Hello Comrades! Yeah, I'm back! First of all, sorry that it took this long. Here I go, saying I'll be updating faster and I go and vanish for so long.
Don't even really have an excuse this time. I was on a vacation! I even uploaded the files I was working on, fully planning on continuing to write while on vacation but in the end I just ended up relaxing and doing absolutely nothing productive. Either way, I've been back now for over two weeks and it took me this long to get it done with this.
This chapter had been... absurdly difficult to write. Which is ridiculous because on first sight, it shouldn't be. It's short and simple as fuck, in theory at least. But there you go, it took me two weeks to get it done. This is a fucking embarrassment.
Either way, the chapter's ready, so enjoy!
"Fuck it, I'm putting landmines all over this place. Fuck my door and fuck my walls. Fuck my neighbors while at it," I grumbled angrily to myself as I turned away from his smug face and continued on my way to the kitchen, "Please tell me you weren't hiding in the bathroom the whole time."
"Eh, maybe I was, maybe I wasn't," the Chairman cheekily said as he walked out into the living room and without invitation made himself right at home, dropping into my couch and making himself comfortable.
I sent him a dirty look from the corner of my eye while washing the teacups, briefly considering making us a couple of new cups but immediately discarded the idea. The guy could be dying of thirst and I wouldn't waste a gram of my tea on him. I'd give him some tap water at most. "So what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"You make it sound like you're not happy to see me," the man commented with an exaggerated pout on his face that in my honest opinion made him look ridiculous.
"I'm not," I easily admitted as I put the now-clean teacups back into their place and wiped my hands on the dishtowel, "You're a cryptic asshole and you broke into my home"—along with pretty much every fucking noteworthy person on this station, I reminded myself angrily—"and you never come here with good news. There is literally no feasible way for me to like your annoying mug."
"Wow," the blonde remarked with a raised eyebrow, "way to make someone feel unwanted…"
"That was the point," I deadpanned, walking over to the opposite side of the coffee table and taking my seat in front of him, "So what do you want?"
"What, straight to business? Not even going to catch up or ask me how I'm doing?" he asked with that ridiculous pout of his, to which I openly rolled my eyes.
"I don't really care and staying around you gives me the overwhelming urge to punch or shoot you, so just tell me why you're here," I replied, not mincing words. I might have been exaggerating things a bit but I wasn't lying. The man's presence did annoy me quite a bit and the fact that I didn't even have a name to attach to the annoying face was particularly vexing.
"Fine, be an antisocial, fun-hating brat," he grumbled in annoyance, which for once actually looked almost genuine. Nevertheless, he leaned forward in his seat, bracing his elbows on his knees and for once looked at me without any of that annoying mirth of his, "I've got something big for you, a possibly high-priority job lined up in a week from now, maybe two."
I narrowed my eyes at his words, for once weighing them seriously. If this clown was capable of being serious about this, the least I could do is to return the gesture in kind. "Let me guess, you can't tell me what the job is, who the job is for and I'll be going in completely blind?"
Of course, that didn't mean I was going to hold back on my opinions.
This time it was the Chairman who rolled his eyes, looking slightly amused by my jab. "Funnily enough, that's sort of the case here, though believe me when I say that it isn't out of spite or anything like that."
"Oh, that's just perfect," I shot back with exaggerated cheer, "Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. So what can you tell me?"
"To start with, it's something big. As in the Reaper kind of big," and just like that, the Chairman had my full attention, "If everything goes accordingly, you will have an actual asset against the Reapers."
Wow, that sounds… perfect. This is exactly what I wanted, now that I think of it. I didn't really have a specific plan outlined for Shepard's return, that much I had to admit no matter how much it annoyed me. The most I could do is gather some guns, some good people, some helpful resources and help Shepard when she returns. But with this? I'll have something substantial I could to bring to the table.
"Alright, I'm interested," I admitted with some reluctance. As good as it sounded, I knew better than to jump in like that. "But what's the catch?" I asked because I knew that nothing ever was that simple.
"This will paint a target on you. If you go along with this, you will make some pretty important people unhappy with you. Other than that, the legality of it is… sketchy at best."
That… was surprisingly straightforward, at least as far as I was aware. "And if I don't go along with this? What will happen?"
This was something big. I tried going through everything I remembered about the two year gap between the games but I came out empty. I never read all the side materials like books or comics, nor did I follow the other random updates so I was simply unaware of any big events that might've happened in that timeframe. If I don't do this, will I screw something up in the future?
The Chairman chucked at my question, probably figuring out my line of thinking. "Surprisingly… absolutely nothing. If nothing happens, it will not affect the future at all, in the terms of the game at least. I'm not entirely sure why that is that way and for all I know, the issue resolves itself on its own if no one interferes."
"So nothing to lose, and everything to gain?" I surmised, still feeling incredibly doubtful of how good it sounded. I didn't believe in such things as having nothing to lose. For one, my life and those of my team will be put on the line so that was a pretty fucking big thing to lose. "Before I agree on anything… I need to know more. I'm not going to dive in headfirst into a clusterfuck like a good doggy just because you said so."
"You could always refuse. I never said you couldn't, and I don't recall that I ever sent you to do meaningless things," the blonde countered with a shrug and I was unable to refute his point. "And if I don't tell you something, there's always a reason for it."
"I fail to see the reason now. Either you give me something to work with, or you'll have to work harder on convincing me. You're not even paying me," I leaned back, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
"I'm not the one hiring you, so I don't see why I'm supposed to pay you for this," he retorted with a cheeky grin, prompting me to cock an eyebrow in confusion, "A little nudging, a few suggestions and dropped hints and the client will come your way. He'll be desperate, and I think you'll want to help him anyway. It should fit your sensibilities."
As much as I wanted to ask him what he thought my sensibilities were, I decided not to question him about that and instead focus on better questions. "I'm still not hearing any details. You said I'll be making enemies from this, powerful ones. I'm not going to put our asses on the line here without knowing anything."
The Chairman leaned back in his seat with a sigh, running a hand through his bright hair. "I'd tell you what I know, but this time – and I kid you not – I don't actually know that much about this," he admitted, offering an apologetic shrug.
"Now that I find hard to believe," I remarked with snort. The man had an uncanny, borderline supernatural ability to know what was happening even when he had no feasible way of knowing. He knew of events that happened on the Normandy and unless he had spies in our midst – a creepy thought in itself – there was no possible way for him to know… and yet he did.
For him to not know anything? It was either too unimportant or too obscure. Considering who I was dealing with, I was more inclined to say that it was complete and utter bullshit.
The guy only offered me a shrug in return though, not looking as amused about it as I would've expected him to be. "Wish I was. I just know the basics."
"And yet you know that it would be an asset against the Reapers?" I point out suspiciously.
"A potential asset. As I've said, I only know the basics and not as much as I would like. Have you heard of Vera Orlova?"
That name caught my attention. "Who hadn't? An extranet reporter, famous – or rather infamous – for unbiased reports and 'taking a stand against government-controlled news outlets'. Pissed off more than a few influential people but the people love her," I recited what I knew from memory. I kind of liked her, mostly because she was one of the few media outlets – if she could be counted as one – that didn't drag Shepard's name through the mud and openly questioned Sovereign's geth origins.
The general populace pretty much adored her and not only because of how she did her job. The fact that she suffered from Vrolik's as well made her an instantly sympathetic figure and made anyone who tried talking shit about her – of which there were many – look like a monster.
Either way, the girl had made a lot of enemies.
Just last month she had a piece on some dumb kid whose father happened to be a millionaire. The kid had the unfortunate habit of getting rough with some of his escort girls and had gotten too rough with one of them, which quickly escalated into hiding bodies, destroying evidence and daddy dearest covering for his son. Vera Orlova had none of that and exposed that without hesitation. The kid got jail time and Vera got an enemy with millions to spend and a bone to pick.
I didn't have enough fingers to count all the people that would want to get back at her. I doubted my whole team combined had enough.
"She's right in the middle of it," the Chairman confirmed, "There might be something big and illegal involved."
I almost rolled my eyes at that. "When has it ever been something perfectly legal and harmless?" I said with a mirthless chuckle, "So what does it have to do with the Reapers?"
"It's something shady alright. Whatever it was, the coverup had been massive, to say the least. Even after looking everywhere, I couldn't even find more than a mention of it and even then, it explained nothing. From what I understand… it might be a virus."
"A virus?" I repeat with a frown, "I assume you're talking about a digital virus, because I don't know how a regular biological virus could help against the Reapers."
"You're be right. From what I heard, and I quote, it could cripple the galaxy within a day."
That certainly sounded ominous. How would that work? Would it crash the entire extranet? Destroy all method of communication? Any other idea I kept coming up with were equally catastrophic. In this day and age digital communication was such an ingrained part of galactic society that affecting it in any negative way would have some serious consequences. Even so… "If that's true… it might affect the Reapers," I say in realization.
"That's… a potential use," the Chairman confirmed, "But I can't know for sure. It's all word of mouth so far. If it does work on something as advanced as a Reaper, then we're in luck. If it doesn't…"
"I can at least keep it from crippling the galaxy before the Reapers arrive," I finished, receiving a nod from the blonde man, "So what does Vera Orlova have anything to do with it?" I thought aloud, already coming up with a few theories.
She was a reporter so it's entirely possible she stumbled upon it and considering the scale of this scoop, probably would want to report on it. Whoever made that virus would of course be against that and will likely try to silence her. That, at least for now, seemed like a likely version of events until I could learn more. "Who made the virus?"
The Chairman glanced around conspiratorially before replying. "It's quite possible the Alliance had a hand in it, but there's no real confirmation."
"Well, that's fucking great," I groaned. He pretty much confirmed that for me. So what am I going to expect now? The AIA? Cerberus? The N7's? Either one sucked in equal measures!
Who else would want to get their hands on it? That question had so many candidates it wasn't even funny.
"The development was terminated shortly after First Contact and all mentioned of it was purged from all systems…" the Chairman purposefully trailed off, giving me a pointed look.
"They obviously hadn't stopped, seeing as the virus still exists," I finished for him and my inner conspiracy theorist was already hard at work, "Can we be sure it's even the Alliance at this point? What if it's Cerberus? That sounds more like their kind of thing."
"Seeing as Cerberus doesn't even have a single mention of it in their systems, I'm going on a bet and say that it's a different rogue element," he answered, completely ignoring the fact that he just admitted to going through the Cerberus database. I was really, really tempted, but I decided against asking.
"So it's someone else and Vera… stumbled upon them? How did she get involved?"
The Chairman shrugged once more. "Beats me. I can't exactly go and ask. Wherever she is… she's hidden herself."
That was news for me. "So she already went into hiding…" and apparently did so well enough to even hide from the blonde nosy bastard in front of me. That made everything both easy and harder to deal with. On one hand, if I need to keep her alive, she'd already done half the job if no one could find her. On the other, not knowing where she is will make my job more difficult as well. "So how am I supposed to contact her?"
"You're not," was the immediate reply, "She'll be the one contacting you. I'm already working on it, in case you're wondering."
"I doubt she'll come personally if she's being hunted," I remarked. There was also the fact that her disease made her a particularly easy target. I was not an expert of brittle bone disease, but from what I've seen of Joker, he wasn't exactly capable of extraordinary feats of physical prowess and the guy at least had military training. I doubted Vera had any of that so getting caught out in the open would be equal to suicide.
"She won't. Someone else will do it in her name. It should happen within this month though I can't give an exact time just yet. Just be ready."
"Easy for you to say, I have to actually keep this company afloat," I grumbled in annoyance. Suffice to say that I was interested enough into accepting the mission, but one thing kept bothering me, "You said that if I did nothing… it wouldn't affect anything in the future."
It was the Chairman's turn to frown and boy was it weird to see that expression on his usually smug face. "It wouldn't but I can't exactly tell you why. I have my guesses, but I can't be certain which one is more likely."
It didn't paint a good picture for Vera. Considering she was never mentioned in the games… it is likely that she was silenced and the virus remained in the hands of whoever made it. But at least it seemed like the virus was never used as far as I knew, so there was one positive note about all of this: the galaxy didn't get fucked over the before the Reapers could do it.
"I guess I'm in," I begrudgingly agreed, refusing to meet his eyes. As much as I wanted to refuse the whole deal, I knew I wasn't going to. The whole virus deal aside, there was no way I could just leave a sick girl to die like that when I could do something to stop it. "Let me know in advance before you drop her contact on me, will you?"
"I'll try, but I can't promise anything" he agreed, back to looking like the cheerful asshole I knew him as. He stood up from the couch, brushed down his clothes and starting heading to the door, "I'd suggest you don't head anywhere too far just in case. In the meantime, you should prepare yourself, rest up and so on. You have a party to attend, don't you?"
"You're not invited," Was my immediate response. I wasn't even surprised that he knew about the party.
"Eh, parties are not my thing anyway," the Chairman paused in front of the door to give me that infuriating smug smile of his. I had to wonder how he was managing to look smug when he didn't even have anything to be smug about! "I'm more of a scotch in front of the fireplace kind of guy. Have fun either way," with his piece said, he unlocked the front door – something that he shouldn't have been able to do – and walked out.
I stared at the door for a long moment, unsure if I should be angry about the Chairman in particular, the inability of my front door to stop anything or just my life in general. In the end I decided to simply sigh in frustration and get the shower I was initially planning to get.
And after that, I'll be going to the party to relax for a bit. I knew now that I would need it even more than before. Just a chance to relax before the inevitable happened and all the shit would hit the fan.
And there we go. Now you finally have some context! You don't need to be a genius to know that those last words have a double meaning there. Get ready for things to escalate pretty soon :)
So! Now that I'm back in the groove, settled down from the post-vacation laziness and writing blockage, I should get this done faster! Granted, I'm working on my web-serial too, which is work on it's own but soon enough I'll give you a sample to read. I've been promising you one for ages already and now all I need to decide is whether to release it here as an unrelated chapter or on my patr on... just because! Either way I'll let you know.
Thank you all for reading my story! I'm glad you enjoyed it so far and if you did or didn't, let me know about it. I'd appreciate the feedback and constructive criticism is always welcomes. You can even just tell me your general opinion and I'll try my best to reply to each of you!
So thanks once again, and until next time, Delvaro out!