The Comfy Cartel: Corpse gets 'hired'

Time to wake up!

Knock knock

That was the first thing Corpse heard when he woke up in an unfamiliar bed in an equally unfamiliar room. It was so empty, metal scraps littered the corners of the room, light hardly finding its way through the dull grey curtains draped over the windows.

He was hugging the pillow like it was going to evaporate out of existence, his face still wet from the nightmares that plagued him surrounding what happened.

As he rubbed his eyes with small, numb hands, he looked up to see Lily. She was holding a tray of tea and cookies.

That's odd. The last thing he remembered was holding onto someone in the same way he was holding his pillow..

"Time to wake up sleepyhead!" She approached to see Corpse sit up from the bed in anguish, tears starting to flow from his eyes.

"Sykkuno! What happened to him? And Yvonne and Brodin! Is everyone okay?" He was panicking, speaking through quiet sobs, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the water flowing from them.

"They're fine don't worry, they're all fine. In fact, both Sykkuno and Yvonne came to visit you this morning.." She didn't even get to finish her sentence before Corpse shot out of the bed, eyes wide.

"They were here? But Sykkuno got shot, shouldn't he be in the hospital or something?" he was so emotional he completely forgot about the fact that Sykkuno was an assassin and could't go to such a public place, especially with a bullet wound! It was either that, or he chose to ignore this fact.

Lily giggled slightly, again hiding it by covering her mouth with her hand, everyone here seems to do that, "He's okay, he woke up yesterday after a friend of a friend named Dr Lupo took the bullet out and bandaged him up. Though I heard that Blaustoise took a worse beating."

"Who's that? Isn't Blastoise a pokemon?" Who on earth was she talking about?

"No silly, he's the guy I heard you shot. And looking at where you hit him, which is hard to see after the number Yvonne did on him, you have a pretty good aim. Wanna talk about it?" Something was off, she sounded disheartened, and it was worrying.

"No, not really, but uhh, where am I?" He was deflecting, but he was also curious, this was a room that he'd never seen before.

Lily knew what he was doing, and decided to answer his question anyway, "This is Michael's room, he's been pulling all nighters in the basement working on new projects recently, so he said that you were free to sleep here till you felt a bit better. None of us have seen him much, and he doesn't speak to most anyway, so you're lucky he would do something like this for you."

This time she showed a small genuine smile, one that allowed for Corpse to put the pieces together that she did in fact like Michael alot more than she would like to admit, but he kept his mouth shut, focusing on something more important.

"Can I go see Sykkuno now?" Although they hadn't known each other for very long, he felt a real bond with the young man, and trusted him more than anyone else.

"Sykkuno has taken some time off while he recovers, you probably won't see him for a while," Lily trailed off, until she met eyes full of confusion and disappointment, and she knew that she had to continue.

"After what happened, he was really shook. He said the thought of you being put in so much danger under his protection, and you having no choice but to shoot another man at such an age, it was too much for him, he felt guilty putting you through all of the things that he had to endure himself."

Once again her face fell, hands clinging to the sides of her skirt.

"Is it because of what happened with Ludwig," he didn't want to pry, but at the same time he felt like he needed to know more. He needed closure.

Lily looked surprised, an expression he never expected to see from her. "Yes, it is. I'm genuinely shocked that he told you about it."

"He didn't, Yvonne told me, though she didn't say much."

"It was a tough day for the Cartel. We all loved Lud. And it shouldn't have happened to begin with."

By now Lily was sat at the edge of the bed, staring at a blank wall swinging her feet as they dangled an inch off the floor. Corpse was just sitting crossed-legged looking at her, waiting for her to speak again.

"2 years ago, we were the strongest group of them all. We had structure and discipline, something the other Cartels lacked. But that made us a target. All the smaller groups started getting together, trying to find a way to take us down. We were winning the fight, but our resources were spread too thin. My division, 'Public Image', was seen as unnecessary, so all my resources and friends were taken away to work under Toast. Ludwig was my best reporter, he went undercover during my speeches and whatnot as a journalist, gaining knowledge from many different sources, then sending it back to me and Poki. When they took him, he was paired with Sykkuno, who was no older, and no more experienced than you. It was at this point that we found out that there was a mole. The problem was, we had no idea who it was. Everyone who worked for us was so loyal, we trusted many with our lives. Thanks to his inside knowledge, Lud was the first to snuff her out, and went out with Sykkuno to 'confront her'. Neither of them knew that she was ready for their attack. Kkatimina slaughtered Lud the second he stepped through the door, her demise came when she misjudged Sykkuno's height, as he just barely dodged the rain of bullets sent flying in his direction. He single handedly killed everyone in that room, before carrying Lud all the way home, where he lay him on his bed and said his goodbyes. In order to avenge his death, Sykkuno decided to take down the entirety of Kkatimina's forces with little to no help. To our surprise, he was successful. Toast and Scarra saw him as a valuable asset after that, but respected his wishes to work under Yvonne for a while as he cooled down and finally mourned his loss."

"Wait, didn't Sykkuno just start working with Yvonne afew days ago like me?"

"Yes, he did. It took him two whole years to destroy her. But after what happened with you, I don't think he's coming back."

Corpse wasn't the first child Lily had adopted, he realised that now. Him and Sykkuno were the same age when they were taken, it made sense. But if that's what happened to Sykkuno, why would she do it again? Unless it wasn't her choice. What if it was that Toast guy who saw potential in Sykkuno and tried to exploit him?

Even knowing the truth, knowing the consequences of what it meant, he made his decision, officially to Lily.

"I am going to help take down the people who hurt Sykkuno. I am going to destroy this Team Rocket."