Final Fantasy: The Chronicles of Paine Chapter 12
"I'm picking up an airship's signal. It's the Celsius!" Shinra excaimed, working at the computer console. "I'll keep tracking it."
A small figure stood behind the warehouse, or makeshift "base", as it were. He seemed to wear a jet black uniform.
As Cid's airship approached the Luca HQ, Paine stared out the cockbit's window out at her home town for possibly the last time. She didn't seem to notice the person standing outside, and knew it was unusual to have non-spies standing about the complex. Cid had apparently chosen an old warehouse for HQ because apparently it had little appeal, and nobody would ever think that an elite group of superspies operated from this particular hub. Cid's Airship made it's approach towards the destination as Paine marked the area with a nav point, via GPS. As the ship lowered itself downward, Paine began to know who the mysterious stranger was. It was Tobli. Not as she had remembered, wearing a bright red suit, and speaking in notably too mayn words for people to comprehend. The ship landed against the pavement with a dull thud. The side door hissed open, and Paine stepped out of the ship.
"Wait here," Paine said to the rest of the crew. "I'll be quick." As Paine had guessed, the person wearing the black uniform was none other than Tobli.
"What are you doing here?" Paine asked. "And why are you dressed like that?"
Tobli spoke. "Because we have a real situation on hand now,"
"Sin isn't real enough?" Paine asked.
"We've lost Cid," Tobli replied.
"Excuse me?" Paine questioned.
"You of all people should remember Shuyin's ability to "infest" people, and then take full control of them through posession. Cid was no different, and he was posessed, and then left for Zanarkand," Tobli explained.
"How did it happen?" Paine asked.
"Obviously the fayth didn't come straight into Luca, so he was kidnapped by one of his goons," Tobli said. Paine looked slightly unconvinced.
"Still, how the hell did this happen? How did this guy manage to kidnap an experienced spy, and then take him all the way to Zanarkand over the course of a few hours?"
"Well, remember when you and the Gullwings crashed into Bikanel, and then Yaibal and his team went in to retreive it? They managed to dig it out, repair it and bring it back. Evidently, Fayth's kidnapper kidnapped Cid, and then they stole the Celsius and went back to Zanarkand. In fact they left shortly before you arrived."
"Shinra picked up the Celsius' signal just before we landed. I think maybe we can follow them all the way to Zanarkand." Paine said. "Now, may I ask why you're dressed like that? And how come you're talking normally?"
Tobli seemed rather insulted, though replied. "This is my spy uniform. I'm coming to Zanarkand with you. I'm talking this way, because frankly, talking in that other way is sort of a habit." Tobli shrugged.
"I originally returned to HQ because Cid apparently needed me for something, but he's gone..." Paine said.
"Yes, I remember Cid talking about you coming back. He had some equipment for your team before you drop into the mission. Follow me," Tobli instructed. He walked inside the large warehouse and Paine trailed behind him.
"Now what we have here," Tobli said as they entered the large room, "Is a wide assortment of weapons and equipment. Chances are Fayth will have some kind of backup on hand, and it would be unwise to do otherwise,"
Paine nodded, though said "We're infiltrating the temple, not looking to start a war."
"Don't worry, we have a little bit of everything here." Tobli replied. He motioned her towards a stainless steel table, where an assortment of weapons and equipment were laid out. Paine seized a small pistol from the surface and examined it.
"Hey Tobli, I have the exact same gun, what's the deal here?"
"Oh that gun is much better than your old one. See that device right there?" He said, pointing to an item on the table. "That is a ballistic silencer, and it fits that gun. Over here, we also have a high calibre sniper rifle, which could be a good alternative to bursting into the area."
"Whatever happened to swords and that type of thing?" Paine asked.
"Times change, and we need to as well. We received this high-tech weaponry courtesy of an Al Bhed militia, and they were most cooperative. Now, aside from the pistol and sniper rifle, the Al Bhed also managed to steal several New Yevon assault rifles. And our last weapons are small, and not really revolutionary, but useful." Tobli pulled from his pocket a couple of blades, similar to the one Paine received from Cid. "You can give these to a couple of your teammates. Now, onto our equipment. Here, we have thermal vision enhanced contact lenses. These allow you to see and monitor heat signatures of potential threats, as well as allies. Next, we have two pounds of plastic explosives, useful for clearing out all sorts of things that may be in your way,"
"Nice," Paine smirked.
"We had another item, but Cid had it when he was kidnapped. No matter, you should do fine without it."
"Ok, we'll be leaving now. If you're coming, let's go," Paine ordered. "Get those weapons loaded up into cases so we can get going. I need to go back to the ship for a moment." Paine ran back outside towards the ship.
"Where's Cid?" Rikku asked when Paine opened the door.
"It's a very long story. I'll explain shortly. Buddy, don't take off yet, we have another passenger coming." Paine said quickly.
After about five minutes, Tobli emmerged from the warehouse, dragging two stainless steel briefcases. When he reached the airship, he handed them to Paine, who helped him aboard.
"So what did we come here for?" Yuna asked. "And what's in those cases?"
"Party favors," Paine replied.
"I brought you guys another bit of equipment," Tobli said. "Parachutes. Your'e going to fly over the Zanarkand Temple, and we'll be performing a jump. What this is called in Military RD is a HALO jump, which stands for High Altitude, Low Opening. What we have you do is jump from a very high altitude, and then open your parachute at a low level. This causes you to avoid any enemy detection,"
"Is'nt that a little advanced for this job?" Paine asked.
"Cid would've wanted it this way. Don't worry, everything is automatic. You just need to build up the guts to jump from about 2 thousand feet up, and free fall," Tobli explained. He opened up both briefcases. One of them contained the weapons and equipment, and the other one contained three parachutes and three helmets. Attached to the helmets where goggles, apparently for wind protection.
"Put these on, and get ready. ETA to Zanarkand in about ninety minutes. Be ready to jump before we get there," Tobli said.
"You know, I think it's time we gave this new sphere a try," Paine said. Equipping the Spy dressphere, Paine, Yuna and Rikku transformed into "spies". They donned black wetsuits and several straps, which held items such as ammunition magazines, grenades, and other spy tools. They then donned their sky-diving helmets and wind-goggles.
"Load up your guns," Paine ordered. "Now, since you two are new at being spies, just follow my lead and try not to get killed. We've just flown over Mt. Gagazet and are about to perform our jump."
Outside however, a menacing object lumbered through the Zanarkand Ruins.
"What the fuck is that?" Cloud exclaimed.
"The welcoming party," Paine said cooly. "Don't worry, we have a bomb."
The monster below appeared to be a machina, though it bared a striking familiarity.
"So much for infiltrating. We'll need to take that thing out," Tobli said.
Below, about two hundred feet, a menacing machina walked about. This was however no little machina. The new threat, complete with that same old massive gun and black wings. Their adversary, Vegnagun, let out an ear splitting screech as it spotted its prey.
To Be Continued
Author's Note: The term "HALO" jump does not come from the game Halo. In fact it was a true maneuver, which was sucessfully mastered during some time in the early 70's, which was used to drop in on enemy territory without being picked up on radar. However, in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the game begins with you dropping in over Soviet Territory using the HALO jump (High Altitiude, Low Opening) meaning that they drop from thousands of feet up, and open their parachute below enemy radar. Anyway, stay tuned for an update relatively soon!
-yo' pal, Gigaknight