"In the stocks again. You really are an idiot."
"Just shut up."
The crowd gawked as the two men bickered amongst themselves. They occasionally attempted to struggle and get free but only as their anger was peeked by the others nagging. Usually this was a spectacle, in which tomatoes were thrown, and the men locked up were spat upon, but today they found it more humorous to nag at the prisoners until they lashed out at each other.
"Once again, your fault."
"I SAID SHUT UP!!"
The man to the left struggled violently to free himself, straining to lash out at the other man. He'd grit his teeth and growled. The man on the right simply laughed.
"You're just wasting energy."
"SHUT UP! I don't need you to tell me my business. You little-"
He trailed off as he was struck in the face with the butt of a rifle. He groaned, then growled as he once again tried to free himself but was once again struck. A guard stood over them peering down. His eyes were stern and piercing.
"Proctor..."
He shifted his gaze to the man on the right.
"And Phelix...You two really are pathetic. It's a wonder that you aren't locked away for good. The Shinra have gone a bit lax with their policing duties. Then again when you two are the worse threats here...I don't see why they should have to."
He added with a chuckle. It was more a raspy guffaw than a chuckle, it was rather unpleasant to the ears. The crowd had begun to dissipate. Slowly returning back to their homes.
"Ugh. Shinra, lazy pigs, all they concern themselves with anymore is meddling in affairs which don't concern them."
Replied Proctor. The rifle butt struck them once more atop their heads. Proctor shouted but Phelix merely groaned.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?!?"
Phelix shouted in anger. He once again tried to struggle and free himself. A drop of blood trickled down his forehead and over sweat rivulets that had begun to form on his furrowed brows.
"Don't act like you didn't know that organizing against the Shinra is against the law, and how many times have I told you that a public rally is not the way to do it."
"Don't you act innocent. You were right there next to me."
"YES TRYING TO SHUT YOU UP!"
"That's not the way the Shinra sees it. You're my right hand man as far as they can tell."
"You're always dragging me into your little schemes to foil Shinra. When will you face the facts. They are too big and too strong. What do you plan to do if you so rally this entire town as supporters in your cause? What then? Do you arm farmers and merchants and march on Shinra's headquarters? Do you take them to court and try them? Under what pretenses? Even if they DIDN'T own the courts...you have nothing to try them by. You think nothing through. If you were going to take down the Shinra, you would need full support from an army, cooperation from disgruntled top level Shinra execs and then you would have to rot them from the inside out. And sorry if I sound pessimistic but they are very big, very strong, and their political stature is revered by all. Meaning you have very little chance of changing ANYTHING! SO FORGET IT!"
With that the guard issued a laugh and patted Proctor on his head. Proctor shifted his head in an attempt to avoid the guard's hand.
"Listen to your friend. It will do you some good. At least one of you has some wit about 'em."
"Wish we could say the same about you."
Retorted Phelix. He smiled as he spoke and tensed for the strike. The blow came down sharply on his forehead. He began to swoon from the blows and eventually went limp. It took a few blows to eventually silence Proctor but it was done so, and both men lay there unconscious. They had not stirred for many hours. Eventually Phelix awoke from an indeterminable dream. He shifted and after a lengthy pause he looked to the ground before him. He was still in the hazy state in between the physical and metaphysical. His head ached from the blows. He lifted with all his might only to find the stocks beckon to the force. He looked to Proctor, who had been bleeding a bit. A puddle of blood had gathered under his feet, as he was unconscious. Phelix sauntered over only after coming to himself. He noted that Proctors locks were still intact. Phelix looked about him, to find an ax with a dulled head. He snatched it up, grasped it firmly, and slammed the ax head into the locks. It took only one blow for them to give way. He lifted the top portion of the stocks to loose and allowed the man to fall to the ground with a thud. Proctor awoke as well with the jolt. He looked to Phelix a bit disgruntled, but thankful for being freed.
"Think you could be just a BIT gentler next time?!?"
"Hey... be thankful I even let out at all."
"I don't owe you a DAMN thing. If anything, you owe ME!"
"How so?"
"Just shut up."
With that Phelix chuckled. He finally took a glance about at his surroundings. He noticed that there was not a single soul stirring. He looked to Proctor quite puzzled.
"That's odd...there isn't ONE person about in the markets."
He scratched his head and looked to Proctor who mimicked his quizzical gaze.
"Huh..."
Phelix gave Proctor a gesture to follow him.
"Uh hoss... I am going home. I don't know about you."
"Shut up. Something is awry. Don't you feel it?"
"Not really but that's your deal man. Doesn't matter if anything is wrong or not, I still got to go home."
With that he swiveled atop his haunches and began to walk slowly down the main dirt street, which just a ways forked into three different roads. The first one to the left led to the housing district, the one in the middle led out of town and the one to the right led to the business district. Proctor reached the junction and paused. Usually the streets were bustling. Shinra employees returning home. The night shift replacing them. Caught in the usual monotony of the every day hustle. Proctor knelt and looked at the dirt. The earth hadn't been stirred recently. No one had passed down these streets for some time. He turned and looked down the street once more to Phelix, who was pushing the doors to the tavern open. Proctor sighed and retraced his steps down the street and stood at the door in which Phelix had entered.
"All right, I admit something is amiss. What do you suppose it is?"
Phelix turned back to Proctor, though his eyes were still fixed on the tavern walls and tables that were strode about.
"Someone was here. I have a bad feeling all of a sudden. There was a fight here. Not really a fight I should say but a struggle. To say there was a fight would be inaccurate. No blood was spilled on the ground. Something isn't right. We couldn't have been out for more than a couple of hours. How long does it take to evacuate a town?"
The town had been growing in the last few years. The resurgence of materia in the old reactors on the hill, was just an invitation for the Shinra to come barging in. They had stormed in, robbed the town of its materia set up a headquarters there and then moved on. Witten was peaceful until people that had been looking for work came barging in. Public displays of violence were frowned upon before the Shinra made it a spectacle. There had been talk of constructing an arena. Thus Proctor's hate for the Shinra. He was dead set against violence, though at one point in time he had been a very renowned soldier. He had not graduated first class, he had not gotten to his position because of his credentials, but when Shinra decided it was time to silence a terrorist group stowed away in Wu Tai, he was among one of the first soldiers to enter the town. A statue of Yuffie, the town's guardian, had been toppled and crumpled. They had entered the town very confident that no more than a few shots would be issued and the group would go down silently. As they entered, a shot rang out from behind the shrine and a man to Proctors right fell. Then another shot rang out and the man to Proctor's left fell. And then a barrage of shots was fired, leveling the men about him. Proctor ran and hid behind the fallen statue. He fingered his pistol and awaited his chance to liberate a few rounds into the enemy's sternum. He heard a sharp, shrill cry and he peered over the rock to see a young boy had gotten caught in the cross fire and one of his own comrades had taken the liberty of shooting the boy square in the knee cap. He struggled to get out of the line of cross fire, he crawled and squirmed but in the end, one of the terrorists emptied around into the boy's carcass. Proctor enraged by this scenario, leaped from behind the fallen statue and walked stoically up to the terrorist and planted a boot firmly in his chest. He then stepped on his chest and aimed the gun, shooting him in between his eyes. He dived and rolled out of the way of a few rounds. He rolled to a crouch position, aimed the gun, and shot another terrorist in the throat. A few more fell to the rounds of a few of the other soldiers. Eventually after much fire, a man lumbered out from a house to Proctor's left. He bore an ancient Kanji symbol. Proctor couldn't guess what it was only that he could possibly be the leader of the group. He was a very large man in stature. He was 6'7" and about 280 pounds. His physique as nothing to be scoffed at, but Proctor was feeling a bit confident. He turned and emptied a round into the mans chest, but he did not fall. Proctor stood amazed. His armor must have been some pretty stout stuff to withstand the bullets. He issued a shot to the forehead. The man didn't fall. It seemed to Proctor that he was invincible. Proctor issued the signal to fall back, and so a few did. But a few were engaged in such heavy fire that it was impossible. Proctor charged and with all his might he threw a left hook, then a right jab, then another right jab, and then a rising knee. With the combo came a sudden jolt, and then pain followed soon after. He was no normal man that was evident. Before Proctor could react the man had him by his throat and had tossed him to the earth with a thud. Proctor grabbed a stray pipe and bludgeoned the man in the back of his head, to no avail. He was soon swatted with a giant fist, he fell to the ground. After a moment he took notice of a stray wire that happened to be flailing about the tip was sparking with electricity, and with all the strength he could muster he stabbed the pole into the back of the man. The pole had only entered a few inches but quickly he stooped down, and only taking the time to note that he was grabbing the wires with a gloved and he placed them on the pole that was jutting out of the mans back. He had raised his fist again to swat but as he raised his fist, a jolt of electricity was sent through his body shorting out wires. The man fell to the ground with the thud. No body noted the wires but only Proctor standing there, blood trickling down his face and his eyes blood shot and his face red with anger. His comrades crowded around him and cheered. He had become a hero, over a series of months his name was everywhere. He had become quite the hero. Shinra asked him to speak at town squares, praising Shinra for making him the man he was today, but as time wore on and his fame wore off Shinra discarded him. He moved to Witten, a quiet and peaceful town to escape the Shinra. Had he known that their hand would have stretched this far, he would have mounted a defense himself, but it was so quick. Phelix tapped him on his shoulder. He quickly brushed his hand away.
"There was some kind of struggle, but there is no blood. Its almost as if the entire town was kidnapped. There are no bodies and no one to explain what happened."
Utterly and totally perplexed, Proctor exited the tavern with Phelix close behind. Proctor headed down to the forked road. He placed his hand on his chin as if deciding which way to go. His eyes were narrowed on the path that led to the business district, then his gaze shifted to the road that led to the housing district.
"I want to go to Shinra headquarters, I think we might find something there."
"Aw man, Shinra isn't the only 'evil', if you would call them that, that are at work here. Shinra is not this subtle nor are they random. They must have reason before they clear out an ENTIRE town and leave us here. I find it rather odd don't you that we were left and no one else?"
"You can't tell me that anyone else would have a reason for clearing out an entire town now can you? You have no proof that it wasn't Shinra so lets at least go check out their headquarters, if nothing else for my peace of mind. And how can you be sure they didn't overlook us?"
"How can you be such an IDIOT! I don't understand it, we were in the middle of the town square in stocks and they happened to overlook us is the best answer you can come up with? Take everything we have discovered so far into account before you make assumptions...geez."
"Then what was it? Since you are oh so smart, why don't you tell me what happened."
"I don't know."
"Exactly, Shinra was my initial decision and we will go with that. If you have something better then speak up. What else do you propose we do? Walk about aimlessly, hoping on hope that a clue will jump up and slap us in our face?"
Phelix remained silent.
"Let's go unless you have something else you want to add."
And with that they headed down the dirt path that led to the business district.
"Just shut up."
The crowd gawked as the two men bickered amongst themselves. They occasionally attempted to struggle and get free but only as their anger was peeked by the others nagging. Usually this was a spectacle, in which tomatoes were thrown, and the men locked up were spat upon, but today they found it more humorous to nag at the prisoners until they lashed out at each other.
"Once again, your fault."
"I SAID SHUT UP!!"
The man to the left struggled violently to free himself, straining to lash out at the other man. He'd grit his teeth and growled. The man on the right simply laughed.
"You're just wasting energy."
"SHUT UP! I don't need you to tell me my business. You little-"
He trailed off as he was struck in the face with the butt of a rifle. He groaned, then growled as he once again tried to free himself but was once again struck. A guard stood over them peering down. His eyes were stern and piercing.
"Proctor..."
He shifted his gaze to the man on the right.
"And Phelix...You two really are pathetic. It's a wonder that you aren't locked away for good. The Shinra have gone a bit lax with their policing duties. Then again when you two are the worse threats here...I don't see why they should have to."
He added with a chuckle. It was more a raspy guffaw than a chuckle, it was rather unpleasant to the ears. The crowd had begun to dissipate. Slowly returning back to their homes.
"Ugh. Shinra, lazy pigs, all they concern themselves with anymore is meddling in affairs which don't concern them."
Replied Proctor. The rifle butt struck them once more atop their heads. Proctor shouted but Phelix merely groaned.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?!?"
Phelix shouted in anger. He once again tried to struggle and free himself. A drop of blood trickled down his forehead and over sweat rivulets that had begun to form on his furrowed brows.
"Don't act like you didn't know that organizing against the Shinra is against the law, and how many times have I told you that a public rally is not the way to do it."
"Don't you act innocent. You were right there next to me."
"YES TRYING TO SHUT YOU UP!"
"That's not the way the Shinra sees it. You're my right hand man as far as they can tell."
"You're always dragging me into your little schemes to foil Shinra. When will you face the facts. They are too big and too strong. What do you plan to do if you so rally this entire town as supporters in your cause? What then? Do you arm farmers and merchants and march on Shinra's headquarters? Do you take them to court and try them? Under what pretenses? Even if they DIDN'T own the courts...you have nothing to try them by. You think nothing through. If you were going to take down the Shinra, you would need full support from an army, cooperation from disgruntled top level Shinra execs and then you would have to rot them from the inside out. And sorry if I sound pessimistic but they are very big, very strong, and their political stature is revered by all. Meaning you have very little chance of changing ANYTHING! SO FORGET IT!"
With that the guard issued a laugh and patted Proctor on his head. Proctor shifted his head in an attempt to avoid the guard's hand.
"Listen to your friend. It will do you some good. At least one of you has some wit about 'em."
"Wish we could say the same about you."
Retorted Phelix. He smiled as he spoke and tensed for the strike. The blow came down sharply on his forehead. He began to swoon from the blows and eventually went limp. It took a few blows to eventually silence Proctor but it was done so, and both men lay there unconscious. They had not stirred for many hours. Eventually Phelix awoke from an indeterminable dream. He shifted and after a lengthy pause he looked to the ground before him. He was still in the hazy state in between the physical and metaphysical. His head ached from the blows. He lifted with all his might only to find the stocks beckon to the force. He looked to Proctor, who had been bleeding a bit. A puddle of blood had gathered under his feet, as he was unconscious. Phelix sauntered over only after coming to himself. He noted that Proctors locks were still intact. Phelix looked about him, to find an ax with a dulled head. He snatched it up, grasped it firmly, and slammed the ax head into the locks. It took only one blow for them to give way. He lifted the top portion of the stocks to loose and allowed the man to fall to the ground with a thud. Proctor awoke as well with the jolt. He looked to Phelix a bit disgruntled, but thankful for being freed.
"Think you could be just a BIT gentler next time?!?"
"Hey... be thankful I even let out at all."
"I don't owe you a DAMN thing. If anything, you owe ME!"
"How so?"
"Just shut up."
With that Phelix chuckled. He finally took a glance about at his surroundings. He noticed that there was not a single soul stirring. He looked to Proctor quite puzzled.
"That's odd...there isn't ONE person about in the markets."
He scratched his head and looked to Proctor who mimicked his quizzical gaze.
"Huh..."
Phelix gave Proctor a gesture to follow him.
"Uh hoss... I am going home. I don't know about you."
"Shut up. Something is awry. Don't you feel it?"
"Not really but that's your deal man. Doesn't matter if anything is wrong or not, I still got to go home."
With that he swiveled atop his haunches and began to walk slowly down the main dirt street, which just a ways forked into three different roads. The first one to the left led to the housing district, the one in the middle led out of town and the one to the right led to the business district. Proctor reached the junction and paused. Usually the streets were bustling. Shinra employees returning home. The night shift replacing them. Caught in the usual monotony of the every day hustle. Proctor knelt and looked at the dirt. The earth hadn't been stirred recently. No one had passed down these streets for some time. He turned and looked down the street once more to Phelix, who was pushing the doors to the tavern open. Proctor sighed and retraced his steps down the street and stood at the door in which Phelix had entered.
"All right, I admit something is amiss. What do you suppose it is?"
Phelix turned back to Proctor, though his eyes were still fixed on the tavern walls and tables that were strode about.
"Someone was here. I have a bad feeling all of a sudden. There was a fight here. Not really a fight I should say but a struggle. To say there was a fight would be inaccurate. No blood was spilled on the ground. Something isn't right. We couldn't have been out for more than a couple of hours. How long does it take to evacuate a town?"
The town had been growing in the last few years. The resurgence of materia in the old reactors on the hill, was just an invitation for the Shinra to come barging in. They had stormed in, robbed the town of its materia set up a headquarters there and then moved on. Witten was peaceful until people that had been looking for work came barging in. Public displays of violence were frowned upon before the Shinra made it a spectacle. There had been talk of constructing an arena. Thus Proctor's hate for the Shinra. He was dead set against violence, though at one point in time he had been a very renowned soldier. He had not graduated first class, he had not gotten to his position because of his credentials, but when Shinra decided it was time to silence a terrorist group stowed away in Wu Tai, he was among one of the first soldiers to enter the town. A statue of Yuffie, the town's guardian, had been toppled and crumpled. They had entered the town very confident that no more than a few shots would be issued and the group would go down silently. As they entered, a shot rang out from behind the shrine and a man to Proctors right fell. Then another shot rang out and the man to Proctor's left fell. And then a barrage of shots was fired, leveling the men about him. Proctor ran and hid behind the fallen statue. He fingered his pistol and awaited his chance to liberate a few rounds into the enemy's sternum. He heard a sharp, shrill cry and he peered over the rock to see a young boy had gotten caught in the cross fire and one of his own comrades had taken the liberty of shooting the boy square in the knee cap. He struggled to get out of the line of cross fire, he crawled and squirmed but in the end, one of the terrorists emptied around into the boy's carcass. Proctor enraged by this scenario, leaped from behind the fallen statue and walked stoically up to the terrorist and planted a boot firmly in his chest. He then stepped on his chest and aimed the gun, shooting him in between his eyes. He dived and rolled out of the way of a few rounds. He rolled to a crouch position, aimed the gun, and shot another terrorist in the throat. A few more fell to the rounds of a few of the other soldiers. Eventually after much fire, a man lumbered out from a house to Proctor's left. He bore an ancient Kanji symbol. Proctor couldn't guess what it was only that he could possibly be the leader of the group. He was a very large man in stature. He was 6'7" and about 280 pounds. His physique as nothing to be scoffed at, but Proctor was feeling a bit confident. He turned and emptied a round into the mans chest, but he did not fall. Proctor stood amazed. His armor must have been some pretty stout stuff to withstand the bullets. He issued a shot to the forehead. The man didn't fall. It seemed to Proctor that he was invincible. Proctor issued the signal to fall back, and so a few did. But a few were engaged in such heavy fire that it was impossible. Proctor charged and with all his might he threw a left hook, then a right jab, then another right jab, and then a rising knee. With the combo came a sudden jolt, and then pain followed soon after. He was no normal man that was evident. Before Proctor could react the man had him by his throat and had tossed him to the earth with a thud. Proctor grabbed a stray pipe and bludgeoned the man in the back of his head, to no avail. He was soon swatted with a giant fist, he fell to the ground. After a moment he took notice of a stray wire that happened to be flailing about the tip was sparking with electricity, and with all the strength he could muster he stabbed the pole into the back of the man. The pole had only entered a few inches but quickly he stooped down, and only taking the time to note that he was grabbing the wires with a gloved and he placed them on the pole that was jutting out of the mans back. He had raised his fist again to swat but as he raised his fist, a jolt of electricity was sent through his body shorting out wires. The man fell to the ground with the thud. No body noted the wires but only Proctor standing there, blood trickling down his face and his eyes blood shot and his face red with anger. His comrades crowded around him and cheered. He had become a hero, over a series of months his name was everywhere. He had become quite the hero. Shinra asked him to speak at town squares, praising Shinra for making him the man he was today, but as time wore on and his fame wore off Shinra discarded him. He moved to Witten, a quiet and peaceful town to escape the Shinra. Had he known that their hand would have stretched this far, he would have mounted a defense himself, but it was so quick. Phelix tapped him on his shoulder. He quickly brushed his hand away.
"There was some kind of struggle, but there is no blood. Its almost as if the entire town was kidnapped. There are no bodies and no one to explain what happened."
Utterly and totally perplexed, Proctor exited the tavern with Phelix close behind. Proctor headed down to the forked road. He placed his hand on his chin as if deciding which way to go. His eyes were narrowed on the path that led to the business district, then his gaze shifted to the road that led to the housing district.
"I want to go to Shinra headquarters, I think we might find something there."
"Aw man, Shinra isn't the only 'evil', if you would call them that, that are at work here. Shinra is not this subtle nor are they random. They must have reason before they clear out an ENTIRE town and leave us here. I find it rather odd don't you that we were left and no one else?"
"You can't tell me that anyone else would have a reason for clearing out an entire town now can you? You have no proof that it wasn't Shinra so lets at least go check out their headquarters, if nothing else for my peace of mind. And how can you be sure they didn't overlook us?"
"How can you be such an IDIOT! I don't understand it, we were in the middle of the town square in stocks and they happened to overlook us is the best answer you can come up with? Take everything we have discovered so far into account before you make assumptions...geez."
"Then what was it? Since you are oh so smart, why don't you tell me what happened."
"I don't know."
"Exactly, Shinra was my initial decision and we will go with that. If you have something better then speak up. What else do you propose we do? Walk about aimlessly, hoping on hope that a clue will jump up and slap us in our face?"
Phelix remained silent.
"Let's go unless you have something else you want to add."
And with that they headed down the dirt path that led to the business district.