AN- Strap in, we're getting into it now!
Life has been busier than I'd hoped, but I'll aim to keep to a semi-regular schedule of posting chapters (I'm gonna say monthly for now, especially with these longer chapters).
Enjoy!
Songs that inspired this chapter:
- They Stay Down Deep, by Giselle
- Go Getter, by The Accidentals
- Violet Threaded, by Maps & Atlases
- Bravado, by Lorde
- Shadow On The Sea, by CHAMPS
- merci, by Stromae
- 214, by El Huervo + Baiyon
- I Still Remember, by BIM
- The Way, by Rabid Young
- I Don't Remember It Starting, by Geographer
- Blue Obsession, by Geographer + CLARA-NOVA
- rescue the embassy, by Lupus Nocte
Dawn was just flushing the sky pink when Cassidy reached the port. Before the sun had risen, she'd already walked a few miles to get here, even stopping to catch a sleeping beedrill on the way. As such, she was a little out of breath, and took a quick water break on the last hilltop before the sea.
The air was cool and calm. Bright sprigs of wildflowers shaped like little stars were scattered all over the cliffside. From here she could smell the ocean, watch its jagged waves wobble under the day's first threads of light.
Everything she owned was on her back- the rest of her belongings she'd leave in Kanto. She mainly carried essentials: a week's food rations; her water canister; forged documents that would get her into any region. A silenced pistol with a full chamber; a military-grade pocket knife. Emergency medical supplies; a few revives and hyper potions. Her pokémon: Raticate, Houndoom, Sableye- and Shuckle, which was the only of Butch's pokémon she'd managed to find after his death.
She didn't intend on using the pokémon to fight unless she absolutely had to, but had caught that beedrill as a kind of insurance, just in case she needed more power on her side. Maybe she'd catch something else on the way, if she had time.
She took a last swig of water, her eyes set on the docks.
The rocky path twisted down the hill and joined with the wooden walkway fixed over the water. Boats of all sizes were moored around, bobbing gently with the tide. To the left was a shack surrounded with buckets full of damp nets, a decorative string of buoys hooked to the wall. The hand-painted sign above the door read 'Taro's Boats 'n' More'.
Cassidy got closer, and saw that the card on the window was flipped to 'Open', so she pushed the handle and stepped in.
"Oh!" someone exclaimed immediately, making her jump a bit. A man somewhere in his late fifties popped up from behind the counter. He was smiling, dressed in a waterproof vest and khaki shorts, his black hair flattened under a fishing hat. "Don't usually get customers in this early," he explained. "I just opened- what can I do ya for?"
Cassidy looked around at the shelves crammed with spools of fishing lines and boxes of bait. A rack of wetsuits hung in the corner, next to a big tank that caught her eye. There was an impressively large kingler inside, its claws tied with elastic bands.
"Caught fresh- that's a prize one, that," Taro said.
"I'm looking to rent a boat. Something automatic that can drive through deep water."
"Ah, I see- well there's a few options, depending on how fancy you want it- I have a very handsome little yacht out back-"
"Nothing that fancy," Cassidy said. "Do you have any speedboats?"
"I do- two regular, one electric."
"What's the difference?"
"Well, the electric's more energy-efficient, it's got a quieter engine- and it's much more expensive, to be honest," Taro replied. "But it's a real beaut on the water."
Cassidy hummed pensively, noticing the rental price list on a chalkboard. She normally straight up stole anything that expensive, but in this case it would save a lot of time and effort to just pay for it.
"Tell you what- rent now, and I'll chuck in that kingler on the house," Taro tempted. "How does that sound?"
Cassidy smiled. "Deal."
She used the name Darla again to sign the insurance papers. She still had the driving licence, and figured she might as well get one last use out of it.
Taro handed her the kingler's pokéball, along with a key on a lanyard. He seemed happy that she'd paid with a big wad of cash, clueless to the fact that she had no intention of returning his boat. He definitely would realise, sooner or later, but it didn't matter. She'd be gone by then.
She should probably have felt at least a little guilty, but she'd screwed over so many people that it was hard to care anymore.
"The weather's looking a little choppy out deep," Taro warned her as she stepped into the boat, slinging down her backpack. "And watch yourself around the shallows too, it's easy to scrape the rocks in a boat like that."
"Sure." Cassidy made a show of unmooring and putting on the life-jacket. She hoped it'd make him go away, which it did.
"Happy sailing!" Taro called as he walked off back down the pier.
Cassidy shuffled to the front of the boat, put the key in the ignition, and then paused. She was staring at the sunlight dancing on the sea. One last moment of stillness.
She had no idea who she'd find out there, or where she'd end up afterwards. She wasn't even sure she'd survive.
But her rage swallowed all uncertainty.
She turned the key, and drove out into the ocean, picking up speed as the shore shrank behind her.
She'd do right by Butch if it killed her.
Pick-up point 4a was a field precisely in the middle of nowhere, and Ravi had been waiting there for hours, muddying their boots with restless pacing. Their frustration only got worse the more the time passed- and they really lost their cool when sunrise came. So much for the cover of darkness.
"What the fuck's taking so long?" Ravi groaned. "Our mark's on the move and we're just fucking sitting here like a bunch of plonkers!"
Curly looked up nervously from his spot on the grass, sat on his coat playing digital solitaire. "It can't be much longer now," he soothed, unconfident.
Ravi scoffed. "You said that an hour ago."
They couldn't stop thinking about what Matori had said, how much this mission could mean for their career, their status. And damned if they lost that chance just because the air squad was delayed…
"UGH!" Ravi growled into the sky, unable to keep it in. "Come on you pricks, where are you?!"
Curly froze. "Do you hear that?"
Ravi unclenched their teeth and listened. Years of being around gunfire (usually without the luxury of ear defenders) meant their hearing wasn't as sharp as some people's- but they did hear it, a few seconds later.
The distinctive whoosh of a stealth plane. Three planes, they realised as the aircraft broke through the clouds, spookily quiet.
"Seems like you summoned them," Curly quipped weakly as the air kicked up around them, rippling the dewy grass.
Ravi took a big breath. They bounced on their feet and shook out their hands, eyes closed, wiping away all worry the way they'd been trained.
Calm.
Eyes open, they beckoned Curly and marched to their truck as the planes landed across the field.
Alp and Beckerson were napping inside the vehicle, Alp in the passenger seat and Beckerson curled up in the back. Apparently the noise from the engines wasn't enough to wake them, so Ravi gave a sharp knock at the window to startle them out of sleep. Alp looked around at the landing planes, befuddled, and rolled down the window.
"Alp, with me," Ravi ordered. "Curly, you drive Beckerson back to HQ, she needs treatment."
Beckerson pouted.
"Aye aye Commander," saluted Curly, evidently very relieved to avoid more violence.
Alp was just as eager to go towards violence, the kind to really relish a good fight. "Bye Beckerson," he waved as he climbed out of the truck. "I hope your leg gets okay."
Beckerson looked a little worried, but then smiled. "You go get her, yeah? Take it home for Team ABCR!"
Ravi had no idea what she was talking about, but put it down to the blood loss. "See you later," they said.
They turned towards the planes. Chrome black, and shaped like arrowheads.
To Matori's credit, she really had sent the best.
Ravi felt a flutter of excitement in their chest. Team Rocket was taking this seriously- taking them seriously.
They approached the middle plane with Alp at their side. A hatch at the side of the aircraft slid open, and a set of stairs came down for them to come aboard.
An agent in full-body armour saluted Ravi at their entrance. "Squad is ready for takeoff at your order, Commander Ravi."
"Then let's go," Ravi said. "And tell the pilots to step on it, we can't waste any time."
The hatch closed, and Ravi and Alp buckled into their seats towards the front of the plane. Not as plush inside as Ravi had been expecting, but at least they had a hell of a view out of the window. As the plane rose they could see way out across the city, to the layers and layers of buildings beyond the wilderness.
Ravi took a breath as they broke the cloud line.
They'd been waiting their whole life to prove how much they were capable of, and this felt like the crux of it all. Every tedious test, every brutal mission had brought them here. And if this went right, if they brought down Carter's killer… Ravi could practically smell the promotion.
Maybe they'd even get a seat on The Council. From Ravi's position of commander, there wasn't much further up the ranks to climb.
A whoosh of the engines powering up, and the plane zipped forwards, cutting clean like a knife through the sky.
Ravi wasn't sure if it was nerves or excitement tingling across their skin.
They just hoped they caught up in time.
Cassidy was half-drenched from sea spray by the time she reached the Orange Islands. Taro had been right about the sea being choppy- the wind had picked up considerably, and the boat actually caught some air driving over the bigger waves. Cassidy wasn't fazed by the bumpy ride, and only took her foot off the accelerator when she was checking her compass to adjust course. She kept to the dark, deep waters, away from the populated islands.
A thin fog rolled in as another distant lighthouse came and went from view.
She was getting closer.
Miles of nothing but the ocean around her. She'd never really been scared of the vastness of the sea, but the idea of a wild gyarados wrecking her day was undeniably nerve wracking.
She was just about to check the map again when the island emerged gradually out of the fog, a blurry silhouette of trees. Cassidy slowed down as soon as she saw it, not wanting to be heard as she approached. She kept a moderate speed, the engine drowned out by the hiss of the waves.
The gold of the island's beach came into clarity, and she was hit with a sudden barrage of anxiety.
What if no one was even there? She had no idea what she'd do if this ended up being a dead end.
Keep looking, she supposed. Yeah. She'd just have to keep looking-
A horrible scraping sound vibrated through the floor of the boat, startling her back to her surroundings. She'd been aiming for somewhere shallow enough to drop anchor, but hadn't realised how shallow it already was- she hit the brakes and tried to reverse, but the boat was half-stuck on the rocks below, and only went back a little before the next wave turned it parallel to the coastline.
Cassidy realised the boat was in danger of being capsized at this angle, and slammed accelerate again- the same scraping sound underfoot as the engine struggled to take the boat painfully forwards, Cassidy wrenching the wheel left, back out to sea-
She gave up every effort to get the boat unstuck when she saw the size of the next wave, a wall of water unfurling fast towards her.
There wasn't time.
Cassidy bailed, springing as far as she could from the side of of the boat into what she hoped was deeper water-
She crashed under the surface just before the wave broke above.
Her body could barely brace before the tide pulled her along with it, swept up in a cloud of murky bubbles. Seaweed tickled her skin as she tumbled- there wasn't much to do but ride it out, and try not to swallow any saltwater.
The current lost momentum, dragging back in for the next building wave, and Cassidy kicked her way back to the surface, taking a big breath of air whilst she still could. The speedboat was a wreck, practically upside-down on the rocks- she was trying to swim away from those shallows, though her boots weren't really made for the water, and her muscles were no match for the strength of the tide. When the next wave came, she ducked back under; it lessened the blow to be underwater when a wave was hitting, Viper had taught them that.
She was still dragged along. She was blind in the cloud of swirling weeds and churned up sand, and didn't get a chance to brace for the knock on her head as her skull clipped a rock.
She broke the surface again, gasping as she swam furiously towards the shore. She didn't think she'd hit her head too bad- the impact had been intense, but it didn't really hurt.
Land was almost there, and the next wave broke behind instead of over her, which propelled her closer towards the shoreline. Her boots touched down on the ever-shifting bed of sand, and she began to wade, shivering with a freezing cold that her body was only just registering- nearly there, nearly there-
Oh. There was the pain in her head. She touched a hand to her temple; her fingers came back dripping red.
Okay, worse than she'd thought- but still she hauled herself onto the beach, one heavy, water-sodden leg in front of the other, the sun glaring through a patch of empty sky- hot, cold-
A safe distance from the waves, Cassidy fell to her knees on the damp sand and started unclipping the straps on her backpack. She just needed a moment to patch herself up. It would have helped if everything wasn't swaying, like she was in a tropical snowglobe that hadn't quite settled from being shaken.
Her numb hands were fumbling to get the bag's zip open when her eye caught something across the beach.
A kid, and an oranguru. Staring at her.
Cassidy forced herself to stand. The shaking was getting worse, but she had to move, had to, had to-
The palm trees were wobbling, and so was she. Her eyelids fluttered as her body tipped; falling, one last shock of sun, then-
Cassidy opened her eyes.
The kid's face peered over her, fascinated- a girl, probably around six, wearing short green dungarees and beaded locs down to her shoulders.
As Cassidy strained to raise her head, which felt like stone, she saw the arm of the oranguru pull the child back, away from her.
"She's awake, she's awake!" the girl squealed, her voice fading with the ape's heavy footsteps. "Mum? Dad? Are they here, Ruru?"
Cassidy heard a door shut and lock, and only then did it occur to her that she was indoors. There was wood panelling where the sky had been. She was lying on some kind of futon, flat on her back-
Her backpack was gone.
The realisation gave her a burst of energy, which she used to sit up. Her head still hurt, but her vision was steadier now.
She was in some kind of beach hut. She could see a scrap of sea and sky through the room's single port window- too small to escape through. Checking her pockets, she found her pokémon had been taken too.
Not ideal.
She put her hand back to her head to check the injury, and to her surprise felt the soft padding of a bandage.
But there wasn't time to muse on it before she heard more footsteps. Murmuring voices- lower, adult.
Getting closer.
Cassidy stood up, bracing herself.
The door unlocked, and in walked a woman with pale skin and cropped hazel hair. She was a little shorter than Cassidy, dressed in casual clothes, barefoot. She held a cup of orange juice.
Cassidy estimated she could take her in a hand-to-hand fight, but there was a confidence behind the woman's smile that hinted she might well be fiercer than she looked.
"Here," the woman said, holding out the cup towards Cassidy. "It looks like you took a nasty hit to the head there- take it easy, I would."
Cassidy took the orange juice suspiciously.
Maybe she could break the cup into something sharp enough to be a weapon.
She took a pretend sip, deciding to play innocent until she could size up the situation.
"Where are my pokémon?" she asked. "Are they all right?"
"They're fine," the woman said. "But that's not all you had in your bag, is it?"
Cassidy was silent.
"I'll ask you plain- what are you doing here with a gun?"
"It's for self-defence," Cassidy replied. It was her stock answer for that question. "I'm an explorer- it can get pretty dangerous, travelling alone."
"Uh-huh." The woman didn't sound convinced. "Do most explorers need silencers on their guns? I wouldn't have guessed that."
"The guy at the gun shop sold me on it," lied Cassidy. "You're right though, I could probably do without."
The little girl's voice rang through from the other room: "Can she stay here dad? For a bit, for a bit?"
"We don't know who it is, remember?" a man's voice spoke back. "Now you go on outside and play, yeah sport?"
"Okayyyy."
A door banged shut. Cassidy faked another sip of orange juice, and then the man walked into the room, shutting the door behind him.
He was about the same size as his partner. He had shaved black hair and dark skin, his arms decorated with numerous colourful bracelets that his kid had probably made. Stark contrast was his don't-mess-with-me expression, the same one the woman wore.
The way the couple were standing, their combat-ready posture- Cassidy was almost positive they were ex-Rockets. It was something she could read easily in other people, because her instincts were exactly the same.
She wondered if she'd done it. If she was actually in a room with the person who'd had Giovanni killed, who'd started the domino effect that had led to Butch's death.
Unarmed or not, she still had a chance.
As if reading that very thought, the woman took the silenced gun out of her back pocket. She aimed it passively at the floor and raised her eyebrows at Cassidy.
Cassidy didn't move. She'd have to wait for the right moment.
"What's your name?" asked the woman.
"Darla Kuroki."
"That's what your I.D says," the man agreed. "It's a very good counterfeit, if I do say so myself."
Cassidy clucked her tongue. "Beg your pardon?"
"I happen to know a certain amount about forging documents."
"Then we're all in the same club, aren't we?" Cassidy deflected. She feigned fear- not difficult, given her situation. "Come on, please just let me go- in case you couldn't tell, I've had a really shit morning."
The woman stared intently at her the whole time, like she was just waiting for Cassidy to show her true colours. "So are you an explorer or an outlaw?"
Now Cassidy really had to lie on her feet. She realised she couldn't pretend to be totally innocent if she was to have any chance of being believed. "An explorer," she maintained. "Yeah, fine, I was mixed up in some bad stuff before- but I'm trying to put that behind me."
"What were you hoping to find here?" the man asked.
"Well, some priceless relic, ideally, but mainly I was just looking for fossils-"
"Fossils?" the woman repeated. "What kind?"
"Helix," Cassidy shot back.
She could tell she couldn't keep this up forever. The couple's method of questioning was relentless, not leaving Cassidy any gaps to think- which only made her more sure that these two had been trained by Team Rocket.
"There aren't any tools for excavating fossils in your bag," the man remarked.
"I lost my kit when the boat crashed," countered Cassidy.
"What tools did you have in the kit?" the woman asked.
"I don't know what they're called, it's not like I've been to some fancy fossil school-"
"Describe the tools, then."
"Okay," Cassidy scoffed, hamming up the offended act. "Can you take it easy? Because from where I'm standing, you're the ones who've locked me in a room and are threatening me with my own personal weapon-"
"This weapon," the woman said, glancing down at the gun in her hand, "cannot be bought legally. And from where we are standing, you look very much like an assassin."
Cassidy smiled quizzically, her heart beginning to beat so hard she could feel it in her ears. "Why would you think that? Does someone want to kill you?"
"Don't play with us!" the woman barked. She raised the gun. "Don't you dare."
The man took a half-step forward. "Careful," he advised, eyes fixed sideways on his partner. "I know it seems unlikely, but if she is telling the truth-"
"She's not." The woman kept the gun steady. "I can tell."
Fingers tightening around the cup, Cassidy braced herself to make a move-
A creak as the hut's outer door slammed back open, followed by the patter of footsteps running towards them.
Cassidy relaxed, just a little. She raised her eyebrow at the woman. "You don't really want to kill me with the kid right there, do you?"
"Quiet," the man hissed.
A pair of tiny hands slammed the locked door.
"Let me in, I want to talk too!" the girl's voice demanded from the other side.
"Just a second, sport!" the man called back, in a friendly tone far removed from the one he'd been giving Cassidy. He looked to the woman, asking something wordlessly; she nodded, and he unlocked the door.
"Stay there," the woman mouthed at Cassidy, jutting the gun forwards to punctuate her point.
Maybe she would kill her in front of the kid, but… Cassidy sort of wanted to call her bluff.
Carefully, the man opened the door just wide enough so he could slip through, blocking the child from the scene.
"I want to play all together!" the girl lamented. "You have to help me build."
"Wow, what are you building?" gasped the man.
"Issuh surprise."
"I'll be just a minute, I promise- why don't you go out and build a bit more, and then I'll come and see, yeah?"
"Can the lady come? I found her!"
The man sighed. "And you did a very good job, but now mum and dad need to speak to her, okay?"
Through the conversation, Cassidy was watching the woman's face. She was clearly trying to keep her expression tough, but couldn't stop it from turning slowly into a grimace at the sound of her child's requests, and her partner's struggling answers. Her eyes on Cassidy but her mind focused behind her.
It was the moment Cassidy had been waiting for. "Please don't kill me!" she shouted, letting the words all go in one breath.
The woman's eyes widened in furious shock. She stepped closer and rose the gun to point straight at Cassidy's face- Cassidy flinched, but nothing happened. The woman's glare melted into concern as the kid started to cry:
"Dad, what's happening?!"
Cassidy threw the orange juice.
The woman didn't have time to move before the juice hit her in the face. "Attack!" she shouted out, hurrying to wipe her wincing eyes- but Cassidy was already there, grabbing her gun-wielding arm and twisting it upwards.
A beam of sunlight shot into the room as a muffled bullet punctured a hole in the wall.
"Dad?!"
"Get to the bunker!" the man yelled. "Take her, Ruru!"
"Mum!"
The woman gave up trying to get her arm free and kicked backwards, her heel driving sharp into Cassidy's gut; Cassidy staggered back but didn't let go, and wrenched the woman's arm even harder, making her shout in pain just as the man rushed back into the room.
"Drop the gun," panted Cassidy, "or I'll break-"
But the man charged at her before she could even finish her threat.
While Cassidy was distracted bracing, the woman's free fist swung round and slugged her on the nose- a second later the man was grappling with her, struggling to break the hold she had on his partner.
For having just been punched in the face, Cassidy put up an impressive fight- but when the woman kicked her stomach again she couldn't help but loosen her grip for a moment. It was enough for the woman to twist free, and the man to shove Cassidy backwards.
Already unbalanced from being kicked, she landed hard on her back.
As soon as she caught a breath she was getting ready to spring up again-
"Stay down!" the woman shouted, and this time when Cassidy looked at the gun aimed at her, a chill of pure fear made her obey.
The hollow black circle of the pistol's barrel was suddenly death staring back at her. Something primal took over, shutting down her thoughts of fighting back and instead prompting her to wonder if these were her very last moments.
Her sense of time melted. Every second felt tremendous.
She saw the man sigh, and nod at the woman.
"You're going to kill me," Cassidy summarised.
Her fear was fast becoming rage- for the years Butch never got to live- for her own waning life. For this stupid ending.
Angry tears spilled over her unwavering eyes. "Then admit it first," she tremored. "Admit that you put the hit on Giovanni."
"So you are working for Team Rocket!" the man accused.
"No," Cassidy spat. "But I used to- same as you, right?" Venom in her eyes.
The woman blinked. She almost looked sad. "You didn't have to come here."
Logan stared down at the little red stripe, still not quite believing it. She had every reason to believe it- that marked the third pregnancy test she'd taken, and she was three for three.
"Damn," she laughed softly to herself, both happy and horrified.
She dropped the test into the stall's bin, flushed the toilet even though she hadn't gone, and looked into her reflection's eyes as she absently washed her hands.
What the fuck was she going to tell Harvey?
Deciding she'd worry about that later, Logan wiped her hands on her uniform, and tried to look relaxed as she walked back into the hallway.
She nodded to the agents she recognised on her way to her office. There were still some finishing touches she needed to put on the passports she was making for that odd squad of agents.
But when she reached the door of the printing room, she glimpsed security officers rummaging around inside- and kept walking, not wanting them nor the CCTV to catch her looking interested. After that it was doubly hard to keep her cool, but she just about managed it all the way back to her dormitory.
It was the one room in the whole HQ where she felt safe. She knew it wasn't bugged; she'd pulled the place apart herself to make sure, and she'd written the book on hiding tiny microphones.
Harvey was sitting cross-legged on the floor, shuffling through some papers.
"Oh, you're back," he remarked. "I was just checking which route would be best- and with the money from those guys and the talking meowth, we should be able to buy our own boat. I don't know what kind yet, but I've narrowed it down to these three-"
"Harvey," Logan interrupted, snapping him out of his ramble. "The office is being raided."
"What?" Harvey stood up.
"Yeah, I saw officers searching in there- we need to leave, before it gets messy."
"Oh… and we were so careful to cover our tracks…" Harvey frowned, clearly stunned. "Are you sure it's about us? It is a shared office, they could be investigating something else."
Logan sighed. "Well maybe, yeah- but we can't take the chance."
"What about the money? We still need to finish the passports for those agents-"
"Forget them- we have our passports," Logan argued. "And we have the island- forget the boat too, we can fly there, and everything else we'll figure out." She scratched her head nervously. "Just please, we've got to go right now. It's already been a risk staying as long as we have and I'm just positive it's about to catch up to us."
Harvey took a deep breath. "Okay," he agreed, his face saying anything but. "I'll grab our bags- do we leave through the window?"
"No- we should leave through reception," Logan said. "It'll attract less attention."
They shrugged on their pre-packed bags, and left the dorm. They took the escalator down to reception, both their bodies aflutter with nerves. Logan's palms were cold with sweat. But she put all her acting skills to keeping her body language relaxed, because she knew her life probably depended on it.
They approached reception, Logan leading. The receptionist looked burnt-out, dark rings under her eyes.
"Purpose of departure?" she asked them.
"Supply run," Logan responded- she had her explanation canned and ready to go. "You know, whoever's in charge of stocking never restocks the gold foil," she went on, a genuine complaint. It always helped a lie to sprinkle some truth in it. "And how are we meant to supply agents with convincing passports without gold foil?"
"Right," the receptionist muttered with total disinterest. "I'll put that in the suggestions box." She pushed a clipboard across the desk. "Sign there."
Logan scribbled her signature then passed the pen to Harvey, who did his usual shapeless squiggle.
"Okay," said the receptionist.
Still sort of expecting something to go suddenly wrong, Logan pushed open the front door, and led the way outside.
She couldn't say she was sorry to bid this place goodbye, but it still felt weird to be leaving.
They walked deep into the forest before they said a word.
"I don't hear anyone behind us," Harvey murmured, glancing back. "Do you think we're clear?"
"We won't be clear until we're out of Unova," Logan replied, "but yeah, I think we're basically okay for now."
"Should we get the bus to the airport then? Catch the next flight to the Orange Islands?"
"Sounds like a plan."
They walked in silence for a while, watching the pidoves flutter between the trees. Harvey eventually peered sideways at Logan.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "You seem… distracted."
"Well yeah, we're on the run! What do you expect?"
"No, I mean- you've been like this the last few days," Harvey pressed. He nudged his elbow into hers. "Come on Lo, I can tell something's been bothering you."
"Uggghhh," groaned Logan, slowing to a stop. "I wasn't going to tell you yet."
"Okay, now you're scaring me-"
"I'm pregnant," Logan said. "I took a few tests, and… Yeah."
Harvey gawked at her. "But we used-"
"I know," sighed Logan, and cracked a smile. "I guess ninety-nine percent effective means one percent not effective at all, huh?" She resumed walking. "I'm not trying to freak you out or anything, but I think I want to keep it." She didn't want to look him in the eye, because she wasn't sure how he'd take it. "I know the timing's awful, but…"
"We're going to have a kid?" Harvey asked, amazed.
"See, this is why I was gonna wait to tell you- trust me, I know it's a lot. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to stick around and play dad, you can peace out once we're settled-"
"Logan," Harvey interrupted, taking her hand. She was still guarded, but looked at him. "Never," he swore. "I'm with you."
Warm relief dissolved her worry. "Okay," she grinned. Harvey smiled back, and from the sparkle in his eyes, she actually believed that he wanted the same future she did.
"Oh, is your pack too heavy?" he suddenly asked. "Do you want me to take anything?"
"Please- don't you start looking at me like I'm made of glass now," Logan protested. "I've been pregnant this whole damn time."
Harvey held his hands up apologetically. "Right, no, sorry." He took a breath. "I just hope this is safe for you-"
"It's not safe at all!" Logan cackled. "No part of anything we've done this year has been safe!" She paused, lowering her voice like the trees might be listening. "But no matter what happens to us, I'll never regret putting that bastard in the ground."
Harvey shook his head. "No," he agreed. "Me neither."
"Tell me!" Cassidy's voice was raw in her throat, breaking apart. "Did you order the hit?!"
A grimace came over Logan's face. "You know we did," she said.
Cassidy felt like she'd had the air knocked out of her. That handful of words was everything.
She swallowed, trying not to scream. "And were you working for Carter?"
Logan scoffed. "We never would have taken orders from him."
"Then why? Why did you do it?!"
"Do you know what kind of things Giovanni did when he was in power?" Logan asked. "The agents he killed?"
"You didn't stop that by killing him!" Cassidy yelled, the tears in her eyes spilling over. "So many people died fighting Carter! You have no idea!"
Logan breathed out. "I'm sorry," she said. "We came here so we'd never have to hurt anyone again." She readjusted her grip on the gun. "But you've made that impossible."
Cassidy braced-
zzzZZIP
The oranguru materialised in the middle of the room, holding the girl protectively to its chest.
Teleport.
"What are you doing?" Harvey asked the oranguru in frustration. "It's not safe here- I told you to take her!"
"No!" the girl wailed. "Together!"
Logan quickly passed the gun to Harvey: "I'll make sure she stays put- don't let your guard down," she muttered to him, then rushed to take her daughter from the ape's arms. "It's okay Alex, I'll go with you. Then we'll send send Ruru back to get dad." She looked at Harvey hesitantly.
He nodded. "Go, I'll be fine."
The girl nuzzled her face into Logan's shoulder. "Okay," she whimpered.
Then the oranguru wrapped its arms around both of them- and in another jarring blink of matter, the trio were gone.
Harvey levelled the gun. He clearly didn't relish his position, but there was a grim resolve on his face.
"Do you want to close your eyes?" he asked awkwardly.
"I'll keep them open thanks," Cassidy sneered. If she couldn't kill him, then she at least hoped this moment would haunt him forever.
Harvey took two steps closer to better aim the gun at her head-
-and then paused, looking up.
Cassidy heard it a moment later. A whoosh overhead- the sound repeated twice more. She stopped looking at the gun, and turned her head to the circular window.
The flat silhouette of a stealth plane descending.