Tour de Force
by Soul Hunter
Part 11
Knees hurt...
Friggin' knees hurt!
He now regrets his neglectful attitude. Yes, they may have been successfully in duping the fearful Sorceress Adel into a trap that made possible a feat that most thought as impossible eighteen years ago. The tyrannical sorceress has been deposed, stripped of her sovereign seat and sent into an isolated exile amongst the stars, whence she escaped after seventeen years only to be destroyed in the hands of a group of youthful warriors bound for destiny.
The same warriors they labor so much to rescue at this very moment. Clutching his tormented knees, Kiros expends a second to regret his decision of not staying in shape under the false notion that his years of fighting have finally come to an end. He has never felt so worn down in his entire life. And it had to come at a time when he needs to desperately fight for the life of his best friend's son, among others. Now, Kiros finds himself fighting for his own life as well.
"KIROS, WATCH OUT!!!" a desperate holler thunders, followed by a loud clashing sound as Nida's katana blocks a deadly swing of a security droid intent on impaling the aging combatant with its dreadful sickle. Rolling himself to safety, Kiros watches as the droid turns to the embattled SeeD.
"Flare!" Nida shouts to call forth a powerful non-elemental solar attack, knocking the mechanized menace back to buy him precious seconds to regroup with his fallen partner. But as they gather themselves, the other droid starts to approach with pulses of destructive laser fire that hit the pair squarely. Only their Protect spells preserved Kiros and Nida from certain doom.
"I'm hurt bad..." Nida coughs out. "I don't know how long we can keep this up."
But Kiros seems to have ignored the SeeD's tormented wail. Glaring with furious eyes on the automaton, his vision suddenly blurs, with hues transforming from its natural state almost instantly into a gushing blood red shade.
"I've had enough of this!"
All of the sudden, the middle-aged warrior glows with ferocious radiance, the pain of his injuries combining with his rage to launch him into a violent and almost mindless assault. A flurry of cutting swings and stabbing lunges pummel the helpless droid with so much impunity that, by the time it was over, the enemy was instantly reduced to sparking scrap metal.
But Kiros was likewise weakened greatly by the desperation attack. Gasping hard for air, he looks up helplessly as the other droid prepares to plunge its razor-sharp scythe into his frail body. But then, deafening rapid-fire blasts reverberate and was followed by unrelenting slug strikes that perforated the body of the automaton. As it falls down to the steel floor, the two combatants turn around to the sight of a squad of brightly garbed super soldiers.
"Cyborg troops..." Kiros bellows in relief. "Thank goodness!" He then turns to the two figures leading their rescuers.
"Laguna, Ward, nice timing. Thanks, guys!"
"You look surprised, Kiros. Did you really think I'd let some bucket of bolts get one over my best friend?"
"President Loire, thanks!" Nida follows while shaking Laguna's hand.
"How did you manage to open the steel gates, Laguna?" Kiros asks.
"........" Ward gestures, then turns to the isolated hangar.
"What did he say?" the SeeD confusedly echoes.
"He said let's talk about that later. We still have a job to do." Laguna explains before turning to the cyborg squad.
"Stand back, all of you. We're going to try and use mining lasers to break this door open."
On his signal, the silent cyborgs fires a staggering barrage in an effort to destroy the seemingly invincible slab. The amount of energy they unleashed was tremendous; it would have been enough to light up a small town for a whole week. Close to a minute of time elapsed before the wailing laser bombardment ceases to allow them to see their progress.
"Dammit!" a frustrated Nida blurts out. "Even under Vit 0, it still won't budge! What do we do now?"
"Keep trying." Laguna grimly orders. "My son is inside that hellhole."
Zell has never felt helpless in his whole life. Here he is right now, so young yet renowned as one of the vaunted warriors who have nearly achieved mythical status through their fabulous exploits as Balamb Garden's foremost SeeDs. He has been training to be the finest hand-to-hand combatant since he was four years old. And as such, he can take on even an entire platoon of soldiers if he needs to.
And yet, he is helpless in front of a man who knew nothing in life but to sit behind his corporate post or at the head of a board meeting. A man who knows little, if any, of actual combat; a man who can't identify the difference between a flanking position and a flank of corned beef even if he tries. And yet, even when paired with his equally competent teammate Selphie, Zell stands before this man, helpless as a dead Red Bat.
"So who holds all the aces now?" Kipman sneers at the two SeeDs. "Who's got who beat? You can't even lift a finger to stop me." His thumb continues to float ever so closely over the button that possesses the power to send half a continent to the bottom of the ocean.
"Don't do it, Kipman..." the martial artist mutters steadily as if wary of startling the miscreant. "You really don't want to murder millions, do you?"
"No..." the grinning villain retorts. "Not really. But you have to understand, we are at war. And in a war, civilian casualties can never be avoided."
"We're not at war, Mr. Kipman!" Selphie exclaims vehemently. "You're delusional! Why would you want to carry on a conflict that has already been resolved a long time ago?"
"Why? You're asking me why? Let me tell you why, my pretty mercenary. Because of the primal reason why all of us do things without a single thought of who we might be running over. Because WE CAN!"
Zell grits his teeth. "You're one messed up dude, you know that?"
"Messed up? You should have told that to your precious ally, Laguna Loire. Esthar should never have chosen to lift the veil of isolation they've maintained over the years. If they had only stayed out of the picture, my efforts would have just been geared to secretly undermine Galbadia's sovereignty. That way, I wouldn't have to hurt your precious innocents. But no, he had to force my hand by coming into the open. He had to compel me to use his own resources that I've been amassing over these years to hurt him. And I will hurt him, and bring back the glory days of Dollet at the same time. Two birds with one stone."
"You mean, you've been plotting on world domination all this time?" Selphie quizzically returns.
"I was! But thanks to you, all I'm capable of doing now is fulfilling the goal my ancestors have set upon themselves to reach: destroy Esthar with one swift blow! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!!!"
"NOOOO!!!!!"
A loud crash suddenly resonates as the door comes bursting out to reveal the intruding pair of Xu and Iris. Acting with undivided resolve, the veteran SeeD repeatedly flicks her wrists to hurl a rain of shurikens toward Ulyard Kipman. Totally caught off-guard, the startled schemer was taken aback by sharp pain as a half-dozen throw blades plunge deep into his arms and shoulders. Completely surprised by the abrupt turn of events, Zell and Selphie could do nothing as they watch the pigtailed girl hurl one end of her tri-staff toward Kipman, hitting his right forearm in an oblique angle to knock the device off his hand.
"The transmitter!!!" Zell hollers. He didn't wait for anyone to react, deciding to take it upon himself as he dives headlong to the floor in an effort to prevent an impact that might jar the device to a detonation. Selphie, Iris and Xu look on in horror as the martial artist overshoots the falling transmitter, which bounced off his right arm before landing on the carpeted floor.
Frantically checking the condition of the device, Selphie's complexion turns pasty white upon looking at its LCD screen, which by now is displaying a series of numbers. The numbers are decrementing by the millisecond.
"My God, what have we done?" Iris fearfully blurts out. "We've just activated the bomb's timer!"
"More power! More! Set your blasters to maximum!!!"
Kiros looks on at Laguna, correctly surmising that his best friend has definitely lost the composure that has been inherent of him since the three of them met. As the president of the country they preserved from a sorceress' despotic rule prods the half-human, half-machine soldiers to give everything they have in bringing down the 20 ton metal doors, the presidential adviser and loyal confidante scowls in sympathy. Who can blame Laguna? The life of his one and only son hangs in the balance.
The sound of groaning steel starts to emanate in the midst of the shrill laser fire, giving fresh hope to the beleaguered sovereign.
"Alright, it's giving! Don't let up!"
Ward reflects the worried expression on Kiros' face as they look at each other. How much time to they have before radiation poisoning finally lays full siege on the people trapped inside?
"Nida, come in!"
"Nida here." he replies to Quistis' hail through his communicator. "Have anything good for us?"
A static groan emanates from the diminutive device. "On the contrary, I have some rather bad news. Zell and Selphie found the mastermind behind all this. In trying to apprehend him, the timer control of the bomb was accidentally activated. You now have a time bomb there, and the clock is ticking."
"What???" Nida hollers while giving that how-could-things-be-worse expression. "How much time do we have?"
"Less than five minutes..."
"Oh perfect!" The SeeD then breaks the bad news to Laguna. "We have to hurry. Quistis informed me that the bomb's timer has been activated. We have less than five minutes before all of this blows up."
Laguna's face hardens to a desperate grimace. They've been attacking those doors with everything they've got for the last half hour, with merely a small dent against its thick metal hide as the only thing thet can show for their efforts. Now, the clock is counting down. There's no way they can break through in time before everything within a one hundred mile radius gets instantly atomized.
But he's son is inside, helpless and unconscious. Most likely dying from the radioactive leak that sealed everything in a tight and unbreakable prison. Would he just give up on his son now?
He once again turns to the cyborg troops. "Continue attacking."
"Laguna... it's pointless." Kiros comes forward. "We have to get you out of here now."
"No. You, Ward and Nida, get out of here while you still can. I'm not leaving without them."
"But Laguna..."
"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT MY SON!!!"
Somehow, Kiros wasn't even half surprised. "Okay then. We're staying here with you."
A sharp contrast prevails at the other side of the stubborn steel barrier. With the silence being maintained by the thickness of the heavy shieldings, the only sound evident is the faint echos of regularly spaced tickings coming from the Gyro War detonator mechanism hidden underneath the VY-1 bomber's hull. The bodies of the denizen littering the floor seem so peaceful in their unconsciousness, bearing no awareness whatsoever of the blinding doom fast approaching. And with the party of rescuers outside effectively denied from gaining access, it does seem like the end of the line for Squall, Rinoa and Irvine.
A minute elapses, the stillness remains. But for every fraction of a second afterwards, telltale signs of movement begin to manifest from the figure garbed in heavenly blue. Fingers ringed with a shiny, silver bands twitch, one after the other. Elbows begin to bend, followed ultimately by the slightest undulation of raven-colored hair as Rinoa painfully comes back to the land of the living.
Her sight spins like a proverbial top, coupled by the crippling heat overwhelming her whole body. But still, she tries to get up even though the slightest vertical movement of her pale head causes her stomach to churn with devilish nausea. At one point, a viscous mass shoots up from inside her and spews out of her mouth, bringing forth new experiences in pain and torment. With legs wobbling and shaking, the obstinate SeeD struggles with all her might to bring herself up on her feet. Rinoa then labors to bellow a life-saving phrase.
"Ange..." she begins, as if feeling another vomiting spell. Still, she persists. "Angel... W..."
Rinoa then musters all her strength in one mighty whisper.
"Angel Wing...!"
And as countless times before, magnificent wings of spiritual origin unfolds from her back, bathing the surroundings with gloriously white brilliance. Rinoa lifts up, and up, as the manifestation of the sorceress embodiment once again unveils in indescribable glory.
With renewed strength, the young sorceress begins to concentrate while focusing her attention toward the steel door. Her eyes assume the piercing gaze of one who is eternal; her mind begins to call forth energies from beyond time.
Rinoa looks at the door, as if trying to physically penetrate through its wide dimension using only the dagger in her sight. As her concentration intensifies, small beads of scarlet liquid start to trickle down her temple. But still, the door won't give in. She concentrates even more, this time focusing all her mental faculties in one telepathic heave. The blood stops trickling from her temples, and starts gushing from her nose and ears. The pain is now unbearable, excruciating. Yet she perseveres.
The twenty ton steel door explodes with the fury of a thousand defeated essences, startling the ones who stand outside. They caught a brief glimpse of Rinoa before she once again collapses down to the floor.
Not wasting any time, Laguna immediately orders the quick evacuation of the casualties as he himself hoists Squall's limp body over his shoulders. "Hurry, get everyone out of here, on the double!"
"Quistis, I'm already by the VY-1. Now where's the bomb?" Nida calls out to the instructor.
"I... I don't know. Zell, Selphie, where's the bomb?"
At the other side of the world, four frantic SeeDs listen in to Quistis' adamant question. Selphie and Zell convened with each other briefly before coming back with a reply.
"We're not sure, Quisty. All we remember is there's nothing inside the bomber, so the bomb must be somewhere in theexterior of the ship." the Trabian lass speedily retorts.
Listening in, Nida consequently runs his fingers along the VY-1's underside, stopping abruptly upon feeling a distinct lump near the front. Using his katana, the SeeD pries open a small portal to reveal a spherical casing connected to a digital timer. It reads 2:21.
"We have very little time, guys and gals." Nida begins anew. "Now what do I do with this?"
Being the explosives expert, Iris Deen decides to take over the task of instructing Nida. "Nida, tell me what you see, in detail."
"There's a round casing here connected to a timer detonator by a single white, exposed wire. It's very simple, but it also looks incredibly unstable."
"Round?" Iris comes back? "Are you sure it's perfectly round?"
"Hold on..." Nida interrupts while examining the sphere more closely. "Um... it's got twelve flat sides surrounding something inside. A Dodecahedron. And each face has a thin filament at the center running out to converge into the white wire."
Iris shortly pauses to think. "Dodecahedron... filaments... single wire... bloody fusion configuration!"
"What do I do with this?!?" Nida frenziedly hollers when he saw the display showing a time of 1:19.
"Calm down. Okay, here's what you should do. Slowly, very slowly, turn the round casing around. All the way around."
"Copy..." Nida acknowledges, trying his best to keep his hands from shaking as they begin to rotate the spherical object. His sweat is already falling in huge beads, with his left eye blinking like mad when a drop of sweat was absorbed into it. "Okay, done. What's next?"
"What's next... what's next..." Iris frenetically ponders, the pressure of the moment rendering her unable to remember the next step.
"Fifty seconds! Come on!!!"
"Okay, okay! There has to be a small, sliced up cylinder at the other side. Open in and tell me what you see!"
"Uhh... uhh..." Nida stammers. "I see fifteen... no, sixteen very small switches. They are either colored red, green or blue, and they're set at different directions."
"Listen carefully. For all the blue switches occupying even positions, turn them to the other side. All green switches in the even position, do the same thing. But if there's a red switch to the right of either a green or a blue, don't touch the green or blue switches, then turn the red to the opposite."
"What?" a puzzled Nida shoots back.
"Just do it!!!"
"Okay! Even blue, turn... even green, turn... red, no turn... come on! Come on!!!" He glances briefly to the timer: 0:37. Working with trembling fingers, the embattled SeeD cusses unrelentingly while nervously flicking the switches according to what he thinks he remembers. Until finally, the switch panel abruptly glows with a yellow shine.
"Iris, I seem to have correctly switched them all, but the timer is still running!"
"RUN!!!"
"What? What about the..."
"I don't have time to explain. Just run!!!"
Nida quickly scampers toward the exit with the image of a timer bearing 0:06 lingering in his mind. He had barely gotten past the pulverized door when a strong shockwave sends him crashing against the opposite side of the corridor.
- to be concluded -