Long, sleek black hair was pulled up into a neat bun, with a few pieces dripping down on either side of a soft porcelain face. Long curled eyelashes lifted to reveal dazzling emerald green eyes piercing the very air around her. A pearl necklace circled a creamy white neck, and dark red lips parted to reveal perfect white teeth. A blue, silky dress shirt was unbuttoned a few holes, revealing enough skin to borderline the appropriate work standard of clothing. A knee length black skirt hugged her hips tightly. Smooth legs led to black heels covering french manicured toes. All in all, Noira was the perfect example of a woman in the prime of her life, stuck in an office.

She walked briskly down the hall, taking the time to wave to a few of her coworkers cheerily. Her heels clicked on the white tile, and she held her briefcase loosely next to her. She noticed that many of her male coworkers noticed her in more ways than one. She didn't blame them, she wouldn't lie to herself that she didn't have shapely curves and a finely proportioned body that she didn't bother to hide. However, it didn't matter to her, because she was in love. Nothing would change that. Not even interference in her life by the corporation she had worked for almost all of her business life.

She stepped forward, continuing her fluent pace across a large Umbrella Corporation logo in the tile before her. Noira's mind was full of disgust as she opened the large glass doors and continued on her way to her office. She opened the next vaulted door with her id card and 8 digit password, as she had done every work day before. Although no one had the observation skills to notice, her green eyes were more fierce than usual, her smile more strained. She hadn't talked to many of her coworkers about Matt for fear of them somehow discovering who he worked for. It was improbable that they had fallen in love and then that she had stayed with him once she discovered the fact that he was doing everything in his power to destroy the corporation she had devoted a number of years of her life to. She learned of Umbrella's hidden horrors then, and thoughts of their corruption and deceit stayed with her always.

Taking Matt tugged on the last string in Noira's tiny, perfect world. She had tied her life onto a thread, a simple string that could easily be broken. Too easily, she knew now. She hadn't expected the world she had so carefully constructed to fall apart so quickly. With one ferocious strike, her once beloved corporation had taken everything that had ever mattered to her. Now it was war.

Sitting down in her office chair, she brought her computer to life with the click of a few buttons. The Umbrella logo glared at her from the load up screen, and everywhere she looked the same blood red and white symbol brought a pang of guilt, hatred, and fear to her broken heart. After a moment of helplessness, leaning back in her industrially comfortable leather chair and closing her eyes, she left behind every hopeless thought, every weakness, and every careless action. When her brilliant orbs reopened, they were overflowing with a fresh wave of determination. Every single thing that had once held her back from doing what she once thought was impossible had vanished. It was her time now. She would finish Matt's work, or die trying. She would get him back, and she could have the fairy tale wedding that she had been planning for the last few months.

She entered her computer's password and finished logging on. Bringing up all of her files, she saved them onto an extra hard drive which she had inserted into the memory bank of the computer. She converted the most high security and important files she could find onto a removable hard drive, taking it out and slipping it into her briefcase after encoding everything. All of this took a little under an hour, considering the size of the data and the security measure she had to take to ensure the safety of the files and that no one would catch her during her silent betrayal.

She felt slightly sick after it was done, which she blamed on the fact that she had spent too much time in her old office. This place of lies and deception that she had chipped away flake by flake in the years she had devoted herself to this room. Information on hand, she shut down her computer and raced down the hall, pacing herself and making sure that she kept up her act. Waving to various people in the hallways and smiling her sickeningly cheery grin as they walked by. She was surprised no one could see straight through her false facade, but she supposed that she was a better actress than she thought.

Soon she reached the far offices, where the most high security data was kept. Luckily she had quite a few connections within the corporation, and a friend of hers let her in. He complained that he didn't know why she wanted to go into the data room, but he didn't bother to look into the matter, considering that they were good friends and he didn't think her capable of doing anything unlawful. Just checking on some old files or something, he supposed. Lucky for Noira, her area was fairly low security once you were cleared for access into the branch of offices. Everyone knew each other and no one suspected any foul play. It was uncommon for Umbrella, but no one could get into Noira's level of clearance with deception. She had been here already when she had met Matt.

Once inside, with the door locked, Noira wasted no time in finding what she needed. Information on White Umbrella and the sections of the corporation that held Matt captive, as well as any data on the Nemesis program. She collected everything she could find until both of the external hard drives she had brought were completely full. She then packed them up and erased her tracks, doing everything she could to make sure that no one would find out what she had done. Even if they did, there was nothing they could try to stop her now. She would be out of this building and onto a new personal mission within minutes. She didn't want anyone knowing that it was her that was stealing their classified files, however. They could track her without great difficulty, and if she was caught.. All hope for Matt's salvation, as well as her own life, would disintegrate faster than a pile of ashes through a little boy's fingers.

Once she had finished and possessed everything she required, Noira left the building, telling those that asked that she was out for a lunch break and needed time to think alone. She felt ready to vomit with the invisible stench of the place. The vile fumes of a world that had taken all of her dreams and crushed them like an ant beneath the impending doom of a shoe. Any chance she had now she would have to give herself, and she planned to take any advantage she could get over the influential corporation.

As Noira Summers walked through those mammoth glass doors for the last time, all of her thoughts were on vengeance. Information safely tucked inside her briefcase, she had the means of finding the location of her beloved, and she would do whatever it took to track him down and rescue him from the very people she had befriended years before.

Stepping into her silver BMW, she closed her eyes once more. After a moment of silence, although the thoughts driving needles into her head screamed louder than words, she collected herself again and pulled out of the parking garage she had seen every other day at work. Never before had the thoughts ripping through her ragged mind and tearing it apart been so vicious and sinister. Never had her expression been so set. Never had her heart been so cold. Never had Noira been this ready to risk her life for love.

.x.x.

"Hello there.."

The head of security for White Umbrella, one of three people who had access codes to the mainframe, where the data for all of the secret division of Umbrella's experiments. He was facing what seemed to him an exotic goddess, and, on this night, she was. Her long black hair had been pulled up into a clean bun at the back of her head, a red flower pressed into the top of the intricate design. Long black lashes met with rouged eyelids, bright green eyes peeking out from behind them. Full red lips pulled into a seductive smile, and long red nails danced around the rim of her wine glass in a slow rhythm. She wore a long red dress, covered in sequins. A translucent black wrap made of thin material fell down from her pale shoulders, strapless dress not hiding anything and tight in all the right places. A long slit went all the way up to her mid thigh, and black heels were hooked on the wood of the bar stool she was perched on. She turned to face the well built man that had greeted her, dangling black earrings making a soft jingling noise, black gems matching her large necklace.

"Good evening."

She answered softly, white teeth a great contrast to the red of her lips. He smiled back, asking,

"Is this seat taken?"

"No."

She answered simply, with only a second of hesitation to show him that she wasn't too easy. His smile widened and he sat down, asking her what she was drinking. She answered, and he ordered another for her. She thanked him, and they were brought into a conversation about the weather, leading quickly to their love lives. Apparently, with no great shock to Noira, he was single and 'looking for the right girl'. Maybe she was it? She highly doubted it. She tried not to grin too widely during his spiel, the typical speech of a guy who wanted sex and nothing more, but tried to lead a girl on anyway, just in case she was looking for love. She nodded and smiled sweetly, leading him on and giving him all the right signals. They drank and drank, and soon Noira only had to pretend to sip her drink, he wouldn't even notice that the liquid didn't go down at all.

.x.x.

The head of security for White Umbrella moaned quietly as Noira kissed his neck, light red lips traveling down his jugular. They fell onto his hotel bed, his cries of desire growing louder. Noira smiled playfully, loosening his tie. She pulled him closer to her as she kicked off her shoes, bringing the knot of the tie towards her, forcing him forward. Lean legs wrapped around him as her lips attacked his, pausing only momentarily for a quick breath, long enough only for Noira to pull the tie above his head. Beginning to unbutton his white shirt, they fell onto the bed. Kisses became more ferocious, his moaning more desperate.

He hasn't been laid in at least a week... Noira thought as she continued her passionate facade, letting him unzip the back of her dress and pull it off in one fluid motion. She had already unbuckled his belt and he pulled down his pants in a moment of anticipation. Her earrings were soon gone, along with the sparkling black necklace. He ripped out her hair ties, long raven hair cascading down over her shoulders. And so the night progressed, Noira's mind in a terrible battle with itself. Both options that had been laid in front of her were betrayal, but she felt one was worse than it's alternative. If she didn't do this, Matt would die, rather... become Nemesis. If she did... well... which was the worse betrayal? Noira had decided she would do anything to save her beloved. When she had made that choice, she had meant it.

.x.x.

A few hours later shining green eyes opened to a dark room. She carefully got out of bed, cautious of the man next to her stirring in his sleep. He was out cold, she shouldn't have anything to worry about. Wrapping a hotel robe around her petite frame, she stepped over to his briefcase. Inside were notes and security codes, which she quickly packed into a folder. She then found what she was looking for in particular, his palm pilot. She searched through it quickly and, after a few frustrating minutes, found the codes to the main database. Problem was, he had them password locked, a smart choice. Lucky for her, she had taken advantage of his drunkenness the previous night to force him to reveal it to her. She typed it in, fingers shaking slightly with a rush of adrenaline.

Copying the codes into a notepad in her black sequined purse, she got the folder which she had collected important files of his in and put her dress back on, rushing downstairs. She found a meeting room and made full use of the copy machine there, printing an exact replica of each of his files. She brought the folder into the hotel room, making sure everything was in it's rightful place before shoving her copies into her purse. After being positive that she had left no trace of her presence behind but memories and a few other unavoidable signs of her company, she left, heels clicking on the tile entrance.

"Thanks.."

She whispered with a smile, closing the door behind her with a satisfying click. Now she could find out where they were holding her fiancé. As tainted as she felt, there was an unavoidable sense of accomplishment. She might never be able to bring the impossibly powerful company to rubble, but she felt doubtless that she would find some way to return to her love. Matt was all that mattered, in the end, anyway. The world could be a giant mess run by Umbrella, horrifying mutants running loose on the streets, but as long as she was with Matt she would find a way to live, or else she would die happy. Either option was better than this. She would rather die than continue living a lie. Because, despite how many years she might use up trying to move on, that would be all that her life would ever amount to now. Nothing. It was all a lie if she wasn't with him, it had no meaning. Now she knew why everyone said not to fall in love. Yet, for some unknown feeling tugging on her conscience, she knew that all of the good times she had lived out with Matt had been worth this. Their love had fueled her to be what she was now. She would find him, even if it cost her every breath in her heartbroken body.