Mr. Smith strode towards the factory that had been promised him by Panda Bubba. It was rather plain, but he could fix that. It would be a useful face for his manufacturing project, if the crime boss even planned to go through with his end of the bargain. It was best to have a plan for either scenario.
By the inventor's side walked his assistant who had really grown into his role over the last week. Phil had been organizing his workforce, doing paperwork, applying for and receiving a business license and generally being competent since he had been activated, Jack was very proud.
Behind them followed his four guard-bots. Jack had his four robots decked out in suits and sunglasses to really play up the security guard look he had going for them. Their more robotic features were played down and, since each one had a different build, a normal person would never guess that they were machines. Their voices still had a mechanical tone to them, but it was getting better. He had even named them for the occasion, Don, Raph, Leo, and Mike. Each guard held a large suitcase that contained three of the cloaking devices that were to be traded to the criminal.
The factory itself was a decent size and in good condition. He made his way to the front door which swung open to reveal one of Panda Bubba's goons waiting for him. Jack was wary, but he was welcomed inside and ushered towards a waiting Bubba.
"Is the building to your liking?" the criminal jovially asked, gesturing to a table at which they both took a seat.
"It is suitable for my purposes." Indeed, there was plenty of space to work and all the machinery that had been used originally was still present and the inventor could probably repurpose it.
"The copper is in a truck out behind the facility and," Bubba snapped his fingers and his workers appeared by his side with a briefcase, "your new identification all here all ready for you." Jack opened the suitcase reading the paperwork that brought into existence the man he had invented. It was all there including paperwork for Philip Irons which was a nice bonus. Jack handed the suitcase off to Phil satisfied with its contents.
"Now for your end of the bargain." The crime boss leaned forward, greed shining in his eyes as he spoke
Jack gestured and Mike, the fastest of his of his guard-bots, placed one of the suitcases on the table opening it and revealing the technology within.
"A small demonstration is in order." The inventor said as he removed one of the devices from the case and secured it on himself before activating it and vanishing in front of the eager looking criminal. "As you can't see the device bends light rendering the wearer invisible, full battery can be used for four hours and can be recharged at any outlet." Jack became visible once more removing the device and placing it back into the suitcase before closing it once more.
"Wonderful! Then our business can be concluded." Bubba's men placed a sake bottle and two dishes on the table which Bubba poured first into the dish for Mr. Smith and then the one for himself. "A toast to seal the deal." They both drank.
The crime boss's men took the suitcases from his guard-bots and Bubba rose to leave.
"A pleasure doing business with you Jacob Smith. I hope that in the future we can have more profitable ventures together, why we are almost friends wouldn't you say?" The large man spoke while leaving. Tension stiffened the inventor's spine, was this the moment he was betrayed? "And friends aren't so formal with each other. Friends use nicknames. Calling you Jacob Smith is so stuffy, how about I call you Jack. Goodbye Jack, until we meet again." With that Panda Bubba was gone.
Well that was ominous.
Bubba clearly knew or at least strongly suspected his identity but had chosen to play along and not do anything with it. No betrayal, no fight between their forces, just a business deal that went off without a hitch.
Jack felt a little scandalized.
Oh well, he wasn't going to complain about getting what he wanted. The genius set to work and before the end of the day the factory had transformed into something unrecognizable from its former self. The outside had been painted white and blue in a stylized manor that Phil said would elicit a sense friendliness in whoever saw it. On the top of the building was a sign that read Smith Innovations.
The once silent factory was alive with activity and the occasional explosion. On the inside robots buzzed everywhere and Jack himself worked on readying an assembly line. He set Phil out to deal with the bureaucracy of running a business as well as setting up an ad campaign to drum up interest for the holophone. He needed to work on the name, nah he would leave that to his marketing department, which at the moment was Phil.
The inventor worked tirelessly with his swarm of robots creating electronic marvels inside his new factory, copper machines came to life under the hands of the mad genius and a new minilab was placed under the foundation where everything that could be easily mass produced would be made. The delicate work that would need to be done out of the minilab Jack had needed to do himself in the past. This slowed the manufacturing process, but by shrinking some specially made Jack-bots and enlarging what they were working on Jack created a self-sufficient system that could pump out the advanced technology with minimal oversite, granted at the moment it wasn't very fast but by the time Sunday rolled around again his factory could pump out twenty phones a day and it was only getting faster.
Phil came up to his boss with a progress report on how things were going on the business side of things. His assistant had gotten though the legal work of setting up a functioning business faster than Jack had dreamed possible. Phil cut through bureaucratic B.S. like a paperwork ninja. His most useful creation had even set up a website where people could place their orders and linked it to a Smith Innovations Facebook page Phil maintained.
Now all he needed to do was advertise and the inventor could start raking in the cash. He was thinking maybe a billboard or a commercial.
Jack clicked onto the site Phil had made to take orders and his jaw dropped. He had ten thousand orders and the number was steadily climbing up, how was that even possible. The genius typed Smith Innovations into the Google search bar and it popped up a Facebook page, but not the one Phil had made.
The actress Lara King had been posting how wonderful the device was on her Facebook and Twitter pages and the demand had skyrocketed, but how did she have one of his phones or even know about them. It didn't take him long to figure out the answer. Lara King was the mother of Lucy King the little girl who Jack had rescued. The same Lara King who copy Jack had gone to dinner with not long ago. Huh, lucky.
The demand for Jack's phones was enormous and the inventor would have to increase the production capacity of his factory a hundred-fold to even attempt to meet it. He lowered his goggles over his eyes and set to work. Such a challenge was nothing to his genius!
"Phil arrange a method of mass delivery." Ordered the mad inventor.
"At once sir." Agreed his assistant who went to make a call to UPS.