Chapter Text
When she walked into her building that Monday morning, soaked and chilled from the abrupt downpour, Nora had to remind herself that she actually did enjoy her job. Even though the hours felt never-ending at times and the pay was painstakingly low, she liked her work. Usually, she’d try to bring in coffees or pastries for her team on debrief days - the first Monday of the month - to give them something nice to look forward to, but today she showed up empty-handed and bitter from the weather.
Admittedly, the day hadn’t started off well; she overslept and then got caught umbrella-less in the rain on her way from the far end of the overfull parking lot. As the elevator doors closed, she caught sight of her damp hair sticking to her forehead and pulled it back from her face in her best attempt to straighten up as she neared the eleventh floor. Taking a deep breath, she hoped the rest of the day fared better than the morning. As she swiped into her laboratory, that hope quickly dwindled when she caught sight of the old man with a hairline that was far beyond receding standing over her desk holding a picture frame.
“What are you doing here?” She glared at him and snatched the frame out of his hand.
Pete Andrews snickered at her reaction. “And here I thought you’d be happy to see me. It’s a nice photo. You look sweet in dresses.”
He was a booger of a man. Slimy, nasty, and overall terrible to be around. She had gotten a good idea of the kind of guy he was on her first day in the facility, when he kept ogling at her as she introduced herself to her coworkers, He’d made her skin crawl, and she had disliked him since. Because she worked in the lab space adjacent to his, she felt his assaulting gaze and heard his snide remarks all too often, and that dislike quickly turned into disgust and hatred. Not like he ever gave her any reason to think otherwise. He had rightfully earned the title of Dr. Creepy among her close teammates and coworkers.
She shook off the comment on the photo and gripped the frame harder. “What do you want?”
“Is that anyway to talk to your superior?” He leered at her, eyes trailing down her body. He was her superior in experience – he was nearly 25 years over her in age and experience. He had the reputation for being a Creepy, but his publications and work brought in money, which overshadowed his nasty demeanor towards the few young women that worked in the facility; many had resigned due to his incessant harassment and lack of action from the higher ups. Those that were stubborn enough to stay made sure to avoid him like the plague, transferring labs, changing floors, even making sure not to cross his path in the building.
Nora clenched her fists. If you’re so superior, old man, maybe you should act your age, she mentally snapped at him. She imagined how good it’d feel to punch him. She pictured his eye turning black and swelling shut. Maybe one day when she was established enough to get away with punching coworkers without the risk of losing her paycheck. Or getting stuck in a lawsuit.
“What do you want, sir?” she asked impatiently, and his nausea-inducing grin vanished at her dismissal.
“I’m guessing you haven’t heard of what’s happened with Arnold. Unfortunately he’s not going to be around for a while.”
Her stomach dropped. “What?”
His nasty grin was suddenly back. “Apparently he’s been reassigned. I’ll be the acting director now based on seniority.” She didn’t miss the triumphant glint in his eyes at her shock. It was like watching a dumpster fire; it was a truly horrific sight, but she just couldn’t look away as her hopes and dreams crashed and burned right in front of her.
“As chance would have it, I need some extra hands for processing some of the bacterial samples from one of my new projects. So, you’ll be moved to my team for the time being and Brian will take over your current role in lab operations.” He leaned in close suddenly, and she stiffened. “I’ve heard you’re overly stubborn when it comes to getting your way, so if you want any specific things while you work under me…you’ll find I am open to being convinced.”
Nora bit her tongue so hard she tasted metal. She knew responding to his creepy comments only made things worse for, so she swallowed the colorful words that she so badly wanted to spit out.
“Anyway, I guess I’ll be seeing you more often in the coming weeks. Looking forward to it,” Dr. Creepy snickered at her before leaving.
Nora stood frozen for a moment as the news sank in. “Shit.”
Two weeks later
There were two things on Leon’s mind as he walked through the doors of HiveLabs; Arnold Erlington and catching the earliest flight back to DC. As dedicated as he was to his assignments, he had grown to hate slow, sleepy towns and wanted to leave as soon as possible. And Chartreux seemed empty in its rural, albeit sparsely populated, location near the coast. For a city he’d never seen on a map before, he was surprised to learn it was the headquarters for HiveLabs; the lesser known biotech company with clandestine affiliations to its more popular parent company Umbrella Corporation. Although there had been some chatter since Umbrella was legally ripped apart after Racoon City, there wasn’t enough to draw a consistent thread to HiveLabs. So when he’d gotten the call to come to Chartreux with the first lead he got since Racoon City, he’d eagerly jumped on the first flight here. He might have been a little too eager; it had been almost two weeks since he arrived and there was total radio silence from his source. He was tired of sitting duck and was ready to call it quits until he got a message late at night from the anonymous insider – the first contact made in days.
Part of him considered if it was even worth following up. With his luck, it was likely another dead end from an unreliable source. But he needed to make sure before he called it quits. So here he was, waiting at the security desk for clearance from the guard chewing on a donut with one hand and holding his ID in the other. He glanced around the pristine lobby as he waited. There wasn’t much to look at; clear glass walls enclosed the first floor with white couches in the waiting area near the security counter. On the wall beside the counter was the phrase “WELCOME TO THE HIVE” written in large, yellow 3D letters.
“Well, mister…Lance Keyes,” the guard’s eyes flicked from the card to his face for a moment as he stuffed the rest of the donut in his mouth. “Reason for your visit?”
Leon cleared his throat. “Job interview.”
The guard typed on his keyboard and gave a small nod after a short moment. “I see you’re on the eleventh floor.” He swiped a white card and attached it to a lanyard before handing it to Leon. “You’ll be able to get in and out of the eleventh floor till the end of day with this. Good luck.”
After muttering a quick thanks and gingerly taking back his now sticky ID, Leon pulled the lanyard around his neck and headed to the elevators.
Nora was having one of the worst days of her entire career. Especially since said career was now very much on the line. She stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, barely recognizing the frazzled woman staring back at her. The weeks following her reassignment to Dr. Creepy’s team were hellish. Every time she’d finish one menial task, he’d pop up and pile up more chores on her plate in the name of laboratory upkeep. He was wasting her time, and she was miserable. Before, she was able to work independently on her projects under Arnold, but now she didn’t have time for anything other than the work of being Dr. Creepy’s assistant.
She angrily ripped a paper towel from the dispenser. All the hours she put into landing a lab manager position under one of the best virologists in the country had gone down the drain. Now she was reduced to a glorified secretary and the aforementioned virologist was refusing to answer her calls or emails.
She sighed and checked her watch. She’d been gone for almost ten minutes. Enough for Creepy to notice. After one more angry glance at herself in the mirror, she turned to head back to the lab.
Just as she had expected, she was called into Creepy’s office a few minutes later.
“Do we get to work on our own time now, Nora? Do I have to remind you that we have deadlines to meet?” he asked with a sneer.
Nora took a deep breath as a flame of annoyance burned in her. “I’ve worked here for two years now, Dr. Cr – Andrews. I know how to manage my time.”
He raised her eyebrows at her response. Usually, she’d sit and listen to his nonsense with a neutral expression painted on her face. And usually, she’d let his inappropriate remarks pass from one ear out the next without any reaction. But she was starting to reach her limit now that he was asking her to account for every single break she took.
Creepy stood and rounded his desk with a gleam in his eye that made her fists clench.
“There you are. I was beginning to think I’d tamed you.” He flashed his crooked teeth.
She felt her nails bite into her palm. Asshole.
The twisted smile on his face slipped. “What did you just say?”
Oh shit. She hadn’t meant to say it aloud. She didn’t answer as he leaned in a little too close to her liking. “Nothing. I’ll get back to work, deadlines and all.”
She made to stand up and leave when his hand clamped down on her shoulder forcefully.
“You know, I find your stubbornness amusing sometimes, but you should remember that you report to me now,” he said in a warning tone.
She swallowed hard, hyper aware of his hand squeezing her shoulder hard enough to make her flinch. It didn’t escape his notice, and that sneer was back on his face. Only this time, she realized there was a newer, malicious glint in his eyes. She shot up suddenly when his hand began trailing down near her chest, a ball of disgust and fear heavy in her stomach.
“I-I’m leaving.” A part of her hated how meek she sounded, her stutter slipping out. But self-preservation was overriding every other thought; her instincts were screaming at her to get out. She was almost to the door when he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“I’m not done with you —” He was interrupted by Nora’s fist hitting him square in the face and he doubled over, hands clamped over his nose.
For a few seconds, Nora stood there in shock. She had just reacted without thinking. She snapped out of it when Creepy’s beady eyes focused on her again, this time with unhidden malice. She whirled around and slammed the door open before he could get to her again and ran.
Crap, crap, crap. She was in trouble. She was going to get fired, sued, maybe jailed.
She was in trouble. There was no way she would get away with it. Nora swore under her breath as she grabbed her things and haphazardly shoved them in her bag, her knuckles still stinging. She needed to get out before security dragged her out of the building and tossed her on the pavement. Or put her in cuffs and hauled her to the nearest police station. She’d get arrested for assault and - Holy shit, I’ll be a criminal. She pushed that thought out of her head. For now, all she knew for sure was that she needed to go home and wash her clothes. Maybe shower. No, definitely shower. She needed to wash the feel of Creepy’s gaze crawling over her and his touch off her. The thought made her shudder and glance over her shoulder as she left the office, shouldering her bag and quickening her steps as she rounded the corner to the elevator. And ran straight into someone.
Her heart in her throat, she looked up to meet clear blue eyes. Thankfully it wasn’t Creepy. “Excuse me.”
The man staring back at her was tall and unfamiliar. A dark purple lanyard hung around his neck. She had never seen him before among the small group of people working on her floor. She suddenly had a horrible thought. Maybe Creepy had called security on her and told them she had gone off the rails. She gulped and stepped back, gripping the strap of her bag tightly.
He blinked at her in surprise. “All good.”
Nora nodded and continued her walk to the elevator, pressing the button a few more times than necessary. She crossed her arms to hide her shaking hands. Play it cool. Don’t look suspicious. Act like you didn’t just punch someone. She sent up a short prayer in hopes that he wouldn’t realize the employee he came to remove from the building was her.
“Wait, ma’am!” She heard him call out behind her and froze.
“Hm?” She rubbed her forehead as she turned slightly. Please don’t throw me out. I was literally just leaving.
“You dropped this,” He held out a small notebook with her name scribbled on top. Her agenda. She glanced down at her bag. She had forgotten to zip it in her hurry. She grabbed the notebook and tossed it into her open bag with a small thanks before turning back and impatiently pressing the button again. Did it usually take this long for the elevators to come up?
She noticed the man was still standing near her, scrutinizing her. If he was security, he sucked at his job. She waited a few seconds before meeting his gaze with what she hoped was a nonchalant, questioning look.
“Was there anything else or…” she trailed off and held her breath. Thankfully her voice came out even.
“Kind of,” he reached up and ran his hand through his hair, a few dirty blonde strands falling on his face. “Know where I can find Arnold Erlington?”
She blinked at him. At her surprised look, he continued, “I have a meeting scheduled with him, but I’m not sure where his office is.”
Nora shifted her feet as the elevator dinged open. She hurried in as she spoke, pressing the button to the ground floor. “He’s not here anymore, sorry.”
She thought that would be the end of it as the doors began to shut when the man suddenly stuck his hand in between. She jumped as the doors slid back open.
“What do you mean? Where can I find him?”
She opened her mouth to answer when she caught sight of Creepy rounding the corner over the man’s shoulder. Their eyes met and he glared at her, his nose smeared with dark blood.
The dirty blonde man looked at her quizzically before making to follow her gaze.
“Let’s talk on the way down,” Nora grabbed the front of the dirty blonde’s shirt and pulled him into the elevator. Thankfully the doors shut before Creepy got close enough.
It was silent for a moment before the man cleared his throat, and she quickly let go of his shirt. She realized in horror that she had just manhandled the much larger man in front of her.
And now she was stuck in the elevator alone with him.
The young woman stepped back with her hands up in between them, obviously on edge. “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to uh…my bad.”
Leon stared at her for a moment. Nora Sullivan. He had read her name on the front of her notebook before handing it back. He took note of her jumpiness and obvious unease as he decided his approach.
Finally, he settled on asking about the main reason he was here. “Where’s Arnold Erlington?”
She dropped her hands with a sigh of relief. “He’s reassigned, apparently.”
“Where?”
“I-I have no idea. I haven’t spoken to him in weeks.” She shifted nervously. “Sorry, that’s all I know.”
They stood in silence again as he turned the information over in his head.
“Wait, why are you here?” she asked.
He raised his eyebrows. “I just told you, I had a meeting with –”
“He was reassigned two weeks ago. When did you schedule your meeting? No one’s heard from him since.”
Damn. She caught on fast. “We set the meeting weeks ago. Guess he forgot to update me on his reassignment.”
She was quiet for the rest of the way down and rushed out when the doors opened. As he watched her leave, he made a mental note to look into who Nora Sullivan was.