Chapter Text
It was her first day...how unfortunate
A new big internship she had sacrificed just about everything for all for the chance to learn to save the world alongside one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, Umbrella. The big leagues as she called it.
Now she wished she had listened to her parents when they told her science wasn't for women. Now situated under her brand new desk she fidgeted with the plastic of her brand new ID card, not even more than 24 hours old. She looked at the picture and sighed her eyes feeling heavy, she looked so cute in her picture. She had done her hair up just for the occasion. Her thumb brushed over her name, Beatrice Dial. She had wanted to put Bea but advised against it, “wasn’t professional” is what she told herself while filling out her paperwork.
She sighed once more and poked her head out from under the desk. Who knows how long she had been here. “This is stupid. I'd rather die being cool than starving to death under some lousy desk.” She shifted tensing when her non-slip sneakers squeaked against the cool tile of the lab floor. Waiting until it was quiet enough she began to move again accidentally smacking the top of her head against the bottom of the desktop. “Ow, shit.” she groaned quickly, moving her hands to the top of her head and applying pressure to the sharp throbbing that was bound to occur.
Finally she stood up attempting to ignore the pain that was adding onto her already present headache. She wiped her clammy hands on her slacks, glad she had decided to wear pants today over the skirt she had been heavily debating. Something about lab safely and proper protocol.
Noting the distinct lack of a weapon she quickly searched the lab for something to defend herself. A gun would be nice, her brother had taught her how to shoot when they were teenagers. She hoped he was okay, last she had seen him was days ago when he took her out to dinner to congratulate her acceptance into the internship program. She shook her head, he was tough he had to be out there somewhere, now back to the matter at hand…a weapon. Her eyes scanned the dim room, eventually landing on a scalpel next to some sort of something her team was going to dissect today before things went to shit.
The weight felt familiar in her hand from countless labs she had done at Raccoon City University. She was already in her junior year, she hoped her student loans got voided. Maybe it’d be better to get eaten than go into lifelong debt.
Bea sighed and shook her head and mustered her courage to step out into the hallway, the only source of light being the dim emergency lights flicking overhead. Goal 1: Find a flashlight. She was sure there had to be at least one in the NEST somewhere. It was quiet except for the occasional groan of a zombie or the buzz of the overhead lights. Slowly she had snuck her way into the cafeteria in hopes of finding some sort of food to regain some semblance of energy, at the very least a morale boost. She flinched when the door to the back kitchen creaked, internally praying that any zombies around hadn't heard it.
Bea paused as she heard the intercom ring out as soon as she started to ransack the kitchen “Doctor Li, Your presence is urgently requested by Chief Cartwright in the East Area.”
Dr.Li?! He had been her mentor over the last year or so and was the one who had written her the recommendation she needed for her internship. Those messages are only relayed when someone's ID band passes through certain doors. If her mentor was still alive and walking through the lab she had to find him. Maybe they could get out of this hell together.
She ran through the halls disregarding the zombies that clawed at her, her need to see another human being she knows much greater than her survival instincts right now. Suddenly she burst into the main lobby of the NEST, the intercom crackling to life again as her wristband beeped. “Welcome to Umbrella, Beatrice.”
She looked around almost frantically before her eyes landed on a young man around her age behind the front desk looking through the computer stationed there with a crease between his brows. He looked up, their eyes locked for a moment before she spoke, her voice breathy from the previous marathon she had just ran.
“Have…phew…have you seen a man come through here..”
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Leon was lost beyond saving, it seemed every which way he went led him right back to this stupid lobby, and this new wrist band was no help especially when it announced his arrival to the whole lab.
Unsure of what to do next Leon had gone back to the computer in hopes to find some sort of clue of where to go next. That was until the intercom interrupted his search. “Welcome to Umbrella, Beatrice.”
That's new. He looked up and to his surprise instead of an undead freak of nature a beautiful young woman was looking back at him. Her cheeks were flushed and her short dark hair was stuck to her sweaty flushed cheeks.
“Have…phew…have you seen a man come through here..”
Leon shook and tilted his head as he continued to analyze the woman in front of him. She had a scalpel tucked in the front pocket of her lab coat, the bottom hem of it stained with...something.
“No can’t say I have”
“A-are you sure I heard the intercom call for Dr.Li. He must've come through here.”
Leon felt pang in his gut as he realized what had happened his new ID band studently feeling heavy on his wrist, this was from someone this girl obviously knew and cared about. He wasn't sure how to break it to her that Dr.Li was long gone. Nibbling the inside of his lower lip her took a deep breath before he spoke."
“I uh, that was me. I found the band around a dead scientists wrist in the nap pods down the hall.”
He watched as her face fell and grew a shade paler than it already was.
“Oh.”
She sounded meek as she moved from where she was standing to sit down on a nearby couch, the leather creaking under her weight. Her fingers moving to fidget with the lanyard around her neck, the plastic looking a little bent at the corner she was toying with.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
He spoke gently as he walked around the desk to meet her on the couch opposite of her unsure of how to comfort her in the moment.
“I uh…it's okay, you didn’t know that he uh…was..”
She couldn't seem to finish her sentence tears beginning to form at the waterline of her dark brown eyes. She blinked a couple times and let out a shaky breath. He wanted to ask about him and her relationship but decided now probably wasn't the time.
She sniffled and blinked quickly a couple more times before speaking again, her voice a bit more stable.
“I'm Beatrice Dial. It's nice to meet you”
Her smile was awkward yet endearing as she steeled herself and offered her hand for a handshake, her hands still a little shaky. He returned the gesture reaching out and giving her hand a firm shake his hands much warmer than her cold clammy ones.
“I'm Leon, Leon Kennedy.”