Disclaimer: Wild ARMs. A great game. A great story. It isn't mine.
7:25 A.M – Humphrey's Peak
Clive and Gallows managed to persuade Virginia, along with Maya and her group, to plan their next move at his home. Needless to say, it was a pretty cramped night. They had arrived in the early hours of the day, and decided to turn in before anything. Virginia had had a rough night though, unable to sleep, the line she heard replaying in her head like a broken record.
"He could be..." Clive's last sentence echoed in her head. Virginia sighed and got up, heading for the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, and found she had been crying a lot, and she hadn't noticed. She fell to her knees.
"Jet... You can't be..." She saw flashbacks of all the times they spent together, and she softly cried.
"Hey..." Virginia turned and saw Maya standing at the doorway. "Couldn't sleep either, huh..."
Virginia wiped her face and got up. She tried to say something, but didn't know what. She closed her mouth again and looked down. Maya put her hands on Virginia's shoulders and tried to comfort her.
"Come on, he wouldn't want you to be like this. Besides, when he comes back for you, don't you want to look your best for him?" Virginia looked up at Maya, and saw she also had tears in her eyes. "I know he's coming back," Maya smiled. "After all, he's too thick to die just like that!" Virginia couldn't help but giggle.
"You're right!" Virginia straightened herself out. "The others should be waking up soon, and we're gonna find Jet!" she made her way for the door, then turned back at Maya. "Um, Maya..."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Virginia smiled before skipping downstairs to have breakfast. Maya smiled for a moment, tears slowly seeping out of her eyes.
"Jet... I don't want to be a liar. Don't die on me. On everyone."
7:40 A.M – Unknown Prison Cell
"So this is Zero? Doesn't look much." An Australian accented man said.
"Looks can be deceiving. The true Zero is still dormant. This is merely a fragment of his power." A deep, American voice said.
"Ugh..." Jet tried to open his eyes, but couldn't. He guessed he was blindfolded. His hands were also tied up in the air, holding him above the ground. Judging from how cold it was, he was only wearing his pants, and wherever he was, it was freezing. All he could do was listen to their voices.
"Can't believe Three of all people is getting the credit for this maggot." The Australian voice snorted. Jet heard him punch the wall. "I could've done it, but I've been holed up here the whole time!"
"Quiet fool, the job's done. Eroz's plans are top priority. Don't forget that, Three." The American voice was drifting off, along with footsteps. Jet worked out that he had left. The Australian voice was also growing distant.
"That Two thinks he's so great." He muttered, and walked off. Jet took this opportunity to try and wrestle out of the constraints, but to no avail.
"Damn..." Jet felt like crap. His body ached all over, and the back of his head felt like a knife had sliced into it. He also realized he was dead hungry. He was in no condition to protect himself. Let alone escape.
"Are you okay?" a girl's voice said near him. "Here, have some water."
Jet felt a tray of water come to his lips, and drank it gratefully. After taking a few gulps, the girl lowered the tray again.
"Thanks." Jet said. He felt a little better, but he was still hungry. "Who are you? And where am I?"
"I'm not sure where this is, but it's the home of the guys calling themselves the Fallen. I'm sure you know who they are, or you wouldn't be in here." Jet felt her hand washing his face with water.
"Yeah, you could say I know them." Jet frowned at the thought of them. "And you? Who are you?"
The girl stopped wiping his face. "Oh, sorry! My name's Karen, nice to meet you."
"Karen..." The name rang a bell, but Jet couldn't quite remember.
8:00 A.M – Clive's House
Everyone had finally woken up. Virginia, Gallows, Clive, Maya, Alfred, Shady, and Todd all took a seat in the lounge, which took a while trying to work out how to fit everyone. After finally working out an acceptable layout, they commenced the 'let's-find-Jet' meeting.
"Exactly how are we gonna find him? I mean, we're not even sure if he's still..." He didn't finish the sentence, remembering that it was a sensitive subject.
"He IS alive. I know it." Virginia said confidently. "And he probably needs our help right now!"
"I agree. Jet isn't the kind of guy who'd lose just like that." Maya said. "And don't worry, I'm gonna help you guys find him too!"
"Thank you, Maya." Clive said. "Your help is greatly appreciated, however there's still the problem of actually knowing where to start. We have no leads whatsoever." Everyone knew he was right. They couldn't go back to the hotel, as it was closed off after the incident last night. Anyone who could've seen Jet that night had either moved on, or had been one of the soldiers trying to kill him. Catherine came in the door, she had been out earlier that day, and a woman came in with her. When they saw her, Clive and Gallows had a nosebleed, and Virginia's jaw hit the floor.
"IRIS???" Indeed, the crazy, hormone-packed doctor was standing next to a fairly annoyed Catherine.
"Ah, she said that she knew you, honey. Is this true?" Catherine was holding a frying pan in her hand, an evil, menacing look in her eyes.
"Ah, well... You see, it's not like that... Um..." Clive wiped his nose up and tried to explain. After a few minutes of clanging and shouting in the kitchen, the two came back out.
"You should've just told me there was nothing between you two." Catherine said to a fairly beaten-up Clive.
"Right, sorry honey." Clive took a seat and let his head rest on the table. Attention returned to Iris.
"What are you doing here?" asked an angry Virginia. "We don't have time for your antics, and besides, Jet isn't here."
"Oh, I already know, cutie." Iris said sweetly. "In fact, I know where my little love-bunny is right now."
Everyone looked up at her.
"You know where he is? How?" Maya asked in a hurry.
"Well, if you must know, at the clinic, I put a special tracking device on his manly chest. I wanted to know where my cute baby was all the time!" she squealed.
"Stalker." Virginia murmured.
"Why would you be telling us this? I mean, wouldn't you be better off finding him yourself?" Gallows asked.
"That's true, but when I looked up where he was, and thought I'd need help." Iris took a seat on the coffee table. "We'll make a temporary truce to get back Jet. I'll tell you where he is, and you help me get him out."
Virginia was about to argue, but Maya stopped her.
"Play along with it, she's the only lead we have. Do it for Jet."
Virginia bit her lip.
"Agreed. Let's go."
8:30 A.M – Jet's Cell
Jet's arms were getting sore from his hanging position.
"How are you feeling?" Karen asked again.
"Pretty crappy."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Well, unless you can get me down, feed me, and find my clothes, not much. Thanks anyway." Jet sighed. Suddenly, Jet heard someone walking up to them and opening the cell door. Whoever it was pulled Jet off the hook with ease and pulled off his blindfold. He saw the place to be very dank and dark, the only light source being a single lamp hanging outside the cell.
"Let's go, runt. You're going to be entertaining us today. The armies are bored, and they need to release their anger on someone." The guard laughed evilly.
"Jet!" Karen tried to grab him, but the man pushed her away with ease.
"Stay in your cell, wench!" The guard locked the door again and hustled Jet outside.
9:00 A.M – Castle Courtyard
Jet had been ushered outside, where it was snowing slightly, and the sun was hardly visible through the foggy atmosphere. Many men were standing around watching Jet intently.
"I'm itching to fight! Hurry up!" One of them said. The guard undid Jet's hands and pushed him forward, causing the weak Jet to hit the snow-covered floor.
"Get up, runt! You're going to fight me first!" A big, brutish man picked Jet up and stood him up, before launching an almighty blow into Jet's gut, causing him to fall to his knees.
"Nngh..." Jet's eyes were fairly useless at the moment, as they were still trying to adapt to the sudden brightness of the snow. In this time, he was kicked around a lot, leaving Jet in a bad state. Finally Jet's eyes refocused, and Jet was pissed.
"Hey ugly, I got something for you." Jet slowly pushed himself off the floor.
"Ugly? I'll show you!" The large man stomped towards Jet, about to stamp his foot on him. Suddenly, Jet's hands lashed upward, grabbing his huge foot, which was bigger than Jet's head. Jet slowly pushed it upwards, eventually causing the man to topple backwards.
"W-What??" The other guards whispered to each other through gasps. Jet got on his feet and took on a fighting stance. He was unarmed, and all his equipment was missing. But after the beating, he was in a fighting mood.
"Get up, Lardarse. I'm not done with you." The guard angrily got up, and tried to charge at Jet, but failed. Jet simply sidestepped, throwing his leg high into the air before smashing his heel on the brute's neck, knocking him out. "Hmph, too easy."
The other guards looked at him nervously. Jet's gaze slowly turned to them, evil intent playing along his eyes.
"Let's just attack him all together! No way he can beat us all at the same time!" someone in the crowd yelled. Everyone agreed, and they charged at Jet.
"Tch." Jet just sighed, activating his accelerator and making short work of the group in a mere fourteen seconds. At the end, Jet stood in the middle, deactivating his Accelerator, and watching as the guards simultaneously hit the floor. He turned to the guard that dragged him out, who was backing away in fear.
"You. Give me the key to the cell. Now!" Jet snapped at him, causing the guard to jump in fright. He shakily took out his keys and handed them to Jet, who snatched them up.
"Thank you." Jet said, before punching him the jaw, knocking him unconscious.
Jet ran back to the cell and unlocked the door. He grabbed Karen's hand.
"Come on! I'm getting you out of here!"
"Jet!" Karen smiled weakly. She let Jet lead her back outside to the courtyard, where Jet noticed that all the guards had disappeared.
"Nice job with the soldiers, mate." An Australian accented man was standing at the other end of the courtyard, holding a fairly large hunting knife. "Let's see how you fare with Three of the Fallen!"
Jet pushed Karen behind her, taking up a defensive position.
"Hey, I'm going to distract him, and I want you to run past him to that door. I'm pretty sure it's the exit, I could feel a lot of wind coming out of it. Get out of here and find somewhere to hole up. Don't wait up for me." Jet launched himself at Three, throwing a strong punch. Three dodged and sliced at Jet with his knife, missing by inches. Jet managed to kick Three to the ground, and motioned for Karen to get out. Karen nodded and ran to the door, and turned before leaving.
"Thank you, Jet." She disappeared behind the door, leaving Jet to concentrate on Three.
Three had already gotten up and thrusted his knife at Jet, who wasn't so lucky this time. He received a painful slice in his arm, which he clutched in pain.
"Argh!" Jet took a step back. Three laughed at him.
"You're nothing mate! I fought the Guardians themselves! You can't even compare! Looks like Zero was just a folk tale after all!"
Jet was bleeding badly. He decided his best chance was to end this now. He activated his Accelerator again, and dashed at Three with immense speed. Jet gave Three everything he had, and soon had Three on the floor, looking half-dead.
"This is it!" Jet prepared to throw the final punch, but felt a sharp blow to the back of his neck, which threw his face deep into the snow. Whoever hit him was strong. Very strong.
"What the hell are you doing, Three?" It was Two. He stepped over Jet and stood near Three. "You were beaten down to this state this easily? You must be growing soft."
"Shut up." Three wheezed as he got up. He walked over to Jet and gave him a strong kick to the face, knocking Jet out.
"That's what you get, rat!" Three limped off, leaving Two with Jet.
"The almighty Zero. It would seem Eroz was right in being so afraid of you." He looked at Jet's withered body. "Your true power must be indescribable."
He grabbed Jet's arms and hauled him back to the cell.
11:30 A.M – Lombardia
"We're going where??" Gallows asked in shock.
"I said we're going to a place called Birthright! My father worked in a special project involving Birthright, which was called the coldest place on Filgaia. Mainly because it's the only place that isn't a hot desert. Instead, it's a snow-filled land isolated from the rest of Filgaia." Iris explained again.
"It's amazing that such a place can exist..." Clive said in awe.
"I have heard of Birthright." Lombardia spoke out. "The ancient land where the Guardians and Fallen clashed. It is truly a cursed land. An old dragon folklore spoke of a being born that could destroy or protect the world, hence the name Birthright."
"Wha?" Gallows was, as usual, lost.
"Don't get your little peabrain into a twist, just forget about it." Maya sighed. She didn't like slow people, and Gallows was so slow, he'd have to think faster to stop thinking.
"So what exactly is the reason you needed our help?" Virginia asked.
"The land of Birthright is, as Lombardia said, cursed. So it would be silly for a sexy, seductive, young girl such as myself to go by myself." Iris hugged herself protectively, giggling incessantly. Virginia looked at her nervously.
"Uh... Right. I'll just be happy when we find Jet!" Virginia said happily. When Iris came with news of Jet, she was happy to know he was still alive. Well, it was either that, or someone had taken the tracking device off Jet and brought it to the Birthright, which she hoped wasn't the case.
"Jet... We're coming... I'm coming..." Virginia whispered to herself.
MIDDAY
END CHAPTER 7
Author's Notes: I think I can update around once a week if not moreso, I've been loaded down with studies and homework. But hey, the reviews helped me want to write more, so thanks everyone!
NEXT CHAPTER!
Virginia and co. are making their way for Jet's position! But will they make it in time? Jet's condition worsens by the second, and his chances of surviving against the Fallen are slim. And what about Karen? Did she manage to escape unscathed? Or do the Fallen still have her in their demonic grasps? And will Iris get her perverted hands on Jet once more???