Specialists of Lindblum
Chapter one
Enter, Team 02
In the world there are several special units. SeeD of Gardens, SOLDIER of Midgar. Also, the city of Lindblum has created secret unit for servitude of the country. The Specialists, a special branch within lindblumian military, having units so strong that they are deemed superhuman. We are to follow the life and deeds of Team 02, second strongest team within the unit.
It was a rather pleasant day on the country road. Five people were making their way through the empty road. It was rather obvious that they were heading to the mountains up in north-east. Completely another question of course was that, why they were heading there.
"How far is it?" moaned a young woman, second of the group. She had long, silky black hair. Pale skin and bright blue eyes. She wore rather large, beige blouse with a frilled tie, her brown pants were stuck in her tall, black boots. On her belt was a scabbard and a rapier.
"As I said around the Chocobo's forest; it depends on the speed we walk. And that kind of childish behaviour doesn't really help", said a woman in front of her. She had staright, long, blonde hair with even bangs. Her brown eyes had mixed galmour of seriousness and friendliness. She wore a slightly frilled shirt, brown jacket and dark, baggy pants. With a single starp she had a handsomely crafted rifle on her back. The woman was probably about as old as the moaning was, still she seemed more mature.
"Inna, where did dear Ma and Pa go wrong with you? You're even more... uh... correct than the old man Antares" The moaner spoke. The blonde woman – Inna – just shook her head and sighed.
"Mana, you are the one they went wrong with. Genius IQ my arse", Inna snarled and pulled Mana closer, Inna was a bit taller than her.
"Well, I can tell you what's pi in the accuracy of 5000 digits, maybe few over that. Even you, Inna-dear, can't do that. No matter how smart you are", Mana bragged sarcastically. Suddenly Inna took a hold of Mana's approprietly braided hair and started pulling it up. Mana hissed and grabbed Inna's ponytail dragging it down.
"Ooooooookay girls! That's quite enough", a low voice said. Tall, rather dull-faced man stepped forwards pushing two girls away from each other. The man had grayish-brown hair, it was a bit unkempt. His light green eyes had rather lively shine in them, which was pretty much completely againts his otherwise stonecold face.
"Enough of your sisterly love for now", he laughed and soon both of the girls stopped. Inna coughed taking more official pose as Mana just yawned heavily.
"And here is our lovely Castus spoiling the mood again", Mana grinned at the man – Castus. Castus wore armor made mainly out of leather, it had a green tint to it. He also had a bag on his back and a crossbow was hanging from his belt.
"Right, right. Inna, could you please review what are we actually doing here?" Asked a new voice, speaker was obviously male, but clearly younger than Castus. And old he was not, he most likely was in his late-teen years.
He had dark, short and scruffy hair. His dark green eyes had youthful shine in them. He wore a dark blue hakama and lighter coloured, gray jacket. On his belt hung a scabbard and large, slightly curved sword. He easily topped the height of their group, being about six-feet-tall.
"Ryu, your memory isn't the best possible, but it's not that long since. We are to investigate around South Gate. There's been no movement, no reports, nothing. There's something fishy going around there", Inna explained. Ryu scratched the back of his head and blushed heavily.
"Inna, everyone knows that Ryu doesn't really pay attention in the auditorium", said fifth voice, it belonged to a man. This particular man was most likely younger than Castus, but few years older than Ryu. His voice was now more stable in comparison to Ryu's late-teens. The man had white cloth over his eyes and forehead. His hair was light brown and seemed to have a natural shine and health.
He wore a sleevless, gray robe and had a black scarf around his neck. On his feet he wore sandal-like shoes, that nonetheless seemed to be rather comfortable. He held onto a six-feet-long quarterstaff and was himself three-to-five inches shorter than the staff.
"Faust, yes, yes. I am quite aware of that. It's just nice to pick on him", Inna commented and smiled slightly to the man – Faust.
"Master Ciel, Ryu's slowness and bad memory has nothing to do with his habit of not paying attention", Mana grinned to Faust. Faust shook his head in disbelieve.
"Please, just say 'Faust', there's no need for any kind of honorifics, just speak to me as you do with everyone else", Faust sneered. Mana was about to badmouth someone, but was halted as a large box on her hip started beeping.
"The radio! It must be commander Saint!" Mana said with cheer and removed the box from it's straps on her belt. She opened it up and pulled up an antennae. Then she gave a microphone to Inna.
"This is the team 02. Team-leader Inna Deharenheim Antares", Inna spoke to the microphone. The 'box' had a speaker on the side and rather high male voice was heard: "Oh, Inna? Is that you? It's me!"
"Supervisor Shade!" Mana said with disgust on her face. She seemingly wanted to get further away, but did not do so. Inna shook her head. Most likely out of same reasons as Mana was disgusted.
"Doesn't he know that this isn't the right time to flirt with Inna?" Castus blasted out a rethorical question. Faust simply shrugged walking past the others as Ryu got closer to Inna out of his curiosity. Inna herself seemed to be under heavy pondering on what she should actually say.
"Yes, supervisor Shade. It is me. Now, do you have something to actually tell us? We're on a mission", Inna spoke with her official tone. "Oh, you can just call me Gairan, Inna", answered Shade.
"Please, let us hang up if you don't have anything related to our mission. We are more than aware of our appointment. I may also note that our mission is under high importance", Inna spoke rubbing her shoulders.
"Oh, very well, Inna-dear! Remember; you are to contact headquarters immediately if you happen to find anything... odd", Shade said and hung up himself. Inna sighed in relief.
"Okay, Mana, boys! Let's keep moving, we won't reach South Gate by standing here", Inna said and ran off, soon the rest of the group rushed after her. Part from the fields to the mountains was rather pleasant, five people ran through the grass and there was no signs of civilization for miles, only evergreen field, magically blue sky and plump, white clouds. In an hour or so they reached the feet of the mountain, there was a nice and welcoming deciduous forest. Short trip through it as foxes were running after either vixen or hare. Squirrels stared at the group, eyes wide open. The woodpecker was keeping poor old owl awake. Family of mice was strolling along the road and the mother goose was going across it, five neat children right after her.
"I like this mission", Mana said with a wide smile and looked at the mice go. Inna just kept her own mouth shut. Ryu was caught in the same eyegame by Mana. Faust walked past them shaking his head, but yet still smiling.
"Are you hungry? It's not too far to the gate itself, maybe ten miles or something. We'd better move further up the mountain! There we can make a temporary camp and have a bite at something", Castus spoke and whipped Ryu and Mana back up.
"How much further? My feet are starting to ache", Mana moaned.
"A bit over the conifereous zone. To the mountainmeadows", Castus said and so the group went on. Inna and Faust were on the lead, chatting about something, laughing a little. Then was Castus, looking over his shoulder little now and then, making sure that Mana and Ryu were where they should. As time strolled on, view changed with it. All those maples, birches and oaks changed to pine trees and spurces. When they finally reached the meadows, sun was clearly lower than before they entered the forests thousands of feet lower.
"Okay, let's stop for a moment and have something little to eat. Then we'll go quietly to the gate itself", Inna said and found a nice spot from the ridge. There they started making some food. Frying meat from Castus' bag, slicing fruit from within Mana's savings. Ryu found a mountainbrook and a fountain. Enough water for everyone!
"Mana, here I was wondering; what if we actually do find something?" Castus queried and Mana shrugged her shoulders.
"We'll just inform supervisor", Mana said without too much thinking.
"Mana, South Gate is a vital part of our trade here in Lindblum and neighbouring areas. It's always lively and there a people coming and going. Now it's in complete shutdown. No one's coming out nor is anyone going in. Conclusion: There IS something going on there. And it ain't small, I can smell! Nothing small can shut down a place like South Gate", Inna explained.
"Well... I've been thinking that too. But then I also noted the fact that you can't be too smart, if you shut down the South Gate", Faust said, but soon continued: "But of course, there might be something bigger behind that... but what?"
"Let's leave that for later, shall we? I'm hungry!" Ryu announced taking the first pieces of meat and a large cup of fresh water. No one seemed to pull up any kind of resistance so the five ate and talked just those normal things around the fire. After some time Mana noticed how Inna kept staring at the forest.
"What is is?" Mana asked and Inna shook her head.
"I... I think that there's someone. Someone in the bushes, right at the edge of that forest we came from", Inna said and just kept staring. Mana turned around and looke... Inna was right! There were blonde locks visible.
"I'll go check it", Mana commented and ran off. Inna shook her head blasting after Mana. Soon Ryu, Castus and Faust moved as well. When four of them got to Mana, she was already crouching by a tree. There was... a small girl hiding and looking at them.
"A little girl? What is she doing here... of all places", Inna muttered and snapped: "Girl, could you tell me, where you came from?" The girl opened her mouth but no words came. She moved her lips, but nothing came out. Soon the slight fear and confusion turned into tears.
"Take a look at her, Mana", Inna said and Mana gave a nod. She smiled at the girl and took a light hold of her, examining. At one point, she opened the girl's mouth, looking in. Ryu had stepped back already, probably he was keeping watch, it'd be no good if all five of them would get caught from behind. Castus had climbed up to a tree and Faust was standing there beside Inna, both of them looking equally worried.
"Well, she seems to be okay... I mean, there are no heavy bruises or anything... but... well, she doesn't have a tongue. It's been cut off. Pretty clean, as it hasn't gotten inflame. Also, there's a burn on her hand. Left from branding-tools", Mana said and carefully showed the girl's hand. Castus had appeard back down and Ryu came closer to take a look. There was visible scarring on the girl's hand, in form of a crude letter H.
"We've got to get her somewhere", Inna said looking around. Suddenly Mana stood up holding the girl in her arms.
"I'll take her. There should be some sort of a village or settlement nearby. I'll take her there and contact HQ via my radio", Mana said. Inna couldn't really say no, so she just gave slight nod. Mana ran off right away.
"Okay, that was disturbing enough", Ryu commented and gave a look of query.
"We'd better get moving. Mana can easily track us, when she returns", Inna said and soon the four went on, as soon as they had destroyed evidence of their short-stay camp. Meadows on the ridges were rather pleasant. Nothing or no-one was there. All four of them were rather troubled about that girl. What was that H? What the heck was going on? Sun had once again moved slighlty, when they stopped. The reason for such halting was the location. Right in front of them, were walls, made of timber and logs. Most troubling was the fact that the gate was left wide open and there were no signs of life anywhere.
"A bandit camp, they lacked a skilled constructor. But there doesn't seem to be anyone around here", Castus spoke.
"How'd you know?" Ryu asked bluntly and got a grin from Castus.
"Let's say that I've got experience. There's been a lot more to my life than just the military and Lindblum", Castus explained and started moving towards the camp itself.
"Wait", Faust said. Other three turned to him giving him curious looks.
"Something wrong, seriously wrong. This place is full of energy... I sense so much at once... it's hard to keep all of it apart... I... I think we should be a little more careful. I mean, Castus, at least you should know to be more careful. This isn't just odd, this is unnatural. I sense something odd, but no actual life signs! There are no animals around... even all the plants died half a mile ago", Faust spoke and sat down on a rock nearby.
"Yeah... now that you mention it", Ryu muttered.
"I wasn't actually planning on entering", Castus grinned and picked up a rock from ground, then threw it into the walled camp. The group halted, nothing happened. Ryu grinned widely and made a move towards the camp.
"Nothing, clear as day", he laughed, but just when he was about to enter, a hail of arrows stormed at the rock. They all froze, just staring.
"This place is stuffed with traps. We're dead meat!" Ryu shrieked.
"Now, now. Not quite. But that seems to be the hard way around. As well as the only one. Going around would take a way too much time", Castus thought aloud looking around the walls and the camp for as much as possible.
"Well?" Ryu asked after a while. Inna nodded slightly saying: "I'd say that it's safest to hug the wall and circle to the other side. It's rather hard and rare to put traps that close to the wall, especially this type of traps. Isn't that right?"
"Yup. And also, people rarely think of that. And, they seem to have put a lot of resources on the other ones, so we most likely won't face anything worse than beartraps next to the walls", Castus explained. Faust seemed to be a bit anxious.
"I'm blind, remember? Although I have extra-sensory and other unique skills, it's still rather hard moving while hugging a wall, I move by seeing auras. Face to a wall doesn't really let me see those", Faust snarled. Inna thought a moment and said: "Well, you'll be inbetween Ryu and Castus! They'll help you. Castus is first, Ryu's last. You take the right wall, I'll take the left one."
"Right, see you on the other side", Castus grinned pulling his thumb up.Then they went in, luckily, there weren't too many traps around the gate either, as Castus was able to see them with his precise eyes. The camp was rather simple, filled with tents and a slightly more comfortable shack, possibly for the commander around there. In the middle was campfire, then in one corner was food and water supplies. When they finally got to the other side after nearly one painful hour, they then realized something.
"Mana!" Ryu cried.
"Yeah! That airhead won't get through that camp in one piece", Faust said.
"Wait. Mana's a lot smarter than what she looks like... and shows... and acts. Yet still, she's known as a child prodigy and a genius now", Inna spoke and the others seemed to be slightly suspicious about Inna's claim.
"Sooo, just how smart is she? What has she done? I mean, out of ordinary", Ryu asked.
"Well, she composed few songs when she was eleven. Wrote a play, which gained something of a cult-fame or something at the age of thirteen. She's been one of the best rapier-users since she was fourteen. She was developing the technological wing of our headquarters three years ago. Was a perfect A-student when we were still school. She's able to speak several different languages and well... a lot", Inna enumerated.
"Well, okay. She's really something. Yet still, she can't cook and once created a living killer-curry when she somehow got raw mako into her pot", Faust grinned.
"Don't even remind me, I can't even stand the smell of curry anymore", Ryu laughed. Castus shook his head and continued.
"Okay guys, let's go. Mana will surely think of something and get to us safely. To the South Gate! And there we'll finally find out, what the hell is going on around here", Castus announced and left ahead. Soon the four were going on together, all of them wondering, what shall they find at the South Gate? What was this shutdown? And what about that tongueless, marked little girl? And will Mana really catch them safely?
Next time the team will reach South Gate and find out what's going on. Inna comes up with a plan and Mana has a hard job getting back to the other. You just wait and read!
Next time, chapter two: "South Gate Showdown!"