Topher Brink spent the entirety of his high school years completely and utterly bored, and as a result, his grades were solidly on the B- side of average and no better. After graduation, he left behind a gaggle of frustrated teachers, all pushing him to channel some of his brilliance into school work instead of his own little experiments, and began applying for student loans and summer jobs.

He was not hand-picked by Rossum like most of their programmers. He did not receive the scholarship from a mysterious benefactor like Bennett Halverson did.

He did not go to the Tucson Institute of Technology.

Instead, Topher was already halfway through grad school by the time he fell on the radar of one Adelle DeWitt, who preferred to make her own selections without her employers’ domineering input. As the challenges increased, so did his interest, and he stumbled into some rather fascinating discoveries and achievements. He still got distracted by his own personal pursuits often enough that, by raw numbers, he was nowhere near the league Rossum required. But DeWitt knew potential when she saw it and kept a careful watch as he completed his studies.

She still had her doubts when she brought him in for the initial interview. He fidgeted in his seat, his mind wandered from her questions, and she turned around once to find him hastily putting something back on her desk with a guilty expression. Perhaps she had merely mistaken eccentricity for genius.

But when she told him what this really was, handed him the contract to look over, Topher Brink fell completely silent. He leaned forward, brow furrowed, and she could see his attention narrow to a small, intense focal point.

DeWitt’s smile was small and satisfied. “Would you like to see how the process works?”