Chapter Two: Failure

Giovanni was best described as an oppressive man. His presence alone could darken a well-lit room and blanket it in a somewhat fearful and domineering aura. At forty years old, he was the undisputed leader of Team Rocket, a position inherited from his mother, Madame Boss, and just by being in his presence alone you could appreciated just how he had managed to hold on to his birthright.

Giovanni was a tall man; probably coming close to six foot in height he towered over all of his underlings and used his height to his advantage when berating them and making them feel as though they were no bigger than a measly Caterpie. He was solidly built, too. His shoulders were broad and powerful and his face was hardened and chiselled by the first signs of age, suggesting that the strain of leading the most notorious criminal gang did take its toll after all. His eyes were black and glinted like polished stone although they seldom gave away any emotion other than rage and this was the first time that Cassidy had seen such feelings in those eyes and she trembled slightly despite herself.

The Persian was, as always, present. Curled up in its cat bed, it opened one eye and lazily regarded them with almost a smug sense of satisfaction that made Cassidy’s blood boil.

Forcing herself to tear her gaze from the feline, she redirected her stare to the tips of her boots. She should have known that he wouldn’t let them off easily this time.

“Cassidy, Butch” he started and Cassidy felt her partner flinch and his shoulder touched her own although she knew better than to act to it. It was best to appear as stoic as the Boss himself lest he see their weakness.

Daring to raise her head slightly, Cassidy saw him back his way to the glass statue of a Zapdos that stood beside his desk. Thoughtfully, Giovanni placed one hand on the glass and then started to address them again.

“A rare Pokémon is a creature of beauty, a creature that men have coveted since the beginning of our alliance with them and many have since died in the name of. We seek to collect them, to gaze in awe at them and to train them to our own purposes. It is an ideal, which is in the blood of every human. Desire is pain and pain is desire, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes sir” Cassidy replied, her voice, she hoped, was steady.

“Such people who deny what they truly desire are fools and yet you allow these fools to walk all over us, to trample the name of Team Rocket into the dirt by allowing that Lugia to escape.”

“With respect, sir,” Butch started, “Our mission was hampered by our own team-mates almost as much as the children who Professor Nanba foolishly allowed to board his vessel.”

Cassidy hardly dared to breath as Butch’s words. Despite being the Boss’s favourites, they had never spoken back to him. To do so was risking his wrath at the very highest level. She swallowed hard and stammered out: “What Butch means, sir, is that there were other complications that contributed to the mission’s failure.”

Apart from anything she was horrified that Giovanni had again brought up the subject of this failed mission. She had thought, after allowing the Professor to shoulder the blame, that they were in the clear as far as the Boss was concerned. She had obviously been wrong.

In response, Giovanni carefully, and deliberately, pushed the statue forwards. Cassidy jumped as it crashed to the wooden floor, smashing into a million pieces. As the glass exploded in all directions, Cassidy felt one shard fly up to gash her cheek. She forced herself to remain still and not wince at the sharp pain and the trickle of blood that came from the wound.

“I do not pay you to talk back to me,” Giovanni said softly, as he seated himself behind the desk, “In fact I wonder why I pay you at all.”

“Sir” Butch started but trailed off when Cassidy gave him quick glare. What in hell was he thinking of? They had already been warned about talking back, as her cut indicated.

“Still” Giovanni pretended to ignore this exchange, “I am a fair man. I will give you another chance. A chance for you to prove to me that you are still capable of carrying out even the simplest of tasks. I want you to target the Pokémon Centre here in Viridian. It has been two years since the last attack on it so they would have lapsed their guard. I want you to steal all the Pokémon within the centre. This will prove your worth to both me and the team.”

“Yes, sir, thank you, sir” Cassidy said humbly where as Butch said nothing in reply to this.

“Good” Giovanni gave them a sly smile and one that filled Cassidy with dread.

The rest of the briefing went by in a blur. Cassidy nodded mutely, only once speaking to explain that they had destroyed the missing files. By the end of it, Giovanni had calmed down slightly and, as they were dismissed, he spoke to his intercom to demand that his secretary send the next team in.

Cassidy, for one, was anxious to leave the office as soon as possible and roughly pushed Butch aside to get to the door. All she could see when she closed her eyes was Giovanni’s smug expression and she didn’t like it one bit.

Once out into the corridor, she paused, waiting for Butch to catch her up. He did so in a matter of seconds, not wanting to be in that office for a second longer than he had to be either.

As soon as he did so, Cassidy exploded at him.

“What the hell was that all about? No one talks back to the Boss, Butch, no one” she was well aware that she was trembling as she spoke.

“I know” Butch snapped back, “But I’m sick of him coming down on us the whole time, especially as the Lugia screw up wasn’t our fault. Nanba was the senior in charge of that, not us.”

“That isn’t the point” Cassidy answered and winced as she felt a small stab of pain from her wound on her cheek.

“Does it hurt?” Butch asked, his expression changing from annoyed to one of concern in a matter of moments.

“It’s fine” Cassidy slapped his hand away when he made to touch it. “Just leave it, Botch” the slip of the name was deliberate to annoy him and it had the desired effect.

Butch’s eyes narrowed and he turned on his heal and stalked away. Instantly, regret flooded her but, just as Cassidy made to go after him, she heard three people approaching in the other direction.

“I wonder why the Boss wanted to see us so quickly?” she recognised James’s voice and mentally cringed. The last thing Cassidy felt like doing was having a confrontation with Jessie and her team.

But they had come round the corner before she could make her move away from them.

“That is obvious” Meowth snapped to James’s earlier question, “He wants to tell you two numbskulls just how much of a disgrace to Team Rocket you are!”

“Again” James sighed unhappily, “But he tells us that every time that we report in anyway.”

“Shut up the pair of you or he’ll hear you” Jessie warned and an added slap with a paper fan silenced them.

Forcing herself to be nonchalant, Cassidy leaned up against the wall near the office door and pretended to be looking at something far off in the distance as they approached. She heard Jessie’s grumble of displeasure when she saw her rival and Cassidy at last allowed her gaze to flicker to the other woman’s and give her a sneer that assured her that the feeling was more than mutual.

Jessie scowled back for a moment and then her expression changed to one of puzzlement.

“What happened to her face?” Meowth demanded, a little loudly as Cassidy immediately felt self-consciousness enough to raise a hand to her cheek once more.

For a few seconds they simply stared at each other before Jessie mumbled something about not wanting to delay and risk angering Giovanni further. She broke Cassidy’s stare and stalked ahead of her teammates and into the Boss’s office, not even bothering to knock. After a moment’s more hesitation, James and Meowth followed her.

As the door slammed shut again, Cassidy jumped slightly as though the sound had somehow brought her back to reality. Pulling her hand away from her face, she turned and hurried back down the corridor towards the room that she and Butch shared, feeling a little nauseous as she did so. All of a sudden all Cassidy wanted was to be alone.

“With respect, sir. Our mission was hampered by our own team-mates almost as much as the children who Professor Nanba foolishly allowed to board his vessel.”

Butch hated the cafeteria on the upper floor of the HQ. He hated the fact that, whenever he or Cassidy entered the hall, Rockets would look up from their meals to stare at the ‘favourites’ and then turn to each other and whisper.

Cassidy thought that Butch did not notice this but he did, he merely did not acknowledge as, to do so, would only upset her, Butch knew. Although she hid it well, he could see that Cassidy was barely hanging on by a thread. They needed to complete a successful mission, not only in order to keep their jobs but for his friend’s own self-esteem as well.

Friend, Butch mused over his choice of word when describing his teammate, as he got himself a coffee and sat down at the back of the room and away from prying eyes and hushed conversations. Yeah, he supposed that Cassidy was his friend, although he would never admit to that. He was fully aware that she was completely professional in her attitude towards him. He was literally her partner in crime and nothing more. She was polite to him, tolerated him and they stuck together but this was only because they were partners. She was often scoffing at such closeness in other teams claiming that it hampered their abilities. Butch couldn’t comment on this and didn’t really care to. He had even shared her views at one time… before he began to develop feelings for her that was.

Soon after being paired with Cassidy, Butch had likened her to a Persian. Both were beautiful and, when it suited them, they could be gentle, calm and almost compliant. The Persian that sat on Giovanni’s lap tolerated the Boss’s presence and they way he would run his hands through its fur when thinking, but for the Persian this was merely show. It was nice to Giovanni because he was the one who offered it comfort and shelter and gave it food. Cassidy was a lot like the Persian. She tolerated Butch because he was her partner, was even nice to him, and listened what he had to say concerning missions without trying to take over the entire thing herself or lord over him as such. But Persians were also fickle creatures. They did not have a Master and would turn only to the person who could offer them the most in the way of comfort. Cassidy was like the Persian in that respect, too. She used people. She had used her friendship with Jessie and the fact that Miyamoto was Jessie’s mother to her advantage when it came to climbing the ranks of Team Rocket and then, when she no longer needed her, Cassidy had stabbed Jessie in the back and played a significant part in the beginning of Jessie and James’s downfall and all just to spite her. Cassidy could hold a grudge like no one else Butch knew and having feelings for someone as cruel and vindictive as her was not a good idea, he knew.

In all honesty, Butch couldn’t say what it was about Cassidy that drew her to him like she did. She was fiendishly smart, calculating, strong, brave and fiercely independent, traits that most men found off-putting but not Butch. Butch liked woman with a little fire in them. It made a relationship more interesting, he mused as he took a sip from his coffee, grimacing at the taste of the instant stuff that the cafeteria served. To develop feelings for Cassidy was one thing, to embark on a relationship with her was another entirely and not a step that Butch felt ready to take, not yet at least.

He wasn’t a coward, he told himself, he simply did not feel as though the timing was right and, in any case, he had to be sure that his advances would be welcome and, given Cassidy’s present mood, he was sure that they wouldn’t be. He didn’t even know how she saw him at all, let alone if she would consider taking their working relationship further. At least other teams knew where they stood with each other, Butch thought ruefully, he couldn’t even offer Cassidy any kind of comfort at the moment it would seem without gaining some snide remark or being snapped at.

Sighing, Butch drank the rest of his coffee and decided to focus on more pressing matters; their mission. It was their last chance and Butch knew that, despite it being something that they could easily accomplish, they had to think things through carefully. Giovanni had said that seeing as it was two years since the last attack that they would have their guard down but Butch knew better than that. Giovanni was no fool and this comment was merely to test them.

Getting up, Butch walked quickly back down the corridor and towards the room that he and Cassidy shared. Before today, he would happily assume what kind of security the Pokémon Centre had and leave most of it to chance but not now, not with Giovanni’s threats still fresh in his mind.

Reaching their room he found it deserted and a touch of concern for Cassidy came into his mind before he firmly crushed it. The mission had to come first. Cassidy was an adult and if she had any problems then she would deal with them. She did not need him.

Butch quickly shut the room behind him and proceeded to change into some civilian clothes. After all, the best way to scope out the security there would be to go in undercover.

The Viridian City Pokémon Centre was one of the busiest in the Kanto region. This was mainly because of the new trainers arriving from Pallet Town with their newly captured Pokémon, which needed rest and/or healing. There was also trainers who had just finished their journeys and now hoped to challenge the Viridian Gym leader; Giovanni. Up until two years ago, it was very rare for any trainer to defeat him and earn a badge but since the gym was destroyed Giovanni had, to avoid a lot of questions, to allow more victories so that unwanted attention wasn’t brought upon the gym once more. Of course, he would only give badges to trainers who he felt truly deserved to hold one. As well as being the Boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni was also one of the most well respected gym leaders in the Kanto region.

With these thoughts in mind, Butch entered the Pokémon Centre. It was busy as he had expected. Nurse Joy and her Chansey were busy seeing to a new trainer’s Charmander, which had been injured during a battle with another local boy. The other boy had a Goldeen and was looking worriedly on, as was the Charmander’s trainer.

There were other trainers with their Pokémon seated and patiently waiting their turn. There were mostly children with either Ratatta or Pidgey but a few had caught Mankey’s and Nidoran’s as well. So as to not draw attention to himself, Butch let out his Pokémon. He had chosen Raticate as his Hitmontop or his Mightyena would almost have definitely raised eyebrows to say the least. He could not afford to have people recalling that he was here today after the heist had taken place. Raticate was, in fact, Cassidy’s first Pokémon but Butch decided that she wouldn’t mind him borrowing it and Raticate was familiar with both of them anyway.

Butch chose to sit at the back of the room near to some of the older trainers and where he could observe the comings and goings with little distraction. When he had first walked in he had noted that the Pokémon Centre’s alarm system was now directly linked to the local police station. All Nurse Joy had to do was trip the switch. The wire for this stretched along the floor, running right underneath the red seating that Butch was sat on. He considered ordering Raticate to gnaw through this now but dismissed this notion. It was too early in the day and Joy was bound to check the alarm system before closing for the night.

Aside from this there appeared to be very little security. The windows and doors were fixed with double bolts but this was nothing that Butch couldn’t get around easily enough. Everything seemed incredibly straightforward.

Butch absent-mindedly petted Raticate on the head as he mentally mapped out the floor plan in his head and started to decide on the best entrance and exit and also what time would be best to strike. He was pretty sure that he and Cassidy could hold the place up in broad daylight but, owing to their recent failures, he deemed that this was an unnecessary risk and that they should perhaps strike in the evening as the centre was closing for the day.

Satisfied with this plan, Butch started to think more about how to get in and out as quickly as possible. At the training camp they had been told that a window of ten minutes was long enough and Butch decided to keep to this. They could talk their way in disguised as trainers but that would take up too much time. No, a subtle approach was definitely not called for here, Butch knew.

Satisfied, Butch allowed Joy to look at Raticate anyway, so as not to arouse suspicion but he kept their conversation to a minimum although she did, unfortunately, try to coax more conversation from him. She didn’t see that many older trainers in the Pokémon Centre due to the fact that Viridian was the first main town and that most trainers came up from Pallet Town.

“I’m just returning” Butch allowed, keeping his voice relaxed although he was very much concerned about giving anything away.

“So you have all the badges now?” she asked in surprise, after all not many trainers made it very far with just a Raticate.

“No” Butch corrected her quickly; a trainer defeating all the gym leaders with a Raticate would quickly become the talk of the town. “I’m visiting a relative. As Pallet Town has no Pokémon Centre I thought I would bring Raticate in here for a check up first.”

“A sensible idea” Joy nodded, smiling, “You obviously know a great deal about Pokémon.”

Butch mentally rolled his eyes. It was common sense that was all. All the Joys were patronising and this one more than most. Their blissful ignorance and positive outlook on life ground his nerves no end. They should try being in Team Rocket for a week and then they would see that the world wasn’t the carefree and happy place that they made it out to be. The reality was much tougher to deal with.

Dismissing her quickly, Butch retrieved his Raticate and left the centre as quickly as possible. Casting a glance back, he saw that Joy had already moved in to the next trainer, greeting them with more of her senseless and cheery drabble.

Lighting a cigarette, Butch started to slowly make his way back the headquarters. From what he had seen it would appear to be a straightforward heist. But if that was the case, then why did he feel so uneasy?

“Where have you been?” Cassidy forced herself to appear nonchalant as Butch entered their room dressed in civilian clothes. After returning to the room that they shared she had tried to occupy herself by firstly cleaning up the cut to her cheek and then by watching the television. When she had come back here she had wanted to be alone but after about twenty minutes or so the silence was starting to get to her.

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s fine. Just leave it, Botch”

She was also regretting speaking to Butch how she did. His moments of concern for her were rare and Cassidy wished that she hadn’t thrown it back in his face. Still, as he walked through the door, she reminded herself that apologising wasn’t something that could do. After all that would just be encouraging certain feelings that could never be, wouldn’t it?

“I was checking out the Pokémon Centre” Butch answered her as he kicked off his shoes before sitting down on his bed, “We need to be prepared don’t we?”

Cassidy rolled her eyes, “It is a straightforward heist, Butch. We’ve been pulling them off for years.”

“Which is exactly why we can’t get complacent now. You know what is at stake” he answered, his tone slightly irate which took Cassidy aback.

“Fine. Whatever” she went back to staring at the television. The programme was a feature on water Pokémon in their natural environment and not something that Cassidy would usually watch for she preferred teen movies or soaps but right now she was glad of the distraction.

For a while, Butch kept silent but in the end broke this to say, “Don’t you want to know what I found out?”

Cassidy bit her lip to avoid another scathing comment from escaping her and slowly nodded instead.

“It should be straightforward. The security system is linked directly to the police station but can easily be cut off. We should aim to get there just after closing, that way they’ll only be Joy and a couple of Chansey to deal with. We should get in and out within ten minutes. With any luck Joy will be too scared to cause us any trouble.”

“Straightforward” Cassidy repeated.

Butch nodded but again repeated his earlier words about being cautious. Cassidy, however, now that she had time to think about it, didn’t really think that Giovanni would fire them. No team in the history of Team Rocket had been fired, no matter how awful they were. Jessie and James made far more mistakes than she or Butch did and they hadn’t been fired. In fact bad teams were either arrested and thrown into jail or, inevitably, had fatal accidents on the field. Never had a team been fired and Cassidy couldn’t see Giovanni doing that to them. Cassidy had been in Team Rocket all her life; it was all that she had ever known. She knew almost as much about the other teams as Giovanni himself did. To fire her would be a costly mistake in the long run and Giovanni must know this deep down.

“Cass?” Butch asked, frowning when he saw the pensive expression on her face, “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing” Cassidy said, switching the television off and getting up, “I’m going for a walk.”

For a moment she had seen a flash of concern in his eyes and her heart fluttered at this. Biting her lower lip, Cassidy forced herself to look away and crush such feelings before they could surface and be recognised for what they truly were. Butch was a teammate and nothing more. He could never be more than that. They had both agreed that such relationships were damaging for other teams’ progression and Cassidy had no intention of throwing away everything that she had worked for, especially not for something that couldn’t last.

It was after dark before they approached the Pokémon Centre. Butch, still erring on the side of caution, had insisted that they leave it until an hour after closing before making their way across the dimly lit streets towards the centre. They both wore their uniforms, Cassidy seeing no reason not to for it was dark and the chances of being stopped by a nosey Jenny were very slim at this time in the evening.

They were both tense, despite Cassidy’s earlier confidence. Butch was more nervous than her but his apprehension was catching and now her stomach twisted in knots as again she touched the Pokéballs clipped to her belt, just for reassurance that they were actually there. They had selected Sabeleye and Mightyena for this mission, knowing just how much they needed to succeed but Cassidy had also brought Houndour with her, just in case.

Finally coming to the centre, Cassidy paused, glancing at Butch who, for once, took the lead and led them round to the back of the building. The door was locked but did not appear to be guarded. There wasn’t even a surveillance camera. They were obviously too trusting that their link to the police station would be enough to protect them.

Fools, Cassidy thought scornfully as Butch worked on the lock that secured the door. After a few moments it clicked quietly open. Already selecting the Pokéball from her belt, Cassidy pushed passed him, trying to appear confident as she stepped inside. She could feel Butch’s annoyed glare digging into her back but ignored it and waiting until he had joined her before whispering:

“You deal with the alarms. I’ll get the lights.”

Without giving Butch a chance to agree or disagree, Cassidy felt round the wall nearest her and easily found the light switch. Flicking it on, the first thing she saw was three sleeping bags set out on the main reception floor and three children snuggled inside of them. Taken aback by these unprecedented new nuisances, Cassidy released both her Pokémon and, without thinking, knelt down beside the nearest sleeping bag and shook the kid inside roughly. He was obviously a new trainer, from the wide-eyed and frightened look on his face. His blonde hair was ruffled from sleep but the slumber soon vanished from his eyes when he saw the red R emblazoned on the front of Cassidy’s dress. He opened his mouth but she clamped a hand down over it before he could so much as utter a squeak. Cassidy motioned for him to hand over his Pokéballs, which he did in silence, his terrified eyes on her the whole time. He only had two, most likely a starter Pokémon from Professor Oak and a newly caught one that wouldn’t be loyal to him yet. Cassidy knew that it was most fortunate that they hadn’t come across more experienced trainers.

Making him aware that he shouldn’t utter a sound, Cassidy slowly removed her hand from his mouth and nodded towards the other two children. He nodded and woke them, motioning for them to keep silent.

“Check them for Pokémon” Cassidy instructed Butch when she saw that he had finished dealing with the security and was watching her.

“Where are you going?” Butch demanded, a little annoyed by her attitude.

“To find the Pokémon,” Cassidy snapped back before making her way to the backroom behind the main reception.

The light from the reception lit up the darkened room and Cassidy quickly saw the outline shape of Nurse Joy asleep at her desk, a book resting in her arms. The Chansey were in their Pokéballs for the night and Cassidy swiftly collected these before leaning over and shaking Joy awake as she had done to the children.

“What the…?” Joy started but Cassidy cut her off with:

“Where do you keep the Pokémon?”

“We… we don’t have any. The centre doesn’t keep Pokémon over night anymore” was her response.

“Don’t take me for a fool” Cassidy snapped, “I know you have them somewhere” to accentuate to Joy just how serious she was, Cassidy slammed a hand down on the after speaking causing the red haired woman to jump slightly.

“We don’t” Joy stood up and stumbled backwards, “And even if we did, I’m not about to hand them over to thieves such as yourself.”

Angered and frustrated that Joy wasn’t simply going to roll over, Cassidy grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her to the doorway, forcing her to look out into the reception where the three trainers huddled together against a wall whilst Butch looked through the desk and drawers at the counter.

“If you care about the safety of those kids, you’ll find us some Pokémon.”

Joy was trembling and nodded, her eyes wide with fear. Cassidy let her go but Joy instead made a run for the main reception. Cursing, Cassidy raced after her, shouting to Butch as she did so. He left his position behind the counter and moved to intercept her but not before Joy hit the alarm on the wall. Cassidy expected that this would do no good so she was stunned when the piercing shriek of the alarm system rang through the building.

“Butch!” Cassidy shouted, rounding angrily on her partner, “I thought you cut the alarm system?”

“I did!” he shot back defensively.

“We have a back up system” Joy answered for them, “The police will be here any moment.”

“Butch, grab the Pokémon” Cassidy shouted, hating Joy to see her so panicked, “We’ve got to go.”

He turned to do just that but paused, his brown eyes widening.

“Now what?” Cassidy snapped.

“I put them right here on the counter” Butch started but Cassidy’s heart then sank when she saw where they had gone.

The three trainer twerps were blocking the door; the ten year old’s Bulbasaur and Pidgey standing in front of them.

Cassidy glanced at her own Pokémon and then returned them. They could not afford to get into a Pokémon battle right now. Butch followed suit and they made a break for the back door. To Cassidy’s surprise, they did not chase after them or even order their Pokémon to attack.

Reaching the door first, Cassidy wrenched it open and… standing on the other side was Officer Jenny.

Cassidy felt sick as, for the second time that day, she entered Giovanni’s office, escorted by several grunts who sensibly opted to wait outside. A quick glance at Butch confirmed, from the expression on his face, that he felt just as bad as she did, if not worse. Upon hearing of their arrest, Giovanni had arranged with some of his ‘contacts’ in the police force, for them to be bailed out again but this time Cassidy would have very much preferred to stay in jail for anything would be preferable to the fury of the Boss at this moment.

“It’ll be okay,” Butch murmured as they entered the room. “What is the worst that he can do?”

“This is all your fault to start with” Cassidy hissed back and then turned away. It had been Butch’s fault. He hadn’t bothered to check for a back-up alarm system or to secure the brats Pokémon properly. He had screwed up and now… now Cassidy didn’t know what was going to happen.

Coming to a pause in front of Giovanni’s desk, Cassidy forced herself to meet Giovanni’s gaze. He didn’t look angry, merely calm and this was much worse somehow as Cassidy had to inkling as to his line of thought. When no one spoke, she decided that the best course of action would be to apologise and hope that he would be lenient.

“Sir, I---”

“Shut up. Don’t you dare give me anymore excuses, Cassidy” Giovanni cut her off, his voice quiet but with a deadly serious undertone that was all too easily detectable. “Up until now I have been most gracious and have overlooked your team’s failings, bailed you out even, risking my reputation as a gym leader to get you out of the messes that you seem to manage to create. Screwing up missions is one thing but allowing yourself to be arrested time and time again… this is not a feat that even the worst teams in Team Rocket have successfully repeated. However” he paused and Cassidy felt her heartbeat starting to speed up. She swallowed hard, knowing better than to say anything until Giovanni was finished.

“However” he repeated, seemingly content to keep them hanging for a while longer, “Your past successes and status is enough to keep you from being fired. This time.”

“Thank you, sir” Cassidy answered quickly, trying to keep the relief out of her voice.

“But” there was always a ‘but’. Giovanni was not one to let them off the hook that easily. “Mistakes are costly and I need to ensure that such errors do not occur again so I would like to know which one of you was responsible for this particular mission failing.”

Giovanni’s gaze fell upon Butch first but he didn’t say anything, keeping his eyes trained on a point above Giovanni’s head. Cassidy knew what Giovanni was trying to do and swallowed hard as his eyes then fell upon her. If they didn’t answer him then they would receive a demotion at least. All she had ever worked for would be in ruins. She would have nothing left. Cassidy could just picture the smug expressions on the other Rockets’ faces. Her reputation, her status… she could lose everything. That couldn’t happen, she thought and, in blind panic, she found herself speaking.

“It was Butch’s fault, sir. He’s the one who messed up this mission.”