Disclaimer - I do not own Silicon Valley
Chapter 8 – Gavin
After the money cleared, one day I realized I was in the territory of season 2 episode 3 when I was almost run over by Russ Hanneman. As much as I wanted to say no, I wasn't going to before I took a ride in the bitching sports car and have 800 dollar meat.
As I talked with Russ, I realized everyone was still under the assumption that Pied Piper was still unfunded and sinking. Well, I am going to let them hold that assumption as long as possible.
Apparently, some journalists had caught wind of my meeting with Russ Hanneman in the restaurant and took a picture. By the end of the day, articles were out that Pied Piper was being acquired by Russ Hanneman. Monica came running in a panic when she read it.
"You are going into business with Russ- 'I put the Radio On Internet'- Hanneman!", she came in barging into my room accusing me.
"Of course, he promised me he will hook me up with Scarlet Johanson and let me borrow his Lamborghini from time to time, in exchange for me letting him buy my potential billion dollar company for peanuts. What more could a man ask for?", I said with a straight face. I kept that straight face for about 3 seconds before I started laughing loudly at Monica's gaping face. Suffice to say, Monica was equal parts embarrassed and amused with a little bit of pissed thrown in. Then she started hitting me with my pillow when I wouldn't stop laughing at her expense. Soon the pillow fight devolved into some thing a bit for adult and fun.
But I didn't stop teasing Monica about her overreaction for weeks.
With 5 million, we were set for the next 8 months even with the ridiculous expenditures I was planning on making in the next few months. And I had already started the team working on sales based model with a viable product to land in the market in 4 months.
"Richard are you even hearing me?", Jared said shaking me out of my day reminiscing.
"Yeah, I am sorry you were saying something about coders and engineers?", I asked Jared.
"Yes, Gilfoyle and Dinesh have both asked for 15 people team. Each! Richard, we simply can't afford that.", Jared told me.
"Okay, how many can we afford?", I asked Jared.
"At our current reserves, 5 engineers each. Six would be stretching it.", Jared said and I just nodded my head and went to talk to Dinesh and Gilfoyle in another room.
Five minutes later I was back in the kitchen with Jared, "They can make do with three each." I told him with a smirk. He gave a wide pleased smile at that.
XxxxxX
It was hilarious to see Gavin self-destruct on TV. It was even more hilarious to see Gavin compare the plight of billionaires with the plight of Jews in Nazi German. But you couldn't measure how entertaining it was to see his statement and him because of it being mocked on every, radio and TV station, late night shows, blogs, and Tech news articles.
XxxxxX
"Why are we here Richard?" The gang asked as I had took them to the middle of the highway. I just pointed both my index fingers up. "God?" Erlich asked me in question confused at my gesture.
"No, you idiots look behind you.", I told them pointing to the billboard. The billboard had a giant picture of me, in my one and only three-piece Armani suit with a smirk plastered on me with the words, "I am Pied Piper.", written next to me.
"What the fuck?!" that was Gilfoyle.
"You see Erlich, I took a page from your textbook and decided to fuck with Gavin. I found out his home address and rented 30 of these mother fuckers that are on his way to work. The biggest one of them all in the direct field of view from Gavin's office at hooli.
"So how do you like it?", I asked my team.
"Richard how much did it cost?", Jared asked me.
"For 8 weeks, 30 grand.", I told him. I could tell from Jared's face that he really wanted to object but didn't have the heart to.
"I don't see the difference between this and take a pile of money, dowsing it with gasoline and throwing a lit match on it.", Gilfoyle said in his sarcastic drawl. I couldn't help but laugh. "Gilfoyle did your mother ever tell you how mother fucking funny you are. And tell me this, if you had the option to do this to Dinesh, would you?", He thought about it for a few seconds then shrugged his shoulders in acceptance but not saying anything that would make him accept defeat.
"Anyways, I have a reason for doing this. Gavin has been on the attack. This is our response. This is also meant to piss him off and make a mistake. A mistake we can probably take advantage of.", I told them. And it was true. I felt that this provocation was necessary for the events of the season to proceed as they would have originally. Because my whole plan hinged on it.
"I have said this before, I will say this again. The student has surpassed the master.", Erlich said boisterously patting me on the back.
XxxxxX
"This is insulting! This is outrageous! This is the most hostile and aggressive act of provocation I have ever had to endure. It crosses every line of decency.
You see that billboard? Do you see that? This is War!", Gavin said screaming at his in house legal counsel.
"That Hendrick prick has fucked me over again and again and again. I want this suit to be more than a holding action I want to win it. Tell me what can we do here to make that happen?" , Gavin asked pacing in his office to his lawyers.
"Well, this suit is going to be a protracted and time-consuming ordeal. Having a crack legal team and top litigators give us an advantage over pied pier." The lawyer said but Gavin could feel bullshit oozing out of it. So he asked, "Translation?"
"Ultimately the suit will turn based on us proving that Pied Piper was created here at hooli. Now so far concrete evidence of that is thin." The lawyer said reluctantly.
"So fucking thicken it!", Gavin snapped.
"There might be a way. What if there were an individual here at hooli with whom Hendricks had a lot of contact with. What if this individual were arguably the member of the original pied piper team? What if we took steps to present this individual, in a light such that his talents were undeniable? Surely an individual this brilliant would move quickly up the ladder here at hooli. Surely he would be promoted rapidly and repeatedly, no? And surely these impressive promotions would lead the court to agree that someone this brilliant who was there at the inception of Pied Piper, must be integral to if not solely responsible for its creation?", the lawyer finished his pitch with a grin on his face…..
XxxxxX
AN: A smaller chapter. But I didn't have much to say or do in this episode. Also I am accepting Fan POV's and Interludes. If you have something to write from other characters Point of Views of how they view the events happening with them till now or even their perception of the SI. Please write it in the comments and I will make it a part of the story if it is good.