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It was different than what one might see in a movie or television show. [break][break]

Oddly, at least to him, the portal did not reopen like a door for BARNABY FINCH to walk through. Instead, his consciousness awoke like the flip of a light switch within a familiar space: the National Museum of Natural History, all decked out for the holidays during what he could only assume was the Winter Masquerade of 2022.[break][break]

He was dressed as ostentatiously as he'd been back then, mask and all to fit the theme. The company was similar, too, with Summer Atreides within arms reach. Everything appeared the same, in fact.[break][break]

So what was different? Father Winter had promised him an alternate path to explore.[break][break]

His answer came from a beckoning hand, enticing him to follow from his corner of the room and down a darkened corridor, away from prying eyes. The feminine figure hid her face, as they all did as part of the Masquerade, but there were telling signs of her identity.[break][break]

In fact, he'd know that shock of red hair anywhere.[break][break]

"I always knew you were a rat, Finch. But this is a new low, even for you."[break][break]

PENELOPE LIVY turned to face him, the only light to illuminate her fiery form coming from a half-lit exhibit to her right. The councilwoman's shadow stretched far across the floor, creeping onto the wall as if to watch what came next.[break][break]

Barnaby didn't respond at first and instead took a moment to assess the situation he found himself in. This? This was different.[break][break]

When he looked into Penny's face, her scarlet eyes flashed hotter than he'd ever seen them, even behind her mauve, lace-lined mask. Her tone was severe, her body language guarded yet buzzing with some sort of morbid anticipation.[break][break]

"You won't be able to hide behind your mask for much longer." [break][break]

At that he smiled and removed his face covering, feigning ignorance in a show of amiable concession.[break][break]

"What do you mean, Penny? I'm an open book." He tested the waters, probing for an explanation for her actions.[break][break]

"Ha!" She practically smoldered as she snapped and moved forward towards him, her heels burning into the tile below with each sharp step.[break][break]

"I bet Remiel Calcifet would beg to differ." Venom-lined and angry, Penny's tone continued to heighten as she spilled all the gory details for Barnaby to hear. [break][break]

"Mm, sorry. You'd probably know him better as Admin Fox, right?" There was a perverse lilt of superiority in her voice, now, in the wake of her revelation.[break][break]

"Surely you two are close? You have to be, with how social you are. In that way, you've always reminded me of a doorknob: everyone gets a turn." [break][break]

Another nasty laugh echoed down the hallway before she ended with, "Either way, it seems like the Prince finally woke up and realized just how pathetic you all are."[break][break]

The silence that followed the conclusion of Penny's reveal was deafening. She knew. There was no other explanation.[break][break]

For one of the first times in BARNABY FINCH's life, he felt the rug being swept out from under his feet, taking with it his identity as an HNN journalist and his anonymity as a ROCKET agent.[break][break]

PENELOPE LIVY would not let this lie. He knew that much was true.[break][break]

This? This timeline was certainly different.

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The fallout of their encounter was swift and thorough. [break][break]

With both Remiel Calcifet and PENELOPE LIVY at the forefront of his ousting, Barnaby knew there'd be little time to waste. Penny wasn't known for her subtlety, after all — ROCKET traitors even less so.[break][break]

But this moment, in this timeline, was before she'd felt the ENVIOUS pull of CHI-YU. There was no patron or inhuman powers to protect her within the dark corridor of GIDEON GRAVES's museum. So although their exchange was a heated one, in the end, Councilwoman Livy acquiesced. [break][break]

She'd brought back-up with her, yet Barnaby still managed to slip out of the party undetected. Every second mattered now if he was to settle what was to become the catalyst for a spiraling narrative.[break][break]

He'd had contingencies in place, of course, just in case his identity was ever compromised. With one tap of a button everything went...[break][break]

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Overnight his Mauville City penthouse was left abandoned. When the authorities inevitably arrived to raid the home they'd find little of substance there to sling at ROCKET and its constituents. The kill switch in all of the electronics had been activated almost as soon as PENELOPE LIVY played her hand, burning servers, corrupting data, and erasing any trace of the BARNABY FINCH who once lived there.[break][break]

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Navigating the breakdown of his civilian identity was a new experience for Universe 820's Barnaby L'oiseau.[break][break]

It had always been at the back of his mind, of course. The potential downfall, the vacuum that formed in the aftermath, the looming finality of never going back. But now — with endless branching possibilities to explore in this timeline — he was ready to move on.[break][break]

BARNABY FINCH was a mask discarded. It was time to don another one.[break][break]


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Consolidation of power was the first step.[break][break]

"I'm sure you've heard whisperings of Underboss Decker's impending departure."[break][break]

declan walsh loomed behind a broad oaken desk, one leg hitched over the other as he observed Barnaby from the leisure of his wingback chair. The man's shadow perched high across the office wall behind him, unnaturally dark and just slightly off-kilter.[break][break]

"Perhaps. But I fail to see how Decker stepping down concerns you, Bee, especially considering your recent breach in security."[break][break]

"A valid concern. However, I believe that there's an opportunity to be had here..."[break][break]

He knew in their timeline that his Elisabeth Fiorelli took up Killian Decker's vacancy. Here, however, there would be no tender third kiss shared between him and Elisa. No admission of affection or succumbing of feelings. Instead, Barnaby chose to ascend in her stead.[break][break]

And he explained as much to declan walsh. Emphasized that now that he lacked a public face that required careful tending, his skills could be further utilized toward ROCKET's benefit.[break][break]

Their conversation planted the seed. [break][break]

"...I'll be in touch, Admin Bee. You're dismissed."[break][break]

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Tying up loose ends was the second step.[break][break]

And Caleb Harcourt was one of the biggest. [break][break]

Many of the points in Barnaby and Caleb's relationship remained the same in this timeline. Their coincidental encounter in the Ultra Deep Sea, the bounty on Caleb's head courtesy of his brother Zev Harcourt, their twenty years together in Galar...[break][break]

Even the ranger's ROCKET imprisonment and subsequent escape with the help of Isaac Merlo. So many of the same moments, repeated, yet their story would end with a much different conclusion. Universe 820's Barnaby L'oiseau made sure of that.[break][break]

Barnaby never forgot his original purpose for Caleb Harcourt, after all. He was a ROCKET traitor. A nuisance and a threat to one of ROCKET's most valuable assets in Zev Harcourt. The ranger had far outlived his expiration date by the time Underboss Bee found him again.[break][break]

In his final moments in this timeline, Caleb lamented the love between King Harcourt and his Spectral Rider. Tried in vain to appeal to what they once shared. Surely Barnaby felt something for him. Enough to not end his life at the very least.[break][break]

Instead, Barnaby leveled his knife to Caleb's chest and offered a few parting words:[break][break]

"It was all just a dream. Well..."[break][break]

"A nightmare, really."[break][break]

"And now it's over."[break][break]

The blade plunged through the scar tissue above Caleb's heart.

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In this timeline, Barnaby failed to tend to his garden, so consumed as he was by his role as underboss.[break][break]

His fleur never bloomed. There was no midnight rain to nurture Elisabeth Fiorelli's budding love, no shared curse, no weeping divulgence on a cold tile floor, no soft assurances that she could be human with him no matter what.[break][break]

So she became the monster she always knew herself to be. One that'd slipped his collar on this iteration of their relationship.[break][break]

A liability beyond the scope of what even ROCKET could control.[break][break]

"She's a danger to herself and to our organization. Just look at the report, Cillian."[break][break]

Between THEO BECKETT and Cillian Quinn there laid a tablet, upon which scrawling text detailed the Blight of Petalburg Woods and Elisa's ramping aggression from there on after. WO-CHIEN and TAPU FINI were working over time for their Avatar, apparently.[break][break]

"..." Cillian couldn't deny the evidence, despite the sinking feeling in his gut that wanted to. Even as cruel as ROCKET could be, Elisabeth Fiorelli's use of her powers bordered on abusive and indiscriminate. [break][break]

"Admin Fiorelli is not in her right mind. Her Patrons have consumed her."[break][break]

"...So what do you propose, Theo? Have SPECTRA personally tail her every move just in case something happens again?"[break][break]

"Precisely. And they'll be ready to pull the trigger before she has the opportunity to ruin us."[break][break]

A tense moment of silence followed their discussion before the two men turned to Underboss Bee.[break][break]

"Your thoughts, Bee?"[break][break]

With hands steepled across his knee, Barnaby regarded his peers with a cool, calculated expression. There was little to give away his thoughts before he spoke them aloud.[break][break]

"You're right. She's become more of a threat than an asset to Rocket."[break][break]

"It's a shame, but..."[break][break]

"I approve."[break][break]

He rose from his seat.[break][break]

"I'll communicate next steps to Admin Gallagher."

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Only other monsters could commiserate with monsters.[break][break]

While Barnaby and Elisabeth's relationship withered on the vine, MATIAS SILPH found in her a kindred soul. Both broken, both hurting, both genuinely fond of the other and connected in a way that wasn't superficial. Here, in this timeline, their feelings were real.[break][break]

So it was unsurprising when he attempted to sway her from ROCKET.[break][break]

Yet Elisabeth Fiorelli still held an attachment for Barnaby L'oiseau that she just couldn't seem to shake. In an effort to keep her from completely aligning herself with GROUDON's Avatar, he tempted her with honeyed words and a gentle hand. [break][break]

When Matias discovered Elisa's infidelity he — exploded. In every sense of the word. At her, at their shared home, and finally...[break][break]

At Barnaby himself, when he inevitably found him.[break][break]

"You fucker! I'm going to fucking break every bone in your goddamn BODY–"[break][break]

Blood gurgled from Barnaby's half-open mouth. He'd taken enough blows to know that Matias fully intended to see his words through.[break][break]

"—before I chop off that tiny—"[break][break]

A sudden flash of light caused the Avatar to momentarily pause.[break][break]

"Tsk, tsk. Not just yet, you brute." A distantly familiar voice chided at MATIAS SILPH.[break][break]

Was that—? Father Winter's words barely registered as BARNABY FINCH was dragged back through the portal.[break][break]

Back to Universe 820.

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