Chapter Text
Robert looked down at the stack of files, pinching the bridge of his nose. This may not have been the best idea, now that he thought about it.
He stared at the manilla stack like it would fall on him and suffocate him to death. He almost wished it would. However, that was the price of success, especially in a corporate setting. If the higher-ups saw results, then they would want even more. It was just how it went.
Now those results? Those results he could smile about, and smile he did.
The Z-Team really had shown out during the battle with Shroud and his Red Ring, and had made a name not just for themselves, but for the whole of SDN. With that great victory came a significant amount of public attention, not all of it positive, and some of it speculative, but for the most part, it was very much the positive kind.
And yet, as the four months of public attention and cleanup went by, the team, and the Phoenix Program as a whole received a different kind of attention. The corporate kind.
The fact of the matter was, in the eyes of the board, the Phoenix Program was a resounding success, and they wanted more, and so had not only increased funding for the Torrance branch, but also had provided an extensive list of new potential candidates.
When Robert had been told this, he had actually managed to leverage the board into meeting with him personally. Luckily, SDN was based in San Francisco, so the idea wasn’t that far-fetched.
When he did meet them, he had made his feelings on the matter very clear.
While the Z-Team was living proof that the Phoenix Program was a success, their history couldn’t be ignored. The team of former villains had torn through a swath of dispatchers before he came along. They had been notoriously hard to work with, so much so that the program had been nearly scrapped. So, if they didn’t want a repeat of anything like that, they needed to take a different approach.
Which was why Robert proposed that he would go through the list of candidates and pick the best, and vet them personally. The board agreed, and had offered to look through the candidates that met his and the branch manager’s, Mandy’s, criteria. It was all a process in and of itself, but given that these were still criminals at the end of the day, it was a necessary process.
He had also taken the time to ask the board to keep him as the Z-Team’s dispatcher, a request that, surprisingly enough, had been granted. The data and the records were clear, nobody worked with Z-Team better than Robert, however if he wanted to remain with them, he would need to train another dispatcher, so as to mitigate the chances of something similar to the last time from happening again.
All in all, despite Robert’s reservations about the higher rungs of the corporate ladder, they had been very reasonable and receptive.
Which led him back to the stack of paperwork on his desk. He knew there would be quite a few candidates, but two dozen?! What the fuck!
As Robert pinched the bridge of his nose, he felt his chair move from nothing in particular, making him smile.
“Hey, Trouble”, he said.
He then felt a familiar weight on his lap as Invisigal appeared, draping her arms around his neck.
“Hey, Lover”, she replied, “It’s almost 6:30. Why’re you still here?”
“That fuckin’ mountain right there”, Robert muttered, pointing at the files.
“Jesus”, she replied, glancing at the paperwork, “The fuck is even that?”
“The list of candidates for the next batch of Phoenix Program members.”
“How many?”
“Twenty four.”
“Fuck me”, Visi quietly exclaimed as she shifted a little in his lap, “Party in the program, I guess.”
“I’m only gonna pick eight of them.”
“Only eight? There’s ten of us in the Z-Team. Eleven if we count you.”
“Smaller team, better management. Besides, you guys were difficult, but these guys…”
“How bad?” Courtney asked.
“A majority have a murder rap sheet, and one of them is former Red Ring.”
Courtney looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t tell me it’s Toxic.”
Robert huffed at that, “Thankfully, no.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Robert raised an eyebrow, already seeing where she was going with that question.
“Courtney”, he started, “You joined the program willingly. This person…”
“So? Robert, you gave me a chance, even when you had every reason not to. I’m not asking you to be as lenient, but…at least give this person a shot.”
Robert looked to the side, then sighed.
“Alright, I’ll go and interview her. See if she’s Phoenix material”, he relented.
“Woah, ‘she’? I change my mind, let the bitch rot in prison.”
Robert raised an eyebrow again as he said, “Didn’t know you were the jealous type.”
“Robbie, we’ve been dating for four months, how do you not know this already?”
“I mean, I suspected, but always assumed I was incorrect.”
“Well, now you know. No interview.”
“Courtney…”
“Ugh, fine! But I swear to God, if she’s hot, I’m gonna hit you with so much PDA, I’ll make HR blush.”
“Oh, so just your usual everyday shit?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
They both laughed as the office continued to empty out, with Galen giving them both one final fist bump before taking his leave. His superhearing had made him borderline numb to all the sorts of shenanigans people got up to in the office.
“C’mon, Robbie”, Courtney said, burying her face into the crook of his neck, “Let’s go. You’ll come up with an idea tomorrow, when you’re not exhausted.”
Robert smiled softly as he leaned into the top of Courtney’s head, taking in the scent of her hair as he closed his eyes for a brief moment.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
“Good”, Visi said, giving him a quick but loving kiss to the lips before hopping off of him.
He then leaned forward to turn off his computer and gathered the files to put in his backpack, among other things.
“Did you want to do something in particular?” Robert asked as both he and Visi made their way out hand in hand.
“Other than you?” Visi quipped, giving him a wink, “I was thinking of pizza and Titanfall. Sound good?”
“You know what, yeah. Sounds awesome”, Robert said, smiling.
“Oh, and make sure to install the mods I told you about. Vanilla Titanfall is a fuckin’ shitshow right now.”
“About that, what does vanilla mean?”
“Christ”, Visi huffed, smiling, “Remind me again why I love you?”
Robert laughed as they opened the door outside.
Oh yeah, work could wait.