Startup 1.5

[April 12th 2011 ; 05:27 AM]

Director Piggot spent some moments to calm down, after which she attached the USB to her laptop and slid it over to Armsmaster, who started looking through the schematics.

The woman seemed to shrug off any signs of her being surprised. "I see. Mr Amel, let's pretend that what you say is true." She joins her hands on top of the table. "Then what would be your terms."

Harrison chose that moment to intervene.

"120 million."

I could literally feel the heat building to the woman's face. "I can't give you one million, let alone a 120, that offer is extremely presumptuous."

"Ah." So that's why she got angry. "I think there's been a misunderstanding, we're not here to sell a certain number of guns or to equip your troops. But we're hoping to use your local branch of the PRT to sell both the rights to produce and sell them to the PRT as an organization, and by extension, the government."

She visibly calms down at that, and a slivery, slight glint of excitement shows on her eyes.

"To be straightforward, 120 million for that deal is kind of cheap, the deal will include instructions on the creation and assembly process of the gun in an industrial capacity, along with several -if slight- innovations that will shorten their production time considerably, which could also be used in other products." 

"But we are here as a gesture of faith, cooperation with the PRT is something that we value, and that we see ourselves doing for the times to come because let's be honest, someone will try to limit my technology for some reason, claiming it's some sort of Tinkertech, and I expect, the PRT as the premiere expert in Parahuman matters, to kill any claims in the bud as the money grab that it is."

Harrison gave me a frown at the admission, I gave up a weakness that would allow them to negotiate more, but I could see that Piggot thought it was too good to be true, she had to have some sort of motive behind us just selling them valuable technology on the cheap instead of holding it over them like a guillotine.

And sure enough, imperceptible to anyone without my senses, the woman really relaxed when she thought she had a button to push.

Armsmaster looked to have finished checking the blueprints, as he wrote something on the keyboard and discreetly showed it to his boss, who took a look at it, and her expression became much more serious.

I gave Henry a look, it seems that he confirmed the validity of my claims.

"If what you say is true, then I'm going to bring this up the chain, are you willing to wait until I have conversed with them?" She asked.

"Now?" I answered.

At her nod, I looked questionably at my lawyer, who just shrugged.

"Alright, how much time do you need."

The Director stood up alongside Armsmaster. "Shouldn't be more than an hour." She said.

I crashed into my seat as they left, for all my bravado, this was the most crucial part of my business plan, and by extension, my efforts at rebuilding this city. So I was understandably very anxious.

You see, the issue with Brockton Bay is that ever since the shipping industry practically collapsed due to Leviathan's efforts, the economy shifted from production and commerce to finance and banking, and so while the rich were able to recuperate and make more money, the middle and poor classes found themselves without jobs and began to gravitate toward crime.

This made the city a very lucrative opportunity for villainous capes, as they had a very big base of desperate people willing to commit crimes in exchange for keeping their lives. And so it is stuck in a never-ending cycle where the Gangs get to recruit people, use those people to ruin other people's lives, and then recruit those same people.

And right now, I could pay a visit to every single criminal organization and take away their capes, but it won't change anything, someone else like Accord from Boston -or worse, the Teeth- would smell blood and move in, or some new Parahuman would trigger and use what remains of the gangs to start his or hers own criminal enterprise.

No, the source of the misery in this city is the economy, most people only consider crime once all other options are moot, so all I have is to be a better option than the neo-Nazi skinheads. the equally racist ABB, or the jokes that are the Merchants. Easy.

I spent the remaining time speaking with Henry about the meeting, he thought I did a decent job at convincing them, and after thinking for a while, agreed with my views on Piggot.

"She was a PRT trooper, apparently they forced her to direct this city once she lost a kidney at the attack on Nilbog, and is one of the two human survivors of that whole debacle. She has a set of balls made of steel, that woman." He said.

On an unrelated note, over the meeting, I noticed something quite peculiar about Armsmaster, I never actually had the chance to deeply analyze him and his power armor, but I noticed that when he was observing the files, a certain signal would come from nowhere straight to his brain to what I assume is his Corona Pollentia, I couldn't feel where it came from, but it was definitely extra-dimensional, so I could safely assume it is his power. His armor was also shielded in a manner that escaped my senses, or at least parts of it that seemed to be essential to its usage.

So I can safely surmise that the source of parahuman powers is definitely multi-dimensional and that Tinkertech is blackboxed through similar means, which is unfair because my sensing field can't extend over dimensions.

After almost exactly an hour, Director Piggot and Armsmaster came back with their laptop. The former sat in front of us, placed her laptop on the table, then turned the screen toward us.

"Gentlemen, please do meet PRT Director Costa-Brown." She gestured toward a stoic Latino woman on the screen.

"Pleased to meet you." The woman spoke, but no pleasure was actually shown. "I have decided that due to the nature of your offer, it would be expedient if I were to be responsible for finalizing the negotiations. You are selling to the whole organization after all."

It took me a while to respond, but I didn't show my nerves, we expected something like this, after all.

"A pleasure to meet you too, Ma'am." I smiled. "I'm sure Director Piggot relayed to you the gist of our offer, but is there anything you would like me to elaborate on."

"Not quite, Armsmaster already confirmed the validity of your claims, and Dragon seemed quite excited at the prospect of their usage." Dragon saw my gun?! "However, we believe your offer is quite a bit much, the PRT's budget is not as unending as some people believe."

There it is, Harrison and co. had spent most of their time choosing a number just big enough to be annoying to the PRT, but not actually outrageous.

We both looked at each other and made a show of thinking it over. "Tell you what," I answered. "We actually planned to use some of that money to buy a couple of warehouses, factories, and such, in order to jumpstart the company and begin production, It is known that the government had bought out several businessmen in order to fight against the economic decline of the city, and most of those properties are still gathering dust."

"We'd like some of these properties at a heavily discounted price, plus a 100 million."

"We'd like to know those properties first." She paused. "But that can be doable."

We spent more than an hour negotiating the details, we primarily chose properties that exist in the Docks/Trainyard, just beyond PRT territory but not deep into the Gangs, Harrison recommended some that were inside the Protectorate patrol schedule, but I refused, I will be responsible for keeping our territory, I'm strong enough to do that at least, and I'm hoping to recruit more capes to help. I got 5 million out of that at least.

I am making up some security measures of course, and I may also hire Enforcers like the moguls at the Broadwalk. 

"Alright, I believe we can have a deal, Mr Amel." She pauses in contemplation. "I am obligated to ask, however, are you prepared for the consequences? From the Parahuman side of course."

Ah, that.

There aren't a lot of Parahumans who try to put their powers to humanitarian use, and those that do are usually quite powerful, like Dragon. There are a lot of reasons for that, but the most relevant is the Simurgh. 

The Simurgh is one of the endbringers, and while Leviathan brings tsunamis and ruins islands and cities, she gets to turn people batshit crazy and tends to target people or projects that would have some great improvement in mundane life, her most famous victim is the other reason, Mannequin.

Mannequin, formerly Sphere, is a Tinker who specializes in enclosed spaces, he almost built a Moon Base and was driven crazy by the Simurgh, who killed his whole family on one of her attacks, he is a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine who likes to target Tinkers who try to do the same thing as him.

Doing what I do, I'll not only have to contend with greedy corporations and corrupt politicians but also with these two menaces.

Thankfully my powerset means I'll probably stay safe, the only one who scares me is the Siberian, but everyone is scared of that bitch.

"There are no worries, ma'am, I already envisioned and am prepared for such a scenario." I gave her a smile.

Her face is as impassive as ever, but she nods nonetheless. "I see." She says. "Then our conversation is over, pleasure doing business with you Mr. Amel. Costa-Brown out." And the screen shuts off.

My lawyer stands up, buttons his suit, and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Well, that's that. We should go, Amel."

I awkwardly stand up. "Uh, yeah." I wave at the two as we're leaving. "Good doing business with you!" I exclaim.

"How long until the patents go through." I ask Harrison as soon as we leave the building.

Henry opens the door for me. "I used some of our company's considerable resources, the United States Patent and Trademark Office is bankrolled by some very rich companies to keep a team of Thinkers to check if patents are valid. Granted, they are only used on high-priority items, but I think ours more than counts." He gets in the driver's seat, letting out a short sigh of comfort.

"Usually it's going to be 22 months, but with these new measures I think we're going to have them by next week." He says.

"That's good, and how about CEO candidates, any promising ones yet?" I ask. "I may be able to act as one at first, but I'm more of a CRO(Chief Research Officer.), I can easily keep up, but I don't have the chops to excel."

"Uh, yeah. We have a couple of candidates, but there's one I think you might really like." As we reach a red light, he slides his hand to the glove box and points at the files. "They're files are there, I think you're gonna choose one of them in particular."

I read the files on the way, my new processing abilities meaning that a look is usually enough to get every word on a page, and true enough, most of them were... boring.

Sure they've got the golden resumes and the amazing accolades, but when you read further in it, they just employ usual business tactics, hedge risks, push the competition out, and spend a sh*t ton of money on advertising. It's a boring stategy for boring companies, the exact opposite of what I needed.

One guy though, he was interesting, one Kelton Lakin, British guy, black hair, green eyes, he looked handsome and young, but his smile was uncharacterisly goofy, like a nerd speaking about his favorite brand of electronics, which kinda endeared him to me from first impression. He usually heads startups or declining companies and has incredible results in most cases, but he seems to quit just before the company sells out to a conglomerate, or he gets fired for "unenterprising behavior".

Seeing my interested expression, Henry lets out a warm guffaw. "You got to him then? Yeah, he's known for being passionate, tends to favor actual results over monetization, he always makes a profit though, but investors and owners usually get annoyed at him, since they think he's losing them a lot of money."

"So this guy is some naive dude?" I ask.

"Oh hell no, he's ruthless to the opposition and is always looking out for the company like a hawk, a lot of people try to take advantage of his "ingenuous" nature, but they generally end up sucked dry and stabbed in the back." He snaps his hand in realization. "He's like a realist in actions but an idealist at heart, you know?"

"Interesting." I look out the window to see the Kirk & Clark HQ. "Kelton Lakin, huh? Can't wait to see him."

When we get in his office's floor, the usually calm and collected Cory, Henry's assistant, runs up to us.

"Boss! Boss!" He calls out.

Henry puts a hand on his assistant's shoulder. "Calm down, what's going on?"

"That guy, Kelton Lakin? He's at your office!" He exclaims.

And sure enough, over the glass is the guy, looking all suave and stuff, his silly smile tinged with quite some smugness as he gives us a wave.

We hurriedly get in. "Hello Mr. Harrison, I heard through the grapevine that you were investigating me for a job offer, so considering your reputation, I thought it'd surely be my cup of tea." He then sips -ironically- his cup of tea. "So what's the job?" He speaks, with a smooth accent.

Harrison is somewhat unsettled, even though it doesn't show, so I step forward and sit next to the chair adjacent to the man.

"First of all," I say. "You're hired."

Kelton just raises a brow. "Just like that?" He asks.

I shrug. "What can I say, you seem like fun?" I smirk. "Plus, I read your file."

"Oh." He laughs. "That explains it! But I believe I must know why you need me first?"

"Alright, here's the gist..."

I explained to him the idea behind Uplift Industries and the details of our meeting with the PRT. Harrison obviously interjects (spoilsport) and practically forces Lakin to sign an NDA.

I could feel through my sixth sense -some- surprise from the man, but he was very calm, even if some of my claims were somewhat out there, he took them in stride.

Henry seemed to already consider the man hired, so after the NDA he just handed him papers that were signed by Director Piggot as a proxy for Costa-Brown, there were also details about our marketing/production plans.

Again, the guy was very unfazed by all of it, I would know, I can literally feel his heart beating after all.

Kelton softly throws some papers on the table. "Ok, I think I get the gist of it." He smiles. "This... This is revolutionary, if you do it well, you could make billions, easily. But most importantly for you, you may completely change the world."

I offhandedly wave at him. "One step at a time. Anyway, what do you think?" I ask.

"Well, everything looks to be streamlined." He comments. "The only thing I think you missed is that you don't take advantage of government contracts, I get why you sold the rights of the Stun Gun, you said?" I nod. "I get why you used that to get starting capital, but I don't see any mention of plans to do it again, from the government agencies, from the Police, PRT, the FBI, I believe most of them would benefit from a litany of ideas. Although we could secure some royalties this time."

"But that would go against our marketing plan." Interjects Harrison.

"Oh, I get it, you want to reduce the marketing costs by using Mr. Amel's contributions as a selling point, right? People have tried the eccentric genius owner method ever since Dragon Tech's marketing budget was disclosed. And I believe it will work, your products are no tinker tech, but they clearly are more accessible." He says, looking at me at the last remark.

I don't pretend to understand what he's saying, the whole marketing strategy wasn't even my choice, I'm just the prodigal scientist after all, but Lakin clearly sees the reluctant expression on Henry's face.

"You ever used a laser pointer on a cat, Mr. Harrison?" He questions.

"What?" 

"When I was a kid we had this Siamese cat, we called it 'Spot', my father thought it was funny when he named it." He smiles. "But Spot was an energetic cat, maybe it was the name but he wouldn't sit still, he would break cutleries, scratch the sofa, he even shattered a TV screen one time. So my dad brought a laser pointer, and whenever the cat would get antsy, he'd use it on the empty wall, the cat would follow until it was exhausted, and voila! We could finally rest in peace."

"We would use the pointer day after day after day, and let me tell you, Spot was by no means smart, but he wasn't stupid, and one day he simply realized that the laser came from this thingy on my father's arm, the next day, he got antsy so my pops brought his ol' trusty pointer, but this time, Spot ran at the pointer like a cat possessed, and in order to finally get at the source of the shiny point, he would claw at my father's hand."

"In fact, he was so into it that my dad's finger almost got detached, so we never used a pointer on Spot ever again."

Harrison sighs. "That was a very nice analogy Mr. Lakin, but I don't get what it has to do with selling to the government." He questions.

"Well, let's say you sell to the PRT, suddenly the PRT has some sort of super tech tool, and it's mass-producible, they obviously hide where it comes from, to protect their clients and such. But they get more and more products like that, obviously whoever does give them those tools gets a lot of props from the organization, but as much as the government would like to secure the goose that lays the golden eggs, everyone starts to notice the link between this new technology, and this new company in Brockton Bay that makes similar technology."

Harrison's face brightens up, he was originally against giving the PRT more exclusive rights to some of his technology, his "paid by the hour" lawyer brain couldn't come to terms with losing the constant source of income that comes with government production contracts, but he seems to be more amenable to just outright selling the rights.

"That's better than any marketing. Because the only thing consumers like more than priceless things are priceless things that someone else owns." Kelton smiles. "You'd get more business than god."