Fly like an Eagle
Chapter 6: Salvation from Desperation
They were on their way. Four SeeD and six or seven of the Forest Owls. They were to arrive that evening and, as far as she knew, follow her instructions. She would have them go, get Zell, rescue Squall, and all fourteen or so of them would leave for Timber. This wouldn't be a big deal, just get them and get out of there. They would regroup, and go back to their base in Timber. She would survive this, she would get Squall back, and she would get to Esthar. She picked up the phone again and dialed the number of the Dollet hotel which was just down the street, getting herself a room. She made her way slowly over to the hotel, briefcase in hand. She checked in, paid her fee, and preceded to her room. She lay down on the bed, but before she knew it, she was being shaken awake.
"Miss?" one of the men in black and gold said. Rinoa sat up and surveyed the room. As she did so she saw about 10 people standing in her room, four in matching black and gold, the rest in various camouflage prints. All were heavily armed.
"Oh my God thank you all for coming-" but before she could say another thing, she was interrupted by one of the SeeD in black and gold.
"Are you packed? Our orders are to get you and get out." he said.
"I uh... wait! We can't leave now."
"And why not?" the SeeD said, sounding annoyed that they weren't already out the door.
"Squall! Zell!" Rinoa almost shouted at him. The SeeD looked perplexed. Then it occurred to her. "The last of the Eagle Squad! Lionheart and Karate Kid. We can't just leave them!"
"They understood the consequences when they became SeeD! This is a tragedy, but why send us to our deaths trying to rescue someone already dead!" another of the black and gold clad SeeD shouted back at her. The others nodded in agreement.
"But... but..." her mind was racing. "What if...what if they torture him and get some secrets out of him! We have to save him before that. And Ze– Karate Kid is in a state of false death! Is he supposed to stay in that drug induced coma forever? Come now we have to hurry!"
"They won't get one word from Lionhearts lips." A third SeeD commented.
"And false death is a way to try to get those literally on death's door to safety, there's no loss there since he would have died anyway." said the fourth.
"You guys are unbelievable!" Rinoa shouted at them. "I want no part of a rescue mission if it only rescues the one who's most convenient!"
"And most important. They died to keep you safe. Don't throw away the sacrifices of 3 brave men because you're still clinging to memories. Grieve, don't become reckless." The first SeeD said.
"What would he have done for you?" she asked, now crying.
"He would've obeyed his orders, and kept to the mission." said the third SeeD.
"I don't believe you! I refuse to believe it!" she said, tears streaming down her face. She ran from the room, slamming the door before anyone could follow. She raced out into the front parking lot of Dollet hotel. There she discovered the SeeD vehicles. Two tank like vehicles and a military Jeep. She got in, and, finding the keys in the ignition, started the car and drove off to find him. She knew he was alive, but could no longer feel him inside her heart. She drove at unheard of speeds, and, upon arrival, she saw the remains of the battle from the previous day. As the guards at the turret saw her she rammed into them, crushing the turret and knocking out the guards. Not stopping for an instance, she got out grabbed the handguns of the guards and ran in. The alarm sounded behind her but she didn't care. As she rounded the first corner, she saw several guards approaching her. She fired wildly at them, turned and ran the way she came, taking a different turn. After a few more minutes of turning corners, and the doubling back, she ducked into one more door, a closet. Pitch black and cramped, she stayed where she was, not moving a muscle. She heard footsteps to her right, becoming louder as they raced down the corridor in front of her, gradually becoming quieter as they went off to her left.
I need a system she thought. Just wandering around isn't going to do me any good.
She stayed where she was until the alarm died. Large groups of people were no longer running past, but she was trapped in there by one guard who patrolled this hallway. She had to take him out. She had never killed anyone before, unlike Squall who had killed many times in the short time she had known him. She couldn't do it... but...
She made a slight coughing noise as the guard walked by. Not loud enough to make him open the door, but enough to make him stop. When she was sure he had, she thrust open the door, hard, with her shoulder, hitting the guard in the face, knocking him backwards onto the ground. She advanced on him, guns raised.
"Toss your weapons toward me, slowly, use only your thumb and index finger." she demanded, looking more menacing than she felt. The guard did as she asked. Rinoa grabbed his collar, pulled him to his feet and surveyed him. He was about her height... She threw him into the closet with all her might, guns still on him.
"Take off your suit." She demanded.
"If you wanted sex you coulda asked, you're hot enough I would have said yes." he said as he did what she asked.
"No you retard, I need that suit and–" she shot him once in his left shoulder, "that's for asking."
She put on the perverted guards suit, and left him bound, gaged, and locked in the closet. She looked at the suits HUD (A/N: heads up display, military visors often contain important information that can be viewed only while wearing the helmet, such as maps, orders from their commander, night vision, etc.) and found an interactive map of the compound. Since this whole time she had been going with her gut, she looked for the interrogation room rather than the prison, since her gut told her Squall was tortured for information. She followed the maps instructions, passing other guards who did nothing but give her a quick glance and resume their patrol. Finally she reached the room she was looking for.
"Squall," she said more to herself than to him. She saw him, bloodstained, and unconscious, bound vertically to a large metal machine by his arms, which were stretched out to their full length. His head was hung. They had beaten his body, but she knew he had given them nothing. She ran up to him, unfastened his wrists, and caught his limb body as it fell on her shoulder. She lay him down gently, noticing the heavy burns where electricity had been sent into his body through the metal clasps that held him up by his wrists. She took off her helmet, tears coming to her eyes again. He was dead. She felt no pulse in his neck and his wrists were so burned she couldn't feel anything anyway. She held his bare, bloody chest to her and embraced him. He was even cold to the touch.
"I knew someone would come for him, but I didn't expect such a pretty little babe." A voice said from somewhere behind her. She turned to look into those green eyes. "He lasted longer than anyone I'd ever seen. 13 hours on level 10, no normal person could have survived more than an hour or two, he drained the station of its power. It'll be quite some time before we're up and running fully." Rinoa hated this man. She knew nothing about him, except he killed the one man she would do anything for. "Now come here babe, ditch the dead dude, and lets have some fun." He reached for her, grabbing her wrist. She fought with everything she had to break his grip, but he was too strong. She continued to fight, and was about to realize that she was going to be raped, when a strong hand grabbed her attacker's wrist. She heard a loud crack as all the bones in his hand broke. She turned to see Squall, kneeling, eyes flush red with blood, but his gaze was focused with anger, and his arms looked as strong as ever.
"Touch her again. I dare you." said a voice so unlike the one she loved. His voice was deep, scratchy, and terrifying. Squall flung the blond man down by his broken wrist, stood up, and stamped on the man's nose, hard, breaking it. The man was now down for the count, but Squall was not done. It seemed his rage was all that kept him conscious. He picked up the man, and turned his broken hand around 360 degrees, let go, and snapped his elbow the other direction, breaking it too. "That's for trying to touch her" he said. He kicked hard at the mans shin, forcing the newly broken bone to rip through the skin on his leg.
"Squall! That's enough!" she called. Squall promptly snapped the mans neck, and dropped his broken bloody body to the ground.
"That was for putting me through hell." he called at the dead man on the ground. He began to walk toward Rinoa, but fell to his knees, then head first into the ground. She turned him over, and held him again, though this time he was just conscious enough to know what was happening.
"Thank you for living, and for saving me. I love you. You are my world. Can you walk if I help you? We have to get outta here in a hurry." She felt him nod slightly in her shoulder. She stood up, hoisted his arm over her shoulder, and moved as fast as she could toward where she came in.
"You, Stop!" soldiers behind her called. As she ran from one group, she encountered another in front of her.
"We got you now!" the soldiers in front called. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the wall to her right was blown wide open. Cannon fire. She dashed out the hole out toward her backup she knew must be there. Sure enough two large tanks stood, firing rockets and taking out large numbers of charging soldiers, as well as large portions of the building. Rinoa wondered for a minute why the Galbadians weren't using the large plasma cannon on top of their base.
They can't. They used up too much power on Squall. She thought as she reached the tanks. In the back seat of her car she saw Zell leaning limply against the back seat as well as a SeeD in the driver seat. She sat Squall down in the back next to Zell, and jumped into the passenger seat, where they watched the tanks take down the whole building, reducing it to rubble.
"I thought about what you said, and he would have come for me, so we came for him. We didn't know that was where you went until we saw this car outside. How did you rescue him and disable their plasma cannon all on your own?" The SeeD driver asked.
"Thank him not me. They put him through hell, and it used up all their power, now just take us back to the hospital, we need to get them help." she said.
"Yes Ma'am." the driver said.
A/N: I finally got around to finishing this chapter. I think it's pretty good, I guess, but I know many of you will have given up on this story. Well I haven't. Next chapter coming soon!
A/N (1/27/06): there were so many typos in this chapter it was embarrassing. I'm still finding new ones. Please review and let me know what you think of the story and not the typos. I type too fast and don't always realize I wrote the wrong word or letter.