Chapter 40: Giovanni's Bargain, Jack's Mistake
I won't stay long, in this world so wrong.
Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight.
Don't you dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil tonight
Trembling, crawling across my skin.
Feeling your cold dead eyes, stealing the life of mine.
I believe in you, I can show you that I can see right through all your empty lies.
...Breaking Benjamin - Dance With the Devil
"So, what happened next? With you and Miya?" Jessie asked, finally plucking up the courage to ask for more. Jack chuckled as he sipped some coffee from a large mug.
"I thought you would have asked me the moment you finished your last story," he commented. Jessie faked a smile and shrugged. In truth, she still wasn't completely sure about wanting to hear more of Jack's story mostly because she intuitively knew that the end would break her heart, How could it not? She knew now that her parents had loved her deeply and she knew that soon, she would hear about how that love was torn asunder. She didn't know how she would react at the end and that bothered her.
"Well," Jack continued, "The world screwed me over...or, more accurately, my brothers did."
0
Miya and I walked hand in hand into my mother's office, intent on telling her everything...including my suspicions of Giovanni being responsible for the attempt on mine and Jessie's lives.
The first thing I saw was not my mother, but my eldest brother.
Giovanni loomed behind Mother's chair, while she sat, pouring over papers. She smiled when she saw us enter, "Ah, Jack, Miyamoto. What brings you here on such a brilliant Saturday?"
"Just wanted to report in person that last night's job went according to plan," Miya said smoothly. My eyes were on my brother. He stood stiffly behind my mother's chair, his eyes solely on me. There was something different about him. He was on edge, waiting with excitement. He looked more alive than he had in months.
"Ah, perfect," Mother beamed, "And I trust you had a good night as well, Jack?"
My eyes met Giovanni's steel ones. I knew this was what he was waiting for: to see if I would rat him out, "Actually, Jessie and I had a little trouble," I revealed, "There was an intruder."
Mother got to her feet so suddenly, that even I was startled, "And why am I just hearing about this now? What happened? Are you alright? Who was involved?" she demanded, too distracted to notice that her eldest son now had a gun trained on her. Miya grasped my arm. Giovanni just raised an eyebrow, seeming to wonder if we would let her die as he glanced down at the small handgun that he had produced from the inside pocket of his suit. This was what he was waiting for: the chance to force our hand.
"We're fine," I answered, my voice hoarse, "My arcanine was killed, but we were fine. Robbery gone bad," I lied. Satisfied, Giovanni stowed the gun away.
"Alright. I am sorry to hear that, Son," Mother said, "but I must press you both to relocate from that neighborhood. Dreadful. Horrible place to raise a child."
"I couldn't agree more, Madam," Miya said, shooting a glance in Giovanni's direction.
"Good. Now that you are both here, I wonder if it might not be time for you to start taking on more administrative tasks. Simple things. Giovanni, I'm sure, would be happy to show you anything you need. It should be important for you to take on a more active role in running our team," she advised.
"Of course," Giovanni bowed, stepping out of the shadows, "By all means, please follow me, Brother. Miya."
He brushed by us, not waiting to see if we followed. Miya and I exchanged looks and then bowed to Mother, who would forever remain oblivious to how close she had come to dying that day.
0
"You followed him? Why would you do that?" Jessie demanded, losing a bit of her composure at the idiocy of it, "He was crazy. He had a gun and he was being passed over for you!"
"Because we needed to know what we could do to make a deal. We had to protect our daughter and we had to hear what he wanted," Jack replied.
0
We followed Giovanni to his office, where he leaned back in his chair like an evil overlord. All that was missing was the Persian cat. I was secure in the knowledge that if he fired the gun, people would hear and come running.
"What the hell?" I demanded, "Have you lost your mind?"
He shrugged and smiled up at me, "Honestly? I've never felt more in it."
I could feel my anger bubbling to the surface, "What the hell is wrong with you?" I felt Miya squeeze my arm, a warning to keep my temper, "I know it was you! I know you ordered them to attack us!"
"Obviously," Giovanni drawled, pressing his fingers together, "Now, surely you're wondering why?"
"Because of the money," I spat, "It's all about the money! Take it! I don't want it!" This earned me another warning squeeze from Miya, but Giovanni just chuckled.
"It's not all about the money, Jack. If that was all I wanted, I would kill Mother, Joseph, and you and be done with it."
"You'd kill your own family?" I demanded, shaking my head, "Mother? Me? Joe?"
"Mother has always been a vile woman. Don't shake your head, you know it's true!" he snapped at me, "Joseph doesn't deserve all he has, falling ass-backwards into his good fortune, which he doesn't even appreciate. Pathetic!" he spat, "But you, Jack, you're the worst of them all!"
"You are."
He chuckled again, "You never knew what you wanted and in many ways luck brought you here as well, but even so, you're as conniving as I am. The only difference is you use words and promises of loyalty to charm those around you. You manipulate," Giovanni stated matter-of-factly, "and you don't realize it or you justify it away. Here you stand, able to look me in the eyes after what you did."
He was talking about Silver. At this, I looked away, quickly deflecting, "What do you want?"
"I want more."
"You always wanted too much," I told him. Now he full out laughed.
"Tell me, Jack, how far would you go for Team Rocket?" Giovanni asked me.
0
Jessie started so violently that for the first time in weeks, she shook her injured ankle enough to cause herself pain.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" she snarled. Jack's eyebrows shot to his hairline.
"Did I say something?" he asked. Jessie shuddered.
"He said that to me once," she revealed, "When I first joined Team Rocket."
"And what did he do to make you remember those words so clearly?" Jack asked, his words shied to a whisper. Jessie looked away and Jack hung his head. He knew. He remembered her screaming in her sleep.
"I'm so sorry those words haunt you that way."
0
"Cut the crap," Miya snapped, "Either get to the point or show us the door!"
"Ah, a woman who wants to get down to business," Giovanni chuckled, "I can see the appeal. In fact, I always could, eh, Miya?"
"What?" I asked, momentarily derailed. Miya's glare was murderous.
"Never told him?" Giovanni laughed, "Surely you remember, Miya. Good times, back when you would do anything in a bathroom?"
"You son-of-a-bitch. The last time you and I were in a bathroom together, you tried to kiss me and I knocked your head against a bathroom stall and don't you think I won't do it again you hateful-" this time, I was the one squeezing her arm to calm her down. It worked and she glared hatefully, "What do you want?" she demanded again.
"I want power. Full and ultimate power and I am only going to get it if the two of you are out of the way," Giovanni revealed, "I'm done sharing, especially with you, Little Brother."
"Then take it. I'm out! I don't want it," I snarled, "I'm telling you that and I'll tell Mother that!"
"You have manipulated her enough, Jack. You will tell her no such thing," Giovanni decreed.
"I manipulate Mother?" I scoffed, "That's the pot calling-"
"Jack, you've charmed Mother, your little girlfriend, some of our better agents…" he listed, "It hasn't been lost on me. In fact, it's what inspired me to get my own people in order. They're skilled and they are already in their places, nice and close to your little friends. On my order, they will gladly take out you and your golden agents."
Catherine. Daphne. Amy. Motorcycle. Lana. Heath. Delia. I ran through the names of those he was talking about. I didn't want to see any of them hurt and Giovanni was threatening them.
"So what? I tell Mother that you're a freak and you take out everybody close to me?" I spat, shaking.
"And then I take out your daughter," Giovanni added.
"You bastard!" Miya ejected the same time as I said, "You touch her and I will kill you!"
"Ah, the love of parents for their child. So sweet. So useful," he laughed, then he became serious, "Here's what I want. You two keep your heads down; continue as you are for a little longer. When the old woman dies, you sign Team Rocket to me and I let you take your brat anywhere you like. No one gets hurt."
"And we're supposed to trust you?" I scoffed.
"You're going to have to take the risk, aren't you Jack?" Giovanni prodded me, "It's just like when we were children playing chess and I would promise that instead of taking your queen, I would take your rook...or bishop...or whatever else...so long as you promised not to promote pawns."
He had hated when I promoted pawns. He saw it as a personal affront, like it showed he was weak if my pawns made it to the end of the board. He claimed it was sneaky and underhanded.
"And mother?" I asked, "Somehow I doubt that she's going to be dying of natural causes with you around."
"Your mother or your daughter?" Giovanni wondered, "Hmmm...decisions, decisions."
"What if Mother doesn't pick me?" I tried to divert him, "What if she picks Joseph? What if she picks your little partner in crime?" I shot at him. He laughed as if I had just told a hilarious joke.
"She won't pick him. Never in a million years," he laughed. His laughter tapered off quickly, "Now what do you say?"
My first instinct was to refuse. I couldn't bring myself to trust that he would let us go at the end of it, no questions asked.
"We'll do it," Miya stated, shocking me, but then she added, "You come anywhere near my daughter and I will murder you slowly and painfully."
I knew what motivated her, and what would motivate me as well.
"I agree," I gave in. We left the room, but I refused to turn my back to my brother. He was not to be trusted.
0
"You trusted his word?" Jessie asked incredulously, "How could you do that? How could she?"
"She was planning from the moment we entered that room," Jack sighed, "She knew we had to take him at his word, make him comfortable."
"Well you were wrong!" Jessie shot at him, "You're here! You obviously made the wrong choice!"
Jack was calm as she protested, merely stating, "We never truly had a choice. He had his plan from the get-go. He knew how to manipulate us into playing into his hands. Either way, making a deal with him or not, we were sealing our fate. He sealed our fate."
Jessie scoffed, "So he got you where he wanted you. What was his master plan?"
"It hedged on our plans," Jack said, "And we played into them."
0
"What are we doing?" I asked when we got back to my rooms. We needed a moment to collect ourselves before we went to get Jessie.
"He threatened Jessie," Miya reminded me.
"I know! I was there!" I growled, sitting on the bed and running my fingers through my hair, "Dammit! Damn him to hell!"
Miya was quiet as I threw my tantrum. Then she got down on her knees in front of me.
"We're not giving up, Jack," she whispered.
"Just giving in," I finished bitterly. I remembered from the Akagi incident. Goddamn all of these fucking people interfering in my life. Miya snorted.
"Hardly," she scoffed, to my surprise, "Do you really think we're going to obey him?"
"Miya, my brother is…I dunno what the hell he is anymore! He meant what he said!"
"Which is why we're going to get the fuck out of here," she said, her eye blazing with purpose.
I looked at her, seeing where she was going, "We run away?" I asked, not sure that I was hearing her correctly.
"I know it's not very glamorous or brave, but maybe-"
"Let's do it," I said, my pulse quickening with excitement as I leapt to my feet, "Right now, let's go."
"Easy, Tiger," she smirked, "We're talking about abandoning Team Rocket. Treason. Even the Boss's son would be hunted down for it. Besides, if we just go, what about the others? Catherine and Cassidy? Daphne? Amy and Butch? Lana, Heath, Delia, and Motorcycle? We can't just leave them to the wolves with no knowledge of where we are. What if they're used to lure us back? I can't do that to them."
"Then what?" I wondered, "Miya, as much as I care them, we need to get out of here. We can't wait. You and Jessie are my priority."
"They're our friends Jack. We need to warn them," Miya stated firmly, "And we need time to prepare...a cover story. Fake IDs. Money."
"If we stay, we risk my brother breaking his word," I reminded her.
"I know," Miya agreed with me, "but if we leave now, we're in even more dire straits. We wouldn't get far and we'd be risking capture with Jessie in tow."
"So what do we do?" I conceded, letting out a slow breath.
"We let everyone know what's happening," Miya said slowly as she thought it out, "Then we get Jessie away from Viridian. I could take her to my sister in Viridian Peak-"
"You and your sister rarely talk," I pointed out.
"Meeks would do it," Miya said firmly, confidently, "She may not approve of my lifestyle, but she'd look after Jessie. I know it. Then you and I can work on preparing things. Fake IDs, money, and a story to tell your mother the day we plan on leaving. A story that will buy us time."
"A story?" I asked, "What kind of story?"
Her face scrunched up in thought. Then it lit up and she explained, "A Christmas Vacation. We'll tell your mother that we're leaving before Christmas and going away for a couple weeks. In that time, we could be long gone."
"Miya, that's over a month away," I reminded her.
"But it's a good excuse," Miya argued gently, "Anything else would be suspicious. And it will give us ample time to prepare things so that they're safe for Jessie. Jack, this is our best chance."
I frowned and thought about it and realized that she was right. Of all our options, it seemed like the safest one.
I nodded.
0
"You should have left sooner. You should have made a couple phone calls and left. You could have made up any excuse!," Jessie chided him, "You waited too long!"
"I know," was all Jack said in response, "Believe me, I do."
0
Our friends sat across from us on the two beds of the hotel room that Miya, Jessie, and I were renting. They didn't know why they were there and I found myself nervous to speak. I was basically telling them that their lives could be in danger because of me.
"What's going on, Boss?" Motorcycle asked from where he was leaning against the back wall. Catherine, Daphne, Amy, Lana, Heath, and Delia stared at us expectantly. We could hear Cassidy, Butch, and Jessie playing quietly in the adjoining suite.
"Jessie and I were attacked last night," I revealed, "We're both fine, but it opened our eyes. The attackers were Team Rocket agents. They were either rogue or…" I trailed off, unsure of how to tell them the truth.
"Or?" Heath prompted.
"Or they were working for someone inside Team Rocket," Miya finished for me, "Someone who has something against Jack and I."
"That's awful," Lana said, "Any idea who?"
"Some," I managed to get out, "It's...it's no secret that my brothers…"
"Your brothers?" Heath asked in shock, "Why-"
"Inheritance," Motorcycle answered Heath, "So what's this mean?" he asked me.
"It means that someone is targeting us," I summarized, "and if they are, we know that they could come after you all as well. We want you to be on your guard. We want to warn you."
"Okay…" Motorcycle said slowly, "but what's the plan of attack here?"
"No attack," Miya said firmly, "We can't go off halfcocked...not when there are so many lives involved."
"Miya, what is your plan?" Catherine wondered softly, though from the look on her face, it would seem that she had already worked it out.
"We're making preparations to leave," Miya dropped the bomb. There was a lot of whispering. A lot of confusion. I stepped in.
"If my position at Team Rocket is going to harm people I care about, then I don't want any part of it," I told them all, "I want a life free of this corruption and chaos. You all should as well."
Amy piped up, her voice just above a whisper as she reminded us, "No one just leaves Team Rocket."
"If we plan it right, we can," I replied, "and we will plan it right and we will help anyone who wants out as well. We won't go into detail with our plans, but please know that whether you go or stay, you're our friends and we care about you. This isn't the end or an abandonment."
"It's a retreat," Daphne finished.
"It's a hope for a better life," I said.
"But why are you telling us?" Lana asked while Heath looked on in confusion, "Wouldn't you want to keep that on the down-low?"
0
"That is a very good point!" Jessie interjected.
"We wanted to give our friends all of the information," Jack explained.
"But why? Couldn't you have just said 'hey, watch your backs, my psycho brother is thinking of murdering you?" Jessie asked, "Why'd you have to reveal everything?"
"Because they were our friends," Jack explained, "I thought of all people you would understand that!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jessie asked, "How would I understand?"
"Uh, maybe because you've said time and again that you would do anything for your friends?" Jack hinted, "What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing!" Jessie snapped. Jack shot her a look that clearly said he thought otherwise.
0
"We're telling you so that you know and you can make the decision to follow our example if you choose," I explained, "and we owe it to you so you know that we didn't just disappear off the face of the earth. You're our friends and we want you to have all of the information. We trust you."
0
"How sweet," Jessie said like the words were sour on her lips.
"Even if I'm here, hopefully our warning was heeded. Hopefully they made it through," Jack said.
"And what about her?" Jessie demanded, "What about Miya?"
Pain flashed on Jack's face, "It was the way she wanted it. It wasn't her fault."
"You…you and her…never…" Jessie struggled to get out, anger making her speech unintelligible.
"What? What is it?" Jack demanded.
"Nothing," she snapped, turning away and crossing her arms over her chest.
But he saw her lower lip quiver, despite the fixed scowl on her lips. He knew his story had worked her into such a state; his poor decisions, but how could he have known then what he knew now? How could he have known that he was playing into a trap all those years ago?
Jack looked at Jessie and saw himself back then, when the betrayal was still fresh. She was hurt, genuinely hurt by his story, though it was before her time. Her hurt was the kind that belonged to a seriously wounded passenger of a car crash; the hurt that came from experiencing harm caused by the actions of others.
He frowned. Had his actions back then caused her pain? How? Unless…
It couldn't be.
It was a fleeting thought. Surely not. No.
And yet, there were parts of her story that were so entwined with his. There were familiar names: Butch, Cassidy, Silver, James. There were familiar places, Viridian City being one, Pallet being another, and then there was Viridian Peak, that small little town where Jack's life had come to a screaming halt and where Jessilina had lived as a child...
The realization hit him like a freight train.
The last time he had seen his daughter, she had been four-years-old and staying with Miya's sister in Viridian Peak. Jack had never spoke to the woman that Miya called 'Meeks'. He had seen her once, but that was it. At the same time, Jessilina, at four-years-old, had been placed with Miki, who slowly lost her mind as the years progressed. Miki, who kept repeating the same sounds around Jesslina: 'My...ah'.
Jack suddenly understood what his brain had been trying to connect when Jessie had told him about Miki. In her incapacitated state, Miki wasn't babbling two random sounds. She was repeating a name over and over: Miya.
Jack stood up suddenly, obviously surprising Jessie, for she asked, "Where's the fire?"
He ignored her and asked a question of his own, "Miki, your foster mother. What was her last name before she married?"
The question caught Jessie off guard and she stammered, "Uh...um…"
He moved so that he was directly in front of her. She had to look at him, though she tried her best not to.
"Lillis? Miki Lillis?" he breathed as he stared down at her. Jessie refused to answer. Instead, she glared past his kneecaps and into the bright orange fire.
Her silence was confirmation. Still, he had to know for sure.
"Your name isn't Jessilina."
At this, she looked up at him. He saw two things in that moment.
The first was that at this close range, her eyes were an exact mirror image of his at that moment. They were the same shape, colour, and held the same hardened emotion.
The second was Miya. Jessie's expression was a perfect echo of Miya's when she had told him that they wouldn't be pushed around by his brother. It was a defiant, challenging glare that radiated confidence.
"Jessica," her name, her true name fell from his lips. Instead of with relief or joy, his daughter's name was spoken as if it were a curse word.
TBC
AN: Don't worry, you won't be waiting long on this cliffhanger.