The Protagonist System

263 Recruitment Intermission

I was finally able to sneak back to the farm and retrieve my baby spaceship. It was surprisingly intact, even after traversing a planetary explosion, travelling through space, and plunging through another planet's atmosphere and impacting the ground. That's a win for Kryptonian technology right there.

I brought it into my underground base and into the designated area for research. It was a nice lab, if a bit basic, especially compared to what I knew a Kryptonian lab should look like. I just didn't have the resources or materials to construct or reproduce that kind of advanced tech without knowing the chemical composition of said materials or the needed quantities.

Until now, that is. Having different vision modes in my own eyes was fantastic for things like that. I didn't need to use the electron microscope and let my eyes show me what the metal was composed of, giving me new ideas on how to make alloys and increase the tensile strength of normal materials by applying Kyptonian knowledge to them.

Even the basic glass of the pod's viewing window would revolutionize the entire industry of safety glass and car manufacturing. Bulletproof? Try anything proof. It was so dense that a bullet would bounce off of it without cracking it or scratching it. It could also work as moderate radiation shielding and that alone would make it worth a fortune.

I hadn't even tried digging into the information stored in the pod's computer system and I was already potentially going to become the richest person on the planet, even with all the super science and technology that already existed. Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, Hank Pym, and Lex Luthor had nothing on me.

With the seed money I already had, I could easily set up manufacturing facilities and would dominate any market I introduced any product to. It was a heavy feeling to know I could do something like that, especially if I diversified my burgeoning company, so that if anything happened to any of those products, it wouldn't take the entire company down with it.

I had to do a bit of research first as well. I didn't know how to set up a company or where to buy the setups for creating a factory floor for producing technology. Do they sell full robots for that or just those arm things? What attachments did they have? Welders? Cutters? Grabbers? I had no clue and might need someone like Pepper Potts to come in to handle all of that for me.

Now I was wondering who I could contact to do things like that. I didn't want just anyone for something so important, so I stepped from the underground base to the alleyway near the New York City library. If anywhere would have access to the information I needed, it would be there.

The computers were fairly good, if eclectic with Stark stickers on the monitors and had Luther Corp internals in the computer itself. It took me a few minutes to strip out all of the tracking software and to disable the warnings that change would have sent to both companies. Sneaky bastards were keeping an eye on all traffic and not just the suspicious stuff, of which I was totally going to be doing today.

Surprisingly, I found a viable target almost right away. Susan Storm. She was right here in New York and had just graduated from college, as had Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom, and she was looking for a job.

Her qualifications were a little beyond what I thought I needed, which was an assistant for now that could grow into something better later, then I remembered I had yet to go through the Kryptonian database on the ship and her expertise handling things like that would be invaluable. If there was anyone on the planet that could take those things and rework them to become profitable and not screw me over for it, it was her.

I checked for a few others I thought might be available as well, like Betty Ross and Pamela Isley for research, since the timeline was kind of an integrated composite of several films and television series, including the animated ones and even some comics. It was quite the mix and gave me a lot of leeway to do things, which I planned to take full advantage of.

On a lark, I also checked for Pepper Potts and was surprised she was available. I had thought Tony had her as an assistant for years and she had grown into the role as his second in command, then I chuckled and compared her with Sue Storm. Neither of them had become involved with their future significant others yet and that was great for me.

Once I found their contact information, I realized that I couldn't have those conversations right there in the public library. I left after wiping out my search history and felt like I needed to arrange a face-to-face meeting with each of them to see if they were who I thought they were going to be.

I stopped near a nice cafe that was both casual an a little upscale, which would be perfect for what I planned. I arranged for one of the rear tables that was more private for the afternoon and paid for the privilege. The first number I called was Susan Storm, since she was the first one I had found when I went looking. I took out my cell phone, the advanced one I had in Worm, and I placed the call.

“Hello? Who is this?” A woman's voice asked.

I recognized it as the same one I heard during one of the Fantastic Four movies and I could definitely work with that. “Good morning, Miss Storm. My name is Clark Kent and I saw your job application for an assistant position at Luther Corp. I was wondering if you were open to a much better and less restricting offer and the possibility of becoming super-rich?”

Sue was quiet for several seconds. “Is this a prank call?”

“I didn't ask if your refrigerator was running, did I?” I asked and let her hear my amusement.

Sue let out a cute snort and a soft chuckle. “I've already caught it, thank you.”

I chuckled as well. “It's nice to know you are a woman of culture.”@@novelbin@@

Sue laughed. “All right, Mister Kent. You have my attention.”

“Excellent. Do you need me to pick you up for your interview or do you want to make your way over to La Bouche Cafe on your own?” I asked her.

Sue hummed for a moment. “I'm about 20 blocks from downtown, so you can come and pick me up. I should be ready by the time you can make it through traffic.”

I thought about saying I was already downstairs, since a single step would put me there, and changed my mind. “I'd be more than happy to pick you up in an hour, Miss Storm. See you then.”

“Wait!” Sue gasped and I did and didn't hang up. “How will I recognize you?”

“I'm tall, have dark hair, and I'm outrageously handsome. You'll notice me right away.” I joked and she made another snort sound and softly chuckled. “I should be the only person wearing a yellow rose in the lobby and will be difficult to miss.”

“I'll keep an eye out for it.” Sue responded. “Until then.”

“Until then.” I said and hung up. I ordered a coffee and a plate of scones with jelly and cream, just so I wasn't sitting there with nothing to do and wasting the cafe's time.

I thought about calling the others to set up appointments and decided to wait. I had all day to make contact with them and needed to travel to their places to meet them, so doing it now might make them worry if I was going to show up later. Being there and calling them was a much better idea, like I just had with Susan, and that was what I would do.

*

Susan Storm had been a little leery about someone calling her number out of the blue like that, then he had made her laugh. It was a stupid joke and it was perfect for breaking the tension she had been feeling. It also let her relax a bit and she decided to give the guy a shot. He had a nice voice as well, so it wouldn't hurt to see if his other joke about being overly handsome was really a joke.

She left her apartment and went down in the elevator to the lobby of the building, slightly worried she might not find him in the small crowd that was usually there. The time between the call and getting ready had given her enough time to brace for the meeting to be a waste of time and she schooled her face into a professional facade that all of her practice interviews had pretty much demanded of her when she met with important people.

When the elevator doors opened, Susan walked out of the elevator and into the lobby with determination, only to immediately break character and start laughing at what she saw. A 6 foot tall young man stood right in the middle of the lobby with a potted plant balanced on top of his head and it had the largest yellow rose she had ever seen sticking out of it, adding another two feet to his height.

Clark walked over to her with a huge smile on his face. “I couldn't find one for my lapel.”

Susan laughed and laughed, almost hugging him as she held on to him for balance, and she needed a few minutes to collect herself and calmed down. She had been worried about trying to find a small rose on a man's suit and hadn't expected for him to do something so outrageous. Everyone was looking at him, too.

Once she took several breaths, Susan straightened her back and looked up into his bright blue eyes. She saw that he hadn't been joking at all and actually was overly handsome, which made her feel a little tingly down there. Her mind briefly flashed to what Reed Richards looked like and her brain made the comparison right away.

Clark Kent was head and shoulders better looking than the ignorant young man she had a crush on. That wasn't really fair to Reed, since he was never one to pursue physical activities, and it showed with his thin arms and barely there legs. Clark on the other hand, whatever he did for work, definitely brought out his muscles and made him into quite the specimen of male perfection.

Susan's hands slightly caressed his arms though his suit coat before she let him go and stepped back. “Clark Kent, I assume?” She asked and held her hand out.

“It's nice to meet you.” Clark said and took her hand, shook it for a moment, then he bent down slightly and lifted it to his lips to lightly kiss the back of it.

“How did you not spill the pot?” Susan asked.

“I stuck it to my head to keep it steady.” Clark said and Susan had to clamp her mouth shut to stop her laugh. “I may have gone a little overboard with this.”

“O-only a little.” Susan said with a bright smile on her face.

Clark motioned towards the front door. “Your chariot awaits.”

Susan nodded and let him keep her hand as he led her outside and she let out the laugh she had been holding in when she saw the old-fashioned English-style taxi cab waiting for them. It even had the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car.

Clark opened the back door and helped her inside, then he spent a minute removing the potted plant from his head and handed it to her. “Just ignore the hairy bottom for now. I'll clean it off later.”

Susan laughed and deliberately felt the bottom of the pot to see if he really did sacrifice some hair for her and she was pleasantly surprised to find that he did. It made her feel a little happy that he went through so much trouble for her, and it was only for an interview.

Clark walked around the car and climbed into the driver's side and sat behind the steering wheel. To Susan's surprise and delight, he put on a ridiculous cabbie hat, flipped the little switch to turn on the meter, then he drove out into traffic.

“I wouldn't trust anyone else to drive around someone so important.” Clark said without turning back to see the surprise on her slightly red face.

It seemed to take much less time to go from her apartment to the cafe and Susan couldn't explain it. She was dropped off in front of the cafe and a waitress led her inside. A minute later, Clark entered the cafe and walked right over to the table and sat across from her.

“I paid off the manager and the waitress to hold this table while I went to get you.” Clark said and ordered a coffee and a club sandwich.

Susan ordered the same thing and gave him a searching look.

“Should we wait until after the meal or should I bring out the contracts and NDAs right now?” Clark asked her.

Susan needed a few moments to think about that and the coffee arrived. She added the things she liked to it and sipped it, and nodded. “Let's see them.”

Clark pulled a folder out of somewhere and handed it to her. Susan opened it and sipped her coffee as she read through them. The NDAs were standard and nothing she hadn't seen before. The contracts on the other hand were pretty involved and she spent the time until their food arrived reading through them.

Susan ate the sandwich absently as she thought over the clauses, the salary, and the flexible work hours. It was definitely one of the best contracts she had ever seen being offered for an assistant position and she wondered what the catch was.

“I know that look.” Clark said and drank the last of the soda served with the sandwich. “The NDA first, just in case.”

Susan signed it without hesitation and initialled her acceptance that she would be sued if she ever talked about what she heard or saw while working for him.

Clark smiled and made a small portal that no one else could see and a cell phone dropped out of it. The problem was, Susan had never seen anything like it. It was extremely slim, lightweight, and didn't look anything at all like the ones on the current market.

“Turn it on.” Clark ordered.

Susan picked it up and examined it, then held onto the power button for a couple of seconds. The screen appeared, taking up the entire face of the phone, and it asked for her fingerprint. She gave him a raised eyebrow and he smiled, so she put her index finger on the screen. The phone beeped at her and then showed her an operating system she had never seen before.

“I need your help planning out how to manufacture them.” Clark said. “Once we have that, and the facilities built to handle it, you'll be in charge of sales, hiring, expansions, and anything else you want to do.”

Susan played with the thing without answering him and it was both intuitive and also fast. Whatever technology was inside the thing, there was no slowdown or lag as she somehow searched the internet with a browser that should have only worked on a desktop computer system.

“I'm in.” Susan said and put the phone down and signed the contract.

Clark looked stunned and Susan barked a laugh.

“You expected me to negotiate the salary?” Susan asked.

“That, where the factory is located, where your office will be, and who you'll be in charge of.” Clark said. “At the moment, I'm sure we can get by with a smaller facility and robot arms handling everything at first. Once we're established...”

“I'll take care of the business license, patent filing, and arranging deliveries for equipment and resources.” Susan said, falling into command mode easily. “You are going to need several research labs and the most modern equipment you can afford.”

“Well, about that...” Clark hedged and took out his own cell phone and Susan stared at it. He flipped through a few things and showed her the plans he had hastily drawn up. “Some of the things we need haven't been invented yet.”

Susan looked at the machines that his brilliant mind had come up with and she felt herself grow wet. Damn my penchant for smart guys. She thought and then let out another bark of laughter when she saw Clark's face. “You knew I would react like this?”

“Yes.” Clark said and let her take the phone. “I had planned to show you to let you see what you could have access to if you signed up...”

“...and I kind of ruined your sales pitch by accepting right away.” Susan said and Clark nodded. “So, where do we go from here?”

“We can head back to my house in Kansas for a full briefing, set you up in your office, and I head out for another interview to fill another position in my company.” Clark said and stood.

“Kansas? You didn't say anything about having to move.” Susan said and tried not to frown. “What about my apartment?”

Clark smiled at her and held a hand out. Susan took a breath and let it out, took the offered hand, and let him lead her out of the cafe and around the building. She had thought they were going for the cab, only it was a bare alleyway and nothing was there. From one step to the next, they were outside of her apartment.

“I never said anything about moving, because you don't have to.” Clark told her and Susan stared at him, at her door, and back to him. “Welcome to Atlas Incorporated, Susan Storm.”