AN/ I forgot to mention last chapter, but you can thank Cookie for this sequence. He was the one who talked me into this idea. Aha.
Music suggestions: "All the Kings Horses" and "Norwegian Pirate", both by Two Steps from hell
Update Feb 2014: ASAS ch43 has extra content for this chapter
Chapter 143: Two
"And just what are you doing?" Axel asked, glancing up from digging through the desk drawers in the Computer Room.
"Following you," Alpha replied, firmly. "Trying to see what you're up to."
"I already told you what I'm up to!" Axel said with a wave of his hand, as he closed one drawer and opened another. "The external is in one of these drawers, isn't it?"
"Like I'm going to tell you…" Alpha muttered.
"Valid," Axel sighed. "Aha! There it is!" He pulled the external out from under a mess of papers, and smiled at it triumphantly. "Can't tell you how much trouble I'd be in if I couldn't have found this thing."
Alpha positioned himself in the doorway so that Axel couldn't slip past. He summoned his lexicon to him, though he wasn't quite sure what he would do if he had to use it. Besides, fighting Axel didn't sound very appealing…
"Oh, don't do that," Axel said, as he straightened and saw where Alpha was standing. "It doesn't have to be that complicated."
Alpha held out his hand. "The external," he demanded.
Axel laughed and slipped the external into his pocket. "Don't think so," he said. "I already mentioned how much trouble I'd be in if I didn't have this, didn't I? Now get out of my way."
"The external," Alpha repeated, standing his ground.
"Alpha, really, I don't want to hurt you." Axel summoned a bit of fire to his fingertips. "But you're not giving me another choice."
Alpha swallowed. "The external, Axel," he said, one last time.
Axel threw the fire at him.
Alpha's sense of self-preservation kicked in and he dove out of the way before the fire could hit him, though he felt the heat of it on his skin as he moved. He lost his balance and ended up on the ground, though he quickly pushed himself up.
Axel let out a long breath as he stepped out of the computer room. "Listen, as long you stay out of our way, there really is no reason for any of you to get hurt," he said, turning away from Alpha and starting down the hall. "Most everyone here is under the orders to be a distraction, not to kill. Though, if someone does get hurt…" He paused for a second, shrugged and shook his head. "I can't be held accountable, now can I?"
Alpha grunted, rising to his feet. He started to go after Axel, but three Assassins stopped him.
"Keep him from following me," Axel commanded, starting off again.
The Assassins proved to be more of a barrier than a nuisance. Alpha could destroy one, but another would be there to immediately take its place. However, provided he didn't attempt to follow Axel, they didn't attack him.
Figuring the Assassins weren't that worth it, Alpha ducked back into the Computer Room. He could always just check the Security Cameras to see where Axel was heading.
xxx
Fighting the Larxenes turned out not to be too hard. The lightning was easy to block with his shield, and even the few times Vexen did get hit, the amount of lightning wasn't even that large. He'd been hit by accidental bolts of lightning from the Larxene in his universe before, and those were much more painful.
At any rate, it wasn't long before both of the Larxenes were dead. Vexen sighed and banished his shield, only to rethink that and summon it again. There were still plenty of lesser Nobodies milling about, and a relatively unoccupied Marluxia Replica not far from him. He started making his way towards the corner in which Riku was in, hoping to figure out what was going on.
Making his way to the other side of the room, however, proved to be much easier said than done. A few Dragoons or Assassins would demand his attention before he could get far and he'd have to take care of them before he could continue. (The Dusks tried to get in his way, too, but, they were just Dusks, so they weren't hard to get rid of.)
What has Xemnas got planned? Vexen thought, worriedly.
I mean, I'm only assuming that he's involved in this, but—this is most certainly not a regular raid. And that Larxene. She mentioned Xemnas, did she not?
The other Larxene silenced her awfully quickly…
Vexen finished with the pair of Assassins he was dealing with, but before he could get more than three steps, a Sniper and a Dragoon got in his way.
That alone, however, is reason enough to assume that Xemnas is involved in this.
So what is he planning?
He almost found it funny, that this was happening now. Had he not just been thinking about Xemnas and the Rebellion the other day? He had—before he'd panicked about Ienzo—been wondering why nothing had been done to stop the Rebellion yet, as he'd never known Xemnas to tolerate treachery.
Maybe that is what's going on now, Vexen thought, dread filling him.
Though, after all this time, why pick now to deal with the Rebellion? Why not sooner?
Besides, one would assume that he'd send stronger people if he was intending to quash the Rebellion now. Or, at the very least, more people.
The most intimidating person—people—in this room is Xigbar (and his clone, of course).
And there is that Lexaeus Replica… Is that a Replica?
Vexen grimaced.
No. No I don't think that is Lexaeus himself…
He finished the Sniper off with a blow from his shield, now that he was close enough to hit it, and then sent another blast of ice at the Dragoon. The attack did damage (of course it did damage), but it didn't kill the Dragoon.
Vexen was a bit distracted, though.
Goodness, I hope Snapdragon is alright. He appears to be just fine taking on both the Lexaeus and a Marluxia at once… but…
He quickly shook the thought of helping from his head.
No! I am working my way over to Riku!
Though, working my way over to Riku is hard when all these lesser Nobodies keep getting in my way. Really… I can barely take two steps!
In fact, he'd gotten about four and a half steps before a few Dusks (three) and an Assassin got in his way. Thankfully the Dusks weren't hard to get rid of. Vexen took this moment while he was absent-mindedly disposing of said Dusks to observe the situation.
Amaryllis and 7—I'm heading in their general direction—are working on that group of lesser Nobodies near Riku (which appears to be comprised of mainly Assassins). Riku's still blocking bullets to save his neck; Xigbar and his clone have not relented at all. They must be under orders to keep Riku distracted.
Thistle was fighting Dragoons, last I checked. Snapdragon is miraculously holding his own against a Lexaeus and a Marluxia. There's that other Marluxia Replica I passed who wasn't fighting anyone…
He scanned the room, seeing what else was going on, as he moved to fighting the Assassin.
Let's see, 29 is dealing with a few Assassin not far from Riku—there are an awful lot of Assassins in that general area. He doesn't seem as flustered as he did last time I saw him, so he must've discovered Joseph's whereabouts.
And then, over in that corner, there are a Marluxia and a Vexen dueling. I think that Vexen is 25. Unless the Marluxia is on our side… I'm too far from either of them to tell who they are.
Now the Assassin was gone, but he'd gotten about five steps (actually, it was closer to six) before three more Assassins showed up. He skirted past them, and finished crossing the distance between himself and Amaryllis (and 7).
"What is going on?" he asked.
Amaryllis finished off the Assassin he was fighting before looking up at Vexen. It was 7 who responded, though.
"Axel's betrayed us," 7 explained.
Well, that explains everything, Vexen thought. If he's betrayed us, then all this is probably an attempt to go after the Program—we just have more than Saix involved this time.
Axel—pah.
It was really only a matter of time before he turned out to be a traitor.
"What'd he do?" Vexen asked. "I assume all this-" he gestured at the fighting around them, "-is thanks to him."
"It is," Amaryllis said, taking out another Assassin.
"He's gone after the external, too," 7 said. "He said something about…" 7 shook his head as he encased one of the Assassins in a block of ice. "I don't remember."
"He knew where the external was?" Vexen groaned.
"Apparently," 7 replied.
Amaryllis attacked the frozen solid Assassin, killing it almost instantly.
"And none of you tried to stop Axel?" Vexen asked.
Amaryllis snorted. "Us? Take on Axel?" He rolled his eyes. "Snapdragon might've survived, but the rest of us were practically built to be weaker than most Organization members. And since Riku's busy…"
Remembering that Snapdragon was currently taking on a Lexaeus and a Marluxia single-handedly, Vexen wasn't surprised by Amaryllis's comment concerning him. Now, as for Riku…
He's too busy blocking bullets to do anything else…
Like I already said, Xigbar (and his clone) are most likely under orders to keep him distracted. I mean, the fact that they have not attacked anyone else in the room alone is reason enough to believe that.
Now… if we could distract Xigbar (and his clone), for long enough that Riku could slip away and go after Axel…
He couldn't help but do a few calculations in his head as he formulated the plan. Axel had probably left a while ago, meaning Riku had to catch up to him. Also, there was the very high chance that the Xigbars would just go after Riku, as they'd been ordered to focus on him. But... there was a chance of keeping them both (or at least one…) of them distracted long enough for Riku to get away.
He quickly explained his plan to 7 and Amaryllis, and then put himself between Riku and the next round of bullets that… one of the Xigbars fired off. Vexen couldn't quite tell the two apart (and, honestly, it bugged him).
"Go! After Axel!" Vexen hissed, before Riku could demand an explanation from him.
Because, knowing Riku, he would want to know exactly why I'm bothering to protect him…
I hope he'll be glad to know that I'm only doing it because—
The sound of bullets making contact with Riku's blade interrupted his thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder at Riku, and found that Riku was glaring at him.
"Oh, I'd love to go after Axel," Riku said, sarcastically. "But I'm kind of still blocking bullets."
xxx
Was Riku surprised that Vexen was suddenly blocking bullets for him? Kind of. Then again, since they all wanted him to go after Axel and all…
Not like Vexen's plan is working… Riku thought, as the other Xigbar warped so that Vexen was no longer in his way and shot at him again. Riku prepared his blade to block, but found he didn't need to. 7 had it covered.
The second Xigbar fired off a round of bullets, but these were blocked by Amaryllis.
"Get going!" Amaryllis said. "We'll cover you."
Well, alright, maybe this will work.
Riku started running, ears strained for the sound of bullets that might be coming towards him. But, between Vexen, 7, and Amaryllis, they were able to keep any bullets from hitting him.
At least, for a bit.
"Alright, we see how it is!" one of the Xigbars called, reloading his guns. He fired off a round of bullets, then warped to a different spot, fired off another round, and warped again. Vexen somehow managed to block both of the rounds. However, the other Xigbar did the exact same action at the same time, and 7 only managed to block one round, leaving Amaryllis to get the other. So when the first Xigbar fired a round of bullets, no one was there to block them, and Riku had to block them himself.
"How's that working for you?" the second Xigbar laughed. He warped to a different position, and shot off a round of bullets. Vexen blocked those.
While the first Xigbar was shooting at 7 and Amaryllis, and the second Xigbar was reloading, Riku took off at a run.
"Hey, not so fast!" one of the Xigbars shouted, and a dark corridor opened not far from Riku's ear. Riku quickly ducked before a stream of bullets shot out of it, and then rolled to keep moving. Once he was on his feet, Riku formed a dark corridor around himself, hoping to get as close to the Computer Room as he could—of course, that was only just into the hallway that lead to the Computer Room.
He emerged from the dark corridor and quickly scrambled backwards. One of the Xigbars had managed to get there quicker than him, and was hanging upside down in mid-air, grinning about three inches from his face.
"Where do you think you're going?" Xigbar asked.
Riku glared and took another three steps backwards. Xigbar was blocking his path, and there was no way to slip past him—the hallway behind him was corridor-proofed to make reaching the Computer Room more challenging.
Nice plan, Vexen, but it isn't working out… like usual…
Riku sighed, and brought his blade up to block the next round of bullets that were shot at him.