Chapter VI; "The Tower That Ate People"
They stood in front of the Shin-Ra building, anticipating the monumental task that lay ahead of them. Squall looked up at the building, a massive shrine to capitalism gone insane. It was a temple of greed. And here they were, like three Greek heroes, ready to scale the dark tower to rescue the princess.
"Squall...," said Rinoa, placing her hand on his arm as he stepped forward. "Nobody has ever done anything like this before."
Squall looked back at her. "That's why it's going to work." he said, and clicked the safety off Griever.
Despite the long climb up the wire, they were still in perfect shape. Squall had climbed up through the debris with Rinoa on his back, without even a shortness of breath to show for it.
"Hey, you ougtha know this building well?" Zell asked.
"Yes." nodded Squall. "This was where they trained me. Every floor above the 60th have a special keycard system, for enhanced security."
"You know how to get us past that, right?" Rinoa asked.
Squall nodded.
"So what are we waiting for?!?" shouted Zell. "Let's bust on in there! LET'S GET IT ON!!!!"
As Zell charged for the building, Squall's fist shot out and grabbed him. Zell gagged on his collar as Squall yanked him back.
"Zell, when they were handing out the brains, did you happen to get yours on special discount?" Rinoa asked. "You run in there like that and they'll fill you so full of lead they could sharpen your head and use you as a pencil."
"Alright, alright." said Zell, sitting up and rubbing his head from where he had fallen. "So what do we do?"
"We find out where they're keeping Quistis, then we try to get there as quietly as possible." Rinoa suggested. "Squall, can you get us in there?"
Squall nodded and walked forward. Rinoa and Zell followed behind him, through the main doors of the lobby. The lobby didn't reflect the greed upon which Shin-Ra had built it's empire. It was pastels and marble everywhere. Some new stalls showed Mako-powered Shin-Ra vehicles that would be available on the market soon enough.
Squall walked over to the reception.
"Can I help you, sir?" the young girl with glasses a size too big for her head asked.
"Hello, we're from the Junon branch." Squall introduced. "We were briefed that Hojo's new sample had been captured, and we were ordered here to assist his research."
"Your names?" the receptionist asked.
"Huntington." said Squall. "Ethan Huntington. With me is Miss Raven Darkholme.." (He indicated Rinoa.) ".. and Doctor Hank McCoy." he pointed his thumb at Zell.
"I'm sorry, Mister Huntington." apologised the receptionist. "But I'm afraid I can't allow you up there."
"On whose orders?" Squall asked.
"Scarlet's."
"Scarlet is the one who sent for us." continued Squall.
"Even so, sir. I'm afraid I–"
"Listen kid." Squall snapped. "You sit here and be unhelpful, but we were ordered here A.S.A.P. and we don't have time to stand around while you try to make excuses for your incompetence. Now you let us through there, that's a direct order."
"Sir...I..."
Rinoa pulled out a black notebook and clicked the end of a pen. "What's your name, and the name of your supervisor?" she asked. The receptionist tried not to meet her stern gaze. "Your name, and your boss?" Rinoa repeated.
"It's okay, go right through." waved the receptionist.
"Thank you." said Rinoa, putting the book and pen away. The trio walked towards the elevator. Squall pressed the 'call' button and they waiting.
"Excellent work, Mister Huntington." Rinoa grinned, nudging him.
"Whatever."
The lift arrived and the doors opened with a "Bing!" noise. Just as Rinoa and Zell were about to step inside, Squall grabbed them and pulled them into the fire escape stairwell.
"What the heck are you doin'?" Zell asked as Squall sealed the door behind them.
"Anyone can tell we look suspicious." explained Squall. "We don't want anyone waiting for us when those lift doors open."
"Good point." remarked Rinoa, nodding to Zell.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Zell said, throwing up his hands. "You want us to run up 140 flights of stairs?!?"
"Yes." replied Squall, honestly. "It's not impossible. I had to do it all the time in training."
"How old were you?" Rinoa asked. Squall didn't reply and began to check his boots were tied properly. Satisfied, he placed on foot on the first step and looked up.
"Eight years old and onwards." he said, and took off, bounding up the steps two at a time. Rinoa and Zell exchanged glances and followed, running up behind him. They weren't able to keep his pace, but they were able to keep up.
"Question from the crowd?" Zell asked as he rounded the next flight.
"What is it?" Rinoa asked, just ahead of him.
"Why the heck are we doing this?"
"Quistis needs our help." Rinoa replied. "We can't just sit back and do nothing. Even if we haven't known her that long, we know that she's a Sorceress."
"I didn't even know Sorceresses existed." said Zell, now shoulder-to-shoulder with Rinoa and pulling ahead.
"This isn't a race, Zell." she said, and continued. "But nevertheless, Sorceress or no, we've still got to help her. Besides, she's Squall's friend."
"I didn't even think Squall had any friends." Zell joked.
"Whatever." came Squall's voice from the upper flight.
"I guess even Squall will fight for somebody else." mused Zell, pulling ahead of Rinoa. "I just didn't think it was very characteristic of him, that's all."
What do they want from me? Squall thought. Would they rather I just sat idly by and leave someone like Quistis in danger? If I done nothing they'd complain and force me to go help her. Now I'm voluntarily helping her, and they're still complaining about me. Give me a break.
"Hey Squall, if you feel tired and want to call a break, just say the word, man." Zell offered in a singsong tone.
"Keep going." Squall replied.
"Are we almost there?" Rinoa asked.
"Nope."
They ran on in silence for the next few minutes. Zell stopped, gasping for breath. Rinoa stopped beside him and shouted up for Squall. He skidded to a halt and started back down, having been two flights above them.
"What's the matter, Zell?" Rinoa asked, panting and smiling. "I thought you had SeeD training."
"I...did.." Zell gasped. "...but I dunno what they put in Squall's breakfast cereal....because we never had to do....anything....like this."
"What makes you think you and I had the same training?"
They ran on in silence for a few more minutes, before reaching the top floor. Squall moved silently close to the fire door and lifted the locking hatch. He turned back and nodded to the others, then slipped quietly out.
"Who's there?!" called the guard, sure he heard something.
There was no verbal reply. Squall Leonhart came running out of nowhere at the speed of light. As the guard fumbled with his aim, Squall leapt forward and hooked his leg around the guard's neck. One sickeningly loud snap! and it was over before it had begun.
Zell and Rinoa stepped out of the stairwell and walked over to Squall, who was fishing for the access card in the guard's uniform.
"Alright." said Zell. "So you didn't get the same training as me. And if you had to climb those stairs all the time, I'm glad I didn't!"
"Let's go." said Squall, walking over to the glass elevator. Rinoa and Zell followed, wondering what they would face on the upper levels.
***
As soon as the elevator doors opened, the trio rushed out and took cover behind a nearby wall. Squall stuck his head around the corner, taking in the view.
"The guards are moving around between those podiums." he whispered to the others. "Their line of site is blocked roughly every 2.7 seconds. That'll be our chance."
Rinoa poked her head around the corner. "Hmmm, looks tricky." she mused. "You want to try it solo, Squall?"
"Maybe if we take them all out at once." said Squall. "Three of them and three of us..."
Now Zell poked his head around the corner, giving them a comic appearance. "Looks risky." he stated.
Squall stuffed him and Rinoa back behind the wall.
"We'll go on my signal." he ordered.
"What's the signal?" Zell asked.
Squall burst into speed, dashing around the corner and running straight for the first guard, who fumbled with his gun. Squall dealt him a flying kick and sent him smacking into the wall.
"So that's the signal." said Zell.
Rinoa clipped her pinwheel and fired before the second guard could take Squall out. He nodded back in thanks. Sensing the odds were not in his favour, the final guard chose to flee, running right past Squall and Rinoa towards the elevator. He ran to fast too stop himself when Zell flipped round the corner and brought his foot crashing up into guard's face.
"Now this is fun, I like this." said Zell, grinning.
"Let's get a move on." said Squall. "Quistis doesn't have much time."
They nodded and moved towards the 61st floor.
***
Quistis leaned with her back against the Perspex safety glass of the tube that entombed her. Technicians buzzed about the lab, keeping a safe distance from Hojo, Gast and Odine, the unholy trinity, as they prepared for whatever experiments were in mind for the unfortunate Sorceress.
Quistis sighed internally, and noticed the light and shadow within the tube alter slightly. Someone was leaning against the glass behind her. She wanted to have her glasses back, now. They'd confiscated them, in case she broke them and used them to try to hurt anyone. Or herself.
"Feel like pleading for your life?" came Gast's voice from behind her, tinny over the static of the com-line between inside and outside the tube.
"Not as much as you feel like hearing it." Quistis replied coldly. She still sat with her back to him.
"How does it feel to be back in the Tube, Quistis?" he asked, deliberately trying to drag sinister memories to the surface. "Just like old times, huh?"
Quistis closed her eyes and wished them away, then opened them and smiled. "Yes, just like old times. How's your tennis arm, Doctor Gast?"
Gast picked idly at the scar on his arm, from where a young Quistis Trepe had stabbed him in the elbow with his pen during one of her many escape attempts.
"It's fine, Quistis."
"Remind me to fix that then, when I get out of here."
Gast turned away and walked back to one of the many arcane machines, where Hojo was preparing something. "Ah," he said. "You say, when you get out of here. We have taken every precaution, Miss Trepe, in ensuring that you are going to stay with us for a very long time."
Hojo nodded in agreement with Gast, but kept his eyes from Quistis. "We've been granted an extraordinary stroke of luck here." he said. "And we intend to take full advantage of it."
"Yes." said Odine, appearing from around a corner, numerous scientific calculations in hand. "For ze first time ve actually have two specimens with which to complete this experiment. Zere iz no time for us to lose."
Quistis sat bolt upright, then instantly faced the three doctors. "What do you mean second specimen?!" she demanded. "What are you talking about? You have another Sorceress here, what?" She smashed her fist against the unbreakable glass. "Tell me!"
Hojo ignored her. "We'll begin on schedule."
***
Squall stopped dead in his tracks as they entered the lounge. It was here, so many years ago that Adel had tried to rescue them. So, Hojo had tried to block his memories after all. Now they were starting to come back to him. Squall then began to wonder if he would get his memories back piece by piece or experience total recall. What if there were things he didn't want to remember?
"Quistis must be being held on one of the higher levels." Rinoa stated.
"We're going to need a keycard to get up there." said Squall. "My personal codes probably don't work, if Shin-Ra declared me legally dead a year ago, then they must have cancelled my codes too."
"Why did they think you were dead?" Rinoa asked. "Did something happen?"
"....I'll tell you about it later..." Squall trailed off.
Rinoa looked around.
"Where's Zell?" she asked.
Their spiky-haired tattooed compadre wasn't behind them.
Squall and Rinoa split up and began to look around the lounge.
Squall's first instinct had been to check at the cafeteria, specifically the hot-dog section. He didn't really think Zell would actually stop for a hot-dog in a mission like this. Maybe he was just relieved to not find them there.
Rinoa found him, talking to someone over by the lift doors. Zell smiled and thanked them, and took what looked like a piece of card from them.
"Hey Rinoa." he greeted as she walked up to him. "Good news, I know how to get us up to where they're keeping Quistis."
"How so?" Rinoa asked.
"Well, I was thinking about Squall's tactics. Misdirection over confrontation and all that, so I just bluffed to some engineer guy that I was part of Shin-Ra's maintenance division. He told me there was work to be done up on the 66th floor, and he gave me this card. Pretty smart, huh?"
"Pretty smart." agreed Squall, appearing from behind them. "The only problem is, how are we supposed to know what floor Quistis is being held on?"
"Ah." said Zell, with the tone of voice of someone who has just discovered they're using a 200ft long bungee cord on a 100ft jump. "Well, why don't we head up anyway?" he offered. "Keep looking around each floor 'til we find a clue? Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
They nodded and stepped into the elevator. As their doors hissed shut, the doors to the other elevator whooshed open, and out stepped Tseng, Reno, Fujin and Raijin.
"You're pretty tense tonight, mon capi-tan." said Rude, grinning. "Worried about something."
"Keep your mouths shut and your eyes and ears open." Tseng ordered.
"And just what are we supposed to be looking for?" asked Reno.
"Hojo and the others asked for extra security for their experiment tonight. And with what's happened with Sector 7 and all lately, well, let's just say we're to keep our eyes out for anything out of the ordinary or anyone who looks suspicious. Or familiar...."
"UNWORTHY ASSIGNMENT!" snapped Fujin, not allowing her mood to betray her composure. "GLORIFIED SECURITY GUARDS."
"Agreed, Fujin." said Tseng. "But we still need to do it. We've finally gotten Quistis back first the first time in about a decade. We can't let anyone take her again."
"WAHAHAHAAAA!" Raijin laughed. "Don't want anyone stealing away your lady, do ya?"
Fujin promptly kicked him hard in the back of the knee.
***
As soon as the doors opened, Squall, Rinoa and Zell instantly ran for cover behind the closest corner. They'd arrived on the 66th floor, in just enough time to see the high-ranking executives begin their meeting.
"Wow." Rinoa gasped. "In all my time in the rebels, I never thought I'd make it this far. I'm actually deep inside the enemy's HQ."
"We gotta find out what they're talking about." Zell suggested. "Anyone got any ideas?"
Squall looked up and down the hall, then noticed the bulge of a vent snaking along the roof. It went from above the door to the men's room right to where the Conference Room was. He grinned.
"It's starting to come back to me now." said Squall. "The vents in this building. If you know the system, they'll take you wherever you want to go."
"And you know them, don't you?" said Rinoa, smiling as she followed him into the bathroom. Squall stood on one of the bowls and unhooked the ventilation duct's grille from it's housing. Zell stood guard as Squall pulled himself up and helped Rinoa up after him. Finally, Zell followed them up, making sure to click the cubicle to "engaged" first.
They crawled quietly through the vents, heading to the light source of the Conference Room. Zell made sure to keep his eyes low and his head pointed away from Rinoa's posterior. Finally, they lay peering down into the Conference Room below.
"Well well, an all-star cast." mused Rinoa. "President Shin-Ra..."
"I owe him a murder." Zell growled.
"Palmer, head of the space program, a fat lump of nothing at all." Rinoa went on. "Heideggar, an ugly big piece of bad news in an even uglier green suit. Mayor Vinzer Deling, I know him. And Scarlet, head of Weapon Development."
Rinoa frowned as she looked at Scarlet. Here was a woman who's entire career was dedicated to finding new ways for people to kill each other, and for her and Shin-Ra to make money out of death. That's what it was. Here was Rinoa, trying to help make the world a better and safer place, and here was Scarlet, making money out of the deaths of people by weapons created and supplied by her.
"Scarlet's been with Shin-Ra for a while, now." said Rinoa. "She probably joined round about when we were kids. She's like a piece of the furniture here."
"What, you mean she's been with them for a long time?" Zell asked.
"No, I mean because there probably isn't a man in this building who hasn't stretched out on her."
Zell tried not to laugh. Squall just continued to look down and spy on the meeting.
"The damage estimates for Sector 7 are pretty steep." Heideggar reported. "What with all the factories and investments in that area, we're looking at a cost of repair of over 10 Billion Gil. I propose–"
"We're not rebuilding." President Shin-Ra cut him off, lighting up a fat cigar.
"Sir?" said Palmer, asking for explanation.
"What do you mean, Shin-Ra?" Deling demanded.
"We're going to leave Sector 7 as it is." Shin-Ra clarified. "Let it stand as an example to all who would dare oppose us. Whether you are some lowly slum rebel, a Sorceress or even a traitor of the Generation; NeXus project, let it be known that nobody messes with us. As my own son so eloquently put it; 'We don't give any shit, we don't take any shit. Shin-Ra is not in the shit business'."
There was a murmur of laughter from around the table, except from Deling.
"Why that!–" Zell almost blurted out before Rinoa clamped a hand firmly over his mouth and Squall "Sssh!"ed him.
"We need that money to re-start the Neo-Midgar plan." Shin-Ra continued.
"Then, that means, ....The Sorceresses?" Scarlet trailed off...
"Correct!" boomed Shin-Ra. "The Promised Land, and all it's power, the very power of the universe itself shall be ours. I want the Mako rates to be raised by 15% in every area."
Palmer clapped his hands together with glee. "Rate hike! Rate hike! And please include the Space Program as part of the budget, sir?!"
"No." said the President coldly, not looking at him. "Your Space Program is a joke, an embarrassment from a decade ago. The shuttle is in a state of decay, and you can't even get the co-operation of the only person in the world qualified to pilot it."
Palmer looked around nervously. "Um, he's not exactly eager...and threat of force doesn't seem to work against him..."
"You don't have a good excuse, Palmer, so don't bother coming up with a bad one." said Scarlet, cutting him off to the amusement of the other executives.
"Heideggar and Scarlet will divide two thirds of the extra income from the rate increase." Shin-Ra explained his plan. "The rest will go towards the Turks and SeeD, for their part in our plan will be crucial. Two members of the Generation; NeXus project have already proved to be a waste to us. Leonhart is dead, turning traitor before he went, and our 'prize student' Almasy has defected, of all things!"
Zell noticed both Squall and Rinoa instantly reacted to the word "Almasy", but said nothing.
"The Turks are more than capable of handling any given situation that presents itself." stated Scarlet, proudly. "And Mister President, please remember that it was my idea to recruit members from SeeD straight into the Turks."
Shin-Ra nodded as he took a long drag on the cigar. Duly noted.
"What about the people of this city." said Deling, speaking quietly, keeping his eyes low, away from everyone. "Indeed, the people of this very planet. Don't the people have a right to know?"
Heideggar laughed out loud. "How did you even get this job? The people will know what we want them to know."
"Heideggar is right." agreed Shin-Ra. "The ignorant citizens won't lose confidence. They'll trust Shin-Ra, Inc. even more."
Heidegger laughed again. "Ha ha ha! After all, we're the ones who saved Sector 7 from the Midgar Owls and rescued the entire city from ALL the heartless murdering rebel groups!"
"Would the world judge me harshly if I jumped down there and kicked his fat ass through the wall?" Zell whispered to Rinoa.
"No, but Shin-Ra Security would make you regret it for the rest of your life." Rinoa replied. "Both seconds of it."
They looked down again, at the sound of the Conference Room doors opening again. In strolled Hojo, grinning like a devil in a lab coat. Squall blinked in recognition. This was the devil of a scientist responsible for the mind-scan that had robbed Squall of his childhood memories. Rinoa shuddered. There was something about this thin, sinister man that sent a chill snaking through the bones of her spine. Even Zell was a little put off by his presence.
"Damn!" he hissed. "That's Hojo! Ten to one, he's the dude who's got Quistis. Five to one, what he's got planned for her ain't no picnic in the park."
"Then shut up, maybe he'll say where Quistis is." said Squall.
"Hojo." said Shin-Ra. "How's the experiment coming?"
"All is proceeding well." Hojo reported. "The second Sorceress has presented no trouble, and kept sedated in proper fashion. I must really commend SeeD on the ease of success with her capture. And the Turks timing in finally recapturing Quistis Trepe. Now we finally have two Sorceresses to begin the experiment."
"Second Sorceress?!?" Zell echoed. "They have someone other than Quistis? Who could he be taking about?"
"Dunno." said Squall, shrugging. "They couldn't have captured Adel, and she isn't a Sorceress anymore. She gave her power to Quistis and became mortal so she could live..."
"You've had no problems with her?" Scarlet asked.
"None at all. Odine's cages keep her and Trepe's powers rendered impotent." said Hojo, smiling with crocodile teeth. "In fact, the most I've had from her is dirty looks at finally seeing me again. Far too polite to resort to language or threats."
"When will the experiment be initiated?" Heideggar asked.
"As soon as I receive the Committee's approval, of course."
"Very well." said Shin-Ra, stubbing the cigar out. "Begin the transfer. We've waited this long, now that we have the opportunity, there's no sense in waiting any longer."
Hojo nodded, smiled, sniggered as if trying to hide a private joke, and left.
"The meeting is concluded." said the President, standing up. "That's all gentlemen, thank you. Thank you, gentlemen, that's all."
The executives stood and began to return to their respective departments, except for Scarlet, who paused briefly and stared up at the vent. Zell, Squall and Rinoa stared right back, the light from the Conference Room throwing shadows of the grille against their faces, illuminating them in a criss-cross manner. Although their eyes met, due to the scientific principles of bright lights in front of looking into a dark area, Scarlet couldn't see them, but all she had to go on was a strange feeling in her gut.
She just as quickly shrugged it off and returned to her business on other floors.
"What now?" Zell asked.
"I suggest we follow Hojo." said Rinoa.
"His lab is on the 67th floor." said Squall, another of his memories returning. "I know the way, come on."
Zell and Rinoa nodded, and followed him as they all crawled as quietly as possible through the vent.
***
"So, that was the Hojo I've heard so much about." mused Zell as the trio pulled themselves up a vertical shaft.
"Yeah." said Rinoa, briefly glancing down to make sure Zell's eyes were pointed in any direction other than upwards. "He's in charge of Shin-Ra's Science Division."
"I wouldn't call it science..." Squall said quietly.
Hojo passed quietly through the halls of floor 67, humming and thinking quietly to himself like a man strolling by the duck pond in a park on Sunday. As soon as the door to his lab slid shut neatly behind him, the hallway was filled with a peaceful silence. Until...
Several dents began to bulge out of nowhere on a vent plating, until a muffled voice could be heard. A new dent appearing with each word and the voice becoming clearer. "Get-Out-Of-My-WAY!!!" At that last word the plating finally flew out of it's housing, revealing the heavily booted of Zell Dincht, who dropped down neatly into the hallway. He held out his arms to catch Rinoa, only Squall leaped down, clear away from him. Rinoa let herself down gently and looked around.
"Wow, we made it this far." she said. "Luck's certainly smiling on us, tonight."
"Let's go." said Squall, and made for the lab door.
As soon as they entered, the three of them ducked for cover behind a stack of crates. There were a few Shin-Ra guards and many technicians all over the room, that was filled with tubes and samples and all manner of scientific devices. And in the centre of it all, Hojo, Gast and Odine.
"Holy Schla-moly!" Zell whispered to Squall. "It's the three unwise men. What are they up to."
Squall peeked through a gap in the crates. "I can't see very much." he reported. "There's one sentry on the left, two on the right. They're armed with five-five-sixers, and pineapple fragmentation grenades."
"Pretty funky stuff." said Zell. "Not even the President gets that kinda security. Whatever they're guarding has gotta be worth something big to them."
"I can't see what it is." said Squall. He squinted at the glass tube Hojo and Gast were standing in front of. All he could make out was a dark, black and violet shape. It seemed to be moving, but the distorted light against the tube and all the obstructions prevented him from being able to identify it.
"Well, whatever's good for them has to be bad for us." said Zell, making the logical assumption. "I'd suggest we find out what it is."
Squall nodded. "Just give it a minute. It's a bit crowded, the three of us could never take this room, no matter what we do."
Their patience was rewarded momentarily. Gast shouted out orders to the guards and technicians, who promptly cleared the room. Gast, himself, along with Odine and Hojo began to walk toward the lift for the upper floor. As the others went up, Hojo stopped and turned, and began to walk back towards the tube.
"Idiots." Squall, Rinoa and Zell heard him say, as Hojo flicked a switch to reverse the sleeping gas inside the tube. "She has to be conscious or it won't work otherwise."
Satisfied, Hojo left and walked towards the lift. The trio emerged and began to walk towards the large tube, curiosity driving them toward the shape that had puzzled them s shortly ago.
"Oh my!" gasped Rinoa. "It's a woman! They're keeping a person held here!"
They rushed over to the tube and looked inside at the person lying on the floor. It was indeed a woman, with long jet-black hair that flowed neatly down to her waist. She wore a long dark purple gown, and her skin was pale like God's only dove.
"Hey, she looks a little like Rinoa..." Zell observed, but to Squall she was much more familiar than that.
Rinoa looked at Squall as he squinted, trying to remember who she was.
"I know her..." he said. "But from where?"
Suddenly, she began to stir, Hojo's sleeping gas fully dissipated. She sat up, pressing her hand to her forehead, trying to shake off the groggy feeling, her head fuzzy from all the sedation Hojo had put her through. She blinked, trying to clear her eyes of the blur. As the images sharpened into focus, she stared at the three strangers outside the tube. No, wait! Not strangers, not strangers at all. The girl in blue, she didn't recognise, but the other two, the boys.
By the breath of Hyne, it was miracle!
"Squall!" the woman yelled out suddenly, startling them. "Zell! How did you get here?! I've been looking for you so hard! Where are Seifer, Selphie and Irvine?"
Who? Zell wondered, not recalling any of the names. What in the name of Zeus's butthole is going on?
"Squall, Quistis, Zell." the woman continued. "Finally found you. All grown so much...and become so strong...I have waited for this day to come. And also feared this day would come. Is today a joyous day? Or and odious day? Where is Ellone!? Where is Adel?!"
"Hey, is this 20 Questions?" Zell blurted out. "This is definitely rating a 9.0 on my Weird Shit-O-Meter."
The woman turned her gaze to Squall, who was staring at her intently.
"Squall knows who I am." she said, staring back. "Look at me, Squall. You know who I am, look at my eyes, the recognition, the memory is there, in my eyes."
Squall stared hard, squinting and trying to prise the memory free from the vaults of his mind.
"Who is she, Squall?" Rinoa asked, confused.
Squall's brow furrowed, and finally the wave of recognition washed over him. The woman, the Sorceress from his dream, the one who was with Adel and had stood up to Hojo. Yes, he knew her now. But it was more than that. She had told him to remember her eyes, and yes he did sense the presence of memories there. Memories from long before the dream...
Squall went from a look of concentration to a mixture of recognition and confusion. "E-...Edea?"
Before any of them could utter another world, the top of the tube that Edea was being held in slid open, and the floor began to raise, lifting her towards the upper floor and stealing her away from the trio.
"Dammit!" shouted Zell, pounding on the unbreakable glass.
"It took her upstairs!" said Rinoa. "Quick! There's another lift over there!"
***
"We will began in exactly 45 seconds!" announced Gast. The 68th floor was cleared of all unnecessary personnel, leaving only the three scientists to conduct the experiment. Quistis leaned against the safety glass of her tube, trying to see what they were doing. She heard a buzzing noise, and the floor in the tube next to her opened, revealing a second floor underneath that rose up. There was someone standing there, a woman with long dark hair wearing a violet/black garment. There was a buzzing in Quistis' head as she recognised instantly what she was. Another Sorceress. But not just any other Sorceress, Quistis recognised her from letters and pictures at home. It was her foster mother Adel's sister; Sorceress Edea.
"Edea?!" she gasped.
"Quistis!" Edea shouted. "We don't have much time! Whatever happens, you mustn't forget! Remember, do not forget who you are, who I am, and most importantly, where you, Squall and the others belong!"
"...Where we belong?" Quistis wondered.
"Activate!" ordered Hojo.
"Heads up!" came the voice of Zell. Hojo turned just in time to see the young fighter rushing towards him and bringing his feet up to deliver a crushing strike to the scientists jaw. Gast reached for the alarm switch, only for Rinoa's pinwheel to get there first, destroying it.
"You are too late!" shouted Odine, above the noise of the machines static hum building up and reaching a crescendo.
"Shut it down!" ordered Squall, as Quistis and Edea's stasis tubes began to fill with a brilliant light. "Shut it down now!" he yelled.
"It's too late!" said Gast. "Once the transfer has begun, nothing can stop it!"
Squall stood in front of the stasis tubes. The light that filled them began to shift from white to alternating colours. Quistis a pinkish-orange, Edea's a dark purple. As the light washed over them, casting strange shadows throughout the lab, they could see the dark light from Edea's tube began to mix with Quistis'.
"What the hell is going on?!?" Zell cried.
"They're draining Edea's power into Quistis!" Rinoa gasped.
"That's right!" shouted Hojo, getting back on his feet. "This will give us an even more powerful Sorceress in Quistis, one Shin-Ra can control with ease. And there's nothing you can do to stop it!"
Squall stepped up to the tubes, drew his gunblade and began to swipe at the wires and the locking mechanisms. Gases began to rain out of them, coating the lab in a fine mist. The doors to the tube, helpless against the loss of hydraulic pressure, slid open with ease.
"...never thought of that before..." Hojo trailed off.
Squall and Rinoa rushed into Quistis tube while Zell went to Edea's aid. A light steam emanated from their bodies, as static light crackled over them slightly.
"Can you stand?" Zell asked, helping Edea up, who clutched at her forehead, using Zell to balance. Squall and Rinoa helped Quistis up, who seemed to have taken whatever had been done to her better than Edea.
"I'm fine." she said. "I can walk."
"Call ze Turks!" Odine shouted. ""Don't let them escape with the samples!" He reached for the alarm switch, only for a combat knife to fly through the air and bury itself in his right hand. He howled in agony, turned and saw the thrower, Squall.
"We're getting out of here." he said. "For good, this time. Let's go!"
"Hey wait, what about them?!" asked Zell. "We can't just leave those three stooges there, they might alert security!"
Rinoa looked around the lab and found exactly what she was looking for. "I have an idea." she said.
***
"You're pure evil, anyone ever tell you that?!" said Zell, grinning as the five of them ran through the halls of the upper floors of the Shin-Ra tower. Quistis was limping slightly, but could easily keep up. Squall led the way, Rinoa just behind him. Zell was helping Edea, still dizzy from her ordeal.
"Let's take the lift this time." said Squall. "Edea and Quistis are in no condition to handle those stairs."
"Hell, I'm the picture of health and I still can't handle them." Zell joked. "They're not stairs, they're punishment."
"Squall." said Quistis, grabbing his arm. "I just wanted to thank you. Thank you all for coming to my aid. When Sector 7 fell, I feared the worst for you all. Thank you for coming to me. Thank you for surviving." Squall nodded, and looked around to make sure the coast was clear, and pressed the switch to open the lift doors. He ushered them inside and pressed the button for the ground floor. The lift began it's descent.
***
The mighty boots of Raijin of the Turks kicked the lab's door down. He stood back and allowed his superiors, Tseng, Reno and Rude to walk in first, He followed Fujin, and was just as amused as everyone else by the sight that greeted them.
Hojo was on a coat rack, held on by the collar of his white lab coat. Zell had been the one to put him there, but had pulled the coat's sleeves behind the scientists back and tied them there, so it gave him the appearance of a lunatic in a straight jacket. He didn't squirm or thrash about, just glared at the Turks angrily. "Get me down from here." he demanded coldly. Tseng was the only one not grinning, but it was probably due to some degree of effort on his part. He nodded to Fujin, who drew a blade from the folds of her black velvet jacket and cut Hojo down.
Reno and Rude stood in front of the stasis tube. Rude had his hands crossed, while Reno had his on his hips. Both were grinning at the sight of Gast and Odine, standing angrily in just their boxers, vests and socks.
Tseng stepped up and crossed his arms. "Teenagers." he muttered.
"I dunno." said Reno, permanently grinning. "Young people today."
***
Rinoa smiled, as she looked out through the glass lift shaft. She couldn't believe they'd made it. They'd snuck into the lion's den, stolen it's prized treasure and made it out without even alerting the beast. If Shin-Ra liked, they could consider it payback for Sector 7.
"Don't start smiling too much." she heard Squall say. "We're not out of the woods yet." They faced each other. "It's not that." she said. "I just can't believe we actually did it. If the Midgar Owls had just planned for months to try to pull something as daring as this off, we never could have done it." she blushed. "And, we owe it to you, Squall. We couldn't have done this without you."
"I was just doing my job." he said, not trying to be modest but trying to state facts. "Just following your orders."
"But you're not even being paid for this, silly." she giggled. "Don't worry, I won't tell people you did a selfless act out of the kindness of your heart. You've got a reputation to maintain, after all."
Squall tried to look somewhere else, but seeing as his gaze was only met by the smiles of Zell and Quistis, he just looked out the window instead, crossing his arms. Rinoa did the same.
"...Whatever." they said in unison. Squall looked at her as she smiled cheekily.
Suddenly, the lift ground to a stop. "The hell? The lift stuck!" said Zell, right before it jolted into life again, this time, moving upwards. "Hey, we're going up!" he said, still stating the obvious. Quistis tried pressing the buttons on the lift's control panel. "No response." she said. "Someone or something is controlling the lift!"
"Weapons!" Rinoa ordered, drawing her pinwheel. Squall drew his gunblade, and Zell got in a fighting stance. Quistis, relieved of her whip during her capture, charged up her power. Edea tried to concentrate hers, only to find with some degree of surprise that it wouldn't work.
The lift came to a stop on the 69th floor. As the lift doors slid open, they were greeted with the sight of a veritable army of SeeDs, Shin-Ra soldiers and the Turks at the front of the ensemble. The amount of guns and other assorted weapons pointed at them must have just barely scraped three figures.
"Sorry, wrong floor." Zell said to the militia in front of them, and reached for the button for the lift doors. He was stopped by the sound of dozens of triggers cocking. "Sheesh." he said as Tseng and the other Turks pulled them out and locked the handcuffs onto their writs. "We were only looking for the textiles and menswear departments."
***
They were led up the stairs, cloaked by a velvet rug into the President's Office on the 70th floor. Squall stood with handcuffs and legcuffs on, Zell and Rinoa on either side of him. Quistis and Edea were nowhere to be seen.
Shin-Ra security was scarce on this floor, but Squall and the others were in no position to escape. The Turks were here too, just to make doubly sure. They stood rigid, and saluted as the President entered.
"Stand and salute!" Tseng ordered. "President Numene Shin-Ra!"
"Helloooo, Numen." said Zell, casually. Everyone in the room glared at him.
"You have," Shin-Ra began, sitting down. "A very nasty habit of surviving." he sat forward, his hands crossed in front of his face. "Like a cockroach. You can try any method under the sun of trying to get rid of a cockroach. You can use bombs, poison, highly sophisticated weapons and equipment, but at the end of it all, the roach will survive and you will still have a roach problem. In the end, there really is only one effective way to rid yourself of a cockroach. And how is that, Tseng?"
"You step on it, sir."
"Correct." Sin-Ra continued. "You don't do anything fancy, you just put the thing out of your misery once and for all."
"We stopped your little plan!" Rinoa blurted out, interrupting him. Shin-Ra stared at her. "That's right." she said. "Whatever you were trying to do to Quistis and that other Sorceress, Edea, we stopped it. And we bust your scientists lab up pretty bad, so don't even think of trying it again."
Shin-Ra smiled. "Fighting words. I'd expect little less from a self-titled 'Resistance Fighter' anyway. A fighting woman, that you are." One of his aides then whispered something in his ear. "But what you don't seem to understand, is that the procedure was a complete success. The only thing you were successful in was giving Edea Kramer a slight dose of amnesia, a side-effect of the procedure."
"What the hell were you people doing?" Squall demanded.
Shin-Ra smiled. "Perhaps you are aware that Sorceresses are also known as 'Descendant's of Hyne'. The story was that a Supreme Being named Hyne divided up her power and gave pieces of it to an order of women who followed her. These women became the first Sorceresses. As the centuries drove on, Sorceresses either died or had children, spawning other Sorceresses. However, the stories go on to say that the Sorceresses numbers steadily decreased throughout the centuries. It was discovered that a Sorceress passes on her powers, either voluntarily in life or through death. This is why the numbers became so few, but the few Sorceresses that are around today are extremely powerful because of this. It was believed that Edea Kramer and Adel were the last two, that is, until we found Quistis."
What a lie. Squall thought. I know all about the other, the one you found at Nibelheim and tried to control.
Shin-Ra went on. "They say that Sorceresses knew the way to the fabled 'Promised Land'. It's been said the Promised Land is very fertile, and if that is so..."
"Then it's abundant with Mako." said Rinoa, finishing for him. "Correct." said the President. "Exactly. That is why our money sucking Mako Reactor is a necessity. The abundant Mako will just come out on its own. That is where Neo-Midgar will be built. Shin-Ra's new glory..."
"Where do the Sorceresses figure in all this?" Squall asked.
"The Promised Land is only one half of the project." said Shin-Ra. "You'll remember Hyne divided up her power, but now that there are few Sorceresses left, if we can control the process by which the powers are passed on, until only one remains, then we will have a new supreme being, one with the ultimate power of Hyne, that we can control."
"You're an idiot!" shouted Rinoa. "Control of power is an illusion, anyone knows that. You've already raped the world to it's limits, you can't rape the laws of nature too!"
"Says who?" said Shin-Ra. "Just watch. In the meantime, this meeting is adjourned."
The Turks began to take them away, back to the cells.
"Son of a bitch!" Zell shouted. "Just wait 'til I get outta here! I'm gonna make you swallow that cushy fat desk of yours!"
"If you need anything else...," said Shin-Ra, as the Turks led the two rebels and the traitor away. "...talk to my secretary."
***
As they were led down the halls to the prison cells on floor 68, Rinoa struggled as she saw Squall being taken in another direction. "Hey!" she shouted, breaking free of the guards. "Hey! Where are you taking him?! Squall? Squall!!!"
"I'll be alright." said Squall. "They probably just want to find out what I know. They won't kill me, not while they still think I could be useful to them. Don't worry."
"I am worried!" she said, looking up into his eyes.
"I'll come back." he said, as he was led away. "I made a promise, remember?"
Rinoa nodded sadly as Squall was led away from her, and she was taken to the cells.
Rinoa looked at the two rows of sealed doors. Two were occupied, presumably by Zell, Quistis and Edea. The door in the middle was wide open, awaiting her.
"Don't even think about escaping this time." Tseng said as he removed her restraints. "These cells were designed specially by Gast and Odine. They're Sorceress-proof. No magic will work inside them, and no matter what you try from the outside, there isn't a spell that can get through it. Not even a gunblade could put a hole in these cells."
"Then I'll be nice and safe in here won't I?" Rinoa said grimly as she stepped through and the door slid shut and locked behind her. "Cozy."
***
Squall tugged faintly at the restraints, which bound his wrists and ankles, testing them. They were pretty secure. He sighed internally and stared up at the ceiling, choiceless. The bright surgery lights in his face practically blinded him, though. He was lying, shirtless, spread-eagled on some time of mechanical slab, like a bed of some sort. He had never seen a device like this, but it was okay. He already knew what it was for. He could hear voices when he came in. Some Turks and some additional security measures. Hojo was nowhere to be seen, but Gast and Odine were here, dressed of course.
Eventually, the bed was raised from horizontal to vertical. Here we go, Squall thought.
The room seemed to buzz with the static hum of built-up electricity. "So, you're ready to begin?" said Gast, scratching his thin beard. "You were pretty daring coming this far, but you should have learned by now that nobody messes with the Shin-Ra. Everyone in Sector 7, and all your fellow resistance groups are living proof of that. Or should that be, 'dead proof'?"
"...Whatever." Squall dismissed.
"You're here because we're curious about your life story, Mister Leonhart." Gast explained. "You came to stop the transfer between Edea and Quistis awfully quickly. We're not fools, you must have known. Either someone at Shin-Ra was leaking to your little rebel group or you know more about Sorceresses and the Promised Land than you like to let on."
"I was just trying to help a friend." said Squall.
"An easy lie." said Odine from across the room. "But not a believable one."
"You're part of the Generation; NeXus project, Squall." Gast continued. "We trained you and the others to be the greatest soldiers in the world in every possible conceivable detail."
"Even if I am defective, right?" Squall said, spitting the word back at them.
"Not everyone can be like Seifer Almasy, Squall." said Gast. "You came pretty close, but alas, yes, you were defective."
"Quick reminder." said Squall. "Have you checked whose side Seifer is on lately?"
"Yes." said Odine. "What we are eager to find out iz why he has taken zis course."
"And to do that, we need to hear your story." said Gast. "So you're going to talk, and we're going to listen to all you have to say about SeeD, Sorceresses, The Promised Land, Generation; NeXus, Seifer Almasy and Nibelheim."
"Yeah, well you also trained me to be incredibly resistant to torture, so let's just get it over with and get this show on the road." said Squall, getting ready. "I don't have to tell you anything."
"Very well." said Gast. "You'll give in, I know it. But a word of warning, give in, and the girls life is mine."
Rinoa... Squall thought.
"Begin." ordered Gast, and Odine flicked the switch that sent waves of electricity rushing through the metal bed and Squall's body.
***
A long time later, Rinoa was kneeling in front of the cell door, trying to get at part of the locking mechanism with her fingers. She reached in and instantly drew her hand back, shocked and sucked the pain from her finger. What I need is a hairpin, she thought. I knew I should have worn my hair up.
Then she heard the screaming, echoing down the halls. The sound of someone in terrible pain.
"Squall..." she gasped.
"They're torturing him." she heard Quistis say. So, at least the cells weren't completely soundproofed. At least that was one thing. "Why?" Rinoa asked, sitting against the wall so as to be audible. "What are they looking from him?"
"I don't know." said Quistis. "Probably stuff about the Promised Land. Probably stuff about me and my kind." Rinoa scratched her head. "It's not fair what they've done to him. For most of his life, too. You and him, and Adel and the others."
"How do you know about that?" Quistis asked. "Oh, I guess he told you."
Something like that, thought Rinoa, remembering the dreams. "So what about you?" she asked. "What's your story?"
"A long one." Quistis replied. Rinoa thumped the heavy door. "Well, I'm not going anywhere, so I'm all ears. So, you're a Sorceress, huh? One of the last, I hear."
"Yeah." said Quistis, lying down on the thin mattress of her bunk. "Adel and Edea used to be the only two around. Adel, my mother, she used to have difficulty controlling her powers. Fortunately, she had Edea to show her the right path. But, Shin-Ra seemed to know about them, and the also knew about the legend of the Sorceresses, and if their power was brought back into one person again there could be a new Supreme Being. The legend says that that Supreme Being would open the doors to the Promised Land, a fertile and peaceful place."
"And that's why Shin-Ra want a Supreme Being they can control." Rinoa mused. "So, you're a Sorceress, you're supposed to know the way. Where is this Promised Land? And where did you figure in all of this?"
"I don't know where the Promised Land is." replied Quistis. "Only that someday, I'm supposed to find it. As for where I figure in all of this, well. I was born a Sorceress. I don't remember where it was that I was born, either. When I think really far back to my childhood, I remember a place with beautiful sunsets and red rocks. That's about it. I was a special child, seeing as my birth mother, whoever she was, wasn't a Sorceress, so I must have been some kind of fluke of nature. Or, just a very special person."
"And then Shin-Ra came and kidnapped you." said Rinoa, understanding. "They wanted you to be that Supreme Being they could control."
"They figured Adel and Edea would come to rescue me, then SeeD would capture them and transfer their powers into me. But Adel and Edea knew better than to let that happen. So, Adel came looking for the other children, and me and Edea stayed, wherever there was. I'm sure you know the story of Adel and I by now."
"Yeah." said Rinoa. "But what about Edea?"
"What about her?"
"Well, her powers went into you, right?" said Rinoa. "Shin-Ra's plan worked, you got Adel and Edea's powers, but you don't exactly look like a Supreme Being to me. No offence."
"None taken." said Quistis, shrugging her shoulders. She heard Rinoa pacing up and down her cell. "So that must mean..." "It must mean there's at least one more Sorceress out there." Quistis finished for her. "I honestly don't know if that's a good or a bad thing..."
Zell Dincht shadowboxed the walls, dancing and shifting his weight from foot to foot, throwing kicks and uppercuts into the air. He stopped. placed his hands on his hips and looked at the floor. "You've really landed yourself in a mess here, Zelly boy." he said to himself. "Well, we've been in trickier situations than this. Ummmm, wait, no we haven't. Well, if we manage to actually somehow get out of here, then if another bad thing happens, at least we will have been in trickier situations. If anyone asks, I'll cite this as precedent."
He leaned against the wall, slid down and sat on the floor. "Sheesh." he sighed. "I'm talking to myself now. Well, that's no bad thing, anything to worry about. It's when yourself starts talking back, then you really need to start worrying. Oh well, stuck in a Shin-Ra prison cell, right in heart of the enemy's HQ."
He looked over at the sleeping form of Edea and sighed. "Don't worry." he said. "If I think you're talking too much, I'll tell you, so just keep going." Edea remained sleeping soundly. "Rats. I'm gonna have a beard by the time I get out of here. You, Quistis and Rinoa too if it's the timeframe I've got in mind."
After some time, Edea finally stirred and awoke. "We are still imprisoned?" she asked, groggily.
"No, I just re-decorated my bedroom a little." Zell said sarcastically. "A little Spartan, sure, but Rinoa kept telling me that the grey look is IN, this summer."
Edea smiled. "Always so sarcastic." Zell looked at her. "What are you talking about? We never even met before tonight."
"On the contrary, Zell." said Edea, smiling faintly. "I've known you since you were born. I knew your mother and your father."
"I never saw you in Corel."
"Not surprising, I was never in Corel." Edea replied.
"So what are you talking about?" Zell asked, slightly frustrated.
"I wish I could tell you more." said Edea. "But my memory has become clouded since the transfer. There are things I know, and things I don't. I need time, time to re-build my memories. Then I can tell you all everything."
"Great." said Zell, and sighed again.
"In there." came a muffled voice from outside Rinoa's door. Rinoa turned and saw the door open, and Squall was dragged in by two SeeDs, his head hung low, and steam rising from his body.
"I feel terrible." he said, looking at her, and they dragged him over to the bed. "They didn't even ask me any questions."
The SeeDs said nothing and left, leaving the two alone. Rinoa immediately tried to attend to Squall. He looked like whatever he'd been through was rough. "Oh, Squall, what did they do to you?" she gasped.
"Nothing, just took a little lie down on Odine's and Gast's fancy bed, that's all." he replied, wearily.
"That'll be the electric torture, then." Rinoa heard Quistis say from behind the walls. Both Squall and Quistis seemed familiar with it.
"Are you feeling okay?" Rinoa asked.
"I'll be fine." Squall replied, already sitting up. "I just need to get my strength back, that's all."
"It must have been awful."
"It had to be me, otherwise they would have gone for you." Squall said, trying not to sound like an explanation. "I'll be okay. This is the kinda stuff I was trained for."
Rinoa sat down beside him. "It was still very brave. You're a good man, Squall." She slowly reached over to put her hand on his. At the instant of the touch, a slight wave of surprise and confusion splashed him in the face. His heart rate went up severely, and his eyes darted about nervously. Rinoa didn't see the reaction. Squall didn't know what to do in this kind of situation. His entire life had been learning about battle tactics, weapons training and psychological and genetic conditioning. How to act in something like this, he didn't know about. And it seemed to upset him far stronger than any torture could have done.
He stood up immediately. "We have to figure out a way out of here." he said, deliberately choosing to fall back on what he was trained for. Rinoa sighed, and nodded. "Well, good luck." she said. "I tried to get at the mechanism, but all I got was a shock."
"That's not the locking mechanism." Squall said, facing her. "That's a decoy device used to give anyone who thinks they're unlocking the door an electric shock. Blame whoever designed the cells for the twisted sense of humour."
Squall soon noticed Rinoa was staring at his naked chest. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the far wall, as she turned away and stifled a smile. "Speaking of the cells, Tseng said that not even a Sorceress or a gunblade could get through it."
Squall looked at the door, then lowered his gaze again. "He's right."
"So what can get through them?" Rinoa asked.
"I'm not sure. Probably an anti-tank incendiary mortar round." he replied.
"Marvellous." she said sarcastically and stretched out on the bunk. "I don't suppose Zell happens to have one in his pocket. Which still begs the question of just how we're going to get out of here."
"They have to feed us sometime." said Squall. "There are all sorts of opportunities. Quistis and I have escaped from here before. I can do it again, no problem. There's something we have to do before that, though."
"What's that?" Rinoa asked, as Squall went to sit down in the corner.
"Sleep." he said.
***
They didn't know how much later it was, but it was well into the late hours. The halls were dimmed with silence. Squall still sat there, his feet tucked up in front of his chest, hugging himself for warmth.
"...Squall?" Rinoa whispered. She sounded a little upset. "Are you awake, Squall?" Squall closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. Rinoa turned in the bunk and looked at him. She wiped her eyes free of tears and looked again. Seeing he was asleep, she sighed and lay back on the bunk again, turning away from him.
Squall opened his eyes again. After a while, the silence continued, unbroken, until it was that kind of silence you can only find deep in the night when sounds are non-existent, and even your own thoughts could drown them should they appear. The kind of silence that deafens you.
Soon, he heard Rinoa mumbling in her sleep. Squall listened and watched her.
".......ady....." came the timid sounds from her lips. ".....daddy.... don't go away from us..."
Squall looked away, wondering if he had the right to be hearing this or not. He closed his eyes tightly, but his ears listened regardless.
"......daddy, I'm still your child............................don't leave us........."
Squall opened his eyes again.
"......why did you have to die?...."
Squall stood up, carefully making sure to avoid making any sound. He stood over the bunk, and saw tears rimming Rinoa's sleeping eyes. Avoiding questioning himself, he lay down beside her on the bunk. But he could still hear her soft crying. After a while, he turned and lay on his side.
And held her.
And soon enough, the tears stopped, and Rinoa slept soundly and silently. And before long, so did Squall.
"Goodnight." he whispered, before drifting off...
* * * * * * * *
Authors Note; Chapter title comes from a song by Peter Gabriel, pretty much about a 21st century Tower of Babel. I chose it because the Shin-Ra building to me is like a kind of scientific Tower of Babel. Shin-Ra built it to reach God and in turn were destroyed, that's why I think the connection is so apt.