"He did." Sharp responded, stepping out of the room.

"Said an old buddy of his was here." he commented.

"That would be me." Illias replied.

"I see." Sharp said. "Well, what makes you so... in need of our protection?" he asked.

Illias responded by taking off his hat.

"....gorgon-born." Sharp mumbled.

"Indeed." Illias replied.

Sharp was silent, before raising an eyebrow.

"Oh?" he asked.

"He did?" he asked.

"Interesting..." he mumbled.

"Care to share?" he asked, scratching at his chin a little.

"What could be done?"

Sharp nodded.

"Of course." he replied.

When she left, Illias explained his suggestion to Sharp, and Sharp just raised an eyebrow.

"Hmmm, interesting." he said.

"You interested in working in our R&D department? We have some openings." he asked.

"I am." Illias responded.

Sharp then nodded, before picking up his phone and calling someone down in the department.

"Kiah, I have a potential coworker for you." he said. "Prepare the test."

"...ah, my apologies." Sharp responded.

"If you need to wait, we can wait." he told her.

"Else I will send him down in 5 minutes." he said.

"And yes, he's here under... extreme, and extenuating... circumstances." he went on.

"Plus, you might like his intelligence." he added with a chuckle.

"Indeed." Sharp replied.

With that, they finished the conversation, and ended the call.

Then, after 5 minutes, the two of them made their way down to R&D, where Sharp let them in.

"Ah, helloooo?" he called in.

"The new lab mouse is here to be tested!" he said, which caused Illias to freeze up some.

Sharp urged Illias on, and they followed her.

As they walked, Illias felt a level of... uncertainty. Uncertainty and fear. But he didn't know why. He felt fear around this young woman... though he did not know her.

So he kept it hidden and shoved it down.

"You'd better impress her." Sharp said.

"She'll have the final say in your hiring."

"...it's Illias." the gorgon responded.

He then looked at the silver in its prison, and they immediately saw him change his attitude.

"..........hmmmmm." he mumbled.

"I see." he said, stepping forward and looking at it.

"And I have everything available to use here in this room?" he asked.

"Is doing it chemically, and without breaking it, the only stipulation?"

Illias nodded.

"All right." he replied.

"We'll be watching you from outside the room." Sharp told him.

"You have 1 hour." he said.

With that, the two of them left the room, as Illias studied what was there.

"Impressions so far?" Sharp asked Kiah.

Sharp just chuckled.

"I see, I see." he said.

They then watched as Illias took in all that was there, all that was on the wall, grabbed a marker, and started using the whiteboard that was there.

He started by writing down basic things, then the reactions that the chemicals he had would have on the silver and its prison, and then started taking stock of the combinations and compounds he could make, and what would help him.

"Hm." Sharp muttered, as he watched.

"A decent start." he said.

"Any thoughts, Kiah?" he asked the Fyrane, as Illias then started to get to work, mixing up various things.

Illias continued on, and it seemed like he did forget about the copper.

He started to proceed further, before pausing.

"Wait..." he mumbled.

"Wait... hold on..." he said to himself.

"This... this won't work." he muttered, before looking at the compounds, and then looking back to the whiteboard.

"No... no, there's something wrong, here. There's something I'm... missing..." he said further, as he continued to study all that he had written and made.

"Damn it, what am I missing?" he asked himself as he strained and concentrated.