A/N: Intense chapters with some funny moments? Sorry for a delay in updates but my wifi was down and going haywire for a week. I've given up on March but hopefully we get too our regularly scheduled updates in April.
Having said that, funny story. Every time I was about to write the update, I got an email/call from my boss to do another thing at work T^T
Hopefully we've seen the end of that…
I don't own pitch perfect.
Aubrey wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting when Beca said it was time to do things her way. Technically speaking, they were already doing that. She wondered briefly if it meant that the gloves were coming off, if the childish schemes and pranks, the unorthodox way of doing things, were about to end. But no, Beca still had her drawn lines. She just expanded them.
"They deserve a lifetime of misery, after all," Beca had said when she had explained her plan the night after they found the victim's family.
The police insistence on barely investigating and chalking things up to suicide was highly suspicious. Beca was convinced they've been paid off, and quite possibly they too were paid off back when Chloe was arrested. If anything, they've probably been on Babel's payroll for a while. Aubrey couldn't help but agree.
Lilly came back with info after a bit of digging. The two detectives in charge of the case had been living a rather lavish lifestyle, at least compared to other police detectives. Beca figured they were probably being paid cash in secret, because their banking records showed no anomalies. Still, they were spending more than what they earn, even when they took into account their respective spouse's income.
Chloe did some of her own sly digging. She was fueled with a new desire for taking down her former law firm. She reached out to her old co-workers, trying to figure out who was getting fed up or frustrated with how things were being ran. She hit jackpot with Jack, a lawyer who entered the firm the same year she did. Jack did a lot of impressions during company parties. Apparently, the Kommissar had taken a liking to them and he has been turned into her personal jester, making impressions whenever she wanted.
Jack was instrumental to their current revenge plot. Chloe invited him for coffee. As pre-planned, Aubrey arrived soon after, after Chloe and Jack had gotten the pleasantries out of the way. Basically, if Chloe sensed that Jack would crack and inadvertently help them, Aubrey would arrive, and Beca soon after, to make a deal. Aubrey was going to appeal to his morality, and Beca was going to deliver him an offer he can't refuse, because, as Beca said, everyone had a price, and Chloe knew that Jack dreamed to be part of the legal team of a multi-national company. If he didn't, then Chloe would subtly text Aubrey to make a change of plans and it would be Lilly convincing Jack to help them while on his way home.
Thankfully Jack was so done with everything at DSM that he sang like a canary and spilled tea.
He hated how they were basically doing grunt work. He didn't know of the more nefarious – or rather, under-the-table politicking – that was going on with the firm until the Kommissar dialed it up to a thousand.
Aubrey didn't even have a chance to butt-in with her impassioned speech of why Jack should help them. She didn't need to. He fessed up that Kommissar had sent him to pay police detectives for some recent cover up without being prompted to. He wasn't sure what it was about, just that he needed to make the deliveries for the payment twice at the abandoned 7 story parking lot of the old, also abandoned, mall that Aubrey, Beca, and Chloe had once upon a time used as well.
Jack was still going on and on about his plight when Beca arrived.
And Beca being Beca, managed to smoothly take over the one-sided conversation. "You know, I have a friend in Lamborghini saying something about an opening in their legal team. Someone willing to move to Milan."
That was all Beca needed to say for Jack to be all ears.
Aubrey would be lying if she said she wasn't at all impressed.
Which brought them back to the old abandoned mall. On the seventh floor of the parking garage, to be specific.
They set up a sting operation wherein Jack made the drop and the detectives came to pick up the dough. Emily was ready to snap photos for proof before being sent home, Aubrey reasoned, she didn't need to be involved with what happened next.
What happened next was that Lilly knocked the two detectives out, and Beca had Justin and Tommy tie them onto two swivel chairs separately. Their legs were tied in such a way so that their feet could barely reach the ground. The chairs were also raised up to maximum height to help do so. Afterwards, the two chairs were tied together, back-to-back, and they were carried up towards the seventh floor where the old barricades that surrounded the enclosure of the parking garage had worn out. They were placed a few meters away from the now open ledge.
Beca always dressed in black when she meant business, at least, that's what Aubrey had observed. She had worn an all-black suit ensemble, paired with sleek black oxfords, and her long brown hair tied back. Aubrey watched her as Beca stood in front of the detectives, waiting for them to wake up, once again fiddling with the lid of her lighter. The sound it made Aubrey soon associated with Beca's scheming. That and her personal brand of justice.
She stood a few feet away from Beca, arms crossed. To her right was Chloe who looked deep at thought. Aubrey could tell she was still upset by Babel and DSM's latest schemes. She would worry more about how things are taking a toll on Chloe if her best friend didn't have Beca by her side. The two of them had still been living together, despite Chloe receiving a call recently that the work being done to her home was completed. Whether Beca knew or not, Aubrey wasn't sure. What she did know for certain was that Beca Bella cared a lot about Chloe. She could anticipate the redhead's needs beforehand, always three ready with a cup of coffee, or water, or snack, and anything else that Chloe needed, especially during the last few days they've been working together to give Babel what's coming for them.
Beca smirked and stopped fiddling with the lighter once the two detectives stirred awake and started trying to free themselves.
"I wouldn't bother if I were you," Beca then said.
"This is illegal!" cried one of the detectives.
"This is insane!" cried the other.
"What's illegal and insane is two officers accepting bribes to cover up a murder and present it as a suicide," Aubrey chastised. She couldn't help it.
"You have no proof!" the older of the two detectives said.
"Oh, we do," Beca then replied calmly. "We have all the info we need about your extra-curricular activities." Beca sighed and placed her hands in her pockets, before walking towards the two detectives. She placed a foot on top of one of the swivel chairs. "If you die here, we can pin it all on a exchange gone wrong. You're names forever besmirched by your corruption," she then said before kicking the chair lightly towards the open edge of the seventh floor.
As soon as the chair started moving, the detectives panicked and tried their best to stop their tracks. But when their chairs started shaking, almost toppling over in their efforts, they stopped and prayed they don't reach the edge. They did not.
"A seven-story drop would be fatal, I believe," Aubrey then commented and marched towards them and gave the chair a light kick, making them barely move a few inches closer.
"They were, in a way, accessory to the crime of murder, it wouldn't be hard to believe that whoever they helped would have done them in too," Chloe then said, moving towards the detectives and giving their chairs a hefty kick that sent them speeding to one side, stopping a few feet of the edge of the building.
"You're not really going to kill us, are you?" the younger of the two detectives asked, fear clearly evident in his tone. "P-please, I have a wife. He has a wife too, a-and kids, please, please, don't kill us."
Beca walked towards them and placed a foot on one of the hand rests. If she gave it her all in the next kick, Aubrey surmised that she would send them careening towards their doom.
But instead of giving a kick, Beca started applying pressure in the chair, rocking it back and forth. Before stopping. "How about I make you a deal?" Beca then asked. "You answer our questions, and you'll be free. Fair?"
"Y-yes," they both replied and gulped.
"Who hired you?" Beca asked. "We already know it's Babel and DSM, but I want to know who gave the order. Who's on top?"
"We don't know that, w-we just got a call from the Kommissar. She handles all the business. Before it would be Pietro who called us," the older detective replied.
"Y-yeah, and we only get instructions, we don't ask why," the younger detective then said.
"Who killed them then?" Chloe asked, with barely concealed contempt in her tone. "Were you the hired killers too? Or do you not know who you are covering up for?"
"Hangers, their called. A gang, real bad rap sheet," the older detective said. "We were instructed to clean up their mess and how, but we weren't asked to kill anyone."
Chloe huffed and marched towards where Beca stood, she raised one of her legs with force, about to kick the chair. Aubrey panicked a little, and was about to rush to stop her, but in the end she didn't.
Mostly because she didn't have too.
"Chloe," Beca said, her tone so soft. She gave her a look before shaking her head.
Chloe huffed again and put her foot down. "I wasn't going to go all in," she mumbled.
Beca chuckled. "Don't wear your heart on your sleeve," she then said. "Your enemies will exploit it, you know."
Chloe huffed once more before walking back to Aubrey. She seemed a whole lot calmer after that exchange.
"And piece of advice," Beca then added towards the detective. "You may think you're above it all, because you wear a badge as your shield. But that badge doesn't stop monsters like me from exacting justice on people like you. What goes around comes around, and you can never beat someone who's not afraid of death in this dangerous game you're playing."
Beca took her foot of the seat and turned around. She signaled for them to walk away, and so they did.
"Hey! Are you not gonna set us free? We delivered our end of the deal!" the older detective shouted.
Beca stopped on her tracks and raised two fingers, before bringing it down to one. "What deal? You had no other options. You were never in the position to make any bargains. Be thankful you keep your lives," she said before raising her second finger again. "I'm sure, you can free yourselves if you try really hard. We said we'll let you keep your lives, not free you. Understand the terms of your agreement before signing onto them."
Beca smirked and then turned to leave again. The younger of the two detectives cried out this time, "How about our money?" he asked but Beca made no attempt to stop.
Chloe shook her head. "We decided to donate it to a better cause," she said before following Beca.
Aubrey bid the two farewell, her mind onto the next phase of their mission. "Hopefully we don't meet again, detectives."
She caught up to Beca, thinking about the Hangers. She has indeed heard of the gang. If they were to use them to nail Babo down, that would mean they were up against really dangerous enemies. They had to prepare. Besides, from what Aubrey has heard of them, some members were also officers in the police department. She assumed she could rule out the other two who cracked so easily under their intimidation tactics.
This also meant they would have to further push the boundaries of what they were willing to do if they were going to make them crack.
Aubrey had a lot to prepare for.
"You could be a consigliere, you know?" Beca commented. Aubrey hadn't realized that the two of them ended up matching their pace, letting Chloe lead the way back to Beca's car.
"I assume that's a compliment?" Aubrey then asked.
"Make of it what you will," Beca replied with a smirk.
"Just make sure no one dies in the same room as the person who will be covering up for you," Aubrey retorted.
"At this point, death will be a mercy, an escape," Beca commented before she sighed. "The only time any of them will die is after they've suffered in agony, that much I can promise. But if I can help it, let's take away all they hold precious and bring them to justice."
Beca picked up her pace after that, leaving Aubrey alone with her thoughts. Beca's words echoing in her mind.
She wondered if it would ever be truly possible to do just what Beca promised without any one dying in the end?
With the Trebles still working on unearthing clues of Babel's illegal transactions, paper companies, and money laundering, the rest of the tenants were also all hands-on deck and even more motivated to show their usefulness in any situation that required bringing down Babel.
Once they heard about what happened to the family of the victims of RDU-90, none of them wasted anytime in brainstorming ideas about how to bring light to the truth. Which meant that while Lilly had her hands full with digging up the info Beca wanted, she was also busy trying to keep the tenant's most insane plans in check, and dialing down the crazy…
By a lot…
Stacie, thankfully, gave a rather useful idea. The tenants even agreed to pitch it to Beca, Chloe and Aubrey once they finalized their plan.
That is, to have their own little news broadcast. The idea was sound and simple, just like how they got the Trebles attack on the plaza to go viral, the goal was to get a daily broadcast trending. They'll do it under masks of super heroes and maybe animals. Here, they would share a bit of what they know to the public already, some but not all. From Babel's crazy plots with the Trebles for the plaza, to what they know of RDU-90, to announcing the buffoonery of the current CEO, Theo Walters, and revealing Babo's existence to the world. Lastly, they will unveil what they know of the scheme to mask the murder of the victim's relatives and pass it off as suicide. With this efforts, they could call out Babo to the light, dare him to make one false move, or have him take the bait and drag out someone who would know who he was.
Lilly was honestly a little impressed with Stacie's plan.
Aubrey was hesitant, Chloe uncertain, but her boss thought the idea was crazy enough that it might truly work.
They wasted no time in setting things up, a makeshift broadcast room in Denise's dance studio. Emily handled the recording, Stacie the broadcasting. Ashley and Jessice wore a mask as twin bear news reporters, interviewing the tenants – all wearing a mask of their favorite animals – giving their testimonies of the constant harassment they received. Bumper even gave out an interview admitting his crimes, wearing the mask of a rat.
Aubrey announced herself to be the producer, making sure that nothing can be used against them or traced back to them.
The anchors of their news team? Beca, who was wearing a pigeon mask, and Chloe, who was wearing a lion's mask.
The show was a hit, they were trending, and people got to talking.
Which also meant Babel stocks were once again down for a bit, although their PR team seemed too be on top of things this time.
But they did not falter.
Their first three broadcast focused on the previous cases with Babel too. It was on the fourth night that they announced the info about the family of RDU-90's victims and their cruel murder. Beca, goaded Babel on, claiming that the next night's broadcast would even contain bigger, more explosive truths, about them, before they brought in the info about Theo, and how there was a true mastermind in the shadows.
Chloe then asked thought provoking questions about the death of Dr. Matthews, and even of the district attorney and how it could be related, how it's hard to even be sure that everything going on in their beloved city right now had nothing to do with Babel's corruption and their evil deeds. This might have been a little extreme and risky to state, Lilly would argue, but it was mostly to drew the ire of their enemies, so that when Beca delivers the bait, they would most likely take it. Especially when they have successfully gotten under their skin.
"What happens next?" Chloe asked, after their main group have gathered back in the Beale and Posen Law Firm office, rewatching their broadcast online.
"Don't worry about that, I have tomorrow's broadcast handled," Beca replied with a knowing smile.
That's when Lilly thought best to deliver the fruits of her other endeavor, handing Beca a flash drive with recordings she had collected from the previous days.
Aubrey, Chloe, and Emily looked curiously at the flash drive as Beca plugged it in the laptop and pulled up three videos. One from a camera planted on a remote-control car, chasing Theo in a parking lot with a small box with a timer that looked like a tiny bomb. It exploded when he cowered in a corner of his building's parking lot, and out came white flag with a bloody letter "B" on it. The second video was from Pietro's now bugged office. The wall covered with fake blood forming the letter "B." The bugs won't stay there for long, Lilly figured, thanks to the third video featuring Kommissar Zumba dancing in her office when her usual Zumba class video crashed and was replaced by a black screen with a slowly forming bloody letter "B" appearing. Her reaction being captured, and the entire video sent to everyone in DSM, making her laughing stock in the office. When Lilly last accessed the bugs, she saw Kommissar had found one and crushed it. The rest would undoubtedly get discovered soon, but it didn't matter.
The message was sent.
Beca can easily reach them when she wanted.
And she's announced that she's coming for them.
"How very mafia," Aubrey commented dryly. "Do you really like playing with your food?"
"It's the hunt that's fun, what can I say?" Beca replied.
"But wouldn't that have them alerted to your threats?" Chloe then asked. "Come on now, Ms. Consigliere."
"Why are you guys talking like Beca's a part of the Italian mob?" Emily asked with a chuckled. The three of them exchanged looks. Lilly almost readied to pull one of her sheathed blades out of its concealed location, which would be a shame. She liked Emily. But if she was not allowed to know…
But Beca thankfully gave her a look and shook her head. Emily will be spared.
Emily didn't need to hear the confirmation, the looks on their faces was enough to let her know the truth.
"Y-you're…" she stammered. "It all makes sense now…"
"Anyways, that just how it is Ems," Chloe then said with a chuckle and shrugged.
"You can back out of things if you're now frightened by Ms. Bella over here," Aubrey then added.
"No way!" Emily replied. "Besides, that's just so cool! It's like Beca's the anti-hero we all needed all along!"
"Oh no, you're not getting any ideas from this," Aubrey then reprimanded. "Maybe we should kick you out of the team after all, you're too impressionable."
"But Aubrey!" Emily argued making both Chloe and Beca laugh at her antics.
"It's fine, as long as Emily keeps her lips sealed," Beca said. "And she doesn't get any idea."
"Whatever you say, capo," Emily replied with a salute.
"I'm a consigliere, not a capo," Beca corrected. "It's a much more prestigious position."
"Let's not put more idea into her head," Aubrey then added, closing the subject matter, and turning everyone's attention to the next phase of their plan, exchanging a look with Beca.
Because the next phase is a fake out.
The real plan, they felt too dangerous for Chloe and Emily to know.
Lilly remained vigilant with their subtle exchanges. How they've learned to code and understand their messages, and communicate this way in such a short amount of time was rather impressive.
She was starting to feel that they have made powerful allies all along.
Theo felt an easy watching the viral news broadcasts about Babel by people wearing animal masks. Chicago, who was sat next to him, looked partway amused, partway irritated by all of it. The Kommissar, who occupied one of the armchairs in Chicago's living room kept talking about how the two animal anchors had to be Beca and Chloe, while Pietro, sat in the opposite armchair, kept interrupting the Kommissar's ranting with questions about the bloody "B's" and the meaning behind the threats.
It was then that the PI that Theo provided for Chicago had interrupted their supposes meeting about what to do about Beca Bella's latest plan of attack against them.
The PI was a stern looking man named James Jameson. He wasted no time in explaining that his trip to Italy was a fruitful one, providing a brown envelope with pictures of assassinations and attacks against other mafia families.
"What does this have to do with Beca Bella?" Theo asked.
"Each scene has a bloody letter B, her signature," the PI explained.
"What is she? A member of the avengers? A power ranger, a vigilante?" Pietro then asked.
"She is, if I believe my intel to be correct, a powerful member of the Bella family, one of the most feared mafia in Italy. She is currently in hiding from their new don, or so I believe. She is sly and tricky, and even my informant seemed deathly scared to talk about her, but he figured that he would be helping his boss in a way and wanted to ingratiate himself to him."
Theo shuddered. The thought they were up against a cold blooded mafiosa terrified him.
But this seemed to have amused Chicago, as he burst into laughter, sounding rather amused.
"Of course! Of course! It all makes sense now," Chicago then said. "This is good, this is perfect. Thank you. The payment should be sent to your account shortly," he said in high spirits.
James excused himself shortly thereafter. Chicago's good mood prevailed even after he left.
"Sir, what do we…" the Kommissar started to say before Chicago raised his hand to stop her.
"Let me handle the criminal for now," he then said. "I think it's about time to rid her of her law-abiding allies," he added, fishing for his phone.
Whatever his brother was thinking, Theo wasn't sure of.
The only thing he was certain of was that he wouldn't want to know what terrible thought occurred to him either.
The last 12 hours or so of Emily's life has been one hell of a roller coaster ride.
First, she found out her idol, the effortlessly cool and suave Beca Bella was a consigliere of a fearsome mafia family, the Bellas.
Second, she accidentally discovered Aubrey and Beca's secret plan.
Third, she somehow got roped into it.
What was the plan? Beca and Aubrey, together with Lilly's help, recorded a secret segment for the Friday broadcast where Beca's pigeon anchor challenged Babo that she will reveal the truth about how the family's murder was carried out. Prior to their broadcasts, and after the interrogation of the detectives, Lilly uncovered – more like somehow salvaged – deleted street cam footage of the van the victims' family members had rented. They were being followed by a black van. Both vans disappeared once they went into the underpass, with noticeable light coming from within. The video had no sound but Beca had assumed it was a crash of sort. Minutes later, the black van had gone back from the direction that it came from, making a U-turn from within the underpass. On the opposite end, using a different street cam, the van the victims rented finally emerged. The underpass that should have taken them two minutes to traverse. All in all, it took seven minutes before both vehicles re-emerged.
Something happened in that underpass. Beca's guess is that a few of the Hangers were in the black van. They stopped the rented van the victims drove, some of them took over it. There was probably a scuffle. Beca assumed they had weapons or some means to subdue them. Perhaps they were even drugged. One of the Hangers probably drove the victims' van afterwards, where he took them to their final resting place and suffocated and locked them inside the van.
The pre-recorded broadcast featured the clip Lilly uncovered and Beca's promise of doing a live broadcast at the underpass later that night, where she will uncover the full truth and show her proof, as well us unmask Babo.
The last bit may have been a bluff, but it was a very tempting bait, with Beca putting her life on the line.
Aubrey was supposed to upload the pre-recorded broadcast an hour before the time Beca promised to go live at the underpass to put pressure on Babo and short amount of time to react. They were thinking of sending Chloe to check on Dr. Mitchell to distract her. Beca didn't want to get her involved in something so dangerous. Emily thought it was sweet how much she wanted to protect Chloe.
But distraction came in the form of Chicago pestering Chloe for coffee to check in on her and apologize for being on opposite ends. Something about wanting to preserve their friendship which he thought was genuine and promising to give her some intel too, to prove where his loyalties lie.
Chloe took the bait. However, Dr. Mitchell coughed up blood that afternoon and the doctor's were worried they might have to do an emergency procedure to alleviate some of his pressing problems. This meant that Aubrey was pulled into action to check on him.
That of course meant that Emily got pulled into the situation to be the one to upload the video.
Emily stood up to the task, of course. She wouldn't let Beca down.
But as soon as she hit send, when the time came, she was wrecked with guilt and nerves. Beca was going at this alone. She instructed Lilly to stay behind in the tower, in case Babel decided to send goons their way. They've been doing the broadcasts for multiple days now, after all. They were bound to catch on and retaliate.
As the minutes ticked on, Emily worst fears kept popping in her thoughts. What if Beca's trap was a trap for her? What if they send in assassins, or shooters? She wasn't so sure what to do.
At this point, she knew she had to options.
Sit tight and wait.
Or call Chloe and summon back up.
Dread kept filling her heart. She knew Beca was tough, but she can't possibly be a one-woman army right?
She can, but against hired assassins or expert killers?
Just how much mafia work has Beca done?
Emily took a deep breath. Her decision was final. She might regret this later, but she had to call Chloe.
In a way, they were expecting this. Perhaps that's why Benji had been sharpening his scissors and shears.
The rest of the tenants weren't expecting it, but it would seem that Beca had uploaded a pre-recorded broadcast to bait Babo and Babel's hired killers.
Benji surmised that Babel took the bait, why else would they be attacked by hired goons. Again.
The days of his childhood was gone, along with his misadventures with small cut-throat gangs. But every time he tried to quit, it would seem that fate kept pulling him back in.
This time they were ready though. Beca was out there risking her life to uncover the truth. The very least they can do is risk theirs to defend it too.
Benji was quick to take down some of Babel's newer, tougher goons with a few stabs of his shears. His strikes were precise and he made sure the stabs weren't too deep. He didn't want them killed, just incapacitated. One goon nearly took him down but Jesse was quick to incapacitate him with some fancy martial arts move.
"Krav Maga, I've been working out," Jesse excused.
"Nice one," Benji replied impressed.
"We need help here!" Flo then yelled out as she used a mop to fend off an attack of three other goons.
"I've got you!" Amy then said tackling one down. Denise and CR took care of the other two by hitting their heads with frying pans.
"Don't you mean we?" CR then said.
"Guys! I need help! Wait, what on earth is going on here?" Emily asked confused.
"We got this, Ems, don't worry," Stacie replied while recording all the scuffle, all while the Trebles along with Bumper defended her and aided the rest of the tenants.
"But how can we help?" Ashley asked while using bear spray to fend off her assailants, spraying them with the chemical concoction straight in the eyes.
"Back up?" Emily replied. "But you're hands are full."
Benji was about to volunteer but he got distracted by another goon who he swiftly stabbed a few times on the shoulder and thighs.
"I can go with you!" Jessica said.
"But what about the others?" Emily asked. As soon as she did Lilly came at ten of the goons, wielding three katanas, each hand holding one while she bit on the grip of the third one. The reverse side of her blades facing her enemies as she used to strike them with the duller edge to avoid killing them. "Actually, never mind, I think you have super back-up. Let's go, Jessica," she then said.
"Where to?" Jessica asked.
"To help Beca!"
Benji looked over to Emily and Jessica leaving. "Be careful!" he cried out after them. "And don't worry about us, Ems, we got this!"
"I know you guys do!" Emily replied before disappearing.
Benji smiled, a new wave of confidence building deep inside him. He scanned the halls, about half of the three dozen or so goons were already taken care of and out for the count.
They can do this.
They've got this.
We'll show you what it means to mess with our family.
A/N Pt 2: The next chapter is short but we do get a bechloe moment. I'll try to get it out by Friday, if not, then next week!
UPNEXT: A shoot-out!? Captives!? And a close call!?
