Ohmyyyygooooood. It's been too long. If people even care about this story anymore! I really hope you do. I've been thinking about Watch Dogs a lot lately and felt I really wanted to continue this story. I went through like 4 different revisions of this chapter, and changed a lot of the end a few times, but I think I'm happy with this one. Thank you thank you thaaank you to everyone who has been reading and following and reviewing this. I re read some reviews and put a huuuge smile on my face and I hope everyone is still interested in it! So sorry it took so long to update, but I got a second wind and really want to finish this, so this one might be a little scatterbrained because I want everyone to read it :) I hope you enjoy it.
*heart**heart*
-Blink
~~~
4 years ago…
Jordi has been a fixer for as long as I can remember. I used to help him out with his business, but after my dad died, I wanted nothing to do with it. I was incredibly adamant about it, but there was one time I made an exception because Jordi assured me nothing would go wrong, and that nothing we would be doing was illegal….silly me. He called me up one day to pull a bait-n-switch to pick up a briefcase that one of his associates left in an alleyway, and then take it to another alleyway. This was the first time in maybe 2 years that I played a part in any sort of criminal activity. I don't even know what was in the briefcase. Money, drugs, an arm, Cheetos…
When I reached the alleyway, I didn't see the package right away, but as I continued on, I saw it behind a garbage can. I didn't want to be suspicious but I checked around me to make sure nobody was looking. Quickly switching the one I was carrying with the new one, I continued on in the alleyway. That was it – step one was completed, I couldn't back down now. I started getting nervous and with the best timing in the world, I heard a gun click.
"Drop it," I heard a male voice followed by feeling the barrel of a gun against my head. I didn't turn to the speaker, but I dropped the briefcase and lazily held my arms out. "Don't move." He said. He never let the barrel of the gun leave my temple as he reached down to grab the briefcase.
"Are you going to let me go?" I asked quietly.
"Are you going to call the cops? I'd hate to hurt such a pretty girl, but business is business," He said.
"I won't tell anyone. Just take the briefcase," I said.
"Well I'm going to take this anyway, whether you're dead or alive," He said, "Drop any guns you have."
"No guns," I sighed,
"Really? Someone thinks you're expendable," He laughed. He lowered the gun and I turned to look at him, my arms still up. He looked to be in his mid-40's, bald, and had a scruffy red beard "Nice doing business with you, lady!" He ran off.
This was not part of the plan. I took a moment before I ran off after him. I whipped out a knife from my sleeve and threw it in his direction, making contact with the back of the calf. He yelled and fell to the ground. He dropped the briefcase, but he was still holding onto his gun. He was ready to turn his arm back to shoot at me, but I used my momentum to slam my foot down on his arm. I pried the gun from his hand and pointed it at him, "Don't move," I mocked.
"You stupid bitch," He groaned, not moving.
"You chose to let me go," I smirked. I lifted his head up and slammed it into the ground, knocking him out, but I was sure it wouldn't kill him. "Don't fuck with me again," I said despite knowing he was unconscious. So much for leaving my criminal history behind...
I went over to grab the briefcase. As soon as I did, I heard a gunshot go off and I saw the bullet go into the side of the building right next to me. I quickly turned to the source, aiming the gun, ready to fire. But I didn't.
The gunner, I assume, was being tackled to the ground, being beat over the head with a baton, knocking him out. Of course I didn't know it was Aiden at the time, but he stood up and looked in my direction. I didn't lower my gun just yet, "Are you looking for this, too?" I asked.
"That's all yours," He said holding him arms up, walking toward me. Eventually with enough lighting, I started to think he looked familiar.
I squinted, "Do I know you?" I asked carefully. He was wearing his outfit you see even today, his black cap and brown coat. I let him get closer, and when he was about 20 feet away, he stopped. Plenty of time for me to finally remember where I saw him, "Oh my god, it's you! Guy who can't throw!" I lowered my gun and took a step forward but stopped, "Wait, were you following me?"
"I was following that guy," He pointed to the guy behind him that he knocked out, "This is just a coincidence."
I smiled, "Well… thank you. But what's all this?" I asked glancing over his weird crime-fighting outfit.
"What's all that?" He retorted nodding his head over to the briefcase.
I looked down at it and thought about how to respond. Great. Really attractive guy who just saved me from a criminal probably also thought I was a criminal. "It's… not mine. Doing a favor for a friend…" I explained…sounding even more suspicious, "I swear I'm innocent."
"Ripley, move!" I looked over to the side to see Jordi pointing a gun at the man in front of me.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait" I ran over to stand in between Jordi and my rescuer, "He's fine, he helped me," I said quickly.
Jordi put his gun down, "What happened? I heard a gun shot," He said.
"Yeah like five minutes ago…," I said looking at both knocked out men on the ground, "I thought you said nothing could go wrong!" I exclaimed.
"It's okay, it looks like you took care of it!" Jordi smiled and put his hand on my shoulder, taking a quick glance at my rescuer, who I didn't know his name at the time.
"Uh, Jordi, this is…"
"Yeah, hi," Jordi interrupted as he grabbed the briefcase, not even looking at Aiden, "if you're done flirting, we have to go," He motioned for me to follow him.
"What?! Uhh," I was too shy to look at Aiden in the eyes, so I looked in his direction, but at the ground, "It's not-"
"I don't care, let's go," Jordi grabbed my arm and pulled me away with him.
"Jesus Christ, you said nothing would go wrong. Never again, Jordi!" I turned behind me to see if Aiden was still there, but he wasn't. Dammit Jordi.
A loud noise woke me up. I looked around my setting to remember what I was doing before I dozed off. I was lying down on the couch with my fancy new laptop that Jordi bought me on my stomach. Speaking of which, I saw him standing above me with his arms crossed. I tried to figure out what woke me up and I couldn't figure it out. I was so out of it, "What do you want?" I rubbed my eyes.
"You talk to Aiden recently?" He asked
"Of course not, why would I?" I groaned sitting up, careful not to let the laptop fall on the ground. I set it back on my lap.
"Good cause I really can't handle you guys together again."
"Good cause you won't have to. Did you make a loud noise coming in or something?" I asked. I looked down on the screen to see what I was doing and it all came back to me. I had multiple Internet searches of my dad and early ctOS. I found names that Jordi mentioned, and some basic information like education and involvement, but no dirty little secrets. I figured I wouldn't find anything, but what else was I supposed to do.
Jordi looked at me weird, "Yeah, so?"
I was about to respond, but I got a notification of an e-mail and checked it instead.
From: (*%%#* *()
Subject: stop
Message: You won't find what you're looking for on google.
"Riplleyyy, hellooo?" Jordi whined.
I snapped my attention back to him, "Huh what?"
"See something important enough to ignore me?"
"Yeah, some cute pictures of cats," I smiled.
He scoffed and walked to make some coffee. I replied back to the e-mail
From: Ripley P.
Subject: re:stop
Message: Who says I'm looking for anything? Mind not spying on me?
Jordi sat down next to me, so I turned and leaned back on the arm of the couch. And in almost no time at all, I got a reply back.
From: %)* )##
Subject: re:re:stop
Message: I'm protecting you. I'm only the beginning. Others will find your ip and make sure you stop digging.
I looked over to Jordi, "Hey do you have any sort of IP blocker?"
"Of course I do. Thinking about threatening the President or something? Or do I want to know why you're asking?"
I laughed, "Nah, was thinking about torrenting something."
"You're such a criminal," He took a sip of his coffee
From: Ripley P.
Subject: re:re:re:stop
Message: Who are you and how did you get past the proxy?
From: #$%^()%*
Subject: final warning
Message: I'm unstoppable, but you are not. I know everything about you and I can help you. But you must stop searching.
From: Ripley P.
Subject: re:final warning
Message: Give me a reason for me to believe you're helping. I'm not doing anything dangerous by searching.
From: # %()#
Subject: DnnnAnnnnTnnnnA
Message: 1+2, 9-5, 9+0, 200/100 (opposite of Fall)+(1989 movie _ of dreams) (what you do in a car)
A puzzle? All right…3492 Springfield drive? An address… and if you take out the n's in the Subject, it says DATA. Dad's data? Holy shit. "Hey Jordi?" He looked over to me, looking annoyed. I really want to jump out of my seat and show him this e-mail, but I needed to feel this one out first, "Did you hear about that pizza place on Springfield drive?" I tried to carefully annunciate the street name, but not too obviously. He just shrugged lazily and naturally. Jordi is a good actor, but if he knew I was up to something, he'd probably get on the case right away. I just nodded, "Heard it's a place I have to go to," I said again, seeing how he would react.
"Maybe after your business dies down," He responded.
From: Ripley P.
Subject: re:DnnnAnnnnTnnnnA
Message: Is it a trap?
From: $(($))!**
Subject: ackbar?
Message: Don't go alone.
I really wanted to show him the laptop and have him be my company, but he'd make me stay home and he'd go alone. He might even screw up and not find anything of use. I have to go. I can't ask Jordi…
I quickly stood up and headed for the door, hoping Jordi wouldn't say anything.
"Going to get kidnapped again?" He asked lazily.
I stopped right at the door, ready to turn the knob. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn't… it's hard to tell sometimes. But he was right. It's probably a trap and I would end up dead. I turned slightly to look at him over my shoulder. "I got an e-mail."
…
I was able to walk without limping now. I still felt the pain, but it only bothered me if I ran. I've gotten injured before, my body learned to deal with it and heal fast. I got to the address the mysterious e-mailer sent me and it didn't quite exist. The address took me to an empty lot. There seemed to be a building in the past, but it's been long torn down and random patches of grass and weeds are over it now. I began to search the grassy lot looking for some clues.
After about five minutes of searching, I wanted to give up. There has to be an easier way to narrow down a location. I started to get worried. Maybe this was just a trap to lure me out in the open for a prolonged period of time to snipe me? Or anything. Kidnap me again and torture me? My heart started racing and I checked the street to make sure cars weren't going to pull up and do a drive-by.
"Ripley," I heard behind me. I jumped at the source, even though I knew right away it was Aiden. I held my chest and tried to keep my composure. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Didn't mean to sneak up on you."
"Just thinking of worst case scenario…" I bent over and rested my hands on my knees. I felt better knowing Aiden was right next to me.
"I found something," He said quietly.
"Already?" I asked as he walked me over to it. It was indeed a camouflaged metal door on the ground with a number keypad on it.
"There was a patch of grass covering it. Know the code?"
I shrugged, "I have no idea," However, this wasn't the first time I had to break into a keypad protected safe. I pulled out a blacklight and shined it over the keypad. All of the numbers were lighting up.
"Someone was trying to break in without knowing the code… They're relying on me to know…" I said more to myself.
"Didn't think you still carried that thing with you," Aiden said
"I don't, usually. Felt like I needed it today. Some numbers are shining brighter than others..." My birthday! This is starting to feel like a mistake. But a lock with my birthday as the code just peaked my curiosity. I had to know what was down there.
The door opened and Aiden and I headed downstairs in pitch black. I don't dislike the dark, but the fear of being alone in it is what hit me. I grabbed Aiden's arm as I continued on, and he followed close by.
"I can't see anything-"
"Welcome, Roy!" The computer's screen said as the lights in the room turned on, revealing a computer and several screens.
My eyes widened, "Aiden, this is my dad's stuff!" I cheered as I let go of him, mesmerized by the view. I went through a whole list of emotions as I was asking myself questions. I didn't know who sent me here, or how or why. I especially didn't know that my dad had this here.
"You didn't know about any of this?" He asked.
"No. He didn't exactly share everything with me, but this is huge. There are all these files on here… I can't help but think this is a trap."
"My concern is who knows of this place now," Aiden walked up behind me to see what I was looking through, "and why someone is helping you retrieve it. I don't want to say it's a trap, but you may be getting manipulated."
"Do you think this was a bad idea?" I stood up straight to look up at him
"Let's try to see what we can find and decide that later," He said putting a hand on my shoulder.
I still just looked at him for a bit longer. He seemed worried as well, but I could tell he was staying calm for my benefit.
I sifted through files. None of them had my name in them or even mentioned it. Maybe to protect me. My dad was very good at pretending he didn't have a daughter, in the best way possible. I ran a search for "ctOS" and found nothing. Maybe he was trying to name his files carefully, too. I rubbed my face with my hands before I continued searching, "I don't even know what to search for. Browsing it would take forever. I wish I had a harddrive to copy it all onto."
"That wouldn't be a good idea. It's one thing to know about the data. To actually have it is riskier," Aiden said examining a wall.
"What are you doing?" I asked
"There's scuff marks on the ground here. I think this part of the wall might be a door."
I thought for a second, and typed in a command prompt. The wall Aiden was by starting turning, showing access to another room.
"How'd you do that?" Aiden asked.
"My dad had a similar thing with our basement growing up," I smirked and walked over to see the new room. It looked like a mini library of files. The only weird thing is that nothing was exceptionally dusty, and looked pretty lived in.
Aiden must have noticed because he pulled his pistol out and clicked it. I only started to get worried when he used his other arm to keep me behind him and he moved on forward. That felt familiar. He checked the area out and found no one. When he relaxed, I looked at the files on the shelf and the first thing my eyes laid on was "Frank Murray". I grabbed it and started to read it over
"Who is that?" Aiden asked quietly
"A good friend of my dad's. Or was… he's the guy my dad stole the data from," I flipped through several pages to one titled as "Death"
Frank Murray
1958-2003(?)
Official police report states that he was shot (by an officer) and bled out and later burned in the explosion that destroyed his hideout, since no body was found. However, there proved to be no evidence of his remains on the site.
"These are my dad's notes. He researched all this?" I referred to the multiple shelves of people and events, "My dad doesn't believe he died. Maybe Murray is still alive and Tannen is working for him." I went to find Tannen's name to see if he had a file. Sure enough, he did. He did not have a death page but the final page in his folder made my heartbeat quickened, as I had to cover my mouth, dropping the folder in the process.
Aiden quickly noticed my panicking and turned fully towards me, "What happened?" He asked concerned. All I could do was point at the folder on the ground. He picked it up and read it over, ""Ted Tannen was alive after the data retrieval. Was in gang related busts up until fall 2007 when he disappeared. Has not been active or seen since. Update 10/20/2013: Was last spotted viewing my grave"?" Aiden realized why I was panicking. He looked at me and I was still covering my mouth. "There has to be some explanation," He tried to reason.
My brain was working faster than I could even try to speak, but I tried to keep my composure, "This is my dad's office. He's been dead for five years and he updated this a couple of weeks ago? Oh my god, I don't even know how to feel. That he made me believe he's been dead this whole time? Did he send me those e-mails? Is he watching us right now?" Before I could ramble on, Aiden gently grabbed onto my arms.
"Hey, look at me," He waited until I did, "Remember, all this could be a trap-"
"The sender told me this wasn't a trap!" I interrupted. I knew I was sounding childish, but I didn't care.
"You can't trust anybody. Ripley, do you honestly feel like your father could be out there somewhere, still alive?"
I stared at him in the eyes thinking about his question. I went through the past five years slowly accepting my dad's death. I didn't believe it at first. He was Superman to me. He couldn't have died. I was in the most hysterical state of denial you've ever seen. But the more I went without him, the more I was comfortable with the fact that he was no longer in my life. If Aiden asked me this same question 4 or 5 years ago, I'd say yes, but after already accepting it… "I don't know."
"I was really hoping you'd say 'No'. You can't let this fool you. Anyone could have typed it out and printed it, and led you here."
I nodded, "Do you have lighter fluid?" I asked
"What?" Aiden was not expecting such a question out of left field.
"I'm going to burn these files," I started throwing some of the folders on the ground to burn easier, "And I'm going to take the hard drive," I searched to see if there was anything I could start a fire with, "So if this is some sick prank, then I don't give a fuck about his belongings. But if it does turn out be to my dad, he's going to have to confront me."
Aiden didn't see a total flaw in the plan; it was just eccentric, "Pretty reckless. Jordi, is that you?"
I smirked, "Jordi wishes he'd come up with this," I put my hand on my hips.
A faint rifle shot went off above us, making us look at each other, "You think that was Jordi's shot?" I asked. Another shot went off. Aiden moved to the entrance of the hideout and heard noise above.
He began to push me further in the library room, "Stay back," he said as he went closer to the entrance, ready to fire, using the wall as cover.
I brought my knife out and crouched behind one of the shelves. I heard the hatch open upstairs immediately followed by unknown voices and footsteps. Aiden threw a flash grenade and after it went off, he started taking shots at the people trapped in it. I felt useless hiding behind the shelves with a little knife, but I knew Aiden could handle a handful of poorly armed men.
I heard a noise behind me, and I only turned my head a little bit before a saw a shadow of a person behind me, and felt him grab my head, "Aiden!" I managed to yell before the person bashed my head against the shelves or… the ground.. or something. My head began to ring and I couldn't tell what was going on. I'm surprised I didn't pass out with the way my head was bleeding. I tried to lift it up but only felt his hand keep it down. I just wanted so badly to be able to hold my pounding head and pass out, but I couldn't.
"Rip, are you okay?" I heard Aiden say. Why wasn't he getting this guy off me? I forced myself to open my eye, and could only see the man keeping my head down point a gun in Aiden's direction. I couldn't see his face, nor Aiden's. My eyes gave up and shut again.
I couldn't even respond; I tried to mumble…or at least make some sort of sound. Not sure if that happened or not.
"You. Are. One. Stupid. Bitch," the person above me said. Tannen. "At least you didn't come alone. I was sure you would come alone. But still, I can't believe you fell for all of that. That desperate to get some closure from daddy?" He mocked.
"She's passed out, you're not going to get anything from her," I heard Aiden say.
"Shut up! I didn't ask for you to speak!" Tannen yelled. "Girl, I do have to thank you though. Your daddy did such a mediocre job at hiding your identity. And maybe if he were smarter, he wouldn't have all of his passwords as your worthless birthday," He laughed, griping my hair.
I gathered all the energy I could to make a fist and flip him off.
"Fuck-," Tannen let go and kicked me hard in the ribs, making me curl, "-you!," Aiden took his opportunity to run and tackle Tannen into the ground, making him drop his gun. I could only hear struggling, groaning (giggity), and punches being thrown at each other.
The gun that Tannen dropped was in my sight. I used my remaining strength to crawl over to it as fast as possible, which wasn't very fast. It was the most painful and exhausting crawl of my life. I looked over as I was crawling to see Aiden being punched by Tannen, causing him to fall on his back. Tannen pulled a knife out and was ready to stab Aiden in the face, but he stopped it. I knew Aiden was stronger than Tannen, but I hurried to the gun, and before I knew it, it was in my hands and I was pointing it in Tannen's direction. My arm was shaking, and my vision was blurry. I couldn't focus on Tannen and I was too afraid of shooting Aiden in the process.
"Take the shot!" I heard him yell.
"What?" Tannen looked over and lost his focus with the knife. He let off Aiden, and he took that advantage to push him off and punch him again in the face.
Aiden ran over to me and held my hand with the gun in it to help me steady the shot.
Tannen laughed and pulled out another gun, but before he could even aim in our direction, the gun in my hand went off and shot Tannen right in the shoulder, having him drop the gun.
"…you missed!" Tannen tried to laugh, but instead he groaned holding his shoulder.
If I were in a better physical/emotional state, I would've come up with such a cool one-liner before blowing his head off, but sadly, I was near the point of death anyway. Rather not have dying words than have them be cheesy. I took the second shot and it landed in his neck. He fell down on the ground, holding his neck, eventually not moving.
"…I didn't miss…. I just wanted you to stop laughing first," I said quietly through my breaths.
"You got him," Aiden said sitting me up, trying to keep me awake.
"Is he dead?" I asked, closing my eyes.
"You gotta keep your eyes open, stay awake," He said shaking my arm.
I opened my eyes, "But he's dead?" I said through tired eyes.
Aiden and I made contact. I could see in his eyes that he felt sorry for me and thought I was going to die right then and there. He nodded, "He's dead," He said holding my hand, "but what about your dad? There's more you have to do. There's more we have to do,"
I closed my eyes, hearing him say my name as I drifted off to sleep.
My mission of killing Tannen was complete… but Aiden was right, it wasn't over yet.
My dad could still be alive.
