Chu-e sits opposite of Orion Lykos, out of spitting range, leg crossed over his knee.

He sits down a a delicate porcelain cup, steam rising from the top, with a soft 'clink' on a metal table. The pink and cream pattern on the mug clashes with the harsh atmosphere, the sharp implements it's settled next to.

"Please to meet you, My. Lykos."

Calm and even kind, he tilts his head and gives his most winning smile to the other.

"I'm Chu-e Choi."

Out of sight to Orion, a camera watches.

It's fortunate that Chu-e stays out of range; Orion's first, spiteful thought is in fact to spit at him. He scowls, instead, eyes burning dark.

His thoughts are already firmly entrenched within a hatred for Rocket, so the name is met with instant recognition.

"You're the monster who took Cinnabar."

It should be fear that he's feeling, but as with Beckett he feels only righteous indignation.

"Feeling's not mutual. What the hell do you want?"

'I am."

There is no righteous anger or insult there. Chu-e knows and accepts what he is. At the question, though, he vaguely motions around him. Wasn't it obvious?

"All that anger isn't good for you, Mr. Lykos."

As if they're just two friends catching up, that plastic smile still etched onto his face.

"Besides, I only kill people. You do much worse."

"Yeah, and your smug shit isn't a good look on you, but I guess I gotta deal."

They are not friends. They are not catching up. If Chu-e was close enough and Orion unrestrained, he'd have punched him in his stupid fucking face.

He laughs, sharp and cold.

"Excuse me? You slaughtered families, you destroyed an entire fucking region, where do you get off telling me I'm worse than you? You people are fucking delusional."

"Isn't it obvious? Because people like you made the people like me, Mr. Lykos."

When he smiles, this time it's sharp. That same throat-slitting look, the last thing that many people saw in their final moments. Something dark lurks behind his eyes, his own hate and fire building up and barely restrained. For a long time he had thought his rage had burned down to embers. The last few months in Rocket was stoking the flames into a roaring inferno yet again.

Chu-e Choi had always been a wrathful creature.

"Or are you so brainwashed that you really think the League is the hero here?"

"Do — do you even hear yourself?"

It's incredulous, accompanied by a shake of his head that casts dark hair into his eyes.

He doesn't flinch away from the steel-sharp smile.

"The League won't stop till every one of you is in prison, and the world'll be a safer place for it," he spits. "So, yeah, if we're looking for heroes — it sure is hell isn't you."

A barked out laugh.

"Do you think I'm so delusional to think anything I do is heroic, Lykos?" Again, he motions around himself. The tiled walls and floor, the shining metal tools on the walls, the drain and hose rolled up in the corner. "We're in a fucking torture chamber!"

He stands abruptly, picks up his tea, slings the boiling liquid into Orion Lykos's face.

"Do you think that anyone in Rocket wished they were the bad guy when they were growing up, Lykos? We were human before we were monsters. What the fuck do you think made us this way?"

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

He takes in every detail, every sharp instrument that'll doubtless be used to harm him. With all the tools of torture at his disposal, Orion doesn't expect Chu-e Choi to go for the cheap shot.

The strangled sound is as much a snarl as a scream, anger and pain battling for dominance. Instinct commands him to claw at his face, to wipe away the scalding streams, but the restraints hold fast even as he bucks against them. His jaw clenches as he seethes through it and catches every bitter word spat by Choi.

"Fuck you."

God, but he'd love nothing more than to break his nose.

"I don't give a fuck what helps you sleep at night, Choi! Plenty of people go through shit and don't turn into fucking monsters that ruin the lives of everyone around them!"

"You're right! Some of them come out to be sweet little bootlickers like you... and even more die!"

He sweeps behind Orion Lykos's chair, grasps him by the hair and jerks back. Holds him in place. With his free hand, a remote is removed. A button click lowers a projector, starts the mechanism to flash the images of a man on the screen.

"You ever hear of Micheal Cullifer, Lykos?" The man on the screen looks downright welcoming. Friendly. In the photo he's posed with a wife and two children, all smiling at the camera. "I killed him, you know. With my own two hands. I enjoyed it, too."

A Ranger badge is pinned to his shirt.

"Bet you can't fucking guess why."

He turns his head sharply as Chu-e slips behind him; if he'd been given the chance, he'd have tried to bite him. But Choi's fingers wind through his hair unmolested and strands strains painfully against his scalp as he does his best to fight the grip.

He can't do much, however, and relaxes with great reluctance.

"No."

He's not one of Hoenn's rangers, and Orion's never left his home region.

"Because you're a fucking psychopath? Why should I care?

Perhaps because Chu-e Choi could kill him slowly, but he's too furious to give a damn.

CW: CSA Mention



Another click, the picture changes to a blown up newspaper page. The Jubilife Herald. 'Ranger Abuses 32 Children'.

"Because he fucked at least thirty-two kids, Lykos." The Hand in his hair lets out, quick, snakes down to grasp his chin from under. Digs in to keep him in place, from looking away from the photo- the Ranger, standing proud with his group.

"And that's just the ones they know about. Boy, I sure wonder how he got away with it for so long, don't you?"

His voice is syrupy sweet and deadly acidic as he whispers in Orion Lykos's ear.

He hisses out a breath as the pressure lets up from his hair, jerks his head to the side in a futile attempt to shake free of Chu-e Choi's grip.

It's not that he wants to look away from the photo; he doesn't want Choi to have an ounce of control.

Of course, Choi is in complete control, but Orion can still enjoy his spite.

"Then he's a piece of shit who had it coming, congratulations," he growls. "That has nothing to do with me. How dare you equate me to someone like that?"

CW: CSA Mention



"Oh, but you're so much worse, Lykos."

His fingers dig in, nails leaving marks, then he disengages. Pulls completely away but lingers behind him, out of sight.

"How do you think those kids are now? Think they felt 'justice' when the League released some neutral statement absolving any blame? When it was seen as a personal failing and issues that allowed him to abuse them were never addressed? Never changed?"

He steps back around, the 'slap' of an elastic glove as it was slid onto his hand.

"People like you, who sit at the top but do nothing. Seven of those kids are in Rocket now. Twelve of them killed themselves. All of them will endure what he did to them for the rest of their lives. And no one cared till they couldn't ignore it anymore."