A/N I realize there are major inconsistencies between this chapter and chapters one, two and three. A big one being my not mentioning that Squall has been brutally battered. I intend to go back in fix that. For now I would love if you would just pretend that I had already. It makes it much easier.
Squall stepped back into the room of torture. His entire body went ridged as he laid eyes on the table. The table on which the most horrific events of his young life had taken place. He felt the back of his neck prickle and he fought hard to keep his anger in check.
"There will be revenge for you my friend." Alistar spoke in his head. "Their blood shall flow"
Squall licked his lips then winced and caught the edge of the desk as his anger faded and the pain from his foot flooded back. He spied the gore encrusted syringe on the floor. His hand went to his right eye. Trying to prove his memories wrong. To make it all a dream. It wasn't. There was no eye. Just crusted blood. As the memory became vivid in his head the pain from his injuries intensified.
"FOCUSSSSS." Alistar snapped in is head. "You must focusss on your tassssk."
Squall closed his eyes and pictured his enemy. Dr. Eisley. He pictured the look of terror on her face when Alistar had come to his aid. Slowly his pain was forced away. His vision cleared. He gingerly placed his weight on his scorched foot. The pain was gone.
"Can you heal my eye?" He asked.
"No." The voice hissed apologetically. "I can make you forget you losssst it. Even allow you to ssssssee without it. Better than when you had it. But there issss a limit to what I can regenerate. The eye issss too complex."
"What about the other injuries?" Squall said.
"Until sssssuch time that you can resssst for many days I will be unable to heal your woundsssss. Even your para-magic will not work. My resssissstancesss to it are high. In our state I am unable to determine what issss beneficial and what isssss not. You musssst save what strength you have to esssscape thissss place.
Squall stepped into the hall once more. His eyes fell on Dr. Eisley's assistant. Squall remembered the man's expressionless stare as she took his eye. He felt his rage building again. He fought it. Harnessed it until needed. He took grim satisfaction in the expression of agony on the soldier's face. His skin pale as wax, his lips blue his eyes bulging in the sockets. The classic signs of very painful death by asphyxiation. Squall walked on.
"Why am I so consumed by my anger?" Squall asked no one in particular as he walked down the brightly lit bare hallway.
"It isssss the only fuel we have." Came Alistar's quiet reply. "Your fear issss too sssstrong. You could not harnesssss it now. Ssssso I ssssimply block it. Your body issss too weak for us to become detatched from the emotionssss you should be feeling. Sssso you must only concentrate on what will make you sssstrong enough to…
"What is it?" Squall asked.
"Humanssss approach. Three of them."
Squall ducked into a nearby door and found himself in a bare office. The desk and shelves were empty. Nothing to use as a weapon.
"They look for you." Alistor hissed. "The Doctor has triggered an alarm.
At the mention of the Doctor Squall bared his teeth and hissed loudly. He left the door slightly ajar and placed his back to the wall on the hinge side. His hands braced to catch the door should it open.
"They are carelesssssss. They do not believe her." Alistar whispered in Squall's head. "Two have gone ahead one holds back. Sssstrike as he passes.
Boots thumped as two of the Galbadians jogged by the door. The third man slowly brought up the rear. Squall silently through his nose. He smelled the sweat of the man. He was tired. Out of shape. He could hear his labored breathing. The soldier's boots slowly thumped past the door.
Squall stepped to the other side of the doorframe and slowly eased it open. The soldier was totally unaware of the door's movement and his first sign of danger was a hand closing over the collar of his shirt. The Galbadian was too surprised to make a sound as he was flung into the tiny office. The cheaply made desk shattered as he was flung into it. The noise was completely lost in the loud thumping of combat boots down the hall.
Squall turned to the man lying in the wreckage of the desk. The throw had been harder than he had intended but the job was done regardless. Unfortunately for him the man had been knocked out. Squall slapped the man across the face.
"What the…" The Galbadian's curse died as an iron hand fastened itself around his throat.
"I will ask this once." Squall growled. "Where is the equipment of the SEED's that were captured?" His hand loosened slightly and the man reflexively inhaled.
"I..its in the main detention area in the arms locker." The man sputtered.
"And where is that?" Squall asked.
The soldier's mind froze. He knew that he should fight, scream do something soldierly. But he wasn't a soldier. He was a desk clerk. He was covering for a friend today. He wanted to live.
"It is t…three levels up. You will need a c…card to open the e…elevator door. I…it is on my be..belt." He slowly unhooked the card from his belt and set it next to him. "I promise not to make any noise, just please, please don't hurt me." He begged.
The iron hard grip on his throat loosened a fraction and began to lift. The soldier closed his eyes hoping the man would take his card and go. Then the fingers paused. They tightened. They tightened impossibly…his breath caught in his throat he felt an unbelievable agony in his throat as the fingers closed behind something. He flailed weakly at the prisoner's face tried to plead, beg anything. He felt a sharp tug and he heard a wet ripping sound. Agony blossomed and his next sensation was warm and wet. As his vision faded he saw the prisoner stand and throw his trachea on his chest.
Squall leaned over and picked up the keycard out of the slowly spreading puddle of blood and walked to the door. He listened intently for a moment, hearing nothing he stepped out and jogged up the hall. Minutes later he arrived at the elevator. The scanner read through the blood without a problem and the elevator doors silently opened. Squall stepped inside and pressed the button marked "DETENTION LEVEL" the Galbadians never were good at being discreet. His smirk died however as he realized that the Galbadians all knew the things that went on in bases like these.
The numbers quickly climbed to three and the doors slid open. The room was spacious with several lockers and shelves along the wall. The main desk was the dominant object in the room. It faced away from the Elevator doors towards the cellblock. A bank of monitors showed the inside of every cell.
Squall noted the lone guard had his feet propped up on the desk and was reading from a Magazine. He didn't even look up as the doors closed.
"That you Jashain?" The man inquired to his magazine. "Was it a false alarm or what?" The guard turned around and sputtered in surprise. He had never seen the new prisoners, he had been off shift when they were brought in. All he saw was a battered man. His mind hardly registered the burns on the man's chest. All he could focus on was the empty eye socket. "Good Hyne. What happened to you man?" He scrambled out of his chair and over to Squall.
Squall noted that the man was trying to help him. That his machinegun was dangling by its sling. He allowed the well-meaning desk guard to assist him over to the chair. Then he stopped. The guard stopped with him and Squall looked him in the eye. The guard winced as he looked close into his face. He averted his gaze and found himself looking at Squall's chest. Then his mind registered the burns. Burns like…Dr. Eisley…used. His hand went for his gun but Squall's hand got there first. The guard felt the cold metal of the barrel under his chin. He didn't even know when he was dead.
Squall finished emptying the magazine into the guard's head. By now the entire top of the skull was gone, leaving him covered with fragments of bone and brain matter. He let the body and drop and began opening the various lockers.
"Zell!" Irvine spoke quietly but urgently as he shook Zell. "Zell wake up." He swore softly. Zell could sleep through a stampede if he wanted to especially when it was warm and dark like the cell was. He had been jolted out of his bed by the sound of Machinegun fire. Then it had all stopped. He had heard a thump and a few clicking and creaking noises but nothing else. He gave up and slapped Zell as hard as he could.
Zell's eyes opened slowly and he yawned. "What's up man?"
"Something's going on." Irvine hastily explained the past couple minutes to Zell.
Zell sat bolt upright and rolled off the top bunk. Both men froze as they heard boots moving toward their cell. Not like the heavy boots of the Galbadian soldiers. Lighter ones. The door opened and light flooded in. Both men shied away from the bright glare, shielding their eyes with their hands and cursing loudly. After several seconds they opened their eyes again, then froze as they recognized the face of their commander.
Zell's mind grappled with the shock. Squall's face was barely recognizable. The right side was badly burned and swollen. Then there was the eye. Or lack of it. He couldn't drag his eyes away from that empty socket. There was no lid just an open socket. Zell retched…he forced his gaze away to Irvine who was faring no better.
Squall finally interrupted them. "We need to go. We need to go now." He said simply.
In his mind Alistar spoke. "They ssssshy away. Why do they do thissss? Are you not their friend?"
"They're in shock." Squall said softly. "They didn't expect anything like this."
"Squall…what happened?" Irvine asked cautiously.
Squall's face hardened and he tossed Irvine his shotgun and Zell his gloves then turned his back.
Irvine scrambled after him with Zell on his heels.
"Squall your Guardian Forces. What are they doing with us?" Zell asked.
Stony silence was his only reply as Squall sat down at the desk and tapped commands into the computer. A minute later he looked up. "We are five floors down from the main level. From there it is not very far to where we came in. If we move fast we should be able to get out of here before the guards realize we are not in the base anymore."
Zell grabbed his arm. "Squall what the hell happened to you?"
Squall's single eye widened and his body tensed again as he wrestled the demons. He breathed deeply. "You don't want to know Zell and I won't tell you. At least…not now. Our first priority is to get out of here." He turned to a locker and opened it. "I found some party favors." His lips twitched in what was almost a smile.
Irvine's eyes lit up. The locker was stocked with Sub machineguns, assault rifles, ammo and grenades. Irvine pulled an assault rifle from the locker and loaded it. Zell took a step back when Irvine turned and held the weapon out to him.
"Whoa man I don't know how to use this." Zell feebly tried to push the weapon away.
"Its Easy Zell." Irvine said slowly. "Don't point it at anything you don't want dead. When it is empty just drop it and use your fists. If we have time I will reload it for you." Irvine shoved magazines and shotgun shells into his pockets.
Squall leaned past him and took several grenades. Zell did the same.
"Let's go." Squall said as he walked to the elevator. Zell and Irvine walked in and stood in front of him. "Blocking me." He said to himself. "I don't blame them either. He spoke quietly. "How are we doing?" He asked himself.
"It isssss not good." Alistar hissed. "I am amazed you have gone this far. Your leg comes closssser and clossssser to complete collapssssse. I believe I can keep you going for no longer than three or four hoursssss."
Squall nodded as the elevator doors opened and the three walked on.
Dr. Lorena Eisley frantically searched through the archive trying to find the data on the genetics research she had been doing in the installation. She was running. It was an alien feeling for her. She had run when she was a child. When the bullies would taunt her and pull her hair. But she was past that. Now she made men like them blubber like babies with just a glare and a few choice words. But her latest subject…She had known who Squall Leonheart was. Who didn't? He and his team had only saved the world but that earned him no special treatment in her book. She firmly believed she could break any human alive. But the way that he had resisted her. It wasn't normal. Most of her subjects had tried to go into their own little world. Few succeeded. Those that did couldn't maintain their illusion for more than a few minutes. But Squall had not gone into a world. It was like he only felt the pain but did not register why. Oh it was plain to see he knew he was being tortured. But he had refused to yield, or try give information bit by bit. He just sat there and took it all. And it scared her.
"Damn it." She cursed as another error message popped up, saying the information was unavailable. "Sergeant." She called out. "Send a tech down to the lab database and find out what is wrong with it."
"Yes Ma'am." The soldier scurried off.
Dr. Eisley changed tracks. She looked into the security camera logs. Those were kept separate from the rest of the database. She pulled up the recording of three hours ago. She watched as she approached Leonheart with the needle. The surprise in his eyes was genuine. The agony on his face was sheer beauty. She fast forwarded an hour to where he regained consciousness. She zoomed in. There was fear in his face. There was defiantly fear in his eye. She watched him pleading. There was no explainable reason for his sudden defiance. He should have been a totally broken shell.
She smiled grimly. Defiant or not he would defiantly fear her. He might not fear her now. But he would always fear that memory. Her soft chuckle was interrupted by the buzzing of the phone.
"Dr. Eisley." She answered.
"Ma'am this is Technician Horus. The mainframe for the lab computers has been destroyed. The automatic defense matrix and the backup database. The SEEDs got all of it."
She bit back a savage curse and slammed down the phone. It was time to go. She got up and quickly walked to the vehicle bay. She had an armored carrier waiting for her with her notes and hard copy reports of her work. She didn't know if Leonheart was looking for her and she did not intend to be here regardless. She boarded the carrier and waited for the driver to board. The sooner she was off this rock and back in civilization the better.
Irvine took point. He kept his shotgun pointed down the hall his finger resting on the trigger. There were no friendlies in this place. He had no worries of shooting the wrong person. They were behind him. Zell's gun was hanging by its sling. Irvine was privately very glad. Zell might have some of the fasted reflexes he had ever seen but damned if he could turn them off and it would only take one time for him to shoot him in the back on accident. Squall was another story. Everything about him was different. He couldn't put his finger on it. He knew Squall should be unconscious and being carried out of here right now. But he wasn't. He tried to hide it but Irvine saw the look of pain that flashed in his eye every time he took a step.
The group made a right turn into a familiar passageway. Up ahead they saw a dull light from a hole in the ceiling. It was the exit. The group instinctively picked up the pace and mounted the stairs eager to be in fresh air again.
The seeds spilled into the open air again. Though the island was still bleak and unwelcoming it seemed much friendlier now.
A loud whine pierced the quiet air as a heavy engine powered up. The three men turned as Dr. Eisley's personal carrier kicked up a line of dust as it sped toward the coast.
"She escapesssss usssss." Alistar hissed angrily.
A deafening howl of rage cut through the fading engine noise. Squall looked around trying to find the source and stopped when he saw Zell and Irvine watching him intently.
"Yo Squall man. What's up? Zell asked.
Squall shook his head. "Nothing. Lets go."
Dr. Eisley's eyes widened as she saw the three prisoners standing by the back door. So that was how they came in. She felt a surge of triumph. She walked forward to the pilot compartment.
"Radio the base commander." She snapped.
"Yes ma'am." The co-pilot fiddled with his controls a moment. "Base commander on the line ma'am."
Dr. Eisley snatched the headset from the co-pilot. "Colonel. The prisoners are escaping through the rear testing entrance. I want them all dead."
"Yes ma'am." The base commander replied. He pushed a button. "Cowardly bitch." He grunted. "Lieutenant get a reinforced bot squad over there now."
"Yes sir." The young officer replied. "Who should I designate for reinforcement?"
"No one. We are not risking any more men on these lunatics. If they get through then it serves the bitch right."
The SEEDs walked towards the coast and their extraction. Irvine and Zell were on the flanks their machineguns aimed at the hills on either side of them. Squall walked in the middle his eyes slowly sweeping ahead of them, Lionheart resting on his shoulder. The pain in his left foot was lancing up his leg now and it was becoming harder to keep the pace. The burns on his ribs were rubbing against his shirt. At least one of the blisters had ruptured and he was trying not to even think of his eye.
Squall pushed the thoughts away. He was already building a mental wall around the events of the past twenty four hours. Alistar had been right about the fear. When He had seen Eisley's transport zooming past them he had tried to ignore the icy feeling that began in his gut and worked its way up his spine. He had not felt it before but he felt it now. It was there. Fear. Pure and simple fear. Fear of waking up and being on that table again. He had hoped that the others had not noticed the edge of terror in is cry of frustration and hate. Squall closed his eye and willed the thoughts away. "Whatever." He said softly. Somehow it didn't comfort him.
A bolt of lightning split the cloudy sky somewhere out to sea. A moment later the rolling drum crack of thunder was heard and then faded.
The SEED's paused as the rumble began again. This time it seemed to surround them. Squall perked up as another memory came to the surface. It was not of the table. No. This time it was a memory of running. With a deafening rumble behind him. The rumble of something with multiple legs giving chase. His breath caught in his throat. There was more than one. He froze just as an X-ATM092 crested the hill on either side of the SEED's. With them came six blue clad Galbadian soldiers per bot. Some carried guns and some carried swords.
"DOWN!" Zell and Irvine shouted at the same time.
The X-ATM092s leveled their miniguns at the SEEDs and opened fire. The ground on either side of the SEEDs erupted in dust and rock fragments as the bots tried to lower their guns to hit the SEED's. A moment later the guns whirred to a stop as the ammo belts ran dry. At the same time the twelve soldiers caught up and charged down the hill.
Zell gulped and leveled his machinegun at the charging soldiers. Irvine's crash course on shooting ran through his head too fast to remember so he aimed at the soldier on the left and slowly swept the gun to the right. To his complete surprise it worked. Three of the soldiers went down. None dead. Zell noted. But at least down for a minute while they got their breath back. Zell dropped the empty gun and went into his fighting stance.
Irvine Fired his gun in short bursts knocking down two soldiers and killing one. He knew he was hitting the soldiers in places that there should be just cloth. "Armor." He mused softly. Then his eyes widened. "ZELL THEY ARE ARMORED! WATCH YOURSELF!" He cried. The three Galbadians charged him and the battle was joined.
Time had slowed down for Squall. He couldn't get up. He watched in slow motion as Zell and Irvine fired into the charging groups. He heard Irvine's shouted warning but it seemed like he was almost frozen in time. "Get up." He commanded himself. Get up you weakling." His tortured foot and body screamed in protest. His eye socked throbbed and pulsed with every move. He was barely able to move his arms or his good leg. "GET UP!" HE shouted at himself.
"Weakling." The voice was quiet in his head. Squall strained to hear it. "You are a SSSSEEEED. More like a child." Alistar berated him. "Your comradesssss fight for you. They fight with fury. For you. Yet you lie there. A ssssickly lamb waiting for sssslaughter." Squall's face contorted with fury. "Fight it. Alistar hissed. "You do not need me to defeat simple pain." With that Alistar abandoned all attempts at blocking the pain from Squall's Injuries. "Get up. You are a hunter. Your prey awaitsssss."
Squall saw Zell take a slash to his arm. The soldier followed up with an elbow to the temple and the blonde fighter crumpled. Irvine's shotgun was empty and he was using it to desperately parry sword strikes
The scream was never meant to be uttered by a mortal throat. Every eye on the battlefield turned to Squall as he planted Lionheart's tip in the ground and used it to lever himself to his feet. The anger flashed in his eye and then left. Leaving an absolute calm. A calm before the storm. Lightning flashed again and the rain began to fall.
"Well done." Alistar congratulated him. "Now dessssstroy them all.
Squall struck. It was not enough to say that he moved quickly. He flowed like liquid death. The world felt like it was moving in slow motion around him. A Galbadian swordsman swung overhand at his neck. As he did the others abandoned Zell and Irvine to rush Squall. It didn't matter a bit. Squall swung his gunblade not to parry the strike. But to strike himself. The soldier froze and screamed as he found a gunblade buried in his chest. Squall let go of Lionheart and turned to face the next man to die. The soldier frantically raised his machinegun and fired at empty air. His world went black as his head suddenly faced the exact opposite direction. Squall ducked a wild swing at his head and reached back. Feeling lionheart's familiar grip he ripped it out of the dead Galbadian and swung it at his attacker's knees. The Galabadian's attempted jump was far too slow and squall was covered in even more viscera as the soldier's feet came off at the ankles. Squall swung again as he fell cleaving through the head and spinning up to his feet. He brought lionheart up to a high guard and thrust straight forward. Running a charging gunner through the throat. The soldier's hands convulsed in death and the gun barked hateful message. Squall tried to throw himself backwards but knew it was a futile attempt. The bullets spanged away an inch from his chest leaving a ripple of blue light. Squall knew either Zell or Irvine must have cast protect on him but he could not spare the time to thank him. The next soldier was ready to die.
Irvine lowered his hand from casting the protect spell. He was baffled at Squall's speed. He was having trouble keeping track of his moves. It didn't matter though. The result was as obvious as the soldier with his head on backwards. Irvine flinched involuntarily as two Swordsmen charged from either side of Squall. Protect would not stop that kind of attack and the soldiers knew it. Squall Dropped Lionheart and tackled the man to his right from the waist. Irvine's eyes widened as Squall's questing hand slid into the soldiers gut as easily as his gunblade. He Saw the soldier convulse as Squall ripped out something and flung it at the other soldiers face. The other Galbadian was slow on the uptake and didn't even see his companion's stomach until it hit him in the face. He recoiled and dropped his sword clawing frantically at his face. When his vision cleared he saw Squall calmly standing in front of him. The soldier panicked and scampered back but could not outrun Squall's questing fist. The soldier gurgled as his ribcage collapsed in on his vital organs. Irvine opened his mouth to shout a warning as a swordsman tried to spear squall in the back but the warning died on his tongue as Squall pivoted in place and smacked the blade out of his assailant's hand. The soldier turned and fled as fast as he could. The remaining ground soldiers took the hint and fled also. Irvine looked up. The crews of the X-ATM092s must have been watching rather than reloading because even after their field of fire had cleared nothing happened for several seconds.
With an audible ka-chunk both bots turned their guns toward the now sprinting Squall.
Squall had no idea what was going on but he wasn't about complain now and he defiantly was not going to leave Irvine and Zell in the field of fire of the X-ATM092s. He sprinted as fast as he could straight towards the closer of the two machines. Both sets of miniguns opened fire almost simultaneously. Squall dove straight forward and slid between the legs of the spider like robot just as its partner's armor piercing rounds began to riddle the crew area. The machine went limp as its controllers died and Squall took cover behind its corpse.
The second X-ATM092 charged toward Squall intent to squash him flat until a pair of pulse shells hit it at close range. The machine was knocked to the side and narrowly missed Squall as he dashed back to the center of the field and his beloved gunblade.
Irvine reloaded as fast as he could. Super speed or not an X-ATM092 was nothing to take lightly. He closed the breach of his shotgun as Squall skidded to a stop beside him. Gunblade in hand.
Squall looked around. "Where is Zell?" He asked.
A loud thump answered him and he looked up. Zell had pried the crew compartment open and thrown every grenade he had inside. As Zell leapt clear the magazine exploded. Blowing the fighter clear over Squall and Irvine's heads. Both men sighed with relief as Zell sprung back to his feet with a huge grin on his face.
Squall looked at his friends. His face a mask as always. "That was fun. He said. But next time if you two wanted to jump in sooner that would be great." Squall smirked as Irvine and Zell looked at him like he was insane. Then both men began to laugh.
Squall let them have their fun as he felt the strength from Alistar leave him. The pain remained a constant but not the agony it once was.
"What was that?" He asked quietly.
"Guardian forcessssss lend their bodiessssss in combat." Alistar replied. "Instead of taking form I manifesssssted a portion of my power in you. The longer we ssssstay together the greater that power can become. There is a price however. Not to you. But to me. I cannot manifest with you often. Nor will I be able to for ssssome time. I must rest as any guardian would. Squall nodded in understanding. I will resssst for sssseveral hours. My awarenesssss will be minimal. I will try to dull your pain but my original estimate remains. Perhaps another hour.
Squall walked over to Irvine and Zell. "Let's go." He said simply. Their moment of levity was done as they realized that they were not out of here yet.
Squall looked up at the sound of engines. It was not another X-ATM092. It was a much friendlier noise. The Kangaroo passed overhead and banked back around slowly settling itself down a few dozen yards away. Squall tried to stand and screamed in agony as his left foot gave out beneath him. Irvine and Zell looked up shocked and rushed over to help him up.
"Can ya walk man?" Zell asked.
Squall shook his head and Irvine and Zell Silently bore him down the beach.
Nida stood at the grinning. His grin disappeared as soon as he saw Squall's face. "Good Hyne what happened?" He ran down the ramp to relieve Irvine of his side.
Squall remained deathly silent as the last of his energy left him. The mission was over. But there was no relief for him. Alistar was still resting in his head. Nida was attempting to get answers out of him as he put a dressing over Squall's mangled face. Squall hissed in pain as Nida swabbed the burns on his cheek with ointment but other than that kept quiet.
"Hey Nida, not that it isn't great to See you man but where is Selphie?" I didn't think she'd let anybody but me touch this ship." Zell asked cheerfully.
Nida kept his face neutral. "Cid forbade Selphie or any of the others to come get you. He didn't say why." He pulled Zell aside. What happened to Squall?
Zell filled Nida in everything he knew.
"And he won't talk?" Nida asked.
Zell shook his head. "Whatever it was it scared him good. That's all I know."
Irvine came up from berths. "He is asleep. Whatever happened defiantly is still fresh. He is already having nightmares." He took a deep breath. "Lets go home."
The Ragnarok lifted into the sky and sped off in the direction of Fisherman's Horizon.
A/N There ya go. A nice big chapter to hold ya'all off for the holidays. I'm not super fond of how I had to end this chapter but it was getting late and I wanted to update. Though I would love to know what you guys think about the Squall/Alistar bond. And everything else for that matter. The fight scene was fun though. So review folks. Review and maybe just maybe I will work on this thing while I am home. No promises though. I'm defiantly not done with this story.
Happy holidays people.
