Chapter 3
loss of income, new found memories
"Damn. Without Billney, I can't get what I need. Being a thief ain't easy, an' without this city, I'm screwed," the thief told herself out loud. "Now how am I supposed to get food to Mom, Dad an' Gabriella? The police are on my back all the time, an' sending care packages through mail to Castrato were hell enough. I can't fail them." She was cut off from her thoughts when a loud voice rang out, "Aisha Carm, come quietly and nobody will get hurt!" Damn, police, Aisha thought. Time to run. She grabbed her crossbow, tied a rope to the arrow and started running.
"Halt!"
"Fat chance dingus!" Aisha called out. Almost there... close... now! She jumped onto a fire exit and started climbing quickly. She was reaching the top fast. But so were the police.
When she reached the top she looked around and spotted a narrow plank of wood fell from the building across from the one she was currently running on. Aisha made her way carefully across the plank then kicked it off the buildings. A loud clatter told that it had hit the ground.
"You give us no choice but to fire. FIRE!" Barrages of bullets broke pieces of wood and brick apart. Her hiding place wouldn't last forever. Wait until they're outta bullets, then run she reminded herself. When Aisha heard the clicking sound of empty magazine clips, she ran as fast as she could toward the end of the roof. "Try an' catch me now!" she yelled, then jumped off the side. She counted to three, then fired the crossbow. The arrow hit and embedded itself into a large tree. She fell about five more feet, then felt the rope tighten when it was stretched as far as it would go. Aisha then swung herself into the tree, loaded the crossbow, then fired at the police officers. They fell to the ground asleep.
"I'll have to thank the person who invented tranquilizer darts," she quipped to herself. "Time to get to Tarrato. Maybe Ischka has goods that I can snatch. The food's always good I hear, an' then I can stock up on some arrows," she planned. "After I grab some shuteye though." Aisha set off to Tarrato to find an inn. "I should have enough money, I stole 'bout 13 hundred gil." She was finally out of Billney. Tarrato wasn't too far, about a mile down the back roads. The back roads are definitely safe as there is no patrol, she thought to herself.
Dawn was setting in just as she entered Tarrato.
"This place is huge! How am I supposed to find a place to stay?" Aisha decided to ask for directions. "Ummm, excuse me sir? Can you tell me where I can find the inn?" she asked.
"Well, that's where I'm headed. You can come with me if you like." He eyed the crossbow suspiciously. Aisha noticed he was looking at it, then she said, "Ain't no such thing as too much protection. Came from Billney I did. Police are nuts there. Nearly killed me." Whoops! Nice move Aisha, she scolded herself. Instead of him running off as she had expected he laughed. "Maybe you can help me then. I'll explain at the inn." Aisha gave a puzzled look for a response, but followed him anyway.
"I'm Cid. What's your name?"
"Aisha Carm."
The inn that she was going to stay at was huge. A large fountain was stationed in the center of the lobby. A crystal angel holding a flute, and water pouring from it. The wings were spread out wide, every individual feather carved out of crystal was seen.
"This place must have amazing rooms!" she said excitedly.
"Yep. This place has the most comfortable beds," he replied. "There's also built in Jacuzzi's, and a satellite television. Don't worry 'bout payin'. You can rest in my room. I'm not gonna be usin' it tonight. Got important business to take care of tonight. Come on lets go," he beckoned for her to come forwards. Aisha looked back at the angel "I think I've seen that angel before somewhere, but I can't remember," she whispered to herself.
"What did ya say?" he asked.
"Nothin'," she told him.
When they had reached the room, they were pretty tired. It was on the top floor and Aisha refused to step into the elevator. ("I'm claustrophobic,")
"Cid is that you? Kate and I have been waiting for two hours and... who's that?"
"Sorry I'm late Emily, I was checking for security changes up there. This is Aisha Carm. I think she can be of some use to us before we get to Seldovia."
"Aisha?" A girl Aisha didn't know walked up to her from the bed. "Is that you?" she asked.
"Am I me? Yeah, last I checked. Why?"
"You don't remember me, do you. It's me. Kate. Kate Megido."
Emily and Cid looked back and forth between Kate and this other girl.
"The angel in the lobby. Don't you recognize it?" Kate asked Aisha. Aisha struggled to remember where she had seen it. Then she remembered. It was in a backyard. Kate's backyard.
"Kate?"
"Yeah it's me. You remember! We were in my back yard, and you fell out of the big tree. An ambulance came. But you had amnesia."
Now I remember, Aisha said to herself.
"Sorry to break this up, but I brought Aisha to help with our break in of Ischka. The weapons there will be perfect for the Night Hawks."
"Night Hawks? Are they? Are you guys?" Aisha rambled on.
"Yeah, we're part of the Night Hawks. Cid here is the leader," Emily explained. "We're gonna break into Ishcka Garden." Emily said.
"But security will be tight because of the graduation," Kate stated. "It's gonna be hard to get in and outta there without being noticed."
"Well, for the past few years I've been a thief, and I can get in an' outta places fast." She saw the looks on the faces of Cid, Kate, and Emily.
"So you're the thief who was runnin' around Billney taking things in front of soldiers!" Kate exclaimed.
"It was to help my family. I stole food and money and mailed them care packages to take care of them. They live over in Castrato."
"Alright, now I see why asking to bring you with us was a good idea. Aisha, will you join the Night Hawks? We don't care about your past, as long as you want to stop a war from starting up."
"I'll join! An' you don't hafta give me a weapon cause I got my crossbow. Anyway, I was planning on takin' some food with me.
When do we go?" Aisha said quickly.
"Tomorrow after you rest up a bit," Cid said sternly, looking Aisha in the eyes. "Tomorrow will be difficult, but we'll get through it. Then we'll get to Entauro Bay, and cross to Seldovia," he instructed.
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"Quickly, get everything ready. You! Where is the book?"
"Book?"
"The book with The Cards of Terra. If they're not here, the Mistress will not be happy."
"I found them!"
"Good. Now let's get moving!"
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The next morning, Aisha woke up grumpy and groggy(as usual) Kate and Emily had to drag her out of bed. Cid decided on getting ready, by a little bit of exercise.
Aisha grabbed her crossbow and said " I'm ready to go!"
"Good," Cid told them, "Aisha, because you're a very accomplished thief, we need you to get in first. Then you have to shutdown the security for us, so we can enter. Are you okay with that?" Cid explained.
"I thought it would be somethin' harder. In Billney, I once caused a major blackout."
"Aisha, be careful please," Kate warned, "don't get hurt."
"Yeah Aisha, be careful." Emily said.
As they left, Emily looked at the angel, and saw a faint glow from the flute. Her thoughts were jarred away when Kate tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to move along.
Cid, in the lead, said to Aisha, "once you shut down the security sensors, we'll come in and follow you to the Weapon Storage. Here's the map to find your way." Cid handed over a huge map to Aisha.
"Okay..." she said uncertainly, and took the map from him. She was nervous, as there were supposed to be many well trained guards, but she couldn't let them down. This was her first mission for the Night Hawks, and Aisha wanted to leave a good first impression.
Cid led the group through many streets and vendors. There were tons of people in Tarrato! At last, they had reached a large building that looked to be mostly composed of glass. Aisha whistled in awe as she stared at the building.
"We're not here to look, so get moving quickly." Cid said directly.
"Cid, there are a lot of people here. How is Aisha supposed to get passed them all?" Kate questioned.
"Dammit, I forgot. It's graduation night. Sorry," he said to Aisha.
"Sorry? I was hoping for a challenge. This is perfect!" she replied enthusiastically.
"There's something in there called a Voice Identification System. You'll need this audio recorder to tape some ones voice. Then play it at the V.I.S. It should open the doors." Cid said.
"Couldn't I just sneak in with someone?" Aisha asked Cid.
"No. You need to record the voice, because that's not the only door with a V.I.S," he said and pointed at the entrance, "And as an added precaution, Ischka hooked the V.I.S systems up to a central office somewhere in Tarrato, so we can't turn those off."
"How come we didn't go there?" Emily asked
"I'm not sure of the location, and we can't spend hours on a wild goose chase."
"Alright, Cid give me that trench coat over there so I can blend in a little, and hide my crossbow." Cid handed her the black trench coat he took off of a bench to Aisha.
"I'm goin' in." With that, she walked quickly towards the entrance. She saw a boy in a cadets uniform, and a boy in a robe beside him. The boy in the robe was about to walk through the doors, when the cadet pulled him back.
Now's my chance, Aisha thought to herself. She ran up behind the cadet and started recording when he stepped up to the V.I.S.
"Kiro Sagato Cadet number one six seven."
"Got it!" she whispered. Immediately the doors opened and she snuck in with him, before the doors closed. Aisha stepped behind a pillar, took out the map and checked it over.
"To get to weapon storage, I have to go up the left staircase, then go down the hall, and turn left at the first turn, then right, left twice, right, left three times... then I should be there. But to get a key card... hmmm," she said quietly. "God I'm hungry. Now, let's see where the kitchen is." She looked at the map once more, folded it up, and slunk through the shadows to get to the kitchens.
"So much food, so little time." Aisha quickly grabbed some cakes and pastries, then ran out of there unnoticed. She slunk through the shadows once more, and found a closet to hide in. She switched on a little light and read the map while eating her food.
"Great, the fuse box is right by the dormitories of the captain and lieutenants, and there has got to be guards there."
Nevertheless, Aisha had promised to do this, and do this she would.
"The Graduation Ceremony will begin in five minutes, so if you would please make your way to the Banquet Hall we at Ischka would be very appreciative." Aisha looked for the person who had said this, and there was a person who was most likely a lieutenant.
"Five minutes. No one should be in the halls, so I can definitely get to the fuse box," she said to herself.
She waited five extra minutes to make sure no one would be in the halls. Aisha opened the door quietly, stepped out, and looked left and right. No one was in the halls. She tiptoed past the Banquet Hall doors. Even though they were closed, she took no chances. She referred to the map, memorized the way, and jogged as quietly down the corridor as she could.
After two left turns she would be there. But as she turned the first corner, she saw two guards. She darted quickly around the corner, before one turned around. She could hear footsteps getting closer, (Damn, what am I gonna do?)
She got an idea. She had been fumbling around in her pocket, and found a tiny stone. The hallways were very large, so the little rock would make a reverberating sound. She took it out of her pocket, and threw it down the right of the fork in the corridor. Just as she had figured the guards went to inspect the sound, while she stood far back as so they wouldn't see her.
When they were far down enough, Aisha ran as fast as she could around the corner. She saw another fork, then turned left. As she looked ahead, she could see the fuse box. There it is.
As soon as she ripped out some wires, lights in the garden would go out, and Cid, Kate and Emily would meet her in the front. She would play the name at the V.I.S, and then they would go to the storage closet. Aisha stepped up to it and opened it up.
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"I wish I knew what was going on in there," Emily said.
"Don't worry, it hasn't even been twenty minutes yet,"Kate told her.
"The lights! They're off!" Cid exclaimed. "Lets go!"
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Aisha made her way quickly back to the entrance, the guards hadn't returned to their posts.
"Almost there." She was panting mostly from nervousness and excitement.
She could see Kate, Emily and Cid running towards the V.I.S. When she arrived at the entrance, she rewound the tape, and played "Kiro Sagato Cadet number one six seven," and the door opened.
"Great work Aisha," Cid congratulated. Aisha handed the map over to him. "Now that security is down, we won't need a key card to open the weapon storage closet." There were many great shouts from the Banquet Hall. Aisha assumed that the graduates were battling each other, because of the smashing sounds of wood against wood.
"Alright now, if we take the left staircase, and head past the dormitories, we should be near weapon storage. Follow me," Cid commanded. They headed up the left staircase, played the tape, and headed down the hall. Eventually the party of four came to a door that read
WEAPON STORAGE
Authorized Staff Only
Cid pushed the door and it opened, revealing swords, spears, guns and daggers.
Aisha spotted a barrel full of arrows, grabbed a bunch and loaded about 20 into her crossbow, and the rest in the reserve spaces.
Just as Cid was going towards the guns, there was a loud explosion coming from downstairs.
"Quick, lets get outta here!" Cid yelled and they made their way back downstairs, only to see many people running away from the entrance. A woman was standing in the entrance. Aisha wasn't sure of what she said, but a great wave of water was rushing towards a young boy in robes who had been knocked to the floor.
Aisha was ready to fire a round of arrows at the woman, when the Cadet she followed thrust a spear into the woman's side. Almost immediately the wave of water had disappeared, and bright silver light was wrapping itself around the woman. The blood had stopped flowing. Many of the men in uniforms started shooting guns in the direction of the woman.
She let out a cackle and vanished from sight. Cid, Aisha, Kate and Emily took the opportunity to escape.
