mythandmagic (mythandmagic) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-09-23 08:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caleb rivers, merlin |
Who: Merlin and Caleb
When: Mid-September
Where: Stark Industries
What: A friendly chat
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Merlin had done as asked by Tony and done some background research into Caleb, it hadn’t been easy. He knew what he was doing and he was better than Merlin, or at least Merlin without magic. Thankfully his magic had helped out. But looking at it all something didn’t add up and he’d decided to speak to Caleb before taking the information to his bosses. He would, of course, he was a loyal employee and friend but it seemed fairer to let the younger man know. And maybe explain the gaps he’d found.
Knocking on the office door he walked in, pleased to see only Caleb in the office, the others must be at lunch. “Uh hey, you got a minute?”
Caleb was still adjusting to working in an actual office. Working for Stark was pretty chill for the most part, but he still wasn’t used to the idea of being in one place for eight hours a day. He liked to make his own hours, work when and where he felt like. It was taking some getting used to but he was adjusting, he just took a lot of breaks.
It was rare that he was in the office alone, but he honestly preferred it that way. Some of the others tended to get on his nerves and Caleb wasn’t much of a team player. Sure he had worked for a group back in Allentown, but he was the only hacker. He may have been bossed around but at least he didn’t have to sit around and share his work with anyone else. He wasn’t expecting someone to else to walk in and want to talk to him. “Uh, sure.” Caleb said swinging around in his desk chair to face Merlin. “What’s up?”
Once things settled and Caleb gained their trust he’d be able to make his own hours, as long as the work got done Stark was pretty happy for it’s employees to set a schedule that worked for them. Merlin felt very lucky that was the case, especially as he had Ben in the onsite creche once or twice a week which was a godsend.
“I’m not going to creep around it but you need to listen first okay?” Merlin said, “I was asked to run a background check on you. You had curious gaps in your history and with how you were discovered we needed to check you out. Pretty impressive, you cover your tracks very well”
Honestly Caleb wasn’t surprised. He would have expected that they looked into him. The only reason Tony knew about him was because Caleb had hacked into the system and had gotten pretty far before Tony caught him. It wasn’t legal. It was also obvious that he had done that sort of thing before, there was no other reason for how else he would have gotten that far. So when Merlin confirmed it he just nodded his head.
“Isn’t that why I was hired?” not because he had gaps in his history obviously, but because he was good at what he did. Getting into systems, covering his tracks, he would know what everyone trying to hack Stark was looking for and be able to block them.
“Oh yes, we knew you were good but, well, you were discovered” Merlin reminded him, “You weren’t when you hacked the DMV or when you laundered money from other companies. Though I don’t think you came up with those alone, was it a group you were working for? I don’t want their details” he added, in case Caleb thought Merlin wanted him to snitch or anything.
“Stark has some tight security,” he hadn’t been sure if he could hack into it. It was one of the few he wasn’t positive about before starting. At least he had gotten a job out of his attempt.
“Yes,” he confirmed to Merlin’s question about working for a group. He didn’t need that kind of money for himself.
Caleb wasn’t much for opening up or sharing his past - trusting people in general, but since Merlin had come to him first. Before going to Tony and Pepper he figured he could be at least a little more honest with him. “I left home, or what could be considered home at an early age. Had to make money somehow.” He knew it wasn’t the best way to go about things, but it was the only thing he could think of to do at the time. He was young.
“Use whatever skills you have sometimes it’s the only way to survive” Merlin said, nodding, his mother had done the same. It hadn’t been anything illegal but it had been beneath her yet she’d done it to keep him safe. “So what happened? Trying to steal JARVIS doesn’t fit with the gang remit, were you trying to get out?”
Merlin seemed to get it. Sort of. Maybe. Caleb wasn’t so sure. But at least he was trying to understand. Again Merlin had guessed correctly. “I’m out,” Caleb clarified. Well at least as far as he knew. They were all back on the East Coast and he was here. Hopefully they had no clue where he was still. “I figured if I could steal the plans and sell them on the black market I would be set until I could find a legitimate job. Looks like I got one of those instead.”
Merlin had suspected as much considering how far away from the original hacks Caleb had moved, he assumed the gang the younger man had been working with hadn’t decided to move their operation across the country. “Alright” he said, “I obviously need to report what I’ve found but there’s nothing there that warrants any action in my opinion. But if anything happens and you find yourself in trouble of any kind, go to Tony or Pepper. They’ll help you as long as you’re honest with them”
Again Caleb found himself nodding. It wasn’t like he could argue. He had a fucked up past and he knew it. Merlin had only found out about some of it. He wasn’t sure if he should come clean about the rest or not. He wasn’t going to right now though. Even though Merlin said it didn’t seem like action was required Caleb wasn’t sure if it would change things for him or his job. “Thanks,” he finally said not exactly sure how else to respond. “I will,” he wasn’t positive if he would go to his bosses or not but agreeing to what Merlin said also seemed right.
“It’ll be okay Caleb, I promise” Merlin said, he knew Tony and Pepper and while they would keep an eye on him they wouldn’t do anything like fire him. They were good people who would give him a chance. Once he got to know them Merlin hoped that Caleb would open up to them, they were good allies to have and a pretty good pair of friends too.