It's in the fine print
It was as easy as paperwork. Of course it was. Jon laughed as he signed his name on the prefilled contract for the transition of the Head of the Magnus Institute. The institute and all its people were tied to Jon now. He could feel the shift and understood Elias really had no idea what his death could do to any of the employees. It was just tiny threads that pulled people back if they went too far.
Sasha had found while ‘cleaning’ Elias’s office getting it ready for Peter. A drawer that didn’t seem to have anything special of note to it, and mixed in with various other paperwork. Sasha had planned to clean it out to stuff in all of Elias’ items in, even if she needed to break a few pens to make it fit. But instead, she found the contract that was for signing over Head of the Institute, pre-filled save for the name of who would be taking it over.
It had taken her a minute to really process what she was looking at before calling Jon up to make sure she wasn’t overthinking what she was looking at. Tim ended up tailing along as well, mostly claiming he wanted to mess with Elias’ stuff.
With one look at it, Jon was able to Know that it was pre-filled because when Elias was transferring bodies, he needed to be able to sign it quickly with his new name otherwise it would count as ‘dying’ and ruin whatever he had put in place to bind people to their job.
It made sense. Everyone that Elias manipulated into serving the Eye was bound by contracts so Elias wouldn’t be exempt.
The three of them stood around the desk looking at the paperwork that now read Jonathan Sims name in bold ink.
“Right, well. I suppose I’m-” Jon looked conflicted. “I guess I’m the reason you all are stuck here, I don’t think this includes the ability to fire you all or I would do so immediately.”
“So great to know you want to fire us so badly. Gotta say, rather you than Elias. The alone takes a weight off.” Tim looked annoyed, but that was entirely not directed at Jon. “You gunna let him know you just fired his ass?”
“I. No. I don’t think so. I’ll let him figure it out on his own. Emailing Lukas about it seems like a good idea. I would rather him not be around. Though... Sasha was expected to be in place till Elias came back.” Jon looked at Sasha with an apologetic look. “Do you mind handling some of the paperwork? Martin and I can help, but it would be too alarming for me to step in out of nowhere.”
“I don’t mind at all. There are worse jobs.” Sasha put a hand on Jon’s shoulder with a smile. “Do you even want to be the head? I mean, not that Elias was any sort of a social person, but you are- less?”
“It only seems fair? Since it’s-”
“Since it’s on paperwork that no one is going to look at or notice. Far as anyone knows, Peter left me to handle all the duties Elias stuck him with? And pretty sure only the Eye cares about what is on this paper. Far as the government is concerned, Elias is in charge, and if I read the terms properly, no matter how many more of these he tried to make for the Eye to witness, only ones you sign from here on out are valid.”
Jon finally smiled. “Thank you. Time to fill everyone else in. I think this requires a celebration.”
“Gasp! Jonathan Sims suggesting we party from noon to dawn to celebrate his rise to power? It’s already gone to his head.” Tim posed dramatically while leaning onto Sasha.
“Oh no! We need to hurry to get Martin before the effects are permanent.” Sasha chimed in as Jon buried his face in his hands.
“If I could I would fire you both.”
---
It wasn’t a noon to dawn party that Tim had predicted, but he and Sasha would be taking the next day off to recover. Everyone else faired a little better, but weren’t planning on working for the day either.
Jon left them in the guest room as he headed to his mini archive to just take a moment to absorb the events of the day.
There was so much still left to do, but Jon found a sense of accomplishment he was convinced would never come. Sasha was not not!them, even if she was still a little different. Tim wasn’t going to blow himself up, which that thought reminded Jon he still had to figure out what to do about the Unknowing. Nikola had started taking to texting him about it. Elias was handled, in both removing him from the institute and stopping their ritual.
Martin was safe. Jon rotated the ring he’d gotten with the help from Georgie. Jon wanted to ask him soon. And he had the perfect idea how.