It was everything I could do to not facepalm and groan into my hands. HR would roast anyone for saying something like that.
But unfortunately, Candice was in a position to be immune to that. The girls around the table were looking at me, clearly not sure if I wanted to pick a fight with my very sexist manager.
The answer was no. I'd seen others fight that several times already, and it hadn't done any good.
Candice just fired any HR employees that had a problem with her language and replaced them with someone less concerned.
Women made up over eighty percent of the world population now, and the gender ratios continued to skew heavily towards women.
The gene for powers and mutations occurred on the X chromosome, and it was basic biology that it had affected birthrates.
The sperm with the X chromosome out-competed those with the Y chromosome nine to one, which meant for every man born there were nine women born.
I was a third generation super, and now, with the fourth generation coming up behind me, it had only gotten worse, far worse.
So here we were, creating a commercial for the government, trying to change how people viewed relationships.
The goal was to normalize harems in hopes of continuing to have future generations.
Harems weren't completely new. With the gender ratios as skewed as they were, harems had already naturally developed, but they were made more legitimate the previous year when the tax system was updated to accommodate them.
Of course, politicians were decades behind on acting, but at least something finally came.
And now the government was fully backing the concept, working with the Bureau of Superheroes to push it as well.
I'd learned that sexually frustrated women apparently made up for a large amount of the petty crime and daylight assaults.
I had to hide my snicker as I thought about it, realizing Candice had been talking the entire time and I'd missed whatever she was saying.
"—think that a big, hunky man would be best," she finished.
"But the metrics say that most resistance to harems is from women. We wanted to say, 'if Miss Point City is okay with sharing a man, what is your complaint?' We've even arranged for her husband to take a second wife here during the campaign."
"Oh, I'd like to sign up for Brad Pitt's bed," Candice purred. "See, wouldn't that make a much better argument?"
She wiped her hand in the air as if she was viewing a scene. "Brad Pitt naked under the covers, with a clearly erect boner under the sheets. Have a harem with me. See?"
My team looked nervously about, clearly not liking the idea.
We had tried the sex appeal angle with a man. But it had actually revolted the male audience to the point that it seemed counterproductive.
The role of a man in society had changed drastically in the last generation as the sexual imbalance had accelerated.
Women may have the numbers over the men, but we still needed men to be onboard. And the best way to do that was with Miss Point City.
I decided to step in and help my team. "Candice. Look, we tried that angle, and it didn't measure up. The analytics just weren't there for it."
"Sometimes you need to see past the data," she replied.
"No." I leaned over the conference table. "We follow the data. That's what we are paid to do. Women and men responded well to this approach. It's more subtle, and it tackles the primary concern of women."
Candice and I had a momentary standoff. I could nearly feel the static between our gazes for a moment before she broke the staring contest.
"Fine. I trust your judgment, Zayn. Now, what about the ads for other cities?"
My team and I shared a look of surprise, and I knew I had to take this one head on for them. Otherwise, Candice would bulldoze right over my team.
"The project was only for Point City. That's why we chose the hero we did." I rubbed my temples.
"Candice, if you accept that sort of scope creep, you need to file a new project charter.
We can take this video and cut in another city's most popular hero, but we'd need to do the research and testing groups to figure out which ones we need to sign.
It shouldn't be too hard to get an hour shoot completed to fill in a few pieces of the ad. With the BSH involved, the heroes should be receptive."
I made it seem a little more than it really was, but I needed to push back hard on Candice.
"But I need all of them today. The BSH is coming by to see it," she said.
My temper was rising, but I wasn't surprised. I hated when Candice pulled this shit.
"No. We don't have it, and there's no way to get it pulled together on time.
My team worked tirelessly to get this one done. You'll have to work that silver tongue of yours and show this to them as a sample for Point City, and we can work on the rest later."
I took one glance at my team, seeing their tired faces full of dread.
They knew this would likely mean Candice expecting a weekend full of work to make it happen. And I didn't want that for them.
"We'll talk more about it on Monday. The team worked last Sunday, and I told them they'd get today off as compensation after we presented this," I lied.
Kate, sitting next to Candice, beamed at me. I didn't have to look at the rest of them to know just how happy I'd just made them.
Someone had to stand up to Candice. She was a great screen between me and the BSH, but that didn't mean she got to overwork my team.
"Fine. But you'll come to meet the BSH rep today. You dodged them the last two times, and it helps the client to see just who is doing the work for them."
I hid my twitch by shifting and sitting back in my seat. "Sure." That was about the last thing I wanted to do.
"Don't be so glum. She's really quite lovely."
I had no issues with whomever it was individually, but I avoided heroes like the plague. One of the last groups I wanted to be crammed into a conference room with was the Bureau of Superheroes.
"Put the meeting on my calendar." I hoped she'd forget, and it might give me an out.
But she took out her phone and keyed it in right then and there.
I cursed internally as the little bubble popped up in the corner of my screen. Five o'clock on a Friday? Of course, Candice. No wonder people become villains when the real world pushed them around like this.
At least my team had the rest of the day off; she hadn't fought me on that.
"Great. Girls, enjoy the rest of your day. I'll see you on Monday and don't forget to direct people to me in your out of office message." I shooed them out of the meeting room ahead of me before Candice could try to tie them back down.
'Meeting with the BSH.' I looked down at the meeting notice again.
I cringed, not wanting them to have any extra time to observe me. They had me registered as enhanced with some basic strength, speed, and a bit of enhanced regeneration.
None of those were my actual power. My power was something far more dangerous.
Something that was best kept hidden from the world unless I wanted to lose my freedom. The things the government or villains would do to get a hold of my power would ensure that I never slept peacefully again if it got out.