Hello dear readers!
This chapter was a bit more fun to write than the previous ones. I hope it will be more fun to read as well!
Fun fact:
'Crisse' is a Canadian-French swearing word meaning 'h0ly sh1t'.
'Canuck' is a nickname for a Canadian person.
Italics = a language that is not English.
I hope you enjoy this chapter.
As green as a gooseberry.
Nobody at the Upper East side street could hear the faint clacking of high heels. The petite woman moved across the pavement with swift steps. Today would be her first orientation day at Oscorp. 'Note to self: The Upper East Side lowers your confidence if you overthink. Hence why I should ignore the natives until I get more confident. Or at least can look the part' concluded Annie. She wore a navy blue cotton sweater, black slacks plus a pair of black court heels. The jade pendant from her graduation hung around her neck in a silver chain. Her belongings were shoveled into her deep sea green tote bag. Since it was surprisingly warm, the young woman did not wear a jacket.
The OSCORP tower came into view once she walked past Canergie hall. The Chinese-Canadian unzipped her bag a little after making sure nobody was close to her. Her aunt had warned her about the pickpockets. They were EVERYWHERE in New York City. Borough or type of transportation did not matter. This frightened her niece a little. Crime was not unheard of in Quebec, but the big apple was another level. 'Oh well. Better be safe than sorry. Here we go...first day of orientation. Make sure to mark the calendar Annie!' thought the female. There was a faint smile at her face.
She pulled out the temporary card that OSCORP mailed her a few days ago. It came in a registered letter with a welcome letter. Her aunt joked a little about it being all confidential from the start. The thought made the brunette giggle a little. She felt like a spy. The door went off with a small 'ping' as she entered the tower. 'Let's see...I need to go to the eleventh floor. The people I can contact are Raj Khatri or Nicolas Rossum' recalled the young woman. Her taupe eyes studied the lobby. It was a spacious place with clean lines and a monochrome colour palette. The floors were immaculate. A faint scent of lemon confirmed that the floors were cleaned recently. Furthermore, the only sounds she heard was a phone ringing from the desk.
'Huh. The same design as the interview room. Feels like I am in a bubble of some sort' realized the 23-year old. This was not unusual for a scientific company or department. After all, the people needed to be concentrating on their work. Anything that disturbed the senses would distract the workers. A sudden slam made the female jump a little. The culprit was a delivery man who just placed a box on the counter. 'Oh. That's right. I need to get my card. Better get my ID ready' decided Annie. She approached the counter with her passport once the delivery man left.
"Good morning" greeted the young woman with a polite smile. The African American man behind the counter glanced up at her. "Good morning miss. May I help you?" replied the man. "Yes. I am one of the interns starting today. I was told to pick up my access card here" informed the Chinese-Canadian. "Ah, yes. Do you have some ID with you?" inquired the clerk. The female gave him her passport for the man to check. "Great. Give me a moment please" told the male. He returned her passport before he left the counter.
'Phew. So far so good' thought the brunette as she let out a sigh. She noticed an auburned haired man in a black suit entering the lobby. 'Wonder who he is. Probably an executive by the way he's dressing. Or perhaps someone from the board' pondered the young woman. "Here's your access card and an information slip. Ask the security guards if you need to find the room" informed the clerk. He handed her a card plus a paper slip. "Thank you so much. Have a nice day" replied the 23-year old. She gave him a sincere smile before she headed for the elevators.
'Jeezes. All of them are on the 17th floor or higher. Except the one over here. Hmph. Looks like I have to share it with the redhead. Oh well. Could be worse' concluded the female. She glanced up as she heard a small 'ding'. Annie let the man walk in first before she stepped inside. The man pressed the '7' button as the door closed. Afterwards, he stepped to the back of the elevator. The young woman glanced at him. He looked apathetic or tired to her. Those two were quite similar to her. She slowly extended her hand with her eyes on the '11' button. The man did not move. Then again, she stood a couple feet in front of him.
Her taupe eyes glanced at the man. She noticed something that sent chills down her spine. Firstly, his eyes were bright forest green. That was definitely his natural colour given the darker flecks. Coloured contacts were notorious for lacking those. Reason number two for her uneasy sensation was where he was looking. Both of his eyes were locked on her upper torso. 'OK. Remember what they taught you in martial arts. Pull back slowly. Especially since this man is in good shape. Or at least he looks like he is' observed the brunette. She slowly pulled back her right hand while keeping an eye at him.
The female inhaled slowly through her nose as she tried to calm down. She glanced up at the floor counter. 'At least we're moving fast. More importantly, he is leaving prior to me. That means he can't hold me back or anything' realized the 23-year old. The elevator slowed down as it reached the seventh floor. A small 'ding' was heard as the elevator stopped. She noticed that the man glanced at her. However, the redhead was not leering or staring her down. He looked more curious than anything. Annie kept her face neutral while trying to make a small smile. The man left the elevator seconds later.
'Hm. That was an unusual sight' thought the male as he walked towards the office. It was not often someone smiled at him like that. However, it was something else that caught his attention. The necklace she wore was quite different compared to what most women wore. Necklaces from Tiffany plus pointed collar necklaces were the most dominant ones at Upper East Side. Most of his sons classmates seemed to prefer chokers of different sorts. Silver chains with a green stone pendant on the other hand? No chance. They were nowhere to be found.
"Good morning Norman" greeted a voice from behind. Said man turned around to see one of the board members. "Hello. Nice to see you're back from Hong Kong. How was it?" inquired Norman. "It was wonderful. The meeting went excellent. I will talk more about it at the meeting. Right now, I want to see what kind of interns we got. I heard we got a better crop than last year" replied the Chinese man. "Yes, we do. I am looking forward to this as well" told the male. The duo entered the meeting room where the board sat. Menken and Stromm were already sitting on the right side. Two women sat on the left side, talking in low voices.
"Good morning everyone! I hope you're all well" greeted the CEO. Everyone straightened up as the male sat down at the end of the table. "We're well Norman" replied Stromm in a sincere voice. "Happy to hear that. Now for the agenda. Mister Cheng just returned from Hong Kong. I would like him to tell us what happened there. I will share the progress about the serum afterwards. Stromm is going to share his numbers afterwards. Lastly, we're going to meet our new interns. Mister Cheng, please take if from here" told the auburn-haired man.
He sat down as his coworker rose. "I do indeed have some exciting news for you all. As you all know, I went to Hong Kong last week to meet some potential clients. One of them declined due to financial reasons. Another one was between us and an Australian company. The third company however wanted to visit us in six weeks time. More importantly, they were interested in some of our serums. I would advice the research departments to select some samples that are relevant to their needs. Moreover, I need a copy in order to translate it. Their English is a bit rocky to put it politely" informed the man.
What he said made his boss brighten up a little. China was on the rise in terms of money. Furthermore, there were many potential clients there. "Thank you mister Cheng. I believe it's your turn Stromm" told the male. "Yes. Give me a moment please" replied the scientist. He connected the computer to the projector while his coworkers sipped some coffee. The only person who drank tea was Cheng. Green tea from his home country to be precise. "Here we are. These are the numbers from the last quarter. There in an eight percent increase in our income. That is expected since we got a delayed payment from the government. We are still working on the serum project in the science department. Our computer and robotics department is currently working on major updates. Said updates will improve our efficiency overall. Especially since we just got some interns with updated knowledge" informed the man.
Norman smiled as he looked at the numbers. Things were going well for OSCORP. Especially if the interns could provide them with a much needed vitamin injection. He nodded towards Stromm to show his interest. "That should be it. Hang on a moment please" told the bespectacled male. He clicked on something on his computer. "Just got a mail from Smythe. We can join the intern's meeting now if we're done here" finished the bespectacled male. "I believe we should. Let's go everyone" replied the younger man. The board members left the room and headed for the eleventh floor. Always being the sensible one, the CEO took the staircase. Sitting too much made him a bit sluggish.
'Time to see who our new kids are. I only know those who are in the science department' recalled the scientist. He approached the room before opening the door as quiet as possible. The room was quite dark with the interns standing at the front. 'Looks like they are about to introduce the interns. Better keep my eyes and ears open' observed the man. He slinked into the room while Spencer Smythe turned on the microphone. "I will introduce the robotics intern. Please welcome Antonio Chavez and David Armstrong!" told the robotics expert. A slight young man with olive skin and curly brown hair waved his hand. Next to him stood a somewhat gangly African-American man. He smiled friendly while waving at the audience.
Once the applause died down, Nicolas Rossum stepped up. He cleared his voice while adjusting the microphone. "Good afternoon everyone! I will introduce me to your new interns at the computer department. They are Gregory Williams and Annie Wen!" stated the man. A slim brunette man and an Asian-Caucasian woman joined him on stage. The auburn-haired guy raised his eyebrows in surprise. 'Well, what do you know! No wonder that woman in the elevator looked unfamiliar. She is a new kid!' concluded the male. He gave them a polite applause as they waved towards the crowd. "That concludes our presentation! I would like the CEO and the board to join us on stage. Please, come up here!" called the computer expert.
The scientist felt slightly awkward as he stepped forwards. Standing on a stage was not the most favourite aspect of the job. However, these were young people who were just starting their career. This was their very first real job. 'Good thing I decided to go with my favourite tie today. At least I know I won't look like an idiot' mused the man. He let some of the taller board members step up first. Then, it was time for introductions. Henry went first. "Hello. My name is Henry Balkan. No, I am not related to Charles Xavier. Pleased to meet you all. Welcome to OSCORP" greeted the man. A faint laughter was heard when he joked about the professor.
"Hello. My name is Mendel Stromm. I am in the science department. Just like Balkan, I am happy to finally see you all face to face. Welcome to our company" told the male. He handed the microphone to his boss. "Hello everyone. I am Norman Osborn. I am the CEO of the company. Welcome to OSCORP everyone. I can't wait to work with you" told Norman. Everyone gave the board a round of applause before they exited the stage.
'CRISSE! He's the CEO? I better be careful when I meet him again. He will send me straight to the lab if I make a mistake. Or worse - I HAVE TO BE A GUINEA PIG!'. The female took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. After all, sharing an elevator with him was not a mean thing. The stare he gave her was a different story. Her taupe eyes looked at his hands. She noticed a golden band on his right ring finger. 'OK...that looks like a wedding ring. No, wait. It's on his right hand. It's an engagement ring' observed Annie. The young woman let out a small sigh of relief.
Someone tapped her shoulder. The Chinese-Canadian turned around, only to see Nicolas. "Hey, miss Wen. We're going to the computer department. Please come with me" told the man. "Sure" told the female. She followed him after checking her handbag. The interns started trickling out of the room together with their mentors. "We're going to the 14th floor. That is where our main office is. Your access card should be able to get you in. Today, I will introduce you to the rest of the team. Everyone is here today" informed the computer expert.
Both of the interns smiled politely. They went to wards the row of elevators. The brunette looked at the other people approaching the elevators. On their right were the robotics people. Smythe was smiling as his two interns were laughing at a joke. 'Hm...that's interesting. Smythe does not seem to be annoyed or ignoring them. That's promising' observed the young woman. A sudden 'ding' brought her back to reality. The trio walked into the elevator together with board member Cheng. "Which floor?" inquired Nicolas. "19th" replied the man in Mandarin. Without thinking, Annie pressed the button labelled '19'.
The board member looked at her in wonder. "You speak Chinese?" inquired the male. "Yes. I have a Chinese father whom I speak Chinese with. Furthermore, I got Chinese lessons in school. May I ask your name?" replied the female. "Cheng. I work at the board" informed the senior employee. "Nice to meet you. My name is Wen" answered the intern. "Nice to meet you miss Wen" said the man.
"Uhm...can I ask what your guys were saying?" inquired Gregory. "Oh, sorry! He wondered if I spoke Chinese. Which I do. Afterwards, we just introduced ourselves. Sorry for leaving you out" explained the intern. The elevator stopped as they reached the 14th floor. "Have a nice day mister Cheng" told the petite intern. He gave her a polite nod return. "You're forgiven about the language. I get the same looks when I speak French. I grew up in Halifax" revealed the man. "No way! I'm Canadian too!" exclaimed the young woman. "Nice! Guess we're team Canuck then. Unless we got other Canadians on our team" laughed the male brunette.
Annie studied her surroundings. The walls were painted pale silver gray, matching the black linoleum floor. On the wall hung a few photos of pixelart. 'Hm. I think this looks a lot like the room I got interviewed in. The pixelart is nice though' observed the female. Nicolas approached a rather large black door. "Here we are. Please enter" told the man. He stepped aside while holding the door open for the duo. The Chinese-Canadian walked into the room after her fellow intern. The room was rather dark. Only some light from the curtained windows stopped her from feeling uneasy.
Suddenly, the lights were turned on. "SURPRISE!" shouted the group of five people in front of them. All of them were clad in black from top to toe. An Indian looking man who wore a lime-green tie stepped forwards. "Hello! We decided to go with the Matrix theme since we're in a new millennium. My name is Raj Khatri by the way. I am the second in command after our coding master Nicolas. I'm so happy to finally meet you! Welcome to the invisible keyboard heroes of Oscorp" greeted Raj.
Both of the interns sported the same surprised smile. "Erm - nice to meet you too. This was quite a surprise. But it's a nice one" assured Gregory. "I agree. Happy to meet you too as well" continued the young woman. "Let's introduce ourselves. Ladies first" told the man. A blonde woman turned towards the duo with a smile. "Hello. My name is Victoria. I am so pleased to meet you. I might sound snobbish, but it's just my British accent speaking. Moved here from Ipswich six years ago" told Victoria. The redhead woman next to her took a step forwards. "My name is Sara without an 'h'. I am from Boston. Just like Victoria, I moved here six years ago" greeted Sara. A guy with olive skin and curly brown hair waved at them. "Hello. My name is Rafael. I was an intern here three years ago. Moved from Florida in order to get here. Trust me, I know your pain. Especially if you're New York newbies" assured Rafael. An African-American guy stepped forwards as Rafael stepped back. "Hello you two! My name is Gabriel. I started eight years ago. I come from the great state of New Jersey. Happy to meet you" told Gabriel.
'Thank goodness there are only five names! They look quite different from each other too. Which makes it a lot easier for me' thought the young woman. "Now, let's know your names and where your from" told Raj. The female brunette took a deep breath. "I'll go first if that's all right Gregory" told the female. "Sure" replied the man. "Right. My name is Annie Wen. I am from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. That is in Quebec, Canada. I moved to New York just two months ago. Very excited and nervous to meet you" greeted the intern.
"A Canadian huh? I think you're the first Canadian lady we've had on our team. Glad to have you here Annie" replied Nicolas. The other intern cleared his throat. "My name is Gregory. I am French, but moved to Halifax at the age of four. Halifax is in Nova Scotia, Canada by the way. I am excited and nervous to meet you too" laughed the male. "Well, I am glad you decided to join us Gregory. I am from Belgium. Raj moved here from Rhode Island. We both started twelve years ago" informed Nicolas.
The female felt relieved. Not only were there several women at the team. Furthermore, many of them were not Caucasian. "So, let me show me to your desks. You two will sit in the bottom corner over there" started Raj. He gestured towards two cubicles in the back. They were both facing the windows, providing them with some daylight. "You two are the closest to the drinking station by the way. While we're on it...interns have drink duty. This means you need to ask people for refills when you're making one. Nicolas made that rule" told the man. The other senior nodded.
'Fair enough. Could be worse' thought Annie. "Your computers are already up and running. The username plus the temporary password are taped to the computer screen. Make sure you change your passwords within a week. I am sure you know how since you're fresh out of school. The ID card should give you access to the office plus the dressing rooms 24/7. The male dressing room is on the 17th floor. Where is the ladies one again?" inquired Nicolas. "The 14th" replied Victoria and Sara in unison. "You heard the ladies Annie. The dressing rooms have showers, lockers plus toilets. There are toilets on each floor by the way. Next is the cafeteria. It's on the 22nd floor. The view up there is superb" stated Raj.
"Lastly is security. You need to update your ID's every Friday. The office is on the fourteenth floor. Oh, you can have a company car drive you to the closest subway station if you stay after 6:00 PM. Good news for you Annie. Women, people over 60, board members plus people with disabilities are considered priority. No offense Gregory" told the man. The young woman frowned a little. She appreciated that the company took care of their employees. Especially seniors or disabled people. Young healthy women however, was something else. Were the crime rates really THAT high?
"Lastly is sick leave. All you need is to call me or Raj. OSCORP is covering your medical bills. The only thing you need is a doctor's note. I highly recommend the Weill Cornell Medical Center. Do you have any questions?" inquired Nicolas. "Uhm - do you do any social things? Like secret Santa or something?" asked Gregory. "Well...funny you should ask. We can't dress up for Halloween unfortunately. The good news is that we get Thanksgiving afternoon off. Furthermore, we have a December party the first weekend in December. Not everyone at OSCORP celebrates Christmas due to different religions. Hence why we have a December party. That is a formal event by the way" informed the man.
"I-I don't have any questions right now" admitted the female brunette. "Awesome! Let's show you who is going into which cubicle. The one on the right is yours Gregory. Let's start the madness" stated Raj. The duo smiled as they approached their cubicles. 'Here we go. Let's get this started' thought the female as she turned on her computer.
Here are the subtle Easter eggs I left in the story.
The floors represents the birthday months of Willem Dafoe and my character. Dafoe was borne on July 22nd. My character has her birthday in November.
Please read and review. Constructive criticism and praise are always appreciated!