Chapter Text
Everything had to be perfect.
Nina Zenick was good at that, making sure every little detail of every day went just right. Not an employee out of place, not an announcement missed, everything just the way it should be. Which, considering she was responsible for a multi-billion dollar theme park filled with living, breathing dinosaurs that attracted tens of thousands of visitors a day, was about the bare minimum requirement.
The elevator in front of her dinged as it reached the floor but she didn’t look up from the tablet in her hands as she stepped through the doors as they slid open. Every wall besides the one with the doors was glass but she didn’t bother to look at the scenery flashing by as the elevator started its descent.
She started mumbling to herself as she went from screen to screen on her table, faces flashing by almost too quickly but she’d studied them long enough that it was all she needed for a refresher of the investors that she was meeting as soon as the doors opened on her floor.
As the elevator ticked closer, she sighed and finally clicked her tablet off. She rolled her shoulders, still mumbling the names under her breath. Finally, the elevator dinged again and she plastered on her practiced smile as the doors slid open.
“Jim, Carol, Tom. Welcome to Jurassic World,” she said to the three investors who were now standing right in front of her. She stepped out of the elevator and ignored the way all three of them seemed to look her over. “Please, if you’ll follow me.”
She’d started walking before she’d even finished talking, but the investors had quickly fallen into step beside her. It was the same song and dance every time: she’d give them the spiel, show them the labs, they’d ask to sponsor something big with teeth, they’d sign a contract, and everyone would be happy. At this point, she could do it in her sleep and if it hadn’t been this particular dinosaur that she was supposed to be selling, she would have made up some excuse and sent someone else in her place.
“As you can see, attendance has stayed steady throughout the run of the park,” she said as they started walking through the crowds near the labs. “But we don’t just want steady, we want our park to keep growing and expanding.”
“Which is why you want us,” Jim said and she smiled and nodded as if that wasn’t the next thing that was coming out of her mouth.
“And why sponsoring a new attraction would be the perfect partnership,” she said as she swiped her key card and opened one of the doors to the lab. They filed in, all of their eyes immediately widening as they took in everything around them. Scientists hurried around the different stations, watching the incubators, looking through microscopes, typing away at computers. She’d been working at the park long enough that the magic had long since worn off.
“Just seeing a dinosaur isn’t enough anymore,” she said as she set her tablet down and headed towards one of the monitors in the corner. “Nowadays, seeing a T-Rex or a Triceratops is the same as watching an elephant or a lion in the zoo. We have to keep raising the stakes if we want people to keep coming back year after year which is where our genetic hybrids come in.”
She started tapping on the screen and after a few moments, information started popping up, graphics and numbers filling the screen. Once enough had pulled up, she turned back to the investors who were looking at everything skeptically. “We call her the Volcra,” she said, almost going through the motions as she started her pitch. “She’s a T-Rex base genome and from there, our team of scientists created something bigger, scarier, and–to quote our esteemed CEO–cooler.”
“And she is,” another voice cut in, drawing all of the investor’s attention.
Nina had never particularly liked Pekka Rollins but even she could admit that Jurassic World would not have been possible without him. He’d worked at the original park and they’d been lucky enough that he’d agreed to come back. His research was the only reason their park existed, but that didn’t mean she had to deal with him in any way besides professionally.
The investors quickly seemed to lose interest in her as Dr. Rollins joined their group. “You did that?” Tom asked, nodding towards the screen. “You got two different dinosaurs to…” He trailed off but it was easy to connect the dots for how to finish his sentence.
Dr. Rollins chuckled. “Oh, no, the Volcra wasn’t bred,” he said. “No, no, she was designed to be the perfect asset to Jurassic World. Years of research went into her creation, research that wouldn’t have been possible just digging up bones. We’ve learned more from studying live creatures than anything we have in the hundreds of years prior.”
They all turned back to Nina, looking at the screen again with renewed interest. “She’ll be big?” Tom asked.
“She’s already bigger than a T-Rex and still growing,” Nina said with a smile, zooming in on a graphic on the screen.
“Already?” Carol asked. “You mean, it’s–”
“Ready to be unveiled to the public,” Nina filled in. “Every time we’ve announced a new attraction, attendance has skyrocketed. Thousands of people coming to see it, international news coverage.” She watched them carefully. “Everyone seeing the dinosaur that you sponsored.”
Relief coursed through her as the three investors glanced at each other, nodding at each other before turning back to her. “So where do we sign?” Jim asked.
Nina smiled as she picked her tablet back up, already pulling up the forms she’d had ready to go. “Right this way.”
“Next time, I’m letting you suck up to the investors,” Nina said as she walked into the control room, her much needed second coffee of the day clutched in her hand.
Most of the people in the room ignored her, focusing on the screens in front of them. In the front of the room, a huge screen took up most of the wall, a large map of the entire park laid out with details of every single movement of everything accounted for: dinosaurs, guests, workers, anything that had a pulse.
She stopped next to one of the desks, taking a long sip of her coffee as she watched the map. Inej Ghafa, one of the many guides that worked under her, didn’t even look up from the screen she was studying as she asked, “So I take it you closed the deal?”
“Of course I did,” Nina said, taking in every bit of the map. “Who wouldn’t want to have their name plastered beside the scariest dinosaur ever made?”
“You don’t have to sell me,” Inej said, swiping through different files. “I’m not buying anything.”
“Pity,” she said. “You’d be much easier to deal with. They actually asked how we made two different dinosaurs fuck.”
Inej snorted, still not looking up from her screen. “That’s the–”
“Third time,” Nina filled in, frowning as one of the sections of the map started to light up red. “What’s going on there?”
Inej finally looked up for a second before glancing back down and pulling up the information. “Uh, some sort of malfunction with the fence,” she said as she read. “One of the Ankylosauruses shorted out their implant.”
Nina’s frown deepened and she leaned over Inej’s shoulder to bring up the video feed. “They promised they had it fixed–”
“They're fixing it,” Inej said as they both watched Asset Containment slowly working their way around the tranquilized dinosaur. “See?”
“Slowly,” Nina grumbled as she took another long sip of coffee. “And that isn’t fixing the fence, that’s the second time in the last three weeks that it’s failed. And it’s right near the gyrosphere route–”
“I’d pay good money to see you do it faster,” Inej said, a teasing note to her voice. “You can’t charm your way past an unconscious animal. Or a glorified invisible fence.”
“I could try,” she said dismissively.
“If anyone could, it’d be you,” Inej said as her watch started beeping.
“VIP groups?” Nina asked, watching the map on the large screen.
“Yeah, three this week,” she said as she grabbed her phone.
“Need any help?” she asked, but they both knew it was just a gesture. Ever since she’d started, Inej had essentially become her second in command and honestly, she could probably take over Nina’s job in an instant if she didn’t dislike the politics involved so much.
“It’s just a couple families and then a group of two,” she said. “I think I’ll survive.”
“Let me–” She was interrupted by her phone going off and Inej just gave her a smile.
“Duty calls,” she teased as she walked away.
“If you find Cersei, tell her I’m looking for her,” she called after her. “A few of the systems are acting buggy.”
Inej gave her a salute as she passed the security guard and headed out the door. Nina rolled her eyes as she pulled out her phone, answering it without bothering to look at the name. “Nina Zenick.”
“They want you down at Paddock 13,” the male voice on the other end said, not bothering with any introduction.
Nina sighed heavily before she could catch herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. “What could they possibly be complaining about now?”
“Said it was for Van Eck,” he said. “Something about wanting to assure the investors one last time.”
“Of course he did,” she muttered. “Why do they need me there, we’re already adjusting the fence yet again–”
“It’s not about the enclosure,” he said. “They want to send someone from Brum’s team to make sure that she’s safe.”
Her jaw instantly tensed and she had to take a second to compose herself before answering, “Why do we need anyone from his team? They’ve already done enough.”
“Ask Van Eck, they don’t tell me why they do anything,” the man said.
“Right,” she said. “Fine. Fine, I can be down there in an hour.”
“They said they were on their way now–”
“An hour,” Nina snapped, her irritation getting the better of her as she hung up the phone. Truthfully, there was no real reason for her to get so annoyed with even the mention of Jarl Brum’s research team but there was just something about all of them that got under her skin like no one else.
Before she could get too caught up in her own thoughts, she felt her phone buzzing again and she allowed herself just a second before taking a breath and answering, “Nina Zenick.”