Ryan heard the padding of feet behind him, so he pivoted around to see what was causing it.
Nothing was there.
He was in a long corridor, leading to an office. There were no windows, but many doors that went to different rooms. None of the doors were open, so Ryan couldn't understand where the padding was coming from.
All he knew was that he was being paid to kill someone, and that's what he was going to do.
Finally, the office at the end came into view. Different than the other doors, this one was straight ahead, rather than on the sides of the hallway.
Ryan pulled his gun out of his jacket, holding it out as he opened the door…
Brennan Bates was working at his desk, his pet Espeon curled up underneath his seat. "I can't believe that I, President of the company, am the only one who has to work overtime." He muttered. Suddenly, the Espeon's tail quivered, and the pokemon walked out from underneath Bates' chair. Espeon's hair was standing on end, and the pokemon leapt up to an air vent, used its psychic powers to unscrew the grate, and crawled into the vent.
Bates didn't think much of it, Espeon was always wondering off.
Forgetting the eerie padding, Ryan wondered why he was being hired to kill some businessman. He can't have that many enemies, Ryan reasoned.
Then he heard a bang, and the grate from an air vent fell to the ground. Staring out from the vent were two eyes, glowing. Suddenly he heard a voice in his mind.
Remember me?
Ryan's memory rushed back two weeks earlier. For some reason, he couldn't think of anything that had happened that day. It was all foggy in his memory. But slowly, the fog thinned, and memories began to surface.
He had received an anonymous letter from a potential employer, and he'd been told to go to a building. What was the address? 644, Industrial Avenue. Wait a minute, what's special about that address? Ryan thought. No matter. If it was important, he'd remember it.
Another memory, of him entering the building. It was nothing but a long hallway, with tonnes of doors. Then he'd seen two eyes that glowed. That's all he remembered.
Then Ryan looked up, and saw glowing eyes again. The same glowing eyes. Another memory came to the surface.
It was a voice, in his head, like he'd just heard. You want to kill Brennan Bates. That was it. And, with that voice encouraging him to, well, of course he wanted to! The voice was so persuasive…
Espeon looked at the man, and then yelled a thought out at his master. Suddenly, Brennan burst out of his office and ran towards the man. The killer raised a gun, but before he could shoot he was thrown across the hallway be mental waves. Ryan began to shudder terribly.
Espeon hopped out from the vent and walked toward Brennan, purring softly.
It had worked. He'd set up an assassination, and then foiled it. Now Brennan would trust him much more. He might even take the chip out of Espeon's brain, the one that Bates had planted there to keep the Espeon from attacking him. The one that would self-destruct if Epson overexerted his Psychic powers. And then, Espeon would be able to kill him, ending that stupid loyalty vow that all Espeons had with their masters. And then he would roam free…
