Chapter Fifty-Four
N paused before the doorway to Giovanni's conference room to check his illusion. The dark robes were real, taken from Ghetsis' wardrobe as he had escaped Harmonia Labs. The musty smell didn't wash out. His pink, blobby flesh stuck to the robes, and his fur itched, but he kept one hand firmly on the cane. The other stayed in the left picket, clutching a folded piece of paper.
The cane felt unnaturally heavy, crafted from solid oak, blackened by fire and age, and banded with gold near the end. Two rubies, embedded in a carving of a bird's head, glowed dully in between his fingers. Each click of the cane made him twitch.
He wore Ghetsis' eyepiece. Though it was prone to fall off of his dripping face, the visual-based interface had its benefits. With it, he surveyed the layout of the Rocket facility, planned optimal entry points for an all-out assault, gleaned rough estimates of Team Rocket's numbers, and accessed restricted files within servers half a mile below his feet. He didn't understand how to control it, but the device hacked and planned by itself with an efficiency that made N give grudging respect to his and the eyepiece's creator.
Elder Bayron led the procession into the room, as they had agreed. N knew Giovanni wouldn't be cowed by a show of force, but it was important to make the right first impression. With a gesture, Commissioner Mason walked past him. N waited a moment before making his own entry, taking care to tap out a precise beat with his cane, a beat that still woke him some nights.
He didn't need the eyepiece to know which of the three Rockets sitting at the far end of the table was Seven. Her illusion wavered for the briefest moment, and she shrank back when he entered the room. Giovanni, however, showed no surprise.
"I was under the impression that Gorm would be the one attending."
N smiled and took a seat. "He sends his apologies. A project requires his urgent attention, so I volunteered to take his place." The assortment of fruits, ham, and cheeses tempted him, but he kept both hands on his cane, squeezing it so his hands wouldn't shake.
"How kind of you." Giovanni's cold, green gaze swept over him like a splash of icy water. Then the boss took a bottle of hand sanitizer out of his pocket and squirted a generous dollop onto his palm.
N's nose wrinkled at the harsh scent of alcohol. Silence settled over the group. Seven reached for a slice of ham, the Commissioner helped himself to coffee after giving it a cautious sniff, and the Elder regarded the Rockets with a hard blue stare, his eyes glowing like backlit sapphires from the aura coursing through his body. Fisher returned the stare, but Giovanni watched his hands, working the sanitizer into every pore on his skin.
N waited for someone else to break the silence. No one did. He mulled over his options for a moment, and his gaze settled on Seven.
"You have something of mine," he said.
Giovanni blinked and looked up. "Perhaps. I have lots of things of lots of people."
"I think I would like to have it back."
Seven hid her fear well, but her eyes darted towards Giovanni. The Rocket boss kept his gaze on N as he said, "If I gave back everything I had ever stolen, I'd have nothing left."
N made a show of stroking his chin and took the opportunity to adjust his cloak. "Perhaps I should make it a part of our deal."
Seven's eyes widened, but Giovanni's blank expression never wavered. "Suppose I refuse. What then?"
Seven slumped back in her chair, but N pressed his point. "Then how about I make you a Sage, or Dictator, or whatever. That is what you want, isn't it?"
N had expected a glimmer of greed in Giovanni's eyes, or a slight shifting of his shoulders, but the boss' mask didn't twitch a muscle.
"With just a word from me, the Sages would induct you within a day. I could have them replaced as well, if you wish."
Seven's fingers froze halfway to a slice of cheese. She glanced back at Giovanni, but the boss didn't meet her enquiring eyes. His gaze stayed on N, like augurs drilling into N's skull.
"An empty title," he said. "You'd have me replaced the moment I became inconvenient."
N shrugged, shifting the cloak around and adjusting the eyepiece. "Perhaps another time. For now, let's discuss the matter at hand."
The deal mostly panned out as N had expected. They would coordinate their attack on Bruno, using whatever contingencies available to them. N made sure to mention Gorm's nuclear devices and promised only to use them as a last resort. In addition, the police would turn a blind eye to Giovanni's tax evasion, minor theft, and civil code violations, and in exchange, Giovanni would allow the police to make a public show of raiding a few strip clubs. However, Giovanni made one request that took him and the police aback.
"I have heard that you have an item important to the Lucario. Do you intend to use it?"
Commissioner Mason licked his lips and shifted in his chair. "I – we have decided to use it, yes. Without it, we would have no hope of matching Bruno's strength."
"I would like to study it."
The Elder narrowed his eyes and growled. "Absolutely not. The Mega Stone isn't some –"
N silenced him with a wave of his hand. The Elder glared daggers, but he sat back and crossed his arms.
"We have little time for study," N said.
"It will take at least forty-eight hours to mobilize troops and distribute weapons," Giovanni countered. "That will be all the time that I require."
The request left a foul taste in N's mouth, like the sanitizer clinging to the air, but he could see no reason to refuse.
"I suppose that if we deny this 'small request', you will back out of our deal?"
Giovanni said nothing as he folded his hands and waited. N waited for a minute, though the silence felt as heavy and uncomfortable as his cloak. He used the time to ponder what Giovanni wanted with the Mega Stone and came up with no better answer than to find a contingency for if it was used against him.
"Very well. You may study it for twenty-four hours. Have it returned to my office."
"Thirty-six hours."
N raised an eyebrow and replied, "Thirty. We can't afford any delays because of this."
The corners of Giovanni's mouth curved up the slightest bit. So subtle was the movement that N almost missed it.
"Done."
With a nod from N, Commissioner Mason reached into the inside of his coat and drew out a cloth bundle. He unwrapped it, exposing the luminous blue sphere within. Giovanni's eyes drank in the light, and the shadows cast around his eyes transformed his gaze into flickering will-o-wisps.
N unfolded two pieces of paper from his pocket and slid it to Giovanni. The boss took a pen out of a suit pocket, a sleek fountain pen with a metal cap on the end. After writing in the terms for studying the Mega Stone on each one he signed at the bottom and handed it to Commissioner Mason. The Chief of Police signed, as did Elder Bayron. N signed last in as close an imitation of Ghetsis' writing as he could manage. Though he had practiced it, the t was slightly lopsided, and an e a touch too tight.
Giovanni made no comment as he gave one copy to Fisher. N put the other back in his pocket, took the Mega Stone from Mason, and slid it past the platters.
"It will be a pleasure doing business with you again," Giovanni said as he pocketed the Mega Sphere.
"There is no pleasure in business," N answered, "Especially not with you."
Two Grunts, who were waiting down the hall, led them out of the facility. Elder Bayron glared at N. With a sigh, he wrapped them both in an illusion to hide their mouths and voices.
"We can talk," he said while looking straight forward. "Be sure not to do anything conspicuous."
"You shouldn't have given him the Mega Stone," the Elder said. "It's too dangerous."
"Ghetsis studied that thing for years, and he never found a way to weaponize it. What's the harm in giving it to Giovanni for a day?"
The Elder frowned. "This is exactly why humans shouldn't have these things. Give them a gift, and the first thought they have is for killing others with it."
"Are Pokémon any better?"
Bayron's frown deepened, but he made no argument. Instead, he said, "I still think this is a mistake."
"I don't disagree," N replied, "But it is our only reasonable option. Bruno must be stopped, and after that, you know the humans will come after you next."
"Yes, but separating ourselves from them will only invite war. Living among them, as we do now, is the only peaceful solution."
N shifted the cloak. It felt more itchy and oppressive than ever, but he had to keep wearing it. "We're past the point of peace. The best we can hope for now is an armistice."
Elder Bayron's eyes fell, and his shoulders slumped. "This is all wrong. We were meant to live side by side, to help each other, to grow with one another."
"I used to believe the same."
They walked for another dozen paces in silence. Then the Elder said, "This mess is my fault. I should have never let Bruno go. I tried justifying it, saying that he was more resilient, that I would keep a close eye on him, that he had an excellent partner that had trained with us for years. And now, because of me, we face a war against the humans."
Tremors ran up N's arm each time the cane slammed onto the concrete floor. His arm sagged from its weight, but he gripped the ruby-studded handle with all his strength.
"No one is at fault, Bayron. It's just nature, ours and theirs."
Gregory drove the Elder back to the police station, while N took a separate car. The white Lexus seemed plain from the outside, but the interior was remade, with just the driver's seat and a lounge in the back right corner. A wine bar sat behind the driver, and a fridge occupied the space once taken by the passenger seat. N helped himself to a bowl of pecha berries and cream while the driver took him to the Jubilife Building.
A Parliament convened in the upper levels of Jubilife, but the Seven Sages ruled from below, in concrete-lined bunkers crammed full of computers.
An elevator, hidden down a hallway past two sets of guards, took him down to the lower levels. In the lobby, Gorm, in stiff military attire with enough badges of honor to decorate a Christmas tree, sipped a glass of champagne in the waiting area.
"Ah, Ghetsis! I trust everything went well?"
N handed him the signed document. Gorm glanced through it and handed it back.
"What's that about the Mega Stone?"
"A trifle," N replied. "We have everything we need from him."
Gorm smiled. "The trap is set. All we need now is the bait."
N returned the smile, but beneath his illusion, his face hardened. "Leave that to me."
As N turned away, Gorm tapped the neck of a champagne bottle. "Let's have a toast, to the destruction of Team Rocket and the Lucario. Two birds, one stone."
An image flashed in the eyepiece – the blast radius of a nuclear bomb dropped from an orbiting satellite, scouring away the city's deserted outskirts and its unwanted vermin.
"I only celebrate after I have won."
N went to Ghetsis' office. A layer of dust had settled over the bare furnishings, and the bed smelled of mold. He put the cloak in a wooden closet and fell onto the mattress, sinking into the memory foam. Joy bubbled inside of him, joy at his impending victory, just a few moves away, and yet, a nagging doubt plagued him, telling him he had missed something.
Changelog
12/27/18 – minor edits
