Disclaimer: I don't own anything, don't sue me … it's called fanfiction. Got a problem? I don't, I have issues … there's a difference.
Chapter FourThe time is now. That is what the ugly cuckoo clock proclaimed to him as he stared at it, still sitting on the bed, the memories pounding at his temples. Bitterness swarmed in his head as he thought about tonight's murder, tonight's… work. He now knew why she was so sour to the fact that he went out killing people, telling everyone it was his 'job'. It was, there was no denying it, but he used this as a reason, as an alibi to worm out of his sins.
Dragging his weight off the bed, the mattress groaned in relief as he paced around the room, gathering the necessary items to complete this 'job'. He shuddered at the mere word, 'Damn it, Rinoa, look at what you did to me.' Suddenly, he did not want to do this anymore. He didn't want to go out in that town, pass the hookers on their nightly shift, enter the dank allies just to kill someone who may have a perfectly good excuse for his crimes. 'I plead schizophrenia.' Or 'My mom made me.' Or 'The voices in my head are telling me to.' Anything… it would be better than his lame excuse for blowing people's heads off or snapping their neck in two.
It's my job. Somewhere in the room he heard a snigger, 'You're damned to Hell, Leonheart…' The little voices said, 'Damned, damned, damned… the eighth level of Hell, where Satan resides, damned, damned…'
He shook his head roughly and smashed his fists on the moldy dresser. 'I'm going crazy!' His mind screamed at him, 'I'm seriously going crazy…' Had he heard voices just a second ago? Or were they figments of his half-crazed imagination?
"Ok!" He said this aloud to make sure he was alone in the room and that no one was infiltrating his mind including a deadly virus called insanity, "I've got a mission to do… resistance group member… kill the man who founded the group against the Galbadian Government… come on, you can do this. Kill all witnesses present… come on… let's go." His feet obeyed as he slinked his backpack onto his right shoulder and creeped out of the room silently.
***
Rinoa shut off the muted television and yawned. She had never felt so drowsy before and so she subconsciously checked the clock. It was nearly midnight. She had stayed up longer than that before… Why was she so exhausted at this point? 'Stress…' her mind declared to her suddenly, 'Stress… you'll be losing your hair by the time you hit thirty if things keep rolling along…'
The thought of losing her hair or getting wrinkles before she was well into her late forties didn't appeal to her much. She was only twenty-four, still young… with a family to look after. Jeremy was already in first grade and Riana had started kindergarten. The road wasn't getting smoother. Wrinkles and hair loss at thirty it would have to be.
She shook the fairly pessimistic thoughts from her head and got up from the couch. Making sure to keep as quiet as possible she tiptoed up the stairs, which wasn't very difficult (she was used to sneaking around), and entered her bedroom. She made sure to close the door behind her. The room was extremely dark at this point and fumbling around for the light on the nightstand earned her a stubbed toe.
Trying her hardest not to swear aloud and curse Hyne for the pain she was causing, she sat down on the bed. The phone rang and it became an instant reflex, she grabbed it and held the receiver to her ear.
"You are the biggest moron I've ever met, the kids are asleep! Couldn't this have waited until morning?" She snapped, expecting Squall's voice to be on the other end.
The person on the other end cleared their throat and then, in a very feminine voice, said, "I see Squall and you have had another fight."
No one could really see this, however, Rinoa's face paled by a tone or two, "Er… hi mom. Nice of you to call… so late… at night." Her anger returned slightly, "When you very well know of the trouble I have putting the kids asleep."
"Mhmm…" Julia yawned at the other end of the phone line, "Well, it could have waited until morning but I thought I would call you now in case tomorrow never came."
"What? What do you mean 'incase tomorrow never came'? Is someone in danger? Mom? What is it? What's this about?" Rinoa rushed out all the questions at once. Julia had obviously forgotten about her daughter's slight paranoia disorders.
"Good Hyne, will you cool it? I was just abiding by the old saying 'never leave what you could do today for tomorrow'… will you stop hyperventilating, for Heaven's sake!"
Rinoa who had been taking rapid deep breaths calmed down slightly but remained on edge, "So… what… exactly do you want to talk about?"
"I imagine you and Squall got to each other's faces again and you kicked him out?" Rinoa glowered in the dark but Julia didn't see so she continued along, "And judging by your lack of response, I'm right. Well, your father has been on many missions as well this past month. I'm just… getting quite suspicious…"
"What? Why so many missions are given out?" Again the rapid, deep breathing begun again as Rinoa began to panic.
"Oh, will you stop?" Julia snapped, "Don't make me go over there and attach you to a paper bag. I'm just warning you. Maybe Ackroyde is getting ideas about you being with Squall and James being with me. Agents aren't supposed to be married with families. Maybe… he's trying to manipulate them to severe ties. All I'm saying watch out… Mr. Ackroyde isn't fond of you, Rinoa. Maybe I'm wrong. Just… take care of Squall, ok?"
"So… dad has… been getting more missions than usual?" Rinoa asked warily.
"Yeah, calls have been coming in at midnight sometimes… it's really odd." Julia said and regretted immediately, as she knew her daughter would fuss or something.
"Oh, yeah, calls have been coming in at midnight here too. Not from the agency however, from my own mother!" Rinoa snapped back at her viciously.
"Oh yeah… can I ask you a question?" Julia didn't wait for the answer, "Last time I called in the middle of the night you answered pretty breathless, was I interrupting something?"
If looks could kill, Julia would be dead because Rinoa was currently staring a very evil stare towards her dresser, "That's really none of your business, mother."
"Oh come now, Rinoa, I'm your mother… it's not as if I don't know." Julia couldn't restrain a giggle; "I just want to hear it from your own mouth."
"Good night, mother." Rinoa hissed venomously before dropping the receiver in its cradle. She then proceeded to the joint bathroom where she brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas, all the while muttering obscenities about her mother being a 'crazy old hag'.
Julia, however, stood some time looking at the phone. She had to physically restrain herself from grabbing up the phone again and dialing her daughter's number. 'I must have hit a nerve…' She grinned, 'But then again… she usually hangs up like that.'
She wished that her daughter had paid more attention to her warnings. Julia, herself, didn't fear much from Ackroyde for she had signed a paper stating that she would not reveal the agency's secrets. Rinoa had refused, stating very clearly that papers meant nothing and that the agency shouldn't need proof of her loyalty.
That hadn't gone off with the boss too well. Julia supposed that the fact that if any of Rinoa's two kids were threatened… she would cave and speak whatever the kidnappers wanted. Not that a contract would change much of that.
***
Squall punched the unknown man in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and swiftly took out his .22 calibers, bulging with a silencer, and fired twice in the man's face. Swiftly brushing himself off he turned out a small flashlight and searched the man for any keys. There were none.
The hunter moved on to his next kill. Silently walking out of the dank storage room, he pressed himself against the wall, keeping a sharp ear out for voices. Creeping down the seemingly endless hallway he glanced around a corner that intersected it. He spotted only the tip of a burning cigarette in mid-air. It was incredibly dark down here but he could make out two or three figures guarding a door.
He couldn't be sure, but he had doubts that they were guarding the power room… his destination. Using the burning ember of the cigarette, that was most likely to be a joint, as an orientation point he listened carefully to any movements that may help identify other coordinates.
"Shit, that Tiffany is one hot broad…" One of them whispered, "She gets my blood stirring somewhere low each time I see her…"
"Mhmm…" Squall identified the one smoking for when the voice spoke, the ember moved from its location, "That she is… you know what's real interesting though?"
"What?" A voice was gruffer this time; so far, Squall could identify three of them that were present, "What's so fucking interesting, Zell?"
"You know that secret agency that we're suppose to be so afraid of? The one with the top agents 'n shit? Heard there's been lots of crap going on there … you know …" The cigarette ember spun in circles as if the owner was gesticulating, "Apparently one of their best agents left a couple of years ago… her name… was Rinoa or something… now that was a hot chick."
Squall's blood froze. Caliber positioned, he shot once to the right of the embers, once to the left. He heard a splatter and a loud groan as two corpses sank to the floor. Now the other would pay a higher price than his comrades. "That hot chick you're talking about… she's my wife."
The one presumably named Zell was levitated a few inches above the floor as the agent had grabbed his collar and pressed him against the wall. "Woah, woah! Leonheart, easy there buddy! I'm from the agency… I can prove it! Don't kill me, I was sent here by Ackroyde… you know… I'm a trainee agent… cool it, cool it!"
"Why were you sent?" Squall
snarled menacingly, "Ackroyde knows that I could very well do this mission on
my own…"
"Yeah, but he thought you'd need a little help disengaging the power… I'm good
with machines… please… lemme down… I can't… breath…" His wish was fulfilled as
he was dropped on the floor next to the bloody cadaver. "Ok, thanks… take it
easy, jeez… alright… let's get this joint down to zero volts…"
"Not many lights to be switched, huh? Fucking hallways are as dark as inside my ass." Squall barked, "Get the fuck up, and let's do this quickly."
Zell got up, brushed himself off and pushed his way into the power room. "And I never said I was done with you yet!" Snarled Squall, grabbing Zell's shoulder firmly. "How the hell did you know about Rinoa… and why were you relaying the information to them?"
Zell grinned sheepishly, "I'm not betraying, I swear, I'm not. Half of these bubs in here already know about the agency being on their asses. Hell, some knew your name. Anyways… they're dead, so no worries, right?"
"You're a fucking traitor…" Squall hissed.
"You're right, I am… but I'm a traitor for a reason. You'll thank me later." Zell went kneeled next to a little box in the murky room, "Hmm… this should be it." He swapped out a flashlight from his pocket and turned it on, setting himself to work.
"So fill me in…" Squall said gruffly, "It wasn't in the mission file that I was supposed to meet you here."
"Last minute thing…" Zell said absent-mindedly, twiddling with wires, "Ok, so after I finish cutting some few wires… the place is going to go ever darker… that's the only five minutes you're going to get. So you speed down the hall without any turns… in other words, keep going straight (Zell didn't hear the plaintive growl from Squall stating 'You think I'm a moron, or something?') … The detectors'll be down. See, they're programmed to observe someone's DNA code, pretty fancy, huh? My DNA's been imprinted in their computers so I go by undetected. So go quickly while they're down…"
Squall mumbled something about Zell repeating things too much but Zell talked on, "So anyways, you'll get to double doors, enter the room silently… that's where Jason Banks is. It's his office. You might have to kill one of his whores but hey… it's all good, you're getting paid. And that's it… think you can handle it, buddy?"
Squall eyes blazed with anger, though his voice was cold as ice, "Yeah, I think I can handle it… buddy."
"Right… I heard you don't like to work in pairs… except with Rinoa of course, but then I'm thinking 'Who wouldn't want to work with Rinoa?'" Zell chuckled slightly but not for long.
"Shut the hell up!" Squall hissed, "And get to work!"
"Ok… here goes." Zell gave his warning and with his Swiss army knife, cut the wire he was holding, "You've got five minutes before the generator goes up, good luck." The room went darker, if it was humanly possible.
Without a word, the silent killer headed out towards his prey.
Sammy: Ok, here it is… the fourth chapter… Geez, I didn't expect it to be so long. It's not really long… but the way I had planned it out it was suppose to end up way shorter. Well, not that anyone really minds right… well… I'm hoping no one minds. ANYWAYS, thank you to all of those who reviewed last time! Please review this time! Thank you!