Joyce Knightly March 25st,20XX

Uiara Mishra.

A woman that had worked under my father’s company for a while in the development section but had never stood out enough to get a promotion in the seven years she had worked for us. I remembered my father talking about scouting some young genius from a science competition when I was a child, but that was about the last I’d heard of her.

I’d initially dismissed her as a genius that had matured into mediocrity, but looking at the files I’d projected on top of my desk, I could see that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

I wondered why she had never submitted any of these designs to the company, but after reviewing them with Nagi and Ivette I realized just how unrealistic they were. My father’s company designed new technology such as phones and electronics and even cars, but these designs… weren’t for human use.

Shoes that could withstand moving at the speed of a designer car, glasses that were designed to deflect the sun’s glare and wind damage at an altitude higher than any normal person would ever be at. The only potential use I could think of was for extreme sports like skydiving, but their transformative features that switched them from regular sunglasses to a high-tech goggle appearance made it clear that she designed them for more than just an extreme sport.

No matter how I thought of it, these things felt more like equipment for superheroes than for any average person.

I feared that she had figured out that people with superpowers were real. Maybe she had paid more attention than others to the news coverage on Aaron’s stunts, both at the skydiving place and when the kid’s school had been attacked.

Either way, she was a valuable addition to my team, even if it was just to guarantee her silence.

“Ms. Knightly?”

Entering as she knocked on my door was the same topic of my thoughts: Uiara Mishra. I waved for her to take a seat at the other side of my desk and carefully watched her face as she recognized the files in front of me.

Her body tensed and her face stiffened with the nervous smile she’d entered with. Her eyes darted around the office to make sure we were alone before scanning over the files in front of the two of us. I watched her take a deep breath and prepare to pretend like she had no idea what any of these were, but I wasn’t as relaxed as to let her act out her play.

“How much?”

She ate the words that she’d prepared to feed me and unconsciously indignant look as I’d cut her off.

“Pardon?”

I tapped my desk and repeated the question in the same brusque tone as before. Honestly, she was a genius, but she was also a major security risk to Kingdom. I had no intentions of keeping her on with my father’s company lest the materials she’d used the code to order ended up being associated with criminal activity.

Really, the only reason I hadn’t called security and my lawyers by now was because I sensed she could be useful to me and at the end of the day, she hadn’t stolen anything but the company’s prestige. Although I didn’t know how she’d gotten the money to buy premium grade materials and materials that Kingdom had access to, I didn’t really care about that.

Well, I cared, but how much would depend on her attitude and her response to my offer.

“Based on these designs, not the mediocrity that you submit to the company, how much would it take for you to come work for me.?”

“Sorry… I- I’m fine with the job I have now Mrs.- miss Knightly. Kingdom has been very good to me, and I don’t think I could bear to leave-”

“As nice as that is to hear, your job at Kingdom is completely forfeit. I don’t know what you were thinking by using the company as a front to get your hands on so much dangerous and regulated material, but the jig is up. Completely.”

I pulled up the report that the security department had sent me and let her read over the data as I continued my proposal.

“You’re an established risk to Kingdom security Ms. Mishra and your company account is being packed up as we speak. Your actions have completely severed your future with this company; what I’m offering you is an entirely new job doing what you seem to love enough to commit criminal activity.”

Her lips sealed silent for a few minutes as she took in all of the new information. She closed her eyes and tapped to five on her thigh before opening them and responding with a defeated voice.

“I would need at least as much as I got at my previous job- And a guarantee that my inventions won’t be used for anything nefarious.”

I was pleased that she hadn’t blown up at me, or even worse, try to plead for me to forgive her for her actions that had clearly put my family’s name in danger. At least her requested guarantee put my mind at ease. It was unlikely that she had taken those materials for anything dangerous.

Well, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to let the security department dig into her. No normal person would ever design those things, never mind take as many steps to actually make them.

I pulled out a contract similar to what I’d had the other scientists sign and handed a copy over to her, as well as a pen. I didn’t intend to let her walk out of here without signing it. But I would at least let her put in enough terms that she didn’t feel cheated. In the end, what I wanted was her cooperation. Without it, there was no way I would get the designs and inventions that I needed.

“I can definitely give you a lot more than you earned working with kingdom since this is a personal project, but I’ll need a proper definition of what you see as nefarious. I won’t be giving any of this to the military, but it will be used on a personal basis by different people, and I can’t guarantee what will happen in the future.”

As I expected of someone of her intelligence, she picked up on the clues in my statement. Her previously dull eyes sparked with excitement, and she tapped at her leg again.

“Are there people that can use these?”

The surprise in her voice seemed genuine, and I doubted she concretely knew of Aaron and the kids, but the lack of doubt she showed convinced me she knew of others that could use her technology.

I didn’t dance around the question and answered her directly. There was no way that she was leaving this room without signing some sort of contract. If she turned out to be a bad person, I had planned to make her sign a non-disclosure contract and make sure she could never leave the tiny island off the coast that she had come from. But if I thought she was worth taking a risk on, then I would fully integrate her into the team.

“There are- and if you are willing to sign this contract and work with me, then I’ll let you meet them.”

She hard reset for a moment as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea.

“That’s impossible! For someone to use this equipment well enough to negate the cons, they would need to be superhuman! They would need to be able to withstand immense amounts of gravity in the depths of the ocean! Or they would need to move at speeds faster than even most animals can.”

“And if I told you that I planned on using your designs for such people?”

Uiara scanned my face once more to make sure this wasn’t some elaborate prank, or even worse, some attempt to put her in more trouble than she was already in.

“Mishra. Or no, Uiara, you have a younger sister, correct?”

I found no joy in pressuring her, but considering how detailed her blueprints were, it was plausible that she knew people that could run the numbers for her through tests. She herself was a find, but I also wanted to find them and ask them how much they knew about where these powers had come from.

I didn’t want to burden Aaron and the kids with too many questions, but the scientists were working their best to find answers and any leads that we could get, would be a step closer to the truth.

Uiara significantly tensed and she gripped at the edge of her chair like she was ready to jump out of it and attack me if the need occurred.

“Yes, I do. What does she have to do with this?”

I sorted through the files and pulled up the design for an impossible-looking wheelchair. Its capacities were absolutely ridiculous and would be better defined as a sophisticated defence-mobile machine than a wheelchair.

“Not much. But your desire to provide for her certainly does. If you join us, not only will I give you permission and enough funds to finish this project of yours, but I’ll also guarantee you full support on future projects… provided you tell me what they are for.”

There we go.

She had completely bitten the hook, but she struggled to pretend like she needed further incentives.

“Well, what do you get out of this? Why are you so invested in recruiting me to whatever sketchy project you have going on?”

I pushed the contract forward after typing out all the incentives I’d promised her.

“Read through it carefully and sign when you’re ready. I won’t give you any answers until you sign, but I can guarantee they’ll be worth it.”