Unhackable (Elliot Alderson/Mr. Robot)

Chap.11.TyR3!!.dpv

Dedicated to Ama_be_me
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Thalia watched Elliot in bizarre amusement as he sat on her plain couch she acquired upon renting her small flat. The young man wouldn't take no for an answer. He rented a cab, gave the foreign cabby her address, and followed her up to her apartment after the cab driver arrived at her building.
Thalia was fuming with silent anger that he actually knew where she lived, but it was something that was rather pointless to be upset over.
After all, now she had quite the list made of things to be pissed at Elliot for. Hacking her, hacking her webcam, her hospital visit - Thalia felt certain the more she got to know Elliot, the more likely he would wind up pissing her off even more.





Elliot could've easily acquired her address by hacking her AllSafe file. It held her fake landline number, her cell phone number, and even had other standard information about her. Considering Thalia didn't put down any members of family as emergency contacts, that was most likely how Elliot knew she lacked in the family department.






"You're really quiet when you wanna be." Elliot mused, cupping his hands together as he watched Thalia. She'd taken to giving Elliot his hoodie back so she could change. Thalia thought for sure after taking the opportunity to shower and change into her hideous works clothes would cause Elliot to leave. He didn't.
She took her time getting ready for work at eight, too. For a near forty minutes Elliot just sat patiently on Thalia's sofa doing God knows what.





Thalia brushed through her brown locks, watching Elliot suspiciously. "Is that really coming from the guy who self proclaims he hacks people to get to know them better?"







Elliot released a small shrug. Thalia rolled her brown eyes. She waits for a response, only to find Elliot watches her with a blank expression. She was finding it was similar to pulling teeth to get him to talk.
Brushing a couple strands of  hair out of her face, Thalia sighed. "Fine. You wanna know why I don't talk? I don't like you. I feel strongly if I communicate with you, you're gonna get the mistaken impression I'm friendly."







Elliot watches her in amusement, his aqua eye unblinking before shrugging once more. "I don't get that impression from you at all."








He answered so level toned, Thalia snorted in spite of herself. "Then why are you here? Don't mistake my allowing you to bring me home was my silent begging for a friend. It was not anything of the sort. I don't want friends."






"Why?"






Thalia stared at him. It was far too early in the morning to discuss her antisocial behavior or to play twenty questions. Not to mention, she hadn't even had her coffee yet. "I don't like people."
As the words passed Thalia's lips, she found she wasn't even really lying with this response. In a very strong way, she truly didn't.




Elliot cocked a brow. "That's ironic."







Rolling her eyes, Thalia headed over to her coffee maker in her small kitchen. She ignored Elliot as she made her way over to the machine and fiddled around with the buttons as she grabbed a small cup of coffee out of her box in the cupboard. Gritting her teeth, Thalia grew annoyed. For some strange reason, she found herself needing to know what Elliot's comment meant. It was bothering her. "Humor me, what's ironic?"






"I want to know how to talk to people, while you already know how. Instead of looking at you being social as a gift, you keep it to yourself." Elliot mused.  "People like me want what you have."






Thalia rolled her eyes. "It really doesn't matter if I'm better at communicating. A good majority of the time you can't trust even the people who stand right beside you."
This was true.








Elliot cocked a brow as he contemplated her words. "Is that why you don't talk to family?"






Thalia pinched the bridge between her nose. "I'm talking about you." She shoots back, happily watching as her machine now dispenses coffee into her mug. "On the outside, you look like a quiet, albeit, awkward guy. In actuality, you're working for Fsociety and living life as a secret cyber vigilante. You're someone not to be trusted."
Turning, Thalia is pleased to find Elliot nodding. He couldn't argue that. "Example two." She continues, heading to her fridge in search of her caramel creamer. "Angela Moss. She has no idea her boyfriend is a philandering idiot." She shrugged. "She puts her faith into Ollie, when just about anyone can see he's...." Thalia trails off. "Well, an idiot."







Elliot stared at Thalia with slight awe. The corner of his thin lips twitched in a smile threatening to take over, but he controlled himself. It was funny having this girl prattle off things about Ollie he already knew to be true - why wouldn't he know it? He's hacked Ollie a few times just for fun.





After a heavy silence where Thalia finishes dropping a cube of sugar into her cup along with mixing in some creamer, Elliot finds his voice.  "You hide behind a masquerade of antisocial behavior, when in reality you could be just as normal as anyone else. So why don't you?"
He realized the best way to get her to open up was to keep her talking.







Sighing, Thalia went to find a spoon to stir her coffee goodness. "I find people too whiny and clingy to keep around." She answered dryly, fiddling around with her drawer to find a spoon. Gone for her were the days of cleaning out gritty coffee filters with beans and filters attached. She doesn't keep any of her real money in an account where people could get to it, but she made sure to buy herself some good necessities while undercover. A great coffee machine and mattress was what she happily threw her money at.







"So if you're not a cop, and not a fed, why are you undercover?"






Thalia stared at her bare kitchen wall, her stomach feeling as though it could drop to her feet. Elliot's quiet nature had its advantages. He could see things people normally too preoccupied with life couldn't  see. He watched people, read them as easily as someone could just read a book. He's picked up on something that no one in the small history of Thalia's undercover gigs could notice.





Thalia could lie, but was there a point to lying to someone who could just uproot her life little by little? She didn't exactly need anymore enemies then she already had.
Mr. Robot and Darlene were already blackmailing her. Now she might have to even worry about Fernando Vera, too.
Too much time passes, where Thalia's taken to moving over to her small kitchen table to sit. She'd sit on her comfortable couch or the big comfy brown chair she's come to favor, but she doesn't want to give Elliot the impression she wants to continue on with his wanting to get to know her.





Elliot stands, slowly walking  over to seat himself at Thalia's table across from her. "You're putting on a good front. People think you're...." He  pauses. "-Normal. The social media account where you accepted Gideon's friend request, you share mainstream bullshit or recipe's to make yourself look legit. But, you're not. You don't really talk to anyone, but that's not from lack of knowing how but more of just purposely not wanting to. Your walls are bare, showing you don't have basic interactions that other homes have. Pictures of friends, family, even a pet. It shows that you don't plan on staying here for long due to the lack of personal effect."






Thalia would be impressed by his accuracy if his seeing past her façade wasn't so wrong. Knowing about her could turn into a life or death situation for either of them.

 




"It's also obvious-" Elliot continues, cupping his hands together "-that you also know who the Vera brothers are."





Thalia doesn't even bat an eyelash. Diverting her eyes to the table before her, she gives a small nod. Damn straight she knows those brothers. If they ever figured out who she was, there would be a hit put out for her for stabbing Miguel. It was lucky she doesn't keep friends or have family - they'd be who Vera attacked first before coming for Thalia.
Knowing Elliot wasn't going to stop digging until he dug out information from her, Thalia gritted her teeth before answering. "Once upon a time, I worked for the Vera's." She answered so quietly, her tone was nearly a whisper.
"I owe you no explanation as to what I did, but it got me to see that all three brothers are scum."






She didn't want or need to tell Elliot she was a teenage stripper who was sold into a child sex trafficking ring by the Vera's. To this day, Thalia still wasn't sure how her virginity remained intact until adulthood. At anytime she could've been raped by the Vera brothers or their coworkers. After all, she was one of the pretty ones. But maybe that's why she wasn't really touched by the Vera's. She was good-looking, and she didn't mess around with their products. Thalia was like a living version of a trophy. Working girls who turned to prostitution hated her for the favor she was shown, while drug pushers wanted to use her as a  notch on their bedposts. She was damn lucky she got away from all the Vera's.






   Thalia releases the breath she wasn't aware she was holding. "I know what Vera and his little brothers do to punish their girls, so take it from someone who saw that shit first hand. Nothing good will come for Shayla if she doesn't leave town." She nodded gravely, her eyes unwavering from the table before her.







"I'm sorry." Elliot blurted out automatically, his aqua eyes wide with surprise. He didn't  realize that's how she knew the Vera brothers. He was expecting some sort of person she knew was mixed up with them. To  him, Thalia seemed innocent in some way - as if she were someone you wanted to move mountains to protect. The thought of her anywhere near Vera made his blood boil. Elliot contemplated whether that was his strange new-found protectiveness again, or if maybe he needed another dose of Morphine in his system.




To Elliot's surprise, Thalia turned a set of angry eyes onto him. "I don't want your fucking pity." She spat, her eyes narrowing further. "What I want from you nowadays, is to butt out of my life. No more hacking, no more questioning, no more communication. We're now coworkers, nothing else-"






"-We both participate in Fsociety. It's not like you're not going to see me." Elliot interrupts, a blank expression on him.







Thalia nodded seriously, her voice raised in a false girly squeal. "Christ, thanks for pointing that out, buddy. Would you now like to get our nails down and braid our hair?"






As Elliot watched Thalia with a blank expression, she rolled her eyes. "That's my bitchy way of saying I don't give a fuck. Fsociety or not, we don't need to talk anymore."





Elliot frowned. "I thought you wanted my help.....?"