"You know where we're goin' this time?" Michon asked.
"Yeah, gettin' there ain't much of a problem. You can see it from anywhere in the city," Irvine said. He pointed to the large structure in the center of Esthar. "See? That's it right over there."
Then the cowboy ran off to the left, moving in the direction we had just come from. Then we ran by the Airstation where the Ragnarok had landed. I started becoming skeptical of his sense of direction again. "Are you sure you're headin' the right way?" Michon asked doubtfully.
"I'm positive, so like, let me take care of it," Irvine replied.
Then Odine's Laboratory appeared on our right, but he quickly turned to the left past the red transportation tubes. We passed by the area where the Iron Giant had landed when we knocked it off before. I could tell because there was a large chunk of the road that had been broken off, obviously by the weight and force of the impact. Then we came to a fork in the path, but the sharpshooter did not hesitate. He dashed off to the right and we came to a stop in front of the Presidential Palace.
"Well, look at that. Turns out I knew where I was goin' after all," Irvine boasted with a smug smile.
"Shut up. Let's just go in," I said.
I was almost surprised to see that his smile didn't fade, and he wasn't upset by my comments. The sniper simply led us in silently. I gazed around at the outside of the building as we walked inside. Esthar guards were patrolling around, but they didn't halt us. It must've been because they saw Michon and Irvine wearing their uniforms, and they weren't supposed to stop any SeeD candidates.
Inside, there were many more guards, standing in every possible place of the room. I had expected heavy security, but not a whole line of soldiers on both sides of the wall. It was ridiculous. Honestly, it was fairly uncomfortable knowing each and every one of them were eyeing us, ready to pounce if we made one wrong move. Of course, I didn't let it show and continued to look straight ahead, maintaining a confident walk.
I could tell Michon was nervous and noticed she was shaking slightly. Irvine didn't seem bothered at all, but maybe because he had been here before and knew what to expect. He strolled to the end of the hall, and I never saw even one of the Esthar soldiers flinch. They were more disciplined than the overly anxious Galbadian soldiers I had once headed. Their soldiers were very stoic and rigid, while most of Galbadia's had been recent Garden graduates and were very young. That didn't mean Esthar had the better army, but they just had a way of doing things that I was not used to.
Irvine approached the two guards surrounding the last door on the hallway. "Hey, are we allowed to go in?"
"SeeD candidates have already been inside, and we were not informed of any others coming," the one on the left said seriously.
The sniper looked back at us, unsure of what to do. "Listen, we have some important new information, and we need to be let in," I stated.
The two guards exchanged glances briefly, the only movements I saw any of them make. "Go ahead." They opened the doors for us and we walked inside. Then they were closed behind us.
There were two people standing across the large room from us. One was a tall, thin black man, and the other was a huge guy, both in stature and build, with a full blonde beard. They were standing behind a desk, staring out the window. The floor that separated us from them was clear glass, but when we placed a foot on it, it lit up brightly. It must have been used to notify them of someone's arrival.
They turned around to look at us. The black man squinted, as if trying to make out the faces. "Irvine? What are you doing here?" he inquired curiously.
"We got something we need to talk to you about, Kiros," he answered.
"But SeeDs have already been here."
"We got some new info though."
"Really? What is it?" he asked, intrigued.
"We went and talked to Mathieu Rafale. We managed to squeeze some information out of him," Irvine said.
"Great! We've been tryin' to get him to talk, but he's really stubborn."
(Didn't seem too stubborn to me.) I thought.
"So what'd you learn?"
"Well, he told us that he was the one who provided the rifle, but he didn't take the shot. He told us he sold it to one of Doctor Odine's assistants, who said he was running the errand for one of Laguna's aides. That's all he told us," he explained.
Kiros and the humongous man beside him looked at each other, confusion on their faces. "One of us? That's impossible."
"Why's that?" Irvine asked curiously.
"Well, they tried to shoot Laguna at an outdoor conference. All of his aides were present on the stage with him. I mean, I guess one of them could've hired somebody, but as far as one of them actually firing the gun, it couldn't have happened," Kiros informed.
This brought my suspicions of Odine flooding back. "It was Odine," I said.
They all turned around to look at me. "You really think so?" Michon asked.
"It's starting to make more sense if it was," Irvine commented.
"It might be. We questioned him once, but he didn't tell us anything. We can't really do anything beyond that without a warrant. We can't get one of those without some kinda evidence. You'd have to get him to admit it or get something that would prove he was behind it," Kiros told us.
"I just don't understand why he'd do it," the sniper said.
"Well, I knew they didn't get along, but I didn't think Odine would take it this far."
"Maybe it's not him," Michon said.
"I'll go around here and talk to the other aides, and see what I can find out. You guys go see Odine, and meet us back here if you learn anything," he suggested.
"Sounds good. Thanks, Kiros. Thanks, Ward," Irvine said appreciatively. He was around to turn and leave, but hesitated. "By the way, where's Laguna?"
"He's on the Ragnarok, actually. We had arranged it in advance to sneak him onboard when you all got here. We figured it would be the safest place for him to hide from his assassin."
Then we hurried out of the room and rushed back toward Odine's Laboratory. I knew it was likely to be a tedious process when we arrived since he would talk forever, so I wasn't looking forward to it. When we reached the entrance, two of his assistants were blocking our way. "You can't come in," one of them said.
"Why not?" Irvine asked.
"The doctor is very busy working on a…project. He must not be disturbed."
I was not in the mood for this. "Get outta our way!" I demanded.
"I already told you! The doctor is…"
I drew out my gunblade and pointed it at them menacingly. "Either you move, or I'm goin' through you," I threatened.
Their eyes widened in fear and they tried to run, but we grabbed them. "Knock them out," Michon advised.
I slammed the hilt of Hyperion into the back of one's head, and Irvine rammed his gun into the other's skull. They crumpled to the ground harmlessly. "That's more like it," I said and we rushed into the lab.
Author's Notes: Looks like they might have finally figured it out. So what did you think? Let me know in a review along with some constructive criticism. It'll help me improve as a writer. God bless.
