The meeting didn't end with marching orders.
It ended with patience.
Nero let the last projection fade and folded his hands behind his back, as if he'd been discussing a budget instead of a graveyard.
"We wait," he said. "Recon results first. Then we move."
A few Squad Leaders looked dissatisfied, but no one argued. Not with Nero.
He was about to dismiss them when the Sigma Squad Leader spoke again, unable to help himself.
"Executive Nero," he said, voice-controlled but hungry. "When the distraction-planning meeting happens, I'd like to be involved."
The room went still.
For a second, even the air felt like it had chosen a side.
Nero turned his head slowly.
He didn't look surprised.
He looked offended.
"You will be where I tell you to be," Nero said, flat. "You don't request proximity to sensitive planning. You earn it."
The Sigma leader's jaw tightened.
Nero's eyes sharpened. "As punishment, you are barred from the distraction meeting entirely."
A flash of anger slipped through the Sigma leader's mask. It lasted less than a heartbeat.
He caught himself. Swallowed it.
"Yes, Executive," he forced out. "Apologies.
Nero held the silence long enough to make the lesson permanent.
Then he flicked his hand once.
"Disperse."
Chairs moved. Boots scraped. Groups broke apart in disciplined silence.
Enzo received a message as he turned to leave.
It didn't come through a normal channel.
It slid into his vision in clean, coded text—Shadow protocol.
[ SHADOW CHANNEL — DIRECTIVE ]
NERO: "I'll be waiting in your hotel suite. Alone."
NERO: "Do not delay."
Enzo's expression didn't change, but his pulse did.
He nodded once to Viper as they passed.
Viper's eyes flicked toward him, amused in that quiet, predatory way.
Enzo didn't stop to talk.
Minutes later, he was back in the same tinted car. The same silent driver. The same tunnel turns designed to erase geography.
The hotel felt wrong after that room. Too normal. Too bright. Too many civilians pretending the world was simple.
Enzo moved fast.
He opened the suite door.
And froze.
Nero was already inside, seated at the dining table like he owned the building. Calm. Centered. Waiting.
In front of the incubators stood Hypno.
Not sitting.
Standing.
Arms spread wide, body angled like a shield. As if he could protect nineteen eggs by force of will alone.
Hypno's eyes were wide. Not with aggression.
With fear.
When he saw Enzo, the thought slammed into Enzo's mind like a warning scream.
Run, Master. He is too strong. The shadow—
Hypno's gaze snapped downward.
Not to Nero.
To the floor beside him.
To a patch of darkness that didn't match the room's lighting.
Enzo's eyes followed, and his breath caught.
The System responded instantly, as if it had been waiting for the right target.
[ SYSTEM SCAN — PRESENCE DETECTED ]
Entity: Gengar
Level: 70
Potential: BLUE
Status: Controlled / Hidden
Threat Rating: Extreme
Note: "Shadow anchor. Handler discipline: high."
Enzo stared.
He hadn't been able to read that much detail before.
So the upgrade was real.
And Nero… had brought a monster into his room without making a sound.
Enzo forced his face back into calm and walked to the table. He sat down opposite Nero, keeping his hands visible and his posture respectful.
Nero watched him for a long moment.
Then his voice dropped into something colder.
"Never do that again."
Enzo didn't pretend not to understand. "Do what?"
"Show anyone you're psychic," Nero said.
The words didn't carry anger. They carried certainty.
"Psychics are rare," Nero continued. "Psychics with talent are rarer. Psychics with your kind of talent and your kind of results…"
He leaned back slightly.
"…die early. Not because they're weak. Because everyone wants to own them, break them, or erase them."
Enzo nodded once. "Understood."
Nero's gaze narrowed. "Now tell me why you stopped me."
Enzo kept his tone even. "Because that Squad Leader is dangerous."
Nero didn't react outwardly, but the room tightened anyway. "He's completed difficult missions."
"I know," Enzo said. "And I'm telling you he's still dangerous. Not just to Team Rocket. To Kanto."
Nero's eyes held him, searching for the line between instinct and nonsense.
Enzo didn't give him the impossible truth. Not yet.
He gave him the closest version that still sounded real.
"I can't explain how," Enzo said. "But he feels… wrong. Like he's been touched by something malignant."
Nero's expression didn't soften.
But it changed.
It was subtle. The shift of a man who had seen enough to respect warnings he couldn't immediately prove.
"You're certain," Nero said.
Enzo didn't blink. "Yes."
Nero studied him for another beat.
Then, finally, he nodded once.
"Fine," Nero said. "I'll watch him."
Hypno didn't relax, but his fear eased by a fraction, as if even he could feel the decision.
Nero tapped the table lightly, bringing the conversation back to steel.
"You have one month," Nero said. "A month to give me a distraction plan that doesn't stain us permanently."
Enzo's mind moved, already building structures. "I'll think of something."
"You will do more than think," Nero said.
Enzo accepted that without flinching.
Nero stood. His chair made almost no noise.
At the door, he paused.
"Don't leave Cerulean next week," Nero added. "The professor you requested… Leni. He arrives soon."
Enzo exhaled once, controlled. "Understood. Thank you, Executive."
Nero's eyes flicked one last time to the incubators, to Hypno guarding them like a priest at an altar.
Then he turned.
The room felt warmer the moment he left.