Please don't skewer me over any issues regarding the last chapter and how affairs within a big company is handled. I'm not a business person. I'm just a simple fan girl nerd... Also, totally stole a quote from a memorable cinematic from my favorite video game (World of Warcraft) right before everything goes up in flames. It fit perfectly with a part in the chapter given the moment :)
A NEW HOPE
7 – Pet vs InGen
Standing on the front steps leading to the glass doors of InGen's headquarters was Simon, dressed in a tan suit and white shirt, with a welcoming smile on his face. He greeted the new arrivals and motioned to the building. "Please, come! The board meeting will be starting soon."
Each step nearer to the doors weighed heavier to Pet. It felt as though lead weights filled her boots, holding her back. She could feel her knees weaken, her heartbeat as though about to explode out of her chest and her breath become labored. Was she having an anxiety attack? She was now a few feet shy of entering the building and physically unable to take another step. Her eyes stayed locked onto one of the metal handles of a door as she rubbed her sweaty palms on her pants.
A gentle hand took hold of hers and snapped her out of her trance. Worry stricken blue-green eyes shot to the right to meet the warm, comforting brown ones of Derek. He sincerely smiled and guided her to follow. Mr. Winston opened the door and the whoosh of the building's cool air rushed past her. Her breath caught in her chest when she looked around, realizing she was now inside the one building she just knew she'd never enter. Doing so would have normally cost her her life, or so she thought back in the day, and it was probably true. But now, things were different.
She mentally imagined teams of armed security personnel pouring into the central lobby from every corner, pillar and elevator. Their guns were at the ready should she try anything stupid. When she blinked, the fabricated image disappeared. People in suits mingled about, conducting their business, paying no mind to the group. A part of Pet relaxed, but not completely. She still remained on alert.
A suited gentlemen with a head full of neatly groomed, dark hair and bright blue eyes framed behind glasses approached the new comers. Derek instantly recognized him from a previous encounter; Mr. Stevens. A surge of anger filled him when remembering his first time ever meeting this man. His anger subconsciously caused him to tighten his grip on Pet's hand.
She winced a little and tried to withdraw her hand from his. When the woman looked to his enraged, brown eyes and jaw clenched features she came to realize something wasn't right. Her curiosity turned her attention to the suited man closing in on her and those accompanying her. Who was this guy? Her nostrils flared in heavy breaths with her building aggression. Whoever it was, she didn't like him already seeing how Derek was so on edge in just this stranger approaching them.
Icy blue eyes refused to leave the blue-green ones of the hybrid staring him down. She shouldn't be here. She should be dead. Had things worked out, she would've been dead years ago. Yet, here she was standing before him in all that made her an abomination and disgrace to InGen. Stevens could taste the bile of his rising anger in the back of his throat. Oh, how he longed to see this ungodly abomination dead. How or why she was allowed to live was beyond him. He had such great hopes for things improving for the company once Mr. Masrani took over. Apparently not.
Stevens stopped shy of where the group stood, the icy chill of his piercing gaze lingering on Pet's analytical one before shifting over to the tempered brown eyes of Derek. The company president forced out the worst attempt at a smile and spoke as though disgusted. "Mr. Muldoon."
"Mr. Stevens," Derek snarled out.
"I see you're back and..." he bit his tongue to refrain from sounding too unprofessional. After all, Masrani was standing right there and glaring at him scornfully. "Doing well, it seems."
Derek's patience gasket blew and his anger exploded. In the blink of an eye, he landed a forceful punch to Steven's otherwise snooty expressive face. The vigor behind it sent the executive stumbling backwards and almost to the floor, had he not regained his sense of balance beforehand. Two security guards standing inside the lobby rushed to intervene, but Simon holding up a hand stopped them in their tracks. Whatever it was that was going on, the CEO apparently had a handle on it.
Stevens instantly brought a hand to the throbbing source of pain at his jaw and tasted blood. A sting of pain at his lip let him know his bottom lip had been busted, as well. Hate filled eyes of the suited man locked onto Derek. He ordered a nearby security guard to remove the offending bounty hunter from the corporation premises.
"Someone get this worthless dog out of here!"
Simon gave a haughty laugh. "The security, here, doesn't work for you. They work for me."
"You deserve worse, you son of a bitch," Derek growled. He slimmed his eyes down on the older man. Pet grabbed him by his arm and stopped him from making another attack. "Why don't you tell Ms. Hammond, here, what role you had to play some years back with a particular hunting party and Isla Sorna...Hmm? I think she'd want to hear all about it."
Simon's once warm and welcoming demeanor had since turned cold and callous. He knew all too well what this man had done and almost did and most likely, still wanted to do. It was because of that the arrangement of a face to face meeting between Stevens and the hybrid was a must. The billionaire had been constantly told that the hybrid was too unpredictable and too animalistic to be allowed in public. He refused to believe it.
His dark and testy watch shifted to where the woman stood, unnervingly motionless. He expected her eyes to look like that of a raptor's. What he saw instead was their blue-green depths a golden yellow instead with the threat of completely changing. Everything about her, at that moment, reminded him of a predator preparing to attack its prey. And yet, she remained focused enough to keep remarkable show of self-control. A smile in pride of the woman's control over the animal within subtly shown through his bearded features.
Stevens licked the residual blood from his bottom lip and titled a nod of his head to the woman. "Ms. Hammond. I'm sure Mr. Muldoon, here, has told you plenty about me."
An unrestrained hiss of a screech came from the hybrid. Passerby within ear range in the lobby gave her a casual glance, but the hybrid didn't care. No one else in the building existed, in that exact moment, other than the demon of a man before her.
Stevens continued. "Nothing personal. I was merely acting in the company's best interest, given what I had been told from my predecessor, Mr. Ludlow." He was choking on every word he was saying. His throat constricted and he found swallowing to be hard. Oh, the level of hate that filled his every being. He outstretched a hand, eyes thinning into malicious slits when continuing. "No hard feelings..."
Pet's fists were so tightly clenched, her dulled claws were close to puncturing the skin of her palms. She snorted aggressively. Everyone's breaths were held in anticipation of what the woman would do.
Pet relaxed her fist and flexed out her sore fingers, a guttural growl barely audible. She accepted the outstretched hand and quietly hissed a screech. "No hard feelings, huh?" Her grip tightened around his hand, her dulled claws digging into the top of it. "Try telling that to the families of those killed by the men you sent down to hunt me. To Robert when your hunter shot him and tortured him..."
When Stevens jerked his hand away from the hybrid's, her claws raked across the top of his hand. The scratches were deep enough to break the skin and draw blood. He cradled his hand next to his chest, briefly looking at the damage done before meeting her lowered eye glare. "Why you-"
"I would say blood for blood, Mr. Stevens, but I fear you have nothing to offer in exchange for the innocent blood spilled those days on Isla Sorna." She took a step closer to him and stared him deeply in his panicked eyes. "Every time you look down at your hand for the next several days, remember..."
Stevens watched her golden yellow eyes morph to reflect the animal within her. A shutter ran down his spine and instantly froze the blood in his veins. Pet rolled her eyes closed and slowly opened them to reveal their previous normal color. Derek thought nothing of it. Simon was fascinated by it. This marvel of a woman never ceased to amaze him. Mr. Winston buried his hands in his suit slacks. He liked this woman! She was a delightful creature!
The woman turned her attention to Simon and examined him from the corner of her eye. He planned this, anticipating how she'd act. Scheming bastard, he was. She squared her watch down on him in amusement and respect and cocked a sideways smile.
Pet spoke. "How about that meeting?" She pushed past Stevens, harshly shouldering past him in the process when following Simon and Mr. Winston through the lobby.
Derek stayed close at her heels, almost shoving Stevens to the floor in his passing. The group stepped into an empty elevator, Simon selecting the appropriate floor's button. Before the doors closed, he and Pet studied the other in a new found respect, both smirking to the other.
Pet stared with unblinking eyes at the closed InGen conference room door. Mr. Winston went into the room first, Simon waiting just inside the doorway. He gestured for both Pet and Derek to proceed inside; the hybrid reluctant. She could see the many suited men and women seated around the conference table, looking in her direction, and whimpered. She wasn't sure what overcame her but she found herself going inside the room. Derek saw the billionaire put a hand on the hybrid's lower back when gently ushering her more so into the room and almost unholstered his gun to shoot him. He wasn't liking what he felt were suggestive advances towards the woman.
Regardless, Derek entered the conference room next and stood beside the hybrid. He noticed that seated in chairs along the side walls were other executives. Probably those lesser in importance to those seated around the table. The door almost closed shut until it was stopped by Stevens. The disgruntled executive was now cradling his injured hand with a damp blood-stained paper towel as he took his place at the table across from Mr. Winston.
Simon took his place at the head of the table, choosing to stand rather than sit. Before he could open his mouth to begin the meeting, an older executive in an ash colored suit questioned. "What are they doing here? This is a board meeting, meaning tourists aren't allowed."
"They're here because I've allowed them," the billionaire chided. "I'm sure many of you already know who one of our guests is. Some of you may know her as I-10HY, others as Pet. While I own this company, she will be respected and addressed as Ms. Veronica. I am well aware that before I integrated InGen within my company name that there was some grey area pertaining to the young lady." His disapproving gawk fell on Stevens for a moment before returning to overseeing the conference table. "That will change. I am making it known right now that her and her companions are under my protection. To anyone who feels themselves above this order and tries to act against it will be severally punished by legal action. For those who chose the cloak and dagger approach by taking part in hiring a team to hunt and kill Ms. Veronica in the past… you're fired. I will not tolerate the running of a company full of cut throats." Simultaneous gasps from those unsuspecting of the news looked around to their colleagues in panic. "For those who preferred integrity and morality will be promoted within their respective departments. If you hear your name called, I ask you remove yourself from this conference room to begin your immediate exit of this company."
The elder executive stammered. "Y-you can't do that!"
Simon arched a brow at the man. "Can't I?"
Mr. Winston stood up and removed a folded piece of notepad paper from his suit coat. The first name called was- "Jonathon Stevens." Derek almost laughed out loud.
Stevens couldn't say he didn't see it coming and calmly and quietly stood up. He straightened his posture and rebuttoned his suit coat. "You're making a very big mistake, Mr. Masrani."
"No," Simon began. "The mistake was not doing this much sooner than now." With that, the highly aggravated now ex-president of InGen took his exit.
Derek and Pet listened to the rest of the names be called out and watched as that person was made to leave. Once the last of the eight people disappeared behind the conference room's door closing, the other present executives were promoted within their departments and motioned to sit at the main table.
The rest of the meeting was more lighthearted in mood. Even some of the newly promoted executives tossed a joke here and there. Then came the announcement of Jurassic World. Some of those present in the room expressed their skepticism of the idea. Simon did his best to reassure everyone that proper in-depth planning was underway for the new park. He went on to boast about Pet's experience with the animals after prolonged first hand experience with them and that she as well as her legal guardian and Jurassic Park ex-game warden Robert Muldoon were assisting with the plans. This helped ease some concerns but not all. Questions of their experience arose, stating that Jurassic Park shouldn't have happened then if the two were so experienced.
Before Derek could verbally defend his uncle and best friend, Pet stopped him. She stood up from where she sat at the side of the room and spoke. "The entirety of Jurassic Park's unfortunate events stems from the malicious actions of one person. Once the electrical power to the park's perimeter fences was brought down, it took no effort for an adult Tyrannosaur to break out of its enclosure. John Hammond underestimated the might and power of these animals.
"We all did. But lessons were learned from that experience and I, myself, have learned much in my time with the animals; knowledge that will be applied in redesigning the paddocks. I have already witnessed enough death and bloodshed at the claws and teeth of recreated prehistoric creatures. I have absolutely no intention of witnessing any more. Does that cover everyone's questions and or concerns?" The room was quiet, those seated at the table looking to the billionaire.
A prideful subconscious smile glowed on Simon's face. Not only did this marvelous woman know how to handle herself against the extreme odds with a dinosaur, but also against InGen's executives as well.
Pet sat back down, suddenly aware of Derek staring at her disbelievingly. She looked at the man somewhat offensively. "What?"
"Here you were, afraid you were going to get shot on the spot only to stand up to them." He hugged her. "Uncle Rob would be proud!" was cheered.
"Get off of me," Pet quietly snarled, shoving Derek away.
He whispered into her ear, "How about on you? Because I've got the most awkward bo-" Derek yelped out the moment Pet harshly punched him on the top of his leg.
Pet growled menacingly into his ear, "Finish that sentence… I. Dare. You."
Mr. Winston and a few of the board members tried to act as though they heard nothing but they did. They heard it all and wondered why the very wealthy man allowed them to stay for the rest of the meeting.
