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[attr="class","skullbody"]Zev's voice was calm. But unless he was big mad, Zev's voice was always calm. No, there were other clues as to the fact that this was a Very Important conversation. The rapid texts. The immediate demands for a call. The fact that his reaction went from confusion to assertiveness with just a single name.[break][break]

And now, the sheer speed at which he answered the line.[break][break]

"Slateport. Lower District," Isaac said, looking around to make sure he hadn't been tailed. By now, he knew that pleasantries weren't necessary when talking to Zev.[break][break]

Okay. Good. There was nobody around them. Just in case, Isaac tucked himself into a nearby alley. He released his Corvisquire behind him, the bird keeping its Keen Eyes out for any other interlopers. "We're alone," he assured Zev. "Who's Caleb Harcourt? And did you know he was on the list?"[break][break]

He didn't need to specify which list. Not to one of the guys tasked with keeping it clean.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Zev hung up before Isaac could get another word in edgewise. Yeah. That was about how these usually went.[break][break]

Still, it sounded pretty urgent. The sooner Isaac could get there, the better. "Alright, Echo," Isaac said, releasing a Ralts from his Pokeball. "This one's pretty urgent, so let's warp over to Zev's place." He took the Ralts' hand, envisioning Zev's home. His strangely normal apartment complex. His weirdly stacked out kitchen.[break][break]

His gun shooting him clean through the head for popping into his house out of nowhere, because he could be a home invader.[break][break]

Okay! Never mind! Teleporting into Zev of all people was a godawful idea! "Okay. New idea. Let's warp over next to his place instead, and then knock on the door. So he knows we're coming. Better plan?" Echo, who had gotten a good whiff of Isaac's intrusive thought and very much liked being shot, started nodding excitedly.[break][break]

They teleported to the street corner by Zev's apartment, then headed over to the door. A quick knock was all the signal Zev would need, but just in case Isaac added an "Alright, I'm here."[break][break]

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Sheesh. He teleported! Was Zev just waiting at the door? The guy was clearly on some kind of edge; whether a good edge or bad edge, soon Isaac would know.[break][break]

Nevertheless, the surprise on Isaac's face was gone in a half second. Isaac nodded, both to acknowledge Zev's command and to shake the shock awake. A soft smile took its place. "Thank you," he said, before heading into the increasingly familiar apartment.[break][break]

And if Zev was going to cook like this every time he visited, Isaac had no qualms with being a recurring guest. The fish smelled incredible, and it took all of Isaac's willpower to not fling himself onto that dinner table like a Heracross in a maple syrup factory. Instead, he waited for Zev to give the go-ahead before dishing up, taking his place at the other side of the table.[break][break]

"So. You know all those data leaks lately? The ones caused by that Porygon that got loose?" Isaac said. "I was on cleanup duty, and before all the files were fried, I got a peek of one of them. It was a Rocket hit list. Didn't dig too much, because that stuff's way above my pay grade. But I saw Harcourt on there, and I couldn't just turn away, you know?"[break][break]

"There it was. Right there in black and white. Caleb Harcourt."

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[attr="class","skullbody"]For the third time in his life, Isaac had seen Zev's composure compromised.[break][break]

The first time was born of anger. That was just business as usual, as far as he was concerned. It was The emotion; the most simple, base thing anyone could feel. Something happened that you didn't like, and you lashed out at the world and everyone around you. Babies learned it as soon as they were out of the womb. The great and powerful clung to it long after they shed every other shred of their humanity. If there was anything that could shake the unshakeable and make the unfeeling feel, it was rage.[break][break]

The second time was born of necessity. This was the primordial Zev; raw, unformed, before he put on the facade so charming and composed you'd forget what lurked underneath. For Isaac to see this side of Zev was a sign of great faith; either he trusted Isaac not to mishandle him while he took shaky baby steps through a new task, or he believed Isaac was incapable of even being a threat. And sure enough, Zev's faith was rewarded; together, they primed him for the gym challenge, just as Zev had primed Isaac for so, so many things.[break][break]

Yet faith was not care. This third loss of composure was proof of that, as for the first time in Isaac's life he saw Zev genuinely care for another. His movements stilled. His words were laden with careful pauses. His breaths fought for meaning. Behind his eyes, Isaac could see a thousand thoughts moving per second. This was what happened when Zev truly cared. It consumed him, to the degree where even keeping up his facade kept slow, cautious steps.[break][break]

A part of Isaac knew nobody else in the world could make Zev feel that way. Not even himself, no matter how many ways he served as his loyal protege. In some ways, that knowledge hurt. And yet, as an older brother himself, he got it. No matter how much he resented Elliot for circumstances outside of their control, he would've still moved mountains for his little brother.[break][break]

It was why he had to run away in the first place.[break][break]

"Why was he on the list?" Isaac asked, trying to piece together all of the knowledge he had been given. Of course, he knew the reason why. He was a Rocket, and then he wasn't. In Rocket, that was tantamount to the death penalty. But what would Zev say? "And how did he make it off?"

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Maybe there wasn't treason in the house of Harcourt. Maybe Zev was right, and Caleb was just a PoW, a loose end from another regime better off cut. It was a plausible enough explanation. A harsh one, but harshness was a value that Rocket had in no short supply.[break][break]

There was just one problem with that theory, and his name was Caleb Sharpe.[break][break]

The man looked like a Harcourt. He spoke like a Harcourt. He felt like a Harcourt. And he neither looked, sounded, or felt like a prisoner of war. Sure, perhaps he had been molded from a diehard soldier of Rocket to a card carrying Ranger in the span of three years. But would a prisoner possess such loyalty? What could the League possibly say or do to convince a man that had partaken in Kanto's atrocities to switch sides?[break][break]

The man didn't seem to be under duress. He was no penal legionnaire. And if he ever had been, those days were long behind him. His first name stayed the same, but his last name changed. Was it even an effort to hide himself? Or was it just distancing himself from his past, in the same way Isaac had stricken the name Sunderland from every facet of his life? No. Isaac had walked in those footsteps long enough to know that something didn't add up.[break][break]

Was Caleb imprisoned? Or was he liberated?[break][break]

Everything else seemed clear. Rocket command puts Caleb on a list. Gavin Merlino takes him off of a list, because Gavin Merlino continued to be the biggest hearted nightmare monster that Isaac had ever met. "He's a good man," Isaac said, thinking back fondly to their surprisingly numerous run ins with one another. "At least, as good as any of us can try to be."[break][break]

Rocket wasn't a symbol. Rocket was the people under that symbol. Even if Isaac couldn't take the world on his shoulders, he could follow in Gavin's footsteps and do the best by them he possibly could.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac was really hoping Zev wouldn't ask that. But he knew it was inevitable.[break][break]

Luckily, Isaac had the only thing stronger than lies on his side; half truths. "There was League personnel," Isaac said. "Rocket wasn't the only group that had gotten hit by that Porygon, after all. While they were around, I didn't want to pick up the call and risk compromising you."[break][break]

"And don't worry. They didn't see anything important. I was in plainclothes the whole time. And I rigged it up so any docs that Porygon spat out were corrupted to hell and back." All it took was turning a burner laptop into the digital equivalent of a toxic waste dump.[break][break]

It was a clandestine operation. Isaac's alibi was both the simplest option and also the most truthful. And he delivered it all in a steady, easygoing fashion, punctuated by bites of delicious fish. Frankly, if Zev found any further room to dig, Isaac would be impressed.

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