I was going to upload two chapters at once, but I was slow enough getting this one out as is. Hope I can get the next out soon. Enjoy!

Cody: Bastion (Wartortle), Colossal (Pupitar), Cortez (Lampent), Antonia (Skarmory), Eevee (Reflet), Venipede

Heather: Somnos (Poliwhirl), Feathers (Pidgeotto), Nadine (Nidorina), Bella (Oddish), Smaug (Vibrava), Crescent (Lunatone)

Chapter 49: Agendas

Four men, two pokémon, and a laptop were sitting around a large, wooden table in a dark boardroom in one of the top floors of the Ideal Imports building in Lockton City. Sometimes, meetings like these had more people, but that day, the crowd was only a few. At the head of the table sat Father Ezekiel, looking relaxed and quite content. The gray-haired man was dressed up in black slacks and a purple button-down shirt, but no tie; he hated them and would only wear them when he had to. In front of him was an additional laptop and multiple papers sorted in manila folders. His Houndoom sat next to him, her head resting on his lap. Though he never showed it, he had grown a bit paranoid over the years, so he always had his dog with him for comfort and protection. If he told the suits in the meetings that he attended that his pokémon doubled as a therapy dog, they usually accepted it. It was half-true, at least.

Tyrone Paulson sat on the left side of the table. The large man looked incredibly uncomfortable in his blue dress shirt, which Ezekiel thought was odd. Considering how many press conferences he must have attended as a professional fighter, Ezekiel figured that he'd be used to it by now. Like him, Paulson wasn't wearing a tie.

At the far end of the table was a young man: Salem Douglas. Unlike the other men, he hadn't bothered to dress up at all that day. He never did. And asking things like that of him would have only created problems, so nobody bothered. He was wearing a gray hoodie that covered his head and face, and he was hunched over the table, drawing some pattern on a loose piece of printer paper. He had yet to say anything at the meeting, and for the most part, nobody would ask him. He would speak if something interested him, and only then.

The computer that sat on the right side of the table represented the third of the Father's Disciples. Lily Chen couldn't attend the meeting in person, as she hadn't in over a year. She was busy between competing in the global circuit, doing charity work, and overseeing various branches of international recruitment. She was skyping in, and from where he sat, Ezekiel could just make out the woman's pretty face. Next to the laptop sat Wisdom, Ezekiel's Slowking. The entire meeting would be recorded, but his psychic-type was intelligent enough to take the meeting's minutes, as well as remember every word that was said, verbatim. The Slowking was also a competent battler, and like his Houndoom, he was with his Master at all times.

Directly to the Father's right sat Warren Clyde, the CEO of Ideal Imports. He wasn't one of Ezekiel's disciples, but the two were good friends, sharing similar political views and apparently, long-term goals that the Brotherhood sought to fulfill. Since I.I. was bankrolling the Brotherhood, as well as benefiting publicly and financially from the partnership, Warren sat in with all of the private meetings he was able to attend. Both men usually agreed on what they wanted to do, but Warren had the final say in what he was willing to put money behind, and Ezekiel accepted that. He was, however, very persuasive when the situation called for it.

The meeting was almost over, though, save the last detail. The Father saved the juiciest for last. It was always best for morale to end a meeting on a high note.

"So, the last item…" Ezekiel put his reading glasses back on and held up one of his printed emails to read. "Only a few people know about this. I had to have this photo evaluated, but it seems legitimate. Now that we know for sure, I'm sharing this information with you all so we can discuss how we go forward." He held up a second piece of paper under the lights beaming down from the ceiling. To the others, it didn't look like anything at first. The photo was taken in poor lighting and the blue object in the center was barely visible.

"What exactly are we looking at?" Paulson asked as Ezekiel turned the picture to him.

Ezekiel smiled victoriously. "Lady and gentlemen, we've found our Regice."

Everybody seemed to perk up, save Warren, who had been alerted in private. But Paulson seemed to experience a jolt. Lily's excited gasp burst through the laptop's speakers. Even Salem raised his face from his drawing to look at the Father in silent astonishment. It was then that he finally spoke.

"When can I have it?" Salem asked in a quiet but constrained voice.

"We haven't captured it yet," the Father answered. "But we know for sure where it is."

"Where did we even find the thing?" Paulson asked, slight displeasure in his voice. While a lot was accomplished in the Frostscar Mountains, the former cage-fighter couldn't help but feel a little bit peeved that the Regice had suddenly and randomly been found after all the resources that were used up in Firnborn.

"The Gracen Research Institute." He smiled, amused with the information.

"Wait, the zinc place?" Lily asked through the laptop's speakers. The reception wasn't good, but her slight accent was apparent through the muffled sound.

"Always where you least expect," Ezekiel answered with a chuckle.

"Do we even have a mole there?" Paulson asked, still slightly peeved. "I just think that-"

"According to one of our coordinators, we do have a mole there, but he's in groundskeeping," the Father interrupted. "He didn't have full access to the facility and the secret of the Regice was highly under wraps, so our agent able to uncover anything important. No, we uncovered it on accident. One of our agents, MB83, uncovered it during an unrelated task." He chuckled to himself. "How ironic. We put all this effort into finding the Regice, but we end up stumbling into it on accident."

"I guess..." Paulson mumbled.

"Accept the gains we have made," Ezekiel announced with a clap of his hands. "We know that it's there, so now we must answer a new question: how do we go about catching it?"

"Simple," Salem spoke up again, his voice cracking a bit. "We go there and take it."

"It's not that simple," Lily began, but Paulson cut her off.

"Really though, why shouldn't it be? I'm not saying we should be brash, but we have masterballs. Could we just-"

"No, Lily is right, it's not that simple," Ezekiel agreed, nodding to the laptop that displayed the female disciple. "Take it from somebody who has actually caught a lower-level legendary pokémon. When I caught Mauna all those years ago, I had to chase her for nearly two years, and it took me four encounters to finally capture her." He reminisced to himself of the Moltres he had captured years ago. He wished he didn't release her, but it was the right thing to do at the time with all those protection laws being passed. "We may have one shot to capture this Regice and we need to get it right. I've seen Regice in person before: they are ruthlessly strong and lack emotional restraint. And we can't just throw a masterball at it right away. The ball has to completely enclose a pokémon in order to capture the target, and a Regice could easily freeze it before it comes close. We have three masterballs right now. I'm working on getting a fourth and a fifth, but we can't afford to be careless with resources as precious as these."

Silence followed. Nobody quite knew what to say next, so the Slowking spoke up.

[Wendell, if you would, state the facts of this finding for the record. Everybody should be informed for the sake of making the decision,] the wise pokémon suggested. His telepathic voice was calm and manifested itself with a South African accent. A curious thing, as he was not from South Africa, but the voice was oddly comforting.

"Thank you, Wisdom," Ezekiel thanked his pokémon with a nod. "Feel free to ask questions as I explain this. Our agent managed to uncover that the Regice was found during the Institute's expansion. Dr. Blake Merrick, the current head of research of the facility, has been very protective of this secret. So much so, that he keeps the pokémon locked away within a freezer protected by a password that only a few of the staff know. Apparently, the reason he keeps the pokémon a secret is out of fear that public knowledge of this pokémon's presence may lead to interference with the facility's research and zinc production. He is also incapable of removing the pokémon himself and he has refused to seek outside help out of fear that the secret will be leaked to the public. Also, what would even be done with the Regice following its removal, if he sought such services? Would the trainer hold onto it? A trainer publicly owning an unknown and unregistered Regice would raise a lot of questions. If they were to release it elsewhere… that would also raise many questions, should this pokémon damage the environment in any visible way. So, he has decided to keep it hidden.

"However," the Father continued, "we need to capture this Regice. Every currently exposed Regice is closely monitored by their region's government, so capturing the one from Hoenn, for example, would be a risk for our organization's current level of anonymity in the public eye. While Regice are theorized to live elsewhere in the world, pinpointing these incredibly rare pokémon would be near impossible. I mean, even if there is one in say, Russia, we have no documents, ancient or modern, to suggest where it could possibly be. This Regice though… it's unknown to the public. There isn't any public or academically shared knowledge to suggest that a Regice lives in Skitrex. It might as well not exist at all! And if we take it for our own, Merrick will likely remain silent out of fear that any retaliation will lead to the exposure of the secret he kept for so long. He can't tell the authorities. Doing so could leak his secret to the world, which would be devastating to the Institute's work. It's just a matter of how we take this ancient monster. We have several options here and we need to discuss what direction to take. So… any ideas?"

"Would it be impossible to take it without any form of force?" Paulson asked, rubbing his chin. "Clearly, the Regice is more of a nuisance to this Merrick guy than anything else. If we can guarantee the removal of the Regice without any repercussion-"

"Not feasible," the father answered. "He trusts so few on this issue. Why would he trust us, the outsiders who suddenly enter the picture? On top of that, it raises the question of how we knew in the first place. The mole who uncovered the truth; Merrick doesn't know our agent is a mole, but he does know who she is. It would be best if we could protect our assets the best we can and not expose our footmen. We need agent MB83 to remain undercover at this point in time."

"Okay, well I didn't suggest we waltz in and tell them that we're looking for a Regice right off the bat," Paulson began clarifying. "Can we gain his trust somehow? Maybe find a way to get an agent in as one of his researchers? Can we-"

"The long game?" Ezekiel asked, raising an eyebrow. "A few years ago, I would have been okay with that, but now…" He shook his head. Ideally, it would have been the way he wanted to pursue this, but with circumstances being as they were... "No, we have a very short window of opportunity. Besides, Merrick chooses his researchers with abnormal caution. We've been trying to get a mole onto his research team for awhile now, but we've yet to succeed. It's that Dusknoir of his that creates a problem. That pokémon has an uncanny ability of weeding out problematic candidates just by listening to them talk. Ghost-types, you know... He brings the pokémon with him to interviews to observe their body language and listen to their words. The only reason we got a groundskeeper in our pocket is because Merrick doesn't interview the janitorial staff. Additionally…" He paused, somewhat embarrassed with his next confession. "Dr. Merrick and I aren't exactly on good terms. A few years ago, I published a criticism of one of his research studies. It wasn't anything personal; I just questioned the empiricism of his work, and well… let's just say that he took it very personally. If he were to learn that I was somehow connected to the extraction of the Regice via friendly means, I doubt he would be compliant."

"Okay, so what about unfriendly means?" Lily suggested. "That Regice is within the grounds of the research center, no? If Ideal Imports has the money to fund us to such lengths, why not purchase it?"

"We've already discussed this in private," Warren spoke up, referring to both himself and Ezekiel. "If the Gracen Research Institute was a publically traded company, we could easily buy it out, but that's not the case. It's privately owned. The only shares are owned by a select few, all of whom are close with Dr. Merrick. If we were to attempt a hostile takeover, we'd probably end in failure on that end too. Merrick keeps his allies close, and if he were to learn that our company was attempting to buy him out, he-"

"This is all boring and stupid," Salem spoke up again, bluntly entering the conversation.

"Excuse me?" Warren asked, an angered jolt present in his voice and a scowl on his face. Every meeting with the inner circle, the youngest disciple always found a moment to piss him off.

"Boring and stupid," Salem repeated. He was looking up now, and though the hoodie still covered his head, his face unattractive and unsettling finally showed clearly under the boardroom's lights. His emotionless eyes that almost looked yellow, combined with an overly pointed chin and a profoundly crooked nose… considering how attractive his mother was, how this man could look so ugly was a mystery.

"Salem, if you make such accusations," the Father began, "the least you can do is explain your position."

"I will," he answered, the frustration showing as he gritted his teeth. "I get that our long-term goal is peace, but these short-term ideas… Not only are they boring, but they're stupid. Being friendly with Merrick or buying out his company; both are pretty, little thoughts with long-term consequences. A buyout would lead to a ripple effect that we'll have to deal with, should Merrick try to stop us. Such a ripple could expose us when we have remained secure in the shadows for so long. But including him in our plans just means that we'll have to drag him along and deal with all the problems related to keeping his mouth shut. I mean, we could kill him, but I know you won't. So, this whole situation is like…" He looked over at Ezekiel and looked him in the eyes. "It's like cancer."

Ezekiel blinked. "Cancer?"

"You know what I mean," the youngest disciple answered venomously. "Merrick and his facility are like a tumor, and the longer we have that attached to us, the more likely we'll get poisoned by his presence. So, I say, why give ourselves a tumor? We don't need to make this complicated: we go in, take the Regice, and leave. They can't report that we took anything without revealing themselves for having it in the first place. LIke you said alreadyt, do you know what sort of bad publicity that would draw them? They'd be swarmed with activists accusing them of putting money above pokémon. So yeah, simple. We take the Regice and we don't look back. No troublesome connections, no long-term consequences, we won't be exposed, and Merrick won't expose us or himself."

Another silence. Perhaps the circle was seeing some sense in the odd-man-out's logic.

"Opinions?" the Father asked.

"You know," Lily began, her voice crackling through the speakers, "he's got a good point. I've met Dr. Merrick two years ago. He's ill-tempered and he'd turn on us the first moment he could. A buyout, a slow intrusion… Both are potentially dangerous, just for the amount of time that they would take. He's not somebody we can trust, so the less we deal with him, the better."

"I get the appeal," Tyrone started, "but it's not as simple as Salem suggests." This elicited a dirty glare from Salem, but Tyrone continued. "A place like Gracen has to be well-guarded. How do we even think about getting in?"

"The groundskeeper," Salem reminded him. "Don't forget that we still have a mole there. He probably has access codes to get us into the facility's grounds. If there are any guards or pokémon to deal with, we bring in men and mon of our own. And if there are places that not even our mole can reach, well..." He cracked his knuckles. "Nothing a little bit of force can't fix. But this sort of thing, the strategy, the planning, the infiltration: this is my specialty. You let me handle this, and we'll never have to look back."

"Oh no, not again!" Warren had finally had it. Looking over at Ezekiel, he said, "you can't expect me to be okay with this; for the company to be okay with this! The last time this boy was in charge of one of your missions, we had to pull a lot of strings, call in too many favors, and expend way too much money to clean up the whole situation."

"We got what we wanted, didn't we?" Salem questioned coolly.

"You killed people that didn't need to be killed! You've been lucky so far, but one slip and I.I. gets unwanted publicity. And if we go, the Brotherhood follows. Remember that!"

"Warren…" Ezekiel calmed by holding out his hand. "Salem's strategic maneuvering is top-notch, making him a perfect leader on this project. But following the events of the Ameri-Silph job, your concerns are justified. Therefore, I will assign a "moderator" of sorts; somebody who will keep young Salem in check, should he get carried away." And before Salem could protest, he added, "and if Salem wishes to keep his position, he will accept this compromise."

There was a brief staredown between the oldest and youngest man in the room before Salem finally sighed. "Fine."

"And who is going to do that?" Warren asked, still not completely onboard with the idea.

"Hmm…" Ezekiel looked around the room. Obviously, Lily couldn't do it, being on the other side of the world and all, and Paulson would be on another assignment for the next few months. "I have a few individuals in mind." He stroked the neck of his Houndoom, whose head still rested on his lap. "In the meantime, Salem, begin writing up your plans for infiltration. They will need to be approved by both Warren and myself, but we can allow you an appropriate amount of footmen for this job. We will discuss this matter again when the time comes, but are there any other topics to be brought to the table today?"

Nobody spoke. Warren still looked pissed, but the Father nodded one last time, deciding that he would discuss the situation with him later in private.

"Good. Meeting adjourned.

If there was a humbling experience after winning a gym badge so easily, it was losing a week later to a trainer he could have beaten. It wasn't a fair fight, however, but that stipulation was self-imposed as Cody was trying to train his newest recruit. In his conversations with Izzy, the bug catcher recommended that Cody get his Venipede into double battles.

"Not only is it battle exposure, but it teaches teamwork. Or eventually, maybe he'll start feeling bad for his partner and he'll start fighting. But that usually works for me."

After finding another trainer with five badges, Cody challenged him to a double battle, two pokémon each. The opposing trainer sent out a Diggersby, a brown and gray rabbit with fists for ears, and a Lombre, a pokémon with an oversized lily pad on his head, both competent battlers as evidenced in the first minutes of the fight. Bastion was doing well in the fight, but as well as he was performing, he was struggling to beat even one of his foes when both of them double teamed him. Could the Wartortle beat a Diggersby? Easily. Could he beat a Lombre? Maybe on a good day. But not both at once. Meanwhile, the Venipede (that Cody still hadn't named yet) stood in the corner of the battlefield, minding his own business. Whenever the fighting got too close, he would move to another part of the battlefield to watch. He just saw no reason to engage.

"Come on, use Poison Sting or something!" Who was he kidding? He didn't even know if the Venipede knew how to use half the moves he was calling out. The few times the Venipede had actually done something in his previous fights, Cody tried to put a name to what was going on, but he doubted the bug even cared.

Meanwhile, Bastion had his hands full. He launched an Aqua Jet directly into the Diggerby's chest, but was left open enough to take a Razor Leaf that cut against the back of his head. Bastion retaliated with an Iron Tail, but only to absorb a barrage of punches from the rabbit's fist-like ears. He couldn't catch a break and if he backed up to regroup, so would his enemies. The opposing trainer and his pokémon were in sync, so maybe if the Venipede actually fought, he'd have a chance, but like this…

"Gang up! Double Slap and Fury Swipes!"

"Come on… Rollout?"

"Tlick!" the Venipede clicked, uncaring.

By now, the two foes were pummeling Bastion with all their might. The turtle tried to return to his shell, but before he could withdraw, the Lombre was behind him, holding the Wartortle in a full nelson and using Absorb while the Diggersby slammed his fists into the turtle's chest and face. After doing this for a few seconds, the Lombre let the Wartortle fall and it was over.

"Good work, Bastion!" he called, returning him to his pokeball. It was such a change, seeing his pokémon lose this quickly after a successful gym battle, but against another five-badge trainer, a two versus one fight wouldn't be simple. And now, it was just two game battlers facing against a bug who was more concerned with eating bugs and roots than he was with battling.

"Dig! Bubblebeam!"

The opposing trainer's pokémon jumped into action. The shiny-brown bug just narrowly dodged the stream of bubbles before leaping over the digging bunny as he reemerged with an explosion of soil. For what it was worth, the Venipede was ludicrously speedy, much faster than one would expect a bug-type with tiny legs would be, but most members of the Venipede-line were like that. After getting out of harm's way, the Venipede stopped caring again, sitting idly, waiting for something to happen.

"Bug Bite? Come on, man!" Nothing was working. He knew he wouldn't win the match now, but he wished his bug-type would at least do something.

"Pull it again!" the opposing trainer ordered. The Diggersby popped out of the ground right under the Venipede, launching it into the air and punching him with one of his bulging, bunny ears. The Venipede flew into the Lombre's arms, and the lilypad pokémon began using Absorb. It would do little to a bug-poison type, but all the Lombre had to do was hold the wriggling bug still for just a few seconds while the Diggerby charged up a Mega Punch. One punch to the chest would end the frail centipede for sure.

But just before the punch was thrown, the Venipede slipped out and the Lombre took the blow to the face. It wasn't enough to end him, but it did knock him on his rear while the centipede pokémon stared down the earth-bunny. Something about him had changed: he had a fierce look in his eyes and the noise he was making; it was like a low growl of multiple clicks, kind of like he was a sports car revving his engine.

Maybe now? "Rollout!"

"Tlick, tlick tlick!" The shiny pokémon responded appropriately, rolling forward and crashing into the Diggersby's chest. He kept rolling after the hit and bashed the rabbit a second time with even more force. The opposing pokémon braced himself for a third hit, but the bug knew how to counter the block. Instead of trying to power through the braced arms, he bounced in his rollout form onto the bunny's head where it latched its mouth onto its skull. The Bug Bite caused the bunny to howl in pain, and when the Lombre was back up and trying to re-enter the fight, the Venipede released his bit and did a corkscrew-like spin in the air while striking the grass-water type with a poisonous slash of his tail spikes before using Bug Bite on him.

Perhaps if the Venipede had been trying since the beginning, he would have had a chance of winning. Perhaps if it was just him versus the Lombre, he could squeeze out a win in a one versus one fight by elemental advantage alone. But this sudden gasp of effort was too little too late. While biting the Lombre, the shiny-brown bug was prone to getting clapped by the Diggersby's meaty ears, a sickening crunch sounding as the ears collided with the Venipede's carapace. The centipede tried to crawl away, but before he could manage, the Lombre held him in an unforgiving embrace as the Diggersby charged up one more punch and landed it straight in the Venipede's face.

"Return," Cody sighed, upset although he had already accepted the inevitable. "Good work, but maybe if you had listened…" he whispered to the pokeball. No, it was no use. The Venipede would only truly listen to him when he was ready... or when he was actually motivated to fight. Until then, he could only hope he'd catch a break.

"Hey, um, thanks," the redheaded trainer said as he approached Cody. "That was… That was something."

"Yeah, thanks," Cody replied, slipping a wad of bills into his opponent's hand.

"I mean, your Wartortle was good. But-"

"The Venipede is new. Still a work in progress. I figured in a double battle-"

"Yeah, that's why I don't use bugs. Too often, they just don't listen," the trainer commented. "Still, it's shiny. That's cool."

"Yeah, cool…" But cool wouldn't win him any badges. For the next badge especially, he would need his pokémon to be at their best. That was a few months away, but he couldn't fall behind. Not when the competition was getting even more intense and it was getting more difficult to catch hiis newest monsters up to speed.

The past week had been much more stressful than Cody thought would be. The obvious stressor was the Venipede. Every battle that he used the bug in, he lost. The bug was strong, but he still wouldn't listen or help his teammates in doubles. At least Reflet, despite being weaker than her fellow team members, was willing to contribute to the fight, help her teammates, and accept instruction.

The second stressor was the nightmares. He'd have them nearly every night, though they were all brief. Darkrai never stayed long: he's pop in, burst his dreams, cause him a bit of pain, and leave. Additionally, the normally talkative demon said little and Cody would have no time to ask what was even going on. What was he even doing? Even if the nightmares were quick, they cost him a lot of sleep and that wasn't doing him any favors.

The third stressor was a bit surprising: it was the new group dynamic. He knew there would be an adjustment. He knew that he would have to babysit Brooke a little bit. But he had seriously underestimated how much Jared contributed to the group and how little Brooke contributed in return, aside from her company. As much as he hated to admit it, Jared's leadership kept everything running smoothly, which was why Cody had enough time to plan the routes, work through his training regime, and get as many daylight hours of napping as possible. But without Jared, those responsibilities fell between Heather and himself, because they certainly couldn't fall onto Brooke's shoulders. Yes, it would take some getting used to.

"If either of you need me, I'll be sleeping for the next twelve hours," Cody announced as they walked down the streets of Baybire City. Another pretty city on another pretty waterfront, the bayside district was easy on the eyes. However, the south side, not so much. The city did have a large working class, but it was a common pit stop between Ashlin and the Crystal Cliffs up north where the Cerebral badge was defended. Many trainers ended up in

Another pretty city on another pretty waterfront, the bayside district of Baybire was easy on the eyes. However, the south side, not so much. The city did have a large working class, but it also was a common pit stop between Ashlin and the Crystal Cliffs up north where the Cerebral badge was defended. Many trainers ended up passing through or getting stuck in Baybire, so despite there being no gym, the battling scene was active. The problem was the longer a trainer stayed in the city, the more money they would lose unless they were good enough to win consistently. Therefore, there were a lot of trainers who were stuck on the south side. Cody hadn't seen so many panhandlers since he was in Lockton. He tried to push the situation from his mind though. They had just dropped their pokémon off at the center and they were headed towards the motel, though not before Cody could withdraw Elesa. If there was an opportunity to battle later, he'd take it.

"What, no food?" Heather asked. "I know you. You're gonna be miserable if you wake up hungry and I know we ran out of food at lunch."

"Too tired to chew," he answered while simultaneously dropping a dollar into a young, begging boy's hand. He had to be careful not to do that too much while he was in the city or he'd be in a similar situation. "Give me an hour or two then. I kinda want tacos tonight, if everybody's down. Unless you ladies want-"

"No, tacos are good," Heather said, though her tone was indifferent. Like Cody, she looked ready to pass out. "Brooke?"

"Yeah, tacos are nice." Unlike the other two, Brooke always seemed energized. It was probably because she had the fewest responsibilities of the three and she never seemed to get stressed out, but at least her mood was a little bit infectious. "As long as there's a vegetarian option, at least."

"Oh, right." Cody almost forgot. He had given up the charade of being a vegetarian a few week back. There was no repercussion since Brooke seemed to know from the moment he lied that he was lying and she seemingly didn't care. "I'm sure they have some... thing..." His voice trailed off as he saw what was on the right side of the street: a Haven House. Not that that was such a surprise or anything; they were popping up everywhere, especially in cities like Baybire where there were trainers in "transition". And he was sure they were doing good work, but knowing the organization that houses were associated with, he could only assume they were swarming with recruits. That was a tad unsettling to think about.

None of my business. If I avoid them, they avoid me. Easy peasy. But then, Brooke said the last thing that he ever expected or wanted for her to say.

"Or, we could eat there," she suggested.

"Uhhhh..." both Cody and Heather stuttered in unison. Cody himself was at a loss for words, so he kept it simple.

"Let's not. Tacos!" Cody exclaimed, trying to shift the conversation away from the soup kitchen, but it didn't end there.

"No, trust me, I spent quite a bit of time in Baybire, and the Haven House here has amazing soup. Like, seriously, the best soup you'll ever taste, and it's free."

Quick, give a good excuse. Anything! But Cody had no options here. He hadn't talked to Brooke about the Brotherhood yet, let alone their connection with the Haven Houses. The last thing he needed was for her to think that he was dangerous or crazy. How would he even explain the situation anyway? That an organization that was actually doing a lot of good was also involved in some shady business with some ultimate goal that he couldn't explain? Where was his proof? Besides, he figured he wouldn't have to explain anything if the organization kept to their word and left him alone. He could lie about why he didn't want to go inside... but who was he kidding? He couldn't lie worth shit. Even if he was feeling lucky, Brooke was really good at calling out bullshit, so that was a no go. So he decided to stick with some remnant of truth.

"It's free because it's for trainers who can't afford a meal. We have money, so it's not really for us." He probably could have phrased that better, as he wasn't sure where Brooke was at the moneywise. But he'd rather pay for her than go to a Haven House. He probably would have done it regardless.

"You know they don't care, right?" she asked, stating the common knowledge. "Besides, I have a friend, Mallory, who works here. I want to say hi, you know?"

"Okay, you can go in and say hi, but after that, let's go get some real food." Again, probably not the best way he could have phrased that, considering she had told him that the soup was good. Brooke actually looked kind of annoyed with him then, her mouth forming a pouty frown and her eyebrows furrowed. She still looked cute, but seeing the rarely angry Brooke look cross was slightly unnerving.

"Why are you being like this? It's free food and I know it's good. What's up?"

"Look, I..." He didn't know what to say, once more. He was about to blurt something out, but Heather cut in, unexpectedly.

"Actually, I'm kinda feeling soup tonight."

What are you doing? Cody quickly mouthed to her, angrily. Luckily, Brooke had turned her attention to the other girl, so she didn't see him do that.

"Soup sounds good. What's the harm in it? It's not like we're making a fuss."

What's the harm? Why was she sabotaging him like this? But something in Heather's eyes comforted him as she motioned them toward the establishment. For whatever reason, she thought that walking into the Pyroar's den was the right move. He didn't get it, but he supposed he'd play along.

"You know what, you're both right. Soup sounds good. I'm in."

"Great! Let's go!" Brooke quickly took both Cody's and Heather's hands and led them to the building. The two younger trainers felt anxiety wash over them and all three of them were entering this with their own agendas in mind.

The bottom floor of the Haven House was packed tighter than a tin of Wishiwashi. It was far larger than the other kitchens they had passed and there were both trainers and pokémon from wall to wall. One could barely hear himself think over the hundreds people talking, the cries of their pokémon, and the general noise that filled the spaces in between.

The wait for soup was a long one. Brooke kept up her bubbly chatter, mostly talking about her time in Baybire. Heather nodded her head at what was being said, but kept glancing around for threats. Cody seemed to have visibly shrunk as he kept his eyes darting around the environment. Heather could tell that he was very uncomfortable and he seemed to be channeling that into the hand that held Brooke's. It looked like he should have been crushing the blonde's hand in his grip, but she didn't seem to mind.

Once the finally reached the counter, Brooke found her friend, Mallory. Like Brooke, she was a bubbly blonde, but much taller than all of them (Heather guessed maybe six feet). The two clamored on for nearly a minute before deciding that they'd meet up later so that they wouldn't to hold up the line. One by one, each of them got a bowl of soup, a piece of hard-crusted bread, a piece of fruit, and a mini-bottle of water before finding a place to sit at a small, circular table.

The soup was good, but Heather wasn't surprised by this. The last time she had Haven House soup, it definitely tasted better than she expected, and her tomato bisque that day was no exception. Meanwhile, Brooke was chattering on about something or another. Cody stared at her, nodding every once in awhile, but his eyes would dart around. He looked almost ill, barely even sipping the soup he brought to his lips.

It occurred to her that Cody kept looking one direction in particular: to his left. Heather eventually caught on and looked over where he kept glancing. There was an older teen with messy hair, dyed blue, leaning against the wall and watching them. He wasn't even trying to keep it a secret; he was staring directly at them. When his eye met Heather's, he gave her a slow nod. She turned back to her soup, her face going pale. They were definitely being watched.

"... and we managed to win that battle too. This city was almost a good luck charm for me when it came to battling! Almost..." Brooke smiled sheepishly after that last story.

Probably because this place is a trainer trap and some of them are even worse than you, Heather thought to herself, but Cody was nodding his head again.

"You just need to battle more people at your level. Maybe a bit lower," he suggested. "Get your fundamentals down. I mean, Goro is-"

"Oh..." Brooke stood up suddenly. "I have to go to the bathroom. Don't eat my soup, please?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Cody said, forcing a smile so fake that he actually looked like he was in pain.

"Good, I'll be right back!" The blonde girl hurried off towards the back end of the room and the moment she turned her head, Cody seemed to completely deflate, letting out a long sigh. If he wasn't exhausted enough already, holding up a semi-competent facade of comfort appeared to be draining him even further.

"You okay?" Heather asked, taking a bite of her bread that she dipped in the soup. The crunchy piece tasted even better with that additional flavor.

"You see him too, right?" he asked, motioning with his eyes in the direction of the guy who was watching them. Heather didn't bother looking this time, but she nodded.

"Yeah, I see him. How did they even pick us out? I mean, we don't look that different from any of the other trainers here. And they called you a low-level threat. It's not like every mook is going to know your face."

"Not sure. There was a camera near the entrance. Maybe it has recognition software? Or that Kadabra sitting over there next to the door... maybe it memorized certain faces and it alerted somebody." He looked over at the psi pokémon that sat lazily next to the entrance. "Or maybe... Casper said I was still being watched. I suppose it's possible that they had eyes on me already. Or maybe, that guy just happened to recognize one of us."

"Yeah..." All valid conclusions, she agreed. She looked off at the bathroom door where Brooke had disappeared to. She had indeed seen Brooke enter the room and she wanted to see where she would go when she came out. Believably, she could have asked to go with her, but she didn't think Cody would be want to left alone. Even if she hadn't left her Lunatone at the pokémon center, she couldn't use it to spy in a place so crowded without looking conspicuous. No, all she could do was watch and wait.

"Hello, Earth to Heather? Do you read me?"

"Oh." She didn't realize Cody was talking to her when she was off in her trance. "Can you repeat that? I didn't catch it."

"Right, I asked you why you agreed with Brooke about eating here," he repeated, lowering his voice as he continued. "I mean, we both know that this place is a branch of the Brotherhood. I doubt they would try anything in a crowded place like this, but I'm trying to stay out of their business. So... What's up?"

She hadn't thought that far ahead. The real reason she agreed to eat there was that she was still suspicious of Brooke and everything she did. She hadn't found out anything of value at that point. The girl's Facebook page seemed pretty typical and Crescent hadn't heard anything of value when he was listening. While eating, she checked Brooke's Facebook page on her phone and saw that Malory was indeed one of her friends, so her wanting to eat at the Haven House that did have tasty soup that was free, all while seeing an old friend, wasn't all that curious. But she needed a quick excuse. Luckily, she had one.

She smirked at him. "You wanna get laid or not?"

She loved the expression that followed. That seemed to have woken Cody up. His mouth fell slightly agape and he looked bewildered. Out of the corner of her eye, Heather could see Brooke coming out of the bathroom and heading towards the food line.

"What?"

"Look, some women like controlling guys, but she thinks you're sweet and she likes it. She obviously really wanted to come here, so telling her no without a real explanation... do you think that that was going to play in your favor?"

"What, are you my wingman now?" he asked, chuckling once through his moodiness.

"Yeah, I guess I am." She answered. She looked over and saw Brooke and Mallory talking. "I guess you need some help without Laurence around."

"Honestly, I don't think Laurence would be much help," he answered, taking another small sip of soup. "He's good with women, but I don't think what works for him would work for me. I've already asked him for advice, but he keeps telling me I should be more aggressive. I don't know about that... What do you think?"

"I... I think you're doing fine," she told him, still keeping Brooke in the corner of her field of vision. "Really, you must be doing something right if she's willing to travel with us. But Cody..." Her voice shifted into seriousness. "If you're serious about her, you'll need to be honest with her eventually. I mean, really honest with her."

He seemed to know what she was talking about, but he asked anyway. "You mean-"

"I mean about how you're being watched. And about why you never sleep soundly. Everything."

He shook his head. "I don't know, she'll think I'm crazy. You don't even believe me about my dreams, so why-"

"I believe that you're not doing enough. You went to one psychologist for one session. You refuse to even consider medication and-"

"We're not doing this right now," he hissed, his eyes darting about again. "Not here, where we're being watched."

"Fine, but my point stands. If you like her, you can't keep her in the dark forever." She didn't even like that advice that much. It was good advice, but she didn't know if she wanted Brooke to know those things about Cody. It felt like too much for this (in her eyes) relative stranger to know about her friend. Plus, selfish enough as it was, she liked that she was the one Cody confided in. But she needed to be a good friend first, since her suspicions were only suspicions.

She looked over to see Brooke and her friend disappear through a door to the back. Now that's suspicious. "Excuse me, I'm going to get a bit more soup. You'll be okay, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Of course. They're not gonna try anything in front of all these people," he replied, though he still didn't look all that comforted.

"I won't be long." She quickly headed towards the door where Brooke had disappeared into. Once she got there, she gave a quick glance backwards to see that Cody wasn't looking at her. He wasn't, so she turned back towards the door.

What am I going to do here? She wanted to figure out what Brooke was doing, going in the back with her friend. It was possible that they were just catching up, but she knew what Haven was associated with. On top of that, she didn't want Brooke getting suspicious of her suspicions. The two of them had a working, almost friendly relationship thus far, and she didn't want to throw that away on a hunch. But before she could take any action, Brooke came back out and saw Heather staring at her.

"Uh… hey," Heather gasped, her face going pale.

"Hey." For a brief second, Brooke looked as if she had just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but it was only momentary. "What are you-"

"I came to get more soup, but I saw you…" Shit, what do I say? "They just let anybody back there?"

"I was just visiting with Mallory. I thought… You don't look so good."

Crap, she knows! Abandon ship! But before she could turn around and walk away, Brooke took her by the hand.

"Come on, let's get you to the bathroom."

"But I don't need to-" Too late. Brooke was already dragging her rather forcefully to the bathroom. The ladies room itself was pretty dinky. There were only two stalls and one sink, and it smelled pretty bad, even for a bathroom. But it was empty and Brooke locked the door behind them after they entered.

"Um, I don't think you're supposed to lock-"

"What is up with you two?" Brooke demanded, calmly, though still slightly pushy. Her eyes were locked on and focused.

"I'm sorry?" Heather asked, although she knew her anxiety was showing. She shouldn't have approached her like that afterall. It only made her look suspect. But Brooke acting this way following her disappearance into the back was also questionable. The problem was that she couldn't call her out on it without giving Cody and herself away.

"I'm not stupid," Brooke continued, still calm, though sounding somewhat upset. "You and Cody both… when I asked if we could eat here, Cody looked physically unwell and you seemed hesitant. Once inside, Cody stopped talking altogether and you're following me around. It's uncharacteristic of both of you."

"Brooke, I don't-"

"Don't lie to me, Heather. I swear to God, I- I know you and Cody have some sort of beef with Haven. Am I wrong?"

She didn't know how to answer that. Well, she would have lied, but she knew that that wouldn't work on Brooke. So maybe she would have to tell the truth. But she'd try to dance around the truth as much as she could. Still, Brooke was actually kind of scaring her now. There was no way out of the bathroom, save through the door. Could she fight her way out? She could probably take Brooke if she wanted, but she hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

"Look, maybe you talk to Cody about this. I'm not really-"

"Cody isn't going to talk about it," Brooke began, sighing and seemingly let her guard down slightly. "You've traveled with him for awhile, so you know how secretive he is. Whenever I ask him about anything… sensitive, like how he sleeps erratically and whatever is eating him today, he gets defensive and says he doesn't want to talk about it. So, I'm asking you: what's wrong?" There was a brief pause, but Brooke began again, her expression softening. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm just a bit frazzled."

"Frazzled?" Heather asked. "Why?"

"Look, I get a bit nervous when I-" She blushed slightly. "Mallory is more than just a friend."

More than just a friend? Does she mean?

"No, not like that," Brooke laughed nervously, seeming to pick up on what Heather had thought. "I mean she's my weed dealer."

"Weed?" Admittedly, she didn't see that coming. "You mean-"

"Exactly what you think I mean," Brooke answered, another nervous giggle escaping from her lips. "I didn't buy any from her yet because she didn't bring it to work with her, but yeah. I smoke, but I get nervous about the whole thing, you know? I've never been caught, but I've had a few close calls and I didn't know how you two would react if I told you. I can't imagine Jared would have been cool with it, but-"

"Cody wouldn't care," Heather cut in. "His best friend tokes from time to time and he doesn't seem to care. I don't really care either, but I get it. I get why you were a bit nervous about me following you." This news was actually a relief. Things seemed far less sinister than Heather had suspected and she was hoping that this would diffuse the whole situation, but she was wrong.

"Well, that's a relief," Brooke said. "But look, why were you two nervous about coming in here?" Another pause, so she kept talking. "Look, this can stay between the two of us. Whatever it is, there's no reason to freak Cody out over this."

"Fine…" She was doubting her judgement on talking about this, so she'd keep it simple. Besides, she knew Brooke would see through her lies. "Cody and I have had some run-ins with a few individuals associated with Haven. Everything's alright now, but I know he'd rather avoid these places. I only agreed to come here so that we wouldn't look paranoid, but I guess that didn't work." She shrugged. "If you want to know more about it, try asking Cody, but don't tell him I told you anything. It's more of his problem than it is mine, to be honest."

Brooke cocked her head. "A few run-ins? Like-"

"Attacked. He was attacked several times." She shook her head. "I said too much. I really shouldn't have said anything." Why did I do this? Brooke made her feel too comfortable sharing information that wasn't hers to share.

Brooke looked shocked. "I don't… I don't understand what you mean. Attacked? By who? Haven Houses are just soup kitchens. Did you-"

"Forget it," Heather interrupted, almost hastily. "Ask Cody, not me. But everything is fine now. Really."

"Okay… That's a pretty insane bomb to drop on me without any sort of explanation, but okay." Brooke looked a bit pale again, but with a deep inhale, she said, "look, I won't say anything. I'm sorry, I just… I feel so out of the loop sometimes. You and Cody seem pretty tight and you have all these secrets between you two. I get it. I don't want to come between you two or anything, but as long as I'm traveling with you, I just want to be a part of the group, you know?"

Does she really feel that way? Heather never would have guessed. Brooke spent so much time with Cody that Heather would never have figured she felt left out. But she had a point: while Brooke was pretty honest with both of them about herself, Heather and Cody did have a lot of secrets that the new girl wasn't in on. Had the roles been reversed, she would probably feel left out too. To top it all off, the fact that she followed her was probably seen as an invasion of privacy. That wasn't fair either.

"Hey… I'm sorry. Brooke, why don't we all do something tonight? We got our training in today, so if you have any ideas, I'm all for it," she genuinely offered.

"Hmmm…" Brooke smiled to herself. "I do have one idea…"

They could have gone out that night. Baybire was a city filled with plenty opportunities to enjoy the nightlife. If not that, battling was an option as well with all the trainers crossing through the city. But instead, they stayed in their musty motel room and they weren't even watching TV. The only sound aside from the occasional talking among the trio was some indie soundtrack that Brooke was playing on her phone. Heather was sitting at the edge of one of the queen-sized beds, her feet hanging off, her eyes closed and her head slowly bobbing her head to the music, though she was completely off beat.

Is that a pan flute? That sounds… that sounds nice, Cody thought to himself.

Brooke sat cross-legged on the opposite bed, running her fingers through Cody's hair as he rested his head on her lap. She was amazed- no, enthralled with how soft his hair felt. In fact, the more she touched it, the softer and stranger it felt. Goro was next to her, curled up in a ball. She would play with his fur next. She figured it would be even softer. Meanwhile, Cody just stared up. Brookes breasts were right above his face and he wanted to touch them, but Heather being in the room made him reconsider. Though did he really care if she saw that? No, he just kept staring at the ceiling. It was mesmerizing; it was one of those ceilings that had all sorts of ridges and waves, as if it was constructed out of clay. In his swirling consciousness, he questioned why this type of ceiling even existed and why he had never looked at one so closely before. He just couldn't help himself.

"Anybody hungry?" Cody asked in a daze. "'Cause I'm… I'm… haha. Hahaha!"

"Me too. Do we have bread? Like, just a loaf of bread? I don't know why but I really want bread," Brooke mused softly.

"I have crackers," Heather answered. "Peanut butter crackers. We can eat those."

"No, I just want bread," Brooke responded, but she didn't even seem upset about it. "I know bread's not healthy, but I just want it. I just do!" She reached over to push Goro away from the nightstand where the brownies were. She couldn't imagine how he'd react to those. The little bear cub sulked and dug his way under the bed covers. It was like he was hibernating. Did pandas hibernate? She wasn't sure, but she figured it was possible.

Brooke decided that it was safer to just get brownies from Mallory, just so they wouldn't set off the smoke alarm, assuming it worked in the shithole of a room they were in. When she had originally pitched the idea to Heather, it was a hard sell, but the other girl eventually agreed to the brownies. For some people, eating pot felt safer and healthier than smoking it. Cody was a different story, as he was on board from the beginning. He had wanted to try it for some time, he said, but never having the chance before, though Brooke wondered why his friend Laurence never shared any with him.

"Oh, check this out: have you ever pet Elesa?" he asked, changing the subject.

"What? Yeah, why?" Brooke asked.

"No, I mean really pet her? Watch this." He fumbled around for his Zebstrika's pokeball, which was on the the floor next to him. After a half minute of him trying to grab it, he finally opened it, releasing the electric-horse into the motel room.

"Oh Jesus, Cody, you can't- she's too- you just can't!" Heather whined, getting agitated at the appearance of Elesa as she tried to find the right words. "We're gonna get in trouble!"

"Relax, she's- she's good. I just wanna show Brooke something." He noticed that Elesa looked very confused about being released into a motel room between the two beds. Motels that allowed pokémon usually had a size and weight limit on what was permitted and the horse definitely exceeded both. The horse tried to leave, but she had nowhere to go. Sitting up, Cody ran his hand up and down her back.

"What are you doing?" Brooke asked.

"You ever notice how staticky she feels?" He began laughing as he felt the light electric charge run through his arms. "Look at my arm hair. Look at it!" Sure enough, the hair on his arm was sticking straight up. With his other hand, he started touching his arm hair, pressing the hairs down and watching them stick back up.

"Wow, that's cool." Brooke started petting the Zebstrika too and the horse shot them a foul look. Normally, she liked the attention, but she seemed to know that her trainer was acting weird. But she was well-behaved enough not to act out over it.

"Heather! Turn off the… the… turn of those things," Cody asked, pointing upwards at nothing in particular.

"What, the lights?"

"Yeah, those things!" he answered, his face lighting up. "Turn them off!"

"No, why don't you do it?"

"Heeeaaather!" Brooke whined.

"Okay, whatever!"Slowly, the brunette rose to her feet and slowly strode over to the lights. Once they were off, Cody giggled in glee.

"Okay, stroke against the grain," he said. He did it first and was delighted to see the static electricity spark up in the dark as he went. "It's fucking nuts!"

"Awww, why the hell haven't we done this before?" Brooke squealed as she followed in suit.

"Harumph!" Elesa snorted as she stamped her foot against the dirty carpet. Her glare was ceaseless.

"Aw, what the hell," Heather blurted, joining in on the fun, petting the Zebstrika along with the two others in the dark.

She didn't know what to think of Brooke. Even when her mind was in a weed-induced fog, she still had good reason to be suspicious. Brooke did seem panicked earlier, but it was because of the weed, right? Or was it because of her ties to the Brotherhood? No, that wasn't fair. She didn't have ties to the Brotherhood, just because some girl she bought weed from ladled soup in the kitchens. Still, she had more justification in her suspicions now... Maybe. She would keep watching and waiting, but she had would have to remain out of this girl's radar. Hopefully, she did genuinely like Cody. Hopefully… Regardless, she did feel bad for Brooke after what the girl had told her in confidence. Perhaps she was worth another chance. No, she was worth that. She owed both her that much, especially since Cody seemed enamored with her.

Meanwhile, in the back of Brooke's mind, she was already trying to figure out how she was supposed to explain this situation to Michelle. Her supervisor knew that she smoked weed, but she was told not to partake during this assignment. Even more so, sharing drugs with her target? That would definitely be considered a violation. Getting high herself would probably be considered a risk of exposure. She could try to justify it as a way of establishing deeper trust with the target or as a means of distracting Heather from earlier, but that would be a flimsy response. No, she wouldn't tell Michelle afterall. It was another violation on her part, but the way she saw it, it was only a violation if she got caught.

What really worried her… or whom, was Heather. She thought she had been doing good at going under the radar thus far, but Heather seemed to possibly be on to her. She couldn't tell for sure, though. According to the intel, Cody and Heather had many run ins with the organization in the past, so Heather's paranoia was justified. Part of the reason she insisted on eating at the Haven House was to gauge their responses for her report, as instructed by Michele. That being said, going out of her way to see Mallory and buy marijuana was poorly planned and easily misunderstood. Yes, she would have needed to check in with the base while she was in town for protocol purposes, but what she did was sloppy. She was perceptive enough to know that despite her attempts to befriend Heather, the other girl still didn't trust her, and she might have made things worse. She didn't know for sure, and she was afraid to write those details up in the report just yet. If she did, Michele would probably ask about the events that led to the supposed suspicion. Brooke knew that she could get away with lying, but she also knew that that could come back to bite her if anybody knew that she had made these careless mistakes.

No… can't do that. No, she'd report what was necessary. She'd keep in simple and keep paying more attention to Heather. But even though she still had her secrets, she couldn't help but feel exposed. She looked over at Heather, who was too busy enjoying the Zebstrika's natural static.

I won't let you ruin this. What "this" was… there were two things in mind.

The I.I. building in Lockton City had a few executive suites, one of which belonged to Father Ezekiel himself. He liked it well enough, as it wasn't too opulent, but it was better than your average living space. He felt a little guilty about the whole thing, however. As an enemy of poverty, he felt that living in such a nice space while so many in the city had nowhere to sleep was slightly hypocritical of him, but he pushed those thoughts aside. Having been born to a poor family himself, he recognized that the combination of hard work and luck had led him to where he was. He did value his own efforts, though he always felt that there was more that he could do.

Having just brewed some eucalyptus tea, the gray-haired man sat down on the couch in front of the TV and turned on the evening news. Nothing particularly interesting was being reported that night. When he was done with his tea, he would scour the internet for more daily news. He prided himself in keeping up to date with what was going on in the world from various sources. As somebody who would soon have the power to mold the world to his liking, he knew that he'd need to be informed.

Nera the Houndoom laid her head at his feet. He looked down at her and smiled. A little over four decades ago when he was twelve years old, his first pokémon was a Houndour named Shadow (an uncreative nickname, sure, but he was only twelve at the time). He loved her dearly and promised her the world. While he never became champion, he had given his first hound a good life, and she fought alongside of him into her old age. The average lifespan of a Houndoom ranged from about eighteen to twenty-three years, showing declines in physical prowess after twelve, so some decades later, Shadow was long gone, having died a peaceful death in her sleep. However, she had had a litter when she was younger. The Father gave most of the pups away, but he kept the strongest, Demona, for himself. And eventually, she had a litter. And the male he kept after that sired another litter. That male, Johnny, was still alive, but retired from battle in his old age. Johnny's strongest daughter was Nera, and while she was the fourth Houndoom Ezekiel had raised, he loved her just as much as Shadow, Demona, and Johnny before her and she was now his second strongest… soon to be his third strongest if his long-term plans worked out.

"You don't need to go out, do you?" he asked his dog. She didn't stir, so he took that as a no.

His cell phone rang. Letting out a sigh, the Father muted the television and turned on close-captioning before checking the name. The I.D. read 1811, which was the numeric code he had given to Lily.

"Hello, Lily?"

"Hey, I'm not calling too late, am I?"

"I don't sleep all that much these days," he admitted with a light chuckle. "How are you? We didn't really get to talk earlier before or after the meeting. How's Hong Kong?"

"So much has changed since I was last here, but it feels as if I never left. I miss it here…"

"Well, perhaps I can schedule you for more work there in the future, but when you're finished with your current tour, we will need you back in Skitrex. If things go according to plan, we'll be moving forward. Your skills are valuable to us on the homefront." That wasn't an empty compliment. He had named Lily his second in command for a reason. Her participation in the global circuit was good for the organization, especially when it came to gathering international recruits, but he would need her skill set soon for future pursuits. That, and he missed having her around, but he wouldn't admit to that. He had a certain demeanor to maintain, even with those he was close with.

"You're right…"

She seemed a touch unsure in her last line and he knew why. Lily was torn between her duty and her desire to travel and train to become the best trainer in the world. Her duty would win out in the end, he knew. He knew her too well.

"Is everything alright? You sound conflicted."

"Well… I wanted to talk to you… about what was said today in the boardroom today."

"Look, you have nothing to worry about," he assured. "I'll tell you what I told Warren: Salem is under control. I'll take the risks into consideration-"

"No, it's not Salem, it's you," she interrupted. "With all due respect, I feel like the organization is rushing its goals. We-"

"We will be fine," he answered assuredly. "No matter what our publicity is in the end, once we have-"

"Wendell, please listen to me!"

Barely anybody called him by that name anymore. The suits did, Wisdom did, and Lily did. To most, he was Father Ezekiel, the Superior One. But to somebody like Lily, he was far more human.

"We're risking so much by moving this fast. Why do you insist on meeting the 'window of opportunity'? We don't need to-"

"I need to, Lily. You know that I-... We… we don't have much time."

"Please, you need to trust us; to trust me, Wendell! We can carry out your dream!"

"I know you can and I know you would… But after all I've seen, after all the suffering… I need to see this through, Lily. I look at my grandchildren and I need to know that they won't have to live in this world. This putrid, crumbling world." He felt the anger welling up inside him, but he maintained his composure. "Where is this coming from? Have you had any visions? Something that suggests that this is the wrong course of action?"

"No… it's just a gut feeling this time. I know I can't change your mind… I just needed to try. But no matter what happens, I will follow you. To the ends of the earth."

He nodded, knowing she couldn't see that through the phone. "Lily, I need to keep working. I am glad you feel comfortable telling me your concerns, but-"

"Very well… I miss you."

"You take care of yourself. And good luck tomorrow. I know you have a match against Robert Surge tomorrow, so don't let your guard down."

"I beat him two years ago at the San Francisco Grands, and I know I can do it again."

"Don't let yourself become complacent," he warned. "But before you go… Have you had any visions? Anything that might pertain to the Brotherhood?"

"I've had several… some where we fail, but others where you, Paulson, and I stood over the world as we molded it. But he… he was in half of both scenarios."

"As expected… goodnight, Lily."

"Goodnight, Wendell."

He was alone again with his Houndoom and the television. Nights like those, he was glad that Lily called. But alone again, he finished the rest of his tea. He needed something stronger than tea and he had that merlot in the cabinet next to the fridge. He knew he shouldn't, with meetings in the morning…

"Oh what the hell," he muttered to himself, standing up. He wasn't going to live forever.