She’d already picked up Cameron and was all but dragging the woman’s ass across the city to none other than her childhood best friend’s penthouse. Now, she didn’t know much about Khalid anymore, but the Khalid she knew as a kid would’ve helped her in an instant, and she just prayed that after him witnessing her moment of weakness the other day, he would oblige. Because if he didn’t…
Beckett didn’t want to think about that. She had a job to do. Cameron, she could trust, Bex knew. Besides, the fact that she could sexually drape the girl around her finger if COMPLETELY necessary reassured her, too. She didn’t want to go to those extremes, but if proved necessary… All she knew was that this was her first week as a Commander and Bex wasn’t about to let down her House. Not when the stakes were so high. She’d do whatever it takes. And luckily, her alliance with Pestilence would be coming in handy —- Right about now.
She hadn’t said a word about it to Cameron yet, just gave her a peck on the cheek, grabbed her by the hand, and began dragging her away, explicating that they were going to another Pestilence member’s penthouse and that it was important and she couldn’t explain out in the open. Not yet. So when the door to her friend’s place finally peeled open, Beckett all but sprinted inside. She was still suffering a significant amount of pain from her injuries, but adrenaline, and borderline temporary psychosis, might she add, were fuelling her. The stress of her physical injuries had subsided. At least for now.
❛ Khalid, Cameron —- ❜ She took a shaky breath. Sure, these weren’t HER members to command, she had no authority over them, but it was as though her regal presence radiated from her aura regardless of how she composed herself, these days. ❛ I need your help. ❜ Then with a sigh, she sifted out another’s cellphone from her pocket, offering it for them to examine. ❛ I stole this phone, and I need you guys to hack into it for me. I need to find any kind of information that could prove useless. If you don’t —- I’m going to lose my job, and I really can’t handle that. ❜ She met Khalid’s eyes then, purposefully, because he KNEW to what she was referring. ❛ Not after everything this week. The pressure’s high and I’m struggling to keep up with it. So, please, can you help me ? ❜
Khalid spent most of his life in an industry that played with him, treating him like a valuable piece on a chess board that could be easily discarded. Never the king, or even the queen – Khalid spent that time seeing himself as the bishop. Important, but there was always someone else with the same amount of importance as him, and it was about who got his hands on him first and managed to move him around according to their wishes. Joining Pestilence, joining this life was Khalid’s way of choosing to have control, to be the one moving the chess pieces around instead of being in the game.
The man was done with people playing games with him.
It was not only him, it was his house. People he didn’t necessarily know, but that he was still protective over. When the power shut down, Khalid knew what to expect. Getting the footage of June wasn’t complicated – what was difficult was knowing this is what his commander had been reduced to. He knew theirs wasn’t the only one to be in the hands of whoever was doing this, but it didn’t mean that the man felt any less humiliated. Pestilence was supposed to be the smartest house, and yet they haven’t managed to crack this specific code. Whoever was playing them had been having the last laugh for too long and Khalid was tired.
The Face had been texting his second commander when there was a knock on his door. Considering Khalid knew there wasn’t much he could still do about finding the source of the broadcast, he tossed his phone aside and went to the door to answer it. Before Khalid could even check who it was, Beckett was storming into his apartment, Cameron in tow – Pestilence members don’t usually know each other, but Cameron was his superior and great help whenever the job in hand was too difficult for one person.
“ You need me to hack a phone? ” The man asked, reaching for the mobile and taking it into his hands. It was turned off – at least Beckett had enough of a brain still to remember to do that, as he’d told her -, but Khalid hesitated before moving to the couch where his laptop was. “ First of, this is business shit not friends shit, so don’t come with please. The last thing we need is for either of our commanders to think they have the right to tells us to end our friendship because of conflict of interest due to personal attachment. I know you’re aiming for this alliance or whatever, but be practical, this is business. ” Khalid made sure Beckett understood before motioning for Cameron to join him on the couch.
“ Second, I’m offended that you think I need help hacking a phone, ” the man rolled his eyes, pulling a cord and attaching the phone to it. It was only when he had launched a program to lock the location of the phone somewhere as far from them as possible, until they could have access to the passwords and therefore turn off tracking completely, that Khalid turned the device on. “ Do me a favor and don’t tell me who this phone belongs to, yeah? ” He allowed his eyes to drift from Beckett to Cameron. “ Check the phone’s texts and con- wait, I don’t have to tell you what to do, just check what you can after I manage to unlock it. ”
There was a pick up line and a half on The Vengeful’s tongue when Beckett picked her up, but it was all thrown out the window of the car she was dragged into when there was a peck on her cheek and a need of her skills. If there was one thing she loved MORE than girls, it was computers and hacking into them for personal profit. Fishing a joint out of her leather jacket pocket, she promised it was partially tobacco and lit it for a quick smoke on the way to their destination. Most often times, Cameron would get a bit high before starting her programming, figuring it helped with inspiration and focusing. And the gentle b u z z in her brain kept her from acting out more irrationally than usual. She was very careful assuring that the smoke filtered out the window as much as possible, practically leaning out of the car, not wanting some Famine member to put a target on her head for getting weed smell on her upholstery.
Less talkative than usual--- thank you, quality dank--- Cameron finally spoke once they were walking past the threshold into the penthouse. “ Holy shit! ” she exclaimed, somewhat breathless, gaze flitting about the room. And didn’t stop, even as Beckett was addressing her and Khalid, who she had greeted with a shuffle of his hair. Whatever the brunette was saying only half applied to Cam. She was just here to hack a computer or phone---
“You’re freaking out about a cellphone?” Cameron blurted out, crossing her arms, deflating the slightest bit. “You know that’s like second grade shit, right? I could smoke a real joint and do it MYSELF with my eyes closed.” Then Khalid, the lil’ cutie, was rambling off about it being business and whatnot, and she merely rolled her eyes at his dramatic ass, figuring it had more to do with their personal relations than she herself knew about. “Yeah, yeah,” she shrugged in Beckett’s direction, following her fellow member to the couch and sinking into the cushions with a deep sigh and feeling the fabric. “Dude, you’re loaded; this is nice shit.”
Realizing they were getting serious, a wide smile split her face as she took a hardrive out from her jacket pocket, something she always carried around with her. For specific reasons. Nicking another cable from Khalid’s stash, she prepared it before handing it over. “Custom Firewall, just in case. Since we don’t know who our lovely thief took this from, we should be prepared for malware, if they suspected something like this happening. Just plug it in once you’ve unlocked the phone and deactivated the tracking chip.” With that, she leaned back against the couch, smug like she had contributed more than she actually had. Besides, it could be good practice for Khalid to get involved in these situations, not that he wasn’t more than capable, but she wouldn’t take a learning opportunity. But she doubted it was worth a lot, unless the device was more trouble than it seemed.
“You got any booze?” Cameron chirped, eyes shifting to Beckett’s nervous figure. “ Someone looks like they could use a drink or somethin’.”
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