Irvine was sitting on the couch of the Orphan's hideaway polishing his gun while he and the others waited for Squall to return from his impromptu meeting with Cid. Selphie had dubbed the basement 'holding cell' that after a week or so. It seemed to fit perfectly. Everyone who stayed here was an orphan. So they decided to make this their special place. The SeeD lounge was nice but it wasn't private enough. Every SeeD at Garden had a right to that space and when there was a general lull in missions. It was next to impossible to get any alone time in there.
Finished polishing his gun. Irvine looked around the room at his friends. Ravi was curled up on the opposite of the couch fast asleep with the black Stetson resting on his head. His tail would twitch from time to time but other than that, he was dead to the world.
Quistis was sitting in a chair talking to Selphie while drinking some tea.
Zell was playing Dynasty Warriors 4 with Remy. He kept shouting something about 'Wu tactics' every so often, followed by cheering and a somewhat evil laugh. Remy remained silent for the most part. Though you could tell he was thoroughly enjoying himself by the utter look of triumphant on his face as they passed a particularly hard stage. The cowboy gave a snort of laughter at their antics.
Irvine was suddenly aware of the familiar hum of the elevator descending. The others didn't seem to notice or at least didn't show any outward signs of this knowledge. Looking toward the elevator Irvine saw Squall literally stalk out with a dark scowl across his face with his left hand rubbing the scar. He went toward his room and sat on the edge of his bed.
To the casual observer Squall may have looked relaxed but he knew otherwise. The gang had compared notes on 'Squall watching' it helped them to figure out the icy Commander to an extent. He was glad he paid attention now. Squall was once again in Ice Prince mode. The cowboy could tell that from that seemingly comfortable position that Squall would be able to disable or kill a man in the blink of an eye. Whatever Cid had said had certainly riled up the Lion of Balamb.
Feeling eyes on him, Squall looked up to see just about every pair of eyes in the room on him. It seemed impossible but his scowl seemed to darken. Standing up rigidly. He walked to the front of the room and waiting for everyone to give him them their attention.
Everyone settled onto the couch except for girls who remained in their chairs.
"We are ordered to execute the mutant known as Ravi and then hand over all data to Galbaldia Garden within in the next 24 hours."
Squall quickly put up a hand to silence the many questions that we undoubtedly on the other's mind.
"The Garden as a whole had decided that Galbaldia has broken several treaties involving genetic experimentation. However, Ravi is considered to be sub-human and his body is to be handed over for research. The others Garden wish to continue the research. They see the work as beneficial to our ultimate goal of destroying Sorceress and protecting the world. Cid has been able to stall them to this point, not it's out of his hands.
Turning to Irvine. "General Martine has sent orders for you." Squall drew a sealed document form his jacket and handed it to him.
Irvine took the letter and read or it quickly. The paper slipped from his hand as his face lost all of its color.
Selphie looked over at the cowboy with concern. "Irvy, what's wrong?"
In a daze Irvine picked up the paper and passed it to Selphie, who in turn passed it around for everyone to read.
Mission No. 4852
Objective: Assassination of Shane Larson and Derek Kellogg
Sub Obj: Deliver bodies to team leader once finished.
Person/Team(s) requested: Irvine Kinneas (sniper)
Leader: General Martine
Authorization: General Martine of Galbaldia Garden
Results of failure: Dishonorable discharge from Garden and SeeD
Irvine then got up and left. No one tried to stop him. Squall was the only one to notice that his hands were shaking just like the time he had to shoot Matron in the Deling Parade. The cocky swagger was gone from his steps. A slow deliberate pace replaced it.
Selphie looked lost and confused. Her youthful exuberance was gone replaced by a sadness that was inappropriate for her. Quistis face hard hardened to a deadly glare that promised the use of her Degenerator Blue Magic Spell. Remy eyes were down cast. Zell was the only one who looked hopefully at Squall.
"I know you have a plan right?" One could hear the slight waver in his voice.
Squall simply looked away. "Whatever"
Zell swiftly got to his feet and walked in front of Squall. "Don't you dare shut down on us. Not now not ever. Don't retreat into that shell of yours. I know you give a damn! So quit wasting time acting like you don't care and work on some way to fix this."
Squall stood emotionless in front of the irate red head. "You have 24 hours to say good bye."
In the blink of the eye Zell punched Squall in the face so hard that it knocked him off his feet. Zell looked at the fallen Commander in disgust before stalking off.
By nightfall all was quite in the halls of Garden. Very few people were out during that time. They didn't want to get caught and relegated to cleaning up the training center for a week. Once you're up to your elbows in T-Rexsaurs dropping, you learn to obey the rules quickly. Squall didn't give a second thought to the consequences as made his way to the dormitory wing of Garden.
Coming to the desired door he knocked. He heard some minor commotion inside before he was face to face with a rather agitated blonde. "What are you doing here at this time of night?" Upon closer exception he noticed the bruised eye that was partially swollen shut.
Ignoring him, Squall walked in and sat on the couch. Seifer quickly closed his door and demanded an explanation. Squall just remained impassive and sighed. "Look I don't have all night and I need your help. I need you to take care of something for me."
"Why should I? Why don't you have your little friends help you?"
Squall's face scrunched in annoyance before he winced slightly from irritating his wound.
"Oh I get it, you want me to do some dirty work for you is that it? You're too good get your hands dirty even when you're not Leonheart but some loser from Galbaldia?"
Squall just looked away.
Snorting in disgust. "Fine, but you do realize you own me. I mean this doesn't seem too honorable to me. Last time we met your were running from your feelings now you're running from responsibility. Oh how the mighty have fallen."
Sneering despite the pain, Squall turned his cold gray eyes to his ex-rival. "Shut your mouth Almsay. You have no right to speak on that which you don't understand."
Seifer grinned despite Squall's admonishment. "Don't worry Squall you still have time to regain the title of rival. As you can see, I just have to make pass the next field exam. So what is it that you want?"
Squall quickly gave Seifer a condensed version of the story that lead up to today's events.
"So you want me to take care of the little Moomba?"
"Yeah, the other's well… They're too involved with every thing all ready. I need someone who's not emotionally attached to handle things."
Seifer gave a nod of his head and shook Squall's hand. Squall then stood up and went toward the door to leave.
On his way out, he heard Seifer call him briefly. Turning back around he looked expectantly at him. "What?"
"Cure" The magical wisps of the spell surrounded Squall for a second before disappearing.
With that done the door closed leaving Squall to study the woodwork with a rather shocked look on his face.