Author's Note: I am returned! :D Very happy with the amount of reviews last chapter got, keep up the good work readers! I love you all sooooo so so so much. It's immeasurable. You can't even FATHOM how much I like writing for you. So…review. It makes me happy. Haha. In this chapter, Mello and Alice spend some quality time, Matt tries to quit smoking, and Mello takes a day off from work.
Disclaimer: You guys get the point. It's not mine. Never will be.
A week later, Matt left the apartment late. He hopped in his Camaro and drove slowly, so as not to attract any attention, down town to the Diamonds' headquarters. Their building paled in comparison to Mello's. Mello had three stories of office space and a legitimate accounting business fronting his organization; the Diamonds had a run-down pharmacy that practically screamed for police attention. He pulled his car to a stop near the curb, slid out of his car quietly and snuck around to the back door of the building. A quick observation showed him what he was hoping to see: the back was secured only by a hasp lock, which he removed with bolt cutters. No outdoor surveillance was in place, so he pried the door open, cringing at the creak of the protesting hinges, and entered the building.
Keeping to the shadowed area to his left, he scanned for surveillance cameras. One monitored the wing of the pharmacy to his right, and another was focused on the door at the end of the hallway. He hadn't been spotted yet. He pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number, which produced a signal that automatically jammed the security cameras with interference.
"Heh heh…just like in Metal Gear Solid…." He whispered to himself, placing the phone back in his pocket. Wherever he was, the camera footage would become static until he left. After taking a look around, he found the terminal station through the unlocked door at the end of the hallway. Only three computers were present, and at least two would be needed to operate the pharmacy's records systems. The remaining computer would store any information the Diamonds wanted kept secret.
"No guards at the doors, two surveillance cameras….These guys don't know what they're doing." Matt muttered as he turned the computers on. Two automatically displayed the pharmacy's logo and a password prompt, the other cheesy picture of a diamond. They were making this way too easy for him. He pulled a flash drive from his pocket and connected it to the diamond monitor's tower. It instantly began to run a program that would guess the diamond password in minutes. Now he waited….
…..Access granted.
"Oh for fuck's sake…" Matt groaned. The password had been diamond. Go figure. He removed his flash drive and opened the browser. "Internet fuckin' Explorer…." He opened the browser history. Apparently whoever ran the terminal for the Diamonds had strong interests in Asian porn and online games. He located the primary email address, and wrote it on his hand. It would be easy for Matt to get all the information he needed using this. He closed the browser, turned off the computers and exited the building, stopping only at a breaker box outside to cut a short in the electricity feed to the security cameras, giving an explanation for all the interference. No one would ever know of his visit.
While Matt was busy pretending to be a secret agent, Mello was pacing the floors of their apartment with worry. Alice had come over earlier to keep Mello calm, but that was as easy as learning to speak Latin in one night.
"I shouldn't have asked him to go." Mello groaned. "I could have had Marcus or Xavier go to their building and set things up. Matt shouldn't have gone."
"I'm sure they would have just messed things up." Alice said. "I've seen him work on his computers; he knows what he's doing. He'll be fine."
"Of course he knows what he's doing! Matt's absolutely impeccable when it comes to these kinds of things. But what if he gets seen, what if he's on camera, or they have guards…"
"He would have called if there was trouble."
"If he could call! My god, they've handcuffed him! He's unconscious…he can't call for help, they're going to interrogate him….link him to me and kill him just for the hell of it."
"That isn't what's going on. Just calm down, he's only been gone an hour."
"I'm going to send someone to check on him. Make sure everything's okay.."
"And jeopardize his stealth? You'd only put him in more danger of being seen."
"But guards…"
"He can shoot a gun, and he can throw a punch. He's been teaching me some self-defense maneuvers."
Mello begrudgingly sat in the recliner. "If he isn't home in the next half hour I'm going to get him."
"Give him more time than that. Jesus, Mello, you're worse than he is with the baby."
Mello glared at her and drummed his fingers frantically on the arm of his chair.
"You want to play some video games?" Alice asked, gesturing to Matt's console.
"Matt lets you touch those?"
"No, only multiplayer on the old games like Mario Kart. But I can show you what he plays the most."
Mello's interest was piqued. He stopped looking for headlights out the window and cocked an eyebrow.
"You know…to help you understand him more…or something." Alice said, turning Matt's PS3 on and searching through his enormous stack of video games. "You should try playing some time."
"How do you know how to turn it on?"
"My ex-boyfriend used to play a lot. Mostly shooting games, but I learned how to operate a system."
The screen turned black and Mello came to sit on the floor beside her. Choir music started blaring through Matt's custom speakers and a man with a shield and a Viking helmet came on the screen.
"What kind of game is this?"
"It's a role playing game. You make a character and do stuff. You can be good or evil, buy a house, things like that."
"I see." Mello looked at the screen. "Is this Matt's character?"
"Yup. His name is Reyklif the Harbinger apparently."
"It looks nothing like Matt….."
"It's an elf."
"Is he going to be upset that we messed with his character?"
"We won't save it, he won't even notice."
Two hours later, Matt returned home. Mello and Alice were sitting in the floor in front of the television….playing a game?
"Uh guys…I'm home."
Mello sprang up from the floor and crossed the room the hug Matt close, kissing him once. "Matty! I'm glad you're back, I was so worried-"
"Yeah Mells. Missed you too." Matt pushed him away gently. "What are you guys playing..OH MY FUCK WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO WHITERUN?!"
"Relax." Alice said. "We didn't save anything, we're just playing around to keep someone from stressing out too much."
"It….auto…saves….." Matt was freaking out.
"What's that mean?" Mello asked.
"It means that everything you've done is PERMANENT! The economy…my reputation…. The unfinished quests…."
"I'm glad you're safe." Mello said. "How'd it go?"
"It went….." All the anger drained from Matt's face. "It went fine. I can have unlimited access in a matter of days."
"That's great!" Alice said. Matt glared at her. Mello didn't play video games, he didn't know better. But HER. She knew how games worked. This would not go unpunished. "I think I'm going to bed now. See you guys tomorrow."
"Bye Alice." Mello said, opening the door for her. "I'm off tomorrow, we'll all go do something as a family."
Alice smiled. "Pick me up whenever you two are ready. Goodnight."
Mello shut the door. Matt was scrolling through all of his previous saves, trying to find something to salvage. "A fucking level 14….. god damnit…"
Mello sat beside him and wrapped his arms around Matt's neck. "I rather enjoyed that game, love. It was fun killing all of those guards."
"I'm…glad you enjoyed yourself." Matt said. "But babe?"
"Yeah?"
"Next time you want to play, why not wait until I'm here? So we can play together?"
"You're just mad Alice and I messed up your stuff."
"Somewhat…but I'm not really mad. Just a little on edge, from the mission and the nicotine withdrawal."
"Nicotine?"
"Can't smoke around the baby, love."
"You're quitting."
"Cold mother fucking turkey."
Mello hugged him then. "I'm so glad! I've always wanted you to quit. It's bad for your health."
"It fucking sucks. I'm moody, and starving all the time…I just want to hit things. It's not pretty."
"So between your withdrawals and Alice's mood swings….tomorrow will probably be a lot of fun, hmm?" Mello stood up. "Let's go to bed. I'm exhausted from worrying about you."
"yeah..okay." Matt cast one final look at his PS3 before turning the television off and following Mello to the bedroom.
While Mello slept, Matt wrote a virus that would infect the Diamonds' computer and send him whatever information he needed. Disguising the program in a pop-up advertising an online pornographic game, he emailed the virus to the Diamonds' computer operator. When the man clicked the link and downloaded the fake game, he'd introduce Matt's virus to the Diamond computer. Matt would have access to their files whenever he wanted. All they had to do now was wait.
Author's Note: Matt was like a total secret agent in that one. I had to pull from all of my computer knowledge to write this chapter, so I'm hoping it's realistic. Review if you know what game Alice and Mello were playing (and, you know, include some feedback on this chapter while you're at it!)