ALL NOVEL Chapter 33: Jamie
"Incompetent fools, the lot of you! Is there not ONE SINGLE PERSON IN THIS ENTIRE ORGANIZATION THAT I CAN COUNT ON?!"
Jamie winces, cringing back as Giovanni positively snarls at all of them. The Team Rocket Boss is in rare form at the moment, his face a strange purplish hue, a vein popping out of his forehead. His suit, normally so perfectly kept, is visibly disheveled and so is his hair, usually swept back. He's pissed, but then… to be fair, he has every right to be pissed.
Behind him, coming down the stairs, she sees Cam arriving just as Giovanni truly begins to get into full swing. For a moment, Jamie is taken aback by the Executive Uniform that Cam has on, and his wild and untamed mop of pink hair atop his head, no longer contained within a Rocket Cap of any kind. She gawks at him briefly but knows better than to call out to him or motion to him in any way. No, right now, she knows to keep her mouth shut.
And really, Jamie isn't the only one who winces at Giovanni's raised voice. Everyone is assembled in the main floor of the Celadon City Hideout. After unceremoniously being kicked out of Saffron City, they'd all had to retreat. It's not just Grunts like Jessie and Jamie that the Boss is dressing down, but Admins and Executives like Petrel, Proton, and Archer as well.
They all share a part in the blame. They all failed the Boss in this. Except… privately, Jamie knows that she and Jessie failed most of all.
"That… that bitch. She wiped out every last one of you. Not only did she manage to get into the building, but she got all the way to the President's Office! And now… the Master Ball prototype is in the wind! In the hands of some CUNT from motherfucking PALLET TOWN!"
It was rather mind-boggling, to say the least. Except, well… Jamie knew better. It was all their fault.
"This was the culmination of everything Team Rocket has been working towards! This moment was to be our crowning achievement! The Master Ball was IN MY HANDS, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"
It's a rhetorical question, obviously, though Giovanni's eyes dart around, somewhat frenzied as he whips his head back and forth. No one dares make eye contact back. Even the superiors keep their heads down, averting their gazes. Right now, the Boss is NOT giving off the impression of a classy, suave businessman.
Back in his office, when he'd originally dressed down both Jessie and Jamie for the Pallet Town debacle, he had given off a clear air of menace, but it had been wrapped up in a sense of showmanship. His was a closed fist in a velvet glove.
Well, the glove is off now, ladies and gentlemen. Shredded to pieces, his closed fist is a clawing hand, ready to grasp at the throat of anyone who gives him a reason at this point.
Jamie can tell that the Boss is just looking for an excuse to come down on someone as hard as he possibly can. She and Jessie just need to keep their heads down and stay quiet, and hopefully they'll avoid being the direct targets of his considerable wrath.
"This was to be our moment! And instead… we've been humiliated in front of the entire damn Region! All eyes were on us! Saffron City was under our control! Lance and his goons never even showed up, which means they would have been far too late to stop us once we had the Master Ball!"
Clenching a hand into a fist, shaking it angrily, Giovanni snarls.
"Instead, we were beaten by one damn girl! Some bitch! How is anyone supposed to ever look at us the same way, ever again?! How is Team Rocket supposed to capture the hearts and minds of Kanto's citizens, and strike fear into those damn Johto dogs, when we can't even beat ONE FUCKING GIRL?!"
The Boss has a point. It's definitely humiliating. Though Jamie suspects its more humiliating for him than anything else. Especially since… well, no one is going to say it. Certainly not Jamie. But, uh… how exactly did that Red chick get the Master Ball prototype from Giovanni if he had it literally in his hands? Jamie really, really doesn't want to jump to any conclusions or anything, but… was it possible that the Boss had also been beaten in a Pokemon Battle?
She'd heard the rumors. That when Red first came through THIS hideout while she and Jessie were away, that she beat Giovanni in his own office, and made off with a stolen piece of Silph Technology then as well. Jamie hadn't paid them any attention, of course. She'd just let them wash over her. Obviously, it couldn't be true right? Red might be able to beat their Grunts, but she couldn't possibly have beaten the Boss himself. He was just too strong.
And yet… when they'd all made it back to the Hideout a little while ago, Jamie had caught a glimpse of Giovanni handing over his Pokemon to a Rocket Scientist and speaking in hushed tones. What other reason would he have to do so, unless it was because they needed immediate healing? And what reason would they need immediate healing, except because they'd been in battle… and lost?
All signs pointed to the idea that Giovanni had gone up against Red as well and been beaten as soundly as the rest of them. And privately, Jamie felt like that was… well, she felt it was a little hypocritical, for the Boss to be dressing them down like this when he couldn't beat her either.
But also, Jamie was never going to speak up and SAY any of her very private thoughts. Not in a million years, no sir. Especially not when she was pretty sure Red only got as far as she did because… well, because of her and Jessie.
It wasn't like they'd meant for it to happen! Honest! They would never betray Team Rocket like that… on purpose.
"Are we not supposed to be the mightiest, most dangerous group of criminals in all of Kanto?! Because it certainly feels like we're nothing but a pack of CHUMPS from where I'm standing!"
Jamie's shoulders droop, as does everyone else's. It sucks, but Giovanni is right. They-
"Sir! We ARE the mightiest, most dangerous criminal organization in all of Kanto! This is just a setback! We can recover, sir! We'll show that bitch what's what next time!"
Oh no. For the first time in her memory, Jamie looks upon her best friend in horror as Jessie steps up and oh so foolishly draws Giovanni's eyes. Until this moment, the magenta-haired Rocket Grunt had been quiet. Jamie had THOUGHT Jessie understood as well as she did that they could NOT draw attention to themselves in this moment.
But apparently, Jessie hadn't realized that Giovanni's latest words had been an unsubtle attempt at bait. That he was fishing for someone to play the fool so that he could make an example of them. And now… now, Jessie had his eye. And that meant Jamie did as well.
"You two."
Both of them go ramrod stiff at that, straightening up as the Team Rocket Boss prowls his way over to them, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"… You two weren't at the Warp Tile when I made my way to the President's Office. Why was that?"
Oh no. Jamie swallows nervously, not quite sure how to respond. Jessie, seeming to finally realize their mistake, licks her lips and gives it a try.
"W-Well you see sir, we were just… s-stretching our legs!"
Oh Arceus, even Jamie could have told Jessie that was a bad lie. Not that she was coming up with anything better as she stood there alongside her best friend, frozen stiff by Giovanni's gaze. She half expects Cam to speak up, to call them on their lie… but no, that wasn't Cam's modus operandi. He stands by the stairs, watching the confrontation wordless as ever.
Giovanni, on the other hand, takes another step forward.
"Stretch your legs? STRETCH YOUR LEGS?! DON'T FUCKING LIE TO ME!"
Jessie cringes back, and Jamie does the same… but seeing Jessie was just digging them a deeper and deeper hole, Jamie tries desperately to get them back out of it. The truth would set them free, right?
"S-Sir! We took it upon ourselves to return the K-Key Card from Executive Cam to Executive Archer on the ground floor, s-sir! So that Cam could go on ahead and prepare the President's Office for your arrival, sir!"
There. That sounded… reasonable, right? And for a moment, Giovanni even seems placated, leaning back as he stares at the two of them with a strange sort of placidity to his countenance.
"Cam. You took the Key Card from him and sent him on ahead, did you? Not a bad idea, really. He did exactly that, holding down the President's Office and keeping the old man locked down tight until I could finally arrive. He did his job… perfectly."
Clasping his hands together behind his back, Giovanni turns away from them and for a second, Jamie actually thinks they're out of the woods. So does Jessie, and they both begin to let out exhales of relief… until Giovanni's voice makes them both freeze, coming from the man in a deceptively soft tone.
"But then… if you two had the Key Card, how did it get into the hands of that bitch, Red?"
Jamie blanches, looking to Jessie, who looks right back at her for a moment before finally speaking up.
"W-Well you see, sir… it was just… we thought maybe we could avoid all those flights of stairs by taking a Warp Tile to the ground floor to reach Executive Archer. Only… the first one we took brought us to Floor Eight. And then the next, to Floor Six. And… from there we got a little t-turned around."
Jamie nods sheepishly. It was true, though technically it was Jessie who came up with the idea of using the Warp Tiles to avoid the flights of stairs because her feet hurt from spending hours working on that one Warp Tile they'd been assigned to. Still, Jamie hadn't even tried to push back on it. She'd gone right along with it, and together they'd gotten so lost it wasn't even funny. And somewhere along the way, well…
"You tried to take a Warp Tile down to the ground floor. There were no Warp Tiles that went to the ground floor of the Silph Co. Building."
Giovanni's voice continues to be deceptively soft, and Jamie can tell… he's building up a full head of steam. Unfortunately, there's nothing they can do. She doesn't try to stop Jessie from explaining their side of things. It doesn't exonerate them, but at least… at least it explains what happened. They're not traitors. They just made a mistake.
"Y-Yes sir. Eventually, we figured that out. But, um… by the time we did, the Key Card had been m-misplaced… and the lobby was already in shambles from… from that bitch."
If Jessie is hoping that calling the Red chick by the same sort of crass names as the boss will somehow get them on his good side… well, fat chance of that happening.
"The Key Card… was misplaced. The Key Card… WAS MISPLACED?!"
And like that, the Team Rocket Boss is enraged again, or rather, no longer hiding it behind a thin veneer of civility. Snarling at the both of them, Giovanni unclasps his hands from his back as he stalks forward, looking ready to wring their necks. And there's no one who would step in and help them, either. He could kill them both right here and right now, and no one in Team Rocket would miss them.
That thought crosses Jamie's mind just as Giovanni stops short of actually grabbing them.
"You two have been dangerously incompetent since the day you joined Team Rocket! All it takes is one fucking bad apple to spoil the bunch! Well, we're a criminal organization, so a few bad apples are to be expected, right?! WRONG! You two are worse than bad apples! You're fucking poison, injected straight into the heart of Team Rocket! You both have ruined our plans for the last fucking time!"
Jamie and Jessie can only stand there in wide-eyed shock as the Boss unleashes quite the tirade upon them. Jamie in particular, feels her heart sinking at what's about to come next. Giovanni opens his mouth to say it, to kick them out of Team Rocket… or worse… only to stop and pause.
His eyes dart to the side, and for the first time he notices Cam standing there in his Executive Attire, watching the exchange. For some strange reason, Cam's presence stops the Boss in his tracks. He leans back from his menacing posture over the two of them and clears his throat. Straightening his suit jacket, Giovanni pauses for a moment in thought… and then develops a sickening sort of grin on his face.
"You know, I was going to just kick the two of you out of Team Rocket. Worthless wastes of space that you are, you aren't even worth the effort it would take to turn you into compost."
Jamie whimpers at hearing the Boss so casually talk about ordering their deaths. Or rather, NOT ordering their deaths, solely because they weren't worth it.
"But I've got a better idea. A choice, if you will. You can both leave Team Rocket and never show your faces near our operations again on pain of death… or you can submit to my new Executive's direct oversight. Let me be clear. You will belong to Cam from now on. You will be his personal… assistants. You will serve him however he demands of you."
Prowling back and forth in front of the two of them while the rest of Team Rocket watches on in the background, Giovanni continues to lay down the law.
"If he tells you to jump, you don't even ask how high, you just fucking jump and hope you got it right the first time. If he tells you to strip, you'll fucking strip and you'll damn well LIKE whatever he makes you do next. You will be extensions of his will from now on, and if you step out of line even once, he has my full permission to kill you both and do away with your corpses as he sees fit."
Pausing after delivering that particularly gruesome spiel, Giovanni cocks his head as he stares at the two of them like one might stare at an insignificant bug.
"So… what will it be?"
Heart pounding in her chest, Jamie doesn't even hesitate. Not like Jessie does. For once, Jamie speaks for the both of them, immediately.
"W-We'll do it, sir! We'll work for Cam!"
She can feel Jessie's betrayed look boring into the side of her head, but Jamie doesn't so much as look at her. Rather, she watches as Giovanni smirks and just nods, as if it's to be expected.
"Fine. They're yours now, Cam. Use them as you see fit."
He waves them over to the young Executive, before turning to the rest of the assembled Rockets.
"As for the rest of you… that bitch Red will be at the Viridian City Gym any day now. Which means I need to be ready for her. Gather up all of our supplies and anything that isn't bolted down and move the fuck out! Get to Viridian City by any means necessary and be ready to defend our Gym with our lives! Our plans for the Master Ball might have been foiled, but I'll be DAMNED if I'll let that cunt pass by my Gym on her way to the Elite Four without a fucking FIGHT!"
There's a ragged cheer from the assembled members of Team Rocket at that, and then everyone is in motion. Everyone except for her, Jessie… and Cam.
Despite the dressing down, despite being known as Team Rocket's two biggest fuck ups… Jamie can't actually bring herself to mind how everything turned out all that much. In fact, as she ignores Jessie's accusatory glaring and throws a few glances at Cam… she finds it sort of exciting, really.
-x-X-x-
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