A Promising Young SeeD

Chapter 14

In A Spiral


"Okay, here's the thing. I've cloned this ID and made a second, but I can't change what picture shows up in their computer system, so the guard can't be looking when Seifer enters the building." Zell handed two hard plastic badges to Seifer and Quistis.

Seifer crossed his arms. "So how are we supposed to do that? What do we know about the security guard that will be working that day?"

Zell noticeably flushed. "Um… I have an idea, but…"

"Spit it out, Wuss. This isn't a game."

O-Lab's security was surprisingly lax, given the amount of research and valuable chemicals that existed in the building. Workers had to tap a badge to a scanner to get past the gated security walls. A security guard was in a booth with a rather imposing gun, and the lab itself was guarded with tall walls topped with barbed-wire. The picture of the person scanning in would be presented to the guard who presumably manually confirmed that the image matched that of the person badging in. No biometrics required.

This came as a huge shock to all of them, especially Quistis. Especially given how technologically advanced Esthar was. Maybe Odine thought that no one would feel a desire to break into his labs? The man was nuts, nothing he did made sense. But past the security gate, the same badge got the worker only into the doors where they needed access. This made things a little trickier as Zell could not find a way to override the system, and neither had the Archivist. The badge Zell had cloned only got them into the building and into an office where the receptionists were housed—which was nowhere near the actual laboratories.

A dead end. Or so they thought.

"Let's just say this guy has an extremely extensive search history…" Zell mumbled, his face now rather red.

"For what? Why are you getting all weird?" Seifer huffed, visibly annoyed.

"Well, um… he's really into, very particular types of videos."

Quistis sighed. "Zell, please, just cut to the chase. What's your idea?"

"Well, just flaunt certain ass-ets of yours and I think you'll distract him."

Raijin choked on the muffin he was eating nearby and let out a bellowing laugh.

Seifer grinned. His arm was already snaked around Quistis' midsection and his hand travelled south, giving her bottom a good squeeze. "Well, she does have rather nice assets to flaunt now, doesn't she?"

"Dude!"

"Seifer!" Quistis slapped Seifer's hand away admonishingly. "Is this really the time for that?"

Seifer winked. "If you think I'm gonna turn down any opportunity to feel you up, you're into the wrong guy."

"Dude, please! Do you have to do that where I sleep?"

Quistis merely pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head slightly, a noticeable blush across her cheeks. But, she made no moves to step away from Seifer.

Quistis costume was simple, made to look enough vaguely like the girl in the photo. She was wearing her pink wig, cropped short and angled at her chin, heavy dark makeup, tight black pants, black boots, and a skin-tight, low cut, black tank top that was short enough to show a ribbon of skin of her toned belly. She had on a bra that made her appear far more well-endowed than she really was, and a generous amount of cleavage was on display. Raijin was able to color on fake tattoos on her lower back and her arm, close enough to what Zell remembered the girl having. He had guiltily known far too many tattoos in places that would have been covered by clothing that Raijin didn't need to replicate.

Quistis was certainly going to grab attention, and there was a reason for that. Besides, the guard probably wouldn't be paying very much attention to her face. She swiped her badge quickly, being sure to press her chest together and give a full display for the guard, flashing a smile. The distraction was easy. Clearly there was no issue, as the gate opened for her.

Seifer was behind her, his costume consisting of a fake mustache, brown hair, coke-bottle glasses, and a lab-coat. If he was anxious, he didn't show it.

"Oops!" Quistis stated rather loudly, dropping her key-card on the ground. Bending at the waist, she stuck her butt out as much as she could towards the guard, making sure her pants slid down and tank top slid up enough to give a generous view of her backside, and the lacy red thong she had on. Raijin had also added a fake tattoo on the small of her back. Counting to ten in her head, she made a point to take far longer to pick up the keycard than she really needed, needlessly shaking her ass in the process as if she was twisting around to look for it.

It was like taking candy from a baby. The guard stared at her blatantly, eyes glued on her backside, giving Seifer an opening to quickly scan his badge and walk through the gate himself.

After Quistis ensured Seifer was through and walking ahead of her to the doors of the building, she finally picked up the key-card. "I'm such a klutz sometimes," she mumbled in an overly-saccharine voice.

They were in. As predicted, they lost radio contact with Zell the second they entered the building. Quistis began to carefully count her steps, glancing at her watch as discreetly as possible. She had ten minutes to get to her next stop.

She was painfully aware of the clanking of her boots on the tiled floor. They were echoing in her ears, and she was certain that everyone else in the building was hearing them just as loudly as she was. Glancing around, there were only a dozen or so people milling about, some in lab coats, some in street clothes, and no one seemed to be paying her any mind. Fifteen steps, left, stay as close to the left wall as possible to avoid the cameras. Check.

Somewhere behind her, Seifer was doing the exact same mental calculations, following her route, but not trying to look like he was following her.

Next camera is center, zig zag to the right wall. Last door before the emergency exit. Three, two…

Code for the door was one-seven-two-eight. She was in. She made it to a damn bathroom.

Taking a deep breath, Quistis calmed her nerves. It had been a long time since she had been on a mission, and adrenaline was beginning to take over. Her heart was beating rapidly and she could feel the blood coursing through her, echoing in her ears. It was exhilarating. She had missed this. Hyne, she had missed this. She slipped into the very last stall of the bathroom and closed the door, leaning her head against it and trying to steady her breathing.

Thankfully the bathrooms in Esthar had doors from the top to the bottom, with only a color lock on the outside alerting the presence of someone inside. In Galbadia they had stalls that showed people's feet and had large gaps in the sides. She never understood that. Esthar's bathrooms made far more sense.

Five minutes passed. Seifer only had one more minute to get there…

As if on cue, there was a light tap tap at the door to her stall.

Quickly unlocking it, she stepped back, having to straddle the toilet so that Seifer's large form could join her. He looked absolutely ridiculous in the glasses and fake mustache, and the dark hair did not suit him. But it did the trick. Besides his size, he was unremarkable, and his scar was faded and covered by the glasses and the way he had styled his hair.

"No one else is in here," Seifer whispered softly, before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on her lips. "One minute, right?"

Quistis nodded. "I'm ready. Will you help me get up?"

Seifer lifted her easily in the stall by her waist so that she was closer to the ceiling. Bracing her legs on either side of the walls she began to slowly inch her way towards the vent panel above the toilet. Seifer was beneath her, supporting her in case she slipped and helping her make her way up.

"Screwdriver," Quistis requested. She glanced down to see Seifer pull one from his lab coat pocket and toss it up to her. A little jiggling her and there, and the panel fell open.

"Time, get ready." Seifer hissed up at her.

"A fire alarm? A fucking fire alarm? That's your master plan?" Seifer looked incredulous.

"It does seem rather elementary, Zell… that never worked at Garden when cadets were trying to get out of taking exams." Quistis looked over pointedly at Seifer.

Raijin snorted. "She's right, ya know? The Disciplinary Committee caught lots of—"

Zell shook his head. "Not pulling the fire alarm. That's easy to track, they can just look at their system and see where it was tripped and determine if there is an actual threat. That won't buy you time. But, if I trigger it remotely, it will look like it was activated by smoke or a fire rather than a manual pull. The building will have to be evacuated, and the fire department will have to do a complete sweep to make sure there is no fire."

"How much time will that give us, Wuss?" Seifer was attempting to look like he wasn't impressed.

"Ten minutes. Tops. I'd aim for seven." Zell glanced over at Quistis. "Will that work?"

"It will have to."

The sound of the fire alarm was reverberating inside the metal vent that Quistis was currently shimmying through. She had memorized the blueprint Zell showed her, having looked at over it over and over to know the exact direction she needed to go. These vents were like a maze. It was a tight squeeze and dusty, too. Quistis was forced to scoot around like a snake rather than be able to crawl. After what seemed like far too long, she found the opening she was looking for, and jammed the vent open with her screw driver. Dropping down to the ground, she found herself in the middle of the heart of O-Lab. A quick glance at her watch confirmed she had about three minutes to do what she needed inside.

The fire alarm meant that the room was empty, and that nothing had been secured in the haste to evacuate the building.

"Focus, Quistis… focus," she mumbled to herself, whilst pulling the small pen camera from the pocket of her pants.

Odine was a paranoid man. As such, there were no security cameras inside the lab area. Likely he didn't want anyone to see just what the hell crazy experiments went on. He also didn't keep any records electronically; all of his notes were written by hand in notebooks. Also a result of his paranoia.

There were various jars and large specimen containers within the lab. Some with petrified or embalmed monsters. Ones she recognized, and a few she didn't. They were labeled accordingly. Scanning quickly, she came across something that felt different. It was placed almost reverently within the room and appeared to be a large tissue sample. Of what, she wasn't sure. Until she saw the label.

S Adel. Sample 21.

Followed by an expiration date. A sample of Adel's body? Apparently the twenty-first sample. For what?

"Oh my Hyne…" Quistis took a few quick pictures with her camera.

Next to it was a small tube of blood in a locked glass, temperature-controlled case.

S Rinoa.

"So he got Rinoa's blood, that was the sample Squall talked about…"

Next to Rinoa's blood there was a long row of very large tanks with amorphous blobs of various colors. It was indistinguishable whether it was tissue or liquid, man-made or organic. As she got close to one of the tanks she got a feeling. A strange feeling she knew all too well. It made her feel comforted and apprehensive at the same time. An icy tingle crept from the back of her neck and started to invade her brain, like it was trying to merge within.

"Shiva…"

The labels confirmed it. They were all there. Every single GF that had been extracted. Raijin had been right. After they had been taken out of the SeeDs' brains they ended up somewhere. Apparently, that place was Odine's lab. She didn't have time to dwell on that, and since being near Shiva again was making her feel extremely uncomfortable, she moved on.

At the end of the lab there was a large cryogenic freezer, on top of which was a fridge. This was filled with various different samples, but there was only one label on the entire thing.

K. Almasy.

Quistis hesitated for only a moment before she did something. Something she knew went against every single SeeD training in her body. Something that could possibly give evidence that O-Lab had been breached. But she didn't care. Quickly glancing behind the freezer, she found a power source for the equipment carrying Seifer's samples. In a split-second decision, she unplugged it. Hopefully it would take them too long to realize the problem and Seifer's samples would be ruined.

She knew it was a risk. It was a mistake. It was something that would get you demoted or sacked as a SeeD. It was reckless and stupid. It was something Seifer would have done. To protect her. To protect any of them. Because he thought it was right, rather than following orders.

Not having time to second guess nor time to lose, Quistis searched for Odine's notebooks. She found a few and flipped through the pages, taking as many photos as she could, catching glimpses here and there of what she was reading, but not having enough time to really comprehend anything.

Sample of Adel needs to be fresh, only lasts for about three weeks before deterioration…

Need to speak with the president about obtaining fresh samples…

Sample problems solved after acquisition of GFs. Each GF can produce a third of the magic of a Sorceress sample, but they are specific. I can't seem to find a way to make the magic into a liquid or solid form, rather I can infuse them into weaponry. The GFs do not seem to deteriorate if kept in tanks at high pressure…

Perhaps combining tissue of a knight with a sorceress could re-create a powerful…

Able to extract magic from sorceress samples, as sample deteriorates the magic becomes less powerful…

It's possible to make magic into a liquid form when taken from a Sorceress, then cloned. Clones are not as strong, but have powerful implications for healthcare. Extracting magic from GFs has only been able to be weaponized. Need funding. Grant application to the Center for Advanced Medicine, received 2 million gil for further development—will need more. Sent samples to…

The Knight Sorceress relationship is unique, attempts at breeding samples with K Almasy and Adel have been unsuccessful. Hope to clone S. Rinoa with K Almasy. What monster could be made? What magic? As he was Ultimecia's knight, maybe they will be a better match. Would like a sample from Leonhart…

Extraction from Adel allowed for cannon creation, doubtful it is powerful enough to defeat S. Rinoa, but…

Junction Machine Ellone allowed entrance into the memory of Fated Children. Monsters never seen before, hope to recreate…

Time was up. Sweet Hyne, what she had managed to read was terrifying. So Odine really was trying to make little Sorceress clones. To what end? To study them, presumably. Quistis shuddered. He was also able to extract magic from tissue samples of Sorceress'? Was that why he wanted Rinoa's blood? Was that related to the street drugs?

All of the drugs came back to Seifer. And Odine. And GFs. And Sorceresses and Knights. It always came back to Sorceresses and Knights.

It seemed unlikely Odine was in the street drug business, but according to the notes he had a sponsor that he was giving samples of the drugs to. They definitely needed to look into that. Odine probably thought he was advancing medical technology. Idiot.

She could hear footsteps in the hallway outside. Loud, banging, a lot of yelling. That meant the fire department had arrived. There was jiggling at the door to the Lab which thankfully was locked, buying her time. The firefighters had arrived. Just as Zell said, seven minutes was her max time. Dashing back to the panel, Quistis used a chair to hurtle herself up into the air and catch the edge of the vent. Mustering all her upper body strength and thanking her lucky stars she kept up her exercise regiment, she hoisted herself up into the vent and inside, pulling the door shut behind her.

Below she heard the glass break to the door to O-Lab and then firefighters stream in, searching for potential fire. That meant they would be near Seifer soon. She had to hurry.

Shimmying as fast as she could, she retraced her path to the open vent in the bathroom. There was no graceful way to get out at this point, as speed was a necessity. Instead she just flung herself out head first, Seifer waving her down from below. He caught her somewhat sloppily, but they made it work, saving her from falling into the toilet or smashing into the floor.

"Seifer, I-"

"Shh, shhh…" He covered her mouth and jerked his head towards the door.

Listening carefully, she could hear the firefighters now sweeping the bathroom.

"Clear?"

"Clear. Double check the stalls."

Quistis and Seifer locked eyes. Shit. This was not expected. They didn't anticipate the fire crew checking each individual stall. Quistis began to panic as she heard the stalls being opened in a line leading up to them, one by one. Seifer then did something very unexpected. Grabbing her roughly, he ripped off her hoodie and tossed it on the floor. He then tugged her tank top down so her bra was exposed before shoving her down on to her knees, facing away from the stall door. He made quick work to unbuckle his pants as well. What the hell was he…

"Trust me," he whispered.

The door handle began to rattle.

"Oi? Why is this locked! Who's in there! This is a fire emergency! Open up!"

Before Seifer could unlock the door, it was broken from its hinges. Quistis couldn't see anything, she just kept her face staring at Seifer's crotch, not daring to turn around.

"Hey! What are you—oh…" The firefighter behind her chuckled briefly before his voice turned authoritative. "You can't be in here, there may be a fire. Mandatory evacuation at an alarm, idiot!"

"I'm sorry, I—" Seifer was gesturing with one hand and putting on the most nasally voice he could muster. "I already paid for her, and—"

This was Seifer's master plan? Pretending she was a prostitute he brought to work? Of all the—

"Hey man, she looks expensive, I get it, but take it out to the bushes outside or something and let us do our job…"

"Uh… yeah, sorry," Seifer mumbled apologetically, zipping up his trousers and hauling Quistis to her feet. Doing her best to not make eye contact, Quistis grabbed her hoodie and zipped it up, tugging the hood over her as they quickly darted out of the bathroom. Walking flush against the wall to avoid cameras, they ran out of the emergency exit, dodging the known camera angles until they were able to get off O-Lab campus.

Quistis' heart was still racing as they made their get-away.

Heading deeper into Esthar, Seifer pulled them into an alley after they were a safe distance away from the lab. He tossed his balled-up lab coat into a trashcan nearby, before pushing her against the wall of the building behind her and pressing his lips to hers.

"You look fucking hot like that…the wig… I dig it. The whole thing, what you did? Shit, its been a long time since I've had this kind of adrenaline rush."

Quistis wrinkled her nose at the kiss, the fake mustache on his upper lip tickling her. While she was used to him having stubble, the full-on mustache was a bit much.

Seifer gave her an inquisitive look, but seemed to understand and quickly ripped it off his skin and tossed it to the side. He still had her pressed up against the wall of the building, his strong body pushed against hers in an oddly comforting yet sensual way. His knee was pushing between her legs, not insistently, but making her well aware of his presence. And his power. She could feel his heart hammering against hers, matching it beat for beat. He didn't kiss her again, just watched her carefully, searching her eyes with his own.

"So, what did you see?"

She didn't want to talk about that. Not now. Not with the rush of the mission and adrenaline coursing through her. She only wanted one thing. There were many rumors in Garden of the extra-curricular activities SeeD and cadets engaged in after battles. The high of magic and endorphins was too powerful an aphrodisiac. It was rumored to be the most intense experiences that existed, though it was never something Quistis had done. She never had someone she was interested in engaging in it with. But with Seifer, when she could feel the raw energy and desire radiating off him... She didn't want to talk, all she wanted was…

"I want you," Quistis pressed her face to his neck and breathed in deeply, memorizing his musky scent, taking note of the light perspiration along his collar bone from the dry Esthar heat. "I need you."

"Right now?" Seifer questioned, but he made no moves to stop her.

"Gods, yes. Please. Just fuck me."

That did the trick. Quistis Trepe was not a person who used that kind of word. Or made that type of request. With a growl, Seifer was attacking the button of her pants and shoving them down her hips along with her panties. Some rather impressive one-legged maneuvering and kicking a boot off had one leg freed and he hitched it over his hip. After quick work of his own belt and fly he entered her roughly, with no preparation.

The brick wall of the building behind her dug uncomfortably against her back as he pumped roughly within her, his lips on her ear whispering filthy enticing things. Seifer had never taken her like this. This was the Seifer she had always imagined in bed, this was the Seifer of battle. The Seifer that she had been with up until now had treated her reverently… but this? This was rough and primal in a dirty alley in downtown Esthar. It was exhilarating.

Quistis could not have been more turned on. Digging her nails into Seifer's back, her climax came quickly, burying her cries in the crook of his shoulder as he continued his relentless assault. With one hand holding onto her hip to keep her leg positioned around his waist, the other grabbed hers in his own, lacing their fingers together and bracing them against the wall. Where their hands were clasped together was surprisingly gentle, an intimate gesture in such a ruthless act. Seifer never ceased to surprise her.

His release came shortly after hers, filling her without second thought of the aftermath and the mess, accompanied by a ragged breath in her ear, a litany of obscenities spilling out of his mouth.

They both attempted to steady their breathing, the adrenaline finally wearing off, hearts gradually slowing down. Seifer made no moves to release her, or to withdraw. He merely kept their hands clasped together against the brick, the other hand still placed firmly on her hip, the only thing currently keeping her standing.

"I'm fucking in love with you, you know that?" he mumbled into her neck, before finally releasing her. He turned his back to her quickly, and she could hear him zipping back up his pants. He didn't seem to expect or need a response. He quietly helped her slip on the one side of her panties and pants that he had just tugged off, and fetched her boot from some corner of the alley.

With a smirk on his face, he adjusted her pink wig for her, placing back the blonde strands that had fallen asunder during their tryst. It was a strange thing. Him, dark hair and glasses, her in a pink wig. Almost two strangers, yet so intimately understanding of each other. Grasping her hand in his own, Seifer led them from the alleyway and towards his apartment in what was sure to be an uncomfortable walk, particularly for her.

She didn't care.

She slipped her hand from his and instead wrapped her arm in his own, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"For the first time, I…" she started, and found she couldn't finish.

Seifer didn't press her for information. Instead he tugged his arm from hers and wrapped it around her shoulders as they headed for the Skylink station.

For the first time I'm afraid.

For the first time I'm afraid of dying. I don't want to. I want to see what happens with us.

For the first time I feel like I might really be…

And it's because of you.

"C'mon, Wuss and Rai are waiting for us to report."

"Right."

"Oh, and Quis?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you put the wig back on later tonight? It's seriously doing it for me."

Quistis rolled her eyes, but a small grin was on her lips.


beta: colobonema