[FIN] Who Will it Be?

[TawnyAngel]

"That is not the same file," Zevran muttered as his eyes narrowed to suspicious slits, it was only a hunch but it was a strong one. "Copy it onto one of the other sticks, perhaps we can crack it later?" 'Later' he said but there was so little time! "Unless- Can you think of anything else she might use as a password? An alias? A pokemon? A brand? Her boss' name?" But combined with what?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No, but it's a copy of it, or at least it looks like one... but why?" Abel bit his lower lip thoughtfully, his brows furrowed. s**t. What could they... "Wait. It might be a long shot but try typing in the same password you used to log into her computer," he suggested, stepping to the side to give Zevran room to do so. There was no way it would work though, it couldn't. She definitely wasn't dumb enough to do that.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmh," Zevran replied softly and tapped the required keys quickly, it had to be worth a shot.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She apparently was dumb enough to do that.

The file accepted the password without issue and began loading the contents. At a glance, it appeared to be an identical copy to the original file, though some of the figures were a bit different.

With a puzzled frown, Abel minimized it and opened the original file, inputting the other password when prompted. Once it loaded, he alternated between the two - both set to the November tab - to figure out what was different about them. It wasn't hard to spot when compared so: The copy's figures were higher in certain areas than the original's, amounting to higher totals -- higher by at least a thousand.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran beamed. "She is cheating him!" he hissed in an excited whisper. "This man was supposed to be back later at the building yes, around five? And she must be bringing him the first file at some point so if we can show him both...." He would most definitely have been killed for trying to cheat his masters out of money, if he had ever seen much of it first hand that was, so he could only hope the same was true here!... So long as it wouldn't come back to bite Abel in the a** that was.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"She is cheating him," he echoed, lifting his hands to press them over his mouth. After being under her thumb for so long, being stuck and broke and not knowing what to do, how he would survive suffering with her for the rest of his life... Now he had not one but two things over her head, both within the last few minutes. It was almost too good to be true, almost too much to believe. "Here," he said suddenly, dropping his hands to pull open the drawer, "let's grab one of those USB sticks and take a copy of both."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Si," Zevran grinned, squeezed Abel's shoulders and lent down to kiss his temple briefly. "This is perfect!" Now all they had to do was get out again. Were the paper files he had set on the desk worth taking? Perhaps so and it was little trouble to do so, they could be given to Alyssa's boss or ditched somewhere as seemed best at the time.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Feeling as if this had turned into some sort of cruel dream that dangled freedom in front of him like a carrot on a stick, the taller blond mimicked Alyssa's method of using the pencil to remove the false bottom from the drawer. After he took out one of the USB sticks and set both files to copy over to it, he cleaned up the drawer and put it back together in more or less the same haphazard fashion Alyssa had left it.

While waiting for both files to copy, Abel couldn't help but be gripped by a growing fear that what if something went wrong? What if they didn't copy over? What if Alyssa came back in right then? What if they didn't even matter?

Luckily for him though, at least two of those fears were assuaged when the files finished transferring and Alyssa remained firmly planted on her luxurious couch. After removing the device and placing it securely in one of his coat's inner pockets, Abel closed both files and quietly closed the laptop. "Alright," he said, trying to remember to breathe but feeling too full of energy - from nerves or excitement, he wasn't sure; possibly both - and straightened up, "let's go I guess? I don't know what else we really need from here."

With that thought in mind, the blond headed for the office doorway with Caleb at his heels and Sonia taking the lead, but they only made it that far before pausing. Alyssa sat on her couch, comfortable as could be, watching the expansive tv on the other side of the wide room. There was no space to go behind either the entertainment center or the couch, and to top it all off, the redhead's Houndoom had woken from its slumber long enough to drag itself out to the armchair nestled between Alyssa's bedroom door and the bathroom door, not more than ten or so feet from them.

The one thing that Alyssa had done in their favor was light a rather pungent flowery candle that now burned happily away on the coffee table in front of her.

"...s**t," Abel whispered. "What now?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran picked the files up again and, after a glance out into the living room, he gestured to the window. "Either we go out that way, or we wait.... Or we cause a diversion to get her and the hound to leave the area for a moment; Cloud could do that, knock something over in her room perhaps?" If it was just him he would take the window, though given that it was probably frosty out there by now dropping down from ledge or climbing up to the roof if that was possible was probably unsafe. He wouldn't have cared much about that a few months ago but he could hardly just go an die stupidly on Abel when he might still be needed.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Uhh," Abel replied uncertainly as he returned to the window to peek out of it - specifically, how far down it was. "There's no fire escape, and even if I brought my other pokemon with me, none of them could handle a drop like that. And I'd rather not cause a diversion," he went on as he turned back to aim the uncertain expression on his friend now. What could they do? "She's pretty suspicious and I don't want her to know we're here, not now." Not now that he was so close to freedom - for both himself and Taavi too, if he could manage it - so close to getting rid of her entirely. Not that he was fond of just sitting around here though, but he didn't really see what else they could do -- or at least, what else he could do. "So I guess.. unless you have a way for us to get out from the window, we probably just wait it out... As much as I'd rather do almost anything else."  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran frowned as he considered the pokemon he'd brought along. "Well my thought was to use Amigo's webbing to climb down but I am not sure how practised you are at such things, and in any case you are not at your fittest. I think it would be best to wait, if we sit in a corner under illusion there is little chance of her finding us I think. Perhaps she will go to bed soon? She does have to be up early. On the other hand she may leave again to see her boss and we can follow her out." Being able to take immediate action would be much preferable but he doubted it would be a long wait, soon enough they would soon enough be able to go and find this Dirksen and show him what they had found. He would also be able to ask Abel how he had known the name.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Uh, not," he replied readily. "Not at all. I've never done that sort of thing before, and yeah I'm definitely not.." Having subsisted on a diet of cheap coffee, instant noodles and cigarettes for almost two years, having been stabbed recently, his lung still recovering, he hadn't eaten in probably a day or two at this point... No, he definitely wasn't at his best.

He passed his hand over his mouth and chin and frowned thoughtfully down at Sonia. "D'you think you could cover us for that much longer?"

The preoccupied dark-type made a thoughtful noise before she nodded her head once.

Abel resisted the urge to pet her lest he break her concentration and nodded. "Alright. Yeah, I guess we just.. find a good corner to sit in and wait until either.. I don't know. She falls asleep or shuts the tv off or something," the taller blond finished somewhat lamely with a shrug. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long - as Zevran said, she did need to be up early in the morning.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmh," Zevran nodded agreement, "and if we sit out of her line of sight Sonia need only put on illusion if we hear somebody coming... She doesn't have a ghost does she? If she does it would be safer to hold illusion." It was hard to consider all of these new factors, pocket monsters here in Kodo made things complicated. At least the Fereldan's and their hounds were simple, perhaps they burned you alive but you saw them coming.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yes.. Ah, I don't know if she does or not," the taller blond admitted, a frustrated expression briefly crossing his face. "She doesn't let me find out much about her, so if she does have one I don't know about it." Regardless, he cast around for a moment to find a decent spot where they could stay out of the way, just in case, and where they could easily see her. Since they wanted to play it safe just in case, the spot they eventually settled was in the living room between the tv and the wall. It was relatively comfortable, given the luxurious carpeting, and out of the way. Abel sighed softly as he leaned back against the wall, Caleb curling up beside his leg and Sonia sitting next to him.

It had been late when they'd settled down - after midnight by then, surely - and as the hours crawled by, Alyssa wavered, drifted to sleep a few times but woke up within a couple minutes each time, and even when she finally fell asleep on... Her Houndoom stretched and got up to push buttons with the tip of its spaded tail to change the channel to find something better to watch. Abel could only sit and wait, his anxiety growing with every passing minute, leaning his elbows on his knees and resting his head in his hands. The longer they sat here, the longer they hid themselves in Alyssa's apartment, and every minute spent there was another minute they could be found. He wanted to leave, to get out and away from here -- he wanted to go home and get the manila folder Alyssa had given him all those months ago, and take it to this guy and see what he'd do about her, see if maybe she would stop blackmailing him and Taavi. They were so close - so close - but instead of being able to expend all his restless energy through action, all he could do was sit and wait.

Eventually, finally, the Houndoom curled up and laid its sleepy head down on its paws, and a few moments after its eyes closed, Abel stirred. "I think it's finally asleep," he whispered, though kept his gaze focused on the hound just to make sure it stayed asleep.  

[TawnyAngel]

They waited.

Normally he would relax at least a little but tonight he found himself unable to because for he actually cared about what came of his actions, and so he sat with is muscles lax but his mind twanging as Alyssa dozed on and off. Abel's thigh rested against his own and whenever his mind drifted back to that fact his heart skipped and jumped quickly for a few beats. That was not a feeling he was used to; it must be because they were friends in a tense situation, he had never had that before... Well he had, he had had friends but.... Talesin and Rinna had not been like this with him, killers together with full knowledge of their exact worth and innate worthlessness. Abel was not worthless and didn't have a worth; he was without price, and sitting comfortably with such a man must be what felt strange.

At long, long last both Alyssa and the hound were still; Zevran nodded to Abel and rose silently to his feet. With his eyes trained keenly on the spade-tailed pokemon he paced towards the door with feather steps and slowly turned the lock.