Author's Note: This is currently my longest Rocket fic, though it isn't finished yet. Hey, I'm tryin'! ANyway, as always, the ideas of Pokemon, Rockets, and some of the characters are NOT mine. Many of the characters, most of the ones you don't regonize(except Shadow, I stole her from moi cousin, heh) are mine. Ehhh... anyway... I guess I'll shut up. :)

“This just in,” the newscaster’s booming voice announced from the softly glowing screen of the television set. “Giovanni Oak, head of that organization of criminals known as the Rockets, has been captured, and sent to prison. This notorious criminal has escaped from our clutches on many occasions before, and officials are overjoyed at the capture.”

The girl watching the set in the darkness stood up slowly, staring, as the broadcast continued. “He has been taken to the Celadon jail complex, and will be taken in for a trial tomorrow morning.”

Eyes widening, the girl clenched her fists as the man continued. “And if you think the Rockets can survive without its Boss’s guidance, you are completely wrong. Officers have broken into the main base, and confiscated every file they could, then preceded to break into every smaller base listed. All arrested members are being held, and will be given trials on currently unspecified dates.”

As the girl picked up a cup of coffee with her shaking hand and took a sip, listening. “Officers were tipped off as to the whereabouts of this unruly man by a Mister John Orested of the Pokemon Intelligence Agency. This agent has been greatly rewarded for his services.” “Kanto’s citizens are celebrating at this turn of events. With the Rockets out of the way, this can be a truly peaceful world. Researchers predict that there will be no more deaths due to murder, no more stolen pokemon, and no more cruelty to pokemon in large groups. The might be the occasional unsatisfied citizen, but that’s nothing we can’t handle,” he paused for a second, then continued, “Celebrate with everyone else, for the days of terror are over.” “Don’t be so sure,” the thin, tired voice in the room muttered. “Don’t be so sure…” she repeated, turning away slowly.

Chapter 1

Tension settled over the courtroom as spectators filed in, sitting on the hard, wooden benches. Strained conversations began between the seated as they waited for the event to begin. Witnesses sat down, many already sweaty with anxiety, and became quiet. Jury member entered the box and began to chat, as if this were a park. One lawyer, on the prosecution side, strutted up to his desk with a completely arrogant manner. The other merely walked, confident that he could put up a good fight, yet worried about the incriminating evidence.

Sitting down at the front podium, the judge stared around the room, scrutinizing every face and sending a strange sensation into the room. Everyone suddenly became even edgier. Strained conversation became quiet whispers and died. Witnesses began to fidget nervously, pulling at their hair, moving around in their seats. Even the jury’s cheerful conversations began quieter and a bit on edge.

The witness was led in. His cold, sinister stare sent a chill down everyone who saw him, which was what he had wanted to happen. The cold appearance continued as he sat next to his lawyer, ignoring every whisper that floated past him.

Suddenly, the silence was broken. “Order! Order in the court!” Every person present looked up as the bailiff stepped up.

After clearing his throat, the burly man announced, “Here ye, here ye. The honorable Judge Snype is at the stand. Everyone present stand up… and sit down. This is the case of Giovanni Oak versus the state of Kanto, day one.”

Booming over the courtroom, the judge’s voice burst in, “May we have the opening statement of the prosecution?’

Rising stiffly from the chair, the first lawyer began, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. We are gathered here to today to determine the fate of one Giovanni Oak, alleged head of the infamous Team Rocket. We will prove to you that he was, indeed, the head of their association, and that he deserves to be thrown in jail for the rest of his life. Thank you.”

As he sat down, all eyes shifted to the defense. The lawyer seemed nervous, but Giovanni hadn’t even blinked an eye tensely.  “Opening statement of the defense,” Judge Snype called.

Standing awkwardly, the second lawyer twitched nervously. His mahogany brown hair was a bit mussed, and his gray-brown eyes had a strange look about them. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I am here to prove that Giovanni Oak is innocent. He was not the head of Team Rocket! He was, in fact, an unlucky man in the wrong place at the wrong time, who, in an unrighteous manner, was given the blame. I will make sure he is set free, and his reputation saved. Thank you.” As he sat down, he looked at Giovanni, who just shrugged, as if he didn’t care what happened.

“Would the prosecution like to call a witness to the stand?” the judge rather liked ordering everyone around. The authority was almost like some sort of game.

“Of course,” the man stood up and walked over to the wooden witness stand. The spectators looked forward, almost eagerly, eager to see who would be called. The jury watched, half-interested. Many had already made their decision. “I call Jessica Pike and James Ross to the stand.”

The two former Rockets walked up the isle in handcuffs, followed by a police officer. There were a few startled gasps from the audience, but they were ignored. Jessie held her head high, trying to hide the frightened look in her eyes. James, on the other hand, shook like a terrified lamb being led to the slaughterhouse. His eyes darted around nervously, as if seeking refuge. Both wore suitable clothing provided by the court.

“Now, Ms. Pike,” the lawyer’s obnoxious voice began, “Is it true that you worked for Team Rocket?”

“Yes,” she answered clearly, not letting the fear slip out. “Yes, that is true.”

“And is it true that your boss was the defendant, Giovanni Oak?”

Jessie gulped slightly as her former boss sent her an angry glare, but she managed to continue, “Yes, that is quite true.”

The few gasps that escaped from the audience were ignored as the lawyer continued, “And how do you know this?”

“Well, Mr. Tress, James, here, and I were given instructions directly from him before, so of course we are able to recognize him.”

“I see,” Scott Tress nodded, and then turned abruptly to the young man. “And, James, is it true that you too were a Rocket?”

“Y-y-yes…” James stammered, his eyes wide with fear.

“And can you, too, confirm that this man was your boss?”

James bit his lip so hard he felt a small trickle of blood run into his mouth. Giovanni shot him a glare so icy, so full of hate, the young man yelped. Recovering himself quickly, he managed to pick up enough courage to speak. “Yes,” he barely squeaked.

The lawyer nodded. “You may step down now.”

Jessie stepped off of the platform shaken; yet still trying to show that she was unafraid. James began to bite his fingernails, not even noticing everyone watching him. The two were seated next to their officer as the trial went on.

“I would like to call Lance Ajeck to the stand.”

Lance walked calmly up to the stand, his cape flowing behind his stately walk.

“Now, Lance, you are the leader of the Indigo League, correct?”

“Yes,” his voice was calm and cool, not the least bit afraid or nervous.

“The defendant was the leader of the Viridian City gym, correct?”

“You are correct,” everyone’s eyes were on Lance now, wondering how he could keep up the manner he held.

“Did he ever do anything that might… arouse suspicion?”

Lance nodded. “Most definitely! First of all, he preferred not to fill out every form that was needed to become a gym leader. The only reason we let him in was because we needed someone badly. Second, he skipped many of the meetings the gym leaders held. Third, he was gone more often than he should have been. And then there was that lab we found when we had the inspection, and the gym needing to be rebuilt after an accident he claimed was caused by a fierce battle.”

Many of the people situated in the audience were leaning forward in their chairs, listening to the information. Even the jury looked like they were awake, paying attention to every word.

“Thank you, Lance. Please step down,” the lawyer watched the man leave, and then continued. “I call Mister John Orested of the Pokemon Intelligence Agency.”

A middle-aged man, normal weight, normal build, normal eyes… Walked up to the stand and nodded.

“Mr. Orested, is it true that you were able to hack into the computers of Team Rocket and come up with files and files, all listing the defendant as the boss?”

“Yes sir, that is true,” Orested had a drawn-out voice; one of those kinds that is impossible to listen too for long without becoming distracted. “We were indeed able to do that.”

“Did you bring the files?”

“Yes,” Orested handed the lawyer a stack of papers. “And here’s the password for the files,” he handed him another slip of paper.

Tress looked up at the judge. “May we call an intermission while the jury examines these?”

“Traditionally that is saved for the end…”

“We can break tradition,” Tress knew what kind of power he held as a very good lawyer.

“All right,” Snype gave in, and pounded the gavel. “There will be a recess while the jury examines the files. Until then, stay in the vicinity of the area.

The audience stood up and stretched, and began excited conversation. They were becoming worked up, and every one knew what the verdict would be.

Daniel Morris ran his fingers through his thick hair nervously as the crowd rose. He didn’t have much experience as a lawyer; only what he’d been taught in the last few days. Sure, he could argue, but that wouldn’t help. He knew that most of the jury had decided. And then there was that problem…

“Calm down,” Giovanni was shaking his head, as if this was a light manner.

“It’s just…”

“What?”

“I don’t have any witnesses,” Dan admitted.

“God…” Giovanni groaned, obviously annoyed.

“Jessie and James were going to be, but…”

“I know, I know. I saw.”

Dan nodded, and sighed. “I’m going to see if I can get someone to testify. Got any ideas?”

“No, but…”

“It’s worth a try,” Dan walked away, leaving Giovanni to think and be thankful that media had been banned from the trial while the court was in session.

As he stood up, Judge Snype made a surprising announcement. “This trial is adjourned for the day, and will commence tomorrow morning at seven.”

“But, sir…” Daniel looked up, beginning to protest.

“I can do this,” the judge smirked, pleased with his power.

“Oh…” the lawyer sighed, and looked over at Tress, who grinned.

“I’ve got such an edge on you,” the other man laughed.

“Shut up,” Dan turned to Giovanni as the officers approached. “I’ll try to think of something tonight.”

Giovanni only nodded before the officer motioned for him to stand and be led out. The spectators watched, silent, as he threw them icy glares, then shook it off, and walked out.

Dan walked down the isle, past the milling people, ignoring Tress’s smirk. Opening the door, he was met with a burst of fresh air. “Finally,” he thought, glad to be out of the stuffy room. He immediately began to feel better, though that worry stayed. What would he do about this?

“I could go back to the building…” he thought, and then decided on it. Of course he would. Someone there would have an idea of what to do.

Jessie and James were led out to a police vehicle again, and, once in the back seat, exchanged glances. They knew what could happen to them if, somehow, Giovanni got off innocent, and they feared it. Yet they also knew he couldn’t win, and were somewhat confident.

The courthouse was now empty, the seats unoccupied. Yet the tension still hung in the air like some kind of looming fog. There, yet nearly invisible. Seemingly fine, yet somehow, unsafe.

Chapter 2

Shadow Manteal sat at the hard wood table, sipping a cup of tea in a neat, white kitchen. Of course it was neat; Trae insisted upon it, being so well organized. Shadow, however, couldn’t have cared less about cleans floors, sparkling counters, and organization. Pulling her blond-brown hair behind her ears, she sighed, gazing into a corner with her dark, sapphire blue eyes.

Sun was streaming through the windows, but Shadow didn’t care. She didn’t want to go out there, feeling how she did. Just a few days ago, Headquarters had been destroyed. Giovanni had been captured. Many of the agents had been captured. The news was broadcast everywhere, and Shadow felt the same way about the situation as almost every other agent who managed to escape the police.

The whole thing was embarrassing. Officials gloating over the failures of Team Rocket, and how it had been so easy… It hadn’t, Shadow knew. It could’ve been harder, but it hadn’t been an easy struggle after they got in. Of course, there was nothing she could do about it now. No one could do anything about it…

Well, Ginger thought she could. So did Felicity. Actually, Dan seemed too, but not as… in depth. Ginger had been thinking hard ever since the break in, ever since they had moved into the house…

The house was two stories high, with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a miscellaneous room, a recreation room, and a study. Set by a street in Celadon City, in a quiet neighborhood, it was the perfect place for some Rockets to hide out. And that’s exactly what they did. Herself, Trae, Ginger, Felicity, Dan, and Mike had managed to find and obtain the place.

Sure, they didn’t get along too well. She, Trae, Felicity, and Dan all had bedrooms, while Ginger had the study and Mike had the recreation room. Occasional arguments would break out, and she felt that a couple might go at each other’s throats. There would be no major injuries, if her predictions were correct. Everyone felt a sense of togetherness, all being Rockets, and all hiding from the law.

“I thought I told you not to come in here!” Ginger voice seared through the silence.

“I need to get something…” Trae’s hesitant voice sighed. She was used to this kind of treatment.

“Fine, fine. I was just going to get something to drink.” Shadow heard Ginger stalk out of the room and walk down the stairs. The older girl’s emerald green eyes were tired, and her auburn hair was only half combed.

Shadow almost smirked at her expression. “What do you want?”

Ginger grumbled something and poured herself a cup of coffee, drinking it readily. She looked at Shadow. “What have you been doing?” It was an attempt to start a conversation, and though she knew it was a pathetic one, Ginger decided that she had at least tried.

Shadow shrugged. “Not much. I’m waiting for Dan to get back from the trial so we can find out what happened.”

“Yeah,” Ginger took another drink of the caffinated drink. “I’d like to know, too…” She sighed impatiently. “When’s he supposed to get back?”

“I’m not sure,” Shadow looked at her friends, “You know, you shouldn’t worry so much…”

“I know, but I can’t help it…” Ginger shrugged. “I have no clue as to where my mother is, and now I’ve lost my father.”

Shadow nodded in understanding, knowing full well what it as like. “At least you’ll know where he is.”

“You know where yours is. He’s dead,” Ginger started to say, but thought better of it. Instead, she sighed. “This whole thing just makes me so angry…” Her eyelids drooped, and she realized how tired she was. “I’m going to lay down on the couch.” After setting the half full cup on the counter, she staggered off to the living room.

Shadow looked down at her drink. Of course the whole thing was crazy, and everyone was taking it hard. Ginger was taking it worst of all, though. What with Giovanni being her father and all. She herself had lost both of her parents when she was very young, and…

“God, why is it that everyone here is a pig?” Shadow knew without looking up who had stated that sentence.

“Hey, Trae,” she looked up, and found, not at all to her surprise, that she was right. The eighteen-year-old Rocket scientist with fiery red hair was dumping the rest of the coffee into the sink, and setting the cup in the dishwasher. “I can’t believe you’re so neat with all this…”

Trae shrugged. “I’m used to it, after working in the lab, I guess.”

The door opened, and Shadow stood up, setting her cup into the dishwasher and closing the machine. Dan walked in, his suit and tie mussed, and his expression forlorn.

“What happened?” Shadow asked, and Trae watched, interested.

“The trial was adjourned until tomorrow…” the nineteen-year-old held his head.

“Here’s some coffee,” Shadow poured him a cup, and all three sat down.

“It’s hopeless,” Dan sighed, knowing the truth.

“What’s hopeless?” Ginger walked in and leaned against the wall.

Dan didn’t even bother looking up. “The trial…”

“What!?!” Ginger had known that was truth. She’d known it all along, but she didn’t want to believe it.

“Well, you see, we had witnesses, but they double-crossed us and went against us…”

“Who?” Ginger asked with such urgency it startled him. He also had slept little, but then again, no one in that house had gotten a good amount of sleep.

“Jessie and James,” Dan sipped the beverage.

Ginger clenched her fists and gritted her teeth together in an obvious state of anger. “Those dirty, rotten, no-good…”

“Calm down,” Shadow was too tired to deal with anything violent.

“…so Tress has this sort of power over the judge. There’s no way we can win,” Dan was saying.

“Don’t ever say that,” Ginger growled.

Trae shook her head. “Come on, Ginger. You know as well as the rest of us that…”

“That what, huh? That what?”

“Ginger…” Shadow sighed. “Come on, control your anger.” She often felt like a psychologist, the way she reassured and instructed everyone.

Sighing, Ginger shook her head. “Isn’t there anyone you can use as a witness?”

“Not unless I can get them to lie.”

Feeling a sinking sensation, Ginger opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind. She wasn’t in the mood for this.

“Hey,” Shadow felt something brighten in her mind. “One of us can be a witness!”

“That’s a really good idea…” Dan looked at her and smiled. “How would you like to be the witness?”

“That’d be great,” Shadow grinned. “I’d be kind of like a… last resource!”

Ginger started to protest, wanting to help with the case, but decided against it. “Sure, and I’ll go to watch.”

“Do you really think that’s wise?” Trae glanced at the girl, who shrugged.

“Even if we lose, I’d like to see him before he’s sent…” she trailed off.

Trae nodded. “I’ll go too. Maybe Felicity and Mike will come…”

“What’ll I do?” Mike walked into the kitchen and observed the tired faces.

“Come to the courthouse tomorrow morning,” Trae explained. “It was put in recess until than.”

“Sure, I’ll come,” Mike poured a glass of coke. “I’d like to see someone condemned.”

“You shut the…” Ginger began.

“Lay off,” he took a gulp of the drink. Knowing full well that his comments were rude, Mike didn’t care. He had always been like this, and he didn’t plan on changing.

“Why don’t you make me?” Ginger narrowed her eyes.

“Maybe I should,” Mike took a step forward.

Shadow rolled her eyes and stood up. “Come on, guys. We have enough problems without your fights.” This was, after all, the fifth one. Those two seemed to clash every chance they got.

“I’m going to my room to get some sleep. Tell me when Felicity gets back,” she headed out of the room and up the stairs, towards her room.

“All right, we should rehearse what we’ll say tomorrow,” Dan got up and headed to the living room with Shadow.

Annoyed, Trae cleaned off the table, and turned to Mike. “So, what do you think of the trial?”

“As much as I really don’t want to say it, we’re going to lose,” Mike sighed.

“I thought you wanted to see Giovanni sentenced to prison,” Trae smirked, knowing full well that the young man hadn’t meant it.

“I was joking. Some people around here have to be more light hearted,” he rolled his eyes. Ginger got on his nerves so bad… She didn’t have a sense of humor most of the time.

“Could you guys please get along until we get a few things worked out?”

“I’ll try,” he shrugged, “But I can’t promise.” With that, he went to his room, leaving Trae to wonder what was going to happen to the group.

Chapter 3

Felicity stepped into the bright hall, leaving the dimming outside world. “Hello?”

No one answered, but then, that was normal. Poking her head into the living room, she saw Shadow and Dan going over something. “What’re you two doing?” she inquired.

Shadow and Dan turned to see the blond twenty-year-old, and explained that they were studying for the court.

“Could you leave the room, please?” Dan asked, too exhausted to bother with talking with her any further. He didn’t mind Felicity; she was fine as long as you were on her good side. Now was just a bad time to be talked too.

“We have to concentrate,” Shadow explained, standing by her belief that everyone in this house should tell and explain all.

Felicity shrugged and walked towards the kitchen. This house had been tense since they’d obtained it, though she couldn’t see why. She herself was perfectly calm, believing that everything would be fine. And if it didn’t, that’s fate. She was a definite fatalist.

Besides, what was the good of staying in the house? ‘There’s no point in living if you can’t feel alive,’ was her motto. It was from a movie, and fit her perfectly.

Her icy blue-green eyes found Trae and Mike sitting at the kitchen table, talking. “Hey guys,” she sat down next to them.

“Hi,” Trae looked up, surprised. She hadn’t expected the girl, who usually stayed out later, to be back. “What brings you back so early?”

“I just felt like it. Besides, there wasn’t anything else to do,” she grinned.

Something about Felicity bugged Trae, and she guessed it was her carefree manner. Felicity was taking this whole situation lightly, going out just to walk around and go to clubs, while the rest of them were almost worried sick. How did she do it?

“So, what’d ya do today?” Mike asked. Though he loved hearing about what was going on, a part of him forced him to stay in the house until some matters were cleared up. Since Felicity went out, he could hear what was going on from her.

“Not much,” Felicity loved telling how much fun she had had, just to prove that it was more fun out there. “I went to a café, hung out at a club, went to a movie, trained my pokemon… you know, the usual.”

“I wish I could get myself out there,” Mike sighed truthfully.

Felicity raised an eyebrow in surprised. So there was something telling them not to go, just as there was something telling her too go. Well, that explained a lot. “Want me to drag you?” she smiled.

“Maybe you should,” Mike grinned back.

“By the way, do you want to go to the courthouse tomorrow?” Trae enquired. “The trial is out until than.”

“Sure. Are you guys coming?”

Both nodded, and Felicity smiled again. “Are you going to be able to get over your fears?”

“Yeah,” Trae chuckled, followed by Mike.

“Hey, guys,” came a voice from the doorway. “I’m going out for a bit.”

The three at the table looked up to see Ginger. “Where are you going?” Felicity inquired curiously.

“I’m going to make a house call to a relative,” she smiled strangely, picking her knife off of the desk.

“Huh? I don’t get it,” Mike said.

“That’s pretty normal. I’ll be back in a bit,” and with that, she walked out.

“Where’s she going?” Trae asked.

Felicity shrugged. “I don’t know, but we shouldn’t be worried.”

“Who says I’m worried?” Mike snorted, insulted by Ginger’s comment.

“Oh, come on, where were we?” Trae leaned forward, attempting to keep Mike from boiling his blood.

“Oh. What will we wear for the trial tomorrow?” Felicity asked.

Mike rolled his eyes. “Let’s see…”

“I’m getting a headache…” Shadow rubbed her temples, trying to get the pain to disappear. So far, it wasn’t working. They had been working for three hours straight, and still had more to do.

“I’m sorry, Shadow. But you’ve got to get these memorized,” Dan sighed. He really was sorry. Feeling that Shadow was needed to help with the case, he also liked her, and didn’t want her to feel any pain.

Staring into Dan’s eyes, Shadow wondered what he was thinking. Big and confused, his soft eyes revealed nothing. Wondering if he felt the same way as her, Shadow searched for the answer…

Dan saw the girl studying his face, and wondered if she knew how he felt. Almost wishing she did, he knew it was hopeless. Shadow just wouldn’t like it… Not at all. “We’d better keep working,” he sighed, and Shadow nodded, a bit disappointed. What was he thinking?

Still and silent, the cool night air was almost comforting to Ginger. Just glad to be out of the house, and surprised she was actually doing what she was doing, she strode forward, toward the Celadon Motel.

Why go there? She wanted to talk too a certain relative. Why the knife? This man might not be too happy to comply. In fact, he might get downright violent if she didn’t make the first move. Neither had gotten along very well, but this was for the trial…

This man might have the potential to be a convincing witness.

There it was; the motel. Basically, it was a long row of rooms for visitors who didn’t have the money to stay at the Sundance Hotel, or else didn’t want too.

Walking casually into the lobby, she saw a list of the rooms and what guests were occupying them. “They certainly aren’t much on privacy,” she thought as she found the name she was looked for. Room six.

Passing over the cracked sidewalk, she reached a wooden door and tried the golden handle. Locked, just as she had expected. Well, at least he was smart enough to do that. Unfortunately for him, she had a lock pick, and opened the door quite easily and quietly after replacing the simple device.

Pulling out her knife, she slunk into the room and peered around a corner. There he was, talking on an ivory-colored telephone. Perfect. A wonderful opportunity…

Approaching the man from the back, she held the knife to his throat, and hung the phone up abruptly after he dropped it, leaving the woman on the other end utterly confused.

“What the hell…” her uncle growled angrily. His hard, brown eyes flashed as she held his head up by his dark brown hair.

“Come on, Geoffrey, don’t talk like that,” Ginger smirked.

“Ginger?” Geoffrey recognized that tone of voice. “Well, this is a surprise. I haven’t seen you in a while.” Letting his voice become smoother, he had a feeling that she wouldn’t do anything rash. She was here for some reason other than to kill him, which was just fine.

“Just thought I’d stop by,” she relaxed the knife a bit, knowing he wasn’t stupid enough to try anything he’d regret. That was the thing with their family; they seemed to know what to do when confronted.

“So, can I get you something? Glass of water, maybe?” Geoffrey joked casually, in the manner he used when his niece, or anyone else, was threatening him.

Ginger smiled for a second, used to this talk from him. “Actually, I’m here to ask you a favor.”

Geoffrey started to laugh. “You want me to do something for you?”

“Actually, it’s for Giovanni…”

The laughing stopped abruptly. “Isn’t he on trial?”

“Yes, and that’s exactly what we need you for.”

“You want me to be a witness?” he couldn’t believe it.

“Yes,” she knew he was confused, but didn’t care, and went on. “We need another witness.”

“Why should I?” There had always been a sort of feud between the two brothers, and a few times, they had tried to kill each other. Of course, both worked on different sides of the law, but he was still… family. And as much as Geoffrey didn’t want to admit it, he didn’t want his brother killed, which was a possibility.

“Well?”

“All right.”

Ginger almost fell over. “Really?”

“Yes. As much as I hate him, I don’t want to see him die.”

“Die?” Ginger hadn’t known that was a possibility, and felt a catch in her throat at the mention of it. She’d just thought jail, a fine… But death?

Geoffrey nodded. “Yes…”

“Oh.” Ginger fell silent, appalled.

“Yeah, I know. What’s this world coming too? Even criminals deserve their justice,” the man nearly laughed.

Ginger pulled the knife back. “How do I know you’ll be there?”

“I will,” he sighed. “Besides,” he nodded towards the knife. “You’ll probably kill me if I’m not.”

Ginger nodded and managed a half smile, then handed him a few pieces of paper. “Go over these,” she instructed. “They’re the questions.”

Taking the papers, he asked, “How can I help if I know, and have know, that he was the head of Team Rocket?”

Ginger shrugged. “Lie.” It seemed the natural answer.

Geoffrey sighed. “Well, if I’m going to do this, I might as well go the whole way. Sure, what the hell, I’ll do it.”

“Good,” Ginger started out the door, and turned back, grinning. “I know you’re not just doing this because I threatened you.”

As she left, and Geoffrey started to look over the questions, both knew it was true.

Chapter 4

Sun began to stream through the glass windows as the crowd once again filed into the courthouse. Sensations similar to the ones felt the day before were apparent, and the judge once again cast a chilling feeling over the room, while the defendant sent everyone shadows of doubt and fear.

Raising to the court, the bailiff spoke in his deep, crusty voice, “All raise for the honorable Judge Snype. All sit,” he paused for a second while every person got situated. “This is the second day of the trial Giovanni Oak versus the state of Kanto.”

As the bailiff stood back, Snype bellowed, “Would the defense like to call a witness to the stand?”

“Yes, I would,” Dan cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair. “I call Shadow Manteal to the stand.” The girl stood up, wearing a black dress with a navy blue vest. She hated being so dressy, but had to put on a good appearance for court.

Both walked up, and Dan looked into Shadow’s eyes nervously. She just stared back reassuringly, and he nodded, than began, just barely remembering not to call her Shadow. “Ms. Manteal, is it true that you are a gym leader for the Indigo League?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I am the leader of the Curiosity Gym in Lavendar Town.”

“And did you ever speak to the defendant?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, on several occasions.”

“Did he seem dangerous?” Dan felt his mouth drying, and wished he had a glass of cool, refreshing water to quench his thirst.

“Not at all,” Shadow smiled. “He was actually quite polite.”

“And did he ever tell you why he missed several meetings?”

“Yes. He mentioned that his business with the Celadon Casino and a few other places kept him busy.”

“I see,” Dan wondered if this had helped his case any. “You may step down.”

Shadow walked placidly back to her seat with the other witnesses, hoping to God that she had done the work right. Next to her, James kept biting his lip, and pulling on his hair. “He isn’t even doing anything,” she thought.

“For my next witness, I would like to call Giovanni Oak, the defendant, to the stand.”

Giovanni walked up calmly, and stared at the audience angrily. Dan realized that he had better start. “Mr. Oak, are you the leader of Team Rocket?”

“Why would I be?” Giovanni growled angrily. No one had told him he was going to be a witness, and he didn’t want to go against what he had made. Others could lie about it, but not him.

“Do you have any wish to be?”

“No.” This was truthful. He didn’t. Not after what had happened. Glaring at James, he almost smirked when he saw the kid grimace. Suddenly, he was hit with a realization. Most of the team had deserted him. They could’ve volunteered to stand up for him… He had seen five Rockets who were still faithful to him. What did it matter if he lied?

“Have you ever been the leader of Team Rocket?” Dan repeated, hoping Giovanni would give the right answers. Everyone had been surprised to see him called up, but Dan felt he needed more evidence on his side.

“No, and I never want to be. And I think this is all a load of bull,” Giovanni growled angrily. “I’ve never had anything to do with Team Rocket. Heck, I don’t have the time to deal with running a crime organization!”

Dan saw the flame in his client’s eyes, and sighed. “You may step down.”

“Do you have anymore witnesses?” Snype asked, bored. The jury sat, heads in their hands, half-asleep. Witnesses were almost snoring, and Orested was ready to boast about how he helped bust the head of the organization.

“Well…” Dan began, and saw Ginger gesturing to him. “Hold on,” he walked over to the side, and Ginger walked up, handing him a piece of paper.

“Just call up this witness, and ask these questions,” she explained. “It’s where I was last night.”

Dan looked confused, and Ginger sighed, uncomfortable in the black skirt, shirt, and vest. “Just trust me on this. He’s here. I saw him. It surprised me, but I saw him.” With that, she walked back to her seat by Trae.

“What was that?” the fiery-haired girl asked.

“Another witness.”

Dan walked back up, and Snyder barked. “Well?” He didn’t like interruptions in his court.

Looking up from the sheet, Dan fidgeted, and then called, “I call Geoffrey Oak up to the stand.”

Looks of amazement from the audience became apparent as the man, wearing a brown suit and tie to match his hair and eyes, walked up to the stand and looked coolly out at them. He bore a similarity so like to Giovanni it was amazing. The same looks, the same calm… The coolness hid anxiety. He knew he could lose his job for this. He knew what could happen; yet here he was.

Giovanni’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. This was the first time during the whole session he expressed any surprise. His brother? Geoffrey? But why? He knew what could happen to his brother… and they both had hated each other… so why?

Orested almost fell out of the seat, having worked with Geoffrey at the agency for at over ten years. Why was he standing up for this man, who was obviously the boss?

Suddenly, the jury sat up, sensing the reaction of the crowd. Not wanting to miss anything good, they immediately opened their ears and listened. Dan swallowed, and began the questioning. “Is it true that you are my client’s brother?”

Geoffrey felt sick, but answered. “Yes, I am.”

“And have you known him for a long time.”

“Yes…”

“Have you been in touch with him lately?” Dan felt the stress, and wondered if this would help at all. Certainly everyone was now listening, watching his every move.

“Besides trying to kill each other?” Geoffrey thought, but knew better than to say that, and instead replied, “Yes, we meet every month or so and discuss business and the like.” It was the best answer he could have come up with the night before.

Dan continued, wondering if anyone saw through the lies. “Did he ever mention Team Rocket?”

“Yes, several times. He told me that they had broken into his casino on quite a few occasions, and had to be cleared out by officers. He also stated that he was working on a way to find the base. He never thought he’d eventually be mixed up in this.”

“And how did he attempt to find the base?” Dan was now asking questions not on the sheet, but he didn’t care.

Geoffrey’s mind quickly created yet another lie, and inside he cringed. “He followed agents, forced agents to talk, and eventually got inside. Of course, Mr. Orested,” he motioned with his hand, “Over there, chose that time, with his friends, to break in, and they arrested the wrong man.” He felt a strange surge of nausea, and nearly let it slip that he was lying.

Silence settled over the courtroom. For all everyone knew, this could be the truth. The whole concept could be changed… Even the most stubborn members of the jury felt the doubt creeping in their minds. “No further questions your honor.”

Geoffrey walked off the platform and past Giovanni, who stared at him in a way that sent a strange chill through his heart. “Why?” he mouthed, completely baffled. Geoffrey simply shrugged and sat down.

“No more witnesses,” Dan sat down next to Giovanni again, who still appeared to be in shock.

“Because Mr. Tress moved that there be no cross-examination, the court will meet tomorrow for the decision of the jury. Remember, jury, that you are deciding the fate of the man who is alleged to be the head of Team Rocket.” Snyder wondered if he was the only one who truly and completely believed that Giovanni was the man they were looked for. “Jury, go to the deliberation room.”

Every individual stared as the group walked out, then looked at the judge, who proclaimed, “We will meet at ten tomorrow.”

Raising, the people began excited conversation. Dan turned to Giovanni before the man was led away and said, “I tried.”

“And you did a damn good job,” Giovanni nodded.

Dan walked over to Geoffrey, and tapped him on the shoulder. “What?” the man sounded annoyed.

“I just wanted to ask why you lied for him?”

“He’s my brother,” Geoffrey shrugged.

Orested waked by and glared at his associate. “I’ll make sure Amy hears about this. You’ll be fired and you know it.” The man walked away, laughing.

Dan cast a glance at Geoffrey, who shrugged. “I don’t give a damn. Really.” He did, though. Fear was surging through him, but he was good at keeping it hidden.

“Well… thanks.” With that, Dan walked over to Ginger, Shadow, Trae, Felicity, and Mike, who were waiting for him by the door.

“Good job,” Mike patted Dan on the shoulder. “Where’d you get that last witness?”

“I got him,” Ginger pointed out.

“Oh, be quiet,” Mike sighed, not really believing her. Ginger only rolled her eyes.

“Can we just go home? My nerves are standing on end,” Dan sighed.

“Mine too,” Shadow agreed, and they looked out. Rain was beginning to drip, but none of them minded. Together, they stepped outside and headed toward the house.

Geoffrey stared after the kid, shaking his head. That one testimony had the potential to ruin him… He hoped it wouldn’t. No one could prove he had lied. No one knew what he had known… That hit him with a jolt. Safety was his. Conviction was out of the question, because all he had done was testified something no one could possibly go against.

Feeling a bit better, he headed out the side door, which was much less crowded. On the way out, he saw Giovanni standing outside the van in the dripping rain, while the officers unlocked the door at an annoyingly slow pace.

Giovanni caught his eye, and felt confused all over again. Why in the world had his brother helped him? After they’d tried to kill one another, he’d lied. Why? Did he want something? The answer was plain and simple. No.

Geoffrey nodded at Giovanni, and walked on as his younger brother was led into the back of the police transport.

Yes, he would come to the courthouse the next day.

Yes, he hoped Giovanni won the case.

Chapter 5

Tension engulfed the small, crowded Celadon house as night fell.

Trae poured four cups of coffee and set them carefully on a tray with some sandwiches. Everyone had skipped lunch, and she doubted anyone would be very eager for dinner.

Setting a cup of tea next to the coffee, she sighed and lifted the plastic dish, turning towards the entrance. Everything had seemed strange after the trial. The occurrences were too quite, too anxious…

Trae shook her red hair vigorously. She too was falling into the despair of knowing they had lost. It seemed strange to feel that way when she had hardly known Giovanni, but in a way, this trial could be the end of the Rockets.

Stepping into the large den, she found that everyone was at least trying to relax. “Good,” she thought. “We all need to.” She felt that it was unhealthy for so much strain to be overpowering them.

“Hey, Trae,” Dan spoke in a tired voice, sitting back in a two-seat blue velvet couch. Part of his mind reassured him that the case was one, but the larger part, the more sensible part, knew otherwise. There was no way to win. Especially not against Scott Tress…

“Thanks,” Shadow grinned as Trae handed her and Dan next to her the cups. Drinking a mouthful, she found that it helped sooth her a bit. The fears about losing were partially silenced. The whole thing was strange, though. Even if Giovanni was convicted, there had to be another way, yet no one could find it…

“Give… coffee…” Mike, sitting sideways in a black chair, with his feet hanging over the arm, attempted to lighten things up, though fairly unsuccessfully. Shrugging, he took the warm cup and took a sip. “It’s drinkable,” he joked. No reply. Everything was too quiet and sulky for his taste.

Ginger took her mug quietly, staring away from the couch she sat on to the wall. Racing around in a wheel, her mind seemed to be going nowhere. What if they lost? She wouldn’t see Giovanni again. And that would be the end of her parents, as she knew them. Everything was wrong.

Trae settled onto the couch next to Ginger, set the tray down, and picked up her tea. “So, what do you guys want to do?” she attempted, but got no real answer.

Felicity strode into the room with a glass of ice water and collapsed onto a white two-seat couch. Upon seeing everyone so silent, she spoke up. “So, why so glum?”

“They’re just depressed,” Mike was glad to have someone to talk too.

“Hey!” Shadow laughed.

“That’s better,” Felicity nodded, and switched on the television. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure,” Mike and Shadow spoke in unison, and Trae nodded.

“All right, any ideas?” she waited half a second, then jumped up and walked over to a cabinet. “Okay, I’ll choose,” she slipped in the video, and pressed ‘Play.’ After this, she settled back onto the couch, grinning.

“Gee, what movie could you possibly have chosen?” Mike rolled his eyes in mock annoyance, knowing full well what it was. “Could it be… oh, I don’t know… ‘The World is Not Enough?’”

“Hey, shut up, it’s starting,” Felicity watched the screen intently, and Mike, laughing, did the same as the bright MGM studios logo flashed brilliantly.

Shadow leaned over to Dan and whispered, “You did a good job today. Don’t blame yourself.” She really felt sorry for him. After all, he was leading a sinking ship, and doing his best to keep it up.

“Thanks, so did you.” Dan liked the compliment, especially from her.

Trae tapped Ginger on the shoulder, and asked, “Are you okay?”

“What?” Ginger twisted her face, managing to hide how she really felt.

“I mean… never mind,” Trae drew back and turned back to the movie. Ginger had been so exclusive lately, and the reactions were strange to Trae.

Ginger turned back to the screen, though she basically looked through it. There was nothing she could do about their situation, and that was what bugged her. She was helpless to the verdict. Inside, she felt herself being torn apart by the wild emotions, and she hated it. It hurt her so bad…

Felicity noticed none of the occurrences, felt none of the emotions, traveling around her. After realizing her parents didn’t care, she had learned to ignore what she felt, to go with her will and instincts. It was strange. Almost like not feeling pain…

Somehow, the movie managed to calm nearly every soul occupying the house, and, eventually, everyone stopped worrying completely. Strangely enough, watching a movie was the best they had done in what seemed like a long time.

Chapter 6

Once again, the courthouse was silent, waiting. The quiet that engulfed the room was almost choking, yet no one spoke. Tension lay thickly over them, preventing the actions, and straining their nerves.

“This is the third day of the trial Giovanni Oak versus the state of Kanto,” the bailiff suddenly broke the silence, to the relief of the people in attendance.

“Will the prosecution give their closing statement?” Snype’s roaring voice seemed to crack at their skulls, pounding noticeably.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” Tress rose slowly, taking in the moment, feeling victory. “Over the past days, I have fought to prove that Giovanni Oak is indeed guilty of being the head of the organized crime group of Team Rocket, and must be punished. What you have heard from the defense were statements, but we had the hard facts on paper. In closing, I would like to add that he is most obviously guilty, and, if not punished, will continue to ruin the lives of innocent citizens everywhere. Thank you.” Sitting down, Scott looked toward Dan and smirked knowingly. Trapped, Dan would have no way out. The evidence was clear, and he had proved it.

Clearing his throat nervously, Dan stood up. He had heard Tress, and he knew that what had been spoken was right. Knowing that the fate of Team Rocket possibly rested on the case didn’t help much, either… “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we have been in this courtroom for what seems to me like an endless amount of not; not three days. During this time, we argued endlessly, each trying to prove our side correct. I believe that the evidence I have given is sufficient enough to put reasonable doubt in your mind about the fact that my client was the head of Team Rocket. He was only an unlucky man who, when attempting to catch the criminal, was convicted. Consider the doubt, and consider our facts. Thank you.”

Closing his eyes, he sat down, unable to look up. He had tried, but there was no way…

“The jury will recess to decide on a verdict!” the judge’s voice boomed, shattering his thoughts and causing him to pop his eyes open in time to see the twelve men and women file through a large oak door.

As the door shut, small lines of conversation began to float around, and in the next minute, conversations sprouted. People stood up and stretched anxiously, chatting with their neighbors to pass the time.

“You did a good job.” Dan looked to his left, and saw Giovanni smiling strangely. “The man’s about to be sent away and he’s smiling,” Dan thought, than spoke, “Not really. It didn’t help…”

His boss shrugged. “Maybe not, but everyone was impressed.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Giovanni looked into his eyes. “Especially Tress. He got a strange look on his face, and trust me, it wasn’t because he was glad.”

“Thanks…” Dan realized that not looking at the members had actually helped him think.

One look at Tress told him that Giovanni had been right, though. The man was glaring at him jealously. Dan almost laughed. “Imagine, he’s jealous of me…”

Shadow glanced down the row and sighed, turning to Trae. “I wish I knew what the jury was saying,” she confessed. Everything was too secretive. Everything dragged on in this case, it seemed. If the jury didn’t decide soon, she felt that she would go insane.

“I don’t. I really don’t want to know what they’ll say,” Trae bit her fingernails nervously, a sign that she was truly stressed. She felt the pressure of being a Rocket, of the organization falling… And she hated it.

“Well, at least Dan gave a good closing statement,” Shadow pointed out, defending their friend.

“He tried,” Ginger agreed on her other side. “But I doubt that it worked.” Fear showed in her darting eyes, tearing at her insides. She didn’t want this to be happening. She didn’t like it at all…

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Mike sat back in his chair. He could see why everyone was worried, but stress wasn’t going to help at all.

“Whatever happens, happens,” Felicity added, looking over from the end. She couldn’t see why everyone was worried either. Fate was unstoppable, and nothing could help that. Choosing to be panicked was their choice, choosing to be calm was hers.

“Let’s just hope they decide soon…” Shadow ran her fingers through her hair, sighing.

“All sit!” Snype barked sharply, watching in pleasure as everyone jumped into the seats. “The jury has made their decision,” he nodded toward the box where the people had returned.

Suddenly, the wave of silence reappeared, and the crowd hushed. No one moved, no one dare to.

“Ahem,” the leader of the twelve members stood. “We have come to the conclusion that the defendant, Giovanni Oak…”

Anxious eyes and ears waited for the verdict, some happily, others anxious.

“…is guilty of the crime of having been the leader of the notorious group of criminals known as Team Rocket. He is therefore guilty of all past crimes committed by the group, from the murders to the thefts, and is given a lifetime sentence of prison. Thank you.”

“The verdict is decided. The defendant is guilty,” Snype looked at the paper in front of him. “As is custom, he may speak.” Dan looked questioningly at Giovanni, who was already standing up. “God, what is he going to say…” Dan thought, knowing how angry the man could get.

Keeping the anxiety out of his voice, Giovanni spoke, “I have been sentenced to a lifetime in prison. I find it doubtful to believe that any one of you members of the jury actually listened to our side of the case,” he glared icily at the group, “Or that the judge wasn’t unfair,” he shot the look at Snype, “So this will be relatively unclear to you. However, I would like to tell anyone in my family that happens to be here that I appreciate any effort they might have made to attend the trial.”

With that, he sat down quietly. He had said only part of what was on his mind, but the rest was inappropriate. Having known that this fate would eventually come, he was prepared to unhappily yet calmly accept the consequences. To go out with dignity.

Yes, he was done for, but that didn’t mean the Rockets were dead. No, they were just beginning. All they needed was a new leader…

“Take this,” he handed Dan an envelope beneath the table. “Open it when you get back.”

When Dan just stared, Giovanni sighed. “This world is harsh on judgment, and quick to act without thinking. Remember though that the hardest working will come out on top, and will survive. We cannot be wiped out, we will fight until the end.” Looking straight into the young man’s eyes, he shoved the paper at him.

“Take it.”

Nodding in a confused manner, the younger man took the paper and pushed it into his pocket as Snype spoke. “Dismissed!”

“Good day. You did a commendable job,” Giovanni walked out with the escorts coolly, keeping his dignity.

“Take that,” Tress laughed, walking by the other lawyer.

“Shut up,” Dan muttered, walking into the crowd.

“What?” Tress struck up a whiney voice. Dan waved him off, heading toward the door, and was about to head out when something caught his eye.

“What the hell are you talking about?!?” Geoffrey Oak’s voice could be heard above the roar of the crowd.

“She said, ‘You’re fired,’” John Orested grinned.

“But, I…” Geoffrey strained to explain.

“Look, Oak, we don’t tolerate people like you in this organization,” a thin, blond young woman with suspicious green-brown eyes and a hard face spoke, an edge of anger in her voice. “You were on the side of the opposition, with the head of Team Rocket, who we have been working against!” Now she was shouting, not noticing anyone who stopped to stare. “I don’t care what you say, you knew he was! I can’t prove it in court, but I CAN fire you!!!”

“Amy!” Geoffrey’s eyes were widening. “You’re not serious…”

“I damn well am!” the anger was sharp and biting by this time. “I don’t care WHAT you thought you were doing, it was against what we’re working for, and it was against orders,” she paused for a breath, than shouted even louder, “YOU’RE FIRED!”

Under the stares of the people who still lingered, she quieted a bit.

“You can never go back to headquarters. You can never go back to the office. You can never work for us again. You are banned from the Pokemon Intelligence Agency, Geoffrey, and I’ll see too it that you aren’t allowed to work for any other government agency, either!” She looked down at Oersted, taking a paper and handing it to Geoffrey.

“What’s this…?” he asked, though he knew perfectly well. The slip made him cringe inside…

“Your discharge,” she snarled, her voice back down to its normal level.

“I hope you’re happy with your choice.” She turned toward the door,

“Come on, Agent Oersted.” Without another word, she walked off.

“Told you,” the shorter man grinned, walking past.

“Good God…” Geoffrey quickly shoved the paper into his pocket and headed in the direction of the door. “That damned Oersted…” he muttered.

“Hey…” he felt someone tap him on the elbow, and he turned viciously.

“What?!?”

It was that kid, Dan. “What do you want?” he repeated, exasperated.

“I saw what happened…” Dan began, ready to apologize.

“Damn,” Geoffrey turned, and walked out, not even looking back.

“What…” Dan thought, but shook it off. He had too. It was time to go back home…

Chapter 7

Opening the creaky door, Dan realized immediately that the air of the house was, and would be for the rest of the night, heavy with gloom, anger, uncertainty, and even bits of hopelessness. Cloudy and shady, the emotions blocked out anything positive given off by the more optimistic inhabitants.

Quickly rushing up to his room, Dan pretty much tore off the suit, pulling on casual clothes. Having no wish to be reminded of his recent failure, the young man tossed the other outfit into a box, and walked out of the room, down to the kitchen. There, he found a pot of boiling coffee, poured some, and sat down at the table in an attempt to enjoy the brew.

Sighing, he realized that the attempts were futile. How could he enjoy himself after that? How could he, after seeing his client, the head of Team Rocket, sentenced to a lifetime in prison? Why had he agreed to be the lawyer? Why hadn’t he pushed for a better one?

“Hello,” Shadow’s soft voice managed to penetrate through his thoughts as she sat down across from him, a mug of coffee in her hand.

“Hey,” Dan looked up and replied in a gloomy voice that reflected his feelings.

Shadow looked into his face, a worried expression in her deep eyes. As much as she felt the defeat of the trial, she was more torn apart by the moods of everyone else. Feelings of traction and tension seemed to be creating electric sparks, ready to start a fire of either anger or anxiety. Heavily, she felt that it was her responsibility to keep everyone together, no matter how hard it was.

Gazing across at Dan, she felt a wave of pity for her friend. Still young, he had been thrown in as a lawyer for an important case. Though he had tried very hard, the evidence had been incriminating, and he had been thrown against the rocks. “You did a really good job on the trial.”

Shrugging, he replied dully, “We lost. It was all my fault.” Cringing, he felt the pain of his defeat like a knife. All of the arguments and witnesses… he had messed up somewhere along the line, and ruined it all.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Shadow attempted to provide rest for his soul. “You gave it your best shot, and did a great job. I mean, think about. You’re a nineteen-year-old lawyer, against an experienced thirty-two year old lawyer. Think of all of the good evidence you gave, of the good fight you put up. It was a hard battle, and no one could have one. You were the best choice for the job.”

“Well…” Dan’s tone was uncertain, though he was very grateful to Shadow, and pleased, that she was comforting him. “Thanks a lot.”

“You’re wel…” Shadow began, but was cut off by Ginger’s sharp voice.

“I can’t believe you!” the girl was obviously angry.

“What? All I was saying was…” came Mike’s frustrated reply.

“Why don’t you be a little more sensitive?”

“Why don’t you lighten up?” Mike yelled even louder.

A door slammed, and the two in the kitchen both heard the sound of footsteps pounding into the kitchen as Mike entered, his face red in exasperation.

“What was that all about?” Dan’s eyes were wide with wonder.

Mike shrugged, popping open a can of Coke. “Just Ginger over-exaggerating again.”

“She really needs to lighten up,” Felicity half-mumbled as she walked by, reading a newspaper.

“That’s what I said, and she slammed the door in my face! I was just trying to make her feel a little better…” Mike took a swig of Cola eagerly, feeling the refreshing twinge it sent through his body.

Shadow sighed. “Mike, you might want to leave her alone…”

“Don’t think I won’t,” Mike snorted angrily. Not only was he mad at Ginger for pushing him away like that, he was mad at himself for letting his anger show. “You know I hate getting angry, but she… oh.”

“So… where’s Trae?” Shadow winced at her pathetic attempt to change the subject.

“Upstairs, sleeping in her room,” he didn’t seem to notice the change. “Or at least, she WAS.”

Felicity’s voice cut into the tension. “Hey, anyone wanna watch a movie?”

“What one?” Mike walked toward the entryway.

“Um…” there was a pause. “Apollo Thirteen.”

“Sure,” he walked out as Trae appeared.

“What’s happening?” she rubbed her eyes.

“Just a little disagreement,” Dan knew that what he had said was grossly under-stated, but didn’t really care. He, like Shadow, wanted to keep the place peaceful as long as possible.

“Hey, Trae, want to watch a movie?” Felicity walked in as the first sounds of the video floated in through the house.

“Sure,” the girl turned and walked toward the room sleepily, in a manner that revealed that she didn’t care about anything at the moment.

Grabbing a handful of ice cubes and dumping them into a glass of water, Felicity turned towards Shadow and Dan. “What’s up?” the question was casual, typical of her.

The two smirked at her attitude, and Shadow just shrugged. “Not much.”

“I hope those two’ll start getting along a little better,” Felicity referred too Ginger and Mike. “If things keep happening like they’ve been, we’ll be here for awhile.”

“I’m sure they’ll get over it,” Dan waved as she walked out.

“Well,” Shadow began, but couldn’t think of an end to the sentence.

“It’s been a long day,” Dan sighed. “I think I’m going to go to bed.”

“All right,” Shadow watched him walk out, than sighed at the actions of the inhabitants. With Mike and Ginger fighting, the tension only grew. She had to get them to get over it, somehow…

With a start, she realized that her brain was beginning to tire. Picking up her cup, she headed towards the living room, where the television was blaring. Reclining on one of the couches, it wasn’t long before her eyelids began to get heavy, and she felt herself drifting off…

Chapter 8

Rising slowly out of her bed, Ginger stared out at the night sky, watching the gleaming stars remorsefully. Everything outside seemed so calm. So direct was the contrast between the quiet and the turmoil in her heart that she wanted to scream out loud, pleading for mercy. How was she expected to stay calm under such terrible circumstances?

Walking over to the window, she sighed heavily in the darkness. How had this all come to happen? Why to her? Why was so much pain forced upon her? She hated it.

First, her mother had gone off to God-only-knew where, leaving Giovanni to take care of her, their only daughter. Then came all the pain that went with being a member of Team Rocket. The stress of assignments, hardly seeing her father, knowing that he and everyone else she knew was in constant danger.

And now this.

Of course, she had expected the danger with the Rockets. But… the police breaking in? Arresting almost everyone? Condemning her father?

It was almost too terrible to think about. As it was, tears were beginning to swell up in her eyes.

What could she do to ward off the terrible pain? Everything hurt, and she didn’t want to be alive…

The answer hit her like a bolt of lightning.

There was one way to take the pain off of her.

Take it out on someone else.

Hard eyes darting around, she picked up her glinting dagger and slowly slipped into its sheath. The way out of pain was inflicting it, and she realized that she had no problem with that as she quietly slipped out the door.

Darkness surrounded the girl’s shadow as she slipped silently along the back routes of the city towards a group of dark houses. Everyone was obviously asleep. “Easier for me,” Ginger thought with a smirk, walking up toward number three.

Shaking the knob, she realized with a start that it was open. “My God, could they make it any easier?” she muttered, walking in.

Of course, there could’ve been an alarm. There could’ve been guards. But there weren’t. “The fools,” she thought. Didn’t they know they were exposing themselves to danger?

After all, Jessie and James had gone against the Rockets. They’d been with the organization long enough to know about the strong sense of vengeance, hadn’t they?

Well, if they had, they obviously hadn’t taken it into consideration.

Slipping into the next room, she saw something moving on the couch. A large blanket was partially draped over the top, and she realized that one of the two was sleeping in there.

Quietly, she stalked over, and saw the fiery red hair falling over the shoulders of the young woman who lay in front of her. “This is the end, Jessie,” she muttered, drawing the blade quietly.

After a quick observation, Ginger decided that a quick kill would be best for the situation, and, swift as a rattlesnake, struck the soft throat.

Bolting up with a small yelp, Jessie widened her green eyes, than spat blood onto the floor. Her face immediately turned white, and the eyes glazed over as she fell back, clutching her neck.

Ginger looked on without compassion. Yes, the task had been accomplished easily, but it had also been strangely fulfilling.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps, followed by, “Jess, are you okay?”

It was James. How had he heard? “No matter,” Ginger thought, walking toward the entry to the room.

“Jess…” James walked in sleepily, and Ginger saw that he had been awake, as his hair was still combed back, and his eyes were red with weariness.

“Hello, James,” Ginger stepped out quietly, holding the dagger.

“Who…” James stammered, than stopped. “I knew it. I knew you’d come and get us…”

“Of course you did,” Ginger edged forward, knowing the resistance would be little. This was inevitable. She felt it, and was sure he did, too.

“Please…” James began to back up.

“You betrayed us,” Ginger’s voiced was calm yet sinister as she advanced with the gleaming weapon.

“Oh,” James whimpered as he found himself backed up against a wall.

“Goodbye, traitor,” Ginger raised the blade, and plunged it into the man’s chest.

James opened his mouth to scream, but Ginger was faster, shoving the dagger into the side of his neck, watching coldly as the blood spurt out onto the floor as he fell, a look of horror frozen on his white face.

“Sweet dreams, you two,” Ginger laughed bitterly; sliding the knife back into it’s cover, unmoved.

It was time to get out of there, before anyone came back, before anyone suspected anything…

Closing the door behind her quietly, Ginger realized that the actions had helped sooth her soul. Now she felt calm. Calm, and unafraid.

Chapter 9

Shadow was awakened suddenly by the light sound of the coffee maker dripping the brew into the pot. Rubbing her eyes, she saw that the time was seven in the morning, and wondered why the quite sound had woke her up.

Standing up, she stretched her arm muscles back, yawning and walking over towards the window as she did so. Her back ached strangely, and there was an odd stiffness in her wrists, but she managed to ignore them and peer outside.

Gray, looming clouds covered the usually blue sky, sending a strange sensation of gloominess through her already upset body. Of course, the correspondence of the weather with her feelings seemed a bit uncalled for, but she decided it was better than being upset on a sunny day. Looking down at herself, Shadow suddenly realized that she hadn’t changed out of her clothes the night before. Shrugging it off quickly, she opened the door and headed down the stairs quietly, not sure of who was awake and who was asleep.

Peering into the kitchen, her eyes caught the full coffee cup and the mugs sitting next to it with a sense of pleasure. One thing had gone right; there was fresh coffee. Pouring herself a cup, Shadow took a sip of the liquid, decided she liked it, and walked quietly out of the kitchen.

Faint voices floated out of the living room, and Shadow wondered who was up, as she didn’t quite recognize the voice. They sounded strangely metallic, and almost distorted.

Looking in, the girl nearly laughed.

Throwing soft light over the furniture, the television gleamed quietly while two newscasters discussed some issue or other. Nearly hitting herself over the head for being so stupid, Shadow seated herself in the soft velvet chair, feeling the comforting material with her fingers.

“Hey,” Felicity barely looked up from the newspaper she held in her hands, absorbed in the article her eyes darted across. Lying down on the couch, she took a sip of the cappuccino she had set on the floor, savoring the vanilla flavor.

“Hi,” Shadow turned her eyes toward the screen, and saw Ginger sitting quietly on the couch, a strangely empty look in her eyes. “What’s with that?” she wondered, but brushed it off as the television broadcast caught her eye.

“Today, Jessica Ross and James Pike were found dead in their rented house early this morning,” the woman began to read off her paper in a surprisingly dull voice for a murder story.

“Jessie and James?” Shadow thought, as the woman continued.

“The two were obviously stabbed to death, as the medical professionals have confirmed.” A picture flashed onto the screen, showing the two bodies, the blood trickling down her neck and their haggard heads rolling lifelessly. Shadow cringed, and looked at the two others in the room. Felicity was paying no attention, too involved in the paper. Ginger, however…

The girl was staring quietly at the screen; the yet somehow intent look plastered on her expressionless face. She showed no signs of disgust, no signs of anything…

The television called her back. “As of now, the case is believed to be murder, though no fingerprints are apparent.”

“Well, of course,” Felicity muttered. Obviously, she had been paying a bit of attention. “A good criminal always wears gloves.” A shudder went through Shadow’s body at this remark, but she recovered quickly. “Why did I do that?” she wondered.

“The murderer is believed to have been involved with the recent trial against Giovanni, who was sentenced to a life in prison, as well as occasional torturing.” A few clips of the trial appeared on screen, showing the two on the witness stand.

“Occasional?” Ginger muttered, shaking her head. “She calls every Saturday occasional?”

“Most officers believe that a Rocket member, angry over the fall of their organization, attacked the two for turning against them Though this has been unconfirmed, it is easily accepted,” the woman shuffled her papers, and Shadow heard a cough behind her.

“What’s goin’ on?” Mike flopped into a cushioned chair, and looked towards Shadow.

“Hey,” Dan sat in chair near the blue-eyed girl.

“Hey, guys,” Shadow nodded her head toward the program. “Take a look at this…”

“All we know about the murder is as follows…” she paused to look at her notes and adjust her suit.

“Who was murdered?” Mike’s eyes gleamed with interest, and, though he knew it was a bit odd, he didn’t mind. Deaths like this always managed to catch his attention.

“Jessie and James.”

“Our old friends?” Mike exaggerated the last word, drawing it out ridiculously.

“Yeah, them,” Shadow nodded, half grinning.

“Well, who did it?” Dan asked, rubbing his eyes, and forcing himself to stay awake. He wasn’t exactly an early riser.

“Take a look at what they know…” the girl’s blue eyes looked toward the newscast.

“The two victims were stabbed to death in their house at about midnight last night. Both evidently died immediately. The wound from the murder weapon was almost definitely caused by a Veneblade, which is uncommon and should be easier to track down than any other type.”

“Fools,” Felicity thought, looking up for a moment. “Most people would dispose of the blade after using it!”

“A Veneblade?” Shadow’s mind was hit with a thought. “But isn’t that the kind of knife Ginger uses…?” She shook her head. Of course, Ginger did. That didn’t mean anything.

Then again, she had wanted Jessie and James to suffer for what they did…

“No,” she told herself. “I’m being silly. Of course Ginger didn’t do it.”

Sure, she was used to seeing people killed, but that was when the other was also armed. Never had she seen anyone killed in cold blood… In fact, the only person she would have expected to be able to do that was Felicity. So of course Ginger hadn’t…

She couldn’t shake the thought off her mind, and the image of the blade on the screen provoked her anguish further. “All right,” she finally thought, and stood up, catching a glimpse of Ginger. The girl looked so cold, so empty… She didn’t look like she normally did.

“Where are you going?” Dan looked up at her.

“Getting a drink,” Shadow motioned toward the kitchen and headed out, leaving the others to watch the television.

“God, why am I doing this?” the question turned itself over in her mind.

“Why am I going? Even if she did kill them, I shouldn’t care. I should be used to the murders by now…”

She stood in front of the doorway to the library.

Ginger’s room.

“Should I?” she asked herself, but was already in the doors before she could think further.

Shadow’s first reaction was that everything was fine, as she quickly looked over the room.

On second glance, however, she saw something glint on the desk. Without second thoughts, she knew that it was the knife.

Walking over, she picked the weapon up by the handle and gasped. Even though the clouds covered most of the light, she could see through the faint grayness. What she saw was blood.

Covering the blade, the crusted, dried-up body fluid sent an eerie sensation through her mind, and she knew perfectly well who the blood belonged too.

“What the hell are you doing up here?” Shadow whirled around and found herself looking at Ginger’s cold, green eyes as the girl stood in the doorway.

Sighing, Shadow set the knife down on the desk. “Might as well come out with it,” she thought, and then spoke. “You did it.”

“What?” Ginger attempted to look innocent, but Shadow could see that she was perfectly clear as to what was being referred too.

“You killed Jessie and James,” Shadow looked down at the gleaming knife blade.

“No, I didn’t,” Ginger stared straight into the glassy blue eyes, her mind rushing. How did she know…?

“You really should clean your knife after you kill someone,” Shadow pointed to the weapon, and Ginger realized now.

“T-that was for something else…” She wanted to hit herself for stumbling over the words so foolishly.

“Don’t lie. I know you did it,” the younger Rocket folded her arms.

“Well, so what if I did?” Ginger’s voice became irritated. “It’s not as if I haven’t before!”

“Never in cold blood.” Shadow replied coldly. To her, the killing of an unarmed individual was senseless and inappropriate, even for a Rocket.

“No…” Ginger replied slowly. “But now I have.”

With that, she walked out the door, than turned around. “I’m going back downstairs. If you want to come, go ahead. However…” she paused. “If you don’t want to be anywhere near me, then stay up here.” Having said this, she started down the stairs.

Shadow stood, stunned. Ginger had know precisely what to say, and had struck something… “She’s right,” Shadow’s mind raced. “Of course she’s right. I shouldn’t let this bother me…” With that, she walked out, though she knew full well she would not forget.

Chapter 10

Mike flipped through the channels, tiring of watching the dull woman drone over what was happening in Pokeworld. Kids programming, another newscast, and a paid advertisement program zipped by, and he sighed as he looked at the next channel.

A young, battered-looking woman was yelling angrily. “…and I found him with her under the bed!”

“Great,” Mike thought, switching the channels as the crowd began to yell, “Jerry! Jerry!”

“The junk they put on,” he shook his head, finally stopping at a made for television movie.

“What’s on?” Felicity looked over the paper.

“Some movie,” Mike replied with a shrug, and turned his attention back toward the screen.

“Ah,” Felicity nodded with a grin, than looked back down at the sheets in front of her. The headlines had been quite expected, she thought.

‘TEAM ROCKET: NEVER TO BLAST OFF AGAIN’

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she rolled her eyes and looked at the next one.

‘BOSS IN JAIL’

“Straightforward and stupid,” she observed, shaking her head. When did the reporters actually think?

‘TWO DEAD’

“Was that supposed to catch my attention?” Felicity muttered under her breath, but looked at the column anyway. Just as she had thought, it was the article about Jessie and James.

Looking over it, she found that the information was basically the same as that of the newscast, which proved her point that all media was the same information in different wording. “Wonder who did it,” she thought. “Good for them.”

In fact, if the anonymous murderer hadn’t made the move, she would’ve ‘taken care’ of the two herself.

Turning the page, her eyes were met by another wave of dull headlines. “News is news,” she sighed, and began reading.

Ginger walked silently into the room and practically fell onto the couch by the television, which she looked toward but basically ignored. Her mind was in too much turmoil for that.

So Shadow knew she had done.

So what?

The only thing that worried Ginger about that at all was that the girl had appeared shaken, almost, by the fact. Why? She had seen plenty of deaths, and she should’ve known damn well that Ginger could kill.

So what was making her so unsettled?

Closing her eyes, Ginger shook her head. “How should I know?” came her reply to her own question as she attempted to quiet the hurt in her mind as she heard footsteps walking in.

Dan and Felicity looked up at the same time to see Trae walk in; Mike was too attached to the screen. Obviously, the movie wasn’t as bad as he had initially thought.

“Hi, Trae,” Felicity waved slightly, than went back to the paper.

“Morning…” Trae dropped into a chair, yawning.

“Tired?” Dan smiled slightly, in spite of the fact that he himself was obviously exhausted.

“Yeah,” Trae nodded, looking at him. “He has such sweet eyes…” she thought to herself, looking into the deep gray-brown pools and admiring his warm grin.

“Same here,” he sat back, and she noticed the rings under his eyes.

“What’s happening?” Shadow walked in with yet another cup of coffee.

“Haven’t you had enough?” Dan joked, taking a sip from his own mug.

“Never!” Shadow replied in mock drama. She could see that Dan was attempting to shine some light in the room, and, as much as she felt lost, she knew enough to help instead of resisting.

“Besides, maybe it’ll occupy my mind,” she reasoned, sitting in the chair next to Dan.

Trae watched silently, jealous of how well Shadow could get along with the boy. “Why can’t I do that?” she thought wistfully, than wiped the thoughts away, replacing them with, “If I just stop thinking about him, I won’t care.” Then, forcing her eyes in the other direction, she attempted to keep herself intent on the movie.

Shadow looked into Dan’s eyes and saw that the humor was definitely a mask, covering the confusion he too felt. “Poor guy…” she thought, wishing there was something she could do to comfort him.

Dan looked back at Shadow and saw that she had not only a pleading look in her eyes, but also an air of worry and weariness. He wanted so much to put his arms around her, to comfort her, to tell her everything was fine…

But no, that would never do.

She was Shadow, and Shadow never let her guard down like that.

“I wish she would…” he thought quietly. “I wish for her sake she would.”

That was when he felt something inside his pocket. Reaching down, he found that it was a folded-up piece of paper…

The note.

“Of course!” he thought. The night before he had shoved it into the pocket of his pants so that he would remember it.

Well, now he had it, and everyone was in the room…

“Hey, guys!”

Everyone turned and looked at him.

“Yeah?” Felicity had set the paper on her lap and set a strange look on her face, raising her right eyebrow.

“Huh?” Mike turned from the television, pressing down on the ‘mute’ button.

Ginger turned and looked at him plainly, not revealing anything about how she felt at the moment, and not saying anything

“What, Dan?” Trae felt her heart nearly jump out at the sound of his voice, and had to concentrate on keeping herself quiet. Why did she feel attracted like this? She never had before…

“Hmmm?” Shadow turned towards him.

“I have a letter that Giovanni gave me before he was taken off…” Dan unfolded the paper. “He told me to read it to all of you.”

The others stared in shock for a second; they obviously hadn’t expected this. “Giovanni?” Shadow finally managed.

“Yes,” Dan nodded in confirmation.

“Well…” Trae searched, but couldn’t find anything to say.

Mike spoke up. “I don’t think any of us were expecting him to write a letter in jail!”

Ginger shot him an angry look, than stated what all of them had been thinking. “Go ahead and read it.”

“Right…” Dan looked down at the flowing handwriting, and began to read clearly what was written.

“To Ginger, Shadow, Daniel, Michael, Felicity, Trae, and any other faithful Rocket,” he began, clearing his throat. “What we have feared has happened. The police have control of the files, the information, and, so it appears, my life. They have captured a large portion of the other agents, and turned many against our causes and us. I know what will happen, and I know my fate will be, eventually, death. I shall be surprise if that is not the penalty, though I know I will be kept in a filthy cell if it is not. During these two days of trial, I have had two of my own agents testify against me. I have also, however, had two individuals lie under oath as witnesses for me, and I would like to thank them. Yes, I would like to thank my brother, as much as I hate him. And I would also like to thank the rest of you for being there.” Dan paused, looking around at the faces, feeling their intent stares and astonishment that their former Boss wasn’t writing angry accusations.

“I know that you may feel the Rockets are finished, but do not despair, the Rockets will never die. True, the police broke into the bases. True, they broke into the files. True, they have captured many agents. However, what they do not know is that we have an immensely strong power. Willpower. Make sure you can work together, than begin to gather agents at a location chosen by you. Decided on a new Boss. Gather any sort of weaponry you can. And make sure do everything right; you must never make a mistake.”

“Now I must go, I have no more time to right. I hope you read this, and understand what I mean. Carry out the operations. And one more thing. Long live Team Rocket! Signed, Giovanni Oak.”

They looked at each other, the impact of the instructions driving into their minds. For a few seconds, though they seemed like hours, no one spoke.

The silence, however, was interrupted by Felicity. “Holy shit,” she muttered simply.

Chapter 11

Trudging through the dimly lit living room into the bedroom of his motel complex, Geoffrey ran his shaking fingers through his dark hair. Flicking on the light switch, he realized that he was going through the motions unintentionally, and purely by routine. If it hadn't been for that small, sensible part of his mind, he would've left every light off.

Looking into the mirror that hung over the smooth, oak desk, he sighed and shook his head, half-watching the hair shake slightly. Staring into the silver glass, he paused for a moment and stared into the ghostly eyes that were his, those brown yet bloodshot eyes.

"Damn..." was all he could mutter, and he felt a strange dryness in his throat as he did so. That was how he had felt all the previous night. Lousy and sleepless.

In fact, he was currently awake at one in the morning for the same reason. Everything was too damned rotten. The trial had been bad enough, with his brother being sent to jail for life. What fun that had been to watch.

Then he had been fired. The silly, arrogant bitch had fired him! And that Oersted, how he had grinned... "I can't believe this," he sighed, turning towards the bed again.

He wanted to sleep, he really did. Sleep would have been comforting, and would have taken him away from the problems for a short period of time. But of course, sleep was too good for an asshole like him, he told himself over and over. He knew in his mind he had lied, he knew it was wrong.

He also knew that it had been what was right for him to do.

Still, he was hanging on an edge now. Being fired from the Intelligence Agency was one of the worst things that could happen, and he knew that the bitch would be attempting to ruin any chance of a job.

So there was nothing left on the good side. This realization hit him with a snap, and he heard himself groan softly, a far-away sound of anguish.

There was nothing left on the good side. Only the dark half remained.

"Jesus..." the word barely got past his dry lips, and he felt the little remaining blood drain from his face.

He had taken the wrong path. He had taken the wrong path, and he knew he would pay. He would pay dearly.

So what could he do? Where could he go? The thoughts raced through his mind along with thousands of others, spinning in an incomprehensible circle. Suddenly, an idea hit him.

There was something he could do. Yes, it would only drag him in further, but there was no going back as it was…

“I’ll do it,” he confirmed to himself, picking up the suit jacket from the back of the chair. “Damnit, I’ll do it if it kills me, and I’ll do it for Mable...” he paused momentarily. “And Ashley.”

Turning the lights off, he stood for only a split second, lost in thought, before walking out.

Giovanni sat quietly in the darkness of the musty, dirt-covered jail cell, staring out at the night sky. The free night sky. Damn, he wished he was still free, wished that none of this had happened, wished he wasn’t stuck in that dump…

“Why me?” he sighed, though he knew perfectly well why. What else would happen? He had chose to lead the group, and now he was paying his dues…

“But it could’ve been avoided,” he repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Truthfully, it probably could have, and he knew it. If more agents had stood up for him, if he had had a stroke of luck…

But of course, neither of those things happened. After all, they didn’t care if he died. Hell, they didn’t even care that they had lost their jobs. They had just wanted out of it…

“The cowards,” he felt a shiver pass through his spine and ignored it.

It seemed that the only good occurrence had been what he had heard from the guard. Jessie and James had been murdered in their rental house. He had laughed when he’d been informed, and the guard had walked away shakily.

They had deserved it, and Giovanni wished that he could congratulate the murderer. Those two had never done their job, and once they had testified against him… Well, his anger became almost incomprehensible.

Still that was those two. There were so many more. So many more unfaithful agents…

Though there were the faithful ones, those were few, he remembered, casting his black eyes into the darker night. In fact, he had seen only six. Six who still were there.

And the larger part of his family. Where had they been? His father, his wife, his son? Not even his niece, his nephew, or sister-in-law had shown up, yet they knew. They had to have heard. But they hadn’t been there, of course not.

“They hate you,” his mind pointed out, and he knew this was true. Of course they did. Couldn’t stand having someone against the law in their family, no matter if they had cared about him before or not.

Yet… HE had been there. His brother who was, in fact, the last person on earth that Giovanni had expected to see, much less testify for him. What had caused that?

A sudden grunt from the next cell interrupted him, and for a moment he jumped up, looking around. Shaking his head, he sat back down, almost embarrassed.

“Why shouldn’t you be embarrassed?” the voice sneered. “After all, you’re the BOSS. Or, you were. You shouldn’t be scared of anything.”

“Shut up,” Giovanni cut his hand through the air as if to ward away the voice of his own mind, and wondered if he was going insane..

God, he hated this.

He hated it, and he wished to God that he were somewhere else.

Hell, he wished he were dead.

“Number 11,” the burly guard pointed down the hall, leaning back in his chair and not even bothering to follow the man.

“Anyone who comes here this late can’t be up to anything,” he thought. “I certainly ain’t.”

That was his policy, after all. If it was late, nothing would happen. Everything happened in the daylight. The officers and his fellow guards had told him it was the other way, but he wouldn’t believe. Instead, he was picking up a magazine, keeping a slight eye on the tall man who was walking down the hall.

Geoffrey clenched his teeth together, attempting to sort out the emotions that were soaring around his head from what he was about to do, and find sense in what being where he was.

Why had he even come to this rotten place? Because Ashley needed it, he knew. And May would’ve wanted it. No one else was going to do this, so it was up to him… He walked up to cell number eleven.

“Giovanni?” he looked into the darkness, his eyes slowly adjusting somewhat to the change of lighting. For a brief moment he wondered if the man was asleep, than decided he probably wasn’t.

“Yes?” the voice that answered was strong, as if nothing had happened. Though he had no clue who or what was out there, Giovanni felt that he had to keep the strength of his voice if he couldn’t do anything else.

“Good, you’re not asleep…” Geoffrey trailed off, pushing a few strands of the chocolate-colored hair out of his eyes, unsure of what to say.

Luckily for him, Giovanni spoke next. “Geoffrey?” he paused momentarily, confused, and looked into the dark brown eyes of his brother. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know,” both were surprised with the ease the reply was spoken with, and Geoffrey realized with a start that he did know. “All I can really say is that I’m here.”

“So I see…” Giovanni’s voice was unwavering, hiding any emotion. However, the black eyes showed the confusion and turmoil his mind felt, though he tried hard to keep it inside.

“I’m sorry about what happened, but…”

“What?” the younger man’s voice was suddenly a bit more anxious, though he couldn’t figure out why.

“Time’s up!” the guard called suddenly over the pages of rifles and camouflage.

“What?” Giovanni asked again, looking up into his brother’s face.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” Geoffrey lowered his voice when he said this, than left, leaving them both amazed.

Chapter 12

By the time Ginger was able to begin to think straight, the clock indicated that the time was six o’clock  in the evening. Throughout the day, she had been wandering around her room, picking up books and papers, than setting them down. Clouds of thought had floated throughout her head meaninglessly, simply naming events.

The death of Jessie and James. Giovanni’s trial. The police breaking into headquarters. And that morning, with Shadow’s accusations, the news reports, and the letters.

Now she suddenly looked out the window at the darkening, cloudy sky. Despite warnings from the newscasters, no rain had fallen, but she figured it would be coming soon. She hoped it did, actually, because the rain would fit her emotions nicely.

She knew what she had done, she had killed two people in cold blood. Thinking about it, she realized that it was wrong. She realized it, yet she didn’t care. “They deserved it,” she rationalized. “After what they did.

But another very small part of her mind, a sensible part, kept telling her otherwise. It told her she shouldn’t have done it, that they would have gotten what was coming to them.

Shaking her head furiously, Ginger nearly cried out, “They DESERVED it!” Luckily, she caught herself just in time, and simply spoke it in the empty room.

“Why am I caught in this anyway?” she thought warily. “Why do I have to deal with this?”

Over the past few days she had been feeling a terrible amount of stress pressing on her, as well as something else. She kept sensing this sharp, heavy feeling that made her uncomfortable whenever she felt it. Because she felt that she knew what it was. Ginger was pretty sure that she was sensing doom.

Walking over to her desk, she picked up the knife blade, which she had finally cleaned at about noon. With the blood gone, the metal flashed in the dimming light, and she felt the urge again. The urge to kill.

As much as she wanted to stop these feelings, as much as she wanted to be good, she didn’t. Inside of her there was a strange source of hate, and at that moment she wanted to kill the others. Those who had testified again the Rockets in court. They had to be punished; had too!

“And they will…” she muttered, “They will.”

Suddenly, her eyes became transfixed to the blade, and her mind once more froze momentarily. She didn’t hear the others downstairs. The wind outside went unheard by her. She didn’t even hear the car pull in the driveway.

Shadow looked across the large living room at Dan, who had a look of worry on his face. From what the girl could tell, it was worse than it had been before, and that was pretty bad. “What’s wrong, Dan?”

When he looked up, she wanted to cry out at the look in his eyes. The tired, defeated look was now strained and dead. “Nothing…” he muttered.

“Don’t tell me that,” Shadow stood up, concerned, and walked over to him. “What’s wrong?”

She sat down next to him on the couch, and immediately noticed that he seemed to become a little more attentive. “I…” he trailed off, and Shadow realized that he didn’t want to tell her.

“Come on, Danny,” she mused, looking straight into his haggard eyes and using the name she seldom used. “Tell me, please.”

“All right…” he started reluctantly. “I’m just worried that… that they’ll think I killed them.”

Shadow nodded knowingly, understanding right away what he was saying. “Don’t worry, they won’t.”

A look of relief passed over Dan’s eyes, and Shadow was glad to see the eyes brighten noticeably. “You really think so?”

Shadow nodded, feeling as though she were in a dream. She had never comforted Dan to this extent before, never been able to help someone like this until now. “I know so.” It had been the first line she could think of, and though it felt corny at first, she decided it had been the right thing to say.

“Thanks, Shadow…” Dan ducked his head shyly, looking at the girl.

Suddenly, Shadow felt a strange impulse, and turned away. She felt stupid for doing so, but she did it. “Why did I do that…?” she wondered, slightly ashamed.

“Shadow…” Dan started, and she felt his hand on her arm.

“Yes,” she gulped slightly, not sure of why she was acting so odd. Thinking back, she realized that she had been acting like this for awhile, drawing back from him all the time.

“Why do I do it?” she wondered. “Why do I turn away?”

The answer was unclear to her, but she wanted to walk away from it. There had to be a way to get herself to go to him, had to…

“Shadow? Shadow?” Dan’s voice broke her thoughts.

Biting her tongue, she turned back around and found herself staring straight into his concerned face.

“Dan, I’m sorry…” she stammered. “I just…”

“I understand, Shadow,” he nodded knowingly. “I understand.”

Looking into his eyes, Shadow realized he did. “In time, I may stop drawing away.”

“I can wait,” he smiled slightly.

At that moment, Shadow heard a car pull into their driveway. “Who…?” she asked.

“Probably Felicity,” the young man guessed.

“Yeah,” Shadow agreed. “Probably.”

The sound of a doorbell shook those thoughts, however, and they looked at each other. Shadow knew there was no way this was Felicity, since she would never ring or knock.

“Mike…” Dan called.”

“I’m getting it,” Mike called back.

Shadow looked at Dan again and saw the worried expression on his face. “Don’t worry, it’s not the police.”

“You’re right,” he looked at her with what she knew as longing. “You’re right.”

Mike picked up his handgun from the television in his room and headed out the door. Someone was here, and that someone might not be welcome.

He had been in fairly high spirits ever since the note had been read. Mike had been feeling that they should restart the team, and now Giovanni had instructed them to do it. With the feeling of excitement building inside of him, he personally was ready for action.

Peering through the window, he saw that rain had begun to fall slowly, and the dim streetlamps had blinked on. Looking into the driveway, he saw the car that their ‘guest’ had arrived in. It was a sleek black Grand Prix, waxed and perfectly clean.

The car looked familiar, and Mike couldn’t remember why. “I know I’ve seen it before…” he muttered to himself, but was interrupted by the doorbell’s second buzz.

Walking up to the door, he placed his hand on the gold-painted knob and pulled the door open, raising the gun at the same time.

“Whoa, killer. Easy,” the slightly-sarcastic, soft yet hard male’s voice broke into the room.

In the doorway, Mike saw, stood a young man, about twenty-three years old with an average build, and a little taller than average height. He had steely gray eyes that demanded answers, and an expression that said ‘I know what you’re thinking.’

Mike realized that he did know this guy.

“Come on in, Matt,” he stepped aside, lowering the gun.

Chapter 13

“Nice to see you again,” Matt nodded at Mike as he stepped inside, as if he’d been there many times before.

“Same,” Mike nodded, smiling and stepping aside.

“I came when I heard about the… problem. I was on a trip when it happened,” he explained, searching the room quickly with his deep eyes.

“Yeah… the problem…” Mike trailed off noticeably, and Matt looked at him strangely.

“What’s wrong?” For as long as he had known Mike, he’d never seen him with that strangely thoughtful mood on his face, the one that was floating over it like a thick fog. The look was there, all right, but difficult to catch.

“Nothin’…” Mike shrugged, and once again, Matt wondered.

“So, who all is here?”

“Well, I am…” Mike began, his eyes rolling around slightly.

“I can see that,” Matt laughed softly, a laugh that was met with a grin.

“Dan and Shadow, Trae…”

“That scientist bitch?” Matt asked without hesitation, than groaned. “Sorry…”

“Naw, don’t say that,” Mike looked amused. “I know how you feel.”

“That’s right…” Matt remembered the first tike he’d met Trae at headquarters, and how her attitude always came off arrogant and precise. Hell, it was the same with all of those science freaks. Uptight and buried with calculations and organization.

“Felicity…”

“She’s here?” Matt raised an eyebrow, and saw that this time it was Mike giving him the searching look.

“Yeah… so what?”

“No reason,” he shook his head, though he knew there was something. Felicity was one of the people he didn’t think were trustworthy in a time like what they were in, though, judging by Mike’s reaction, it would be unwise to mention it right away.

After all, he’d come to help calm the problems, not start them. He’d always been good with working things out, which probably led to his job as one of the top workers in the Torture Division of Team Rocket. He had been on an assignment in the Orange Islands when the police had broken in, and found out immediately when he returned that the Rockets had been burnt.

The first thing he had done was to find information. He was pretty damn good at that, and soon he had found where several loyal Rocket members were staying. He felt lucky that he had been able to find these agents, but he was looking for one certain person, one certain girl…

“Oh,” Mike looked at him again, grinning. “You’re gonna love this. Ginger is here, too.”

Matt felt his heart skip a beat, and he nearly choked on a quick intake of air. So he had found her. She was here, in this house… “Whoa,” was all he managed.

“Yeah,” Mike chuckled. “Whoa. She’s upstairs.”

“Thanks…” Matt turned to walk up the steps, but stopped when he saw Dan and Shadow peering around the corner. “Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Matt,” they waved in unison, seeming relieved, and he had a feeling that they had believed he was someone else. Of course, he didn’t blame them, times were tense, and they weren’t used to this.

“I’m uh…” he nodded up the stairs, and they nodded back, understanding. Of course they understood.

He climbed the stairs, looking around when he got to the top. Down to the right was a hall with several doors, and to the left were two large, wooden doors. Turning toward the large doors, he hoped that his intuition was right, and that Ginger was behind the door.

God, how long had it been since he’d seen her? A couple months at least, but it seemed longer. A lot longer.

Shoving open the doors, he was met with the slightly-musty smell of old books, and he saw shelves stacked high with them. There was a desk straight ahead of the door, and on the side was a bed with a lamp table. The room obviously belonged to somebody.

“Hello?” he called out, feeling a strange emptiness about the large room.

“Matt?” he heard her slightly cold yet comforting voice before he saw her, and stepped into the room.

She stood to one side of the room, apparently simply standing, and her face calm yet cold and hard. Matt remembered her, and realized that she looked slightly harder now. Her sparkling emerald green eyes had dulled, her auburn hair was still smooth looking but not pulled behind her ears, her expression was slightly off, and even her posture held a strange aura to it. Still, she was Ginger.

“Hello, Ginger,” he shut the door quietly, as though it would kill one of them if he didn’t.

“What are you doing here?” she questioned, walking towards him, though he could tell from the look in her deep eyes that she knew very well what he was doing.

Moving over to her bed, covered with a dark-blue comforter, Matt sat down slowly, as if he had been there all his life. “I think you know.”

Following the young man slowly over to the bed, Ginger stood looking at him for a second, regarding the serious, caring gaze. She hadn’t seen him in a long time. In fact, she hadn’t seen him in at least two and a half months.

He was wearing a black suit and tie, and Ginger realized at once that he had been working on an assignment, although he did normally wear the dressy attire. Judging by what he usually did, she figured it had something to do with torture. And why not, he was good at it? He hadn’t mentioned it yet, but that was typical of Matt. ‘Get down to business’ was his type of style.

There was something else there, though. Modesty was a top quality of his, and one she admired. Never in her life had she really liked anyone who would constantly brag and boast about their accomplishments. Matt did his job, did it well, in fact, than was quiet about it unless asked by close friends. How could she not admire him for it? And of course she knew why he was there. She knew very well why he was at the house. First, he had heard about it. Than, he had come without stopping for long…

Ginger realized that she had let her eyes and mind wander, and looked back at Matt, who was obviously waiting for her to reply. “You heard about what happened to the team, and you came here to see if you could help.”

“Exactly,” Matt nodded, his shady-brown hair reflecting the light of the room slightly.

“That was…” she looked at him, and knew he understood. For some reason, she was having a hard time thinking clearly.

“Well,” she thought, “I guess there is a good reason. Or, rather, a few good reasons.”

“So…” she tried to think of something to say, but found herself unable.

“Sit down,” Matt motioned next to him with his gray eyes, eyes Ginger had often looked into and gotten lost in.

She nodded and did so, feeling slightly uncomfortable, not knowing what to say. Luckily for her, Matt had something to say.

“I heard Jessie and James were killed,” he looked at her with a look that made it clear that he knew, that he had known from the start. It was a look he used when questioning prisoners of the Rockets, and did it without even noticing anymore. “You did it.”

“Yeah…” she cringed back slightly. Would he give her the same response Shadow had? She hoped not. She really, really hoped not… Surprisingly to her tired mind, he smiled. “Nice job. I heard about it, and heard about the job…” he looked right into her eyes and she immediately felt that feeling of being captured. “I knew right away that you did it.”

“How?” Ginger was momentarily afraid. If he had been able to figure it out, than maybe someone else would, too.

“I know you too well to believe otherwise, Ginger,” he spoke as if it were common sense, which, she supposed, it probably was to him. “I knew that you would be angry for what they did at the trial,” she felt her muscles tighten at the mention of what had happened, and felt the rage nipping at the back of her mind once again. “And I knew you would want to get back at them.”

She simply looked at him, unable to talk, but feeling slightly better. The tone of voice he used was persuasive, calm, yet commanding. That was another thing she liked about him, his voice.

“I stand behind your decision,” he smiled, and suddenly she wanted to be against him, to feel the warmth of another human being. She hadn’t in a long time… Though she decided it probably felt longer than it really had been.

Moving over, she leaned against his side, tensing her body for him to push her away. He just smiled. Somehow, she had known he would, because he was Matt after all, he never pushed away, and she knew that he wanted her to feel comfortable.

“Ginger, I swear I’ll do what I can to help,” he reached out his left arm and wrapped it around her thin waist. Ginger felt her muscles tighten and than relax, and she smiled slightly.

“I know you will,” she snuggled against him, feeling an uncommon sense of calm.

“I wish this wouldn’t have happened,” he looked down at her, and she felt herself staring to drift off. “I wish to God it hadn’t, but it did.” Just having him there made her feel better. After all, Matt understood her. As he continued, she knew it to be the truth. “It did, and I’ll be here for all of you… especially you.”

“Thank you…”she murmured, feeling her eyelids close. She knew she was falling asleep, but she didn’t care. Knowing she needed the sleep helped console her, but knowing that Matt was there helped more.

Matt ran his fingers through Ginger’s thick, silky hair as he felt her fall against him, her eyes closing. She was falling asleep, and he knew it, but in a way, he was glad. Looking at her tired eyes, he knew she could use it.

At that moment he new he had done the right thing is going. On the way he had had his doubts, had thought about what could happen, and had wondered. Once he had seen Ginger, though, he had known he couldn’t leave.

Quietly and smoothly, so he wouldn’t awaken Ginger, Matt gently moved her from his shoulder onto the bed, than smiled. She really was quite pretty, as far as he was concerned.

Pretty, but in need of help. He had realized that the moment he had seen her. She was lost in this confusion, and if someone didn’t help her, she would be buried in it. As far as he was concerned, there was too much pressure in her life, and no way for her to release it.

Well, except for the killing. The murders obviously let her blow off steam. Matt did really have a problem with that sort of thing, he did it everyday. If she continued, though, there was a chance she’d be caught… He didn’t want her to take that chance.

Switching the lights off, he opened the door and stood looking in at the sleeping figure on the bed. “I won’t let it happen…” he muttered, than turned, closed the door, and headed downstairs.

Chapter 14

Felicity stood against the counter of the Classy Cat Café in Viridian City, holding a glass of ice water in the dim lights of the room. She could smell the warm coffee beans roasting, and could sense the calm excitement of the occupants of the tables around the stage where a six member jazz band was playing their own kind of music.

Her icy blue-green eyes searched the place for something, anything, that might for some reason make her jump, but found nothing. That didn’t really surprise her, though, because she didn’t really think anyone could scare her with the way she felt.

Because Felicity felt good, really good. Despite the fact that the Rockets had gone down, she felt that she could taste success on the wind, just as she could taste the clear smoothness of the water and ice.

After all, she had never liked being a Rocket. Sure, she liked what she had done for a job; killing had been good for her. She had not yet failed in it, and had decided long ago that she got some sort of pleasure from it.

Being part of an organized group, however, had dragged her down as far as she was concerned. Being forced to obey the rules and go with what she was told and no more or less than that had never gone over very well with her, and she had been planning to leave for quite some time.

Then this had happened, with a stroke of good luck for her. With the team out of the way, she could do what she wanted without worrying about anyone getting in her way.

She had been taken in with a group of loyal Rockets who apparently didn’t suspect anything. Felicity believed that if she could listen in on what these people were doing and benefit from it. If they were planning to do something, she would know, and would be able to find out and possibly stop them.

While she was glad that the Rockets had been busted, she had been disappointed by the results of the trial. It was true that Giovanni was in jail, but to her that wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough…

So what she planned to do was to walk into the jail, shoot him, and run out. Or something along those lines. Once there was no more Boss, there would be no more team at all.

Grinning, she tightened her grip on the glass. After she killed Giovanni, why not kill the others? After all, then there would be no more problems from them, and the Rockets would be out for good.

Reflecting back on that morning, she remembered the letter from Giovanni. She remembered the gleam in the eyes of the others when it had been read that they were to reorganize the team. In fact, she had almost seen them recreating that smothering team…

Seeing all this, she had felt an unusual bolt of panic, the kind that came with realization. This had only lasted for a moment, though, because she had been hit by the idea of ruining them before they restarted at that very moment.

Yes, she would ruin them. She would kill them all, starting with that bitch Trae. After all, she had nothing to fear from them. Every one was too jumpy or worried, and would make a mistake if they tried to do something about her. The whole team had been like that. There were very few people she feared, and she hadn’t seen any of them in quite some time. Thank God for that.

As the music continued to drift over the room, Felicity moved a piece of ice around her mouth, still thinking. “They won’t resist me,” she thought. “Because they don’t see it coming.”

And she supposed this was true, because no one had acted as though she were against them. They treated her like a fellow Rocket, despite the fact that she was going to betray them…

“It’s all so magical,” she muttered than laughed out loud. A couple of people who were sitting nearby looked at her, then shrugged, looked away, and said nothing.

“People…” Felicity thought, her eyes grinning. “Are trusting. And trust is something that’ll help on my side…”

Looking up at the clock, she realized that the time was about midnight. Not that she cared. They wouldn’t either. She could stay out as late as she wanted and no one would find I strange or suspicious.

All of the others were too busy worrying to have fun, or to even get out. They were all inside, twitching their noses like frightened cats… “As they should be,” her mind laughed, and she snickered silently.

Everything that was happening seemed quite amusing to her, for some reason, but that didn’t matter.

What really mattered, what counted, was that she was smart, that she was swift and silent. What mattered was that she could kill them all off before one of them even blinked.

The blond-haired young woman found this strangely hilarious. As she stood there, leaning against the black marble wall, she knew she could go out with her plan, and knew she would.

“After all, there’s no point in living if you can’t feel alive,” she muttered, than burst out laughing.

This time, people did look and stare at her, afraid. Because the laughter that escaped her throat was icy, laced with contempt and a sadistic iciness. Those who heard it felt chills strangle at them for a moment, and they quickly turned around. Many assumed that she was insane, while others assumed she had had a few too many good drinks.

Whatever the case was, no one questioned her, all too afraid to move. Instead, they turned back toward the stage, trying to mind their own business.

Felicity didn’t really care either way.

Chapter 15

Giovanni sighed heavily, shaking his head in absent motions. Swirling around mysteriously, the deep veil of darkness that encircled him, shrouding the mixed misery and subtle hope he felt stirring inside of him.

So Geoffrey was going to try and get him out. One of the main thoughts sliding through his mind was about his brother. Had he gone insane? Why was he suddenly trying to help?

After all, neither of them had gotten along since Geoffrey had left after his graduation. With a slight shudder, Giovanni felt the piercing horrors of that night, in the form of both words and discoveries.

“Not brother…” he muttered absently, hardly realizing he was even doing it. “Half brother.”

Somehow, saying it hurt even more than thinking about it, and he cringed back against the grimy wall of the cell, than leaned forward quickly. The cell was far from clean, though it didn’t seem important to him.

Everything seemed surreal, in fact. The whole concept of reality itself seemed lost to him. Nothing was going the way it should have been, as far as he knew. It was all a jumbled mass of confusion to him.

How could it all be so confusing? It seemed to him that nothing possible could be; yet it was. There he was, in jail. Most of the agents were in jail. And his brother had come to get him out.

“What in the hell is going on?” his mind screamed, though he managed to control himself from yelling out loud. Yelling wouldn’t have gone over too well; he was already at bad ends with the others in the jail. Waking them up in the middle of the night would’ve been a sort of death wish.

How was Geoffrey going to get him out, anyway? The whole place was guarded. He guessed that the only way out would be by some sort of brute force or trick, but what sort would work?

“Well, what if I did get out?” he thought, and another thought hit him hard.

What then? The police would be after him the second they realized that he was missing, and they would undoubtedly find him, since people were willing to talk.

What did Geoffrey expect to obtain from it anyway? Giovanni’s mind kept turning this question over and over, though it did no good. His brother had testified for him, putting quite a bit on the line.

So didn’t that mean he expected something? Of course, it had to.

Despite what the large part of his mind insisted, a smaller part felt differently. Geoffrey wasn’t stupid; he always seemed to know what to expect. So of course he would know that nothing could be gained.

Another quality Geoffrey had was that he took risks. Deep in his mind, Giovanni knew this was one of those risks. He knew there was a reason behind Geoffrey’s actions, but couldn’t find it, no matter how hard he tried.

“I’ll find out anyway,” he thought, and decided to push the thoughts aside.

For the first time that night, it actually worked. The whole question about Geoffrey was shoved away. Unfortunately, it was replaced by more thoughts.

This time they were about someone else, someone he longed to see… This time, the thoughts centered on Ashley.

Ashley, with her seemingly unending kindness. Ashley, with her silky auburn hair, and her glowing eyes. Ashley, with her warm smile and her caressing hands. Ashley, the woman he had married what seemed like a lifetime ago, and had lost much too soon.

These thoughts brought a strange tremor to him, but he let them stay, running around and over him, bringing recognition back into his mind. As his mind drifted back, he felt a strange sensation of disconnection from the world, which he ignored purposefully.

First his mind fell back to his graduation, which had been, incidentally, hers. They had known each other since they were freshmen, had, in fact, been boyfriend and girlfriend since they had been sophomores. On that night, they had truly fallen in love. He knew they had, he had felt it like an electric spark.

After they had attended a party filled with tearful goodbyes of friends, he had taken her back to her house, and they had sat on the bench swing in her back yard, holding hands and nuzzling each other contentedly. Ashley had looked into his eyes and asked a question, probably one that she had hoped for a good answer too. “What’s the one thing you want to keep with you forever?” she had asked in her sweet voice.

“Thing isn’t the word I would use, honey,” he smiled slightly. “I want you beside me for the rest of my life.”

They had both smiled, than she had simply exclaimed, “Giovanni! I want you, too!”

With that, he had kissed her, and they had stayed outside for a long time, reluctant to leave each other.

Giovanni found himself back in the cell in a flash, and his eyes looked around slowly at the dark, grimy walls encompassing him. He moved his left foot slightly, and heard the gritty grains of sand underneath rub against each other.

Inside of the dark and lonely prison, such a contrast to that moonlit night, Giovanni felt a swell of emotions burst inside of him. For the first time since he had became the head of the Rockets, he wondered why he had done what he had done. At that moment, he felt as if he would rather die than be trapped with his emotions.

Chapter 16

Sighing deeply, Geoffrey took another sip of the drink in front of him. He had absolutely no clue what it was, only that he had poured it, it had a slightly bitter taste, and it was starting to take effect. That basically left for any alcoholic beverage.

Not that it mattered to him. Whatever it was, it was helping, or so it seemed. He knew that drinking wasn’t the best thing to do, especially when in deep confusion or depression, but what the hell did he care?

“Not like anyone would care if I did die,” he muttered thickly, half from exhaustion, partly from confusion, partly from being sick of his life, and partly from the drink.

Taking another drink, he rubbed his temple roughly with his left hand in an attempt to ward off the headache that had been plaguing him. “Great,” part of his mind spoke. “Ward off a headache by creating a hangover. S-mart. That’ll really work..”

Then again, as far as he was concerned, a headache from the alcohol would be better than the one from life. Headaches from life seemed to strike twice as fast, and there was no way of getting rid of them.

He’d been getting a lot of those in his lifetime. Well, comparatively he had, especially lately. The headaches had started after Mable had died…

Mable. Her very name brought both light and sadness into Geoffrey’s mind, and he moaned at the conflicting emotions. Still, he could remember her, his wife… She had been beautiful, and had retained a nature so kind, so gentle that it had affected everyone around her, always in a good way.

She had been one of those women who would brighten up everyone’s day, who would stop and help if someone needed it. She had always been there, ready to work, willing to do what was needed. It was Mable that had always been in control of them, he realized, and it was Mable who had taken real care of the kids…

The kids, another touchy subject. Only they didn’t come with many good feelings, because he had done a horrible thing to them. After Mable had died, he had been unable to take the pain of it himself, let alone bear the tears of the kids. He remembered this with painful clarity, and took another sip.

Less than a year after Mable’s death, he had left the kids with a woman who he still paid to watch over them, though never personally. He preferred to stay away from that, keeping away from what he had left…

God, he hadn’t seen them in eight years. Gary and May. He wondered without the least bit of humor what they were doing, and suddenly wanted to know, and wanted to know very badly.

Why did he want to know so badly? The thought hadn’t crossed his mind in years. In fact, he didn’t think it had ever crossed his mind. And, suddenly, he realized why. Even through the depressing clouds of the alcohol, he knew why he hadn’t thought of them.

He had been busy with his job, working for the government. He had had something to do, always had something to do, and had never stopped to think about what he had done.

And, now that he had lost his job, the past was returning to haunt him. It was returning, and he had a strong feeling that it wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard he tried to make it. There was simply no way of stopping it from its course.

Sitting in the small kitchen of his small ‘house’, Geoffrey realized what he had done, and what he must’ve done to the kids. He had left them without parents, with a woman they had never known. With any luck they were used to her, but she wasn’t their mother… And their father wasn’t there.

In fact, he had abandoned them. “Jesus Christ…” he muttered, shaking his head firmly.

What would Mable have thought of him for doing hat? She certainly wouldn’t have hated him, Mable wasn’t that kind of woman, but she would’ve made it known that she disagreed. Mable had her ways, and Mable wouldn’t have liked it.

Hell, Mable would’ve stopped loving him.

“Why did I do it…?” he moaned painfully, feeling the sadness stabbing ferociously at his heart. “Why?”

No answer came to him besides pain. He had left the kids to live in their own pain because he couldn’t handle it. “I don’t even rate being a decent parent,” he snapped his eyes shut as fast as someone who has been affected by alcohol can. “I’m a God-damned bastard, and that’s the truth.”

And, unfortunately, it was. Another bad memory hit him like a bolt of lightening, this one hurting as much as, maybe even worse than, the others. He remembered the night it had happened…

It had been the night of his graduation, which had also been, coincidentally, his birthday, and he had been having a great time. Back in high school, he had just been a regular guy, athletic, with a nice-looking future, and a great girlfriend. After a wild party with his old friends, Geoffrey had returned home only to find his father, the God-damned Professor, waiting for him.

He remembered the sneer on his father’s face, remember the dread he had immediately felt replace the joy of the night’s events. The Professor had looked up at him and spoke quite easily, “I’m going to tell you something.” Beneath the sly look, however, Geoffrey saw a kind of regret, one he had never seen in the man’s face.

“What?” he had remained standing in the doorway to the living room.

“It’s about your mother.”

“What?” he had been astounded. His mother had disappeared years before, many years before, and hadn’t been heard from since. “Maria?”

“No,” the man shook his head sadly, and at that moment Geoffrey remembered thinking that he had looked almost twenty years older. “Agatha.”

“Agatha?!?” Geoffrey had nearly screamed, but tried to remain calm, telling himself that it was a joke. Then again, he had remembered, the Professor had never really been the joking type with him.

“Yes, Agatha Rocke,” the older man had taken a deep breath, and then began. “Before Maria and I married, I was in love with Agatha. After we married, I couldn’t stand being away from her, so I went to her again. We, uh… we had a very passionate night, and the result was that she became pregnant,” he had looked up, but Geoffrey was standing still, too shocked to say anything. “The result of that was that you were born. Agatha wasn’t too happy, and said that if Maria and I kept you as our son, she would promote me as a great professor. She is, after all, a very influential woman. Maria wasn’t very happy, but she stuck with it. She didn’t agree to the terms, either. Neither of us was allowed to tell you what had happened until your eighteenth birthday, so I tell you today,” he had paused and looked up again, but received only a single word of response.

“No…” Geoffrey had murmured vaguely.

“Yes, it’s all true,” the Professor had nodded. “I wish I could say differently, because after Giovanni was born, she left, saying she couldn’t take it anymore. So, in short, I suppose I’ll just say that your real mother is Agatha of the Elite.”

Geoffrey remembered staring straight at his father for five minutes before speaking, and when he finally spoke, he had been so extremely angry that he hadn’t been able to control himself. “So what you’re saying is that I’m a BASTARD?” he had yelled angrily, and the Professor had stood up quickly.

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” he snapped. “And you needn’t take it so hard!”

“I shouldn’t take it so hard? I shouldn’t take it so HARD?” Geoffrey had screamed back even louder than before. “What am I SUPPOSED to do? Just go along with it? Like nothing happened? Any respect I ever had for you is GONE!”

What had followed was basically a contest between the two of them to see who could yell loudest, and who could come up with the most profanities. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity but in reality been about forty-five minutes, Geoffrey had shoved some of his possessions into a suitcase and left, never to return.

It had all happened so quickly, so damn quickly… Just as everything else in his life. It seemed that whenever his life looked to be getting better, he hit a cliff, and dropped off, plunging into the depths of despair.

Swallowing the rest of the drink, Geoffrey sat the glass down on the table and shook his head slowly as the images around him blurred slightly. “Why do I bother?”

Chapter 17

Matt sat on the tan couch that had been positioned against the wall in the living room, leaning against the back and relaxing. The quite solitude he was in held an iron-like coldness to it, but he didn’t mind or notice. Instead, he was thinking, thinking in the depths of his mind about whatever would approach.

Something wasn’t right with the little group of ex-Rockets, he had decided that from the moment Mike had mentioned Felicity’s name. It wasn’t knowledge, just intuition, strong intuition. He had felt the doubt of the place when the name was mentioned, had felt the pressure in it.

What that ‘something’ was wasn’t quite clear to him, but he expected it had something to do with the young woman. He wanted to find out, and found that he was in fact determined to find out, because if something went wrong, it could cave in and trap all of them.

All of them including Ginger. And he couldn’t stand for that; he just couldn’t let anything happen to her. After all, he had promised that he would watch out for her until things smoothed out.

Usually, he reflected, she was a smart girl, quickly understanding and determining what was to be done about a situation. That mental readiness had earned her standing on the team. Apparently, though, the edge had been dulled by the events that had been occurring, and Ginger wasn’t as alert as always.

If she wasn’t alert, she was more liable to trip on one of those ‘holes’ by making a slight mistake or miscalculation, and be brought down. He’d seen it happen to perfectly good agents. It was terrible, and he wasn’t about to let it happen here.

Not to any of them, if he could help it.

The silence around him sat in the stagnant air, as if waiting to be interrupted. Matt didn’t notice, or just plain didn’t care. His eyes stared blankly across the room, and when a few strands of his hair fell forward toward his forehead, he left them there.

He knew that he could be putting himself in danger by staying in the house, knew that just as he had known there was a danger nearby. Thinking deeper, however, he felt a strange intuition that he would be harmed some other way than physically…

Shaking his head roughly, the young man dismissed the thoughts. There was too much to do to be worrying incessantly. He’d leave that shit to Trae.

If anything was to be done about the team, organization would be required, as well as cooperation from more people than he had to work with. He knew it could be done; of course it was definitely possible. And he was willing to work for it.

He had a feeling, judging by the work that these agents had put in, they wanted the team to band together, too. Why else would they be bothering to help the trial?

Sitting in the dead of night, he didn’t even realize that there was someone else in the room until she spoke up. “Matt?”

Raising his head quickly, Matt saw Shadow standing in the doorway to the room, her fiery blue eyes tinted with sleeplessness and her brown-blond hair disarranged. She walked into the room with a sort of half-tired walk, than sat down in a chair across from him.

“Shadow,” he had tried to make it something besides a statement, but that’s what it came out as. It seemed to him that most of his questions came out as statements. “You’re still awake.” With a slight bit of anger, he nearly hit himself for doing it again.

“Yeah,” she sighed, nodded her head, and leaned back with a dull grunt. “Sleep just doesn’t seem to want to come to me tonight.”

Laughing slightly, he nodded. “Same here.”

They stared across at each other for a few moments before Shadow broke the encompassing silence. “So… how’s it been?”

Matt raised an eyebrow slightly, sensing an underlying question. Shadow was trying to get at something else, and he figured he knew what it was. She wanted to know he was here. “Might as well let her ask you herself,” part of his mind spoke, but he ignored it, going by his instincts once more.

“If you mean ‘why am I here,’ you can just ask me,” he spoke with his usual soft tone, but realized he was treating her like his ‘patients’ again.

“Uh, yeah, I guess I was getting to that…” Shadow appeared only slightly startled, although there was a look of annoyance beneath her.

“Look, Shadow, I’m sorry,” Matt sighed deeply. “It’s just that I can’t seem to talk to anyone without going into that interrogation phase.”

“Anyone except Ginger,” Shadow grinned broadly, and snickered. Matt joined in, nodding.

“Yeah, except Ginger.”

For a few moments they once again just sat in the silence, beginning to enjoy its warm gentleness. Then it was broken again, this time by Matt. “I suppose I should tell you the reason I’m here.”

“You really don’t have to…” she began, shaking her head to that the tousled hair whipped around her eyes.

“I will anyway,” he spoke with resolve. “I came here because, well, you’re going to need some help getting the team together…”

“How’d you know about that” Shadow suddenly, surprising Matt slightly.

“Know about what?” he asked, without the faintest idea of what she was referring to. “I had be guessing that you were trying to get together again.” He paused for a moment, waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, he continued. “Apparently, I was correct.”

“Yeah… you just startled me there,” she looked up again, and this time the smile was gone. “Before he was sent to prison, Giovanni gave Dan a letter where he told us that he wanted us to rebuild the team, and knew it could be done.”

Matt nodded. “Yes… did he say anything else?”

“Not much that I can remember,” Shadow shook her head.

“Do you have it?” the look on Matt’s face was eager.

“No…” the girl considered for a moment, than her face brightened. “Ginger took it.”

“Of course, how stupid can I be,” he shook his head and rolled his eyes at himself.

“Realllllllll stupid,” Shadow laughed quietly, and Matt managed a mock snarl at her.

“Look who’s talking.”

This caused her to break into louder bursts of giggling, and he just looked over at her. At least one of them seemed to be handling the situation well. She was getting along fine with what was happening, dealing with it in her own way. It was an admirable trait, and one that could be useful for a high position on a team…

“Matt?” Shadow was looking at him, still smiling.

“Yeah?”

“Good night,” she started upstairs, than looked back. “And thanks.”

“Night,” he waved to her as she walked out, than laughed at himself.

The whole reason she had been downstairs was to see if he knew anything, he could tell right away. She wanted to help the team, that much was clear. That much was good, too.

“Now if the rest of them will…” he thought, than stood up and stretched.

It was going to be a long night, he realized, and he wasn’t going to get any sleep. After he was sure of that, he headed out of the room, and to the staircase.

He walked slowly up the old wooden stairs, making as little noise as possible. The silence was once again ensuing upon the house, and he breed quietly with it. When he had reached the top, he walked down the hall to the large double doors, and opened them again.

Moonlight streamed through the window in soft, pale beams, landing on Ginger’s bed. She lay on it, still sleeping, though she had apparently been restless as the blankets were crumpled. Matt looked at her for at least a minute, though it seemed to his mind like only seconds, letting his eyes run through her thick, silky hair and over her pale skin.

With an effort, he managed to pull himself away and walk across the soft carpet to the large desk. Lying upon it were several objects scattered about. There was a book that he discarded his sight from immediately as unimportant, a glass paperweight, the dagger he had given her for her birthday two years before, and, next to the knife, a folded up piece of paper.

Quickly, he reached for it, opened it, and read the top line quietly in the large room. “To Ginger, Shadow, Daniel, Michael, Felicity, Trae, and any other faithful Rocket…” he looked up momentarily, the moonlight seeping into his deep eyes. “This is it.”

While he stood in the back of the room, he read the letter by moonlight, than folded it up and replaced it carefully where he had found it. So it was all true, Giovanni had spoken to revitalize the team, had even spoken for the need of a new boss.

Turning back towards the door, he started out of the room, than stopped and looked back at the bed. Ginger had begun to shake her head against the covers, though he was certain she was still asleep. “Don’t do it…” she was muttering thickly, and he listened with concern as well as a slight interest. “Please, don’t, you can’t… DAMNIT NO!!!!!”

Matt felt something inside of him freeze with the words, and realized that something in what she had said had managed to freak him, or at least part of him, out. There was a deep passion in those words, even though they had only been sleep talk, and for a moment he wondered if she would continue.

When she fell silent, he shook his head slightly. Of course they hadn’t meant anything, he was foolish to believe so.

“I didn’t want to go…” she murmured with finality, causing him to turn his head, and sigh.

“I really hope it didn’t mean anything,” he shook his head and slipped silently out the door.

Chapter 18

Felicity strode through the cold air, barely feeling the chill of it.

While in the café she had found an idea in the back of her mind, a way to start a possibly catastrophic chain of events.

She had first realized that what she wanted was to kill, plain and simple. To kill those fools who called themselves Rockets, even if it meant danger.

Felicity could live with danger, and she knew it. She was fine living in a world where, at any minute, she could be shot or cut open. For her it was a game.

As she neared the house, it occurred to her that she could be killed easily. One slip-up and she was done for. One slip-up, and it would be her loss, her death. These thoughts were easily pushed aside by her hardened mind, and she continued on without stopping.

She felt a shiver of excitement. The house was in sight, and she could see the door. Straining her eyes slightly, she could also see something else. It was a black car, parked in the driveway.

Something about the car struck her as familiar, and as she approached it she realized why. The car belonged to Matthew Berchack, an agent she had known somewhat, and one she considered dangerous.

There was a light on in the living room, and before she knew it Felicity had already put together the two. Matt was probably sitting up in the living room, waiting for something, probably for her. She didn’t put it past him to know something like that.

Stepping into the cool, uncut grass, the young woman looked at the front door, discarding it as a way of entrance immediately. If Matt were in the front room, he’d have questions. Questioning wasn’t something Felicity had time for, and she knew it.

Instead she headed around the house, stopping at the kitchen window. The window had been open last time she checked… It had been, in fact, her that opened it. Once when she had gone out, no one had unlocked the door to let her in, and she had been forced to wait outside.

After that, she had unlocked the window, hoping no one would notice and lock it.

As she shoved the window up, she realized with a sort of relief she barely noticed that it would open, and looked inside.

There was no sign of life in the kitchen. The lights were out, the counter was clean, even the coffee pot wasn’t running. Smiling grimly, she slipped in through the window, crouching on the counter, and closing the window behind her.

Sliding off the counter with cat-like agility, she hit the floor silently, than turned to look at where she had come in, considered for a moment, than locked the window. As she looked away, she saw that she had left dirty footprints on the counter. “Have fun cleaning that, Trae,” she laughed shortly, than remembered that she wasn’t going to give the bitch a chance to do that.

Silently, she crept out of the kitchen. She peered down the hall momentarily, and though she heard no movement from the other room, she was convinced Matt was in there, waiting. “He won’t have long to wait…” she thought. With that, she set up the stairs, avoiding the squeaky boards.

The hall was lit by a moonbeam, a soft light that conveyed a sense of peacefulness. A sense that would soon be broken, or so Felicity hoped. There wasn’t much in her life she had hoped for, so she often forgot there was such a thing. When she felt it, though, she knew she had to do it.

It was a force, pulling her toward her goal, helping her to strain ever forward, to work for what she could. There was a sort of need in hope, she had discovered, at least when hope is rarely felt.

At that moment, standing in the dusty hall, she felt hope for what she was going to do to come out right, and felt compelled to make it work out, no matter what.

She walked to the nearest door on the left and pulled it open slowly. It squeaked slightly, and she cringed at the noises, half-fearing that Trae would awaken, than relaxed as she heard a faint snore float from the bed.

“She’d probably sleep through a storm,” Felicity laughed to herself, but inside she hoped it wasn’t true.

What she intended to give the girl was a storm, a storm of her own. And she wanted Trae to be awake and conscious for it.

Slinking across the room, Felicity stood by the bed and looked down at the former scientist. Trae looked as though she had passed out, would’ve even fooled Felicity if she hadn’t been snoring so loud.

With a sly smile, Felicity reached beneath her unbuttoned top shirt, feeling the gun in its holster. It was a revolver, an almost ridiculously loud piece of weaponry, but a painful one.

Besides, she wanted the others to see her. If they saw, they would follow. If they followed, she could kill. And kill was, again, what she wanted.

“Hey, Trae, rise and shine,” Felicity chirped happily.

The girl simply rolled over slightly, completely unaware that there was a woman standing by the edge of her bed, a woman who was becoming completely insane.

“Trae, we don’t like sleepyheads,” she half-hissed, and again received no response.

“Wake up!” she reached out and held Trae’s nose between two of her fingers tightly, squeezing off the air supply.

“What in the world?” Trae bolted up, only to find herself looking into Felicity’s icy eyes.

“Your world is coming to an end,” Felicity laughed, pointing the gun at Trae’s leg and shooting.

The shot was loud, deafening, almost, and Felicity heard the sound of footsteps coming. Almost time to go…

Trae was writhing in pain, feeling an anguish she had never known. Her leg had become nothing but a glob of oozing blood, dripping onto the bed in satin-colored drops, and she alternated between grabbing it, picking her hands up and seeing the blood, and screaming.

“Goodnight,” the older girl raised the gun.

“Why?” Trae stammered, straining to make her speech legible. These words, her last words, were choked and afraid.

“Because I felt like it,” Felicity shrugged, and pulled the trigger.

This time, Trae’s forehead disappeared in a thick cloud of red blood. The girl fell forward, strange croaking sounds emitting from her throat as blood poured over the bed.

The woman walked calmly over to the large window and slammed the butt of her gun into it, shattering the thick glass. “She was foolish to have real glass…” her mind ignored the fact that they hadn’t even had the house long enough to replace the windows.

As she was slipping the gun into its holster, the door swung open, and the group of her old ‘friends’ stood there, led by Matt. “Felicity…” one, she thought it was Dan, gasped. “What happened?”

“Oh, you know…” she turned around. “Murder.”

She heard someone drag out a gun as she leapt out of the window, but ignored it. When she saw Dan’s face in the window, she saluted, than headed for the sidewalk.

“Now if they’ll follow me…” she thought gleefully. For her, it was a good night, and she guessed that they would.

Chapter 19

Geoffrey slammed the door of his car shut loudly, not caring if anyone heard and doubting anyone would. Who in their right mind would be hanging around a police station at night?

Raising his head, he felt a slight twinge left over from the morning’s hangover, but ignored it and instead looked at the low, brick building in front of him. There were no windows, and only one door. That meant there was only one way in and one way out.

If he could do it, could actually get away with it, he’d walk out through that door. If he couldn’t, he’d be arrested immediately… That was the bad part of breaking into jail cells. There was always the inconvenience of having police in the building.

Hopefully, the man on duty would be unprepared for what was about to happen, and would be unable to stop it from progressing.

The man looked up towards the sky for a moment while part of his mind made a last-ditch effort to talk him out of it. It didn’t work, though; his mind was set on going for it. He was as ready as he’d ever be, and he knew it.

“God help me… for once,” he muttered to the chill night air, than started forward.

His feet slapped onto the dry, gritty pavement, making a slight grinding noise that sounded unpleasant to Geoffrey. He set his jaw, shook his head, and ignored the noise. Nothing was going to stop him, especially not the little things.

As he reached out to grab the doorknob, he felt a slight sort of jolt and dropped his hand. Was it fear? He could feel beads of sweat on his brow, but felt that they were from anxiety.

No, it was more than likely his mind acting up. “Took it long enough to find me,” he thought without humor, than entered the building.

Once again, the lights were dim, and visibility was low. It struck Geoffrey that the guard could be armed, but he didn’t care after all, and walked over to the man. With a strange sort of relief he found that it was the man who had been in last time.

“Can I help you?” the man was once again looking through a hunting brochure.

“Yeah, I’d like the keys to the jail cells,” Geoffrey replied casually, keeping any fear out of his voice.

“Ha, ha, ha, very funny,” the man sounded as if he were in no mood for jokes at the moment. “Seriously, pal.”

“Yeah, I’m serious all right.”

“Don’t make me use this,” the guard patted the butt of a gun protruding from his drawer.

“I won’t,” Geoffrey suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the guard by the neck with both hands. The man’s eyes bulged from their sockets, and he clawed at Geoffrey, screaming as best he could with a half-closed windpipe.

Geoffrey felt himself starting to feel sick, than reminded himself that the alternative was to be shot. He has started, now he had to finish. If he didn’t, he’d be in jail too, and that wouldn’t really be of any help at all.

The screams had died down into half-assed whimpers, and the clawing had become occasional slaps at the air. Geoffrey felt as if he were watching a dog trying to swim in slow motion. A dog that had been thoroughly abused.

There was a look of shock and horror in the man’s eyes as he began to go limp. They were wide, disbelieving. What the others had warned him about had happened, and he hadn’t been ready. He was paying for it.

Geoffrey felt a slight pang of pity as he dropped the man to the floor, and another of guilt, but again he shoved them aside and looked over the desk. After shuffling through the large amount of papers, nearly all of them junk, he realized they weren’t there, and started opening drawers.

In the first there was the gun, a typical police handgun. He picked it up, looked it over, than tossed it back down. The thing was a piece of shit, and would probably misfire anyway.

Beneath that drawer was a stack of thick files in manila envelopes. After a quick look at those, he tossed them back in, than shut the drawer again.

As he was reaching for the bottom drawer, he somehow stepped on the arm of the guard’s limp body, and nearly fell to the ground before he caught himself. Once again he was faced with the silent horror, a horror that he felt he knew, but wasn’t sure and didn’t want to be sure.

He reached for the bottom drawer and, thankfully, found the keys. He picked them up, examining them in the light. There were twelve in all, each with a number engraved on it.

“Let’s see, he’s in number eleven…” Geoffrey ran his hands over the keys, stopping to look at some of the numbers. When he had finally found numbers eleven, he headed back for the cell.

The hallway between the cells was covered with a layer of dust, and as he headed down it Geoffrey realized that he was grateful for the set-up of the lighting. From various cells came various remarks by the men and women inside, including phrases of encouragement.

Yes, they had heard what had happened, and had guessed the results. He figured that if the police asked any of them, they’d say someone attacked the guard. Fortunately, they didn’t know what he looked like. He was safe on that aspect.

After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the cell. He turned to face it, than placed the key in the lock and shoved the gate open. “It’s time to get the hell out of here.”

From inside the cell came the sound of footsteps, and in the next moment Giovanni stood facing him. “Geoffrey?”

Geoffrey simply nodded, not feeling he needed to say anything, than rubbed the keys on the jacket of his suit coat. “Better safe than sorry,” he thought, though there were probably so many prints already on the ring it wouldn’t matter.

Giovanni stepped out of the cell, not bothering to look around. Even after his stay at the jail, he held an air of confidence, of being ready for whatever would come. His black eyes turned towards the desk, and, Geoffrey guessed, spotted the man.

“You killed him,” it wasn’t a question, but felt as though it needed an answer anyway.

“Yes, now let’s get out of here,” he knew he was impatient to leave, and truthfully didn’t care. He felt that if they stayed any longer, the chance that they’d be caught would be even greater.

“Right,” Giovanni’s voice faltered slightly, and he coughed uncomfortably. “I, uh… well… Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Geoffrey started down the hall, and his brother, or half-brother, as he reminded himself, followed. He knew Giovanni wasn’t good at being gracious, it happened when you ran a criminal business.

They were standing outside of the door when Geoffrey looked back at Giovanni. “Stay here for a moment.”

The other man looked up with a slight bit of what may have been concern, than shrugged. “All right.”

Geoffrey nodded, than strode over to his car. Reaching in, he pulled out a set of clothes, one of his suits. He had figured they’d come in handy. Normally people got suspicious when they saw someone wearing prison clothes.

He quickly walked back over to Giovanni and handed him the clothes. “Take these.”

With a nod, Giovanni headed back inside, and Geoffrey leaned against the wall to wait. He still couldn’t believe he had done it…

He didn’t regret it, though. Strange as it seemed to him, he was glad he had done what he did.

Giovanni pulled the door to the small bathroom shut, than leaned against it slowly, his eyes widening, than closing.

He couldn’t believe, couldn’t accept what had just happened. He had been broken out of jail by his brother, the brother he hated, had hated since… Well, since he had left.

Giovanni remembered that night, remembered it with a clarity that nearly matched the memories of Ashley. It had been the fight between his father and his brother… the one that had ended in Geoffrey leaving and never returning. Geoffrey had never even said goodbye, never tried writing or calling afterwards.

He himself hadn’t found out why Geoffrey had been so angry until two years after, when his dad finally found the courage to tell him. Once that had happened he had understood, but he had never quite forgiven Geoffrey for leaving him with Edward Oak.

What had happened that night had changed things slightly. Once again, and to the disgust of part of him, he found himself admiring his half-brother. He always had, he guessed it was something most younger siblings did. He didn’t like it much, but it was there.

What Giovanni knew was that he could stand to be civil with Geoffrey, to at least try and respect his feelings. Part of him said it couldn’t be done, not after the amount of time he’d gone without respect for nearly everyone. Another part, though, a deeper, more understanding part, knew he could do it easily.

With a certain amount of resolve, he decided to go through with it, to see what would happen. There were alternatives, but he knew what most of them led to, for him at least.

At the moment, he preferred not to think about it.

He took off the prison clothing, sighing with relief for the first time. Just having the itchy clothing off was good enough for him, at least for the moment.

Realizing the urgency of the situation, though, he pulled on the clothing, finding that it was black. It was also a bit too big for him, but he’d expected it, since Geoffrey was at least three inches taller than he was.

He smoothed back his hair as best he could, but it was hard. There wasn’t much to do with it. Running a bit of water into his hair, he rubbed it in, hoping it helped a bit, than exited the room.

When he walked out, Geoffrey was sitting in the car, waiting. He walked over and slid into the passenger’s side, uneasy about what was to come. He was relieved when, without a word, Geoffrey started the car and pulled out of the lot.

One question kept nagging at him, though, and he decided to ask before he found out for himself. To him, knowing what was coming was better than not knowing until you get there.

“Where are we going?”

Geoffrey looked at him out of the corner of his eye, than shook his head. “You’ll see when we get there.”

“Geoff…” Giovanni started to take on the tone he used with his employees, than stopped himself.

“Remember, he’s helping…” his mind insisted.

“Maybe it’s all a lie,” another part put in, but he pushed that aside easily. He’d seen his brother when he lied, and this wasn’t it. He’d seen his brother when he was trying to do something for someone, and this was that time. Still, he wanted to know.

“Why can’t you tell me?”

“You’ll see when we get there,” Geoffrey’s tone was clipped, conveying that he wouldn’t answer the questions.

Giovanni found himself feeling like a kid, decided he didn’t like it, nearly yelled at Geoffrey, than leaned back and clenched his teeth together.

He hated when people were stubborn, he hated when people talked. For the moment, he decided that he wouldn’t talk, and it’d be better if he didn’t.

As the car sped through the night, he found, with some relief that he could keep from speaking.

Chapter 20

Dan’s eyes widened as he watched the woman run away into the night, leaving behind her a devastating sight. She was headed for town, he observed with a start of horror. The town, where she could do even worse…

What he had seen in her eyes had she had saluted was a madness, one he had never seen before. From what he knew it was uncontrollable, even by the person afflicted. The only other part he knew was that the person would become dangerously violent.

He turned around slowly, his mind spilling with thought. He didn’t want to be stuck in this, didn’t want to be in anything remotely like it. Unfortunately, he was, and he knew he should’ve seen it coming. After all, he had volunteered to help.

The first thing his eyes caught was Trae’s dead body, sprawled on the reddening bed sheets, and the splatter on the wall behind her, as well as the bullet hole from the shot that had hit her in the head.

Almost immediately the young man turned away, holding back a wave of vomit, and looked at the others. Shadow’s face had gone white, and he half-glided over to her, putting his hand on hers.

“Dan, she did it, didn’t she?” Shadow’s voice was unsteady, shaking with shock.

“Yes, yes she did.” The girl’s hand’s were shaking terribly, and had turned a white as a sheet. Up until then he had never even thought that was physically possible.

“Are you okay, Shadow?” the concern in his voice ran deep. He felt for her as much as he felt for his own self.

There was no reply. Shadow had looked up and past Dan. Dan followed her line of sight and saw Ginger glancing around, her eyes taking on a hardness he had never seen before. “We need to get her…”

The words hit Dan with an intensity that was almost rage. He wanted to kill Felicity. Never in his life had he wanted death, yet at that moment he did, because she had killed Trae, had killed Trae and insulted all of them…

And she had frightened Shadow, damnit. Scared a girl who hated to show the least bit of fear possible. For that, he wanted Felicity dead.

Shadow wanted to hold Dan closer, wanted to hear him reassure her that everything was all right, wanted to be able to tell him he’d be fine.

She knew that would be a lie, though. It’s make both of them feel better, but it’d be a flat-out lie. That much she knew didn’t need to be added to the mess.

Dan was concerned for her, and he showed it directly. “Why can’t I do the same for him?” her mind buzzed, and she sighed inwardly. Even despite what had happened, her old troubles were plaguing her. She couldn’t go to Dan, kept finding herself turning away.

“Well,” she thought dimly. “At least I didn’t run off when he held my hands.”

Looking down, she realized that he still was. His hands had become bone white, though, and he was clenching hers tightly. Looking into his eyes, she saw a sort of primal hate in them, a hate entirely unlike the Dan she had known.

There, in the depths of his gray-brown eyes, she saw that it was true. He wanted to kill Felicity. He wanted it because of what the woman had done to hurt them… but most of all, what she had done to hurt her.

Inside of his eyes was the hardness of a true Rocket, and she felt a cold chill as she realized that she felt the same way.

Deep inside, down where there was no feeling besides emotion, she felt that Felicity needed to die. She felt it with the same urgency Dan had, and was ready to go… Except that her nature prevailed.

She wanted more information, needed to know what she was getting into before she leapt in and joined the fun. She wasn’t carefree, never had been, and she knew it. However, she also recognized that the trait helped her drastically at times, had even saved her life.

By being informed about what she was going to do, she could make sure the job was done right. With Felicity, she wanted to be absolutely sure.

Turning her head, she once more looked up into Dan’s eyes, feeling herself disconnect from her body slightly, as always. He looked back at her with that loving face. Even with the coldness, the love for her was openly visible.

“Dan…” she finally spoke, and he looked at her. “What are we going to do?”

Matt shoved the gun back in its holster slowly, shaking his head. He had been slow on the draw, and he knew he had. He knew he should have been able to hit her. He also knew he should’ve arrived sooner, should have been more alert. After all, that’s what he’d been there for.

However, he also knew there was no room for should have, no room for what he didn’t do. They needed to focus on what they would do.

He had seen Felicity’s eyes, had seen the fiery power of the insanity. What he knew about the disease was far less limited than what Dan had known, and he realized what they were dealing with.

With a look at Trae, he quickly confirmed what he had suspected about Felicity. The slaughter had a terrible air to it, looking as though she had been shoved through a grinder. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Felicity HAD shoved the girl through a grinder, though he knew damn well what she had done, and that she had used her treasured revolver.

Inside he felt no real pity for Trae, he had never liked her. He knew he should’ve, had often considered why he was so unfeeling when it came down to the deaths of people he felt no connection with. Even in the darkest human souls there is pity for everyone, or so he had been told.

To Matt, that was a bunch of bullshit. A BIG bunch of bullshit. He knew what he felt when people died, or when he killed. He felt absolutely nothing, not even the slightest twinge.

When it came to those he cared about, though… That was a different story. What he didn’t want to see was the remaining group dead. Especially not Ginger, he didn’t know if he could take that blow.

If Felicity was to be stopped, certain measures would have to be taken. To do that, he’d have to talk to everyone before they got out of hand.

Moving his eyes across the room, he saw Dan and Shadow standing together, trying to comfort one another. They loved each other, it wasn’t hard to tell, but he felt a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind, a feeling that something was going to happen to their love, maybe already had.

Mike was standing off to the side, a blank expression of surprise pasted on his face. The shock had surprised him, all right. That much was obvious to anyone who cared to look.

Ginger was looking around rapidly, a growing fury in her eyes. Matt had seen that look before, and knew what usually went with it. It was the same look he’d seen on her face when he had asked about Jessie and James. The expression had been fleeting than, but it was the same one all right.

He had also seen it after a mission one time, when she had found out that an agent had squealed on the team. She had been ready to take care of the man herself, to do the honors of silencing his mouth. Even after they found out it had been a rumor; she had retained that hate for the man.

When he saw that look in the bedroom, and saw the intensity of it, he knew she couldn’t be stopped, knew that whatever she planned on doing would be done. He didn’t want her to go, but, God, there was no way of stopping her…

The only solution was to find a way to stop Felicity. To do that, he’d have to keep himself composed and get the group to listen carefully, and to settle down. Taking a breath, he spoke through the almost deafening silence. “We need to discuss this.”

“Discuss? What’s there to discuss?” Dan sounded disgusted for the first time since Matt had known him. The way he spoke made Matt want to strangle him, but he remained still. The pressure was on all of them, and they were taking it differently. Dan was obviously going to be hard to talk with.

“More than you might think,” Matt managed to retain a level voice, and he eyed them all, daring them to say more.

Ginger dared. “I’m leaving.”

“Ginger!” the words flew out of Matt’s mouth, and were in a tone that expressed more surprise than he liked. He’d known she was going to do it, but when she actually did, he felt a pain inside of him.

A pain that signaled something was going to happen, something was going to go the wrong way. That something was going to backfire.

“Matt, don’t try to stop me, please!” her voice was pleading, and he felt it tugging on his heart.

“Ginger, I can make you stop…” he knew he wouldn’t though. Judging by the expressions of the others, they knew it too.

Shadow offered her help, though Matt figured she knew just as well that it was futile. “Ginger, please stay and listen.”

Ginger shook her head tiredly, and Matt felt a pang of sorrow for her so deep he thought it would well out of him. “I can’t stay, and you know it.”

He did know it, and he had a feeling the others did, too. Ginger felt it inside that she had to go, because Felicity had taken on the Rockets, had threatened them even after the downfall. The hate that lay within that was uncontrollable, something he didn’t dare mess with.

“Good luck, Ginger,” he spoke quietly, but knew they all heard.

Ginger nodded and walked over to him easily, her movement slight and cat-like. When she reached him, she looked into his eyes, and he looked into hers, those emeralds he loved so much.

For a moment she closed her eyes, as if struggling with herself, than embraced him, reaching her arms around his waist and pulling him to her. He hadn’t expected it, but he was glad of it. In those few seconds, he only knew that the two of them were there, holding each other.

“I love you, Ginger,” he heard his own voice from far away, as if it were an echo of someone else, of another time, another world.

“I love you too. Thank you.” The words rang in his ears, and he thought he felt her soul aching as his did.

Than it was over, and she released him. “I must leave now… I hope to see you all again.” Her words sounded strange, metallic almost.

“I’m going with you,” Dan strode forward. “It’s time I took my stand.”

“Dan, no!” Shadow gasped, her hand reaching out for him as he walked towards Ginger.

“I have to. Just as Ginger has to… I must face what I’ve been called for,” his eyes were baring into hers with an expression Matt guessed meant worlds to Shadow.

“Goodbye… and come back,” Shadow’s voice was painful, but she didn’t try to go. It was her nature to know before going, and her need to know came before her need to rush out.

Ginger and Dan walked through the open door and down the hall. Matt felt a part of him clench tightly as they walked down the stairs. He didn’t wanted her to go, everything in him said to keep her back…

But he couldn’t do that, it would be terrible. She had to do what she had to do. As Dan had said, it was destiny.

“Let’s go downstairs and talk,” he motioned out the door as they heard the click of the downstairs door.

“But what about the mess?” Mike spoke in a tone that suggested he was trying unsuccessfully to make a joke, and that he knew it, too.

“We’ll clean it later,” Matt spoke in a matter-of-fact tone that made Mike shiver slightly. “Now let’s get the matter at hand taken care of before anything else happens.

Shadow and Mike looked at each other, nodded, than followed him out into the hall. As they were walking down the stairs, Matt felt the sense of foreboding once more.

Chapter 21

Ginger felt as though her head were pounding mercilessly inside itself, trying to break her up. Tears ate away at the insides of her eyes but refused to come out, and for that she was glad. Better not to have them show, better not to show what she felt.

For the first time in her life, she was afraid. Not shaking, but afraid all the same. After seeing what had happened to Trae, her mind kept bringing up pictures of the others and herself, dead or dying. Involuntarily her mind brought up the various gore-filled pictures, and though she tried to push them away, and to keep them away, they kept returning.

If Felicity had killed once, she could kill again, and Ginger didn’t want to see that happen, not to her friends. Not to Dan, Mike, Shadow… And not to Matt.

For his sake, she hadn’t wanted to leave. There had been a breed of fear in his eyes that was his own, and it was for her. She wasn’t even sure he felt the fear, but it was there as definite as her own fear.

There had been a deep longing, too, the same longing she felt. All she wanted was to sit beside him, to hold him to her, to have him hold her, to have it all be as it had been before.

That was impossible, though, and she knew it. All because of what had happened, the way everything had turned out. They would all be busy rebuilding the team, all be busy watching their backs…

Part of her knew that he’d always be there, though, even when she felt like she’d never be able to see him. Matt would always be waiting when the day was over, waiting to talk, or to simply sit together and relax. Waiting for her.

She didn’t want all of that to be destroyed by a crazy agent and her gun, though. Couldn’t stand to see it all go down. And it could, too. With one shot, one bullet, one pull of the trigger, all of their dreams could be burned, could end in a bloody mess.

What she wanted was to find Felicity before it was too late to do anything, before the woman killed again, killed someone she knew, someone she loved.

Because it hurt to even imagine a scenario without Matt. If he was killed, she felt it inside that she would be dead herself… Maybe not physically, but emotionally.

As she strode quickly down the sidewalk, following the direction Dan had pointed out, she heard her footsteps echo across the deserted street, followed by Dan’s. At midnight, everyone else was sleeping. “How ironic,” she thought. “They’re all resting peacefully while we’re hunting down a mad murderer.”

The thought almost struck her as funny, only the fact that she had just seen the victim of the first murder kept her quite. She had never liked Trae, and had seen people killed, had killed people herself. When she thought of the murder, though, she realized it was unlike any she’d ever seen or been part of. When she had killed, it had been for revenge. Part of her mind continuously told her that it was wrong, that she shouldn’t kill no matter what. She had ignored it, though, always ended up killing anyway.

In the case of Felicity’s murders, though, she saw that there was an emptiness, a wastefulness. There had been no reason for the murder, except that Felicity was insane. She had simply killed Trae. And if she had killed Trae, she’d kill them too. Ginger wanted to find her before that, wanted to wring her neck, stab her with the Veneblade she had taken along…

That was getting ahead, though, and she realized that there was a sort of urgency to stay on guard in the present. Felicity could have been anywhere, hiding, waiting to shoot them both.

Would she kill them in the middle of the city?

Of course she would. In her state of mind, it would be perfectly logical. They’d be ‘taken care’ of, and anyone who walked out of their houses would get one hell of a shock when they walked out to investigate. They’d all see the work of Felicity Bearge. Felicity, who’d be standing by a wall, laughing.

Shaking the thoughts away, Ginger looked over at Dan, who was about half a foot behind her stride. His face was concentrating, probably thinking deep into what was happening. Ginger realized that she wasn’t the only one with a lot on her mind. Dan had apparently been hurt just as bad. In his eyes was a flame that was very unlike him. Usually he was calm, sensitive, and ready to accept what happened while retaining a fair amount of sanity.

What she saw in his eyes was different, though. It was the flames of hate, of merciless anger, of a will to kill. She had seen it before, had seen it in Shadow as she walked out, in fact.

She felt the anger as deeply, and didn’t doubt that the flames showed in her eyes, too. They probably burned with as much or more force than Dan’s, but she didn’t dwell long on that particular subject. The crisp, cool air worked at clearing her mind, but seemed unable to get in. It was blocked by the massive torrent of thoughts she felt inside, twirling around manically. She wanted to give it a chance to clear her mind, to let her think straight, but couldn’t. Every time she tried, the thoughts rushed back in readily, willing to keep tearing at her, hurting her.

Dan hadn’t spoken yet, which did surprise her slightly. Normally he’d have said a lot by that time, would’ve been asking questions nonstop. Hell, he normally wouldn’t have followed her. Maybe there was something to that destiny thing. Some sort of demented truth that lay beneath it. Maybe everything they did was inevitable, that their paths were chosen.

If that was so, than she felt she wanted to know what happened next, and what would happen. Destiny was a fairly new idea for her, Dan and Shadow had brought it up on many occasions. Both seemed to have believed in it firmly, and she was starting to feel a sense of it.

“No,” the part of her mind that remained calm under all circumstances spoke for the first time since the murder. “Don’t think about that.” She didn’t want to, she realized. Didn’t want to believe that there was an unbreakable force that bound their lives, that made them do what they did. She didn’t want to believe that she wasn’t in control of her own life.

So she simply chose not to.

“Ginger?” Dan finally broke the silence, and Ginger felt a strange sense of relief as he spoke, as if everything wasn’t falling apart.

“Yes?”

“Where is she?”

That question had occurred to her. How would they find her if they didn’t know where she had gone. There were thousands of places in Celadon alone that she could hide, not counting the forests and the towns outside of it. It would be virtually impossible to catch her as they were going. “I don’t know. I don’t even know how we’ll find her.” There was silence for a moment as they walked on, than Dan spoke again.

“I feel that we’ll find her. Like we have to… as if it were destiny.” Ginger felt her mind cringe back at the word and finally realized how much she loathed the idea. In the next second she replied back, not thinking about what she was saying. “We’ll find her, all right…” And she did feel that they would find Felicity, felt it in her soul. But she didn’t think it was destiny,. Wouldn’t let herself believe that. So she said what she believed.

“I think she wants to be found. If we don’t find her, she’ll find us.” Dan looked at her, and she looked at back at him for a moment before looking forward again. “I think you’re right…” he sounded afraid, yet somehow ready.

“I know I am.”

Chapter 22

Giovanni stared out the window of the car as it drove through the darkness. They’d been in the car for over half an hour, and he was beginning to wonder exactly what his brother had in mind, and if he was in his right mind.

After all, Geoffrey had never done anything before the trial. What if it was some sort of trick? What if he was taking him in to the people at the agency?

“You idiot,” he chided himself, feeling a growing sensation that he was steadily growing insane. “Why would he take you out of jail to get you to the government?”

Of course he’d been stupid to think that, and he knew it. Still, he couldn’t help wondering. After all, someone who works for the government doesn’t usually help anyone against it, family, friend, or not. And if he was doing this for him, than why? What did he think was in it for him? The question wouldn’t keep from plaguing at Giovanni’s mind, and he snarled inwardly at it. He hating not knowing, hated wondering… There was only one thing to do if he wasn’t going to sit and be quiet. He could sit and ask. Feeling that he could be quiet no longer, he spoke the question that had been engulfing his mind. “Why are you doing this?” Geoffrey didn’t turn, but Giovanni thought he saw something change in his expression. For a moment he didn’t say anything and the silence crept back in. Just when Giovanni was ready to ask again, his brother answered. “For starters, it’s one of the only good things I had left to do.”

For a moment he just stared across the darkness of the car, than Giovanni laughed unwillingly. He hadn’t wanted to, but he found himself unable to contain it. What Geoffrey had said struck him as hilarious, the first humor he’d heard in what seemed like years. This time Geoffrey did look at him, and there was a steel discontentment in his eyes, one that confused Giovanni. He’d never seen his brother like that before, had never seen such an intense look of concentration.

“What’s so funny?”

“Good?” Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

Geoffrey shrugged, turned his head back, and resumed driving in silence. He had closed the matter then and there, at least for the moment. Something HAD happened to Geoffrey, he couldn’t shake that thought. Why else would he be looking like that? He was serious, dead serious, something he’d never been when he was younger.

Of course, a lot had happened since then. More than Giovanni liked to remember, and, he figured, more than Geoffrey liked to remember. And he himself had once had good intentions, had wanted to stay away from anything that would be disapproved of… When his mother had caught up with him, though, all of the good intentions had vanished, and he had taken up her offer immediately.

Her offer had been for him to become the Boss. The head of an organization of criminals who would do what he said, when he said it. It had been irresistible, that idea of power like that. Without thinking, he had plunged into the work.

That was how he had lost her, his wife. That was how Ashley had gone. Why she had gone, the reason she had left him alone… Absently, he rubbed the brass ring on his finger. Though there were scratches, he had never gotten it redone, had never replaced it. That ring was from Ashley, the symbol of her love for him, or what love she had once had.

That ring reminded him of the past with a sharpness that hurt like a spike driven through his chest. He didn’t want to think about it again, didn’t want to be reminded, but he found himself thinking back anyway, found himself unable to stop…

The first memory he saw was their wedding. God, their wedding… That seemed like so long ago to him, but really, what was time? They had taken their marriage vows with the strength of two who wished to be together forever, or at least thought they did. When they had kissed, it had been passionate, not simply for display. Everyone had been there, it had seemed, even the Professor. Hell, even Geoffrey had made it there with his wife, Mable. Friends and family had all congratulated them wildly, cheering them on and wishing them the best of luck.

And when they had said ‘I love you,’ they had both meant it with a passion that ran deep and true… for a while. Giovanni felt tears begin to sting at the edges of his eyes and felt a slight amount of disgust that was pushed away by another memory. The reception.

It had gone excellently. Everyone present had been able to have a good time somehow or other, whether it was off the alcohol or just from the atmosphere. There had been much hope, many promises, and many dreams. He remembered the courtyard alongside the river where they had held the party. The lush green grass had seemed to gleam under the dew from the river. Flowers grew in bunches across the yard in a variety of gleaming colors, while bees flew around lazily from one to the next. The river itself had been beautiful, flowing swiftly in the serene setting. They had chosen the sight because of it. Ashley had always loved rivers, had always said she thought they held some sort of majestic beauty…

And then there had been Ashley herself, with her own beauty. At that time she had been everything to him, had been his world. He had wanted no more than to be with her for the rest of his life, and for them to hold their love true.

God, it hurt him to think about her again. Hurt to think about their love, and how he had wanted it to stay true… Because in the end, it was he who had broken it.

Another time was floating in, one he knew he didn’t want to see and knew that, as before, he couldn’t possibly resist. As it came on, he shuddered involuntarily, not noticing the look Geoffrey gave him when he did so.

It had been a night during the time he was learning what Maria would tell them, finding everything he could about being the leader of the organization. At that time he and Ashley were raising two children, Ginger, who had only been around two years of age, and Ash, who was less than a year old.

He had been neglecting his family for the most part, taking time for the business. Even though Ashley had discussed it with him, he hadn’t seen what she did coming, hadn’t seen it at all.

That night, he remembered too well, had been cloudy, with raging gusts of wind, the perfect night for disaster to strike. He had been coming home from a day of work, had walked in the door preoccupied as always. As first he hadn’t noticed anything different, had simply walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. When he was taking a glass down, however, he realized that the house had been quieter than usual. That was when he had found that Ashley wasn’t in the house. He had looked around for her, had looked for Ash, too. Because his son was gone, gone wherever his wife had left to.

There had been a note on the kitchen table from Ashley, written in her beautiful, dancing script. “Gio, I don’t want to do this, but I have to. Farewell, my love.”

That was all, no more. A short, simple note, and one night. It was only later, when he was sitting on a couch looking at a stack of papers, that the reality had hit him. It was than that he realized he was alone with his daughter, and that his wife had left and taken his son. It was than that he realized that Ashley had left him. Giovanni had to bite his lip to keep from moaning out loud. The memory hurt him bad. He hadn’t seen it coming… That was one of the worst parts. He had ignored all the discussions she had with him, had gone on working in crime…

She had seen the danger; she had begged him to stop. When he hadn’t, she’d left him, realizing it was safer.

Why hadn’t he listened?

He knew. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he knew. It was the business. The whole deal with being the boss had gotten him wrapped up, had made him work towards goals instead of listening to his family. At the time, business had been the most important thing to him.

“How could I have been so deluded…?” he thought miserably.

“Best to stray from these thoughts,” his mind warned, and he sighed. Of course it was better. There were other things to think about, things that were less painful…

Like why Geoffrey was doing what he was doing. He had closed that matter once, but Giovanni determined that, in order to keep himself from slipping again, that he’d reopen it.

“Geoff, you didn’t give me a good answer. Why are you doing this?” He hoped his brother would give him a real answer.

Geoffrey considered the question. His last answer hadn’t been good enough, he knew that himself. He didn’t want to say, didn’t want to think about anything, but apparently Giovanni wouldn’t stop asking if he didn’t.

Anyway, they were almost at their destination. There wasn’t much for him to lose.

“First off, I’m doing this for Mable. She would’ve wanted me to,” he spoke as if it were matter-of-fact, and saw, from the corner of his eye, that Giovanni seemed to understand well.

“Of course he does,” Geoffrey thought. “He must, what with Ashley…” There wasn’t time for that sort of thing, though, and he knew it.

“Second, I’m doing it because there’s nothing else for me to do.”

“Nothing?” Giovanni sounded slightly annoyed, and Geoffrey predicted what he would say next.

“Nothing,” he confirmed.

“What about the agency?” Giovanni sounded slightly confused, but Geoffrey nearly smiled despite how he felt. He had been right about what would be said.

“I was fired,” he replied simply.

He saw the look of immediate understanding on his brother’s face, and listened as he spoke again. “They fired you because you were a witness for me…” Giovanni spoke slowly. “I just… God, Geoffrey.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Geoffrey sighed. “Nothing does… not anymore.” He knew Giovanni was looking at him strangely, but chose to ignore it.

“What are you going to do?”

That was the question he had expected. It was business-like, in a way.

“Whatever I come upon.”

That seemed a satisfactory answer, and Giovanni looked as though he would be quiet. It was too late for that, though. Geoffrey pulled the car over, next to the curb. “We’re here.”

“Where exactly is ‘here’?” Giovanni’s voice held a strong level of suspicion.

“Just get out,” Geoffrey opened his door and stepped out into the cool air and onto the sidewalk. On the other side, he saw Giovanni get out, than walk over.

“So, where are we going?”

“That house,” Geoffrey pointed to the one in front of them. They were on the edge of town, at a two-story house with a garden beside it. The lights inside were all turned off, and Geoffrey hoped the inhabitant of the house was simply asleep.

“Do you know this person?” Giovanni asked cautiously as they walked up the short line of tiles to the door.

“We both do,” Geoffrey stepped onto the porch, followed by Giovanni, and knocked on the door.

“Sorry to bother you, Miss,” he had raised his voice enough so that someone inside could hear him, but not so much that anyone else would wake up.

A light upstairs flicked on rapidly, and Geoffrey nodded. “Now we wait for her to come down.”

Ashley bolted up quickly, aroused by the knocking on the door and the loud voice. She had been sleeping lightly, unable to sleep any more deeply. After what had happened with the Rockets, and what she had seen on television…

As much as she had thought she hated Giovanni at times, she knew she wanted him back. It was lonely in the house by herself, with Ash out on his journey. She missed how it was…

The voice called her name again, and she thought she recognized it. It was someone she knew, that much she was sure of.

Jumping out of bed, she hurriedly pulled a change of clothes out of the drawers on the right side of her room. Anyone coming out to the house in the middle of the night had to be there for a good reason, and probably would stay for awhile or tell her she was needed somewhere.

She hoped Ash wasn’t hurt. The thought that he was, or that he had gotten into trouble, crossed her mind, but she whisked it away uneasily as she slipped on a skirt and blouse.

“Probably just a problem with the neighbors,” she thought. “That would explain why I think I know the voice.”

Opening the door to her bedroom, she walked down the empty hall quickly, nearly gliding over the carpets. As she reached the door, she heard the man outside speak to someone else, telling them to be patient.

So there were two… Part of her mind went off in alarm, telling her it was danger, but she decided against it. “Anyway,” she thought with a shudder, “If they want something, they’ll break in here anyway.” Reaching for the knob, she unlocked the door and opened it slowly, than looked out onto the porch. The man standing in the light looked tired, ready to drop down somewhere. “Oh my God…” she realized she did know who it was. “Geoffrey?” It was her brother-in-law.

“Hello Ashley, we’ve come to pay you a visit,” Geoffrey’s voice was calm, and she felt a strange twinge inside of her.

“We? Who…”

Geoffrey stepped aside, and the other man stepped forward. When she saw who it was, she nearly fainted. So did the man, in fact. Standing outside her door was her husband, Giovanni.

Chapter 23

“So tell me… why didn’t we follow Dan and Ginger?” Mike’s voice sounded irritated to Matt, and he supposed it was. It certainly didn’t surprise him. What had surprised him was that Mike hadn’t gone, that he had actually stayed.

The only answer that occurred to him was instinct, plain and simple. He’d talked to Mike before and found he was a guy who didn’t rely much on thinking ahead. Yes, instinct seemed like the correct answer… not that it really mattered.

“We need to think this out, decide what to do before we start in on it,” Matt explained, feeling as though it were unnecessary. Shadow nodded agreeably. “I wanted to leave but… I felt that it wouldn’t do us any good. I mean... to go out there without knowing what we were doing? It seemed… I don’t know, sort of foolish, I guess,” she shrugged, having made her point.

For what she had said, Matt felt his respect for her growing. She wasn’t led away by her anger… God, that just reminded him of someone who was, someone he wished wasn’t.

He realized that both were waiting for him. Taking a deep breath, he let himself talk, not exactly sure of what he’d say but confident he’d find out. “You both saw what Felicity did up there.”

They nodded, and Mike commented, “How could we miss it?” Yet again, his tone suggested a weak attempt at a joke.

“Before this happened did you…” he paused for a moment, putting together the right words. “Did you ever think she would do something like this?”

“No,” Shadow shook her head. Mike agreed with her, and she added,

“Except… except maybe to someone for her job. But this is different!”

Her voice had taken on a slightly higher, more distressed tone, and Mike looked at her with a sort of comfort in his eyes.

Understanding where she was coming from, Matt nodded solemnly. He’d seen Felicity before, seen how she’d retained herself… The only difference was, he had known something about her. Something that had been known when she was hired. Something she had promised was done with. He had doubted that, doubted it deeply. Hell, he’d even gone so far as to tell Giovanni about it, though it hadn’t done any good. As he’d said, if there was trouble, someone would see it. There had been a lot of people in the organization, after all.

Besides, he figured that they had taken precautions. No one had said anything to him, but he had suspected someone was giving her some sort of drug… The Rockets did plenty of that, after all. What would stop them? Who would stop them?

So without the drugs, the sort of disease had been replenished. Without the team, no one had spotted it in time. The result was that she had killed.

And that was only the beginning.

He knew what would come next, what would happen. He knew all too well for his own liking, and wanted to forget, but couldn’t. “Matt?” Mike’s questioning voice cut through his thoughts. “Did you?” Of course he had asked that question. Matt had expected it. He had hoped for it, too, because it was a good enough way to tell it. “Yes. In fact, I knew she could do it.”

Shadow and Mike looked at him swiftly, their eyes locking with his. “You did?” they asked in unison, without noticing. He nodded slowly, sighed, took another breath, and spoke again. “Yes. When Felicity was hired, I got a look at her records. You know, criminal, physical…” he held the sentence for a moment before finishing it. “…Medical.”

For a moment his gaze shifted to the doorway, than back to the two who were staring at him attentively. “Her medical records revealed that she suffered from a streak of mental illness. It didn’t seem too terrible at first until I saw what sort of streak it was. Murderous. Even that in itself would have meant little to me had I not previously researched the topic. I had, and knew what it meant. I knew it could mean all hell for the team.

“That certain streak of insanity is unstoppable once it starts, and is one of complete confusion. The afflicted finds themselves with a need to kill, even a DESIRE to kill. They will find anyone a good victim, though their anger is usually targeted. In most cases it has to do with something recent, something they experienced only a short while ago. His or her main ‘targets’ are, on most occasions, anyone who was part of the event.

“Apparently, Felicity promised that she had herself under control, that she would pose no direct threat. Giovanni doubted that, so he had her take drugs to control the illness. At least, that’s what I figured. When I heard of her condition, it began to nag at my mind, constantly telling me something would go wrong, and it would blow up in our faces.

“So I went to see Giovanni. I told him what I believed, what I knew could happen, and he said he knew. I was shocked, but he said there was something I didn’t know, something on our side. Apparently, when a person begins to fall into insanity, the disease begins to show through in the early stages, and can be caught. He figured that there were enough people around to spot anything. I told him it was a risk, he told me she would be a good agent.

“And she was, I myself have seen her work, and now we’ve seen it on Trae. While working for the Rockets, she remained under control. The control was the key. As long as she was stable, we were fine. Still, I worried about what could happen, what my mind still told me would undoubtedly happen.

“So than the organization broke up, and she came to live here with you guys. It was fine at first, but than she began to sink. There were no drugs to keep her off the edge, nothing to keep her from passing the border. And no one knew to look for signs, to see anything strange. So she fell slowly, nearing that point of insanity, watching it grow closer and closer until finally, tonight, she hit it.”

Matt fell silent and he looked at Shadow, whose eyes had doubled in size, and Mike, who was leaning so far forward he was barely sitting on the couch at all. In the back of his mind, Matt thought it was a wonder he hadn’t fallen onto the floor yet.

Finally, Shadow managed to speak, though her voice sounded dry. “Oh God… How dangerous is she?” There was an unbridled terror rising in her voice, and he realized she was thinking of Dan.

“Very. Think an enraged alligator and multiply the damage by ten,” he didn’t want to get her hopes down, but was forward with the information anyway. “This woman is missing a few screws.”

“A few?” Mike’s voice sounded half-upset and half-amused. “Try a whole bucket full!”

“Ehhh… sure,” Matt looked at him strangely. “Call it what you like, but she IS dangerous.”

“Than we’ve got to get out there!” Shadow was standing in a second, turning towards the door.

“Wait,” Matt rose, and Mike reached out for Shadow’s shoulder as he too stood up. “Do you have a weapon?” Shadow looked at him for a moment, than shook her head. “No…”

“You might want one,” Matt’s voice was colder than he had intended it to be, but he didn’t care. He walked towards the door and pulled it open, stepping out. “Come out here.”

As if frozen, Shadow just stood in the doorway. Mike grabbed her hand and she blinked, than shook her head. “I… I almost went out after her unarmed…”

“It’s okay,” Mike led her out the door and closed it behind him. Shadow felt grateful that he had gotten control of her; she hadn’t felt she could do it herself. “You were worried.”

“I let it get to me,” her voice shook slightly, both with anger and a shaking fear. “I shouldn’t have…”

“Don’t say that,” Mike shook his head sadly, than walked with her over to the driveway, where Matt was rummaging through a bag in the back seat of his car. Shadow felt tired suddenly, it hit her at an amazingly unexpected speed.

“No, don’t…” she told herself. “Not now…”

She couldn’t, not when Dan needed her. In her heart she feared for him, for what Felicity could do. Now that she knew what was plaguing the woman’s mind, she felt even worse. It hurt her to think of what could happen. Hurt her badly, even more than it had hurt to see Trae’s bloody carcass.

In her mind, she was glad she hadn’t run off. Now she had an advantage over Felicity… She knew something about her. Or at least she hoped it was an advantage. And she would have a gun.

A gun. Did Dan have a gun? Her mind searched frantically for a pathway that led to a positive answer, but couldn’t find one. Dan had never carried a gun in his life, why would he have had one? And Ginger… she had her knife. That was all.

A knife against a revolver. Shadow shuddered openly at this, and she accepted the words of comfort from Mike readily. “It’s okay…” he reassured. Simple words, but helpful.

Matt turned towards them, holding out two handguns. “Take them,” he motioned, and Shadow and Mike each grabbed one.

At the feel of the cold metal in her hand, Shadow felt herself tighten. She was holding a murder weapon, holding something dangerous. Yes, she had held a gun before, but never felt anything like that. Never felt that sudden wave of… of murder.

She hated it, hated it because of what she had seen. Yet at the same time, she found herself liking it. Liking it because of what it could do to Felicity.

“Let’s go,” Matt motioned towards the sidewalk, and Shadow felt another sort of fear inside.

“How do we know where they went?”

“We follow the trail,” he replied. When she looked at him quizzically, he added, “Believe me, it won’t be difficult.”

Shadow wasn’t sure she wanted to know what he meant by that.

Chapter 24

Felicity’s pace was leisurely, as if she was taking a simple walk in the park. That is, it was leisurely until she reached the main portion of town, where the roads ran closer and the cars flew by more often. There she quickened her pace slightly, taking it up a few notches.

Mainly, this was for precaution. She didn’t want them to catch up with her until she was good and ready, waiting for them, in fact. She wanted to be the one laughing while the other side failed miserably.

The other reason was the car. She had seen Matt’s Prix, and didn’t know if he’d be driving it. If he was, she didn’t want to be anywhere near. Despite the voices of logic in the back of her mind, she didn’t think he’d catch her if she walked fast enough. Luckily for her, Matt hadn’t taken the car.

She strode down the sidewalk, a woman losing the last of her sanity quickly, a woman who was set to kill. Her mind wasn’t totally gone, however, and she managed to disguise her insanity only by making herself appear to be in a hurry to get somewhere.

Where someone would be going that late at night in such a hurry, she couldn’t imagine. It seemed to work, though. Anyone she saw simply glanced at her, than looked away in the trivial act of glancing around.

Felicity’s spirits were high, and she took in the cool night air gladly. Killing Trae had been easy, she had found. All she’d done was sneak in and attack. Sneak in and murder the girl.

Murder. She tried to find a sort of pity inside for what she’d done. It wasn’t unheard of to feel. In fact, she’d heard that nearly everyone felt pity, guilt, or some other depressing emotion.

Without surprise, she realized that she felt one. Never had, and probably never would. She’d killed before, never Rockets, but what was the difference in the insanity of the world? Or her mind?

Yes, Felicity was vaguely aware of what was happening to her. She could feel her sanity breaking apart, slowly crumbling beneath itself. She had known the feeling before, though almost never at that intensity.

The last time she had felt it was just before she had joined the Rockets. She had almost broken down completely, and had been saved only by being hit by a car. The shock had caused her mind to start working again, to let her regain her old self.

Than, when she had joined the criminal organization, she had been given special drugs to keep her mind from flying out of whack, to keep her chemicals balanced perfectly. They had worked, too, and for awhile she had been happy.

Of course, once the team had fallen apart, it had been ‘goodbye!’ to the drugs, and ‘hey there!’ to her old friend madness.

It had never bothered her that she was inflicted with mental illness. She took it as normally as she took breathing, and had accepted it easily. Inside, she had known it meant terrible things, known it from the moment that doctor had told her she was unstable…

That had been awhile ago, when she was younger, somewhere around eleven years old. Her parents had been concerned about her for the first time in her life. Looking back on it, she figured they had been more worried about their status than her own welfare. God forbid they have a crazy kid in the house.

They’d taken her to a shrink, an asshole who’d thought he was funnier than hell and made far too many tasteless jokes for her liking. They’d talked for a long time, him asking questions, her answering. She remembered feeling as though she were in an interrogation.

After that there had been other sessions. Her parents hadn’t liked it, had never liked being obligated to do anything for her, but had taken her there once every week for three months. At the end of that time, the shrink had called her parents into the room and began his final meeting with them, not even bothering to ask Felicity to leave the room. Apparently, she had become unimportant once more.

What he had told her parents was, simply, that they had a daughter with a problem of instability, one that had the potential to reach extreme conditions. Her mother had cried, saying their life was ruined, and her father had asked if they could lock the girl up. Felicity remembered this indifferently, feeling nothing at all.

In the end, they had given her drugs. She suspected they were the same ones the Rockets had later given her. With all the drugs she had had, she was surprised she had become addicted.

Than, when she had fled from her parents, the disorders had begun. She would sink down to the depths, beginning the process of falling off, than climb back on by some sort of twisted fate. That was how it had been for a long time, it seemed, as long as she had been on her own.

Now the insanity was back, plaguing her internally. She had felt its oncoming, had known she would fall if nothing caught her. She was pretty sure nothing was going to catch her.

She knew what would happen if she wasn’t stopped. Eventually, she’d kill herself. In the blind madness, she’d simply slit her throat or shoot herself. Before she did that, Felicity wanted to take a few people out.

That, too, was the madness, wanting to kill for no real reason. Again, she felt nothing, didn’t care. Because she accepted it, had accepted it ever since that day in the shrink’s office where her father had wanted to put her away.

It was the madness that had caused her indifference, the madness that had turned her towards the path she had taken. The path of hatred, the path of danger, the path of death.

She knew this, too. Yet again, she didn’t care. Nothing mattered to her. Well, nothing except her goal of murder.

With a bit of startled recognition, Felicity found herself at the edge of the inner city, and was slammed back into reality. She slowed her pace slightly, hoping she hadn’t traveled too fast for someone to catch up with her.

“Because it’d be a pity if they were too slow to catch their own death,” she laughed coldly at that, than froze immediately at the sound of footsteps behind her.

Whirling around, she found herself looking into the face of a drunk looking young man with bloodshot eyes and a pale complexion. “What did that mean?” he asked. He may have looked drunk, but he didn’t sound like he had had anything.

Felicity’s mind immediately sparked, and she found something in it she couldn’t name. It was relief. Relief that she hadn’t completely lost it yet.

So he had heard her… Immediately, her own suspicions were aroused. Did the man know what she meant? Her first instinct was to kill, her second was to ask questions. She decided to go with the second first. After all, killing could come after questions.

“I’ve got a few questions I’d like to ask you,” she looked at him gravely.

He looked confused for a moment, than shrugged indifferently. “Shoot.”

Felicity’s face twisted in puzzlement for a moment, than brightened, and she nodded. “Well, I was going to wait, but if you insist…”

Quickly, she pulled the revolver out of its holster, shoving back the hammer and pulling the trigger as soon as it her arm was raised at the level of his forehead. His eyes widened momentarily before clouding over as his chest disappeared in a red cloud of death.

His body tumbled to the ground with a thick tearing sound as it nearly tore in half. Unfazed, she shoved the revolver back into the holster, looking down at him, once again feeling nothing. Blood rolled over his crushed ribcage in torrents, and small pieces of innards lay around him in mashed-up piles.

Shaking her head, she laughed quietly, than continued down the sidewalk, stepping over the sprawled carcass. Soon enough, someone would find it. Than they’d know where she’d gone.

Up ahead, she saw the path that opened into the forest and smiled with an unearthly sadistic sort of coldness. That was where she wanted to go. She wanted them to meet their end over there.

Chapter 25

It took Geoffrey only a few moments to realize that he’d have to be the one to take action. Neither of the others would move, they were in shock. He didn’t blame them, either. Not in the least. Still, they couldn’t stand on the porch all night.

“Could we come in,” he raised an eyebrow, motioning to the door.

Ashley nodded slowly, stepping aside as though in a dream. She probably felt like it, too. He hadn’t been sure how she’d react, but this had been one action he’d foreseen. Looking back at his brother he nodded towards the doorway. No movement.

Shrugging, he walked inside and stood behind the doorway. “Hello, Ashley,” he held out his hand.

She raised her green eyes, and he wasn’t surprised to observe a film of tears lining the bottom oh her eyes. “Hi,” she whispered, shaking the hand, than immediately turned her attention back to the doorway.

“Are you coming?” he directed the question at Giovanni, who nodded slowly and walked in, never taking his eyes off of Ashley.

Geoffrey waited another moment before shutting the door quietly and turning back to the two. They were both staring at each other, their gazes mixtures of sadness, hate, and love. He almost didn’t want to stop it, but knew he had to.

“Are you two going to stand here all night?”

Ashley’s voice came out choked, “We can go in the living room…” and then, shaking her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe it.” With that, she headed towards the next room.

Giovanni, who hadn’t spoken a word yet, simply followed as she led them in. He sat on a soft turquoise chair, and she sat on a navy blue couch across form him. Geoffrey stood, feeling that it’d be better if he left them alone.

“So, are you two going to be able to talk at all?” he asked, not quite sure if they would.

“Yes, I think so,” it was the woman who spoke again. Than, out of what Geoffrey was sure was her every-day hospitality, “Do you want something to drink?”

He immediately wished she hadn’t asked him… or at least hadn’t put the question in that particular format. At that moment he wanted more than a drink, and he wanted the sort that would help him forget for a night. He’d been trying to keep it off his mind, and had been able for some time. Now that she mentioned it, however, he felt his throat become dry and his eyes burn.

What he wanted was what he didn’t want, in short. He didn’t want to become entangled in the web of drinking, but it seemed too late already. Apparently, the wonderful Professor had been a proficient drinker for quite some time. Apparently, he had inherited that excellent quality.

Ashley must have seen that something was wrong, because her eyes showed a sort of concern for him. “You can make a pot of coffee.”

“I think I will,” he turned towards the kitchen, shaking his head.

Judging by the look in her eyes, the tone of voice, the suggestion, she had known. Somehow, she knew. She was one that would always know if someone was up to something, or attached to something. At least she hadn’t come right out and said it.

The kitchen was clean, sparkling clean almost, and he found himself wondering what in the hell the woman did all day besides clean house. From what he knew, her son was off on some adventure or other, and the others in her family were gone…

In a flash, he knew that she was lonely, just as he was. He realized that she had been lonely for a long time, and that she had found a way to manage it. The thought that she had experimented with alcohol, maybe even something stronger, crossed his mind, though he couldn’t see her doing it. Still, life was strange. Very strange.

He picked up a bag of coffee grounds that were leaning against a coffee machine. Hazelnut… and it certainly smelled like it. It wasn’t what he wanted, was in fact, the opposite, but it would do.

As he poured the grounds into the pot, he realized that he hadn’t heard their voices yet. So they still hadn’t spoken… He knew they’d get around to it at some time, but didn’t know when. They were acting like children, in his opinion, but he said nothing. Instead, he poured the water in, than turned the machine on.

The second he turned away, there came a knock on the door. “Ashley?” a voice, muffled by the door, inquired.

After a quick look at the living room, Geoffrey realized that, once again, he was going to have to do something about it. He walked over to the door, wondering who else could possibly stop by the house at that time of night. It seemed strange, very strange.

“Maybe it’s her father, fresh outta the Cinnibar Maximum Security,” he though humorlessly, and pulled open the door.

On the porch stood a man at least half a foot shorted than Geoffrey, and about twenty years older. His drastically thinning, light-brown, almost white, hair hung sloppily over his bushy eyebrows, and his eyes looked tired. He was dressed in khaki pants that were slightly too large for him, and a deep red shirt. When he spoke again, it was with a slight accent, and before he looked up. “I’m sorry to bother you this late at night, but I was wondering if you had an edition of…”

Geoffrey’s eyes widened, and he felt his fists immediately clamp in upon themselves tightly. “You…” he snarled, trying to hold back, and at the same time almost wishing he wouldn’t.

For a moment, there was confusion on the man’s face, and then a look of understanding. “Geoffrey, what are you doing here?”

Behind him, he heard Giovanni’s voice for the first time, sounding more than slightly ticked. “You know goddamn well.”

Edward Oak looked at him, and an understanding filled his face. “No… this isn’t right!”

“Neither are you,” Geoffrey growled, grabbing the door handle in his right hand. “Goodnight.”

“But…”

Geoffrey slammed the door, half-expecting it to open from the outside, and half-expecting on of the two in the other room to comment. Neither happened, however, and he walked slowly over to the coffeepot.

He couldn’t believe that he’d seen that son-of-a-bitch again. He hadn’t wanted to, hadn’t wanted to see him ever again. And that look of understanding… what had that been?

Geoffrey didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

Giovanni stared at his wife for the longest time, unable to speak. What could he say? Here was the woman he had loved, found he still did love. Here was the woman who had left him. Here was the woman he hadn’t seen in at least ten years. What could he say?

The dilemma was what left him speechless, standing in front of her like a fool. She hadn’t said much, either. Most had been to Geoffrey…

Geoffrey. Why had he even brought him there? How had he been able to do that? It was strange, something he never would’ve expected, and yet he was glad it had happened. Because he knew he wouldn’t make it through the whole ordeal. Someone would find him, somehow, somewhere. If he was going to have to die, he didn’t want to do it without saying something to her.

She was still looking at him, and he began to feel strangely uncomfortable. It was something he hadn’t felt in a long time, and didn’t want to be feeling. She was causing him to feel more uncomfortable than she did when he was facing his most murderous agents, or even that goddamn court.

Uncontrollably, he found himself growing angry with her. He didn’t want to, but was anyway. How could she just sit there staring at him? How could she keep looking at him so accusuingly, making him feel so guilty? She had been the one who walked out, after all. A door opened and shut, yet he didn’t hear it.

Finally, when he thought he’d go insane, she spoke softly. “Why did you do it?”

It was a question full of a terribly hurt sincerity, and it somehow angered him that she had even asked. “You know goddamn well!” It was rougher than he had intended, which set him off even further. Why couldn’t he control himself?

“No…” she shook her head calmly, not helping his anger at all. “I don’t know. That’s why I asked the question.” Simply staring at him, she was keeping herself better than he, and he knew it.

How could she remain so calm, so levelheaded? He felt his whole mind in turmoil, felt it rushing with everything that had happened in the last few days. He didn’t know how much he could stand, thought he would lose it, and here she was, calmly asking question like an interrogator.

It was maddening, that’s what it was. “Because I felt like it. How the hell should I know? It was ten years ago!” He hadn’t meant to yell, but there it was. The door slammed in the kitchen, but registered no importance to him.

Looking slightly upset, but he guessed, not because of the level of his voice, she sighed. “We won’t get anywhere by fighting.”

She was right, and he knew that too. So why couldn’t he control what he said, how he acted? There was a small itching in the back of his mind, one he had pushed away, but what if it were true? What if Ashley just wanted to talk?

“Jackass,” the voice in his mind spat. “Of course she just wants to talk it out! What do you think she’s been trying to do?”

He hated the sound of that voice, and was annoyed that it, too, was correct. His anger at himself increased, until Ashley spoke again. “Don’t let it kill you, Giovanni. If it hurts too much, don’t talk about it.”

There was real concern in her eyes, and it finally broke his uncertainty. Of course he knew why he had done it. “I did it because she wanted me too… Maria.”

“Your mother?” she looked at him levelly. “Is that all?”

There was no use lying, and he knew it. “No,” he shook his head heavily. “There was the money, I suppose, although it never has held as much for me as the work. The power was what did it, the power was what I wanted.”

He hadn’t told anyone that before. The fact that no one had known just why he’d taken the job was fine with him. And he had enjoyed the power. “They all listened to me… Every one of them. Their attention was on me. If I said ‘shoot someone’ they damn well had better have, because they knew the consequences. The rules were hard, the punishment was harder.”

Her eyes never left his during all of this. “You… killed people.”

He nodded, contemplating his response. Of course he had, they’d had it coming. “They were the ones who deserved it. They were the one who were against us, and would’ve killed us.”

“But they were still living people!” the slight raise in her voice startled him momentarily, but he found himself, thankfully, remaining calm again. It seemed that she was the one growing anxious now. He knew the mentality of most people, and figured that it was the ‘correct’ way of thinking. Killing was wrong. He’d heard it everywhere, but never been taught it. No one had ever come out and told him it wasn’t right, or justifiable, so he didn’t feel that way.

To him, killing was natural. It was derived of an emotion, one he often found himself with plenty of, and used on those who were stupid or unlucky enough to get in the way. Sort of like natural selection. The rules of society held no impact on his beliefs, and never had.

“They deserved to have it done,” he shrugged.

“How could you?” her voice wavered.

“It was what I learned,” his eyes caught hers, and immediately he was sorry the subject had even been brought up. She looked so hurt… How could she? Was it his fault?

Of course it was. He’d been the one to finish it off, after all. He’d been doing it without thinking, and now he wish he had stopped himself. Because now she was there, and she was upset. He didn’t want to see her that way, wanted her to be happy.

Without thinking of what he was doing, without realizing he was even doing it, Giovanni stood up and walked the two steps over to the couch to stand beside Ashley. She didn’t look up at him, and strands of her auburn hair hung in front of her eyes. He loved her, and he knew it. Sitting down beside her, he gently brushed a strand of the hair away from her left eye, and looked at her. “Ashley, I’m sorry. No one ever told me the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. I should’ve known, should’ve felt it but I must admit… I did enjoy what I did.”

“I know,” she nodded slowly, still gazing at the floor.

He tried a different approach. “I’ve missed you…” she didn’t reply, and he continued. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me, Ashley, but I’ve missed you horribly, wanted you beside me. Do you know how much it hurt to be alone? To have no one? I lived in a darkness, and in darkness there is only solitude. I’ve wanted to see you again, have torn myself apart for having done what I did, for having let you leave, for being foolish enough to be unable to realize that you were gong to go.

“Every morning, I found myself alone and hated myself for going wrong. Every day, I wanted to give it all up and find you. I’m not sure why I didn’t… It was all one big rush. I didn’t want you to go, because… I love you. I honestly do love you.”

Finally, she raised her head, looking at him with a sort of understanding. “Oh…” her green eyes glittered, and he could see the rims lined with water. “I love you too.”

At that moment, forgetting everything else, Giovanni embraced his wife for the first time in over ten years. He felt his mind clear, felt his problems melt away momentarily. He loved her, and he’d been waiting for this. For the moment, all was well.

Chapter 26

Edward Oak’s hands shook as he dialed the phone. He was in disbelief, or a state of it, and knew very well, but didn’t care. For the moment, that sort of thing didn’t matter. What mattered was what he had seen, or rather… What he had heard.

All he’d wanted to do was borrow a book on evolutionary evidence, a book he’d wanted to use for a research paper he was putting together, one he’d intended to make shine to the scientific world. He’d gone over to Ashley’s to see if she had one, and then…

And then he’d seen his sons. Well, he’d seen one of his sons, and he’d looked pissed beyond belief. Not that Ed blamed him. In his heart, he knew what he’d done was wrong. He never should have done it in the first place, and even after that, he should’ve let the news out easier, should’ve made it easier for Geoffrey to take…

But he hadn’t and that was in the past. At least, for him it was. Apparently, Geoffrey hadn’t let it go. It angered him when he thought about it. Why wouldn’t the man just forgive and forget? It wasn’t as if it was terrible, after all.

Than he’d always come to that block that said that yes, it was that bad. It had hurt Geoffrey, and would never leave. For that, he hated himself.

So he’d tried to forget. Tried to get on with his life, to leave it all behind. And even tonight he wouldn’t have done anything, probably would’ve just left if it hadn’t been for what he’d heard.

Giovanni had been inside of the house. He’d heard the man’s voice, clear as glass even to his failing ears, and realized immediately who it was. He’d gone to see his wife… his ex-wife, but…

It was wrong! He wasn’t supposed to be there, was supposed to be locked up!

Ed cringed at the thought, without realizing he had stopped dialing. It was a terrible thing to think, even of someone like that. After all, he was Giovanni’s father… Still, he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t RIGHT!

He’d always known something like that was going to happen to his younger son. In the house he was living in, it came as no surprise… After Geoffrey had left, Ed had taken to alcohol. Or maybe it’d be more correct to say that the alcohol had taken hold of him.

During that time, that awful time he preferred to forget, he knew he’d been negligent. He knew he’d been angry, been tired, and probably abusive to anyone who got in his way. He didn’t want to think of that, though. All he wanted to was to get this over with, to be done with it.

Could he do it? Could he report his own son? He didn’t doubt it. After all, he wasn’t the most righteous man… Doing this seemed right, and if it wasn’t, it was simply another mistake.

Quickly, before he could change his mind, he dialed. The phone rang, and was answered by a tired-sounding man. “Viridian Police department. How may I help you?”

For one terrible moment he blanked out, and then the Professor remembered. “This is Edward Oak in Pallet.”

“Hey, Professor,” the man’s voice sounded slightly cheerier, and it struck Ed that everyone respected him despite his past… Than again, how many of them actually knew his past?

“We have a… a…” he stumbled over the words.

“Spit it out,” the voice smiled.

“An escaped convict,” he felt the words roll dryly out of his mouth. It hurt to say them, he realized. Even though he knew he was right, it hurt. It didn’t sound right, not at all.

“Where?” the voice was immediately alert.

“Ashley Ketchum’s house,” it occurred to him that he had almost said ‘Oak’ as her last name… He felt himself losing it and was unable to stop.

“We’ll be right over. Is she all right?”

“Yes, she’s fine.” He wondered when the question would come up.

“Who is it?”

There it was. Took the man long enough to ask. Ed hoped he could answer. For a moment he couldn’t, his throat was too dry, and then he found he could. “Giovanni Oak.”

“Oh…” there was a slight pause. “We’ll be right down. Stay calm.”

“I will. Thank you.”

He hung up and lowered himself slowly into the chair beside the phone. He hoped he’d done the right thing. He really, honestly did.

Harris Ragner, deputy of the Viridian City police department, hung up the phone and jumped up from his desk. He couldn’t believe what was happening. For him, this was the chance of a lifetime. He could prove himself, could show that he deserved to be in a better position, with a much larger salary.

At present, he felt underpaid and underappreciated. Nobody respected him, or so he thought, no one saw his full potential. If he could catch this guy, he’d be in for some big time rewards.

Hurridly, he pulled his holster out of his desk and stuck his gun in it. No need to take any chances, not with a criminal. He’d fired before, and could do it again…

The phone rang, and he picked it up. “Viridian police department, how may I help you?” He felt impatient, wanted to slam down the phone, but kept at it. He was worried that the unanswered call would be reported. What he wasn’t thinking, though he had no need to worry, was that while he talked, ‘the convict’ was wreaking havoc.

“Yeah,” the voice on the other end was groggy and thick. “My name is Jim Chet, Celadon City warden. We’ve had a break-out, and I was, uh, I was knocked out.”

Ragner was immediately interested. “How’d he escape?” It would help to have details for when higher-level officials arrived. It never crossed his mind that they might be upset because he had gone out on his own.

“Some guy broke him up… look one helluva lot like him, come to think of it. Got me out of it,” Ragner was having trouble understanding the guy, and found himself growing impatient again. “I hadda tell someone…”

“Thanks, I’ll get right too it. We’ll call you back.”

“Thank you very…”

Ragner slammed the phone down and grabbed his jacket, slipping it over his shoulders. He flicked off the light switches, and headed out through the lobby. Jenny looked up at him in surprise, her eyes exhausted as she looked over a stack of files. He felt disdain for her, how easily she’d shown she could work, how easily she’d moved up. As he felt that, he knew he couldn’t tell her about what he was doing.

“Harry?” she sounded surprised, with that constant half-squeak in her voice. “Where are you going?”

“Some guy called in, said there was a cat up a tree,” it was lame, he knew it was, but she’d buy it. She always bought corny shit like that.

“Oh, well, thanks for going over. I’m really busy here,” she motioned to the pile of folders, “And I really appreciate it.”

“Hey, no problem,” he grinned at her, feeling a sense of triumph. “I don’t mind at all.”

With that, he headed out the door. His car was parked almost directly in front of the station, and he felt a sense of relief that no one had said anything about it, than discarded the thought. He climbed in, than started the car and pulled out.

Jenny looked out the door with a puzzled expression on her face. It wasn’t like Ragner to be so… Ready to work. As far as she could remember, he’d never done anything without being told, and even then it was only a 50/50 chance that he’d complete the task.

That was why he’d never made it any further, why he’d been forced to stay put at the bottom. Everyone passed him by, all the new kids who came included. He had always seemed to hold that to everyone, but no one cared. To them, it hadn’t mattered.

Now that he had shown some initiative, she felt that maybe he could make it. Even if it was just a cat in a tree, it was a start. Anything that could get a person going… That’s what they should do.

“Good for him,” she murmured absently, turning back to the file.

Ragner reached the edge of Pallet town soon after. He parked at the edge of town, probably one of the only smart decisions he made that night, and walked in. There wasn’t much at all to be seen, but he’d already known that much.

He saw shadows of houses in the gloom, as well as silhouettes of trees and shrubbery. It was one of those ‘nice’ towns, where everyone knew everyone. Not that he cared, all he had to do was find Mrs. Ketchum’s house.

There it was, right up ahead. Not very far from where he had parked, as a matter of fact… But it was too late to do anything about that.

There was a car parked across the street and he walked casually over to it. Suddenly, he was in no rush. He knew he could afford to wait, was sure that ‘the convict’ wasn’t gone. He wanted to take it easy, and, again, forgot that there was a woman in the house, that maybe she was in danger.

He jotted the license number of the car down, than shoved the small notebook back into his pocket. As he walked across again, he pulled out the handgun. He found that he wanted to use it. Maybe if he killed the guy, made it look like an accident, than they wouldn’t…

But no. Even he wasn’t stupid enough to try something like that. It was beyond stupidity, beyond his ‘morals’. He’d just scare the guy, get him back in the car, back to jail. With these thoughts in mind, he checked the safety, making sure it was on.

Than he sat down on an old tree stump in the soft grass, resting his feet and waiting, forgetting all else, forgetting his real duties. All he wanted to was to catch the guy, and he’d do it. So he kept waiting.