Another Secret Origins story for Hel on Earth. Same universe (and characters) as the Bodyguard.

Stephanie was way too overqualified to be a secretary. She knew it; her boss knew it; and anyone who looked at her resume knew it. Someone who had degrees in computer science and engineering, who spoke three languages, could have better career than personal assistant to a billionaire with ADD.

Stephanie met Andy Stone in college. He’d been irritating and she had been rude. Anyone who commented on her miniskirt (which Andy had) without noticing that it was inspired by the Daleks from Doctor Who (which Andy had not mentioned) was not worth her time. Stephanie was the classic definition of a knockout, with long blond hair and legs. She was also just about the biggest fangirl it was possible to meet. Stephanie learned Japanese just so that she would not have to wait for the subtitles of her favorite anime. She went into computer science and engineering because she thought that if anything SciFi related was going to happen anytime soon it would be in that field. And she wore clothing inspired by her fandoms to filter the boys interested in her looks from the boys interested in her interests… and her looks.

Andy, as it turned out, was interested in her brain. Not long after the incident with her miniskirt Stephanie snidely made a comment about a mistake he’d made in his programming. She hadn’t known at the time that Andy was a “self-made” genius. It was rare for him to make a mistake, and rarer for someone else to catch it. The next thing Stephanie knew she was being paired with the man for every project in every class they shared. Stephanie quickly learned there was more to Andy than a slightly older than normal rich frat boy. He knew a lot more than she expected. Andy had very nearly gotten a degree in chemistry and biology before proceeding to computer science. He left that before he got his degree too.

By the time Stephanie obtained her degrees, Andy’s billionaire parents were insisting Andy take a more active role in one of their companies. Andy offered to pay off Stephanie’s student loans if she’d work as his personal assistant. At first she said no. That was when Andy used her weakness. He took her to robotics demonstrations that his company was running. He showed her behind the scenes work about advanced AI programming that the company was doing. He even let her look at classified plans for the space program for a government contract.

Stephanie accepted the job. Not because of the loans, or the exorbitant salary, but because if anything interesting (a.k.a. SciFi related) was going to happen during Stephanie’s lifetime, Andy Stone was going to be right in the middle of it. Stephanie wanted to make sure that she was involved too.

 This one's a bit of a monster. The Bodyguard is a prequel to a longer story I've been working on called Hel on Earth. Hel on Earth is a favorite among my friends who have been dying for me to actually write it out. I will! But I wanted to write a bit about some of the characters you won't meet until the second story, just to get an idea of them. The first story The Stolen Soul will come out within a few months... Hopefully... I'm having some trouble with the hook.

Either way the Bodyguard is very long, so if you only have a minute I'd recommend you go back and read yesterday's story, The New Life, or one of the older Blog Stories, like Living with a Hero or the ever popular Cause and Effect.

Forgive the lack of information on the Hel on Earth page. I lost the original cover before I finished painting it, so there isn't even artwork. I'll whip something up soon. Promise!

I hope that you are enjoying this month's story a day challenge! Leave comments for The Bodyguard here! (I'm not entirely sure how to enable comments on a standard page. I'll look into that.)