*The Price Of Love: Part Two-*
*By: JLJ*
*Warning: Violence, gore, angst, extreme shippyness..you've been warned^_^*
*Plot Summary: The repercussions of a serious mistake...*
*************************************************************************
The impact of the bullet threw Cassidy's lifeless body back several feet, where it finally slowed to a stop in the center of the auditorium.
At the Boss' side, Jessie screamed and covered her face with her hands, trying desperately to block out the awful sight that lay not far before her. Her violent sobs could be heard by everyone...
At the other side of Giovanni, James winced and turned his head as he blinked back hot tears. He couldn't help feeling responsible for this horrible ... if he had only helped more than he did... perhaps this might not have happened...
Mondo, in his torment, had left the room several seconds before, not having the heart to watch her die. The gunshot echoed loudly through the halls, as he lay there sobbing in a fetal position, with Meowth patting the poor boy's back in comfort.
Tears ran freely down Meowth's cheeks as well while he thought of his fallen friend. A young life... forever lost...
How the others felt was insignificant next to the utter devastation Butch was experiencing as he watched her tumble to the ground. Falling completely limp out of shock and disbelief, the guards had to hold him up, less he himself fall over. His friend, his Cassidy, his reason for living was dead or dying not far from where he stood.
Glancing up at the bodyguards, Butch saw their eyes fixed on the gruesome sight ahead. With the strength of his inner torment fueling him, he quickly wrenched out of their hands, making a wild sprint to her.
'Maybe it's not too late!' was his only coherent thought recognizable through his great mental anguish.
The guards began to give chase, but Giovanni merely held a hand up. Stop. Let him go. His head then turned to watch Butch race as fast as he could his victim. The Boss barely suppressed a chuckle at this pathetic sight. This had definitely made his day... heck, his year!
The audience watched on in stunned silence as Butch collapsed to his knees beside her, bowing over Cassidy's body. He moaned and buried his eyes in his hands as he observed the damage that had been afflicted to his poor Cass.
Miraculously enough, her head was still in one piece despite the caliber of the weapon that killed her, but this fact could give him little comfort now...
"Oh God....Cassidy...." his forlorn cry pierced the stillness of the air, as the reality of everything that had happened came rushing to him at once. Still refusing it to be possible, he placed a trembling hand on her neck. Feeling for her artery, he prayed with all his heart that he may find even a weak pulse, some sign of life in his love's crumpled form.
Gasping, Butch found the spot and let his finger rest there for at least a full minute or so before he reluctantly pulled it away...There was none, not even a vague one; no hope for her at all. Cassidy had died, killed by Giovanni's own hand.
And then it seemed as if all time had stopped for Butch as he remained by her side.
"No...." he whispered so quietly it could scarcely be heard.
"Cassi...."
He had an absolutely crushed expression on his face, reflecting the immense grief that he felt as Butch bent down closer to her. Due to the fact his wrists were still tightly bound together in front of him, he could not even hold her close in his arms one last time.
Softly sniffling, Butch tenderly stroked her cheek with a fingertip, as tears began to make their way down his face. The wet drops slowly rolled off the edge of his chin, dripping down into the rapidly expanding puddle of crimson blood surrounding her, causing tiny ripples in the dark pool.
His despair only grew more poignant as his faint crying turned into heart-wrenching sobs that echoed through the room, chilling the hearts of every spectator...except for Giovanni. Even most of those who had publicly jeered and mocked Butch earlier, sat there frozen in their seats, feeling a slight pang of sympathy for the broken man before them.
"Cassi..."
Butch carefully lifted her head off the ground and gently cradled it in his hands, treating her fragile body as delicately as he would an porchelin doll. Leaning over her, he felt an tremendous surge of regret and remorse for his fallen partner, the woman who unselfishly gave her own life to save his.
"Forgive me..." he choked out between sobs as he gazed down at her face through his blurry tears. He could see it to be still perfect and beautiful, even in death. He began to slowly lean down to kiss her softly, fully knowing that he would never get to again.
Bored of this display, Giovanni snapped the guards back to attention, a sneer upon his lips. Obeying, the men strode back to retrieve their captive, to take him back to meet his doom.
Upon reaching Butch they roughly jerked him off the floor just as his lips were about to gently brush hers.
No longer supported, Cassidy tumbled back to the floor, where she lay sprawled in a bloody heap.
With her dead, Butch lost all reason to resist and willingly allowed his captors to once again lead him to his fate. His own life now seemed insignificant due to what he had done...
His one futile attempt to save her life had failed, and instead she lay dead, murdered before him. But in the end, what good had her sacrifice done for him? What good had *either* of their sacrifices for them??
Nothing.
Turning his head away from her, he faced forward and closed his eyes to block out the wide, satisfied smirk on the Boss's face. The unheeded tears continued to trickle down his cheeks as he knelt at the Boss' feet to receive his final punishment...
Leaning forward in his seat, Giovanni once again placed the revolver to Butch's forehead, smugly grinning at the unbelievable turn of events this day had taken. He scrutinized the man who knelt vulnerable before him, the man whose very life he held in his hand.
In one instant the Boss had forever taken away the one thing that Butch held dear to him, the person that he was willing to kill for to protect. She was gone, nothing left behind of her but an battered body, an shell of a person who had the gift of life stripped from her in one single act. One gunshot was all that it had taken.
But such was the price of disobedience, the penalty for treachery. Butch had known that he would pay for what he had done, but it had not deterred his decision in the slightest. And now he must suffer the consequences...
Mercy was not even of consideration for Giovanni; it was only an sign of weakness. Therefore, Butch could expect none.
Giovanni prepared to pull the trigger when suddenly-
Quickly turning his head to the side, the Boss found himself staring down the barrel of a gun as well...
"You-" Giovanni began, only to be silenced as Jessie cocked the firearm in her hand, her wide smirk rivaling that of his own. Any former trace of devastation had vanished from her face, replaced by an irritating confidence that made him grit his teeth in anger.
Roughly jamming the gun against Giovanni's temples, she declared in a loud voice demanding the attention of all who surveyed the scene, "Nobody move or the Boss gets it!!!"
Turning to her side, Jessie flashed her partner a reassuring grin, speaking to him as she continued, "God, you have NO idea how many times I've wanted to say that!" Finishing, she broke off into her trademark devious cackle of triumph, pleased with herself very much.
Horrified gasps filled the air as James smiled back at her, then quickly produced another gun of his own from a holster underneath his white jacket. Shoving this one against the Boss's back, his eyes narrowed as he focused on the two guards holding his friend captive.
"Release him!" He demanded to the men, roughly jabbing Giovanni in the ribs with his firearm a few times to emphasize his point. "NOW."
Not needing to be told twice, their grips on Butch's arms loosened and the young man slowly sank to the floor, in a daze. He was still in great shock and didn't really seem to notice that he had been rescued from a gruesome fate. Not really seeming to notice anything...
Meanwhile, while this was happening, Giovanni remained stiff in his seat and did not speak a word the whole time. He kept himself cool and composed outwardly, while inwardly he began concocting a plan...
'Those idiots!' He thought, a slight trace of a frown beginning to show on his stern, stoic face. ' I've always know that they were fools! Now is my chance to be rid of them as well!' He kept still, waiting for just the right moment...
Looking back at Jessie, James grimly nodded once, then left his post, carefully making his way to his fallen comrade. All the while, he kept making a few nervous glances back at Persian every few feet. It appeared to be just as aloof as always, not really noticing much had just happened right now. But as it was, James didn't trust that cat any farther than he could throw him.
Coming to Butch, James saw that he kept his teary-eyed gaze fixed on the floor, as the poor man was still stunned and desperately praying that this was all a nightmare that he could soon wake up from, his mind still feebly straining to grasp that this was indeed...reality.
Kneeling down beside him, James reached down into his boot, he pulled out an pocket knife and flicked up the blade. Taking a firm hold on the rope binding Butch's wrists together, he carefully sliced through the bonds, making sure not to nick his friend in the process.
He finished, Butch still showed no sign of noticing anything had occurred, so James hesitantly waved a few fingers in front of his eyes, hoping to elicit some sort of response in him.
Butch blinked a few times, still silent, then quickly stood up and tried to make it back to Cassidy's body. However, the great effort on his weak body so soon after trauma, sent him reeling back painfully to the ground, unable to stand.
Gasping, James strode over to him, then not thinking, momentarily re-holstered his weapon. Grabbing Butch's arm, he tried to help him up when he felt something large slam into his back.
Flying over Butch, James fell flat on his face, the sheer force of Persian's weight combined with the surprise toppling the male rocket, his gun and knife both sliding uselessly out of his reach.
Persian had chosen that moment, seeing the man's back vulnerable, to attack full force with its fury swipes. James screamed in agony as he felt the Pokémon begin to ruthlessly rip into his flesh, shredding his white uniform with its razor sharp claws.
Turning over onto his back, he tried desperately to push it off of him, but the cat merely batted his hands away, and began to scratch deeply into his chest, staining the remnants of his shirt dark red with his blood.
"No!!" James screeched, then again yelped in pain as Persian slashed bloody trails down his cheeks, down his neck. Beside them, Butch struggled to pick himself back up, to help stop this, but he was just too weak, helpless...
Jessie's mouth dropped open in horror as her attention shifted off what she, herself was doing, to watch James being brutally gored in front of her eyes.
"No! James!" she cried, no longer watching the Boss, but instead the welfare of her partner.
Choosing to take advantage of that particular moment of distraction, Giovanni swiftly reached up his powerful hand and grabbed Jessie's wrist that held her gun, gripping it in a tight vice hold. It was now her turn to scream out as he cruelly twisted it in one smooth motion, causing it to break with a loud snap.
Wailing loudly from the pain that jolted up her arm into her shoulder, she dropped her gun and it fell to the ground with a loud clatter. Throwing her by her wrist, the Boss tossed her down to the floor, where she lay writhing a few feet from Cassidy's body.
"You idiots really thought you could defeat me? The Boss of Team Rocket?!?!?" Giovanni thundered at them, seething in absolute rage. Bending over and snatching Jessie's revolver down from the floor in front of him, he raised it up and aimed it, this time at Jessie's head.
"No...." James moaned softly from where he lay, his body wracked with excruciating pain that seemed to flow through his veins. He could feel himself slowly dying beneath the claws of Persian...it was merciless with its attacks.
Giovanni cocked the revolver and steadied himself for the kickback.
A loud shot echoed through the hallway, causing everyone to startle from where they were positioned in the Chamber. Giovanni quickly turned his head to watch his precious Persian slump lifelessly onto the ground in a puddle of its own blood, never to move again. Then his eyes widened at the subsequent sound that he heard ...
A familiar gangster voice shouted out from the shadows, as it slowly stepped out of the darkness. "Who's da top cat now?!?" The light glinted off Meowth's heavy artillery, consisting of several handguns in his belt, a string of clips hung over his shoulder and a very large Uzi resting between his paws.
Meowth took a few steps closer, the cocky, confident gleam present in his feline eyes as he raised the his weapon up at Giovanni and cocked it. "The question is...do you feel lucky? Do ya....?"
Taking a small step backwards, Giovanni weakly raised his arms slightly to indicate surrender, but as he refused to give mercy, he would also not receive it..
Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!" Meowth let out a wide barrage of bullets, swiftly eliminating both of the bodyguards who had earlier tormented Butch and Cassidy. They tumbled to the floor unnoticed as the audience dove beneath their seats, screaming and yelling from surprise and alarm, in fear of their lives. The noise soon elevated to a cacophony of frightened cries and piercing gunshots.
Moving with surprising agility, the Boss quickly dove behind his chair milliseconds before he would have been fatally shot.
Groaning with pain, Jessie wearily picked herself up, clutching her broken wrist to her side protectively as she looked over to Butch and James. She realized that this was the distraction they needed to make their escape, and they didn't have much time left to make it.
"James!! Butch!!" she called out to them over the gunshots, straining to make her voice heard over the noise.
Butch weakly raised his head from the ground, as James did the same as he grimaced from great pain.
"We have to go NOW!" she insisted loudly, still fearful of their lives.
Meowth called to them over the noise of the machine gun in a reassuring tone. "I'll hold em off! Mondo's got da balloon around back! Youse guys get out of here!"
When he saw the worried look in their eyes he only replied, "I'll be fine! Meowth can take care of himself!" But the look in his own eyes said that he didn't truly believe a word he had just spoken. This last battle was for his friends.
Butch slowly got to his feet, helping up James as well by wrapping his arm around his own shoulder. Gasping, he turned to see Cassidy's vulnerable body, still lying out there in the open. James saw where his gaze strayed and weakly clamped down on his friend's arm.
"We've got to go!" James panted in a firm, emotionless voice, his agony still evident in its tone. Butch turned to look at him, horrified at the very thought of leaving her here.
"No! I won't just leave her here!!!" Despair and confusion showed in his deep brown eyes. How could James even ask such a thing of him?
His voice dropped to pleading tones as he saw that James was not planning on giving in. "Please... she deserves a proper burial..."
James only shook his head grimly and yanked on his arm, pulling Butch farther from Cassidy every second. "We have NO choice!"
Butch began to weep softly again as he looked at her body one last time... "Cassidy... I'm so so sorry..." he mumbled sadly as they made it the the entrance to the chamber, her body now out of his range of vision.
Jessie, James and Butch now limped through the empty halls of Team Rocket Headquarters as fast as they could; they had no idea how much longer they had left to make their getaway. The loud shouts and gunfire from Giovanni's chamber grew fainter with every step they took away from the room, but then suddenly...it stopped...
Meowth tried the useless gun one last time, praying that it still work somehow.
But no luck... the bullets were all spent... he was done for.
Unless...
Giovanni slunk out from behind his chair, smirking the whole way. He clicked his tongue in disdain as he began to mock him, "Meowth, Meowth,Meowth .... and I thought you had so much potential.."
He emphasized this insult by shaking his head with disgust.
"But you have proved us all wrong..." he chuckled as he saw the fear slowly creep into Meowth's feline eyes.
With a snap of his fingers, several heavily armed Rocket Thugs immediately stomped through the door on the north wall of the chamber. Coming to him, they quickly stood in a perfect line behind Giovanni.
Their leader was a huge, muscular man with physique that would have made Lt. Surge jealous. His deep features were drastically offset by an ugly jagged scar beginning from his forehead to the edge of his chin. He growled in a raspy voice, "Your orders, sir?"
"Sgt. Pegg, there are four traitors escaping! Your men MUST stop them with whatever means necessary. Shoot to kill!!!" Giovanni thundered, pointing at the door through which they had escaped.
Sgt. Pegg signaled his men with a quick jerk of the head. "Fall in, men! Move out!" The Sergeant and his men quickly bolted out the door, marching in perfect synchronation the whole way.
Giovanni slowly turned to stare at Meowth, who was trying his best to show no emotion, but a few tale-tell beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
To make Meowth's pain more keen, the Boss turned to his last surviving bodyguard and said in a flippant tone,"And while you're at it, clean up that mess over there. We just waxed this floor yesterday."
The bodyguard's gaze hesitantly turned to Cassidy's still form and he grimaced at the sight.
"Uh...what shall we do with the body, sir?"
"Burn it."
Meowth almost choked on the large lump growing in his throat, watching helplessly as the man carelessly scooped up Cassidy's dead body and he quietly muttered under his breath about how her blood was "staining his new uniform."
Meowth began slowly backing out of the chamber when he backed into something. He gazed up to see another Thug, who was definitely not smiling.
"Leaving so soon?" Giovanni had Meowth surrounded on all sides; no hope for escaping now. Giovanni raised his revolver to Meowth's head, and like in a dream, Meowth was powerless to stop it...
In the halls, Butch, Jessie, and James hesitated momentarily, their chests heaving from exhaustion, until they heard it.
One final shot.
Meowth had willingly given his life to save theirs...
It now meant that they were also running out of time...
