Chapter 9
New member, new plan, new problem
Season Finale
Lloyd and Genis stood near a rock in the middle of Blood Gulch, watching Emil and Marta argue with each other.
"Look." Marta was saying. "As far as I'm concerned, we're square."
"I saved you from a life of imprisonment. How the hell are you square with me?" Emil retorted.
"Because I didn't kill you back at Flanoir Island."
"You know, I really don't see how not KILLING somebody is technically the same thing as doing them a FAVOR."
"Well…" Marta said thoughtfully. "If you don't appreciate it, I could just kill you right now."
"No you can't!" Emil cried triumphantly. "I'm already dead bitch. So I guess the joke's on you."
Finally, Genis couldn't take it anymore and flipped shit on both of them. "Stop it!" He screamed. "Stop fighting! Can't you see you're tearing us apart?" He then turned to Marta. "What about us?"
Marta looked at Genis. "What ABOUT you?"
"We helped you too!" Genis said, in a somewhat quieter voice. "And what do we get? NOTHING!"
"Well…yeah but..."
"But nothing." Emil cut in. "I don't like him, but he's got a point."
"I did help them get their flag back." Marta argued.
"Yeah, but you were PAID to do that. We rescued you as a favor." Lloyd said. "We could've just let you rot in the Red Army Prison for the rest of your life. It wouldn't have made any difference to us."
"Oh fine." Marta said giving. "Tell you what. I'll stay here as long as it takes to help you guys win this thing. As soon as I have, I'm outta here. Deal?"
"What do you guys say?" Emil asked his teammates. Lloyd and Genis mulled this over for a second, then both nodded their heads.
"Sounds good to me. Welcome to the team Lualdi." Lloyd high fived Marta, glad they now another real teammate, even if it is a mercenary.
"Thanks. So what do you need me to do?"
"I have no idea." Lloyd said. "If you knew how to fix a tank, I'd have you do that."
"Hmm… okay then." Marta shrugged.
"Wait… you know how to fix Luna?" Genis asked. Marta stood there looking at Genis as if he just asked the dumbest question on the planet. Genis finally took the hint. "I love you…"
"Entonces la décias ''tu nos pesos más, yo peso más.' Entonces pusieron los de nuestros cuerpos sobre la escala y fue determinado quién tenía el peso más grande. Después de eso me llamarían Aska la Pesado."
Zelos couldn't help but groan. "Oh my god, first he doesn't talk at all, now we can't get him to shut up. Sheena what's he saying?"
Sheena looked at him confused. "What the hell are you asking me for?"
"Well, you know, because you're of, uh, a Latino persuasion, right?"
"Fujibayashi isn't a Spanish name, idiot. I'm half-Japanese."
"But i thought you..."
"What?"
Zelos gave up. "Eh nevermind."
"I'm from Ozette!" chimed Presea.
"Nobody cares!"
"Okay, take it easy, guys," Emil said. "When I was over at the Red base, I saw that they've already got their jeep fixed. So whatever you do, don't let 'em see us before we get Luna back online."
"Okay," Genis said. "Even if we get Luna fixed, how the hell are we gonna turn her over? I mean it's not like we can just lift-"
Within seconds, Marta managed to grab the side of the hefty piece of equipment and slam it onto its (or rather, her) treads.
"Holy crap she's strong."
"Alright, since I'm the one least visible, I'm going to head up to higher ground to keep an eye on the Reds. I'll tell you guys if I spot anything."
"Oh! Castagnier, can I come with?"
"That kind of defeats the purpose, Sage."
"...what if I'm really, really quiet?"
"Do you even understand what the term 'visibility' means?"
"Ahahaha...good one, man..."
"Seriously. You don't know what it means, do you."
"...No..."
"Look, don't hurt yourself or anything. Stay here and try not to swallow your tongue or anything like that." Emil moved his way to a hill.
"Tell us if you see any movement," Lloyd called, moving over to Marta, who was welding the tank. "Hey, I suppose if you're helping us, you're not as mean as I thought." He grinned.
"I wouldn't say I'm mean. I just get hired to do mean things."
"Yeah, but you like it."
"Well, I think it's important to enjoy what you do, y'know?"
Lloyd pondered this for a moment. "Soooo let's say I paid you to kill Sage. You would still do it, right? Even though you're supposed to be helping us?"
"...ok is this a hypothetical discussion, or should we start talking numbers?" Marta grinned, mainly just to mess with Lloyd.
"Yeah, I don't wanna talk about this anymore."
"Hey, Irving!" came the irritated Emil.
"What?"
"What the hell is my body still doing up here?"
"That's part of being dead, Castagnier! Your body doesn't really move around much anymore. Maybe you haven't fully grapsed that concept yet!" Emil looked like he was ready to kill something 60 times over.
"Ugh, ok let me rephrase that for you...why in the HELL haven't you buried me yet?"
"Buried? With what? All we have are pistols and rifles. What do you want me to do, shoot you a grave?"
"Well then how about shipping me back home? You know, let the loved ones pay a little respect!"
"Well, Castagnier, here's your girlfriend. Lualdi, as one of Emil's loved ones, would you like to pay your respects?"
Marta, who had turned to listen to the conversation, nonchalantly turned back to the tank.
"That was a stirring eulogy. Rest in peace, good buddy!"
Emil was still looking at his dead body, when Lloyd and Genis came up to check on him. The body wasn't badly decomposed yet but, "I am not happy with this."
"I have an idea." Genis proposed.
No response.
"I HAVE AN IDEA!"
"We heard you the first time, Sage, we were just ignoring you," Lloyd explained.
Genis ignored this. "Since you possessed that red dude, and took control of him, why don't you just possess your own body?" He seemed oddly proud of his idea.
Of course, nobody was impressed. "Oh, I see. So that way I would be living inside my own dead body?"
"Uh-huh."
"Unable to move, just, laying there, rotting in the sun for all eternity."
"Yes."
"...okay, Sage, I'll be sure to get right onto that..." Emil's tone went extremely off the sarcasm charts.
"...you're a mean ghost."
"Dude, you stink," Lloyd added, holding his nose.
"What?"
"Your body, it stinks."
"Irving, the first chance we get, you are going to bury my body."
"Quit your bitching, nothing's going to happen to it!"
"It's a freaking indignity! My body fought hard for this army, and it deserves to be laid to rest."
"Get over it!" Lloyd rolled his eyes. "You're already dead. What's the worst that could happen now?"
"Hey Castagnier! Look! Birds! ...why are they flying around in circles?"
"Oh dear god..." Emil hung his head low.
"Okay, I'll go again." Zelos nodded. "I spy something, that begins with..."
"Dirt," Sheena stated flatly.
"Dammit! How did you know?"
"Well, because you did rock last time. That's all that's out here, is rock and dirt."
"...yeah, this canyon sucks."
"How long do you figure until she fixes the tank?" Emil said to Lloyd.
"Not much longer, she said it's going pretty well. The gun's almost working, and then she'll get it moving again."
"Oh that's fantastic."
"Why would that upset you?"
"Because as soon as she gets the tank online, she's gonna use it against the Reds, and they're all gonna die."
"The Reds dying is a good thing."
"No, Irving, it's not a good thing. As soon as we beat the Reds, Marta is outta here. And I still haven't figured out a way to get that damn Centurion A.I. out of her head."
"A.I..."
"Shut up, Sage. ...and if I don't get it out before she leaves..."
"You won't ever find her again?" Lloyd finished.
"Right."
"So what're you gonna do?"
"I guess I'm gonna do the only thing that I can do. I have to warn the Reds before she fixes the tank." Emil hung his down a bit at the thought of helping the enemy.
"Wait, you're switching sides?"
"Sorry, dude, I don't have a choice."
"Castagnier, uh...what, what happens when the Reds out here, stop Lualdi, and then they come also with guns, and they find us?"
"I'll try to help you as best I can. Good luck you guys" Emil faded from sight.
"Does this mean I should try to kill Castagnier now?"
"I tell you what..." Lloyd sighed. "Kill me. I promise not to come back."
Genis picks his sniper rifle up and looks through the scope to see what's going on at the Red Base and notices a really attractive looking girl with pink armor and hair down by the Warthog.
"Holy crap! HEY IRVING CHECK THIS OUT! THEY GOT A GIRL!"
"No. And I already know. That maroon chick. She's been here for years." Lloyd stated.
"No, no, no! Not her. Different girl. She's cute as hell man. She's a 10 out of 10!"
"What?"
Genis gave him a look through the scope. "Look, pink armor and hair on the right side by the jeep. You see her?"
"Holy crap man you're right. She's a 10! Why don't we have a girl like that?"
"Umm... you guys do realize that I'm a chick, right? And that I'm standin' right down here?" Marta called up to them, who apparently had heard their conversation. Lloyd and Genis looked down to see Marta with her arms crossed, looking right back up at them.
"Yeah Lualdi, but when we say a girl, we mean a girl-girl." That was probably not the best thing for him to say, cause at that instant, Marta pulled her handgun out and aimed at Lloyd, dead between the eyes.
"And what the hell does THAT mean?" Lloyd instantly regretted saying that, and so him and Genis did the one thing a man will do when they piss off a woman and don't want to deal with the consequences...
"NOTHING!" They hid back up on the cliff out of eyesight of Marta. Lloyd then thought of something.
"Wait a second. If she heard that, do you think she heard Castagnier's secret plan to warn the Reds about her?"
"I don't know... but I think I know how to find out."
He looks back down to see Marta welding again. "Hey Lualdi, umm... you didn't hear anything we were talking about earlier like... oh I don't know... Castagnier's secret plan to tell the Reds that you were fixing the tank or something right?" Marta turned to look at the idiot for a second before going back to her work.
"I don't think she knows...Unless she can read minds... She can't read minds, can she? ...Can you hear what I'm thinking?" Lloyd facepalmed himself.
"I'm gonna guess...nothing"
"Hey."
"Yeah?" Zelos looked up at Sheena from his laying-down position.
"You ever wonder why we're here?"
"No. I never, ever wonder why we're here. Semper Fi, bitch."
As Emil drifted into Aska, Aska made a monotonous gurgling noise.
"Huh? What's wrong with Aska?" Sheena asked.
"I don't care," Zelos said flatly.
"Hey, Aska, are you alright?
"Aye, muchachos, necesité darle... un aviso... "(Guys, I need to give you...a...warning...) Emil grabbed at his throat. "¿Qué? ¿Por qué estoy el hablar en español? ¡Yo no puedo hablar español!" (What? Why am I speaking Spanish? I don't know Spanish!)
"Um...sure."
"¡No, no, escucha mé! ¡La bruja teva a matar! ¡Ella está travajando en la tanque!"(No, listen to me! The mean woman is going to kill you! She is fixing the tank!)
"Ah, crap..." Lloyd sighed. "Sage, she's almost done fixing Luna. I better get ahold of Castagnier and tell him whats happening."
Genis started jumping up and down like an excited kid. "Oh oh oh! Irving please, Irving, Irving, Irving, Irving, Irving, please-"
"Yes, you can be the one who radios Castagnier."
"Thanks man!" Genis activated his radio earpiece. "Calling Castagnier. Come in Castagnier. This is your close and personal friend, Private Tenebrae."
"Tenebrae? You said your name was Sage."
"I never said that, you guys did!"
"What? Why didn't you correct us, then?"
"Because I didn't want to be difficult!" Genis went back to the radio. "Come in Private Castagnier. Soldier unit Lualdi almost has the armor vehicle situation rectified. Okay. We require verification of your... mission...ness." Genis cleared his throat. "How is your progression?"
"¡Sage! ¡Nadie aquí está escuchando mí! ¡No mas puedo hablar español!" (Sage! No one here is listening to me! I can only speak Spanish for some reason!)
Genis's face showed a mix of surprise and confusion, but he quickly reached the conclusion that this coversation wasn't going anywhere. "...yeah he says he wants to talk to you..."
Then came Luna. "Thank you for activating the M808V Main Battle Tank."
"Shit," Lloyd cursed under his breath, "We got trouble."
"Un tanque..." Emil signaled with his hands that what he was talking about was massive in size, "Grrrande!"
"Hey, I think if you're gonna live in this country, you should speak the language," Zelos stated, rolling his eyes.
"What country?" Sheena leaned her head back. "We're in the middle of nowhere."
"What're you, a Communist?"
That's when the missle decided to make friends with the base, causing, of course, a blast of a nice size.
With a "boom" and everything.
"SON OF A BITCH!"
"SON OF A BITCH!"
"¡MADRE DE DIOS!"
"Okay, I'm getting really sick of asking people what's going on through that sniper rifle," Lloyd complained, placed next to Genis on the top of the ledge of Emil's body.
The other guy pouted. "Castagnier is getting mad at us."
"Well that's a nice change of pace."
Knowing an attack was coming, Kratos hopped into the jeep. "Fujibayashi! I'm coming around in the Warthog. Get ready to take the gunner position when I come by!"
"Roger that!" Sheena saluted.
"I'll uh...I'll stay here."
"Yeah." Sheena glared. "Stay here and guard the cement ramp. It's vital to our success."
As promised, Kratos skidded around to the front of the base and stopped long enough to let the raven-haired private jump off the base roof and land herself onto the back of jeep.
"Alright, I'm on board!"
"Alright, here's the plan-"
Of course, missile met jeep before any words could come from Kratos's mouth. "JUNEBUG!"
Now that the Warthog was broken, again, the two Reds made a break for it to the secured ramp.
"Wow, back so soon?" Zelos cracked a smile. "You guys win the war already?"
"Yeah...Sarge, did you want to finish telling us the plan now?"
"If we survive this..." Kratos's eyes were filled with nothing but pure evil, "I'm going to kill both of ya...slowly."
Zelos leaned towards Sheena, whispering, "Uh, hey, Sheena? By the way, the ramp is secure."
There was another shot from the blast-happy Luna.
Presea came up from the ramp on the side of the base from the inside. "Hey, what're you guys doin' up here?"
"The chick in the black armor's back!" Zelos called.
"What chick, the one that stuck the grenade to my head?"
Sheena confirmed this with a nod.
"Oh...I've been waiting for this!" Presea walked over to the edge of the base. "Hey bitch!" She darted to the edge, sliding a grenade from her pocket. "Remember me? I saved something for ya!"
She threw a plasma grenade more then halfway across the canyon, with everyone following the arc in the air with their eyes.
"Man that girl's got a really good throwing arm." Lloyd was impressed.
Unfortunately for Marta, it managed to go right through the canopy for the tank and land right on her chest.
"Ah crap!"
Back at the edge of the base, Presea felt like a god, and decided to brag."HAHA! Three points, you dirty whore!"
The grenade succesfully caused a blast, disabling the tank and mortally wounding Marta.
"¡Dios mío, NO!" Emil skidded from the base top to his injured ex. "¡Marta, Marta!"
"Uh..." Zelos's brow quivered. "Where's Aska going?"
"To fight the enemy, head on, in hand to hand combat. Mano e mano. What a brave little compadre." Kratos saluted the charging Emil. "Aska, I never understood a word you said. But I do know one thing. You hated Wilder, and that's the most important thing there is. Adios, amigo... adios."
"Shouldn't we help him?" Sheena asked.
"Nah..." Kratos smirked. "That'd just ruin the moment."
Panting, Emil managed to make it down the hill to the bleeding Marta to pop the tank's hatch open and pull her out.
"Emil, is that you...? It's..." Marta coughed. "It's gone, Emil. The Centurion is gone..." With the last of her strength, she moved her hair to show her forehead, which was missing the black symbol it previously had. "...thank you..." Her eyes shut for one last time.
"Crap. Emil is gonna be pissed, and now he's got a body to kick our ass. C'mon, Sage, let's get back to base."
"I told you already, my name isn't Sage." His voice lowered to a menacing tone. "My name... is Tenebrae."
That wraps up the first season. So what did you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Comments? You know the drill. Review it and leave me your thoughts. Depending on how I feel, I might do the second season too. Thanks for reading you guys!
