Chapter 30 – Arc 2 (Akala Island) She's So Gone
Lillie didn't know where to begin. She felt almost as lost and frightened as she had been that day she had been running from employees and Dulse and Zossie aboard Aether Paradise, any and all rational plans she had dashed, as Gladion and this Makua character battled alongside one another against Selene, Elio, and Hau. The way he had looked at her, with that hateful intent, had been so painfully chilling. More than that, the way he fell into place beside Makua and worked with him despite the other having slapped him and snarled at him moments ago was dismaying. She hadn't exactly thought about Skull too deeply in her time in Alola, but Lillie still knew it was a violent, unpleasant existence, to live amongst them, and Gladion's failure to react to such harsh treatment other than to be momentarily dazed was just unsettling.
Forced to back away as the battle heated up (and honestly, Lillie had no idea what was going on; everyone had numerous pokémon out in more of a battle royal than traditional battle, and Hau and Selene seemed to be having difficulty keeping up themselves as they sputtered confused battle commands), Lillie just shook her head in disbelief. She had felt distant and unsure of whether she could trust her brother before, but this was the first time she felt a cold rush of fear as she looked up at him in his tattered, black jacket, that wild, unique pokémon obeying his every order eagerly. This wasn't how she had intended their reunion to go! She hadn't intended to just leave him forever! It was the first time she had truly realized that she hadn't thought of her brother as gone… just that she had to take care of Nebby first… She gnawed her lower lip. I know now that Mom can't get Nebby because of what Dulse and Zossie said about that… Blinding One or whatever, but… I didn't know that at the time when I stole him away… Tears stung sharply at her eyes and she guiltily sighed. Did I run away from Aether for Nebby, or for me? And if I did it for me… I know I was scared, but… I should have faced that for him…
She violently shook her head to silence the runaway thoughts. "Gladion!" Lillie yelled, trying to raise her voice above the noise of the battle.
He ignored her, pointing at Selene's Dartrix. "Null, Crush Claw!"
With Bowtie distracted attacking Makua's Bastiodon, Null went unnoticed in the chaos of the battle as it launched itself with powerful hind legs up into the air, slashing claws viciously again and again over Bowtie and throwing him into the ground. There, Makua's Mawile waited, and it snapped its elongated maw around him and shook him out savagely. Selene's Sandshrew and Popper tried to assist, but the Steel-type laughed off their attacks, and Macho was too busy dodging boulders from Makua's Bastiodon to help.
Determined to get Gladion to listen and talk to her, Lillie chanced getting closer to the battle. She rounded behind Elio, Selene, and Hau, and then moved dangerously close to where Macho had managed to escape the Bastiodon's boulders. Hau, the closest to her, called out to her in alarm, "Hey—get back!"
Yet, Lillie ignored him, and she narrowly kept her footing as the Bastiodon shook the earth when it lumbered over to Selene's Sandshrew and ungraciously knocked it away with a blunt headbutt. Now much closer to Gladion, Lillie cupped her mouth. "Gladion, please! Stop this and talk to me! Please…"
"Oh, why didn't you just ask?" Gladion sarcastically spat back at her with a sideways glance. "What do you want to talk about, Li—"
Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Lillie yelped as she was sent spiraling to the ground on her back from the force of an impact she hadn't seen coming. She felt a pain fire up her shoulder as something tried to wrench her bag from her grasp and within it, she could hear Nebby panicking, pewing and squealing in fright. She started kicking at her attacker instinctively before she realized it was Gladion's Null. Its eyes, which had been stony and gray before, blazed a neon, spiteful red as it sank teeth and claws viciously into her bag and repeatedly jerked its head with the intent of tearing the bag off her shoulder—and her arm with it, she was half-convinced. Almost hysterical in her panic, Lillie kicked the pokémon squarely in its chest again and again, but in the end, it just brought up a back leg and raked those long, draconian talons down her shin to force her to be still. Blood poured freely from the open wound as she screamed and drew her leg away sharply, falling inadvertently limp as the pokémon viciously dragged her with it, still feverishly trying to wrench the bag off her shoulder.
"Null! Knock it off!" Gladion shrieked, immediately trying to recall him. Yet, Null jumped away from the Poké Ball's scarlet beam. It gave Lillie enough time to shakily scramble away, but Null rounded back on her again, tensing with intent to lunge at her and growling a loud, mechanical, resounding noise like a beast possessed. Gladion tried to recall him a few more times and each time, Null easily avoided the beam, seemingly growing more agitated each time it was forced to dodge rather than attack. It glared back at Gladion at one point and snarled at him angrily.
"Lillie!" Elio hollered, and he tried to run over to her, but Null whipped around and lashed furious claws at him. He narrowly avoided the deadly swipe by awkwardly skidding away, which caused him to tumble.
That was when Popper, Bowtie, and Macho all converged on the rampaging pokémon, all while Makua's Mawile and Bastiodon retreated from the battle at hand and gawked at Null fearfully. Flanking Null on all sides, the three starters kept him from lashing out at Lillie again. Macho's pendant blazed brightly as he yowled and hissed, snapping flaming jaws whenever Null ventured too close to him. Bowtie, who was struggling to remain aloft and clearly badly injured from the fight already, divebombed the pokémon whenever he was focused on Macho and Popper to get its attention back. Finally, Popper was letting singsong bubbles fly at Null, so that whenever the agitated pokémon slashed the pink spheres in its frustration, it was struck with a jarring, confusing bursts of noise.
Their distraction gave Gladion the break he needed, and he succeeded in recalling Null to an Ultra Ball at last. Gasping for breath, Lillie shakily moved her thrashed bag closer so she could inspect it and check on Nebby. It was filthy with slobber and dirt from Null's attack, punctured in various spots, but when she opened it, she found Nebby was alive and well, even if terrified to the point he squealed when she opened the bag. Falling limp against the ground in relief, Lillie reached in with a hand and offhandedly shushed him, doing her best to comfort him. It was the most she could do given her shock.
In her frazzled mind, which was pumped on adrenaline and in sheer survival mode, all she could do was think that there had to be a reason Null had attacked her like that. Even if Gladion hadn't ordered him to, had he been so angry at her, so hateful, that the beastly pokémon had decided to take matters into its own claws? The thought made her start to tremble and she couldn't stop.
She had lost Gladion all over again.
In the aftermath of the attack on Lillie, Gladion stood with the Ultra Ball still in his right palm, panting for breath as he stared at Lillie with enormous, round eyes. Makua dubiously looked over his shoulder at her, then lowered his head and bent his knees, taking a step back. Elio had fleetingly thought the body language looked much like how Hau often did whenever situations got serious. Yet even though Makua was apparently second-guessing this endeavor and Gladion was obviously horrified at what had just transpired, Elio just didn't care. As Selene and Hau both rushed to Lillie's side, he marched forward and took fistfuls of Gladion's jacket collar, surprising him as he shook him out furiously.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Elio snarled, all but baring his teeth animalistically at the stuttering blond, who suddenly seemed so much less intimidating than he had been mere moments ago—more like a frightened child, even though Elio knew the other was older than him.
"I—I—Null has never done anything like that before, and I didn't mean for that to happen at all!" Gladion stammered, weakly pulling away from Elio's grasp. "Th-that's not what… what I wanted to do at all…" He kept glancing back at Lillie, as if he couldn't keep his focus on Elio.
I can fix that, Elio thought darkly. He gripped Gladion's jacket tighter, and shook him particularly violently, to the point it made Gladion's feet slip from under him and his head rocked painfully. Scrabbling for a foothold, Gladion cringed as Elio fiercely barked in his face, "Stay away from her, and stay away from us! Do you hear me?"
With that, he tossed Gladion away, making him stumble and fall to his back on the ground. There, on the ground and staring back up at Elio fearfully, Gladion reminded Elio all too much of himself—and it was disgusting. Despite the fact that Lusamine had been abusive to both of them, Gladion couldn't see past his own pain and had merely assumed Lillie had the worst intentions at heart due to a pessimistic, disparaging outlook on the world around him. It was an all too familiar song and dance to Elio, and everything he knew that caused his own inherent destructiveness he wrestled with. To him, it appeared that Gladion wielded that same unabashed destructiveness… Everything that Elio loathed about himself reflected as if looking in a twisted mirror. It was enough to see red, bloodred.
Oh, Elio knew he was no real pacifist, the same as Gladion clearly wasn't, but Elio was better than him. At least he knew how to partially reign in that destructiveness, and he didn't have an otherworldly pokémon to accidentally go haywire! Yeah… he was better. Far better.
Slowly, Gladion glanced back over at Lillie, still lying against the ground while Hau started to tend to the gash on her leg. He swallowed hard. "Lillie… I… I wanted to show I was strong, and I didn't n-need her, I didn't mean f-for—"
I can't believe my ears right now. "Strong?" Elio scoffed, almost cruelly leaning over Gladion. He snarked, "Yes, you're very strong to beat the hell out of your own sister with that monster of a pokémon." Macho trotted up beside Elio then, baring fangs at Gladion and growling as his tail swept across the ground behind him in anticipation.
"He's not a monster!" Gladion yelped, sounding oddly stressed rather than angry. Shaking his head in frustration, he begged, "Please, just let me talk to her, I promise I didn't mean for Null to do that!" Licking his clammy lips, he blathered annoyingly, "I've only ever known Null to swipe at people that get too close to me, but even then, it was like what he did to Selene before, it was never… a full-on attack—"
"Well, that time it was! He tried to maul her!" Elio cut him off harshly. "Shut it!" Giving Gladion some space, he narrowed blue eyes at him and jerked his chin toward Makua. "Take your crazy friend and get lost." You're as worthless as I am, but at least I know what I'm fighting for, and it's not a gang of… whatever you guys are. Or worse, you're so caught up in your own head you're just fighting the world and everyone in it—sister and all—for yourself. People like you and me are sick. I'm doing you and everyone else a favor.
Gladion shakily clambered to his feet and shot Lillie one last, desperate look. Selene had helped her sit up at that point, but she had her gaze fixed on them or her bag, as if to pointedly refuse to look over at Elio or Gladion.
"Let it go," Elio growled, putting himself between Gladion and his line of sight to Lillie. "You've made it clear you don't want her around and if I ever see you again—"
"It was an accident, goddamn it!" Gladion exploded, voice cracking partway through and pointing an accusatory finger at Elio. "Clearly I didn't mean to! Why—"
"Excuse me for not believing you when you were snarking at her before and kept shooting her looks like you wished she'd drop dead!" Elio snapped. "Now, get lost!" As if to encourage him, Macho snarled and flexed his claws against the earth.
Had Elio not been in such a defensive fervor, he might have noticed the way Gladion's lips twitched and his expression rapidly flicked between anger, disbelief, and despair. In the end, Gladion relented; he dipped his head in defeat and shuffled backward. "Makua, can we go now? …Please?" he begged the tall, thin Skull member with a strained, choked voice.
Makua, who had watched the entire situation unfold with a blank expression, slowly nodded. "Uh, yeah, we can go… What… what were we doing over here…?"
Gaping at him in absolute betrayal, Gladion sputtered, "What the hell do you mean, 'what're we doing over here?'" Groaning, Gladion pressed a palm to his forehead. "Forget it. Let's just… let's just go… You should keep your Bastiodon out, I can't have Null out right now…"
"Some enforcer you are," Makua moodily sniped as he recalled his Mawile and started to trot off, toward the cave route at the far end of the dirt path of Route 9. Tossing a nervous look over his shoulder at Elio and his friends, he called for a couple of grunts (who Elio hadn't even noticed until then) to follow him. Gladion trailed behind them, limping and shoulders sagging.
Satisfied that the threat was gone for now, Elio let loose a deep, relieved breath he hadn't known he was holding, and then bolted over to Lillie, anxious to ensure she was okay.
That had escalated so much farther than Selene had expected it to…
Together, she and Hau had rushed to Lillie's side and helped bandage her leg. Selene was so grateful for Hau's 'street smarts,' as she inwardly called it. He always seemed to have whatever they needed whenever something serious like this went down. While Selene had anxiously looked over Lillie and her mind spun as she tried to think about what to do, Hau had dropped to his knees beside her and pulled his orange backpack around, digging in it until he found a set of gauze, medical tape, and rags, getting to work immediately.
"I imagined that going a lot better," Lillie muttered, then winced and drew in a fast breath as Hau wordlessly poured something over her leg to clean the profusely bleeding wound. He pressed a clean rag hard to her shin and Selene had to sharply look away as blood quickly soaked through it. How on Earth is he so calm? she wondered as her stomach did a flip.
"It's okay," Selene offered breathlessly to Lillie, though she knew how lame it sounded as soon as it left her lips. Distantly, she heard Elio and Gladion arguing, and when she looked up, it seemed the battle had ended. Makua had withdrawn from the fight and looked confused as to where he was, while Elio savagely told off Gladion. It was hard to watch, so she looked away, but… she guiltily realized she didn't want Elio to stop. She was more than aware at that point that he was not quite the gentle giant she had thought he was—and she didn't mind it too much anymore that he wasn't. With every passing day, Selene was more and more aware of how dangerous their predicament was, and perhaps some of Elio's protective aggression was just what they needed. But it would have been a lie to say she wasn't shocked… She had gathered from Gladion's stray comments that he had a bone to pick with his sister, but to get so blinded by rage that he would sic a pokémon she had no hope to defend herself against on her… Even if he had switched gears and tried to call Null back in the end, just what other violence was Gladion capable of if infuriated enough? Distractedly, she mumbled aloud, "I'm… so glad I didn't join them…"
"Huh?" Lillie dazedly asked, still cuddling a frightened Nebby close as Hau started to work bandaging around her leg, the bloodflow sufficiently slowed for it by then.
"Oh, sorry," Selene clumsily apologized, "nothing… Just… I can't believe he did this…"
Swallowing hard, Lillie closed her eyes and pulled Nebby so tightly against her chest that he disappeared from view under her arms. Only small wisps of bluish gas indicated his location in her grasp at all. "I really lost him this time," she brokenly whimpered. "I… I knew he probably wouldn't be happy to see me, or would be upset, but this, I…"
"Lillie, it's not…" Selene sighed, trailing off, and glanced at Hau. "Is it okay if I sit her up?"
He only replied with a stiff nod, too focused on maneuvering medical tape around her injured leg to respond verbally. Turning her attention back to Lillie, Selene softly said, "Hey… let me help you sit up." I don't know what we'll say, but… "Let's talk."
"Wait," Lillie warned, stiffening, "don't want you to get another… vision…" With that, she reluctantly let go of Nebby, who had fallen silent and quit shaking in her comforting hold. He curiously blinked at her as she slowly leaned up, careful not to move her leg, as Hau was still busy securing the bandages in place. As Lillie got as comfortable as she could given her state, Popper moved over to Nebby and his nose twitched as he sniffed the Cosmog. Nebby withdrew shyly at first—odd, given how playful he normally was—but Popper respectfully gave him some space, moving back to Hau's side after that.
Lillie exhaled a shuddery breath as she awkwardly blew off Selene's offer to talk. "There's not much to talk about." She closed her eyes, gave a callous shrug, and pressed her lips to a hard line. She drew Nebby back into her embrace as well. "I abandoned him, and he hates me. All there is to it."
Cringing at that as Elio stalked over to them, still shooting wary glares after the retreating Skull members, Selene couldn't help but put herself in Lillie's shoes and imagine how awful it must have been to feel as if she had singlehandedly ruined her relationship with her brother. It reminded her far too much of the fears she had over Elio's sometimes cagy nature. Yet… Gladion had been the aggressor in Lillie's situation. He had utterly refused to listen to anything she'd had to say, while Lillie had been begging him to talk to her. Could Lillie strictly take the blame when he had been so antagonistic?
"Lillie, are you okay?" Elio asked gingerly as he lowered himself slowly to his knees beside her, on the opposite side of Selene. Macho followed him and softly mewed as he sniffed Lillie over worriedly. Popper perked up at the sight of the Torracat and barked at him urgently a few times, to which Macho just confusedly cocked his head back at him. As if frustrated, Popper just blew an annoyed, blue bubble, which popped immediately.
"I'm okay," Lillie distractedly replied, still looking down at Nebby. "At least, I think so. I don't think it's really sank in yet."
Selene, Elio, and Hau all shared a look amongst one another, as if to silently ask, "Don't think what's sank in yet?"
Without them vocalizing that, Lillie almost contemptuously scoffed. "Sank in that I didn't run off with Nebby for his sake like some hero. I ran off because I was scared for me, and I didn't want to talk to my own brother because I was worried about my own skin. I didn't even know that Nebby was wanted by my mother to set some beast free back then, just that whatever she was going to do with him might kill him… Which, sure, is bad and I'd never want anything to happen to him, I just…" Trailing off, she gave Elio a forced grin, then bitingly added, "Guess none of us are as good as we'd like to be."
Wincing, Elio glanced back after where Gladion and his friends had gone. He guiltily started fidgeting his hands. "Maybe not…"
Selene noticed that Hau had quietly crossed his arms and was idly petting Popper. The Brionne had dove into his lap and seemed content to stay there for the free cuddles. Bowtie tiredly landed next to him, causing Popper to look and bark at him a couple of times, then. Bowtie fluffed his feathers in aggravation and started to preen them, utterly ignoring him. Once again, Popper blew an irritated bubble.
Feeling panicky, Selene glanced between her three, downtrodden companions and felt a rush of rebellious dismay. Part of her just still couldn't believe how easy it was for this place to beat them all down… Seeing the usually tough as nails Lillie crack and blame herself eerily similar to how Elio could, seeing Elio viciously snap under the stress of a dire situation and behave almost unrecognizably, seeing Hau's hopeful fervor die in the aftermath of his run-in with Tapu Lele…
She clenched her fists and jumped to her feet. No. I just got all of you back and started feeling like we have something going on! This place is not taking you away from me like Mom and Dad! "No," she adamantly insisted, shaking her head rapidly. Pointing at Lillie, she said, "You explained to us everything that happened. Whatever Gladion's going through, you didn't go through much better. Not including him maybe wasn't great, but it wasn't meant to hurt him. You gave up everything to save yourself and Nebby. That pokémon could be dead without you and who knows what else, given what you said about that… Dulse and Zossie. Whoever Gladion thinks you are, he's wrong."
Pondering what Selene had said for a moment nervously, in the end, Lillie just curtly nodded. "You're right… You're right. If he doesn't like me now, then… that's just how it's going to have to be. The Lillie he used to know is gone."
Whirling on Elio then, Selene said, "I know you're not a diehard pacifist like you pretend to be. You haven't whipped out that camera much recently and whenever anything starts to go wrong, there you are, ready to fight it." His eyes widened and he opened his mouth as if to defend himself, but Selene cut him off. "That's not a bad thing. I don't know why you don't really want to talk to me much, but Elio…" Selene shook her head and quavered with genuine, raw emotion, "We need that. What you just did back there? We need that while we're here… and we don't need you fighting yourself every step of the way on it."
A small, sincere smile spread across his face, quickly morphing into full-on beaming, as if thrilled to have been given instructions on what she wanted from him. He nodded. "…Okay. You got it. If that's what we need, then that's what I'll be."
"And Hau…" Selene turned to him and he looked up at her almost warily. "The world you want does exist. Maybe not here, in Alola, but it does." She extended a hand to him and tilted her head sympathetically. "If… if we can find my parents, if we can all stick together, I'm sure we can do something for you and even Lillie in the end… You're so smart, and… I miss the guy that kinda knew how bad everything was, but still had hope it would be okay in the end, anyway." She smiled when he uncertainly took her hand and stood up. "I know you're scared… but just like you told me before… isn't it letting them win by giving into it? We won't leave you alone to anything like that ever again. We're in this together."
He looked oddly enchanted by everything she had said. After his amazement stretched on an uncomfortable length of time, she blinked. "Uh, Hau…?"
Cracking a familiar, genuine grin that gave her a rush of relief, Hau laughed softly. In Alolan, he said, "Sorry, it's just… never had anyone compliment me on something other than 'Kahuna's grandson,' really. Anyway, I don't… know about all of that, but…" He dipped his head, then nodded. "I have… been a little mean and defeatist here lately, huh… You're right. I don't want to live that way."
"The police station is just down the way," Selene said as she swept her gaze across all three of them. "I'm sure they'd be happy to let Lillie rest there for a little while, and we can talk to them about Mom and Dad. And if they don't know anything, we can go from there." She steeled her voice. "I suppose that means Kahuna Olivia and then we'd just… move on to the next island. Try again."
"Sounds like a plan, sis," Elio chuckled, smiling at her in a rare, sincere expression. She realized then he was holding one of Lillie's hands. To her, he whispered, "Here, let me help you up. Selene's right, we should at least get you into a building to relax for a little while after all of that."
Snarking playfully as Elio helped her to her feet, Lillie remarked, "You got it, Captain Selene." Once up on her feet, she mostly leaned on her uninjured leg and clung to Elio.
Snorting in amusement, Selene bent down to pick up the exhausted Bowtie, deciding she'd spray him with a Super Potion or something while they walked. Although she said the next line with a sarcastic edge, she meant every word. "I'm glad you're feeling better."
I really need to look at that book… we've got to stay focused and stay together, Selene thought distractedly. She swallowed hard as she took the lead while Hau assisted Elio with Lillie. I… don't want to lose anyone else here… Knowing more about this power might help… You know, just… just in case…
Just in case Elio's right to think our parents might not be coming back…
Little did they know, someone had been watching the showdown from a distance, remaining carefully out of the fray and out of sight. He had been sent to speak with a contact in Konikoni City and had somehow gotten wrapped up in reports of Skull hunting Slowpoke near Memorial Hill, but that had been easily forgotten as he had immediately recognized the black-clad blond masquerading as a member of the Skull Gang, confronting a group of seemingly innocuous travelers. But then… they had started to talk, and oh, what they had to say!
When Gladion had snapped Lillie's name, that had really caught Dr. Faba's attention. One of the two girls present—a sandy-haired girl in mostly green clothes—had reacted to the name, and she and Gladion spoke as if they knew one another. It didn't take Dr. Faba long to recognize Lillie after that. Her trick in drastically changing her appearance was good on a first glance, but after having it pointed out, she was unmistakable. That find was so much better than getting suckered into dealing with a few Slowpoke! What did anyone care about hunting their tails, anyway? Slowpoke tended to be too stupid to even notice half the time, and they could grow them back!
Shaking away that tangent of thought, Dr. Faba had watched and waited for the confrontation to end. Seeing one of his Type: Nulls again, however, was infuriating. He knew he couldn't jump out and risk scaring Lillie off or earning himself a fight with her clearly agitated and battle-capable friends, but he hated seeing his creation used in such an insulting way. Gladion wielded it like any other pokémon—and he had to admit, he had given a sadistic smirk when the Type: Null lunged at Lillie and thrashed her bag. From the distance he was watching at, he couldn't quite see what exactly was happening, but he already knew why the Type: Null had targeted her once she drew so close to it.
Cosmog was believed to be an Ultra Beast, and all Type: Null had been engineered to be hyper-aggressive toward them in the aftermath of a couple of unexpected visits from an Ultra Beast known as Nihilego. While Nihilego had always fled shortly after its arrivals, Dr. Faba had been tasked with ensuring the Type: Fulls (as they were called at the time) were capable of fending it off if it ever decided not to leave. Given the fact Cosmog was the only Ultra Beast they reliably had access to, however, it had been the one he used as a basis to hone his creations' aggression. This Type: Null was following its protocol beautifully, but he was certainly glad when Gladion managed to recall the synthetic creature—after all, they needed Lillie and Cosmog alive. Having either mauled to death just wouldn't do.
Once the Skull Gang members moved along and the group of travelers took Lillie toward the police station, however, Dr. Faba strode out into the openness of Route 9 and reached immediately for his phone. He called Lusamine, who picked up after a single ring, and he proudly announced, "Miss President, I have located the Cosmog."
Lusamine's breath had all but hitched on the other end. "You did? Where? I will have to send Dulse and Zossie right away!"
"I have a better idea," Dr. Faba told her, almost teasingly. "Lillie is injured… let me get her compatriots away from her, and she'll have no chance to fight back."
"How do you intend to do that?" Lusamine asked quietly. "Dulse and Zossie—"
"—don't understand how battling works very well, can't use the same methods they use to deal with Ultra Beasts in their homeworld here on pokémon, and Lillie's three friends are all trainers on their Island Challenges by the looks of it," Dr. Faba coolly cut her off. Almost cockily grinning to himself, he tauntingly whispered back to her, "Come, now, President… you trust me, don't you~?"
There was a long pause. Then, in a painfully raw and anxious voice, Lusamine mumbled, "Yes, Dr. Faba… Just… please. Please get that Cosmog. I need—"
"Of course, President," he softly said, intentionally talking over her and ignoring whatever she said toward the end. He appreciated her vulnerability toward him and all, and her gratitude was so sweet and wonderful, but her pained, despondent ramblings could get old to listen to very quickly. "Just leave it to me."
"Mm… Alright. Thank you, Dr. Faba. Let me know what you need from here as soon as possible."
"How are our two guests doing as far as Type: Zero goes, by the way?" Dr. Faba asked, genuinely curious. If, for some reason, I can't get Lillie away from her friends, Type: Zero would certainly make short work of those little obstacles.
"Still unusable," Lusamine tersely replied. "Enough about that. Cosmog. Please."
Dr. Faba rolled his eyes. "Of course, of course! Goodbye, President," he crooned into the phone, then swiftly hung up. He grinned wolfishly after the police station they had disappeared into. I hope you had a fun romp through paradise, Miss Lillie, he thought darkly, because you've reached the end of your leash. You won't keep me from what I deserve anymore, you brat.