Noira was typing up genetic codes onto a lab computer at about 7:00 in the evening when she got the call. She had almost finished with the codes and was ready to retreat home into her fiance's arms when the phone rang. The voice on the other line sounded strained.

"Mrs. Addison?" the voice had a male owner, and it was gruff and worn. Noira was still technically Ms. Summers, but with her wedding a week away, she smiled at the name.

"Yes."

"I have someone on the other line for you, a certain John Arcon?"

"Yes, I know him." she confirmed, John was a good friend of hers, currently working at a secret base (much like where she worked) for White Umbrella. That meant that this must be an inter-Umbrella Corporation operator. The work John and Noira did was top-secret, and so they were heavily guarded and could only talk to people that they knew, so no threats got through and such. There was a series of clicks, and John's voice greeted her shakily.

"Hey. Did you hear?" he asked her, he never was one to stray away from the point.

"No..." she responded hesitantly, "What happened?"

"A problem with the hive. Personally, I think a virus leaked out and the Red Queen tried to stop it. Others disagree. I mean, I'm just a simple lab tech, right? Who cares about my opinion."

"I hear ya.."

"Anyway- they sent in a team, only two survived. One, a girl, is in Raccoon Hospital, and a guy, who is here with us. Just got him in a few minutes ago, scratched by a licker."

Noira sighed deeply, that was the one part of her job she despised. Mutating humans. She would work on the codes, sure, but she refused to work with mutated subjects. It was too emotionally painful. By the sound of his voice, John wasn't enjoying this new subject either.

"Noira." John told her, attempting to use a comforting voice. This made her choke back dread.

"Yes?" she asked, her fear apparent.

"That guy we have in the lab... Oh, Noira... It's that guy you were gonna marry." he let out the piercing words in quick succession. It took a while for her to realize what he had said, and when she did she let out a gasp.

"Not Matt! No! It couldn't be... He promised..." the words leaked out of her followed by pathetic sobs. Through John couldn't see, Noira's eyes were already full of tears, and her hands were shaking in disbelief.

"Noira... sweetie." he sighed. Being mutated was much worse than even death. Noira finally spoke, her words quiet and high pitched.

"How... how bad is it? Are you sure it's him?"

"B-bad..." he told her reluctantly. "When I saw him come in I thought I remembered him and ran a background check. Matthew Addison, right? Anyway, it was confirmed when he kept mumbling your name. Then he was screaming..." on the other end, John shook his head, "He's been pretty quiet during the mutation, besides the screaming... he really loves you, Noira. The infection started on three deep cuts on his upper arm. They're injecting him with the T-Virus right now. How bad? Let's just say that Dana's in charge."

Tears were now streaming down Noira's pale face. On the other end of the connection John's face was masked with concern for his friend. Dana was an employee for Umbrella that enjoyed seeing her subjects suffering. She was the opposite of Noira, and the raven haired beauty had shivered when her friend had mentioned Dana's name. Then a new thought struck her.

"What... What codename?"

"Nemesis. Virtually indestructible- military warfare, can be directed. You've heard the plans, I'm sure." Noira remembered looking through the plans for project Nemesis. When she had first read them she had felt a gut wrenching sadness for whoever they were going to mutate into such a hideous creature. Now that she knew that it was her Matt, she let out a moan of utter pain, waves of sorrow now drowning her.

The depression washed over her, leaving her choking and gasping for air. She was drowning in sadness, unable to contain her emotion. The tears that streamed down her cheeks, her own tears, were the oceans pulling her down. She couldn't breathe.

"Look, I really don't want to leave you like this, but I gotta go... talk to ya' later-"he paused, "and I'm so sorry." he added sincerely.

She nodded, not realizing that he couldn't see her. The line went dead. She attempted to hang up herself, but missed the receiver twice.

Noira sunk to the ground helplessly. Her knees had locked and she was shaking. A few other scientists passed by, noticed her crumpled form, and stopped to help her.

"No.... I'm... I'm... fine..." she suddenly hated everything to do with Umbrella, even her friends that worked for the company. She tore off her ID tag and threw it to the ground near her in anguish.

Later that night Noira woke up from a light, troubled sleep. She had been having odd nightmares recently, and like she always did when her dreams were haunted, she turned to snuggle closer with Matt. What she saw in bed next to her was much more frightening than the worst of her dreams, and it was real, her fiancé was gone. Noira ran the story she had been trying to grasp all day through her mind, and she still found it hard to believe. Her Matt was gone. She choked back tears as she reminded herself of why.

After a small time of attempting to fall back asleep, Noira decided that she needed something next to her. She pulled the cool sheets over a large stuffed animal puppy, one that the man it was replacing had won for her at a fair. She returned to her side of the bed and found where she had been laying, warming the sheets in her quest for sleep.

She found that having something gently touching her back- even if it held none of Matt's soothing warmth and couldn't hold her like he could- was still comforting enough to bring her rest.

The next morning, Noira awoke to the harsh buzzing of the alarm clock instead of Matt's usual tender kiss. She turned and was startled for a moment by the stuffed creature beside her. After a moment she realized that she had placed it there the night before. She sat and stared at it for a long time, not even noticing that tears had begun to well up in her eyes.

It was at that exact moment that Noira Summers realized that she wasn't going to sit back on her ass and let Umbrella mutate what was- is she corrected herself- going to be her husband. She was going to take action. She was going to finish what Matthew Addison had started, and rescue him in the process. She was going to bring the Umbrella Corporation down.