Chapter 13
"Hey Rayen, what was it like being dead?"
"Let's put it this way. I'm glad I was only there for a few minutes."
"Why? Were you burning in eternal torment?"
"Hardly. There's just... nothing there. It's empty. Except for other spirits, of course. But there's every person that's ever died in there, and according to what I did hear, it can take years to find one that you can actually talk to."
"So time passes in there?"
"Yeah."
"Interesting."
"Actually, it isn't. Trust me."
It was the day after the battle with the Virage. Phil was driving, as usual, Shade and Dawn were watching TV, and Rayen was surfing the net.
"I don't know, it would be kind of cool to talk to the Dragoons of the past."
"Yeah, once I found them in another couple of dec... holy shit."
"What?"
Rayen merely pointed at the computer screen. Dawn and Shade got up and looked at the news article Rayen had found. It featured a large picture of a man in violet winged armor.
"Don't even need to read it, do you?"
"Let me guess. Some upstart glory hound got lucky and blew the secret, right?"
"Yep."
"So the whole world knows Dragoons exist now?"
"They will soon. I expect something will be on the television any minute now."
As if on cue, a Breaking News update suddenly flashed by the TV.
"Where is he?"
"Fletz."
"Good, then we'll pay him a visit on the way. Why are we going to Fletz, anyway?"
"I didn't ask."
Dawn looked puzzled at this statement. Rayen gazed pointedly towards Shade. Realization flashed in Dawn's green eyes, and she nodded. Shade saw it, but said nothing. He didn't need to. Rayen shouted towards the driver's seat.
"Hey Phil, how far are we from Fletz?"
"Less than two days if we rotate drivers during the night. Let's just hope he doesn't skip town."
"You joking? He's got all he'll ever want. Fame, money. The media will make a hero out of him."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Meanwhile, back at the huge skyscraper office...
The executive sat at his mahogany desk, as always. The usual knock sounded at his door. He replied with his usual irritated admission of entrance. The person who entered was NOT his usual assistance. It was a black suited man with a briefcase. He tensed; something was up.
"Mr. Trega, may I speak with you for a moment?"
"Certainly."
"I'm here investigating a suspicious financial dealing within your corporation. A twenty million dollar charge of the company's money under an unnamed category."
Alarm bells went of in the confines of his brain. But he played dumb.
"I see. Why are you coming to me with this and not the CEO or even the CFO, considering that they are in charge of such dealings?"
"Well, I..."
"Let me guess. You're coming to all three of us, trying to catch one or more in a lie. Correct?"
"That was indeed my intention."
"I see. Have you considered the possibility that it was merely a financial assistant making an unfortunate and costly mistake?"
"That is, of course, what we are hoping it is. Nevertheless, we are required to look into it."
"Ah. Well, I can assure that I had no knowledge of this. Maybe the CFO would know more, since that IS his job."
"I shall look into it. Thank you for your time."
"Not at all."
The investigator opened the door and left. The executive sat back down in his chair, and pressed the button on his P.A. connection to his secretary's desk.
"Send my assistant in right away."
"Yes, sir."
The assistant came in almost immediately.
"How should I deal with Boleras, sir?"
"Ah, our new Dragoon friend. Rather unfortunate that he went to the media, but it could work to our advantage. Tell him to keep it up, and make sure that the media knows I am the one who found his Spirit and that I am the one that is funding his alien-fighting activities. But make sure that neither he nor the media know that we are the ones responsible for the monster outbreak. I will continue to play both sides, the unknown menace and the savior."
"Very good, sir."
"One more thing. Make sure that whichever imbecile in the financial department put the twenty million dollars I charged the company for my private activities under its own unnamed category is fired, then arrange for him or her to suffer an untimely death as well. The world has no room for idiots who makes mistakes such as that."
"Yes, sir."
The assistant left. The executive mused, looking over his metaphoric chessboard, pondering his next move towards this unforeseen complication.
Back to our rag-tag group of heroes in the motorhome...
It was getting late, but none of the four Dragoons really felt like sleeping. It was Shade's driving shift, and a large number of normally hot- tempered drivers decided to refrain from blaring their horns once they got a good glance at the driver. The four Dragoons were uncommonly abuzz with conversation, all about the new Dragoon, of course. The media had talked nearly nonstop about the Thunder-aligned Dragon Knight, and they now knew more about them than they would ever need to know.
"So, now that the world knows about Dragoons, we don't need to keep ourselves a secret either, right?"
"Wrong. As you should remember, Phil, someone out there wants us dead. Or me dead, at least, but it will be a matter of time before they find out I'm not alone. We need to continue to lie low. Dawn, do you know this area?"
"Well enough. Why?"
"Is there a car recycling plant around here anywhere?"
"Yeah, it's about 20 miles away. What would we need to go there for?"
"I think we should probably pick up some used license plates. In case we do slip up, and someone finds out about us, we can change them periodically to avoid being tracked."
"Let's just hope we don't have to resort to that."
"Let's," Shade echoed.
Author's Note (Yes, another one. Deal with it.): OK, I realize there wasn't much action in this chapter, but that was for a reason. This chapter was totally plot development. First of all, the world now knows about the Dragoons returning, and I have had a better chance to develop my somewhat shady character of Mr. Trega, the coporate executive. Now, I realize that in the first chapters, it sounded a LOT like Shinra and Mako from FF7, but there is some distinction. First of all, Shinra was an entire company, and this is just one man using his own business's money to fund his own schemes. He hires a Dragoon lackey to kill Rayen, who discovered his plot and became the first Dragoon, and when that backfires, he hires another Dragoon to be his poster-boy and keep up his political image. For those of you who are still puzzled by this character, rest assured, there will be more development on him later, and all the characters, for that matter.
"Hey Rayen, what was it like being dead?"
"Let's put it this way. I'm glad I was only there for a few minutes."
"Why? Were you burning in eternal torment?"
"Hardly. There's just... nothing there. It's empty. Except for other spirits, of course. But there's every person that's ever died in there, and according to what I did hear, it can take years to find one that you can actually talk to."
"So time passes in there?"
"Yeah."
"Interesting."
"Actually, it isn't. Trust me."
It was the day after the battle with the Virage. Phil was driving, as usual, Shade and Dawn were watching TV, and Rayen was surfing the net.
"I don't know, it would be kind of cool to talk to the Dragoons of the past."
"Yeah, once I found them in another couple of dec... holy shit."
"What?"
Rayen merely pointed at the computer screen. Dawn and Shade got up and looked at the news article Rayen had found. It featured a large picture of a man in violet winged armor.
"Don't even need to read it, do you?"
"Let me guess. Some upstart glory hound got lucky and blew the secret, right?"
"Yep."
"So the whole world knows Dragoons exist now?"
"They will soon. I expect something will be on the television any minute now."
As if on cue, a Breaking News update suddenly flashed by the TV.
"Where is he?"
"Fletz."
"Good, then we'll pay him a visit on the way. Why are we going to Fletz, anyway?"
"I didn't ask."
Dawn looked puzzled at this statement. Rayen gazed pointedly towards Shade. Realization flashed in Dawn's green eyes, and she nodded. Shade saw it, but said nothing. He didn't need to. Rayen shouted towards the driver's seat.
"Hey Phil, how far are we from Fletz?"
"Less than two days if we rotate drivers during the night. Let's just hope he doesn't skip town."
"You joking? He's got all he'll ever want. Fame, money. The media will make a hero out of him."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Meanwhile, back at the huge skyscraper office...
The executive sat at his mahogany desk, as always. The usual knock sounded at his door. He replied with his usual irritated admission of entrance. The person who entered was NOT his usual assistance. It was a black suited man with a briefcase. He tensed; something was up.
"Mr. Trega, may I speak with you for a moment?"
"Certainly."
"I'm here investigating a suspicious financial dealing within your corporation. A twenty million dollar charge of the company's money under an unnamed category."
Alarm bells went of in the confines of his brain. But he played dumb.
"I see. Why are you coming to me with this and not the CEO or even the CFO, considering that they are in charge of such dealings?"
"Well, I..."
"Let me guess. You're coming to all three of us, trying to catch one or more in a lie. Correct?"
"That was indeed my intention."
"I see. Have you considered the possibility that it was merely a financial assistant making an unfortunate and costly mistake?"
"That is, of course, what we are hoping it is. Nevertheless, we are required to look into it."
"Ah. Well, I can assure that I had no knowledge of this. Maybe the CFO would know more, since that IS his job."
"I shall look into it. Thank you for your time."
"Not at all."
The investigator opened the door and left. The executive sat back down in his chair, and pressed the button on his P.A. connection to his secretary's desk.
"Send my assistant in right away."
"Yes, sir."
The assistant came in almost immediately.
"How should I deal with Boleras, sir?"
"Ah, our new Dragoon friend. Rather unfortunate that he went to the media, but it could work to our advantage. Tell him to keep it up, and make sure that the media knows I am the one who found his Spirit and that I am the one that is funding his alien-fighting activities. But make sure that neither he nor the media know that we are the ones responsible for the monster outbreak. I will continue to play both sides, the unknown menace and the savior."
"Very good, sir."
"One more thing. Make sure that whichever imbecile in the financial department put the twenty million dollars I charged the company for my private activities under its own unnamed category is fired, then arrange for him or her to suffer an untimely death as well. The world has no room for idiots who makes mistakes such as that."
"Yes, sir."
The assistant left. The executive mused, looking over his metaphoric chessboard, pondering his next move towards this unforeseen complication.
Back to our rag-tag group of heroes in the motorhome...
It was getting late, but none of the four Dragoons really felt like sleeping. It was Shade's driving shift, and a large number of normally hot- tempered drivers decided to refrain from blaring their horns once they got a good glance at the driver. The four Dragoons were uncommonly abuzz with conversation, all about the new Dragoon, of course. The media had talked nearly nonstop about the Thunder-aligned Dragon Knight, and they now knew more about them than they would ever need to know.
"So, now that the world knows about Dragoons, we don't need to keep ourselves a secret either, right?"
"Wrong. As you should remember, Phil, someone out there wants us dead. Or me dead, at least, but it will be a matter of time before they find out I'm not alone. We need to continue to lie low. Dawn, do you know this area?"
"Well enough. Why?"
"Is there a car recycling plant around here anywhere?"
"Yeah, it's about 20 miles away. What would we need to go there for?"
"I think we should probably pick up some used license plates. In case we do slip up, and someone finds out about us, we can change them periodically to avoid being tracked."
"Let's just hope we don't have to resort to that."
"Let's," Shade echoed.
Author's Note (Yes, another one. Deal with it.): OK, I realize there wasn't much action in this chapter, but that was for a reason. This chapter was totally plot development. First of all, the world now knows about the Dragoons returning, and I have had a better chance to develop my somewhat shady character of Mr. Trega, the coporate executive. Now, I realize that in the first chapters, it sounded a LOT like Shinra and Mako from FF7, but there is some distinction. First of all, Shinra was an entire company, and this is just one man using his own business's money to fund his own schemes. He hires a Dragoon lackey to kill Rayen, who discovered his plot and became the first Dragoon, and when that backfires, he hires another Dragoon to be his poster-boy and keep up his political image. For those of you who are still puzzled by this character, rest assured, there will be more development on him later, and all the characters, for that matter.