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˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  HAVEN ❱
*✧ ─── ❝ ❪ THE INSIDE JOB! ❫ ❞
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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ ACT ONE ── queen of cons 💻 ⁺⑅

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THE LEGENDS SERIES ⋆ 🐜.
♯ ❝ PASSWORD PLEASE ❞
CHAPTER FIVE ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚ ₊ ♡ 2015 ─── ant-man
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COLD AND UNWELCOMING WAS EXACTLY WHAT NORA EXPECTED THE BUILDING THAT HOUSED CROSS TECHNOLOGIES TO LOOK LIKE FROM THE INSIDE, bright fluorescent light, sharp edges and white walls. Camera's on every wall, and an abundance of guards patrolling the hallways. It was no wonder they were looking for extra cybersecurity. Well—Hope had set it up truly, knowing perfectly well she would be the first suspect if things started to go sideways from the inside. The plan had been set in motions months ago, even before Nora had joined the gig.

Hope had been religiously interviewing potential hires, but sadly no one seemed to fit the mould. Then again, they weren't Nora Ruthgers hacker extraordinaire. Not that her perfectly-crafted-and fact-checked-by-Micky resume said such things. That would be suspicious of course.

Adjusting the glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, Nora was sitting on one of the very expensive looking but very uncomfortable chairs in the lobby, smoothening out her white blouse with faux nerves every time Cross' assistant peered at her from behind her computer screen. She had practised her best jittery smile whilst studying her newly crafted persona while Scott had been under the ruthless training of Hope and Hank.

"Miss Dunn?" the high-pitched voice of the assistant carried over the annoying elevator music that was playing from the speakers on the wall. "Miss van Dyne and Mr. Cross are ready to see you now."

Nora blinked, suppressing the smirk that threatened to light up her face at the sound of her new name. Micky knew her taste well. "Yes of course." She smiled at the redheaded woman who motioned for her to follow after her.

As the redhead unlocked a set of doors with her key card, Nora took her time taking in her surroundings as they moved further inside. The sterile look of it made her skin crawl as a creature of comfort...and one who thrived in organised chaos. The walk continued until they stopped in front of an expensive looking office with glass walls, and from what she could glimpse, the other side of the office had a view of one of the laboratories.

"Good luck, they've been looking for a while now." She smiled sweetly, but her words were condescending as she spoke them. Nora muttered a quiet thanks repressing the urge to roll her eyes as she swung the door opened and greeted Darren with a sickly sweet smile. "Miss Dunn is here for the job interview sir."

The bald man smiled wolfishly as they stepped inside. "Thank you Mary. You can go on your lunch break now."

"Thank you Mr. Cross."

The door fell close behind her and Nora approached the desk confidently, catching the eye of Hope who studied her carefully, as if she expected her to announce their plan any moment and out her.

"You have an impressive resume Miss Dunn." Hope spoke up the second she sat down in the leather chair and Darren hummed in agreement, scanning what Nora believed to be her resume.

"Hard work pays off." She grins, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, "and please call me Claire."

"It seems it does." Darren said calmly, "five years at the Pentagon, before that a lot of work in government and private sectors in Washington. You have very promising references." This time he looked at Hope. "Miss van Dyne has high expectations, what makes you think you have what it takes."

"May I?" Nora leaned forward, pointing at the closed laptop on the corner of the desk.

Darren paused for a moment, contemplating his answer before reluctantly nodding.

"Thanks" She smiled brightly as she reached for the laptop, opened it and turned it around. "password please."

Darren frowned before typing it in, and unlocking the laptop and Nora wasted not a second. Perching the laptop on her lap she started to type away. Of course she could never be sure how well protected his private laptop was, but nothing was uncrackable. Fishing a flash drive from her pocket she stuck it in and watched her well-crafted program lit up the screen. Without needing to do much, Nora watched as the firewall was taken down, and secrets started to get uncovered before her very eyes.

Two minutes passed by as Darren and Hope silently watch her type away humming some sort of rock song under her breath and tapping her feet to her own silent beat. "What's the yellow jacket?"

Of course she already knew about all of this, but she needed a reaction out of Darren.

The words had barely passed her lips before the laptop was snatched from her lap and Darren glared at her with fire in his eyes. Mirthful eyes glanced at Hope who unknown to the man next to her was smirking victoriously.

"I guess that's something you want no one finding huh?" Nora crossed her arms, "and that program—"she pointed at the USB-stick, "—is exactly why I have what it takes for this job. It took me five minutes to crack the protection you have on your laptop, now I sure hope the computers at the office are protected better, because if not Mr. Cross you are in deep trouble."

Darren cleared his throat, expression stoic, "This job demands the upmost discretion."

Nora grinned, "They don't call it ethical hacking for nothing sir, I know how to keep a secret—for the right price of course."

She watched as Darren clenched his jaw in irritancy, "the pay was already in the job opening—"

Nora clicked her tongue, "I want double."

"Pardon?"

"I want double the pay. Like you said, you've been looking for a long time for the perfect match for your company. And in the last ten minutes I have proven exactly I am just that. My skills, my experience and my program are worth more than what you offered." Nora leaned back in her chair.

"There are more people out there who work in this field Miss. Dunn, who don't ask for more." Darren scoffed.

"True, but none of them are me." She shrugged, "and from your reaction earlier, it seems you need the best there is."

There was a moment of tense silence and from the corner of her eye, Nora noticed Hope nervously wringing her clasped hands.

"So what do you say Mr. Cross?" She held her hand out, "Am I hired?"

The bald man hesitated for a moment, eyes narrowing as he scanned her features carefully. "You are."

Nora internally sighed in relief as the man clasped her hand in his and shook it twice. "I'm sure it will be a pleasure working together." She said, standing back up and pushing the leather chair back.

Darren looked at his watch in faux interest, grabbing his laptop from his desk before turning to look at Hope. "Will you please let out Miss. Dunn. I have another meeting."

Cross was out the door before Hope could reply.

The short haired brunette hurriedly stood up, pulling Nora with her by the sleeve of her blouse. "Are you crazy?" She hissed under her breath, "asking for more money. It's not like you're long enough to collect your first pay check."

Nora just chuckled, pulling her arm free when they entered the hallway. "It felt like something the action hero would do in a spy movie." She defended.

"Well what if it backfired?" Hope countered, "what then?"

"Darling Hope, with a resume like mine, he would have been a fool to let me go."

Hope glared at her. "that's fake. You never worked in those places."

"I did hack into all those places, that's practically the same." Nora revealed proudly.

"Wait, you hacked into the Pentagon!? Why?"

"I was bored. And Micky wasn't home."

"You're crazy."

Nora only winked at the woman.

⋆⋅ ━━━━ ‧ ༻✩༺ ‧ ━━━━ ⋅⋆

UPON HER RETURN TO THE PYM ESTATE, NORA FOUND SCOTT SITTING ON A CHAIR IN THE BACKYARD NURSING A FRESH BRUISE WITH A FROZEN BAG OF peas and a sour expression as he stared at the vast garden. "You look positively radiant Scotty." The jest slipped easily from her tongue as she approached him.

Scott only groaned at the sight of her smug smile, but Nora paid it no mind as she sat down in the lawn chair next to him, holding out a Baskin & Robbins Mango Blast smoothie. "Went and visited Dale on my way back."

"Thanks."

Nora just smiled sipping her own beverage, "I got the job." Another sip, "Not that it was hard with Hope as one of the recruiters obviously but I got a good laugh out of it."

When the ex-con did not even crack a smile at her jesting tone, Nora furrowed her brows, quite unsure on how to approach Scott's solemn mood. She knew how to cheer up Micky, that was easy after so many years knowing one another, but she had a feeling a cup of hot chocolate was not going to fix whatever was bothering him.

"Training didn't go well?" She guessed after a moment of silence, twisting her body awkwardly on the lawn chair to face him better.

"Nope." Scott shrugged, tone sombre. "I can't seem to quite get it. I've only been running into the door the whole time." He sighed, shoulders slouching in defeat. "I don't know why he chose me. It doesn't make any sense."

Nora bit the inside of her cheek, contemplating her response. "Hank looks like man who knows what he's doing." Well not really, seeing as his own protégé managed to kick him out of his own company—but Scott doesn't need to be reminded of that.

He scoffed, "He just needed someone to blame if it all goes sideways."

Her shoulders slouch, "Maybe. But you do get to wear a cool suit. Makes you look like super hero instead of a convict?" She offered half-heartedly.

Scott's face softens a fraction, and Nora immediately picks up on. "What are you thinking about?"

"Cassie thinks I'm a superhero." He replied vaguely.

"Cassie?"

His eyes widen, before he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck—remembering that they aren't really friends, that they don't really know one another. But Scott had to admit, Nora was easy to talk with.

"She's my kid." There's excitement in his voice as he starts to talk about the little girl, words full of love and passion that makes Nora's heart swell. "Wait, I got a picture." He grinned, the solemness of earlier gone again as he pulls his wallet from his back pocket. "Ah ha!" He holds the picture up proudly before handing it over.

Nora takes the pictures to gaze at a little brunette girl with doe eyes and a toothy grin, in her hands a disturbing looking stuffed rabbit. "That was her last birthday a couple of days ago."

Nora smiles, "That rabbit is killer, who'd she get that one from and where can I get one, because I know for sure I want to get it for Micky. He's deadly scared of rabbits, it will be amazing."

"Oh, eh... I got it at a flea market. Her mom was not very pleased with it." Scott responded sheepishly, "But Cassie loved it."

"She got good taste." He visibly perked up at her words, posture straightening and chest puffing out proudly.

"She got that from me," He boasted and Nora chuckles. "What about your family?"

Nora deflated slightly, wringing her hand as she gazed at the sky. "I'm not really on speaking terms anymore with them." She shrugged as if it was no big deal. "I got Micky though, he's all the family I need. We met in college, moved into a crappy overpriced rat-infested apartment in New York together and the rest is history."

"Why'd you move to San Francisco then?" Scott inquired.

"Aliens blew the building up."

"You were there at the Battle of New York?" Scott gasped, almost a bit excited.

She hummed in confirmation, twirling the straw of her own smoothie absentmindedly. "I got thrown of the building by the blast."

His eyes widened exponentially, mouth gaping. "And you are not dead?"

"Do I look dead to you?" She deadpanned, tilting her head.

"Well—no of course not. You look great! I mean...not unalive—healthy! Yes healthy." He stuttered out and Nora did her best to refrain herself from bursting out in laughter at his panicked face.

"Thanks Scotty." She patted his cheek. "For what it's worth, you don't look dead either."

"Thanks." He muttered and Nora brushed her hair behind her ear before standing back up and holding out her hand. "Now let's go look for Hank, and try again."

He groaned, throwing himself further back in the lawn chair. "Do I have to?"

She grabbed his wrists and pulled him up with unexpected ease, "Yes, you have to. Because the sooner you get the hang of this, the sooner I can wreak havoc on Darren Cross."

"What got you so vengeful all of the sudden?"

She grinned playfully, "I just didn't like him."

"You mess with everyone who you don't like?"

"Of course not—no wait yes, yes I do."

"You're pretty scary."

"Thank you!"