The Omega
Mutation
by Joshua Falken
Thanks to BenRG for beta read this chapter :-D
Chapter 18 - Infinity
Night fell over Pallet Town.
Delilah Ketchum was alone at home, sat in her living room, in a rare moment of rest when she allowed herself to relax a little.
"Mime, Mi-Mime?" [Tea, Delie?] Mimey asked.
She sighed. "Thank you, Mimey. But my name now is Esther." She wondered when it would be that Mimey would remember to address her by her new name. Probably never, she concluded, resigned. The Pokémon left the room.
As the mutant woman added her preferred amount of sweetener to the tea, she considered her situation. It had been almost a year since Misty's father had discovered her identity - and, true to his promise, he had kept her secret and never importuned her. As far as anyone outside a small and select circle of friends knew, she was merely the "older sister" of the "deceased" Delilah Ketchum - she was grateful for that.
Delia sipped her tea, and noticed that was a little strong - she would have to tell Mimey to use more water with that tea. Her eyes drifted over to the screen of the videophone. Ash and Misty, with Brock and Tracey (by Professor Oak's orders), were currently engaged in a Pokémon Journey through Houen, far to the east of Kanto. When Ash had last called her, he had been in Petalburg City, preparing to fight for his fifth Gym Badge. She had no doubt that, by this time next year, Ash and Misty would both be entering the region's Pokémon League. If she had to bet, she would say that the finals would be between Ash and Misty. After all, her son had won the Global League for the second time and his girlfriend the Whirlpool Cup shortly before their departure for the new land. No doubt that it would be a hard battle, but she was looking forward to October of this year; the two Pokémon trainers had promised to return to Kanto for Halloween.
The memory of Ash's second victory in the Global League brought a memory that still confused the mutant woman. During the formal ball that celebrated her son's victory, he had introduced her to the Indigo Gym Leaders (in truth doing so again, for Delilah Ketchum had already met them the year before). Everybody had offered their condolences for "Delilah's" death. The moment that caused her the most worry arrived when Sabrina Bowman, Saffron City's Marsh Gym Leader and the world's most powerful human telepsychic, came to talk with her. Immediately, Esther raised her mental defences to guarantee that Sabrina didn't discover her secrets... But when the green-haired young woman shook hands with her, Sabrina's expression became so strange that Delilah was afraid.
"You have suffered too much," Sabrina declared in a murmur without any preamble.
"Huh?"
"You have suffered too much and blame yourself for things over which you had no control," Sabrina affirmed in a low voice.
"I... I'm sorry," Delilah replied, backing off slightly, "I don't understand."
"Mrs. Ketchum," The Gym Leader murmured so that only the older woman could hear her voice. "You are a better person than you think. Kinder and more decent than you give yourself credit; much more. The guilt that you feel... you will have a chance to absolve it."
Delilah remained in shocked silence as Sabrina stood back. That conversation had disturbed her.
Delilah shook her head and looked at the clock. In that moment, Jessie and James... oops, 'Morrigan' and 'Jeremy' should be at the movie theatre. It seemed that, now they were out of Team Rocket, they were free to admit what they felt for each other. Delilah smiled, remembering the way that James often looked at Jessie...
Yes, it seemed that after all the terrible events of the previous year, everything was going well for her family.
The woman in black rose from her armchair and she closed the curtains carefully. After confirming that Mimey had gone to sleep, she assumed her default form, stretching with a feline grace. It was always comfortable to return to this low-energy form, even though she could now maintain her human disguise without much effort. Sam Oak had examined her completely - with the help of the data about her that Jessie, James and Mondo had recovered - to determine if she was really healthy. Sam being Sam, he could not accept that Delilah could withstand the tidal-wave of X- and gamma-rays from a matter-antimatter explosion without some side-effects. Delilah couldn't blame him for that. She was nearly paralysed with surprise when she awoke on that deserted beach somewhere in the Orange Islands. According to Sam, the only possible explanation was that the radiation of the explosion had caused her genetic structure to mutate, eliminating the need for the Serum.
Delilah went to the kitchen and placed the cup in the sink. She turned the radio for some relaxing music while she checked what groceries that she would need to buy in the following morning. It was not much: just bread, milk and some butter... maybe some chocolate cookies... Just because she could eat just about anything, didn't mean that she didn't prefer human food. She was to turn off the radio, when the speaker announced, interrupting a commercial: "This is a KJEM special news bulletin!"
"What's going on now?" The mutant woman wondered, curious.
"We have just been informed that the members of Team Rocket who raided Celadon City Pokémon Center this evening have just taken control of Celadon City General Hospital, taking the patients and medical team as hostages!"
"What??" Delilah, shocked, ran to the living room and turned on the TV. INN was broadcasting live from the scene of the action.
"This is Roger Vickers, outside of Celadon City General Hospital, occupied by Team Rocket. Here with us is Lieutenant Jennifer Bookman, who is commanding the operation to apprehend the criminals. Lieutenant, could you explain what happened?"
Before the policewoman could even begin to answer, a fire-type Pokémon's Flame-thrower attack blasted out from one of the windows of the hospital. The Security Police officers and reporters all scattered to find cover.
The image was cut back to anchorwoman Michelle Crossridge in INN's Viridian City main studios: "As you have just seen, the terrorists who have taken control of the hospital have very powerful Pokémon to use as weapon. Experts on anti-terrorists tactics have warned that any police operation to re-take the building would be extremely difficult to execute without risking the lives of many officers and patients. If you have just tuned in, Celadon City General Hospital is under the control of Team Rocket, with the patients and doctors held as hostages. The terrorists invaded the hospital after fleeing from the Security Police soon after they robbed the Pokéball Safe of City's Pokémon Center. Analysts say that the situation is extremely complicated and dangerous, since the terrorists are concentrated mainly in the hospital's Children's Ward..."
The mutant woman bit her lips. Jessie had told her that, a little before she had revealed her true nature to Jessie and James during that confrontation at the old Ketchum home a long time ago, Team Rocket began to use their more violent members in "infiltration and acquisition" missions... practically walking time bombs! The idea of lunatics like that, keeping children as hostages...
As Delilah was thinking, the TV reports continued. Ms. Crossridge was now interviewing a retired police officer. "... unhappily, the classic strategy of wearing down the kidnappers with a long siege is not always completely effective. However, I believe that any attempt to storm the building will end up causing the death of many of the hostages..."
'No... it would probably be a massacre...' Delilah thought, remembering her own experiences as a Team Rocket agent. 'Those people didn't have chance...'
At that moment, a decision was formed in the mind and heart of Delilah Ketchum.
The mutant woman immediately turned off the TV. Then, she disappeared with the distinctive flare of light of a Teleport.
======
With all the attention of the Security Police and the media on the hospital, nobody noticed the winged form that landed on top of a nearby building. Its sharpened senses saw everything that it needed to know. Its brilliant eyes narrowed. It was ready. It went down until an alley alongside the building and began to melt into a puddle of blue gel. The fluid suddenly reared up and began to flow through an old pipe.
A minute later the blue gel-like substance began to flow out of the overflow of one of the sinks in one of the medical team's locker rooms. The mass rose up and assumed the from of a woman wearing a black leather biker's jacket and pants, boots and gloves. A helmet that vaguely resembled a motorcyclist's crash-helmet covered her head. In that exact moment, somebody entered the locker room and the figure hid among the lockers. It was a Rocket agent, accompanied by a Houndoom. The man sat down on one of the benches and began to smoke a cigarette.
The face behind the helmet curled upwards into a smile. Perfect.
The figure silently began to move towards the man, silent like a Persian or like a living shadow. But the Houndoom smelt her. The fire/dark-type Pokémon immediately spun to face the woman with a warning snarl. The Rocket jumped to his feet and turned in the direction that his Pokémon was glaring. "Who's there?" he called out. Omega, abandoning stealth, darted forwards from her hiding place, still disguised. "Houndoom, use Ember!" The Rocket ordered.
The mutant woman leapt agilely over the fireball that the Pokémon spat in her direction. Omega grabbed an overhead water-pipe and lifted herself up so that she seemed to be sticking to the ceiling. Deciding that the helmet wasn't as good an idea as she initially thought, Omega absorbed it back into her body, revealing her translucent blue face and fire-red hair. It certainly had the desired effect; The Houndoom and its master were both paralysed with fear.
"I suppose it's too late to ask for a cigarette?" Omega quipped with a sarcastic smirk. Then, Omega launched herself forwards, blasting the Houndoom back with a Hydro-Pump that she blasted out of her mouth as she swung forwards to drive both her booted feet into the Rocket's face. She somersaulted mid-air, landed in front of the Rocket, grabbed him by the lapels of his uniform tunic and slammed him backwards into a bank of lockers.
"How many of your team are in the hospital?" the mutant woman asked quietly. To make sure that she had the man's attention, she drove a knee into his gut. The man collapsed to his knees, but didn't speak. He was too terrified of the monster in front of him to even think. Noticing this effect, Omega decided to get the information that she needed the simple way and began to probe what, she supposed, could be generously be described as his 'mind'. It took only a fraction of a second to discover every detail of the occupation. Satisfied, she offered a smile that would freeze anyone's blood. She placed a black-gloved hand on the man's head, ready to snap his neck.
'No...' Delilah thought, firmly pressing down Omega's instinct to kill any potential threat. Instead of killing him, she knocked him out with a karate chop to the side of his neck.
After tying the fallen Rocket in bug-type webs, Omega left the locker room and began to blur through the building, a living shadow, until she reached the ground floor. According to her unwilling informant, there were twenty Rockets watching the entrances of the hospital and another fifteen other guarding their hostages.
Delilah had formulated a strategy as soon as she saw the ducts of the ventilation system. She flowed underneath a locked door marked 'Ventilation System Junction Room'. Once inside, she quickly pulled open the inspection panels on top of the various ducts that ran through the room. Then she concentrated, her arms reaching out. Her arms began to flatten, lengthen and divide into the distinctive palm-like fronds of the Exeggutor, one over each open inspection panel. As soon as her body had reformed, she began to shed Sleep Powder into the ventilation system. Then, all she had to do was to telekinetically throw the switch marked 'Air Re-circulation'.
After determining that her plan had succeeded, the mutant woman decided to notify the police outside that the situation was under control. She selected a pair of Rockets at random, tied them to trolley beds and used a powerful kick to push both out of the main doors of the hospital. While the Security Police tried to figure out what was going on, Omega adopted the form of a Muk and made a discreet exit through the sewer system.
Some minutes later, as the SPs were taking the peacefully sleeping terrorists into custody, a woman in a black raincoat with a white tuft in her dark brown hair approached a policeman outside the building. "What happened?" Esther Ketchum asked the officer.
The policeman looked at newcomer with surprise. "I don't know, lady," he replied. "It seems that somebody put the Rockets to sleep before we entered." He turned to look back at the building.
"Really? Well, that's good, isn't?"
The policeman turned to answer her but she had disappeared. He blinked with surprise. Where did she go? If the befuddled policeman had thought to look up, he would have seen a humanoid form with a Dragonite's wings arcing up into the starlit sky.
======
As Delilah Ketchum sank into a relaxing herbal bath in the sanctity of her home, she felt something that she didn't expect to feel... something so surprising that she didn't recognise the sensation at first... she felt in peace with herself.
"I just did something that I had do," she said to herself. After all, she had no right to enjoy anything, given her past sins. But a part of her liked, indeed enjoyed what she had done. And honestly, deep inside, Delilah welcomed the feeling.
======
In Houen, because of the time difference, Ash was already asleep when a strange feeling made him wake suddenly, awakening his Pokémon friends.
[What's wrong, Ash?] Pikachu asked urgently.
The boy looked at his friend, but he didn't answer. He just dressed quickly and ran to the public telephones in the atrium of the Petalburg City Pokémon Center where he and his friends were passing the night.
"Come on, mom! Answer it!" he murmured as the ringing tone purred in his ear.
"What are you doing awake at this hour?" A voice asked from behind him. It was Nurse Joy Hoffman, her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face. The redheaded woman was wearing a floral-print dressing gown and had obviously been woken up by Ash's race through the corridors of the Pokémon Center.
"Well.. that is..." Ash stammered. 'How do I explain to her?', he thought desperately.
"Trainer Ketchum, it is well past the curfew hour," Nurse Joy said sternly. "You aren't allowed out of your dorm room at this time of night!"
"Oh...!" Ash tried to look repentant and finally figured out what to say. "Well, I had a bad dream about my aunt and I wanted to make sure that she was OK." It was not the best excuse, Ash was able to admit that easily, but it was close to the truth.
Nurse Joy's expression softened a little. "Hum.. very well, Trainer Ketchum. I am sure that your aunt is fine. Now, off to bed with you, young man. You can call her tomorrow." Ash opened his mouth to argue, but Joy wouldn't have it and practically marched the boy (who was almost as tall as she was) back down the corridor to his room.
"Pikachu, my mother used her powers... as Omega." Ash explained to his closest Pokémon friend. 'I hope she had a good reason for that,' he thought, deeply concerned.
[What is an 'Omega'?] Ash's Grovyle asked in his usual disrespectful tone.
[I'll explain some other time,] Pikachu replied without even looking at the reptilian grass-type, his expression thoughtful.
[Whatever,] Grovyle responded scornfully. [Just make sure that the human lets us sleep from now on.]
======
What Ash and his mother could not know was of a meeting of mighty powers that was taking place on a rocky island near to Shamuti Island. The Titan of the Seas telepathic voice seemed to echo all around her visitor: Now it begins... The Dark Guardian starts to assume her destiny.
The tall, bipedal feline form standing in front of the huge bird-like Pokmon responded soundlessly, his mental tone dripping with sarcasm. Indeed, Mewtwo said. Is she aware of what awaits her? The consequences?
Lugia seemed to sigh. "That is something that we cannot change..."
The Titan of the Seas was deep in thought as Mewtwo teleported away to his hiding place near Cerulean City. 'Now the Two Powers are in equilibrium: the Chosen One, who will change the nature of things, and the Dark Guardian, who will protect those changes... Now the Future is safe... but I wonder what it will be...
======
Delilah Ketchum was at her home, watching a video DVD recording of an image from a security camera. On it, the smoke from a Weezing was clearing, revealing two tall teenage girls wearing rather absurd-looking Nurse Joy disguises and standing in a silly, dramatic pose on the front counter of a Pokémon Center somewhere.
"Prepare for trouble!" announced one of them, removing her disguise and revealing her white-on-black Team Rocket uniform and her fire-red hair. That was her, when her body was still that of a human and her name was still Delia Darkholme.
"Because it will be double!" Now the other girl took off her disguise, to reveal a slightly shorter girl, with hair that was nearly purple in colour. Her sister, Miyamoto.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples of our nation."
"To sing the joys of truth and Love."
"To extend our reach to the stars and beyond!"
"Delia!"
"Miya!"
"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or get ready to fight, fight, fight!"
And then in unison: "That's right!"
Tears were running down Delilah's face. It was too much. She stopped the DVD in frustration. 'Why the only chance that I had to see and hear my sister alive again is when I was doing the things that I'm ashamed of?' she thought.
At that moment, the telephone rang. Delilah stood, grateful for a distraction, and picked up the receiver. "Hello, Ketchum residence. Esther Ketchum speaking."
"Miss Ketchum. General Williams."
"Yes, Mr. Williams?"
"By any chance, would you know anything about what happened at Celadon City General Hospital a few nights ago, would you?"
Long years of practice had gifted Delilah with a perfect poker face, and it appeared that General Williams had the same gift. "Why should a humble secretarial worker know about such things, Mr. Williams?" Delilah asked guilelessly.
The two looked at each other for a long time. Was that laughter that she saw in the eyes of Misty's father?
"In that case, perhaps you might pass a message to a former member of Team Rocket of our mutual acquaintance," Kent said neutrally. "Please let her know that her intervention had neutralised an otherwise-problematic situation and certainly saved a great number of innocent lives."
"I will let her know," Delilah replied.
"Thank you, Miss Ketchum." Kent cut off the connection from his end, leaving Delilah standing in her living room, feeling very weird.
======
About one month later, on October 31, a group of six people were stepping over the stile gate that marked the end of Route 1 and the entrance to Pallet Town. They were Ash Ketchum, Misty Williams, Brock Harrison, Tracey Sketchitt and their two friends from Houen, May Crosse and her kid brother, Max.
Misty noticed the concern written on her boyfriend's face. "Stop worrying, Ash!"
"Yeah, Ash!" Brock added. "We'll soon be back at your place!"
"I know, Brock. I just can't help it..."
"Cheer up Ash!" Misty ordered. "Your moth... er... your 'aunt' didn't prepare a Halloween party to commemorate your arrival for you to be in that mood!" If May or Max had noticed Misty's verbal misstep, neither commented on it.
"Ok, Misty." Ash said with some irony.
"What will be her costume this year?" Tracey asked. He had been invited to a Halloween party in its first year as Professor Oak's assistant, which Ash's mother had attended: she wore the costume of Susan Storm, 'The Invisible Woman', from the Fantastic Four - and she was perfect! Of course now Tracey knew the secret of her costumes.
"Honestly, I have no idea..." Ash was wondering the same thing himself. He especially remembered on Halloween where his mother created a Hobbit costume for him, while she was Galadriel. "Well, here we are."
Ash opened the door of his house. Mimey came to greet them, dressed as a House Elf from the Harry Potter books.
"Dobby lives," May remarked with a giggle.
"Hi Mimey! Where are... er... Morrigan and my aunt?" Ash asked. This promised to be a strange holiday, having to tip-toe around May and Max and not let them see through the disguises of various people in the household. However, there was no avoiding it. The girl and boy from Petalburg City had been quite adamant that they wanted to visit Indigo, and Ash was essentially too nice to say no.
"I'm here!" his cousin called, walking out of the kitchen accompanied by James. Ash laughed when seeing their costume. Both were in black one-piece jump-suits with a distinctive 'X' emblem on their belts. James had a strange visor-like one-piece sunglasses over his eyes with a red lens.
Jessie stuck her fists on her hips and glared at Ash. "What's so funny?" the redhead asked, somewhat angry.
Ash swallowed his laugh. He could accept his cousin as Phoenix (Jessie might not be telekinetic, but she could certainly throw things around with the force of her fiery temper), but her boyfriend as Cyclops? He found very difficult to take it seriously...
"Nothing..." Ash said, still sniggering under his breath. "Well, where is my 'aunt'? And Meowth?"
"I coming down now!" Delilah called from the top of the stairs.
"And Meowth should be with that female Meowth that he met in Prof. Oak's labs." James added, while adjusting his costume's visor, which kept falling down his nose. Ash was planning on calling attention to this problem when he realised that his travelling companions were all looking over his head to the stairs.
"Wow...!" May gasped in awe. "Ash! You never told me that your aunt was so cool!"
Ash turned and almost fainted. Descending the stairway there was a woman with blue, scaly skin almost luminescent yellow-green eyes and short red hair. She was dressed in an elegant white dress with white long-pipe boots and gloves over a sky blue body-suit. A necklace and a belt, both with a skull emblem, completed the picture.
"M...? M...? Aunt Esther? Ash blurted out weakly.
Delilah smiled at her son in a strange manner. "Well, don't just stand there, Ash," she said, letting a little of Omega's dangerous sensuality into her voice. "My sister must have raised you with manners! You should tell a woman if you like her clothes. You do like my costume, don't you?"
Without waiting for a reply, Delilah swept past her near-paralysed son to her house-guests. Although she knew that it would make for a strange holiday, Delilah was looking forward to having guests that were unaware of her true identity and her true nature. Of late, she had been worried that she was getting sloppy, so she wanted to be able to practice her disguise and camouflage while constantly around people who didn't know her secrets. "You must be May and Max Crosse. Ash has spoken to me of you," she said, extending her hand. Max shook her hand enthusiastically. The 9-year-old boy began to babble enthusiastically about the quality of her costume.
May accepted the mutant woman's hand a lot more shyly. Delilah suspected that the pubescent 11-year-old girl was quite severely disoriented by the cocktail of pheromones that her mutant physiology naturally generated as a defensive measure. "I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Ketchum," May said quietly.
Delilah smiled with genuine warmth. "Please, May. I'm 'Esther'," she replied. "Any friend of Ash's is as good as family in this household." Much to Delilah's amusement, May responded by blushing brightly.
"Aunt Esther, can I talk to you for a moment?" Ash asked, between clenched teeth. "In private?"
"Sure, dear."
The Pokémon Trainer and his 'aunt' ascended the stairs, while the others all tried to recover from her entrance. Pikachu wondered why his friend was so disturbed by the fact of his mother have assumed that form... After all, it wasn't as if she were broadcasting her true nature... was she?
[Was that an 'Omega'?] Grovyle asked quietly, his usual arrogance missing.
Pikachu nodded with a slight smile, looking around to make sure that none of May's Pokémon were listening to them. [I told you that Ash was special, didn't I, Grovyle?] he replied quietly. [That was his mother.]
[His... mother?] Grovyle looked to where the two humans had disappeared up the stairs in shock.
Pikachu was more than glad to have finally defeated the grass-type's arrogant disdain for Ash. He turned and giggled aloud as May's Torchic and Beautifly both started fluttering around James' head, trying to dislodge his visor.
Upstairs, in Ash's bedroom, mother and son faced each other. "Mom...?" Ash blurted. He pointed to her, not knowing how to continue.
"This costume?" Delilah said with in a disturbingly casual tone of voice. "Well, it was Jessie who suggested it and I thought was a good idea..."
"But... Mystique, mother?" Ash asked helplessly. All right, he could see the irony of the choice but even so... "Mom, it is going to be hard enough to remember to use your cover name around May and Max without you practically advertising that you are a polymorph the very first time you see them!"
Delilah laughed quietly and dangerously, making a finger of ice run up Ash's spine. "Ash, May was far too busy dealing with her sudden pubescent crush on me to worry too much about overt clues in my Halloween costume as to my real nature. As for Max... well, he is more interested in the quality of my comic-book costume than anything else." The mutant woman reached out and ruffled her son's always-messy hair. "Ash, one of the first things that they teach you in Team Rocket's Extra-Legal Acquisition classes is that things are best hidden in plain sight. Tell me, would you expect a polymorph to advertise her nature by dressing as the most famous one of her kind in western popular culture? Believe me that I am better disguised dressed as Mystique than in any other costume on Earth!"
Ash shook his head. He had more important things to worry about it than his mother's disturbing and often-whimsical view of the world. "Mom," he said urgently, "tell me the truth. Have you been using your powers to perform those incredible rescues that were reported but that nobody seems to know how they happened?"
Delilah lowered her head. She couldn't lie to her son. She might be able to lie to anyone else, even herself, but not to him. "Yes, Ash," she confirmed. "That was me."
"But why? I mean, it is not that you did something wrong - it is exactly the opposite! They were wonderful things, but..." Ash breathed in deeply, trying to get his thoughts in order. "Mom, for more than 13 years you never used your powers, always stayed hidden... You hid yourself so well that I only discovered your true identity last year, when all those horrible things happened! When my healing powers appeared, you implored me to never use my powers so that the people didn't discover what I really am. I understand why you did that, why we have to keep what we are a secret. But now you are putting yourself in the line of fire, playing the superheroine...! I only want to understand, mom."
The mutant woman turned her back on her son and spent a few moments staring out of the window, trying to order her own thoughts. "Ash, what you said is true. I spent most of your life trying to hide my nature because I just wanted to live in peace and to try forget my past in Team Rocket." 'And, of course,' she added silently 'to try to be the very best mother to you that I could be.' After a moment, she continued aloud. "I asked you not to use your powers because I was afraid that you would be viewed as an aberration and hunted down. But Ash, the thing that I cannot escape is that, control necklace or not, there are crimes without number and more deaths than I want to remember that are my responsibility."
"But Mom..." Ash began.
"Please, Ash, let me finish," Delilah snapped with uncharacteristic force as she span to fix him with her glare. "They are my responsibility and I will probably pay for them in the next world - nothing would be more just than that. But ever since I helped to end that siege at the hospital, I realised that my powers could help others... that..." Delilah stopped and sighed. How could she put it in words anyway? Ash could never really understand what she had been through. "Ash, understand, that is the only way that I have to atone for all the things that I did wrong, for paying for my crimes, both as Omega and before that as one of Team Rocket. Please, Ash, understand that I need to do this."
"Mom..." Ash sighed and shook his head. Then, he took his mother into his arms (and he was nearly as tall as her now) and hugged her for a long time.
After a while, Delilah she loosened her hug and smiled at her son. "I think that we had better join our friends downstairs before the eat all the candies!"
Ash laughed and followed his mother out of the room.
======
Two days later, while Ash and Misty were showing May and Max around Pallet Town, General Kent Williams paid a visit to the Ketchum home. He had business of great importance to discuss with the Kanto Islands' best-kept secret.
"Mrs. Ketchum, don't think that I'm not grateful for the help that you've given us recently, because I am."
She shrugged. "I'm glad that I could help."
"But more and more questions regarding the 'mysterious vigilant' that is secretly solving some cases are being asked and it is becoming difficult to continue ignoring them."
"I understand," Delilah said, mentally reviewing several 'alternate forms' that she could use to confuse any potential police investigation. "Perhaps I should have been a little more discreet..."
"That isn't really an issue," Kent said firmly. "If I tell the Security Police that this is a UNDF intelligence issue, they will believe me. No, my concern is more related to changes in how the UNDF is handling terrorist incidents. Since the dissolution of Sector Athena, anti-terrorist operations have become the responsibility of the regular UNDF forces. We are setting up specialised investigation and enforcement units called 'SAED' teams. You will understand my reluctance to having troops under my command occasionally tripping over the feet of a super-powered mutant vigilant!"
Delilah supposed that she could see his point of view. She saw no point in wasting time saying so.
"I believe that I understand why you are doing this, Mrs. Ketchum, so I won't ask for you to stop - especially because I know that there is no way for me to make you stop anyway." That admission embarrassed Delilah, who shifted a little in her chair. "So the question remains," Kent concluded, "what do we do about this situation?"
The question hung in the air.
======
One week later, a meeting was in progress in the Maximum Security Room of United Nations Defense Forces HQ in Viridian City. The General Secretary Alexandra Faraday and the Security Council were listening a report by General Kent Williams, assisted by captain Kitty Pryde. General Mercedes Heisenberg and Kenshin Mitsuragi also listened attentively.
"So, General Williams, are you saying that this not original Omega?"
"Yes, Madam General Secretary. From the files that we recovered from the laboratories of Team Rocket, we could determine the true history of Project Omega. Originally, Team Rocket transformed one of their agents into the being that we knew as Omega, which was used in several attacks approximately 16 years ago. Ultimately, however, the creature proved too violent and unpredictable for them to use effectively and it was placed in stasis by the organization before it could get out of control. Then, approximately a decade later, they kidnapped an inhabitant of Indigo with a genetic code similar to the one of the original agent and they also transformed her into a second Omega, using the control mechanism that I have already briefed you about to ensure her obedience. However, once again they had underestimated their creation and the second Omega escaped to return to her son. Just one year ago, Team Rocket discovered her hiding place and moved to reclaim their prize."
General Mercedes Heisenberg remembered again the moments in the Orange League Hall of Fame. But that meant... "This person, let's call her 'Omega 2', was the one who attacked us. Team Rocket ensured that Straker learnt about her secret. When he tried capture her by making made believe that we had her son, that sent her on that rampage." Kent nodded in agreement; Actually, Heisenberg's theory was even better than the story that he had been planning to tell. "Then, in some way this 'Omega 2' learnt what Team Rocket intended to do, destroy Fuchsia City using the original Omega. So she decided to face the original Omega, who was the cause of the destruction of the Burning Desert Power Farm."
Williams nodded. "She defeated the original Omega and used it as a kind of anti-missile projectile against the incoming quantum warhead. Then, "Omega 2" returned to hiding, protecting her family as before."
"And since then, she has been helping us, from the shadows." General Secretary Faraday concluded.
"Yes, Madam General Secretary."
"But, General," interrupted Richard Stormgren, Gerald Robertson's replacement in the Security Council (the career of belligerent Robertson had been destroyed along with missile that he had ordered launched - for the relief of the other members of the Council). "I don't understand the reason why she would do this."
"Mr. Stormgren, understand that Omega 2 feels guilty for what she did when she was under the influence of Team Rocket. She wants to redeem herself by helping us in the fight against Team Rocket, who she understandably despises. And remember that she only attacked us because she was led to believe that her son - her only real remaining link with humanity - was in danger. And we all know that the need to protect our children could make any of us take extreme measures."
"But even wishing to atone for the destruction that caused, she doesn't want to work as part of our chain of command," declared the representative of East Asia.
"Quite so, Mr. Sugihara." Captain Pryde interrupted her superior officer. "For what I understand of her, she believes that this way, acting under an alias, she will protect her family. She actually has made it a condition of her assistance that we guarantee that her son will never be pursued by the UNDF. She has also made it clear that she will only consider a request for assistance if the need is urgent and dire."
"A very reasonable request, in my view." General Williams added.
"Reasonable?" One of the members of Security Council asked. It was clear what would classify as 'reasonable' conditions, in his opinion.
"Mr. Martelli, you should understand that we are not speaking about a weapon, but of a human being," Williams said firmly. His voice began to rise with passion as he continued. "She has feelings, fears, desires and all the contradictory notions that any other man or woman would have. She has an open and loving heart and wants nothing more than happiness for those she cares about. She is not a thing to be used the way that Straker clearly thought he could use her. I have personally guaranteed that her conditions for assisting us will be respected. If the Security Council believes that this is inappropriate... well, you will have my resignation on your desks within the hour."
There was a long pause after that. The diplomats were clearly very impressed with Williams' passion for his subject. Even Captain Pryde seemed astonished. "General Williams, are you sure that she is trustworthy?"
"Yes, Madam General Secretary."
"Do you know her identity, General?"
"Yes, but that is information that should only be imparted on a 'need-to-know' basis. And ladies and gentlemen, believe me when I say this: no one here needs to know at this time."
"Very well, General. Just one more question: what is her codename?"
"At the moment we are using the reporting name 'Omega 2', although that may change as we continue to finalise the operating arrangements for utilising her assistance."
The meeting was over. Williams and Pryde got ready to leave, when General Heisenberg came to speak with them:
"Williams, for your own good, I hope that you know what are you doing."
"Mercedes, trust me: Omega 2 only wants to live in peace."
"I'm sure that you believe that Kent, and I hope so too. But after the 'chat' that I had with her, it will be difficult for me to ever trust her. Even if her intentions are good, I'll only ever see the killing machine that Team Rocket made to help them rule the world... I'm sorry." Williams realised that his colleague's distrust was actually fear. To his side, Pryde seemed to have become a little discomforted, looking down at her uniform boots. When she raised her head, Mercedes had the impression that her eyes shone as like those of a Persian caught in the beam of a flashlight... but surely that was just an optical illusion...
Later, Williams and Pryde walked down to the building's ground floor and took a cab to the city park. The captain, who was carrying a tatty canvas backpack, asked her superior to wait while she used the public lavatories. She entered in one of the stalls. Her uniform flowed into the neat dress of an anonymous city worker, her hair changed from flowed from short and black to long and brown with a shock of white over her eyes and her eyes darkened from clear blue to chocolate brown. The woman pulled a black raincoat out of her backpack and put it on. Then Esther Ketchum, the new executive secretary of General Kent L. Williams, walked out of the stall and strode over to her boss.
"Thank you," she said, her voice changed to sound slightly timid and awed at being in the presence of the famous war hero.
"You are welcome," Kent replied. "Let's go and get our lunch over there." Williams indicated a restaurant.
It was almost lunchtime and the two were easily lost in the crowd as they sat down at a table in a private corner of the establishment. "Thank you for letting me take part in that meeting," Delilah said quietly.
"Well, I thought, since you had an interest in the matter, that it would be a good idea." The General shrugged. It had not been difficult to arrange: Katherine Pryde was visiting her family in Lavender Town that week; It had been child's play to modify the records so that she would not be shown as on leave on this morning. "Besides, it was a chance to remind you that I have reasons for now wanting you to play the superheroine except in a dire emergency, Mrs. Ketchum."
"I am aware of that," Delilah replied, rolling her eyes. "However, I do have one suggestion."
"Go ahead."
"Well, since I will be your secretary, although I doesn't know how you arranged that..."
"That was easy," Williams replied. "My old secretary was retiring for medical reasons. Besides, you are fully computer-literate and know at least a dozen languages. The only difficulty was not to be seen to be too eager to accept your application." It had been Delilah's suggestion to work at Alpha Command, where the new counter-terrorist forces would be based. This way she could find a way to help without revealing her identity. Of course, it helped that she told him her entire story - everything from the time that she was Delia Darkholme until today.
"Well, since we will work together, would not be better we attempt to leave aside the formal titles? It is a little strange..."
"All right, then what do you want me to call you?"
"You can call me Esther. It's my name... now, that is."
"Alright then. I'm Kent."
The two shook hands.
"And before I forget, I wanted to thank for your painful but effective therapy."
"You don't need to be sarcastic." Delilah said sadly. She knew that he referred the torture that she had inflicted on him while interrogating him about Ash and Misty's whereabouts.
"I'm being serious," the man replied. "After that, my arachnophobia ended for good. I can even look Misty's Surskit in the eye without getting the shakes."
"Well... you are welcome..." Delilah murmured and decided to change the subject. "Thank you for inviting me to lunch, by the way."
"You are welcome. It is annoying to eat alone, anyway." Williams watched the woman attentively. She was really very intelligent... and beautiful... especially her warm brown eyes... and not just the face... That gentle and friendly side of her was very attractive... As was the warrior so carefully hidden beneath that demur exterior. 'This is not the moment to start to drooling, Einstein! This woman is powerful enough to do anything, including seduce any man that she wants! Do you seriously believe that she would be interested in a man that so completely screwed up his family life that he didn't even talk to his daughters for a decade? Wake up!'
And as if on cue, Esther asked: "How are your daughters doing?"
Kent was glad for the distraction. "They are doing very well! Daisy is becoming a great Gym Leader. She has been working out a lot, without neglecting her shows. You should see one of them, one of those days. She has actually been seeing Tracey since he returned from Houen. Something is going on between them, mark my words! Violet is happy with her marriage, and she is expecting a baby!"
"Oh my! I'm very happy for her! Congratulate to her for me!"
"I will tell her. Lilly is off training her Pokémon somewhere in the Orange Islands and Misty, as you know, is on a Pokémon Journey with your son through Houen."
Delilah smiled, happy in the knowledge that Williams was getting close to his family. He deserved that much: he was a decent and honest man, concerned for his family... and he was even very attractive, she noticed. "Stop right there, Delilah! Don't even think about that - he is Misty's father! It would be wrong to say the least to try something beyond friendship... and nobody in their right mind would want a relationship with an mutant freak aberration like you anyway!"
The two finished their meal, and Delilah got up to leave.
"Before you go, a question. When you were in your... 'journey' through the Orange Islands, how did you manage to keep up your energy levels? I mean, you didn't even stop once to find food!"
She gave him an impish smile and whispered her reply. "Actually, I can synthesise my own food, like a grass-type Pokémon, but if, for some reason that is not enough..." Delia picked up a napkin and balled it up in her fist. There was a quiet hiss and the distinctive smell of hydrochloric acid. When she opened her hand the napkin had disappeared. All that remained was some ashes... "That is the equivalent of a cookie for me," she replied with a dangerous, snake-like smile.
"Wow...!" Kent murmured. 'Thank God that I have a strong stomach,' he thought, a little dumbstruck.
"I'll see you soon, General." She smiled demurely, her eyes lowered in a modest way, the disguise of 'Esther' fully in place, and left the restaurant.
======
Samuel Oak examined his samples for the thousandth time. No, there was no change in the results... as incredible that they were... He slowly passed his right hand through his white hair. "How I can tell her... how I could I tell anyone... this?" he wondered. The Pokémon researcher slowly stood up and walked across the lab. There he found Tracey supervising Delilah's time in the regenerative chamber. Oak had insisted that the mutant woman spend at last a 5 hours a month in that device to guarantee her health... but now he wondered if that was really a waste of time...
Tracey had once asked if he loved Delilah. That was something that he had thought about a lot and the best answer that he could offer was that someone had to crazy to fall in love with Omega. However, it would take a very special kind of fool not to fall in love with Delilah Ketchum... and that was the most honest answer that he could give his young friend... or himself.
He sighed... Anyway his discovery changed everything.
He tapped on the glass. Delilah's glowing eyes snapped open, questioning. "I need talk to you." Sam said, grimly.
======
December 31, 2064. It was snowing on Viridian City. A woman walked alone among the festive crowd. Practically all the people that she saw laughed, smiled, hugged those who accompanied them... It seemed that only she was alone.
She stopped in front of the window of a toy store. It had several Pokémon plushie dolls on display. She smiled when she noticed a Ninetails, the same model that had given to her son when he was five years old.
'My God, how time has passed!' Delilah Ketchum thought, pulling her hands out of the pockets of her coat and hugging herself. 'One moment Ash was just a little boy... and now he is already becoming a man! It didn't even seem possible that he was just 15 years old... Then there was Jessie! My sister's baby is all grown up...!' Her niece would be leaving to study the Infirmary course at Celadon City Technical University next year. It seemed unfair to Delilah that the niece that she had not seen for 16 years was now moving away from her... but she could not stop Jessie from pursuing her dream, could she? In the same way that she could not stop Ash to follow his dream of being to become the greatest Pokémon Master of all time...
Delilah sighed, a black-gloved hand brushing a shock of white hair out of her eyes. She stood back and continued to walk down street. A very elderly couple passed her, and it was clear that they were still in love with each other... Was that the future of Jessie and James? After all, she knew that the young man was thinking seriously of proposing marriage to Jessie - she had seen him to buy the ring that very afternoon... And it was obvious that in the future, Ash would follow the same path and he would ask for Misty's hand... And sooner or later - although a part of Delilah that didn't like to admit her real age insisted that it still a long way later - soon both would have children of their own...
Delilah walked into a dark alley among the buildings and teleported up to the top of one of them. She could see the whole city, illuminated like a giant Christmas ornament... She could hear the people celebrating the year that will come. Yes, she would live long enough to see her grandchildren, she could see the happiness in Ash and Misty's eyes when they hold in their arms a small part of themselves that would continue in the world, even after they left it... Even after they left it... Her mind went back to the conversation that she had with Sam one week ago. He promised not to tell anybody what he had discovered... nor Ash nor General Williams... no one.
Sam explained that he had compared an old sample, from the time that they first met each other, with a current one... and there were no deterioration or signs of any ageing. It was not that her mutant genetic structure was ageing more slowly, rather it was not ageing at all! Her genetically modified biology simply kept its normal operational state, without any deterioration due to age. Any other type of damage was repaired automatically by her polymorphic ability. At the very least, her ageing process was so slow that it was undetectable on any normal human time-scale.
Or in simpler terms, she didn't age.
And if you add the regenerative capacity that brought her back to life after being nearly vaporised by a quantum explosion...
She was immortal.
She pulled a photo of her with Ash out of the inside pocket of her coat. It was a photo from before he left on his first Pokémon Journey. They had gone into Pallet Town's small shopping mall and gone into those photo booths. In the first they were side by side. In the second and third, they made funny faces for the camera. In the last, they laughed and hugged.
Ash just got very 'little' of his possible latent powers due the Omega Factor. He would age, but in a much slower rate than most people... Oak guessed (for he admitted that he had no way of calculating such an unexpected thing) that her son could easily reach his third century... That was a feat that progress in medicine would make theoretically possible for some, so his advanced age would be surprising but not impossible. He would be spared that curiosity, thank God for that...
Yes, she would see Ash and Misty having children, and these having their own children. But she would also see Ash and Misty dying, their children dying... while she would stay in this world, never ageing, never changing, a constant in a world dominated by change.
That was her gift. And it was her curse.
She would have to see those that she loved... all her family and friends... go, while she would ultimately be left only with loneliness and sadness.
There in below, the countdown approached its final moments. She could hear the crowd. "Ten... Nine... Eight..."
A tear dropped on to the photo. She didn't want this. She didn't want superpowers. She didn't want immortality. If she could choose, all that she wanted would be to regain the time that she lived in Pallet Town, taking care of Ash, as a normal mother... Those had been the happiest moments of her life...
"Seven... Six... Five..."
But she didn't have choice. Her destiny was already decided by her own DNA. Perhaps that was her punishment for her crimes... or her chance of finding redemption...
"Four... Three..."
Once she had read in a book that declared that aviation was thousands of hours of routine, interrupted by the occasional moment of terror. Perhaps something similar could be applied to herself. Her life was thousands of hours of sadness, savagery and suffering, interrupted by moments of happiness... Of course, they were the moments that made life something wonderful. "Perhaps I have had more luck than I deserved..." she thought.
"Two.... ONE!.... Happy New Year!" The crowd screamed from below.
January 1, 2065.
"Happy New Year," she murmured. A sound got her attention. She walked over to the ledge of the building and she saw a man pulling a woman brutally inside the alley below. The immortal warrior known, now and for the rest of history, only as Infinity, shrugged aside her raincoat. Her black clothes tightened, taking on an almost armour-like aspect as mighty draconic wings spread from her back.
A being that could be an angel or a demon dropped down through the sky, focussed utterly on its mission...
Or, perhaps, on its redemption.
"This is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end. It is, rather, the end of the beginning."
-- Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, on the Battle of El-Alamein
The End?
A concluding note from the author:
I want to say thank you to everybody who read this fic until now for their patience and support. I hope that you had enjoyed it, with its different take on Ash's mother and her past. But there are two people that I had to say thank you in a special way:
First the lady: I want to thank my friend Livia Valle for her friendship and for her fanarts of Omega - every time that I felt uninspired or didn't know what to write, they brought me inspiration again. Thanks, Livia! ^_^
I also want to thank my beta-reader, sometimes co-author (for the battle at the beginning of the chapter 10, to mention just one example of many) and friend BenRG, not only for kindly beta-reading this fic, but also for his great patience to stand my babbling while discussing aspects and ideas for this fic and helping me to see possibilities that I otherwise would have missed (originally this fic would have been only eight chapters long, ending wilth Delilah's death - but our discussions inspired and helped me to make this fic what it is now). Thanks, friend, for everything. :-D
And thanks to everybody that read and reviewed this fic. Your support helped me through it.
Thank you. :-D
Disclaimer:
Pokémon and its characters are property of Nintendo and Game Freak, Inc. The song "The Impossible Dream" is property of its composers (although I don't know who...). "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is property of J.R.R. Tolkien. "X-Men", "Operation: Zero Tolerance" and its characters are property of Marvel Entertainment. "Battlemechs" are part of the "Mechwarrior" game universe, a property of FASA Games. The McAlester Chemical Plant is a reference to BenRG's story "The Journey" and the Anvil is a reference to his "Avenger" series. No copyright infringement is intended by this story. This is a fanfiction work, created for fun.