(Note : "Siva" is NOT a typing error. Look it up.)
Siva
Chapter No. 2 (Entitled "The Destroyer")
_______________________
Squall Leonhart
LionHeart2212
Password ******
Entry No. 3
February 14
I returned to the GARDEN that afternoon to find no less than chaos.
"What's happened?" I snagged a SeeD dashing down the hall. He was panting.
"Headmaster. . . There's been an attack on. . . GARDEN. . . We've been searching for you all day. . ." He was bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. I could only stare at him in shock.
"SeeD. . . Khildress. Report to SeeDs Dincht and Kinneas. Tell them to meet me in my office. If you see Instructor Tillmitt or Commander Trepe, please inform them of the meeting as well."
The kid (he couldn have been be older than 16 at the time) frowned up at me. "Don't you. . . Instructor Tillmitt was taken hostage. The Commander called a meeting. They're in the war room now." He flinched slightly, adding the honorary "headmaster" a smudge too late and knowing it. He must have thought that I was going to punish him.
"Dismissed, SeeD Khildress. Report to Kadowaki and have her announce my return."
I hurried to the war room. 'Only gone one day, and everything falls to pieces. Shit.'
"Squall!" Quistis ran down the hall toward me, wearing a black bodysuit and combat boots. She was armed to the teeth. "Hurry up!" She ushered me down the emergency escape in the war room and into a transport.
"Quistis? I thought - " I gave her an admonishing glare. Sure, she did a lot of the 'headmaster' duties, but sending out a team of SeeD without my approval made us both look bad.
"Squall. Shush. It's just me, you, Zell and Irvine. Nobody else knows about the rescue mission. We need to get Selphie out of there pronto. Her condition. . . " A look of dismay came over her face and she mumbled "Shit."
I was confused. I'd just gotten off a long train ride, I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was almost five in the afternoon, and I hadn't slept for a long time. This was too much to handle.
"Quistis. Explain. Now." I growled at her.
She sighed and looked dully at the wall, beginning in the regular, controlled and utterly dispassionate tone that many SeeDs used while recounting a mission in a report.
"At two hundred hours this morning, Balamb GARDEN security was breached by a group of no less than fifty persons, trained in both combat and infiltration. They did no damage until they were attacked by the patrol SeeDs. They battled their way into the SeeD dormitories and abducted SeeD instructor Selphie Tillmitt, and escaped with her. SeeD Kinneas, SeeD Dincht, and I have been planning a rescue since they escaped. We have co-ordinates. We were awaiting your arrival." She stood tall, eyes fixed on a point above my head.
"And what is Selphie's condition." I asked in a silky voice.
A stain of red spread across Quistis' cheeks. "She's pregnant."
"Oh, shit."
We disembarked for Trabia immediately. We didn't follow the co-ordinates, instead, we went to the source of the problem.
"See, the group is from the Blue Underground. They're a group that does a lot of lifting for hire. We go to their HQ, we get their leaders. We get Selphie." We had blueprints. We had guns. We were not going to fail.
Irvine was a wreck. He was Selphie's finace - and her child's father. I didn't really understand how he felt, but I let Quistis handle him while I briefed Zell. He and I would be covering Irvine and Quistis during the rescue.
"All right. We enter here."
I poked a finger at the basement.
"We go here."
I gestured toward the second-to-top floor.
"This is the route."
I rapidly drew a line through the building, "X"ing out stairwells that we would use.
Zell shifted slightly. I could tell that I was making him uncomfortable. I couldn't help it, though - barely contained rage seethed below my cool demeanor. He could tell.
"All right. The building that they've got her in has a high level of security. Make sure you're equipped.."
Irvine entered at that point, glancing over the plans. "We're here. Ready?" His eyes were red.
"Let's go."
"Wait a sec. Just so you all know - anyone tries to stop us, they die. No mercy. We need to show that you don't mess with SeeD."
They all nodded grimly.
We encountered six guards in the basement. All were quietly dispatched.
It took less than ten minutes to get into the quarters of Blue Undergrounds powerseats, mostly because we were unexpected. We must have killed three or four dozen men to get there, but it was necessary. No one was sounding the alarm.
We found the leaders of BU asleep in their beds. Needless to say, we roused them in a rather unpleasant manner.
"Fuuuuck. Wake up." Harridan stood in his underoos, sweating in the cool night. "Wake the FUCK UP!!" His voice was panicked.
The girl sat up quickly, eyes wide. They were a golden-green than reminded me of a cat. "Harridan? Wha-!!" She was cut of as my blade slid up to her throat. She then noted Irvine's Exeter pointed at Harridan's skull.
To our surprise, she didn't shout, or struggle. She went limp in my arms.
All hell broke loose.
There was a gunshot, and floodlights filled the room with a flourescent glow.
"Very nice, Headmaster Leonhart. Very nice indeed. Clara, if you could please come here." The girl in my arms slipped deftly away as I was frozen in shock. Harridan was dead, but Irvine still had both shots.
Jahane Sheline was what they called "the Boss". She and Harridan were lovers (supposedly) and shared bedchambers. Unfortunately, these. . . suppositions. . . were wrong.
But, then again, Jahane Sheline had done a very, very stupid thing. As Quistis said later, "The Lion was pissed."
See, Jahane was overconfident, and I knew how to deal with that. In my youth, I'd sparred daily with a cocky young man, and beaten him. Half the time. And Jahane was no Seifer Almasy.
In a series of moments, I was behind her, Irvine had his gun at her head, and Quistis had Clara tied to a bedpost and unconsious.
"Hello, Jahane." I smiled slightly, the tip of Lionheart buried in her neck. "Care to tell me where SeeD Tillmitt is? Or will you make me find her myself?"
She sniffed haughtily. "Her? You can have her. She's upstairs. But you won't be able to get her out without me. Let me go."
I nodded at Irvine - he reluctantly lowered his gun, whereas my blade came around her throat.
"Let's go, then." I shoved her toward the door. She led us up into a cell, where Quistis overpowered the two guards and unlocked Selphie's door and helped her out. Irvine took her downstairs, while Quis and I questioned Jahane.
I'll not regale you with the full conversation, but we found thus:
They had been hired by someone with blueprints, passcodes, and some very specific information about Balamb GARDEN, though it was a bit outdated. They didn't know anything about a tripwire in the SeeD dorms, which had been installed only three years before, and had alerted Quistis as soon as their group entered.
They were being paid a hell of a lot of money.
They had not been told to ransom Selphie. They had been told that they could do what they wanted with her. It had been implied that they were to kill her.
The co-ordinates specified a bar in Galbadia. She wasn't sure, but she thought that maybe someone was planning to ambush us when we went to rescue Selphie. This suspicion was confirmed the next day, and we lost two SeeDs to the men waiting in that pub. Unfortunately, all the men participating in the 'ambush' died before telling us who they were working for or anything beyond the fact that they were supposed to kill the scarred kid. Assumingly, me.
Jahane thought that the person may have lived at a GARDEN, once upon a time. She also thought that it was a male, though they'd communicated through electronic messages.
The woman also had some idea about us letting her go after she provided us with the information we wanted. She was sadly mistaken, and when she found this out, she attempted to escape. Unfortunately she "escaped" through Lionheart. Blue Underground dispersed after their charismatic leader was buried. It was a close-casket funeral.
~
There was a search for the person who'd had Selphie abducted done by GARDEN. They found too little evidence to have a suspect, and let it go. I did not.
With the little provided, I was certain that Seifer Almasy was still alive and wanted us dead.
After the war, Seifer had disappeared. We heard from him time and again, a report from someone who thought maybe we were looking for him. I'd heard five years before that he was living in Dollet, but he'd moved around a lot before that. I hadn't the faintest clue as to where he could be, but I was determined to find him.
End
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Siva
Chapter No. 2 (Entitled "The Destroyer")
_______________________
Squall Leonhart
LionHeart2212
Password ******
Entry No. 3
February 14
I returned to the GARDEN that afternoon to find no less than chaos.
"What's happened?" I snagged a SeeD dashing down the hall. He was panting.
"Headmaster. . . There's been an attack on. . . GARDEN. . . We've been searching for you all day. . ." He was bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. I could only stare at him in shock.
"SeeD. . . Khildress. Report to SeeDs Dincht and Kinneas. Tell them to meet me in my office. If you see Instructor Tillmitt or Commander Trepe, please inform them of the meeting as well."
The kid (he couldn have been be older than 16 at the time) frowned up at me. "Don't you. . . Instructor Tillmitt was taken hostage. The Commander called a meeting. They're in the war room now." He flinched slightly, adding the honorary "headmaster" a smudge too late and knowing it. He must have thought that I was going to punish him.
"Dismissed, SeeD Khildress. Report to Kadowaki and have her announce my return."
I hurried to the war room. 'Only gone one day, and everything falls to pieces. Shit.'
"Squall!" Quistis ran down the hall toward me, wearing a black bodysuit and combat boots. She was armed to the teeth. "Hurry up!" She ushered me down the emergency escape in the war room and into a transport.
"Quistis? I thought - " I gave her an admonishing glare. Sure, she did a lot of the 'headmaster' duties, but sending out a team of SeeD without my approval made us both look bad.
"Squall. Shush. It's just me, you, Zell and Irvine. Nobody else knows about the rescue mission. We need to get Selphie out of there pronto. Her condition. . . " A look of dismay came over her face and she mumbled "Shit."
I was confused. I'd just gotten off a long train ride, I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was almost five in the afternoon, and I hadn't slept for a long time. This was too much to handle.
"Quistis. Explain. Now." I growled at her.
She sighed and looked dully at the wall, beginning in the regular, controlled and utterly dispassionate tone that many SeeDs used while recounting a mission in a report.
"At two hundred hours this morning, Balamb GARDEN security was breached by a group of no less than fifty persons, trained in both combat and infiltration. They did no damage until they were attacked by the patrol SeeDs. They battled their way into the SeeD dormitories and abducted SeeD instructor Selphie Tillmitt, and escaped with her. SeeD Kinneas, SeeD Dincht, and I have been planning a rescue since they escaped. We have co-ordinates. We were awaiting your arrival." She stood tall, eyes fixed on a point above my head.
"And what is Selphie's condition." I asked in a silky voice.
A stain of red spread across Quistis' cheeks. "She's pregnant."
"Oh, shit."
We disembarked for Trabia immediately. We didn't follow the co-ordinates, instead, we went to the source of the problem.
"See, the group is from the Blue Underground. They're a group that does a lot of lifting for hire. We go to their HQ, we get their leaders. We get Selphie." We had blueprints. We had guns. We were not going to fail.
Irvine was a wreck. He was Selphie's finace - and her child's father. I didn't really understand how he felt, but I let Quistis handle him while I briefed Zell. He and I would be covering Irvine and Quistis during the rescue.
"All right. We enter here."
I poked a finger at the basement.
"We go here."
I gestured toward the second-to-top floor.
"This is the route."
I rapidly drew a line through the building, "X"ing out stairwells that we would use.
Zell shifted slightly. I could tell that I was making him uncomfortable. I couldn't help it, though - barely contained rage seethed below my cool demeanor. He could tell.
"All right. The building that they've got her in has a high level of security. Make sure you're equipped.."
Irvine entered at that point, glancing over the plans. "We're here. Ready?" His eyes were red.
"Let's go."
"Wait a sec. Just so you all know - anyone tries to stop us, they die. No mercy. We need to show that you don't mess with SeeD."
They all nodded grimly.
We encountered six guards in the basement. All were quietly dispatched.
It took less than ten minutes to get into the quarters of Blue Undergrounds powerseats, mostly because we were unexpected. We must have killed three or four dozen men to get there, but it was necessary. No one was sounding the alarm.
We found the leaders of BU asleep in their beds. Needless to say, we roused them in a rather unpleasant manner.
"Fuuuuck. Wake up." Harridan stood in his underoos, sweating in the cool night. "Wake the FUCK UP!!" His voice was panicked.
The girl sat up quickly, eyes wide. They were a golden-green than reminded me of a cat. "Harridan? Wha-!!" She was cut of as my blade slid up to her throat. She then noted Irvine's Exeter pointed at Harridan's skull.
To our surprise, she didn't shout, or struggle. She went limp in my arms.
All hell broke loose.
There was a gunshot, and floodlights filled the room with a flourescent glow.
"Very nice, Headmaster Leonhart. Very nice indeed. Clara, if you could please come here." The girl in my arms slipped deftly away as I was frozen in shock. Harridan was dead, but Irvine still had both shots.
Jahane Sheline was what they called "the Boss". She and Harridan were lovers (supposedly) and shared bedchambers. Unfortunately, these. . . suppositions. . . were wrong.
But, then again, Jahane Sheline had done a very, very stupid thing. As Quistis said later, "The Lion was pissed."
See, Jahane was overconfident, and I knew how to deal with that. In my youth, I'd sparred daily with a cocky young man, and beaten him. Half the time. And Jahane was no Seifer Almasy.
In a series of moments, I was behind her, Irvine had his gun at her head, and Quistis had Clara tied to a bedpost and unconsious.
"Hello, Jahane." I smiled slightly, the tip of Lionheart buried in her neck. "Care to tell me where SeeD Tillmitt is? Or will you make me find her myself?"
She sniffed haughtily. "Her? You can have her. She's upstairs. But you won't be able to get her out without me. Let me go."
I nodded at Irvine - he reluctantly lowered his gun, whereas my blade came around her throat.
"Let's go, then." I shoved her toward the door. She led us up into a cell, where Quistis overpowered the two guards and unlocked Selphie's door and helped her out. Irvine took her downstairs, while Quis and I questioned Jahane.
I'll not regale you with the full conversation, but we found thus:
They had been hired by someone with blueprints, passcodes, and some very specific information about Balamb GARDEN, though it was a bit outdated. They didn't know anything about a tripwire in the SeeD dorms, which had been installed only three years before, and had alerted Quistis as soon as their group entered.
They were being paid a hell of a lot of money.
They had not been told to ransom Selphie. They had been told that they could do what they wanted with her. It had been implied that they were to kill her.
The co-ordinates specified a bar in Galbadia. She wasn't sure, but she thought that maybe someone was planning to ambush us when we went to rescue Selphie. This suspicion was confirmed the next day, and we lost two SeeDs to the men waiting in that pub. Unfortunately, all the men participating in the 'ambush' died before telling us who they were working for or anything beyond the fact that they were supposed to kill the scarred kid. Assumingly, me.
Jahane thought that the person may have lived at a GARDEN, once upon a time. She also thought that it was a male, though they'd communicated through electronic messages.
The woman also had some idea about us letting her go after she provided us with the information we wanted. She was sadly mistaken, and when she found this out, she attempted to escape. Unfortunately she "escaped" through Lionheart. Blue Underground dispersed after their charismatic leader was buried. It was a close-casket funeral.
~
There was a search for the person who'd had Selphie abducted done by GARDEN. They found too little evidence to have a suspect, and let it go. I did not.
With the little provided, I was certain that Seifer Almasy was still alive and wanted us dead.
After the war, Seifer had disappeared. We heard from him time and again, a report from someone who thought maybe we were looking for him. I'd heard five years before that he was living in Dollet, but he'd moved around a lot before that. I hadn't the faintest clue as to where he could be, but I was determined to find him.
End
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