some reason, this idea made him feel sad. He brushed it off: he didn't even know this woman, why should he care?

"We're leaving soon" He said to Techno "When can you get the jet ready?"

Techno was his driver for basically any veichle, and of course he was also his personal pilot "How about tomorrow after lunch?" He asked "This way you can wake up late and get ready"

Victor lifted his right arm and from his hand came a hologram of a schedule list "Sounds good" he said "I've got nothing to do tomorrow"

Back in his youth, Victor had experimented on his only possible subject, himself. Various parts of his body had been replaced by technology, a perfect advertisement for his company. He was a genius beyond what the world had previously seen. When he was just sixteen he programmed an incredibly complex AI based on his deceased best friend Jarvis. He was the mind, while his former business partner Hurricane was the one who sold and advertised Victor's invention, helping him fund his now successful company from scraps. Almost a year before, Hurricane has decided to retire, selling their half of the company to Victor and using the money to travel the world with their wife Stella and their adopted children Aster and Storm. Stella was pregnant now, if Victor recalled correctly. Marvels of modern technology, for a woman to be pregnant without a man. Victor instead had no children- his girlfriend Ciara was more like a sugar baby than an actual partner.

Techno stopped in front of Victor's skyscraper, allowing the billionaire to get off from the car before Techno went to park. Victor walked into the building,being greeted by a voice from the speakers "Wassup Vic?"

It was Jarvis, his personal AI. He had programmed it back when he was 16, shortly after his friend Jarvis died. Because of this, its personality was almost childish and it talked to Victor in a friendly tone when they were alone.