Hello everybody! Sorry for having a very long update. I had a lot of things between the last time I made and update and now being that it was both Christmas and my birthday a couple of days before Christmas. I also made a new story based for Christmas called, "A Mercenary's Christmas Angel", for those of you who are interested in reading it. Yes, it's not Christmas now, but I think it's still a pretty good story to read being that it's also based heavily on friendship.
Anyway, I apologize again for making you all wait. As such, I'm going to give this story a little boost in trying to add more twists into the story. That and I'll also try to put another small humorous portion to it.
This author's note was supposed to have been longer, but the saving process for it went crazy and erased it all. So sorry to all of you who feel that this was quite short and also sounding a bit frustrated at the same time. They really have to work on making sure the saving mechanism stops acting up like that.
Anyway, I hope that you all like this new chapter as much as I had making it. Until the next update to this or one of my other stories everybody!
Chapter 12: The Consulate's Computer Room
I really hope things end up going well up here, Sora thought with a small frown as he found a couple of semi-large potted plants near the stairs and chose to hide behind it for the time being. He needed to gather his thoughts in order so he would be able to execute the plan Axel and Hayner had laid out for him without any deadly hitches and did not want to get caught out in the open while doing it. Thank god they were healthy and bushy in nature and provided good coverage from where they were situated. Last thing I need is to lose what little I have under my name by getting caught and thrown in jail for this. I so don't want to be rotting away in a jail cell and hanging out with actual criminals anytime soon.
With a deep breath that he soon let out into a silent sigh, the spiky haired teen took caution to view his surroundings for any guards before leaving his cover behind the plants. He memorized from earlier that basic hallway layout of the second floor he was currently on, so he knew where he had to go. The only problem now was making sure he was not caught by any of the guards that might be on this floor in the process.
Amazingly, the entire floor seemed to have been devoid of any life whatsoever save for himself and a few plants here and there. All of the simple brown wooden doors that lined the hallways were closed and most likely locked. There was either nothing of great importance on this floor to garner much protection, or the planners of tonight's party felt that the two guards placed on the ground floor stairwell leading up here would be more than enough protection. Oh, how he and the two spies helping him out with this plan prove the party security planners badly wrong on this.
After spending less than a minute carefully traversing through the empty hallway, Sora found himself facing the set of stairs leading up to the third floor where he needed to be. Making sure that nobody was on the top of the stairs just standing around or about to come down themselves, he quietly made his way up each step while trying to avoid any kind of noise that would alert anybody nearby. Thankfully, the stairs and the area around it were also pretty much empty and proved to be a simple and easy climb. However, he noticed once he reached the top a door wide open in front of him with voices coming out from it.
I hope I don't have to go through there, he thought before spotting another set of potted bushy plants and quickly hiding behind it. He then decided to take out his crude map and see where he had to go to next. …Great, that just happens to be the room where that super computer is being kept. Good thing I don't have to go with Axel's crazy plan since I doubt it'd work in this case. Now I just need to find a way to the roof like Hayner suggested. I think he said the door leading to the roof is down this hallway.
After examining the map for a few seconds, he quickly stuffed it into his dress pants pocket and scanned the hallways before leaving the safety of his hiding spot. He then quickly but carefully made his way down the hallway towards a door that he remembered the blond haired spy saying was marked as the access to the roof. He soon came across a door that had the word roof etched into it and quickly opened it and entered yet another stairwell leading up to the roof before he got caught. Thankfully, the roof was just as empty as the hallways, so he did not really have to be too secretive or quiet now.
Now I just need to make sure I pick the right window to sneak through and not get caught or kill myself by falling to the ground below in the process, he thought as he neared another door atop the stairs, this time a metal door, and quickly opened it. He was soon greeted with the cool brisk air of the winter night hitting his cheeks as he was now on the roof of the consulate with the entire hallway ordeal now behind him. I just hope nobody's up here taking a smoke or anything like that.
After making sure that nobody was on the roof, a feat easily performed since there were basically no visual obstructions in the way, he closed the door and quickly made his way towards the side of the building. He made a mental map of the doors he passed from the third floor stairs to the door leading up here, so all he had to do was count the windows and hope for the best. With that in mind, he looked over the side and began counting the windows. He soon reached a certain number and made his way over said window.
Now all I have to do is climb over this wall and hope I don't either fall to my doom, he thought with a small audible whimper as he mentally took note that the side of the building he was on seemed more like an alleyway on the ground than part of the main road or front entrance. This is definitely not what I signed up for.
With another worried whimper, Sora began to climb over the wall that served as a sort of protection against people falling from the roof. Funny how he was now completely defeating that very purpose all for the sake of sneaking into one room. At least Hayner was right when he said that there was a ledge just large enough for a person to walk across somewhat comfortably on. Now if only he could land on it without falling…
Once he was on top of the barrier, the teen began to slowly inch his way over to the edge, his left foot now hanging over nothing with his knee quickly following suit. With a scared whimper, he felt his whole left leg sink down a bit and thus dragging his right side with it. Unfortunately, it was a bit too quick for his liking and he began to panic. This, in turn, caused the rest of his body to fall over to the edge.
"Yikes!" he squeaked out in surprise as he held onto the edge of the barrier for dear life and had his upper arms lying flat against the top of the barrier. His feet were flailing around for anything he could use to get some footing and felt the tips of his toes brushing against the ledge. With a shuddering breath, he tentatively inched even further down and felt the bottoms of his dress shoes flattening onto the ledge. Once they were firmly flat, his hands were practically just hanging onto the edge of the barrier as more of balancing means.
I think I just got a new fear for heights now! he thought with bunches of short and shuddering breaths as he bit at his bottom lip to keep himself from screaming in fright. I just need to open up this damn window and get off this ledge.
Without wasting any precious time and just wanting to be somewhere safe, he carefully bent down towards the window next to him and tried to pull it upwards in an attempt to open it up. Amazingly, it was unlocked and opened up with the greatest of ease. Without even bothering to see if anybody was inside, he quickly slipped inside without letting his feet make any noise against the ground.
Roxas had better appreciate everything I'm doing for him here! Sora thought as his body shook off the immense fear he felt in the past few seconds. I almost died just trying to sneak in here! I swear; I'm never going to consider being a spy any day even if they paid me a million bucks a year!
Once his mind had calmed down, he allowed his eyes to finally take in the sights of the room he was in. Thankfully, it was devoid of any people, so he did not have to worry about some person or security just staring at him like he were some kind of robber or enemy spy. What he did notice, however, were a bunch of computers in the room making a bunch of annoying beeping noises. They all looked like the Destiny Island International Bank's computers except they seemed to be working without any human aid. They flashed with streams of data that were rapidly appearing on the screen and impossible to even discern before just as quickly disappearing from visual existence.
He then saw one computer that stood out from the rest. While the computer monitor itself looked just like the others, there was a big piece of machinery it was hooked up to that seemed to be the main hub of everything. It took up a lot of room and was thus tucked away at the corner, but there was an opening underneath the table where the computer was mounted that also was laced with many colorful buttons that no doubt influenced whatever was going to happen with the computer.
I guess that's the computer Roxas wants me to tap into for him, Sora thought as he examined the great piece of machinery. He did say that it was going to stand out among the others. Now where's that bypass box Axel gave me?
Before he could go ahead and dig in his tuxedo for said box, he heard a doorknob being jiggled from the other side. Without thinking, he made his way towards the door and hid behind it just as it was opened.
"Honestly, you're acting like a man turned old and completely helpless!" a woman's voice was heard saying in a teasing tone from the room outside. Oddly enough, it sounded very much like the voice he heard when he was meeting Hayner at the harbor, but he was not overly sure on it. "I could've opened that door in less than half the time you did!"
"Need I remind you that I have a temporarily dead arm and a half-functioning hand right now, Ms. Foudre?" another voice, this time a man's, snapped back in an irritated tone. This one was a voice that he clearly remembered from one of the most harrowing moments of his young life. It belonged to the very same man who had tried to kidnap him after he left Roxas's apartment two nights ago! "I think I'm entitled to be acting just a little bit like an old man right now because of my unfortunate condition."
"The only real unfortunate thing about this whole ordeal of yours is that you actually got beat by a simple little kid who doesn't know anything about the real world," the woman known as Ms. Foudre responded with a strong hint of annoyance. The teenager still hiding behind the door vaguely remembered hearing that same name from when he had first visited the consulate. "How do you manage to both crash the taxi you hijacked and lose sight of the kid at the same time? I thought you said you were some kind of great spy back in the day. And I told you to just call me by my first name, Larxene!"
"Even the best of us can't keep our eyes on the mark at all times," the man responded as the color of his black suit just barely entered within Sora's line of vision. "This includes when we're busy driving and trying not to unnecessarily crash into something or someone. And besides, how the hell was I supposed to know he was actually hiding something in that flimsy jacket of his? I swear; I'm going to make that boy pay for all the damage he's done to me. My head still rings from when he struck me."
"Whatever, Vexen," the girl called Larxene responded in a tone that sounded like she was brushing it all off. "You're just too proud to admit that you royally screwed up one of the simplest jobs that even I could've done. If it were me out there, I would've first made him take off his jacket to make sure he didn't have anything hidden."
"Knowing you, you'd probably also make him take off the rest of his clothes and have you way with him while still keeping him at gunpoint," the man named Vexen responded with a hint of disgust in his words. "And please address me as Mr. Floe. It's only proper since I'm both older than you and higher up in the working ladder. In fact, the only reason you managed to land yourself a job as a Twilight Town spy and thus become a mole is because of your great talent, something that I say with great disdain, to seduce men to the point that they can't make any rational decisions no matter their current situation."
"It's worth it in the end if it can keep them from calling in their entourage of men for help or if they're hiding something important from me," Larxene responded in a tone that made it sound like she was trying to put justification behind her proposed actions deemed unfavorable by the other. "And you can actually manage to get away with it without any problems whatsoever when it's all over. Even you have to admit that it's very effective in getting information from even the most tight lipped of men."
"I still say that using your womanly charms and ultimately your body isn't a good way to be gathering information," Vexen responded in that same disdainful tone as his footsteps were heard heading back towards the door. "If you ask me, you might as well be participating in prostitution. If you're not killed by a bullet aimed at you, then you're going to die a slow and painful death via potential diseases."
"As if participating in gunfights with the enemy while trying to drive a car in busy highway at the same time isn't just as dangerous," she was heard countering before the door slammed shut and thus muffling their voices to the point that Sora could not hear them. At last, he was alone in the room once more.
Wow, I didn't think anybody would come in right now! he thought as he let out a very heavy sigh of relief before peeling himself off from the wall he was pasted against. He was still breathing heavily from the ordeal, but he was otherwise alright and able to at least move without suffering from weak knees. Talk about having your close calls. I'm just lucky this Vexen guy didn't decide to look behind this door and the woman didn't come in with him. I can only imagine the trouble I'd be in if they found me.
But just what the hell is that guy who tried to kidnap me doing here in a consulate? he continued to think as he decided to make his stay in this room as short as possible before he ended up getting caught. He went straight for the big computer and crouched down so he could easily see what was underneath the opening underneath the computer. He was greeted with a bunch of wires plugged into the table with ports still left unused. From what I heard him saying, he works with the people here as a member of the spy organization. Why in the world would a spy want to go through all this trouble to kill me when I'm trying to help them save one of their own? It doesn't make any sense.
As these thoughts continued to race around in his already swirling head, he tried to remember the instructions Axel had given him for installing the security bypass box. With it in his hand, he began to connect the wires on the box to the computer in whatever available spots there were. He also made sure that they were in the correct colored slots so as to make sure the whole thing ended up working.
God, I hope I'm not doing anything wrong here. Last thing I need is to be electrocuted or make some kind of alarm go off and start rushing in here. Axel had better be right in telling me how to install this stupid bypass box.
After about a minute's worth of fiddling around with the wiring, he was greeted with the sight of the box suddenly showing three numbers. It was clearly revealing a certain time by the way a colon was placed between the first and second number. In red, the numbers read five minutes after seven, a time just past when Roxas usually contacted Sora. This showed that he had finished installing the box.
I doubt anybody would be able to see this box since it's practically covered by all this wiring, Sora thought as he stood up and admired his handiwork. He took a few steps back and decided to lean against another table housing the other regular computer monitors. And if everything goes well, Roxas should be home sooner rather than later.
Before he could continue on with his track of happy thoughts, he heard something that was akin to a machine starting up. In the next moment, he felt something tugging at the edges of his tuxedo coat and quickly bringing him down.
"What the…?" he exclaimed, catching his tone of voice just in time and saying it in a raspy whisper. When he looked to see what was going on, he noticed the coat was caught in some kind of machine that looked a lot like a paper shredder. Sure enough, parts of the fabric that went through started to have the quality of shredded paper.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he growled out as he started to tug at his coat in an attempt to get it out. Unfortunately, all that managed to do was force it to make an unusual noise that was loud and possibly garner unwanted attention. "This can't be happening right now! I need to get out of here!"
As he continued to try and get himself free from the machine, he slowly felt his back being pulled closer towards the desk where it was situated. It was clear that it was not going to let up anytime soon and would even take a chunk out of the teen if it came to it. He back was soon touching the desk, and his upper arms started to have a tightening feel to them from the coat still being tugged into the machine.
After a few more moments of fighting what seemed to have been a losing battle between man and machine, the teen's tuxedo coat finally let out a loud ripping sound before he finally felt the tugging feeling stop and the pressure that was pulling him towards the desk all but disappear. However, whatever was still left in the shredder was quickly shredded with a loud noise that sounded like it was about to be jammed.
Geez, since when did people thought it good to be putting shredder machines in a room full of computers? he thought with an aggravated sigh before examining his now torn tuxedo coat that exposed the bottom portion of his white shirt. What kind of papers do they have here that they would need to shred?
Just then, he heard something that sounded a whole lot like printing going on behind him. Turning around, he saw the computer he was just fiddling around with showing off some data at an insanely fast pace. At the same time, a long strip of paper was spewing out of the big machine next to it at a pace faster than a standard printer. Apparently, it was recording on paper whatever was being posted on the computer.
Guess that answers my question, he thought with a bitter frown before hearing the doorknob jiggling again. And just as he did before, he made a mad dash for the back of the door and hid there just as it was opened.
"I don't understand why this computer always has to record whatever information it receives every single hour," the voice of Vexen was heard muttering under his breath in an annoyed fashion as his footsteps stopped presumably in front of the stream of paper. "These things hardly spit out anything of importance. And even if it did, it's not like I'd be able to do anything about it."
"And yet it was just a stroke of luck that you happened to check that same machine on the day it spat out information about you being a mole planted inside Twilight Town intelligence," Larxene was heard replying from wherever she was in the other room in a nonchalant manner. "And it happened to have been a message being fed into the machine by our wonderful little spy who managed to get in contact with that naïve teenager you failed to bring to our boss. It's thanks to you that our boss managed to locate and kill off that annoying Xion character and her trusted contact before they escaped from Twilight Town and came back here. It's just too bad she died before she could tell us where Roxas was hiding."
"Knowing our boss, he should be able to come up with a plan to get around that," the man replied as the sound of paper being torn and loaded into the shredder reached Sora's ears. "After all, he's already got a couple of other plans ready to be put in action that revolve around his only trusted connection to these islands. We just need to get in within our grasps and force him to tell us his key code. How hard could it be to do that? He'd probably break after spending just two minutes torturing him."
"Or you could just let me have my way with him and bring his brain to the point where he doesn't even know what he's talking about," Larxene suggested with a strong seductive streak to her words. "It sounds easier and a lot more fun."
"A lot more fun for you, but more work and forced patience on the rest of us," Vexen replied in a tone that one could easily see being accompanied with an annoyed eye roll. The sound of footsteps walking back towards the door was soon heard just before the door swung shut once more that night.
So Xion's dead, huh? Sora thought as he allowed what he had just heard to settle down in his swirling brain. I've only known Axel for a day at most, but I doubt he'd believe me if I told him. Roxas probably would, although that's a long shot since he kind of seemed hopeful that she'd still be alive.
But still, I think I should be more concerned about myself right now, he continued on with his train of thought as he quickly made his way to the window and looked through it to see if there was any way to escape. How the heck am I going to get out of here with those two most likely still standing out there?
As he was busy trying to figure out a way out of the room while still searching out of the window, he failed to hear the door opening behind him. It was only until he heard the click of the locking mechanism from when the door closed that he figured out somebody else had entered the room and turned around to see who it was.
"I took a guess that you'd probably be stuck in here," Hayner, who had somehow made his way into the room, responded in a low whisper as he looked at the very startled Sora. "I only guessed that after you went upstairs. Looks like I came right on time."
"Geez, do you have to sneak up on me like that, Hayner?" the brown haired teen exclaimed in a harsh whisper in case the other two were still outside. "I thought I got caught by one of those guys outside."
"I don't think you have to worry about them for now," the blond spy responded with a cheeky smile as he spoke in his normal tone. "I just got up here under the guise of wanting to check something in their office as they were both leaving saying something about having to quickly talk to someone about something. I did have something else in mind to get whoever happened to have been up here away, but I guess that's I don't need it now. So come on; let's get out of here before somebody catches me in here with you."
"No need to tell me twice on that," the other stated as he quickly walked up to the spy as he opened the door for both of them to get out. "I've had just about enough close calls that I can handle here tonight. You have no idea how I almost got caught twice being in here. I'm just lucky they were stupid enough to not go about checking the back of the door I was hiding behind. I guess they were too cocky to think that anybody could sneak in here."
"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't really like those two," Hayner admitted with a frown as he walked over to the doorway leading to the hallway in the office area to make sure nobody was walking around before signaling that it was safe to move. "I can't help but to feel something off about them both."
"Well, I did hear a rather interesting conversation between them both while they were checking up on the computers," Sora said as he took off his coat and folded it in a way that it did not look like it was torn apart at the bottom. "I'm sure you'd be more than amazed once I tell you about it."
"How about you save it until after the party's over? I still need to be here since I promised Mr. Hakujou that I'd continue on with our conversation when I returned from the bathroom. Thankfully, Axel stepped in to talk to him as a form of distraction, but I doubt that he'll be able to hold it much longer. And don't worry about your tuxedo; just pretend you got it wet with a bathroom faucet mishap and didn't want to wear it with a wet stain on it," the teen spy added as he addressed the fact that he did in fact saw how the coat was ripped. "I'm not even going to ask how you managed to rip it."
"You probably wouldn't believe me on that even if I explained it to you a thousand times," the brown haired teen explained with an audible groan as they quickly made their way back to the first floor where the party was still going on. And when they arrived at the first floor staircase landing, the teen banker suddenly remembered that he was not supposed to have been past these stairs in the first place and that the guards would probably ask him why was here there. Instead of that, however, they simply allowed him to pass right on by without any questions whatsoever.
Thanking his lucky stars that they did not ask him anything, they went back to the spot where Hayner had last left Axel and Xehanort and continued on with whatever it was they were talking about. While the old man gave Sora a suspicious glance that lasted less than a second, he smiled at him with a nod and asked if he was okay since he spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom. He simply gave a quick excuse that he had a stomach ache and just continued on with trying to keep up appearance while making sure to not act nervous about his tuxedo coat draped over his arm and covering how it had been badly damaged.
This was definitely one of the really crazy days he had ever had since he started helping Roxas find his way back home, and he was more than eager to want to go home and get some rest. Unfortunately, he still had to tell Hayner and most likely Axel about the conversation he heard take place in the computer room between Larxene and Vexen, the man he was more than sure tried to kidnap him. Because of that, he was forced to survive the otherwise boring party and try to hold his own in a conversation with Xehanort and the others. That and Axel was his only ride home without garnering too much suspicion, so leaving on his own was completely out of the question.
Well, things are certainly taking a turn for the interesting. Now we know that Xion, Roxas's partner when they first went to Twilight Town, is dead courtesy of Vexen, a mole planted into the Twilight Town Consulate, telling his boss that he received a message saying she was trying to return home. And Larxene, the woman Sora had met less than briefly when he first visited the consulate, is also working with the mole and seems to have some unfortunately devious plans of torture planned for the spiky haired teen. Just how is he going to survive however long he needs to survive before Roxas can safely come back home? Hopefully, tomorrow will grant them both a victory they deserve after all of this.
Anyway, let me get to the character bios of the characters that are important to this story and have been introduced nicely in this chapter. I'm also giving an update to one of the characters so as to have you all know where they're at now in terms of the story.
Sora Hikari: 18 (A teenage banker who had just infiltrated the Twilight Town Consulate in order to plant a security bypass box in the computer room. While in there, he managed to overhear a conversation between two people in the room just beyond.)
Vexen Floe: 45 (a man who was heard having retired from the spy business, but it doesn't seem to be the case right now. Overheard in conversation, he says to be a mole planted within the Twilight Town Consulate for some reason not explained.)
Larxene Foudre: 30 (a blond haired woman Sora remembered seeing very briefly when he first visited the consulate. Apparently, she's working with the mole as overheard in a conversation between the two in the room next to the consulate's computer room.)
Just to say, the word floe is, as far as I know, an English word for ice in respect to Vexen's ability to use ice attacks in the video game. And for those of you who don't remember, Foudre is french for lightning in respect to Larxene's ability to use lightning that was real hard to dodge at times in the Chain of Memories Remix game. That's pretty much it for the last name translations.
Well, I hope that you all ended up liking this new chapter as much as I had writing it out for you all to read. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story you want to read. They are always very helpful in seeing how the readers are taking my story and all that. Until the next update to this or one of my other stories everybody!