Vicki had rushed from her office to the café in less than ten minutes. She took a mont to collect herself once she was outside before stepping boldly into the café. There weren't many people there because it wasn't quite lunchti yet. Vicki quickly spotted the man sitting alone, wearing a mask and a hoodie. Confident that this was the person she was eting, she moved over and sat down on the chair across from him in the booth.
Arias, who had been idly peering out the window, turned to face her. Despite the mask covering his lower face, his eyes and brows hinted at the devilishly attractive visage hidden beneath.
"That was quick. You must either be eager or desperate, Miss Vale," he said, his tone reflecting her initial impression of him.
She was taken aback by the sophisticated yet imposing foreign accent, but she kept her composure and simply grinned. "Why the disguise? Considering what you claim to have, I thought you'd at least be a little brave." She made fun of him, but Arias only grinned in response.
"Don't be mistaken, Miss Vale. I want you to do this, but I don't need you. Rember that difference. Here."
Arias placed an envelope on the table without saying anything more.
Vicki felt a twinge of annoyance but, due to her need for the story, she didn't say anything in response and simply collected the envelope. He didn't object when she opened it right away, finding a single flash drive inside.
"It's all here?" she asked, seeking confirmation.
Arias stood up without responding. Now that he was standing, Vicki could see his fit and tall figure, which gave him a more commanding presence. As he looked down at her, he added, "Along with the docunts are so instructions for you to follow. You can, of course, ignore them, but that will be the end of our... partnership, if you will. If you follow them correctly, I'll be sure to provide you with more newsworthy details later on. You can leave after 10 minutes."
Arias uttered those words before casually walking out of the café. Vicki was tempted to ask many more questions, but she held herself back, wanting to verify whether the material was really as important and scoop-worthy as he claid. She waited nervously for the ten minutes to pass, and as soon as they did, she hurried out of the café.
When she got back to work, she noticed her coworker preparing to go for lunch.
"Hey, how'd it g—"
Vicki rushed inside the room, ignored the young man, sat down at her desk, and quickly connected the flash drive. "Can't talk right now, Joey."
He was even more perplexed by her mumbled remark. He could only shrug it off, assuming she was just stressed before quickly walking away.
*Now, let's see here...*
She opened the drive as soon as the computer recognized it, eager to see what it contained. After five minutes, she was so amazed by what she was seeing that she couldn't control herself.
"This is huge!!"
She scread out, her voice echoing slightly since most of her coworkers had left for their lunch breaks. Vicki didn't care and continued to scan through the docunts until she ca across the PDF of the instructions. She quickly read through it and thought to herself.
*Well, his instructions aren't really deal-breaking, and if he's able to gather more information like this, then I may have just found myself the perfect data boy.*
Excited by the thought, Vicki began writing a story right away. Her coworkers returned from lunch, but she was still glued to her computer, typing nonstop. As the hours passed and it was nearly ti for closing, she printed the story and its supporting docunts before quickly leaving the room to visit the editor-in-chief.
She flung the door open without knocking and waltzed inside, placing a thick stack of papers on the sizable desk occupied by an older-looking man.
"Vicki? Dammit, you startled . Have you finally figured out what our story is going to be? The executives are chewing out for not having a story yet. All the major publishers are riding these Justice heroes so hard you'd think they'd get tired. If this goes on, we'll be a joke co Friday."
The man rubbed his temples and sighed, as if slowly losing years off his life. But then Vicki grinned and crossed her arms confidently.
"Well, lucky for you, through blood, sweat, and tears, your best columnist has a story that will not only shake and change Gotham but the entire country." She pushed the bundle of papers toward him, announcing confidently and shalessly.
The man began reading while rubbing his thin mustache, his eyes growing ever-narrower.
"This... this is big, Vicki, but is all this true? We could all get fired if it's false," the man hesitated, his eyes narrowing further.
"I've already emailed so of the contents to Commissioner Gordon. I told him if he wants the rest, then he should allow us to expose the story first thing in the morning. It shouldn't be—"
Before Vicki could finish speaking, the chief's phone rang, and he picked it up with a raised brow.
"Yes? Oh, Commissioner Gordon! Yes, we have a lot more information. Uh, our informant?" Vicki shook her head as the chief looked at her, so he cleared his throat and continued. "Sorry, I can't expose the identity, but you've seen for yourself that it's all real, yes? We'll provide you with all the details we plan to include in the story, and once you've verified them, we'll air them on the news tonight. This is our opportunity to fix up Gotham and... Oh, really? Haha, pleasure doing business."
*Clack~*
The boss slamd the phone down, beaming broadly.
"Well?" Vicki placed her hand on her hip and raised a brow, waiting for his response.
Before answering, the chief composed himself and cleared his throat. "He says it won't be a problem and that he will personally vouch for the accuracy of the information and give an exclusive interview later today as he prepares a raid. This is going to be a massive night in Gotham, and he sounds really angry about having so many dishonest cops. Tell everyone there's a eting—we're gonna be equally busy tonight."
Vicki was grinning beautifully while the enthusiastic editor-in-chief couldn't help but speak with great excitent.
"You got it, boss. Oh, and I'll be heading ho to change since, you know, I'll be reporting live at the scene, and the article publishing tomorrow will be written by as well." She continued grinning.
The chief sighed but eventually nodded. "Okay, you deserve it. Those execs will undoubtedly invest more money after this; hehe, Hawaii, here I co."
Vicki confidently left the room after getting the assurance she was looking for, while the editor-in-chief started to hula dance with his arms flailing in the air.
"Hakuna Matata~ It ans no worries~ I'm going to Hawaii~ And my wife will ride ~ Tututulu~"
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