Chapter 2: Memories and Promises
"That should keep the planet going for a little longer," Zone said in the darkness.
No one immediately responded, though Squall, standing at the back of the small group, shook his head. Yes, they had temporarily decreased the amount of energy that Shinra was draining, but the corporation could easily increase production at the other seven reactors around the city. Not to mention that at least four other major reactors existed outside the city itself, along with a number of minor ones. The operation had been an important first step, but only a first step for the rebels.
Squall suddenly wondered why he actually cared. He had no real stake in this matter; he would die long before Shinra drained even a significant portion of the planet's Mako. So why did he care about their cause?
Squall passed it off as curiosity and paid it no more heed. Besides, they had finally reached the access passage exit, and Xu was wiring some explosives to the sealed door. Watts stood over her with a small flashlight, while Zell and Zone each took an aerosol can and began spraying one of the tunnel walls.
"What are you doing?" Squall asked, not remembering anything like this from the briefing.
"Leaving our calling card," Zell replied, smiling. He held up another flashlight and began spraying some writing along the wall. Zone did the same thing on the opposite wall. "The Shinra guards will probably follow us through this tunnel after they get to the blast site. We've got a message for them."
Squall watched as the brawler and Zone left their graffitti, and shook his head at the message they left on the tunnel walls. In bright red paint, Zell and Zone had left the message "Avalanche! Defenders of the Planet! Destroyers of Mako Energy! Shinra's greatest enemy!" While the message wasn't in and of itself funny, the fact that the duo had scrawled the spray paint in an extremely sloppy manner, not to mention they left a choice set of misspellings and a not-so-complimentary image of a raised middle finger beneath a smiley face, made the message look like something teenage punks had written. Squall did understand the reason behind the silliness of the message, as it would certainly befuddle Shinra's investigators as to the nature of the group.
"Not bad, huh?" Zone asked, rather proud with how crudely he had written his message. "We've also got some of our part-timers pasting up posters around the top plate, so everyone will know about AVALANCHE."
"Okay, it's done!" Xu called, and the entire group fell back several steps, Watts helping Xu to move back on her injured leg. The rebel raised a detonator and pressed the button, and in a roaring flash of fire, the door out of the access tunnel was blasted open. Squall and Zell were the first through, securing the area beyond, followed by Zone, with Xu being helped by Watts out of the tunnel.
The area outside the sealed tunnel was little more than a disused, empty lot in a run-down section of Sector Eight's topside plate. No one was in sight, and only a single road led out of the lot, a small drive that curved around a building and disappeared into the cityscape. Zell nodded, turning back to his group.
"Okay, the job's done, but we're not out of the woods yet," he stated, crossing his arms. "We'll need to split up and meet at the Sector Eight train station so we can get the hell out of here." Zell glanced at his watch. "The train leaves in about fifteen to twenty minutes, so be there!" Zell turned to Xu, concerned about her leg, but she just hook her head and patted the top of Watts' head.
"Nothing unusual here, just a drunk girlfriend being escorted by her boyfriend," she explained, and Zell grinned. Watts seemed kind of embarrassed, but nodded. With that, the quartet of rebels, and their mercenary tag-along, dispersed, Zell bounding up a fire escape while Zone ducked into another alleyway. Watts and Xu struck a straight path down the road together, leaving Squall behind, who remained, soaking up the period of quiet and peace. After several long moments of enjoyable silence and solitude, Squall set out from the parking lot, taking a different alley from Zone. Very quickly, the ex-SeeD disappeared into the shadows of Sector Eight with an almost casual ease.
Five minutes of wandering the alleys (and glaring off a pickpocket with a glowing blue stare that promised a world of pain) Squall emerged in the middle of a rubble-strewn plaza. Quite a few people were running around, or wandering aimlessly, confused and frightened by the titanic explosion from mere minutes before. Squall glanced around the area, and recognized the plaza. He recalled his memorized maps of Midgar and knew where to find the train station.
The ex-SeeD shouldered his way through anyone who wandered into his path, quickly moving across the plaza to a street that would take him to the bridge overlooking the station. As he was walking, however, Squall paused, noticing a quartet of familiar blue uniforms moving purposefully into the plaza. Behind them were a lot more Shinra soldiers, many bearing the insignia of military police. Too many for Squall to even consider trying to fight or move past, even with his friends he hadn't needed back in the reactor. Squall mentally checked the back of his mind again, and confirmed they were still present, before turning away from the guards. Even now, the guards were forcefully pushing their way through the plaza, systematically rounding up citizens for inspection. Like the other members of Zell's bunch, Squall had a fake I.D. Xu had worked up, but he didn't trust it in the face of a scrutinizing MP. Not to mention if they had received any reports on Squall's unusual weapon of choice . . . .
Squall bumped into someone, and glanced down at whoever it was, knowing before he'd even looked at her that by the force and direction of the impact that he'd knocked her down, and she was female.
"Oops, sorry," she apologized, starting to stand up, raven black hair dropping to her shoulders, caramel strands running through the hair around her temples. She stood back up, and Squall found one of his hands dropping down to help the girl (and she did seem to be young, barely Squall's own age) to her feet.
"Thank you," she began to say, looking up at Squall, but as their eyes met, both the ex-SeeD and the mysterious woman stopped moving, looking at each other for a heartbeat longer than either expected. This wasn't much of a surprise, considering the visuals both were getting.
The girl's eyes were her most immediate feature, warm brown pools that sparkled with an inner light that reached into the depths of his soul, laying everything bare. Her face was slender, pale-skinned, with a delicate nose and equally fragile-seeming lips of a light pink shade. She wore a loose blue sleeveless duster over a black tank top and shorts, and light blue arm sleeves. Her eyes traced over Squall, reading his own slender features, long hair, and strangely glowing blue eyes.
Her stare returned to his eyes, boring into them innocently, but with a gaze and empathy that immediately made the mercenary mentally recoil. He took a sudden step back, and looked up and around. Hie eyes momentarily settled on the girl's left hand, which held a small wicker basket full of . . . flowers?
She noticed where Squall was looking, and smiled, understanding his confusion.
"Flowers don't grow in Midgar," she commented, holding up the basket. "Want one? Only one gil." Squall shrugged, not being the type to enjoy flowers. Though he had to admit, he felt somewhat . . . nostalgic when looking down at the colorful plants, which seemed strange to him. After a moment of consideration, Squall shrugged again and reached into his pocket, taking out a single gil bill and handing the girl the paper currency. She smiled and placed one of her flowers in Squall's hand, then paused, looking over his shoulder.
Squall risked a quick glance, to see the Shinra guards making their way across the plaza. Immediately, he spun back to the girl, opening his mouth.
"I'm sorry, I have to go," she interrupted him, echoing what he'd been intending to say, and then she moved away, walking briskly across the plaza before Squall could say anything. He watched her go, intrigued, and looked down at the colorful flower she had given him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Squall considered what the chance meeting might have led to without the Shinra soldiers' intervention as he placed the small flower into one of his jacket pockets.
That thought made Squall look back up as the group of soldiers continued moving through the crowd, frisking and checking citizens. The ex- SeeD knew he couldn't wait around, and began to move away, though not before one soldier noticed him.
"Hey, you!" he called, moving through the crowd toward Squall, who continued on as if he had heard nothing. Somewhere within his jacket, however, Squall's left hand closed around an item in one of his pockets.
"Stop right there," the soldier ordered, now only a step behind Squall. He did so, coming to a stop, and began to turn to face the blue- uniformed soldier, angling his right shoulder toward the man. The Shinra military policeman gestured for Squall to hold his hands out, and Squall began to raise his right arm as he turned. Suddenly, his right hand balled into a fist, index finger extended to point into the air.
The soldier, Squall knew, would have his gaze momentarily turned toward the finger, and in the brief instant the distraction brought him, the ex-SeeD's left hand darted out, a small, balanced throwing knife spinning out from the hand and burying up to the hilt in the soldier's neck. The man gurgled incoherently, and fell to the pavement, his rifle clattering loudly to the stone. The sound of the weapon hitting the stones of the plaza alerted the remainder of the guards, and they looked up to the source of the disturbance.
They saw the dead man, but Squall was already gone, dashing out of the plaza. One man did notice a black-clad figure darting around a corner, and called for the pursuit. Within moments a dozen or more Shinra soldiers were hot on Squall's tail.
He ducked through a pair of alleys, wincing as one Shinra guard opened fire after the fugitive refused to heed his command to halt. Bullets smashed into the wall above Squall's head, but he ignored them and turned down another alley. Another Shinra guard shouted something behind him, though this seemed more of surprise than anything else, and Squall paused, momentarily confused.
Squall found himself stopping and listening as he heard a distant pounding sound, and the shouts of more Shinra guards. He frowned, momentarily unsure of the source of the distant noise, until he heard what he imagined was the sound of a building being torn down with a battering ram, the noise only a short distance away. Then, as the crashing impact of the blasted building began to fade, Squall perceived another sound over the din, something he was all too familiar with.
A sound like metal jackhammers.
Squall turned and ran, dashing down the street. Mere seconds after he exited the alley, the wall exploded outward, and X-ATM092, bearing intense char marks across its fire-twisted black hull, burst out into the open, chasing down its original prey with all its horrible, unstoppable fury.
The weapon was programmed to kill, and it followed that directive with brutal determination. It had survived the blast of roiling fire from the destruction of the Sector One reactor, and had been monitoring police reports as it had climbed back up Midgar's plate. Its repair functions were disabled and over half the weapon's systems were down, but the redundant computer and power cores kept the war mecha operational as it tracked down its target, only moving once it had received the radio reports that one of the intruders was being chased on foot. Now, it closed in on the kill that had eluded it in the reactor, pinchers raised as it threw aside any obstacles in its path.
Squall dashed out of the alley, and found himself standing on a raised street in front of an apartment building. Not the one overlooking the train station, but one that did overlook the train tracks leading away from the station. Besides, now it was far too late for him to board the train anyway; it had departed five minutes ago, judging by his watch.
X-ATM092 smashed through the alleyway, widening the route so it became almost a full-fledged street, its claws pounding as the weapon charged. Squall heard it behind him, and knew that he didn't have much time. He might stand a chance against it alone with his friends in the back of his mind, as he figured the repair function was disabled if the weapon was so badly damaged cosmetically. But, Shinra soldiers were doubtlessly behind the weapon, and even Squall couldn't take them all on.
The pavement beneath Squall rumbled as he thought of a plan. For a moment, Squall thought the noise to be from X-ATM092, but the vibrations were constant and growing rapidly, the kind only a train made as it was passing through a tunnel. A daring plan formed in Squall's mind, and the voices in his head agreed, a faint red flare coming from beneath his jacket sleeve.
Three seconds later, X-ATM092 crashed through the last interfering wall and closed on Squall, who stood calmly in its path, eyes closed, head bowed, as if he was prepared to accept his death. The war machine obliged the image, raising its pinchers for the kill as it charged.
Then, rain fell on the battlefield as the skies around that section of Midgar sported gray storm clouds. From the clouded skies, a lightning bolt struck the pavement, shattering the stones. from the lightning blast emerged a spinning yellow entity, lights playing across its bird-like, featherless body.
The creature was known as Queztocotl, the legendary spirit of lightning, thunder, and storms. It raised its eyeless, snake-like head, and turned its gaze on the charging X-ATM092. Lightning spewed forth from where its mouth should have been, enveloping the charging robot with tendrils of electrical energy, before a rising dome of lightning surrounded the mecha. From the top of this dome, a massive lightning bolt ripped down, blasting into X-ATM092 and utterly destroying its interior with a tremendous amount of electrical power. The turbines on the weapon's backside exploded, sparks flew from its body, stream and smoke escaped, and the forward sensor exploded in a shower of glass and red light.
X-ATM092 took two steps forward before pitching onto its "face", smashing down into the pavement and throwing up huge stones and chunks of ceramic before finally laying still. The weapon sat still for a brief moment, then exploded into a tremendous fireball as the last of its engines lost integrity and detonated.
The Shinra soldiers following the weapon slowed as they neared the street where the final confrontation had happened. They scanned the area, searching for the intruder, and saw no one. There was no way the intruder could have escaped down one of the side streets before they had gotten there, so where was he?
Beneath the searching Shinra soldiers, the final train to the slums from Sector Eight raced past, a dark shape barely visible in the equally dark Midgar night as it crawled along the rooftop of the vehicle.
Squall rose from his crawl and crouched as the train raced through the night, his body barely even moved by the powerful gusts of wind. In the back of his mind he silently thanked Queztocotl for coming to his aid once again, and the Guardian Force obliged, its materia faintly flaring a crimson light beneath Squall's left sleeve.
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The tone inside the rear cargo car of the train was quiet and somber. Watts was helping Xu with her bandage, checking the shrapnel cut and cleaning it, while Zone leaned against a wall, staring at the floor. Zell was the only one really moving, bobbing back and forth and throwing punches at an illusory opponent, working off some of the nervous energy that he always seemed to have when anxious.
"Do you think Shinra killed Squall?" Watts asked as he reapplied the bandage to Xu's shin.
"I dunno!" Zell snapped, launching a jab-jab-hook-snap kick combo. "But I think he might still be alive. You shoulda seen him in action!" Zell added, roundhouse-kicking his imaginary opponent.
"You think he'll stay and fight with us?" Zone asked hopefully. Zell shrugged, not knowing.
"Who the hell knows what's going on in that guy's mind?" Zell asked. "He's like a stone wall."
There came a sound from above the cargo car, and the group looked up, surprised by the noise. Then, without warning, the train's outside door flew to the side, and a head with long, messy brown hair came into view from the top of the doorframe.
"Squall!" came a general cry from around the car as the ex-SeeD grabbed the top of the doorframe and swung in, landing lightly on his feet. He turned back to the rest of the rebels.
"Sorry for being late," he explained.
"Late!" Zell exclaimed, shaking his head. "We were worried sick about you! Then you just pop in here like its nothing to be hanging around on top of a train like that?"
Squall shrugged, not really concerned with how narrow his escape had really been. When one was accustomed to insane missions like those routinely handed to SeeD, these types of jobs became ordinary occurrences.
"Its nothing special," Squall explained. "Besides, you were actually worried about me?"
"Not really," Zell replied, put on the defensive by Squall's question. The brawler scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Just glad to see the guy who pulled our asses out of the fire is fine, that's all. Anyway! Let's move up front, I think its time to upgrade our accommodations." With that, the brawler bounded over a couple of crates.
"Hey, Squall, man, that was amazing!" Zone said, clapping the ex-SeeD on the shoulder, something Squall didn't seem too happy about. "You did an insane job back there."
Squall shrugged, the same motion throwing Zone's arm off - not rudely, but enough to show Squall wasn't immediately comfortable. Zone didn't object, just shrugged and hopped over the crate after Zell. Watts was following, helping Xu to move with one of his shoulders supporting her.
"Great job, sir!" Watts stated as he moved past Squall. "That was perfect, sir!"
"Its no big deal," Squall answered, truthfully. He then noticed Xu was regarding him, and nodded before she could say anything.
"I did what I had to," he explained. "I'm not leaving a comrade behind."
"I . . . thank you, Squall," Xu did manage to add as Watts helped her over the crate.
"Really, sir, that was amazing," Watts added as Xu climbed over the crate. "Xu really owes her life to you." Again, Squall shrugged. It had been really nothing, just what came natural to the ex-SeeD.
"Forget about it," he replied, and followed Watts over the crate and into the next car, which Zell had "procured" for their exclusive use, using his muscles and Zone's gun to scare the few people scattered around the car to the front of the train. Thus, giving the members of AVALANCHE free run of this vehicle.
Zell plopped down on one of the torn seats as Squall stepped in, walking past a half-asleep, bearded man who lay on one of the chairs at the back of the car. Watts was helping Xu sit, while Zone kept an eye on the door for anyone who might wander back into the car. Squall walked to the middle of the car and sat down as well, perched on the edge of his seat.
"Hey, Squall, what the hell was that you did back there?" Zell asked, leaning back and crossing his arms. "You know, that SeeD trick where you use magic with no materia?"
Squall reached into his left sleeve and pulled the jacket sleeve back, revealing a metallic bracer on his left arm, which seemed familiar enough to the rest of the rebels, as each of them wore something similar. The bracers had a number of small slots set into them, in which one placed materia orbs, which were then absorbed into the metal bracer via Shinra technology. From that point, the materia looked like small pinpricks of light, unless used to cast spell. The bracers were the primary means of utilizing materia to cast spells, though some weapons (such as the metal knuckles on Zell's golves) had been modified to use materia as well.
There was only a quartet of faint lights on Squall's bracer, and those were all red. The eyes of the AVALANCHE members opened wide upon seeing those red lights, because they understood what they signified.
"Are those Guardian Force materia?" Xu asked. "I've never even seen one before."
Squall nodded, and touched on of the faint light sources, which solidified into a small, inch-diameter red orb, glistening with its own inner light. That was a Guardian Force materia, one of the rarest and most valuable materia types, as it contained the ability to connect with a powerful spirit and summon it forth. Of course, Shinra had cornered the market on GF materia, considering the other aspect of them that made them even more valuable.
"Most of you know about GF materia," Squall explained, his voice reverting to a dull tone, almost as if reciting information from a manual. "Normally GF materia is simply used for summoning, but after the SeeD program was started by Shinra, the corporation's greatest authority on magic, Doctor Odine, discovered an alternate use for the materia. The entities that we connect with through GF materia allow for the 'junctioning' of magical energies directly to physical capabilities."
"You mean you use magic to make yourself stronger?" Zell asked. Squall nodded.
"The magical energies normally conjured by materia are drawn directly from materia," Squall added, nodding toward Zell. "That's what I did back in the reactor, though I actually just drew electrical energy from your materia to cast it at X-ATM092. That's where I get my magic from."
"A lot more efficient that materia, actually," Xu commented. "Not needing individual materia to cast spells gives you more room in your weapons and gear to store other materia." Squall nodded.
"The only trade-off is that I can run out of magical energy," he added, "so I need to use my magic sparingly, or I lose my enhanced edge."
"Not like with ki manipulation, huh?" Zell asked, grinning. Squall nodded.
"Being easier to learn does have its trade-offs," Squall replied. He glanced back at Zell, his voice actually returning to its normal tone as opposed to the dull reciting from before. "You said you were a student of Zangan?"
"Not just a student," Zell answered. "Zangan Dincht is my grandfather." Squall nodded, though he didn't immediately recognize the similarities between the burly, excitable brawler and the legendary, composed master of inner control and discipline.
"He always told me I had a gift for controlling my spiritual energy," Zell added. "I was actually his quickest learner when it came to his trademark ki manipulation techniques. He taught me to focus it into my hits and into my body so I could take more punishment." Zell slapped a fist into one of his palms. "He always told me to use my training for the greater good. That's one of the reasons why I'm fighting Shinra now."
As Zell was speaking, a red flashing light suddenly filled the train, as the normal train lights dimmed. Squall looked up, then checked his pocket, hoping Xu's fake identification would hold up. He waited through the security checkpoint section of the rail lines, as the system checked the identifications of everyone on the train and compared them with the names and information contained within the extensive database of Midgar citizens back at the main Shinra headquarters. After several long seconds, the security light turned off and the train's ordinary lights kicked back in.
"Good job, Xu!" Zone commented with a grin and a thumbs up. "Looks like your IDs kept us from being picked up." Xu nodded with a smile, but said nothing. Moments later, the inside of the train lightened slightly as the vehicle left the darkened tunnels and moved around the outside of Midgar's central pillar.
"Look at that," Zell commented, just as he always had whenever he was riding the train through this area. Squall looked out the window, following the brawler's gaze, to see the slums of Midgar stretch out below the city's upper plate.
"The slums here never have a day or a night," Zell commented. "Its because of that plate up above that blocks out most of the sunlight, and the pollution that blocks the rest." Squall nodded, looking out over the horrible splendor of Midgar.
Midgar consisted of two "cities", one being known as the "plate" for the more upscale and wealthy citizens of the city, and the other being the slums on ground level, where the lower classes lived on the barren, empty ground. The plate was supported by the central pillar, based directly under the massive Shinra headquarters tower, and by eight secondary pillars holding up each sector of Midgar. The plate itself towered over one hundred and fifty feet above the slums.
"A floating city," Squall commented, looking up at Midgar's plate. It would have seemed eerie, but Squall wasn't that much affected by it. He was quite familiar with Midgar, having spent much of his life in the big city.
"I don't normally see it from down here," he added, standing and crossing the car. He leaned forward, past Zell, and put his hands on the windowsill.
"It's because of that plate up above that life's so hard on the people living in the slums," Zell growled, shaking his head.
"If people don't like it in the slums, they should move up onto the plate," Squall reasoned. "Either that or out of town to begin with."
"But they can't," Zell replied with another shake of his head. "People down in the slums usually don't have the money, or maybe they can't show their faces up on the plate because they're wanted by Shinra. Shinra doesn't usually come down to the slums after crooks, after all. And there's some people who won't move out because they love their homes too much."
"True," Squall conceded. "No one lives in the slums because they want to." Some people worked hard to carve out their own little niches, a place to call their own, a place they would come to love and defend no matter how miserable it was.
"The people are like this train," Squall added. "It can't go anywhere except where its tracks take it . . . ."
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About twenty minutes later, the train pulled into the station outside the Sector Seven slums. AVALANCHE were the first ones off the train, followed by a number of regular citizens. Squall was the last man off the train before it left, chugging off into the night. Zell quickly gathered the members of AVALANCHE to him for a quick after-operation meeting.
"All right, good job everyone!" he began. "That job went off pretty well, but don't even think that's the tip of the iceberg! That little explosion was nothing compared to what's coming up! Trust me, Shinra's now going to be after us in particular - we're probably already all over the news now with our PR gimmicks. Let's meet up back at the base and come up with the next operation."
With that, the group dispersed, Zone, Watts and Xu heading west across the slums. Zell was about to follow when Squall stopped him with a tap on the shoulder.
"Wait a second," Squall began to say, but Zell cut him off.
"Don't worry about the money," the brawler explained. "My stash is at our hideout. You'll get paid when we get back there." Squall frowned but said nothing, and followed Zell as the martial artist crossed the barren, flat grounds of the slums toward the west.
Squall knew the slums were a nasty place to live. The lower region of Midgar served as the toilet, trashcan, and junkyard of the upper plate, refuse piled high in the only real landscape of the flat region of the Sector Seven slums. He ducked between two piles of scrap metal and beyond a lone house constructed of cheep plywood, sheet metal, and random pieces of discarded equipment. Squall remembered Zell describing it as one of the nicer homes in the area.
They soon passed the outer perimeter of junkyards surrounding one of the slum towns, and moved past the Sector Seven pillar. The pillar was a massive stone column easily ten meters to a side and stretching up into the air to the bottom of the plate, with a tall metallic platform rising up to about halfway up the pillar for maintenance purposes. Squall gazed up there, realizing for the first time perhaps how any countless tons of metal, stone, and ceramics that hung over his head. Without that pillar, everyone in the Sector Seven slums would be utterly crushed.
The pair soon passed the outer edge of the slums and passed deeper into the more populated region of Sector Seven. Numerous homes, constructed out of junk and scrap metal, rose up around the ex-SeeD and the martial artist as they passed through the "roads," which in and of themselves were merely any open space between the homes of the slum denizens.
They threaded their way among the various rickety homes the slum denizens had cobbled together, until the duo approached a building made largely of wood, which struck Squall as surprising, considering the general prevalence of rusted metal and cardboard throughout the slums. Zone, Watts, and Xu were already inside the building, which Squall quickly realized was a bar instead of just another home. Zell rushed up the solid wooden steps and threw open the door.
"All right, everyone out!" he shouted with a healthy roar and a wave of his hand. "Bar's closed! Don't have to go home but you can't stay here!" The sheer volume of complaints and angry responses from within was shocking, but Zell was undeterred, stepping inside. A moment or two later, one burly man was hurled clear out of the bar, rolling down the steps and past Squall, who deftly dodged the human missile.
The rest of the drunkards within the building cleared out quickly.
As soon as Zell reappeared at the top of the steps, Squall moved up. The brawler waved him in, then slammed the door shut behind him, hanging up the "Closed" sign and staying near the door to make sure no one would try to come back in. The inside of the bar was much like the outside, consisting of paneled wood that was hard to come by in the Midgar region. The tables were largely wood as well, though there were a few card tables and one large table made of sheet metal and stacked paint cans was located in the far corner of the room. A long bar was set up in the far left corner, the wall behind it stacked high with bottles and kegs of alcohol. A pinball machine - an oddity that stood out to Squall - was set up on the far right wall in the corner.
Zone, Watts, and Xu were already sitting and relaxing, Xu's bandaged leg up on one of the tables as they shared drinks and exchanged stories about what had happened in the reactor and in their escape afterward. Squall began to walk over to them, but then paused, noticing the woman behind the bar.
She was blonde, with long hair that hung down either side of her face in front, and done up in the back so it doubled back on itself before coming down. She wore glasses over her large, blue eyes, which widened as she looked at Squall. Those eyes were what immediately made Squall recognize her, as her body had changed so much over the last few years. When he'd last seen her, she'd been thirteen and still looking like a baby, almost. Now she had fully grown out, into a mature - and strikingly beautiful - woman.
"Quistis?" he asked, equally surprised to see her. The woman managed a laugh and stepped around the bar, looking Squall up and down. He did the same, barely recognizing his childhood friend. Her sudden appearance prompted distant memories of their time together in Shinra's SeeD program, training side by side as children.
"Squall?" she asked, shaking her head and smiling. "How long has it been?"
"Five years, I think," Squall said, the edges of his lips turning up into the closest thing he could make into a smile of his own. He was almost too controlled to make even that much of a show of emotion, actually.
"Zell told me he'd hired someone from SeeD to help out in the operation, but I didn't think it would be you," she exclaimed. "But I could have sworn I heard you were dead . . . ."
"Not dead, " Squall said with a shake of his head, his somewhat cheerful mood briefly stolen by a grim pall that spread over his face. "Not yet."
"Come on, sit down," she said, gesturing to the table where the rest of the group was lounging. Squall nodded and obliged, pulling up a chair to join the rest of the group. The members of AVALANCHE had been watching the exchange with interest.
"You know this guy?" Zone asked, and Quistis nodded.
"We were in the SeeD program together, though I managed to get out before the really hard-core training was initiated," Quistis explained. Squall nodded, but was fuzzy exactly on what had happened and why Quistis had left.
"Why did you leave?" he asked, trying to remember, but unable to, for some reason.
"They let me go," she explained, shaking her head. "Lack of leadership qualities, they said. Though I suspect that they just thought I wasn't aggressive enough." Zone and Squall nodded, and the AVALANCHE member glanced toward the other Ex-SeeD.
"What about you?" Zone asked. "Why'd you leave?'
"It's none of your-" Squall began.
"Business!" Quistis jumped in, quoting the same word as Squall was about to say it. He glanced at her, annoyed. She had always been able to do that, guessing what he'd say before he'd even spoken the words.
"Anyway, I'm not on the SeeD roll call anymore," Squall explained as Quistis laughed faintly, happy Squall was still the same person she remembered. "Being listed as dead does that to a person."
"Hey!" Zell called from the door, now that the crowd had dispersed. He stepped across the room and dropped a hand onto the table. "No more screwing around! Let's get the debriefing meeting started." The rest of AVALANCHE rose, though none of them was eager to leave their drinks behind. Squall and Quistis joined them as Zell stepped over to the pinball machine. He paused and held up a hand.
"Only enough room for four at a time," Zell explained, and gestured for the other three team members from the reactor to join him. "Ya'll stay here until we're down," he ordered, and kicked the machine twice. Instantly, the entire floor around the machine lowered down into a concealed basement. Squall nodded at the clever setup as Zell, Zone, Watts and Xu disappeared down below, leaving Squall and Quistis alone.
"So, how did you end up with them?" he asked her, crossing his arms. Quistis actually laughed, putting a hand to her mouth. " . . . what?" he asked a second later, confused.
"Still so direct," she commented, before stopping, her features becoming more serious. "I met up with Zell outside Junon a year ago. I had been living there for a while, and I met him as he was passing through. He wanted to go to Midgar, and he blabbed about doing something to stop Shinra. I was tired of watching the land around Junon and everywhere else Shinra touched wither, and I had nowhere else to really go, so I joined him." She shrugged. "I was actually hoping to run into you here, but no luck." Squall nodded, his grim expression returning.
"A year ago," he said, then nodded again. "I was already deployed on my first mission. I've been away from Midgar ever since I was reported killed."
"What happened?" she asked, and Squall quickly shook his head. "Don't want to talk about it?"
"No." His word was quick and definitive. He wasn't going to talk about it. Fire, screams, slicing pains, treachery, sadistic experiments, cover-ups . . . no, he was still trying to grasp it all himself.
Quistis understood that tone and said no more. By that time, the pinball machine had long since resurfaced, and they stepped onto the platform. Quistis flipped the hidden switches with a tap of her foot and the secret elevator descended.
The room below was cluttered with all manner of gear. A large table was set up with a detailed map of Midgar stretched across it, one which Zone and watts were busily studying and marking. Zell was at the far end of the room, spinning off combos against a huge punching bag. Numerous patches on the bag and the odd random bit of stuffing on the floor testified to Zell's diligent practice. Xu was seated near the elevator, her leg propped up as she absently watched a big-screen television. As Squall and Quistis stepped off, Zell turned back to them, a quizzical expression on his face.
"Squall, did you see anyone from SeeD in the reactor tonight?" Squall shook his head.
"No," he replied, certain. "Trust me, if anyone from SeeD had been there, you'd all be dead - or in Shinra custody."
"Glad to hear," Zell muttered, planting a fierce sidekick into the bag. Suddenly, Xu sat forward, and turned up the volume on her television.
"Hey everyone, we're on TV!" she alerted them.
The group quickly looked up from their tasks and gathered around the television screen, watching intently as a huge, fat man clad in a garishly expensive suit leaned behind a desk. Hovering above his head was the headline "Terrorists Strike Reactor!" Squall, along with everyone else, recognized the mustached fat man as none other than Alexander Louis Shinra, the President of Shinra Inc.
"My fellow citizens of Midgar," Shinra began, his tone and expression grave and solemn. "Many of you have become aware that something terrible has happened inside our city, and it is my deepest regret to have to give you this dark news. A terrorist organization has struck at one of our reactors, the Number One Reactor between Sectors One and Eight. The reactor was destroyed from the inside, and we estimate that all personnel within the reactor were killed, as well as a number of citizens living around the structure. Preliminary estimates of the number of deaths totals in the mid hundreds, and is rising even as I speak. The insane criminals claiming responsibility behind this atrocity have named themselves 'AVALANCHE'."
The President then sat up straight, his shoulders rising in what was probably an attempt at looking strong.
"However, citizens of Midgar, do not fear!" he proclaimed. "Even now, the Shinra military is mobilizing, and I have deployed SeeD to maximize our efforts to locate and apprehend these criminal murderers. Security forces at all reactors are already being strengthened, and martial law has been imposed on Midgar's streets. If these criminals identifying themselves as AVALANCHE attempt to destroy our way of life and the security of our existence, we will crush them! I ask all citizens remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to the nearest security checkpoint. We at Shinra will protect our people. Rest easy tonight, Midgar, those who have done this terrible deed will face justice soon."
Shinra disappeared from the screen, replaced by a local newscaster, but the rebel group paid him no mind.
"Wow, I didn't expect Shinra himself would respond to this!" Zone commented, sitting back on the table. "This must have really sent some wheels spinning up in the Shinra Tower!"
"Anything that risks their pocketbooks sets them off," Zell replied, turning back to his bag.
"Sounds like we won't be able to hit another reactor anytime soon," Zone added, and several heads wagged in response. "We'll need an alternate plan."
"Or even better," Xu added, a mischievious grin working onto her face. "How about we do hit another reactor?"
"That's suicide, ma'am," Watts objected. "They'll be expecting another reactor hit. Security will be impossible to break through."
"But they won't expect another attack so soon," Xu replied. "What do most rebel groups do after a major hit like this? They hide out and plan a new strike. But, if we move at first light, in the middle of the day, before Shinra's really gotten their forces into position-"
"We can hit 'em with their pants down!" Zell finished, punching his hands together in approval. "They won't see us coming because its crazy to be going for another round so soon after the first hit. Come on, guys, we'll need to come up with a plan!"
"Just a second," Squall interrupted, stepping up to Zell. "Before you get down to planning, I want my money for today's operation. I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart." Zell frowned, but nodded. He stepped over to a safe and opened it, before pulling out a thick wad of rubber- banded cash and tossing it to Squall. The ex-SeeD caught it, and tossed it once, feeling the weight, and then checking the numerical value of the top bill. He frowned.
"Fifteen hundred?" he asked. "Chump change. If you want me in on the next job, I'll need twice that."
"Three thousand!" Zell roared, outraged. "No way I can afford that much!"
"Then I'm not going," Squall replied matter-of-factly, turning back toward the pinball machine. "I'm not risking my neck with you for less than that, especially considering how incompetent you're acting."
"Say WHAT?" Zell exclaimed, rushing across the room toward Squall. The ex-SeeD turned back, his glowing eyes fixing the brawler where he stood as a sudden tenseness spread throughout the small room.
"How serious are you, really?" Squall asked, looking among each of the rebels, even Quistis. "You come up with some half-assed suicide mission in five seconds? And you expect me to join," he held up the wad of gil "for this? I made six times this a month in SeeD. I'm not stupid enough to take part in this job without enough incentive to risk my neck. If you can't come up with the money, then you can go get killed by yourself." Squall turned around and stepped onto the pinball machine.
"Squall, wait," Xu began, but Zell cut her off.
"Forget it, Xu!" Zell growled. "Let him go. Looks like he still misses Shinra."
"Make no mistake," Squall replied quietly, not looking back. "I'm no friend to Shinra or SeeD. But I don't give a damn about the planet, or your little revolution either."
Squall kicked the switches on the pinball machine and the device rose up into the bar's ground level, leaving the stunned, silent rebels behind.
--------------------
The slums were still dark, polluted, and poor when Squall stepped out of Quistis' bar and began to walk away from AVALANCHE. He mentally counted the seconds it would take the pinball elevator to rise as he stepped away, and was not surprised when he heard the bar door swing open.
"Squall!" Quistis called, but he didn't stop. Two seconds later, he heard the sound of shoes running across the barren slum flatlands and was not surprised when Quistis ran around in front of him and stood in his path, hands on her hips.
"Squall, don't do this," she pleaded, both with her voice and her eyes. "Please . . . we need your help."
"Its not my problem," he replied with a shake of his head. "If Zell can't pay, I walk. That's what being a mercenary means. You, of all people, should know that, Quistis.""
"You only care about the money now?" Quistis asked, her tone accusing, which caught Squall off-guard. He firmed his jaw and nodded. Quistis glanced down at the bare dirt below her for a moment.
"Maybe I was wrong," she muttered, then looked back up. "Maybe you're not the Squall I knew from my childhood." Squall said nothing, but his softly glowing eyes shifted subtly, reflecting distant memories tinged with pain.
"You're right," he replied after a long moment. "The Squall you knew is dead. He died a year ago in some far-off battle no one knows about. I'm just his ghost; just a mercenary who can only find meaning pursuing something he can never grasp."
"What?" Quistis asked, but Squall shook his head.
"I don't want to talk about it," he replied. "I only took this job for money. Killing is what I'm good at; it's the only thing I ever learned to do. I don't have a stake in your mission."
"And what about me?" Quistis asked angrily. "I have a stake in this. Remember what you told me while we were in SeeD? If I ever needed help, with anything, you'd stand by me, and I would stand by you. That's what being friends means!" Squall watched her, listening to her, but said nothing.
"Don't you care about me?" she asked, but again, Squall said nothing. He looked into Quistis' blue eyes, the orbs wetting slightly with tears, and finally shook his head.
"I don't want to get involved," he said darkly. "This isn't my fight. Your problems are not mine. Maybe, a long time ago, Squall Leonhart would have given a damn, but everyone betrayed me, the man I trusted most, the company I worked for and was loyal too . . . I've been sold out. I'm nothing now, and I'm not the boy I was before. I'm just a gunblade for hire." Squall stepped forward and around her, and moved toward the train station at a steady clip, saying nothing.
"You promised!" Quistis shouted suddenly, turning toward Squall as he left. "You promised me that you'd stand beside me!"
If Squall heard, he gave no indication as he walked away, disappearing into the slums. Qusitis watched him leave, tears almost bursting from her eyes, but managed to hold them in check somehow, before finally turning back to the bar. She slowly walked up the steps, recalling the boy she had known in her younger days. What had happened to him? What had Shinra done to Squall to turn him into this stone wall?
Zell was waiting in the bar for her when she came back in. He saw the barely-held tears and understood their source. His teeth clenched in anger as he stood up from his stool so forcefully that it was knocked over.
"So, he's gone, huh?" Zell growled. "Your 'friend' walked out on us?"
"He's not my friend anymore," Quistis responded quietly. "Squall wasn't like that before. Something terrible happened to him . . . ."
"Don't worry," Zell said, patting Quistis' shoulder. "We'll need to get prepared for the next operation, though with Xu's leg injured, we'll be short one."
"Two thousand."
Zell and Quistis spun to the open door, where Squall stood, his face impassive, his glowing eyes revealing nothing.
"You need another man, I'm offering my services for two thousand gil," he stated, glancing to his childhood friend again. "Take it or leave it."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
"That should keep the planet going for a little longer," Zone said in the darkness.
No one immediately responded, though Squall, standing at the back of the small group, shook his head. Yes, they had temporarily decreased the amount of energy that Shinra was draining, but the corporation could easily increase production at the other seven reactors around the city. Not to mention that at least four other major reactors existed outside the city itself, along with a number of minor ones. The operation had been an important first step, but only a first step for the rebels.
Squall suddenly wondered why he actually cared. He had no real stake in this matter; he would die long before Shinra drained even a significant portion of the planet's Mako. So why did he care about their cause?
Squall passed it off as curiosity and paid it no more heed. Besides, they had finally reached the access passage exit, and Xu was wiring some explosives to the sealed door. Watts stood over her with a small flashlight, while Zell and Zone each took an aerosol can and began spraying one of the tunnel walls.
"What are you doing?" Squall asked, not remembering anything like this from the briefing.
"Leaving our calling card," Zell replied, smiling. He held up another flashlight and began spraying some writing along the wall. Zone did the same thing on the opposite wall. "The Shinra guards will probably follow us through this tunnel after they get to the blast site. We've got a message for them."
Squall watched as the brawler and Zone left their graffitti, and shook his head at the message they left on the tunnel walls. In bright red paint, Zell and Zone had left the message "Avalanche! Defenders of the Planet! Destroyers of Mako Energy! Shinra's greatest enemy!" While the message wasn't in and of itself funny, the fact that the duo had scrawled the spray paint in an extremely sloppy manner, not to mention they left a choice set of misspellings and a not-so-complimentary image of a raised middle finger beneath a smiley face, made the message look like something teenage punks had written. Squall did understand the reason behind the silliness of the message, as it would certainly befuddle Shinra's investigators as to the nature of the group.
"Not bad, huh?" Zone asked, rather proud with how crudely he had written his message. "We've also got some of our part-timers pasting up posters around the top plate, so everyone will know about AVALANCHE."
"Okay, it's done!" Xu called, and the entire group fell back several steps, Watts helping Xu to move back on her injured leg. The rebel raised a detonator and pressed the button, and in a roaring flash of fire, the door out of the access tunnel was blasted open. Squall and Zell were the first through, securing the area beyond, followed by Zone, with Xu being helped by Watts out of the tunnel.
The area outside the sealed tunnel was little more than a disused, empty lot in a run-down section of Sector Eight's topside plate. No one was in sight, and only a single road led out of the lot, a small drive that curved around a building and disappeared into the cityscape. Zell nodded, turning back to his group.
"Okay, the job's done, but we're not out of the woods yet," he stated, crossing his arms. "We'll need to split up and meet at the Sector Eight train station so we can get the hell out of here." Zell glanced at his watch. "The train leaves in about fifteen to twenty minutes, so be there!" Zell turned to Xu, concerned about her leg, but she just hook her head and patted the top of Watts' head.
"Nothing unusual here, just a drunk girlfriend being escorted by her boyfriend," she explained, and Zell grinned. Watts seemed kind of embarrassed, but nodded. With that, the quartet of rebels, and their mercenary tag-along, dispersed, Zell bounding up a fire escape while Zone ducked into another alleyway. Watts and Xu struck a straight path down the road together, leaving Squall behind, who remained, soaking up the period of quiet and peace. After several long moments of enjoyable silence and solitude, Squall set out from the parking lot, taking a different alley from Zone. Very quickly, the ex-SeeD disappeared into the shadows of Sector Eight with an almost casual ease.
Five minutes of wandering the alleys (and glaring off a pickpocket with a glowing blue stare that promised a world of pain) Squall emerged in the middle of a rubble-strewn plaza. Quite a few people were running around, or wandering aimlessly, confused and frightened by the titanic explosion from mere minutes before. Squall glanced around the area, and recognized the plaza. He recalled his memorized maps of Midgar and knew where to find the train station.
The ex-SeeD shouldered his way through anyone who wandered into his path, quickly moving across the plaza to a street that would take him to the bridge overlooking the station. As he was walking, however, Squall paused, noticing a quartet of familiar blue uniforms moving purposefully into the plaza. Behind them were a lot more Shinra soldiers, many bearing the insignia of military police. Too many for Squall to even consider trying to fight or move past, even with his friends he hadn't needed back in the reactor. Squall mentally checked the back of his mind again, and confirmed they were still present, before turning away from the guards. Even now, the guards were forcefully pushing their way through the plaza, systematically rounding up citizens for inspection. Like the other members of Zell's bunch, Squall had a fake I.D. Xu had worked up, but he didn't trust it in the face of a scrutinizing MP. Not to mention if they had received any reports on Squall's unusual weapon of choice . . . .
Squall bumped into someone, and glanced down at whoever it was, knowing before he'd even looked at her that by the force and direction of the impact that he'd knocked her down, and she was female.
"Oops, sorry," she apologized, starting to stand up, raven black hair dropping to her shoulders, caramel strands running through the hair around her temples. She stood back up, and Squall found one of his hands dropping down to help the girl (and she did seem to be young, barely Squall's own age) to her feet.
"Thank you," she began to say, looking up at Squall, but as their eyes met, both the ex-SeeD and the mysterious woman stopped moving, looking at each other for a heartbeat longer than either expected. This wasn't much of a surprise, considering the visuals both were getting.
The girl's eyes were her most immediate feature, warm brown pools that sparkled with an inner light that reached into the depths of his soul, laying everything bare. Her face was slender, pale-skinned, with a delicate nose and equally fragile-seeming lips of a light pink shade. She wore a loose blue sleeveless duster over a black tank top and shorts, and light blue arm sleeves. Her eyes traced over Squall, reading his own slender features, long hair, and strangely glowing blue eyes.
Her stare returned to his eyes, boring into them innocently, but with a gaze and empathy that immediately made the mercenary mentally recoil. He took a sudden step back, and looked up and around. Hie eyes momentarily settled on the girl's left hand, which held a small wicker basket full of . . . flowers?
She noticed where Squall was looking, and smiled, understanding his confusion.
"Flowers don't grow in Midgar," she commented, holding up the basket. "Want one? Only one gil." Squall shrugged, not being the type to enjoy flowers. Though he had to admit, he felt somewhat . . . nostalgic when looking down at the colorful plants, which seemed strange to him. After a moment of consideration, Squall shrugged again and reached into his pocket, taking out a single gil bill and handing the girl the paper currency. She smiled and placed one of her flowers in Squall's hand, then paused, looking over his shoulder.
Squall risked a quick glance, to see the Shinra guards making their way across the plaza. Immediately, he spun back to the girl, opening his mouth.
"I'm sorry, I have to go," she interrupted him, echoing what he'd been intending to say, and then she moved away, walking briskly across the plaza before Squall could say anything. He watched her go, intrigued, and looked down at the colorful flower she had given him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Squall considered what the chance meeting might have led to without the Shinra soldiers' intervention as he placed the small flower into one of his jacket pockets.
That thought made Squall look back up as the group of soldiers continued moving through the crowd, frisking and checking citizens. The ex- SeeD knew he couldn't wait around, and began to move away, though not before one soldier noticed him.
"Hey, you!" he called, moving through the crowd toward Squall, who continued on as if he had heard nothing. Somewhere within his jacket, however, Squall's left hand closed around an item in one of his pockets.
"Stop right there," the soldier ordered, now only a step behind Squall. He did so, coming to a stop, and began to turn to face the blue- uniformed soldier, angling his right shoulder toward the man. The Shinra military policeman gestured for Squall to hold his hands out, and Squall began to raise his right arm as he turned. Suddenly, his right hand balled into a fist, index finger extended to point into the air.
The soldier, Squall knew, would have his gaze momentarily turned toward the finger, and in the brief instant the distraction brought him, the ex-SeeD's left hand darted out, a small, balanced throwing knife spinning out from the hand and burying up to the hilt in the soldier's neck. The man gurgled incoherently, and fell to the pavement, his rifle clattering loudly to the stone. The sound of the weapon hitting the stones of the plaza alerted the remainder of the guards, and they looked up to the source of the disturbance.
They saw the dead man, but Squall was already gone, dashing out of the plaza. One man did notice a black-clad figure darting around a corner, and called for the pursuit. Within moments a dozen or more Shinra soldiers were hot on Squall's tail.
He ducked through a pair of alleys, wincing as one Shinra guard opened fire after the fugitive refused to heed his command to halt. Bullets smashed into the wall above Squall's head, but he ignored them and turned down another alley. Another Shinra guard shouted something behind him, though this seemed more of surprise than anything else, and Squall paused, momentarily confused.
Squall found himself stopping and listening as he heard a distant pounding sound, and the shouts of more Shinra guards. He frowned, momentarily unsure of the source of the distant noise, until he heard what he imagined was the sound of a building being torn down with a battering ram, the noise only a short distance away. Then, as the crashing impact of the blasted building began to fade, Squall perceived another sound over the din, something he was all too familiar with.
A sound like metal jackhammers.
Squall turned and ran, dashing down the street. Mere seconds after he exited the alley, the wall exploded outward, and X-ATM092, bearing intense char marks across its fire-twisted black hull, burst out into the open, chasing down its original prey with all its horrible, unstoppable fury.
The weapon was programmed to kill, and it followed that directive with brutal determination. It had survived the blast of roiling fire from the destruction of the Sector One reactor, and had been monitoring police reports as it had climbed back up Midgar's plate. Its repair functions were disabled and over half the weapon's systems were down, but the redundant computer and power cores kept the war mecha operational as it tracked down its target, only moving once it had received the radio reports that one of the intruders was being chased on foot. Now, it closed in on the kill that had eluded it in the reactor, pinchers raised as it threw aside any obstacles in its path.
Squall dashed out of the alley, and found himself standing on a raised street in front of an apartment building. Not the one overlooking the train station, but one that did overlook the train tracks leading away from the station. Besides, now it was far too late for him to board the train anyway; it had departed five minutes ago, judging by his watch.
X-ATM092 smashed through the alleyway, widening the route so it became almost a full-fledged street, its claws pounding as the weapon charged. Squall heard it behind him, and knew that he didn't have much time. He might stand a chance against it alone with his friends in the back of his mind, as he figured the repair function was disabled if the weapon was so badly damaged cosmetically. But, Shinra soldiers were doubtlessly behind the weapon, and even Squall couldn't take them all on.
The pavement beneath Squall rumbled as he thought of a plan. For a moment, Squall thought the noise to be from X-ATM092, but the vibrations were constant and growing rapidly, the kind only a train made as it was passing through a tunnel. A daring plan formed in Squall's mind, and the voices in his head agreed, a faint red flare coming from beneath his jacket sleeve.
Three seconds later, X-ATM092 crashed through the last interfering wall and closed on Squall, who stood calmly in its path, eyes closed, head bowed, as if he was prepared to accept his death. The war machine obliged the image, raising its pinchers for the kill as it charged.
Then, rain fell on the battlefield as the skies around that section of Midgar sported gray storm clouds. From the clouded skies, a lightning bolt struck the pavement, shattering the stones. from the lightning blast emerged a spinning yellow entity, lights playing across its bird-like, featherless body.
The creature was known as Queztocotl, the legendary spirit of lightning, thunder, and storms. It raised its eyeless, snake-like head, and turned its gaze on the charging X-ATM092. Lightning spewed forth from where its mouth should have been, enveloping the charging robot with tendrils of electrical energy, before a rising dome of lightning surrounded the mecha. From the top of this dome, a massive lightning bolt ripped down, blasting into X-ATM092 and utterly destroying its interior with a tremendous amount of electrical power. The turbines on the weapon's backside exploded, sparks flew from its body, stream and smoke escaped, and the forward sensor exploded in a shower of glass and red light.
X-ATM092 took two steps forward before pitching onto its "face", smashing down into the pavement and throwing up huge stones and chunks of ceramic before finally laying still. The weapon sat still for a brief moment, then exploded into a tremendous fireball as the last of its engines lost integrity and detonated.
The Shinra soldiers following the weapon slowed as they neared the street where the final confrontation had happened. They scanned the area, searching for the intruder, and saw no one. There was no way the intruder could have escaped down one of the side streets before they had gotten there, so where was he?
Beneath the searching Shinra soldiers, the final train to the slums from Sector Eight raced past, a dark shape barely visible in the equally dark Midgar night as it crawled along the rooftop of the vehicle.
Squall rose from his crawl and crouched as the train raced through the night, his body barely even moved by the powerful gusts of wind. In the back of his mind he silently thanked Queztocotl for coming to his aid once again, and the Guardian Force obliged, its materia faintly flaring a crimson light beneath Squall's left sleeve.
-------------------
The tone inside the rear cargo car of the train was quiet and somber. Watts was helping Xu with her bandage, checking the shrapnel cut and cleaning it, while Zone leaned against a wall, staring at the floor. Zell was the only one really moving, bobbing back and forth and throwing punches at an illusory opponent, working off some of the nervous energy that he always seemed to have when anxious.
"Do you think Shinra killed Squall?" Watts asked as he reapplied the bandage to Xu's shin.
"I dunno!" Zell snapped, launching a jab-jab-hook-snap kick combo. "But I think he might still be alive. You shoulda seen him in action!" Zell added, roundhouse-kicking his imaginary opponent.
"You think he'll stay and fight with us?" Zone asked hopefully. Zell shrugged, not knowing.
"Who the hell knows what's going on in that guy's mind?" Zell asked. "He's like a stone wall."
There came a sound from above the cargo car, and the group looked up, surprised by the noise. Then, without warning, the train's outside door flew to the side, and a head with long, messy brown hair came into view from the top of the doorframe.
"Squall!" came a general cry from around the car as the ex-SeeD grabbed the top of the doorframe and swung in, landing lightly on his feet. He turned back to the rest of the rebels.
"Sorry for being late," he explained.
"Late!" Zell exclaimed, shaking his head. "We were worried sick about you! Then you just pop in here like its nothing to be hanging around on top of a train like that?"
Squall shrugged, not really concerned with how narrow his escape had really been. When one was accustomed to insane missions like those routinely handed to SeeD, these types of jobs became ordinary occurrences.
"Its nothing special," Squall explained. "Besides, you were actually worried about me?"
"Not really," Zell replied, put on the defensive by Squall's question. The brawler scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Just glad to see the guy who pulled our asses out of the fire is fine, that's all. Anyway! Let's move up front, I think its time to upgrade our accommodations." With that, the brawler bounded over a couple of crates.
"Hey, Squall, man, that was amazing!" Zone said, clapping the ex-SeeD on the shoulder, something Squall didn't seem too happy about. "You did an insane job back there."
Squall shrugged, the same motion throwing Zone's arm off - not rudely, but enough to show Squall wasn't immediately comfortable. Zone didn't object, just shrugged and hopped over the crate after Zell. Watts was following, helping Xu to move with one of his shoulders supporting her.
"Great job, sir!" Watts stated as he moved past Squall. "That was perfect, sir!"
"Its no big deal," Squall answered, truthfully. He then noticed Xu was regarding him, and nodded before she could say anything.
"I did what I had to," he explained. "I'm not leaving a comrade behind."
"I . . . thank you, Squall," Xu did manage to add as Watts helped her over the crate.
"Really, sir, that was amazing," Watts added as Xu climbed over the crate. "Xu really owes her life to you." Again, Squall shrugged. It had been really nothing, just what came natural to the ex-SeeD.
"Forget about it," he replied, and followed Watts over the crate and into the next car, which Zell had "procured" for their exclusive use, using his muscles and Zone's gun to scare the few people scattered around the car to the front of the train. Thus, giving the members of AVALANCHE free run of this vehicle.
Zell plopped down on one of the torn seats as Squall stepped in, walking past a half-asleep, bearded man who lay on one of the chairs at the back of the car. Watts was helping Xu sit, while Zone kept an eye on the door for anyone who might wander back into the car. Squall walked to the middle of the car and sat down as well, perched on the edge of his seat.
"Hey, Squall, what the hell was that you did back there?" Zell asked, leaning back and crossing his arms. "You know, that SeeD trick where you use magic with no materia?"
Squall reached into his left sleeve and pulled the jacket sleeve back, revealing a metallic bracer on his left arm, which seemed familiar enough to the rest of the rebels, as each of them wore something similar. The bracers had a number of small slots set into them, in which one placed materia orbs, which were then absorbed into the metal bracer via Shinra technology. From that point, the materia looked like small pinpricks of light, unless used to cast spell. The bracers were the primary means of utilizing materia to cast spells, though some weapons (such as the metal knuckles on Zell's golves) had been modified to use materia as well.
There was only a quartet of faint lights on Squall's bracer, and those were all red. The eyes of the AVALANCHE members opened wide upon seeing those red lights, because they understood what they signified.
"Are those Guardian Force materia?" Xu asked. "I've never even seen one before."
Squall nodded, and touched on of the faint light sources, which solidified into a small, inch-diameter red orb, glistening with its own inner light. That was a Guardian Force materia, one of the rarest and most valuable materia types, as it contained the ability to connect with a powerful spirit and summon it forth. Of course, Shinra had cornered the market on GF materia, considering the other aspect of them that made them even more valuable.
"Most of you know about GF materia," Squall explained, his voice reverting to a dull tone, almost as if reciting information from a manual. "Normally GF materia is simply used for summoning, but after the SeeD program was started by Shinra, the corporation's greatest authority on magic, Doctor Odine, discovered an alternate use for the materia. The entities that we connect with through GF materia allow for the 'junctioning' of magical energies directly to physical capabilities."
"You mean you use magic to make yourself stronger?" Zell asked. Squall nodded.
"The magical energies normally conjured by materia are drawn directly from materia," Squall added, nodding toward Zell. "That's what I did back in the reactor, though I actually just drew electrical energy from your materia to cast it at X-ATM092. That's where I get my magic from."
"A lot more efficient that materia, actually," Xu commented. "Not needing individual materia to cast spells gives you more room in your weapons and gear to store other materia." Squall nodded.
"The only trade-off is that I can run out of magical energy," he added, "so I need to use my magic sparingly, or I lose my enhanced edge."
"Not like with ki manipulation, huh?" Zell asked, grinning. Squall nodded.
"Being easier to learn does have its trade-offs," Squall replied. He glanced back at Zell, his voice actually returning to its normal tone as opposed to the dull reciting from before. "You said you were a student of Zangan?"
"Not just a student," Zell answered. "Zangan Dincht is my grandfather." Squall nodded, though he didn't immediately recognize the similarities between the burly, excitable brawler and the legendary, composed master of inner control and discipline.
"He always told me I had a gift for controlling my spiritual energy," Zell added. "I was actually his quickest learner when it came to his trademark ki manipulation techniques. He taught me to focus it into my hits and into my body so I could take more punishment." Zell slapped a fist into one of his palms. "He always told me to use my training for the greater good. That's one of the reasons why I'm fighting Shinra now."
As Zell was speaking, a red flashing light suddenly filled the train, as the normal train lights dimmed. Squall looked up, then checked his pocket, hoping Xu's fake identification would hold up. He waited through the security checkpoint section of the rail lines, as the system checked the identifications of everyone on the train and compared them with the names and information contained within the extensive database of Midgar citizens back at the main Shinra headquarters. After several long seconds, the security light turned off and the train's ordinary lights kicked back in.
"Good job, Xu!" Zone commented with a grin and a thumbs up. "Looks like your IDs kept us from being picked up." Xu nodded with a smile, but said nothing. Moments later, the inside of the train lightened slightly as the vehicle left the darkened tunnels and moved around the outside of Midgar's central pillar.
"Look at that," Zell commented, just as he always had whenever he was riding the train through this area. Squall looked out the window, following the brawler's gaze, to see the slums of Midgar stretch out below the city's upper plate.
"The slums here never have a day or a night," Zell commented. "Its because of that plate up above that blocks out most of the sunlight, and the pollution that blocks the rest." Squall nodded, looking out over the horrible splendor of Midgar.
Midgar consisted of two "cities", one being known as the "plate" for the more upscale and wealthy citizens of the city, and the other being the slums on ground level, where the lower classes lived on the barren, empty ground. The plate was supported by the central pillar, based directly under the massive Shinra headquarters tower, and by eight secondary pillars holding up each sector of Midgar. The plate itself towered over one hundred and fifty feet above the slums.
"A floating city," Squall commented, looking up at Midgar's plate. It would have seemed eerie, but Squall wasn't that much affected by it. He was quite familiar with Midgar, having spent much of his life in the big city.
"I don't normally see it from down here," he added, standing and crossing the car. He leaned forward, past Zell, and put his hands on the windowsill.
"It's because of that plate up above that life's so hard on the people living in the slums," Zell growled, shaking his head.
"If people don't like it in the slums, they should move up onto the plate," Squall reasoned. "Either that or out of town to begin with."
"But they can't," Zell replied with another shake of his head. "People down in the slums usually don't have the money, or maybe they can't show their faces up on the plate because they're wanted by Shinra. Shinra doesn't usually come down to the slums after crooks, after all. And there's some people who won't move out because they love their homes too much."
"True," Squall conceded. "No one lives in the slums because they want to." Some people worked hard to carve out their own little niches, a place to call their own, a place they would come to love and defend no matter how miserable it was.
"The people are like this train," Squall added. "It can't go anywhere except where its tracks take it . . . ."
--------------------
About twenty minutes later, the train pulled into the station outside the Sector Seven slums. AVALANCHE were the first ones off the train, followed by a number of regular citizens. Squall was the last man off the train before it left, chugging off into the night. Zell quickly gathered the members of AVALANCHE to him for a quick after-operation meeting.
"All right, good job everyone!" he began. "That job went off pretty well, but don't even think that's the tip of the iceberg! That little explosion was nothing compared to what's coming up! Trust me, Shinra's now going to be after us in particular - we're probably already all over the news now with our PR gimmicks. Let's meet up back at the base and come up with the next operation."
With that, the group dispersed, Zone, Watts and Xu heading west across the slums. Zell was about to follow when Squall stopped him with a tap on the shoulder.
"Wait a second," Squall began to say, but Zell cut him off.
"Don't worry about the money," the brawler explained. "My stash is at our hideout. You'll get paid when we get back there." Squall frowned but said nothing, and followed Zell as the martial artist crossed the barren, flat grounds of the slums toward the west.
Squall knew the slums were a nasty place to live. The lower region of Midgar served as the toilet, trashcan, and junkyard of the upper plate, refuse piled high in the only real landscape of the flat region of the Sector Seven slums. He ducked between two piles of scrap metal and beyond a lone house constructed of cheep plywood, sheet metal, and random pieces of discarded equipment. Squall remembered Zell describing it as one of the nicer homes in the area.
They soon passed the outer perimeter of junkyards surrounding one of the slum towns, and moved past the Sector Seven pillar. The pillar was a massive stone column easily ten meters to a side and stretching up into the air to the bottom of the plate, with a tall metallic platform rising up to about halfway up the pillar for maintenance purposes. Squall gazed up there, realizing for the first time perhaps how any countless tons of metal, stone, and ceramics that hung over his head. Without that pillar, everyone in the Sector Seven slums would be utterly crushed.
The pair soon passed the outer edge of the slums and passed deeper into the more populated region of Sector Seven. Numerous homes, constructed out of junk and scrap metal, rose up around the ex-SeeD and the martial artist as they passed through the "roads," which in and of themselves were merely any open space between the homes of the slum denizens.
They threaded their way among the various rickety homes the slum denizens had cobbled together, until the duo approached a building made largely of wood, which struck Squall as surprising, considering the general prevalence of rusted metal and cardboard throughout the slums. Zone, Watts, and Xu were already inside the building, which Squall quickly realized was a bar instead of just another home. Zell rushed up the solid wooden steps and threw open the door.
"All right, everyone out!" he shouted with a healthy roar and a wave of his hand. "Bar's closed! Don't have to go home but you can't stay here!" The sheer volume of complaints and angry responses from within was shocking, but Zell was undeterred, stepping inside. A moment or two later, one burly man was hurled clear out of the bar, rolling down the steps and past Squall, who deftly dodged the human missile.
The rest of the drunkards within the building cleared out quickly.
As soon as Zell reappeared at the top of the steps, Squall moved up. The brawler waved him in, then slammed the door shut behind him, hanging up the "Closed" sign and staying near the door to make sure no one would try to come back in. The inside of the bar was much like the outside, consisting of paneled wood that was hard to come by in the Midgar region. The tables were largely wood as well, though there were a few card tables and one large table made of sheet metal and stacked paint cans was located in the far corner of the room. A long bar was set up in the far left corner, the wall behind it stacked high with bottles and kegs of alcohol. A pinball machine - an oddity that stood out to Squall - was set up on the far right wall in the corner.
Zone, Watts, and Xu were already sitting and relaxing, Xu's bandaged leg up on one of the tables as they shared drinks and exchanged stories about what had happened in the reactor and in their escape afterward. Squall began to walk over to them, but then paused, noticing the woman behind the bar.
She was blonde, with long hair that hung down either side of her face in front, and done up in the back so it doubled back on itself before coming down. She wore glasses over her large, blue eyes, which widened as she looked at Squall. Those eyes were what immediately made Squall recognize her, as her body had changed so much over the last few years. When he'd last seen her, she'd been thirteen and still looking like a baby, almost. Now she had fully grown out, into a mature - and strikingly beautiful - woman.
"Quistis?" he asked, equally surprised to see her. The woman managed a laugh and stepped around the bar, looking Squall up and down. He did the same, barely recognizing his childhood friend. Her sudden appearance prompted distant memories of their time together in Shinra's SeeD program, training side by side as children.
"Squall?" she asked, shaking her head and smiling. "How long has it been?"
"Five years, I think," Squall said, the edges of his lips turning up into the closest thing he could make into a smile of his own. He was almost too controlled to make even that much of a show of emotion, actually.
"Zell told me he'd hired someone from SeeD to help out in the operation, but I didn't think it would be you," she exclaimed. "But I could have sworn I heard you were dead . . . ."
"Not dead, " Squall said with a shake of his head, his somewhat cheerful mood briefly stolen by a grim pall that spread over his face. "Not yet."
"Come on, sit down," she said, gesturing to the table where the rest of the group was lounging. Squall nodded and obliged, pulling up a chair to join the rest of the group. The members of AVALANCHE had been watching the exchange with interest.
"You know this guy?" Zone asked, and Quistis nodded.
"We were in the SeeD program together, though I managed to get out before the really hard-core training was initiated," Quistis explained. Squall nodded, but was fuzzy exactly on what had happened and why Quistis had left.
"Why did you leave?" he asked, trying to remember, but unable to, for some reason.
"They let me go," she explained, shaking her head. "Lack of leadership qualities, they said. Though I suspect that they just thought I wasn't aggressive enough." Zone and Squall nodded, and the AVALANCHE member glanced toward the other Ex-SeeD.
"What about you?" Zone asked. "Why'd you leave?'
"It's none of your-" Squall began.
"Business!" Quistis jumped in, quoting the same word as Squall was about to say it. He glanced at her, annoyed. She had always been able to do that, guessing what he'd say before he'd even spoken the words.
"Anyway, I'm not on the SeeD roll call anymore," Squall explained as Quistis laughed faintly, happy Squall was still the same person she remembered. "Being listed as dead does that to a person."
"Hey!" Zell called from the door, now that the crowd had dispersed. He stepped across the room and dropped a hand onto the table. "No more screwing around! Let's get the debriefing meeting started." The rest of AVALANCHE rose, though none of them was eager to leave their drinks behind. Squall and Quistis joined them as Zell stepped over to the pinball machine. He paused and held up a hand.
"Only enough room for four at a time," Zell explained, and gestured for the other three team members from the reactor to join him. "Ya'll stay here until we're down," he ordered, and kicked the machine twice. Instantly, the entire floor around the machine lowered down into a concealed basement. Squall nodded at the clever setup as Zell, Zone, Watts and Xu disappeared down below, leaving Squall and Quistis alone.
"So, how did you end up with them?" he asked her, crossing his arms. Quistis actually laughed, putting a hand to her mouth. " . . . what?" he asked a second later, confused.
"Still so direct," she commented, before stopping, her features becoming more serious. "I met up with Zell outside Junon a year ago. I had been living there for a while, and I met him as he was passing through. He wanted to go to Midgar, and he blabbed about doing something to stop Shinra. I was tired of watching the land around Junon and everywhere else Shinra touched wither, and I had nowhere else to really go, so I joined him." She shrugged. "I was actually hoping to run into you here, but no luck." Squall nodded, his grim expression returning.
"A year ago," he said, then nodded again. "I was already deployed on my first mission. I've been away from Midgar ever since I was reported killed."
"What happened?" she asked, and Squall quickly shook his head. "Don't want to talk about it?"
"No." His word was quick and definitive. He wasn't going to talk about it. Fire, screams, slicing pains, treachery, sadistic experiments, cover-ups . . . no, he was still trying to grasp it all himself.
Quistis understood that tone and said no more. By that time, the pinball machine had long since resurfaced, and they stepped onto the platform. Quistis flipped the hidden switches with a tap of her foot and the secret elevator descended.
The room below was cluttered with all manner of gear. A large table was set up with a detailed map of Midgar stretched across it, one which Zone and watts were busily studying and marking. Zell was at the far end of the room, spinning off combos against a huge punching bag. Numerous patches on the bag and the odd random bit of stuffing on the floor testified to Zell's diligent practice. Xu was seated near the elevator, her leg propped up as she absently watched a big-screen television. As Squall and Quistis stepped off, Zell turned back to them, a quizzical expression on his face.
"Squall, did you see anyone from SeeD in the reactor tonight?" Squall shook his head.
"No," he replied, certain. "Trust me, if anyone from SeeD had been there, you'd all be dead - or in Shinra custody."
"Glad to hear," Zell muttered, planting a fierce sidekick into the bag. Suddenly, Xu sat forward, and turned up the volume on her television.
"Hey everyone, we're on TV!" she alerted them.
The group quickly looked up from their tasks and gathered around the television screen, watching intently as a huge, fat man clad in a garishly expensive suit leaned behind a desk. Hovering above his head was the headline "Terrorists Strike Reactor!" Squall, along with everyone else, recognized the mustached fat man as none other than Alexander Louis Shinra, the President of Shinra Inc.
"My fellow citizens of Midgar," Shinra began, his tone and expression grave and solemn. "Many of you have become aware that something terrible has happened inside our city, and it is my deepest regret to have to give you this dark news. A terrorist organization has struck at one of our reactors, the Number One Reactor between Sectors One and Eight. The reactor was destroyed from the inside, and we estimate that all personnel within the reactor were killed, as well as a number of citizens living around the structure. Preliminary estimates of the number of deaths totals in the mid hundreds, and is rising even as I speak. The insane criminals claiming responsibility behind this atrocity have named themselves 'AVALANCHE'."
The President then sat up straight, his shoulders rising in what was probably an attempt at looking strong.
"However, citizens of Midgar, do not fear!" he proclaimed. "Even now, the Shinra military is mobilizing, and I have deployed SeeD to maximize our efforts to locate and apprehend these criminal murderers. Security forces at all reactors are already being strengthened, and martial law has been imposed on Midgar's streets. If these criminals identifying themselves as AVALANCHE attempt to destroy our way of life and the security of our existence, we will crush them! I ask all citizens remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to the nearest security checkpoint. We at Shinra will protect our people. Rest easy tonight, Midgar, those who have done this terrible deed will face justice soon."
Shinra disappeared from the screen, replaced by a local newscaster, but the rebel group paid him no mind.
"Wow, I didn't expect Shinra himself would respond to this!" Zone commented, sitting back on the table. "This must have really sent some wheels spinning up in the Shinra Tower!"
"Anything that risks their pocketbooks sets them off," Zell replied, turning back to his bag.
"Sounds like we won't be able to hit another reactor anytime soon," Zone added, and several heads wagged in response. "We'll need an alternate plan."
"Or even better," Xu added, a mischievious grin working onto her face. "How about we do hit another reactor?"
"That's suicide, ma'am," Watts objected. "They'll be expecting another reactor hit. Security will be impossible to break through."
"But they won't expect another attack so soon," Xu replied. "What do most rebel groups do after a major hit like this? They hide out and plan a new strike. But, if we move at first light, in the middle of the day, before Shinra's really gotten their forces into position-"
"We can hit 'em with their pants down!" Zell finished, punching his hands together in approval. "They won't see us coming because its crazy to be going for another round so soon after the first hit. Come on, guys, we'll need to come up with a plan!"
"Just a second," Squall interrupted, stepping up to Zell. "Before you get down to planning, I want my money for today's operation. I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart." Zell frowned, but nodded. He stepped over to a safe and opened it, before pulling out a thick wad of rubber- banded cash and tossing it to Squall. The ex-SeeD caught it, and tossed it once, feeling the weight, and then checking the numerical value of the top bill. He frowned.
"Fifteen hundred?" he asked. "Chump change. If you want me in on the next job, I'll need twice that."
"Three thousand!" Zell roared, outraged. "No way I can afford that much!"
"Then I'm not going," Squall replied matter-of-factly, turning back toward the pinball machine. "I'm not risking my neck with you for less than that, especially considering how incompetent you're acting."
"Say WHAT?" Zell exclaimed, rushing across the room toward Squall. The ex-SeeD turned back, his glowing eyes fixing the brawler where he stood as a sudden tenseness spread throughout the small room.
"How serious are you, really?" Squall asked, looking among each of the rebels, even Quistis. "You come up with some half-assed suicide mission in five seconds? And you expect me to join," he held up the wad of gil "for this? I made six times this a month in SeeD. I'm not stupid enough to take part in this job without enough incentive to risk my neck. If you can't come up with the money, then you can go get killed by yourself." Squall turned around and stepped onto the pinball machine.
"Squall, wait," Xu began, but Zell cut her off.
"Forget it, Xu!" Zell growled. "Let him go. Looks like he still misses Shinra."
"Make no mistake," Squall replied quietly, not looking back. "I'm no friend to Shinra or SeeD. But I don't give a damn about the planet, or your little revolution either."
Squall kicked the switches on the pinball machine and the device rose up into the bar's ground level, leaving the stunned, silent rebels behind.
--------------------
The slums were still dark, polluted, and poor when Squall stepped out of Quistis' bar and began to walk away from AVALANCHE. He mentally counted the seconds it would take the pinball elevator to rise as he stepped away, and was not surprised when he heard the bar door swing open.
"Squall!" Quistis called, but he didn't stop. Two seconds later, he heard the sound of shoes running across the barren slum flatlands and was not surprised when Quistis ran around in front of him and stood in his path, hands on her hips.
"Squall, don't do this," she pleaded, both with her voice and her eyes. "Please . . . we need your help."
"Its not my problem," he replied with a shake of his head. "If Zell can't pay, I walk. That's what being a mercenary means. You, of all people, should know that, Quistis.""
"You only care about the money now?" Quistis asked, her tone accusing, which caught Squall off-guard. He firmed his jaw and nodded. Quistis glanced down at the bare dirt below her for a moment.
"Maybe I was wrong," she muttered, then looked back up. "Maybe you're not the Squall I knew from my childhood." Squall said nothing, but his softly glowing eyes shifted subtly, reflecting distant memories tinged with pain.
"You're right," he replied after a long moment. "The Squall you knew is dead. He died a year ago in some far-off battle no one knows about. I'm just his ghost; just a mercenary who can only find meaning pursuing something he can never grasp."
"What?" Quistis asked, but Squall shook his head.
"I don't want to talk about it," he replied. "I only took this job for money. Killing is what I'm good at; it's the only thing I ever learned to do. I don't have a stake in your mission."
"And what about me?" Quistis asked angrily. "I have a stake in this. Remember what you told me while we were in SeeD? If I ever needed help, with anything, you'd stand by me, and I would stand by you. That's what being friends means!" Squall watched her, listening to her, but said nothing.
"Don't you care about me?" she asked, but again, Squall said nothing. He looked into Quistis' blue eyes, the orbs wetting slightly with tears, and finally shook his head.
"I don't want to get involved," he said darkly. "This isn't my fight. Your problems are not mine. Maybe, a long time ago, Squall Leonhart would have given a damn, but everyone betrayed me, the man I trusted most, the company I worked for and was loyal too . . . I've been sold out. I'm nothing now, and I'm not the boy I was before. I'm just a gunblade for hire." Squall stepped forward and around her, and moved toward the train station at a steady clip, saying nothing.
"You promised!" Quistis shouted suddenly, turning toward Squall as he left. "You promised me that you'd stand beside me!"
If Squall heard, he gave no indication as he walked away, disappearing into the slums. Qusitis watched him leave, tears almost bursting from her eyes, but managed to hold them in check somehow, before finally turning back to the bar. She slowly walked up the steps, recalling the boy she had known in her younger days. What had happened to him? What had Shinra done to Squall to turn him into this stone wall?
Zell was waiting in the bar for her when she came back in. He saw the barely-held tears and understood their source. His teeth clenched in anger as he stood up from his stool so forcefully that it was knocked over.
"So, he's gone, huh?" Zell growled. "Your 'friend' walked out on us?"
"He's not my friend anymore," Quistis responded quietly. "Squall wasn't like that before. Something terrible happened to him . . . ."
"Don't worry," Zell said, patting Quistis' shoulder. "We'll need to get prepared for the next operation, though with Xu's leg injured, we'll be short one."
"Two thousand."
Zell and Quistis spun to the open door, where Squall stood, his face impassive, his glowing eyes revealing nothing.
"You need another man, I'm offering my services for two thousand gil," he stated, glancing to his childhood friend again. "Take it or leave it."
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