Chapter 3
The knock at his door came around 2 in the morning. Atlus awoke from his light sleep and called out.
"Who is it?"
"...Rachel..."
Throwing on a wrinkled sweatshirt, Atlus went to the door and opened it cautiously.
"Isn't it a little early to be playing doctor?"
She was obviously unamused by his joke and had to restrain herself from slamming the door into him.
"Get dressed and meet downstairs in the garage. We're moving out."
With that, Rachel left leaving Atlus to get ready. Five minutes later and he was down the stairwell into the garage. Rachel was already there, talking excitedly to Erick. Corey was leaning against the van, sulking. His nose was still bandaged from his first encounter with Atlus. Upon seeing him, Corey sneered and spat at the ground. Atlus opened his mouth to say something when Erick finished his conversation with Rachel and walked up to him, blocking off his view of Corey.
"Atlus, we're in a pinch here. All of our other members were injured in our last mission."
Erick shook his read remembering that last failure then continued.
"We received some information that Team Psychic is operating out of an auto repair shop here in Snowflake Falls. We've been keeping it under surveillance for the past weeks for any kind of activity that would warrant a raid. Up until now it's been quiet except..."
Corey blurted out, interupting Erick.
"...except we're not going to get anywhere just standing here talking! And if you think I'm going to trust that shifty character you're wrong!"
The van door swung open as Corey angrily climbed in then slammed it shut after him. Sighing heavily, Erick took a few moments before he spoke again.
"Corey's right. We have no time here. Team Psychic is planning on smuggling some contraband out of the city and over the border. We're not exactly sure what the cargo is or where they're taking it to. I want to send two people in but Rachel hasn't had this kind of training and I can't go in..."
Atlus cut in, not believing what he was hearing.
"So you want me to do the dirty work, right? What makes you think I'm capable of it?"
Seemingly prepared for this, Erick leaned and whispered into Atlus' ear.
"Corey's a bit of a loose cannon here. He's good but we need someone to go in with him, just to make sure, you know? You'll learn everything you need to know on the fly. It shouldn't be too hard for someone like you. But if you try anything funny...we'll make you regret it."
Walking past Erick, Atlus opened the door to the van and climbed into the backseat behind Corey.
"If I try anything funny you won't have time to make me regret it."
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The van crept along the unlit side streets, attracting little attention to itself. Inside, Rachel was behind the wheel as Corey reluctantly finished briefing Atlus.
"We're going to be entering through the second story window, from the fire escape. As far as we can tell they still haven't fixed that alarm after I uhhh...took care of it, so to speak. Erick wants us to find hard evidence in the office up there to link that shop to Team Psychic, but that's a secondary concern."
Corey pointed to the satchel he had slung over his shoulder.
"See these radio transmitters? I'm going to plant them with their cargo so we can find out where it's all going."
Leaning back in his seat, Atlus turned his gaze to the satchel of transmitters.
"Well it seems you have everything covered, Corey sir."
Atlus' words were oozing sarcasm.
"I might as well just sit out here in the van with Rachel while you go in. You obviously have no need for me."
"Oh no, Parker. You're coming in with me so I can keep my eye on you."
The conversation ended at that as did the van. Rachel turned around in the front seat and spoke.
"We're here you two. I'm going to stay here and watch the outside. If you get in trouble come back right away, okay?"
Corey nodded slightly and opened the van door silently, moving quietly to the back of the building. Just as Atlus was about to get out and follow Corey, Rachel stopped him.
"Atlus...be careful in there. I have a bad feeling about this and I don't want to see you get hurt..."
Her words trailed off as she looked down at the floor.
"If it is a trap, Corey's the one you should be worrying about."
Atlus then jumped out of the van, shut the door behind him, and ran to catch up with Corey.
Behind the building, Corey was already waiting with a Pokéball in his hand. Pushing the button, a beam of light shot out that grew into a tiny bird Pokémon. Crouching down next to it, Corey whispered soothingly into its ear.
"Alright Pidgey, I want you to stay out here and keep a look out. If you anyone coming, crow for me, alright?"
The Pidgey cooed in agreement and flew up to a tree branch and perched itself. Atlus had to keep back a smirk as he saw this exchange between Pokémon and master.
"A Pidgey, huh? How cute."
Any kindness that was in Corey's eyes while he was dealing with his Pidgey disappeared as he heard Atlus' comment.
"Well it's better than not having any Pokémon at all! When I signed up for this gig they didn't tell me I would have to deal with hot shots who can't keep their mouths shut!"
Angrily, he pointed at the fire escape.
"Start climbing, Parker! I'm going to come behind you and make sure you don't try anything!"
Atlus shrugged but didn't bother trying to argue. Pulling down the ladder, Atlus began to ascend up to the second floor of the fire escape. Corey followed closely after him, eyeing him suspiciously. Checking to make sure that nobody was still inside, Atlus lifted up the window which, to his surprise, opened without any effort. Climbing through, they both came into the darkened office. Corey pulled out a small penlight from his pocket and scanned the area looking for anything that would be of interest to them. After a few minutes of searching in vain, Corey nodded to Atlus, his voice nothing more than a whisper.
"Downstairs."
Atlus took the lead and walked through the door marked "To Garage". At the bottom of the stairs they were in the main garage. The smell of motor oil and grease saturated the air. Not wasting a second, Corey opened his satchel and went over to the cars.
"Stay right there Atlus and watch the door for me."
Atlus stood by the doorway and watch Corey as he went from car to car transfixing a radio reciever in the exhaust pipe of each. When he finished, he came back to the stairs.
"Alright, we're done here. Let's go scour the office again then we'll get out of here."
No sooner than a few seconds after they had turned around to go back upstairs did they hear a voice from behind them and the click of a gun.
"Both of you, hands over your head."
They both did as they were told, their hands raised high over their heads. The voice behind them now took on a tone of confusion.
"Huh? Well well well...look at what we have here. I was told to expect a couple Team Target twerps but I didn't expect to see the great Atlus Parker with them!"
Lowering his hands, Atlus turned around slowly to face the man. The man shoved the gun directly in front of Atlus' face as a warning.
"It's good to see you again, too, Angelo."
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