Sorry for the wait but my laptop charger split last month and I only got the new one last night thanks to shipping issues... Anywho, updates once a week, unless I'm busy with work!
Hey, Luke's back though. Mostly short POVs because Luke's is the real heart of the matter here. Also, we find out what happened to Chicago.
Also, we find out what Stacie's up to.
I don't own pitch perfect.
Beca leaned on her chair in the little ramen shop not far away from Barden Tower. She was a little amused with the sudden turn of events the last few days. Thanks to their installed spy cams, they discovered what had happened to Chicago during his attempted hunting with his brother.
How it would affect things moving forward? Beca wasn't sure. But she's placed her pieces on the board already, waiting for the moment to make a move when needed. For now, her attention was solely focused on the main reason of her trip to Atlanta in the first place.
Reclaiming her gold from Barden Tower.
Luke gave Beca a sheepish smile. He had arrived back from Shanghai, triumphant with his mission, obtaining a device that can replicate Wan Shi Tong's iris scan made from back up data from his old secure vaults in Shanghai. There was a bit of a scuffle, Luke having his own fair share of misadventures, hence his delayed return, but he was hear now.
And with a bit of urgency too. Luke claiming that his debtors are finally coming to collect on his dues– he said he had developed a bit of a gambling problem during the years between Wan Shi Tong's death and Beca's return – increasing his need of his small share of the hidden treasure as it would be enough and more to cover his financial mishaps.
"Are you sure I can't advance things for you?" Beca then offered. "I don't want your wife and kid getting in trouble for this."
"The gold will do, besides, while you are fluid with your cash reserves, your war with Babel is only starting to heat up. You'll need all the funds you can hold on to," Luke replied.
Beca nodded slowly, noting Luke's desire to get the gold that he would still need to sell on the black market to get money to pay his so-called debtors. Unless he promised to pay them with the gold bars themselves, something wasn't adding up.
Nevertheless, Beca agreed. It was time to get her treasure out.
"Let me handle the residents. We'll need uninterrupted time alone to enter the vault, move all the bars out, and close it shut again, as if nothing happened," Beca then said.
Luke nodded, more than eager to agree, leaving Beca deeper at thought.
Chicago could feel the cold sweat that drenched his body, a steady ache on his shoulder, and the cool temperature of the room he was in just as he stirred awake. Beca's words haunted him in his dreamless state, as images of the last few days before he was shot played in his mind, rapidly repeating, until his eyes finally fluttered open.
It took a minute or two before Chicago's eyes got accustomed to the bright room. The smell of antiseptic in the air made him rather nauseous. Next to his bed was a chair, the Kommissar sitting in it, typing away on her laptop and still hard at work.
No, he won't be forgotten.
He won't lose this fight.
"Luisa…" he said in a raspy voice. This was the first time he had actually called her by her name. It felt appropriate given the upcoming momentous occasion.
In days to come, he knew this would be a memory to return to. It would be one of the catalysts for the great change he had always envisioned.
"Sir! You're awake!" the Kommissar then said, rambling on about how he got to the hospital. About the "accident" during his hunting trip with Theo.
He didn't care much about the details.
What he cared about was what was to come.
"I don't want to die a nobody," he then said. "Make the necessary preparations, and push forth for the auction for Babel Tower."
That was all he needed to say, the message was understood.
It was the dawn of the new era for Babel.
Theo has been spiraling. Bad too.
Chicago was all smiles when he saw his brother again too, and it only scared him even more. He thought he'd at least have the Babel Tower auction to have on his own and have a moment to breathe but his brother showed up too, hospital gown and IV line in tow.
He can't shake him off, and Chicago's jovial smile only has him on edge even more.
And now he's switching tactics, announcing to their allies in the government offices that he was the real head honcho, unveiling his identity, with a promise to have a public announcement soon.
He was being punished after all.
Theo's control over Babel, puppet or not, will be gone. Chicago was planning to take it for himself now.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Theo heard a woman say, as she burst into the meeting room the auction was being ran. She had blonde hair and wore a standard issue suite, but that wasn't enough to give Theo any idea who she was.
"And who are you?" the Kommissar, who was ever so faithfully by Chicago's side, asked.
"I'm Deputy Director Abernathy-McKadden-Feinberger, I'm the CIA's representative," the woman had said.
"Excellent, welcome in," Chicago replied, ushering her towards a seat.
Theo felt his stomach sink. He already feared Chicago, and for good reason.
Giving him all the power in the world, with the people in the room now eager to work with him, Theo could only shudder at thought of what kind of monster it would give birth to. What kind of demon his brother could become.
He has to make a choice, make a decision.
He failed, simply because he couldn't kill him. But he does know one true thing.
Chicago has to be stopped.
With how things have been going, Stacie had to admit that she was a little confused to find herself on a bus towards a hot springs resort with all the rest of the tenants. All expense paid by Beca too. Beca claimed that it was her way of showing gratitude for all their hard work recently, and with Chicago currently in the hospital, it was a good time to take a quick break. They have some wait period until they make their next move after all.
Even Aubrey, Emily, and Chloe are coming.
The only one staying behind was Beca who claimed she had suddenly developed a cold.
A part of Stacie felt suspicious but since everyone seemed to be looking forward to things, she figured that there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
The resort was manmade and was about a 5 hour drive out of state. For the most part, their trip had been smooth sailing. In about an hour, they would reach their destination and stay there over the weekend.
It was at the point when Ashley and Jessica started muttering something about the gold, and what if Beca discovered the truth about it and got rid of them to take it for herself.
Cynthia Rose started feeling antsy, and so did Denise.
Bumper reminded them that they could still hire his former prospector buddy to dig into it.
Aubrey and Chloe played things off but Emily started too look a little concerned about the talk about the gold. Stacie found that suspicious. That must mean they know something.
Gold was in everyone's mind at that point and, after a 30-minute discussion on the road, they decided to head back to the tower and forgo the trip.
Stacie sighed. She liked her friends a lot, and their zany nonsense.
But she can't let them find that gold.
Luke gave Beca a half-apologetic smile as he sat near the now opened vault door, on his knees, his arms up in surrender. Beca stood across him, over the other side of the door, by the Buddhist altar. She lit up the incenses after throwing the fake gun he pulled on her back down the vault in frustration.
Needless to say, things have not gone according to plan.
But how did he get here in the first place?
As soon as the bus Beca hired to drive the residents towards the resort has left, Beca let Luke in the building. Wasting no time, they removed the tatami mats from the temple that covered the hidden passage way, used cranes to lift the concrete floor that covered, and used the device with Wan Shi Tong's iris scan data to bypass the biometric lock.
It did the trick and they opened the vault together. Luke let Beca go down the metal ladder first, and he followed shortly. All around the bunker were trinkets made of gold, lining up the walls from the top to bottom. In the middle was a giant pyramid made of gold bars stacked on top of the other, with a golden Buddha statue on top. Luke reached out to grab a gold bar at the top corner, one with a hidden latch. Inside was a strip of external hard drive, as tall as a smartphone, but narrow enough to fit inside the gold bar.
The Guillotine File.
Resolved to obtain the file and hand it off to a prosecutor who reached out to him shortly before he left, all to protect his family from his secrets, he had no other choice but steal it away. He pulled his fake gun on Beca and tried to make an escape with it, but Beca was smart. She was quick to chase him up the ladder, steal the gold bar with the hard drive from him, as well as disarm him too.
And now, here they were.
"Talk," she said before turning to face him, still looking incredibly pissed-off.
"You didn't really think I'd shoot you, right? I still owe you my life Beca, I'm just getting desperate here," Luke then said. "You don't understand, I…"
"Was MI6? Right?" Beca then said, finishing his sentence for him.
"H-how? W-when?" Luke then asked.
"Since I saved you from the mobsters you pissed off in Milan," Beca then replied.
"You knew the entire time?!"
"Do I look like a fool to you?" Beca replied. "Well, maybe I am. I considered you my real friend, Luke!"
"Listen, Beca. I had to do things I'm not proud off, alright? Things didn't really pan out well with my agency career, considering the head at the time wanted to use me to make the Guillotine File his own. I got my freedom here with the help of aa friend in the CIA I made before in exchange for toppling him over and bringing his associates, very bad and dangerous people, to both the MI6 and the CIA. Wan Shi Tong was one of them. I felt it was safer to keep the file buried here; and I was planning to take it away as part of my share."
"But?"
"But a prosecutor reached out to me before I left. She knew my past and threatened to burn me. If those dangerous people find out who I am, my family will be in danger."
"This wasn't the way to do it, Luke!" Beca argued back.
"It was the only way, at least I thought so. I didn't know you knew my identity."
Beca huffed and looked thoughtful for a second. "Kimmy Jin, right?"
"Are you sure you're not a mind reader?" Luke then replied, dumbfounded. How did she know?
"She reached out to us too, while you were gone," Beca replied. "Let me handle her."
Luke felt like an absolute idiot now. He didn't think Beca would help her with this, and yet here they were.
He was terrible friend.
But before Beca could even complain about the mushy, remorseful look he had on his face, their conversation was interrupted by a text message.
Beca looked panicked as she started grabbing things to toss inside the vault. She explained in haste that the residents were on their way back, and the text she got was from Lilly, alerting them.
Luke, in a panic as well, helped her lock the vault, close things off, and put everything back as it was.
They were about to leave the temple when they heard footsteps from the hallway outside. Chloe and Aubrey were frantically trying to divert Amy, Bumper, and Stacie's attention away from the temple. That's when Beca had a brilliant idea, and asked Luke to follow her lead.
They started bowing in front of Buddha, like temple visitors typically do as part of their prayers. When Amy asked what they were doing, Beca solemnly said they were doing a thousand bows to atone for their sins. Her cold helped her see the light and called Luke to join her.
Amy seemed to have bought it and everyone left them to their own devices, what with Amy being hungry. They decided to head to Cynthia Rose's restaurant and invited them to join the rest of the residents once they were done.
Once alone, Beca started whimpering, as if she was crying.
"Are you okay?" Luke asked, the two of them still bowing.
"Luke, you idiot."
"I'll agree I was, but what is it now?" Luke asked.
"You threw my suit blazer inside the vault while we were cleaning up."
"So what? We can just retrieve it the next time we go in?" Luke responded, confused at Beca's emotional attachment to the suit.
"The iris scan device was inside my jacket pocket," Beca replied and Luke finally understood what she meant.
They were back to square one.
Aubrey was doing her best not to laugh, and look as stern as ever, but Beca was making it very hard with her theatrics. She was currently oh so forlornly leaning towards one of the pillars in the middle of Cynthia Rose's restaurant while shamming the residents for doubting her intentions.
To be fair, they were right to doubt. But Beca was the rightful owner of the gold, so can she really blame her?
"I can't believe, that I did something out of the kindness of my heart for all of you, to show my gratitude, and you think… that-that I am some dastardly villain who would lie to you," Beca said, looking incredibly dejected.
"We're so sorry, Beca," Flo then said.
"We didn't mean to," Jessica and Ashley chorused.
"Yeah, lil consigliere," Amy then chimed in.
"It's not that we thought bad of you, but you know, gold can get to a person's greed," Cynthia Rose followed.
"I don't think, I can be here right now," Beca then said, with a sniffle, before dramatically stomping off to leave. Luke excused himself, shaking his head, explaining he was going home.
"Now look at what you've done," Chloe then chastised them before following Beca.
"Shame on all of you for thinking Beca would betray you all," Emily then said, before stomping off to.
Aubrey simply shook her head and sighed. "So much for a fun weekend with all of you," was all she said before shortly following her friends back to the office.
They have so many questions for Beca after all.
"So?" Chloe asked with bright eyes once they were in the safety of their office. "Was there really gold in the vault?"
Beca enthusiastically nodded her head and Chloe couldn't help but contain a yelp. Beca did promise that she was going to share with them.
"Was there really as much as you said there was?" Aubrey then asked.
"So much more, a whole pile of it, with a golden Buddha on top too," Beca then replied before crumbling on her knees sobbing.
Chloe was already daydreaming imagining what Beca saw when she realized that something was wrong. Why would Beca look so miserable when she now had access to her treasure.
"What's wrong, Beca?" Emily asked concerned.
And Beca explained things to them.
Which left all four of them depressed on the floor. Aubrey looked like she was about to kill Luke, Kimmy Jin, or both. Emily was just sad.
Chloe sighed.
There goes their dream of wealth.
"You know I can get it for you, right?" Stacie then asked. Chloe was about to ask how but before she could, Beca, Aubrey, and her exchanged looks and hurried up.
"How did you get in?" Aubrey asked.
"You gave me a spare key, remember?" Stacie replied with a wink. "Besides you didn't lock the additional bolts."
Beca looked at Stacie, then Aubrey, then the surfaces of their office before grimacing. It didn't take long for Chloe to follow the same trend of thought she had. Emily, precious innocent Emily, simply looked confused.
"Get what?" Beca then asked, changing the topic.
"The gold," Stacie then replied.
"W-what gold?" Emily then asked, trying to play it cool.
"We weren't talking about gold," Chloe then added.
"Cut it out already, I'm not gonna take it all from you," Stacie replied before focusing on Beca. "You're the owner right? I figured one day, after Wan Shi Tong died, that the new owner was going to come. That's why I moved here."
Beca looked at Stacie curiously. "How do you know that name?"
"Because Wan Shi Tong hired hackers to build the program for his vault door lock and all the precautions in place. He had most of killed, except one. The person who took lead in the development of that program."
Beca smirked, she understood. "You. The hacker who escaped and hid in plain sight."
"You're a hacker?!" Aubrey then exclaimed.
"That explains things," Emily then muttered to herself.
Chloe was simply left processing all the info.
"So, what do you say, Beca Bella? Would you let me help you? All I ask is my fair share. I'm owed at least that, what with the life-threatening situations I had to escape since my involvement here."
"Sure, I'm sorry for what you had to endure. If I had known, I would have stepped in," Beca said. "And one more thing? Other than restoring access?"
"What is it?" Stacie asked.
"Access to the contents of this," Beca then said before fishing out a slim hard drive from her pants pocket and handing it over to Stacie.
"What's that?" Chloe asked.
"D-don't tell me," Aubrey then said. "I thought you said you tossed everything back?"
"Sleight of hand," Beca then replied. "I figured it would be safer that we have this. We're going to war, after all."
"What is it?" Stacie asked.
"The Guillotine File," Beca replied. "Give us access to the vault and the files in that drive, and you have yourself a deal."
Stacie smiled. "Is that all? You have yourself a deal then, boss."
A/N Pt 2: The plot continues to thicken!
UPNEXT: Rise to power! A baptism! And a Declaration!