A/N: Babel just doesn't know how to quit…
This is the last update for the week, but I'll be back Monday! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!
I don't own pitch perfect.
Theo sat stiffly in his seat. His driver had just informed him that they were only a few blocks away from Babel Pharmaceutical's corporate offices. The media had already been gathered there for a new announcement. The news about the incident at their facility and the fate of RDU-90 couldn't be contained, and investors and the board were not pleased by the unexpected setback. He already had to deal with the fact that someone broke into his penthouse with the bloodied pillow a few nights ago, add to that the arson at their manufacturing facilities, he didn't need more problems.
The people online who heard the news were already speculating another gas leak thanks to some anonymous troll suggesting exactly that. He was tasked to do damage control. How? Announce another drug in their pipeline, this time for Alzheimer's, that they called BLSD. The idea is to appease their shareholders and the masses, while also sweeping the incident under the rug.
At least that's what he was told to do.
Theo went over the little speech prepared for him in his head on last time, but the way his body was aching made it hard to concentrate. A part of him was still reliving what happened last night after he received the call about the manufacturing plant. He barely had time to process the news before he was summoned to the rink where he had to apologize, beg, and grovel after each time a hockey puck had been sent flying towards his body, like enlarged bullets he was not allowed to dodge or block.
It's been three days since. He was hoping that was enough time before they tried to distract the attention of the press to something new. Things had to go smoothly this time. He cannot disappoint him again.
The car soon slowed. Theo adjusted his tie. He got out of the car projecting a look of confidence onto the crowd. Once inside, Theo made his way towards the lobby where a group of scientists and directors waited for him. He shook their hands and proceed to go to the podium that his people set up for him.
Theo didn't let press get any questions in and instead started talking about BLSD. He simply referred to the incident as a minor setback with RDU-90 prior to introducing the new drug. Minor or not, he was sure RDU-90 would soon make a comeback anyways.
It was as he was talking that one of the research scientists who waiting for him started coughing out blood prior to collapsing. A collective gasp filled the room as his colleagues rushed to check on him and call for an ambulance.
Theo's heart sank, his body paralyzed with fear and dread. He just couldn't catch a break.
Theo could already envision how this would enrage him again.
Chloe was enjoying the little bit of karmic retribution Babel was experiencing right now as she sipped on her americano – or dirty water, as Beca liked to refer to it. The simple memory of a very unimpressed Beca eying her drink with so much disdain makes Chloe chuckle to herself. It's like they now have their own little joke. Just this morning the two went out to grab a quick bite to eat for breakfast and she ordered an americano by calling it dirty water. Beca shook her head at her and the barista was very much confused before Beca begrudgingly called the order by its name to clarify.
But she wasn't at the coffee shop with Beca at that moment. Instead, she was with Chicago who had called her around lunch to say that he's got more dirt on Babel to share with her.
Chicago was pouting at her when she finally returned her attention to what he was saying. "You weren't listening," he said, matter-of-factly.
To be fair though, Chloe was listening. She just didn't care much for the news Chicago was giving her because she had already heard it on the news. As for the other updates, well, she had front row seats to everything since she was in cahoots with Beca and Aubrey about all of it anyways.
"It's because what you're giving me is gossip, and not actual dirt on Babel," Chloe pointed out."
"But I do wonder who was behind all of it," Chicago said thoughtfully.
"Probably Babel themselves," Chloe responded.
"No, no, I meant the arson, and the cheeky threat on Babel's CEO. I even heard a rumor about someone scaring the Kommissar."
"Who cares?" Chloe then asked. "Babel had it coming anyways. Why summon me to meet up with you anyways if you could have just texted me this?"
"Maybe it's because I miss you," Chicago then said. "Besides, even though I'm still an intern, you're not my boss anymore, which means – "
"I'm still not going out with you, Chicago," Chloe said bluntly, interrupting him.
"Yeah, but we're still friends," Chicago then argued. "At least I thought we were," he added, sporting his best puppy dog eyes.
In a way, Chloe supposed, they kind of were.
Chicago looked like he was going to say more but then Chloe's phone rang. She immediately grabbed it form the table, a smile on her face when she saw who it was. It clearly attracted Chicago's curiosity as well, as he kept trying to sneak a glance on the screen before Chloe answered.
"Aubrey's being a pain," Beca immediately said on the other line. "We've been digging on previous lawsuits against Babel while she was giving me a lecture of all the laws we've broken so far. Is she normally this uptight?"
"She's not wrong," Chloe noted.
"Who is it?" Chicago asked her in a whisper but she ignored him.
"And yet you're still going along with my plans," Beca then said matter-of-factly. "Why?"
"Because I can see where you're coming from. One way didn't work, the other would be going too far. I like taking your middle path."
"Come on, Chloe, who is it?" Chicago persistently asked.
"If you're so keen on taking my middle path, do you wanna take it with me to dinner tonight? Aubrey and Emily are ordering in from Flo's canteen, but I don't think I can enjoy any meal while she's pontificating."
"Where do you want to go?" Chloe then asked.
"Hmmm, let's see, there's this really popular Chinese restaurant not far from here, Hsu's Gourmet. I can come pick you up on the way?"
"I know where you're talking about, that's in the opposite direction from where I am, but it's not far. I'll meet you there instead."
"Alright then, I'll see you soon. Dinner is on me," Beca then said on the other end of the line.
"How can I say no to a free dinner?" Chloe then said, a little too dramatically, and she heard Beca laugh on the other end of the line. "I'll see you in a bit," she then said, hanging up.
When she turned to Chicago, he was pouting again. "I was planning on buying you dinner, you know?"
"With an intern's salary? It's better to save it," Chloe then noted. "I guess I'll see you around," she then said excusing herself. She figured, since the two of them were kind of friends, then she could at least fish for info on Babel and DSM through him. It wouldn't be bad to maintain such types of connections.
"Yeah, sure," Chicago replied. "Take care, Chloe."
Aubrey and Beca were stuck in a discussion about whether or not they should reach out to the researchers and possible family members of those now affected by yet another one of Babel's new drugs, BLSD. Aubrey was still shaken about what happened with their pursuit of RDU-90, and with everything feeling so similar, she wasn't entirely on board with the plan. She wanted to approach the judicial fight with battle through a different case this time. Maybe a look into their taxes, or perhaps a bribery scandal with some of the city's politicians.
Beca, despite nearly being killed by their schemes, was a bit bolder than she was. She saw the news about the BLSD scandal as an opportunity they needed to seize.
Chloe. her best friend, the person who she thought would be by her side and pick her side no matter what, was currently undecided, and may possibly even be leaning towards Beca's suggestion.
Aubrey could feel herself losing this fight already.
Emily, thankfully, was staying out of it, although Aubrey already knew that she was Team Beca through and through.
Aubrey wasn't going to lie, she could see Beca's point, but she was just afraid to lose again.
Not the trial, no.
She simply cannot lose anyone else again, not to Babel at least. And most especially, she can't lose Chloe.
She was too grounded in fear of that single possibility.
The argument was interrupted by a surprise visit from Amy, just as things were getting a bit more heated.
Amy looked like a mess, worried and distraught, it made for a strange sight for Aubrey who had been so used to seeing her anything but this way. It was simply so unlike Amy.
"What's the matter?" It was Chloe who asked while Beca pulled up a chair around their meeting table for her. Emily, on the other hand, was quickly making tea for their new guest.
And so, Amy explained. The researcher on the news, the one who collapsed after coughing up blood, was an old friend of her. She said this with a wink, as if to indicate that they were once more than just friends too. Apparently, this information about the intimacy of their relationship was relevant because the doctor made a claim that the reason for the collapse was due to an underlying genetic disorder, a claim Amy new was totally bogus. The doctor was lying out of his ass. On top of that, he wasn't the only one. Some of the interns, researchers, even waste management team members who were all exposed to the drug being developed, whether directly or indirectly, were now showing signs of the same symptoms. A few had already died too from cardiac arrests.
"Sounds like it's far more serious than what we first thought," Chloe then said thoughtfully.
"What the hell is wrong with Babel? Why is it that they keep making these things?" Aubrey then exclaimed. "What kind of evil CEO thinks this is the best business strategy, is money really all he wants or does he have some more evil schemes planned to shut this down again?"
"Oh, no, that guy's an idiot, it's not him behind all of this," Beca then said, matter-of-factly surprising everyone in the room.
"And how would you know about that?" Aubrey then asked.
Beca hummed. "Oh, the other day, I paid him a visit in the gym he goes to. I pretended to flirt around and be a fan, dropped in a few quotes here and there of famous literary pieces, talked a bit about economics and the law, even the latest scientific trends. He knows nothing, he did his best to pretend like he knew what he was talking about though."
"When did you even have the time?" Chloe asked this time, a little bit irritated. Of what, Aubrey wasn't sure about yet, she could only guess. But the two of them had been thick as thieves since Beca woke up from her coma.
"You're saying there's a different mastermind," Aubrey then said and Beca nodded.
"But who could it be?" Emily asked. "Don't tell me, Theo Walters' father is still alive and just pretending to be dead, huh?"
Aubrey shot her a look, one mimicked by Chloe. Even Amy was looking at her disapprovingly.
Beca shrugged. "Who knows," she then said, "but this could be one opportunity we can take to find out."
Aubrey sighed. Amy was here for a reason, and despite not asking it directly yet, she already knew where this whole discussion was going. They wouldn't be able to turn her down.
"Alright, munchkin, have it your way," she then conceded. "We'll take this case."
"Except they already have a lawyer," Amy then said, "the victims. I looked him up, the guy is totally incompetent and only wants to make money off of his desperate clients."
"Don't you worry 'bout a thing, Amy," Beca then reassured her. "Let me handle that guy," she went on to say before addressing both Chloe and Aubrey. "You guys study up on the case and figure out how we can convince the victims and their families. Catch me up later."
Aubrey nodded. It looks like a plan was once again being made.
Yet another case against Babel.
But this time, she vowed that they will win.
For Uncle Chris, and all of Babel's victims.
It took them a week to sort things out. Beca would have preferred to handle it faster, but she didn't mind at all. She got to spend time with Chloe.
For some reason, lately, she hasn't been losing her patience over the tiniest bit of inconvenience. She's actually been savoring the moments where the scheme and plan, not that she has never savored punishing someone before for the wrongs they did, but this was different. Her hands were bound by the limits that Chloe Beale defined, she was the one seeking vengeance, for her father and all of Babel's other victims, Beca was just the tool for her to enact that vengeance. But it didn't feel that way at all.
Things were quiet on Italy's side of things. Luca had reached out to update her that Paulo was preoccupied with other matters involving other families. It seemed like he was not making any friends but stacking up enemies. That gave Beca a little bit of freedom for now, one less worry.
As for the BLSD trial, she helped as best she could with understanding the case, wanting to come prepared. In the day, she and Lilly enacted their plans in getting rid of the money-grubbing lawyer, stealing his hidden stash of money and the bribes he took from opposing law firms to tank his cases and donating it to charity on his behalf. She may have also had Lilly abduct him and leave him stranded on the side of the interstate to stir him away from the case. Babel wasn't going to win this one because of his greed and incompetence. At night, Chloe worked on catching her up with the case, and prepping for the approach to the family's victims, as the victims were mostly hospitalized and barely conscious at the moment.
The task for convincing them fell onto the two of them, and Beca didn't mind at all. Aubrey was pulling double duty, working hard on convincing her other client, the one that Beca constantly stopped herself thinking about.
She didn't want to, she wasn't ready.
She's been acting weird about it around Aubrey already, every time her curiosity got the better of her that Beca was worried she was getting suspicious of her motives.
But that was a matter a future version of herself would need to worry about. For now, she shoved her thoughts about her father deep down inside and carried on.
They set up a meeting with the family members seven days to the date since they decided to pick up the case. On the way, Chloe kept asking her who should talk first and how to properly kick things off. Beca had let Chloe take the lead in making the pitch so she figured that the ever so bubbly redhead should go ahead and do it, thinking she would just jump on if needed.
But then Chloe said something that stoked the fires of her competitive spirit a little bit. "That's fair, I mean, none of the tenants liked you at first either, what with the detached aura you have. You probably can't convince them even if you tried."
"And if I do, and you fail?" Beca asked.
"Impossible," Chloe replied.
"Alright then, a bet. You go on ahead with your pitch, if you don't convince them, I'll make my pitch. If that still doesn't work, well then you win. If you manage to convince them straight away, you also win. But if I convince them, I win."
"Simple enough," Chloe commented. "What's the prize?"
"What would you like?"
"Ah, how about the winner flicks the loser," Chloe suggested.
"A flick?" Beca repeated. "Are we children?"
"If it's something the other wants, and you manage to do the impossible and win, you're gonna name something super expensive," Chloe said, and it was quite the astute deduction. "Unless you're afraid of a flick on the shoulder or the head."
"I'm not afraid of anything," Beca countered.
"Then it's settled!"
Beca, as promised, had let Chloe make her pitch first. She listed her accomplishments, the cases she won… she even used her experience at DSM to try and sell the idea that she knows how the enemy thinks and can therefore go toe-to-toe against them, promising she will give it her best. But the family members just all looked disheartened. The Beale and Posen law firm was small after all, smaller than the one their previous egghead of lawyer came from. Not to mention, they recently had negative publicity with the RDU-90 case. Of course, this was going to be an uphill battle.
Unmoved, the family members looked ready to leave. That's when Beca stepped up with hers. She didn't list any of her wins or anything, instead, she got to the heart of the matter.
"I know, we know, how to win whatever it takes. The scales of justice are uneven, it favors the rich like Babel, but I know how to balance it. I know how to fight fire with fire. Unconventional, maybe, but our methods will be effective. I'm not here to promise you that we'll do our best, we'll win. You can mark my words now. I don't even really know how to lose," Beca said all cool, calm, and confident.
There was something about it that had moved the family members. Beca liked to think that it's her self-assuredness more than anything, but they agreed. They won them over. They were going to take their case.
This of course left Chloe astounded.
Once they were left alone in the offices, Emily busy running an errand and Aubrey visiting her other client, Chloe looked nervous and Beca grinned.
It was time to collect.
"I can't believe that just happened," Chloe bemoaned.
"Oh, you better," Beca said. She started rolling up the sleeves of her black blouse. "And I believe I have a flick to collect."
Chloe grumbled and Beca can't help but think of how cute the noise she made was. It might have been enough to concede her own victory.
Might've.
But Beca found that she enjoyed teasing Chloe Beale.
She stepped up close to Chloe. Thanks to the heels she was wearing, they were practically the same height. A grin was tucking at the edges of her lips as she pretended to flick her on the forehead once or twice, Chloe wincing away even when there was no contact. That's when she noticed the scar on her forehead instead.
Beca let her fingers trace over the little scar, a more solemn look on her face. When she pulled her hand away and looked at Chloe, she wound that Chloe was staring back her as well.
Something all together familiar and new happened in that moment, and Beca found that she couldn't quite help it but be lost in the blue of Chloe's eyes. She realized that this may have been the closest that they stood next to each other, an air of silence hanging between them, but it never felt uncomfortable or awkward. The passing of time had been forgotten, and everything else about the office too.
All that Beca could pay attention to was Chloe.
But like all good things, the moment had to end, and it came in the form of an interruption.
The doors of the law firm had burst open and a tall young man with dark brown hair walked inside, looking for Chloe. He had an excited look on his face.
He was quite fit, Beca noted. His work suit simple, and tie a little skewed, but they were from a good upper-class brand. Not too luxurious but expensive enough for someone who – as he was explaining to Chloe while completely ignoring Beca's presence – was a former intern and now newly promoted junior partner at DSM.
Beca frowned at the name of the law firm as Chloe congratulated him, asking him why they promoted him so suddenly.
"I don't know either, but what I do know is that we should celebrate," he then said. That was when Chloe remembered that introductions were in order. Beca offered him a hand as Chloe mentioned that his name was Chicago West. Chicago accepted and shook her hand. As Chloe was concluding the introductions, Beca noticed the watch on his wrist, it was from a brand that made bespoke watches.
Something about Chicago didn't sit well with Beca, perhaps that's why when he asked Chloe out for dinner to some nice Japanese place to celebrate, she casually invited herself to join them. Chicago didn't look to pleased, but Chloe seemed eager at the idea, so he had no choice.
Beca was pleased to have won that small unexpected battle.
As Chloe gathered her things, Beca kept her eyes fixed on Chicago, and he did the same thing.
Something about him doesn't feel right.
Something just doesn't quite add up.
A/N Pt 2: And again, I ask, I wonder who Theo is scared of?
Next chapter might be a very long one so if I don't update Monday, it's because I wasn't able to finish it. I stream on the weekends so I don't have time to right as much then xD
UPNEXT: SHENANIGANS GALORE! THE ACTUAL TRIAL! HEARTFELT MOMENTS?