Chapter 7
"My Time Will Come"
In her headquarters in Viridian City, Japan, the woman known as Madam Boss sat behind her desk stroking her pet Persian as one of her subordinates walked into her office. She had a scowl look on her face, a look of disappointment, of disbelief over what had transpired one night earlier. On her right, a small television played BBC news reports of the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie.
"What happened?" she asked her subordinate in an ice cold voice. "Why did the plane blow over Scotland? I thought everything went according to plan for it to be blown up over the Atlantic."
"It was going according to plan, Madam," the subordinate acknowledged, bowing to her. "Our spies at London Heathrow and at Pan Am said that weather is to blame."
"Bullshit!" Madam Boss thundered, slamming a fist down on her desk. "Planes can fly through bad weather, you idiot! Flight 103 was supposed to fly over the Irish Sea and our submarines were on standby! They must have known we were on the move! So, they sent the plane up over Scotland to avoid our submarines!
"Who? The British, German governments?"
"Of course, you dummy, it could have even been the Israelis or the Americans! Don't you see that now that the plane has exploded over land, we are at risk of being exposed as the ones responsible for the bombing? This was supposed to be a foolproof operation and now…"
Madam Boss grunted in frustration and swung her back to the subordinate.
"I want answers from our spies at Pan Am at all the European airports that Pan Am flies in and out of," she demanded in a quiet voice. "They know what their instructions were, they know what needed to be done and this was a screwup on their part. In fact, bring them back here so I can fire all of them before the law does. Now go!"
The subordinate acknowledged the order, bowing his head and left the office.
At another corner of the office, a young man in his 30's had witnessed the whole episode play out. As Madam Boss sighed, he walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Blundering fools, Giovanni," she muttered, placing her hands in her face. "You give them a simple order and look what happens."
"I know how you feel, mother," Giovanni said as he rubbed his mother's shoulders. "You taught me to never embrace incompetence."
"And that was incompetence, my son."
Rising to her feet, Madam Boss walked over to a map of the world and looked at it, reminding her of what the purpose of her mission was.
"My son, look at the progress we have made," Madam Boss said, gesturing Giovanni to come over to him. "I founded Team Rocket 45 years ago with the purpose of wiping out every nation on the planet and replacing it with our organization with me as the supreme leader. Pokemon has been the ultimate weapon to achieve this goal and yet…we have been unable to accomplish our goals."
She then directed Giovanni to look at the spot where Vietnam was located.
"This…" she said, pointing to Vietnam with her finger. "This was the only progress Team Rocket has made, using Pokemon to kill American soldiers in Vietnam. Then there were many hijackings and bombings of aircraft that all ended in failures."
"I wouldn't say that, mother," Giovanni remarked. "I mean, we did make some progress. I mean, we did help blow that Air India plane out of the sky and obtain the Pokemon that were on board that plane."
"But that wasn't our mission," Madam Boss advised, turning around to face her son. "Yes, we did obtain the Pokemon from the trainers who were on board that flight, but was the Mission of the Sikhs of Canada that asked us to help as it was their mission. It was us that did all of the work, while they took all of the credit! Don't you see, Giovanni? Team Rocket's goal is to use all Pokemon that ever walked this earth to kill anyone who stands in our way! What we did was put ourselves at risk for capture with what happened in Scotland."
Sighing again, Madam Boss returned to her desk and sighed in defeat.
"Now because of what happened with our plan," sighed Madam Boss as she once again began stroking Persian's head. "There will be Pokemon found in Scotland and all of the evidence will point to us, putting ourselves at risk of capture."
"I mean, look at it this way, mother," Giovanni remarked. We did get reached out by several countries who wanted revenge against the United States and for that matter, Israel. If we are captured, we'll just say it was all their doing."
"I know how the law operates, my son," Madam Boss said, pulling her suit jacket to reveal the six Pokeballs that were on her. "And I know for a fact that I will never be taken alive by anyone. If I have a judge, then it will be God himself, not any human judge that lives on this Earth. The law has guns, I have Pokemon with the capability of killing anyone who stands in my way."
She then looked back up at Giovanni with a firm glance.
"And when that day comes, Giovanni," she acknowledged. "You shall be the one to lead in my place and pick up where I left off. You shall be the one to carry on the mission that I started after our country fell to the Allies in the Second Great War. I have spent nearly 30 years of my life preparing you for what is to come when my time comes. It may come sooner than you think, my son. Will you be ready when my time comes?"
Without saying anything, Giovanni bent down and kissed his mother's hand, affirming his mother's request that she had asked of him. Very soon, his time would come to pass when he would assume his mother's position as head of Team Rocket.
But that time would not come yet, at least until we got involved later in this story.
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