A Promising Young SeeD
Chapter 2
Mouthful of Diamonds
Zell had seen a lot of things in his twenty-three years. He had also seen Quistis do many things that no young woman should ever have to do. Wars and mercenaries breed those types of situations, after all. But it wasn't until they began their current covert mission that he saw things that he could have never pictured her being even capable of. But then again, the incident changed everything.
Quistis had always been a ruthless warrior. A battle vixen of epic proportions. She was practically a war goddess. Zell saw the appeal, even if he didn't view her like that personally. She was like a sister to him. Quistis was at her most beautiful when she was in combatant mode. She had always believed in justice. And that there was a reason for their work as SeeD. It was more than just being a mercenary. She believed in the "mission", whatever that was.
But since they started their non-Garden-sanctioned quest, he had seen Quistis nearly drown a man in a toilet bowl, and he had seen her break a man's hand with a hammer without batting an eyelash.
She had never been a merciless person. But whoever this woman was, she had a hint of sadism. The "incident" had brought it out. It had brought it out of all of them.
Rubbing the scar around his eye, Zell stopped reminiscing as he watched Quistis apply purple lipstick to her mouth, from the mirror in the bathroom.
He ran a hand through his blue hair, pushing it from his eyes. He hadn't put gel in to style his mohawk, and the locks blocked his vision. "You listening, Q?"
Quistis' choice of weapon had always hinted at, and led to gossip about, some of her more "private" personal activities. But that was just silly gossip. She was not a woman who got pleasure out of causing pain to people.
This Quistis… The Quistis that was currently smashing a man's head into a wall until teeth were being knocked out. Hair and blood caking the tacky wallpaper. This wasn't the Quistis he knew, nor the Quistis he loved.
"Go ahead and kill me, bitch. I ain't tellin' you shit." The man spat a molar on the ground, blood and spit dripping from his lips.
Quistis was about to argue when the man continued.
"Nothing you assholes can do could be any worse than what will happen to me if I snitch. Shit." He shook his head and actually began to laugh. Zell wondered how bad his head injury was.
She met his eyes in the mirror. "Yes. Blue chocobo safe. Green chocobo safe. Purple speckles bad. Red chocobo may or may not be contaminated. Anything with a cactuar is unsafe. It was the same last time."
Zell sighed. "I'm not tryin' to talk down to you, Quisty. But this ain't a game."
Even after all these months, she had never become accustomed to "taking orders" from Zell, as it were. Not from the former cry-baby. Former student. Quistis had always been the smart one, the leader, the calculated one. But then again, the incident changed everything.
"Try me." Her voice was full of wrath. Completely heartless.
Zell whipped his head away from the man spitting blood to see the woman he had grown up with readying a lamp to smash this man's skull to pieces. To his surprise, Quistis was going in for the kill. And for what?
Sure, they had all done things in the Second Sorceress War, and just being mercenaries in general. But the casualties of their behavior were military personnel. Quistis had never killed in cold-blood.
Something had to change.
Her gaze was frustrated for a moment, but quickly relaxed. "I know you're worried. I'm listening and I'll be careful, okay?"
"I'll be at the café a few blocks away."
She smiled a little at that. "I know."
Zell knew that he was Quistis' comfort. Her only comfort now.
Zell leapt to his feet and grabbed Quistis' arm, holding her back. It startled her enough to drop the lamp to the ground, ceramic pieces shattering at their feet.
When did she get so strong?
"He's a civilian. Even if he is a bottom-feeding piece of crap. Stop. This isn't you," Zell whispered quietly, the grip on her arm turning into a comforting rub.
With a huff she tugged her arm out of Zell's grip, turned her heel and left, Zell trailing behind. Leaving behind them an unconscious bleeding dealer with half his teeth on the ground.
Jogging quickly into his room, Zell returned with two small pieces of metal hardware. He grabbed Quistis' bra from her bed. She didn't react, used to the routine by now. Carefully he attached one of the pieces to the underwire of her bra. The other he placed on her bedside table.
"In case you need to plant." He jerked towards it with a nod of his head.
That night, they sat in the dirty studio they had been bunking in in Deling City.
"We need a new approach," Zell said simply. "No one is going to tell us anything. They don't care if we are SeeD. Whatever is above them is more terrifying than us."
Quistis crossed her arms and turned her head to the side. Their partnership had become just that, but she still wasn't completely used to Zell taking ownership or authority. She wasn't used to them being equals.
"It seems like Esthar is where we need to be anyway. That seems to be the hub of all of this," Quistis admitted quietly.
"Quistis…it's you too. I'm worried about you."
She remained silent. But Zell knew she heard him. And knew it was true.
Being a SeeD, or even former-SeeD, was no longer an advantage in this world they were infiltrating. It was better to not have that identity. Zell underwent the painful process of having his facial tattoo removed. The scarring on his face still itched sometimes. He replaced it with a number of tattoos on his body, but ones that could always be hidden by clothing. His masterpiece was the ruby dragon on his back. Covering the entire thing. It had become his new identity. The true identity of the person who hid behind computers, hacking, testing, listening.
And Quistis? The battle vixen that had transformed into the sadistic vigilante became the femme fatale.
"See you soon."
A quick kiss on her cheek and he was out the door, laptop in hand, hood pulled over his floppy blue hair, nose-ring gleaming in the fluorescent lights of the hallway.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Quistis stared at her reflection in the mirror. Staring back was not the woman she knew six months ago. And it wasn't just the purple wig.
Tucking in a stray blonde hair, she realigned the long purple waves before reapplying the deep purple lipstick to go along with her heavily painted eyelids, black eyeliner, and long fake lashes. Her dress was short enough to be obvious, but not so short as to give everything away, strapless and tight, with cutouts on the sides. Teetering boots completed the look. Tugging the top down for a moment, she double-checked to make sure the tracker was attached to her bra as well as grabbing the extra one from her table and tucking it into her boot. A thin knife was taped to her waist, and she also slipped a small whip into her other boot.
Zell's design was nothing short of genius. Who knew he was so good with technology? He had truly embraced his Ruby Dragon persona.
The tracker in her bra turned on and alerted him under specific circumstances. If her bra was removed, for example. Because the only way that was happening was if she was dead or unconscious. She knew how to disable it if she removed it herself. The other way was pressure. She could turn it on with a quick squeeze of her breast, and if anyone else was squeezing her there, well, Zell would be there to kill them in a second, if Quistis didn't get there first.
Taking a shot of the most potent Balamb rum she could find in their apartment, Quistis Trepe went to work.
Phantasmagoria was busy, and it would be even busier in a few hours. Quistis leaned against the bar to survey the people in attendance. Someone important was in one of the VIP areas in the upper level, and she tried to keep a close eye on those coming and going from that booth. Maybe it was Siegfried. She hoped so. Security seemed tighter than normal. Whoever it was, was powerful. And she didn't fail to notice the various runners going to and from that area. He had to be a dealer. Bigger than any of the other targets they had gone after so far.
The music was loud, with bass pumping and lights flashing, making her blood run fast and her heart beat. It didn't take very long for some random guy to buy her a drink. They were always lining up for her attention.
She drank part of it quickly, tossing the rest surreptitiously on the floor, happy when sweat lined her brow, making her perfect appearance just a little less so. She was sweating out the alcohol a bit now, and she could tell that the others could smell it on her.
Like blood in the water.
Time to dance. Garden had offered all sorts of dance classes, especially for undercover operations. Ballroom was a requirement. She had only taken the exotic dance class because Selphie said it would be fun. Would improve their core muscles. Who knew it would end up helpful in missions? Sadly, it wasn't the first time she'd had to use it.
She knew the attention was on her while she danced among the other patrons, slithering her body up and down, balanced perfectly on those teetering heels. In between the strobing lights she kept glancing towards the VIP section, licking her lips.
Come on…
He had to be there. There was too much activity back and forth for it to be anyone low-level. It had to at least be someone who could get them closer to the top.
As she danced, she couldn't help but think of Selphie. Selphie would be so much better at this sort of thing. She loved the dressing up and make-believe.
Quistis was never good at playing pretend. Even as a child, she'd never understood the appeal of the game. The other kids would play pretend house, or pretend 'slay the dragon', with Zell as the dragon, Selphie a princess, and Seifer the knight in shining armor. They always begged her to play, but Quistis never got it. She never participated. What kind of game involves pretending that a rock is anything other than a rock? That a stick is a sword. How silly.
Now as an adult, she was playing the ultimate make-believe, and she worried that at some point this had stopped being make believe and had become real life. Where did one end and the other begin?
Oh well. She had already gone this deep into the abyss. There was no turning back. She had prepped too long for this moment. Done too much. This was reality now.
Sure enough, she soon felt a hand on her waist and a mouth near her ear.
"Want a diamond, baby?"
Peering over her shoulder, she caught sight of a man behind her. About ten years older than her, stubble on his face that seemed more intentional than not. He wasn't bad looking, she supposed. He was also one of the guys she had watched moving in and out of the VIP section at the club.
"Thanks." She made sure to slur her words just a little before looking at the small pill in his hand. Green, with a chocobo on it.
Perfect.
She opened her mouth obediently and let the man place the pill inside, his fingers lingering against her tongue and tracing along her lips. Gross.
Letting out a fake moan of appreciation, Quistis danced against him.
The pill wouldn't touch her. She had spent months building up a tolerance to these things for this very purpose.
But, her new companion didn't know that.
After a while he offered to buy her a drink and she accepted. He mentioned his name, but she didn't bother remembering it. It wasn't like he was going to remember hers. She didn't even remember what name she gave him. She just chose them at random, sometimes even changing them throughout the night. All they ever called her were 'baby', 'princess', or some other diminutive pet name.
Forty-five minutes. She should be wasted by now. If she was normal.
But, Quistis Trepe wasn't normal.
Make-believe.
She pressed a hand against his chest, feeling his heart thumping underneath. He was high. His heartrate wouldn't be that fast otherwise. Giggling, she tripped slightly to the side, pretending to regain her balance by holding onto him.
"Do you want some more?" he whispered against her ear, before his lips attached to her neck.
"Yeah…" She made sure her words were less and less clear.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Zell fiddled with the ring in his eyebrow as he stared at the computer screen in front of him, trying to find a pattern in the madness. In one ear he had the earpiece that was attached to Quistis' tracker. He wouldn't get much audio, especially in the club, when it was dampened by the loud music. In fact, it only picked up trace audio if he was nearby. But it would start beeping in alarm if she needed him.
A brilliant design, if he did say so himself.
It had been acting up today a little. She may have spilled a drink on it. No matter, he had eyes on the door to Phantasmagoria.
In his other ear, he played loud metal music. Music that he used to work out to. Hit the bag to. Now it was his anthems for his work. The music drowned out the click-clack of his fingers on his laptop, a steaming hot cup of coffee next to him.
The cute barista who wore her curly red hair in a bun and had tonberry earrings always dropped off his favorite and cast him shy, sweet smiles.
If it were any other reality, he wouldn't have ignored the smiles. She seemed like a sweet girl. But his life was no place for a sweet girl anymore.
His music was interrupted by a ringing in his earpiece. His phone. A ringtone that told him to pick up. Tapping on the earpiece, he tugged his hood tighter around his head and stepped outside to take the call, grabbing his laptop.
"Yeah?"
"It's me."
"Shit. Hey, man. What's up?"
"I got what you wanted."
Well, this was certainly amazing news. They had been trying to get that for about four months and finally the cowboy had come through. Zell was sure it wasn't easy for him to obtain what they had been looking for either. A breakthrough. Quistis would be thrilled.
"Look, obviously this line…"
Isn't secure. No shit. "I get it. We'll figure it out."
"Stay safe."
"You too, and, give our love—" Zell couldn't bear to finish the sentence.
"I know."
The call ended.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
"Hey, why don't we sit?"
Good, he was feigning the gentleman routine. Quistis knew this one well. She could run this in her sleep.
Quistis tried not to show disappointment when he guided her to a random booth in the side of the club rather than the VIP area. He slid down and offered a hand for her to sit next to him. She practically tumbled into the booth and let him drape an arm around her shoulders as she let herself get drowsy, focusing on the music and the atmosphere to get her into the zone.
Still, she kept a watchful eye on the upper balcony. A rather large figure was gesturing and speaking to someone there. But, she wasn't summoned, and neither was her companion.
At least she could get information by watching. No one ever suspected a drugged-up girl in the corner staring into some invisible gorge.
Her companion kept nudging her, checking to see how reactive was. She had calmed herself enough to not react, and groaned slightly as he kept prodding her. Zell's mental relaxation techniques were amazingly helpful. She silently and discreetly tapped over and over on her knee in a pattern, organizing and controlling her thoughts. Keeping any demons at bay.
She could practically feel the disgusting grin on her date's face as he tugged her to unsteady feet and guided her out of the club.
He hailed a cab and practically threw her in the back seat. She let him, making her body as limp and pliable as possible. The cab drivers that drove in these areas of Esthar didn't ask questions. They knew better.
For all they knew he was "helping" her out.
He climbed into the cab and barked something at the driver, with Quistis mentally taking note of the address he provided.
She curled up sleepily next to her companion and dragged a hand down his chest to his stomach. "D'you have more?" she purred out, in as sultry-yet-blurred voice as she could.
He hesitated. "Uh…"
That meant he was out.
Perfect.
Quistis pouted, flashing her currently violet eyes at her companion before dragging her teeth to his ear in a sloppy kiss. "Can you…?"
She needed him to re-up. She needed him to call whoever his supplier was. Whoever was higher up than him.
So, she needed to convince him she wasn't quite wasted enough.
A year ago she could have never imagined herself in this type of situation. Sure, seduction and in some cases, sleeping with the enemy, were all well within SeeD protocol. But the abyss that she had dove into didn't have an exit other than success. Nothing else mattered.
This was for a higher cause. A higher cause that was currently locked in a cell far away.
Quistis collapsed against the leather seats of the cab, and let the man next to her prop her against him and trail his fingers in her wig and down her cheek.
It wasn't long before they arrived at his apartment. It was decent, but nothing extravagant.
He guided her to his bedroom and all but threw her on the bed, before going to the bathroom.
She used his time away to quickly take in her surroundings. Two exits. Cell phone in the living room. She'd probably have to swipe that on the way out. His hesitation was worrying her. He didn't seem willing to call anyone to obtain anymore of whatever pill he could get his hands on.
She also took note of a few other things in the apartment. No computer. No safe. Interesting…
That meant he wasn't trusted by those higher up.
It was an easy enough game, play like she was wasted. Let the guy crawl on top of her, and just when he thought he was going to get away with something, reveal her sobriety. Seeing the surprise on their faces was always the best part. It made this little game worth it.
The question with this mark was whether or not to try to push him to call his dealer, or just take it as a loss and grab his phone, hopefully getting information from it. Even with the most secure passwords, Zell could figure out how to crack it. The Ruby Dragon was becoming notorious after all.
Deciding the former was a waste of time, she opted for the latter.
She could hear him finishing up in the bathroom and repositioned herself like a broken doll on the bed, splayed on her back with one knee bent up. She shifted the top of her dress so that the corset underneath was showing, but making sure not to trigger the tracker on her bra.
They were all the same. It was so easy.
Peeking out of the corner of her eye, she could see him exiting the bathroom and heading her way.
Until there was a bang from the living room. It took every trained muscle in Quistis' body to not immediately react and jump away and hide, readying a weapon.
Her companion was not as "inebriated" as her, however, and immediately panicked. He made to grab a weapon from somewhere, before an authoritative voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Where the fuck are you, you stupid shit!"
"Shit, shit, shit—" the bottom-feeder mumbled, walking towards the living room like a dog with his tail between his legs.
"What have I fucking said. You don't get high on your own supply!" the voice growled from the other room.
"Siegfried! I didn't even call you, how did you…" Her date sounded so pathetic it was almost sad. Almost.
He slipped out of the bedroom to meet his fate, mostly closing the door behind him to hide Quistis' seemingly unconscious form on the bed.
There was some commotion and what sounded like furniture breaking in the room beyond. Quistis sat up and fully opened her eyes to try to gauge what was happening beyond the door.
"I fucking told you. Stop dicking around. No more girls."
A dealer who kept his underlings in line. So, this Siegfried was obviously smart. No wonder he was so high up. None of the top guys ever dabbled in the substances they sold. The great irony.
Her date sounded injured as he spoke again. "She… she came here willingly."
"Bullshit," what Quistis assumed was Siegfried's voice spat out, menacingly. "I have eyes everywhere, asshole. You're finished."
Another crash and the unmistakable sound of skin hitting skin, and bone breaking with a sickening crack followed. The moans of pain were quickly replaced with silence.
"Only losers have to get chicks high to fuck them. You're fucking pathetic."
Quistis quickly weighed her options. She could press down on her chest and alert the tracker imbedded in her bra. Or, she could play this out. Was Siegfried going to take her somewhere? Could she get information out of him? She opted to play possum.
The door to the bedroom opened roughly, nearly knocked off its hinges. Quistis squinted, quickly slinking back into the bed to pose herself as vulnerable, as she tried to make out the form that entered the room. Siegfried was large, intimidating, wearing a dark trench coat with a hood underneath that was pulled mostly up. His dark hair was shaggy and brushed his shoulders, facial hair obscuring his features. He was not only tall, but clearly built, and Quistis mentally weighed her options on how she was going to overpower him. Most lower-level dealers were easier targets. Sometimes they were high, or maybe scrawny, but even if they weren't, they were always caught unaware, and that was an unparalleled advantage.
"Sweet mother of Hyne…" Siegfried muttered, before easily scooping Quistis into his arms. Quistis wasn't sure if his voice was chastising or concerned.
Quistis tried to calm her breathing and play the part of dead weight. She expected this guy to act as most of the others did when presented with an unconscious beautiful woman. But, this Siegfried clearly was not just any dealer. His behavior towards his underlings betrayed that much. She wasn't really worried about her physical safety, at least not in that way.
She wasn't sure where he was going to take her, but if it was going to get her closer to her goal, she would play along.
As he carried her through the living room, Quistis peered out of the corner of her eye and saw her companion's body slumped to the ground in the corner. He was breathing, but barely. She couldn't ascertain what weapon had been used to do the damage. Fists or otherwise. Siegfried paid it no mind and carried her through the threshold and out of the building as if he did this on a daily basis.
This time, early in the morning, the streets of Esthar were almost empty. Dark alleyways and small passages, left from when the country was first built and an unorganized mess made it easy to slink through the city undetected.
During the rebuilding of Esthar after the Lunar Cry, the city was essentially built upon its old ruins. This created a labyrinth of passages, alleys, and dead-ends that only few knew by heart. It was a maze of complete advantage if one knew how to use it.
Many of the dead-ends were named "Slit-throats". Dark places with no way out where the lowest of the low lived, and waited, for victims. An easy mark for thievery and violence if it so fitted them.
Siegfried obviously knew the streets well, which came as both surprising and unsurprising. He was likely a fairly high-up supplier, why would he know these dirty bottom streets? Had he worked his way up the chain from the dregs of Esthar City? Or was he extremely intelligent? He was carrying her for far longer than she would have thought someone could feasibly carry weight. So, he was insanely strong as well.
He shook her none-too-gently after they were about a kilometer away from the apartment. "So, you're pretending you got a mouthful of diamonds. I saw you. I know what pills you put in your mouth. I know they were diamonds. But you're no whore, and you're just full of secrets, aren't you?"
His voice was husky, gravelly. Full of danger and warning.
How did he know? Quistis feigned being in and out of consciousness as she moaned in what she hoped was a seductive manner.
"I know you're not high, bitch. Despite that mouthful of diamonds you took. You're breathing changed the second I touched you, so did your heart rate. You were obviously trying to get me to that apartment. I've been watching you all night. What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Want?"
His grip on her tightened and Quistis' heart started beating rapidly. She had underestimated him. Greatly so. Shifting ever so slightly, she tried to shimmy her hand down to grab the small knife she had taped to her waist.
In the process she let a squeeze to her left breast to trigger her tracker and alert Zell.
It was no use though, even if Zell was close by… there was no way he could get to her fast enough at this point. And she was cornered against a wall in a Slit-throat dead-end. Zell wouldn't risk anything if he thought an attack would in any way harm her.
"Don't even try it." Siegfried threw her unceremoniously to the dirty ground, dislodging the purple wig on her head. "You won't get close enough to me to use it. Trust me. Don't go for the one in your boot either. You'll be dead before you touch it."
The landing hurt. She was going to have a nasty bruise on her hip in the morning. Quistis stared up at the figure, quickly grabbing her knife and holding it up in a defensive position. He had the upper hand here, and for once she wasn't sure she was going to get out of it.
Was this what her victims felt like? When they realized they had been tricked?
"You're lucky I don't get off on hurting girls. I don't know what the hell your angle is, but do yourself a favor and never come around here again. You're in over your head."
"You…" Quistis slowly started to stand, stepping under a street lamp as she did so.
"If I ever see you again, I won't be so nice."
The man's eyes narrowed slightly and a strange look crossed his partly-obscured features. As quickly as the look crossed his face, it disappeared and he turned his head to the side, masking indifference, stepping away from the light.
"Get in my way, and I'll fucking kill you," he warned.
And she believed him.
Before she could even react, everything went black.
The last coherent thoughts Quistis had before the darkness overtook her were that Siegfried was insanely fast. And she was about to be left in a Slit-throat alley in nothing but a short dress. Completely vulnerable. Who knew how far away Zell was? After all, all it took was a second…
A second, merely a moment, for any of the low lives lurking nearby to spot an unconscious, beautiful woman on their turf. There were no shortage of them.
She would be lucky if she ever saw tomorrow.
beta: colobonema *kiss*
