"Manual Grandpop, here to present my Master Popper!"
The lion-headed man paused to bask in the adoration and fanfare, oblivious to the actual looks James and his helpers gave him.
"My Master Popper has enough force to reach across multiple streets with no worry!"
Decanov's eyebrow had gone so high up it almost touched the small bump that served as the robot's approximation of hair on his forehead.
"And it's powerful stuff at that, too! I'm not talking about a small breeze here, even the edges of the blast will like they were right in the center!"
Techlord was alarmingly intrigued by the proposition, though James had least had the reassurance that it was more likely as a possible addition to his toolkit, not a marketable product. He hoped.
"Mister Grandpop, are you trying to sell us a bomb?"
The leonine man paused in his speech to send James a betrayed look. James, for his part, felt he had been very understanding so far. The black ball of death with a cartoonish skull painted on it and a fuse on top couldn't be described as anything else. Even the normally calm members of Silhouette's entourage were unnerved by the thing, to the point the strange screen robot Blake used to participate had guns bursting out of its sides and aimed at the inventor, something the target just now noticed as his disappointment turned to panic.
"Of course not, sir! I would never!"
"Mister Grandpop, all present in this room agree that this is a bomb."
"My Master Popper? Goodness gracious no! It's an instant party setter!"
"It has a skull on it.
"It's a muffin! With stylized wrapping and chocolate chips!"
"It has a fuse."
"Yes, like fireworks! Once it goes off, it spreads confetti, balloons, decorations, and cakes!"
James almost wished he had glasses he could pull down as he leaned forward.
"You are aware fireworks can be considered makeshift weaponry, correct? Have you tested this thing in a confined space?"
"Well, not the Gigamax version, but I have smaller models that-"
"What would happen should this Gigamax version be deployed, let's say, under a car?"
The tinker raised a clawed finger to answer before slowly lowering it.
"Why did you make it look like that anyway? This looks more at home on a children's show pirate ship or in a terrorist's armory than at a party."
Mesker shrugged.
"It could be a child's pirate-themed birthday party."
The other consultant turned to stare at the demonologist.
"What? I am simply pointing out a valid application of this design. I agree it shouldn't be the base one, but there is an argument to be made."
"Thank you, sir!"
"Not to mention, your self-defense tools can be considered weaponry as well. I agree this Gigamax thing sounds too dangerous, but I can see the smaller models getting popular. Did you bring any?"
The lion's sweaty forehead told them that no, he didn't.
"Would this Gigamax model be safe to deploy in this office?"
"Eh, it's a little too small. The Gigamax Master Popper is intended for garden parties."
"So you brought an untestable model for your presentation?"
"We could go outside and-"
"We specified in the application listing that outdoor inventions had to be listed as such to be scheduled on a later date. Your inability to follow directives and lack of care do not reassure me."
"Please-"
"We will call you."
The lion left, dejected. James had to admit the potential of holding various items in relatively small portable recipients was incredible, but that was it. The potential. Nothing the man had shown aside from this original idea was remotely good. He was afraid if he gave him a budget, he'd just make a bigger crater when his mistakes blew up in his face.
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"Debora Trunk, it's a pleasure."
The bulking boar woman moved her hand forward and James decided to agree to the handshake, a small tentacle rising from the desk to grasp her limb.
"The pleasure is ours."
A nod and a grunt of appreciation were his reward before she continued.
"I'm here to present my reinforced textile weave."
Techlord spoke up.
"I don't know if you've noticed lady, but we already have reinforced clothing."
She snorted.
"Yes, it's why I'm here. I took a good look and I can tell you those are deeply flawed."
Decanov raised an eyebrow. With how often the scientist did it, James had a feeling he didn't need to oil up that part of him all that often.
"Don't take this the wrong way. The silk you use is remarkable, the best I have ever managed to get my hands on. The cloth itself is another matter. Its make is no better than a shirt you would find in a thrift shop. Its quality solely comes from its material."
She pulled out an orange and a square of tissue from her designer jacket's inner pockets, placing them on the desk. More specifically, she put the cloth over the fruit before looking at James.
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"Go on, try and stab it."
James indulged her and a new tentacle emerged from the desk, ending in a sharp that quickly fell on her little display. It took much more force than James expected to finally damage the tissue, and that was after having a good guess of what her plan was. Debora for her part looked surprised James did manage to pierce the fruit's protection but she quickly regained her composure.
"See? Now imagine if instead it used your silk."
James nodded and hummed in appreciation.
"You make a wonderful point. However, I'm afraid we cannot commercialize what you think of."
This time she couldn't keep her surprise in check.
"What?"
"Apologies, allow me to explain. The clothing we produce is already at least equal to some military-grade armor. With your enhancements, we might reach something Supers struggle with. As such, we also risk the more unsavory parts of society using it."
Understanding and a sad look reached her eyes.
"I see."
"Let me say though, I find your work impressive. We could be able to provide you with an inferior grade of silk, one still superior to the industry standard, and reserve mixing your technique and our best materials for our private force and joint projects with the police and the Union."
A glimmer of hope returned, though it didn't break her serious attitude.
"Thank you, sir."
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"Howdy! The name's Malik Hornbent!"
James spared a glance at the lean unicorn man's perfectly straight horn jutting out his forehead.
"I know, I know, mom's genes fixed the quirk from my dad's. Even got rid of the usual spirally swirl."
Seeing something closer to a bone spike than the expected narwhal horn did surprise him.
"But enough about that!"
James wouldn't mention so far only Malik had spoken. The man had accurately predicted what went through his head, after all.
"So, when you heard your little speech, I knew I just had to try. I've been stuck in an office job for so long, it's time I turned my hobby into my work! Do what you love and all that jazz, yeah?"
James had a feeling his answer was unnecessary. A feeling proved correct the very next second.
"So, the problem was, I never did much for self-defense. I'm usually tinkering with small thingies during breaks, and nothing on that scale could compare to your stuff."
Techlord preened under the compliment, much to Decanov's annoyance.
"But! I found a solution! Lady and gentlemen, introducing Malik Hornbent's greatest thingamajig..."
The unicorn held his hands up and towards his audience, exposing some sort of origami dragonfly with miniature metal parts and diodes resting on his white hooven fingers. Ignoring the disturbingly cylindrical black fingernails and the impressive craft of the paper sculpture, James wasn't sure what was supposed to be so remarkable. Well, he knew it likely had to do with the tidbits strapped to the fake insect, but he had no idea what exactly those were supposed to do.
"Tada!"
"And what do you call this, Mister Hornbent?"
"I call it the Sneaky Portable Insect, or SPI!"
"And what is its intended use?"
The unicorn put down his craft on the desk before pulling out a pair of glasses from his shorts' pockets and placing the obviously modified item over his eyes. The fact he had to use string to attach the glasses' branches to his ears wasn't missed, though he didn't remark on it. Done with that Malik whistled, prompting the paper bug to buzz up into the air and start fleeting about.
"The SPI was made to cover an aspect of self-defense most people forget: avoiding conflict entirely!"
Mesker and Decanov hummed.
"Go on."
"See, there's a teensy tiny bit of surveillance equipment on the SPI. Nothing capable of actual spy work, but think of it like that third eye on that lizard's species."
Mesker gained a questioning look.
"The Insightful Drake?"
"Nah, the mundane one. Bah, doesn't matter. The idea is this little buddy watches out for changes in luminosity and movement. Perfect to notice someone sneaking in the dark or when you're being followed. It can't record what it sees and, again, what it does see isn't all that great. But! The idea isn't to have a second pair of eyes, rather it's a crutch for your instincts."
James nodded.
"Was what a man in the dark or a pile of clothes? Is that feeling of being followed warranted or just paranoia? My buddy here will help you with that!"
"And once there is confirmation there is possibly danger afoot, the user can then take their precautions and ready other products or warn the authorities."
Malik made finger guns - and James had to admit the sound of the clacking hooves was somewhat satisfying - and grinned at his audience.
"That's just right!"
He then passed the glasses to test them. Despite his altered sight, James did notice the small square in the corner with three different lights, likely indicating different levels of detection. That intuition was proven correct when he made tentacles to test the bug, and the fact it did notice the movement in the sea of darkness greatly surprised him. he repeated that little test when the others got their turn, though Decanov, Techlord, and Blake all struggled a bit considering the circumstances - the robot's lack of ears, the teen's large helmet, and Blake being on the other side of a screen.
Once everyone had their turn, Techlord was the first to speak.
"I like it. It's small and harmless, might be easier to sell than our usual stuff."
Decanov grunted pensively.
"I will agree the result is interesting enough, but its making worries me. I fear this may be a little too delicate for our current machinery."
The teen genius leaped at the opportunity to taunt his junior employee.
"Oh? Are you saying you can't do it?"
The Draskian robot scoffed.
"Of course I can. The problem stems from the need for brand-new machines and parts. I made our initial lineup by modifying old abandoned models, something this small and fragile will need its own original fabricator. I can do it, but the necessary parts will be costly, limiting the number of machines and thus production. You can't think that placing those devices on an origami was an easy task."
The former Vigilante pouted behind his mask, though his body language wonderfully picked up the slack to share his thoughts, crossing his arms and turning his head away. Mesker lightly shook his head before speaking.
"Could it be possible to replace those technological parts with magic?"
He turned his gaze to the rune scribe who thought for a few seconds before answering.
"I think we could directly inscribe the enchantments on sheets of paper before folding them."
The demonologist nodded at her words.
"Then we have a potential solution. Have scribes enchant these sheets like parchment and then bring those to a machine to automate the folding of the origami. The link between the glasses and the dragonfly can then be made by pairing finished items together."
Blake's screen buzzed before the man's image came to life.
"A wonderful plan, but if I may? I believe removing the glasses outright and either sneaking in an alarm in the drone or shifting it to a pin or a trinket would be better. Our situation earlier is already displaying one of the issues of going forward with glasses: you cannot rely on a single standard, you have to accommodate varying morphologies which means different models and different batches. There's also the issue of those already wearing glasses, unless you plan on imitating uncomfortable universal 3D glasses you are asking people to choose between sight and your product."
The businessman tilted his head before continuing.
"With that said, I do like what I see."
James agreed. Once they figured out the problems with manufacturing those origami, the SPI would make for a wonderful product.
"Mister Hornbent, what do you have to say?"
"Eh, you're the big bosses, not me. I don't know the first thing about magic but I like that you like my idea. But, huh, if you use magic, do I still get hired?"
"It depends. I will be frank, there is a possibility we ask to buy your idea rather than hire you. Let me assure you, you would be benefitting from our sales anyway. But that is only a possibility. Just because we found a possible more efficient alternative to your design this time doesn't mean it would always be the case."
The unicorn oohed and aahed, which left James thinking he didn't fully understand his explanation.
"In any case, if no one has any further remark, this will mark the end of your interview. We will call you to share our decision."
Malik made finger guns again before leaving, his creation flying behind him.
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"Next."
The one stepping in this time was a pale short chubby girl, her nervous blue eyes peeking through her long ginger hair as she stared everywhere. She froze when she noticed Mesker before fidgeting as she walked forward, holding her bag against her chest. She sat on her chair when James invited her to and she signed the contract after giving it a thorough read, spending more time on it than any other applicant this far.
She took in a deep breath before speaking.
"Hello. I am Maggie Thespian. I would like to begin by saying what I will present today was supposed to be a magitech joint effort between a friend and me, but she sadly had to renounce. As such, I could only provide the magic part."
James paused for a moment. He had a feeling he knew who this was. After all, no one else had mentioned a similar story so far, and they were nearing the end of the day.
He still felt uncomfortable hiring someone from HardCored and mixing his professional and private lives, but he would at least hear what she had to say.