Mel scanned the room. The only points of exit were the door that was currently blocked by two members of Genesis and the window on the opposite wall that was several floors above the ground. The fact that the window was looking like a semi-decent alternative at the moment said something, Mel thought, about the state of her options.
"I ain't goin' nowhere with y'all!" Bill spat, his accent fully surfacing. His hands were shaking, Mel noticed; a voice in the back of her head, unconcerned with the present danger, wondered if his accent came out in times of stress. There was certainly enough of it billowing off of him. "I tripped the silent alarm for security the minute y'all kicked the door in!"
The smaller of the two Genesis men looked to the larger before both of them burst out in laughter, though the big guy's laugh, Mel reflected, sounded more like two boulders being scraped over each other. "Security won't be a threat," he said. "Our operatives have been sweeping the building, neutralizing every agent they came across. This is a delicate task we're undertaking. Wouldn't do to get… interrupted. Now, Bill. If you please."
Hyacinth cleared their throat. "I think I've have quite enough of the two of you being vaguely threatening at us," they said. "Dozer, let's do this." A Pokeball appeared in their hand and they released a familiar Snorlax, one that dwarfed everyone else in the room. "You know what to do."
Dozer did indeed know what to do, and she jumped into action as quickly as a Snorlax could have reasonably been expected to. With scarcely any apparent effort, Dozer picked up the smaller Genesis agent and threw him bodily down the hallway before grappling with the bigger one.
"Mel," Hyacinth said, their glasses gleaming. "Now is your opportunity. Make your escape. Once you and Bill have gotten to safety, I will locate you."
"Don't gotta tell me twice." Mel grabbed Bill by the wrist and, after making sure Repeat was holding on tight, took off running out of the office, away from Genesis.
Back when the Silph Co. head office had been built, the president of the company had spared no expense in making sure that he hired only the best architects – the building was going to be a "shining beacon in a sea of glimmering commerce," he said. And hire the best architects he did – but his plans came to a confused halt when every single person working on designing the building suddenly fell severely ill within three days of each other. The president of Silph was then forced to go with the only other architect in the area available on short notice: "Sickly" Bilden Bridges, the legendarily contagious self-proclaimed 'best property designing person' who, in a stunning coincidence, had been seen recently shaking hands with all of the other architects on the job. Bridges was known for, aside from his sub-par immune system, his avant-garde approach to design; he'd been quoted as saying, among other things, that "right angles were for losers and squares." When it was pointed out to him that right angles had to be for squares, since by definition a square had to have a few right angles kicking around somewhere, he simply smiled, tapped the side of his head, and walked away.
The Silph Co. head office had no internal cohesion. Offices were nestled within offices. Every single lock could be opened with the same key. The president had almost the entire top floor to himself, but his suite wasn't accessible from the elevator or the stairs. And then there were the teleporters.
Mel had already accidentally run on top of three different teleport pads. They activated as soon as they sensed pressure without any sort of confirmation from the person being teleported, which Mel thought had to be a violation of some kind of code, especially considering they were still working somehow, implying that the power was still running even if the lights were cut. She'd ended up in a storeroom, daylight spilling in through an open window, old books and binders crammed onto wall-to-wall bookshelves. She took a peek out the window; from how far away she was from the ground, she guessed that they were at least on the fifth floor, if not further up.
"Where are we?" Mel hissed, creeping towards the storeroom door. It was locked by an electronic key, so there was no getting out that way, but she could just barely hear footsteps on the other side.
Bill shrugged. "I dunno."
"What do you mean you dunno?"
"Whaddya want me to say?" Bill growled, running a hand through his hair. "My office is right off an elevator. So's my labs. I never use the teleporters if I can help it. They're great for transportin' Pokemon and items around, but as far as gettin' around the building? Not a good system! I never memorized where each of them goes!"
Mel pressed her ear against the door. "Real useful, buddy. Now do you or do you not got a way we can get outta the building from here?"
Bill grit his teeth, his fists clenching and unclenching. Mel had seen those behaviors before, and they would have worried her if they weren't coming from a man who, to put it kindly, looked like Dozer would have had no issues throwing him down a hallway. "Why would I know that?" he said. "I dunno where we are, and I dunno who's waitin' for us on the other side'a that door! Are we on the floor where the offices don't lead to the elevator? Are we inside some dumb nesting doll of storerooms? I got no idea! All I know is that I wanna strangle the guy who decided this was a good way to make a building!"
"Are you done?" Mel asked, her voice quieter than Bill's. "If you're not, can you hand over your key before you start running your mouth again? I'd like to get a look at what's around us."
Bill opened his mouth, but then apparently thought better of it and pulled a small card out of his wallet. "Here," he muttered. It had his picture on one side and Silph's logo on the other.
Unobtrusively set into the wall next to the door was a scanner; Mel knelt next to it, held the card in range, and it let out a quiet beep.
The door slid into the wall.
A person stood on the other side, her hand raised, holding a card key.
She wore a purple coat and had cropped white hair.
Mel's eyes widened, and she scanned Bill's card key again.
The door closed.
"Okay, we need to go now." Mel sprung to her feet.
"What? Why?"
"The worst person in this building is right on the other side of that door, and we need to go anywhere else that isn't here, because I really don't want to deal with—"
The scanner beeped again, this time from the other side.
The door slid open.
The woman in the purple coat strode inside, her hands folded behind her back. Her boots, steel-toed, echoed throughout the room with every step.
"Degree Absolute." Mel half-sighed, half-spat the name. "Great. Wonderful. Just who I needed to see."
Degree's lips curled up in a snake's smile. "You remember me. I'm touched." Her voice was low and steady; her words might have sounded sarcastic coming out of anyone else's mouth, but from her they sounded deceptively sincere. Her mind radiated iron confidence, complete assurance in herself, with not a single trace of doubt or concern.
Even before Degree could say anything else, Mel shuffled backwards, sprung to her feet, and vaulted to the teleport pad. "Move, Bill," she growled. "Get your tail through that teleporter before I drag you in myself!"
"Now, now," said Degree, raising her hands conciliatorily. "There's no need for that." Two figures appeared on the teleport pad in a burst of light – both wearing off-white robes. They were bigger than Mel, and she ran headlong into one of them, unable to halt her momentum. As she stumbled back, she reflected on just how much it had felt like hitting an uncomfortably fleshy brick wall. "Why don't you stay and have a chat?" Degree continued. "We've got a lot to talk about."
Mel's eyes darted back and forth between the door, blocked by Degree, and the teleporter, blocked by the Genesis goons. The only other way out was the window, and she didn't like her odds with that. "Keep it together, boss," came Repeat's voice near her ear.
"What do you want from me?" Mel asked, looking at Degree with narrowed eyes. Standing up straight, Mel had at least a few inches on Degree, but something about Degree just made Mel feel… smaller.
Degree extended a hand in a gentle gesture. "Verdant, would you care to answer this question?"
One of the two Genesis grunts straightened up. "Yes, ma'am! We are here for one reason! We require Bill's services!"
"And to that end…?" Degree prompted.
"Yes, ma'am!" the other grunt said. "Without further discussion, we will retrieve Bill!"
"Wait, what—" Bill yelped as the first grunt, Verdant, placed hands on his shoulders. Mel made to tackle him, but the other grunt stood in her way as Bill and Verdant vanished, the teleporter zapping them away.
The moment after Bill disappeared couldn't have been longer than a heartbeat, but to Mel it felt like eternities passed; the teleport pad was right there and if she could only get to it, she could follow them, get Bill back, get out of the building, but the grunt in front of it—
Degree snapped her fingers, her hand only inches from Mel's face. "Come back to us, please," she said, wearing the same smug smile. "You're spacing out, and we can't have that. Not when we've so much to discuss. To begin, I'm afraid I can't let you wander around anymore."
Mel slowly turned her head, scanning the room. Part of her head was screaming at her, condemning her for letting someone else get taken, for not being quick enough on the draw. The other part was consumed entirely by thoughts of escape, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation, to just leave and collect her thoughts somewhere nobody could get to her.
"Ostrum? Please wait on the other side of the teleporter," said Degree, punctuating it with another snap of the fingers. "There are some things I wish to discuss with our guest one-on-one."
The remaining grunt nodded and stepped back onto the teleport pad, vanishing in an instant. The pad itself dimmed slightly, an indication that someone was standing on it on the other end, keeping it occupied; that particular safety feature had become necessary after one too many incidents where someone unintentionally teleported into someone else. There's that escape route gone, Mel thought.
There was only silence for a moment. The storeroom buzzed with tension; Mel could have sworn that she felt pressure pushing in on her skin from Degree's presence alone. A bird – a Pidgeotto, from the sound of it – chirped somewhere outside.
"I recognize," murmured Degree, "that since it is now only the two of us here, you may be tempted to try and force your way past me. I would recommend against it. At least, not before we've heard each other out… Melanie Rylan."
The blood in Mel's veins turned to ice. One thing she had been very certain of was that she had in no way given Degree her name.
"It was trivial to find information on you. You're a public figure, after all. One of my followers recognized you from some advertisement you did some time ago, unflattering though it may have been. Now, do not be concerned," Degree said, doubtlessly seeing how wide Mel's eyes had gotten. "I do not wish harm to befall your family or anything like that. I simply had to know who our uninvited guest was. Dropping in through the roof! What an entrance."
Mel gently stroked Repeat. The nervousness emanating from him matched hers perfectly. "Get to the point," she said, scowling.
Clack. Clack. The sound of Degree's boots against the floor pounded through Mel's head, making her flinch almost imperceptibly with each step. Degree walked past her, towards the window; she leaned forward, arms braced against the window frame, looking out over the city. She breathed in deeply, relishing the fresh air from outside. "I find myself interested in you, Melanie," Degree said.
"Um…?"
"Who are you? By all accounts, you're a nobody." Degree extended a hand outside the window, and a Pidgey settled next to it and pecked gently at her palm. "A gofer at a Pokemon shelter. A worthy pastime, to be sure, but hardly someone destined for greatness."
A frown crawled across Mel's face. It was bad enough that Degree had caught her alone in a storeroom, but surely the insults were unnecessary.
"And yet, and yet," Degree continued, completely serene, "we find ourselves bound together. I don't believe it to be a coincidence that you and I both found ourselves here today. Some would call it fate, I expect, but I find it difficult to attribute it so when there is a far easier explanation." She stood up straight, stretching her arms out above her head, as the Pidgey flapped away under the noonday sun.
Mel crossed her arms and endeavored to look as defiant as she could, an attempt to mask the fear running up and down her spine. "Oh yeah? What's that, then?"
Degree ignored the question and came within reach, her gaze not on Mel but just past her. She lifted her hand, reaching towards something Mel couldn't see… at least not until Mel realized that she was going for Repeat, making an attempt to scratch him under the chin-analogue that turned out futile when Repeat morphed a mouthful of teeth to try and bite her. "Repeat. That's what you call your Ditto, yes? A good name for it, I think. Plus, it has the benefit of being a synonym of its species designation. Wonderfully apt."
"Don't touch him." Mel yanked her shoulder back and took two quick steps away, putting distance between them. "Look, I dunno what your deal is, lady. You keep dancing around the point. What do you want from me?"
A light breeze rolled in from the window, billowing Degree's coat out around her; Degree, for her part, looked like she was used to this happening. "Nothing. Except to talk, that is, and I think we're having quite the lively discussion right now."
Mel could feel her jaw clenching. The frustration was beginning to bubble up, fighting with the dread for real estate in her mind. "What 'discussion'? What 'talk'? All you've done is talk circles around me! You haven't actually said anything other than that you know my name and that we're connected or whatever!" She stomped forward, grabbing hold of the lapels on Degree's coat. "Why do you care about talking to me so much? What makes me so special? What is going on?!"
"Melanie, please, let's keep it civil." Degree brushed Mel's hands off as easily as she would leftover crumbs. "I'm not sure I would call those the right questions to ask, but you obviously feel strongly about them. I suppose we can digress for a moment." She fixed Mel with a piercing, lavender-eyed stare. "I know what you're doing, Melanie. I know what your goal is. You and those… thugs from Neo Rocket. You all wish to find the Mew-child for reasons I can only guess at. You don't need to look so surprised, by the way," she added, cutting Mel off from interjecting. "Your friend Hyacinth Harley is not as subtle as they think, and their so-called 'secure channel' that they used to speak with their client… well, let me just say that we could eavesdrop easily enough. We know all about you, Melanie Rylan. We know about you, and your family, and your friends. We know the steps you've taken that brought you here. And that is why I find myself entangled with you: you and I, we both intend to find the Mew-child. Of course we crossed paths. It could scarcely happen any other way."
A hard lump began forming in Mel's throat. She swallowed. It did not go away.
Degree spread her arms as the wind picked up. "Genesis has people all over Kanto, Melanie. Not many people, if I'm being truthful, but enough that we can watch. Collecting information isn't only the domain of private investigators in trench coats."
"I… I won't let you kill the Mew-child!" Mel spat. She knew it lacked presence, but it was all she could get out of her mouth. The room felt ten degrees colder than it had when she came in, and she felt her hands shivering.
"Oh, Melanie. Poor, sweet Melanie. This isn't a matter of what you'll 'let' us do. Wheels are now in motion. At this point, with Bill in our fold, our ultimate goal is already assured. And let me be absolutely clear: I know you will still try to stop us. Your history speaks to that. You can't let a Pokemon suffer, no matter what. That's what makes me interested in you. So I know you're still going to track down the Mew-child, out of some misguided notions of 'protecting' it. And we, Genesis, will be watching you every step of the way."
"Why?" said Mel. "What's your game? I don't believe for a second you buy into all that nonsense about the Mew-child being unholy, or whatever it is."
Degree advanced on Mel, her coat whipping behind her. "Even if I didn't, why would I tell you? No, Melanie, I'm afraid I do 'buy into all that nonsense.' But you would be mistaken to think that my goals end with the extermination of that pitiable offspring." She was only inches away from Mel now, and she leaned in even closer, her mouth at Mel's ear. "Think about this," she whispered. "If the Mew-child dies, who might appear afterwards?"
Mel stumbled backwards, and the part of her mind focused on finding an escape route finally won out over everything else. I need to get outta here, and I need to do it now.
So she jumped out of the window.
"I ain't goin' nowhere with y'all!" Bill spat, his accent fully surfacing. His hands were shaking, Mel noticed; a voice in the back of her head, unconcerned with the present danger, wondered if his accent came out in times of stress. There was certainly enough of it billowing off of him. "I tripped the silent alarm for security the minute y'all kicked the door in!"
The smaller of the two Genesis men looked to the larger before both of them burst out in laughter, though the big guy's laugh, Mel reflected, sounded more like two boulders being scraped over each other. "Security won't be a threat," he said. "Our operatives have been sweeping the building, neutralizing every agent they came across. This is a delicate task we're undertaking. Wouldn't do to get… interrupted. Now, Bill. If you please."
Hyacinth cleared their throat. "I think I've have quite enough of the two of you being vaguely threatening at us," they said. "Dozer, let's do this." A Pokeball appeared in their hand and they released a familiar Snorlax, one that dwarfed everyone else in the room. "You know what to do."
Dozer did indeed know what to do, and she jumped into action as quickly as a Snorlax could have reasonably been expected to. With scarcely any apparent effort, Dozer picked up the smaller Genesis agent and threw him bodily down the hallway before grappling with the bigger one.
"Mel," Hyacinth said, their glasses gleaming. "Now is your opportunity. Make your escape. Once you and Bill have gotten to safety, I will locate you."
"Don't gotta tell me twice." Mel grabbed Bill by the wrist and, after making sure Repeat was holding on tight, took off running out of the office, away from Genesis.
Back when the Silph Co. head office had been built, the president of the company had spared no expense in making sure that he hired only the best architects – the building was going to be a "shining beacon in a sea of glimmering commerce," he said. And hire the best architects he did – but his plans came to a confused halt when every single person working on designing the building suddenly fell severely ill within three days of each other. The president of Silph was then forced to go with the only other architect in the area available on short notice: "Sickly" Bilden Bridges, the legendarily contagious self-proclaimed 'best property designing person' who, in a stunning coincidence, had been seen recently shaking hands with all of the other architects on the job. Bridges was known for, aside from his sub-par immune system, his avant-garde approach to design; he'd been quoted as saying, among other things, that "right angles were for losers and squares." When it was pointed out to him that right angles had to be for squares, since by definition a square had to have a few right angles kicking around somewhere, he simply smiled, tapped the side of his head, and walked away.
The Silph Co. head office had no internal cohesion. Offices were nestled within offices. Every single lock could be opened with the same key. The president had almost the entire top floor to himself, but his suite wasn't accessible from the elevator or the stairs. And then there were the teleporters.
Mel had already accidentally run on top of three different teleport pads. They activated as soon as they sensed pressure without any sort of confirmation from the person being teleported, which Mel thought had to be a violation of some kind of code, especially considering they were still working somehow, implying that the power was still running even if the lights were cut. She'd ended up in a storeroom, daylight spilling in through an open window, old books and binders crammed onto wall-to-wall bookshelves. She took a peek out the window; from how far away she was from the ground, she guessed that they were at least on the fifth floor, if not further up.
"Where are we?" Mel hissed, creeping towards the storeroom door. It was locked by an electronic key, so there was no getting out that way, but she could just barely hear footsteps on the other side.
Bill shrugged. "I dunno."
"What do you mean you dunno?"
"Whaddya want me to say?" Bill growled, running a hand through his hair. "My office is right off an elevator. So's my labs. I never use the teleporters if I can help it. They're great for transportin' Pokemon and items around, but as far as gettin' around the building? Not a good system! I never memorized where each of them goes!"
Mel pressed her ear against the door. "Real useful, buddy. Now do you or do you not got a way we can get outta the building from here?"
Bill grit his teeth, his fists clenching and unclenching. Mel had seen those behaviors before, and they would have worried her if they weren't coming from a man who, to put it kindly, looked like Dozer would have had no issues throwing him down a hallway. "Why would I know that?" he said. "I dunno where we are, and I dunno who's waitin' for us on the other side'a that door! Are we on the floor where the offices don't lead to the elevator? Are we inside some dumb nesting doll of storerooms? I got no idea! All I know is that I wanna strangle the guy who decided this was a good way to make a building!"
"Are you done?" Mel asked, her voice quieter than Bill's. "If you're not, can you hand over your key before you start running your mouth again? I'd like to get a look at what's around us."
Bill opened his mouth, but then apparently thought better of it and pulled a small card out of his wallet. "Here," he muttered. It had his picture on one side and Silph's logo on the other.
Unobtrusively set into the wall next to the door was a scanner; Mel knelt next to it, held the card in range, and it let out a quiet beep.
The door slid into the wall.
A person stood on the other side, her hand raised, holding a card key.
She wore a purple coat and had cropped white hair.
Mel's eyes widened, and she scanned Bill's card key again.
The door closed.
"Okay, we need to go now." Mel sprung to her feet.
"What? Why?"
"The worst person in this building is right on the other side of that door, and we need to go anywhere else that isn't here, because I really don't want to deal with—"
The scanner beeped again, this time from the other side.
The door slid open.
The woman in the purple coat strode inside, her hands folded behind her back. Her boots, steel-toed, echoed throughout the room with every step.
"Degree Absolute." Mel half-sighed, half-spat the name. "Great. Wonderful. Just who I needed to see."
Degree's lips curled up in a snake's smile. "You remember me. I'm touched." Her voice was low and steady; her words might have sounded sarcastic coming out of anyone else's mouth, but from her they sounded deceptively sincere. Her mind radiated iron confidence, complete assurance in herself, with not a single trace of doubt or concern.
Even before Degree could say anything else, Mel shuffled backwards, sprung to her feet, and vaulted to the teleport pad. "Move, Bill," she growled. "Get your tail through that teleporter before I drag you in myself!"
"Now, now," said Degree, raising her hands conciliatorily. "There's no need for that." Two figures appeared on the teleport pad in a burst of light – both wearing off-white robes. They were bigger than Mel, and she ran headlong into one of them, unable to halt her momentum. As she stumbled back, she reflected on just how much it had felt like hitting an uncomfortably fleshy brick wall. "Why don't you stay and have a chat?" Degree continued. "We've got a lot to talk about."
Mel's eyes darted back and forth between the door, blocked by Degree, and the teleporter, blocked by the Genesis goons. The only other way out was the window, and she didn't like her odds with that. "Keep it together, boss," came Repeat's voice near her ear.
"What do you want from me?" Mel asked, looking at Degree with narrowed eyes. Standing up straight, Mel had at least a few inches on Degree, but something about Degree just made Mel feel… smaller.
Degree extended a hand in a gentle gesture. "Verdant, would you care to answer this question?"
One of the two Genesis grunts straightened up. "Yes, ma'am! We are here for one reason! We require Bill's services!"
"And to that end…?" Degree prompted.
"Yes, ma'am!" the other grunt said. "Without further discussion, we will retrieve Bill!"
"Wait, what—" Bill yelped as the first grunt, Verdant, placed hands on his shoulders. Mel made to tackle him, but the other grunt stood in her way as Bill and Verdant vanished, the teleporter zapping them away.
The moment after Bill disappeared couldn't have been longer than a heartbeat, but to Mel it felt like eternities passed; the teleport pad was right there and if she could only get to it, she could follow them, get Bill back, get out of the building, but the grunt in front of it—
Degree snapped her fingers, her hand only inches from Mel's face. "Come back to us, please," she said, wearing the same smug smile. "You're spacing out, and we can't have that. Not when we've so much to discuss. To begin, I'm afraid I can't let you wander around anymore."
Mel slowly turned her head, scanning the room. Part of her head was screaming at her, condemning her for letting someone else get taken, for not being quick enough on the draw. The other part was consumed entirely by thoughts of escape, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation, to just leave and collect her thoughts somewhere nobody could get to her.
"Ostrum? Please wait on the other side of the teleporter," said Degree, punctuating it with another snap of the fingers. "There are some things I wish to discuss with our guest one-on-one."
The remaining grunt nodded and stepped back onto the teleport pad, vanishing in an instant. The pad itself dimmed slightly, an indication that someone was standing on it on the other end, keeping it occupied; that particular safety feature had become necessary after one too many incidents where someone unintentionally teleported into someone else. There's that escape route gone, Mel thought.
There was only silence for a moment. The storeroom buzzed with tension; Mel could have sworn that she felt pressure pushing in on her skin from Degree's presence alone. A bird – a Pidgeotto, from the sound of it – chirped somewhere outside.
"I recognize," murmured Degree, "that since it is now only the two of us here, you may be tempted to try and force your way past me. I would recommend against it. At least, not before we've heard each other out… Melanie Rylan."
The blood in Mel's veins turned to ice. One thing she had been very certain of was that she had in no way given Degree her name.
"It was trivial to find information on you. You're a public figure, after all. One of my followers recognized you from some advertisement you did some time ago, unflattering though it may have been. Now, do not be concerned," Degree said, doubtlessly seeing how wide Mel's eyes had gotten. "I do not wish harm to befall your family or anything like that. I simply had to know who our uninvited guest was. Dropping in through the roof! What an entrance."
Mel gently stroked Repeat. The nervousness emanating from him matched hers perfectly. "Get to the point," she said, scowling.
Clack. Clack. The sound of Degree's boots against the floor pounded through Mel's head, making her flinch almost imperceptibly with each step. Degree walked past her, towards the window; she leaned forward, arms braced against the window frame, looking out over the city. She breathed in deeply, relishing the fresh air from outside. "I find myself interested in you, Melanie," Degree said.
"Um…?"
"Who are you? By all accounts, you're a nobody." Degree extended a hand outside the window, and a Pidgey settled next to it and pecked gently at her palm. "A gofer at a Pokemon shelter. A worthy pastime, to be sure, but hardly someone destined for greatness."
A frown crawled across Mel's face. It was bad enough that Degree had caught her alone in a storeroom, but surely the insults were unnecessary.
"And yet, and yet," Degree continued, completely serene, "we find ourselves bound together. I don't believe it to be a coincidence that you and I both found ourselves here today. Some would call it fate, I expect, but I find it difficult to attribute it so when there is a far easier explanation." She stood up straight, stretching her arms out above her head, as the Pidgey flapped away under the noonday sun.
Mel crossed her arms and endeavored to look as defiant as she could, an attempt to mask the fear running up and down her spine. "Oh yeah? What's that, then?"
Degree ignored the question and came within reach, her gaze not on Mel but just past her. She lifted her hand, reaching towards something Mel couldn't see… at least not until Mel realized that she was going for Repeat, making an attempt to scratch him under the chin-analogue that turned out futile when Repeat morphed a mouthful of teeth to try and bite her. "Repeat. That's what you call your Ditto, yes? A good name for it, I think. Plus, it has the benefit of being a synonym of its species designation. Wonderfully apt."
"Don't touch him." Mel yanked her shoulder back and took two quick steps away, putting distance between them. "Look, I dunno what your deal is, lady. You keep dancing around the point. What do you want from me?"
A light breeze rolled in from the window, billowing Degree's coat out around her; Degree, for her part, looked like she was used to this happening. "Nothing. Except to talk, that is, and I think we're having quite the lively discussion right now."
Mel could feel her jaw clenching. The frustration was beginning to bubble up, fighting with the dread for real estate in her mind. "What 'discussion'? What 'talk'? All you've done is talk circles around me! You haven't actually said anything other than that you know my name and that we're connected or whatever!" She stomped forward, grabbing hold of the lapels on Degree's coat. "Why do you care about talking to me so much? What makes me so special? What is going on?!"
"Melanie, please, let's keep it civil." Degree brushed Mel's hands off as easily as she would leftover crumbs. "I'm not sure I would call those the right questions to ask, but you obviously feel strongly about them. I suppose we can digress for a moment." She fixed Mel with a piercing, lavender-eyed stare. "I know what you're doing, Melanie. I know what your goal is. You and those… thugs from Neo Rocket. You all wish to find the Mew-child for reasons I can only guess at. You don't need to look so surprised, by the way," she added, cutting Mel off from interjecting. "Your friend Hyacinth Harley is not as subtle as they think, and their so-called 'secure channel' that they used to speak with their client… well, let me just say that we could eavesdrop easily enough. We know all about you, Melanie Rylan. We know about you, and your family, and your friends. We know the steps you've taken that brought you here. And that is why I find myself entangled with you: you and I, we both intend to find the Mew-child. Of course we crossed paths. It could scarcely happen any other way."
A hard lump began forming in Mel's throat. She swallowed. It did not go away.
Degree spread her arms as the wind picked up. "Genesis has people all over Kanto, Melanie. Not many people, if I'm being truthful, but enough that we can watch. Collecting information isn't only the domain of private investigators in trench coats."
"I… I won't let you kill the Mew-child!" Mel spat. She knew it lacked presence, but it was all she could get out of her mouth. The room felt ten degrees colder than it had when she came in, and she felt her hands shivering.
"Oh, Melanie. Poor, sweet Melanie. This isn't a matter of what you'll 'let' us do. Wheels are now in motion. At this point, with Bill in our fold, our ultimate goal is already assured. And let me be absolutely clear: I know you will still try to stop us. Your history speaks to that. You can't let a Pokemon suffer, no matter what. That's what makes me interested in you. So I know you're still going to track down the Mew-child, out of some misguided notions of 'protecting' it. And we, Genesis, will be watching you every step of the way."
"Why?" said Mel. "What's your game? I don't believe for a second you buy into all that nonsense about the Mew-child being unholy, or whatever it is."
Degree advanced on Mel, her coat whipping behind her. "Even if I didn't, why would I tell you? No, Melanie, I'm afraid I do 'buy into all that nonsense.' But you would be mistaken to think that my goals end with the extermination of that pitiable offspring." She was only inches away from Mel now, and she leaned in even closer, her mouth at Mel's ear. "Think about this," she whispered. "If the Mew-child dies, who might appear afterwards?"
Mel stumbled backwards, and the part of her mind focused on finding an escape route finally won out over everything else. I need to get outta here, and I need to do it now.
So she jumped out of the window.