explosivecombat | 02X - Reintro. [Text/Locked Audio to the Rocket Frequency]

02X - Reintro. [Text/Locked Audio to the Rocket Frequency]

[TEXT]

[Well! Those of you on the network today will be greeted by a bit of audio late this morning, from a device ID that's been bouncing back all attempts at contact for the last several weeks.]

...Oh, that's cute.

[...well, if that wasn't the most triumphant return ever, I don't know what is.

At the very least, however, he seems to get over whatever he's almost audibly linefacing at long enough to realize that the device is recording something; he promptly switches the thing over to text - he's never really liked talking at the machine when he's addressing all of Johto.]

My, it seems this place does still have its sense of humor, doesn't it? And here I thought that perhaps I'd only lost three days at worst - it was a bit of a surprise to find out otherwise.

Ah, but that's neither here nor there, is it?

[Kimblee, hon.]

There's not much to report from home, unfortunately; however, it'll be a pleasure getting in contact with all of you again - hopefully you've all been at least reasonably well.

[Oh, well. At least he doesn't seem too off-put by the whole disappearing-for-a-month-and-a-half thing?]

[PRIVATE AUDIO - TEAM ROCKET FREQUENCY]

[...At least, not until the audio message that goes out over the private Rocket network a few minutes later; Kimblee's voice is cold and clipped, and the amiable "tone" from the text earlier is completely absent.

He has no idea if he still holds his rank or not; he suspects he doesn't. Like hell if he won't throw it around anyway. He's a bit displeased at his life basically being a .gif from Community, and he's going to figure out what in the good hell is going on if it kills him.]

This is Team Rocket Beta Solf J Kimblee, reporting back in for duty; to my superiors, I admit that I don't know what happened, but I assure you that it won't happen again.

To the rest of you - check in with me immediately, particularly if you're one of my subordinates. I'm receiving a lot of "ID Not Found" nonsense, and I need to know who's still present; given that and various things that I've had to hear about secondhand, I expect a full report regarding what happened here from someone, I'm not feeling particularly choosy right now.

New members to the organization - welcome to it, and you have my personal apologies for the disarray. For now, you're welcome to introduce yourselves; it'll serve you well to know that I'm good to those who are good to me. Again, prove yourself useful and you'll be rewarded.

None of this is a request. Allow me to make that much clear.

[...oh dear. Well. At least he's not in much position to actually do anything at the moment - this is Team Rocket we're talking about, and if somebody's on the network very vocally overstating their importance and/or competence, that means it's pretty much a day ending in Y.]

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[Barby had, admittedly, no idea who this guy was. Sure, he introduced himself, but for someone of a supposedly high-ranking position, no one had bothered to mention him to her before. Still...if he was truly a beta, that meant he outranked her by a lot and thus it'd probably be for the best to get on his good side and stay there as long as possible.

Better start that off by introducing herself...her swallowing her pride.]

Hello there, Mr. Kimblee. [Have a smile that looks FAR less smug than the icon, Kimblee.] My name's Barby; I'm one of the new recruits in this fine organization. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Consider it appreciated; I didn't encounter anything too bad, personally - nothing worse than it was when I left, at any rate.

[...ahahaha. haha. ha. um.]

[...Dist. He is both somewhat pleased to hear from someone familiar here that's actually competent, from what he's heard, and yet he's completely, completely displeased with what you're actually telling him.]

I'm...sorry, what? Surely you can't be the only -

[There are no words. No. Words.]

Forgive me for my rudeness in being so abrupt, but that can't possibly be the case - who's vanished, to your knowledge?

[He's fond of you, Ilya, he'll at least do you the courtesy of video as well.]

Ah, Miss Ilya - it's a pleasure to hear from you, as always; I've heard bits and pieces of these things you're telling me about, but I'm still working on gathering information. I understand that we've taken a rather large hit in terms of numbers, however, yes, and I've heard about what happened with the Commander. Ah, and you've got Nagara with you - excellent. She tends to be, really.

Was there anything particularly interesting about that party you've mentioned? It involved the Elite Four in some way, didn't it?

[So throwing that title around was good for something; he'd have to talk to the Executives about that eventually, but given how much radio silence (no pun intended) this place has supposedly received from that lot...

But she can get a video in return, and he's smiling rather placidly, and trying to bite back the urge to punch someone in the face for whatever the hell has happened here, and things are good for the time being.]

The pleasure is mine, Miss Barby; exactly how new are you? I've been away for some time, unfortunately.

Might I ask what caused that question to come up in the first place? Assuming you wouldn't mind sharing. That's the sort of question that only comes up when one has reached perfection in some way, after all - perfect misery also tends to bring that question around.

[He's kind of terrible, tbh.]

Well, hopefully things haven't gotten boring around here for you. As soon as things start going too well, there's usually some upstart that comes around very loudly trying to "fix" the monotony, I've noticed.

I had exclusive charge over a unit many years ago; I haven't done it since. I choose not to at this point, really; I don't believe I'm missing much.

[And that is, quite simply, all it is. He chooses not to. Of course.]

[Kimblee stands up easily from where he was sitting at the desk off to the side of the room, biding his time until Archer arrived; there isn't any hesitation when he opens the door, though his expression is one of those strange, placid ones that he tends to offer when he isn't sure what to do with his face.

This is awkward. Why is this so awkward?]

My apologies for leaving so suddenly; it seems this place has a cruel sense of humor. I wouldn't have left like that otherwise, especially not for so long.

[The apology is sterile, as it always is; nothing behind it but the formality.]

You united gangs by -

[Mondo that was a really unfortunately placed correction jsyk]

...never mind, what you've told me is enough. What sort of gangs were these, exactly?

I was the best at what I did, and famous throughout the world for it. But while I kept winning, kept...racking up tally marks that put more and more distance between myself and anyone who might challenge me, I wasn't getting better. The intellectual challenge wasn't the same, if it were even there at all. I was bored.

The answer was to find a new pursuit to test myself at.

Of course. May I come in?

[There are plenty of things they need to discuss and he's not about to talk about them in the hallway like this. Still, this entire thing seems more awkward than he would have thought and he knows he's playing it a bit too careful around Kimblee. He doesn't understand what's changed and this irritates him.]

...It seems we really do agree, then. At least this time.

I've experienced something similar, in a way, and now here I am; whether I changed for the better as the result of my shifting targets is debatable, but again, highly subjective.

You don't count your pokemon as a group under your command?

No. Intelligent though they may be, they're animals; there's a difference between raising animals and dealing with humans.

[Kimblee simply steps back without complaint, allowing Archer in easily; he doesn't move to resettle on that chair or go anywhere near the bed, however - he remains where he is near the door, leaning back against the wall. His stance is casual, legs crossed at the ankle as he's standing and arms folded low across his body; he's looking at least somewhat curious, however, given that Archer is usually not nearly this cautious around him.]

What's on your mind, Archer? There's clearly something.

[Err, yeah he... didn't really think about that...]

Motorcycle gangs!

[He sounds way too proud of himself...]

Oh, but there's one thing I'm not doing. I ain't gonna kill anyone.

I don't recall saying you were mindless, either. I can think of many reasons why one would say what those in charge want to hear, none of them implying mindlessness in the least.

Thank you for avoiding the clichéd, "We're not so different, you and I".

[Seeing as how given the current topic of conversation, she'd have had a fairly visceral reaction to hearing it if he had.]

It sounds childish to call it boredom, now. Maybe I just can't stand the thought of talent idling and going to waste.

[...goodness, just tell him how you really feel.]

Well, to my knowledge this organization doesn't specialize in flat-out murder, and I think I would be aware by now if it did. Though now you have me curious - why would you bring that up? It's a bit specific, given that I don't recall killing being part of the discussion in the first place, and you're clearly not a pacifist.

I'd really rather not go there, and besides, I've never seen how saying those exact words wouldn't be insulting myself more than it would be making a point to you - those words wouldn't have any impact if the one saying them weren't someone you found utterly deplorable, after all, and I don't hate myself nearly enough to use myself as an insult, thank you.

Ah, but when it comes to boredom...honestly, it is what it is. In my case, I think it was probably closer to frustration with the state of things, but that doesn't sound any less childish, does it - at the very least, it makes it sound like I'm throwing some sort of fit or tantrum.

I...

[Oh wow, he didn't think about that either...]

W-well, I figured that it might be something that would come up at some point. I mean, you would've expected me to do something like that, right? That's the kind of image gang leaders give off. But I'm not that kinda guy.

You're assuming I don't find you utterly deplorable?

You've called yourself a soldier and a weapon. Were you something different before you changed to that? Or were you always so, and it's just that your goal, side, or allegiance changed?

...A matter of personal values, I'm assuming?

That's true I guess, even the most intelligent summons value different things than humans do, yeah?

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