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Chapter Text

Sirius stands in the main control room of Mosswater Industrial.

Team Meteor has stepped out of the shadows at last, bombing a train as it returned to the region. However, this was only a partial success. Attention has been forcefully grabbed, and trains will not be able to bring any newcomers into the region. But due to a mistake at some point in the process, the damage to Grandview Station was worse than planned, meaning no one will be able to leave, either. In addition, the Champion, the one specific person who was being targeted, somehow escaped with her life.

If Sirius were in charge, his first priority would be to find out who is at fault for such a foolish blunder and ensure that such a thing would not happen again. But he is not in charge, and so here he stands.

It was expected that this move would draw in active opposition, but it has happened earlier than expected. A grunt was captured by city officials, and this building’s association with Team Meteor was exposed. As such, four Trainers have entered the facility under obvious delusions of heroism: two Gym Leaders, the brother of one of them, and a fourth.

This is nothing to fuss over. While the missed chance to take out the city’s power plant is unfortunate, it is nothing that cannot be done again another time. Aside from that, this facility’s main purpose of data collection has long been fulfilled, and there are no physical items of note here except for the Verdignite, which can also be found elsewhere.

But the facility will not immediately be abandoned. Even when the data has been deleted, Team Meteor will stand firm in the face of opposition, teaching the four intruders a lesson.

Eventually, they rush into the room, and the Electric Type Leader speaks, pointing an accusatory finger at Sirius. “You! Are you the one in charge here?”

He steps forward. “And if I am?”

The Electric Type Leader stomps her foot and glares, hands forming into fists at her sides. “We’re gonna blow your face off for what you did to Grandview Station!”

“Amusing,” Sirius says, unable to help a smirk. He had heard that this one acts childish, but it’s almost as if she’s half her actual age. “Tell me, what power do you think you have to do so? Two among you are Leaders of the League, sure. A considerable obstacle, yet hardly worth much concern. Two others, mere smoke in the wind.”

These Leaders are the lowest ranked in the League, placing them below multiple children. The boy is only immediately recognizable due to his resemblance to his sister. The fourth cannot even say this much.

“Just because you don’t know who we are, it doesn’t mean we’re not capable!” the fourth one says.

“Yeah! Just who do you think you are, anyway?!” the Electric Type Leader demands.

“You know already,” Sirius points out. “We are Team Meteor. Though few know it, we are keepers of the history. Shepards of the region.”

Most believe that this city’s decline began around a decade ago. In reality, the decline of this entire region began when this city was founded.

“Okay, but who are you?” the fourth intruder asks.

“Need I even dignify you with a response?” Sirius asks. “As I said before, you are nothing. Telling you my name would be a waste.”

He doesn’t recognize this girl in the slightest. She likely believes that she can win because she has Gym Leaders on her side, riding their coattails to glory.

“You say that like we didn’t kick your whole base in already!” the Grass Type Leader’s brother says.

“Pat yourself on the back as much as you’d like, but we never had any reason to stop you,” Sirius says. “Like a toddler who will kick, scream and cry themselves to eventual sleep, you’ve been allowed to do as you pleased.”

Further agitation crosses the faces of the intruders aside from the Grass Type Leader, but it is only the truth.

“Our purpose here was forfeit already,” he reveals. “Your city has been watched for quite some time.”

“We’ve got metrics on everything from water quality to Pokémon population and the lives of the people!” Ace says. “If it exists, we probably knew about it! And now just like that, everything is off the system!”

“We made the mistake of overestimating your little raiding party. Time was ample,” Sirius says. “And I grow tired of this dalliance. Aster.”

“Yes, boss!” the dumb one says enthusiastically as he steps forward.

“Eclipse,” Sirius says.

“Yeah?” the smarter one says with much less enthusiasm, stepping forward as well.

“Deal with the small fries,” Sirius says, eying the brother and the fourth one.

“If you say so,” the smarter one says.

“Ace, you and I will handle the Gym Leaders,” Sirius says, taking Seviper’s Ultra Ball in hand.

“Consider the deck stacked!” Ace says, walking over to his side.

“For Team Meteor!” the dumb one says as the battles begin.

The Leaders should not be difficult to defeat. Sirius trains semi-regularly and has Ace to back him up. While the Grass Type Leader may be taking this seriously, the Electric Type Leader has failed to make a similar impression.

However, there’s a snag in the idea. While the first pair of Pokémon the opponents send out go down without problem, they then send out their respective strongest Pokémon and start to target Ace’s Pokémon, avoiding Seviper.

The strategy is unfortunately one that works well against Ace. Sirius considers letting their team be knocked out, then dealing with the opponent’s teams on his own once there are no obstacles to contend with… but before that can happen, the dumb one and the smarter one lose their battle.

“Tch, you two lost already? Can’t you incompetent grunts do anything right?” he asks, annoyed.

Technically, they’re privates. But there’s little difference between the ranks below agent, each just being a slightly stronger version of the one before it, really.

“These two aren’t so tough, but the four of you all together… well, it was an amusing diversion. Ace,” he says.

“One smokescreen evacuation coming right up, Commander!” Ace says, grabbing a smoke bomb from their pocket. “The disappearing act is a staple of any magician~ Now you see us!”

They throw down the bomb, and as the intruders cough, Sirius recalls Seviper. The dumb one and the smarter one run over, and Ace teleports everyone to the main area, in front of the large console.

As the grunts start to gather around, anticipating a retreat, Ace presses a button on the nearby console that connects to the control room’s speakers. They speak into a microphone. “Now you don’t!”

“Move,” Sirius demands, and they oblige. He presses the button, speaking into the microphone. “Do not make the mistake of believing you’ve won. You will be remembered, enemies of the region.”

The four of them will be studied. Team Meteor’s databases are surely already filled with enough information on all of them that the organization will be able to swiftly bring them to their knees.

For now, though, he releases the button and looks to Ace. “Get us out of here.”

“On it! Everyone holding onto each other?” Ace asks.

Once they’re sure that the group is doing just that, they teleport everyone to Blacksteam Factory.

They then stumble out of the throng of people. “O-oh my, that— apologies, I think that I need to find something to eat, after that. I will report in with Solaris immediately afterwards!”

They wander off, and Sirius doesn’t tell them not to. Solaris has drilled it into his head that they are to be allowed to recover immediately after such a large feat of teleportation.

So he instead focuses on the various grunts he’s been left with, and begins to scold them.

“That was an absolutely pathetic display. How was every single one of you defeated by four people?” he questions. He focuses on the smarter one and the dumb one, specifically. “Especially you two. I expect you both to be able to stand a chance against a pair of random Trainers. Is that really too much to ask?”

They’re supposed to at least be stronger than the average grunts. What’s the point if they get taken down just as easily?

“Sorry, sir, I was sure we would be able to do it…” the dumb one says, perplexed.

“We’ll do better next time,” the smarter one promises.

“Let’s hope that’s true, for your sakes,” Sirius says before leaving.

He’s incredibly frustrated. This may not have been a loss, but it would’ve been ideal to soundly defeat the intruders.

He can’t say he’s surprised, though. The more Team Meteor grows, the lower the percentage of competent members is.

Now, he must locate Solaris. He is here at this factory, and so will want a report of what has happened in person.

As Sirius makes his way through the halls, people move out of his way as soon as they see him coming… until he turns a corner and comes face to face with one person in particular.

He backs up on impulse, sneering. “Were you trying to give me a heart attack?!”

“Did I?” the infuriating one asks.

Sirius’ sneer grows harsher, at that.

He can’t say he holds a positive opinion of the grand majority of Team Meteor, but then, he also can’t say he spares many of them any more thought than he must. This one, though, seems to be trying her hardest to make sure he forms a negative opinion of her. Every time they speak, she mocks him in some way.

Solaris promoted her personally not long after she joined, and even seems eager to listen to her ideas and input. He clearly sees something in her, but Sirius can’t figure out what that thing is for the life of him.

“You have lost Mosswater, and now search for Solaris,” the infuriating one says, a statement, not a question.

“I have lost nothing,” Sirius says. “If you have nothing of substance to say to me, than move out of my way. I have a report to give.”

The infuriating one moves out of the way, and points behind her at the staircase to the top floor. “There. With his son.”

Ugh.

Sirius marches past, making his way to and up the staircase. He can feel the infuriating one’s dead eyes on him until he’s out of her sight entirely.

On the top floor, he does indeed find Solaris and his spineless son, sitting across from each other. They both look over to him, the latter tensing up near imperceptibly in that way that he always does.

“Sirius,” Solaris says. “I assume you are here to report on what happened at Mosswater Industrial?”

“Of course, Commander. Ace should be joining us shortly,” Sirius says.

“Very well,” Solaris says. “Taka, come and sit at my side.”

“Yes, Father,” the spineless one says, immediately obeying.

Sirius and the spineless one are both admins, and it was not the latter who clawed his way up and earned that ranking. And yet, Sirius can’t count how many times the spineless one has stood or sat at his father’s side during meetings like this, as if he is Sirius’ superior.

But Sirius knows that if he were to point out the absurdity of this, it would do nothing positive for him. So he bites his tongue and sits down across from the other two. Ace shows up soon after, and the report starts.

Solaris is mostly silent as Sirius and Ace talk, only speaking a few times to ask a question. Once the report is finished, he thinks for a few moments before speaking. “If the city officials now expect the attack, there is no point in going forward with it. Consider the operation paused indefinitely. As for what comes next… Ace, I want you to research all four of those Trainers.”

“But of course, Solaris!” Ace says.

Solaris nods. “As for you, Sirius, return to your regular duties for now.”

“Yes, Commander,” Sirius says.

“Both of you are dismissed,” Solaris says.

Sirius and Ace stand up and depart.

As the two of them walk down the hallway of the floor below, they look to him. “So, then, what did you think of those four?”

“I think nothing of them,” Sirius says. “Team Meteor has dealt with people much more notable and troublesome. These four will be dealt with as well.”

“Yes, I suppose,” Ace says. “Perhaps they will be smart enough not to try and cross us again.”

“If they know what’s good for them,” Sirius says.

After all, he’s personally dealt with much worse than those four. Truly, they’re nobody worth wasting his time thinking about.

— — —

Just over a week later, Sirius walks through the hallways of Blacksteam Factory when a door in front of him opens, and the dead man walks out.

“…you,” the dead man says as he closes the door behind him, a look on his face that makes it clear he’s as unhappy to see Sirius as always.

“Do you have something to say?” Sirius asks, no happier.

The dead man glares at him for a moment, looking like he has quite a few things to say. Then, he speaks. “…no.”

With that, he walks past Sirius. Most likely on his way back to his daughter— otherwise, he would’ve said quite a bit.

Sirius scowls, irritated. He knows exactly what kind of things the dead man wanted to say. Had the conversation continued, he would’ve said similar things back. The two of them harbor mirroring hatreds, after all.

It all started with business. Only business, really. It was not his fault that the dead man gave his wife the Ruby, but it was Sirius’ duty to both retrieve it and make sure it was not stolen again. To that end, he decided to take the dead man’s wife, a member of the old League’s Elite Four, out of the picture in the most permanent way possible.

At one point during the ordeal, he had had a chance to kill the dead man, too. He had his guard down, and it would’ve been all too easy.

But Sirius had decided against it. He told himself that there was no need. The dead man would be too distraught over the death of his wife and too busy taking care of their newborn to chase the Ruby. He might not even ever notice it was missing in the first place.

This mistake had cost Sirius an eye, and taught him a lesson that he never intends to forget: that reality accepts nothing less than full commitment and sacrifice, and those unwilling to choose that path have it chosen for them. It was a lesson he really should have learned, by then, but that event carved it into him permanently.

He still managed to win, in the end. All it took was threatening to give the dead man’s daughter a matching wound, and he stood down. Sirius both acquired a useful asset for Team Meteor, and recovered the Ruby, even if the dead man is technically the one holding onto it.

This, however, has done nothing to diminish the hatred that bloomed in Sirius when his eye was first taken. No, it’s only grown with time. And so the dead man lives on an invisible timer tied to his usefulness and loyalty. The moment he’s no longer of use, or he does something to betray Team Meteor, he and his daughter will both pay the price. He lives, and he breathes, but he is a dead man already.

As for this moment… Sirius looks over to the door the dead man exited from. This is the room containing the hostage.

A few days ago, during the PULSE Tangrowth operation in the Obsidia Ward, a group of four once again tried to put an end to it… and succeeded. This was not before one of them was captured by the dead man, however.

Sirius has heard her name, but has no idea who the hostage is; she was not at Mosswater Industrial. He would not be able to even describe her appearance.

Despite this, if he was in charge, he would go into the room and hurt her somehow.

He knows that, in spite of the dead man’s rough exterior, he is soft at his core. If he knew that the hostage was hurt because of him— because he brought her here, because Sirius did it to spite him— he would be unhappy. Blame himself.

But Sirius is not in charge. If he went in and hurt the hostage for no other reason than a personal vendetta, Solaris would be upset at him.

So he pushes away the urge and leaves.

— — —

A few days later, Sirius stands in the north of the Obsidia Ward, staring at the Grand Stairway from a distance. Observing an explosive device that has been set up. In his hand, he holds the detonator.

Everything has been set up and in place for a while, now, yet he has only just now received the signal to set the explosive off. That is because this is a demonstration, a spectacle, even, and the conditions for it were not optimal before; a crowd has only just gathered.

That is not to say that the area was empty before. People have been milling about and walking from place to place. However, none of them paid any mind to the device at first. It is only recently that people began to take note of its presence, and a nervous crowd of them has gathered not far from the stairway, whispering to each other.

How foolish of them, to only begin considering that something may be dangerous after it has been there for an extended period of time.

Sirius moves to detonate the device… but pauses just before he presses the button, noticing something. There is a shift in the crowd, and someone steps out from it, walking towards the stairway.

It’s difficult to see too much about the person from this angle, but Sirius would guess that they’re a young man. He’s tall, with messy, dark hair and casual clothes. He walks up the stairway and towards the device with purpose.

He reaches the device, starts to examine it… and that is when Sirius presses the button.

This is meant to be a spectacle, after all.

It’s not like the device detonates instantly. It starts to beep in warning, and the young man has enough time to begin to flee. But the explosion still sends him flying into the crowd, and panic erupts.

Sirius pays it little mind, only using it as a cover to make his way to the large crack that has been blown in the stairway. In turn, nobody pays him any mind at all as he walks over and lowers himself into the cave below.

He waits in the small area he’s found himself in. Three grunts lower themselves into the cave as well, one of them heading further in on previous orders, but he says nothing to any of them.

Soon enough, the hostage starts to climb down a rope ladder that has been set up. One of the grunts— the smarter one— helps her down due to the way her wrists are bound. Once she’s on the ground, Solaris climbs down as well. As he addresses the grunts, Sirius examines the hostage.

She’s clearly intimidated by her situation, eyes fixed on the ground and expression attempting to remain calm, but faltering just barely. But then, what did she expect when she tried to go against Team Meteor and even split up from the rest of her group? This is only the natural conclusion.

The grunts soon leave, and Solaris turns to Sirius. “As for you, you may look around.”

“…really?” Sirius asks, surprised.

“I know you must be curious, and I trust you to be respectful of this space,” Solaris says. “You are dismissed.”

“Yes, Commander,” Sirius says before heading further into the cave.

He already knew that this would be an interesting place, but to actually see it in person is a different matter entirely. It never gets dark enough that he would need a light of any sort, and even more notably, gems glitter in the walls and ground.

They’re absolutely gorgeous. If Sirius was in charge, he would figure out how to excavate a few and see what he could do with them.

To create jewelry has gone from a possible business to a hobby indulged in less often, but the prospect of making something from one of these crystals holds a certain allure. The result would surely be valuable.

But he is not in charge, and he doubts that Solaris would take kindly to an attempt to take and alter even a single gem. So he stamps the idea out.

Despite being given the freedom to roam, he finds himself seeking out Solaris soon enough. Or rather, the place that he knows the other man is.

He knows when he’s found his destination immediately. Even aside from the very deliberate set of stairs he has to walk down when he reaches it, there’s also a feeling in his body. A tingling below the flesh, in his very veins.

He soon finds Solaris exactly where he knew he would, standing in front of the gate.

“Sirius,” Solaris says without looking away from it. “I knew you would make your way here soon enough.”

“How could I stay away?” Sirius asks, staring at the gate as well. “It’s Reborn’s core, after all.”

Beyond this gate lies Team Meteor’s ultimate goal. What the original iteration of this region was built around. The beginning of everything, even the things that came before it.

“The day that these gates open once again is drawing closer,” Solaris says. “Soon, Reborn will return to the ways of the old world.”

“But it’s a new world for most,” Sirius adds, smirking a bit.

By this point, most of those in Team Meteor were drawn in by promises of a new world… and they’re not entirely false, are they? After all, most people in the Reborn region arrived here or were born after this city’s founding. They’ve never known the way this place once was, and so after all is said and done, they will have a new world.

Sirius’ idea, of course. It’s incredible how a few simple twists of words and implications can make so many expect things they were never promised.

“Your next assignment will be to retrieve the Ruby,” Solaris says.

“Of course. I’ll take it when I bring in Borealis’ daughter,” Sirius says.

The dead man has done the thing that Sirius has been waiting over twelve years for him to do: betraying Team Meteor. He assisted an enemy in escaping from today’s PULSE Tangrowth operation, then ran off with another enemy.

Sure, that first enemy was his daughter. But an enemy is an enemy, especially when they’re actively attempting to stop an operation.

“No, things have changed. Borealis is dead,” Solaris says.

Sirius’ eye widens, and his head whips in Solaris’ direction. “He’s what!?”

It’s not like him to lose his composure, but he simply cannot help it. He’s been looking forward to taking the dead man’s life for years, now, only for someone else to beat him to it?

“His body was found in the Lapis Ward, at the bottom of Beryl Bridge,” Solaris says.

…a suicide, then. Of course the dead man would spite Sirius in such a way.

“Thus, there is no reason to do anything to his daughter,” Solaris continues. “Simply find a way to extract the Ruby.”

“…yes, Commander,” Sirius bites out.

“You are dismissed,” Solaris says.

Sirius turns and leaves, back to the floor above.

Once there and down a ledge, he starts to walk back to where the way up to the surface is. As he does, he hears something from behind him, and turns to see one of the recent pests hurrying to the floor below.

He promptly turns around and keeps walking, ignoring her. He has things to do.

Extraction may count as a “reason,” after all.

— — —

The dead man’s daughter is unfortunately not immediately approachable.

She spends the night out in the open, guarded by her Salamence in Obsidia Park. While this makes her easy to track, it makes it impossible to do much further without attracting suspicion from passerby. Sirius elects to leave her be for the night.

The next day is different, however.

She is taken to the city’s orphanage by its owner and head doctor, Sigmund, only to immediately be broken out by a few others, including two of Team Meteor’s recent pests.

He manages to cut off one of the two, as well as another escapee, from leaving, only to be soundly beat in battle. The two leave without him doing much else to stop them, and Sirius steps into the room. “Are you sure that was wise?”

Sigmund gasps in shock, whirling around and stepping back. “What— who in blazes are you!? What are you doing here?”

Sirius steps forward, lips twitching into a smirk. “Really, Doctor? You’ve had rats scurrying about all this time, and you ask why the cat appears?”

Really, there’s a number of things that were here, for a short time or otherwise, that tie back to Team Meteor in some way. The Ruby, the pests, the Belrose sisters…

Sigmund scowls. “Identify yourself!”

“I’m a huge fan of your work on ECT,” Sirius says, completely truthful. He glances away for just a moment as he considers his phrasing. “I’ve found it very useful in my… operations.”

It’s done wonders for multiple things, but Sigmund is probably uninterested in hearing about things like interrogation and punishment… when it involves adults, at least. So Sirius moves on.

“Doctor, I understand that you’ve lost something,” he says. “I believe we can be of some benefit to each other.”

Sigmund regards him with suspicion. “You mean the children.”

“Four of them, yes?” Sirius asks as if he does not already know the answer. “As for the three that broke them out… Team Meteor is interested in keeping an eye on them.”

One of them is the girl who keeps popping up. Another has started to do the same. The third has been uninvolved with Team Meteor’s operations, but is a friend to one of the agents, the angry one. This makes her worth watching… even if this is a bit much.

If Sirius was in charge, he would not be nearly so bothered with those three as this. One of them took down the PULSE Tangrowth, but she is no one who cannot be defeated through direct confrontation with someone more competent than any of her foes so far. Her friend is much the same, and has done even less than her. The angry one is all bark, and so can be kept in place with much less than direct threats to the Bug Type Leader, even with his involvement in an upcoming operation.

But Sirius is not in charge, and so those three have been deemed worth more thorough surveillance than normal.

Sigmund’s eyes widen. “You’re…!”

“Nobody that you need to fear; like I said, we can benefit each other,” Sirius says. “So, what do you say?”

“I don’t need your help,” Sigmund says, crossing his arms. “The police will bring my charges back to me; I’m sure they’ve already been apprehended.”

…unfortunately, this is a situation where Sirius will have to rely on factors outside of his control, such as luck and the skills of the pests. The police were called and set out before anything could be done to stop it, so there’s a very real chance that Sigmund is correct, and the escaped group has already been caught. If that’s happened, the Ruby will become much more difficult to acquire. The assignment might be given to the old zealot.

But the pests have proven, if nothing else, that they have the luck to squirm out of unfortunate situations. This could still play out in Sirius’ favor.

So he takes a small scrap of paper from his pocket, stepping forward and holding it out. “Here. In case you change your mind.”

Sigmund stares for a moment, then tentatively takes the scrap, looking at what’s been written on it— a means to contact Sirius, of course.

“I’ll be going, then,” he says, turning around and walking further into the building.

Ace is waiting for him in the hallway, and teleports them both to his office in the Yureyu building.

“Do you really think this is going to work?” they ask.

“Of course,” Sirius says. “After all, it’s not as if he has any evidence of who masterminded that little jailbreak to show the police. If he wants any help tracking them down, he has nobody to turn to except for us.”

The orphanage has security cameras, of course, but if Sigmund tries to look for the footage of what just happened, he’ll find it mysteriously missing.

“Should we really help him do that, though?” Ace asks. “To be rid of him is certainly better for the children.”

“That’s none of our business,” Sirius points out. “What is is securing the Ruby… and perhaps more recruits.”

After all, to ally with Team Meteor is not something that can only be done once. If Sigmund decides to accept their help, he’ll have to be willing to help them in turn for more than just securing the Ruby. Plus, he has several people working under him that could be brought in as well…

“I suppose that’s true,” Ace says. “I have other things to do, though, so I’ll be going now.”

Sirius nods, and they leave. He then walks over to the worktable nearby.

He thinks that he will indulge in a hobby for a while.

— — —

A week and a half later, Sirius stands in the abandoned railnet with a few grunts.

Sigmund caved, just like Sirius knew he would. He, his orderlies, and the police were unable to track down the escapees, and the latter group has begun to prioritize the search for them less.

It was reported that the group being targeted has finally made their way to the railnet in an attempt to leave the city. So Sirius waits on the other side of the closed Yureyu door, waiting to spring a trap.

Eventually, the door opens. He hears some of the people on the other side talk, but ignores it, stepping through. “It was about time. Greetings, all.”

The dead man’s daughter has no reaction at all, while the purple-clad one’s visible eye widens. The other children all seem surprised and confused on some level. The eldest of the group— the headache, as some people have begun to call her— is absent entirely.

“And just who are you?” the youngest Belrose asks.

“That’s of no consequence to you,” Sirius says. The purple-clad one’s hand goes to a Poké Ball on his belt, but before he can grab it, Sirius steps forward. “Seize them.”

The flashbang is set off, dazing the children. Sirius hears a grunt run in.

“Ah! Cain, catch!” the girl twin shouts.

“What—?” the purple-clad one starts before shooting a hand up and catching something that flies through the air.

“Just run!” the girl twin says.

“Hey, hands off of her!” the youngest Belrose snaps.

“An interesting request,” Sirius says dryly. “How about we talk about it inside?”

Sirius steps out of the way as the grunts apprehend the children one by one. Before the purple-clad one can be grabbed, however, he begins to flee west.

“Shoot— Nidoking!” he says, and Sirius hears said Pokémon’s cry from out of his view. “Use Earthquake, now!”

The Pokémon clearly obeys, and a large crack splits the ground, one section of it forcing the grunt chasing the boy to back up as rocks fall from above.

“Ugh… let’s bolt!” the purple-clad one says, and Sirius hears him do just that.

“Commander Sirius?” the grunt asks, unsure.

“Let him go. He’s not part of our deal,” Sirius says. “We’ve got everything we need. Exactly what the doctor ordered.”

There’s another trap being setup for the various pests, and this one is nothing of note. Sirius isn’t sure what the girl twin tossed through the air, but the Ruby still rested on the finger of the dead man’s daughter, so it is nothing that Sirius is concerned with.

“Since when do men serve swine?” an unfortunately familiar voice asks, and the infuriating one walks into view to the east.

“So nice of you to drop in, Private,” Sirius says, voice tinged with annoyance.

“Agent,” the infuriating one says.

“You were promoted, then,” Sirius says before turning aside. “That is… awfully quick.”

Multiple people have been given advanced positions upon joining Team Meteor, but that’s different. Those people were given their positions due to either bringing something of value in, or Solaris’ sentimentalities.

The infuriating one has neither of these things. She appeared out of nowhere one day, with little connection to anyone or anything, and so was given a grunt position just like the majority are. But she has risen from that rank to agent at unprecedented speeds; many who have been in Team Meteor for multiple times longer than her still sit at the grunt rank.

In addition, this means that she most likely skipped right over the ranks of dame and ace. This is not unheard of, but has only ever happened under special circumstances before.

“A spot was vacant, after all,” she says.

“Ah… Borealis,” Sirius says, bitter, as he turns back to her. “I had hoped to wring his neck myself.”

At least he has the dead man’s daughter. He’s sure that, if the dead man can still see into this world from whatever miserable place he’s ended up in, he’s already regretting his choice.

“A new systems manager has also been chosen,” the infuriating one says.

“So I heard, after what happened with Ace,” Sirius says.

They didn’t do anything to stop the dead man and the one pest from running off, and then they prevented the infuriating one from taking the Sapphire pieces from the Water Type Leader.

“You would do well to mind your new company,” the infuriating one says.

Sirius takes a step in her direction, sneering. “You would do well to mind your manners. Promotion or not, I am still your commanding officer.”

“In title,” the infuriating one says.

“And just what does that mean?” Sirius asks, growing more irate.

“Titles are meaningless,” the infuriating one claims. “Results are what matters.”

“Did you come here solely to tell me things I already know?” Sirius asks.

Of the few who hold the rank of admin, he is the only one who both earned the rank and undertakes all the associated responsibilities. It is blood, sweat, and tears— and not necessarily his own— that have both earned and kept this position. She would do well to remember that.

“No. I came to deliver a warning,” the infuriating one claims. “Know your place, or it will make itself known to you.”

She turns and walks off, and Sirius glares at her until she’s gone. Then, he scoffs. “Impudent wench.”

If he were in charge, he thinks he might wring her neck as well. But he is not in charge, and he knows that Solaris would be angry if he did something like that without a reason considered good enough. So he refrains.

He instead looks to the nearby grunt, who is obviously nervous over what he just witnessed. “Well, don’t just stand there gawking. There’s work to be done.”

“Y-yes, sir!” the grunt stutters.

Sirius turns and walks back through the Yureyu door. He makes his way back to the Yureyu building, and walks up to the fifth floor, where the dead man’s daughter has been put into a cell.

He enters and walks over to her. “I’m sure that you have heard the truth about your father by now?”

The dead man’s daughter stays silent.

Sirius scowls. “Have you gone deaf? I asked you a question.”

“Leave her alone!” the girl twin pipes up from the next cage over.

“Quiet!” Sirius snaps. “I’m speaking to your friend, not you.”

“She can’t speak, though!” the girl twin claims.

“‘Can’t speak?’” Sirius repeats. “But I know that’s— hmm…”

For a moment, he assumed that the girl twin was attempting to lie to him, claiming that the dead man’s daughter was mute in the traditional sense. But perhaps the other girl meant not that she’s physically unable to speak, but mentally.

Yes, he recognizes that look in her eyes. The light of life in them has not been snuffed out, but it has been dulled. She stares at him as if he is not there.

She is being haunted by something. It is not hard to guess what.

She will get over it, given sufficient reason. Unfortunately, Sirius is not allowed to provide that reason, as part of the deal with Sigmund is that no harm comes to her or the other children.

So for now, Sirius simply takes her hand and slips the Ruby off of it. Her hand twitches slightly as he does, but she offers no resistance. Doesn’t move as he pockets the Ruby and leaves.

What a letdown.

He makes his way up to his office. There, he takes the piece he recently finished making and holds it by the string, inspecting it.

It’s nearly perfect, really. The purple gem has been carved into a diamond shape, just like the one burned into his memory.

The only flaws are all inherent to the fact that it is not that same Amethyst.

This pendant is close enough to it that the average person would not be able to tell the difference. Even those who have more experience with the Crystal Keys, such as Solaris, would likely do a double take if they were to walk in right now and see the pendant Sirius holds.

But it would become obvious to such people almost immediately that this is an imitation and nothing more. The differences would jump out and make it clear.

…this is not the first imitation of a Crystal Key that he has created. He has made a number of them throughout the years, each tucked away into the cabinets below the worktable in this room.

He could not say why he does it. He’s had a few vague thoughts on the matter, but nothing he’s ever attempted to put into words. But it is almost like something compels him— of all the jewelry he has made in the years since joining Team Meteor, the majority were deliberately made to imitate one of the Crystal Keys in their current forms, while the ones that weren’t have tended to come out with similarities.

He’s distracted from his thoughts by a knock on the door, followed by a voice. “Commander? I’m here to make the report you asked for.”

Right. Sirius ordered the grunts to look over the children and their belongings, then come report to him.

“Enter,” he says, and a grunt walks in and starts to make a report.

There’s not much to say, it seems. Even the two children who were not caged are completely secured, and none of the five had anything of note on them aside from their Pokémon and the Ruby, it sounds like.

“One of them had a necklace just like that one, though,” the grunt finishes.

Sirius tenses up. He holds the pendant up. “This one?”

“Yes, it looks exactly the same,” the grunt says.

Sirius’ expression darkens somewhat. “You mean to tell me that not a single one of you recognized the Amethyst Pendant?”

The grunt’s eyes widen, and then he glances away nervously. “Er… I guess not…”

“What are you standing there for?” Sirius snaps. “Now that you know, go get it and bring it to me.”

“Yes, Commander,” the grunt says before scurrying off.

Sirius watches him go with a scoff.

The appearance of the Crystal Keys is supposed to be common knowledge within Team Meteor, but clearly some people can’t be bothered to do something so basic as learn the appearance of something so vital.

He puts the imitation pendant away and waits. Soon enough, the grunt returns clutching the Amethyst by the string, and holds it out.

Sirius takes it immediately, looking it over. Not that he even has to, really. This is just confirmation of what he knew the second he saw it. Everything from the glimmer to the barely visible core is exactly as he remembers.

“…which of the children had this?” he asks, not taking his eye off the Amethyst.

“The black haired girl, with the pigtails and the doll,” the grunt says.

The girl twin, then. But…

“Bring her here,” Sirius commands.

“Yes, Commander,” the grunt says before leaving the room.

It makes sense that Sirius didn’t notice the Amethyst before, with the way that girl clutched her doll to her chest. But this raises questions: what could she have thrown to the purple-clad one that was more worthy of being kept safe than this, and where and when did she acquire the Amethyst in the first place?

It’s likely that she didn’t know the true value of the Amethyst. It would make perfect sense for a child so young to value a worthless trinket over something truly precious.

As for the matter of how she acquired it, Sirius supposes he will find out soon enough.

— — —

Sirius’ questioning of the girl twin isn’t able to occur immediately.

She somehow managed to fall asleep in the time between the Amethyst being taken and the grunt going to retrieve her, and doesn’t wake until morning. She then spends almost the entire day asleep, only awakening for short periods of time. She only wakes up for longer the next afternoon, at which point she’s taken up to Sirius’ office.

Trying to question her is unnecessarily difficult, though. She refuses to answer anything she’s asked, instead cowering between the worktable and desk as she clutches her stuffed toy tightly, whimpers escaping her mouth.

This is incredibly frustrating, especially given the other problem. Two pests— the headache and the purple-clad one, of course— have somehow gotten into the building. Should they manage to get up here, he would prefer to have finished questioning the girl twin first.

It seems that he will not be getting his wish, though, as he hears the door slam open and multiple sets of footsteps rush in before the headache’s voice calls out. “Hey!”

The girl twin perks up. “Carly! Cain! Heather!”

Sirius scowls. Even the dead man’s daughter is here?

“Heyy, we finally made it!” the purple-clad one says as Sirius turns around. He’s giving the girl twin an unsure grin while the headache looks to her with a worried expression. The dead man’s daughter lingers several steps behind them both.

“Did no one teach you to knock before entering?” Sirius asks, irate. “This is my private office. I would appreciate due courtesy.”

“Is that a fucking joke?” the headache asks, as petulant as he remembers from their first encounter.

He ignores her, glancing over at the door. “Did the doctor falter already? I heard no commotion downstairs.”

“He didn’t even try,” the purple-clad one says.

Sirius looks away with a scoff. “Senile old man.”

He’s had more conversations with the doctor, and he’s been less than impressed.

“He was the one who wanted to detain the children,” he continues, looking back to the pests. “I thought we might have had a useful partnership, but he drivels on and on about ‘stress response’ this and ‘traumatic event’ that… at least he was good for his employees.”

He had been under the impression that the doctor was far more self aware than he actually is, it seems. He went on and on and on about how the conditions here were no good for the children, but was instantly defensive when it was pointed out that said conditions aren’t much different than his own orphanage.

It’s honestly a disappointment, but as Sirius said, he was at least able to recruit the orphanage’s orderlies… whether they wanted to join Team Meteor or not. One or two managed to scurry off, but they’ll be tracked down soon enough, if they haven’t been already, and be made to regret their decision.

“That, and…” he continues, taking the Amethyst from his pocket and holding it up, inspecting it yet again. “It’s strange, isn’t it? We needed only ensnare Ruby, and we caught Amethyst, too.”

He’s still in disbelief, that it just fell into his lap like this. The Amethyst seemed to disappear entirely years ago, with every supposed lead to its location turning out to be a false clue. That one of the children he agreed to apprehend in pursuit of the Ruby should have it seems almost like a miracle.

That one of the old zealot’s fellow members of the Elite Four should have it seems almost suspicious.

“Give me back my Pendant!” the girl twin cries. “It’s— it’s the only thing I have left of my father…”

That she’s suddenly willing to tell where she got the Amethyst from is a surprise, but Sirius instead focuses on the words said.

“Your father?” he asks before looking away… and then it clicks. He looks back to the girl twin. “Ah. I suppose I can see the resemblance.”

In fact, he wonders how he didn’t see it before. Her hair is the exact same shade of black. It covers one of her eyes, but he knows they’re both pink, if perhaps brighter. Even her expression of fear is the same.

She could only be the daughter of that backstabber.

As for the mother… yes, it’s likely that witch. Sirius had completely forgotten, but now it dredges up from the recesses of his mind. The backstabber mentioned her during one of their last encounters— the one he had fallen for.

“You knew my dad?!” the backstabber’s daughter asks.

“He was a fool,” Sirius says. “The unrefined, short sighted type. The type that history tries too hard to forget.”

“Don’t say things like that!” the backstabber’s daughter demands with a pitiful glare.

“Ah, but it is so true,” Sirius says as he steps closer to her.

“Hey, stay away from her!” the headache snaps.

Sirius ignores her, closing his eye as he lifts the Pendant up, holding it close to ensure no one gets any foolish ideas. A few memories pass through his mind. Memories of different names and different times.

“The gems of your ever so precious Pendant that he gave you— they were not always the brilliant, polished crystal you know,” he reveals. “Stones must be cut to be shaped. People are the same.”

Once, so long ago, a Sapphire broke in two with a great burst of energy unlike anything the man working on it had ever seen, terrifying him. If he had been working on it for anyone aside from his contractor— if the other man could even be called that— he likely would’ve dropped the project then and there. Instead, he worried that his contractor would be upset.

What a fool that man was.

Sirius turns around, taking a step away. “Sometimes the stone breaks if you make the wrong cut. And your father, the miserable, treacherous lout that he was…”

Oh, there are just so many ways he could finish that thought, aren’t there? So many things that likely go against this young girl’s perception of her father.

It occurs to him that, in a way, this girl is most likely the backstabber’s victim. Someone that he abandoned when that became the most convenient course of action, leaving her with only a target on her back, or rather, neck.

But maybe it would still hurt him, to know what she is going through.

Sirius turns back around and opens his eye, taking in her upset expression for a moment before he speaks. “Well, he was very broken indeed.”

“Heyy buddy, I think you should stop talking and give the girl back her stuff,” the purple-clad one says, anger lacing his tone.

“‘Her’ stuff,” Sirius says as he turns around again, finding the idea almost humorous.

The purple-clad one and the headache both stare at him with obvious anger in their expressions, each holding a Poké Ball in hand. The dead man’s daughter, on the other hand, has responded to absolutely nothing this whole time, only staring at nothing with those same dulled eyes.

Broken, perhaps.

“It was ours before she was ever born,” Sirius continues. “This Amethyst Pendant and the Ruby Ring both. You don’t have so much as an inkling of their true worth. I will not relinquish such items for mere sentimentalities.”

“What’s so special about them, then?” the headache asks. “Why are you guys collecting a bunch of jewelry?”

“That information is not for you to know,” Sirius says, pocketing the Pendant and taking Tyrantrum and Minior’s Poké Balls from his belt. “You may have managed to cause us a notable amount of trouble, but do not think things are any different than they were when we first met. Neither you or your friend are anyone worth listening to.”

The two pests are clearly further irritated at that, even stating an intent to make him listen. He simply sends out his Pokémon as they send out their own. Now that these two are finally facing someone above their levels, they will be beaten into the ground.

Except, bafflingly, that’s not what happens.

Sirius has been training his Pokémon with some consistency for years, now. He will admit that he is far from the strongest Trainer in the region, as he is often too busy with his duties in Team Meteor to train, but he should certainly be far stronger than these two. One is a child, and the other is only not one legally. The evidence suggests that their current teams are all made up of Pokémon caught within the last month. They may have gotten past the grunts, but he should be able to crush them both.

But while multiple of the enemy Pokémon faint, his do at a much faster rate. Far too soon, he is left with only Manectric.

“Perhaps we’ve left this threat unchecked for too long,” he mutters, glancing aside for only a moment before issuing another command. “Discharge!”

But it is a thought that continues to run through his mind as the remaining Pokémon battle.

So far, he has attributed these two’s, and specifically the headache’s, continued victories to luck and circumstance. Every time she has shown up to a location owned or operation run by Team Meteor, there has been at least one thing to give her a leg up. A weak link, a flaw, more powerful companions.

But this time she has none of those things. She and the purple-clad one face Sirius, specifically. There is nothing here she can exploit any more than he can. Her friend is on the same level as her at most, even if he was once a Gym Leader. The closest thing these two have to an advantage is that this battle is two on one, but that’s never stopped Sirius from winning before.

It does this time, though. Far too soon, everyone recalls their Pokémon, with Sirius’ having fainted.

“Insolent. You have no clue what you’re fighting for or against,” he says, glaring.

“You’re the one who refused to tell us anything,” the headache says, as if in refutation. “But now you’ve lost. Let go of Anna, and give back the Pendant and Ring.”

That only serves to infuriate Sirius. How dare this fool make demands of him? “Absolutely not! This conflict is as pointless as it is infuriating! Do not presume to be in control of the situation after such a trifling victory. After all…”

He moves and grabs the backstabber’s daughter by the arm, causing her to wince as she’s dragged forward. “Ow—”

Sirius looks over to the pests who, suddenly, seem far less eager to antagonize. “Need I say more?”

“H-hey…!” the headache says, obviously aghast. “You can’t—”

“But I can,” Sirius interrupts.

Is this underhanded? Some may say so, but in reality, it is only the natural course of action. Only a fool thinks the battle ends when one side’s Pokémon have all fainted, after all.

“Carly…? Cain…?” the backstabber’s daughter calls out.

“Hey— hey, no—” the purple-clad one says gently, bringing his hands up in a placating motion, obviously trying to deescalate. “Nobody wants this to happen, right? We can work this out, right?”

“I wonder,” Sirius says.

“Wait— I know. Look, you lost a shipment, right?” the purple-clad one asks, digging through his bag. He pulls out something that makes Sirius’ eye widen. That makes his heart skip a beat. That makes time seem to stand still for a moment. “I picked this up— it was supposed to reach you. This, uhhh, Emerald Brooch?”

“…you have it,” Sirius says in disbelief. “And here I thought that old zealot’s daughter still had it. It seems this truly is history in the making.”

Three Crystal Keys attained in only two days, through a single operation. The Sapphire pieces in reach. All of Team Meteor’s current and upcoming plans could become unnecessary overnight.

“The Brooch for her life, then,” he offers.

“Sure, whatever, yeah…” the purple-clad one says, obviously attempting to hide disgust.

“Give it here, boy, and slowly— no sudden movements,” Sirius orders as he holds out his free hand. As the headache stares at the backstabber’s daughter in worry, the purple-clad one walks over, keeping his gaze on Sirius. Soon enough, he hands over the Emerald, and Sirius clutches it tightly before giving the backstabber’s daughter one last look. “Go.”

She stumbles over to the headache’s side, and the purple-clad one backs up to stand in front of her.

“U-um…” she stutters out. “Hey, uh, Nostra says we need to leave here right away…”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” the purple-clad one says. “Let’s skedaddle!”

As the four annoyances hurry off, Sirius looks down at the Emerald in awe. “To have three of the four already… how marvelous.”

A smile threatens to stretch across his face… only to turn into a small frown as he notices something off. He squints at the Emerald. Holds it up to the light. Tilts it to look at it from a few angles.

“…no, hang on,” he mutters. “Something is not right here. The luster is not quite…”

The more he looks, the more he finds wrong.

One of the first things he ever noticed about the Crystal Keys is the way that they sparkle under the slightest bit of light, but the same can’t be said for this jewel. The color is also not quite right, the shade of green being off. The core is completely unseeable no matter what he does.

Confused and irritated, he walks over to his worktable. “This isn’t the Brooch. Have I been tricked?”

He picks up a carving tool at random and lightly presses it against gem, then pulls it towards him. With absolutely no difficulty, a groove forms.

“No, this isn’t a crystal at all— it would not cut like this. But I have seen this before, this…” he says, trailing off as the “jewel” starts to become a bright shade of green. “No, this is— Verdignite!”

He throws the bomb at the wall and bolts, throwing himself behind some large machinery. An explosion rocks the room.

He sits still for a few moments, breathing heavy. Then he stands and looks around to assess the damage.

…it’s absolutely awful. His worktable, and everything that was on it, has been destroyed, and the same goes for his desk, the mug he had placed there now several shards of porcelain. The bookshelves have also been damaged, and when he sees some of the books that have been heavily damaged or outright destroyed, he actually winces. Solaris will be even more unhappy about this than him…

What’s more, the force of the explosion damaged the building itself. There’s a large hole in the wall, and several chunks of debris litter the room, having fallen from the cieling.

Fury fills Sirius as he looks around. How dare those two make a fool of him in this way!? To have had the false brooch with them… how long did they plan it in advance? Had they just been waiting for a chance to hand it off to the first schmuck they could, or did they target him specifically?

“…what happened?” the doctor’s voice calls from the door in disbelief, only for him to, pathetically enough, cower slightly when Sirius’ head snaps in his direction. He stays frozen in place as Sirius marches over, grabbing him by the collar.

“What were you thinking?!” Sirius screams in the doctor’s face. “I go through the trouble of capturing your charges for you, and you can’t even be bothered to keep two enemies at bay? To even try to keep them from taking away the one you were supposed to be interrogating?”

“I-I didn’t just let them take Heather!” the doctor lies.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Sirius demands, his grip tightening and causing the doctor to wince. “I would’ve been able to hear a battle from the floor below! Unlike your skull, the floors here aren’t so thick!”

If he was in charge, he would throttle the doctor, or introduce him to his own therapy techniques.

But Sirius knows this would be just as unwise as it would be to do to the infuriating one. The doctor has technically only done something slightly worse than things several others have done, and the bungled assignment was his first. To punish him in such a way would get Sirius scolded by Solaris for “unnecessary sadism.”

So he lets go of the doctor, then turns and takes several steps away. Collects himself. “…make yourself useful and let everyone know it’s time to retreat, permanently.”

“You’re abandoning this base?” the doctor asks.

“We’re abandoning it. Don’t forget, doctor, that you’re a part of Team Meteor now,” Sirius says. “As for this base, it’s a lost cause. The city will send someone to investigate such a large explosion; it’s not something our infiltrators will be able to distract from, especially on such short notice.”

“Right… I’ll go let everyone know,” the doctor says before leaving.

With that, Sirius gets started packing away his own things. Fortunately, his bag was outside of the blast range.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the majority of the things he could or would want to put inside of it. Even the imitation Crystal Keys, tucked away as they were, have been damaged beyond repair, if not outright destroyed.

It’s nothing to make a fuss over. They were nothing more than a worthless hobby project, after all. They broke because they did not have the strength not to.

Still, though… surveying them, along with the rest of the damage, makes a fresh wave of fury roll over Sirius. But it also makes him wonder, how could the headache and the purple-clad one assemble such a powerful bomb into such a small, specific container?

It’s far from impossible, of course. He himself could do it, given the correct materials. What’s confusing is that those two had the knowledge and the means, and managed to assemble the bomb into such a perfect imitation of the Emerald, Brooch included. The bomb could perhaps be explained by their association with the Electric Type Leader, but the Brooch imitation…

…he can figure it out later, when he forces the answer from one of those two. It will happen eventually— just because they got away this time, it doesn’t mean the mission to capture them and the other children has been called off. They’ll probably run right back into Team Meteor’s clutches soon enough; even if they can pick the lock on the other door in the railnet, they’ll soon be stopped by the rubble wall built to block the exit to the Chrysolia area.

Sirius just has to wait.

— — —

Things don’t quite work out how Sirius thought they would. The enemy group not only got through the door to the east end of the railnet, but broke through the rubble wall using an abandoned train.

It is obvious where they’ve gone. However, apprehending them will have to wait.

The doctor is displeased by that, suddenly showing a desire to recapture the children that he couldn’t be bothered to at the Yureyu building. But he is firmly told that he will have to wait for some time.

More grunts than the amount currently at the Tanzan Mountain base will be needed, and it will be best to allow the enemies to let their guard down. Aside from that, training must be done.

As much as Sirius hates to admit it, he underestimated the enemy, especially the headache; she managed to even beat Solaris’ Garchomp the day before she and her friend reached the Yureyu building. To go up against her again without any further training would be foolish.

He also has other things to attend to, namely running the base he has been stationed in, and dealing with the PULSE Abra within.

Unfortunately for him, this PULSE is just as infuriating as the mind behind it.

It teleports both objects and people, sometimes seeming random, other times seeming designed to enrage him. He himself gets teleported into the open area of the mountain or the nearby forest more than once, and is lucky that none of the nearby enemies are ever around to spot him.

It can’t be tamed through the normal means of the PULSE machine, as its purpose requires it to ignore any and all machine input. It also can’t be tamed through battle, as defeat causes PULSE Pokémon to die.

If Sirius was in charge, nobody would be bothering with this in the first place. The only truly important place Team Meteor needs to get into is Reborn’s core, and thanks to him, they’re already halfway there. They just need to acquire the Sapphire pieces and Emerald, then nowhere will be beyond their reach.

But he is not in charge, and Solaris has deemed this idea worth attempting. So everyone scrambles for an alternative method to control the PULSE, eating into time that could be used for other things.

Eventually, though, the time comes to take back the children. Sirius walks through the mountain with the doctor and a large enough collection of grunts. He goes over the instructions one more time, a simple rundown to make sure even the dumbest among the group understand.

As he speaks, he hears hurried footsteps fleeing to the north.

“Commander, did you hear that?” a grunt asks.

“Of course I did,” Sirius says. “Clearly, we were spotted. Let’s hurry up, then.”

Having the element of surprise taken away isn’t ideal, but it’s hardly a setback. The enemies will not have enough time to prepare to put up a fight. If anything, their panic will make them misstep. So he doesn’t worry as he leads his group out into Tanzan Cove, and starts to set up his raft.

He’ll have to row it across the lake using a pair of oars, as while he’s sure that Team Meteor has something more advanced sitting around somewhere, it could apparently not be spared for this mission. It’s no matter, though; while the lake is large, it should take no more than a few minutes to get across. It doesn’t take long at all for him to make good progress.

Soon, though, he hears a voice ring out. “Extreme Speed!”

Sirius looks up to see a blur shoot across the lake, too fast for him to even form a thought before it rams right into him, knocking the oars from his hands and him backwards and into the water.

He doesn’t panic, despite the suddenness. Knows to suppress any impulse to gasp or breathe in. Instead he holds his breath and starts to swim to the opposite shore, thankfully not weighed down by too much, since he didn’t have anything extra that couldn’t fit in his pockets.

Partway across the lake, he resurfaces, looking back over to where he came from. There, he sees the eldest Belrose, riding a Dragonite that fires off Dragon Pulse repeatedly against the grunts. None of them get past her, each pair of partners falling into the water together.

He scowls. She wasn't supposed to return here until nightfall. Are the spies fools, or did something change? Though really, even if it did, they should’ve reported it.

Whatever the case, he swims the rest of the way to his destination, and before he even pulls himself up, he lets out Manectric, pointing back at the eldest Belrose. “Strike her down.”

Manectric obeys as Sirius focuses on hauling himself up onto land. When he looks back, the eldest Belrose and her Pokémon are both nowhere to be found.

That should teach her a lesson she won’t soon forget.

He doesn’t stick around after that, instead recalling Manectric and marching to the nearby house as he mutters to himself in frustration, water dripping from his body and clothes.

Once he reaches the door, he slams it open and steps inside. “Blast that feral woman!”

The doctor turns around, stepping back… only to immediately freeze up as the headache’s Pangoro, standing next to said girl, growls at him.

Sirius can’t help a scoff.

“Where are your men?” the doctor asks.

“Gone,” Sirius spits out as he closes the door behind him and steps forward. “Dead, for all I know. That accursed woman with the Dragonite came and shot us as we were crossing the lake. I clipped her wings in return, and hauled myself out of the water. Now I am not leaving here empty-handed.”

“What did you do to Saphira!?” the headache demands, worry and anger mixing in her voice.

“Nothing she shouldn’t be used to,” Sirius says, glaring at her. “As for you, make a fool out of me, will you? My office is in pieces thanks to you!”

“…what?” the headache asks with feigned confusion.

“Don’t play dumb!” Sirius demands. “It is only thanks to my quick wit that I even escaped that little trap of yours unscathed. Don’t you dare deign to stand in my way ever again!”

“Fuck off!” the headache snaps. “You’re insane if you think I’m just going to back down!”

Sirius sneers. “Of course, that would just be too smart of you, wouldn’t it? Where is your purple-clad friend? I have a lesson to teach you, and a score to settle with him.”

The purple-clad one, and the dead man’s daughter for that matter, have both been reported absent from the group here, but that doesn’t mean it’s true given the spies clearly aren’t necessarily competent. Even if it is, the headache would know where her friend is.

“Leave him alone!” she demands.

“Don’t worry. He gets to watch while I choke you,” Sirius says. “Then I’ll poison him and see how well he reacts to the type he once specialized in.”

The headache looks enraged at that, trembling in anger as her Pokémon braces itself as if to pounce. When she speaks, her voice trembles much like her body. “If you get anywhere near him, I swear to Arceus—”

“We’re here for the children,” the doctor interrupts.

Sirius calms down a bit at that. Remembers the mission. “Where are they?”

“This vexatious brat is protecting them,” the doctor says bitterly.

“Is that so?” Sirius asks, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Well, Doctor, I cannot help but notice there are now two of us, and only one brat. If we split up, her actions will only tell us where they’re hiding. And she can’t stop both of us at once.”

The headache speaks, but he ignores her, walking around the doctor and her towards a doorway in the back of the room that he knows leads to the staircase to the second floor. Past the others, there’s another door.

“I’ll go this way, Doctor. And you go through the door over there,” he says. The doctor nods, walking towards the other door as the headache looks between both men. “So, Carly? Who will you stop? The doctor, or myself?”

If she had any spine, she’d block the doctor, as the gray coloration of his Poké Balls make it clear she’s already beaten him in battle, and have her Pangoro attack Sirius directly. Maybe let out another Pokémon for the doctor, even.

But so many people consider having a Pokémon attack a human a line that they are unwilling to cross. Humans are typically perfectly capable of more or less shrugging off a few attacks by most Pokémon unless it’s a well trained one or certain attacks are used, but many people are still unwilling to have theirs do so. While the eldest Belrose may not be one of those people, the headache has never been reported to even attempt such an attack, and so Sirius assumes she is unwilling.

And it seems he is correct. She runs to block the doctor, her Pangoro following, but not doing anything to indicate it’s about to attack.

“Hmph. So that’s how it is,” Sirius says. “All right, I’ll just take a look upstairs.”

After all, there’s always a chance that the children could be split up, or the headache could be trying to trick them. So he makes his way up to the second floor and sees… ah.

“The middle sister,” he says, looking said girl up and down. Her stance is guarded, and she has a Lilligant and Comfey out. “I suppose it would be you, getting in my way.”

The last time he came to this place, or rather, its former iteration, was to take back the Sapphire pieces and kill the family that had claimed them. The middle Belrose, in particular, was the one considered their “owner.”

His original plan had been to kill the whole family of five, but he had decided to spare the youngest for a few different reasons. He fled the scene once the fire was started, then came back the next day to search for the Sapphire pieces in the ashes… but they were gone. And as he would later find out, all three Belrose daughters had escaped with their lives.

He’s unsure as to how the Sapphire pieces ended up on the wrists of the Water Type Leader, but he assumes that the middle Belrose must’ve taken them with her as she fled, only to lose them elsewhere. Of course, given her age at the time, that she was able to flee at all was only possible because of her elder sister.

Combined, the eldest and middle Belroses and the headache may have caused him more trouble than anyone other than the backstabber, or perhaps the dead man. It almost seems poetic that the three of them would come together at this house to defend those men’s children from Sirius.

“What?” the middle Belrose asks in obvious confusion.

“Forget it,” Sirius says as he sends out Chandelure and Seviper. After all, he’s not one for poetry. “I refuse to leave empty-handed. The girl playing hero will not win this time, nor will you and your wretched sister.”

The battle starts, and it really should be a clear cut victory for him. The middle Belrose may be a member of the Elite Four, but she was also under the restrictions of the doctor’s orphanage until recently. Besides, it’s not like this region’s Elites ever see any battles. Her impressive title should mean nothing.

To his great frustration, though, it seems she’s been training. He’s the one who loses this battle.

“You’ll regret this!” he swears as he flees down the stairs, unsure of what else to say but unwilling to leave quietly.

He’s infuriated! Humiliated! And when he reaches the doorway to the living room… he pauses. Because in front of hole in the wall that certainly wasn’t there before, the eldest Belrose stands. The headache and her Pangoro stare at the hole as well, none of the three noticing Sirius at all. He checks his pockets, and finds a Revive.

…perhaps this is an opportunity.

He uses the Revive on Seviper’s Ultra Ball, then aims it at the eldest Belrose. “Poison Jab!”

Seviper appears right next to her and uses the move, knocking her out instantly— and only that— as the headache lets out a small shriek of shock. He’s well trained, after all.

As Sirius walks closer to the middle of the room, the headache’s Pangoro growls at him, only for it’s Trainer to throw an arm out in front of it as she stares at the eldest Belrose— and the way Seviper keeps his tail poised to strike again.

Sirius sighs, exasperated. “This is a day of misery. Be glad that woman softened us up, otherwise I’d have ripped that girl upstairs to pieces.”

“That— you—” the headache sputters uselessly. “Leave her alone!”

“Forget it,” Sirius spits. “I already said I’m not leaving empty-handed.”

He walks over to Seviper’s side, the headache and her Pokémon watching helplessly. Then he takes a moment to look over the eldest Belrose, the Reborn League’s highest ranked Gym Leader, sprawled out on the floor unconscious. On the other side of the hole, the doctor looks rather similar, though on his back instead of his front and surrounded by the remains of what seems to be a ruined bookshelf.

“So this banshee believes she can protect her family? But will her family do her the same honor?” Sirius asks before looking over to the headache with a grin, feeling smug. “I look forward to seeing you soon, Carly. This time on our territory. I’d be insane not to expect it, wouldn’t I?”

The headache glares, seething. “Obviously.”

Sirius doesn’t pay her any more mind, instead hauling the eldest Belrose over his shoulder as Seviper acts as security. Then, he steps through the hole in the wall and kicks the doctor in the side.

He lets out a gasp of pain, his eyes opening as he groans something unintelligible.

“Get up. We’re done here,” Sirius says before leaving, Seviper following him. Soon enough, he hears the doctor hurrying to catch up to him.

“Saphira isn’t one of my clients anymore,” the doctor says.

“Your clients were all unreachable because you and your orderlies couldn’t get to them, so I’m afraid this is the best we could do,” Sirius says in a tone that should make his dissatisfaction clear. “But the others will come running to help this one soon enough; their type always does. When the ones that decide to face us head on have been captured or otherwise dealt with, the rest will be easy to secure.”

The doctor mutters to himself for a few moments, then nods. “Right. This is the best course of action.”

As if Sirius needed to be told.

— — —

The situation could not be more of a mess.

Sirius makes his way to the room where the PULSE is, thoughts running through his mind. As he approaches, though, he hears the doctor’s voice from within, sounding somewhat off.

“Doctor? Is something the matter?” Sirius asks as he enters the room… only to see the headache and the eldest and middle Belroses, who all turn to face him. “…you again!”

Clearly he was wrong about the situation, because this makes things even worse. The eldest Belrose was supposed to be in a cell, and the other two should’ve been kept at bay by the security measures and then captured. That all three of them have gotten to this room in an utter embarrassment.

That nobody thought to tell Sirius that they did is infuriating.

He has an insult on his tongue, sharp and ready, and—

“…no,” he says, looking away with a grimace for a moment before looking to the headache. “There are more pressing concerns right now. Step aside.”

“No???” the headache says as if the mere thought of obeying is alien. Maybe it is, to her.

Sirius glares at her, then scoffs, deciding she’s not worth the argument at the moment. Instead, he looks past her and the Belroses. “ZEL, I’ve just received a communication. Lin will be coming here shortly to observe our progress.”

The headache’s eyes widen for a moment. Tch.

“Lin…” the doctor mutters.

“Why does that sound familiar?” the eldest Belrose wonders.

“Probably because nobody in this godforsaken team can find it in their heart to shut up about her,” Sirius says bitterly, the scowl already on his face deepening. “Lin this— Lin that. How many promotions in a row has she gotten now? I swear, even Solaris answers to her by now.”

She’s an admin, now. An admin. It’s completely ridiculous.

Apparently, it’s because Team Meteor needed another one due to spikes in both recruits and activity. But why her? There are multiple other candidates that Solaris could have picked. People who have been serving the organization for years, like Sirius had been when he was made an admin. But instead the infuriating one was chosen, and so soon after she was made an agent. Has she even done anything of note, since then?

“She’s coming n-now, though?” the child asks, worried. “Abra still won’t listen to us…”

It’s almost as if the whole idea was foolish to begin with.

The middle Belrose expresses concern for the Pokémon, and the child says more than she should before the headache shuts her down.

“That’s enough,” Sirius soon says. “Focus on getting that thing tamed, otherwise Lin is going to have all of our heads.”

He would never allow the infuriating one to do any such thing to him, even in the metaphorical sense, but whatever gets things in shape; he knows those three will find such a threat far more realistic than they should.

“Hey, we’re still busting up this party,” the eldest Belrose says, irate. “Don’t think you can just ignore us.”

Sirius sneers. He would really much rather do just that at the moment, and he’s sure she’ll wish for the same soon enough, but fine. “In that case, you can be our test subject. Go ahead, ZEL.”

“Allow me to finish what I started on the lake!” the eldest Belrose says, taking a single step forward before being teleported away with a sharp zinging sound.

“Saphira……..? Where did she……..” the middle Belrose says, worried, as the headache looks over her shoulder to stare at the PULSE.

“Goodbye, Saphira. I’ll enjoy not meeting you again,” Sirius says, staring at the space where she was with a smirk. He must admit, at least to himself, that that was immensely satisfying. “And the others, ZEL?”

After a short moment, the middle Belrose is teleported away.

“Bring—” the headache starts before the same happens to her.

“Very good,” Sirius says as his smirk grows. Perhaps this project will grow on him yet. “Where did you send them?”

The PULSE has only been known to teleport things and people within the Chrysolia area, but that still includes many promising places. The cave that Solaris forbids anyone from entering for their own safety? Deeper in the forest, where much stronger Pokémon than average make their homes? Or perhaps just several more feet in the air than anyone could survive falling from?

“Um, I— I don’t think they actually know…” the child says.

…hmph. That’s far from the answer Sirius was hoping for.

“It could be anywhere,” Eve says.

“Work on it. We need to have that Abra focused to perfection. Our time is running thin,” Sirius says before leaving.

He busies himself with looking over the base, making sure everything else is in top shape… which involves waking up a lot of grunts who were apparently put to sleep by the middle Belrose’s Lilligant.

Not that it takes too long. Not every grunt was put to sleep, and besides, less than half of the ones who were here earlier are gone, now. Five of them died in the lake, and still more fled but didn’t return to this base.

If Sirius was in charge, he would make sure every last grunt who was at that raid regretted fleeing, whether they came right back here or not. With just a bit of extra help, maybe that operation could’ve been called a success.

But he is not in charge, and while he’s sure the grunts will be punished, he suspects Solaris will go easy on them, once he hears their sob stories about fearing for their lives.

Sirius pushes the thought aside, and focuses on his current work.

The base is mostly fine. Some things have been teleported around, but nothing that can’t be put back into place. Tremors have been rocking the area lately, but the base is built in a way that keeps it safe from them. There’s nothing worth worrying about…

…except, perhaps, the large hole in the bars of one of the cells.

Apparently, the grunts that Sirius handed the eldest Belrose off to when he returned to the base forgot to remove her Poké Ball belt when they put her in the cell, and were then too scared to go in and fix their mistake.

If Sirius weren’t busy with such a time sensitive task, he’d give them an earful. He makes a note to do so when the current situation has passed.

Eventually, he’s informed that the infuriating one has arrived, and so he makes his way back to the room with the PULSE.

“Lin has just arrived,” he says. Then his expression immediately sours when he sees the headache in front of him. “…Carly is back already?”

He expected it after hearing that it would be impossible to know where she’d been sent, but he was at least hoping to keep her away until the infuriating one was gone.

“Sure am,” the headache says, too assured for his liking.

“She helped us subdue Abra, so…” the child says.

“‘Subdue—’” Sirius repeats, eye widening as it lands on the empty PULSE machine. “You terminated her project?”

Are they fools? Letting the headache kill not just a PULSE, but one masterminded by someone that Solaris has been showing such favoritism to?

“It was unresponsive to all methods of control,” Eve says.

Sirius glares at ZEL… then an excellent idea comes to him. “Right. Then Carly will simply have to take the fall. You did not authorize this, or it will be your head. Understood?”

ZEL nods.

“Hey, I’m not—” the headache starts, only to cut herself off with a yelp as Sirius steps forwards and grabs her arm, making sure to squeeze down harshly.

“Nobody asked you,” he says before turning around and dragging her to his side. She thrashes in his hold for a moment, only to then freeze up. Not because of anything he did, but because the infuriating one entered the room.

Hmph.

The infuriating one demands a report, and he begins to give it, quickly going over the PULSE’s termination. Then she takes interest— or at least as much as she’s capable of— in the doctor, who introduces himself.

“Dr. Connal has been a great asset to us,” Sirius says. “With his help, we have now obtained two of the four Keys— Ruby and Amethyst.”

“Forgive me for asking, but have we, somehow, met before?” the doctor asks.

Interesting. The infuriating one has never shown any signs of having preexisting ties to anyone except the systems manager— so, nobody that can be used against her.

“Impossible,” she says.

“Y-yes,” the doctor says, obviously unsure.

It’s not much, but Sirius will be sure to keep it in mind. There’s clearly something that’s not being said.

“As for the other Keys, Solaris has a lead on Sapphire, and the Emerald—” he starts before suddenly stopping. Not just because the infuriating one should already know about the Sapphire pieces, but because of the bitter memory that causes him to squeeze the headache’s arm slightly harder.

He feels her wince. Good.

“Go on,” the infuriating one says.

“There is… no particular news about the Emerald Brooch,” Sirius bites out.

It’s true, after all. That trap was not the Emerald. The true one is probably with the old zealot’s daughter, and the infuriating one should know this.

“Lying becomes you, Sirius,” she says.

“I beg your pardon?” Sirius asks, scowling. He may be talented at weaving lies, but he knows an insult when he hears one. “You may have received no shortage of praise from Solaris, but do not assume you can talk down to me. I still have seniority, and I will have your res—”

He means to say respect, of course. Because he will have hers, or else she’ll sorely regret it. He doubts Solaris would take too kindly to hearing that even his new favorite was outright disrespecting an admin who’s given over a decade of loyal service.

But she cuts him off. “Know your place, Sirius, or has it not already made itself known to you? What more will you lose before you learn it?”

Several things click into place at that. The threat she made in the railnet nearly identical to what she just said. The purple-clad one’s words about a shipment. The headache’s earlier confusion that Sirius was so convinced was feigned. His expression darkens as rage shoots through him. “…you.”

The face of the woman in front of him remains insufferably blank, even as he lets go of the headache to step forward and grab her by the collar.

“You set up that fake Emerald Brooch!” he yells in her face.

“A bold accusation,” the infuriating one says, unfazed. “Can you provide any evidence?”

“As the one who rigged it to explode, you already know the answer to that!” Sirius says. “Do you know all that was lost up there?!”

There were rare history books up there! Not to mention all of the things that were left behind in the rush to escape the building before anyone showed up!

“Can you not create a more professional outlet to vent your frustration at your own failures?” the infuriating one asks. “To turn on your fellow commander… I fear it will call into question your loyalty.”

“My loyalty?!” Sirius asks, utterly incredulous.

“Your competence as well,” the infuriating one says. “An astute leader like yourself should have the common sense to know when to fight, when to stay quiet, and when to bend the knee.”

Sirius grits his teeth. When Solaris hears about this—

The room shakes violently before Sirius can finish the thought, causing him to let go of the infuriating one as ZEL gasps.

A grunt runs into the room. “Commander! A giant Steelix has just breached the side of the base! It’s tearing it apart!”

“A what?” Sirius asks before the room shakes again.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you, Carly?” the infuriating one asks.

It’s silent for a short moment, then the headache stands up straighter, expression shifting to undeserved confidence. When she speaks, her tone matches. “Yeah. Nature’s winning.”

The infuriating one stares at her for a moment before turning to the grunt. “Size does not equate to strength. I’ll deal with it.”

The grunt moves to allow the infuriating one to leave. Once she’s gone, he glances around, unsure.

“Leave,” Sirius orders.

The grunt nods and obeys.

The room is silent after that, still except for the occasional violent shaking.

How dare she, that— no, there is truly no word suitable enough to describe the wrath she inspires in him. He doesn’t think he’s felt this angry since… since…

…he quells the thought by force before stepping to the side and speaking. “Carly. Leave us. Now. This will be your only chance.”

The headache looks surprised, but he means it. He’s not enough of a fool to think he can keep her from getting away in a base where nearly everyone is occupied with hiding from the infuriating one, while a giant Steelix is attacking and he’s distracted by his own fury. Her escape is an inevitability at this point, so he may as well get it over with.

Perhaps he can pin it on the infuriating one somehow.

The headache at least seems to understand that this is urgent as, after a short exchange with the child and the useless one, she bolts.

Sirius stands still, trying to force himself to calm down.

— — —

The next morning, the base is being prepared to be left behind. It’s been found, after all, and while the infuriating one managed to stop the Steelix attack, it succeeded in making the base unstable.

The person riding it, the eldest Belrose, fell off when she and it were stopped, though. So at least there’s that.

Now, as the grunts hurry around, Sirius stares at a few things.

There’s the Ruby and Amethyst, of course. Even though he’s had them for over a week, now, it still feels somewhat strange to hold them.

But there’s also a note that he found among his things yesterday. An invitation— or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a summons— to meet at a specific location.

It’s unsigned, but he couldn’t be more certain of who left it.

As for the location… even if he’d never admit it aloud, it’s somewhat unnerving. He recognizes the address, of course, but the infuriating one should have no way of knowing it, or at least of its relation to him.

Did the systems manager figure it out through hacking or snooping? That seems like the most likely possibility, but it still leaves the question of why. What purpose would such a thing serve to the infuriating one?

…perhaps this is a taunt. A subtle way of letting him know she’s figured out much worse about him.

His thoughts are interrupted by an explosion from elsewhere that rocks the base, nearly knocking him over. Once he’s steadied himself, he rushes to the atrium, clutching the Ruby and Amethyst with one hand and shoving the paper into his pocket with the other as he goes.

“What is going on?!” he asks as he enters the room, half wondering if the infuriating one has come back to kill him.

Instead, he finds the eldest Belrose, very much alive and obviously enraged, with her Dragonite, as well as a few other Pokémon tearing up the room. Before he can get another word out, she shoots past a pair of grunts to punch him squarely in the jaw, making him stumble back.

He keeps his grip on the Ruby and Amethyst, but not firmly enough— she’s able to wrench them from his hand and run off in the direction of the cell room.

“STOP!” Sirius demands, too taken off guard and enraged to manage much else.

The eldest Belrose doesn’t listen, of course, instead stuffing the Crystal Keys into her bag and recalling her Pokémon as she runs.

For some reason, none of the grunts chase after her, so he begins to… only to be forced to stumble back as something gigantic fills up the space in front of him. He quickly recognizes it as segments of a Steelix, but only some of them— the head is clearly located in the cell room, while the tail end stretches into the server room. With how large the Pokémon is, having broken the walls just by appearing, it might stretch out into the mountain.

It soon starts to move west, and disappears with surprising speed. Sirius runs into the cell room to see that a giant hole has been left in the wall; clearly the Steelix tunneled through, taking the eldest Belrose with it.

And then the entire base trembles, several concerning noises sounding from other parts of it as chunks of the roof start to fall. With that attack, on top of the one yesterday…

Sirius’ eye widens, and he quickly flees the base, stumbling out and falling to the ground outside just as he hears the sounds of collapse from behind him.

On his hands and knees, with pain in his jaw, he pants. And then he starts to tremble, several thoughts flying through his head. Not a single one is positive.

There are no words to describe exactly what he feels in this moment, the swirl of rage, humiliation, and… adrenaline.

All of that fighting with the enemy group, and not a single one is captured or dealt with. All of that frustration with the PULSE, and it was useless even as it died. All of the planning, waiting, and actions of the last three weeks, and all he has to show for it are some new recruits, while two different bases and several things of high value have been lost. And now the Crystal Keys are gone as well. If Sirius were in charge—

…no. He has more important things to focus on.

He grits his teeth and forces himself to his feet before turning back to the base’s entrance.

The door is blocked, but he can hear some of the grunts inside. It seems that he’s the only one that got out.

He leaves.

The grunts will be fine, if they’re strong enough to escape. If they’re not, what’s the point in helping them?

As mentioned, Sirius has more important things to do.

— — —

Late at night, Sirius enters a house in Agate City. He’d rather have never come back here again, but that note isn’t exactly something that he can ignore.

…the entrance to the secret room is open. He enters it, and sees the infuriating one. Waiting.

“Sirius,” she says. It’s dark enough that it’s impossible to see her face, but it’s not hard to imagine her expression, blank as always.

“Lin,” Sirius bites out as he crosses his arms, voice like the venom he’d like to have Seviper pump into her. “You’d better hope that whatever you have to say is worth my time.”

Otherwise… well, he wonders if Solaris is aware of this meeting. If not…

“You’ve misunderstood my intentions thus far,” the infuriating one says.

“What exactly is there to misunderstand?” Sirius asks. “You said it yourself; you want to put me in my place, as if you could possibly have any idea of what that is.”

“I know your place well, and I find it sad,” the infuriating one says.

“‘Sad?’” Sirius repeats, incredulous. “I clawed my way up to my position over the course of years, and have continuously put in the work to keep it, unlike some people. You find this ‘sad?’”

“No. I find it sad that you think this is all you can be, when you’re capable of so much more,” the infuriating one says.

Any words that Sirius had prepared drown in his confusion before they can pass his lips. “…what?”

“You are like a dog, and you have given Solaris the leash,” the infuriating one says. “Are you so afraid of his Garchomp’s claw, even after all these years?”

Sirius freezes up, a cold feeling washing over him as an unpleasant memory flashes in his mind. A man asleep in bed on a night like this, only to awaken to a Garchomp ready to slash his throat open, a stranger standing next to his bed and staring down at him with a face masked in shadow. “…who told you about that?”

“Does it matter?” the infuriating one asks. “Tell me that I’m wrong. That you have not allowed Solaris to control your actions time and time again.”

…Sirius can’t, as much as he’d like to. How many times, especially lately, has he thought about what he’d do if he was in charge, only to do the opposite because of how Solaris would react?

“…he’s the leader of Team Meteor,” Sirius says instead.

“And how unfortunate that he is,” the infuriating one says. “He holds Team Meteor back, unwilling to see his flaws and with no one willing to point them out. Unlike you and I.”

Sirius scowls. “And what exactly are my ‘flaws?’”

“As said, you don’t know when to fight, when to stay quiet, and when to bend the knee,” the infuriating one says. “You show respect to a select few, and use intimidation against the rest. You don’t even know how valuable it can be, to make someone think they are a friend, because none see you as one.”

“Ace is friendly,” Sirius says, lacking any other refutation.

“As they are to all,” the infuriating one says. “Are you so starved of friendship that you’ve mistaken niceties offered universally for something more meaningful?”

Well, no, but… it’s not exactly like Sirius has any real friendships to mention in order to counter the words. He hasn’t cared about that kind of thing since joining Team Meteor, finding it frivolous, and before that…

“You also make assumptions far too often, and make no plan for when they fall through,” the infuriating one says. “You’ve made it this far by scrambling when plans fail, but I’m sure you know this cannot last.”

“I—” Sirius starts before stopping himself. Thinking about it.

He supposes he has made many assumptions throughout the years that proved false and carried consequences, some of which he’s barely gotten through. He assumed that the headache was just a minor nuisance that could be defeated with ease. That the Sapphire pieces would be left behind in the ashes of Belrose Manse. That the dead man would not strike back over the death of his wife. That the backstabber could be trusted after showing up again out of nowhere, no questions asked…

“…what are you attempting to do, here?” Sirius asks.

The infuriating one has often been called unsettling by various others in Team Meteor. He never put much stock in it himself, thinking those people were only squirming over a lack of visible emotion, a flat tone, and the fact that she typically talks much less than this, but… maybe it is the way the darkness masks her face, or maybe it is just the memories and feelings that this room, littered with crystal shavings even now, brings back. But in this moment, he cannot help but feel just as unsettled as all of those others seem to feel around her.

“I called you here to make an offer,” she says. “Team Meteor has been ruled by a fool too sentimental to be truly effective for too long. Together, you and I can bring it to new heights. To a New World that he would never think to dream of.”

It’s quiet after that. It’s impossible for Sirius to tell if it lasts for only a few seconds, or for several minutes, but the room is deathly still the entire time as he thinks. Then, he speaks.

“Go on.”