"Rheabel… I…" Julien started to say, but he was cut off.
"I don't want to hear your excuses!" she shouted. "We'll get the truth out of you anyway."
Gardevoir materialized from her Poké Ball and moved toward Julien to begin the mind reading when the walls of the foyer suddenly opened, revealing over a dozen mounted guns trained on Alex, Rhea, and Gardevoir.
The appearance of the turrets was accompanied by the sounds of guards rushing toward them. Once they entered the foyer, the guards released their Pokémon, all at most Expert rank, before aiming their guns at the perceived threats.
Alex nodded, impressed by the response time, but remained unconcerned with the weapons pointed at them. They were all Elite rank at best, while the Pokémon were only at Expert. It was clear there was no real threat to his or Rhea's life in the room, although the same couldn't be said for the Arset family and Lianne.
"Wait!" Julien shouted. "Drop your weapons! Don't interfere. I want everyone out of this room and all cameras turned off immediately."
The guards looked dubious, questioning whether he was already under mind control, until Evelina Arset, Julien's wife and Amelina's mother, confirmed his orders.
"Do as my husband says," she said. "Everyone get out and shut off all recording devices in the mansion."
The guards hesitated for a moment longer before shrugging and following orders. No matter what, their employers gave the orders, so they had to obey, especially when it was clear the instructions were serious.
A minute later, all the turrets were deactivated and retracted back into the walls, while the guards left and closed the room behind them.
"Go ahead," Julien said. "I have nothing to hide from you, Rheabel."
Gardevoir took that as her cue and placed her hand on Julien's head to read his memories. Once she was done, she sent a summary of the events to Alex, who confirmed most of the history leading to Rhea's father's death.
Argent Solutions was founded by six individuals. Ray Argent, Rhea's father, was the primary investor, holding 60% of the shares. His best friend at the time, Julien Arset, managed the industrialization department and owned 10%. Gerald Falkner and Yasmina Olvesson oversaw VR technology and legal affairs, each with 10% of the shares. Itamar Lestrane handled gaming, and Chad Veylan managed the marketing department, each holding 5%. The remaining positions were filled by hired staff, who were well compensated.
The company began as a high-tech gaming firm focused on VR development while also producing standard video games. That changed when Orvan Kestrel threatened the founders, demanding they hand over their shares and redirect the company's extensive resources, including factories across the Unova region, toward developing new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robots, and firearms. The founders all refused, with Ray Argent most adamant in opposition.
In response, Orvan had Ray killed, frightening the other founders into compliance. They continued running the company under Orvan's control, despite their objections, knowing refusal could cost them their lives.
Following their submission, operations suddenly accelerated. The League implemented policies favorable to the company and provided multiple supportive contracts for each of its ventures. Argent Solutions quickly rose to the top of the region, generating far more wealth than before, even though the founders retained only 10% of their original shares.
Eventually, resistance ceased entirely. The founders followed Orvan's directives, unable to quit even if they wanted to. Among them, Chad Veylan proved the most enthusiastic, going so far as to personally fund EvoGene Labs to support Orvan's initiatives. The others jumped on the bandwagon as well, using the wealth they had accumulated to expand into other industries in support of Team Dominion, while Julien was forced to continue expanding the manufacturing of VR technology, firearms, and other equipment.
Still, he didn't plan to go down without a fight, secretly collecting a mountain of evidence against everyone, including the founders and their projects, Argent Solutions and its many compromised employees, and even Team Dominion, along with their roadmap to world domination. The only reason he hadn't come forward yet was that he was ultimately wary of the League, given how enthusiastic they were in supporting Team Dominion's rise in the region.
"Gardevoir, send what you sent me to Rhea," Alex instructed after digesting everything.
Gardevoir did as instructed as she sent the same summary to Rhea who, after understanding everything, had a fuming expression. There was nothing more she wanted to do than to kill every single one of the founders and Orvan Kestrel for orchestrating everything from the shadows.
"Alex…" Rhea said.
"We'll get there," Alex replied, understanding what she wanted done. "We'll need to tweak our plan a bit, but we should still be on track."
"But the League…"
"Will get what's coming to them," Alex finished.
The biggest complication to their plan was the many League employees working for Team Dominion. With them in place, Team Dominion could keep the Gym Leaders blind to the larger situation. Even if they were presented with evidence and persuaded to act, many Gym Leaders owed their positions to Team Dominion, further muddying the waters. Removing the parasite that had dug deep into the Unova region would require far more than simply taking down all their bases.
"More importantly," Alex continued, nodding toward the Arset family, "what do you want to do about them?"
"They need to die," Rhea answered coldly.
"What? No! I did what you asked!" Amelina shouted, betrayal clear in her voice.
She shrugged off Lianne, who was still helping her up, and tried to rush at Rhea, but Gardevoir held her in place with Psychic energy.
"You can have me. I deserve it," Julien shouted as he tried to grab at Alex. "But please, please, just let my wife and daughter go."
"Amelina!" Evelina cried, rushing to her daughter and trying to pull her free from Gardevoir's psychic grasp.
"Are you sure?" Alex asked, ignoring the drama. "It'll make our jobs a lot harder."
"I don't trust them," Rhea said as she stared at Julien coldly.
"Alright, but we're going to be running around again."
"Ugh. Fine. Whatever."
Alex released Arcanine, shoved Julien and his wife toward Lianne and their daughter, then gave a single heartless command.
"Heat Wave."
"No!" Julien screamed as they were engulfed in a surge of heat and fire so intense it melted the entire room, including the wall behind them.
The mansion caught fire almost instantly, sending the guards waiting just outside the foyer into a panic. They rushed inside, ready to lay down their lives, but Gardevoir hurled them aside as Alex and Rhea made their way to Julien's office.
Turrets began sliding out of the corridor walls, poised to bathe them in gunfire, but Arcanine used Extreme Speed to rip them free before any real damage could be done. When they entered a wider chamber lined with even more turrets emerging from the walls and ceiling, Gardevoir answered with a sweeping Expanding Force.
Once they finally made it inside Julien's office, Alex said, "Dig."
Arcanine immediately began clawing through the reinforced cement floor until he unearthed a safe hidden beneath the carpet, which Alex stored in his space bag.
"We're done here," Alex said.
Gardevoir nodded and teleported them away, leaving the Arset mansion ablaze and the guards scrambling.
-----
Meanwhile, in the security control room of the Arset mansion, a guard finished downloading the camera footage capturing the Arset family's deaths at Alex's hands. He pocketed the data drive and promptly left the room, leaving two dead guards behind as he escaped the property.
He made his way to Team Dominion's base in Driftveil City and handed the drive to his superior, who immediately forwarded the data to Orvan Kestrel at Twist Mountain via a secured line.
"Good," Orvan said after watching the footage. "That's leverage I can use against them."
He picked up a secure line and dialed Leonard.
"Do you have an update on that bounty hunter?" Orvan asked.
"Only that the strike force I sent failed but managed to get away. He teleported out after that, so they lost track of him. They'll continue their assassination attempts when our network locates him," Leonard replied.
"Call off the assault. We will no longer be moving against him personally."
"Oh? May I ask why?"
"I have some evidence here that would place him in a precarious situation with the Unova League. At minimum, it should be enough to get him deported from the region."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because it would place him under the eyes of the Gym Leaders. He's a Champion ranked bounty hunter with an exemplary track record worthy of their attention. Once they begin talking, the more powerful ones might wise up to our operations and start poking around in the League."
"Don't worry. I'll restrict dissemination only to those who aren't nosy enough to ask. Since the bounty hunter is strong enough, it should at most create a tense situation, enough to see him out of the region rather than spark a confrontation."
"And if he stays and blends in with the Underworld?"
"Put a price on his and Rheabel's heads. One billion Pokedollars should be enticing enough."
"I don't think that's enough to entice anyone to pick a fight."
"But it is enough to keep the League aware of his location at all times."
"Alright. I'll get on it. Send me the evidence."
"Already have," Orvan said, cutting the call.
"This whole Rheabel business has gotten slightly out of hand. I should have put more effort into having her hunted down long ago. Now it's come back to bite me. Oh well, let's hope this is enough to push the problem into the future," he muttered with a sigh before returning to relax in his luxury cabin.
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