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Transporting supplies? Boring.

Orion almost checks out there, and it's only half because seeing Tam in uniform has him feeling some kind of way. He's always found the captain attractive (Orion finds many men attractive) but there's something about that badge.

Team Rocket snaps him right out of his daze.

Tam must see the gleam of bloodlust in the ranger's eyes, for a stern scolding tempers the excitement that builds in his chest. Like a dog being told to heel, he deflates a little before nodding.

"Understood, sir. You're the boss."

mission: boom boom bakudan

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Orion's shoulders relax when he chuckles. "Force of habit." As someone who was used to being scolded by his superiors, and often, sometimes the formality slipped out in a vain attempt to pacify. (It didn't often work.)

Still, it's a habit he's happy to try and break.

Orion whistles softly to get Altair's attention, and the Absol pads in from the breakroom with a yawn. As he adapted to Orion's schedule, Altair was also a night owl. Neither of them had much sleep.

"So," he says, en route, "Details. What is 'your way'?"

Orion would happily run in swinging, but he doubts that's how Tam wants to do things. His mission, his rules.

mission: boom boom bakudan

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Predictably, Orion isn't thrilled by the shackles of responsibility being locked around this mission. He wants to cut his teeth on the criminals who'd maimed him, not stand idly by as they pretended to be ordinary people going about their lives. But he'd meant what he said: Tam Fawley was the boss. Both in general, as Captain, but also for this job in particular.

"Understood," he echoes. "Supplies first."

When they're still a distance away from the harbour, Orion releases a Beheeyem from its capsule. "You're on watch. Stay hidden, and reach out if you notice anything suspicious. Okay?" With a deliberate look at Tam, he then looks back to Nenque and adds, "Don't engage unless I say so."

Lights flash on the alien's fingers, and it vanishes with a TELEPORT.

"He's got TELEPATHY," Orion explains, in case Tam has reservations. (Which would, given Orion's track record, be entirely reasonable). "So they won't know he's checking in."

mission: boom boom bakudan

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Orion ducks his head against the praise, hiding his smile. He's not used to being referred to as smart.

He, too, zeroes in on the suspicious unnamed vessel.

They look like ordinary people. Two of them cooperate to lug a particularly heavy crate onto the dock, one of them laughing in response to some joke that Orion and Tam can't hear. They don't look like hardened criminals, terrorists. It should unnerve him, perhaps, but what Orion feels is a bubbling rage building in his chest. Tam might be able to see the way his eyes narrow, the way fingers both metal and flesh curl instinctively — not quite making fists, as he catches himself midway through the gesture, but telegraphing his thoughts nevertheless.

"We do it your way," he mutters under his breath, as much for his own benefit as for Tam's. "I'll follow your lead."

He forces himself to look away from the suspicious pair, so as not to draw attention with his stare. Brief flashes of imagery invade his thoughts: a flash of metal at a hip, the curve of pokeballs beneath fabric.

"They're armed. One on the left might have a gun." It's possible it was nothing more than a belt buckle, blurry and brief as the telepathic communication had been, but it was better safe. "Pokémon, too. That's definite."

mission: boom boom bakudan

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Orion is acutely aware of Tam's presence. He can feel the barely-there brush of the other's arm — not close enough to cause alarm, instead offering the grounding presence of partnership. He assumes it to be unintentional on the Captain's part, but appreciates it all the same.

"Hm. If I can get in there, I can probably fry the motor..." Or his Rotom can, at any rate. His gaze slides over to Tam. "Unless you had another plan in mind?"

It did appear, at least, that there were only two of them. Two of them, two of us. As long as one of them wasn't a secret avatar, Orion reckons they'll be just fine.

mission: boom boom bakudan

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Stronger than his hatred for Rocket in that moment, as Tam places faith in him, is Orion's urge to do good for once. So he nods, expressing gratitude with a look when words fail him, and slips from the captain's side to approach the dock.

Once, it would be effortless to blend in. Now, sunlight catches on his metal arm and draws the occasional eye. He does his best to ignore any looks and to act as if this is nothing more than a routine patrol, a bored expression settling as he traverses the length of the harbour. Orion stops to lean against a rail, thumb brushing his radio.

"It's unguarded. I'm going for it, over."

To his credit, it goes off without a hitch. He boards the vessel with the confidence of a man who belonged on its deck, crossing to the back and resting his titanium fingers on the hull. His Rotom's THUNDER WAVE ripples through the metal. It jolts up his arm, a strange sensation, and he has to roll his shoulder once he removes his hand from the surface.

This boat wouldn't be leaving harbour.

"It's done. Any updates?"

mission: boom boom bakudan

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