Disclaimers: FFVII and DNAngel are legal properties to the owners and companies, so I'm filching off them.
000
Chapter Three:
Thankful of the tough SOLDIER regime that he had once been forced to go through – accompanied by his dear mother's thieving training – Daisuke found it much easier to avoid the monsters and their bullets rather then trying to fight them. Of course, Argentine didn't have that sort of training under his belt, and as mercenaries were paid, the redhead was forced to go and stay back to help the guy get out of the tighter corners of battle.
((C'mon…)) Dark began with a whine, ((I wanna run around a bit. And ten minutes is nothing. We could get out of here in less than half.))
(…) well, he had a point there, but it didn't make it all that reassuring in the end. (Well… as long as you decide not to sit around until the exact last second it should be okay…)
((Yeah!)) The thief agreed forcefully, seeing that he was getting the better half of the argument, ((And I haven't been out for ages! So be a pal and stop being such an asshole to me!))
(We're the same person; you know that you're calling yourself an asshole,) Daisuke stifled a sigh at his alter ego's rather random perspective of things, (Okay, okay, you can run amok and ruin my life again.)
Red hair shimmered slightly as it grew longer and turned into a shade of very dark purple, and ruby eyes flickered into amethyst as Dark took over, grinning, ((But doesn't that mean I ruin my life as well?))
(We're the same person! Don't try to use unspeakable logic on me!)
"I have logic?"
(Somehow, I doubt it.)
"Hey!"
Slashing at a machine drone that got in his way, Dark turned around to see a very frozen-in-the-spot-and-in-shock Argentine. The grin never faded because, in all honesty, it was highly comical to see the angry, problematic adult stuck in a stat of such shock, and the thief waved a hand in front of his face. "You still alive in there, old man?"
The brunette snapped back into reality quite hard; and with quite a temper, "I'm not old, you maniac! And who the hell are you and what the fuck happened to Niwa?"
"My, you're very polite," commented Dark, ignoring Daisuke's (You tend to be more profound) reminder and stuck a very random yet fancy pose before hitting another monster behind him, "And I am Daisuke. His other half, so unless you want to stand here and make introductions while a reactor's about to blow off, I'll be happy to oblige."
Scowling, Argentine chose to say nothing at all and ran back ahead, although it was clear that he was at a loss on what to say when a redheaded mercenary kid changes into a scary older purple-haired… weirdo. And what a weirdo, at that. Man, he had to stop allowing Jessie to deal with the people they hired.
Climbing up the ladder swiftly, Dark's eyes caught sight of Jessie, who had been keeping guard this whole time. She was bent double, clutching at her foot and didn't seem to be moving. As Argentine ran ahead, not paying any attention at all, the thief approached her coolly.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"My foot's caught," she mumbled back, not looking up to face him. Bending down, the purple-haired teen untangled her foot from the iron mesh-like-substance-whatever and she stood up, "Thanks--" she froze as she finally faced him and gaped. "Oh… my… god…" it was obvious to see what sorts of thoughts were currently running through her head.
But Dark was spared from hearing it all as their leader poked his head out from where the lift was located and bellowed, "If you don't want to be left behind, then move your ass!"
Tipping the surprised woman a wink, the thief ran up to the lift and entered, and Jessie was right behind him; shocked or not, she wasn't stupid enough to stand there in a dream-like state when the entire building was soon to collapse. The doors slid shut smoothly and Argentine pressed the button that would send them back up.
As they waited, no one said a word; although Jessie looked keen on finding out who the new guy was. Or… something. When she'd given the redhead the interview, there was no mention of hot purple-haired guys in the picture… wait, where was Daisuke then?
Again, she would have asked, but she knew that Argentine would never abandon anyone working for them, so unless the redhead managed to get himself killed… nah, that wasn't an option.
Wait… wouldn't that mean that the cute redhead and this guy… what!
She was snapped out of her thinking state as someone hit her over the head, hard. And she knew who it was the moment their hand connected to the back of her skull. Wincing, she rubbed the spot and shot a frown at Argentine, just as the lift doors opened to them and revealed Biggs and Wedge, both of whom had been fidgeting and most definitely worrying about their co-workers.
Like Jessie, though, they gaped when they caught sight of Dark, who just smirked at them in reply. He loved confusing people, and this was just pure gold in his opinion. Oh sure, he knew one other person that was better than that, but that wasn't the point at the moment.
"Move!" barked the angry brunette behind him, and everyone scattered back into place. Jessie decoded the door as both Dark and Argentine dealt with some monsters that were currently floating around.
"We've only got three minutes left," Wedge informed them, staring at an odd contraption strapped around his wrist as Biggs ran over to deal with the next locked door. If it had been any other group, they might have been dancing in panic already, but being professional bomb-making-Shinra-hating-people, this was all just part of the package.
Edging backwards carefully, Dark and Argentine's eyes met briefly as they bolted off behind the rest of the group, acting as a rearguard. The sound of explosions was a clear indication that they were beginning to set the actual detonator off and it only meant one thing; they were out of time. Sprinting off, they turned a corner to the emergency exit that Daisuke had seen before when entering.
Jessie cursed slightly as she tripped, but both Dark and Argentine grabbed her by the arm and set her up and all three ran out, just as the explosions hit full force. Fire raged as the reactor itself collapsed and everywhere there was chaos.
000
In the center of Midgar, the sad town polluted by the mako fumes, the president of Shina corp. watched impassively as one of his many sector reactors was blown to pieces.
He didn't need a genius to work out who had done the horrible deed.
"AVALANCHE…"
000
The air pressure had built up with the explosion and the members of said rebel group were all thrown out forcefully, just as the flames reached out for them.
Performing a simple summersault and landing neatly on his feet, Dark turned around and watched with amusement as most of the others were thrown to the group. Wedge was running around in circles soon after trying to deal with some fire that had caught on his bandanna.
Brushing himself off, Argentine was right back to being his barking, unhappily normal self as everyone else picked themselves up.
"Good job, everyone," he said, one of the few praises he actually allowed himself to say. "Now meet at the sector 8 station in ten minutes. Go your own way so no one becomes suspicious. Move out!"
Everyone, including Dark, saluted in reply and they left, jumping over fences and the like. The purple-haired teen, on the other hand, lingered back for a moment and looked back at the door, now completely engulfed by flames.
(Dark… you okay?)
((Just fine. Really.))
In the depths of his mind, Daisuke saw through his alter ego's eyes and a vague memory flashed past him. In surprise, the redhead reeled back. (Are you… absolutely sure?)
((Better than you.)) there was the sound of alarms going off, ((We better go.))
Daisuke nodded the affirmative and Dark left the place. Walking up a set of stairs with railing that looked ready to come off as soon as someone touched it, there wasn't all that much else to see. Dilapidated buildings made up a good half of the place, and everything was in a dreary grey colour. Not all that nice to see, but it might have something to do with the pollution that constantly misted the area.
Midgar was a large city-like-town-but not, consisting of a large building overwhelming the small slums beneath. Each sector had their own mako reactor; life-sucking machines that took everything from the earth and never gave anything in return.
People were running around the rubble streets, cars stuck in a sort of traffic-like-proportion yet never looked like it moved at all in the first place. As the purple-haired thief walked past a couple of people, he watched as a blonde girl was pushed to the ground, clutching a basket close to her.
Not bothering to apologise, the children who had knocker her over ran off, yelling and making up their own reason as to how the reactor had blown up. Dark shot them a glare and they scuttled off.
The girl had long, blonde hair done in a high plait, a pink ribbon holding it in place. She wore a simple, homespun looking pink dress and a red coat. Brushing herself off calmly, it was clear that she was used to rough life of the area, and it surprised the thief quite a bit; she looked too delicate to be used to such coarse living.
He walked past her, but catching sight of him, the girl approached him. "Did something happen?" she asked curiously.
"No, not really," he replied smoothly, turning to face her. Amethyst eyes met serene blue. "So what's up?"
(Dark! Don't tell me you're going to hit on her!) shrieked Daisuke, but he was pointedly ignored.
"Oh, nothing much, besides what we just saw then," the girl replied, before holding up a basket, "Do you know who might have been behind the bombing?"
"Rebels, I suspect. Nothing that the guards can't handle."
"Ah… I see…," she seemed to think for a moment before going back to business, "Would you like to buy some flowers?"
Peering into the basket, Dark raised an eyebrow at the vivid colours that seemed to stream out of the dull wickerwork, "How did you manage to get these things?" Not much of a plant lover anyway, he was confused on how anyone could sell such bright things in such a dull area.
"I grow them," the flower girl replied simply, "they're only one gil."
"Well…" ((Risa would like it, wouldn't she?))
(I suppose…) admitted the redhead, who had favoured a small crush on said girl a number of years back. Then she'd shot him down, so… they were still friends, but whatever.
"Okay," giving the girl a prize-winning smirk that made Daisuke want to roll his eyes, Dark passed over the money and was given a very pretty cerulean petalled flower. Nodding her thanks, she left without another word.
Dark stared at the flower in his hand.
((Hey, you know what this colour reminds me of?))
(Let's not talk about it. And I could very much say the same thing about who that girl reminded you of…)
((Oh, shut up, Dai-chan.))
Shoving the flower away in a safe place, the thief walked off, looping off to find a better way to get into the train station without being noticed by the guards. Not that it would be all that hard, seeing as he didn't look like Daisuke at all, but you never knew until it happened.
Electric currents shot by overhead, cackling madly as reporters and police ran around the place. Past him and pushing residents out of the way without as much as a warning. But the residents didn't seem to care the least; they seemed to be in a state of shock that couldn't be dealt with anytime soon at just the fact that anyone would attempt to blow up such a huge… thing. And the fact that they had succeeded was all that was needed to stick them in a frozen mode that the magic 'stop' would have been proud of.
Walking off with a confidence that he always had due to his big ego, Dark walked past it all. And since no one stopped to question him or challenge him, thanks to the buster sword strapped to his back, it wasn't long before he reached more deserted streets, very close to the train station itself.
((That was way too easy,)) he told his host, just as a shout made him turn around again. With a scowl, he cursed under his breath; shinra soldiers. Unlike the police, these people were fully equipped and trained to take down any rebels, even if they weren't.
(We should have known this would happen.) Daisuke muttered, although he didn't seem all that scared of what was going on, (If we time this right, we should be fine.)
((You're getting better every day,)) smirked Dark.
(I learn from the best.)
((Me?))
(Who else? But don't let your ego get any bigger.)
((You can be so cruel, you know.))
(So can you.)
"You're trespassing here!" yelled one of the two guards, both of their machine guns held out and pointing directly at Dark.
"Am I?" shaking his head and grinning at their stupidity, the thief ran down the street, ignoring the bullets that were being shot at him. He was about to turn a corner, when another two soldiers blocked his pathway. ((Damn, they must have called for reinforcements sometime…))
"Halt!"
Spinning around again, Dark was about to tear off in the opposite direction, but he only got halfway there before three more guards hit the scene. Slowly, he backed away, glancing around to see if there was any other place to go.
"You can't escape now."
Guns were pointing at him from all directions, save one. That was only due to the fact that his back was pressed against it, but the little bird in his head informed him that it was the bridge railing to where the tunnel was located for the train: the one they were going to board, nevertheless; to the sector 7 slums.
"I can't escape?" Dark asked, smirking, biding for time, "Do you people know who I am?"
He didn't get a straight answer for this, and his sharp hearing pinpointed the coming of a train. Still smirking, he proclaimed his title to the slow and baffled group of soldiers.
"I'm the famous Phantom Thief Dark!"
With that, he flipped back against the railing and leapt off, landing on the roof of the train carriages. Upon hearing this, the guards tried to shoot at him, but the train sped by too fast for them to aim. The wind cut past them like a knife and Dark laughed at their stupidity.
((God, I love taunting them and messing with their minds.))
(You always have and always will,) agreed Daisuke, smiling at his alter ego, (We better get in before you lose your grip or something.)
((Who do you take me for?)) Dark asked with a stab of righteous anger as the redhead laughed at his indignation, but did as he was told. It was kind of cold out there, anyway. He couldn't help but admit that.
Ah well, mission one; complete.
000
XD and thus the first mission is complete… so there will be a gag page after this one… if I remember to do it. You'll see. Comments and the like are very much welcome.
neko-nya: KABOOM, the place blew up and no one died for one reason or another XD it was great to run around like that. Ten minutes… it's not really hard in the game…
chrnoskitty: aah… it's okay. As long as you're reading it in the end :D And I'm not telling you their roles; it'll ruin the surprise XD Yeah, I once left her behind to see what happened, but had to go back anyway. The strategy guide only allows you to go so far… (pokes finger at it) They never tell you that you can get two ribbons…
sqiferfan: Aw… thanks :D I'm glad you liked how I'm trying to fit them into the story. I'm hoping that the rest of the characters can slide in without much problem as well. Thanks so much for the comments XD