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The New Normal - 10-18 - Interlude - Archer
🕑 Added 2024-07-26 09:30:01 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 10-18 – Interlude – Archer
The plan was set.
Following his discussions with his boss, Archer had gotten everything ready. His team had been briefed, as far as possible while keeping the grand scheme of things still confidential, and preparations were made to strike at the Sinnoh terrorists when they next made their move.
Of course, Archer had to be very careful about it. Any kind of plan that involved intentionally drawing the attention of the authorities always had great risks attached, and the threat of psychic interrogations meant that he had to play things extra safe.
While Archer personally doubted that the Sinnoh Police would jump to psychic interrogations right off the bat – as such practices for obtaining information were, rightfully, deemed as the last-resort option only.
Still, that was why Archer had hired on disposable mooks to be used for this exact situation. It was surprisingly easy to find criminals desperate enough for a quick and substantial paycheque; it seems like whoever was running things for the terrorists haven’t been recruiting as much as they could have been.
Archer supposed it was difficult convincing a rational person to join a group dedicated to reshaping the world. It took a certain level of extremism to be okay with that.
So, Archer’s mooks were paid well, given the right resources, and they were taught what to say if they were ever caught to point the fingers at the Sinnoh terrorists and deliver the right information to the authorities. But should they be captured and subjected to psychic interrogations, they wouldn’t know enough to expose his plans since they didn’t know anything about him or most of his team.
They had been very careful with how they corresponded with the cannon fodder.
The rest of his team, meanwhile, were to hang back and direct orders. They would be safely out of the way to retreat in time before the authorities could catch up.
And now was finally the time to strike.
He had split his team into two, both of them following a different group of grunts as they went about their dastardly business. Just like they had done before, the grunts were loitering around Lake Valor, likely scouting it out for some reason or the other.
Archer knew that the Jennys had been temporarily moved away from the Lakes and prioritised towards patrolling the city centres, since the latter were of far higher priority to keep safe in normal circumstances with the absence of the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champion.
But that was perfect for Archer’s purposes. It gave him time to smack these grunts around before the authorities could respond.
There would be no escape for them.
He brought his radio to his lips, “Go.”
Instantly, flashes of light popped out around the forests surrounding the lake. Shouts of surprise could be heard as his ambush begun, and attacks were quickly thrown around as panic spread rapidly from the attacks that were flying in from all directions.
It was loud, it was chaotic, and it was a complete mess.
Archer knew that his mooks were disposable for a reason, and they did not live up to the discipline that he usually demanded of his subordinates.
But for today’s purposes? That was good enough. He had brought in enough numbers to completely overwhelm his foe. A lack of discipline wouldn’t matter at the moment. Not when the grunts were also taken by complete surprise – many of them hadn’t even managed to throw out their Pokémon before they were swiftly taken out.
In fact, the generalised chaos of all of this would help sell the idea that this was an internal conflict. And something done for revenge rather than as part of a wider plan.
Archer watched the ambush unfold with a critical eye. Another purpose for this plan was to evaluate the level of training and the resources that these grunts had access to. But watching them fight today, he found that there was nothing remarkable about them.
They were decently well-trained, and were definitely better than the mooks he had hired, but were still nothing impressive. Nor were their Pokémon anything out of the ordinary. Clearly, the lack of funding had hurt them.
Seeing that the battle was going well, Archer turned his attention to his watch and radio. He had teams monitoring the nearby cities for any reactions from the Jennys, and to report to him as soon as they set out for Lake Valor. The loud fighting was bound to attract attention.
Then his radio buzzed to life, “Team 1 has taken out all targets, over.”
“Understood, keep making noise to attract attention, but be ready to get out of there when I say so, over.” He replied. That was good. That meant that the Jennys were about to have plenty of evidence.
Then his radio buzzed again, “–this is Lookout. The Jennys are moving out from Pastoria City and are on the way, over.”
“Copy that, over.” He nodded. It was time to leave.
He quickly ordered his team for a full orderly retreat, making sure to recover as much evidence as they could that pointed to their involvement. Any of his own mooks that were knocked out in the fighting were quickly recovered and extracted, while they deliberately left the terrorists there to be captured before they scorched the area in flames to muddle up any evidence that could point his way.
Just as the Jennys arrived in full force, he had radio confirmation that his teams had all successfully evacuated. Archer himself decided to stick around with his binoculars to make sure that the Jennys found what he wanted to them to find, and they did.
He watched from his hiding place as they arrested all those grunts, many of the Jennys frowning as they carefully inspected the carnage that they had wrought in their ambush. Archer hoped that the capture of over a dozen grunts would be enough of a wake-up call to alert the Sinnoh League to the presence of these terrorists once again.
But if that wasn’t enough, then this was only going to be first of many ambushes that would take place. Archer was going to control the chaos so that it would be impossible for the Sinnoh League to ignore that they had an infestation problem that they had to sort out. The politicians could no longer sweep things under the rug any further.
Satisfied that the Jennys had got what he wanted them to, he left the area while thinking of his next steps.
After a few more ambushes like this, one of which was scheduled for tomorrow assuming everything stuck to plan, it would be impossible for these terrorists to hide their activities in the shadows. Whether they wanted to or not, the Sinnoh League would be forced to act, and Archer and his team would make sure that they had plenty of evidence to act upon.
And his boss was only too happy to ramp up the pressure.
A.N. And Archer finally acts. Once again, I wanted to highlight how useful having a team of criminals on hand when dealing with other criminals. Archer’s role is mostly at an end, and it will soon be time for the authorities to take the stage and start really uncovering the operations of these criminals.
Also, thanks for the well wishes. I am unfortunately still ill, but I will try my best to not let this sickness affect Monday’s chapter.
Comments
LittleScareCow
I knew it! When I saw this mentioned in the Pokénet reactions, I figured Archer had something to do with it.
phil
Thanks for the chapter my dear cartec
