Drew stared at the vial in his hand, still not believing that he now had a straight shot at billions of dollars and the crystals of potassium chloride inside was the key.
He shuddered at the thought of killing someone, May especially. The fact that violence never crossed his mind months ago to injecting poison into someone he had proposed to was a big difference.
Even before, he had known that marriage was never going to work between the two of them. In his book, he felt that once his newly inherited business could go the possibilities it had, he could sit back and enjoy the playboy lifestyle. After all, he still had plenty of years for it, being only twenty-five.
His thoughts were interrupted by a protest by his secretary in the room just before his office.
"Sir, you can't go in there!"
A moment later, someone knocked rather loudly on the door.
"Drew Hayden! JETS Agents, open this door!"
Drew recognized the voice; Ash Ketchum.
They knew.
"Open the door right now Drew!" Ash repeated himself, "I'm not going to ask you again!"
Just beside his office was a separate door that opened into a passage that had a stairwell leading to the floor below for fire evacuation drills and he was already up, halfway to the exit when Ash had kicked down the main entrance with a deafening bang that made his terrified secretary scream.
"Drew!" Ash contemplated taking a shot in case his prey got away, but he only had a half second for a decision before May's ex disappeared from sight.
Drew's breathing was erratic as he descended the steps in a hurry, not daring to look as Ash could be right on his heels.
With purpose, he threw the hatch open and widened his eyes.
"Going somewhere?" Brendan Decker was just casually waiting outside the exit, gun in hand.
"Well obviously he's exercising his right to remain silent," Brendan said as he and Ash prowled above a cuffed Drew in the JETS' interrogation room. Their captive had laid his head down, only looking up to glare at them.
"Drew," Ash bent down to look at him on eye level, "We found the vial of potassium chloride on your desk and the fact that you never answered us and tried to flee tells me you don't have a valid answer for yourself." He stood back up, "Still, why? "
"How?" Drew was still in disbelief, but the single word came out of his mouth from a musing.
"Because your friend Harley talked and linked you with the payment he received to endanger Ash and May here. All we had to do was trace it back!"
Drew was silent before he began to snicker, "Maple was living in the old ages. He never wanted to expand beyond his current position! I could have done that! I could have made billions of dollars and expanded Hoenn's economy if I just had the helm!" He looked at the two men, who listened with unimpressed faces with anger in his eyes, "Go ahead! Put me in prison! I'm not afraid of either of you."
"Okay," Ash pulled out his phone and held it to his ear, "Yeah, he's here. Come on in."
His smug expression wavered ever so slightly when the Lieutenant hung up, "Who was that?"
"Someone you ARE afraid of,"
A moment later, the entrance buzzed and opened up. Norman Maple walked in. Drew swallowed nervously, trying in desperation to talk his way out of this.
"You're on the hot seat Hayden," He easily countered what his former protégé was going to attempt, "So I'd be very careful in what you're going to say."
Drew glanced up at Ash and Brendan, but both remained with stony expressions, crossed arms and silence as Norman stood between them.
"I want to know right now," It came out more forcefully and sternly, but Ash could tell that he was trying his best to stay calm, "Why did you want May dead?"
Drew was silent.
"Well I'll tell you why. In fact, I'll enlighten these two on your motive because it's crystal clear to me."
He pulled out a piece of paper and set it on Drew's lap, lightly tapping it with a finger, "This is your contract that you signed when both you and May were set to be engaged. If I ever were to die, control would go to May and Max, but you would gain control of the company if I were unfit to run it. He knew he couldn't kill me, but he knew how much my daughter meant to me and if she were to die, I would be lost and Maple Software would be his." He looked at Ash, "How will he do in prison?"
"A pretty boy like him will be a favorite," He moved forward to take him away.
"You're still ten years behind old man," Drew gave a wicked smile and laughed to himself, "And you never could find the answer because it was me. Standing right in front of your blind eyes!"
"Wait!" Norman was more than happy at this for him to take the asshole out of his sight but he still had one more surprise. "Before you do take him away, I have something that will definitely wipe the smirk off his face." He stood up, "As a family, I had enough money to live our lives now six times over. I decided that at the end of this year, I was going to retire, step back and appoint you as my successor with full reign over the company. It would have been yours to run in whatever way you wanted."
This time, the smirk disappeared right off Drew's face for good.
Ash and Brendan watched as Norman stood up, before unexpectedly balling his left hand into a fist and swing it with quite a considerable amount of power behind the haymaker. Drew was hit right in the jaw and a split second later, crimson blood began to trickle out of his mouth.
"Alright we're good," Norman massaged his fist before looking at Ash, "Make sure he suffers in that prison."
Ash gestured to Brendan, who cuffed Drew behind his back and walked him out, "Alright. Let's go fucktard."
The tortured look on his face as he passed ashamedly between the two of them was pure gold. The slug, would have lasted just a few hours, but what Norman revealed right before it was just absolute perfection. From all his years on witnessing epic revenge plots, this one by far, took the cake.
May gasped as Ash opened the front door and rushed to greet him. Her arms were flung around his back and she buried her face in his chest.
"Ash," She whispered before he gently thumbed her face up, bringing it in for a sweet, tender kiss. Their eyes closed and he softly breathed out, still in the embrace.
"It's over," He said, "We got him."
"Drew?"
"He wanted Maple Software and if you were dead, Norman was going to be heartbroken and give him control by default."
"Arceus," She breathed.
"Hey," He gently kissed her again, "You don't have to think about him anymore, he and Harley are not likely to see the outside of a prison for the rest of their lives."
"How?" Tears formed in her eyes, "How could he think of doing something like that? I trusted him to be a friend."
"Greed. Simple greed. What he used to gain you and your father's trust was a façade."
"No use thinking about them anymore." May giggled, "I have a wedding to plan and you have vows to write up."
"What would I say for that?"
"Whatever you want. I'll know it came from your heart,"
"Okay," Ash gave a lopsided grin, "I love you." He waved his hand up, "Easy enough?"
"That wasn't so bad. Was it?" The lips met once more to give her the answer.
"I sat there wondering," Ash paused in mid-speech, trying to find the words to fit his sentence, "If you said no, how I was going to make my exit?"
The crowd at the wedding chuckled. The weather was perfect, warm with a slight breeze just behind Ash's house. Flowers lined the center and the makeshift podium was to the side with a backdrop lined with colorful flowers. The flower girl, Aster was more than excited to toss them all along the path.
Everyone was dressed casually, except May in a silky white dress that elegantly accented her curvy body and Ash in his Federation service uniform with many rows of polished medals.
"But the important thing is, I love you." Ash smiled again, "There's no other way to put it and it's not something I say often, well except to you of course." This got another chuckle. "That's my vow. I love you May Ketchum…wow, that actually sounds really good."
Everyone applauded as the ceremony concluded. The photographer made extra sure to capture the fullness when Ash was told to kiss the bride. Instead of leaning in, he wrapped his arms around May in a hug, lifting her above him before placing his lips upon hers. She was surprised at first, but her eyes slid shut as the two enjoyed their first moments as a married couple.
The reception was held right after the wedding and everyone pitched in to set up tables and assist the catering crew. Ash and May made their rounds, thanking everyone for coming and receiving congratulations as well as marriage advice from many of the guests. Music was playing at the beachhead as some of the guests were congregating to the dance floor to bust out some fancy moves.
"Congratulations Lieutenant Ketchum. She's all yours." Norman stood opposite him with an outstretched hand. He had kept glancing over to Caroline, who was eager to invite him back onto the floor with her.
"Thank you," Ash shook it, "I will take good care of her."
"I do have to admit I used your Commando training to try and defer her from you. You know, about the execution."
"It's no big deal," Ash waved it off before leaning closer, "Just between you and me, the gun we used fires blanks, but it's another big test on how far Commandos were willing to go to complete their mission. Of course, we didn't know that at the time. You have my word I will do all in my power and skill to protect May from anything,"
"Fair enough," He actually smiled, "Then I hope to one day start babysitting little Commandos in the future."
Ash thanked him again and he went over to join Caroline.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Dawn squealed, still in her maid of honor dress as she flung her arms around Ash in a tight hug, "I think you just made May's best day of her entire life!"
"Thank you Dawn," He said, "You're her best friend and I don't think anyone else would have made a better maid." He glanced down seeing May's bouquet in her hands, "You catch that?"
"Yeah I did." She suspiciously looked around, "Maybe he's here already?"
"Maybe." Ash remembered flinging the garter right afterwards, which was caught by a very enthusiastic Max, much to the crowd's disbelief.
As he continued to move through the tables and talk to his guests, Ash felt his phone ring.
"Lieutenant Ash S. Ketchum?" The other person spoke before he could even muster a hello.
"Yes sir?" He put on his attentive tone, realizing that this call was not for casual purposes. This was the Federation Military on full formalities.
"Contingency Black Storm has been declared. I repeat, Contingency Black Storm is active, effective immediately. Federation Defense condition has been raised to imminent threat."
So that's the end of the story everyone! Finally closing the cover on this epic drama adventure with (almost) all loose ends tied up! At the end it does imply that there is more story to tell. And there definitely is, a sequel is on the way! No title yet, so it might just be Advanced Commando 2.
I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorite and/or followed this story. You all give my writing purpose.