~*~ When Did This Happen? ~*~
:: Seiftis. Squffie hints. (Quistis x Seifer, Squall x Selphie) ::
Chapter Twenty-Two: Calling Mastermind
~Silverium~
Disclaimer: Squaresoft. Not Silver.
"Take care of yourself Trepe," Seifer ordered as he looked down at Quistis,
"Yes mommy." She replied solemnly,
"I'm warning you Trepe…"
"Shut up and kiss me?" Quistis tried again, she felt higher than a cloud, so why not take a risk.
It shocked Seifer but a smirk grew on his face as he leaned over and took his sweet precious time tasting Quistis' lips. Reluctant to part he slowly drew away after a few moments then gazed fondly at the golden-haired goddess, her sightless eyes masked from view. He would look forward to drowning in those vibrant blue depths when they were restored.
"Sweet dreams Trepe,"
"I'll dream of you, Almasy."
~*~
Two days after their depart Cid had gotten in touch with the officials of the town and the SeeDs had been installed into the same hotel Seifer and Irvine had been in last time. Using DNA data they had discovered the identity of the killer, William Bronze, an otherwise innocent man, but his whereabouts were borderless in the possibilities.
The picture supplied had been useful, he was a middle-aged man, coal black hair shot through with silver, green-gold eyes that seemed too caring to commit the crime he did. They decided it would be best to start off in the mansion, it had been cleared out, the rest of the family staying with relatives while the situation was resolved, and the police handed the second floor office room to Selphie who set up a communications base.
She stayed behind as Squall, Irvine, Zell and Seifer ventured out. The two gunbladers parted from the other men when they split up, each to research and explore places where they thought Bronze might have gone.
Squall and Seifer went to the police department to look on the man's file while Irvine and Zell went to the governmental building to search through the remaining files there. Communicating through Selphie they found enough clues for a good start. Bronze came to power through the funding of several large-scale projects; he donated riches acquired through the ownership of a casino chain in Deling City, his good will towards the world was seen as beneficial and his position was only the outcome of a raise everyone thought natural. Irvine surmised that with his place of power and money on the line, Bronze couldn't afford the conspiracy being recorded. They found out that murdered council member, Charles James, was a recorder of such things and most likely (another assumption of Irvine) he didn't want his collection of records incomplete by the absence of the very one he was wrapped up in.
Bronze owned several large houses, in various cities, and so Seifer and Squall were headed to Dollet and Irvine and Zell were going to Deling. Selphie would stay in the mansion and keep tabs on them both, as well as do more research. She felt odd though, usually Quistis did the research, but right now Quistis couldn't read. With the internet unfolded to her will, the brunette began to search. She had designed the office to her liking now, the window in front of her had the curtains spread open, beside her was a large glass of fruit punch with an orange slice, ice, and a straw, a bowl of Goldfish crackers was on her other side and she had turned on the radio so she could sing along.
The police weren't quite sure what to make of her yet.
After six hours Selphie's eyes were hazed over. Eight glasses of fruit juice, a box of the crackers, and the ordering of a pizza were doing little to keep her sane. Her emerald eyes swirled over towards the phone, then down to her comm. Link ,
"Quicksilver to Slipstream?" She asked,
"Slipstream here, new information?"
Selphie smiled at Squall's voice, it was deep, but never gruff, "Nope, I'm bored."
"…"
"Well, what should I do? I've been sitting here for six hours and I haven't come up with anything new! Usually Quisty does this sort of stuff. I don't know why, it's so boring." Selphie sighed, "That's why I'm calling you, I thought you might have found something interesting. How is Dollet? Last time I remember I fell down the hill but it didn't hurt much surprisingly. Aw, that was when I first met you, do you remember that? I do, like it was yesterday, which is also surprising, you'd think with all the Guardian Force work we did that even those memories would start to fade but I guess they're still fresh enough to withstand the amnesia. Oh, Squally, I never want to forget that day, we had so much fun! Do you remember escaping that HUGE machine? And Quistis fired at it and she looked SO cool! There was fire in those eyes, and I know everyone calls her an Ice Queen but she was totally hot then, like…fire hot or something! I really hope her eyes get better I've been so, so, so worried for her cause she's my best friend and I dust do not know what I'd do without her! Maybe I'll call her, she might have tips on this research thingy, we'll see I guess. Good luck with your tour around Dollet, and come back soon, it's so boring back here. I always get left out for communications duty…I guess that's because I'm the only one who knows all the buttons of the system. Reminds me of this time in the Ragnarok where there was that yellow button everyone told me not to press and then I DID press it and accidentally caused the cargo to be ejected. Rinoa was so mad because I lost her favourite pair of shoes but I cheered her up by reminding her that she had enough money to buy 50 of those exact shoes. Well. I should go. Thanks for entertaining me, BYE!"
"Quicksilver to Bluebird?"
"Bluebird, hey Selphie,"
"Hey Nida! Can you put me through to Quistis?" Selphie chirped,
"Um, sure, how's the mission going?"
"Oh, it's wonderful, Squall and Seifer are in Dollet, and Irvine and Zell are in Deling. I'm jealous of Irvy cause he gets to go play at the casino with Zell," Selphie pouted, but split into grins soon after, "I need my bestest buddy Quistis though, I'm having research problems."
Nida laughed over the link, "I'll see if I can get her. You're on hold."
Selphie listened to the monotonous music for a few seconds before the phone was picked up and the familiar stern tone of Quistis echoed in the receiver,
"Trepe here,"
"Quisty!"
"Selphie?"
"I need your help, the guy who designed the weird fluid is named William Bronze, we have a few leads to his whereabouts but we need more. I suck at researching, can you shed some tips to your friend?" Selphie pleaded earnestly.
Back in Balamb Quistis sat up straighter. She couldn't see, but thinking was her main strength, and she didn't need to be able to see to think. Instantly keywords for various searches popped into her mind and she demanded Selphie tell her all she'd found. After twenty minutes the brunette was out of breath and Quistis was calculating. Finally she spoke,
"He funded projects, eh? Search each project and find out what they have in common, if anything, usually benefactors chose some sort of field to give their money into, I doubt Bronze would be any different." Quistis informed Selphie,
"All righty…let's se…Bronze…Bronze and projects. Okay. Uh huh… okay…well. He donated to Odine's lab, a specialized nuclear center in Esthar, the not-so-secret lab in his mansion for the government's private research, he gave money to Galbadia's chemistry program…the list goes on…"
"Sounds like he was a science-nut." Quistis returned without hesitation, "So, locate the top chemistry laboratories in the world, then do smaller searches on biochemistry and acid-testing."
"Quistis you're so good at this," Selphie sighed happily, "I'm glad I called you. Squall wasn't much help. He doesn't talk much."
"He does now that your prying him open Selph, I'm surprised he let you." Quistis found herself smiling a little,
"It's a bet we made," Selphie grinned over the phone as she typed in the various searches and scanned their results, "Quisty…I'm starting to like him…a lot."
"Cute, Selphie," Quistis cooed,
"After the party…when you and Seifer had left, he kissed me, it was so, so, so sweet!" Selphie let out a dreamy sigh and then giggled, "Quistis! I think Squall is my prince!"
"Your prince?" Quistis inquired,
"Yeah! This is all so fairy-tale! I'm a princess and he's my prince, my tall dark handsome, my...my…brooding, lovable—"
"The search?" Quistis reminded gently, not sure if she wanted to be caught in one of Selphie's gushes, with Irvine it had drove her mad,
"Oh yeah! The top chemical lab and biochemical lab are both in Esthar. One offers public tours and the other is restricted. All that turns up is a picture of the building."
"Get one of the duos to check it out, actually, get all four to check it out after they're done searching the cities. But I'll be my money Bronze is in Esthar."
"I'll get right on it," Selphie beamed,
"Thanks Selphie, for everything."
Quistis hung up before Selphie could ask what she was thanking her for.
~*~*~*~*~
I know it's weird, some chapters are really short, others are really long…
