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churbooseanonYork’s story is one about coming out of left field, because that’s always what he does. This week he’ll be our focus, a chapter a day, following York through the seven trials that gets him where he is. York’s name provided by @hayleycreagine
Key To The Truth [Part One] - (A Guns for Hire Fanfic)
Silence. A state where no, or minimal, noise is being produced. It had so many forms. Deep, profound silences as one pondered the infinite expanses of the universe or the potential limitless potential of the human mind. Tiny silences that came from trying not to be noticed, like a child in a closet during a game of hide and seek. The meek silence of the guilty caught red-handed, or the recently chided. Defiant silence that shouted down all comers, the originator certain of their superiority and righteousness. The silence of reverence, one buried in prayers, traditions, and awe. There was silence as a brief interlude in the weaving of music, making notes more poignant, and the warbling silence that fell when the music finished, leaving the mind to disgust all which had come before. And, of course, there was the intense silence of the focused mind, all of the awareness of the creator focused into something beyond simple bodily experience.
Connor Danvers, R&D specialist with Danvers Security Systems as well as one of the two heirs of the mega-corp, was particularly talented with the final form of silence. Intensity, his older sister Claudia always told him, that often meant he forgot to consume anything that wasn’t coffee. A silence so deep and focused that it had no choice but to erupt explosively when it was broken, because anything else would leave the echo of the silence too deep in his normally noisy mind. Perhaps she was right, not that Connor would ever acknowledge such a thing.
“EUREKA!”
At least, he’d never confirm that he already knew she was absolutely and utterly right. Claudia was pretty good at lording those sorts of things over him.
“Mr. Danvers,” a voice came calmly from the side of the room where the senior member of the R&D team had his own work station. There was a levelness to his voice that never failed to make Connor tremble with the slightest bit of fear, and sure enough Connor had to fight the chill that ran through him at the glacial tone. “If you would be so kind, I would ask once more that you do your best to keep your volume to a reasonable level. Causing all of us to jump while working on delicate work could be… less than fortunate.”
Connor ducked his head, a bit sheepish at the reminder, even as his superior put aside his own tools and made his way to where Connor was sitting. Sure, he felt bad about the fact that he’d done it again, probably dragging everyone in this area of the lab out of their own deep focuses, or conversations, but that didn’t change the excitement bubbling up in his stomach. Half a year he’d been working on this specific problem, and if he was right about his success–and let’s be honest, he was fucking right–then he had just really proved he deserved to be in R&D. Hell, he’d probably even proved to his mother that there was definitely more than one angle someone could take to leading this company. He didn’t need Claudia’s fancy business degrees if he knew the tech better than anyone else.
“Let’s see what you’ve done here,” Dr. Gonzales said as he came up behind Connor and leaned over his shoulder to look at the work. Connor just leaned back in his chair, grinning widely at what he’d accomplished. It would probably take Gonzales a few minutes parsing through the code before he’d even begin to look at the simple elegance of the hologram hovering over a display dish on Connor’s desk, but he knew the reception would be positive.
“Well,” his superior started cautiously after a moment, “I think I’d want to run it through a serious bit of testing before I gave a final verdict, but I definitely think you’re on to something here.”
“Only just ‘on to something,’ Doc? Because I feel like this is it. The breakthrough I’ve been after for months. If this works out…”
The older man nodded his agreement before standing straight, and Connor spun his chair to look at the other man. His role model really, his idol before even his parents, who hadn’t built this company from the ground floor. No, it had been his grandfather who had founded Danvers Security Systems, who had given his all to revolutionizing security through specialized encrypted locks, and it had been Dr. Gonzales who had been there from the word go, the computer programming specialist who had worked with his grandfather to make the special coding language their locks all became based on. His mother had gone into business instead to help her father manage his rapidly growing company, and his father had been a marketing specialist she had fallen in love with. They couldn’t understand what DSS was suppose to be, not like the far older Gonzales did. They hadn’t won their reputations, power, and wealth with every hair gone gray from hours in the lab working on new variations to keep ahead of the competition. They hadn’t devoted their lives to this work like his godfather had. They would only see what Connor had just done as a new step in a logical progression of lock building, and would never understand the number of intuitive jumps, illogical work-arounds, and the sheer boneheaded determination that had gone into the creation of this marvelous new system.
Which was why Connor sat there, hanging in the pensive silence Dr. Gonzales strung out before him, waiting for the true bone his superior would throw to him. Suggesting something go to QA testing was one thing. Saying Connor was on to something was just a repetition of what had been said since he’d put forth the idea. But what he was looking for was something rarely ever given, and all the more precious for it.
“How about we sit down and look over this step by step before we send it along?”
Connor nodded and watched as Dr. Gonzales turned away, clearly intending to go fetch his own chair so he could review Connor’s work with him in comfort. And then, just before he took that first step further away from Connor, it came. The assurance and pride and almost affection that Gonzales always seemed to save for when his subordinates had done work that impressed and marveled him. The words that made him such a good mentor, that meant when he asked them for overtime hours on testing something no one hesitated to say yes because they didn’t want to let him down. The single sentence that made every long night and abandoned weekend worth it and drove them all to higher levels of work than they’d ever thought themselves capable of.
“And Connor? Damn good piece of work there.”
Everyone in the lab knew better than to watch the person such high praise was bestowed upon. It was to save them all from embarrassment when their time came. Which made sense.
Connor would probably never live down the little, squirmy victory dance he did as he set his chair to spinning otherwise.
* * * * * *
“And then he said ‘damn good piece of work there’ all nonchalant like, just that way he always does and I, super cool and suave guy I am…”
“Did that adorable tiny fist pump, booty wiggle dance you do when you’re excited,” Roxanna provided with true nonchalance before sipping her beer, not even looking at Connor to confirm or deny that idea.
“Okay, one, my victory dance isn’t adorable, and should never be described as a booty wiggle,” Connor protested immediately. “Two, I was sitting so there was no chance my butt was doing anything other than being glued to a chair like a good little R&D monkey.”
“If I were to believe that, then I think I’d have no choice but to believe my boss wants to pin me to her desk and kiss me senseless,” Roxanna shrugged his comment off, and when she turned on her barstool, Connor could see the slight smirk on her lips.
“Yeah, we both know my sister doesn’t think like that,” Connor answered, giving his best friend and his sister’s personal secretary a pitying look.
He still couldn’t understand what Roxanna saw in his older sister, because the two were as different as night and day. Claudia had never let go of that silver spoon thrust in her mouth when she was born, even though Connor had discarded his when he’d balked against his parents’ wishes and gone to school to learn to create, not manage. Roxanna, though, was one of those driven people who started with a poor family, a shitty neighborhood, a crap education system, and clawed her way up into her position. Even though she was just a senior secretary to his older sister, they both knew Roxanna was being looked at for the newly opened managerial spot in HR, and Connor wished her well of the position. He never stopped wondering, though, what the cheerful, energetic, and lovely woman was doing going after his boring, tight-lipped, overly critical older sister. That being said, he’d seen the fondness in both of their eyes during family dinners Roxanna had been invited to, and he knew he was happy for the both of them.
Still, he saw Roxanna as his best friend first, and his future sister-in-law second. Which was why he was here at their usual bar sharing his news of success with her before he ever considered going home to his family and explaining that yes, he’d probably just found a way for them to make even more money. A good portion of which would go into their charitable foundation of course, but he knew that was as much because his father knew that a philanthropic company was more fondly looked upon than some massive compulsion to help other people.
And that, Connor knew, was being nowhere near fair toward his family, and he had to grimace with distaste at the thought. It left a sour taste in his mouth… or maybe that was the shitty off-band beer he was drinking, had to drink for the rest of the month because he’d lost a bet to Roxanna. Damn her she knew one of the few affectations of wealth he allowed himself was being an alcohol (and coffee) snob, why had she chosen this as his punishment?
“You’ve got that look,” Roxanna informed him bluntly as she turned her attention back to her own martini. “The one where you caught yourself being a dick to your family in your mind again.”
“Yeah,” Connor sighed, pushing his beer away. Maybe she’d let him get away with just not drinking. Of course when he looked at her out of the corner of his eye he saw the curiously raised eyebrow and knew it wasn’t going to fly. So he pulled the thing back and took another sip, trying not to grimace at the taste. “I love them, I really do. And they’re good people. It’s just…”
“They planned your life out for you, and weren’t happy when you didn’t fit into the mold?” Roxanna provided. “Yeah, I get that, Connor. You know I do. My dad wanted me to be a mechanic, remember?”
Despite himself, Connor had to wince. Always did when Roxanna brought it up. It wasn’t that he thought the work was below or beyond her if she put her mind to it. Rather he knew how terrible Roxanna was with cars in any and all forms, how the one time she’d adjusted the radio in his car she’d managed to somehow break the tuner as if by magic. Potentially putting someone’s life in her hands based on her ability to change a tire or brake pads was actually scary.
“Yeah, I know,” he agrees, finishing off his beer with one last swig. “I just… I wish they’d be happy that I might have finally gotten this right, not because what it will bring the company, but because I achieved something I’ve been working so hard on.”
“I’m certain they’re proud of you anyway,” Roxanna answered, patting him on the back. “Come on, let’s get going. And don’t you take that insane credit card out, okay? This was our celebration, and I’m paying.”
Connor scoffed at that. “You’re only doing it because my drink was fucking cheap pisswater this time.”
Roxanna grinned at that. “Yeah. Maybe. Now come on, let’s get you back home before your mother gets mad that we missed dinner.”
Right. Family dinner. Connor didn’t swear under his breath, even though he wanted to. Because it didn’t matter what he’d done in the lab today. The first thing his parents were going to talk about was the tabloid he’d managed to get his face plastered onto the cover of. They were going to have to yell at him about public image and not dating those ‘distasteful types that caught themselves improperly in the public eye’ and such. After all, it was totally reasonable to blame him for accidentally dating a porn star. Not like the guy had come up to Connor and said ‘hey I’m a porn star, wanna get a drink?’ And the whole section of the article that claimed he was trying to steal the company from under his sister’s feet was such bullshit that it made him sick. But it was going to be the talk of the dinner table long before a critical advancement in security systems that he had created ever would be. Of course. That was just his luck.
