Chapter Thirty-Nine
Two days after Seven gave Bruno the video, she told him her story, everything she could remember of her confinement in Harmonia Labs, the surgical procedures and intelligence tests, all the escape attempts that became footnotes in the Professor's research, and the sweet taste of freedom she felt the instant before the jaws of the Professor's final trap snapped over her.
At the end, Seven told him about the times she pleaded with humans over internet forums, humans she spent years talking to, befriended, shared secrets and gossip, roleplayed with and discussed the finer points of anime. After each plea, all she received was silence. Some acted as though they never got the message, even after she sent more. Others blew it off as a joke, or called her crazy. As she became more persistent, her contacts erased their accounts and left. That was when Ghetsis introduced her to all the people she had interacted with, all interns copy-pasting from real forums and adding responses to her messages.
Bruno drank up every bitter word the way parched dirt drinks gasoline. While watching Peter drink coffee with the two Lucario, his expression went from pleading and tearful to sullen and cold. Palpable rage clung to the air around him. Every time Seven left Bruno's cell, her hands shook, and her mouth salivated at the memory of human flesh sliding over her tongue. It took seven packs of beef jerky to stop the drooling.
After that second day, she'd have given him over to Colson, had he not answered her first question, and more. He described the Temple, a colony of Lucario living halfway up a mountain with a handful of human and Pokémon companions. His police training started seven years ago when Peter came to the Temple. Everything he knew of the police system, from the patrol routes to their arsenal, and his own predictions for their next moves spilled out of him.
Seven spoke with him through the plasma barrier and recorded his answers. Admin Colson found no deceit, and Giovanni applauded her for her resounding success. As Bruno got a flushing toilet, foam mattress, silverware and a dining table, and internet access, Seven received organic jerky as tender as the eighty dollar steaks she had for dinner every evening.
On the fifth day, Giovanni summoned his Admins. They met in his office, behind locked doors, with a spread of fine slices of ham and cheese to sample, accompanied a bottle of fifty-year Pinot Noir.
Giovanni speared the first slice of ham on a tiny fork, chewed it methodically, and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. "I called you all here because the police and the Knights will make their move very soon." He gestured at the platter and empty wine goblets and said, "Please help yourselves. Consider this the appetizer to the meal we shall share after we crush them both with the same stone."
Seven wrapped a slice of ham around a chunk of manchego. The rich, nutty cheese made her shiver with delight as she reached for a second helping. Fisher poured himself a full goblet of wine, Celeste sampled wine and ham in equal measure, allowing one flavor to complement the other, and Colson ignored the spread and typed on a keyboard concealed beneath his shirt sleeves.
"The police and the Knights met yesterday," Giovanni said. "Though I could assume they wished to team up to remove us, I had no way of knowing if they reached any form of agreement. However, this happened today."
He set a newspaper on the desk. On it read the headline: New Release Function Added to Pokéballs to Thwart Rockets. "To summarize," Giovanni said, "A law got rammed down Parliament's throat to give pokéballs an escape option for Pokémon, the premise being any Pokémon held against its will can escape, and we would lose our means of controlling them." Giovanni snorted, crumpled up the newspaper, tossed it in a garbage bin, and sanitized his hands. "It's bullshit through and through, designed to hide a few truths behind this maneuver."
Admin Colson chimed in without looking up from his wrist. "The WK are a Pokémon activist group, and that law was one of their conditions."
"Precisely." Giovanni took a morsel of cheese and savored it, looking at each Admin in turn. "But there's more. The WK won't content themselves with this tiny change, not from the way the police are trying to cover up their involvement. This is a first step, and their endgame will not be popular."
Celeste sipped her wine. "Until they publicly announce their intentions," she said, "We can't use that against them. They may take advantage of our presence and police endorsement to push their platform, but they may also wait until the war's over."
"True," Giovanni said. "However, an elegant solution sits in this room."
Four sets of eyes turned towards Seven. With a nod, she asked, "What are your orders?"
"Infiltrate the WK," Giovanni said. "What you do after that, I leave to your discretion. You may assassinate their leaders, gather incriminating evidence, sabotage their intelligence networks, or assume the identity of a prominent figurehead and start a scandal. The priority is to demolish them as quickly as possible, understood?"
"Yes sir."
One slice of ham remained on the platter. She started towards it, but she stopped and withdrew her fork. With a thin smile, Giovanni gestured towards the ham, and Seven took it.
"I will give you four days to get your paperwork in order and transfer Bruno over to Celeste's care," Giovanni said. "After that, you will begin your mission. You may take any member of your team and any Pokémon in your possession, but in your place, I would take few of each. Too many Pokémon or humans will attract attention."
With a wave, he dismissed them all. Seven went to her room and sorted all the essential paperwork. She assigned personnel to defensive posts and recon, sorted the spoils of her latest missions, and informed Blacksmith that he would be taking over in her absence. Her steak dinner arrived as her stomach made its first rumbling complaints, and she ate with gusto. The bordelaise sauce that accompanied it dulled the meaty flavor, but after spending time with Bruno, she found its tangy, bitter flavor a welcome distraction.
She left her plate on a tray outside the door and went to a private-access elevator. It took her a quarter mile below the city, to an abandoned subway project repurposed by the Rockets. A sleek, magnetic railway connected Rocket bases like arteries, pumping people and supplies wherever they are needed.
Seven took a single car, about the size of a small bathroom, all the way to the detention center that held Bruno. She passed two guards on her way in. Both of them bowed, and one opened the door for her.
A long, narrow room, filled with computer monitors and recording equipment, had a one-way mirror with a view of the facility's holding cells. A handful of researchers monitored the facility's lone occupant, noting everything from eating habits to the noises he made. From one of the monitors, Thoth stared out at them and assisted in translations and behavioral computation.
"Hello sir," Thoth said when Seven entered the room. "No significant changes have been recorded since your last visit. The subject remains compliant."
A chill settled on Seven's heart like frost at the word, but she brushed it aside. "I will need you for another mission."
The screen flickered as Thoth processed her comment. "Like Stonebough?"
"Similar."
Electrons jumped as the Porygon moved through the screen. Its three-dimensional plasma form floated at eye level in front of Seven.
"I am at your service," it said. "May I inquire about the mission parameters so I can start risk assessment and optimal strategies?"
"Later," Seven said. "It's a confidential mission, and we cannot risk being overheard."
The Porygon followed Seven as she went to Bruno's cage. She stayed behind the plasma wall. Bruno was looking at his laptop with a glare that told her it he was watching the video again."
"Good evening," she said. "Did you enjoy your dinner?"
His eyes darted up. "It was excellent, thank you."
"Good. I came to let you know that I will be leaving in four days. I have an important mission, and during that time, I will leave you in the care of Admin Celeste. Treat her with the same courtesy you treat me."
Bruno's eyes blazed as he said, "Take me with you."
"Excuse me?"
He walked over to the plasma. His muzzle was a hair's width from having every electron stripped from its proteins. "I know how to handle myself in a fight, and I can sense aura. Whatever you're doing, I would be a huge help."
Seven shook her head and smiled. "You're a prisoner, and Giovanni wants you to stay that way. What's stopping you from escaping?"
"This collar," he said, tugging at the device around his neck. "If I betray you, just push the button and problem solved."
"You could steal the remote," Seven countered. "And the range on it is limited."
"Then make it so the device will go off if I get too far away from you, or something."
"You could still betray us at the cost of your life." She gestured at the computer. "You could tell him about this place, and the police would eventually find it and others."
Bruno picked up the laptop and flung it on the ground. The plastic casing broke into tiny fragments. Wires and silicon chips spilled out of it like guts, and Bruno smashed them all to dust with his feet.
"He left me here." Bruno's voice burned, and tears turned his eyes into shimmering orbs of fire. "He left me here and replaced me with two more Lucario." He chuckled and said, "What do I have left but to join up with you?"
Even with the plasma buffer in between them, Seven could feel the raw anger in his voice. The offer tempted her, doubly so since Giovanni would applaud her for turning their captive into a useful pawn, but she shook her head. "The risk is too great. I cannot allow you outside of that cage."
A shudder ran through the power grid. The lights flickered, the plasma leaked out of its magnetic casing, and Thoth gave an unearthly shriek as its delicate circuitry frayed apart like old rope. Then the world went dark. Thoth exploded in a shower of glittering white fragments that vanished into whatever they touched with a crackle of sparks. The barriers fell. Bruno's toxic rage warmed her like a radioactive furnace, and the suggestion of scalpels had the deathlike chill of a morgue. Hope swathed her like a blanket as she reached for the flashlight in her hair, but when she pushed its switch, nothing happened.
Sweats and fits of shivering reduced Seven to a shuddering heap on the floor. Her illusion fell apart as the first syringe dug its way into her veins. Moans escaped her lips, and she begged for the darkness to end.
A gentle blue light answered her prayers. She didn't notice the lessening darkness until her shadow stood out in the light. When she turned back, Bruno stood over her, holding a glowing sphere in one hand. His other reached for her.
Seven's hand approached his, but in the light, she saw her own hand, covered in black fur, naked of its human illusion. She forced the illusion back in place, pushed herself up with her hands, and stepped away from Bruno.
"I won't ignore you," he said. "I won't leave you in the dark like they did. I won't betray you, or hurt you, or do anything a human would. So please, let me help you."
His anger was gone. In its place was a perfume-like sensation of affection and tenderness, like the aroma of a rose garden, gentle and sweet.
After a moment, Seven said, "It looks like I just lost one of my Pokémon. I could use a replacement."
A figure appeared behind Bruno, hidden by his shadow. Seven grabbed for her gun, but in the next instant, the figure vanished, taking Bruno and the light with it.
She was seconds from breaking down again before a Grunt lit a flare.
Changelog
10/24/18 – minor edits