Chapter 2—

"Team Plasma has been one of the biggest syndicate we've had our hands on since Team Galactic," one of Lack-Two's fellow high-rankers explained. "Not only have they easily garnered up numbers from underneath our noses, they have been actually able to gather up the trust of the people, thus making it harder for the Interpol to investigate them—that is without having to accidentally involve innocent people."

Lack-Two just gave a curt nod as he checked the reports given to him by his subordinates.

The high-ranker went on.

"You know this, Lack-Two. You know that these people have an unholy amount of knowledge to technology that, when failed to be contained, may become dangerous weapons that might result to mass destruction... And we might not know this, but they may have already made one and is just waiting for the right time to use it against us."

"I know," was Lack-Two's reply.

"Good," the high-ranker replied. "Then maybe now you'd like to describe to me what on earth was going on in your head when you invited her to join us." All eyes returned to the meek girl who was silently seated in one of the seats, wordlessly lifting the teacup to her lips like a regimen. She returned the stares with a timid version of her own.

"I don't mean to be the enemy here, Lack-Two, but unlike our subordinates, the rest of the high-rankers along with our officials know of Miss Whi-two's true identity. Though I would love to share the other officials' generous amount of trust which they are willing to give to her, I'm afraid I'm just born to be one of the careful ones..." He blinked at her for a minute before returning his glance to Lack-Two.

"Sorry, but I don't think I'll approve of bringing her to this mission."

Whi-Two made a point of not being affected by the man's words, but the way she accidentally slammed the ceramics too suddenly against the coffee table's glass surface made her seem too pretentious. All eyes were still glued to her, making her unable to speak.

"Lack-Four, you have been one of the most valuable members of our sector and you're well-known for your keen sense of your surroundings. If this were another case, I would love to respect your opinion." Lack-Two made a show of dropping the papers to his table with an incredulous look in his face.

"But this isn't just 'another case'..." He stood from his table and walked to where Whi-Two was sitting. He held out his hand for her, and she hesitantly took it, allowing him to pull her up.

"Unless you can present someone else who has better knowledge of our enemy than what Miss Whi-Two can offer, I'd be more than willing to reconsider..."

He led the speechless girl to the door, but stopped midway to give the rest of the high-rankers one last blank stare.

"You have until tomorrow morning, when the planning begins," he announced, before unceremoniously dragging Whi-Two out of the room.

-...-

Whi-Two followed silently as Lack-Two led her across the hall, into another room. Small, well-lit, and quite well-kept save for the few scattered papers on the lone table that stood at its far end, basking in the city lights that illuminated from the giant window behind it, presenting the marvelous skyline of Asperita.

She stood quietly as Lack-Two made his way across the carpeted floors, giving an occasional glance to the bookshelves by his left before going straight to the revolving chair behind his table. He took hold of the scattered papers, arranged them and put them aside, all in one swift and fluid movement that Whi-Two barely noticed the shift of his demeanor from total blankness to a more lax state.

Whi-Two was now in his territory.

"I apologize for that improper behavior by my colleague," he began, reaching for the metal plate in front of him, pushing it to face down, all before Whi-Two had realized that it had contained the boy's rather elusive name.

If anything, she firmly believes that "Lack-Two" was never a proper name to begin with, even if the owner was someone like this guy.

Lack-Two tilted his head a little playfully at her.

"Are you still there, my cute little Whi-Two?"

"If it's not much of a bother to you, I'd be more than glad if you stopped referring to me in that manner..." she drawled, and then, with a tinge of disdain, she added: "...Sir."

"No need for formalities if it's just us," he told her, folding his arms in front of him, looking a bit annoyed. "After all, we were both from the same school, correct? Treat me like you should... Like a schoolmate."

"I entered the University to be able to lead a normal life," she clarified, giving him a doubtful look. "You went in there to find a suspect."

"And I succeeded," he threw back, the mock in his voice gradually returning. "All while still enjoying the life of a mediocre University-boy..." He flicked away imaginary dirt from his nails.

"Quite a relaxing change of pace, if I do say so myself..."

Whi-Two rolled her eyes and shook her head. She was the one who was supposed to be saying that. She was supposed to be the one who was enjoying her long-awaited normal life by now as a normal young lady, studying in a normal university, with normal friends, doing whatever it was that normal people do.

But instead, she was stuck with this guy.

How distasteful.

"So, why'd you take me here?" she asked. "I thought tomorrow was the schedule for planning? Won't the other Interpol lapdogs get upset that you're getting the most of my attention? They might start barking at you if you're not careful..."

"Then it's a good thing I know how to bark back," he replied with a smile. "Besides, what rights have they to complain? I was the one who found you, right? That means I get to have the special treatment I deserve..."

Whi-Two's face contorted with disgust.

"And another thing," he said, swiveling his chair to the right, making him face the large window behind him.

"When I said 'planning', I meant relaying the information to them and pretend to listen to their opinions in the most amiable way possible. No one has ever listened to anyone else in this office ever, so why should I begin?" His eyes paraded along the city skyline, his eyes reflecting the beauty of Unova at night, of how the varying colors of light played with each other and with his vision, hypnotizing him, offering him a short moment of dreamlike pleasure, reminding him why he had allowed the roofs of this malevolent life cave over him when he had the choice to walk away.

He's made his decision years ago, and every day, he watched that window of opportunity die away like the city lights at the break of dawn, and feel no regrets.

"Now..." he said, returning his gaze unto her, gesturing at the other chair placed in front of his table.

"Have a seat, and let us begin..."

As Whi-Two warily sank to her designated seat, Lack-Two began fiddling with a small contraption, and then placed it on the table. Before the two young agents' eyes, a hologram representation of a rather thoroughly-detailed map flashed. Lack-Two's expression did not change—clearly due to the commonness of the image to his eyes—but Whi-two's shock was evident.

Though a bit erroneous in various, insignificant places, this map is the exact and complete representation of N's castle, Team Plasma's former headquarters, and it was in the possession of an outsider.

Suddenly, Whi-two felt afraid of Lack-Two's connections. And even Lack-Two per se.

"Judging from the way you almost drool at it, this map is quite familiar to you, correct?" he asked, placing his finger over one part, zooming into it by the lower left corner. The hologram began showing a clearer image of what seems to be a hallway, patterned with pipelines and metal scaffolding s. Several three-dimensional images of irregular objects began popping out as Lack-Two traces his finger along two parallel lines, and Whi-Two was able to recognize each and every one of them.

"This map was drawn from different intelligences we've acquired both from captured Plasma members and even Interpol agents who were able to gain access within these facilities' grounds." A smirk played across Lack-Two's face for a moment before it disappeared without a trace.

"You'd be surprised at how many Interpol agents have walked among you and your comrades."

Whi-Two kept mum. Somehow, that does not surprise her.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase," he said, dragging the image back to its original map overview.

"While it is true that this map is the best and most detailed one we've had so far, I believe that it still lacks quite a number of significant information... Concrete examples would be here..." He taps a part of the screen, and a small square pops out, presenting only static.

"Here..." Another tap. The same image.

"Also here... and here... and even here..."

He did a good ten or twenty taps before he rests his hand down, and looks at Whi-Two, who, all this time, did not lift her gaze away from him.

"I still don't get what you need me for," she claimed, closing her eyes. "The places you have presented? They're all quite insignificant and even useless to your grand scheme. Lord N's castle is not as complicated as some might surmise... What you have right now is more than enough to last you through whatever escapades you plan on executing."

To that Lack-Two chuckled a low and suspicious chuckle—the kind that tells her there is so much she still does not understand.

And true enough, there is an enormous gap in her understanding of the situation which Lack-Two is failing to fill.

"You don't really get it, do you, my cute little Whi-Two?" he cooed, pulling out the same deck of cards from before, and began shuffling it mindlessly, his eyes looking at an unknown direction, a amused look in his face.

"But then, I assume you were never placed in such an important role back in your days as a Plasma girl, so I'll let it pass."

Whi-Two gave him an annoyed look, but other than filling her cheeks with air as a gesture of irritation, she says nothing.

"True, this information I'm initially asking of you may seem irrelevant in the long run, but if there's one thing I can impart to you, it is to never leave blank spaces in your puzzle..."

He drew a long, silent, and deep breath.

"...It'll save your sorry ass when you least expect it."

Whi-Two's eyes narrowed a bit as she looked down.

"You said 'initial'..."

Lack-two returned his gaze to her, his brow upturned.

"'Initially asking'," she went on, crossing her arms over her chest. "Those were your exact words... You're initially asking me this..." She eyed him warily once more.

"So you're going to ask me for more, is that it?"

Again, Lack-Two chuckled his suspicious chuckle, and it was beginning to travel through Whi-Two's whole body, making her inwardly shiver with fear and disgust.

"Pick a card," he said, handing the deck to her.

Whi-Two sighs before reaching out to the middle and pulling out a card. An ace of hearts. She stares at him expectantly.

Lack-Two retains his smile as he places two fingers on the top of his deck, slides it inward towards him, dragging the top card.

He flips it face up. A king of spades.

Whi-Two inwardly groaned.

"So clueless, my cute little Whi-Two..." he fussed, retrieving the cards and returning the deck to his pocket.

He presses another button on the contraption. A high-pitched noise sounded off, and it extracted a beam at Whi-Two, running it from her head to her toe, and then back to her head again.

"User unidentified," a mechanical female voice droned. "Access denied."

"Allow User Access," Lack-Two's voice boomed, his eyes still remaining on Whi-Two's. "Tasks Allowable: View and Alter."

"Please identify permitted user information."

Lack-Two sighed.

"Interpol Internal Officer, Second Squad. Codename: Black Two."

A pause, and then another high-pitched beep.

"Voice command activated. User identified. Greetings, Officer."

The beam scanning Whi-Two suddenly stopped, and focused itself on her face.

"Identifying foreign user. Registering..." Two high-pitched beeps.

"User access granted. Welcome."

The beam crawled away from Whi-Two's face and passed across the table's surface, leaving a holographic image of a keyboard before her. She stared at it for a few minutes before returning her gaze once more to the young superior.

He gestured at it with a flourish of his hand.

Whi-Two gives out an exasperated sigh as she leaned over and began typing. Lack-Two watched her for a moment, and then returned to his seat and began reading over the paper works that were left undone.

The two sat in front of each other, doing their own business when Whi-Two spoke up.

"You mean to make me pull an all-nighter for this without asking if I was okay with it?" she complained, not lifting her eyes nor her hands from the keyboard, save for the occasional glances at the rapidly changing map.

"Man, how much of a jerk can you be?"

"Dearest Whi-Two, do you mind pulling an all-nighter for me so we could finish the map we are going to present to the board first thing in the morning?" Lack-Two scribbled down his signature on one of the papers in his clear and clean handwriting. "I ask humbly of you as one of the people who actually hold your and your mother's lives and even your safety..."

"You're an ass..."

"And by 'we', I meant to say 'you while I sit with the board and judge you at how silly you will possibly look'."

"I take it back: You're an even bigger ass."

"Ah, but this ass was able to win your trust, not once, not twice... but countless of times..."He made a point to give her another playful look.

"Not bad for this fine piece of ass all the girls are falling for."

"Oh, go to hell..."

To that Lack-Two chuckled.

"Gladly, dear Whi-Two," he whispered. "Gladly."

-END OF CHAPTER TWO-

Author's Note: Lack-Two and Whi-Two are technically 19 here, and they met in a university, like how they did in the original story, except not in a Trainer's School. Not really a significant detail, but what the heck.