"What's that one's name?"
"Valentine. Vincent Valentine. Been with the Turks for three months."
"Nice and efficient, isn't he?"
"One of the best. Currently en route to Junon for a little terrorist duty."
"I'll keep my eye on him. He might do rather nicely."
The Valentine Chronicles
Episode 1 - Cannon City Shakedown
AGENT PROFILE: VINCENT VALENTINE
Rank: Special Agent
Age: 26
Blood Type: A
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 181 lbs
Specialties: Assassination, infiltration, handguns, hand-to-hand combat.
Notes: Shows good leadership potential. Cynical and callous enough for most jobs, but keep him away from anything too dirty for the time being. Has some loose ends that need tying up, i.e. large gaps in his past that need to be filled in.
Status: O.K. for duty.
AGENT PROFILE: BUCKINGHAM LEWIS
Rank: Agent
Age: 24
Blood Type: O
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 239 lbs
Specialties: Hand-to-hand combat, demolitions, vehicle piloting, heavy weaponry.
Notes: Better for a subordinate role. Taciturn and deeply religious, can lose control at times - esp. in physical combat. Checked out on pretty much every vehicle in the Shinra stable.
Status: O.K. for duty.
AGENT PROFILE: JACOB "JINX" MCMALLAN
Rank: Agent
Age: 21
Blood Type: O
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 155 lbs
Specialties: Communications, computer usage, computer bypass, vehicle piloting, various analyses, infiltration - is equally skilled at lockpicking and electronic bypass.
Notes: Excellent for secondary support, should be kept from the line of fire. Somewhat irreverent, talkative, and brash, he rarely acts his age.
Status: O.K. for duty.
Mission Description
"Listen up, Valentine. We've spotted Tsematsu Oaki in Junon, where we believe he's waiting for the next ship to take him cross-continent. From there, we think he's planning to make his way to Utai. As you know, Oaki snatched a very important piece of materia from our labs here in Midgar, and it must NOT be allowed to fall into the hands of any of the Utai syndicates. Speaking of the syndicates, any of them might be aiding Oaki in his escape in return for the materia, so don't be surprised if he has backup. We'd prefer him alive if possible, but we're mostly just concerned with the materia. We've authorized a crawler and two team members for you - leave within the hour."
~End of Briefing
So there I stand, on one of those endless metal docks that the Junon engineers are so proud of. Some unnamed thug has a blade to my throat, and Tsematsu Oaki is standing in front of me, tossing the coveted materia up and down in his palm, and laughing his ass off.
Boy, did I blow this one.
But where are my manners, starting in media res like this? Lemme introduce myself. I'm Vincent Valentine, Special Agent with the Turks. I consider myself to be a pretty nice guy, I have a small rare book collection, I like old maps. I'm also fairly handy with a pistol, which explains my current situation somewhat. But to start at the beginning:
First things first; I hate crawlers. I hate the endless cross-country commutes, I hate the shitty road system traversing the continent, I hate listening to the same whirr-whirr-whirr-thud-whirr-whirr-whirr-thud that makes up every single goddamn trip we take. But it's part of the job. I was traveling with my team, if you'd like to call it that; two guys and myself are not exactly the most awe-inspiring team. They're good guys, though - I think you'd like 'em, even if Jinx does talk too much and even if Buck has to bless every single dead body we come across. I mean, it'd be one thing if he was a priest, but he's a goddamn assassin! Anyway.
You know about our mission, but to tell you the truth, I wasn't feeling too hot about it. In the first place, this guy Oaki hadn't just "snatched" a piece of materia - he wiped out six guys in the process. Not just sheep, either - these were people who could fight back. I also didn't like the part about him getting in touch with one of the syndicates...if they valued whatever this materia was highly enough, they might send more than just a couple guys to ensure its safety. I didn't mind going against the odds, but I do have slight reservations about taking on twenty or thirty guys with my crack squad of three - two, really, since Jinx wasn't big on the whole fighting thing.
But hey. That's the life of a Turk.
I was leaning back on one of the benches, brooding. Buck was up front driving, and Jinx, as usual, was pacing.
It always irritated me. "Could ya cut it out, man? You know that gets on my nerves."
"Sorry, man. I'm just nervous." Jinx was always nervous. He was a brilliant ops man, he could get you in just about anywhere and do wonderful and exciting things with computers, but he always psyched himself out before a mission. I wouldn't mind except it kinda psyched me out, too.
"What're you worried about?" I had to ask. "You know you're not gonna get shot at, what's the big deal?"
"I'm not worried about that," he answered. "I'm worried about screwing up. That I'll get in there, and you guys'll be counting on me, and I'll just blow it." That was Jinx in a nutshell. Always worrying about screwing up. The guy had issues.
I flashed a brief, humorless smile. "Well, if you screw up, there ain't no way I'll be alive to get pissed about it, so don't worry about it." I settled back and closed my eyes.
I must've fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, the crawler was stopped, and Buck's gruff tenor could be heard from the front seat.
"We're here."
We popped the hatch on the back trunk and started doling out equipment. I took what I always took - two pistols, four grenades, four spare clips. Back when I'd first started, I always used to try and "prepare for everything." I used to stuff myself so full of weapons and gadgetry that I was like a goddamn walking army knife. Within a month or so I finally figured out that it's useless to try and prepare for every contingency. Better just to take the bare minimum and work your way through each situation as best you could...at least you didn't end up weighing three hundred pounds.
Buck took only his "goody bag," as he referred to it with an absolutely straight face, and a pistol. His primary weapon of choice, a battered-but-still-very-functional assault shotgun, was his own personal accouterment. His goody bag contained various tactical explosives. I'd never yet seen him use the pistol.
Jinx's only armament was a tiny little SMG he'd had special made. It fired these tiny little bullets that couldn't kill a mosquito, but it had very little recoil and didn't require too good of an aim. Like Buck's pistol, I'd yet to see it in action.
I gathered them inside the crawler, which was parked in one of Junon's many alleyways.
"Listen up," I began. "Our mission is retrieval first, capture is a distant second. Don't hesitate to shoot first if you think there's some kind of danger." They both nodded.
I spread open a large tactical map of Junon I had courtesy of Shinra, Inc.
"This," I said, pointing to one of the dock's larger berths, "is Dock 4. The Majesty, a private freighter running between Junon and Costa Del Sol, is scheduled to depart from this dock at precisely 3:15 PM, or in roughly an hour and a half. After that, the next ship to cross the ocean doesn't leave until the day after tomorrow, so we think it's a fair assumption that Oaki will be on that ship. With any luck, he'll be alone, but we have to prepare for the contingency that one of the syndicates may have sent men to ensure the materia makes it safely to Utai."
I opened another map atop the first. "This is an enlarged map of Dock 4. Boarding occurs here," I pointed, "and we have no reason to believe that Oaki won't simply do that. Our positions will be as follows:"
"I'll take point." As if I had a choice. "I'll take Oaki at the docks and attempt a peaceful retrieval of the materia. I'll be waiting behind this cargo platform," I pointed, "and as soon as I've confirmed Oaki and decided I can take him, I"ll make my move."
"Buck, you'll be up here." I made a mark with a blue pencil. "You'll take a rifle and be our secondary option. If for some reason my little negotiations don't seem to be working, back me up. At that point don't worry about keeping the subject alive, it'll probably be too late for that. Just don't hit me, that's all."
"Jinx, you-" I was interrupted by Buck, who had raised a hand.
Feeling rather foolish, I called on him. "Yes, Buck?"
"Not to interrupt, Vincent, but that point you have me occupying...isn't that the Junon Main Cannon?" Buck's words were always very measured.
I confirmed it. "It'll be a fun little climb, and it's got the best line on the dock by a long shot. Just watch your step." I turned to Jinx. "Now, on to your one and only job. Getting through to central security, getting authorized, getting authorization, etc...that would all take too much time. I need you to hardwire the door to Dock 4 so that you can seal it shut on command. I want you to seal it as soon as I give you the signal, okay? I don't want to give Oaki that kind of escape route. Okay?"
Jinx nodded. "I'll need to be within thirty feet to override the mechanism from central command."
I wasn't so sure how I felt about that. Jinx wasn't exactly used to being in the line of fire. "That's the only way? There's no way you can do it from a safer location?"
"Not in this kind of time frame, bossman," was the reply. "Sorry."
Well, what the hell. It's not like he'd signed up for the Turks expecting a desk job.
"Let's go to work, people."
The waiting is the worst. Your heart can't figure out whether to pump adrenaline or not, so you alternate between stages of hyper-alertness, nervous boredom, and adrenaline comedown. You look at your watch every fifteen seconds try to figure out something to do with your hands. You also switch positions about forty thousand times, trying to find a position that's comfortable. There isn't one.
I'd been there about an hour or maybe three years when I got the double-click confirmation over my radio from Buck that the target(s) were inbound. Sure enough, a few seconds after that I heard the metal door leading into the berth hiss open. I strained my ears, listening for footsteps...definitely more than one pair.
Shit.
I spoke very, very quietly into my radio. "How many?"
"Four," came the tense reply back. "Oaki in the front, no visible weapon. Materia not in sight. Three following, look like syndicate, all carrying assault rifles.""
Shit.
"Okay," I responded, "I'll handle it." Big words, pal. "Stand by."
It was all in the timing. The thuds were getting louder, indicating that Oaki and his little posse were about to pass my hiding place. They reached a crescendo, sustained...sustained...and just as they started to die down, I made my move quickly.
In one smooth motion, I stepped out, drew my pistol, and wrapped an arm around the last guy in line, dragging him close to me. My pistol was at his head before the others had turned around.
"No sudden movements, now. Everyone ju-" I was interrupted by the fact that they'd leveled their guns and promptly started firing. Apparently they didn't think too highly of my little hostage. As the first rounds slammed into the unfortunate gunman, I dropped to my knees and drew in a single movement, sighted along the still-standing corpse's upper thighs, and put a bullet in each of their heads.
Did I mention I'm a pretty good shot?
All three bodies collapsed at pretty much the same time. I got to my feet and trained both pistols on Oaki, who had yet to move.
"Well," I said, "Now that we've put that unfortunate little incident behind us...I believe you have something for me, Mr. Oaki."
He spat at my feet. "You're a goddamn Turk, aren't you?"
"Don't see any reason to be vulgar about this, Mr. Oaki," I responded sweetly. "Now, if you please...the materia?"
He reached into his pocket. I waggled the guns. "Slow down, slow down. That's it. Nice and easy."
He slowly brought out the shimmering green ball, that symbol of power and destruction and majesty and ruin so inherent to our civilization. And then he looked up, and started laughing. And then I felt a blade at my throat.
That's about where we started, right?
Anyway, fortunately, now you know a few things that you didn't know when we started, and that Mr. Oaki and his friends are still unaware of. Specifically, Agent Buckingham Lewis. Go ahead, Buck. Enter, stage right.
I felt the sudden convulsion of my unknown assailant as the bullet tore through his neural matter. I knew he was dead for two reasons: first, the blade abruptly fell away from my throat, and second, my very nice suit was now coated with his brain matter. Ah, the perils of the workplace.
I heard the rifle crack again, so I knew Buck was keeping busy, but for now my attention was focused on Mr. Oaki. The materia had been put away, and in its place was a very potent looking katana, held in the en guarde position. He was still laughing, and his eyes gleamed with madness.
For a moment I stood there, perplexed. Had he really brought a sword to a gunfight? But then I figured, the hell with it, if he was gonna pull a weapon he'd just have to pay the price. I fired once, just once, a bullet I knew would kill him.
Except, of course, it didn't. The blade moved impossibly fast and sparked violently, accompanied by the distinctive sound of a ricochet. Again, the en guarde position - and if possible, he was laughing even harder than before.
SHIT.
No more of this finesse bullshit, I unloaded a full round from both pistols, squeezing off probably four or five shots from each weapon. Seemingly as I fired he wasn't there anymore, he had leapt upwards and was now descending upon me like some angel of doom, katana poised to spear me through the heart. I flung myself sideways, and the blade sank through the metal floor as if it were clay. I rolled to my feet just as Oaki freed his blade and swung it crossways, going for the decapitation. Once again fueled by pure adrenaline and desperation, I managed flip my pistol so I was holding it by the barrel and catch the slash on the trigger-guard. The slash knocked the gun out of my hand and sent me reeling backwards. Oaki pressed forward, and as quickly as I had leveled my remaining weapon on him and fired he was out of the way, rolling behind a nearby set of boxes. I ducked down on the other side, ejecting my used clip and recocking as I did so.
STOP LAUGHING, YOU ASSHOLE!
Not sure if I actually screamed that or not, but I was sure thinking it. The intuition that fighters are born with and find impossible to explain to those who aren't prompted me to roll to one side just as Oaki's blade pierced through the box I had been crouched against. This guy was unreal. I pulled the pin on a grenade and let it just drop where I was, going at a full sprint for the next pile of cargo boxes. I had barely dove up and over when the explosive concussion rocked me, the boxes slammed into me with such force that I nearly blacked out. Clawing myself to my knees, I bracketed my pistol on one of the boxes and focused on the smoke cloud.
Intuition suddenly beckoned again, and I twisted aside - fast enough to avoid the fatal slash, but not fast enough to avoid a gash to my shoulder. The bastard had somehow gotten behind me. He reversed for a horizontal slash which ruffled my hair as I ducked, but then I managed to step in and parry his next slash with a closed fist to his wrist followed by a reverse elbow to his throat. As he recoiled I stepped in quickly so I was hugging him as a brother, put my pistol to his stomach and just blew the son of a bitch away.
I emptied my entire clip into him as I clasped him to me, not even affording him the decency of being prostrate. His eyes bulged and he spit up blood all over me, but I did not let go.
Finally, after my available ammunition was exhausted, I finally allowed him to drop to the floor. His mouth, a bloody mess, was moving but he could form no sounds. His eyes blazed with a hatred I'm absolutely sure was reflected in my own eyes. I took my time reloading, ejecting the spent clip onto his bloody body and casually inserting the next. I gently pressed the muzzle to his temple and gave him the words that would carry him to the next life.
"You son of a bitch." I fired.
Slowly, the rage dimmed and I remembered something of my purpose. I reclaimed the materia and put it in my inner jacket pocket. Something - well, a few things actually - caught my eye, and I looked around at what looked like the aftermath of a massacre. No less than seven dead syndicate members, not counting the two I had killed, lay strewn about the docking berth. I gazed out at Junon Main Cannon and slowly raised a hand to the faint outline of a man I saw standing there, who saluted me in return.
All of a sudden I heard a door slam, followed by the patter of running feet. It was Jinx.
"Holy shit, Vince, are you okay? You never gave the signal and I never knew what to do and all of a sudden those other guys walked in! I hid back there and..." he trailed into silence, his eyes traveling across the battlefield.
I suddenly felt very tired. "Never mind, Jinx. Let's just get out of here."
"He has the anger, I see. The rage that is so very necessary."
"And single-handedly killing Tsematsu Oaki...that was very impressive."
"Indeed, my good doctor, indeed. We may just have the specimen you're looking for."
Thus William the Conqueror. Also, thus Episode 1, which I hope you enjoyed. By all means, suggestions, comments, death threats, etc. Stay tuned for Episode 2, WITH MORE AND MORE CARNAGE!
