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Two defectors did not necessarily make two rats. Many other Rocket grunts had disappeared immediately before, during, or after the November 18th operations, but few were true threats to the crime syndicate. Only CIAN MAHER had revealed much and more during his HBS interview, including the identities of several high-ranking Rocket personnel and businesses associated with the organization.[break][break]

But Johanna Joy was a wild card. She knew more than the average grunt: the identities of high-ranking operatives who still maintained anonymity, and especially the secret of Genesect. Yet she hadn't appeared on the radar as a confirmed threat yet.[break][break]

Team Rocket was not about to wait to find out.[break][break]

Locating her had been simple enough, and Ever Grande City was not an impenetrable fortress. Zev had spent the day as a tourist, sampling the local fare and getting his bearings. He rented a room at a cheap motel and paid with cash. An extra 100 PD ensured the owner's silence.[break][break]

That night, Zev walked through the apartment complex's front doors wearing a baseball cap to hide his face from the security cameras. In the elevator, he shed his civilian clothing for sleek, all-black gear he could fight in and a black mask to cover his face.[break][break]

Much to his disappointment, Johanna was not home when he broke into her apartment. Still, his orders included leaving a message — not just for the woman herself or the League, but for any other Rocket grunts who might want to defect. So, starting with the coat rack in her entryway, he destroyed her home.[break][break]

Her Pokémon tried to fight back in defense, but they clearly weren't meant for battles. A Weedle, Happiny, Trubbish, and Zigzagoon. Zev's own Pokémon knocked them out easily, but he gave a signal not to kill them. After all, Pokémon were just the tools of their masters. Only children broke objects in impotent rage.[break][break]

In the silence that followed his destruction, Zev prepared for his ambush. He tested the lights and assumed the logical sequence Johanna would turn them on upon arriving home. Satisfied, he turned them all off again and stood just out of sight from a darkened doorway leading to her kitchen and dining area.[break][break]

And then he waited. And waited. And waited.[break][break]

Finally, he heard the front door open, the click of the lightswitch, and a young woman's voice calling out. Still in total darkness, Zev watched as Johanna rushed to her Happiny's side. While her back was still turned to him, he stepped forward until he was almost upon her, then let something crack under his boot to get her attention.[break][break]

In the shadow beneath him, his Cofagrigus lay in wait.

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Johanna's throw was blind, the piece of table flying wildly off its mark. Nevertheless, Cofagrigus cast PROTECT on her master; the wood bounced off the invisible shield before it even reached Zev. He did not flinch, did not blink behind his mask.[break][break]

He let Johanna run, too. After all, he was not there to kill her, for once. Nevertheless, Cofagrigus started forward, separating herself from Zev's shadow, a dark blot across her floor.[break][break]

"A few people are quite concerned about you, Joy," he said, his voice garbled by the voice changer in his mask. The two had never met, but Team Rocket did not want to compromise his identity.[break][break]

He remained where he stood while Cofagrigus spread her four arms toward Johanna, threatening entrapment.[break][break]

"What do you think you're doing?"

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From behind his mask, Zev's blue eyes caught the movement of her hand toward her belt.[break][break]

"I don't think so," he said in warning.[break][break]

One of Cofagrigus' arms shot out to grab Johanna's wrist, intending to prevent her from reaching the Pokéballs clipped to her waist. Three more arms slithered across the floor, ready to grab at her ankles if she tried to run into the bedroom.[break][break]

Calmly, like a predator stalking his prey, Zev picked his way across the room toward Johanna. "We got the memo," he confirmed, his tone neutral, devoid of any mockery or hate. "And we're curious about your retirement plan."[break][break]

Glancing down at the unconscious Weedle, he pressed his heavy boot down onto its fragile exoskeleton. Not enough to harm the Bug-type, though — not yet.[break][break]

"After all, you know quite a few things, Joy. Names. Faces. Secrets." Zev looked into her face as he slowly, incrementally, leaned his weight upon the Weedle, gauging her reaction.

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The flash of fear across Johanna's face told Zev all he needed to know; her plea for mercy was unnecessary.[break][break]

Under his boot, he could feel the Weedle's steady breathing. How easy it would be to end it. How easily he could press his full weight onto the Bug Pokémon, crushing it. Countless times as a boy, he had done just that, squeezing captured Caterpie and Weedles until they'd burst. He knew what their splattered innards looked like afterward.[break][break]

For a ten-year-old, such an act had required all the strength in his puny arms. But as an adult, it would be effortless.[break][break]

Still, he was not there to kill — for once.[break][break]

"No one needs to get hurt, as long as you keep your mouth shut about the things you know," Zev warned Johanna. "Keep the identities of Rocket's high-ranking members a secret. Keep Genesect a secret, and any other projects you know about. And we'll have no reason to come after you."[break][break]

He shifted more weight onto the Weedle, which whimpered faintly in discomfort.[break][break]

"Do you understand, Joy?"

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"Good." The voice changer in Zev's mask made the word come out rough and raspy, a terrible noise like stone scraping stone.[break][break]

Then he raised a gloved hand and snapped his fingers. Immediately, a pale mist began filling the room as his Cofagrigus cast HAZE. The main area of the apartment filled quickly, concealing Zev as he removed his boot from the Weedle's body. Cofagrigus rose from the floor behind her master and opened her two halves, framing his silhouette in the thickening mist.[break][break]

"We'll be watching," he said as parting words before stepping into his Pokémon's body. Her doors shut with a muted click.[break][break]

And then they disappeared, traveling through the shadows to leave the apartment building altogether. By the time the haze cleared minutes later, Zev and his Cofagrigus would be long gone.

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