Wrongfully Accused

Chapter Four

Cid paced around the room eyeing the faces of the SeeD's standing before him. They had been waiting in his office for 10 minutes but there was still no sign of Quistis.

"Maybe I should go look for her?" Selphie asked.

"Are you sure you told her to come right away?"

"No Zell, I told her to come next week. What do you think I said?"

"Hey it was just a question, no need to bite my head off."

"That's enough you two, stop acting like children." Cid looked expectantly at the door. "Selphie, go down to the dorm and look for Quistis there, Zell you check the training area......"

"Don't bother, I'm here." Quistis breezed into the room, showing no signs of having been in the training area for the last hour.

"I'm glad you could finally join us Quistis. All right, let's get started. I assume that you have all heard about Deling City's newest media spectacle?"

Everybody but Zell nodded.

"Umm, what spectacle?"

"Zell. Don't you watch T.V?" Irvine asked.

"Of course I do, what kind of stupid question is that?"

"Excluding cartoons numbnuts!" Squall piped up from the back of the room.

"Well..umm" Everyone in the room rolled their eyes, or made an attempt to slap Zell on the back of the head.

"Hey! It was just a question! I can't help it if I don't keep up to date with these things."

"Look, it is not that important, someone will simply have to explain to Zell what's been happening in the real world."

"Rinoa, do me a favor and DON'T stick up for me!"

"I was just trying to help."

"Well you're not very good at it."

"Well if that's the way you're gonna act then I'm not gonna talk to you any more."

"You're mean Zell!" Selphie said pointing a finger at his chest.

"What did I do."

"Everything." Irvine stated, standing up next to Selphie.

"ENOUGH!!!!!!" Everyone turned their attention to the now red faced Quistis. "You're all acting like you're in first grade! Now can we please get on with this." Once they were all seated Quistis turned her attention to Zell. "Three months ago, the Deling Police received information about a drug shipment arriving in Deling. They tracked down those in charge of the shipment but when they went to investigate, all they found were four dead bodies and an empty suitcase."

"So someone got to the scum bags before the cops, I don't see why we should cry about it."

"That's not the point Zell, these men, who were all big time by the way not just your regular street scum, were completely clean..."

"So the murderer gave 'em a wash afterwards?"

"It means there was no blood on the victims dickhead!" Squall once again deciding to alert the others of his presence.

"Ahem!! As I was saying, there was no sign that the murder had actually taken place...."

"Other than the dead bodies." Zell stated

"And the bullet wounds in each of the individuals' chest" Selphie added.

"Okay I get the point!!! What I'm trying to say is that the job was obviously done by a professional, and this of course raises a lot of questions." She paused to wait for the headmaster to intervene, when he didn't she continued, "And on top of that there has apparently been two more murders of similar natures since then."

"Three murders" Rinoa corrected, "don't forget about the Guardian Nightclub incident."

"It has not yet been proven that all these cases are in fact linked, the Nightclub one especially." Cid walked around to the front of his desk, silently ordering them to pay attention. "The event that took place at the Guardian Nightclub two nights ago is more than likely unrelated to the previous cases."

"Why do you say that" Zell asked.

"Because the murders that took place beforehand were all professionally done in a very discreet manner, and all victims were, in some way, linked to the main drug syndicate in Deling City. The victims at the nightclub however were mostly innocent people who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"But what about the owner. I'd heard that he'd had to call upon a few favors to get the financing together for the nightclub. Who's to say these favors were entirely legal."

"You've got a good point there Irvine, but there is just too much evidence to prove that these crimes are unrelated."

"So what has this got to do with us?" Quistis asked.

"The fact that most of the victims were indeed quite heavily involved in a lot underground drug dealing and shipments suggests that perhaps conflict has arisen amongst the syndicate bosses. If this is indeed true then immediate action must be taken in order to prevent, for lack of a better word, chaos."

"So why can't the local authorities take care of it?"

"Although the Deling authorities do have the expertise and numbers to deal with such a case, they also have a city to deal with. Besides, if things keep heading the way they are, this could turn international on us, and the Galbadian officials cannot step out of their jurisdiction. That of course is where we step in."

"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Rinoa asked this question although she feared that she already knew the answer. She had been allowed on the previous few missions simply because she was there when Ultimecia fell and was needed for publicity reasons, but this mission looked like it would require professionals, trained professionals. In other words, she was a redundancy that would most likely be discarded.

"I understand what you're getting at Rinoa, but you don't need to worry. I called you up here for a reason. This is to be a covert operation, nobody must know why you're there."

"So why choose us, wouldn't it be better to use lesser known SeeD's?"

"Unfortunately all SeeD's attract attention, no matter how well hidden they are from the world. Thankfully though we have the perfect cover up. Senator Bareta is planning a major event to celebrate his current status on the polls. He has therefore requested that you all make an appearance. You will each receive two personal invitations, but you will only reply to one. The first is an invitation covering various social and political events. The second will be a personal letter from the senator, requesting that you all stay at his own lodgings for the duration of your stay. Under normal situations you would be obliged to take him up on the offer, but due to the nature of your mission, privacy is of the utmost importance. Therefore reservations will be made at the local hotel. Any Questions? Keeping in mind that you will be informed of the mission details at a later date."

"Yeah, I gotta question." Irvine said, "What's with the celebration? Being ahead in the polls shouldn't be that big of a deal."

"Apparently the celebration is not simply for that alone. I'm sure you're all, with the exception of Zell, aware that prior to this year the senator was almost completely unheard of. His sudden popularity and success has been a shock to all those concerned, so these celebrations are more to do with publicity than anything else. Any more questions?"

................................

Walking back to her dorm, Quistis went over the meeting again and again in her head. 'So it was a real mission after all. I shouldn't be so surprised. This is what I wanted. This is what I've been trained for.' Reaching her dorm room, she walked in, not bothering to turn light on, and headed straight for her bed. 'So why am I so unsettled?'

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Aaaaaaaargh!!! I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't. The truth is I had no idea what I wanted to write. Unfortunately I don't really think this story is making much sense so far, but I promise to try and fix all that.

Oh and one more thing, Risty I really appreciate your review, but the next time you need to tell me stuph like that just e-mail me instead, ok?