Pieter makes his own plans; Beca gains a strong ally; Theo makes a choice.

Beca's enemies are starting to fall down like flies, lol, but we do have some last-minute shake-ups as things heat up. Another death is mentioned, but will we have two bodies in this chapter? Hmmm?

I don't own pitch perfect.

Theo sighed.

On the ice, he honestly thought he'd have an advantage over Beca, especially with his physicality and height, but the consigliere still managed to outplay him 3-0 by now. The two have decided to spend the afternoon playing hockey – Theo's idea, so that he doesn't make anyone suspicious by having a daily set habit, and keep up his go with the flow moron act – to meet up and discuss their current plan.

Theo reasoned this wasn't his usual rink, that's why he's off his game. That and it would seem that Beca Bella was simply naturally too talented that she picks up new skills very easily.

"What now?" Theo then asked, skating over to retrieve a puck for the start of their next round.

"Wait and see," Beca replied. "Pay attention to any changes in your brother's habits. Like, say, if he starts trusting you more or puts you in a position with reasonable power in the company, not just his lackey. He might want to shake things up. Don't forget to watch what the Kommissar and Pieter are doing too. They should all be shaken after yesterday's incident, and they'll soon realize just how real the threat is. People do drastic things when they feel cornered, and we have to be ready to neutralize any threat they may pose. Now's the time they'll most likely use any aces up thier sleeves, after all."

Theo nodded before saying "Look over there!"

Beca did, and Theo grinned, now was his chance to score a goal. Unfortunately, his excitement got the best of him and he nearly lost balance. Beca was quick to catch him and maneuver the two of them so that Theo safely slid down on his knees instead of toppling over backwards.

"Geez, be careful," Beca reprimanded.

Theo laughed. Sure, they were talking about serious matters, but he would take whatever he could take from this moments with Beca.

Moments he wished he had with a sibling of his own.

Beca was just too cool, he really wished they were related instead.

"Alright, I will," Theo conceded after Beca shook her head at his antics. "Do-do you think I can have these moments more and more after you stop my brother?"

"I don't know what those moments will look like," Beca replied. "Besides, you're going to be busy with reforming Babel."

Theo nodded. "Yeah, but after all is said and done, you have to promise to visit, okay? Or I'll come see you in Milan!"

"Please, don't," Beca grumbled and Theo chuckled.

"Either way, it won't be long now, right? A better day, a brighter future," Theo replied as he got on his feet again with Beca's help. "I can't wait to see it."

"Mhmmm, make it count then," Beca replied. "Especially for the people who couldn't anymore."

Theo nodded. After everything that happened recently, Beca still trusted him with that much.

He won't fail her now.

Chloe leaned on the railings on the rooftop of Barden Tower. It was another long day of scheming and plotting. They had the ball rolling after all, they had to keep it going.

Beca had her back on the railing herself, sipping on the coffee she bought on the way back from their walk. The two of them not quite ready to return to the office yet.

The sun was setting, Aubrey had messaged them about dinner and take out, another long night in the office awaited. Chloe was starting to miss her home, her bed. Or late-night drinks alone with Beca…

How far had they come since they first met.

She never imagined for things to get too far out of hand. But Chloe believed things would quiet down soon enough, and it will be back to her usual routine soon.

Except not really.

She gave Beca a quick glance and smiled wistfully. "What?" Beca had asked as she felt Chloe's eyes on her. "What are you thinking about Chlo?"

Chloe hummed. "I'd want for nothing else than put Chicago in his place, for all this to end. Return to the normal swing of things," she said truthfully. "But with what you have to do…" she went on to say, trailing off as she thought about Beca's honest confession about her plans for Chicago and the Kommissar specifically. She gave enough details to paint a clear picture, only because it was Chloe who asked.

She felt conflicted about it. Not because of what Beca had to do exactly, but the consequences and what they meant.

Sure, they'd put everything to rest. End this fight once and for all.

But at what cost?

Chloe wasn't sure she was willing to pay the price.

"Don't worry about it," Beca then reassured her, as if she had read her mind. She turned around and placed her arms over the railings before bumping her shoulder against Chloe. "Don't you know I'm a miracle worker, or have I still not convinced you yet?"

Chloe chuckled. "You don't even know what I'm thinking about," she said, trying to deflect the fact that Beca seemed to accurately guess what it was.

"I do," Beca admitted. "Don't worry about it, Chlo," she then repeated. "The things that need to happen will happen, and whatever comes next, well, we'll deal with it. Things will settle back to normal soon."

"Yeah, but the normal I want has you in it," Chloe then found herself saying. It felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest with her confession, but she needed to say it at least once.

"Would you really miss me that much?" Beca then asked, looking rather smug.

"Everyone will," Chloe replied, not losing this battle. She'll miss her, yes. But she wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing how much.

"The future isn't fixed, and you're worrying about something that hasn't come to pass," Beca then noted. "Just have faith."

"Can a devil like you really say that?" she teased back.

Beca sighed and shook her head. She raised one hand and offered Chloe her pinky, despite looking away from her. Chloe laughed but nonetheless accepted by intertwining her own pinky with Beca. "I've never lived life in the traditional sense, I marched to the beat of my own drum," Beca said. "So, no matter what happens, I hope you know, I'll find my way back here to you. Always."

Chloe felt her cheeks burn bright as she stole a glance at Beca who still looked away. She wasn't sure if it was the orange glow in the sky brought upon by the sunset or if Beca was blushing just as hard as she did, but she took comfort in that promise either way.

"I'll miss you too, you know," Beca then admitted, stealing a glance off Chloe before pulling her finger away.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be distracted by your own plans and mafia business," Chloe teased in response. "You'll probably think of nothing else."

"You're wrong about that," Beca then replied, and her next words would be forever seared in Chloe's heart. "The truth is I won't think of anything else," she had admitted before turning towards the direction of the stairwell.

Chloe hid her face in her hands for a minute to keep her heart calm. Saying things like that…That's all they could ever admit to. Anything more would make things harder.

But Chloe hoped that perhaps one day, all of this now would be worth it.

And she could, in fact, get all that she wanted.

Those normal days, where Babel and DSM, where Chicago and his atrocities would be a distant memory.

Normal days she could spend with Beca.

Pieter tried to stay as calm as he could, his heart racing in his chest, his nerves a complete wreck. He did just recently see another man die in front of him.

And with what Chicago has done, he knew he would soon be next. Beca Bella promised, after all.

Still, he did his best to keep it together, this was his lifeline after all.

Rufus Tseng was a calm man. A powerful man. He was called many names, "the king in the shadows" was one, "kingmaker" was another. He was so influential, all the candidates he backed and campaigned for had won their desired positions in the political field. He had so many people who owed him favors. One of which was a current presidential candidate and current favorite to win his party's nomination, a senator for the state of Georgia in congress, Senator Rapko.

He was one of his last moves left.

They sat in the seating room of Rufus' home, the kingmaker currently mulling over Pieter's offer. See, Pieter has always been good at looking for number one, himself. When things took a turn and he saw the violence Chicago was capable of, he started looking for his own exit strategies, a way to survive this mess. Making sure Theo was on his side was part of that plan.

And when Kimmy Jin was so gung-ho about taking them down, he had heard through the grapevine that she was desperately looking for something called the Guillotine File. Of course, Pieter has heard of it too. A compiled intelligence file on the deepest darkest secrets of the country's richest and most powerful. Rumor was, a powerful crime lord managed to secure it and steal it away from the CIA, someone named Wan Shi Tong. In his investigations, he managed to track down a homeless man who claimed that Wan Shi Tong buried his gold treasure in Atlanta, and what luck that it ended up being at Barden Tower.

If the rumors were true, he could offer the Guillotine File to Senator Rapko, and whatever gold treasure exists to Rufus, for their own personal use. Pieter in the meantime will hatch his own plan to get rid of Beca Bella once and for all, one which he'll approach Chicago with to earn him good points in his book. In exchange, the kingmaker will take care of the tower residents, make the lawsuit for the tower go away, and secure a position for Pieter in the prosecution office as the new Chief Prosecutor.

Once that is said and done, and Babel Tower built, they'll collude together and use the Guillotine File to get rid of Chicago and place Theo as their puppet to lead Babel.

"But there's no proof the file is there," Rufus then said.

"No, nothing tangible yet," Pieter then said. "But I'm sure a man with your resources have farther reaches and confirm the intelligence I gave you. Besides, why would a consigliere of a powerful mafia family even stay at an old building like that? There has to be a reason. She could be after what Wan Shi Tong had left behind. It would be worse if she gets her hands on the Guillotine File. With the upcoming trial, who knows what she can bring out and filed on record."

"And what about DSM?"

"I can leave that in the hands of my associate, Luisa," Pieter replied. "She's on Chicago's side right now, but she's a pretty sensible person. If she sees him as a sinking ship, I'm sure we can get her in line."

"And why not just bring this to your boss now?" the kingmaker then asked.

"He's a psychopath, besides, something like the Guillotine File would be better used by someone like Senator Rapko. In that sense, we can keep on helping each other with our ambitions, right? Bringing you as an ally should be enough to placate Chicago on my end."

Rufus smiled. "Alright," he then said. "The offer is too tempting to pass up. I'll pull some strings and have someone from the prosecution office make one last attempt at blocking the lawsuit. I'll talk to Senator Rapko about the file, if he agrees, then we'll make our move."

Pieter nodded. "A wise decision sir," he then said. "Kimmy Jin should be willing and ready to get something done. A promising promotion for her should be enough motivation. I'll work on springing a trap for Beca Bella myself."

"And how would you do that?" Rufus asked.

"I do have some friends in Interpol," Pieter replied. "Luisa has tried both the FBI and the CIA, those plans backfired. She's even reached out to Beca's enemies in her world, including her adoptive brother, but an assassination attempt failed and that alliance collapsed entirely. But, if we trick her, lure her out, under the guise of wanting to betray Chicago so she would spare us, I think that can work. We managed to already meet with her once with the same offer, but she declined us, mostly because our offer for a deal was something she couldn't accept. Things have changed a lot since then, and I'm sure she would be much eager to accept that deal now."

Rufus nodded. "Well, barring any disagreements from Senator Rapko, I think we have a deal."

Pieter sighed in relief. He wasn't sure why it took him this long to do this.

Soon, he'll be free from all of it, Chicago, Beca, the death threats... Even better, the future president of the country could even owe him a favor.

That would be quite an upside from all this madness he had to endure.

Aubrey huffed. She had taken turns glaring at an official notice to drop the lawsuit for Barden Tower from the prosecution office, signed by Kimmy Jin too, due to the case proceedings potentially resulting in libelous claims to some officials whose reputations may be tarnished for the upcoming election cycle, including one aspiring presidential candidate, and typing an appeal.

Beca laughed it off, however, when the notice first came in. "Be ready with an appeal. Let me handle the prosecution office. I think I may still have some leverage with Babel's own allies. At the very least, the state attorney general would hear me out, for his favorite football player's sake," she said knowingly. "As for Kimmy Jin, it's in her best interest to stay out of this. I'm sure she won't double down and push her luck."

But Aubrey supposed, this last-minute work she had to do was a good distraction from the current topic that Luke and Beca was discussing. That is, what happened to one of the Kommissar's former lackeys. Aubrey did not want to know what happened to the other one, although she had a good idea as to what his fate was since Beca was vehement that she did not attend their event-hijacking. It's all for the best. Should she one day need to prove Beca's innocence, it would be easier for her to passionately believe that without knowing the details.

So far, from what she did get from their hushed exchanges, is that Justin panicked with what happened at the event – Luke was still careful with his words, mostly because they also wanted to keep Emily out o of this – and ran away. By the time Luke managed to track him down, he saw him run into the Kommissar. They got into a car together with her guards. Luke followed at a distance as they went to the shipping docks. When he saw the Kommissar leave with her guards, Justin was already beaten to death.

"Do you think he spilled anything?" Chloe had asked.

"He didn't know anything, just what I wanted him to do," Beca replied nonchalantly.

"Who spilled anything?" Emily then piped up from where she was working on her computer. It was followed by a chorus from Beca, Chloe, and Luke.

"Nothing."

"You guys keep treating me like a child, it's so unfair, you know," Emily then protested.

"Don't worry about it, Ems," Chloe then said.

"Seriously though, do you really have to talk about this here?" Aubrey asked. Mostly because not only were they distracting her, the curious part of her does want to know the details. Might be morbid, but it was the truth.

Beca might have a point about her having what it takes to be a consigliere.

Not that she wants to be one.

"It can't be helped, we're waiting for Jesse," Beca then replied.

And right on cue, Jesse walked in with his guest, the Deputy Director of his department, Gail Abernathy-McKadden-Feinberger.

"Beca Bella, it's my pleasure to finally meet you in person," she greeted, offering a handshake which Beca accepted, before Jesse could even introduce her.

"The pleasure is all mine," Beca replied. She was about to introduce everyone in the office when Gail took note of Luke's presence, a look of recognition on her face.

"It's been a long time Gail," Luke said, arms wide open with a hug.

"Luke? I can't believe it! How long has it been?" she replied, accepting the hug.

"You know each other?" Jesse asked, incredibly confused.

"Luke was a former MI6 agent. He helped us take down a few wanted criminals and corrupt officials, including his former boss. It was collaborative effort back in the day. In exchange, he left his agency, became an asset for us, and started working on an off the books mission for the CIA in exchange for a new life here in the states."

A look of realization dawned on Beca. "Wan Shi Tong," she then said, quirking an eyebrow at Luke. If Aubrey was a betting woman, she would bet that Luke took down the notorious crime lord and made his death look like natural causes.

Luke nodded. "Of course, it wasn't all perfect. I didn't know then where he had hidden the Guillotine File initially, I discovered that info only later on… I'm still thankful you honored your part of the deal without it."

"Well, to be fair, I made sure the deal was worded in a way that it would be honored without it. I wasn't sure how dangerous it would be to retrieve the file or what would happen to it. I did owe you my life from that op in Munich," Gail then replied.

"Okay, hang on, I feel like I missed a lot of things… since when was Luke from MI6?" Emily then pipped up.

"Don't worry about it, Ems," Beca then said.

"Speaking of the Guillotine File though, are you working on retrieving it for us?" Gail then asked.

Beca nodded. "I have my operations underway," was what she replied, not wanting to admit that it was, in fact, in her possession already and that they were using it. "When this is all over, we'll hand it to Agent Swanson."

"Good," Gail replied. "Ah, and here," she added, handing Beca a flash drive. Beca handed it to Emily who immediately loaded a video of Chicago at his home, bribing his allies from the tower approval event, along with those from the prosecution office. Kimmy Jin was even in attendance. "This was from a party in his house. He invited all of us and gifted us those gold toad statues as a favor to still stay on his team. We could have had more footage from my hidden button cam, but someone – " she went on to say before turning to Jesse with a pointed look, "forgot to turn on the camera for the initial meeting he had held."

"The important thing now is that we have this footage that we can use," Jesse said, moving past the implication of Gail's comment about his momentary incompetence.

"Right," Gail replied, shaking her head at Jesse's retort. "If you look closely, they even have a new ally. His name is Rufus Tseng, he's in charge of Senator Rapko's current presidential campaign. He seems to be there with Prosecutor Jin. The two were talking about something with Pieter and Luisa."

"Those names sound familiar," Emily commented. Aubrey shot her a look as subtly as she could to not speak anymore. If she recognized the name from the Guillotine File, then that means they'll have something to use. But she didn't want Gail to catch on to that.

"Ah, that explains the notice then," Beca noted. "Don't worry about that, we'll handle it."

"Well, alright then," Gail then said. "I could have handed the evidence to Agent Swanson, but I wanted to personally meet you. That, and anything you need for this mission, just let us know, Ms. Bella."

"Of course, oh, and thank you for your help," Beca replied.

"You've already helped us a lot," Chloe then said. "The CIA is a powerful ally to have right now."

"Oh, you ladies don't mention it," Gail replied. "I do wonder, though, about the treasure that Wan Shi Tong buried…"

"Ah, that," Luke then said. Beca and Chloe exchange looks, and even Emily looked flustered.

Aubrey sighed. They really can't keep their cool when it came to the gold.

"We did some digging and it turns out it's just a gold-painted box that kept Wan Shi Tong kept in an underground safe. That's what the treasure meant."

"Right," Luke quickly added. "He made a big fuss about his treasure to hide the fact that he was moving the file. The file drive was what was kept in the box. At least that's what our intel found."

"Ah, I get it. Because the file is the greatest treasure he can have. With it, he has power and influence over a lot of the people in the upper echelons of society. The file is essentially his one ring to rule them all," Jesse then said, agreeing to the sentiment.

Gail hummed. "I was going to say, if there was any, it could be your fee for all this trouble. I'm getting quite the career boost from securing it, after all."

"Your help is more than enough," Beca then said and everyone else agreed.

Once Gail and Jesse left, Aubrey chuckled.

"What?" Beca then asked.

"I don't think she bought our excuse," Aubrey pointed out. "About the gold."

"It doesn't matter. We have a deal, and she's not interested in it," Beca then noted.

"What's more important is that Jesse Swanson did, right?" Luke said, following Beca's train of thoughts.

Beca nodded. "We can't have anymore shenanigans with the others if they even for a second get distracted with it again."

Aubrey laughed. She supposed, Beca was right.

Right now, the main focus to take Babel down was their number one priority.

They can dream about their gold later.

A lot can change in one week. Theo knew that, but admittedly, he never thought he would be in the position he was in now.

He could still remember Pieter hijacking his car ride home four days ago with a heads up about his plans. Through some of his own connections, he had taken actions against Beca Bella. He hadn't informed Chicago about them just yet, mostly because something told Theo that Pieter had his own plans in the motion.

As for the plan against Beca…

If the CIA can't help, and the FBI plan did not work, Pieter was making a move to offer her arrest on a silver platter for Chicago by sending Interpol after her. But why the sudden change of heart with working with Chicago? Theo knew there was something more to it. But Pieter insisted that it's an opportunity worth exploring and taking. He insisted that Theo try to get in on the plan with this to make sure Chicago doesn't suspect them, and promised that sooner or later, he was also making moves to oust Chicago from his place.

A sure-fire plan, he insisted.

That's why Theo volunteered to help spring the trap. Once he convinced Pieter of the plan, they told Chicago and the Kommissar, and they both approved with keen interest with how things will go.

That's how Theo found himself on his usual rink, on the ice, challenging Beca on a friendly game. Beca agreed.

The plan was to distract her long enough until Interpol arrives along with some local cops. Theo would then pull a gun at Beca to make sure she didn't get any funny ideas, which in hindsight, was a terrible idea because when the truth of the moment arrived, his hand was shaking badly. He had to steady it with his other hand.

Beca looked amused. "Don't make me shoot you, please," Theo said.

"I'd like to see you try," Beca retorted before making a move towards Theo, raising her stick as if she was about to strike him hard with it.

And that's when Theo fired.

Beca fell down soon after, blood starting stain the white hockey jersey wore, just as the Interpol agents reached the ice.

A lot can happen in a week. A lot of progress, a lot of changes.

It never crossed his mind that he would end up shooting Beca Bella.

A/N Pt 2: So, do we have one traitor or two? Cliffhanger be cliffhanger-y…

The next chapter may take a week to write. It's not too long, but there's many POVs, just like in Chapter 27. Don't worry, it won't take me a year before the next update xD *knocks on wood*

Also, Pieter either made a very smart move or a very stupid one… any bets on what it would end up being?

Oh, and here's a fun fact. If you chant Senator Rapko's last name over and over again, "Rapko" will start sounding a whole lot like "Corrupt"

UPNEXT: Bella Family Shake-Up? Shenanigans! Goodbyes?