The Omega
Mutation
by Joshua Falken
Thanks to BenRG for beta read this chapter :-D
Chapter 17 - Into Another Life
Three hours after a manmade sun had shone over the Kanto Region, two people nervously awaited the reaction of the man sat in the shadows.
"So..." Giovanni said slowly, "Omega was destroyed?"
"Y-yes, sir!" one of Team Rocket scientists answered. "We lost her signal at the very instant that the quantum device detonated."
The leader of Team Rocket stayed silent for a moment, before speaking again. "Then, I am right in supposing that this is the only sample of Omega's DNA that remained to us?" He pointed at a small test tube, in the hands of one of the scientists, filled with a blue gel-like fluid.
"Yes, all the rest was destroyed when the rogue agents Gibson and Morgan and their accomplices attacked the main laboratory of the Project."
"I understand. Leave the test tube on the table and leave."
The two scientists, in spite of their confusion at their order, obeyed immediately. Giovanni remained still in his office for a long time, alone with his thoughts. Finally, he opened the drawer and looked at his photo of Delia Darkholme with him when they were both younger. With no expression in his face, he typed a command and the grate in his private office ignited. Then, he rose and went to the closet at the desk' side and opened a bottle of wine and filled a cup. Quietly, he had a sip of the drink, while he held the picture. For several minutes, he just looked at the photo. Then, with a fast movement of the wrist, he threw it in the fireplace and watched while the fire consumed it.
Giovanni raised his cup of wine as if he were making a toast. "Congratulations, Delia", he murmured to himself. "You did it."
He only turned off the fire when the picture was totally consumed. Then, Giovanni turned and looked at the test tube thoughtfully.
======
Ash Ketchum was at his house, finished the long, heart-breaking task of cleaning. The boy put down a cardboard box, filled with the last few things that he wanted to save before he left for the last time. Pikachu and Chikorita watched him in silence, sadness in their eyes. Mimey brushed the ground with a broom, as mechanically and quietly, as a robot. It was just one week ago that Ash had recovered enough to be released from the Medical Ward of Vermilion City UNDF base. General Williams guaranteed him that all the records about Ash's stay would be destroyed, for Ash's own safety if for no other reason...
And it was one month since...
Ash closed his eyes, trying to block out the memory. A gentle knock at the door distracted him.
"Come in."
The door opened, revealing Professor Oak and Misty, holding Togepi, dressed in black. When Ash saw them, he asked: "Is it time?"
"Yes, Ash," Professor Oak said kindly.
"Wait just one moment, please..." Ash said in a distracted tone of voice. "I'll get ready..." As he went up the stairs, the two visitors watched him with concern. Then, because they had been asked, they waited. Some minutes later, Ash came down the stairway, dressed a black suit and pants.
"Let's go," he said.
Oak opened the door, while Ash and Misty left the house, holding each other's hands. Pikachu and Chikorita, with Togepi riding on the little grass-type's back, accompanied them. They climbed into the car and they left for their destination. While Misty held Ash's hands in an attempt to comfort him, the boy looked silently through the window, as snow began to fall.
"It'll be a White Christmas after all." He said suddenly.
No one replied. What could they say?
======
The wind blew gently over the town, its quiet sighs a lament, carrying a gentle rain of snow flakes. The sadness in the air resonated with the silent group, dressed in black, gathered in Pallet Town Cemetery. It was Delilah Ketchum's funeral.
At a respectful distance, General Kent L. Williams watched the people present at the funeral. They were the few people that Delilah had known while she lived in the town. They were people that respected the gentle but somewhat reclusive woman. He noticed that they looked at Ash with solidarity, after all, he had lost his mother... They didn't have to really know, as the funeral was, in certain way, a show. There was no body in the coffin to be buried. Williams knew, because he had helped to organise this "performance".
It was one month ago that the "Kraken Incident" had happened - as the detonation of that quantum device had been named by the global media. The general didn't even remember what the United Nations Public Relations Department invented to explain the inexplicable to the public opinion of the world. The only things that were known with accuracy were this: One - the radar system on a UNDF warship near the target area had detected an object flying towards the incoming warhead at supersonic speeds. Two - the missile detonated when the object approached it, still over fifty miles above the surface of the Earth. Three - the radar had lost track of the object in the massive electromagnetic pulse unleashed by the explosion. It seemed reasonable to think that not even Omega could survive a matter-antimatter explosion...
Kent Williams turned his eyes to Ash Ketchum, who was in the first line, at the side of the coffin. His face was pale, with a stunned, almost shocked, expression. His body was tense, rigid as a statue - if he was a wax statue, it would not have made difference at all. It was a natural reaction, after all, how he could believe that his mother - of all people on the planet - had died?
On his left shoulder, the boy's Pikachu watched with a sad expression on his face. On the other side, his Chikorita caressed his other shoulder, trying console him. Misty held his hand with force - she had practically not left his side since he had awoken in the Medical Ward of Vermilion City Base. Looking at them and with tears in his own eyes was Professor Samuel Oak. He had assumed the role of temporary guardian of Ash until the young man's situation was established by the authorities.
A little behind them, standing in silence, there were Jessie Gibson and James Morgan. Their appearance was very changed: her red hair now was very short, almost like a boy, besides using contact lenses that made her eyes seem to be purple. Her boyfriend (assuming that they ever decided to admit that to themselves) had a moustache and had black hair now. No, the General corrected himself: now their names were 'Morrigan Ketchum' and 'Jeremy North' - the new identities that the Military Intelligence section of UNDF had supplied for them, as thanks for their help in the Omega Crisis. Now, they worked as research assistants in the Pallet Town Pokémon Research Center.
At the very moment in that the priest finished his sermon, the snow began to fall more strongly, as if the weather mirrored the sadness of the group.
The coffin was then lowered and covered with earth. Ash placed a bouquet of red roses on the grave - they were his mother's favourite flowers.
The ceremony over, the people began to go their separate ways, some coming close to offer a few words of condolence to the boy standing at the very foot of the grave. Misty looked up, and met her father's eyes with her own, silently communicating her determination to stay with Ash. He nodded his understanding.
Now, there were only them and their Pokémon beside the grave.
"Ash... are you ok?" she asked kindly.
"I think so..." The insecurity of his voice was obvious. "I mean... I can't cry. I think that it is because I can't believe that she has really died. Something inside of me says that something is wrong, that she is not dead..." He lifted his eyes. "Am I wrong in feeling that, Misty?"
Misty hugged him. "No, Ash, you are not wrong for feeling like this," she murmured into his ear. "You just miss her. You still want to believe that she is here." She looked into his eyes. "After all, wasn't she a good person?"
The Pokémon Trainer closed his eyes, thinking back to all his memories with his mother. "S-she was the best." A solitary tear rolled through his face.
The two teenagers hugged each other for a long time, before Misty spoke again. "I think that we should go now, Ash."
He just nodded his head in agreement. Slowly, Ash and Misty stepped back of Delilah Ketchum's grave. Hugging each other to give strength to each other. They didn't notice that they were watched intensely by somebody that was hidden in the shadows of a big tree. The observer waited until they had left, before leaving its hiding place and to approach of the grave. She walked a slightly strange way, as if her legs hurt a little.
The observer seemed to be a tall woman, using a long black rubber raincoat, its' hood lifted to hide her face. She stood in the falling snow for a long time, without moving. Then, slowly, she took a single red rose from within her coat and placed it gently beside the flowers that Ash had left.
The woman in the long raincoat seemed to give a sigh and she began move away from the place. She walked under a tree and seemed to mix with the shadows. An instant later, a Pidgeotto flew from the tree.
======
One week later, two youths were helping Tracey to feed the Pokémon of the Research Center. One of them was a 14 year-old boy and the other was a 20 year-old woman with short red hair. The boy was wearing an old Pokémon League cap that totally hid a small white tuft in his hair and a black leather jacket closed up to the neck and leather gloves, intended to prevent his healing factor from being unexpectedly triggered. Oddly enough, all the other manifestations of Ash's mutant Omega Factor had disappeared. Professor Oak had theorised that this was an aspect of the healing factor used by Delilah to heal her son's injuries. While the healing factor and the enhanced senses themselves were part of Ash's genetic make-up, all the other abilities, earth-type powers and spinnerets, were induced by the trauma of his captivity. The healing had restored him to his 'natural state', of which those extra powers were no part. Both stopped their work when they saw Professor Oak coming in their direction.
"There is someone wanting to speak with you and Jes... with you and Morrigan." The Pokémon researcher corrected on time. "He is from social services."
The young Pokémon trainer was immediately alert. "Did he show you any identification?"
Professor Oak rolled his eyes. Clearly, Delilah had taught her son caution. "Yes, he did Ash. I verified that it is authentic."
"I understand." He looked at his cousin, that nodded. Ash adjusted the leather jacket and the black gloves that now he used to prevent his healing factor to activate unexpectedly in a casual contact. "We are going."
Later, Ash and Jessie were in the downtown of Viridian City, in the central office of the Social Services of Kanto. They walked down a corridor at the side of a social worker, a nice man called Mr. Jericho. He noticed that the two youths, Ash and Morrigan Ketchum, were acting in a very defensive manner. It was not a surprise, really, they had lost a person whom they both loved very much. Jericho hoped they liked the good news that they would have in some moments.
"But, sir, for what I had understood, Professor Oak would be responsible..." Ash began.
"Yes, Mr. Oak was the person named by Mrs. Ketchum in her will as your guardian, but by the law, a family member has precedence as a guardian." The two young people immediately exchanged glances.
"A family member?" Jessie asked. "But I am Ash's only relative, and I am only 20 years old..."
The social worker smiled. "In this case, I have some news." They had arrived at the end of the corridor and he opened a door. "There is someone that would like to speak with you." Inside of the office, with her back to them, a woman in a black raincoat was seated in a chair, the hood covering her head.
"Who?"
"Your mother's older sister, Esther." And before they could recover, Jericho spoke to the woman. "Miss Ketchum, there are your nephews, Ash and Morrigan."
Without turning, the woman said. "Thank you, Mr. Jericho. Could I speak with them alone, please?"
"Sure." And the employee left and closed the door.
The silence reigned for one entire minute before Ash spoke. "Okay, who are you?" Ash asked with emphasis, but something in his tone seemed shaken. He had a strange feeling that he knew this woman.
"I knew that you would react in this way, Ash." the woman murmured. She rose and turned to them, removing the hood. "Esther" was tall and had short dark brown hair, at shoulder-length, with a small white tuft in the forehead, like Ash had. The big dark glasses hid her eyes. The long black raincoat that she wearing was open, showing the elegant business suit that she used. She seemed a business woman, but it was not what that surprised Ash: her neutral face was surprisingly similar, and at same time, different from that of his mother.
"Who are you?"
The woman removed the glasses and he saw her gentle brown eyes. The forms of the face modified subtly. Her brown hair seemed to be alive, growing and changing to red, although the white tuft remained. Surely you recognise me... my son? an oh-so familiar voice echoed in his mind.
Ash's voice faltered. "M-Mom?" he choked out.
Delilah Ketchum smiled at her son. "Yes, it's me," she said in a quiet voice.
Ash grabbed the woman by the arm, the strength of his grip amazing as if he were trying by force to be sure that this woman truly was what she claimed to be. Then, that detail confirmed, the explosion occurred.
"WHERE WERE YOU?! DID YOU KNOW THAT I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!?" He exclaimed at the top of his voice, much more shocked than angry, grabbing Delilah by the shoulders. "IF YOU SURVIVED THE EXPLOSION, WHY DID YOU...?"
Delilah stayed silent; She understood that Ash was entitled to that reaction. She tried to explain. "Well, Ash, I had to be sure that..."
"Oh, why do I even care?" he asked, interrupting her and then he hugged her with all of his strength. Tears began to run from his eyes. Delilah kindly stroked his hair, while he sobbed silently. After some minutes, Ash released her from the hug and looked straight at her eyes.
"Now I want that you promise me that you won't pull a stunt like that ever again!"
Delilah smiled. "Alright, I promise."
"But how you survive the explosion?"
"I don't know, sincerely I don't know! I mean, I didn't expected to survive something like that! Honestly...!"
"Er... Ash?" a voice interrupted, and Ash remembered Jessie. She was standing close to the closed door of the office. At that moment it seemed that Delilah noticed the presence of the former Rocket agent for the first time. The mutant woman looked at the redhaired young woman with surprise.
"Mom, do you recognise her?" Ash asked slowly and uncertainly.
"Yes." Delilah said neutrally. "She is the young woman that helped you to deal with me while I was under the control of Team Rocket."
Ash cleared his throat. After wracking his brains for a few moments, he decided there was no gentle way to deal with this situation. "Okay, then. Mom, do you remember that you told me that you had a niece?" Delilah nodded mutely. "Well then, this is her," he said, gesturing Jessie. The redhead smiled a little uncertainly and waved nervously.
Jessie swallowed dryly and extended her hand. "H-Hello... Mrs. Ketchum," she said, sounding a little embarrassed. With the same felling of strangeness, Delilah shook hands. Her natural morphic abilities instantly mapped the woman's DNA patterns and she instinctively felt the kinship that Jessie shared with her Delilah's human aspect... The two women locked eyes and they understood what that meant...
======
A red-haired young woman was in the kitchen of Esther Ketchum's house, preparing a jug coffee. She has just put hot water in the coffee pot when she turned and saw before her a pair of brilliant green slitted eyes.
"AAAHHHH!" Jessie screamed and backed off as far as she could.
"Excuse me!" Delilah exclaimed, embarrassed. That had been the fifth scare only in that day... 'I keep forgetting that she is not used with my default form like Ash is!' she thought, blaming herself. 'Not that I can you blame her for that...' "I'm sorry, Jessie!"
Jessie swallowed dryly, controlling herself but still maintaining a safe distance. She could not explain why! She knew by now that Mrs. Ketchum will not hurt her... but she feels that need to run away from her every time that Mrs. Ketchum was in her "natural" form... "Sure, Mrs. Ketchum... but you could... er..."
"Oh, of course!" Delilah exclaimed, assuming her (new) human form. Jessie relaxed visibly. In human form, the mutant woman didn't produce the fear pheromones that boost the panic that people felt around her ('As if my alien looks aren't enough.' Delilah thought, miffed)... Ash was immune due his enhanced immune system, but Jessie and Misty were another matter... "What are you doing?"
"Just a coffee. Would you like a cup?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Where is Ash?"
"He is with Misty. He is telling her.. you know... about me."
"I understand..." Jessie murmured, giving a cup for Delilah. Due to her transformation into Omega, Delilah could metabolise even toxic waste, if necessary. However, as she was expecting Jessie's coffee to be within the normal flavour range suitable for humans, she suffered an unexpected reaction: she almost choked.
"What's wrong, Mrs. Ketchum?" Jessie asked afraid. 'Could Omega be possibly poisoned by my coffee?' Jessie thought, distraught. 'My coffee can't be that bad... could it?' Suddenly, she recalled that James and Meowth hadn't ever drunk coffee when she made it once.
Delilah swallowed the coffee with a grimace that she couldn't disguise. "No-Nothing... the coffee is just a little too strong." she lied, with a shining smile of sincerity. 'She is like Miya in the kitchen, no doubt about it!' the mutant woman thought, sweatdropping. In spite of being an excellent friend, her sister was a disaster as a cook!
Jessie's shoulders fell. She had noticed that her aunt was trying cover the facts...
"Did you use that coffee pot?" Delilah asked.
"Yes..."
"Well, it has some little secrets. I will explain to you..." And the older woman began to give Jessie some tips that really helped. The taste of the new coffee improved very much. Delilah now confidently expected that an unprepared human could drink it without an immediate adverse reaction. She would still leave some Antidote lying around, though.
"It's very good!" Jessie commented, surprised.
"You just need be careful with some details."
"I understand..." Jessie paused before broaching what, for her, was a very delicate subject. "Um.. Can I ask something?"
"Go ahead."
"You could tell me... about my mother?" The former Rocket asked, shyly.
Delilah smiled. "Of course, Jessie... but I think that will be better if we sit down."
The two women sat down at the table of the kitchen and they began a long chat. And at its end, some of the barriers among the two women had been broken.
======
A UN Defense Forces official car had just left the new base under construction in the area between Pallet Town and Viridian City. It would be the new Defense Command Center of Indigo Island, after the complete restructuring of UNDF in the Kanto Region in the wake of the "Omega Incident". In the car were Captain Katherine Pryde and General Kent Williams.
"Is the new base satisfactory, sir?" The captain asked.
"Yes, Kitty. It will be the perfect headquarters for the Command Center." The general looked through the window of the car and asked suddenly. "What is the time until we reach Route 2?"
"About fifteen minutes, sir," Captain Pryde replied, looked curiously at her boss' face in the rear-view mirror.
Williams thought for one moment. "Kitty, first take us back to Route 1. There is someone that I need to see in Pallet Town."
"Yes, sir."
About a quarter of an hour later, Williams knocked on the door of a house. The door opened to reveal a brown-haired woman wearing a sober black business suit and dark-tinted glasses. Her expression was calm and curious. "Yes, what do you want?"
"Miss Ketchum? Miss Esther Ketchum?"
"Yes, I'm her." Her tone was cautious. "What do you want?"
Williams blocked his urge to flash his UNDF ID card in the woman's face. After all, he was here in an unofficial capacity. "My name is Kent Williams, Miss Ketchum. I am Misty's father."
"Oh! I see... Do you want to come in?"
A few minutes later, they were talking in the living room.
"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Williams," Esther was saying as she sipped on a cup of coffee brought to her by her late sister's Mr. Mime.
"I thought that I should personally convey my condolences for your younger sister's death," Williams replied. "Officially, of course, the UN can never reveal the entire truth of what happened to her, even to you. However, for what it is worth, in my view she is a heroine who deserves the highest decorations that we can give for courage."
"If it helps you," the woman in black replied, crossing her legs and putting her gloved hands on her knees, "Ash and Misty have already told me what happened to my poor baby sister. How Team Rocket kidnapped her and turned her into that... thing."
"I see..." Williams replied. 'Thankfully, she obviously doesn't want publicise this knowledge or I would have been here long before,' he thought, relieved for that much. He looked at his cup of coffee for a moment before replying. "I must say that I am surprised that they told you so much."
"Why are you so surprised about it, Mr. Williams?" she asked calmly.
"Well... Misty told me that you had not been very close to your two sisters' children and that you had been out of contact for some time..."
"That is correct, Mr. Williams. Delilah and I had a serious disagreement shortly before Ash's birth and I have been overseas since then. However, I kept in regular contact with Ash. So, he knows me reasonably well. And Morrigan too, of course."
Williams decided that he would check up on the woman's story. He still hadn't totally abandoned his initial impulse to look after Ash himself. "How are they doing right now?"
"They are recovering well. As you probably know, Ash is on a Pokémon Journey through Houen with Misty and Brock. Misty had the chance to become the full Leader of the Cascade Gym in Cerulean City, but she doesn't want to leave Ash." Kent Williams nodded and sipped on his coffee, recalling the favours that he had to call in to convince the League to let Daisy remain as the Gym Leader rather than have Misty forced to choose between the Gym that had been led by the women of her family for generations and her feelings for Ash. Esther sighed before continuing. "I suppose that this is probably the best therapy for him - the Pokémon training that he so much loves... My niece is at this exact moment working at Professor Oak's labs, with Jeremy and Mitch." 'Mitch Jennings' was Mondo Treleaven's new name. "I believe that it is easier for her to deal with this, as she didn't know Delilah so well."
Williams observed Esther Ketchum carefully. This, then, was Delilah Ketchum's sister. He noticed the family likeness, mainly in the face and in the calm manners (he still remembered Violet's marriage party, when he had seen her for the first time). 'You idiot, this is not the time to think about that!' he reprimanded himself, shaking his head.
"Something wrong?"
"No, Miss Ketchum."
"Maybe I should not ask this, but what happened to that official that kidnapped Ash and Misty?"
Williams thought for a moment. That was, technically, classified information, but didn't she deserve to know it? After all it involved her family... "Well, former general Jeffrey Straker was court-martialled and received a dishonourable discharge from the UNDF. He is currently serving a 45-year sentence for kidnap in the Anvil." The Anvil was the name of the UN-controlled maximum security prison, built under the ice and deadly cold of Antarctica.
Esther's expression became very cold. "That is something that he deserved very much! And what about Team Rocket?"
Williams sighed, unwilling to admit such a failure. "Unfortunately, Team Rocket had eliminated all the vestiges of their occupation from the Black Island Base before the UNDF forces arrived... Regrettably, we also have no clues as to the whereabouts of Dr. Madeleine Ivy..."
"The woman that transformed my sister into that 'Omega' thing," Esther interrupted, a freezing cold hatred filling her voice.
"Er... yes, that is correct Miss Ketchum," Williams said, recovering quickly. Regrettably, we are also unable to find any clues to her whereabouts, or that of the terrorists Seaborg and Longstreet." Suddenly, Williams felt a headache.
"Are you ok?" Esther asked, her head cocked to one side in curiosity.
"What...? Oh, yes... I'm just coming down with a slight headache." He looked at the clock. "Well, I have to go. Thanks for your hospitality."
The smile returned to Esther's face as she rose from her armchair. She went open to door but tripped over the rug and she lost her balance. Williams grabbed the woman by the arm before she fell and he stooped to collect her glasses from where they fell.
"Are you okay, Miss Ketchum?"
"Yes, thank you." Esther looked on in puzzlement as Williams stared into her face. "Is there anything else, Mr. Williams?"
"Oh.. nothing, Mrs. Ketchum." He answered, returning her dark glasses.
They said good-bye. On his way to Viridian City, the image of Esther Ketchum's eyes repeated in his mind.
Meanwhile, Delilah Ketchum breathed deeply, calming herself. That had been very close! Now she knew where Butch and Cassidy were probably hiding... The mutant woman bit her bottom lip: She had invaded the mind of Williams quickly and subtly, not wanting to cause damage but... she had not been able to quell the urge to do so... she just had to know that so that she could...
Delilah closed her eyes, trying to control herself.
======
In the next night, two people sat in a small, single-room hut in the middle of the forest around Goldenrod City, preparing to sleep. The woman pulled off a long black wig, revealing her long, blonde hair. "Damn it! Why is the Boss keeping us at a loose end like this? It has been over a month!"
"Cassidy, just be thankful that he was satisfied with censuring us and that he didn't decide to send us to Level 22!" Butch replied, sounding bored with his partner's whining.
Cassidy made an angry face. It wasn't their fault that Omega was destroyed! Some minutes after they went to sleep, there was a noise that awoke Butch... It sounded like somebody walking with high heels... in the middle of the forest? Before he could open the mouth, the door of the hut was destroyed by a Hyper Beam. Stunned, he only had chance of seeing a woman's silhouette before she fired a Spinarak's Spider Web over them.
With the faces now forced against the ground, they could not see the face of their attacker. Butch and Cassidy felt a shadow pass over them at the same time that something cold and metallic pressed against the backs of their necks.
"If you want to leave here alive, you will tell me what I want to know," said, with a cold and quiet female voice. 'And now the entertainment will begin.' the attacker thought, with cold pleasure in her voice... but fear in her eyes.
======
Later, in a dark apartment in a building in downtown Blackthorn City, a woman with a silenced pistol checked for the fifteenth time if the doors were well locked. With a blond wig and make-up, she didn't look at all like her previous appearance... Now she was a fugitive, with reputation and career destroyed...
Madeleine Ivy was so focussed on checking her security arrangements that didn't hear when a blue substance began to flow through the overflow of the bath tub. Ivy was about to return to her bedroom, when she heard a voice that she had hoped to never hear again...
"The prodigal daughter has returned."
The former Team Rocket geneticist turned and she saw her greatest creation, Omega, leaning against the frame of the door to the bathroom, one hand extended in a subtly seductive pose. Terrified, the scientist started firing shots at Omega. The mutant woman just laughed as the bullets punched through and slapped into the wall beyond. When Ivy finally ran out of ammunition, Omega just shook her index finger, in a gesture of reproof. "Now, now, Madeline," she purred. "Is that any way to greet me after I went to all this trouble to find you?"
Ivy gave a strangled scream and turned to flee. Immediately, Omega flowed across the room like a living wave of blue fluid, reformed before the fugitive, and punched her straight in the face. Ivy dropped to the floor on the other side of the room. In an instant, Omega was over her and covered her mouth with a cold and gelatinous hand, choking her screams completely. Two tentacles flowed out of Omega's neck and they adhered to the geneticist's temples, who began to twist in a desperate attempt to escape.
Omega leaned forward to whisper sensually into the woman's ear. "Enjoy the ride, dear," she whispered, before discharging a Thundershock into Ivy's central nervous system.
======
Later, in Millennium City, a young woman walked through the night, in the direction of her apartment. She had to go out to buy some medicines for her cold. The fact that she was ill just matched the fact she was feeling terrible anyway: even after all the time she spent in confinement, she knew would be lucky if the Boss was satisfied at demoting her to a Dan'in 'grunt'. Then she stopped - she was sure that was someone watching her. She grabbed a Pokéball at her waist and turned around.
There was no one in the street. Domino began to breathe more easily.
"I'm becoming paranoid." she decided, not noticing the shadow that was jumping from a rooftop to another.
The Rocket agent walked for some time before, without warning, several Vine Whips grabbed her and dragged her into a dark alley. She was slammed against a wall and an oily, cold hand clamped over her mouth. Vine whips immobilised her limbs.
"Don't try anything!" Omega's cold voice hissed, at same time that began to use Terror to guarantee that she had Domino's full attention, but that wasn't necessary since that the terrorist noticed what the mutant woman had on her hands... blood. Omega breathed deeply - her mission was different this time. She had seen the reflection of what she was in the face of the young Rocket.
"Listen, Domino. I haven't forgotten that you stopped Butch and Cassidy when they attacked me... That means that I owe you a favour, one that I am paying now. Listen what I have to say: Get out of Team Rocket before it transforms you just like it transformed me! This is the only warning that I will give you!"
Domino was too scared to answer.
The mutant woman leaned right forwards, glowing green eyes staring into terrified ice-blue eyes. "Are you listening me?" Omega snarled.
The blonde young woman nodded her head frantically. Yes, she did.
"Good girl," the mutant woman replied with a chilling smile. "Maybe you will have a better future than me." She released her victim, who immediately fell to her knees. Omega strode away to the mouth of the alleyway.
Domino saw two translucent wings flow out from Omega's back. When Omega leapt into the sky, Domino touched her face. The blood of Omega's victim, whoever that was, was still fresh...
======
A loud noise, almost a collision, woke Jessie up. It had come from her aunt's bedroom...
Swallowing dryly, she lifted up a Pokéball and walked slowly until the door of her aunt's bedroom. There is a sound coming from it... something was destroying the furniture there. Then the silence and then another sound, different of the previous one... it seemed that she was... crying?
"Mrs. Ketchum?"
No answer.
The redhead released her Lickitung and opened the door slowly. The room was destroyed, Delilah was sitting on the floor in her default form, tears running from her serpentine eyes, a clear self-loathing visible on her gel-like face... Something dark covered her hands. The light of a lamp shade revealed the true colour... blood red...
"What happened?" The fear was evident in the young voice.
The mutant woman looked at Jessie. "Omega had... her revenge," she murmured.
Jessie was silent. The mutant woman hugged her knees and cried, trying to find a forgiveness that would not come.
======
General Kent Lanning Williams was overseeing the last details on the transfer of the Defence Command from the Vermilion City Base to the new base in the Pallet-Viridian region, newly christened 'Alpha Command', when the phone rung. It was the private line.
"Yes, Kitty?"
"General Williams, Major Logan wishes speak to you," Captain Katherine "Kitty" Pryde said formally.
"Put him through," he said, surprised by the formality.
"He wishes to speak with you privately, sir."
"I understand..." He affirmed slowly. "Thank you, captain."
Kent Williams turned off the phone and activated the terminal on the desk. He accessed the satellite communication program, using the CEV-1 (or "see every one"), system exclusive to the UNDF. Moments later, the image of Major Robert Logan appeared in a window on the screen of the computer.
"What happened, Robert?" Williams asked, thankful that could speak normally through the cryptography system today - in the first systems, the user had to speak so slowly that seemed the scene of a comedy of errors. And when he noticed the tall trees visible through the window of Logan's car, he added: "Where are you?"
"I'm in the West Forest, close to Goldenrod City, sir. Team Rocket agents Cassidy Longstreet and Butch Seaborg were captured by the local Security Police in a hut that served as hiding place for Team Rocket in this area."
For one moment, Williams was silent, confused. Why had Logan insisted on using such a high level of security - a super-encrypted communication through the exclusive UNDF satellite communication system - to tell him something that would appear in a routine report?
"Something... unusual about this capture, Major?" Williams asked.
"Definitively yes, General. Are you aware of the state in that Major Sandra Stormer was found?"
"Yes, Major."
"Well, both were in a state that was even worst, almost unrecognisable. Beaten almost to the death, with marks of knife blows, burns and electric shocks over the whole body."
Williams felt as if someone had replaced his heart with a block of ice. "When will they be in a condition to speak, Major?"
Logan licked his lips. "Probably never, General," he said. Williams' expression must have communicated his disbelief. "Whoever did this seems to have inflicted some kind of brain damage, they can't speak or move. And there is something even stranger, General."
"What?"
"The word "Rapist" has been branded onto the backs of both terrorists."
Williams was silent for a moment. "Thank you for informing me, Robert," he replied at last. "Ensure that Seaborg and Longstreet are taken to the nearest top-security UNDF medical facility and that only medics with the highest clearance are allowed access to them. And I want you to debrief the Security Police officers personally. No one is to discuss this with unauthorised persons, is that clear?" Williams sucked in his breath before giving one last order. "Logan, Seaborg and Longstreet are dead. Outside of whatever medical facility you drop them in and in the highest echelons of the UNDF, as far as anyone else is concerned, they died in that forest, do you understand?" Logan nodded his understanding; He would obey his orders, even if he didn't understand why.
The general turned off the terminal. He remembered Ash's deposition to the top secret UNDF panel that had debriefed him after the 'Omega Incident', specifically what he had seen in that moment of telepathic connection between him and his mother: that Omega had been brutally assaulted by Butch and Cassidy...
That meant that Omega was... alive - as incredible as that seemed...
If he had any doubt about that possibility, it was dispelled by the message that he received the next day. Following an anonymous clue, the Blackthorn City Security Police found the geneticist Madeleine Beryl Ivy in an apartment rented under false name... She had been brutally attacked and was in a state of shock. The psychiatrists were now saying that now she had the mental age of a three year-old, unable to take care of herself...
Omega had taken her revenge.
But where would she be?
Then he remembered a detail... immediately, he pulled up an image file on his computer and looked at it a long time...
The answer was so obvious that he wondered why he had not thought of it before...
======
Three days later, a black-haired man in civilian clothes waited at a small snack bar, close to the UNDF Headquarters, while he watched the snow falling through the window. The snack bar was practically deserted, at this time of year and that hour of the evening. A woman entered and asked a question to the young man at the counter. She was a tall woman, wearing a black raincoat with the hood raised to cover the head, and gloves and boots of the same colour. The boy pointed in the direction of the general's table. The woman sat down on the chair in front of him and she pulled back her hood, revealing her dark brown hair and the dark glasses that hid her eyes.
"Thank you for acceding to my request, Miss Ketchum," Williams said neutrally.
"You are welcome, Mr. Williams... although I don't understand why you should want to meet me again."
"Professor Madeleine Ivy and Team Rocket agents Cassidy Longstreet and Butch Seaborg have been found."
Esther Ketchum's expression didn't change. "Really? You mean that the Security Police arrested them?"
"Actually, somebody took care of them before we found them," Williams said deliberately. "But I believe that you know more about that than even I do... Don't you, Mrs. Delilah Ketchum?"
The woman was silent for an instant, totally dumbfounded. "General... I think you are making a mistake... my name is Esther and..."
The UNDF officer interrupted her. "Mrs. Ketchum, you don't need to worry - for all that matters, Omega died in the Kraken Incident and the Security Police considers what happened with those Rockets an attempt of "file-erasing" on the part of the terrorist organisation. So, you can open up: your secret is safe with me."
Delilah Ketchum stayed in silence, while she looked directly into the man's eyes. He was telling her the truth. "Thank you, Mr. Williams." He finally said.
"You are welcome." he said shrugging, and then he raised an eyebrow, questioning. "You discovered where Butch and Cassidy were by reading my mind, didn't you? That was what caused my headache."
"Yes... I... I'm sorry." Delilah looked down, full of shame, wishing that she could hide.
The two sat in silence before she could speak again. "But how did you find out? I covered all my tracks..."
"You are right. You created Esther Ketchum's identity so well that nobody would disbelieve her existence - Even with Omega alive, somebody that verified the history would believe that you were be her older sister. Your new identity was perfect... except for two minor details..."
"What details?" she asked.
Kent smirked slightly. "Firstly, there was that 'skunk stripe' that you've put in your hair to match Ash's," he said. "That was a bit of an extravagance, you know Mrs. Ketchum, and a real security risk."
Delilah sighed. "That isn't anything I can control," she said. "Ever since I recovered my senses after the quantum detonation, it has been part of every human form I take; I can't get rid of it!" The woman sighed again in frustration and took off her dark glasses so she could rub at her eyes.
It was then that Kent Williams smiled proudly, and she understood the reason of it very well. He had beaten her in her own game - and he had reason to feel like proud... after all, he had defeated her more than 16 years of experience in that game...
"Your eyes."
"My eyes?"
"Yes. In your new disguise, you used the same eyes that you had as Delilah Ketchum." Williams tone became ironically solemn as he continued. "And the eyes, Mrs. Ketchum, are the window of the soul."
To be continued...
Chapter 18 - the conclusion! - coming soon.
What do you think? Read and Review!