Tour de Force
by Soul Hunter
Part 5
The quiet mind of a man is a powerful force to reckon with. The silence heralds nothing, hints at nothing, and echoes nothing. No one can see it coming, no one can predict its approach. It ambushes silently, exhibiting unparalleled stealth, yet always pounces effectively. Death is a sudden and blinking experience merciful to the one who fears pain. Yet still, there is death.
On the other hand, the quiet mind of a man neglectful of his duties brings death unto himself. Take for example a sentry, high in competence and advanced in technology. He could see everything coming from a mile away. He has all the tools and equipment with which to accomplish such a measly goal. Yet, the silence of a man's mind isolated by a lazy eye brings all for naught. If he meets death, it will be his undoing.
-- Soul Hunter's collection of random thoughts (unpublished)
"Whu... wha?"
"KARAD, YOU STUPID OAF!!! We're already under attack and you still do nothing but to sleep in your watch! I shall have your head for this!!!"
"Whu... huh? Holy crap!!!" The person assigned to monitor duty blurts out frenziedly as he returns to his post to see the fearful forms of two mysterious creatures outside the main access gate. Spewing forth infernal Hellfire from his hideous mouth, Ifrit unrelentingly batters the outside wall with his mighty flames. Providing aid beside him is the majestic figure of the winged king, Bahamut, likewise unloading heavy blasts of solar-based energy from his gaping jaws.
"Monsters! We're under attack by monsters!!!"
"Don't just sit there screaming like a yellow-bellied Moomba, you twit!" Motumba hollers to his incompetent monitor sentry. "Activate the lasers and destroy those beasts!"
"Uh... At once, sir!"
Outside, two smirking faces watch as the pair of Guardian Forces continue their onslaught on the enemy stronghold. Zell and Selphie had previously agreed to throw all caution out the window in their endeavor to break into the terrorists' underground base. Deeming it the quickest way, the SeeDs chose the mighty solar-based powers of Ifrit and Bahamut to expedite the task of breaking down the front fortification.
They were on the verge of success when Selphie's expression transformed from jubilant to grim upon spotting the emergence of a half dozen turrets with the same laser guns that attacked them the day previous.
"Zell, the GFs are in danger!" She hollers to the martial artist who likewise saw the impending back attack.
"Damn! He exclaims while trying to think of a way to protect their Guardians. "Wish we have Quezacotl with us. Why does Squall always have him junctioned, anyway?"
"Let's think about that later." Selphie quips back while falling in a brief meditation.
Responding to her summons, a pseudo-comet suddenly appears from thin air and assumes the form of a dimensional portal, whence a fluid, snaking form subsequently starts to ooze out. Slithering ominously over the laser turrets, the elongated spirit glows brightly, transforming into the shape of the stalwart Water Guardian, Leviathan. Soaring into the air, the mystical sea serpent leaves a vertical residue of rocks and debris that collected themselves into a tall cliff where, perching momentarily on top of it, Leviathan explodes into a torrent of violently gushing water. It mercilessly pummels the mechanical miscreants, bridging segregated circuits and rendering safety insulations for naught, causing the laser cannons to collapse due to severe short-circuiting and effectively neutralizing the threat they pose.
The breakdown of the laser guns was quickly followed by a loud explosion that completely destroyed the gates. Inside, a large battalion of terrorists had already assembled. Responding to the call of their battalion commander, the fearless and resolute mercenaries promptly aimed their guns toward the opening to the hallway that leads up to the main gate, intent into blasting whoever or whatever emerges from it into kingdom come.
His face stern as a legendary warrior, the commander begins to holler his commands.
"Ready!"
Subtle tremblings start to shake the place. The brave warriors steel themselves.
"Aim!"
Guns start cocking, followed by muzzles rearing their fearful snouts in the direction of the hallway. They are ready for anything that comes their way.
But not this.
"RUN!!!" screams the battalion commander upon setting eyes on the attacking forms of Ifrit and Bahamut. In less than a second, the front hallway was emptied of terrorists just as the two Guardian Forces began to disappear, revealing Zell and Selphie who were running right behind them.
"Ready-Aim-Run? What kind of a command is that?" A smirking Zell exclaims.
"Heh, fun stuff." Selphie replies. "Come on, we gotta get to the hangar before more of those creeps arrive."
"Oh, you mean more of them?" he snaps, pointing to another platoon who had just emerged from the oversized freight elevator. It was too late to run, the two surmises. Assuming battle stances, Selphie and Zell begin to brace themselves in anticipation of a furious battle.
"Charge!!!" hollered the leader of the terrorists armed with heavy swords. Instinctively, the two SeeDs separate in an effort to provide room for them to move. Deeming it necessary to gain more freedom of movement, Selphie unchains the twin rods, holding one each in her two hands. Displaying a different facet of her mastery, the Trabian lass whirls the two halves gracefully, deftly swinging them to fend off the attack of two of the six opponents she's facing.
One unfortunate enemy made the mistake of attacking Zell alone without the assistance of the five others left in the sidelines. Quick, gloved hands move like lightning, slapping the incoming blade on its broadside to disrupt the ill-advised attack. The opponent then falls after a rapid-fire of left jabs to the face. Zell takes a moment to breathe, then turns his attention to the remaining five.
Only four remaining. Using the first two fallen thugs as leverage, Selphie launches into the air en route to a twisting backflip and landing right behind her adversaries. She then kicks one hard behind the knee, after which the SeeD connects the two rods back prior to a sweeping strike that connected on the heads of two more terrorists.
One to go. Ducking to avoid the terrorist's swing, Zell lunges upward, his right fist cutting a swath in the air as it makes its devastating path toward the enemy's lower abdominal area. Somehow, Zell's fist got snagged underneath its rib cage, with the punch momentum causing him to lift the terrorist over his head. Displaying no mercy, Zell then turns his arm to the other side and slams the enemy hard on the wrought iron scaffolding.
"Shoot! There's more coming!" Selphie shouts upon seeing another company fast approaching their position.
"Let them come." Zell curtly responds while reassuming a fighting stance. However, he was prevented to engage by his Trabian partner.
"No! We have no time for that!" she exclaims, casting a catastrophic Quake spell to knock the enemies off their feet. She then runs off to a dark corridor with Zell following suit.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the main monitor room of the underground base was anything but pleasant, as Magyar Mutomba watches from the monitor screens the two intruders successfully reach the outer access junction. He knows that a few more yards of progress will eventually lead them to the hangar.
"I'm getting sick of this!" the baneful terrorist leader blurts out. "I want to crush the heads of these two imbeciles."
"Uhh... with all due respect, sir, why not do it?" his aide braves an inquiry. "I mean, I've been noticing that you're keeping half of our forces at bay... I was just thinking maybe..."
"I can't." Magyar interrupts. "My hands are tied."
"Excuse me, sir?"
"I said..." he begins to blurt out. But the remark he was about to reiterate suddenly starts to reverberate repeatedly in his mind. Motumba focuses on the unfortunate fact that he does feel like his hands are tied. But for what reason? The whim of a contractor whom he deems as eccentric? Should he still abide to what he believes as a senseless call when he knows his forces are being trounced like amatuers as this very moment?
"No..." he mumbles to himself. Suddenly realizing that his pride is on the line, the vile terrorist leader decides to disregard the primary directive issued to him by his arcane employer. He then turns to the aide behind him.
"Order all our men to converge in the hangar. Tell them to make sure that those SeeDs never make it out of this base alive."
"Finally!" Zell blurts out as he and Selphie found their way to the end of the long hallway where they subdued a half-dozen more contingent of intercepting terrorists. Emerging in a vast chamber, the two warriors let out sighs of relief upon setting eyes to their objective: the prototype bomber dubbed VY-1.
"Let's go. You power up the engines while I head for the control room to open the hangar door." Selphie instructs her partner. However, they were prevented anew from their goal when another portal at the opposite side of the chamber starts to slide open, from where a large number of gunmen came running out with machine guns blazing.
"Shit!" Zell shouts out. "Selphie, take cover!"
Scampering frantically to shelter themselves from the lethal bombardment, the two SeeDs dove behind a stack of heavy crates bearing unfamiliar markings. For the next few seconds, the embattled pair was unable to do anything other than keep themselves from being hit by the storm of bullets.
In the midst of the barrage, Zell looks around to find that they're right underneath the control room. However, to his utter dismay, he also saw that the bomber itself was situated at least a few dozen yards away from the position they were forced into. Out of utter desperation, the martial artist came up with an incredibly risky plan that he knows will certainly expose himself to mortal danger.
"Selphie, I have an idea."
"What?"
"The control room is right above us. You can easily sneak into it. But we're pretty far off from the VY-1..." they were momentarily interrupted by a ricocheting bullet. "... Here's what we'll do. I'm gonna try and run to the bomber while you provide some cover for me."
"No way!" Selphie snaps back. "I can't let you do that, there are too many of them."
"We have no choice, Sef. That's the only way for us to escape." Zell argues.
"Why don't we just cast a couple of Meteors and Ultimas on them? Or summon some GFs?"
"We can't!" he disagrees. "It's too risky, we might end up damaging the VY-1."
"At least you don't have to go risking your life like that."
Zell momentarily stops talking, and stares into Selphie's eyes with a soft look in his face.
"No..." he comes back anew. "Our mission is to return that machine to Esthar. And that's exactly what we're going to do, whatever happens."
"But..." Selphie utters, fear evident in her verdant eyes. Though she feels a desparate want to just keep Zell beside her, she knows she can't do that. They are, after all, still on a mission, however much she wants to disregard its directives if only to keep him from this life-threatening attempt.
"No buts. I gotta go now. Cover me!" Zell declares before preparing for a quick dash. But then he felt soft hands land a tight grip on his own. Zell turns back to his worried teammate, who seemed reluctant in letting him go.
"Zell..." Selphie trails off. For one terrible instant, Zell felt like giving in.
And he did. The two SeeDs spent a few moments as their arms wrap around each other, their lips fusing together once more as if it's the only right thing to do. It took one Herculean effort for Zell to force himself to pry Selphie's arms off his neck.
He waits for a pause during which he expects the gunmen to reload their weapons. And at the first lapse, Zell instantly darts out from behind their hiding place while Selphie stands up to cast a succession of Quake and Tornado spells. Preoccupied by the powerful magic attacks, the enemies tried desperately to fire in the direction of the running Zell, but they were likewise unsuccessful in the midst of another tremor conjurement. Selphie breathes deeply when she saw Zell successfully boarding the VY-1. She then proceeds up the hatch leading to the control room.
"Rock 'n Roll!!!" the martial artist hollers upon hearing the immensely welcome humming sound of the bomber's rocket engine. Arming the 60mm machine guns, Zell starts firing toward the direction of the terrorists to provide cover for Selphie, who was then already running toward him after successfully entering the commands to open the hangar door.
Finally, the bullet proof canopy closes over the two warriors. With eager fingers, Zell presses the button to fire off the bomber's main thrusters amidst the hail of gunfire from the terrorists desperate on preventing the ship from taking off.
"They're doing a lot of damage to each other." Zell scoffs while watching how the bullets bounce back toward the terrorists.
"Just shut up and fly this thing, Mr. Pilot. Let's get the hell outta here." Selphie jokingly ordered.
"Yes ma'am." the brash SeeD retorts while pushing the throttle to maximum. Deafening roars coupled with superhot exhaust gases start to fill the hangar as the VY-1 begins to lift off, hurtling into the air at maximum power to ultimately leave a defeated terrorist army behind.
- end of part 5 -