Emerald Storms
Silverium
Squaresoft not Silver except for Trianon!
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Squall pressed his back against the wall and slid along the darkened hallway. The layout of the factory was thus:
Eight stories high with the first three being split horizontally in half. Half of the first three floors being one large room, the other half segmented into offices and supply areas. The next 5 floors were mechanical rooms, offices, conference rooms, closets (massive ones at that) and one floor was dedicated to dormitories for men who had to stay all night working on a project. Squall had entered on the sixth floor. They had no idea where Selphie was inside the factory.
He would climb to the eighth floor and work his way down, that was the plan. He had a small communications link wired up through his suit with a small padded microphone hanging down in front of his mouth. As he opened the door to the staircase Squall felt his heart slam into his chest. Bullets were being fired in the floors below. He didn't have time anymore.
Running up with his shoes pounding on each stair aside from those he simply leapt over, Squall found himself racing through the eighth floor, ripping locks off doors with the tools Xu had provide him with. He gained a new respect for Selphie who could disarm any lock within seconds of her finding it. For him it took time, he needed to figure it out, and then gently ease the door down after he had stripped it of its hinges, should that be the method he took.
The eighth floor was empty and he returned to the seventh, going through the offices, now also looking for clues as to who these men were. There was nothing here that helped him, and as he skipped past open doorways, shadows playing across his face, Squall advanced on the sixth floor.
Zell came in on the sixth floor as well, but his route would be very different. He went down to the third floor offices and would drop all the way to the first floor before coming back up to check the fourth and fifth. The small blonde ducked in and out of hallways, examining the rooms at a distance before daring to go up close. He couldn't fight bullets, and to gain his offensive zone he'd have to be really close.
The hallways were eerie, just like Balamb's at the dead of night when no one was awake to be moving around them. He didn't like it like this, the whole idea of stealth missions…he liked it up front where he could see everything, when nothing was hidden. Zell sighed under his breath and then froze as a gunshot rang out below his feet. Firing on either first or second floor. Kerei and Michelle? Both had guns with them, now everyone carried some sort of handgun and all had basic training using them as well. Zell felt his back pocket and sure enough the handgun was there. He'd never use it; of all of them he had been the worst at firing. It was a regulation now that all SeeDs should have uniform weapons, and it wasn't a bad idea either.
Zell moved faster, propelled by the idea that at any moment a flood of men could come out looking for who was infiltrating their base. More shots exploded from the silence and Zell winced as he heard a scream to go with them.
He kicked the door open to an office and looked around. Neat, orderly, nothing of any use at all.
"Hey kid what the hell are you doing here?"
Zell whirled around, berry-blue eyes wide. A man in an expensive suit faced him with suspicion planted all over his face. Another bullet streaked through the air below them and the man's face had turned to shock.
"What the hell?!" He cried,
Zell lunged forward and planted both fists into the man's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Jumping back for a split second the SeeD whirled around and kicked his target in the face with a solid blow. The man crumpled down, unconscious, and Zell dragged him behind the desk, shutting the door as he left. If it weren't obvious to everyone in the building by now then Zell would have to assume no one was home.
"There!"
Kerei dropped to one knee and braced herself as Michelle jumped over her and let fly another dagger. The man dropped down, wounded in the leg and when he did it was Michelle who somersaulted away and let Kerei take the man down. Leaving him unconscious Michelle ripped her dagger out of his leg, grimacing at the smell of blood and the sucking sound the weapon came free with.
They shot to their feet and ran down the hallway and turning sharply to enter the main holding bay of the building. It was silent and pitch black but all at once a light bulb hanging from the ceiling all the way down to a short twelve feet above the ground, flared to life and Kerei heard the distinct click of a gun behind her.
Michelle whirled around and hissed, Kerei seconds behind her and with a cry of her own. Where had all these men come from?
Michelle, probably the second-best shooter next to the sniper's had her gun in hand within seconds. Kerei felt despair run up her sides, for there was no way they could win against all those men. Michelle fired. She hit the light bulb. They were in darkness.
"Let's go!" she hissed.
Gunshots lit the air in stray intervals as the two SeeDs darted away for a recovery. They exited through the opposite hallway, only too aware that the men after them would know exactly where they were going. Kerei paused and tugged on Michelle's sleeve as much as she could,
"Let's use the guns to get them out,"
"We'll run out of bullets!"
"Damn…we need to get them out of the building," Kerei despaired,
"Why not bring the snipers in?" Michelle asked, "We never expected this many men to be in here, we need the snipers,"
"There they are!"
"Duck!"
Kerei and Michelle crouched down in a doorway, Michelle narrowing her eyes to try and make out the dark figures while Kerei hastily messaged Irvine, all but begging him to get down there. As one of the men took a chance and fired at them the sparks lit up the hallway for a brief instant. In that time Michelle could clearly see three men. A bullet in the abdomen took one down, a knife in lung took another, and Kerei soon was in the middle of the three men slamming the last into the wall.
"One wounded, one unconscious, and one soon to be dead," Michelle noted as she added it to the list of casualties they kept up,
"We can't save him?" Kerei asked hopefully, crouched by the rasping man,
"Kerei, we've killed soldiers before," Michelle looked at her and Kerei was relieved to se the eyes were glassy, "We have to leave him,"
"You're right," Kerei managed, "He would have left us."
They stood up and walked down the hallway quietly. Now ever on the lookout for who might be trying to hunt them.
"Right, we'll be there," Irvine replied softly to Kerei's little voice, "Elvelyn, they need us inside."
Trianon nodded and stood up before dropping like a rock, "People moving out," she hissed.
They peered over the edge for a second, locking on to four targets. Working their guns they snipers looked back over and then carefully took aim. Two soldiers went down flawlessly, alerting the other two of their sudden danger. Irvine locked on to his next target and he and Trianon finished the job smoothly.
"Let's go," Trianon uncoiled her rope, the same she had used on the other side of the building and secured it to the lock on a vent opening.
Grabbing a hold of the coil she still had she ran across the rooftop and launched herself off the top, making Irvine choke and look down.
There was a stream of blue hair as Trianon let herself freefall down the majority of the building before she tightened the rope and skidded down at a sharp angle. When she hit the ground he curled himself over the ledge and slid down, not half as fast, but a great deal more careful.
Trianon was already running ahead, going for the main entrance. A man ran out as if to meet her, opening fire on the lithe body as it lunged towards him. Irvine had never seen a woman move so fast as Trianon as she streamed past the man, only to turn and kick him in the man, spin him to face her and disable his trachea. With him down she darted off to the side and hand over hand began to climb the wall. Irvine realized she still had to find Squall. In that case, he would be the one going to rescue Kerei and Michelle.
Whisking away from his spider-like companion, Irvine disappeared into the darkness.
Selphie sat wearily in the chair. They had tortured her twice now, since she had refused to tell them the pieces of Aries' engine. Burn marks crossed her cheeks, lacerations scathed her arms with angry red streaks, and bruises turned her pale skin into a mosaic of colours.
Her entire body was wreathed in pain but the lights in her eyes still shone. She wasn't about to give up, if they killed her, Aries would go with her.
Her constant companion was ever with her as well. He never left her side, teasing her with glimpses of freedom as he moved her from room to room, offering her positions of power, money, and everlasting happiness if she just told them the parts they needed and how to put it together. Selphie resisted. The only thing she wanted was Aries and Balamb.
He stalked into the room looking annoyed that day. Selphie tilted her head back and shut her eyes, not wanting to know why he was so upset.
"It seems your friends managed to find us," He growled,
Selphie smiled broadly, earning her a slap across the face. It made her smile more and he cursed at her.
"Don't get your hopes up Princess, we're getting you out of here, we can assemble the Aries elsewhere,"
Selphie looked at him and stubbornly locked her limbs, refusing to let him move her with ease. He didn't comment as he undid her bonds, knowing she was far to weak to really need them anyhow, and then he picked her up, her green dress falling around her tiny arms and legs. She was far too light now, malnourished, dehydrated, at the best times her words made little to no sense.
They were on the fourth floor and the man carried Selphie out of the office they had transformed into their torture chamber and out into the hallway. Two men guarding the door mutely followed as Selphie's captor carried her to the stairs. They would go to the sixth floor and escape from the side route. A car had been called seconds before, arranging a hasty pick up.
"Sir, what if it doesn't make it on time?" voiced one of the guards,
"Then you guard us until it arrives," The raven-haired man retorted, "she is key to our obtaining Aries or building our own replica."
"Sir Morgan, our men are being slaughtered down there!" a breathless guard caught up with them, "Two women are down there, and there must be more inside,"
Morgan glared down at the man, "Do I care? This one," he lifted Selphie up a little more, "is the only important person here right now. We need to get her out."
"Sir!"
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Review Please.
Author's Corner: check bottom for a poll
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Shortey: Perfect descriptions, eh? Nice! Thank you! Seifer going to the darkside would be bad, luckily he has Quistis to drag him back. The GF Psyche was a sudden creation, and she worked out well. Trianon…heh…I'm giving out little hints as we go along.
Emrelle Elendal: Thank you for the good luck, and I'm glad the fic helped cheer you up. Ewww though, Tidus? No, no, noooo! Squall is SO much better. Trianon and Irvine, eh? You…might be on to something wink
Juilet3: I love posting cliff-hangers over weekends…it makes me feel evil. Killing Squall this early on would just be terrible though…I'd lose all my fans. I need to do some fanart for this fic, I did for my last, never scanned it though ; So you've seen Noir? SUCH a good series.
Selphie108: Now that I'm back from California we get regular updates.
Cwolf2: Quistis and Seifer moments will be more frequent in the future.
Frost: Inspiration, it's slow but it comes steadily enough
Mintakal: Squall in leather is a good thing. I think I'll start a poll of who thinks Trianon is good or not.
Black-Lily1704: You read the other fic? Wonderful! I'm glad you liked it. I don't think a fic can be too good if you don't explore the characters as much as possible. I have a plot twist in the making, people won't like it too much though.
T.a.i.n.e.Dreamz: Seify-weify? … … … … … … BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Fireflydreams: Even Trianon makes mistakes, sadly.
Aramaring: Torturing is bad, I know…don't worry though, Squall's there for the rescue.
Well that's it for now! Thanks for reviewing!
Silverium.
Poll Time:
Is Trianon Evil? Or Good?