the ultimatum ↬ elliot alderson ✔

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I let out a deep breath. I know this moment has to come sooner or later. I know I don't want her to get involved, because I'd prefer to take the fall for her. We only have four days until the plan unveils. 

I stroke her cheek with my thumb. She's awake. She groans before opening her eyes slowly.

"Hey," she whispers with a smirk. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Jesus Christ, Elliot. Just quit fucking around and ask her about the dat file," Mr Robot snaps. He's standing right next to me on the bed. I'm naked. He's here and I'm naked. This is awkward.

"Babe, I wanted to ask," I say, reaching for my pants on my bedside table, "Do you have a copy of the dat file we need?"

"Uh, yeah? Why?" she asks as I put on my clothes again.

"Darlene lost the other copy. Without it, we're all screwed," I reply, turning around. She's already dressed and Mr Robot is nowhere to be seen. Fuck, there's not much time until the high fades.

"I have it in my safe," Dawn utters, sitting down on the bed. "I can bring it tomorrow, if you want."

"No," I say, shaking my head blankly at the ground. "I need it now."

"Jeez, you could have just texted me before. I would have brought it here," she retorts.

"Can you bring it in an hour or so?"

"Here?" she asks.

"No, let's meet at fsociety."

***

The moment the high fades, my mental state returns. It's weak, but that doesn't mean I can't use that to my advantage. 

I get on the last carriage of the train to avoid attention. I hate attention. A man with a harmonica enters the carriage, the sound of his roaring music making my head spin.

I can't be having withdrawals already, can I?

I need to get to fsociety as soon as I can. The rest are waiting for me.

I remember how all of this began. The formation of fsociety. The previous owner of the Fun Society amusement park in Coney Island was shot over a year ago, leaving the place abandoned until we got there. It was only 14 miles away from Chinatown, where I live. I know, lame. But its location was perfect; and that's all we needed.

It was the ideal place to set up our terminals. Romero, who I know because of Darlene, set up a system so we would have power in the amusement park.

Through Romero, I met Trenton. She's one of the fastest malware makers I know. And there's Mobley, who may seem like a bit of an asshole when you meet him for the first time, but he's not too bad.

Dawn was added to our team a year ago.

Darlene had placed a malware at the company Dawn works for, Superannuation, another AllSafe client. She passed the test, which was all we needed.

To recruit someone, I create a virus that will infiltrate the most crucial servers in conglomerates with high IT tech. If they pass the test and manage to solve the virus, they're good enough to join.