Ch 26 – Revolutions And Infiltrations
Seifer disappeared through an opening leading out of the throne room, just behind the throne itself. The SeeDs hastily followed him, gathering their equipment with practised care and moving fast with one eye on the Arch whilst keeping the other out for hostile Hearts.
Squall went first, quickly followed by Rinoa. Seeing as they were the most easily recognisable, it would seem the best for them to get out of sight as quickly as possible. Emily and Trish followed the Sorceress Hero's closely, Trish sticking as close to Emily as procedure dared as the Goth kept up with the quickly moving Seifer. Julius and Veronica took up the rear. They were the least known of the group, Veronica especially – she took the flank whilst Julius followed behind Emily and Trish. As they entered the opening Veronica was surprised to watch as the wall closed behind her – they were in some kind of secret passageway.
The corridor twisted and craned, grey stone covering almost every aspect of floor, wall and ceiling. The route dipped and climbed like rolling waves. Sometimes they walked up stairs, sometimes they ran down slopes. All the while they passed openings in the passageways to other areas – but the SeeDs were following Seifer closely, who seemed to know where he was going. Every now and then they would take a straight for what would seem like an age, only for him to suddenly duck into another corridor without warning. There was complete silence in the entire group.
Squall didn't know what to think about the doppelganger of his arch-enemy. Obviously the threat of being exposed worked – this Seifer was closely aligned with someone within the Hearts. Maybe he was even a high-ranking officer, Squall didn't know – but one thing was for certain. Seifer had been fully prepared to leave the SeeDs for the Sorceress to find at a moment's notice. It wouldn't faze him to abandon them within the maze of tunnels to their own fate. Squall and the rest of the SeeDs would have to be shrewd when they handled this man.
Keeping an unwavering eye on the man in the Orihalcon armour, Squall fell back a little so he was in line with Rinoa. She looked up at him with a questioning look. What is it, Squall? She pulsed into his mind, seeing the look on his usually passive face.
I need you to keep tabs on this Seifer until we are safe. We are dependant on him to take us to shelter, and I don't trust that he'll lead us safely.
Rinoa sighed physically as she replied telepathically. Okay…
Squall felt the apprehension radiating from her telepathy as she cut the link she had created between them. Obviously there were still feelings between the Seifer in their Universe and her… He felt the jealousy well in his heart – but pushed it down with practise. He was her Knight, and she loved him with all her soul. Her heart was kind and gentle – she was allowed to feel a little heartsick about Seifer. Even thought the full extent of their relationship had never become known to Squall, he was pretty sure that it must've been one that had placed a permanent mark on Rinoa's heart – but had been enough to send her away from him, and into Squall's arms.
Suddenly he felt slender fingers curl around his gloved palm, and looked down to see Rinoa smiling up at him as they ran. "I love you." She whispered.
Squall returned the smile. Even through the most difficult situations, she seemed to have an effect on him which turned the sullen depression he felt about life on it's end. It was small actions like that that made Squall remember that the glass was half full, not half empty.
Finally they entered into a small room, the room's walls covered in openings of all shapes and sizes – but only holding one door, the metal it was made of green with age.
Seifer checked all the openings quickly, before moving to the door. Opening it and looking out through the doorway, he turned to the SeeDs. "Get through here, quickly – don't take your damn time." He muttered – before disappearing through it himself.
Squall ran to the door and peered around the doorframe slowly – to have his breath taken away.
* * *
The Heart castle was like something out of a medieval painting. Large stone walls surrounded the main courtyard into which the door opened into, the walls adorned with long flowing purple banners and dotted with large stone statues of winged people dressed in flowing robes, most holding their hands up to the heavens. The sky it was open to was dark, stars dotting it like pinpricks through the sheet of Night. Along the walls were gargoyles of frightening realism – strange, misshapen creatures, obviously based on some kind of winged monster from this Universe.
The courtyard itself was almost completely empty – but that didn't betray its size. The courtyard was huge – about the size of a football field. The very centre was covered in small stones and statues, almost like a mock garden filled with cold rock plants and small lifeless gnomes.
Squall kept his eyes doubly peeled as Seifer quickly made his way to the small garden in the middle, covering the distance in record time – and disappeared, seeming to simply drop into the ground when he got to the middle of the garden.
"Where the hell did he go?" Squall breathed, his breath coming out in a little fog in the cold night air as he narrowed his eyes.
Crouching and poking his head out quickly, he looked left and right professionally before pulling his head back in.
The others had crowded around Squall a little, Julius crouching down next to the gunblader. "What did you see?"
Squall let out a small sigh. "About twenty Hearts lined along the battlements, not to mention several watchers within the courtyard with some watch monsters on leash. Seifer must've been looked over because of his armour – with our clothing and the girls dressed as they are, we'll be captured in a heartbeat."
It was true. Squall and Julius were dressed in their usual civilian clothing – but the girls were all dressed in the Immortal's silk robes, white and shining even in the dank twilight of the corridor, and Squall had no idea on the fashions of this world. He began to try and think of a way to pass the guards without being seen – capture in this world was not an option.
Trish crawled up beside Squall, nudging him in the side. "Hey, give me a look." She said, clipping some webbing she had pulled from her pack onto her hips like a belt, the dark material becoming hidden within the soft folds of the robe.
Squall shrugged. "Whatever…" He muttered absently as he moved to the side, still thinking of a way to sneak out there without being seen.
The thief stuck her head out of the door and looked around for a second, before pulling her head in, tucking her long blond hair back behind her ears. Reaching down to her dress she began to tear at the edges, ripping off any loose cloth, the shining silk dropping off her like shedding skin as she reduced the flowing robes to something more versatile and less confining. "Okay, I'm going to go teleport out there for a second to see what I can find out. If you hear anybody screaming, don't worry – it's just me."
And with that she disappeared in a puff of grey smoke, the only thing remaining behind were the latent blue glow from where her eyes had been…
* * *
Trish reappeared within the stone garden – and immediately ducked into the shadows of a large statue, willing herself to become one with the rock as she listened to the sounds of the night intently.
Thankfully the night wasn't as dark as it had seemed from within the hallways, the moon full and bright in the sky. This helped her see immensely as she could not only see the guards as they strolled about the courtyard and on the battlements above – but she could also see the area where Seifer had dropped down.
In the middle of the garden was what seemed to be an empty pool, the edges of the pool seeming to span most of the garden. It seemed that when the pool was full a person walking through the garden had to step on specific stones in order to get from one end of the garden to the other. These stones stood out like pillars within the deep crevasse which marked out the pool – and just in the bottom, where the shadows begin to grow their darkest, Trish could see a small tunnel opening, the same size and shape of a grown man, in the darkest corner. That's where you've gotten to…Trish thought to herself. Not only was the opening nigh to impossible to find in the dark, it would be difficult to find during the day too – Trish could see the stone which could be placed over the entrance, probably sealing it watertight.
Lifting her wrist to her mouth, Trish spoke into her microphone. "I've found where Seifer's gone…but there's no clear way to the garden from where you guys are." She whispered, looking from behind her rock to the doorway, slightly ajar from where Squall and the others were subtly peering out. "I'm going to have to teleport you guys here one by one – that would be the best option."
"…Okay. Good work, Trish." Squall's voice muttered stoically over the ear-piece in her ear, causing her to smile slightly. "Lets get going…damn!!"
"What?" Trish whispered – before feeling the barrel of the gun at her back.
* * *
Squall cursed to himself as he watched the Heart warrior move slowly over to the garden to check what his partner had found. Everything in his training told him to move now and save her, and as he stood he flipped the LionHeart off his belt and placed his thumb on the activation switch – before feeling a firm palm on his shoulder.
He turned his head – to see Emily, her hand keeping him firmly in check. Her gaze fixed onto his, and they traded looks for a split second – before Squall lowered the LionHeart, still holding onto the inactivated haft – but doing what Emily's unspoken words told him to.
* * *
"What are you doing out here? The concubines are supposed to stay in their chambers after the hour of the Crow, remember?" The Heart warrior said robotically, his mechanical voice coming out of his headset like something being emitted from a speaker. The words weren't loud enough to be heard for a few meters, however – and as Trish stood with her hands by her sides, a small smile spread across her lips.
"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry – I was just out for an evening stroll…" Trish cooed with a brilliant smile, flicking a lick of her blond hair away from her face as she sidled up to the soldier slowly. "You know how we concubines work so hard…"
Trish was pretty sure the soldier was gulping behind that metallic helmet. "Uh…yeah…sure…"
"And as a matter of fact, I was just about to go…but oh, darn, I seemed to have dropped one of my sandals down this pool, where it's so dark and no one can see…"
"But your sandals are still on your feet…"With a seductive smile on her face Trish slowly bent down, reaching down with both her arms to squeeze her heaving breasts with her upper arms as she ran her hands down her long tanned leg to hook her finger around one of the straps of the Immortal sandal – and pull it off and flick it into the shadows of the pool. "Oops!" She giggled.
The soldier stood there for a second – before it suddenly dawned on him. "Ah…I see now. So…do you want me to go and get it for you?"
Trish widened her eyes, flashing those baby-blues at the armour-plated face as she clasped her hands to her chest. "Oh, if it's not too much trouble for a big, strong man like you…?"
"No trouble at all, ma'am…" The soldier said with evident lust.Suddenly someone called out from beyond the shadows in which the two stood, a man's robotic voice coming out from the edge of the garden. "Ben? You alright in there?"
The soldier standing before Trish looked behind him for a second – giving Trish enough time to palm a small pouch into her hand from a fold of her ripped robes – and called back. "I'm going to take my siesta now, Jack. Wake me up in about three hours."
"You're a madman, you know that? The Queen has just arrived back from inspecting another world. What will happen if she finds you asleep in her Garden again?"
"We're doing twenty hour shifts, Jack. You find what rest you can. I can withstand another flogging if I can have a rest before the whip touches my skin."
Trish could swear she heard metallic muttering as the second guard moved away from them – before focusing on the first guard. "Wow…you must be very courageous to take a whipping just for sleeping in the Garden…Ben." She said the name as if it was the most sultry thing that had ever come from her lips, and the man seemed to chuckle nervously as he walked over to the edge of the pool.
"Well…to tell the truth, me and Quistis have something of a deal when it comes to flogging…see, I can give the Mistress something not a lot of men can give her."
Trish blinked at the name – The woman from the SeeD R&D? – before smiling and following the man. "Oh, really? And what is that, big guy?"
The soldier dropped down into the pool lightly, landing on his feet and barely making a sound doing it, before turning to the edge where Trish stood and lifted his arms. "I'll show you in a minute…now jump. Don't worry, I'll catch you."
Trish had made and landed higher jumps then this. Hell, she could land a five-storey dive in the right conditions and with the right terrain. But when she jumped down into the pool next to the man, she did so hesitantly and with a small, supposedly unconscious yelp, almost as if she had decided at the last second that she didn't want to go through with it – but realised it was too late.
True to the man's words, he caught her easily without a sound, as if she weighed as light as a feather in his arms. Pouring on the acting, she sighed and waved her hands at her face as if flustered. "Wow, that was exciting!!" She breathed lustily, looking at the faceplate of the helmet before cocking her head to the side. "Don't I get to see the face of my big, strong man?"
The man chuckled robotically once more, placing her to the ground before reaching up with one hand to press a small stud on the side of the helmet, the Orihalcon retracting to slide around his neck like a throat guard like Seifer's had to reveal a handsome face with neatly cropped, wavy brown hair. "Happy now?" The man said, his deep voice soft like a morning breeze…
Trish smiled sadly as she brushed her hand across his face, trailing the small amount of Sleepy Powder she had palmed whilst he had been distracted across his nose and mouth, the man breathing it in – and falling asleep instantly. "Unfortunately…" She whispered as he fell into a deep slumber, unable to be woken for hours. He was a cutie – but they were there for a reason, and although she would have enjoyed seducing him a little more, she had no more time to waste. "…Maybe another time, soldier boy." She said – before teleporting out of the pool.
* * *
Every second was like an hour for Squall as a small trail of sweat snaked it's way down the side of his face. What's taking her so long? He thought to himself. If she was going to take the guard out she should have done so by now…she's already gotten rid of the backup, now all she's got to do is…
Everybody jumped suddenly as Trish appeared in a puff of smoke beside them, a broad smile on her face. "Are we all set?" She asked with a grin.
"What took so long?" Veronica asked.
"He took a little longer to put to sleep then usual. I had to use a bit of Sleepy Powder, after 'suggesting' that we go to the bottom of the pool."
Squall sighed heavily, running his hand down his face and rolling his eyes before stepping forward. "…Well done. Can we go now?"
* * *
Veronica was the last, her being the smallest after Emily.
When her and Trish finally appeared within the shadows of the pool in a puff of smoke, Trish sat back, her breaths laboured. "Thank the gods…we don't need to teleport anymore…" She gasped; her body feeling like it had just ran five marathons back-to-back.
"Hopefully not." Julius said, kneeling next to the unconscious soldier, hidden in the shadows where Trish and Squall had dragged him. "What exactly did you use on him?" The hacker asked, shifting his spectacles up onto the bridge of his nose as he poked the man's face with his finger.
Trish grinned broadly once more, slowly getting her wind back. "You could stick…a knife into his hand…and he wouldn't feel a thing. He'll be completely out for about four hours with the amount he snorted."
Rinoa and Squall moved over to the opening looking down into the dank recesses, the couple looking down as one – before Rinoa looked up at her Knight. "See anything, Squall?" She asked hopefully.
"…No. It's pitch-black. I can't see a thing." He said, looking at her to watch as her face drooped slightly.
Tricky. Who knows what kind of booby-traps the Heart Revolutionaries had placed to keep unwanted visitor out of the way? And Squall didn't want to go picking into the place with a Fire glowing brightly in his hand – the flame would be clearly evident from the outside, especially from the deep shadows that the SeeDs currently skulked in.
"Trisha Jones to the rescue once more…" Trish said with a small grin, reaching into her burglar-kit once more to pull out what looked like a pair of swimming goggles. "Try these on, Mr. SeeD."
Squall took the goggles from the girl and placed them to his eyes, pressing down on a small switch on the rim of the left goggle. Almost immediately his vision was turned from blacker-then-black into a soft glowing green, the green seeming to illuminate everything in his sight. Now he could see easily into the tunnel, seeing the rough edges hewn from rock – it looked like someone had dug their way into the place.
Squall fully placed the goggles on his head, looking back to the others. "I'll scout the area out. I'll be back in a few minutes." He said – before disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel.
Trish sat down next to Emily in a huff, crossing her arms over her knees angrily. "Hmph! The least he could have done was said thanks!"
* * *
The green world around Squall began to close in around him as he ventured deeper into the tunnel, the rough edges crowding around him so much he soon had to hunch a little as he walked…before being forced into a crouch…before being forced into a crawl.
Thankfully the tunnel stopped at this height – Squall's backpack just fit – but the end seemed to disappear within winding turns and sharp drops.
Thank the gods there's only one way, though…Squall thought to himself as he crawled on along his belly, getting his clothes dirty and sand down the front of his shirt. The only sounds within the claustrophobic surroundings were his echoed breathing, shuddering with the effort of crawling, and the scraping of cloth and metal against the rocky walls.
He was beginning to give up hope…when he finally found the end of the tunnel.
A dead end.
* * *
Trish's earpiece blared into life suddenly, causing the girl to jump. "Trish…" Squall's voice muttered over the radio. "The tunnel ends at a dead end. Are you sure Seifer came this way?"
Trish looked over at the others as they all turned to face her. "Well…I didn't actually see him go in there…" She admitted. "But where else could he have gone?! The tunnel is the only way out!!"
Squall only grunted at the other end of the radio.
"Hey Squall, be thankful I got us this far! If it wasn't for me, we'd probably still be in that damn room back there!!" Trish growled angrily into her wristlet. When she didn't get an answer her anger grew a little more in size. "Hey!" She whispered, rasing her voice a little more then she should have. "I'm talking to you, Mr. SeeD!! The least you could do is answer!!"
There was some ruffling on the other end of the line, before Squall spoke up once more. "I've gotten through the dead end, and I'm being held at gun-point by several Hearts. Just shut up for now."
* * *
Squall raised his wrist back up into the air from when he lowered it on command from Seifer to answer. "Are you happy now?" Squall growled, fixing his cold grey stare on the doppelganger.
Seifer simply smirked at him, flanked by two more men in the shining silver armour. "I'm happy you stopped her whining."
"So am I."
Squall had been talking to Trish when the rock blocking the tunnel's exit had roughly been pulled away and two pairs of arms had thrust themselves into the tunnel, ripping Squall out of the hole like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat. The action had been so fast Squall hadn't even been able to reach for his LionHeart – not that the action would have done much good. The tunnel had been so tight squeeze he wouldn't have been able to reach for it anyways.
He suddenly regretted going by himself. He should have asked for someone to go with him, or at least for backup. He should have asked Trish to go forward, actually – even if she was tired from teleporting them all over the courtyard, Squall was pretty sure she had enough left in her reserves to teleport herself out of danger. She always seemed able to pull the manoeuvre off to escape anything harmful whenever she wanted.
His captors had managed to rip his pack and his weapon off him before he had a chance to gather his wits from the sudden movement, and now he stood with two men with large-calibre weapons pointed at his skull ands Seifer standing behind them looking as smug as ever. Squall couldn't help but goad him a little. "My Seifer used to like hiding behind his subordinate too."
Seifer stepped forward then, his blue eyes flashing with anger as he stuck his face right into Squall's. "Do I look like I am hiding to you?" He snarled.
Squall looked around. The cave they were in had evidently been hewn from the rocks by hand, the roof standing about seven feet tall with the occasional wooden pillar holding it up. All around them were men and women scurrying about on some meaningless duty, all except the ones holding the guns to Squall ignoring the event that were going on before them.
To the north Squall could see a plethora of beds and bunks, several filled with sleeping bodies, other filled with men in bandages stained with blood. Squall recognised one of the men in bandages from the fight in the throne room. To the south were banks of desks and walls filled with maps. This was where all the action took place, with about seventy-percent of the people within the cave seeming to mill about there, chattering amongst themselves and comparing notes. To the east was what looked like living quarters – tables and chairs, as well as cooking facility, and what looked like an entertainment system too. And at the west, where Squall was currently held at the mercy of his taker, were an elaborate system of tunnels and doorways, people coming and going like Fastifalicons jumping in and out of their little burrows.
The whole scene reminded Squall of some of the resistance faction hideouts in Timber. "Yes, actually…you're hiding." Squall muttered confidently, answering Seifer's question bluntly.
Seifer blinked. It was obvious that he wasn't used to this kind of insubordination. "You're a strange person, SeeD…it's not often you find someone that can beat several Hearts clad in Orihalcon, or skip past their defences without so much as a wisp of trail behind them. So I ask myself…what are you doing here?"
"We're here for the same reason as you – to kill Queen Rinoa."
This caused Seifer to laugh out loud. "Ha! We've been trying to do that for over five years! What makes you think you could do any different?"
Squall cocked his thumb towards the little hole he had been torn through. "We can help you. We have experience in helping resistance factions. We're trained in organizing and incorporating covert operations with strategic planning, as well as assassination procedures and infiltration techniques. Working together, maybe we can do what you're obviously trying to do."
"And why should we trust you?"
Squall shrugged. "What else do we have to lose? If we do not help each other, us SeeDs will be captured and under torture we'll reveal the location of your base of operations."
Seifer nodded slowly, his face going blank – before he slowly pulled a knife from the sheath strapped to the man's belt beside him and put it to Squall's neck slowly. "Or I could bleed you here and now and just disappear from this base like we've done so many times before."
Squall craned his head back as the edge of the blade pressed against his neck, forcing him to expose his very vulnerable jugular and Adams-apple. "Go ahead." He said however, his voice deadly calm. "Slit my throat. Kill a Sorceresses Knight. I'm sure my Rinoa would be as merciful as your Queen would be after finding you with her Knight's blood on your hands."
Seifer's face screwed up in rage as he suddenly pushed forward, the edge of the blade beginning to cut deep into Squall's neck, pushing against his windpipe and cutting off the flow of air to his lungs – before the blond revolutionary turned and threw the blade away from him with a scream, the knife twirling and twisting through the air – to stab deep into a poster of the Queen, Squall's blood on the edge of the blade trailing down the paper as if the Queen was bleeding for real.
Squall staggered forward slightly as the men flanking him stood down, having been forced to the tips of his toes by the knife, and put his hand to his neck as he gasped for breath. Seifer had only cut a superficial wound – nothing major had been severed or damaged. Just to be certain, however, Squall cast a Cura instead of a Cure on the wound, the skin closing over the damaged muscle – before he stood, brushing his shirt down. "You made a wise decision." He said softly to the raging Seifer, who stared at the SeeD with a simmering anger hidden deep within.
"Make sure I don't regret it." Seifer growled, getting the last word in before turning on his heel and disappearing deeper into the hideaway, knocking a water-cooler over with a single punch in the process.
* * *
The SeeDs were taken from the entrance end of the hideaway to further into the complex, down the wide area with an armed escort. As they walked it became apparent that this was nothing like anything they had seen before in Gaia – there were at least several thousand people hidden within this cave, some alone, others grouped together, families and couples rife within the numbers. As the SeeDs walked down the long corridor people disappeared around corners and into niches, doors stuck into the stone walls slamming shut and curtains being drawn, not anybody wanting to be seen or see these newcomers lest they are spotted and drawn out from a crowd in case the newcomers were spies.
Rinoa walked beside Squall, keeping up with his even stride at the front quietly, looking down at her boots as she felt the hidden stares trace across his and her bodies. It perturbed her somewhat that they were being observed so readily, almost without remorse – it was like these revolutionaries were parading them around, showing them off as if they had been captured and led around like tethered dogs.
The stares weren't new to Rinoa. After the Sorceress Quest, when the news that she herself was a sorceress got around the Garden, she had gotten some pretty vehenoumous stares herself. But that was what he was here for, she rationalised as she curled her arm around Squall's, causing him to look down to her and smile a small Squall smile, conveying the message that they had nothing to fear.
Her eyes widened, however, as she saw the new scar across his neck. "How did that happen?" She whispered, reaching up with her free hand to run her fingers along the fresh white scar tissue.
Squall caught the hang with his free one and squeezed it firmly. "Just a mis-understanding, Rinoa. That's all." He assured her, smiling his 'nothing to fear' smile again.
Rinoa looked at him doubtfully, not believing him for a second – but deciding to drop it.
Julius and Veronica walked just behind Squall and Rinoa, the two of them holding hands loosely as they looked about themselves at their surroundings. Julius, ever studious, was fascinated by the structures of the cave. "Look at that! See how they've managed to work into several pillars at once under that one spot! It must be a weak-point in the ceiling. And see there, how they've converted those honeycombs in the walls into sleeping quarters! Highly fascinating!"
Veronica smiled up at him, clutching his hand tighter as she watched him look about himself like a giddy little schoolboy. She was – had, she had to remind herself, had – been famous for putting up with his studious behaviour. He had always been with his head in a book or out and about studying the living patterns of monsters and plant life – his appetite for knowledge had been voracious before her…incident…and now he had finished his quest he had resumed that appetite with a vengeance. "It's all interesting, baby…" she agreed, humouring him as she patted his hand like a mother humouring a child.
The sarcasm was lost to Julius as he witnessed a man pulling a cup of steaming water from a small dip in a wall and began to break down the geometric equations that would be encountered in order to bring steaming hot spring water specifically into that dip in the wall.
Emily and Trish lagged behind, however, only barely keeping up because of the armed guards behind them. Squall had ordered them all to stand down until something offensive happened, so Emily simply walked along beside Trish silently, her hands hidden within the fold of her robes like a Shumi.
Trish smiled over at Emily openly, the Goth looking up at her occasionally and offering a lop-sided grin as a reward for her perseverance. Trish had no idea what she saw in the darkly beautiful woman – she had been interested in both sexes since she had been small, having been trained in seduction techniques for both sexes at an early age – but something about Emily's troubled soul seemed to draw Trish to her, like a moth to a flame. She figured she saw a little of her own troubled past hidden behind those cold, stoic eyes – a past only revealed in small, soft parts when they were entwined in each other's arms in bed, or flashing up from within her soul within the heat of battle…and, perversely and selfishly, she felt that in helping Emily's troubles, she would vanquish her own.
Of course, something of an inkling of a feeling that could only be described as love lurked within the back of her mind too – but wether Emily felt the same, Trish did not know. Sure, she was more protective of Trish then the others, and Emily had opened up and become less cold since their union at the Immortal Universe – but something about her tugged the thought that she had lost the ability to love a long time ago in Trish's mind.
Wether that possibility was true, however, remained undiscovered for now.
* * *
The SeeDs were taken deep into the honeycombs of caves, so deep it soon became impossible to tell where they were. They had walked for a good while before they finally came to a doorway, the metal pitted and rusted yet still thick. One of the guards flanking them moved forward and opened it, before gesturing for the SeeDs to enter first.
Squall moved in, closely followed by Rinoa and the rest. The room had a small table and a few chairs situated around it, the light emitting from small pits in the corners of the walls giving it an eerie look. It reminded Squall of an interrogation chamber.
The gunblader turned – to see the guard beginning to close the door. "Hey…" Squall muttered, moving forward to speak to the guard – but the Revolutionary didn't listen, slamming the door shut, the thick metal rattling ominously with the sound of a lock turning.
Without warning the room suddenly started to grow slightly warmer, an ominous humming emitting from all sides, and every single SeeD felt something slowly melt away within them. The room was obviously one big magic dampener – they weren't about to blast their way out any time soon.
They were trapped.
"Damn." Squall grunted, slamming his fist into the door.
Julius sighed, taking off his pack and dropping it into a corner. "Never trust a Seifer…what do you think he'll do to us?"
Rinoa walked up behind Squall, placing her arms around his waist and hugging him gently. Squall rested his head against the door, scenarios playing in his mind. "Three choices – first, kill us and destroy our bodies. Second, pump us for information, then kill us. Thirdly – use us as bait for the Sorceress Queen, then kill the Queen – whether we'd survive such an encounter is still debatable."
"Bugger." Julius sighed, sinking down to sit with his back to a wall, Veronica sitting down beside him.
"Seifer wouldn't do that to us, would he? I mean, sure he's a little bit of a smartass, but he wouldn't want to kill us…would…he…?" She said quietly…before her words trailed off at the looks everyone was giving her. "What?"
Trish shook her head and turned away. Even she knew of the Seifer Almasy, temporary leader of the Galbadian Army and Sorceress Edea's Knight. She had heard of the orders he had followed under Edea's control, even witnessed a few – war was hell, and his actions were no exception.
Julius sighed heavily, placing his arm around Veronica's shoulders and drawing her closer to him. "Hon…a lot has happened since you've been asleep…"
But before he could continue, the door opened, forcing Squall and Rinoa back – and allowing Seifer entrance.
* * *
"How is everyone?" He asked with a smirk – before Squall was on him, grasping his shirt and ramming his body into the wall.
"Everybody out!" He yelled, pinning Seifer to the wall – before the three guards entered the room, the clicking of guns being cocked making every person freeze.
"Nice try, SeeD…" Seifer growled, pulling himself from Squall's grasp and walking over to the doorway. "…But we're not here to harm you. At least, not much."
The SeeDs all stood back wearily, Rinoa's face twisting into confusement and concern as she hid behind Squall. She had abandoned her Blaster Edge not long after she had gotten her Sorceress Power – the flimsy darts were nothing compared to the power of her magic. Within a room with magic dampeners, however, she was almost completely defenceless – that was, without Squall to protect her. "What do you mean, 'not much'?" She asked him defiantly.
Seifer walked into the room a little more, the guards closing the door behind them and lowering their weapons slightly, and it was then that the tension relaxed a little – and Seifer placed a foot-long metallic stick on the table.
Every SeeD stared at the stick as Seifer pulled up one of the chairs and sat down, picking up the stick and pulling off the cover – revealing a sizzling hot brand, the end smoking as he lifted it up for all to see before speaking. "Everyone take off their shirts." He said, almost casually.
The girls blinked in unison. "Excuse me?" Trish said, her voice incredulous. "You want us to do what?"
Seifer rolled his eyes. "It's a simple action, I'd think you've done it at least once or twice in your lifetime."
Emily crossed her arms defiantly, turning her back on the man. Trish did the same, turning away from the universal doppelganger. Rinoa and Veronica simply gawked at Seifer – before Squall asked the obvious question. "Why should we?"
Seifer shook his head, before standing and drawing off his shirt.
His body was a collage of damage, scars lacing up and down his chest, burns like wrinkled leather patches along his sides, bullet-holes pock-marking his skin – but just under his left pec, about three inches down form his nipple, was a small, round burn, the burn more evident then the others. It looked like a fist clenched tightly in a circle, the fist clutching a heart. The circle was the size of a Gil. "It's the mark of the Revolution. All of you will need it if you wish to work with us. The threat of you being replaced with someone else is too great."
As he lowered his shirt the SeeDs looked at once another. They had all been burned before. It wasn't like it was going to hurt a lot. Well…not for the boys. "Do we have to have it…there?" Veronica asked the blond warrior meekly, placing her hand just under her left breast as if it was hurting already.
Seifer sighed. "I'm sorry if your world is softer then ours – but in order to keep it concealed but easily revealable, we must place it there. Our studies have shown it's the lest likely place for anyone to look, especially for women – we do have strict rules regarding covered flesh in this universe."
"Well, I'm not doing it there." Rinoa stated, walking forward and lowering the side of her robe to show Seifer her shoulder. "You can put it here."
Seifer shook his head and rolled his eyes, lifting the brand and placing it on the curve of her shoulder, clutching her arm to hold her still. "Bloody Universals…"
Rinoa whimpered as the brand sizzled on her flesh, a small bead of blood trickling down her arm as smoke and the smell of cooking meat curled up and assailed her nostrils – before it was over, Seifer pulling the brand away from her and allowing her to run to Squall, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It huuuurt!!" She wailed, the false bravado she had displayed before now thrown to the wind.
"Brave girl…" Squall whispered to her, pulling a Potion from his pocket and putting it to her lips. She gulped it down greedily, before looking down at her still bleeding shoulder through tear-filled eyes – and sighing as the flesh stopped burning, the bleeding stopping. Squall rubbed off the excess blood with his sleeve to reveal a small scar the size of a Gil, the fist evident within the circle.
Seifer shook his head. If they all acted like that, then there would be no use using them in the plan he had thought up for them. "Well then…" He said with a small smile, looking over at the rest of the SeeDs. "Who's next?"
* * *
The plan was simple.
Infiltrate, annihilate, escape.
Seifer said he had done it a hundred times before. He had said they had only been beaten back a few times, that the rest of the time their information had only been off a little, coming to empty safe-houses or being at the location at the wrong time.
The Revolutionaries had profited off of Squall's strategic planning and Julius' technological know-hoe brilliantly, adapting with little resistance. Trish was a little hesitant to show some of the Rev's her sneaking abilities, but as soon as she saw how poor their's were, she was like a school-teacher, scolding and imparting her wisdom in equal doses. Emily got the task of training most of the new Revs in SeeD combat, going through some of the more difficult stances and moving through point/counter-point training with seemingly infinite patience. Squall noted to see to it she was recommended for Instructor Review if they managed to survive the plan of attack.
The only SeeDs that were left were Veronica and Rinoa.
Rinoa kept out of everybody's way for the most part. Although her experience as a resistance faction soldier in Timber was infallibly useful, there was still that tension whenever she walked into a room or spoke up.
The fact of the matter was, the Revolutionaries had lived under constant oppression of the Sorceress Queen – and having her Universal Twin walking around, right in their very base, was more then disconcerting.
Rinoa took it rather well. She understood the reasons, and even agreed with them to a certain degree.
But that didn't stop her trembling in Squall's arms whenever they slept.
* * *
Veronica, on the other hand, was at a loss to almost everybody. Years behind on the advanced techniques of the SeeD's combat and technology, she was almost forgotten by all except Julius, the brown-haired girl always sitting quietly behind the hacker as he explained the intricacies of close-feed-circuits to the Revolutionaries.
She had no real skill in anything. Her SeeD rank had been appointed to her only days before her death. The only thing she excelled at was her ability with her staff – and there were very few staff-handlers within the Revolutionaries. The Hearts were too adept to destroying the staves before they could be properly used. So she was stuck in limbo, simply sitting back and waiting for the day that they would attack.
It had been on one of those empty days that, going for a walk through the empty catacombs with Rinoa, catching up on what had happened since her death and miraculous Rebirth, that Veronica collapsed.
One second she was talking, smiling and laughing at Rinoa's funny stories, growing to like the Sorceress more and more – the next she clutched the wall, her hand to her breast as a shocked and pained look appeared on her pretty face.
"What is it?!" Rinoa gasped, running to Veronica's side.
"I…I…" Was all Veronica was able to get out, panting for breath – before her eyes rolled up into head and she collapsed into Rinoa's arms.
SQUAAALL!! Rinoa pulsed suddenly, panicking immediately.
* * *
Julius looked up from where he was sitting beside the sleeping Veronica to see watch as Rinoa and Squall entered the room slowly, drawing the drape closed behind them. All the SeeDs had been given quarters with the rest of the Revolutionaries – except for Squall and Rinoa, who had been given more secure lodging in case someone got the wrong idea into their heads.
The pain Rinoa felt for the couple soared to new heights when she saw how Julius looked. His massive frame sagged, as if someone had placed the weight of the world on his shoulders. His tanned face, usually bright, was now gaunt and pale like a scrap of lifeless flesh. His eyes, framed by his thin-framed spectacles, had lost their jovial spark, their knowledge-searching hunger.
He looked defeated.
"The Immortals said that she was feeling good…that she was doing better then they had hoped…" Julius said dully, looking down at the sleeping girl. "But the Revolutionaries say that…they cant pinpoint her heartbeat. That…technically…she's been Zomibiefied."
Squall grimaced slightly. He knew of Deling's Rebirth attempt, his unholy union with Emily and her Zombie Blue. He also knew that Julius had never wanted to place that burden on Veronica – the soul-stealing magic that reanimated dead flesh but gnawed at the human spirit until you became nothing but a monster.
Rinoa steppe forward, placing a hand on Julius' shoulder reassuringly. "Don't lose hope. We still haven't been able to find anything that suggests she's actually been Zombiefied. I cant sense anything within her that says so, and no Dispel has worked on her yet. So don't lose hope."
Julius clenched Veronica's hand tightly, kissing the fingers, ignoring Rinoa's words. "I should have sent you back…I shouldn't have dragged you into this…please forgive me…" He whispered to the sleeping beauty.
Squall sadly sighed quietly. It seemed that Julius' sanity was linked to Veronica. If anything were to happen to her now, he would be rendered useless by the emotional instability that was evident in his psyche, just like on Crisp when he had killed Veronica's Universal Twin.
Squall walked up to Julius and crouched down next to the hacker. "We'll work through this, Julius. I promise nothing harmful will come…of…her…"
Squall's voice trailed off as the three of them looked down at Veronica…
…to watch as a silver liquid began to seep out of her closed eyes!!
* * *
"Too fast…" Squall muttered to himself, pacing the room. "Things are moving too fast, Seifer. We need time to assess what this means."
"We don't have time, Squall. In exactly seven hours our plan is going to be launched, wether your Veronica is able to fight or not."
"It's not that she cant fight. We need time to assess what this new development has done to her physically as well as mentally."
"Fighting, walking, talking, tap-dancing – I don't give a flying rats!! You incorporated your SeeDs into this plan, assuring me that they were all fighting fit and ready for anything – you assured me that they were the best!"
"They are the best, Seifer! But even the best can be stuck down by disease!"
"Bullshit! She's a solider, so make her act like one!"
"I'm not sending one of my SeeDs into battle until I'm certain she'll be able to react like she's supposed to!"
The two men glared at each other, tensions rising. Seifer and Squall, as usual, came to loggerheads about almost anything – strategy, gunblade techniques, equipment for the mission – Veronica's interesting condition was no different.
Soon after the liquid had begun to seep from her eyes Julius had instantly grabbed some Revolution doctors and his laptop and got started analysing it. Although their equipment bordered on the mundane, coupled with Julius' Immortal-boosted laptop they found out what the liquid was – machines. Billions upon billions of microscopic machines. So small they were barely visible on the Revolutionaries' microscopes.
It had hit Julius like a ton of bricks. Veronica had the Immortal's nanobots within her the entire trip to the Heart world.
"It's amazing…" Julius had told the SeeDs and Seifer when they had met in Veronica's room. "During the reanimation period, her insides were completely flooded by the nanobots – but because of the accident, the nanobots had flowed into her once more – and obviously didn't leave!"
"So how come this hasn't happened yet?" Trish had asked, a confused expression on her face.
"Well, if I've got this right, the nanobots recreate themselves exponentially by borrowing miniscule amounts of protein from Veronica's body. The nanobots are made of protein, see, that way they haven't been picked up by any metal detectors in our trip from the Immortals to here. Her body must be running on the latent energy being emitted by these nanobots, which are now running through her veins like blood. But during the trip Veronica has been recreating them at such a fast rate that her body has been unable to withstand the amount stored within her – so it shut itself down to let some nanobots leech out of her system."
Squall had to ask the million-gil question. "How will this effect her performance?"
"Well, the nanobots haven't rendered Veronica to a meaningless slab of flesh yet, so that must mean that during the accident she had been able to somehow make some kind of symbiotic link with them – most likely due to Zell's attempt to save us. When he had used the Thunder on the door, it had blow straight through the nanobots like wildfire through long-grass – but since Veronica had been shielded by me whilst also grounded on the floor, the electricity that had passed through her must not have killed all the nanobots within her. They must've been scared of the electricity, hidden within her body, and now don't want to leave."
"Are you telling us that those little things are intelligent?" Emily had muttered, cocking her eyebrow sceptically.
Julius had simply shrugged. "How do we determine if the Orihalcon we use is intelligent? I'm just running on theory now."
So how Squall and Seifer were debating wether to use Veronica still. Julius, confident now that he knew what was wrong with her, had taken her to a private room and drained some of the nanomachines from her body with a few electrical pulses through her body. Now, feeling shaken, frightened, but better, Veronica looked upon the two men like a pair of squabble children. "Guys…I'm fine…really…" She said meekly – before sneezing a silver cloud into the air.
Every person in the room stared at her. Thanks to the forced expunge of the nanomachines, some had gotten trapped in her eyes, giving them a silvery look within the whites. Not only that, but her skin had also gotten slightly shiny, as if someone had poured sunscreen on her and rubbed it all in, giving her that glossy look. There was also the fact that anything now expelled from her body, be it a sneeze or blowing her nose or…the other functions, all included extra nanomachines being expelled as well.
Julius had found it quite relieving. He wouldn't care if she grew an extra eyeball that she could pop out of her skull and place in her pocket – he loved her, and would continue loving her until he died.
Everybody else thought it was a bit freaky – but it wasn't any different from the after-effects of some Blues.
Seifer watched the silver cloud dissipate as the nanomachines destroyed themselves in an attempt to find more protein – and shook his head. "And that's another thing. With an ability like that, she'd be the perfect one to assassinate the Queen! One sneeze would eat straight through the bitch like acid! I mean, that shit eats protein, right?"
Veronica shook her head, remembering what Julius had told her. "No, they don't eat protein – they just borrows tiny bits to recreate themselves. I might sneeze on her and she might just absorb them harmlessly into her system. And besides – Julius said they only borrow my protein."
Seifer gritted his teeth, his face beginning to turn bright red from the anger being blocked by sheer will. "Can you walk?" He asked her with infinite calm.
"…Yes."
"Can you fight?"
"…I think so."
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Seifer screamed.
Veronica shrank into Julius' arms, looking up at Squall. "Is he like this in our world?"
"Yes…but he tends to cut things up more often in our world."
Seifer suddenly whipped out his gunblade and sliced a stalagmite that was calmly minding it's own business beside him in half, the top bit falling like a felled tree.
"…Yes. He's exactly like our Seifer." Squall said apologetically.
Veronica cringed and buried her head in Julius' chest.
* * *
It was nighttime when the plan was sent into effect.
Sending out their most stealthy people through the tunnel they had dug – Trish included – the Revolutionaries would pick off the guards around the courtyard one by one, either slitting their throats or sending them to sleep before hiding their bodies. With the threat of being spotted out of the way, the main force of twenty men – the SeeDs included – would steal into the castle through the same secret passage that Seifer and the others had escaped from.
After that, a group of five would scour the castle for anything regarding the Queen's plans. She had been going on a lot more Universal trips of late, coming back unexpectedly and leaving just as suddenly. The Revolutionaries needed to know what she was doing during those trips. This group would involve Trish, Emily and three Revolutionaries. Trish's infiltration techniques would be very handy when it came to looking for any decent information or papers, and Emily was there as her bodyguard, just in case anything went wrong.
The remaining fifteen, which included the rest of the SeeDs, would steal deep into the castle and make their way to the Queen's chambers, where they would assassinate her and her Knight in their sleep. To make doubly sure that the Queen wouldn't sense them, the assassins were all to wear magic dampeners. This worried Rinoa slightly – she was practically defenceless without her magic and was unable to use her telepathy when using a magic dampener, but after being reassured she could take it off at a moment's notice, she agreed to wear one.
Seifer stood before the team of ten men and nine women at the opening of the hole leading to the castle, his face, painted as black as night, grim. Taking Trish's advice, Seifer had ordered all of his men to don dark clothing over their adamantine and Orihalcon armour as well as wear face-paint. Everyone, including the SeeDs, were dressed in tight-fitting infiltration gear, a belt of webbing being the only thing on them the stuck out. The women cut shapely figures in the clothes, which elicited a lot of wolf-whistles and cheers from the on-looking crowd behind them – before Emily and Rinoa Silenced the lot of them.
"Okay people…this is the last chance we have. If we don't do this, we may as well just slit our own throats, cause we're really going to give this bitch a fright and she isn't gonna be happy with any of us. You all have your orders – radio silence unless absolutely necessary, the more of these buggers you take down silently the better, and for fucks sake try not to raise any alarms. If we fuck up we meet back here and disappear into the catacombs – I don't care how many soldiers the bitch says she has, they'll never find us if we disappear in there. Are we all ready?"
Every single person stood rigid, like soldiers ready to give their lives for their cause. And, except for the SeeDs, Seifer expected nothing more from them.
"We've trained for a good while for something like this, guys. Lets not fuck it up. Now come on…the bitch wont be waiting for us for much longer…"
* * *
The pool was filled with shadow, the moon not as bright as the night before. The sky was ominously filled with cloud, the inky grey blocking the night's light of stars and moonbeam as effectively as a blanket drawn over a brightly burning light blub.
The rock that had been pulled over the mouth of the cave was pushed forward slightly, before being pushed forward again fully, the rock almost falling, teetering on it's edge, threatening to tip and crash and crumble – but finally holding still.
Four shadows slinked out of the hole, one cracking the first over the head for almost tipping over the stone, before stealing away further into the pool.
Trish liked these guys. Before the Queen had come along, they had all been thieves like her. In fact, they were still thieves – Seifer had 'recruited' them after catching them in the chambers of the catacombs trying to steal the Revolutionary's finances. Each of them were crude, unforgiving and ruthless – just the kinds of people Trish was used to hanging around with.
The smallest one, called Mouse, rubbed her head from the smack she had gotten from Mother. Mother wasn't a maternal praise – it was short for Motherfucker. Mother's expertise wasn't always thievery – it was also assassination.
Tubbs, the third, was the smarter one, the one that planned everything. He had organised most of the sneaking missions up until Trish showed up, and despite seeming a little miffed that his reign of power had been usurped so readily, had buckled down and learned much from Trish, grudgingly giving her the respect she deserved. Right now his light green eyes, hovering in the shadow like a ghost thanks to the dark face-paint, winked at the blond thief – before motioning for them to move forward and fan out.
The group moved like ghosts, phantoms, wraiths – one second you might see a shape move, the next you wouldn't know if you had seen anything at all. They slinked out of the pool like lizards scaling a brick wall and moved with like Silences lightening to their respective poles – North for Tubbs, West for the little Mouse, East for Trish, and South for Mother.
Moving to her wall Trish immediately ran into resistance – three guards and a watch-monster within a small pill-box at the base of the wall, two men standing outside with the monster whilst another dozed inside. The monster looked gross – with leathery skin and pale yellow eyes, it looked more like a lizard then anything else. Every now and then the lizard's mouth would open, it's tongue flitting out of its mouth like a snake's before returning to into the rows and rows of sharp teeth.
Trish shuddered involuntarily, before adjusting the scarf wrapped around her mouth and hair and shifted forward silently. If the creature was anything like an Anacondaur or an Iguion then it 'smelled' by tasting the air with it's snake-like tongue – and Trish was prepared for that.
The night was so dark you could barely see three feet in front of you – but thanks to her night-goggles Trish could see everything as if it was daytime. Strafing left and giving the men a wide girth, Trish moved up to the wall – and, feeling for footholds, began to scale it slowly, her hands and feet searching for nooks and crannies for her hands and feet to enter into.
Climbing up about a story, the thief began to strafe along the wall to the top of the pillbox, her body hugged close to the stones as she shifted right inch by inch, until she was over the top of the box. She dropped down lightly, landing without a sound on her hands and feet like a cat, pressing her body down to the ground low, holding still as if she had been spotted already.
After a minute of silence punctuated by the occasional metallic cough from a guard and hiss from a lizard, Trish crawled on her belly to the edge of the pillbox, looking down on the two guards and their pet. The window of the pillbox was directly beneath her, and was open – no glass shielding it. This was obviously a battlement for an attack from within the castle – if anybody broke into the courtyard the guards could run to the pillboxes and fire at the aggressors safely from within.
Smiling behind her scarf, Trish rolled over and reached into her webbing to pull out what looked like a small beanbag. A device of her own design, it was a grenade that could be thrown without it causing any noise when bouncing off objects, Trish affectionately calling it a Hacky Sack. Pulling a small slit open, she set the timer for five seconds and, rolling back over to her belly and craning her torso over the edge of the small square construction, tossed the Hacky Sack through the opening in the wall.
The Hacky Sack bounced with a muffled 'tish' against the floor and rolled to rest against the corner behind the sleeping guard, who was snoozing in a chair, his metallic snores evident in the small confines of the room.
Nothing in the room moved after that for five seconds – before the Hacky Sack suddenly rolled to it's edge, and split open slightly to fall in half.
Again seemingly nothing happened.
Still smirking behind her scarf, Trish rolled over again and, reaching into her bag, produced a rock. Smooth, normal, it was a plain old rock, about the size of a Gil.
Trish crawled to the edge of the roof – and pegged her rock at the nearest Heart, the stone pinging off his head with a metallic 'ting', before she ducked back behind the roof.
The guard turned to the other and punched him fully in the head, the two men scuffling for a second before the man who had been hit with the rock dragged both his companion and his pet lizard into the pillbox to complain.
Trish's smirk only grew wider as she heard two metallic thuds, followed by a reptilian hiss – then a third thud.
Waiting for a minute, she flipped gracefully over the edge of the roof and through the window, landing on top of the man in the chair, his chair toppling backwards to crash to the floor and shatter into a million pieces – but the man snored on.
Straddling the man's chest, Trish pressed her index and middle fingers to the man's neck, pulling off his helmet and checking his pulse before doing the same to the others. They were all out cold, including the lizard.
Quickly moving out to the wall of the courtyard beside the pillbox, Trish reached into her bag once more and pulled out a long length of silk rope and a small metallic length, about a foot long. Looping the rope loosely in one hand and taking the metal pole in the other, she pressed her thumb down on a small button at the base of the pole, the top half suddenly snapping out to reveal four sharp, barbed spikes.
Tying the grappling hook tightly to the rope and tossing it up to the battlements with practised skill, Trish scaled the wall slowly, taking her time. The hook had clinked on the stone edge of the wall sharply, the noise screaming into Trish's ears but probably only sounding like a dropping stone to anybody nearby. Either way she kept her movements subtle – she was vulnerable on the scale up, and didn't want to face the uneasy drop to the ground if she was attacked before reaching the top.
Finally hitting the edge and placing her hands on the stony walk-guard, Trish lifted herself up and over, landing lightly and crouching low. She could see two guards walking away from her slowly, edging to the north-west, towards Tubbs and Mouse. Trish left the guards to them. The pathways had two guard-walls on either side to stop anybody from falling over the sides – and the night had thankfully made the pathway an inky black from the waist down.
Looking the other way she spotted two other guards heading her way – and a single man standing not ten feet, facing the outside inside a little niche in the battlements, his body not half a foot from an alarm button.
Trish froze. Had he heard the grappling hook?
The guards walking towards her drew nearer, their footsteps thumping painfully loud as they continued their walk, oblivious to the thief sitting in the shadows of the pathway. She had to act now or be spotted – and being spotted wasn't an option.
On reflex she concentrated slightly – to remain where she was.
The dampeners. She realised suddenly. Shit! She couldn't teleport – the magic might make the Sorceress aware.
She had to do it old-school style.
Reaching down to her bag once more, she pulled out something she hadn't used in quite a while – a gun. Silently screwing on a silencer to the barrel of the semi-automatic weapon, she pulled the slide back to chamber a round – and slipped forward, rolling forth with one hand slipping into her bag to pull out another item – and threw it at the guard standing at attention.
The rock hit him in the neck, causing him to turn his head and look to where the attack had come from – but in the inky blackness from where Trish had leapt, it appeared that the guard was alone apart from his companions moving up from the north.
Suddenly and without warning the man's Orihalcon helmet went soft, sliding off his face like a wet piece of plastic. The guard blinked, looking down to see where it had fallen – before hearing the slight puff of a silenced pistol going off, feeling the tranquilliser dart slam into his forehead – then feeling nothing at all.
Trish smirked as she rolled forth, scooping up the limp piece of Orihalcon and catching the guards body before it could fall to the floor and make a sound. Her toss had been on the mark – she had hit exactly where the catch had been in the neck, just like Squall had done in their first fight with the Hearts.
Moving into the guard's niche she pulled another Hacky Sack out of her bag and, arming it for one second, tossed it out into the pathway behind her and covered her mouth and nose.
There was a slight pause as the footsteps drew nearer…before the sound of dual bodies hitting the ground signified silence.
Now safe, Trish slowly stood – and watched from her vantage point as all the other guards along the battlements suddenly dropped out of sight…to be replaced by three wraiths, their bodies highlighted by the background – before they disappeared again.
Trish checked her SeeD watch. They were right on time. Turning the watch so it's smooth black strap faced her, she pressed a small button on the watch-face, activating the microphone on the Walkie Talkie. "Garden's clear. Come out and play."
* * *
We're getting there peeps…soon this story will be over, and then I'll be able to concentrate on other things, like Chronicles, my FicPress stories, and the sequel!
But first…one word, thanking one of my readers (as well as shamelessly plugging something of hers.).
Barbe (Also known as Starletta) has managed to create something of an online Role Playing Game based on…yep, you guessed it, the Tournament series!! Round of applause!! Take a bow, hon!
Details on the website and information regarding the RPG will be forthcoming if you wish to learn more. Until then, keeping reading and reviewing!!
