The little sedan chugged resolutely across the sands, despite the fact that its current passengers had used it as an impromptu battering ram to escape from the walled city of the Imperials. It was a surprise it had even lasted this long: both Rain and Kyrina were harsh drivers, to say nothing of Alex's mad l33t ninja driving skeelz, or lack thereof.
The vehicle shot across the landspace at high speeds, with three occupants, one of which was bored, one of which was sleeping, and one of which was trying to sleep.
Naturally, it was the one driving who was bored. Otherwise there would have been a collision of quite serious circumstance, not least of all the probable termination of all aforementioned occupants.
Durandal was the only occupant who did not require sleep. However, the small car, designed for light travel only, had no computer processing systems, so he could not wire into the vehicle and control via autopilot. So he simply acted as a GPS for Rain, who was at the wheel. Alex was already in the back sleeping contendedly, a small smile on her face as her hands unconciously caressed her materia.
Kyrina - no, Kira, Rain reminded himself - was sitting in the front passenger seat, troubled eyes glazed and a large plasma rifle cradled in her arms. Totally unnecessary, as Durandal had scanned the area for a mile around, but better safe than sorry.
She tilted her head sideways, trying to get to a more comfy position in the chair. The vehicle was not built for comfort, but she'd be damned if she didn't get at least a few hours of sleep...
A small bandage over her head marked an area where Wedge had scored a hit during their daring escape. It was a serious bruise, but neither herself nor Alex had deigned it fit to use healing magic, Kyrina because she insisted it was "just a bruise" and Alex because she said it would drain her too much to be worthwhile.
"So why'd you pick me up?" Kyrina asked. Being an honest believer in the truth that you fall asleep more slowly if you try, she tried to start up some semblance of a conversation with Rain. "You're not from this universe either, are you?"
Rain sighed, holding onto the wheel with his right hand. "No, I'm not. I'm playing multidimensional chaffeur, and the only reason I'm here is because I'm doing a favor for a terrorist, who I widely believed to be dead up until a few hours ago."
Kyrina paused. "Some relaxing morning walk, huh?"
The teenage dreamer paused, not getting it, before realizing that they had offered to accompany Kyrina on a walk to get over her hangover before dragging her through the Reality Window. "...uh... yeah."
For some reason, the way Kyrina stared at him made him strangely embarrassed. The chocolate-haired girl idly played with her ponytail, now in a single braid that hung to the middle of her back. "You okay?" She asked, both eyes now intently focused on him. "You seem... troubled."
"Troubled is the worst of it." Rain said bitterly. "I just want to go home."
"Where is... home?" Kyrina said. "I don't even know where mine is anymore... if you say I'm not from Tribe Omega..."
"Home..." Rain's eyes glazed over, but he still maintained the presence of mind to keep his eyes on the road. "...Home is a place where someone cares about your wellbeing. Someplace where you can feel safe. Someplace where someone cares whether you live or die." The dreamer couldn't help it; his mind projected images of the orphanage where he had been brought up. "Home is someplace you feel loved."
Kyrina closed her eyes. Rain didn't notice.
"Home is somewhere that you worry about going too far from." Rain chuckled, both hands on the wheel now. "Home is somewhere you can relax after a good, long, hard day of work." Then his eyes grew cold. "...Home is... somewhere you belong."
He looked sideways, but Kyrina was already asleep, a small smile on her face.
Dreaming of home, no doubt.
Rain looked at the road forward, a broad sea of darkness lit only barely by the jeep's headlights. Softly, he began to whistle, a lonely tune against the night.
f i n a l f a n t a s y : r e a l i t y
an angelhawk studios production
original concept by redshadow
written by chaosrayne
disk 2wo: 8ight: 4ngels anD d3m0ns
A shadow streaked through Ryukin.
Brown, formfitting sleeveless blouse. Tight slacks with one pants leg torn off to reveal a shapely leg and the mid-thigh garter belt where a pair of sai were neatly tucked.
Tara was on the warpath.
Running full-pelt, she seemed almost to blur as she sped around buildings burning and the like, passing Ryukin fighting BlackOps, past the screams of the dead and the dying...
The Haste spell would not last much longer. But for the time being it was enough; it had to be enough. Speed granted through the power of the planet immortal flowed through her, giving flight to her steps. The world blurred into one streak of color and light around her, of the blue and emerald of plasma fire, of yells and ninja magic, of sprays of blood...
Whipping past the forms of two BlackOps standing over a prone woman, her sai slid smoothly into her hands, spinning, slicing through air, streaks of quicksilver. Gouging through the back of their BlackOp trooper gear without stopping, they collapsed like puppets with cut strings, blade having severed spinal cord without resistance.
"Father!" She yelled as she ran, but her voice was lost in the speed of her flight. Skidding to a stop, stabbing her sai into the ground to slow her motion, she looked in part horror at the burning dojo, flames red as blood itself, an unnatural fire, the residuals of the Fire Dance sacrifice that her father had given his life for. Taking a speeded up step forward, ready to dash in...
A single BlackOp strode out, resplendent in spidersilk plate body armor of the black and crimson that the elite of the Imperial troopers favored so much. The helmet, normally an opaque mask of some unknown reflective material, was gone, and Tara could see the face of her father's killer.
Katana almost as long as he was tall, held behind his back; a light guard easily moulded into a thousand and one defensive parries, the entire blade length lined with attack and defensive materia. Gauntlets studded with materia slots shone, holding even more power within their grasp. Flowing black hair.
Amidst the flames behind him, he smiled casually. "Tara. I wondered when I would see you again." He smirked now, cruel. "Pity about daddy dearest." He lifted his blade to show her that it was still dripping with blood. Violently, he swung out, flicking the blood off the weapon and onto a burning surface with a small splat and a hiss and crackle of fire.
Rage built up in Tara. Power like she'd never known coursed like liquid fire through her bloodstream, Shiva sang the song of ice in her mind. She was cold now, anger focused like an edge, all on this one person. All here. "You.... die."
"You first." Renaku grinned. As he suspected... the girl was unlocking her own potential already...
She was beyond all. She had reached the level of desperation long before and had gone past the limit. Tara was in a Break Charge. Her body abruptly shimmered with light, and her pupils widened before vanishing altogether, her eyes pools of white, energy emanating from her, drifting outward in tendrils.
The former Imperial assassin let out a wordless scream, sai held out either side of her like short metal wings. The ground behind her abruptly cratered as she flung herself forward, Haste still in effect...
It was to Renaku's credit that he managed to bring one hand forward and snap off a spell before Tara reached him. "Flare Sprid."
A myriad of golden arrows, harbingers of flame, arced out from his palm, looping up and crossing the night sky with a matrix of fire, all homing in on the Ryukin prodigal.
Tara broke off her direct charge and broke sideways, leaping straight up, the Flare Arrows a spiderweb of flame marking her path. Flipping around in midair, hand outstretched between her legs, it was her turn to fire off a magic spell. Her will focused through the materia, Shiva lent her aid, her own birthright, the magic, the ability that was hers, focused through her arm, built up in her hand, and let off. It was almost a struggle to keep control of the spell. "ICE!"
Ice was a low-level spell. Nothing in comparison to Di-Ice or Tri-Ice of the same element. But somehow a moderately sized iceberg formed, the air crystallizing in midair, many, many times more powerful than an atypical 1st tier spell.
Tara clamped behind the boulder of ice, falling, the Flare Arrows gouging chunks out of her protection. If only he didn't...
"Blast Rondo." A scattering spread of tiny fletchettes, acting like tiny firecrackers, buried themselves in her midair protection and blew it to so many ice shards.
...do that.
She landed, and the first hand-to-hand blows were exchanged. The sounds of steel on steel rang, repeating at times, all at the tempo of a furious dance that only the combatants knew. A curving slash was caught by one sai allowing for a swipe for the other, a kick followed up by a move that would have gutted him had he not moved back, a close-range reverse parry that turned into an offensive maneuver...
Tara's brain was working. At this rate... she was expending energy maintaining the Haste spell just to keep up with him. She was faster... he was stronger... but probably less skilled without his magical implements... as Patch had proved by meeting him and beating the snot out of him barehanded.
Focused on disarming him now, she twirled both sai, forming an X above her head to protect from an overhead slash that would have turned her easily into a pair of Half-Taras. Flipping the grip she had on one dagger around, she twirled in midair, right as Renaku followed up with a sideways sword swipe. She heard the sword whistle past her in midair as she revolved, then turning as she hit the dirt to snag his shin.
He fell also, but she was the first to rise, pinning him to the dirt. Tara clubbed him in the jaw viciously with the hilt of her sai, reversing her grip once more so the blade side faced him.
Renaku caught the needlethin edge of the sai with two fingers.
"You're good. But not good enough." He said, cliche'ing the fight scene to hell and back. But it was traditional...
Tara jumped up, ripping the sai from his grasp and kicking off from his jaw in the bargain to land in a crouch. "That is not for you to decide. All I want to see..."
She spun her sai so the materia in the hilts shone facing her opponent. "...is you... dead." Both her arms snapped out in front of her, palms open. Words to no spell known to mankind popped into her brain, and she yelled. "...Arc... AURORA!"
People across Ryukin would later notice, when they assessed the damage, that the beam of energy that she blasted out had extended over a hundred meters.
A swirling beam of light collected in her hands, right before blurring into white and smashing into Renaku. Too late, he had used the time she needed to taunt him to get up and put a defensive spell into place. "Guardian souls, grant us your defense! Shell!"
The sphere of protective light wrapped him, sealing him off.
Now it would be helpful to explain how Shell works. Basically, it is a shield which prevents most magical and energy projectiles from getting through. However, it will not stop bullets or any physical of the like, unlike the Barrier spell. And although the sphere will maintain its shape, it also depends on the nature of the attack.
The Aurora spell that Tara managed to create in the middle of a Break Charge was pretty much 90 pure concussive force.
Which meant that Renaku, wrapped in a sphere, was blasted for almost a hundred meters backwards, ripping a deep trench in the ground where he passed.
As the last of her energy left her, Tara collapsed to the floor, dropping her weapons, only now noting the true extent of the power she held. This was why Harumi was envious of her and almost everyone else in the Ryukin treated her like an outcast. Because she was born with this ... this power. This ...True Magick.
Then a high, cold laugh drove all thought of that out of her mind.
Renaku floated. A bit ruffled, to put it lightly. His BlackOp gear had been torched and in some parts melted by his fight with the old man Murasaki; the Arc Aurora had almost shattered the Shell incantation completely and would have atomized him if not for it.
Not to mention being blown a hundred meters backwards does wonders for your hair. Shell only stopped magic and energy; it did not stop physical objects.
Which also meant that there WAS a large part of his body that was hurting from being driven across land and through a few of the small houses that the Ryukin so favored.
All that aside, he knew when he had won.
He floated down next to the defeated Tara. "Game, set, and match. Your father is dead, your sister sold you out. Now all that remains is to destroy your spirit..."
Tara spat in his direction. "Kill me already."
Renaku laughed again, but the smile never touched his eyes. "No, I have a far more interesting use for you... girl...." He picked the redhead up, one gauntleted hand closing around her neck. Both of Tara's hands reached up in an instinctual reaction to prevent herself from asphyxiation, but although the grip was uncomfortable, he wasn't choking her.
"KILL ME, YOU SUNUVA-" She screamed. "DO IT!"
Renaku's eyes gleamed. "That's not a nice way to treat someone who holds your life in their hands." Then, his eyes glowed black with power, magic flowing through him. Tara could feel it; dark, pulsing, and evil. He was like her. He was born with True Magick. And it had grown, like him. Then his smile split his face as he raised her up, energy flowing to the hand around her throat. "......Draw." He intoned softly, and Tara blacked out...
I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and blinked again before I asserted that what I saw was not a hallucination of the night or something brought on by too much stress, which was a very likely conclusion.
There was light. Light in the night sky. And smoke. I could smell it even from this far off.
Frantically, I checked Durandal. "Still getting a signal from Patch's CNIs?" CNI stood for Communication Neural Implants. For some reason, the words struck me as unimaginative and slightly odd.
"Affirmative." Durandal beeped, all too cheerfully.
"Bearing oh-two-zero?" I said. "I want to be sure."
The cyborged AI that had formerly been a human conciousness sounded a bit miffed. "Are you saying you don't believe me?"
"No..." I said. "It's just.... there's something going on there."
"What's the bet that it involves Lieutenant Patch?" Durandal replied, smart-aleck. "You know. Just follow the trail of destruction."
"He has that much of a rep?" I couldn't help smiling. "Well, whatever's going on, I think we'd better hurry. And be battle-ready when we get there, too."
Durandal gave a small sigh through his speakers. I still couldn't get over that. I mean, an AI sighing? Am I making any sense? "You'd better wake the girls. Nothing like the smell of battle in the morning to get up to."
I shook my head. "Don't start." The cliche hung so thick in the air you couldn't have cut it up with a plasma claymore.
...Did they even make plasma claymores?
Nevermind. I had been feeling sorta discorporated, slightly unreal, a bit frayed around the edges since my return to this universe... maybe a side effect of interdimensional travel? I had no idea. Well, I sure as hell hoped it wasn't. Worst thing right now is for me to go totally insane.
...Screw insane. I was dreaming. All of this, these other realities, these other me's, me being piped through space time, me being the keystone to some thing that apparently zapped people from one universe to another...
I gunned the engine. "Let's roll."
Catherine kicked the body of a fallen BlackOp off her long knife, red pooling over black armor. Closing her eyes, she spun around, knife flung outwards to catch another in the throat.
Patch grunted. "One-two, one-two..." He counted the punches, right left right, fists like sledgehammers beating a bloody tattoo. The spidersilk plate the BlackOps wore may have helped some, but against the good-old fashioned beatdown, there was no defence, fancy weapons and armor notwithstanding. Clocking the guy with an elbow that smashed his helmet in, he threw him into another before darting around one, catching his head in two hands and twisting violently to the side. "Ah... that felt good. Nothing like it."
Then a massive flare of light and an explosion cut through the night air, even above the burning buildings. A single yell could be heard.
The beefy O7 rebel grunted. "I guess we found Tara."
"Is the girl even capable of that..." The former Imperial scientist muttered, before slamming a fist into the belly of a BlackOp, stealing his plasma pistol, and emptying the charged clip into his twitching form. "So this is the True Magick Rezo spoke of..."
Patch gave her a worried look and shifted the form of Harumi on his back. "I think we'd better hurry..."
Catherine led the way, ghosting past the forms of the dead and the dying. Ryukin fought bravely, but the BlackOps were better equipped and what was more, had plasma firearms. Even as she watched, a young Ryukin girl fell to a brutal barrage of plasma bolts; near inhuman speed, reflexes and skills still naught when it came to a run-and-gun fight.
Any idiot could pull a trigger. It took a highly skilled individual to bend their will to materia, or even to the ninja art the Ryukin so often used. Which was why apart from her Magnum, Catherine was largely against firearms. She had earned her skill with materia through hard work and a lot of patience...
Patch pounded after her, the girl on his back no more than a piece of baggage. Harumi didn't struggle, but she did look with horrified eyes as the BlackOps continued to kill and burn...
Noting her discontent, Patch gave a mean smile. "Bet you wish you hadn't sold your family out to the Imperial Empire now...."
Catherine came to an abrupt stop in a small clearing.
Tara was on her knees, screaming, as black electricity encased her form, all emanating from a hand on her forehead. His hand. Renaku's. Even as they watched, Renaku seemed to glow with a white light, as if energy was being sucked out of her and into him, some sort of disgusting energy vampire-
She collapsed in a smoking heap.
Renaku turned to the two, a wide grin on his face. His armor was chipped, cracked, and melted in places. But he fairly radiated power.
"Do you think you can stop me now? When the Ryukin thief's power runs through my bloodstream?"
The black-clad scientist didn't break poise, moving smoothly, her magnum jumping in her hand as the slide pumped back, a single shell moving much, much faster than the naked eye could follow, air cushioning and warping around the bullet-
...that came to an abrupt stop as Renaku held up one hand.
Catherine's eyes widened. "Impossible-"
"Oh, it is." The traitor to the O7 smiled coldly. "Now I will show you the power of True Magick..."
He gave a bloodcurdling scream as wings of pulsing black erupted from his back, an unholy birth, accompanied by the rupturing of flesh and bone as they tore through the spidersilk armor the BlackOps typically wore. They both fascinated and repulsed Catherine; the Imperial scientist herself very interested in people born with True Magick. Patch, on the other hand, crossed himself.
Renaku floated, four black-feathered wings dampened with blood now testing the breeze. His smile still remained, but his eyes, his cold eyes, were now pure black, the entire eyeball darkened. Arcane emblems appeared, seared on his face as if by an invisible brand.
"Now.... no one can stop me." He raised both his hands, and the ground fissured under him. "Not you, not the pitiful remains of the O7, not even Rezo on his throne of broken glass."
But then a small voice, weak even from the effort needed to speak, spoke up.
"...It's... it's not over."
Patch rushed to Tara's side as she struggled to get up. "It's not over..." She repeated as the O7 trooper helped her up. On her feet now, she faced the unholy apparition before her. "True Magick is a gift from the planet. Yet you... you work for Rezo... building machines and raping the earth... even that is not enough for you... would you take your fight to other worlds as well?" Her voice grew in strength and confidence as she spoke. "And when all is desolate, when all is bare and destroyed, what will you do then? What rules will you make?"
Renaku gave a low hiss that sounded more snake than human. "There are no rules for people like us...."
Tara raised her head high, tears streaming down her face, but the fire of defiance within her gaze had reached fusion point. "I used to believe in that also. I didn't know my ability. I was cast out because of it."
Her sister Harumi, still bound and gagged, watched from the side.
Catherine watched. Surely this last stand was pointless? Renaku could probably level the peninsula if he wanted, yet the girl was persisting in making some sort of heroic speech...
Patch looked into the eyes of Renaku and saw madness. He saw fire and brimstone, ice and darkness, in that gaze. Yet he steeled himself for the confrontation that he knew would come.
After all, he said with a wan smile to himself. Who wanted to live forever?
Tara continued, red hair matted and dirty, some of it crusted to the blood on her face, gaining conviction as she spoke. "...I used my affinity True Magick to trick people. To become a thief and assassin, working for the money, seeking a new life for myself...." She remembered her days as a private assassin for the Imperial Empire, doing it for the pay and nothing else... "...until he risked his life for me."
She thought of Rain.
"...I.... will not let you destroy this place, or this world, or these people." She raised her knife in a last gesture. "Because I've finally found something worth fighting for."
Renaku gave a high, cold laugh. "Have it your way." He sneered before charging a ball of dark magical energies in his hands, enough to blast Tara, Catherine, and Patch to kingdom come...
Tara's eyes closed, resigned to her inevitable fate...
She heard a melody. And at that time... it was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard... music... she could not remember it... but she heard, and wept...
Her eyes shone with renewed spirit. "Soul of the living world, aid your fallen child. Cure!" Tiny motes of energy flowed from the fissures of the earth, swirling around her and restoring her vitality. "I am a user of True Magick as well." Bloodied hands tightened inside stained leather gauntlets. "I'm not going down that easy."
The being born of True Magick and Renaku's black heart looked on in shock.
But not for long. The demonic ronin snarled before throwing the ball of dark energy it had been charging.
Tara's eyes, now a wintry shade of light blue, narrowed as her arm shot outward, throwing a shaft of ice that speared the ball of darkness, the two exploding in a maelstrom of crackling electricity and ice shards.
Nobody moved.
Then Renaku lunged forward, like an dark apparition of vengeance, growling as his wings propelled him forward. Tara met his charge, and her twin sai caught and held against the traitor's katana.
It was fierce, brutal. They fought, carving a swathe of destruction through the burning village. BlackOp and Ryukin stared alike at the two figures, in a gargantuan struggle, using skill, force, and the raw power of True Magick.
"Let's get out of here!" Patch yelled over the shouts of shock and wonder.
Catherine let Patch grab her by the arm, transfixed as she was by seeing Tara and Renaku's duel. "True Magick..." She whispered in wonder.
Patch dragged her through the streets of Ryukin. "We can't stay here! The Imperial army is moving in-"
"I will help you escape."
The trooper whirled, his nerves on edge, to see Harumi.
"I am afraid I have misjudged my sister." She said in shame, refusing to meet Patch's accusing gaze. "She fights for us."
"The Imperials didn't keep their deal, did they?"
Harumi spoke in a smaller voice, clearly ashamed of what she had done. "They said they wouldn't hurt anyone as long as we submitted you to them."
"Well, great. Just FUCKING great. Does this make you happy?" Patch grabbed the Ryukin girl by the shoulder and forced her to look at the burning houses all around. "Does all this make you happy?"
"Calm down." Catherine spoke, lying a hand on Patch's shoulder. "She only did what she thought was right."
Patch spat. "I sure as hell hope so, because she just sold out her sister, her family, and her whole-fuckin' village." His angry glare seemed to burn a hole right through the Ryukin girl.
"Shut up, Patch." Catherine changed her tone of voice, now speaking softly. "You," She addressed Harumi, "are going to help us get out of here.
Rezo was pleased. His army had found what remained of the rebel force, hiding in the barbarian peninsula of the Ryukin. About time too; he was wondering when he was going to take care of the thorn in the Imperial Empire's side that was the Ryukin. Superior technology won every time.
Every time.
Then a messenger came in. From the look on his face, the president of the Imperial Empire could tell it was bad news.
"What is it now?"
The messenger winced. He knew Rezo was not going to like the news... "There's been a breakout from the Imperial Citadel... the science sector...."
The most powerful leader on the world's jaw seemed to unhinge and drop down in shock.
"...It seems... they came.... from the Engine.... sir." The messenger said, his voice quaking slightly.
"How many."
The messenger quaked. "...What?"
"How many dead, you dolt? How many were killed trying to stop them getting out?"
"...Two MEDUSA out of action and at least twenty men gunned down... sir... the Dragoons also failed at stopping the intruders..."
Rezo sighed. "Why did you have to come bringing bad news?" He slid his antique silver .38 pistol from its hiding cache under his mahogany desk and fired, once.
The poor Imperial messenger didn't have time to scream before the single small-caliber bullet pierced through his skull, the red diamond tattooed on his forehead signifiying his allegiance to the Imperial Empire erupting in a shower of crimson liquid.
As he signaled for the two badly scared Imperial BlackOps acting as his personal bodyguards to drag away the body, he fumed quietly. Most of the Imperial army elite - the BlackOps - were away assaulting the Ryukin peninsula with only skeleton MEDUSA backup, but that was no excuse for people to appear inside their hub of power, their home city, and sneak out from under their noses! Dammit, there were over half a million of the Imperial Guard in the Citadel, not to mention a few scattered handfuls of Imperial Dragoons... and the Shield-Wall....
This was not bravery or skill. This was downright incompetence. Twenty men and the Dragoons outmatched as well...?
The guard around the Engine had to be doubled and more weaponry had to be installed. There had been talk of pressure on TechDiv for months for them to develop some new sort of intelligent robotic weapon that was supposed to outclass MEDUSA in both size and raw power....
Enough with this.
Rezo keyed a button on his desk, comlinking to TechDiv.
The face of a tired scientist appeared onscreen - the traitor Catherine Shaw's successor. "...Your Excellency?"
Rezo didn't mince words. He didn't have the time to. "How soon will Project Triton be ready?"
The scientist scratched his brow, idly chewing on a pen. "...Um... GOLEM is in the final testing stages, and the KRAKEN unit is being operated on even as we speak. LICH should be expected to be battle-ready in the next few weeks."
The president of the Imperial Empire smiled. It was not a nice smile. "Well done. Install GOLEM as a secondary defence mechanism around the Citadel's east wall. Have KRAKEN and LICH ready for our attempt to breach into another reality."
"Yes... but... uh... sir? With all due respect, why are we deploying GOLEM here? Surely the Citadel is not prone to attack?"
Rezo closed his eyes. "Just do as I say, you insufferable dolt. You can never be too careful."
"Movement on radar, Shrike!"
The MEDUSA squad captain peered as his radar. "What?"
"I say movement on radar, dammit! It's going fast, and it's heading right for us?"
Jibes of the few other MEDUSA pilots stationed around the peninsula filtered through Shrike's headset. Despite the seemingly defeated town of the Ryukin, on fire and burning, their large mecha weapons still pointed menacingly at the small outpost, shadows in the night over faces lit only by targeting screens and data flows. Their leader, Shrike, was named aptly - he was cold as a razor and about as devastating as a small tactical warhead when behind the controls of a MEDUSA.
"Stop whining about it, Hulk, you big pussy." The team leader said. "Our orders are to prevent anyone from escaping the Ryukin peninsula."
"Yeah right, Shrike, but our orders don't say shit about anyone coming IN to the peninsula!" Hulk shot back. His name fit him as well - he was a hulking beast, and abnormally too fast for anyone that beefed up. His pilot trainer had recommended he go back to trooping because he was so good at it. "And damn-they're closing right on us!"
Shrike barked orders, proper tac-comm style. "Ghost, K2, check it out."
"Yes sir." One pair MEDUSA broke off from pointing its guns at the Ryukin village, changed into a speedier configuration, and zoomed off, lightly treaded wheels digging fantails in the sand. "Visual contact!"
Acting in tandem, the MEDUSA snapped on a pair of high-beam floodlights, while at the same time switching off their night vision.
It was....
"What the fuck?" K2 muttered. "Is that a fuckin' car?"
"Damn straight." Ghost muttered, lining up crosshairs on the vehicle already. "Where the hell'd it come from?"
"Easy, boys." Shrike's voice rang over the comm. "It's just a car, no heat yet."
Hulk snorted. "It's moving hella fast."
"Do we look like we're arresting someone for speeding?" Shrike spoke, annoyed now.
Hulk didn't break pose. "I'm just saying that because it's headed right for Ghost."
Shrike bit back a reply before he realized his team member was right. "Ghost, take evasive action!"
"FUCK that, I'm not moving my ride for a fuckin' car!" Ghost yelled. "Dodge THIS!" And his finger closed tightly around a trigger.
Even as Shrike let out a yell of fury, the Hellfire missile streaked out, a faintly glowing trail of exhaust following after the explosive, heading right for the small, nondistinct car.
Ghost, already exulting in his kill, was therefore shocked as the sedan seemed to almost glide sideways away from the missile, which hit ground zero with an earthshattering boom, pockmarking the earth with a sizeable crater.
"What the FUCK -?" Ghost screamed. "Who the hell is driving that thing?" His MEDUSA screeched to a stop as the sedan zoomed past the line of MEDUSA blocking the entrance to the peninsula, defensive line now breached.
"Well done, fuckhead." Shrike snarled. "You just let an enemy through the gates."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that wasn't too bad."
"Nice driving." Alex commented. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
I shrugged, bringing the car to a screeching halt while throwing up a fishtail of sand. "Maybe."
Kyrina breathed a silent curse as she looked at the village. It was on fire. It also looked vaguely like one of those Asian-oriental things with the bamboo and all, had it not been on fire and burning. "Someone is going to pay for this."
Alex shot me a glare. "And I have the feeling the Imperial Empire is at the bottom of this."
"Not my problem." I said, even as I slung my ashandarei from my back and activated it, the crackle of plasma flame a comforting sight. "My job's to take Kyrina to Patch and then go home."
"Do I know this Patch guy?" Kyrina quipped, clipping her knife to her pistol to form the plasmacaster once more.
Alex was still glaring at me. "Just another schmuck."
"Still tracking a signal." Durandal chimed in, therefore giving me an excuse to turn away from her. "Around 200 feet."
I made sure the single plasma rifle was locked and loaded before tossing it to Alex. "Well, let's go then."
We had scarcely gone twelve feet when I came upon a body.
It was not the first or the last that we would have to see that night.
Author's Notes:
Not. Cool.
I had exams. Then I went home for summer, and now this is Chaos, addressing you as a 16 year old who had his birthday over summer.
Now I'm back at school, only now saying "ho, shiest" as to the fate of FFR. I really love this epic that's taken the most of my time and the most of my procrastination.
People may have noted that I've removed the author's notes from many of the chapters besides the first disk ending. It seemed a little too unprofessional. But hey, what the heck.
We're bringing this closer and closer to the end of Disk 2, people. Bear with me here - the first few weeks as a sixth former have not been exactly wonderful. As a matter of fact, it's a lot more work, a lot more stress, and not to mention a whole lot more boring.
I've just been through quite a lot of personal pain as well. If you've been reading my LJ regularly, you should know. But hey, I suppose I write best under pressure.
Oh, and I've taken up residence on - like and , but with, wait for it, NO RESTRICTIONS on NC-17 stuff. Not to mention the stuff is generally a lot higher quality than the stuff shown here. So join !
Until the next time, the guy on the other side of the tortured screen says peace and starry nights.
c'rayne out.