Tour de Force
by Soul Hunter
Part 2
Cid grimaces. For the most part of his latter years, he had been the proud Headmaster of the world renowned Balamb Garden, made famous by its crack team of elite mercenary force who have proven the academy's mettle for training highly disciplined and competent operatives in the field of combat warfare and military espionage. He knows of this reputation to be a mere by-product of his real purpose of producing the warriors that will eventually save the world from the tyrannical wrath of a nihilistic sorceress. Nevertheless, even after that mission of destiny has been fulfilled, the continued operation of Garden was deemed necessary, he thought, if only to preserve this world they fought so hard to save.
However, there are some missions that do elicit a negative sentiment for the longsuffering Headmaster. The world still continues on business as usual. And by saying, the meaning is carried that the two most powerful states on the planet, namely Esthar and Galbadia, are carrying on with such doubtful undertakings as developing weapons of destruction in an age when he deemed them totally unnecessary. As far as he knows, the said countries are presently thriving under a mutual pact that for the time being, does away with futile and pointless wars. At least with President Laguna Loire and General Richard Caraway on the helms, the global populace will be assured of peace as long as they reign in power.
Still, there are clandestine events that even the sovereign rulers of nations have little powers to prevent. He sighs with the realization that one of the evils of this budding philosophy called democracy is the assurance that everybody has a say on matters. Even those people who have rather deviant ideas of maintaining peace as they see it through their short-sighted eyes. Politicians who believe that might is right and will make others right as well still abound.
And he knows this is why conglomerates such as the technological giant Jerico & Indiana are still sanctioned to manufacture war machines, like the one Garden is tasked right now to salvage from the hands of a baneful eco-terrorist group. Its like taking a fish out of the fire and putting it in a frying pan, he ponders.
Yet, why does he continue to ensure the continued operation of an institution that grows men and women adept in the violent art of combat? Why does he insist on even this additional duty of interim SeeD dispatcher? He asks, knowing full well that the answer is as easy as deciding to apply toxic substance to kill the weeds in a potentially healthy garden.
Traversing this line of thought, he turns around to give his attention back to Ulyard Earl Kipman, president and acting CEO of Jerico & Indiana.
"No, I haven't heard from my operatives since they embarked on the mission a week ago, Mr. Kipman. Why? Is there anything amiss?"
"Amiss? That's the understatement of the year." Kipman retorted. "Esthar's War Council have been making a lot of noise lately regarding a possible replacement for me, Headmaster Kramer. And frankly speaking, I don't favor the idea of losing my job and the opportunity to assume permanent chairmanship of this proud company."
"The War Council?" Cid comes back quizzically. "Are you saying that President Loire himself commissioned the development of this... machine?" He furthers while scratching his head in confusion. The Headmaster can't avoid recalling the startling moment when he learned of the failed assassination attempt on the late Galbadian President Vinzer Deling, staged by the controversial Squad Pi Alpha. Relief did set upon him later on by the discovery that Laguna Loire was not responsible for the said covert op. And this is the same knowledge that brings him right now to a suspicious inkling that he is again on the verge of coming upon another clandestine political transaction. Cid wasn't even half-surprised by Kipman's rejoinder.
"... Let's just say that this is something that had to bypass the usual channels." the chairman answers with a stoic look in his face. "And for that matter, this does not concern you anymore, Mr. Kramer. Right now, the only thing you should worry about is the successful completion of this service for your client."
The Headmaster felt a tempting call to just blow the lid on everybody, if he is not being held back by the client privilege of secrecy that -- though he knows to be a tool effectively used by some to get their way with Garden negotiations -- he still strictly abides to with sacred conviction. On the side, Cid starts pondering on effecting some amendments to Balamb Garden's constitution.
But for now, he has no choice but to comply. The amendment can come right after the completion of this mission. For now, he had to content himself with his duty of quelling the worries of his client.
"Do not concern yourself too much with the progression of this task, Mr. Kipman. I assure you, I have sent my best men on the field."
"You don't happen to mean this group of SeeDs that you're so proud of, do you Headmaster? You know, the six that supposedly saved the world awhile back."
Cid pauses for a moment, unable to avoid wondering about the sudden fame the Fated Children have amassed for themselves. "If it's gonna make you feel better, yes, I am referring to them."
"Good, good. I feel better already. Let me know when something comes up." The comm screen thus went blank. And for some reason, Cid felt a foreboding, unsure of whether to take Kipman's last remark as a sincere one or something with a dose of sarcasm in it. He doesn't know why, but he likewise can't avoid this sudden sense of discomfort as he deems it.
"Great... juuuust great!"
"Why? What's wrong this time, Zell?"
"My communicator's dead." Zell groans. "How's yours?"
Selphie stops for a moment, pulling back the inch-thick sleeve of her cold suit to expose the SeeD communicator on her wrist. Tapping it lightly a couple of times, her face likewise turns into an appalled frown upon realizing that it's also deactivated.
"Same here." she then confirms. "Funny both our communicators died at the same time. There's probably a source of interference nearby."
"What, like a relay station?" Zell snaps back, prior to bellowing out an exasperated sigh. "Oh man. Another communications station, another female field partner."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Just don't go getting injured on me, okay? You wouldn't want to see this dude undergoing the same shit twice."
"Well, not if you do a good job of watching over me..." she comes back, flashing a cute smile at her scowling teammate. Zell suddenly felt indifferent, for some reason that he's not aware of. But he then chose to ignore the fit and continued on his way with Selphie following suit.
Pretty soon, the pair of SeeDs made it to the top of a ledge overlooking a deep ravine. Catching his breath, Zell reaches into his backpack and pulls out a pair of digital binoculars. Adjusting the dial appropriately, the array of infrared zoom lens works in a series of rapid circuit switchings to separate low and high frequency photon waves, enabling the SeeD to determine telltale energy differences on the vast expanse of land at the bottom of the cliff.
He then fixes his attention on a wide patch of snow-covered earth, where the coldness of the snow didn't hide the pulsing heat traces emanating from an underground base beneath it.
"Got a shovel, Sef?"
"Ha-ha! Very funny." she mocks while reaching into her backpack to pull out a coil of decel cord. "Hurry up, we better make it down before dark."
"Why?" What's the big deal?" he asks while securing his decel cord in the harnesses attached to his body strap.
"Bug Bites turn into Ruby Dragons."
Zell stares blankly at his smirking teammate. "I have got to warn Irvine about you." Selphie giggled profusely as her irritated comrade jumps backward into the ravine.
The descent was long and grueling, and made especially arduous by the unabashed chortles of the native Trabian who was watching her teammate display gross inexperience in the difficult task of rapeling down the jagged vertical surface of the ice-covered cliff. At times, Selphie will allow Zell to get ahead of her for a few dozen yards before sliding down leisurely to overtake him.
"Need a ride, mister?"
"Shut up!" he would snap back at times. "Not everyone of us had your kind of training, so quit drumming it in okay?"
"You are such a spoil sport!" Selphie retorts as she plants sure feet on the otherwise slippery rocks littering the cliffside. "If you're having a hard time, just do what I'm doing."
"I don't know how to do it, dammit!" Zell yells back exasperatedly. However, his less that cautious reaction caused the brash SeeD to lose his footing. An abrupt slip of the feet sent Zell sliding uncontrollably down the gorge. He struggles to regain a grip on the cord but the extremely low temperatures had provided a serious decrease on its coefficient of friction, rendering the effort futile for the embattled SeeD.
"Oh shoot!" Acting swiftly, Selphie pushes hard against the rockface to initiate a highspeed slide in hopes that she reaches the plummeting Zell before the unwound decel cord breaks under the momentum of his fall. It took but a few seconds for her to come within reach of Zell, who was by that time already alternating between upright and lateral positions, further aggravating the loss of control.
"Damn! At this rate he will only pull me with him if I go for the quick grab!" she assesses when she pulled alongside him. But then the alarmed SeeD spots the smoke coming out from the main harness on Zell's bodystrap, a sign that the decel cord is starting to shred because of the improper position of his speedy fall.
Realizing that she has no other choice, Selphie immediately goes for Zell's harness but missed on the first try. Subsequent attempts still netted her nothing, as the now alarmed mercenary spots the ground hastily speeding up to meet them.
"Now or never!!!" She hollers while going for another grab. It missed again.
She then felt powerful hands slap a tight grip on her extended forearm. Amidst the struggle, Zell managed to reach out to her as well, prompting Selphie to lock the roller on her own main harness. Smelling the fumes coming from her cord, she holds her breath, awaiting grimly for either their fall to slow down or feel the rocky earth hit their bodies.
They felt an impact, which gave way just as abruptly. But that encounter with a frozen rock shrub effectively decelerated their fall, enabling the two to use their feet in ultimately halting their deathly descent. Gasping rapidly, Selphie quickly pulled Zell close to her when they reached a full stop.
"Th-Thanks, Sef..." he breathes, prior to a surprise moment when he turned towards her. Their faces separated by less than an inch of space, Zell and Selphie became held in a trance as their eyes locked on each other.
A loud pop suddenly rings out. When Zell looks about, he saw the rock beside him smoldering intensely. Another pop sounded causing another protruding frozen granite to explode.
"Shit! Freakin' sniper lasers! They spotted us!"
"Down, Zell! Now!" Selphie hollers just as another thin bolt of light sliced a neat cut in the cliff's surface. Frantically, the two SeeDs renewed their dangerous rapelling, all the while weaving their paths in hopes of avoiding the lethal laser fire. Selphie screams in pain when one bolt grazed her left thigh!
"ARRGGHHHH!!!"
"Selphie, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah..." she stammers, starting to feel dizzy as an effect of the laser strike. "But I don't think I can take one more of that!"
"We better jump now!" he exclaims. "We're sitting ducks trying to move this slow!"
"What? But we're still too high up!" she objects. But after another pang of sharp pain from her bleeding leg, Selphie ultimately consents to the desperate measure. "O... Okay, I'm right behind you!"
Selphie watches as Zell grunts hard in a sudden tug to snap the decel cord holding him aloft. He then plummets in a free fall before being swallowed in a thick fog that suddenly formed a few hundred feet below them. She then braces herself, then casts a Fire spell to severe her line.
- end of part 2 -