15 Chapter 15: Gotham’s Big Story Part 2

Vicki had rushed in less than ten minutes from her office to the cafe.

She took a moment to collect herself once she was outside before stepping boldly into the cafe.

There weren't many people there because it wasn't quite lunchtime. Vicki only needed to concentrate on the male sitting alone, wearing a mask and a hoodie over his head.

She moved over and sat down on the chair across from him in the booth as if she was certain it was him.

Arias turned to face her after idly peering out the window, and their eyes met. His eyes and brows gave away the devilishly attractive visage hiding beneath, despite the fact that his lower face was concealed.

"That was quick, you must either be eager or desperate, miss Vale." Her initial impression of him was reflected in his speech.

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.

"Don't be mistaken miss Vale, I want you to do this but I don't need you, remember that difference. Here."

Arias only placed an envelope on the table without saying anything more.

Vicki felt annoyed but due to the need for the story she didn't say anything in response and just collected the envelope. He didn't object when she opened it right away, and she discovered one flash drive inside.

"It's all here?" When Arias was asked to confirm, he first stood up without responding.

She couldn't tell while he was seated but his figure was both fit and tall, giving him more of a dominating presence.

As he looked down at her he added. "Along with the documents are some 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 comments before casually walking out of the café. Vicki was tempted to ask many more questions, but she held herself because she wanted to verify whether the material was really as important and scoop-worthy as he claimed.

She waited nervously for the ten minutes to end, and as soon as they did, she hurried out of the cafe.

When she got back to work, she noticed that her coworker was 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 after her mumbled remark. He could only shrug it off as her being on that time of the month before quickly walking away.

'Now let's see here…'

She opened the disk as soon as the computer recognized it so she could see what was inside.

After five minutes, she was so amazed by what she was seeing that she was unable to control herself.

"This is huge!!"

Since most of her coworkers had left for their different lunch periods, she screamed out, her voice echoing slightly.

Vicki didn't give a damn and kept looking through the pages until she came 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.'

Vicki was excited by the thought and started writing a story right away.

Her coworkers returned after lunch, but she was still visibly glued to her computer, typing nonstop.

After several hours had gone and it was almost time for closing, she printed the story and its supporting documentation 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, which was occupied by an older-looking man.

"Vicki? Dammit you startled me. Have you finally figured out what our story is going to be? The executives are chewing me out for not having a story yet, all the major publishers are meat riding these justice heroes so hard you'd think they get tired. If this goes on we'll be a joke come 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 towards him, announcing confidently and shamelessly.

The man began reading while rubbing his pedophile 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 and his eyes got smaller.

"I've already emailed some 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 rapidly and he picked up with a brow raised.

"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 yourself that it's all real yes? We'll provide you all the details we want to include in the story, and once you've verified them for us, 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 smashed the phone on the ground while beaming broadly.

"Well?" Vicki placed her hand on her hip and asked with a raised brow what conclusion was reached.

Before responding, the chief composed himself and cleared his throat.

"He says it won't be problem and that he will personally vouch that the information is true and give an exclusive interview late 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 meeting, we're gonna be equally busy tonight."

Vicki was just beautifully grinning while the enthusiastic editor in chief couldn't help but speak with great excitement.

"You got it boss, Oh an I'll be heading home to change, since you know, I'll be reporting live at the scene and the article publishing tomorrow will be written by me 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 come."

Vicki confidently left the room after getting the assurance she was looking for as the Editor in Chief started to hula dance with his arms flailing in the air.

"Hakuna matata~ It means no worries~ I'm going to Hawaii~ And my wife will ride me~ Tututulu~"