A/N:
Another long overdo chapter. It's becoming clear that I need to get better at time management.
As usual, y'all can thank Orthros for ensuring the quality of this chapter.
"…" - Spoken dialogue
Italics - Michael's thoughts
'Italics' - Telepathic dialogue
/\/\/\ - Lemon Scene
"The worst disease in the world today is corruption. And there is a cure: transparency."
-Bono
Ch. 38 - Allison Roux
"Trey's told us everything we need to know," Wesley said from the end of the table. "He's been shown to have financial dealings with Alison Roux, one of the local campaigners for Delta. Generally in front of the Capitol making a big fuss about whatever it is they're pissed about. As far as we know, she is not aware that we are watching her, so it'd be better to secure whatever information she or her associates have before they can destroy it."
"By the looks of things, we won't be in our suits for awhile, will we?" asked Thomas.
"Not likely, no. The hotels were one thing - we could prove everything with Lyman. But when we're still searching like this… well, it wouldn't look too good if people thought that the military is spying on a group of activists…"
"That's exactly what we're doing," Kevin said.
"I'm aware of that. But it's not because of their ideals, but because of the fact that they're trying to build up the very markets we leveled years ago. We can't allow that to happen."
"Understood. So how're we gonna go about this?" asked Thomas.
"We've been assigned to keep watch over the eastern half of Goldenrod," Wesley started. "Most of Johto's branch of Delta seems to be pretty tied to these parts. We'll have to be creative to gain information from them without them realizing what we're doing. We've come up with a few ideas, but I'm not sure y'all are gonna like 'em."
"Probably not," John said. "What's the plan?"
"You and Kevin will be investigating a suspected crooked officer's house. It'll have to be done at night, and no noise whatsoever. We think he may be interfering with local investigative processes in order to give Delta a pass. We'll need you two to look for evidence of collusion. Zaire will be tagging along with y'all."
"That's not too bad," Kevin admitted.
"No, and we will discuss further details later tonight. As for now, the two of you are dismissed." Both Kevin and John stood up and left the room, leaving the other six there. Wesley waited for a moment before continuing, albeit a little bit quieter. "He doesn't have any problem spying on a cop, but a crooked politician that might have ties to drugs and prostitution rings? That upsets him?"
"Wish I got it myself," Alex said, "but it is what it is."
"Yeah. Something tells me, though, that you aren't gonna like what you have to do either - you and Michael."
"Great. What's gotta happen?" Michael asked.
"I need you and Alex to look for evidence in Roux's house. We've selected the night of the mission to be on her departure to Kalos, so hopefully she won't be making an appearance while you two are in her house. But if she happens to arrive while you two are looking through her things, then I need you both to stage it like a robbery." Michael shook his head in disbelief.
"Wait, really?" asked Alex.
"If they figure out that there are people out there keeping tabs on Delta, then her colleagues might end up destroying valuable information. Can't let them do that."
"Alright then," Michael said.
"You two don't have a problem with that?" the Colonel asked.
"Nope," answered Michael. "They aren't good people."
"And it needs to be done," Alex stated.
"Good. Only wish Kevin saw things the same way. But aside from that, you two are dismissed. Report back tomorrow morning for more details." Michael stood up and pushed his chair in, followed by Alex.
"What the fuck," Alex said with a laugh once they had put some distance between themselves and the briefing room.
"Yeah, kinda strange if you ask me. But I've just about run out of fucks to give. I'm cool with it. And they're a bunch of degenerates, so it's fine."
"Well, yeah, but I'm just thinking it's funny that we were dressing up as burglars before, and now we're being told to act the part if necessary."
"If necessary. Hurry up on the computers and it won't be," Michael said.
"Easy for you to say. You never do any of the computer work."
"Yeah, because I tend to hate the damn things. And prying into other people's shit is more so a specialty of yours." Alex looked towards him.
"You're still upset about that?"
"Me? No. Why would I be pissed that my best friend went behind my back and nearly compromised my military career? Who could possibly be upset about something like that?"
"Whatever. I'm not following this shit up right now."
. . . . .
Michael had already been able to tell, as soon as he'd gotten into the bed, that it would be one of those nights in which he didn't get a lot of sleep. He had been restless all day, and that was still continuing well into the early hours of the morning. Elise must've caught on, as she turned around to face him underneath the covers.
"Did I wake you up?" he asked.
"No," she said, "I… I've been in and out."
"Having trouble sleeping too?" She nodded. "Well I guess we'll be keeping each other company then," he said.
"I guess so," she said in a cheery tone, then followed it up with a cute yawn. Michael hugged her against his body, resting his hands on her upper back. Elise did her best to return the gesture, and her paws found their way to his side. "Mmm, you're warm." She borrowed into the crook of his neck as she always did, and sighed in contentment.
"You know, you've never given me trouble," he said. "And I thank you for that."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean like prying into stuff, you know? Fussing about my state of mind or all that crap."
"But… the others… they don't give you trouble," Elise replied. "They love you too…"
"Yeah… I know. I didn't mean it like that, I just… I'm getting real sick and tired of people telling me what's best for myself."
"I'm sure…" she said. "I think I would be too. But… do you ever wonder if they're… you know… on to something?"
"Yeah. Kinda hard not to when I hear it day after day," he replied.
"Well… I do know you've changed… at least, in some ways," the glaceon said. "Like… remember when we started all this?"
"You mean this relationship?" The glaceon nodded.
"Yeah. Those years ago… we used to… you know… all the time. But now… you don't seem to ever want to anymore." Michael had to admit that was true. The last time he could remember having sex with one of them had been months ago, just as Alaina had said as well. He hadn't felt up for that kind of contact in a long time.
"You're right," he said quietly. "And that's not because I don't love you girls. Not at all."
"I know that," she replied. "But why is it, though?"
"I… I don't know, Elise. I can't come up with an answer off the top of my head, but I just haven't felt like it."
"Have you wondered why?"
"Yeah. Y'all have got me thinking as of lately. Maybe there's some truth to what Alaina's been saying. Maybe I did go and get myself screwed up somewhere along this whole thing."
"I think… you're beating yourself up over stuff you can't control…" she said, placing a paw on his cheek. "We… can't do it on our own. You try to… but you've got so many people who care for you. You don't have to fight alone…"
"I know…" he said. "And I don't. I have you girls right here beside me."
. . . . .
The mission briefing went as expected, being over in about ten minutes. Alex and Michael would infiltrate the house while she wasn't home and look for evidence of Delta activity. Though in this case, they would most likely find it. Thomas and Samuel, on the other hand, would be following up with the meeting with Senator Callahan and whoever 'PM' was on Thursday.
All in all, this tour seemed like it would be easier than ever before. That is, if Michael didn't manage to kill Alex… or Zaire. Their enemies were those who were powerless to really stop them, and eliminating them all and those who supported them would be far easier than rooting out Stone's legacy.
As Michael left the building, he ran over the plan in his head. But in a few minutes, he would need to set all of that aside to talk about the problems that he didn't have. As long as he got to do what he had come for, though, then perhaps entertaining the notion wasn't such a bad idea. It kept him from an honorable discharge, after all. That and regardless of how he felt about the therapist, Michael had given him his word that he'd do this. And the girls wanted him there, which was still beyond him for the most part.
Things had changed, though - he would admit that much. Elise brought up some good points the other night, and though her confrontation was more pestering in nature, he did have to concede that Alaina had called several things to his attention in their heated arguments as well. All of them meant the best for him, but this was a battle that he was getting tired of fighting day after day. Some micro transgression that he would take would end up relaying to a conversation about how things were all those years ago, and how he had changed for the worse. How he needed the therapy he was getting, and all that…
He pushed the door open, seeing Jax already waiting on him. This time, he was a few minutes early. A bulky nidoqueen was standing beside him as if guarding her trainer from a Reaper who wanted to choke the life out of him. Though at times, that might not be far from the truth…
"And now we've got number three," Michael said.
"Michael, this is Delmi. Delmi, Michael." She just looked at him silently as if scoping him out. Yeah, you just try it. It's been awhile since I've fought a pokémon.
"Hello there," he said, at least trying to maintain the image of being decent. She nodded, but said nothing, though he could clearly see a VFT around her neck. He looked at her questioningly. "Guessing you aren't a talker?"
"Only when I feel like it," she said in a flat tone. Oh I'd beat the shit out of you.
"Well if you don't feel like it, then what the hell are you doing in here? Don't you know this is the place where you have to talk?" Michael asked. Delmi just looked at Jax, clearly not amused, before walking past both of them and out of the room. Bitch.
"Look… she's just like that. She didn't mean any—."
"No, it's fine. We aren't here to talk about some fatass nidoqueen, who, by the way, could use those morning jogs more than you. We're here to talk about why everyone close to me seems to think I should be discharged." He slid the chair back and took a seat, all while Jax was likely trying to figure out what had just taken place in front of him.
"…Alright then. So I was thinking last night, maybe it would be good to cover the events of Chrono Island more in depth."
"I thought we'd already covered this," Michael said.
"We touched on the topic - mostly about what happened with Raptor. But I would like to hear exactly what all happened over there, if that would be alright with you," Jax stated. It wasn't his favorite topic by a long shot, but as long as everything stayed here…
"Fine. But I don't wanna hear any of this shit on the news. Reporters have been harassing me about that ever since I got back."
"You know it will stay here. Anything else would cost me my license."
"Okay." He recollected the events, some of them in far more detail than he had hoped, for it was a series of memories that he tried his best not to think about. "We were taking back Viridian at first - back when Stone's forces had swarmed the place. That was more of a mess than I'd ever seen in combat. People were fucking dying everywhere we'd looked, and not a thing could done about it. We were doing good, too. At least, while I was there. But then I went and got myself captured."
"What happened next?"
"Well I was pretty certain they were gonna kill me, especially after nailing so many of their guys. But I was knocked out and transported to one of Douglas' bases on Chrono Island. And of course, he of all people had to make an appearance. He spent nearly two weeks trying to convert me to join his cause, thinking that I would be a good means of reaching out for Johto's support. Not sure why he'd thought that, given that we'd dedicated as many resources as we had to fighting him."
"One can only guess," Jax said. "But continue."
"Yeah, well he fucked up one night when he said that he didn't really give a shit about pokémon. Called them all animals, all while Raptor was standing right beside him. I would've felt sorry for her, actually, if it weren't for the fact that she'd nearly killed me right before that. But that look on her face after hearing something like that - to fight alongside someone for years and find out that's how they fell. She just walked out," Michael said.
"That is upsetting. Did that lead to her coming to know you?"
"Yeah. She came back into my room that night, actually. All the times before that, she had come to beat the hell outta me. And she did, too. I've fought plenty of pokémon, but she was more vicious than any other I've ever come across. But that time, she just came to talk. And that's what led to the breakout. That and a few other similar sessions."
"I see. Was there anything between the two of you?" Jax asked.
"You mean like sexually?" The therapist nodded. "No, definitely not. I wouldn't have done something like that to my girls, even though I was pretty certain I'd never see them again once I'd heard that there was talk of executing me. But I did want her to join my team, especially after she offered to help me escape. That whole thing was her doing. She… was a good person, and a good friend for the little time I knew her. She had wanted all that time to do the right then, and then once she did… she died soon after."
"Why do you think she decided to help you escape?"
"I think she finally realized who Douglas was. She'd be the first to admit that she hated everything that was going on in his organization. Douglas would say that too. But she was at least holding on to the idea that it was for a greater cause. Stone would make it sound like that and all, but at the end of the day it was just about revenge against the ideology that had driven them out. That and he didn't really care what he destroyed in the process." Michael had been staring out the window while he had recalled the events, focusing on the waving flags in front of the gate. "And the whole damn thing is pretty pathetic, you know?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean the fact that Douglas Stone, as fucked up as he was in some ideas, was completely right in others."
"What?"
"He was a monster, and just about every action he'd taken in his twenty years of terrorist activity deserved the death that he got, if not slower. But he was right about the left. They're the monsters that he was fighting. In the wrong way, of course - you don't kidnap and sell children of your political opponents, or murder innocents. But the left has become unhinged in this world. They need to be cut down a notch. I'm just not sure how it could be done without resorting to his means."
"I… was hoping to avoid politics in all this."
"Kinda hard to avoid politics when everything the dude did was politically motivated," Michael replied.
"Maybe. But our focus is on how these years have impacted you, and how they have made you feel," Jax said.
"How it made me feel? Well damn, that's a hard one. Two of my good friends died - one of them right in front of me - and I've killed more people than I can count. I was in the fucking hundreds in my first fucking tour, dammit! And then I set off a fucking nuke right on our asses, come back home and get a fucking medal, but now we're in another political fight with a bunch of assholes that are just as bad as him! And to top it all off, they ask me to come back, then fucking try to pin me down with this mental health bullshit. And it was one of my best friends who did it! Day after day I listen to shit about how I need help, and how I've changed, and I'm wondering how someone doesn't change after all this fucking crap!" He put his head in his hands, doing his best to try and calm down. No doubt he'd made a spectacle on this hallway; it would've been difficult not to have heard him. He needed a drink though, that much was certain.
"I understand. I think that should do for today," Jax said quietly.
"I think so too." Michael stood up and pushed the chair underneath the desk, leaving without another word.
He didn't remember how he'd gotten back, as he was fuming and deep in thought. It wasn't anything that Jax had done that had set him off - nor anything that anyone in particular had done. It was simply the collection of how everything had turned out, and he was just angry in general. As he approached the door to his quarters, Michael heard the laughter from inside, recognizing Zaire as one of the voices from within. Dammit, not now. Don't kill her Michael. Don't fucking do it. He opened the door and walked as quickly as he could to his room, ignoring the looks he'd gotten in the process. Yanking the door to his bedroom open, he entered and slammed it behind himself. It only took him a second to open the lower drawer to look for the bourbon, and even less time to get pissed that Alaina had already found it and moved it. Michael shut the drawer, resorting to just sitting on the edge of the bed, as he didn't feel like going back in the front of the house.
A light knock sounded on the door. "What is it?" he quietly asked.
"May I come in?" Alaina asked.
"You know, that was a forty dollar bottle." She let herself in anyways, levitating to his side and sitting on the bed with him. "I don't know why I can't just drink in peace."
"You don't need it."
"Might as well just pour the money down the drain then, right?"
"Or just not spend it in the first place," the latias said.
"So you are pouring it down the drain, aren't you?" he asked.
"Michael, just talk to me. What's going on?"
"Look, I love you Alaina, but I'm not in the mood for talking right now."
. . . . .
Michael and Alex kept to the shadows, though the car was not in the driveway. The cyclone fence offered nearly no visual cover, so they found themselves frequently looking between the passing cars and neighboring houses.
Eventually they made their way to the patio, and they needed to act fast. With both the lights on and the two of them dressed in all black, they couldn't have stuck out any more. Alex hurriedly went about with his EMP scanner. "Any security system?" Michael asked.
"Not seeing any. We're in the clear."
"Good." Michael unsheathed the short combat knife at his side and pressed it into the bottom of the window. Pushing it down quickly, a crack sounded as it slid upwards. There we are. He lifted the window up all the way, and soon, the two of them were inside. Michael shut it behind them for good measure before they went about looking through the house.
"Shit, this gal's more of a neat freak than anyone else I've ever seen," Alex said.
"For real." He scanned over the mantle, finding a single picture in the center. It was a woman and a nidoking. Seem to be running into a few members of that family lately. But upon closer inspection, she seemed somewhat familiar. Huh… I know I've seen her somewhere before. She had short, blonde hair, and looked to be about thirty in the photograph. The nidoking had his arm around her waist. So they're pretty obviously together. But where do I know her from?
"Focus, Michael," Wesley said over the comm line. He left the mantle, heading into the hallway. Good thing nobody was home, too - these hardwood floors were impossible to walk on quietly with how much they creaked. A door at the end of the hallway was open; Alex had found the office. He was already at work on the computer, so that left Michael to look through various other sources. But that would prove to be difficult, as there weren't any file cabinets or things of the sort around. The next best thing was the large bookshelf behind the desk, which he began to examine. It was full of books about various civil rights topics. Most of them were for pokémon and human relationships, though there were many for various other sexual minorities. Damn bleeding heart. We should torch this shit while we're here. He opened the wooden door and started shuffling through the books to see if there was anything between, though he was coming up empty.
"Won't take me much longer," Alex said. "Just about got everything off of this thing."
"Good. Might wanna leave before I have myself a little book barbecue." He shut the door to the bookshelf and left the office. Maybe the bedroom? Though Arceus only knew what he'd find in there… But he did have a mission. Searching around the house, Michael did find the master bedroom, which was in pristine condition, matching with the rest of the house. The bed was made neatly in the middle of the room, with nightstands on each side, both with a small lamp. But on the side was a dresser, which a laptop sat on top of. "Dammit, we've got a laptop in here."
"I'll be there in a minute," Alex said. Michael decided to head over to the nightstands and began searching for any other intelligence that he could secure. The left side didn't seem to hold anything particular of interest. Some miscellaneous items, but nothing out of place. But when he opened the top drawer in the right nightstand, he found himself somehow more annoyed with Allison Roux than before.
"Really now? This is fucking pathetic. Here these are the same people trying to ban guns…" He was looking at a P320 - the same pistol the military was currently caught up in.
"That's not important right now," Wesley said. "Look elsewhere." He shut the drawer and opened the one underneath. Various books, but one in particular caught his attention. A small one in the corner, which he grabbed and started flipping through.
"Here we are. We got a contact list." He held it close to his face, and started once again at the first page.
"This alone is a good amount of intel," Colonel Hawkins stated. "With that and whatever Alex is able to gain from the computers, we should be able to trace a lot of her colleagues."
While Michael was finishing up with the contact list, Alex had inserted the extraction drive into the laptop. Though it wouldn't take long for the drive to run its course on such a device, time was the one luxury they didn't have. They could hear the door unlocking.
"Well shit," Alex said quietly. "Guess that trip of hers got cancelled. I've got this. You find something else to steal."
"Awesome. Got just the thing." He set the contact list back where he had found it and grabbed the pistol from the top drawer. Quickly scanning the room, he grabbed the few pieces of jewelry from the top of the dresser, and the two of them hurried out into the hall.
The door opened, and the two masked Reapers came face to face with the two inhabitants of the house. Michael wasted no time. "Put your fucking hands where I can see them!" he yelled, pointing his own gun at her.
"O..okay!"
"And you!" he yelled to the nidoking. "Try anything, and I'll blow your fucking brain out! Now both of you get on the fucking ground!" The poison-type clearly wanted nothing more than to kill the two invaders, but on that end of the gun, he had no choice but to obey. Both Allison and the nidoking got on the ground, all while she started trying to stifle her sobs.
"That's right," Alex said. "You just stay put, and no one gets hurt." He started towards the still-open door, with Michael trailing him closely. On his way out, though, he stopped for a split second and looked at the woman. That's her! he thought. He'd seen her numerous times on TV, and always in some sort of protest. She had been at this for years.
"Wh-what do you want?" she asked quietly.
"Nothing." He was about to leave, but she stopped him.
"Please… don't take that! That was my mother's ring!"
"I don't care, fuck your mother!" He pointed the gun at her head, and she winced back, deciding to shut up for the better. Michael walked outside, leaving the door open behind him in case the nidoking decided to make a pursuit for them. But he found himself stopping, and with a sigh, he turned back around and went inside. "Dammit, take your fucking ring and stop wailing like a bitch!" He flung it at her before slamming the door behind himself, sprinting off as soon as he did.
