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That Nomi had contacted Zev was not unsurprising. The young woman still sold craft beer to him; her winter selection lined the shelves of Howling's walk-in refrigerator, ready for the thirsty souls of Slateport City. That she had used an encrypted channel to request an appointment in the bar's back room, however, was unexpected.[break][break]

It was not the first time the two had met for Rocket matters, but it was the first time she had requested a conversation.[break][break]

After letting her in, Zev had disappeared momentarily to say goodbye to his employees who had closed the bar with him that night — and also to collect Luna, his blue Lycanroc. The wolf padded into the back room at his side, silent, ears perked with alertness.[break][break]

Instead of sitting at the table, Zev made his way to the much smaller bar set against one wall, kept stocked from his own funds. In that room, he was not a bar owner or bartender; he was a Rocket Beast. Without asking Nomi what she wanted to drink, he began pouring booze into two glasses: a whisky neat for him, red wine for her. Then he brought the drinks to the table and sat across from his visitor.[break][break]

"So, what do you want?" the hitman asked, his icy tone familiar to her. Luna sat on the floor beside him so that he could drink with one hand and scratch her behind the ears with another.

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The friendly face of the proprietor of Howling at the Moon was a public persona crafted to convince the masses that Zev Harcourt was a normal civilian just trying to make ends meet. In truth, he was a dangerous assassin and Rocket Beast, deadly and no-nonsense. If she had not been familiar with his real self, she might have been intimidated.[break][break]
Blue Sylveon sniffed at blue Lycanroc as Val edged forward to try and get a read on Zev's companion. It was not lost on Nomi how oddly tender it was to watch a man like Zev idly petting a Pokémon as if she were a beloved pet. Zev had never struck Nomi as the sort to get attached to his Pokemon, but perhaps even professional killers had their favorites.[break][break]
"You were a member of Kanto Rocket prior to your arrival in Hoenn in 2019," she stated calmly, meeting his blue eyes with her crimson ones. She had done her research. "I have some questions about the people you knew there. Did you ever work with anyone in the science division?"[break][break]
She took a sip of her wine. It was decadent, and just the right amount of dry.

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Zev thought back to the six years he'd worked for Team Rocket in Kanto. He had obtained most of his contracts from THEO BECKETT, while none of them had been from the science division of the criminal organization. But the hitman had run into their scientists on occasion, thanks to his association with Cillian Quinn.[break][break]

"I knew Underboss Merlino, whose specialty back then was in the sciences," Zev told Nomi, not seeing any immediate advantage to lying to her. "Why? What's your interest in the Kanto branch?"[break][break]

He wondered if the woman's questions related to the line in her dossier about her parents' assignment and death in that region.

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"My parents were Rocket scientists," she explained, unknowingly confirming his assumption. "They left Johto when I was a toddler for a special assignment in Kanto. They never returned." She paused. Zev had never struck her as a man with much patience for sentiment. Yet, he had family didn't he? Parents who'd died in the war. A brother still living, she remembered. Perhaps a part of him could understand her obsession. The need for answers, for closure, in regards to the nature of her parents' deaths.[break][break]
"I initially joined Rocket to find out what happened to them," she continued, attempting to contain the complexity of emotions that raged within her: frustration, anger, weariness, and a thirst for vengeance. She took a long sip of wine.[break][break]
"I have accepted that there is much to be gained by working for our organization, beyond the answers I have been seeking for nearly two decades. I am loyal." She emphasized that last point. He was a Beast after all, often tasked with hunting down traitors. "But I still desire to know what happened to my parents. Before he left to return to Kanto, Dr. Pryde hinted at the fact that they had disappointed the wrong people. Do you have any recollection of hearing about such a thing? Their names were Dr. Yuri and Karin Sato."[break][break]
And, unspoken, the implication that hung in the silence: Were you ever assigned to kill them?

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As a man who paid careful attention to detail, Zev had an excellent memory for facts. Still, it was impossible to remember everything, especially if the details no longer became relevant. The names Yuri and Karin Sato rung a bell in the back of his mind, but the memory was vague and hazy.[break][break]

He could admit that he didn't remember, but Zev was not a man who admitted faults in himself. So instead, he sat back, sipping his drink.[break][break]

"What exactly makes you think I have the answers you're looking for?" he asked Nomi, his voice carrying a hint of exasperation. "For the record, I was a contract killer for Team Rocket back in Kanto. I wasn't part of the organization itself."[break][break]

Surely Lulu Flint's protégé was smarter than this.

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Nomi opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. Changing her mind, she brought the glass of wine to her lips, allowing a moody silence to settle between the two Rockets. Valerian shifted, resting his head on Nomi's lap. She brought her free hand to the top of his head, absently petting the soft fur; whether it was for comfort or merely to keep her hand busy, she could not say.[break][break]
Why had she gone to Zev about this? Why not Cillian Quinn, who she knew, as Zev himself had mentioned, was intimately familiar with Kanto's scientific operations?[break][break]
Nomi grit her teeth, a rare visible sign of her inner turmoil. She felt suddenly angry. At her parents, at Zev, but mostly, at herself. She knew better. When pursuing a scientific hypothesis, one could not will a specific outcome into existence. That wasn't how science worked. Everything was pre-determined by the fabric of reality: the particles, chemicals, and energies that made up the universe. Science didn't care about emotions - it wasn't beholden to them like the average human heart. Wanting something to be true was never enough.[break][break]
"Because if you - or someone like you - had killed them..." She shrugged, unable to meet his scrutinizing gaze. "I could accept that. I could blame their deaths on someone else, rather than face the possibility that..."[break][break]
The hand petting Valerian balled into a fist, fingers tightening into a vice grip on his fur. The Sylveon made no sound or attempt to squirm away.[break][break]
"...that they had made some catastrophically foolish mistake."[break][break]

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Any other man might have felt empathy, or at least pity, for the pink-haired woman as she grappled with her emotional turmoil. But Zev was not any man. He merely watched her with an unblinking gaze, his arms folded across his chest, one hand cradling the glass of whisky.[break][break]

"So what if they had?" he demanded of her in challenge. "People are fools. If you're going to let other people's behavior stop you, then you might as well give up now and go back to whatever you were doing before joining Team Rocket."[break][break]

Zev had no patience for fools — or for people held back by them.[break][break]

He finished the rest of his drink and stood to refill his glass, not caring how Nomi reacted, not caring if she left or stayed.

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Harsh words from a harsh man. Perhaps a different sort of young woman would have burst into tears. But like Zev, Nomi wasn't exactly the definition of "average," though perhaps to a lesser extreme.[break][break]
She did not cry. She didn't even frown. She just stared blankly at Zev for a handful of seconds that felt like an eternity. His words echoed through her mind like he'd shouted them down a long hallway.[break][break]
"You're right," She agreed, tucking her emotions back up into the normally tightly locked safe she carried them in. Any proper scientist could recognize a failed experiment: sometimes the results were definitive, for good or for ill. The truth was, she'd known all along that this one would fail.[break][break]
I was the fool, she accepted. Zev's assessment may have been coldly delivered, but it was practical. Rocket had no use for those who allowed themselves to be controlled by fear.[break][break]
Nomi knocked back the final dregs of her wine, set the glass on the table before her with a soft clink, then stood. "Thank you," she said simply to Zev. "For your time." Not for his advice, or for information. He had not done her any favors, had not answered any of her questions. He'd merely spoken his mind. For that, she didn't need to thank him. She merely needed to stop being a coward.[break][break]
Without another word, she left.

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"You're right."[break][break]

At least Nomi seemed intelligent enough to recognize when she was being stupid. Zev could not discern the exact emotions churning just beneath her blank expression, but he could guess. Many members of Team Rocket forced themselves to compartmentalize. It was the only way they could survive.[break][break]

Understanding did not bring sympathy, however. Zev merely nodded at Nomi's thanks, watching as she departed, the soft click of the door the final note of their meeting. He finished cleaning their empty glasses and racking them to dry before locking up.

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