A/N: Still a short chapter, but we're inching closer to the halfway point.
Patience, Babo will be unmasked soon. How soon? Well…
Not in this one for sure.
Having said that, next chapter might end up being long. We'll see.
I don't own pitch perfect.
They were in an abandoned warehouse this time. Beca's been well-informed with prime abandoned real estate lately, what can she do? It was a necessity.
But dark humor aside.
After Chicago left, Beca wasted no time in having Justin and Tommy move their captured henchmen back into their wrecked car. Justin drove a tow truck and dragged it along to the abandoned warehouse to properly set things up. They kept the road closures for now. Beca's two indebted helpers had a long night of "clean-up" to do.
Beca convinced Emily and Jessica to return to Barden Tower, even offering to drop them off. It was during the drive that Beca learned of the attack at the tower. She was about to rush in to help when they arrived when she got a message from Lilly as an update. It would seem things were handled well and they had thrown out "the trash" successfully. Aubrey had returned already and was handling the legalities of the matter with the police who arrived thanks to all the racket.
Jessica wasted no time in rushing to where her wife was, and Emily excused herself as well, wanting to be of assistance to Aubrey. Apologizing to Beca for telling Chloe of her plans.
Normally Beca would be annoyed. But there was something that had swayed her moods to one more favorable for Emily.
Beca had always been so used to having subordinates who obeyed her.
But she's never had people care deeply about her like this before.
When she saw Chloe rush towards her back in the underpass, when Chloe threw her arms around her, holding onto Beca ever so tightly, not daring to let go until she let her know she was fine. The deep sigh of relief from Chloe.
The look of relief on Emily, and even on Jessica from afar.
Beca wondered, if this what it meant to have friends.
If this is what it meant to be…
"Where are you headed next?" Chloe asked, still looking annoyed for not being included in her plans.
"I'm going to find more about Babo," Beca answered truthfully. "You should get some rest."
Chloe shook her head, defiance shining in her eyes. Beca knew it would be futile to argue against her. The redhead didn't need to say anything about the matter either, Beca already understood. Chloe was going with her.
Beca sighed and relented. They drove off in silence to the warehouse where her little set-up had already been prepared.
Justin handed her a remote and moved over to the corner of the warehouse. Tommy was busy disposing of the henchmen's SUV and clear up the scene in the underpass.
What did the remote do?
It controlled Beca's little set-up. The five henchmen were currently tied and placed inside an old mini-van. Beca even picked out the same make, model, and color as the one that their victims' died in. The windows were all tampered with. The only one that worked was the window on the driver's door. The window behind that had a little hole cut-out in the middle. A hose passed through that hole and was tightly secure to ensure there would be no leaks. That hose was connected to the car's exhaust. The key was stuck in the ignition, the engine running, with the mini-van set to park. The remote had a button that controlled the gas pedal as well as the only functioning window which was slightly opened at the moment.
Every time Beca revs up the engine, the gas that escapes the car's exhaust will fill up the mini-van. Eventually it would be enough to suffocate the killers Beca had tied up inside the mini-van.
That is, if they don't answer their questions.
Chloe took a minute or two to just study the set-up. It didn't take her long to figure out what Beca had in mind. It was enough time for the captured henchmen to fully stir awake and realize where they were. They wriggled in their restraints but try as they might, they couldn't get free. Their mouths weren't restrained, and they tried to cry out for help but once Beca gave an amused chuckle, they realized that would be fruitless as well.
No one will come to help them.
"Shall we begin then?" Beca asked them with a cool and calm confidence that sent shivers down the henchmen's spines judging from their visible gulping and frightened looks.
Beca smiled and placed a hand inside her pocket, instinctively wrapping it around the lighter she had kept there. "I'll make you a deal," she then started to say. "You won't die the same painful and excruciating death you gave to the innocent people you've killed if you answer our questions. Does that sound fair?"
"That's inhumane!" cried out one of the cronies.
"And what you did to those family members were?" Chloe argued back. The audacity the henchmen had to cry for mercy when they did the exact same thing to their victims made her sick. Chloe did her best to hide it, but Beca could see her hands trembling, her voice breaking a little.
She had too soft a heart to deal with horrible people like them.
That's why she didn't want to bring her along, but Chloe wanted to see.
She wanted to stare the devil that resides within the worst of humanity right in the eyes.
Beca wasn't sure why, but she supposed, Chloe wanted to see and understand for herself, why anyone would ever do this. Perhaps she wanted to keep the fire burning inside her. A fire that pushed her to purse people like them – DSM, Babel, and Babo in particular.
All so that what happened to her father would never happen again.
The warehouse was being filled with complaints from the henchmen once again. Beca raised the window with the remote and revved up the engine, only stopping when she could visibly see them coughing amidst the smoke that filled the mini-van. A minute, possibly less, was all it took.
She removed her finger off the gas pedal button and brought the window down. She calmly watched as the henchmen coughed and tried to gasp for air. Once they calmed down and steadied their breaths, Beca smiled again. "Shall we try that again? Or will you comply to our terms?" she asked.
All the henchmen nodded.
"The number on your phone," Beca then started to say, directly addressing the man tied up in the driver's seat. "The one that said boss. Who does it belong to?" she asked, straight to the point.
"I-I… I don't really know…" the man said.
Beca started bringing the windows up again with his response. "W-W-WAIT!" he cried out and Beca left barely an inch of the window still opened. "I-I… I really don't know who he is, or what his name is, we just call him boss," he went on rambling, speaking as fast as he could to try to convince Beca. "We were originally approached by Theo Walters for a job, scare some lawyers against them."
A look of realization dawned on Chloe's face, and just for that comment Beca revved up the engine again, still leaving an inch open for them.
They were the associates of the men that attacked Chloe the other night was all Beca could think for a brief moment.
She took a deep breath and calm herself and lifted her finger off the button again, letting the henchmen cough out the smoke and catch their breaths.
"So is Theo Walters your boss?" Beca then clarified even though she could feel it in her gut that it wasn't the case.
"N-no…" the henchman in the driver's seat said, still a little out of breath. "We get his instructions via text or on the phone in a call, but we can't really identify his voice, it's like he's using an app or something to make it sound distorted. He sends his payments as cash, through different man. We got paid ahead of time for the first job because he needed to go outside the country or something, a different job for the boss. We haven't even been paid for this job yet. We're supposed to meet him tomorrow if we succeeded with the job. He's the only one who's seen him."
"Do you have his number?" Beca asked.
"What's his name?" Chloe inquired at the same time.
"James Jameson, he's technically a PI for the rich, very discreet, but he's also done numerous jobs before, you know, more tha making files on people who get on the nerves of wealthy man. He's a master at setting up crime scenes to tell whatever story they want. His number's on the phone."
Beca fished for the phone she stole form the man from her inner jacket pocket to look up the name. Like crony number one said, the name and number's stored in it. Which means they can set something up to extract info on Babo.
"I'm sure, if you reach out to him, you can set up a meeting with Charles Walters through him!"
"Who?" Chloe asked. "His dead! Theo Walters' father is dead, are you playing us?" Chloe asked, grabbing the remote from Beca and revving up the engine on maximum power so that the car would fill up faster than usual.
Beca yanked the remote from her hand and brought the window down. "Junior?" she asked tentatively.
"We don't know!" one of the henchmen on the backseat yelled. "But if the old man is dead, then maybe someone's taking his name!"
"Or he has another son," Beca said to herself, deep at thought.
That would mean Theo was a "spare," the second son.
If he's afraid of Charles Walters, that means the real power lies with him, Theo would only be afraid of his father or an older brother, otherwise, he would feel more confident or emboldened to do what he wanted.
Chloe tried to snatch the remote again but Beca was quick to keep it away from her.
"Beca, they're playing us for fools," Chloe argued.
"No, I don't think so," Beca replied before giving Chloe a look that had her huff and scowl. "Think about it, I told you Theo is an idiot. They have a mastermind. We know that Charles Walters is dead, we have undisputable facts for that. One can argue he faked his death, but if you look back at previous cases, Babel has never done these types of atrocities before. He handled things through making deals with corrupt politicians, never murder, that we know of at least. All the actions have been bold in sending a message recently. This isn't the old man. It has to be someone who knows he can hold power and influence over Babel, who's using Theo as a patsy. The only one who can do that is someone who knows they are the rightful head of the company. A king in the shadow. An older brother, the rightful heir."
"Then we'll capture him, no matter who he is," Chloe then replied with another huff.
"Maybe it's best if you wait for me in the car," Beca then commented.
"But –" Chloe tried to argue.
"Please, Chlo," Beca replied. "You're still too affected by this. Let me handle it," she pleaded.
Besides, Beca didn't want Chloe to react too emotionally to what was happening. It was clearly getting to her.
And judging from her earlier reaction, she might up doing something she doesn't want.
Beca had to protect her from that.
From tainting her own hands.
"Are we good to go? We held up part of our deal!" one of the henchmen cried out once Chloe was out of the warehouse.
Beca snapped her fingers and Justin came with a tray of small bottle waters. "You must all be parched," Beca commented. She grabbed the tray from him and Justin had them sip water from the bottle. The doors were functional and that helped in getting each of them to drink a bit.
"But you are right, I promised to be merciful and spare you from a more painful death. One that you would have deserved if I may speak so honestly," Beca commented and watched each and every one of them start to get drowsy. Once all of them were fully unconscious, Justin carried crony number one out of the driver's seat and toss him in the back. They cleared the set-up, covering the whole in the window on the seat behind the driver's seat and removing the hose and controls on the gas pedals. Beca helped him for efficiency before she headed back to her car where Chloe was waiting. Once done, Justin drove off the opposite direction with the knocked-out henchmen.
Beca wasn't lying. She believed they deserved a death as horrible as the one they gave to their victims.
But she had a promise to fulfill.
Not far from the warehouse was a lake. Justin will get out of the front seat and carry crony number one back to it. He would untie all of them, bring all the windows down, make sure the gear was set to drive, and place crony number one's foot on the gas pedal. He will close the door and lock it to make sure that it would seem like no one else was ever there.
Guilty of their crime, it would look like a suicide. With a note in a pocket of one of the henchmen admitting to their crimes should the mini-van ever be found. Since no one ever frequented the lake thanks to it getting polluted, Beca figured it would not.
The drug in their system should keep them asleep the entire time they drown.
As promised, they wouldn't know the fear of death. They wouldn't struggle.
They would only seamlessly enter eternal slumber.
It had been one incredibly long day for Chloe.
On the drive back, Beca went on and on, lecturing Chloe about not to let her feelings show. "Did I not tell you to harden your heart? You have to be strong to beat these kind of enemies," she went on to say. She didn't miss one single beat, even when they made a pit stop for some wine and drinks at Beca's favorite wine store.
In return, Chloe also lectured Beca on and on about trusting her, and not making plans without her, whether or not Aubrey knew either. Beca for her part had listened until Chloe ran out of words and begun to realize to herself that maybe Beca's plan wasn't her biggest problem.
It was that she couldn't bear the thought of losing Beca.
Chloe felt her cheeks turning red and turned away from Beca, fully concentrating on the scenes out in the streets of Atlanta that late night, doing her best to ignore the sudden fluttering of her heart and feeling incredibly embarrassed with how she reacted upon seeing Beca.
Beca noticed the sudden silence. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Y-yeah," Chloe stammered. "I-I'm just tired," she gave as an excuse before changing the topic. "I can't believe you let them free though, how can we ever bring them to justice now! I suppose the police would let them go too but still."
"I didn't," Beca admitted in a low voice. This caught Chloe's attention. She pressed Beca on what she meant by that but she refused to answer, Beca keeping her eyes fixed on the road. She could barely lookback at Chloe.
In her heart, Chloe knew what Beca didn't want to admit, and she didn't know how to feel about it.
If she were being honest, it was just another piece of info for her, tucked away in her brain. She delivered her own justice.
Chloe wasn't sure she agreed with it, but lately she wasn't entirely sure what justice is anymore. Especially when the rich and powerful could buy it. Dictate it.
She supposed, at the end of the day, it was just the way it was. There were some like her dad who had to be the white knight, with an old battered armor. There were some like DSM who dressed up like shining knights, nothing but frauds.
And there were rogues, outlaws, and vigilantes with their own ideas of justice, avenging those trampled on by the ones who keep slipping past the incredibly selective net of justice.
The ones who need to keep fighting, keep moving forward, no matter how dirty they get.
Beca was that.
The devil who could fight the other devils.
And Chloe simply accepted it as it is.
The rest of the drive back home to Beca's apartment was spent in a comfortable silence. About a day ago, Chloe received a call that the work being done at her home was done. Her doors and windows were even reinforced, and Beca had paid the best people to give her a topnotch security system. She could move back anytime.
But Chloe didn't want to move, she was too comfortable with Beca.
The two of them took their turns getting into something more comfortable, freshening up and having a shower before each pulling up a chair by the small dining table. Beca was sipping on her third glass of wine and Chloe was on her fourth bottle of light beer, chatting away about Dr. Mitchell's condition and the fight the tenants won, reading over Aubrey's updates on everything, as well as Lilly's and Emily's. At the back of Chloe's mind though, a battle waged.
She didn't want to leave the comforts of Beca's home. But she supposed she had to.
Because if she gets even more comfortable… if she lets those feelings grow even more… let them take root in her heart…
One day, she knew, she would have to let Beca go. Set her free. She was here for a reason after all.
But the other side of her already knew it was too late and fought hard, wanting to stay in her company. Enjoy it while it lasts.
"Are you really okay?" Beca asked, concern written all over her face.
Chloe sighed. "Yeah, it's just… Chicago let slip that DSM and Babel might be suspecting you're connected to the mafia," she said. She didn't want to admit the truth of what she was thinking, not to Beca.
Beca shrugged. "It was only a matter of time."
Chloe chuckled in response. Beca was too cool and too calm after hearing that her enemies may have found her out "You're not even worried, are you?"
"If they're smart, they should be the ones to worry," Beca replied with a smirk.
And what can Chloe do but be amused and gaze fondly at her consigliere.
It's been like a dream living with Beca. Full of adventure with all their underhanded tactics and shenanigans. They had a goal to achieve, and with Beca by their side, Chloe wasn't even the least bit worried. She made her feel safe, and brave. Not just her, but the tenants too.
It wasn't hard. In fact, it was the easiest thing to do. The most natural even.
Beca Bella was very attractive to begin with, add smart and confident and brave and capable, and she's practically irresistible.
But more than that, underneath the cool and tough demeanor, Chloe could see, she had a soft and kind heart. She hated to see the injustice being done to the innocent.
Everything really was like a dream. But if Chloe kept indulging the dream, she might never want to wake up.
So how could she ever let go then?
"I've made up my mind," Chloe then said. "Listen, Beca, the work done at my place is done."
"I know."
"You know?"
"I hired them, remember?" Beca said with a chuckle. "They also let me know you can move back."
"And you're not sending me packing out of here because?"
"I promised you could stay for as long as you need to," Beca replied matter-of-factly before looking away. "You-you don't have to leave yet, you know? If you don't want to."
"But I really should," Chloe replied thoughtfully. "But I'll stay for one more night, only if you can grant me a wish."
Beca looked at Chloe with a quirked brow. "What wish?"
"Stand up," Chloe replied, standing up herself and offering both her hands to Beca to help her get out of her seat. Beca obliged, still looking at Chloe curiously.
"Close your eyes," Chloe then said, taking a step closer to Beca.
Beca visibly gulped as Chloe kept inching closer. She looked all too adorable in that moment that she couldn't help but chuckle. "W-what?"
"Just do as I say," Chloe then said, placing both her hands on Beca's shoulder to keep her still. "I just want to test something."
Beca gave her a suspicious look. With a deep breath, she obliged.
Chloe's eyes landed on Beca's lips for a moment but fought hard against the temptation to steal from Beca Bella. That would be too dangerous of a thing to do for both of them.
In this game against Babel, there could never be room for romance, even if true feelings bloom from their circumstance. That would only ever be to their detriment.
That would only make it that much harder to let go.
So, Chloe settled for something else. She pulled Beca incredibly close and hugged her tightly. Beca jumped at the surprised contact, but nevertheless settled into Chloe's arms, instinctively placing her arms around Chloe's waist as well.
"What exactly are you testing?" Beca answered.
The extent of my feelings for you, you dummy, Chloe thought to herself.
"That's on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know," was the actual response she gave to Beca.
"For how long are we going to be like this?" Beca asked. "Not that I'm complaining, just curious."
"For as long as I want," Chloe replied. "Don't ever scare me like earlier, Beca, promise?"
"Okay, I promise," Beca replied.
And the two of them stood there in silence, simply holding on to each other for as long as they could that night.
Neither ever wanting to let go and end it.
Chicago kept tapping his fingertips away on the surface of his desk in his office at DSM, resisting the urge to upturn his whole office while awaiting the Kommissar's late night arrival.
"Sir, I came as soon as I can. It sounded urgent," the Kommissar said as she entered the office.
"I keep losing," he said, doing his best to keep his cool and forcibly turning the scowl on his face into a smile. "Do you know how it feels like to keep losing? It's not a good feeling. I never lost before, and now I keep losing."
"Sir,…" the Kommissar said in response, trying to find what words could best soothe his growing frustrations at the situation. Chicago appreciated the sentiment, but words could not solve his problem. Actions will.
"The consigliere, Beca Bella… I've done a bit more digging. The Bella family is quite infamous."
"Yes sir," the Kommissar replied. "And what would you like to do with this information?"
"I want you to get rid of her," he replied.
"Well, if you may sir," the Kommissar then said with a smile. "My connections in the CIA proved useless, but I do have a contact in the FBI. I think we can put her away indefinitely."
"Good," Chicago replied. "A dead enemy would be useless. Let's make her suffer then, and take away her precious freedom," Chicago grinned with satisfaction.
How else can he gloat he won if she was dead?
Beca Bella proved to be a formidable foe, but it was time to take her down.
A/N Pt 2: The next chapter is a rollercoaster so stay tuned! It's gonna be an exciting one!
UPNEXT: An arrest? A reveal! Two reveals?!
