Corporate Raiders

Chapter 8: Connect

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The best way to waste your life is by taking notes.

Chuck Palahniuk

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Gar & Terra: It’s Over

Morgan Starr, Celeb Weekly Magazine

Former child star and the world’s most photographed Personal Assistant, Garfield Logan, has finally called it quits in his off and on relationship with geologist Terra Markov.

As Celeb Weekly reported last week the actor turned corporate prodigy made the decision to split from his girlfriend of three years during the 28th Annual Sol Corp Charity Ball. While sources say that Terra and Garfield’s boss, Sol Corp CEO Kory Anders, exchanged words, and possibly blows, during the event, it took almost four weeks before Gar, know for his green hair and vegan ways, finally sat down with Terra.

Sources close to the couple say that Terra was tired to playing second fiddle to Kory, whose relationship with Gar has been cause for suspicion time and time again. Says one source, “Terra was tired of feeling like she was always second best. It was why they could never make it work long distance, too much of Gar’s time was spent dealing with Kory and her problems. At the end of the day, there wasn’t any time for Terra.”

But playing assistant to the former model and current CEO of one of America’s biggest corporations hasn’t stopped Gar from getting back into the dating game. It’s been reported that…

Gar stared at the glossy magazine pages blankly, as if by staring, he could make the article go away. According to the article he was stepping out with everyone from Bette Kane to Lorena Marquez. If it wasn’t so damn annoying, he’d probably consider it extremely sad. He hadn’t seen Bette since college, when he was working on her student council campaign, and the last time he’d talked to Lorena was two years ago at a animal rights rally in San Diego. And yet the tabloids were still digging through his past and his personal life, like he didn’t get that laid out on the table enough, and since they weren’t finding anything print worthy, they were making shit up as they went along.

“I would not think that the year you spent playing an alien on Space Trek 2022 would make you a child star. At least I modeled for four years, but still, how many years have I worked for Sol Corp? Much, much longer, especially if you count those unofficial internships. And our relationship is cause for suspicion…hmmm…I always have wanted to be the other woman.”

Kory plopped down in the seat beside him, a bagel loaded with peanut butter in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. She’d been in a good mood all morning and it probably had something to do with the fact that they were in route to Metropolis. With all the stress brought on by S.T.A.R. labs and her flight out to India next week, he knew he should let her have her good mood. Still, there was a part of Gar that wished she’d take the press a little more seriously. Being such a public face, she was beautiful and rich and ran one of the biggest companies in the world, meant that bad publicity was usually bad for business.

“This isn’t good, Kor, OK Magazine already had it out in last weeks issue that we were going to Metropolis for a romantic getaway…”

“Which our PR people took care of. Really, Gar, I don’t see why you get so worked up about these things. We’re business people, not celebrities, and if we ignore them then they’ll go away.”

“No, Kory, they won’t just go away. When your sister turned sixteen and started pulling a Paris Hilton around all the California hot spots, it gave the media unlimited access into your family’s life.” In the four years that he’d worked for her, this was probably the hundredth time they’d had this conversation. “And then you modeled and everyone was so sure that you were going to be the next big thing…and what do you do? You end up working at Sol Technologies and then almost a year and a half ago you become the CEO of Sol Corp. And you think they’re just going to go away? Jesus, Kory…”

His tone surprised him, he almost never raised his voice at her, and when he looked over out of the corner of his eye, Gar was surprised at how small Kory looked. “Oh, geez, Star, baby, I’m sorry, I didn’t…” He had meant to shake her up, bring her around to the facts, but he hadn’t meant to upset her. He hated when she looked like a dog that had been kicked; he usually only saw that part of Kory after she’d gotten through talking to her parents or Koko.

“No, no it is okay. You are right, I am not taking this seriously…”

“Kor, I’m just looking out for you, you know that, right?” He often wondered what would happen if he were to quit, to work somewhere else. Wondered what would happen to Kory if she had someone else for a PA. Those thoughts never did bode well. She was smart as a whip and business savvy, but his star carried around a certain amount of naivety that was dangerous.

She nodded and then sighed loudly, a big shuddering sigh that bordered on the edge of a sob, and shifted in her seat until she could rest her head on his shoulder. “Yeah, you are just doing your job.” Sometimes he wished that his job didn’t include upsetting his best friend, but, then again, in a way, it was she paid him for.

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“Vic, Victor, hey, I know you’re in your office. I talked to your secretary…” Sarah was pounding on his door again and this time Vic doubted he could ignore her. He’d been avoiding her all week, with varying degrees of success, knowing that he didn’t what to get into another discussion about their future with the new owner of S.T.A.R. labs about to touch down any moment. Loosening his tie, he got up from his desk, and opened the door.

Dr. Sarah Charles promptly toppled over onto him.

“What?”

“What? That’s all I get from the guy who’s been attempting a proposal every day for the last three months. Come on, Vic, I know you can do better than that.” Her cheeks were flushed and she was tugging on the lanyard and security pass that was hanging around her neck.

As much as he wanted to sweep her up on his recently cleaned, and disinfected, desk and have his way with her…and then propose, Vic also knew that he still needed to check in with all the scientist that would be meeting with Ms. Anders later that afternoon. And double check the meeting she had with the board. And…

“Sarah, honey, I’m busy. If you haven’t noticed, Kory Anders is going to be in Metropolis in the next couple of hours and I’m up to my neck in the last minute details…”

“Yes, please, you still need to roll out the red carpet and get the champagne and caviar ready for her. Vic, this is serious, I’m going to be on the other side of the world for five years starting in a couple of months. I need to know…” It hadn’t been too long ago that Vic had realized he loved the S.T.A.R. labs doctor. Loved every bit about her from her intellect to her cute button nose to her crooked pinky toes. He loved her so much that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. But he also loved his job and S.T.A.R. labs and knew that sometimes his job came before his personal life. And if Sarah could take off to Cambodia for her job, he could put The Talk on hold until he got Kory settled in and everything taken care of.

Reaching for the door handle, Vic kissed Sarah roughly and at the same time backed her up until she was on the other side of the doorway. “Baby, I love you and yes, I want to marry you, but right now, I need to work. Oh, by the way, you and Johnson are the reps coming in from the R and D wing. Oh and if you see Beecher, tell her that her part came in and…”

Sarah slammed the door in his face and he grimaced. Then again, there were only so many things he could mess up before he got something right. His luck had to turn around sometime.

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Unlike the one hundred and seven year old Berge Anders, Bruce Wayne was not a ceremonial president of his company. When Lucius Fox retired from the post the year before, Bruce had taken over the position with little fanfare. Dick’s unanimous vote as Wayne Enterprises CEO hadn’t been too much of a surprise, either. Although Dick had resented his adopted father for most of his adolescence, during college he had realized the man only pushed him to succeed because he wanted what was best for him. While he always had the Wayne name to back him up, Dick had instead relied on the knowledge and expertise gathered from being at Bruce’s side for all of those years. In the end, it had paid off immensely.

As president and CEO, respectively, the two men shared power quite easily. Bruce dictated the company’s general policies while Dick often acted as a liaison to the board, often suggesting new ventures and new directions that the company could take. While they butted heads often, but that didn’t diminish the fact that they still worked well together.

It was noon in Gotham City and Dick was having lunch in Wayne Manor, waiting for Bruce to make an appearance. Even though he had a nice condo outside of Gotham’s business district, he still considered the manor to be his home. It helped that he and Bruce talked business over lunch every Monday and that he ate dinner at the manor, with or without Bruce, at least three times a week.

He was thinking of Kory, a common occurrence as of late, and tomorrow night’s Metros game. When she’d mentioned her love of sports, he’d been more than a little shocked. After all, Kory Anders looked like the type of girl who went to Fashion Week in New York City and thought that sunbathing was a sport. Then again, this was the girl who’d gone to the Ace of Spades and proceeded to drink more liquor than he’d thought humanly possible. She was full of surprises.

“You’re not seriously considering taking your girlfriend to the Metros game, are you?” Bruce strode into the room, at 6’2” he easily commanded attention, and took the seat opposite Dick. “Because, I think it’s a terrible idea.”

“Of course you think it’s a terrible idea, that’s why I didn’t ask you for your opinion. How did you find out, anyway?” He had to ask, even if he already had a pretty good idea.

Bruce merely rolled his eyes, a not so subtle hint he thought his adopted son was acting juvenile, and started picking through the salad Alfred had prepared. “I had two meetings that were in conflict with each other and I asked Rachel if there was anyway you could pick up one of them. She informed me you’d be leaving the office early that evening and, of course, I pressed for details.”

While he doubted she’d really meant to do any harm, Dick really wished Rachel had just kept her mouth shut. She always had been too free with information when Bruce was involved. “Last time I checked, it wasn’t any of your business who I date.”

Oh, how many times could they bring this fight up before it got entirely too old?

“Actually, it is when you’re dating the CEO of a rival company. Exactly how do you think the board is going to act when they see you and Miss Anders splashed over the cover of every tabloid in the nation?” By now Dick was completely ignoring the salmon dish set in front of him and Bruce’s soup was probably going cold. “We may not get a lot of press time for our personal lives, but, Miss Anders is an entirely different story. Under different circumstances…”

Apparently, Bruce and Rachel were teaming up against him. It was more than a little annoying. “Really, honestly, Dad, I really couldn’t give a fuck about the press. They can write than I go skinny dipping in France annually if that’s what gets them off…”

“Dick…”

“I like Kory. I think we’re good for each other and she’s what I’ve been looking for, for a long time. We’ll weather the press and eventually they’ll get tired of…”

“Richard.”

That was enough to effectively put a halt to the conversation.

“Are you done acting like a rebellious teenager?”

Obviously, that wasn’t even worth a response.

“Good, because I’ve been having enough trouble with Tim lately. Now, I didn’t say you shouldn’t date Miss Anders. I’ve met her, she’s a lovely person, and I am happy for you. I just don’t think…”

“Then don’t think about it.” Scooting away from the table, resisting the urge to throw his napkin down, Dick mentally counted to ten in his head before opening his mouth again. “The last time I asked you for relationship advice, I was thirteen years old and having trouble talking to girls. I’d really like to leave it that way.”

Yes, it had been a very productive business lunch. So productive that he probably should e-mail Bruce’s assistant, Bethany, and ask her exactly what they were supposed to be talking about.

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“You did what?” Rachel sat up from her desk, eyes going wide, as Dick recounted what had happened at lunch. “Wow, way to be mature, Grayson. Let’s take seasoned, sound advice and…”

“Sound advice? He’s telling me I shouldn’t have anything to do with Kory in public. It’s a fucking Metros game, for Christ sake. Maybe if it were a romantic, candlelit dinner…”

“It would be better if it were a private, romantic, candlelit dinner,” in fact, she was going to call, as soon as she got done yelling at Dick, and see if she could get a reservation somewhere for just that. Men were so thick sometimes. “Your first date is in an extremely public venue. Everyone’s going to see you together and people will start talking. Next thing you know, paparazzi will be camped outside your condo, waiting to get a shot of Kory walking out.”

He blushed, but just for a second, and slumped down in the chair in front of her desk. She hated beating him down with the same rhetoric that Bruce had used, but, it didn’t mean that Bruce wasn’t right. “You’ve seen how they go after her. Hell, she’s not even with Roy and last week Star Magazine did a five page spread on their secret romance…”

“And shouldn’t have to sacrifice my personal life just because the company is worried about bad press. Look, tomorrow, when this all gets out, I’ll talk to the trustees and make them realize that nothing’s going on. My relationship with Kory will in no way…”

The nerve right above her left eyebrow was pulsing and Rachel was wondering if her father knew any members of the mob would be able to quietly and effectively clean up the mess that she was about to make out of her boss. “No one is going to see it like that. It’s going to be viewed as some backdoor merger, the stock is going to drop, we’re all going to be…”

“No.” He stood up, defiance written all over his handsome face. For a moment Rachel forgot how badly she wanted to strangle him. Dick Grayson relied on his charm to get him out of far dangerous situations. “I’m taking Kory to the Metros game and that’s it. I’ll handle the blow up, if there is one, and I’m really done talking about it. If you and Gar can run around Metropolis with no worries…”

“…that’s completely different.” It wasn’t, really, except for the fact that it would just take the paparazzi a little more digging. Still, Rachel wasn’t about to concede her point.

He flashed her his winning smile, knowing he’d won, and walked out of her office. “See you tomorrow, Rae, I’ve got some more work to do before I clock out for my date.”

For a moment, Rachel Roth wondered how many members of the mob it would take to get rid of the hordes of photogs and journalists that would be in attendance at the game. Then she realized, she’d rather eat her own arm than ask her father for a favor.

There was also the fact that she carried a small, small glimmer of hope that everything would work out for Dick and Kory. Because, if it did, then that meant there was actually hope for her and Gar. And she really, desperately needed to believe she wasn’t jumping into something that was destined to be broken.

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Note: Done! Sorry there was no Kory this chapter, well, except for her conversation with Gar. There will be plenty of her next chapter though, I can’t wait to write up her date with Dick. It will be their first official date: if you couldn’t tell, the author is excited. Anyway, very heavy on Dick; Bruce even got some screen time. For Kory, the photographers and gossip have been a part of her life for a very long time, Dick’s been pretty sheltered for the most part (apparently the journalists in Gotham have better things to do). This invasion of privacy is becoming an issue even before anything’s been published. Well, I hope this chapter wasn’t too terrible. I should have another one up before the 15th (my medical leave ends the next day) and I’m going to try to get on a once a week update schedule (key word: try). Wish me luck and as always, thank you so much for your kind reviews.