The Thinking Cap at 65% power made the work trivial. He saw molecular structures in his mind with perfect clarity. Understood electron flow and energy transfer mechanisms intuitively. Calculated performance characteristics before building physical prototypes.
By 6:00 AM, he'd designed seventeen distinct innovations in battery technology. Each one patentable. Each one commercially viable. Together, they represented a complete revolution in energy storage.
Gideon filed the provisional patents automatically. Barry would have a year to develop full applications. More than enough time.
But he needed to think bigger. Patents were valuable but limited. Real wealth came from building companies around the technologies. Creating products. Dominating markets.
The neural interface patents he'd been filing were dangerous. Too close to DeVoe's work. Too likely to accelerate the Thinker's emergence if other researchers built on Barry's published innovations. He needed to pivot away from that field entirely.
"Gideon, update my research focus. All neural interface work gets reclassified as medical technology only. No consumer applications. No cognitive enhancement. Strictly therapeutic uses for treating disorders."
"Acknowledged. Updating patent classifications and future research directions."
That would slow down the field. Keep DeVoe's timeline on track without Barry accidentally creating the Thinking Cap arms race that could lead to earlier meta-human emergence.
Barry powered down the Thinking Cap at 6:23 AM. The enhanced clarity faded gradually over the next fifteen minutes. But his baseline remained elevated. Each session trained his brain to function better naturally. He was getting genuinely smarter even without the device.
He stood and stretched, body stiff from hours of sitting. Looked around his apartment. Equipment and research notes everywhere. The space felt cramped. Inadequate for what he was building.
He needed a proper facility. Lab space. Office space. Manufacturing capabilities. A real company with infrastructure and employees.
The venture capital money would arrive next week. Three million dollars for the neural interface company. But that wasn't enough. That company would focus on medical applications. Safe. Controlled. Nothing that would disrupt timelines.
Barry needed a second company. One he controlled completely. No investors. No board seats. Just his vision executed with perfect precision.
And the battery technology was perfect for that. The market was massive. Billions of dollars. Every device on Earth needed batteries. Electric vehicles. Consumer electronics. Grid storage. Military applications.
Revolutionary battery technology would make Barry a billionaire within years.
His phone buzzed. Text from Iris.
"Morning! Still on for coffee at 8?"
Barry checked the time. 6:31 AM. He had ninety minutes.
"Yeah. See you there."
He showered quickly and changed clothes. His reflection in the bathroom mirror showed someone transformed. Leaner. More muscular. Eyes sharper and more focused. The physical changes from months of optimized training were obvious.
Barry grabbed his laptop and headed out. Stopped at Java Junction at 7:53 AM. Ordered coffee and claimed a corner table.
Iris arrived at exactly 8:00 AM. She looked good. Professional outfit. Hair styled. Confident in a way she hadn't been months ago when her journalism career was struggling.
"Hey." She sat down across from him, smiling. "You look tired."
"Worked late. New project."
"The mysterious tech stuff you never explain?" Iris sipped her coffee. "I'm starting to think you're secretly a supervillain building doomsday devices."
Barry laughed. "Just boring energy storage research. Very unsexy."
"Everything about you lately is unsexy then. Because you're always working." But she said it teasingly. No accusation. No pressure.
They talked for forty minutes. Iris had landed a major assignment. Investigative piece on Central City's infrastructure problems. Real journalism instead of puff pieces. She was excited. Energized.
Barry listened and asked good questions. His enhanced emotional intelligence let him engage genuinely even while his mind processed other problems in the background.
"I should get to work," Iris finally said, checking her phone. "Thanks for making time. I know you're busy."
"Always have time for you."
She smiled and leaned across the table to kiss him. Quick but warm. Then she left, disappearing into the morning crowd on the sidewalk outside.
Barry sat alone for a few more minutes, finishing his coffee. Processing. Planning.
His relationship with Iris was stable. Uncomplicated. She'd accepted the casual nature of their connection without demanding more. That gave him freedom to pursue his larger plans without emotional complications.
Good. One less variable to manage.
Barry opened his laptop and pulled up financial projections Gideon had prepared overnight. The battery company would need seed funding. Not venture capital. His own money. Bootstrap it until the technology was proven, then scale rapidly.
Current available capital: $127,000 in liquid assets plus $17,319 in Queen Consolidated stock. Not enough to build a manufacturing facility but enough to build working prototypes and secure initial contracts.
He'd need to move fast though. File the full patents. Build demonstration units. Line up early customers willing to pay premium prices for revolutionary technology.
Eighteen months. That's how long it would take to go from concept to market-ready product if everything went perfectly.
Barry's enhanced mind calculated the timeline. Eighteen months would put him at mid-2015. A year before the particle accelerator explosion. Perfect timing to have a thriving company generating massive revenue right when he needed maximum resources for the Chamber construction.
He closed his laptop and headed home. Time to start building.
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