The New Normal – 10-10 – Interlude – Archer
The terrorists were on the move.
Just like his boss had predicted, the criminals thought that they were safe – that the whole world's attention would be focused on the Tournament, and that the security measures would be relatively lax.
Oh sure, Cynthia may have ordered the Sinnoh Police to be on high alert, but career criminals like them were bound to know how to stay away from the authorities, especially if, as Archer greatly suspected, they were also being fed information from their spies.
Therefore, it was this arrogance or impatience, or perhaps from a general dissatisfaction at being kept inside for too long, they finally decided to venture out and advance their plans, the ones that were less likely to immediately draw attention, thinking that none would be the wiser.
So they got sloppy. They got careless with hiding their tracks. Less paranoid when it came to their illegal operations, which mostly focused on theft or resource acquisitions.
He suspected that they were really starting to feel the pinch of the resource problems.
Unbeknownst to the criminals, Archer and his team had been waiting for this exact moment of complacency. He continued to stalk his targets at safe distance, being under strict orders to not attack these terrorists directly, and his team continued to collect information and piece together their plans while ensuring they remained undetected as they took down notes on all of the bases that the grunts led them to.
Though Archer knew that he was merely following the grunts, and that the bases that they had discovered were likely of little importance in the grand scheme of things, revealing their location and having them raided by the authorities was sure to cause a big headache for whoever was in charge of these terrorists.
And with every base he discovered, it would only be a matter of time before he narrowed down who the true identity of these criminals were.
But as his monitoring operations continued, Archer noticed a pattern in their movements. Ignoring their more routine criminal acts, he realized that the grunts were all gravitating towards the three famous lakes of Sinnoh.
And Archer's many years of honed instincts as a criminal was screaming at him that this was important. His many years of working for Giovanni allowed him to recognize the grunts' movements to be just like his own when he was scouting out a location for a potential raid, back when he still used to plan those.
It was no coincidence that they seemed to be getting closer and closer to the three lakes, but what could they be planning on doing with them?
With that in mind, Archer dove headfirst into researching the lakes, trying to suss out whatever reason that the grunts had for scouting out the lakes like they were doing. And he eventually stumbled across the existence of the lake guardians, the trio of Legendary Pokémon that supposedly resided there, though allegedly no one was ever able to catch a glimpse of them.
…This must have been what these terrorists were aiming for. Did they have some kind of scheme for luring out the guardians and capturing them? But for what purpose? According to what he read, the Guardians were weak compared to almost every other Legendary. They did not have the overwhelming strength to achieve their so-called goals of remaking the world, and he doubted that even the most delusional of criminals would fail to notice this fact.
No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't find the answer. But that was fine. He was not chosen for his position for his ability to think of the bigger picture. That was for his boss and for John to do. His job was to just collect the information and present it to those who really could get a grasp on the criminals' true goals.
So with that in mind, Archer proceeded to report all of this to Giovanni. He knew that his boss was currently participating in the Tournament, but he didn't think this information could wait.
"…I see, thank you for letting me know urgently." Giovanni said, "I suspect that your suspicions are correct. However they plan to 'remake the world', I don't doubt that the Lake Guardians would certainly have a place in it."
"Then what's the next step, boss?" He asked, "Should we send an anonymous tip right away?"
"No, now isn't the right time. With everyone busy and distracted with the Tournament, the impact wouldn't be as big as we want it to be." His boss shook his head, "…We need to make sure that the Sinnoh government reacts appropriately to this threat. We have this single opportunity to really bring the pain down on these scum, and I want to make sure we get it right."
Archer nodded, and stayed silent as he allowed his boss to think.
"…The financial investigations of the businesses in Sinnoh are still underway, right?" His boss asked after a moment.
"Yes, but I hear that they're concluding soon." Archer answered. "The results should be published to the Champion shortly."
"The Champion will certainly give a press conference when the results are published. Release your information then." His boss ordered, "When that happens, the attention of the authorities will naturally be focused on dealing with these criminals, so this will just be adding more fuel to the fire. A fire that the League cannot ignore."
Then his boss' eyes gleamed cunningly, "…In fact, how combat-ready is your team?"
"As ready as they'll ever be, but we won't win against their numbers." He replied dutifully.
"Good, then I have another plan for you to enact." Giovanni grinned, "Once you finish releasing your information, I want you to provoke a small-scale fight between yourself and these criminals, since you know where their grunts' bases are. Make it look like it was a disagreement within their ranks. Make your fight as loud as possible so that the authorities are attracted to it. That'll cause far more problems for them."
"And if any of your team unfortunately gets caught, then make sure they know what to say." Giovanni added, "Have them 'leak' to the authorities that the terrorists intend to target the lake guardians so that their attention is focused there. The criminals won't be able to stay out of the spotlight after that, and the League won't be able to afford ignoring this threat. They WILL be forced to respond."
"Understood, I'll make sure the team is ready." Archer nodded, "Is there anything else?"
"Keep your eyes on the lakes. I want to know immediately if the terrorists decide to throw caution to the wind and decide on enacting their plans regardless of whether they get caught." Giovanni ordered, "If that happens, stall for time as much as you can, and call John directly. He'll sort it out."
It said much about his boss' faith in John that he commanded Archer to call John first before even informing him. Having worked for Giovanni for as long as he did, Archer knew all about his boss' desire for control, so to tell Archer to inform John first was a big deal.
"Will do." He replied, and the call with his boss ended there. Immediately after the phone call ended, he began barking orders to his team. Soon, the secret base was alight with activity as everyone started rushing around, all with serious looks on their faces.
They were preparing for war.
A.N. So Archer starts unravelling the plans of Team Galactic. I wanted to highlight how much of an advantage it is to have someone who actually understands the plans of criminals (by being a criminal himself) to monitor and predict their movements.
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