"You expect me to believe there's no way?" He laughs, the sound sharp as a blade. She really does think I'm a fool. She accuses him of concealment and he doesn't flinch. "Please. I'm a criminal. It's what we do."

There would always be corruption in the League, just as there would always be defectors from Rocket. He will not accept her reputation to be as pristine as she seems to present.

So when she stands her ground, his eyes narrow.

PRESSURE increases as anger flashes through his veins like lightning, aggravating the corrupt legend on the roof.

"You already have. If you cared about 'your people'," and he's sure to stress the words, "you'd send those supplies anonymously. You care about your reputation." As did Rocket, their hold on the region far shakier. "If you send those vessels, we will sink them." This time, he underlines his threat. His patience for politics has worn. "How many lives are you willing to risk for your image?"

"I do," Gavin affirms, without hesitation. "I am not pretending otherwise. I'm sure you understand how easy it is for one's own to turn against their decisions."

A.Q.U.A had not been popular. The plan for the meteor was not popular. dahlia goode faces many criticisms — something, perhaps, they have in common. He recalls how they'd turned on him after he'd helped Katherine Fairburne during the war, and the whispers surrounding Emma.

"I am a criminal who nevertheless cares for the welfare of Sootopolis, or you'd never have made it into the city."

He cannot divorce himself from crimes committed. He is not a politician. He is only an underboss struggling to maintain his grip on the city he'd helped take.

I will not bare my throat to see it opened.

"Send them, then." And see what happens.

Send them, then.

And she does.

Gavin stands next to one of the sentries posted up on the crater's wall, golden gaze narrowed upon the cluster of supply vessels as they blare their fanfare. Rocket's own vessels hem the boats in a wide ring — it had been these scouts to first alert the underboss of suspicious activity. Lugia perches next to him, her colours stark against bleached crater stone.

He had made a promise. He does not go back on his word.

But first, "Rotom. Contact Isaac Merlo." When the associate is on the line, Gavin says, "Rendezvous outside Sootopolis. League vessels. You can't possibly miss them." His tone is dry, clipped with irritation. Music blares in the background. "Be ready to investigate. Expect danger."

He descends himself on Lugia's back, aiming to land on the deck of a vessel.

A shiny Mudkip he'd caught in a recent Safari outing wobbles on his shoulder, its DAMP a precaution against explosives. Kanto has left him all too paranoid. He similarly employs the help of the Riolu obtained from Raphael Pryde, hoping that Subject G's ability to SENSE AURAS might alert him to any unseen presence.

Lugia launches herself skyward to circle the vessels, a ghastly sentinel of the seas.

— Gavin chooses to first INVESTIGATE the vessels
— Tagging in Isaac Merlo for the assist

No trap, so far as he can tell.

No, the trap was in the music. In the lack of personnel aboard the boats. In the stranglehold of the barrier around Sootopolis' vulnerable citizens. He has had days to consider his actions, should the commissioner stubbornly keep her promise.

"Send for others," he orders Isaac. "We'll offload the supplies."

He would not have Sootopolis' citizens witness the destruction of hope.

But he will not have the League make him a liar, either.

"Alert me when the cargo's been secured." Lugia's large shadow darkens the ocean beneath. From the deep, the silhouette of a Dhelmise looms. "I promised Miss Goode some sunken ships."

— Take supplies, sink ships