2013.09.17 - Soothing the Savage Beast

Well, it has certainly shaped up to be an interesting Tuesday afternoon.
Heading back up to his office via the dedicated elevator that caters to the high-ups in the company, Justin prepares to meet with the engineer and the security officer that were, in his mind, responsible for the breach of the civilian labs in building 5. Of course it wasn't security's fault- they responded as soon as they caught wind of something out of the ordinary, though the engineer may have played a larger role. Given the fact the intruder, the gifted child known as 157, portaled into a janitor's closet and even had a visitor's badge and story, there should be leniency. But when Hammer is involved, mercy is usually unheard of.
When the elevator car arrives on the 20th floor, the CEO steps out at a brisk pace. Everyone in the office can read his posture and mannerisms like a book, a defense mechanism honed over time spent working for a hot headed boss. Liz seems to cower slightly, quickly minimizing the game of solitare she had up on her computer as Justin strides past her desk and into his office. He doesn't bother closing the office door, heading straight to his desk and unlocking his computer as he sits down.
From her temporary 'home' in the main conference room, Fern can hear the ding of the elevator and she leans to see through and check who's arrived on 20. Seeing Justin, noting that he looks a bit scowly, Fern gets up at once, collecting up her tablet, moving to follow him into his office. Liz waves a hand at Fern, an attempt to wave her off, but Fern just smiles and waves back, oblivious despite the woman's frantic effort.
 
Fern leaves the door open as well, a light frown of concern wrinkling her brow as she moves toward her desk. She does glance back, then keeps her voice low as she asks, "Justin? Is everything alright?" She's ready to try and help smooth over whatever it is that has the thunderclouds hovering over his head. 
Hearing a voice Justin looks away from the computer screen and toward it's source. The look on his face could almost read murder- something Fern has likely not seen from him before. Because it's only his PA's second day on the job, it takes him a second to realize who it is and why she's here. Once that's processed, he tempers the look, letting off a sigh. "Major breach in security protocol in one of the civilian labs," he says, tone sharper than normal. It's not directed at Fern, as he isn't angry with her, and uncharacteristically his aggression doesn't blatantly spill over into his interaction with her, as it would with, say, Liz. "I need to get in touch with HR and have a rep in the first floor conference room A-S-A-P. As well as personnel files for an engineer and a security officer." While it's not said, the implication that someone is losing their job is pretty clear.
Fern steps forward, closing the distance between the door and Justin's desk, setting her tablet down as she plants her hands on the wood and leans forward. "Tell me what happened?" she asks gently. Her father, while a lovely man, is also prone to having a temper, and Fern learned ways to deal with that through her mother and her own interactions with him. He was fond of saying that Fern could charm the pants off a junebug, whatever that means. She always took it as a compliment. 
Justin swivels his chair so that he can face Fern comfortably, instead of the computer screen. He puts his elbows on the desktop and interlaces his fingers. "Apparently," he starts, obviously struggling at least slightly to keep his tone in check, "One-five-seven, you remember the kid, right? Creepy little fellow, talks like a computer? Anyway, he portaled into building 5 and told some story that he had my permission to be there, and Huntington, the lead engineer on the cell tower project, let him sit there and work on stuff with him. No idea how long he was there before security finally sent someone down there to check it out. I mean, seriously, didn't anyone stop to think that something was wrong with a kid wandering around unescorted? I swear, I'm paying these guys to think, and they ain't thinking."
Blue eyes widen slightly as Justin gets his story started, and Fern nods, interjecting softly, "Oh yeah, I remember him." She also remembers how he left one day by just 'disappearing', so she's witnessed his portal stunt. She frowns lightly, nodding her understanding but daring to gently contradict Justin. "Well, I have seen him come and go like he does, and if he was in the building, it wouldn't be too far a jump to assume that he was let in. I mean, it's not really typical for someone to go through a portal, so that couldn't have occurred to them if they didn't know him, don't you think?" Her frown deepens lightly, "Although, they should have seen he didn't have a visitor badge on." It's a logical assumption to make, that the boy didn't have proper ID. 
Justin stays quiet a moment, taking in Fern's words. She's right- 157 is very atypical, and his security staff wasn't in a position to deal with it. "He had a visitor's badge," he finally replies, still mostly controlled. "So I'm guessing that he got checked in somewhere. Had to have." In reality, he hadn't- the badge the kid had was left over from when he had come to help with the BullShark project just before the expo demo. The security staff is actually innocent in this entire thing, but someone has to hang for this crime, and Hammer can't take it out on the engineer. They need Huntington for the project he's on. "If someone random comes in claiming to have my permission to go wandering around randomly, they should have called me."
Fern's frown eases a measure as Justin supplies the information that 157 did have a badge. She leans one hip lightly against the edge of Justin's desk, brows lifting. "But, if he had a badge, then they really didn't exactly break protocol, did they?" she asks, her voice still soft. "And as soon as someone thought it wasn't quite kosher, they did call you," she reminds him. "Maybe now that you know this might be an issue, you could have a briefing with security to keep an eye out for him and notify you immediately if he's seen anywhere on the premises again without you with him?" 
Justin looks up at the young redhead. It's pretty rare that he has to look up at her, but given that she's standing and he's sitting. Even without knowing that security never had a chance to check him in, what Fern says makes sense. He can't go after the security crew on this one, it makes no sense, could potentially open him up to liability, not to mention damage morale and cause more turnover. Looking down at his desk, the CEO lays his palms flat on it's surface and pushes himself to a standing position. He's a lot calmer than he was when he first walked into the office. "We can forgo HR on this one," he says, his voice flat now. "But schedule a meeting with the shift commanders for security so we can discuss some changes to procedure."
Despite the tone of Justin's voice, his decision brings Fern's smile back, and she immediately has her tablet up, tapping away at it efficiently. With one finger. "I'll get that set up in your first available opening, because this is a priority matter," she says as she goes tappity-tap. Her eyes lift, head tilting in the more familiar posture of looking up at Justin. "Can I get you some coffee or something, Justin? I think there's a cupcake left over from this morning's meeting..." The words are purposely enticing, because now that his bad mood has started to break she's going to try to beat it into submission. 
"Excellent," Justin replies, though there isn't much enthusiasm in his voice. Trying to hash out new security procedures to deal with teleporting robo-kids isn't exactly what he wanted to be doing. The mention of coffee gets a slightly lighter response. "Yeah, that would be good. Meet me in the first floor conference room with them?" he says. The fact that Fern managed to not only calm him down but change his mind on firing otherwise innocent employees doesn't escape him. There was a reason he wanted to hire her into this position, and even he wasn't quite sure why until now. She's a hell of a lot more diplomatic than he is.
"I'll be down there before you even know I'm gone," Fern promises lightly. She turns to go, then hesitates and turns back. Her talk with Warren yesterday has been weighing heavily on her mind. Not his opinion that Justin has ulterior motives, but that she might not be able to handle the job (even though that's not what Warren was trying to convey to her). "Justin..." she says slowly. "I just want to thank you. You're putting an awful lot of faith in me, without ever having had a job like this before. I won't forget it." 
When the woman stops and turns back, Justin pauses. He's standing next to his desk instead of behind it now. The gratitude comes as a complete surprise. Sure, Fern has thanked him for things before, like the Labor Day trip out on the yacht, and she's always been sincere, but this is sort of out of the blue.
Justin Hammer says, "Hey, uh, don't worry about it. I've seen you under some pretty stressful situations, I knew you could handle it." It's pretty obvious he doesn't quite know how to respond, since there's no fear or fiction in the words.
Fern manages to resist the urge to step back over and hug Justin, in the interest of work propriety, but it's with no little amount of effort. "I won't let you down," she promises, clearly meaning it as if it were an oath. Her smile is back, shining at Justin brightly for a moment before she turns, going to get that last cupcake (that she'd put aside in a cupboard for him) and his coffee. 
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