Adrenaline was the only thing that kept James going on the long trip back to Kalos. Despite Domino's confidence that they were well in the clear, worry remained stubbornly seated at the back of his mind. Telling himself to snap out of it, to stop being so downtrodden and enjoy this moment of relative peace, he looked to Jessie and Meowth for some kind of reassurance. Jessie seemed fixed, however, in thoughts he couldn't read from her expression alone; Meowth looked up at him and smiled lightly.

"Ya holdin' up okay dere, Jim?"

"Just about. Yes."

"You don't have to worry about the police," Butch cut in, misjudging the source of James' unease. "Any units not poking around the site of our explosion will be busy monitoring a bunch of tagged Pokemon right now." He nodded to himself. "Yep, we're in the clear."

The Rockets that Domino had bailed and bribed out of jail- along with those picked up at the now disreputable cafe- sat futher down the aircraft, a few of them glancing up at the scattered conversation. Their moods seemed to range from a mild disbelief to confident euphoria; James watched as an apparently reunited pair of agents broke out into a fit of giggles, the grins never leaving their faces as they spoke to each other.

"And after all those lectures you gave me about never getting caught- remind me, who ended up in the loving arms of Officer Jenny, hm?"

"Coming from the girl who smells like a trashcan threw up on her! You been hiding out in a dumpster this whole time?"

James wondered if they knew about Giovanni. He supposed they would have likely heard the news by now, whether it was by rumour or more formal information from headquarters, but it wasn't impossible that one or two of them had yet to discover the details of the sudden disorder. Coming back only to see Carter at the head of things would certainly be a shock to the system.

"Mondo."

He turned to Jessie at her mumbled utterance, waiting for her to elaborate. "We should call Mondo, when we get back," she continued. "Check he's all right."

"Good idea," James replied. Then, after a few seconds: "I'm sure he's fine."

They were both silent for the remainder of the journey.


There'd been brief contemplation about getting a burner phone, but they figured that since Mondo's end of the line would almost certainly be tapped anyway, there wasn't much point. They gathered around the phone in their dormitory and waded through several minutes of answering coded questions and being redirected to half a dozen other phone lines before they were finally put through to the Kanto headquarters.

"What is the purpose of your call?"

"Um... I'd like to speak to Mondo, please," James said.

"His last name and agent ID number?"

James hesitated as he realised he had no idea. "I'm not sure- er, he's about fifteen, brown hair, works in deliveries-"

"Yeah yeah, I know the kid. Hold up."

The other end went quiet, and he gave Jessie and Meowth a thumbs up. It was a few minutes before James heard anything.

"Hello?"

"H-Hey!"

"Dat him? Put him on speaker!" Meowth urged, eyes widening in an excitement he hadn't displayed for a while. James obediently jabbed the loudspeaker button, and Mondo's voice rang through:

"How can be of assistance, sir?"

Jessie leaned in closer to the phone. "Mondo, it's us!"

"Miss Jessie? Oh, hello! I haven't heard from you in ages! How are you all? Do you need-"

"Cool it buddy," Meowth said, still smiling. "We're pretty okay, t'anks- how's it holdin' up your end?"

"Uh, yeah- fine, thank you. It was... We all took a while to, sorta, recover from the boss'... You know."

James chose his next words carefully. "But you're all right now?"

"Yeah, I guess. New boss seems nice. I'm still stuck in deliveries though- I hope I get to work with you guys sometime soon instead."

At this, the three of them flinched almost simultaneously. "No. No, you should stay where you are," Jessie said. Her voice, although calm, seemed on the edge of tipping into desperation. She quickly remedied this, forcing weak cheer into her tone. "We count on you! What would we do without our esteemed Kanto contact?"

"Oh! Oh, I hadn't thought of that- my apologies, Miss Jessie. Of course I'll stay." The sudden flattery had clearly rattled him, for his words came out in trembling spurts.

The four of them talked for another half hour or so, discussing more relaxed topics, until Mondo's colleague yelled at him to get back to work. He blurted an apologetic goodbye and the phone hung up.

Jessie broke out into a wide grin. "He's okay." She laughed, clasping her hands together. "Oh, thank goodness he's okay!"

"Shouldn't ya be thankin' badness?" Meowth quipped.

"I was wondering when your little jabs would return," James said. He breathed out, his smile mimicking Jessie's. "Mondo... He doesn't seem to know much about anything." He frowned at his own words. "Is that good or bad?"

"Good," Jessie said. "He's safe if he's just the eager delivery boy. He has nothing to be wary of. And let's keep it that way, hm? No acting funny around him during phone calls."

"Watch it, Jess," Meowth muttered. He waved his paw around, indicating to the ceiling and walls. "We shouldn't talk about... Not here."

Jessie nodded. "Let's head back to our room. I don't know about you two but I need a rest.

Once back in the dormitory, they took their usual spots on the couch and watched the TV for a while. James occasionally flicked to some game show featuring water type Pokemon and their trainers, but mostly stuck to news channels. The demolition of the vacant building, overseen by Butch and Cassidy, was solemnly outlined by various reporters.

"They got their distraction all right," Jessie said as a stuttering woman told the camera how she'd just been parking her car when it happened.

"Scarin' people like dis... It don't seem nice," Meowth noted uncomfortably.

"Come on. This is about the tamest thing Team Rocket has done recently," Jessie argued. She sighed. "Anyway, like it or not, we're guilty of very similar things." Her thoughtful expression was broken by the story that followed. "Oh!"

Her and James' mugshots had appeared on the screen, glum and nervous. It was immediately evident that the pictures were the same ones taken just a few hours ago.

Jessie whooped mockingly. "We made it, guys!"

"...an elaborate chain of escapes made earlier this evening. Jessica Musashi and James Kojiro, pictured to the left, are believed to have been amongst those leading the operation. Michael Ross reports for more details."

Strangely, James felt the nostalgic rush of exhiliration take its brief hold. Fame. Villainy. Nonsensical or not, he had missed the elation missions used to bring, and held onto the feeling until it was washed away by nerves.

"...arrested earlier today following the raid of a Team Rocket occupied establishment. They were subsequently released on bail, but left the perimeter after tampering with police-assigned tracking devices. Eleven other members of Team Rocket were also bailed prior to this, and have since been reported missing. Musashi and Kojiro have been known affiliates of Team Rocket for over five years, and this by no means marks their first crime, nor their first escape. Notable is their involvement in the major disruption of a Unova train station, the theft of restricted digital data, as well as hundreds of counts of theft and attempted theft..."

"They make us sound so dangerous," James said with a strained laugh.

Jessie shrugged. "When we want to be, we are."


Their next mission was announced a few days later. Carter was not at the meeting; instead, some other high-ranking agent James hadn't met before talked them through the role they would be playing.

"We're stealing Pokemon from a lab a few cities from here," the woman explained to them, jabbing her finger at the map spread out on the table. "You two were originally meant to be part of the ground team, but since your faces were just broadcast over every news station worth watching, we decided it's better that you keep out of sight."

"So whatta we doin'?" Meowth asked. "Hidin' behind a rock till da mission's ova?"

The agent smirked. "Almost. You're on surveillance. I assume that between the three of you, you can hack into a few cameras?"

"Of course," Jessie affirmed. "But before we agree to any of this, tell me the exact plan. Everything."

"Watch your tone," the woman warned. "Don't forget that I'm your superior. But very well.

"A group of four agents will breach the perimeter of the lab tomorrow- after nightfall, naturally- and make their way into the building. You will be monitoring the security cameras and reporting back to them. They will break into the relevant rooms, lift the Pokeballs, and get out of there."

Jessie breathed in, clearly building up the nerve to do something. "And there'll be no mass murder of the lab's population?"

Taken aback by this, the woman blinked. "What? No, of course not- the lab only has one guard on night patrol. There'll be no need for a violent approach." She waved her hand. "Go on, get out of here. I've still got five more guys to talk to."

They left quickly.

"So, we doin' this?" Meowth asked.

"I don't imagine it's up to us," Jessie said, "but yes. I'd rather take this mission than refuse it and be assigned something... less peaceful."

So they went through the motions. Read up on their mission briefs. Slept. Woke up just as the sky showed the first hints of colour: a red tinge that bled through the thick clouds. Since they would be out of sight anyway, they simply wore their uniforms with overcoats, an act reminiscent of Unova. Almost pleasantly so, James mused. There was that trace of thrill again- pulsing in his chest, raising goosebumps along his arms. He shivered.


Jessie took the driver's seat on the moderately lengthy journey there, restlessly drumming her nails against the steering wheel whenever the car was stationary. A local radio station sounded through the speakers; it was currently playing some decade-old song heavy on synth. James said he thought it was nice. Meowth told him he had crummy music taste.

"This is the place," Jessie said half an hour later as she pulled into a desolate parking lot. "Should be a van waiting for us just round the corner."

There was. They unlocked it and clambered inside, pulling the doors shut behind them with a haste befitting their current notoriety.

Television motitors- old-fashioned ones with small glossy screens that curved at the edges- lined one wall of the van, and after a few presses of the buttons below, they burst alive with grey light. Static wobbled and hissed at them.

James pulled their laptop out of the briefcase he'd been carrying, booted it up, and opened the custom browser Zager had installed for illicit activities such as this one. Before attempting anything more complex, he typed in a couple of lines of code which produced a list of active public security cameras. He scrolled past a few video feeds, mostly grocery stores and offices, and was surprised to find footage of the lab with little effort.

"Got it," he said to the others. "The security's incredibly lax."

"Good for us," Jessie replied. "Ah, there's a retirement plan- getting paid to fix people's idiotic security systems. Like those movies where the bad guy turns good at the end and all their crimes are forgiven."

"Wouldn't dat be lovely," Meowth said impassively.

Within the next couple of minutes they had successfully wired the monitors to the laptop so that they could view multiple areas of the lab at once. It was even possible to move the cameras around, which Meowth amused himself with for a time until Jessie got annoyed and told him to knock it off.

Then it was a case of waiting. They weren't exactly well equipped to combat boredom; there was an 8-bit game on the laptop- Arbok- but other than TVs were their only means of distraction.

"Time?" Jessie asked, leaning back and yawning.

James checked his pocket watch. "They should be here soon- in the next ten minutes, I think."

"Okay," Meowth said. "I'll get da scanner set up."

His human partners nodded at this, and turned on their headsets in preparation. A low hum of white noise buzzed in James' ears until, not too long after, a woman's voice came through:

"Hey- you guys there?"

"Yep," Jessie answered. "We're ready on our end."

"Right, good. We're just outside the place now. Front entrance clear?"

James cast his line of sight up to the monitors, green eyes flicking around for a short while before he found the area in question.

"Yes," he confirmed. "It's safe to go."

"Okay. Let us know if something happens."

Soon after, the group of agents- clad in black- came onto the screen that overlooked the front entrance; one person set down a bag and retrieved something from it. Though the television's quality was too grainy to tell what it was from observation alone, James guessed that the item was an electronic lock disabler.

The group made it through the first few rooms with ease, pausing at each doorway to wait for Jessie and James' assurance. When they neared the hallway where both the guard and the door to the storeroom resided, however, Jessie told them to stop.

"The guard's just up ahead," she informed them. "I'd advise that one of you go round to the other side of the lab and create a distraction- a noisy one."

There was no response, and she looked on, perplexed, as the agent who'd been replying to them turned to her accomplices.

"It's clear. Let's go."

Bemused, James babbled, "N-No, uh- the guard is ahead! Don't-"

Jessie was more succinct. "It's not clear, repeat, not clear. Do not proceed."

"What's wrong?" Meowth asked. "Are ya microphones not workin'?"

"I don't know-" Jessie's eyes widened as one of the agents made to open the door. "There's a guard- do not proceed!"

They proceeded. James could only watch, wondering how they'd managed to screw this up, as his colleagues entered the hallway, and the guard lurched forwards out of his relaxed position against the wall. No audio accompanied the grainy footage that showed him reach for his weapon, but his shock was apparent.

The agent they'd been talking to over the earpieces brandished her own gun, and James was hardly surprised when she shot the guard twice in the chest. He jumped, sure, felt the familiar wave of horror extend its way through his body, but it was slightly numbed, as if in some part of his mind- unconsciously, perhaps- James had been expecting it.

Cut it out, Carter. It's getting old now. Predictable.

When he finally made a sound, it seemed unaffected:

"Oh."

Jessie and Meowth remained silent, staring in apprehension at the screen.

Out of all the agents present at the scene, only one of them appeared taken aback by this turn of events- the only other female member of the group. She spoke loudly enough for Jessie and James to hear her through their headphones.

"Wh- Why did you do that? We could have just used Pokemon, or... You said it was clear!"

The woman who'd shot the guard ignored her, and walked over to the corpse. She knelt down, took the man's gun out of its holster, then moved back to the group. At the nod of her head, two agents grabbed the Rocket that had questioned the man's death. She didn't move for a moment and then struggled wildly.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. "I didn't mean-" She froze as the other woman approached her. "No, no, no... Please..."

"Stop it!" Jessie screamed suddenly, despairing, furious. "Stop!"

The shot was clean, piercing a neat hole right through the center of the Rocket's forehead, though there was little room to miss. The woman slumped immediately, dead weight. Her captors let go of her and she fell to the floor.

Only then did Jessie start to cry. She tore her microphone away from her face and sobbed openly. Ever-infectious, the sorrow hit James, fully now. A strange thing, to grieve for a stranger. He removed his headset. Tears quietly dropped to break against the metal floor. His breathing accelerated until he was nearly hyperventilating, light-headed, choking on air.

Because really, none of it was any easier.

Cut it out, Carter.

Meowth, shaking visibly but with a little remaining composure, kept looking at the monitor. "Look."

James rose his head, rubbing his eyes so his vision was less blurred.

The woman was crouched by the body now, careful to avoid the blood that spread across the screen in black pixels. She put her gun in the dead Rocket's hand, stood up again, and in similar fashion returned the guard's gun to his corpse.

"What are they doing?" Jessie asked no one in particular. "Why- Why go through the trouble of framing their own team mate for a murder that wasn't even necessary? Why?"

James had no answer. That was a mystery he had no energy to solve.

The agents were breaking into the storeroom at this point. Soon after, they were on a different screen, clearing the room of its valuable contents. None of the trio paid this much mind. Voices droned through the police scanner, too, 10-4s and copy thats, but they weren't listening.

"They're-" James shuddered. "They're not going to kill anyone else, are they?"

Meowth remained looking at the screen. "No, I don't t'ink so. Busy with grabbin' da stuff now." He sounded so distant. There was a vacant, defensive look in his eyes.

The police scanner, James realised now, was alive with more chatter than before, and he tried to make out what was being said. The garbled words overlapped, crackling with static.

"...Yeah, shots fired..."

"38th Street, down from the Pokemon centre... Lab..."

"Requesting imminent backup."

They didn't react beyond a glance in the scanner's direction. James was a little better now. His breathing was regular again, but his vision still shook at the corners, distorted and out of focus.

A little more time passed, the low voices of the police officers constantly providing indistinguishable updates, and then the sirens started to blare, first a faint wail in the distance and then growing with fluctuating howls. He thought to look up at the monitors again. The agents were hurriedly fleeing with the loot they had managed to obtain.

The police cars must have driven right past the van, they were so loud, but the trio remained unresponsive. Only five minutes later when the sirens had faded and the back doors of the vehicle were kicked open did they finally react.

James had been expecting cops- he dreaded the guns they would surely be wielding- but it was the agent who'd briefed them on the mission who stormed in, slamming the doors shut behind her.

"What are you doing?" she growled. "Did you warn them at all?"

Jessie sprang up to face the woman. "You said there would be no deaths," she shot back. "You told us there was no need to-"

"I told you exactly what I was told," the agent interrupted. "It must have been some kind of last-minute arrangement- if Carter wanted her gone, so be it. That doesn't mean you just refuse to do anything!"

Jessie glowered at her. "We-"

"Just be quiet, I don't have time for this." The woman pushed past James and started to type on the keyboard. "We haven't got long before the feds put two and two together and figure that the windowless van two blocks down from the crime scene is probably connected." She blew out a sigh. "I can't make this thing work. Hurry- one of you with the know-how delete the video feed for the last hour or so."

Despite the guilt and sickness in his chest that told him it didn't matter as long as he had no further part in this, James must have had a little room for reason left, for he acquiesced and got to work on getting rid of the video evidence. Maybe they weren't too far gone yet. Maybe, if they at least tied up these loose ends, there would be some sort of forgiveness.

Dream on, Jim.

His fingers clattered clumsily over the keys as his mind struggled to stay on task. He got there eventually, though it took twice the usual amount of effort- he was more grateful than ever for Zager's enhancers to the computer. Without them he might well have failed.

The agent nodded in approval. "I'll drive. Stay on that scanner and this time tell me if there's anything I should know about."

She began to drive, and only when they were a few minutes into the journey did it truly dawn on James that they really had their backs to the wall this time. He sat, huddled with his team mates, and prayed that the damage was somehow revocable.


The traffic was bad, and more than once James thought about simply jumping out onto the road and legging it. He reckoned he could convince Jessie and Meowth to go with him. Perhaps they would last out a few days before a Team Rocket sniper picked them off, or they were recognised and left to rot in a cell until some corrupt police official was paid to-

The van started to move again. James smothered a sob.

About an hour later, they arrived at headquarters. The agent who'd driven them back, despite the anger towards them she'd made no attempt at concealing, seemed sympathetic as they turned into the parking lot. Concerned, even- James caught a glimpse of her frown in the wing mirror. But she didn't say anything as Jessie and James were approached by two Rockets.

"Boss wants to see you two," one of them said, tilting his head towards the building. When he got no reaction, he added, "Now."

"What about Meowth?" Jessie asked plainly. The agent shrugged.

"It's a Pokemon. Boss didn't say nothing about it, just you two."

Jessie eyed the Rockets for a moment. Pokeballs on their belts. Guns at their hips. Not a fight they stood a chance of winning.

She crouched down next to Meowth. "We're not back in an hour and you get out of here," she whispered. James merely stood there, not quite registering it all. He felt a distance from the scene; his mind's last line of pointless defence, he guessed.

These thoughts were so foreign. When did he start thinking like this?

"I-" Meowth grimaced. "I ain't gonna just leave ya!"

"We're not back and you go," Jessie repeated, ignoring the pleading look she got in response. "Look after Mondo."

Meowth's face twisted with foreboding, his mouth twitching with unformed words. Before he could reply, the man next to James spoke up.

"Come on, move it."

Jessie got up. They walked to the doors, neither of them giving the agents behind them an excuse to use force. Jessie moved stiffly, her head facing straight forwards, resigned but refusing to break. She fought off the quivers that pulled at her lips and threatened to topple her composure. In contrast, James' walk was staggered and clumsy, like someone just roused from sleep.

But oh was he scared.

He turned to look at Meowth before he passed through the doorway. The two of them held that unsure and frightened gaze for all of two seconds until it was broken, and James realised that, if things went as badly as they could, that had been his goodbye to the feline. That brief, stupid glance.