Legacies: Chapter 16
by: Gemini83
Disclaimer: You know it, I don't own FF8. But I do own this story.
Rinoa laughed as she and the other two girls entered through glass doors, "think they know what we're doing?"
Selphie laughed, "did you see the look on Irvine's face? I bet they do."
Leona shook her head, "you two are evil. This is our stop, I presume?"
The two walked down a mall-like hallway, with lights gleaming down on the marble floors below. They walked into a shop innocently labeled 'Women's Store.'
Selphie laughed as she saw something in blue. She lifted it off a rack, showing it to Rinoa, "what do you think?"
Rinoa pursed her lips, "hmm...I don't know. Does it come with a bodyguard?"
Selphie smiled, "what about Squall?"
She shook her head, "I think he'll be too busy staring at me to be much protection."
Leona looked at both of them with wide eyes, "you'd actually wear that?"
Rinoa grinned sheepishly, "not in public."
Leona returned the grin, "that works."
A figure knifed through the rooftops above the streets of Dollet. He had left after the meeting with Nida to take care of some things. Upon coming back, he considered how buying a car would be much quicker than bounding through the top of the city. It would be less suspicious as well.
But he wasn't complaining, despite Dollet's size. The city had grown, he was only at the outskirts. It was miles yet before he'd reach the city's center, where he was going. Brick and metal work contrasted in the gleaming rays, accented by trees planted here and there. It was actually quite pretty.
The sun would set in a few hours, but that didn't mean the dregs of the night weren't coming out to play.
The jackals were chasing the man and his wife for fun. They knew it. Faces that they didn't recognize were howling and laughing at them, faces belonging to the thugs chasing from behind. The two didn't need to be told what would happen if they were caught.
The man's legs gave out, and he cursed as he fell to the ground. He yelled at his wife to keep going, he would hold them back.
They didn't even bother with him as they passed, one thug simply knocked him out with a bludgeon.
She rushed down the alleyway, looking behind her to see how close they were. Then she tripped over a discarded soda can. The world was a dark haze, full of twinkling lights, for a moment. She cursed as her vision cleared. Then she screamed.
They had her surrounded now, sneering at her evilly.
She threw her purse at him, "take it, please. Just leave me alone."
He shook his head, "sorry, no dice."
Two of them picked her up, as the third brandished his knife in front of her face. He laughed at her, taunting her, "let's have some fun first."
Sneering cruelly, he drew his hand back...
A powerful boom rang through the street, then the knifed-thug's hand exploded in a mass of bloody flesh and bone.
The thug screamed in pain, cradling the remnants of his hand. The other two backed away from the woman, drawing their guns.
A figure bounded, catlike, down into their midst, and struck.
The handless leader screamed to his men to kill the stranger. One of them raised his automatic pistol, releasing a volley of fire. But the figure moved too fast. Instead of the stranger, the bullets struck the gang leader, who barely had time to scream as he was riddled with bullets.
Greymalkin rolled to the ground, picking up the soda can, and threw it at his gun-toting assailant. It hit the tough, square between the eyes. The thug shouted, his shots going wild, easily missing Greymalkin. He reached the tough and grabbed the pistol, turning it and shooting him through the stomach.
Greymalkin turned around, gun raised, to face the last thug...and realized that he had screwed up.
The last one was sweating profusely, holding a knife to the woman's throat with a shaking hand.
"Not another step man!" she warned, "or she gets it!"
He raised the gun, "let her go, and there might be a way out of this for you."
"No way man!" he shouted, "me and her are leaving now!"
Greymalkin narrowed his eyes, "another test subject for the Illuminati?"
The thug's eyes narrowed, "what the Hell are you talking about?"
Greymalkin nodded, it wasn't as bad as he had thought, "either let her go, or I make you."
"Screw you man."
Greymalkin sniffed, "fine."
He fired, once. The bullet streaked across the distance between them, striking the knife, sending it flying from the tough's hand.
The thug staggered back, gripping his hand. A look of rage filled his eyes.
"You-" he drew a grenade from his belt.
Greymalkin fired again, this time hitting the shoulder. The thug screamed in pain, dropping the grenade as he clutched his dead arm. He crumpled to the floor.
"A rather stupid weapon for a close-in fight," Greymalkin raised the gun again, "are you leaving, or do I get to finish this?"
The tough scrambled to his feet, rushing away.
Greymalkin ran up behind him, tripping him. The tough screamed in fear as Greymalkin picked him up with one hand, pushing the man against the alley wall.
He glared into the tough's eyes, "you will go to the nearest police station, and you will turn yourself in. Then you will tell the authorities where the rest of your gang is hiding."
The man shook his head, "can't...they'll kill me."
Greymalkin drew closer to the man, "you will die anyway. Do you want to die now? Or later?"
The tough looked back with eyes frozen with fear, "they-"
"'They' aren't your concern. I am. And believe me, I can show you things much worse than death."
The man stared into Greymalkin's cold, unforgiving eyes, and lost all composure. He stammered as he staggered away, too scared even to scream.
The police would have to spend hours before they got anything coherent from him.
Greymalkin turned back to the woman, lending a hand to help her up.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
She nodded once, smiling nervously, "thank you. You saved my life."
"Don't mention it," said Greymalkin, turning to see where her husband had fallen.
No one was there...
Greymalkin turned, in time to see the woman attack. For a moment, he felt a surge of electricity, but then he was backing away, clutching at his side. Then he realized...that no...it hadn't been as bad as he had thought, it was worse...
"Yes, I'm okay," said the woman, "but you won't be..."
The woman brandished an electric prod. He barely had time to think before he heard a rustling behind him. Greymalkin ducked, as a bat flew over his head.
He leapt away, "looks like I found the 'husband.'"
He continued to retreat as the man and his 'wife' advanced on him.
"I take it your people set this up?" asked Greymalkin.
When he got no reply, he nodded, "fine then. You will have to pardon my rudeness."
He fired the last round of bullets in his pistol at the grenade the thug had dropped earlier. Luckily, it was a scramble grenade, not much power in it, nor too much sound. There might not be enough of a ruckus to warrant the police, but there was plenty of gas. And it was more than enough distraction for him to get away to the roof, leaving his assailants coughing at the dust and brick falling around them.
Then he faced another problem as he got to the safety of the rooftops. They weren't safe. Greymalkin sniffed as dozens of men in black stared back at him.
"Well, that's more like it," he quipped, "the subway attack was too easy."
He didn't even bother with preliminaries, ignoring the yells of the assailants. He merely drew his gunblade and began to fight.
Quistis said nothing as she sat in the car, Squall beside her, driving.
He glanced at her sidelong, "what's on your mind?"
She blinked, "pardon?"
"You aren't normally this quiet," he explained.
Quistis smiled slightly, appreciating the gesture. Before Ultimecia, he wouldn't have bothered asking.
"I was just thinking," she replied.
Squall was about to reply when an dull blast caught their attention, followed by smoke. It wasn't very large, could have been nothing but a firecracker. But the sound was definitely not that of a firework.
He veered the car to the side, screeching to a halt. Squall stepped out of the car, searching for any signs of trouble.
"What was that?" asked Quistis, rising from the car as well.
Squall looked around, nothing seemed wrong. There weren't any other cars around, "doesn't seem like an accident, but did you hear the sound?"
Quistis nodded. Wherever the noise had come from, it had been muffled, but they weren't trained SeeDs for nothing, "that was from an explosive."
Squall nodded, opening the trunk of the car. He was glad he had brought the utility vehicle, plenty of weapons in here. He took his gunblade, plus a small pistol for backup. He threw Quistis her whip, and handed her a gun as well.
"Let's go," he said.
"Are you sure this is wise?" she asked, "shouldn't the authorities handle this?"
"The neighbors probably think it's a bunch of kids with stink-bombs, or else there'd be more of a panic here," Squall shook his head, "Nida told me about some of the things going on here. If what he said is true, we want to see this first hand."
Greymalkin rushed another assailant, who charged back. The attacker threw knives at him. He ducked under them, twisting on his feet as he fell, and brought up his gunblade.
The Illuminati, couldn't stop himself in time, and Greymalkin followed the stroke, gutting the man. He rolled away, back onto his feet, and the dead man fell to the floor in a heap behind him.
Greymalkin drew a fallen rifle, shooting into a score of enemies. The silencer on the muzzle stilled the sound, but the bullets were lethal nonetheless. He turned as more attacked him, slashing at the other with his gunblade.
The dying man grabbed at the blade, and Greymalkin had to let go as yet another cloaked figure attacked. He brought up his hand, striking the Illuminati below the chin, and turned to fire. The magazine clicked, it was empty.
Greymalkin didn't miss a step, swiping the butte of the gun at the charging Illuminati. Greymalkin leapt to the side, as his previous opponent attacked from behind. Rolling to the dead enemy, gunblade still lodged inside, Greymalkin pulled with all his might.
With a grunt, he pulled the weapon free, firing into the two entangled assailants.
He backed away, looking around him. The shadows on the rooftops were lengthening, but they couldn't hide the score of enemies emerging from them. Greymalkin cursed, he didn't have time for this.
They circled around him, as if reading his mind. All of them, cloaked in black, their faces revealing nothing. Some held weapons, some didn't, but they all held murderous gleams in their eyes. Greymalkin readied his blade for defense.
Several shots rang through the rooftops, stopping several of the Illuminati. They looked about, disoriented.
"Everyone stop right there," said Squall Leonhart.
The figures turned in unison at the SeeD.
"What is going on here?" demanded the SeeD Commander.
One of the cloaked figures whispered, "that is him..."
Another replied, "yes, the one known as Leonhart."
"Come quietly," said Squall, "I am placing you under arrest."
The first spoke to the others, "we don't have time to waste, get them."
"Oh crap," Squall ducked as several spells flew over his head.
Quistis returned fire as Squall rolled behind the shell of an air conditioning unit.
"Well, we really stepped into it now," she said.
Squall nodded, "then we'll just have to get ourselves out."
He rose from behind cover, firing his clip empty into the mass of cloaks, then he rushed in.
The Illuminati were disoriented as the screaming figure bounded into their midst, brandishing his gunblade. Quistis released a torrent of spells, backing Squall up as he slashed through the cloaked figures.
Squall struck down another enemy. But as he turned, he barely managed to deflect a sword as it flew toward his chest. A chain wrapped around his gun arm, forcing Squall to drop his pistol. The deflected sword careened into the distance, pulling the chain along with it, before it imbedded itself in the floor of the roof top, holding Squall's left arm taught.
His assailant drew in for another attack, and Squall again barely got his gunblade up in time to stop the attack. He glared coldly back into the hate filled eyes of the cloaked man. He saw another enemy charging from the side, and pulled the trigger on his gunblade, shooting sideways at the new attacker, who crumpled to the ground.
The Illuminati staggered back, as the force of the shot caused the sword in his hand to rattle.
Before Squall could follow the attack, the figure threw another chain around the SeeD's blade arm. The cloak figure pulled on the chain, freezing Squall's right arm, rendering it useless. Leonhart grunted from pain, as the chains on both his arms grew taut, pulling them so that he felt as if his sockets would burst. The assailant yelled in triumph as he charged Squall.
Leonhart dropped the gunblade, letting it fall to the floor, and pulled hard with his left hand. The sword on the chain pulled free, flying towards Squall. He deftly grabbed it in midair, and kneeled as the Illuminati pounced. Squall brought the sword up, splitting the cloaked figure in midair.
Stepping away from the path of the falling body, he let it collapse behind him, as he drew his gunblade from the floor. Squall panted for breath as he freed his hands of the chains. A blast from behind him caught his attention. Squall turned around...
...To see a charred body lying on the floor behind him, dead hand still grasping a knife.
Squall turned to Quistis, waving to her, "thanks."
She grinned as she summoned several more spells, "don't mention it."
Another flash of light came from the heaving mass of cloaks in the distance, and Squall had to shield his eyes.
When he could finally see again, Squall saw a man, standing alone, at the center of a mass of dead bodies.
Then the cloaked figures began to flee, and Squall ran to stop them.
"Don't, if you followed, you'd be playing into their hands."
Squall turned around to see the figure addressing him, slowly making his way towards cloaked man.
Quistis drew up to Squall's side, whip in hand.
The figure stopped for a moment, clutching at his side.
"Damn wound," he cursed.
Then he straightened up, facing them for the first time.
Quistis recognized him, despite the mask, "Greymalkin."
He tipped his blade, "hello again."
He drew something from a pouch, something that looked for all the world like a green acorn.
'Damn the Illuminati,' thought the warrior, 'this is the second time today. Looks like I'll have to use it after all.'
Squall blinked, "you're Greymalkin?"
The figure nodded.
"What in Hyne's name happened here?" asked Quistis.
"You must get going," Greymalkin heaved a tired breath, "your friends are in danger."
Author's Note: See? I promised a fight. Sorry it wasn't too dramatic, but I have a really cool scene planned next, hopefully I can pull it off. I am much happier with myself now, multiple chapters in 2-3 days. Hope I can keep this up. Oh, and I wrote these chapters in two sequences, first the city stuff, then the fight stuff, so that would explain the major mood shifts. Please, keep the comments coming. I hope you all like this.
