The Trial of Dreams and Memories (TMM 2)

Chains

"She saved me, Mrs. Sheridan!" Maria pleaded. 

"And before that she tried to escape, risking everyone's lives with an avalanche." Sheridan answered coldly. 

"But—"

"Miss Lorynth!" the chief sharply interjected. "I will not have you constantly objecting to my choices as the head of this task force. You can be quiet or you can be escorted out."

Maria hung her head and turned to watch as Morai's unconscious body was wheeled into an operating room. 

"Besides," Sheridan continued, "this is a minor procedure, one she's unwillingly had before. All they're doing is putting a tracking chip in her neck so that we'll always know where she is. It's a prototype, but it should also be able to give readings on her vitals so that we can keep better track of her health with all of the...chemical changes that have occurred."

"If we're doing exactly what Team Rocket is doing," Maria asked softly, almost afraid to say another word. "Are we any better?"

"Team Rocket only cared for her safety so long as it benefitted them, and they benefitted as she terrorized everyone else. We are not the same."

Sheridan returned to her office, taking a moment to steel herself. She hadn't been the same since Morai's attempted escape in Alola. 

"I've failed," she sighed to herself, collapsing into her leather desk chair and putting her face in her hands. "As a mother, as an agent, as the chief of this force. All because I had a shred of sympathy for...her. She managed to hurt my entire family...and yet I was somehow stupid enough to take her to Alola. I—"

"Mother!" a voice yelled after Sheridan's office doors burst open. 

"Evie, we've talked about this," the chief sighed. "You can't—"

"Don't call me that," Yvette interrupted. "Mom, why am I here? You brought me to the danger! Deserted in the middle of nowhere! Now I'm trapped here with her!"

"The danger  is no longer a danger, and you know why you're here. Team Rocket now knows who you are, and if the events of two days ago are anything to go by, they're seeking out connections to Morai. Unfortunately, because of me, that includes you."

"So the solution is to stick me here with  Morai?" Yvette groaned. "I'm an adult! I'm in my twenties, for Arceus's sake! I—"

Sheridan grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and directed her to her desk with the gentleness of a mother but the force of a police agent. 

"Look at yourself," Sheridan said, handing her a small mirror. "It's my fault that you have those scars. I failed to protect you the night you were attacked and the same thing could've happened two days ago...under my watch! People have been hurt because I was so focused on helping instead of fixing. I let my sympathy for a former hero cloud my image of the monster I have in my custody. That changes moving forward. Morai can't hurt you now and Team Rocket won't either. In the meantime, you'll stay here until proper provisions have been made elsewhere."

Yvette looked from her reflection to her mother's. 

"...All those years ago, if you just would've let me take the path I wanted...it would've been different. I could be standing here beside you right now because I had a badge instead of a scar."

Sheridan didn't answer. Instead, she smoothed out her blazer and fixed her hair. 

"I have a meeting to get to," she sighed.

"Oh, can I go?" her daughter asked. 

"No," she quickly answered. "I don't want you involved in this anymore than you have to be. This place is pretty big. Some of the company's not bad, either. Your father will be back sometime tomorrow. You'll find something to keep you busy, I'm sure."