Slowly, surely, as if he's almost forgotten how, Gavin laughs. It's a deep, pleasing sound that bubbles from the hollow of his chest.

"He was. It feels good to be able to say it, doesn't it?"

Gavin notes the way Theo's eyes linger on Lugia. He doesn't glance over his shoulder, but he feels the legend watching them. Its presence is oppressive, pressuring; for Gavin, it comforts, like a security blanket.

Mine. The implication lingers, promises.

"I do." He almost whispers, like it's a secret. "It will be."

He cants his head, searching with his gaze.

"Are you here to help me take it?"

[attr="class","beck"]laughter fills the room, genuine, and for once, it's laughter he doesn't mind. he listens, remembers, and a chuckle of his own escapes.

"it does."

he returns his gaze, meets merlino's with undeniable resolve. there's something different about the underboss that he can't quite place. whatever it is, it's thrilling.

"only if you want me to."

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

When Theo looks at him, there is a glimmer of something familiar in Gavin's eyes.

"I do."

At first indirectly, and later quite literally, THEO BECKETT is the only reason Gavin has survived. There is complexity to their shifting dynamic, but one thing is for certain: Beckett is one of the only people Gavin trusts.

Pressure abates as Lugia understands allegiance.

"Swear your loyalty to me, Beckett."

Like a pact, forged in the quiet of his office.

[attr="class","beck"]his mind fades to saffron, to a room never to be seen again, and he remembers it well. merlino was not the only one who swore their loyalty that night.

the memory brings a smile — bare, but genuine.

"i swear."

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

Gavin smiles, too.

Gentle, genuine, with no trace of the predator lurking beneath.

In a heartbeat, it's gone, but loyalty lingers in a following silence.

"I managed to stay safe, after all."

Hoenn had been a punishment, a lesson. Rocket owned you, and everything you cared about. But Theo had taught him obedience, had taught him to be just blind enough.

"Glad to have you back, Beck."

[attr="class","beck"]no longer will he wander aimlessly. here, he decides, is where he belongs. he nods, confirming it.

the smile, like the moment, passes.

"what do you need done?"

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

"Rocket is soft," he repeats, acknowledging.

It had happened slowly, and then like an avalanche too quick to keep up. He had thought, in the beginning, that it was what he wanted.

"I never wanted it to be Kanto. My team — I don't want to be Blackwell."

He knows the scar on Theo's shoulder in vivid detail, because he'd helped to patch it up. Theo knows many of Gavin's scars, as well, because he'd been the one to inflict them. Gavin's brow parts in a thin line, an old wound.

"But Walsh is dangerous, and I intend to survive him."

Gavin rubs at a bruise in the crook of his arm.

[attr="class","beck"]"you won't be."

it isn't said but it's implied — theo won't let him be.

his eyes fall to merlino's arm, and though he shouldn't, he asks:

"did walsh do that to you?"

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

It's comforting, that others have such faith in him.

He winces when Theo indicates his arm. The pressure he'd placed on the bruise had been subconscious, like picking at a scab.

"Not directly."

It wasn't like the Rocket boss had held him down and jabbed the needle in his arm, but he may as well have done. Continue your trials, no matter what the cost. It had started as a voluntary experiment, had turned into...

"There's a machine in Rocket's possession that operates on Infinity Energy. Jules wanted to test its effects on Avatars, and Flint and I agreed."

His expression pinches in memory of the pain.

"We've been told to continue experimentation."

Theo has trained Gavin well. Obedient. Even if it kills you.

[attr="class","beck"]any reservations he might have are eventually quashed, left to be forgotten. this isn't his place to say — he has no place to say, at least, not in this iteration of rocket.

his eyes narrow, lingers on the arm, then looks away.

"i see."

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

"I don't like it, either."

A long, uncomfortable silence is breached by the quiet rumble of Gavin's voice.

"But I will do as I must; as I always have."

Survive. No matter the cost.

[attr="class","beck"]no comfort comes from the silence, but there is acceptance when it's eventually broken. he knows merlino will outlive walsh. merlino will outlive both of them.

"as will i."

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

He no longer smokes, but he feels the pull of craving all the same.

"What do you know of Hoenn? Of our work here?"

Gavin shifts in his chair, reaches to open a desk drawer and pull out his phone. The Rotom inside blinks as it stirs to life, and Gavin plugs the device into a console in his desk. Holographic imagery flickers, then solidifies upon a topographic map of Hoenn.

"You've been stripped of your rank, but they can't take your expertise. You'll have access to all of the knowledge available to me as Rocket's underboss, and whatever resources I can provide."