Chapter Text
You had been working at Hyperion for several years, since you were much younger and a lot more naive. A time when all you wanted was to stay with your family, thinking you were safe and they were safe. The truth being, they couldn’t be safe if you were with them. It was a time when you were given a choice that wasn’t really a choice. So you took what you were given because you didn’t know anything else.
Hyperion was still a big company then and it’s a bigger company now. You moved around often, being sent all across the universe and back. Going wherever your Boss wanted you to go. You’d lived on colonies, spaceships, asteroids, scientific outposts, and a dozen different planets ranging from paradise to a planetary hell. It wasn’t a life for everyone and it certainly wasn’t what you wanted but, you didn’t have much of a choice. For a thousand different reasons.
Currently you were on a lovely planet called Something-You-Didn’t-Bother-to-Remember. You figured that there wasn’t much need to remember the name of the place since you probably wouldn’t be staying a long time. Even if you wanted to.
Which you did.
It was another one of the “paradise” planets, not freezing and not sweltering, covered in water and fauna that didn’t try to kill anyone. Most of it anyway. It was much nicer than the previous planet you had been on, which had a blizzard raging ninety percent of the time. The food was terrible and never fresh and the water tasted like dirt. You didn’t know why, it just did. Trying to flavor it just made it taste like flavored dirt, it was weird and incredibly disgusting.
Also unsettling.
For the first time in a long time you were doing a job you were technically hired for, which was why you were on the planet in the first place.
Obviously.
However, this meant you would have to work with other people, which wasn’t something you were particularly fond of for several reasons. In your defence, they were good reasons. Well, you thought they were good reasons at the very least. Despite your dislike of other human beings you still had to work with them because, well, it was your job.
Currently anyway.
You had been planetside for only three days and you were supposed to get introduced to who you would be working with today. You would have liked more time to get used to the environment and living situation, but it was more time than you’d had for other jobs. It was a fairly large group considering it was being personally overseen by Lawrence De Quidt, the head of Hyperion’s Artificial Intelligence division. That’s how you knew it was important, which explains why you were there in the first place. You were prepared to be working with other people most of the day and it took a few minutes to mentally prepare yourself for the experience. Of course by a few minutes you meant two hours, which was why you had woken up so early today. That and general nerves.
As someone who primarily worked alone for most of the last five years of your life meeting new people always made you nervous. Which was one of your reasons for disliking people, for the record. How could you like the company of others when you barely saw them? Or when you fully expected never to see them again after the project or assignment was completed? It was a completely valid reason, really.
One of your many, many valid reasons.
After your two hours of preparation you made it to the offices with not even a minute to spare. You took several deep breaths before stepping forward and through the doors to your new work space for at least the next few weeks. You would be working with each team, which means you would be working directly with the team heads and De Quidt instead of with an entire group of strangers. Which was what said Department head said as he led you to the meeting room to meet everyone. There were six teams and thus six people waiting in the room as you walked in.
“Hello,” you greeted with a wave as they all turned their attention to their boss and subsequently--you. You swallowed as several sets of eyes appraised you. You could already tell some of them were judging you for your young age as two of them frowned, another one looked surprised, a fourth one scowled and the last two looked pretty blank.
You wanted to jump out a very high window.
“Good morning, everyone. This is Ms. Adair, you’ll be working with her from today forward so I hope you’ll all get along,” De Quidt introduced you and everyone introduced themselves in turn. You tried to pay attention to the names, aside from the last person whose last name you didn’t catch. There were three men and three women, Cree Spence, Matilda Pace, Bethanie Faust, Quinton Wrona, William Green, and John. You didn’t catch his last name since everyone started talking over him, mostly spouting nonsense to get on the good side of a boss they probably didn’t see each other often. It was a bit frustrating actually, that you were able to get everyone else’s name and miss one. Five out of six was pretty impressive considering you forget most names immediately after you hear them.
It did help that you repeated their names under your breath as they introduced themselves though.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” you greeted as politely as you could. It usually helped to smooth ruffled feathers caused by your young age when you were polite, sometimes at least. You never really know with Hyperion personnel though.
Most of them were assholes.
“Ms. Adair will be working as a systems integrator, so from this point forward contact her regarding your work. She will inform me if there are any problems,” De Quidt explained quickly before he left you to the wolves. You knew you were there so the aging department head would have less work but he could have given you a bit more time to get comfortable at the very least. De Quidt leaving seemed to be enough for the others as they all left the room after him instead of staying to talk to you. It seemed none of them wanted to waste any time with you if they no longer needed to. You don’t know why you thought they would do anything else. Like actually talk to you or something.
Classic Hyperion.
You awkwardly waved goodbye as they all walked out, you did catch one of them on the way however. Simply because you couldn’t stand not knowing the names of the people you would be working with, whether you hated people or not you could at least try to be polite, considering most of them are twice your age.
“Excuse me, sorry to stop you on your way out,” You started, looking up to meet heterochromic eyes.
They were very distracting.
“No problem, kiddo. Is there something you wanted?” John asked, raising an eyebrow in question. After a moment of silence he cleared his throat. “Is there something on my face?”
“Oh! No, there’s nothing- there’s nothing on your face. I’m sorry, your eyes- your eyes are just very pretty,” you stumbled over your words as he broke you out of your thoughts. “I uh, that’s not what I meant to say.”
Idiot.
“It was just- Well, I didn’t catch your full name earlier since everyone started talking over you near the end,” you explained as quickly as you could. You just wanted the conversation to end as quickly as possible now. Goodness, it’s just like you to awkwardly compliment someone twice your age who--knowing Hyperion--probably hated you. Of course, that didn’t change the fact you were a very young adult and he was a very handsome man.
You didn’t get out much.
“Oh, right. Didn’t think of that. You can just call me Jack, easier to remember. You should probably get used to hearing over them if you’re sticking around, kid.” John-or, Jack grinned before leaving with the rest and you bit down a curse. Ignoring the fact he called you a kid and--mercifully--ignored the fact you called his eyes pretty, you just wanted a last name. Instead you got another first name.
Not helpful at all.
His name may have been easier to remember but this wasn’t a college sorority you were just invited into! You couldn’t just call him by his first name. It was a professional workplace and he was a coworker you just met. Not to mention it was a Hyperion workplace which meant the use of first names meant you were in a far more powerful position than the person you were addressing or that you were close. Which was not the case. Neither of them were, actually.
Although you supposed being the systems integrator meant you were technically his boss, the fact you were probably half his age sort of ruined any feeling of “superiority” you might have. That and the whole creepy staring followed by an awkward compliment thing.
Not that you had any feelings of superiority in the first place.
Living alone for a long time made you extremely antisocial and you tried not to interact with anyone, regardless of title or station. It usually didn’t matter for more than a few days, or in this case a few weeks.
You mock-screamed into your hands, shaking your head and glaring at the closed door the team heads had left through.
“I hate this,” you said to an empty room, grumbling to yourself. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive this. I can hardly survive talking to one person every few weeks, let alone six different people who all probably hate me already.” You collapsed into one of the empty chairs, resting your head on the circular table. “People are the worst,” you muttered, tapping your fingers on your arm. “Hyperion is the worst.”
You remind yourself how much worse it could be.
With a heavy sigh, you got out of the chair and left the room. You found your place quickly, it was the only room with a lone desk besides De Quidt’s office. It also had your last name plastered on the door, which made you very uncomfortable for some reason. Something about seeing your name in silver letters, announcing to everyone else who you were. Like it was important, even though you knew in reality you were probably in the lowest position Hyperion could offer. A servant.
Wow, weren’t you just a bundle of happiness.
You shake your head and sat at your desk, the computer turning on immediately. There were three screens and together they were probably bigger than you were. There was no login screen and a single document that basically repeated what De Quidt had already told you about your job and explained the goal of the project. At this point in his life, De Quidt worked on very few things--since he usually focused on fixing what he considered his biggest mistake. Every other artificial intelligence related projects were put on the back burner. Everyone in Hyperion that knew anyone had heard about De Quidt’s near obsessive behavior with fixing his “mistake”.
Or, as most know them--the CL4P-TP steward bots.
Which was why you were called in. To help fix these “mistakes”. Though you actually quite like the CL4P-TP units, they reminded you of children. Incredibly vulgar and strange children, but children nonetheless. Maybe more like teenagers, if you thought about it.
At least it was more interesting than some of the other work you had to do.
Your first order of business was to work out a way to lock everyone else out of your computer, everything else would come after. Of course Hyperion was very touchy with their technology and not letting anyone mess with it. Hyperion liked to keep an eye on everyone. Especially employees. Personally, you weren’t a fan of the whole “big brother is always watching” schtick.
Which means you had to mess with a few things.
Honestly, messing with Hyperion in any capacity was one of your favorite things to do and it showed. After you are finished wiping all traces of Hyperion from your computer, you were smiling to yourself at how easy it was. The all-seeing eye of Hyperion management so easily disabled in an hour by a twenty year old. A twenty year old they really wanted to keep an eye on. Needless to say, you had gotten very good at making it very hard for them to keep an eye on you.
That being said, you had no doubt that there were several cameras in the office and the room you were given but, if you could have complete privacy on your electronics then you’d take it. Nonetheless, you were rather proud of your handiwork, as you usually were. There was a reason you were the systems integrator and not just part of a team. You were as good at code as De Quidt himself. Or you would be in a few years, he had several decades of experience on you. Though, you didn’t have much else to do on your “missions” besides study code and experiment with it so you had probably devoted just as much time to programming as Mr Lawrence De Quidt did.
Wow, you’re depressing.
But at least you were smart!
Due to the lack of anything on the computer you were given, you assumed you’d have to get all the code from the team leads. Though, you definitely didn’t have the energy to deal with any of them so soon. With that in mind, your first order of business would be to find where you could make a cup of tea to help you calm your erratic nerves. The building the offices were in wasn’t that large due to the huge fauna that covered the planet, so finding the “break room” was easy enough. Especially since the walls were all glass and you could see everything in it.
Very modern.
Not that a break room had any business being modern, but that’s just how extra Hyperion is.
In a building full of middle-aged programmer’s there was a severe lack of kettles for you to boil water in. So you settled for using the coffee machine to heat up water. After you washed it out once or four times. You didn’t want coffee in your tea.
It just tastes bad.
You had a tin of your tea leaves, a mug, and strainer from the coffee machine, and a lid in the form of a slightly larger mug. It would be enough. You had your own set for making tea that you’d have to bring to the office next time. You were making green tea so you had to wait for the water to cool before you could pour it over the leaves in the strainer and let it sit. You set the larger mug over your temporary mug pot and waited.
Riveting stuff, really.
You took out the strainer after a little less than four minutes, disposing of the tea leaves and returning everything to its proper place. Then you snatched up your mug and vacated the brightly lit room. You would have liked to spend a considerable amount of time staring vaguely into the void while you drink your tea but you had no such time.
First stop was Lawrence De Quidt’s office. Unlike the other offices, the window into the room was blocked completely with blinds. Blinds that looked like the cost about as much as all the furniture you’ve seen thus far, but people with money are just like that sometimes. You ignored it. Taking a sip of your tea makes you grimace as you knocked on the door. The tea was good, but you’d make it better in your Tetsubin.
Going off topic.
There was no response to your knocking, even after several minutes. Which you counted by staring at the wall clock on the far wall and trying not to dissociate. You eventually got tired of waiting and just opened the door yourself. It took a minute but you were eventually able to get the door open just using your non-tea-holding hand.
You broke the lock.
You said hello to your boss as you entered his private office, closing the door behind you. De Quidt responded to your greeting with a very tired and maybe slightly disgusted look. You sipped your tea in return and stared back in a silent challenge. You knew De Quidt didn’t like you one bit, but he had to put up with you since you were one of Hyperion’s best programmers.
Amazing what six years of doing nothing but programming will enable you to do.
Like having zero social skills and no friends.
Getting off topic again.
You tore your eyes from the staring contest you’d already won and looked around the room. It was as brightly lit as the other rooms in the building, but all the dark furniture and walls made it look far darker and smaller than the other rooms. You weren’t a fan.
“Can I help you, Adair?” De Quidt asked, tapping his fingers impatiently on his desk. You turned back to him and nodded your affirmation. Your boss gave a heavy sigh. “What is it you want?”
“Your single page of instructions left a lot to be desired, boss. A lot like the single sentence of introduction before you left me to the wolves. Not that they had much interest in me,” you stared into your empty mug with a frown. “I know I’m a genius but I can’t make something out of nothing, with code at least.” De Quidt rolled his eyes.
“Surely such a gifted mind can figure it out on your own.” You gave a very flat look to the grumpy elder.
“Lawrence, you know I can’t help that I was sent here right? You asked Boss for the best, and you got me. What did you expect? Hate me all you’d like but at least let me help you out, like I was sent here to.”
“Sir, is good enough, Adair. You might not be a pint-sized brat anymore, but you’re still a brat all the same.” You smiled and laughed despite yourself. It was nice to actually know someone you were working with for once. De Quidt grimaced in response. “Each of the teams were given a section of programming to work through, you’ll need to get the sections from each of them.” You nodded, crossing your arms, empty mug hanging from an index finger.
“They’re combing for your “problem” right?” A nod from boss. “So do you want me to test, to see if they’ve fixed the issue. Or do you want me to check their edits for mistakes?”
“Both.” The instructions were less than you’d hoped for but you could work with it. You doubted De Quidt would check up on your working very often, anyway.
“Okay, got it. I can do that much. What will you be doing?”
“I have little hope in fixing the code, after so many years of trying, so I’ll be rewriting it from scratch. This project is, well, you could say it’s my last effort. If there’s no progress in six months, the project will be shut down and I’ll just focus on recreating the steward bots from the ground up.” Lawrence De Quidt sounded very tired talking about his long time failure. You frowned at the answer. It wasn’t what you expected, to be short. You hadn’t realised just how drained Lawrence had been over the years of trying to fix the mistakes in the CL4P-TP bots code. You turned your eyes to your empty cup and decided to take your leave.
“I’ll be going then, good luck on your endeavor, Sir .” You didn’t wait for a response and silently left the room. You would’ve locked it behind you, since you had found the door that way but you encountered a problem in that plan.
The lock was busted.
“Well, I don’t know what could’ve caused that,” you said aloud, very quickly walking away from the door. Lest you be blamed for something you definitely had no hand in.
You made another cup of tea and made your way to the team rooms.
First stop was surprisingly easy. William Green was one of the people who didn’t have much of a reaction to your introduction. He greeted you professionally and let you know he’d have his team’s edits on your desk in an hour. He needed time for his subordinates to finish their current changes and get a list of all the changes together for you. The list was very thoughtful of him and you thought you’d tell the other team’s to make one as well. If they hadn’t already. You hadn’t even made it through half your tea by the time you left.
Making good time.
Second room had Bethanie Faust and her kids, or team. She introduced them as her ducklings and made you a bit uncomfortable. Bethanie was also super great at prying into your personal life. She essentially adopted you without your consent and proceeded to baby throughout the conversation, telling you to go to her if you had any trouble. You recognized maternal instincts when you saw them and considering you were half her age and doing far more difficult work than her, you understood why she was acting the way she was. Didn’t change the fact it was bothering you though.
Her team was pretty bland, most of them seemed to be newer Hyperion employees. Which meant you couldn’t really pick out any murderers in the group and everyone who has been in Hyperion for a few years has killed at least one or two people. Ms Faust herself was clearly a long time employee. You could tell from her eyes. She’d probably gotten rid of a few rivals during her employment. You got her to agree to making a list and send over what her team had done so far to you long after you have finished your tea. You also felt very belittled upon exiting the room.
Third was a Mrs Quinton Wrona. She was an older lady who seemed almost older than De Quidt, and you’d give him another five to ten years, tops. She was very short and seemed to hate talking more than she absolutely had to. This didn’t mean she wasn’t polite of course. She was very accommodating, like someone who was very used to doing the minimum amount of effort required to be on her boss’ good side. She reminded you a bit of your grandmother honestly, except for the fact she had very obviously ‘disposed’ of one of the employees working under her. If the empty chair, discarded personal effects in the bin, and the terrified looks several of the others sported were any indication. An older employee just gave a bored sigh at the shaking of his deskmate and continued to do his work.
It was pretty easy to figure out who had been working at Hyperion longer. You’d have to make sure she properly disposed of the employee later, but you had a feeling she was pretty good at that part of her job. You may have placed your empty mug on your head halfway through Mrs Wrona’s explanation of what her team had changed so far, but she didn’t give much reaction and since it didn’t fall you didn’t pay much further mind to the mug either. You thanked her for the explanation and asked that send along what her team had completed as soon as she could, along with the list of changes she had written down. You prefered typed, but appreciated the fact she had a list in the first place. You wondered if Mr Green had gotten the idea from Mrs Wrona in the first place.
Nonetheless, you finished your conversation with Mrs Wrona, asked where she took care of her trash and promptly left. You retrieved your mug from the top of your head and set it down while you made a stop at the washroom. The soap smelled like mint and you were content for a few seconds. You made yourself another cup of your calming green tea and set off to your next challenge. You stopped by your office first because it was closer than the team rooms and checked your desk for the information that was promised. Surprisingly, Mrs Wrona had already delivered her part in the form of a hard drive as well as a copy of her handwritten notes--blessedly printed. You could read the typed version far better than the original she had shown you. You have to admit, the older lady was very good at her job.
There was a locked drawer in your desk that you were quick to deposit the hard drive and notes into. You would go over it after you finished visited the teams. If you stopped now you weren’t sure you could get yourself to talk to a single one of them for at least a week. Certainly not Jack, who you had embarrassingly complimented within three minutes of knowing him. You were used to paying compliments as a way of keeping a neutral relationship with your coworkers over the years. You had never stumbled over your words before, though. Well, maybe once or twice. You were a hormonal human being too, ya know? Who happened to have a preference for handsome older men.
You weren’t alone.
Right?
The echonet wouldn’t lie.. Right?
You set your tea down on your desk and screamed into your hands, for the second time today.
More important things to think about.
Shaking your head, you pocketed the key to the drawer and retrieved your tea. You took a deep breath and braved the wilds of the office once more.
Your fourth stop in your office adventure was the lovely Matilda Pace and her wonderful team. Of course, by lovely you meant she was a complete and utter bitch. Her team was about as terrible as her. Which suited them, since awful people tended to group together. She was just the perfect example of Hyperion employee. It was pretty obvious to you as soon as she greeted you with the most haughty look on her face, that she was one of the many that had gotten her position by doing ‘favors’ for her boss’. Honestly, you weren’t sure why she was even part of the project. In the end you assumed it was just pure chance. Ms Pace was awful at her job and you couldn’t find a redeeming quality about her.
When you asked for her team’s part of the project she was very in your face, claiming that you were probably sleeping with De Quidt, you may have thrown up a bit. You pointed out the fact De Quidt was had at least twenty years on your own grandfather and she sneered, claiming you were disgusting. You just wanted to get your job done, so you refrained from dumping your hot tea on her face.
Would’ve been a waste of tea honestly.
Ms Pace did not appreciate your apathetic expression when you were restraining yourself from scalding her, apparently. So she slapped your mug out of your hand, which didn’t go how you or her planned. She was very pleased with the result of the burn on your hand, however. Nursing your new wound, you requested the information directly from her team. Threatened to do to them what you did to their team leader, then retrieved your fallen mug.
You smashed the mug on Ms Pace’s head.
Then left.
Taking a quick break to use the washroom and run your hand under some cold water, you grabbed some kind of cereal bar from the break room and inhaled it. You had missed lunch at some point between all your walking about and only recalled the fact meals were a thing when you saw some empty instant noodle cups in Ms Pace’s team room. At this point you were far past your limit for polite interaction and your hand was very much in pain but, you still had two team’s to talk to.
Upon meeting Cree Spence, you would not be surprised to later find out him and Ms Pace got along quite well. He wasn’t someone who did ‘favors’ but instead someone who assumed any young woman in a position of power did them. By this you of course mean that he--like Ms Pace--fully believed you had slept your way into being a Systems Integrator for the CL4P-TP reprogramming project. He had no respect for you and you couldn’t quite figure out if it was because you were younger than him, or because you were a woman. Honestly, it was probably both. He was just one of those kinds. He pointed out the red mark on your hand, claiming a woman who can’t even get coffee without burning herself definitely couldn’t do her job.
You were in no mood to be called a whore or a child any longer than you absolutely had to, so you ended up grabbing the nearest object--an office chair-- and bringing it straight down on Mr Spence’s head. Similar to before, you requested the information from his team and left. Luckily his team was far more accommodating and weren’t all complete asshats like their team leader. You’d have to see about changing the leaders from those two groups later. For now though, you had one last stop. On your way to the last team room you stopped by the break room for another cup of tea, desperately needing to calm down. As you took the first sip of your new cup your vision settled on the back of your hand.
Smooth skin glared back at you.
With a deep sigh you shake your head and make your way to your final stop, possibly the most stressful one yet. If only because.. Handsome man make brain go dumb. You didn’t see Jack upon first entering the room, which caused a minute of confusion as you surveyed the room. One of the employees pointed you to the back of the room, specifically the floor. You raised a brow but made your way over to the designated spot and became further confused.
“Oh hey, I saw you talking to the other team leads. Was wondering when you’d find your way to me,” Jack greeted with a grin, looking up from the floor. You ended up staring in silence at how his eyes seemed to compliment his pearly smile for a few seconds longer than you’d like. You cleared your throat and tore your eyes away.
“Yes, hi again. Why um, why are you on the floor, Mr Jack?” You asked as quickly as you can, hoping beyond hope that he didn’t address the staring, again.
“Nice of you to ask,” Jack practical sang, getting up from his position on the floor. It was adorable and you wanted to die. “I was hiding, cupcake. Specifically from the lady next door.” You were even more confused. Also strangely flattered, you weren’t used to nicknames and it was very sweet. Though it became more and more apparent to you that he just threw the nicknames around when talking to anyone, as he addressed his team.
“From.. Ms Pace?” You would hide from that witch as well. From now on, you probably would. With the whole.. Smashing a mug on her head and leaving her unconscious form for her teammates to take care of.
“Yup, she’s having a mood, dunno who pissed in her cheerios but, I don’t really want to deal with it.” Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. “Not part of my job description.”
“Out of curiosity, what is your job description?” You would have guessed programmer but he really didn’t seem like the type to just sit on a computer all day.
“Engineer. Lean more towards electrical stuff, but I’m more of a Jack of all trades kind of guy.” Jack winked and you took several moments to stare directly into your mug before downing it. “You okay there, kiddo?”
“Fantastic,” came your sarcastic reply, staring blankly at your mug in regret. After many tense seconds, you looked back up to Jack’s pretty face. “I need your team’s work so far, and notes on any changes you’ve made to the code. By tomorrow should be fine, but I’d prefer it if you’d have it for me later today.” Jack hummed and gave a nod.
“I suppose I can get that done for you,” Jack smiled. “I’ll have that for you later, kiddo.”
“Being that handsome is a sin,” you mumbled under your breath. Maybe not twice your age, but Jack had at least ten years on you. Why were you so attracted to older guys? You shake your head and took the opportunity to place your empty mug on your head once more. It helped you tame your facial expressions. “That’s all for now, then. Until next time, Mr Jack.” Jack was a bit distracted by the mug on your head, but was quick to give his own farewell. You left the room as quick as you were able while balancing the mug. You dropped by the break room to clean and put away your mug before returning to your office.
Back in your office there was research from three more teams on your desk. You added them to your drawer and took all four sets of notes you had. You went through them and highlighted larger edits, reading through the different programming comments left by each employee. The last two teams got the information to you before the official ‘end’ of the workday. You were a bit disappointed Jack didn’t bring the information personally and instead had a member deliver it like every other team, but that was just your rapidly budding crush on the man talking. After placing everything in your locked drawer, you shut off your computer and left the room.
The rest of the office was dark when you exited, all the team rooms and De Quidt’s office light-less and empty. Upon exiting the building you were greeted by a sound not dissimilar to a wolf howling, only it came from an owl looking creature with spiked wings. You spared the creature a blank look and went in search of the vague location given to you by Mrs Wrona earlier.
The ground looked completely untouched, and you would never have believed it was disturbed if not for a shallow puddle of red beneath some unsettled leaves. You guessed a breeze ruffled the leaves, exposing the evidence. It was very professionally covered up, otherwise. You made quick work of restoring the area to look unremarkable. Then you went to your new temporary home and then to bed, eager to end your long day.
What an emotional rollercoaster.