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"She's still alive.."
"What?"
Butch scanned the area around himself.. Gnarled stone met his gaze at every turn, and the dark sky held far too many stars he didn't recognize. It as if he was standing on a small asteroid, but he knew it was some sort of illusion.. after all, he was still breathing.
"Cassidy.."
"How? last night I.."
"That wasn't Cassidy.."
"Who was it?"
"The laboratories.. search for the answers.."
"Why can't you just tell me?!"
"You must work quickly.. there's a harsh road ahead of you.."
"Why don't you just answer me!!"
Suddenly Butch could feel himself falling as the ground underneath him disappeared.
Butch turned his head as he sat up and saw Angel sitting, somewhat disheveled, on the floor next to the bed with a look of shock on her face.
"Something wrong?"
"No.. nothing, just you scared the hell out of me just now.."
Butch realized she'd been laying on the bed with him and he'd shoved her off when he'd woke up.
"I'm.. er.. sorry about that Angel.. had a bad dream.." Butch said feeling.
"Like I said.. I'm ok.. just was a little surprised."
Butch looked down at himself and saw he was still wearing his black leather pants from the night before, and they still felt slightly damp..
"What happened to my shirt?" Butch asked still looking at Angel as he felt his bare chest.
"Don't you remember?"
"Um.."
"Yeah.. I guess things were a little stressful last night.."
Butch knew she was referring to Cassidy and remembered that he had wrapped his bloody shirt around her torso before they'd abandoned her body..
"You ok?" Angel asked as she got back up to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Yeah, I'm fine"
Angel smiled, "Well, you sure seem to be taking things much better today."
"That wasn't her, she's still alive."
Angel turned her eyes away and Butch knew she thought he was just in a state of denial.
Then Butch thought about it for himself for a moment.. Maybe he was in denial.. No.. He knew he wasn't just imagining things, he knew that the dream meant something..
"Anyway, where's Jessie and James? We need to get to work." Butch asked as he grabbed a new set of clothes: pants identical to the ones he was wearing, and a teal T-shirt.
"They went out to get something to eat."
"Sounds like a good idea.. I'm pretty hungry myself.." Butch looked at his reflection on the large mirror as he entered the bathroom, 'I'll need a shave' he thought to himself.
"You guys aren't models, are you?"
Butch heard her say this and it almost didn't register in his mind that she was referring to the short conversation she'd held with Jessie and James the morning before.
"Oh.. um, why do you say that?" Butch spoke through the flimsy bathroom door as he started the shower.
"Well... for one thing... the big modeling show was last night."
Butch smiled after she said that and called back. "Anything else?"
"Well.. Also I've never seen anyone that could fight like you guys..." and added, "you guys were just... incredible.."
Butch allowed himself a slight smile at the compliment, but all the combat skills in the world hadn't saved Cassidy the night before.. Butch realized just how fast he'd always run, and just how close death was behind him..
"Yeah.. we're definitely not models.." Butch's voice took on a lower more serious tone.
"Well what are you then? Navy Seals? Green Berets?"
Butch just finished his quick shower and toweled himself off.
It took him several minutes to finish and completely dress again, and Angel hadn't said anything more. He wondered if she'd already left as he dressed.
Butch stepped out of the bathroom and saw that she was simply sitting there in the same spot on the bed, staring at the floor. He stooped to pick up his Nikes then sat next to her on the bed as he leaned over to lace them up.
"Come on, lets go get some breakfast... Then you should probably get home." Butch said as he stood up.
"Oh, all right.." Angel pouted as she stood up with him.
"We'd better have an alternate route as well," Butch said as he scanned the outside of the large white trio of buildings with his high-powered binoculars.
Jessie, James, and Butch were all sitting on the incline of a large hill about two kilometers from the entrance of the lab.
"What's it look like, Butch?"
"Still low security.. They must figure that team rocket has no reason to break in again."
James nodded and looked back down at his blueprints.
"Looks like the best second entrance would be to just use the cooling system again."
Butch thought about James' suggestion for a moment.
The last time they'd broke in they'd used the cooling system and run into practically no problems. Although Butch knew they left practically no evidence behind that they'd used the air ducts, he couldn't help but be nervous at the prospect of using the same technique to get into the a place twice..
"Well.. anything else on there look promising?"
"Hmm... not really.. unless you want to break in through the front doors.."
Butch knew that definitely was not an option, unless they wanted to have the police all over them.
"Air duct it is, then..." Butch agreed, but he couldn't help but get a bad feeling about it. However, the ventilation system seemed to be the only choice they could use besides the electrical tunnel that ran under the building.
"Let me have a look.."
Butch handed Jessie the binoculars and leaned back against the soft green grass. He felt a light sting in his stomach as he remembered Cassidy and himself sitting on the same knoll only months before...
"Come on, guys," Butch said as he stood and turned to walk back over the hill to the van.
The sound of Mondo's voice, slightly edged by static, buzzed back in their ears, "I read you."
Mondo was parked in the red mini van at a truck stop about a mile south of the lab where he could see the front entrance.
Butch looked over to Jessie and James, and they gave an affirmative thumbs up.
"Ok Mondo, we're going to move in, so lets keep it quiet unless it's something important."
"Roger that, and good luck.."
Butch really hoped that luck wouldn't play a part in this operation, but he knew that a little luck still never hurt anyone.
The darkly garbed trio moved across the expansive east lawn, skirting the heavily lit parking lot that bordered the large group of white buildings that comprised the laboratory.
The group came to a halt in front of a heavy-duty metallic door that was painted over white to match with the rest of the mammoth structure.
Butch took the small two foot crowbar that was hanging from his belt and wedged the straight claw of it into the slight crack between the door and it's frame. He began to push, trying to pop the door open as he'd done with it so many times before.
"Damn, this thing is hard.. You try pulling on it too, James.."
Butch continued to push as James gripped it from the opposite side and pulled.
"I think it's working..." Jessie said as she heard the sound of metal fatiguing.
Indeed, the crowbar had begun to move.
Then they heard the sound of metal breaking as Butch flew forward, and James fell backwards...
"God damn it!" Butch said as he examined the broken claw on his old crowbar and returned it to his belt.
James got up rubbing his chest a little, "Well then... ventilation system it is.."
Butch grimly nodded as the trio turned and moved around the building to the north side. On the north side of the building was a maintenance ladder that would give them access to the roof.
When Butch reached the ladder in the quiet darkness; he didn't hesitate to take hold and climb, Jessie and James following just below him.
He hauled himself up over the edge, and helped Jessie and James over the small step that extended around the roof's perimeter.
"Now witch one of those ventilation pipes was it that we were supposed to take?" Butch looked around and saw there was at least 4 within immediate view.
"I'm sure it's this one," James said walking over and examining the one second closest to them.
"Are you sure it wasn't this one?" Jessie said pointing at one just to the left of James'.
"No, I'm definitely sure, because I put this scratch on it to mark it for us."
"Oh."
James grinned as they one by one turned on their small flashlights and proceeded into the abyss..
"Ok.. where was record storage?" Butch asked.
"What floor are we on?
"Looks like the fourth," Jessie said pointing at a number above the nearest door that read '429'.
"Right, records are on the third floor, room 314... Unless they've moved them since last time.."
"We'll take the stairs," Butch said as they all turned to find the stairwell.
Butch felt a chill run down his spine as they walked, the white walls of the hall an eerily familiar dark gray in the low light. Door's were evenly spaced about every 25 feet apart on either side, and as he walked, he could see through the small windows on the doors cages of pokemon asleep in some of the rooms.
They quickly found their way to a red door marked "Fire exit" at the end of the hall and climbed down to the third floor.
The third floor, much to no one's surprise, looked pretty much like the 4th floor had..
Low Brown carpet running the length of the hall, the walls a dark shade of gray in the shadow of night.. There was also an occasional potted tree or chair along the sides of the hall as well.
James counted off the room numbers as they neared their destination.
"317.."
"316.."
"315.."
"314..."
"This is the one.." James said as he reached for the doorknob.
The room was obviously different than the others: the door had no window in it.
However, as they opened it, they were greeted by the smell of cleaning chemicals, and they knew they had arrived at the wrong room.
"I don't get it... it was here.." James said, a perplexed look on his face..
Butch rubbed his chin and thought about where they would have moved the records.
"Maybe they moved it to the basement.. that's where it seems to me records are usually kept.."
"Or Maybe they finally got in tune with the 20th century and moved everything over to computers," Jessie said with a slight smile.
"Yeah, actually that's probably it.. now how do we get in it?" Butch said as he turned to Jessie.
"Well there's sure to be some terminals in here somewhere.. we'll just have to go find one and look.."
Butch wasn't very computer savvy. Sure he'd enjoyed a few games of Quake with James back in the day, but when things started to get more serious with team rocket, he'd lost the time to mess with them.
"I think I saw one in one of the rooms just up the hall a few doors," James said as he turned back in the direction they'd come from..
Surely enough, a terminal was sitting in room 323, the power was already on, and Jessie quickly took a seat in front of it as they entered.
"Yuck! It's a Macintosh.. at least this will be easy.." said with a laugh as James and Butch watched over her shoulder.
"What are we looking for anyway, Butch?" James asked for the first time.
Honestly Butch didn't know what they were supposed to be looking for, he had assumed that he would know it when they found it..
"I'm not sure... lets just browse the topics.."
"What letter should we start on? There's so many records.." Jessie said as she turned to Butch.
"Hm... if I remember right, we after the 'S' records last time we were here.."
Jessie complied and scrolled down to 'S' and clicked the browse topics option..
'Seythovoryntium, effects on pokemon performance'
'Similarities comparison and compatibility evaluation of pokemon/human genome.'
'Simontarianism, case study'
'Sophrathyn, synthetic estrogen study'
"Wait a minute, Jessie... Bring up the pokemon genome study..."
Jessie scrolled back up a few lines and opened the file.
Butch began to read through the report:
"Similarities comparison and compatibility evaluation of pokemon/human genome, precursor to human/pokemon genetic amalgamation project..."
As Butch read the beginning his mind went numb..
"Human and pokemon genetic amalgamation?" Jessie's mouth hung open as she stared back at Butch.
"What's amalgamation?" James asked.
"It means joining.. or combining.." Jessie answered as she turned back to the computer terminal in front of her.
James thought for a moment, then his expression stiffened, as if he'd comprehended the meaning..
They appeared to be working on a way to combine human and pokemon dna..
Butch quickly returned to the moment, "Jessie.. bring up the human/pokemon genetic amalgamation project..."
Jessie quickly closed down the genome study and brought up the 'H' folder. She quickly scrolled to the bottom of the list and double clicked the report.
A window popped up on the screen notifying them that they didn't have clearance to view this classified document.
"Shit!' Butch exclaimed as he slammed his fist against on the desk.
"Umm... Guys.."
Everyone snapped to attention as the voice of Mondo crackled over their small ear-pieces.
"What is it, Mondo?" Butch said as he touched the small transmit button on his radio.
"Bad news, you've got company..."
"What? who? how many?"
"The cops... about 10 cars and a van just rolled up outside.."
"Fuck!"
The three had already abandoned the computer terminal and were headed for the stairs.
"How are we going to get out of here? They must have surrounded the building by now."
Just as James said this they saw 3 cops in swat gear move out of the stairwell door.
Quick as lightning James had his gun out, drawing first blood. Butch and Jessie fired as well, and one of the SWAT cop's head snap back from the impact of a bullet.
The other two cops quickly jumped back into the stairwell for cover, and Jessie James and Butch all ducked into the closest room as well.
"Mondo, I need you to get out the blueprints and tell me where the closest way to the roof is from here, we're in room 364."
"I've already got em, and it looks like there's a freight elevator just down a side hall from where you are. You should be able to use the ladder in the shaft."
"Good job, Mondo" Butch said as peered out the door to see the coast was still clear. 'They must be waiting for backup,' he thought to himself.
"Come on!" Butch said, firing a couple of shots down the hall as they ran across it to the small side hall.
"Butch, even if we get to the roof, what will we do then?" Jessie asked as they approached the green metal door that comprised the entrance of their destination.
"Well... Obviously we won't get very far from here on foot.. but there's a helicopter over on building C."
They reached the green doors and James and Butch pried them open, and climbed onto the service ladder.
As they climbed Jessie called up to Butch, "You can fly a helicopter?"
"I can't, but James can."
"I what??!" James exclaimed
"You told me your parents gave you flying lessons when you were a child, you can do it."
"That was years ago.." James answered back.
"Well it's either you fly, or we all die.."
The grim reality was that Butch was right.. all of their hopes for escape rested on James remembering what his flight instructor had told him ten years earlier.
The group reached the roof, and immediately jumped behind the elevator shaft for cover as several bullets ricocheted off the wall behind them.
"Shit, where are they?" Butch exclaimed as James pulled a grenade out of his pocket.
"Mondo, do you read me?"
"Roger."
"Mondo, you've done everything you can, now I want you to start up the van and go back to the hotel, if we manage to get away we'll find our own way back.."
"But.."
"Just go!"
"I am.. but I just wanted you guys to know.. there's no one I've ever respected or admired more than you.."
'That sounds too much like a permanent farewell' Butch thought to himself..
The radio fell silent, and James hurled the grenade in the direction of the previous gunfire.
"Lets move!" James yelled as the grenade exploded.
The three began running east along the rooftop. They were on building A, and they needed to make two 10 foot jumps between rooftops and run about 300 yards to make it to the heli-pad on building C.
James was the first one to reach the edge, and jumped, easily clearing the distance and continuing on. A second afterwards Jessie reached the edge, but as she made her launching step she slipped. Butch dove to the edge and caught her by her flailing wrist, easily lifting her light body back up to roof.
"Thanks" Jessie quickly stood up and quickly jumped across the short gap.
"That was too close..." Butch felt a slight tremble in his legs as he got to his feet and jumped across himself.
James was a couple of hundred feet ahead of them now, and in a few seconds made the second jump as well, then looked behind himself and stopped to wait for Jessie and Butch.
After Jessie and Butch had safely made the jump he started running with them again, between breaths adding, "heh, what took you guys so long."
Butch could hear gunfire far off behind them, but they continued to run until they reached 'Meta-1'.
James hopped in the pilot's seat and Jessie and James stuffed into the passenger compartment behind him.
"Buckle up guys.. this could be a little bumpy.."
James quickly flipped a series of switches as they heard the engine start and the propellor wind up.
After a minute for the propellor to spin up, James grabbed the flight stick and the helicopter lifted off the landing pad.
Butch could see the many police cars and occasional muzzle flash of a gun through the large windows as they flew away..
Butch breathed a sigh of relief as James flew the helicopter low to the tree line. The grounded police could do nothing but watch them escape..