Shaundi is shown around her new work place, but why is Chris puzzled about her job description?


Been working on and off for this one, I hope you like it!


"My apologies, Shaundi." Chris smiled weakly at her, "While Claire was bringing you up here I did find your orientation pack inside my desk. I must've put it in the drawer at some point and forgot about it."

He gestured his hand towards the corridor and they began to walk, and Shaundi trailed behind him only slightly. For saying it was BSAA HQ, she thought the corridors would be considerably more…lively. Instead, only a lone janitor was pushing a sweeper along the shiny floor. Several large potted plants stood at regular intervals between doors, and further down Shaundi could see the glow of two or three vending machines.

"I did worry a little bit, I will admit," admitted Shaundi, "I thought that I was accepted for the job and then dropped without my knowledge."

Chris glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, and it made Shaundi shield a smirk; it was the same expression that his sister wore earlier.

"If we were going to withdraw someone's job offer then we would contact you, no questions asked. This was an error on my part and I will take responsibility for it."

Shaundi took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. God, why were her nerves so shot? Of course they weren't going to ghost her!

As they approached the vending machine Shaundi noticed a long counter top with a sleek silver coffee machine. Below the machine, under the counter was a small refrigerator, probably containing milk and cream, Shaundi figured.

"Do you drink coffee, Shaundi?" Chris asked as he helped himself to a BSAA mug.

"Er, yeah…just black, no sugar."

Chris' face lit up, and he glanced a smile at her.

"Oh we are going to get along well," beamed Chris. He pulled another mug, set them up under the machine and pressed the buttons.

"You a black coffee, no sugar drinker too?" asked Shaundi, and Chris hummed his response with enthusiasm.

He handed the second BSAA emblazoned mug to her before taking his own, and he beckoned her to a door opposite the machines.

"Trivia question. What is the BSAA's aim, in short?"

"To identify and combat bioterrorism, sir."

"Correct," nodded Chris, and he opened the door to reveal a small office. Before he stepped in, however, he pointed his fingers at her; "no need for formalities. Just call me Chris. I'm not a puffed up dick like the others at my level."

Shaundi quietly acknowledged his words before following him into the room.

It was perhaps only six metres by five metres, but was big enough comfortably for two desks; one facing the door side of the room and the other facing the other desk.

"Alright," Chris began, "this one here is your desk, and mine is the one facing yours. One of these lockers here will be yours, you can hang up a jacket or bag, or you can simply leave your bag behind your chair if you wish. Just don't trip on it."

He proceeded to open a locker;

"Don't worry about any gear you will use, there's another room for combat and field gear, and-"

"Wait, but I thought I was just going to be a PA?"

Chris stared at her for a few seconds before frowning.

"Oh no…any idea who interviewed you?"

"I can't remember the name, some bald guy." Shaundi answered with a shrug, but her nerves were creeping back up on her again, like a small electrical current rolling and crackling inside her stomach.

"Quint, by any chance?"

"...maybeeee?"

Chris clicked his tongue.

"I'm willing to bet he never covered field work in your interview. Ugh. I'm sorry about that. I'll have to find the interview file and find out what happened. Some wires probably got crossed somewhere along the line." He ushered Shaundi to her desk chair and stood by her desk before continuing; "But field work is part of your job description, I'll get your orientation pack."

Shaundi's heart stuck fast into her throat; was this role not PA? Shit…what had she signed into?

A file appeared before her and Chris gestured to it.

"I can go through everything with you if you want, now that I'm fairly certain that you may have been accepted on an incorrect job application."

"What…so what happens now?"

"Here," he pointed to the wall opposite Shaundi's desk, where a small black leather sofa was, "grab your coffee and we'll sit there instead of our desk chairs. Comfier. Let's go through everything."

Two minutes later Chris had dragged a low coffee table over and was spreading Shaundi's files out. Shaundi herself sipped nervously at her coffee and Chris hummed and coughed to himself.

"Shaundi Lola Price… your birth year is 1985… that's your photo alright, so…" Chris rubbed a hand over his stubble and clicked his tongue again, "I'm not sure what's happened, but it seems after your interview the job role of PA was combined into field agent. I heard something about it, but I didn't expect it to be tied to my PA role."

Shaundi sat in silence as Chris poured over the documentation more. Finally he leant back and sighed.

"You have past experience being a PA, I can see that."

"Yeah, I was a PA for a lower level manager in my previous job. It was the only job I had had at that point."

Chris sat quietly again, still running a finger along his stubble.

"We can train you up to be a field agent, that's not a problem. I'll even come in on my days off to train you if I have to."

"Do…do I have a choice? I don't know how I feel about working in the field."

Chris sighed again; "To be honest…not really. It's not in the job description you applied for, but it is in your contract."

"I…hm…"

"Hey," Chris twisted to face her, and the leather below him squealed softly, "you're definitely not the first person to come in with no field experience. It's uncommon, but it has happened."

"But…" Shaundi lowered her mug to her thighs and gripped the ceramic, feeling the warmth of the drink through her fingers, "I'm only 1.5m…would that be a huge disadvantage?"

"It is a disadvantage, I won't deny that, but can also be incredibly advantageous. For example," Chris held his palms face down, "your centre of gravity is lower. Of course your first field missions won't be you charging into a fully armed and guarded facility, but given enough training, your small stature will be of use to you. I know it."

Shaundi squirmed at the thought of facing ill fated people, riddled with whatever virus or parasite an overseer saw fit.

"Hey…" Chris touched her shoulder with a firm grip, but immediately withdrew his hand back, "you'll be given as much time to train as you feel is comfortable. We won't just kick you into the deep end and expect you to swim, you know?"

"Yeah…"

"Come on, let me show you around the place."

Chris ushered her back out of the room, their coffees left on the table.

"I won't take you to each floor, but First Floor is reception as you saw," Chris explained as they slowly strolled back towards the elevator, "Also down there is the main cafeteria, but on each floor is a little drinks station and fridge like outside our office. Any hot meals you want can be bought from the cafeteria, or you can bring your own and heat it up. This building has twelve floors in total and we're based on the eleventh floor."

Chris gestured to a door by the elevator and pushed it open.

"We'll take the stairs up."

They climbed a flight of stairs, and a large "12" was printed across the chrome wall.

"Twelfth floor is where all the big wigs hide, there's also a huge conference auditorium in there. Most of the time it's off limits to most people; even I'm not always allowed in there."

"What if the auditorium is needed by the not so big wigs?" Shaundi asked, and Chris lifted a hand.

"Then we use the small meeting rooms that are on Floor Six."

They continued up the stairs to Shaundi's bemusement.

"I thought there were twelve floors?"

"There is, but…"

The stairs finished at a door, and he opened it to blinding sunlight. Shaundi followed him out and allowed her eyes to adjust, limply holding her palm at her forehead. To her left was a gorgeous rooftop garden covering about half of the roof. Ahead and slightly to the right was a small rooftop building, and even further to the right, she could see it as they approached the railings, was a helipad, slightly lower down than the roof.

"In that building over there are all of our lockers and changing rooms. It used to be in the room next to my office, but to get everyone geared up, up the stairs or elevator and to the helipad was just too cumbersome and time-consuming, so this little building was built."

"Isn't that a bad place to store all of the weapons though? On a rooftop?"

"Our whole arsenal isn't stored in there, but…well, I'll show you."

They crossed the roof and Chris pulled out his ID card, scanning it to open a number pad. He then shielded the pad and tapped in a code before the door unlocked with a hiss and a loud beep. They stepped inside to what looked like an air lock, which then opened into a caged room.

Inside this room were all the lockers that Chris had mentioned, and by the cage door was another cage door, and inside Shaundi could see rows of assault rifles, handguns and bigger artillery.

"The weapons in here are assigned to our field units. Each person has their own weapon that they are responsible for maintaining. Some people have more than one such as myself. If I'm on a squad mission with a unit then I take an assault rifle and a side arm. As well as some stims and either flashbangs or grenades."

"That sounds pretty intense."

Chris chuckled.

"Luckily I don't often go out. I'm more of a field agent right now, but I'm looking to be more involved with the Spec Ops Unit." He turned to Shaundi, "Having a PA is part of my field work right now, but if I get elevated to SOU then you'll become PA to someone else."

Shaundi shivered, and Chris raised his eyebrow.

"You cold?"

"No I erm… how much notice would I get if you were to change position?"

"Maybe…one month minimum, I guess, why?"

"Oh, erm, just asking is all."

Chris eyed her again and looked like he was about to speak, but he instead beckoned her back outside.

"Over here are the gardens, let's take a walk through."

They approached the little entrance with its trellis archway, and Shaundi held her breath. The entirety of the rooftop garden was covered with a pergola; some sections had open, bare wood, while others had climbing flowers. As soon as they stepped beyond the archway, any sounds from the outside world ceased to exist, an insulator to the chaos of traffic and pollution on the streets far below.

"I come here every now and then when I need some alone time." Chris trailed off, and his eyes wandered into nothingness.

"I take it this isn't a place for lunch breaks?"

Chris chuckled.

"No, we're allowed up here with a coffee or other drink, but we're not allowed to spend breaks up here. It's more of a place to relieve stress. To take a breather. Typically when someone comes back from a mission they are encouraged to sit up here if the weather is nice. Over there," Chris pointed ahead and ushered Shaundi with him, "here is a solid roofed area, in case it does rain when some quiet time is needed."

"It's good that you have something like this," remarked Shaundi, "I never would have guessed that there'd be a rooftop garden, and it's so quiet even though the city is all around us…"

"Yeah, and it's pretty sizable, nice to just slowly walk through when I have things on my mind. Sometimes Claire will walk with me."

"You too are close, right?"

Chris nodded; "Yeah, we've been close since we were kids. We grew up in an orphanage."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, it's fine," Chris sighed and his eyes idled into the blue sky, "she doesn't remember our parents much, but I do. Kinda hurts to think about them still."

Shaundi shuffled from one foot to another, and Chris quickly shook his head with a brash laugh.

"Sorry, I shouldn't hit the depressing stuff on your first day, ahaha. But yeah, if you ever need a breather just let me know and I'll grant you permission to come up here. We take mental health seriously here. Or at least I do."

"That's good to know, fighting the things you do must be really mentally taxing."

"It is, but we have a brilliant network of support."

Shaundi nodded, and Chris shrugged towards the building again.


"Here is medical, we can go in, I need to check in on a friend anyway."

"Ok."

They used the hand sanitiser by the door and entered through the double doors. The first room seemed more akin to a doctor's waiting room, and Chris waved a hand in greeting to the woman behind the desk in the corner.

"Any medical issues you have, you can come here. We even have a company dentist! Down that way," he points to a corridor on the left, "we have two or three doctors on site too. We can transfer your medical records from whichever practice you're registered to if you wish. All medical bills are covered by BSAA, so I'd say take advantage of that."

They took a few slow paces forward and Chris pointed down a corridor on the right.

"This way is the rooms and wards. There's three emergency theatres too, thankfully we've never had all three being used at once. That elevator you can see right down the other end actually leads to the helipad, so any critically injured personnel can be rushed straight down here."

"In here…" Chris gently pushed a door to his right, only a touch, and peered in; "hey, how are you?" Shaundi could hear a woman's voice from inside, but not the words she was saying to him. Chris turned back to her with a smile and invited her in.

This was a private room with only one bed, along one wall was a window with a view (of a building), but sunlight still bled in, casting the room in a brilliant glow. Flowers and cards were scattered all about the room, and in the armchair was-

"Shaundi, this is Jill Valentine. Jill, this is Shaundi Price, my new PA."

Shaundi fixated on the blonde, pale woman smiling back at her, and she stepped forward to shake Jill's hand.

"You're another survivor of Raccoon City!" exclaimed Shaundi, and Jill giggled.

"I am! And the rest!" She held up an arm attached to an IV drip.

"Jill was recently saved in Kijuju after being missing for three years," explained Chris, and Shaundi noticed a shared glance between himself and Jill, "we're just making sure she gets back to her normal self soon enough!"

"Ha!" Jill grinned, "I love how you're the only one who says I was missing!"

Chris twisted his lips and placed his hands on his hips. Casting his gaze to the floor.

"Yeah well…" he had lowered his voice and tone considerably, "everyone else was declaring you dead, but I never wanted to accept it."

Chris cleared his throat after a few seconds of awkward silence; "Anyway! Gotta show Shaundi more of the building, so we'll catch up later!"

"Yeah Chris that's fine! Nice to meet you again, Shaundi! You'll settle in just fine!"

"Likewise, Jill and thank you," replied Shaundi, and she hopped from one foot to another. That's two, TWO Raccoon City survivors she had met in the space of a couple of hours, and her heart warmed inside her chest. Jill Valentine AND Claire Redfield! She didn't consider Chris a survivor since he wasn't there for the zombie outbreak.

She stepped out of medical with Chris and he held a finger up.

"Only one place of importance left to show you for now, so let's head to the basement."

"Basement? Wouldn't that just be a storage area?"

"Part of it is, but that's not what I'm going to show you."

They entered the elevator and Chris pressed his thumb into "B1". Shaundi noted that there were three basement levels. Maybe those other two were storage.

"B2 is kind of our dumping ground for supplies and old furniture like desks. Pisses me off, really."

"Why's that?" enquired Shaundi, and Chris leant against the mirrored walls of the elevator with a grunt.

"Because a lot of the furniture down there is still fine to use. It's when the directors want new, shiny desks or chairs. Really gets my back up."

Chris sighed as ran a hand through his hair. Floor 4, Floor 3…

"I don't like how the BSAA is becoming, I mean we're not meant to be having flashy tables. It's corporate greed. That's not what we're about, and them upstairs having tables shiny enough to see their smug faces in just makes us look bad, you hear me?"

"Yeah I get you, my last job was the same. They once got rid of an office refrigerator just because it didn't match the room. The refrigerator was like three months old. They trashed it."

Floor 1…

"It's bad, isn't it?" responded Chris, "I like to think I'm a bit thrifty and make use of something, so I get mad when shit like that happens."

"Me too. No need for it."

The elevator hit floor B1 and the doors slid open. Ahead of them was a set of glass double doors and then;

"This is our very own in-house gym!" Chris mused with enthusiasm as he pushed the glass doors open, "I confess that I am quite a gym rat, a lot of my free time is spent in here!"

It was a large room with various gym equipment, but Chris slowly walked Shaundi around on the marked up walkway.

"Here is our cardio section, you'll find cross trainers, ecliptics, treadmills and bikes. Over there," Chris pointed to a green carpeted area with white markings, "that's our HIIT area. Sometimes we hold group sessions there, but not often. Mainly it's used for weight carrying, that's what those markings are for. Over there in that corner are the free weights, and next to it are the assisted weights."

"Seems like that's where you spend your time, Chris," Shaundi grinned, and he chuckled lightly.

"You got me. I do weights, sure, but I'll occasionally hit the treadmill."

"Over there through those doors are the changing rooms and showers, and you'll find the swimming pool and spa area."

"A spa area?!" Shaundi gasped, "like saunas and stuff?!"

"Yup. Great to wind down in."

"Oh I might have to take advantage of that, ahaha," laughed Shaundi, and Chris grinned with a nod.

"Our gym and facilities are open 24/7, so feel free to use them outside of work hours."

Chris led her out, and they travelled once more to the opposite side of the gym.

"Here," Chris opened a locker and handed Shaundi a pair of ear defenders, "is our shooting range. I can see from our screen here that no one is using the range, so no need to put on the defenders for now."

Shaundi took a deep breath as she saw the cage with guns inside the range. Chris unlocked the cage and took out a handgun, briefly rolling it in his hand.

"This will be the first gun you will learn to use, it's a-"

"Samurai Edge," Shaundi declared smartly, and Chris raised his eyebrows, "It's what you and your former S.T.A.R.S team used in the Arklay Incident."

"You seem to know a lot about myself, Claire and Jill, and Raccoon City."

"As I said to your sister, I was born in Raccoon City, I know what happened."

"Ah…" Chris nodded silently, "I'm sorry about what happened then, to your home I mean."

A brief silence overcame them before Chris cleared his throat and held the gun to her.

"I've never used a gun before, Chris."

"Well then," smiled Chris, "first time for everything. Put your defenders on."

Shaundi sighed and put them over her ears, and the gun was in her hands.

"So this isn't loaded right now, but here…" Chris had raised his voice for her, "the live rounds are stored in this cage."

He pulled out a red and white box and placed it on a counter that overlooked the gallery.

"Ok, I'll go fetch another gun and you can follow my lead!"

He disappeared from Shaundi's peripheral vision and reappeared seconds later with the same type of gun.

"So, this is how you load a gun, this is the magazine. You can either reload by hand or use a clip. A clip is sometimes more beneficial, for example in heavy firefights with automatics."

Shaundi copied what he did with a scowl of concentration, and waited for him to continue.

"This model in particular has no laser sight built in, you see this nub?" He pointed to the top of the gun, "you use that to aim. Now go ahead and aim at the board that I'm about to drop."

He tapped a touch screen to his right and took a step back. A board with a human outline dropped down, maybe only ten metres in front of her.

He showed her how to hold the gun in her hands, how to hold her elbows, and he nodded his approval at her stance.

"Ok…take aim, don't hold your breath, breathe normally. When you line up with that red circle, pull the trigger."

Shaundi took a slow breath in, aimed as he had instructed, and fired. The loud noise and recoil forced her eyes shut as the crack of wood echoed off the walls after the shot. A bellowed laugh from Chris made her open her eyes again at him, and she looked over her shoulder in confusion.

He stood there with his hands on his hips, wearing a huge grin and raised eyebrows.

"Look what you did!" he laughed as he pointed back down the gallery.

Shaundi's heart sank, fearing that she had somehow screwed up, maybe accidentally shot something expensive.

Oh God…oh God oh God…The next place he was going to take her was right back out the building, right? Shortest employment time ever?

She nervously looked back down the gallery, where her gun was still pointing slightly, and she felt Chris lightly pat her shoulder.

"You sure you've never picked up a gun before?" Chris asked gleefully, and Shaundi's jaw fell open at what she saw.

Exactly in the centre of the red circle was a single bullet hole. Exactly. In. The. Middle.

"Did…did I do that?!" gasped Shaundi, and Chris chuckled again.

"You sure as hell did! Hell, I was a master marksman back in S.T.A.R.S and before then the very first shot I ever took in my air force training missed entirely!"

"No, there must be a mistake, it's just a fluke…"

"That sure as hell ain't a fluke, Shaundi! I saw how you aimed, your stance, that was the most natural stance, aim and shot I've seen since I've been training people, and I've trained a few, believe me! But for your nerves sake, we'll leave your firearms training there for today. I'm impressed!"

"But…I'm not ready for field work…"

"Oh you won't be active in the field for a while, don't worry, but seriously," Chris took the gun from her and disassembled it before storing it away, "you should be proud of yourself, so few people are ever able to get a perfect shot on their very first try."

"It won't happen again, I bet…" mumbled Shaundi as she handed her ear defenders to him, and he took his own off.

"Hey," Chris snapped his fingers and she gazed up at his face, with his warm, friendly smile, "have more confidence in yourself, I know you will do great here, and I can assure you that you'll be a valuable member of BSAA, even if to no one else, you will be to me. I could do with someone like you working with me a lot."


Back in their office, Shaundi was setting up her pc, positioning the keyboard and two monitors how she liked them to be. Chris thumbed through her files more, and one thing in particular made him cough.

Oh no, what's he found?

"ASD, Shaundi? And ADHD?"

She froze up in her seat and awkwardly leaned aside to see him past her right monitor.

"Is...is that going to be a problem?"

"Not at all, but I know I touched your shoulder once or twice. I'm sorry. I'll respect your personal space." He stood up, and Shaundi traced him with his eyes, "if anything I do bothered you, tell me, alright? And I'll try my best to give you ample notice if things change. I know how it is."

"You do?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded, "Believe it or not, Claire was diagnosed with both of those a few years ago. Explains everything about her as a kid, to be honest."

"Oh really? Claire?"

"Yeah," Chris sniggered lightly, and his eyes wandered, "I've seen some of the triggers first hand, so I like to think I have an idea of what to expect."

He stood there for a few seconds, his eyes still far away as if remembering memories, before he snapped back to Shaundi. "And I want to assure you that I will give you all the time you need to learn things while in the office. I won't get impatient, you hear me?"

"Yeah…thanks, Chris."

"Don't mention it. Now, let's show you how to make a report, we'll use an op from last week that I did. I've already done a report, but it's good practice for you at least."

Chris grabbed his chair and wheeled it all the way around to the side of her desk.


I need to re-organise my notes for this to work out the pacing, but rest assured I will get a new chapter up in November for this!