Chapter 13:
Captive!
"Here sighs and cries and wails coiled and recoiled on the starless air, spilling my soul to tears. A confusion of tongues and monstrous accents toiled in pain and anger. Voices hoarse and shrill and sounds of blows…tumult and pandemonium that still whirl on the air…"
~Dante Alighieri
Everyone was quiet as the five of them stepped into Rocket Town. Yuffie appeared to be in a black mood, and the kids seemed reluctant to talk. Vincent was also silent, but this at least was usual, so Barret didn't say anything.
The town, too, was silent. There were people around, but they went about their business hurriedly, their heads ducked low.
At fist glance, Barret immediately suspected. The Sresla was here. He looked at the others to see if they'd noticed anything, but if they had, they gave no indication by the expression on their face.
"Daddy," -Marlene screwed up her face- "something smells bad."
She was right. Barret recognized that smell all too well. It was the stench of death, the decaying of corpses rotted by sickness.
"Yuffie," he said quietly, trying not to alarm anyone, "take the girls to the inn. Don't book a room. Jus' wait for me there."
Yuffie turned obediently and walked away, expecting Marlene and Adine to follow. They did, after a look at Barret's face.
"Vincent, you wit' me."
Vincent's red eyes darted back and forth, sizing up Rocket Town. "We should leave. This place is a death trap."
"I know, but we can't leave right yet. Cid an' Shera hafta know what's goin' on."
Vincent nodded assent.
"Yo!" Barret stopped a passing man. "What's happened?"
"The man was tall, not as tall as Barret, and not nearly as muscular. He backed up a step. "You travelers?"
"You could say that." Barret didn't like the way the man was looking at them. "We from AVALANCHE. Now what's happened?"
The announcement didn't have the effect he'd hoped. The man's eyes narrowed at the mention of AVALANCHE, and his mouth pursed, as though he'd tasted something sour. "Sickness," he said shortly. "A plague. The town was stricken just three days ago, and already we're half the population we used to be." He turned away, but Vincent grabbed his arm. The man gasped a bit at his chill touch.
"Was there a woman here?" Vincent demanded.
"Wha-" The man tried to pull away, but Vincent held him fast. "Woman?"
Vincent tightened his grip. "Lives depend on this, you fool!" he said tersely. "Was there a woman here, with long black hair? In a purple gown?"
Barret watched as the man sputtered, trying to remember. He wondered if a bit more intimidation was in order, then decided against it. Vincent seemed to be doing a well-enough job.
"I-I think Dale might've mentioned a woman in a purple gown," the man stammered. "But she left-"
"When?!"
"Ju-just a few days ago-"
Vincent released his hold, making the man stumble backwards. He turned to Barret, not looking at him. "We're too late."
Barret heaved a sigh. "How're we gonna tell Cid an' Shera?"
Vincent shrugged, then turned back in the direction of the inn. "Let's get the others and leave."
"Yo," Barret said, catching up with him. "Why'd you ask him about Jenova? Nobody said anything 'bout her in Wutai."
"It never occurred to anyone in Wutai," Vincent answered evenly, not losing a stride. "I've been thinking about this for some time. Jenova was in Midgar when it started. Maybe she can use her physical presence to start the sickness in places, then let it loose."
"Kinda like wildfire," Barret said, in a sudden flash of understanding. "Once you light the match, you don't hafta wait around for it to burn everythin' in its path."
Vincent nodded, then dropped the matter abruptly. "In here." He pushed open the door to the Rocket Town inn.
The girls were standing in a corner. When Yuffie saw them, she stood up.
"Barret, I think you should talk to the innkeeper," she said in a low voice. "Right now."
Not liking the look on her face, Barret strode to the desk. As he got close, he saw the man from before was there, speaking vehemently with the proprietor. When the owner caught sight of Barret, he stepped toward him, a somber expression on his face.
"Traveling, sir?"
"The hell's all this about?" Barret could feel his rage rising.
"I'm afraid you may be stuck here for a while, sir." The innkeeper gave an uncertain smile, as though he wasn't sure whether he should look apologetic or optimistic. "Rick tells me you're from out of town." He gestured to the other man.
"So what?" Vincent and Yuffie came to stand beside him. They didn't look happy.
"Tell 'em, Dale," Rick snapped when the innkeeper shifted uncomfortably.
Dale spread his hands helplessly. "I'm very sorry, sir. Perhaps you already know this town is contaminated? We're allowing no one to leave for fear of spreading the disease."
"You don't understand!" Yuffie blurted. "We have to get back-"
"Have to, missy?" Rick, it appeared, was a good deal more courageous when with Dale (and a safe distance from Vincent). "Have to? The only 'have to' is our 'have to'- that you have to stay here! We can't risk spreading this disease!"
"Trust us, it's already spread," Vincent said quietly.
"Well, we can't spread it more!" Dale snapped.
Suddenly, Barret remembered something. "Hey, we from AVALANCHE. Cid Highwind- your Captain- is in an airship pretty damn close by. We need to get back to him."
"Highwind?" Rick sneered. "He left us just as soon as it suited him. No strings attached with him. When he decided to move on, he left, and while he was gone, this happened to us. So you'll pardon us if we don't allow his friends to contaminate everyone else on the planet!"
"Cid saved your lives!" Yuffie yelled. "How can you be so selfish?!"
Dale raised an eyebrow. "Selfish? You're the ones who're selfish. Think about healthy people who are going on with their lives. We aren't asking you to do something unreasonable. I'm sure you'll agree."
Barret looked at Vincent and received a nod in return. He raised his gun-arm. He didn't want to hurt anybody, but… "What if we force our way out?"
On cue, Vincent's gun spun into his hand. Yuffie's shuriken whipped up in a defensive posture.
Dale still looked calm. Rick pulled back the edge of his coat to expose a gun of his own. "I think you'll meet with some resistance."
"It's three to one," Yuffie growled. Dale glanced to her, then to the two children behind her.
"I don't think that's a very good idea," he said softly, his eyes meeting Barret's. "This is a very small and confined area. What if a…stray bullet…happened to hit one of the children?"
Barret went rigid. "You son of a bitch."
Dale smiled faintly. "Be that as it may, the advantage lies with us."
"Barret," Yuffie whispered. "What do we do?"
Barret didn't answer her. What the hell was there to do?
Vincent lowered his gun. "Be grateful if we don't kill you once we get out of here!" he hissed.
Rick let the edge of his coat drop back to cover the gun. He sighed a little. "No need to worry." Sadness was evident in his voice. "None of us are getting out of here. At least not alive."
* * * * * * *
"On your feet!"
Something hit him, hard. Reno woke abruptly. Someone was yelling his name. He felt pain on the back of his head, but it was distant, reserved. He forced himself to open his eyes.
"Finally," said the first voice. "Get up, Turk."
Bewildered, Reno looked around. He was on the floor of the Operation Room in the Apocalypse. How had he gotten there?
Someone was still yelling his name. Was it Elena? It sounded like Elena. He tried to say her name; tried to tell her to shut up, but when he moved his lips a low groan was all that came out.
The first grating voice swore roughly. A hand grabbed him by the collar, hauling him to his feet. The sudden movement made his head spin, his vision blur. A far-off part of him wondered if he'd been drugged.
The same callused hand slapped him in the face, twice. When he started to slide back to the floor the hand grabbed him and jerked him back up.
A dirty face came close to his. "Don't you slip away on me, you bastard."
Darryn.
The previous event rushed back to his mind. His vision cleared. He looked back at the leader of the Hunters with cold contempt.
"Good." Darryn shoved him back again.
"Leave him alone!" It was Elena again. Reno jerked his head toward the sound of her voice.
"Elena?!"
She was on the floor at the opposite side of the room. Her wrists and ankles were bound together. She was glaring hatefully at Darryn's back.
Darryn slowly turned. "What did you say to me?"
Shut up, Elena, Reno thought desperately. For once in your life just shut the hell up!
"I said to leave him alone," she said deliberately, looking at him as though he was mentally impaired. "You're a sick twisted animal who should've by rights been shot a long-"
She was cut short as Darryn grabbed her by the throat, lifting her to eye level. His powerful muscles flexed as he tightened his fingers around her neck. "I wouldn't be one to talk, girl. Animal or not…I'm the predator, and you're my prey."
She couldn't speak, but her eyes alone conveyed the fury she was feeling. When Darryn yanked her closer to make his point, she spat in his face.
With a yell of rage, Darryn threw her with all his strength. Reno heard the crack as her head hit the wall.
Before he knew what he was doing, Reno jumped Darryn from behind, slamming them both to the floor. Darryn fell on his stomach and lay there a moment, wind knocked out of him. Reno took advantage of this and pummeled him relentlessly, hardly aware of his actions. He felt as though he was a spectator, watching a highly enjoyable movie.
After a moment, someone, most likely a Hunter, pulled him off Darryn, holding him by the arms. Reno struggled at first, but another wave of dizziness overtook him. He hung limply as Darryn stepped in front of him.
"You never give up, do you Reno?" he said quietly, wiping blood off his face. "You never know when to quit." Without warning he punched Reno in the gut. The force of the blow would've knocked him down, had he not been held up by one of the Hunters. "Never - do - that - again!" Darryn grunted, adding more punches to emphasize each word. He continued to take his anger out on Reno until, very suddenly, he stopped, turned, and walked out of the room.
"Guard them," he called over his shoulder. "And let them talk. I want our favorite Turkey to know the exact situation."
When Darryn was gone, the Hunter dropped Reno and went to stand by the door, watching them closely. Reno didn't move for a minute as he tried to get his breath back. It didn't seem to be coming.
He heard Elena crawling toward him. "Come on, Reno, get up," she begged. "We need to do something."
He made an attempt to move. All at once his stomach heaved and he retched violently, vomiting until he was dry. Elena helped hold his head steady. When it was over he leaned back, exhausted.
"Tell me what happened," he whispered.
She nodded, pushing her hair away from her face. It was matted with blood, and she had a bad cut over one eyebrow, but appeared to be all right. "They surprised us. This group of men- there must have been at least thirty! -came suddenly, bringing you with them. I think they must've done something to you, maybe sedated you, because you were out cold. Anyway, there were too many. We fought, and got a few, but they threatened to kill you. There wasn't much point in resisting, anyway. We had no chance."
Reno cursed his incompetence viciously. His own stupidity had sentenced them all to death. Why hadn't he stayed close to the airship?
"What do they want?" he asked dully.
She didn't look at him. "The Apocalypse."
"Then why keep us?" He knew: It was simply Darryn's style. Darryn liked to be an asshole for the hell of it.
"I think he wants us, for some reason," she said, shrugging.
He didn't press the issue, but moved on. "And the others? Where are they?"
"Cid and Shera are at the bridge," she said, leaning back on her heels. "They took Rude off somewhere. They bound me up and left me here. I don't know why."
He did. Poor Elena, he thought sadly. Poor, naïve Elena. He hoped they didn't have in mind that he thought they did. He said nothing, not wanting to frighten her.
"Reno, we have to get out of here," she said tersely, leaning close to him. "We don't know what they could be doing to Rude, or Cid and Shera. They haven't tied you up, Reno! You can get us out of here!"
She was getting excited over nothing, as usual. Hadn't she noticed he could barely speak? "Elena, they didn't tie me up because I can't move!"
She looked at him in shock. "We have to do something!"
"It was you who said we have no chance against them."
She scowled darkly. "Reno, what's the matter with you?"
He glanced to the guard at the door, then back at her. His voice was heavy with meaning. "I can't say."
Her eyes went wide. After a second, she burst into hysterical tears and fell against him, sobbing into his shoulder. Reno had no idea of whether she was simply a terrific actress, or just letting out feelings of pent-up rage and stress. Either way, it worked as he'd planned.
He held her against him and whispered in her ear. "Why Elena, you're not as stupid as I thought. The tears are a good effect."
"Shut up!" She whispered back furiously. "Do you have a plan or not?"
"Yeah…keep bawling. He's looking over."
She let out a fresh howl in his ear. "What are we going to do?"
Reno told her.
* * * * * * *
Darryn slammed the controls in frustration. "All right, who designed this flying piece of shit?!"
"I did," Cid scowled. "It's not my fault if you're too damn stupid to figure out the system."
Darryn grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "Don't make me lose my temper, pilot. You'll find I resort to violence rather quickly."
Cid wished fervently for his spear. One of the Hunters had taken it, and now had it trained on Shera, who was back against the wall. He hadn't the slightest notion how to use the weapon, and was holding it all wrong. Cid scowled. His Venus Gospel was not a frickin' toy! And neither was his ship.
"You're a dead man if you think I'm going to let you hit that dashboard anymore. Those things are delicate, dammit!"
Darryn didn't release his shirt. "The only reason you're not a 'dead man', Highwind, is because I need you to fly this thing." He shoved Cid into the pilot's seat. "Start it up."
Cid simply stared at the controls. He folded his hands obstinately in front of him. "Make me."
"All right." He felt the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against the side of his head. "How's this?"
Cid turned to glare at Darryn. "If you're going to bluff, at least do it convincingly. Threaten to maim me. Break my legs. Just don't pretend you're gonna kill me."
Darryn smiled. "What makes you so sure I'm bluffing?"
Cid sighed. This guy was too damn stupid. "You need me to fly the airship, dumbass."
Darryn nodded gravely. "You're right. I can't kill you." He whipped around, cocking the gun at Shera. "But I can kill her."
Shera froze. Her only movement was the quick rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her eyes darted from Cid to Darryn. She was obviously terrified, but trying not to show it.
Darryn favored him with a grin. "To be sure there are no misses, I can have Mr. Sykes hold her for me." He snapped his fingers. The man with the Venus Gospel wrapped an arm around Shera's throat in a headlock, holding Cid's own spear under chin.
Darryn's voice was mocking. "How would you prefer her to die, Highwind? Stabbed? Or shot?"
"Let her go." Cid's voice was colder than ice.
"Fly the ship." So was Darryn's.
Slowly, resignedly, Cid worked the familiar controls. The Apocalypse rose into the air.
"Where to?" Cid asked wearily.
I'm sorry I haven't written forever, everyone! I've had a lot of h/w. (Yeah, yeah, the same old excuses). Well, I wanted an action scene, so I made one. Things were getting a little dull, eh? (Great, I'm starting to sound like Casey!) Well, have a great day, and don't forget to review!
~Lila