Passion Under Fire – Team Rocket Revenge
By The Jolt Master

Forward:

This fanfic is the third installment of the Passion Under Fire series. I’ll be up front with you, if you’re used to Butch and Cassidy being how they are in the TV series, you’re in for a major disappointment here. It’s a fairly grisly tale and I’ve taken some creative liberties with this Rocket duo’s personalities and their relationship. I’ve given them some depth and it’s not very pretty. If you insist that Butch and Cassidy are supposed to be a certain way, then just close this story now. If you’re intrigued, then read on. You need an open mind to read this story, so it can suck you in.

Now, if you’re still reading, huzzah! I hope you’ll enjoy this story. It’s taken me a few years to write it (it’s been a time management issue, since real life always comes first), but it’s finally done. However, if you haven’t read the first two Passion Under Fire stories, I would encourage you to do so as it references them. It’s not mandatory, of course, this story can stand on its own, but if you get confused by a couple references to past events, then I’m just going to say, ‘I told you so.’ ^.^

Enjoy and thank you for your patience in waiting for this installment.

      – Jolt

Chapter 1 – What Happened To Butch?

”Up yours, flatfoot!”

Her voice sounded flat in the ten by fifteen foot interrogation room. Reminiscent of a junior high school classroom, there were two beat up chairs and a graffiti etched wooden table where the two women were seated. Even the paint color on the walls was a throwback to those days of puberty. An old tape recorder clearly picked up the Team Rocket member’s defiant statement. So did the ears of the police officer sitting opposite of her. A number of other detectives heard her through a speaker behind the large one way mirror that covered one of the ten foot walls.

Officer Nicole Jenny’s green eyes narrowed at the young girl’s insolence. Her cropped brown hair framed her fuming glare as she absently picked off a bit of lint from her Los Angeles Police uniform, which fit her slender figure very well. Yes, she was one of the pretty cops on the force. However, her tough-as-nails attitude kept most men away, but she had earned their respect as a good cop and she liked that just fine.

”Hmm…you’re awfully sensitive about your partner, even though you say you don’t give a damn that he’s dead, Cassidy.”

Cassidy’s gaze was cold and defiant. She had her white elbow length gloved arms folded across the chest of her tight fitting black tube dress, which brazenly displayed a massive red “R” – the trademark insignia of Team Rocket. She dismissively tossed one of her two long blonde braids behind her as she crossed her legs, which were decked out in white vinyl thigh-high heeled boots. Her face softened to an arrogant look, which was marred by a swollen black eye. Some scratches and a bruise on her neck were also visible.

”James killed him,” she replied nonchalantly.

”Right,” the officer replied. “You keep saying that, but you’re not very convincing. I’ll give you some time to yourself to think about telling the truth.”

Nicole pressed on the pause button the tape recorder, got up and left the interrogation room, muttering under her breath, “You little bitch.”

Four months ago, the head of the Team Rocket criminal organization, known only as Giovanni, was arrested for two counts of attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. The “Trial of the New Millennium” had become a three ring media circus. There were calls every day for new information regarding Giovanni or busted Team Rocket members. When they found out about Cassidy, the feeding frenzy was sickening. It was bad enough with an audience of cops watching them from behind the large one-way mirror. However, it was the media that was heralding Cassidy as some sort of “jailhouse darling” – a sleek sexy young girl gone bad. Darling or not, Cassidy was going to the slammer and Nicole was determined to be the one to put her there.

As she sat at her desk, her train of thought was broken by the approach of John Harrison and his Arcanine partner, Striker. John was dressed in a modest gray suit, dark tie, and white shirt. He used to be a beat cop like her until he helped break up the the Dark Wolves drug and teen prostitution ring. Now he was a detective solving unusual cases. She wanted to go this route and she hoped interrogating Cassidy would help her down this career path.

John pushed some of his dark hair off his forehead and provided a nod to her as he stopped in front of her desk. His massive canine partner stopped also, then sat on his haunches. He was not the tallest man on the force, but Striker dwarfed him because his head almost reached the human’s shoulder. She stood up and reached over to scratch Striker’s head, to which, the big fire-breathing dog pokémon was more than happy to receive her affection.

”How’s the interview going, Nicole?”

”Well John,” she started with a big sigh, “can you tell me why I can’t just shoot her?”

John smirked at this, his moustache curling with his lip. It made him look rather endearing to her and she briefly wondered why she had not asked him out yet. The answer came just as quickly. She was very dedicated to her job and thus, men were not required.

”Ah, well, there’s that murder thing that gets in the way of it.”

”Yes, murder…that’s bad.” The two chuckled over this, then she ranted about how for the past two hours, Cassidy had been deflecting her questions, lying to her and completely stonewalling her. She was getting frazzled and needed some way to break her. He listened intently, nodding every so often, then hit on an idea.

”Why not lie about the forensics? Say the gun powder residue doesn’t match what was on James’ hands, so there’s no way he could’ve done it.”

She arched her eyebrows at this. It was okay to lie about facts during an interrogation, so she had no problem with that. She just hoped Cassidy was not bright enough to see how flimsy that lie was. She doubted she would try it, but she smiled and nodded appreciatively.

”Thanks…that just might work,” she replied. She paused a moment before asking her next question. “How are things with the Angel of Vengeance case?”

He immediately pursed his lips at this. It was the reaction she did not want, but expected it. The Angel of Vengeance case was a touchy subject. From what little she knew, it was a vigilante that seemed to be very strong, could sprout wings and fly, and stop bullets. The Angel would then beat the crap out of various street thugs around the city. It was rumored the Angel had committed over 800 acts of assault and battery, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage in the past four years. Both John and another detective, Jack Werden, had worked the case to catch him, but the details of the vigilante’s death four months ago were now just rumors as the two cops had been under strict orders to never talk about it. The official stance of the LAPD was that the Angel was killed in a gun battle with the police. She was sure this was a bald faced lie and her curiosity was killing her.

”You know I can’t talk about that,” he replied somberly.

”I know, I know. I keep asking because it’s driving me crazy,” she paused a moment, her heart suddenly started thumping harder. “Okay, maybe not cop-to-cop…we could talk about it over dinner…maybe?”

He blinked, then became a bit flushed as he smiled. “Maybe.”

She beamed at this, then suggested the Panda Inn in Pasadena. He agreed to it, then both of them chuckled because they were acting like a couple of shy teenagers. He gave a little wave, then walked towards Werden’s office, since they were working a new case. Striker followed his human partner.

She watched him leave, then went back to thinking about Cassidy as she sat back down. Her ire returned as she pondered the yarn of crap she had told her. Most of it was likely true, except for James pulling the trigger. She definitely did not buy that and John’s idea of lying about the forensics may work. She decided to make a phone call to someone who was there. With a password and a few keystrokes, she pulled up a name in the Witness Protection Database (WPDB) and entered an ex-Team Rocket member’s name. Within seconds, a small picture of a young woman in her early 20’s with massive red hair showed up with a screen full of information. She zeroed in on the phone number and current name, then dialed the number. A young woman’s voice answered at the other end.

”Marcia Morgan?” asked Nicole.

”Yes?”

”It’s Officer Jenny with the LAPD. How are you?

”Oh hi, Officer Jenny!” Marcia said happily. “I’m doing fine, thank you. It’s great to hear your voice again. How are things with you? And you know can call me Jessie, right?”

”They’ve been better,” the cop replied. “And yes, I know, but ‘Marcia’ keeps you safe in case someone is listening in on the call. Do you have a few minutes? I need to ask some questions of you.”

”Of course! Anything for the woman who saved my life and James’, er, Mark’s, that is.” Prior to going into Witness Protection, Nicole had convinced the ex-Rockets to go see Giovanni with recording devices on them, in order to get him to confess to trying to kill them. It succeeded, however, Jessie wound up getting shot in the chest and almost dying. So now, she and James were in hiding with the help of the police while Giovanni was on trial.

”Thanks, Marcia. As you probably know, we caught Cassidy and I’ve been questioning her about Butch’s death. She keeps saying that James did it.

”But you know that’s not true!” Jessie replied, sounding upset.

”Calm down, I know it’s not true, but right now I’m not getting any straight answers from Cassidy. Any insight you can provide on this would really help.”

There was an audible sigh from the other end of the phone. Nicole was beginning to loathe the sound of impatient young people.

”I’m sorry. It’s still all a blur to me. All I remember was that I was talking to Cassidy about something, the fire alarm went off, James burst in, Butch and he fought, I was hit and knocked out cold. Then I woke up in our apartment some time later.”

Nicole frowned at this. She was pretty sure that she was telling the truth. There was a lot of bad blood between Cassidy and Jessie, so it would seem unlikely that she would cover for her. She elected to switch topics.

”Okay, I’ll figure out something else then. So, how’s your pregnancy coming along?”

The giggle from the other end of the line brought a little smile to the cop’s face. A brief thought crossed her mind about having a baby of her own, but she knew she was too dedicated to her job to consider it. Or was she? Could she leave it? Things changed…and there was that date with John Harrison…no, it would never happen. She valued her independence. True, she was alone, but she did not have to answer to anyone for anything. A baby would destroy all that and she definitely did not want that.

”Oh, it’s just – unbelievable!” Marcia gushed. “I’ve got a little pot belly now! And it’s growing! It’s…it’s really just amazing.” There was a brief pause. “I just find it so hard to believe that after all this time and all the bad things I’ve done for Team Rocket, that I’m going to be a mother…and not only that, I have a man I truly love and who I know will be a great father to our child.” There was another pause and Nicole heard a distinct sniffling on the other end.

”Are you okay, Marcia?”

”Yeah,” Marcia said as she sniffed hard again. “It must be the hormones or I really believe that I don’t deserve to be this lucky.”

”Well, you two were lucky enough to escape Team Rocket, so now you both have a second chance to make things right with your lives. Not many people get second chances like that.”

”Yeah…you’re right,” Marcia replied, laughing a little. “I hate to be rude, but the baby is pressing really hard on my bladder, so now I really need to use the bathroom.”

Nicole could not help but to laugh, so they said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. She thought long and hard about Jessie for a moment, then she pushed it aside. Her loneliness could wait. Her thoughts returned to Cassidy. She furrowed her brows hard as she stood up and returned to the interrogation room.