the ultimatum ↬ elliot alderson ✔

<psych0sis09.bat>

<Three weeks before the hack>

The repetitive cycle of having to go to work with all of this happening makes my head explode. We have three days until the hack takes place. Darlene is worried that something will go wrong and I don't blame her. 

Cisco, Darlene and I have been working on the malware for weeks now. We meet at fsociety every two days, instead of every week, now. We don't have much time. 

We have to make sure everything is working. No flaws, no loopholes this time. 

The CD malware Ollie put inside AllSafe led to him being fired. Angela isn't upset about it. Maybe because she doesn't work here anymore and because of Ollie, AllSafe was hacked.

The TV is suddenly turned on right in front of me and all of my co-workers get up from their seats. I glare at my computer screen before looking at the TV. 

"Gideon Goddard, CEO of cyber security company, AllSafe was found dead last night outside a bar. The killer has not been found yet, but evidence suggests that this was, in fact, a homicide." 

No. This can't be happening. This is another one of my delusions, I know it. 

Gideon isn't dead. I saw him last night before I left work. He was excited for something I wasn't able to figure out. 

He's dead. Shit. This can't be happening. 

People are whispering to each other in the office. If only Angela still worked here. I could talk to her. 

Gideon isn't dead. He isn't. This isn't real. 

But, hell; it is. It's real. This can't be happening, especially right now. Three weeks until the hack. We don't have time. I need to be connected to AllSafe so that the plan can still work. I need to make sure the servers aren't rebooted within the next three weeks. That will be hard, even if now they have a distraction. 

AllSafe won't survive the fall. After the CD hack from a week ago, there is no way AllSafe will survive. Mr Robot was right. Weakening their servers dismantled AllSafe and Evil Corp. 

Now Gideon is dead, but how did he die? 

I leave the office without saying a word, leaving everyone back in the office until their screaming panic fades. I need to wrap my head around this. I have to. 

I head to my apartment, my hands shaking from the rush of fear that is overwhelming me. I see the men in black again. Shit. They're following me again. I open the door of my flat before hearing Flipper bark at the top of its lungs. That dog always makes me jump. 

I know I promised myself to not do morphine after Shayla changed jobs but I can't keep this up. I need to clear my head and forget what just happened. 

I take out the medication bottle which I kept at the back of the sink, between the wall and the sink itself. The small orange tube reminds me of a path I used to follow, a path that I was forced to turn back on. 

I grind the pill with a pestle, drawing a thin line on my coffee table. 

I've missed the numbing feeling of morphine. 

I roll my head back from the pleasure; Flipper's barks don't bother me anymore. My head is blurry as I lie down on my bed. 

My phone buzzes and as I reach over to get it I see Mr Robot again. 

Why is he here? 

He's not supposed to be here. 

"Kiddo, we don't have time for this shit. You have to make sure the program runs smoothly," he says. He grabs my phone before I do. "It's Dawn. You need to talk to her."