Chapter 13: FH
Morning finally came, seemingly earlier then usual today, and by then the Garden had already drifted to FH on auto pilot. It was 10 AM, and the sun showed it, it was warm as usual, a light breeze coming inland from the ocean. The sound of the water was almost constant no matter where one was in the city, and as Squall climbed out of the second floor emergency exit where a ramp had been customarily in place for them. The familiar idea of himself staying in a place like this came to mind.
(Would you really do it?) Ifrit asked, the deep voice appearing in his mind.
'Maybe, a long time from now I think.' Squall scratched his head sleepily, he couldn't stop himself from yawning as he looked out over the island and the mass of water surrounding them. It was quiet, but it was always quiet here, and the weather was always nice, it was peaceful, a place that had no idea what would come. 'Hmm...'
(Squall, what is that?) Ifrit, alert as usual, was to first to pick on something out of place. He prompted Squall to look slightly to the left, just past the bridge and lift that led into the city from here to the actually city. It was hard to see from here, but on the rail tracks in front of the sun dish was rested something completely out of place. (Isn't that one of the devices those men used?)
Squall leaned froward and squinted his eyes slightly, he could just barely make out the form of the objected Ifrit talked about from here. But when he did finally at lest see an outline he knew what it was, an armored SUV with a defense torrent on top. 'Damnit, they're here already.'
Zell reached his hand out and grabbed the edge of the door frame, pulling himself tiredly out. "Geez, what time is it?" Zell rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and then stretched his arms above his head with a small yawn.
"It's 10'clock." Squall folded his arms and continued to peer around the Island from where he was, searching more signs of another force's presence. "You shouldn't have been up so late."
"Yeah, yeah." Zell stood up strait and adjusted his shirt, lightly slapping the side of his face in an attempt to perk up. "So what are you waiting for?"
"They're here already." Squall announced.
Zell sighed, rubbing the back of neck. "I guess there goes trying to warn them, so what do we do?"
"Hmm..." Squall let his eyes drift thoughtfully down to the water below, this was hard.
(We can't just run into that place.) Bahamut said, (They're forces could be larger then we can handle, and if Allen is there we'll be overpowered for sure.)
Zell nodded. "Your right, we should be really careful ."
Squall glanced Zell's way, noting he was talking to Bahamut, "We'll play it by ear, but remember, our objective is finding Griever and Alex, we don't want to deal with Allen yet."
"Alright."
Squall took one last fleeting glance at the sight before reaching back to shut the door and then stepping on to the bridge. Zell trailed behind Squall as the other boy moved over it with a quickened pace, then impatiently broke into a full sprint about halfway down. They made their way over the familiar bridge of metal that looked as if it had come together on it's own by accident or sparsely thrown together, which it was, yet still held up well.
The people of FH were very crafty.
The worst of the trail was behind them by the time they made it to the lift, where the usual operator was waiting for them. "Ah, I see you banged it up pretty bad this time." The man said, taking off the black baseball hat he wore and shifting around the collar of his white shirt.
"Unfortunately." Squall stepped onto the lift, and just as Zell walked on the gate lifted behind them and the structure descended. "How long will it take to fix?"
"About 3 days if we really work at it." The man said.
"I appreciate it, we need to be ready to leave as soon as possible."
Zell looked over at Squall, then to the man he knew to be an engineer, the gaining image of the armored SUV in the corner of his eye. "Did some people show up here this morning? Like a big group or something?" He asked curiously.
The man didn't have to think about the question. "Yeah in fact, a big group of military types showed up out of nowhere, just right on move in like they was invited or something. I think they're talking to the mayor."
Zell and Squall gave silent looks to each other. "Have they done anything yet?" Zell asked anxiously, his hand darted out and grabbed on to the railing as the lift came to a shaky stop.
"No." The man shook his head, slipping his hat back on, "And they keep saying they ain't fixin' too but I don't trust um'. Fightin' types make me nervous." He didn't hide his indication of Squall and Zell, but the people of FH had learned to tolerate their presence.
Squall and Zell stepped off the lift, standing a good distance away from the railroad tracks and the entrance to the sun dish. They could see two men in Gcom uniform, taking up post around the ramp heading to the mayor's home it seemed, but they weren't paying much attention. "Squall, how the hell are we going to get any information about Griever and Alex from those guys?"Zell asked, shifting uneasily.
"We probably wont." Squall told him, his hand resting on the hilt of his gunblade with the same tense energy Zell had. "We'll just look around and see what we can find out, if Griever and Alex are here then we'll find them."
(Squall, would it not be wise to separate and increases the area of our search to save time?) Ifrit suggested.
'Yeah, maybe it would...' Squall nodded, thinking alittle more about it before speaking on it. "We'll have to split up." He said. "Zell, check everything, and avoid fighting as much as possible."
"Right." Zell agreed, then a slightly perplexed expression came on to his face when he felt the dislogment of unjunctioning, "Huh?" Before he could say anything about it, Carbuncle's form crept into this dimension in front of him. "Carbuncle what are you doing?"
"He said split up right?" Carbuncle replied innocently.
Squall took another sideways glance at the men stationed near the mayor's house "Carbuncle, I think Zell might need you. In case he gets into any fights."
"He has Bahamut, and he's really strong, he'll be fine." Carbuncle said discardingly. "I need to find Alex." Even as he spoke he looked around the unfamiliar place with a bit of awe, the only thing he recognized was the ocean, holding faint memories of it. Everything else here was new to him, everything was overwhelming, he just hoped he didn't get lost.
"It's way too dangerous." Zell said firmly, folding his arms across his chest and shaking his head. "Your a GF, they're after you. What would happen if you got caught? I don't wanna lose you to."
Carbuncle gave him an annoyed look, like a child who had just been told he couldn't. "Zell, I'm not helpless. I can get away from those guys."
Zell and Squall gave each other another look, Zell hoping to find some hint on what he should do from Squall, who could offer none. ( I think he'll be alright.) Bahamut said. (Now that he knows what they're are capable of he won't take any risks he doesn't need to.) Hopefully.
Zell scratched his head slightly and sighed in defeat. "Alright, just be careful."
Carbuncle grinned victoriously. "Right!"
( Squall, those men positioned outside of that entrance, what do you think they are trying to conceal?) Ifrit asked.
Squall looked in their direction fully at the inquiry, 'That's a good question.' Speaking of which... Squall knelt down beside Carbuncle, "Carbuncle, do you think you can get down there without getting caught?" Squall pointed to the dish like structure rooted in the center of the city.
Carbuncle nodded. "Yeah."
Squall stood to his feet, the hand resting on his lion heart drawing the gunblade out.
"What, gotta plan?" Zell asked curiously, his eyes watching the gunblade intently.
"Not really, Me and You will have to get rid of those guards so Carbuncle can get down there, then I'll take one side of the city, you take the other. We met back here in an hour." Squall said.
Zell nodded. "Sounds good to me."
! - ! - !
The two men in green Gcom uniforms looked at each other uneasily, at first glance their eyes were drawn to the Garden they'd just attacked yesterday, it's arrival couldn't mean a good thing. They knew Balamb Garden came here for repairs, which meant it would only be a matter of time before they showed up, making this confrontation inevitable.
So they were clearly somewhat nervous when Squall and Zell started approaching them, with weapon's drawn no less.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Zell stood dangerously close, demanding an answer. Not that he couldn't guess himself.
"Hey, Hey." The man on the left lifted his hands defensively. "We don't want to fight."
Squall barely even listened. "The kid and GF you took from us, we're are they?"
"I'm sorry but we can't give the GF back, we need it." The man on the right said some what sympatheticly.
"I didn't ask what you can't do, I asked where they were." Squall said fiercely, clearly his last warning. Though he didn't expect them to tell him, he just needed to move them.
"Come on, I guess I can understand your position." The man on the left said, "Maybe if I was you I'd want to fight me too, but the people of this town don't like fighting. We don't want to disrespect that."
Squall and Zell looked at each other again, were they serious? "You know, we wouldn't have to fight if you would just give them back." Zell prompted, he figured he'd at lest try it.
Both men looked wearily at each other, shaking their heads as spoke at the same time. "We can't do that."
Squall lifted his sword, taking a step back and readying himself. "Then we have a problem."
The man on the left rubbed his head and sighed. "I guess it can't be helped." He pushed the mic on his headset closer to his mouth. "This is GS89, be advised, engaging a hostile...Goddammit I know we're not suppose to be fighting here but I don't have a choice here." With a growl of frustration the man ripped off his head set and tossed it aside, quickly taking a small leap backwards when Squall slashed at him with his sword.
The man on the right had become distracted watching Squall, and by the time he looked back in the direction of the other boy, Zell had delivered a hard punch to his jaw and another one just as painful to his stomach, making him fall forward slightly. Zell finished the combo with another hard punch to the side of his head that sent the man stumbling backwards across the railroad tracks, into the railing surrounding the dish.
'Great!' Carbuncle slowly crept out from underneath the train resting on the tracks nearby, while the two men were distracted with Squall and Zell, Carbuncle had no trouble moving about. The small GF paused and looked at the soiled railing, there was nothing he could slip under or go through, it was a solid steel Barrier too high for him to reach. So he agilely leapt into the air, kicking off the front of the stalled train and landed on the edge of the thin railing with a feline like grace. He seemed very much like a cat inform as he leapt outward on to the vertical sloping panels so bright with the sun that it was almost blinding.
And at the moment Carbuncle wished he would have looked before he leapt, he wondered if he hadn't lost his memory would he have made the same mistake. 'Whoa!' Carbuncle landed on the heavily slanted surface and immediately lost what little footing he had, he ended up falling head first, his body forcibly rolling into a ball as he tumbled down the surface at a dizzying speed. 'Ahhhaaaa!IHateThis!' Carbuncle nauseously forced himself out of the ball when he felt the incline lighten, managing to land stumbling on his feet so dizzy he didn't know which way was up. But he did manage to notice himself sliding directly into a wall of the platform in the center.
'Shit! Rubber Shield!' Like a flash of light, an off orange shield appeared around him and he fell helplessly into the brick wall but he bounced safely off it and shield popped afterwords. 'Oh Hyne, why didn't I look first...' Carbuncle fell disorientedly to the ground, feeling as if his head and stomach was still spinning...Hyne, that word, something he'd learned from everyone around him. People said it so much he couldn't help but pick up, and it wasn't the only thing, he'd learned a lot so far...
Carbuncle shook his head, trying to disburse the spinning with no avail, he still felt himself reeling from his tumbling.
With a quick look around and realizing there was nothing down here, Carbuncle leapt upward and grabbed on to the edge of the platform, hanging on just barely with his paws as he placed his chin on the top and looked around. He saw two men talking in front of the door of the small house, Gcom solders. And from the window he could see at lest one more inside. 'What are they doing in there?' Maybe he should get a closer look...
Carbuncle's eyes shifted around, keeping the two men in the corner of his eyes at all times as he surveyed the area scrutinizingly. His ears perked at every sound that wasn't the voices of the conversing men...'?' His eyes darted to the far edge of the platform, as far as his vision could reach before the curving surface made it impossible. He heard a small sound, no, a series of them and could just barely see a shadow...
'Hmm...' Waiting until the men weren't remotely paying attention his way, Carbuncle climbed up on to his feet and crept behind a crate before anyone looked his way. Quickly he bolted out the other side, keeping close around the edge of the house until he reached the point where the shadow became seen. '!'
! - ! - !
Squall and Zell had quickly dispatched the two men, seeing as how they seemed really intent on not fighting while in FH, they had enough curtesy not to transform. Afterwords they separated, the two hoping Carbuncle wouldn't get caught as they panned out over the city in search of the most miniscule detail .
Squall hadn't found any yet, but he didn't think it would be too much longer. His mind completely alert as he walked along side the rail road tracks, blending as best he could among the people trying to go about their lives. Despite the number of solders now occupying the area. This had to be the most calm invasion he'd ever seen, it was such a farcry from Galbadia's take over of Balamb a few years back. 'I don't get this...'
(Those men say they are trying to respect the town's policy of not fighting.) Ifrit said (Maybe they truly are trying to act accordingly.)
'Maybe...' Squall shifted his eyes around, looking particularly for places where more then one solders were gathered, or something of that nature where that kind of information would be. He paused curiously as he came upon a shop...'I still don't get it, what do they want?'
(It seems purely to be in opposition to Galbadia.)
'That's not what I mean...' Squall pushed the door open and walked inside of the small shop, stepping on to hardwood floors and a room lit seemingly solely by the light of the window beside the door covered by open blinds. He was met by the soft breeze of a fan resting on a table. The store owner sat behind a counter beside him, and in front of a pair of stairs leading upstairs stood two Gcom solders, apparently trying to buy something from him. 'This is what I mean, why are they buying whatever it is they want. If they have control of the city, why not just take it?'
"I'm not selling anything to you." The store owner hissed venomously.
"You don't even know who we are." The first solder said, a man with long brown hair and the customary Gcom green uniform.
"Let me handle this." The second solder whispered harshly, gaining a glare from the other solder. This one had wild, spiky black hair, running his hands through the unruly strands as he turned back towards the man. "Look sir, we don't want to cause any trouble, honestly."
"Yeah right, trouble always comes when you military types show up, just get out." The stubborn owner said bitterly. He looked to be about in his mid 40's.
The two men looked at each other, the brunet shrugged and looked at the other promptingly. "Uh...Look, sir, all we need is a capacitor." The black haired man said, it was a junk shop, there was bound to be some around here. "Maybe a little bit of steel, Oh, and uh, some titanium would be good."
"I said-"
"We'll pay you double." The man offered.
"No-"
"Triple."
Squall couldn't believe it, they were offering to pay the man that much money, even though they just took over the whole city and if they wanted to take it there was no way the man could stop them. 'What do you make of this?'
(I'm not sure yet.) Ifrit said with clear uncertainty.
The older owner seem to take an interest in that. "Triple?"
"Don't misunderstand us, we aren't here to cause you any problems." The brown haired man said. "We just want to buy some things."
The older man just stared at them for a few seconds, seemingly unsure if he wanted to go along with this. But either of the growing belief they weren't here to start problems, or the enticement of money, he started to except "Fine."
Squall reached behind him and fumbled around to get the door knob into his grasp, quickly turning it and backing out of the store before they noticed him. (Squall, why did you leave?) Ifrit asked.
Squall quickly slipped into an alley behind the building, his body hiding into the shadows as he came to a second window on the wall adjacent to the counter inside the building. 'I want to see what they need that for. What do you suppose they're trying to build?'
(I don't know.) Ifrit said.
Squall watched as more of the Gcom solders passed by him on the street, unnoticing of his presence. Gcom didn't occupy this place with that many numbers it would seem needed to take over a town, not nearly as many as Galbadia. There were still a few troops on their way from unknown locations, he could hear helicopters in the distance, yet still there wouldn't be more then 500. Galbadia had used about 2000 and they were simply moving through Balamb.But it was understandable, one of their solders could easily equal three or four of Galbadia's. 'I wonder if Allen is here.'
! - ! - !
Zell seemed to have picked the right, or wrong depending on perspective, side of the city. He'd chosen the left, and this side of the island is where Gcom seemed to be setting up a base. Zell stood on the railroad tracks behind an old train that looked as if it hadn't been used in years. This road lead to the old train station on the south edge of the island, that connected to the main bridge stretching to Esther no longer service.
And the whole area was filled with 5 armored trucks parked in neat rows, the same ones that had been used in the attack on Balamb garden a day pryer. 2, clearly armed, helicopters were parked nearby in the center of the train station, not to mention a few boats could be seen in the water. The train station seemed to be the logical place to set up, they simply cleared away the debris and ruble and entered the abandoned building.
Which Zell just had to get into. 'Holy crap, look at all these guys.' Zell peeked out from a safe distance behind with slight dismay. 'They sure moved in fast.'
(We can not afforded to be engaged in a battle.) Bahamut said. Clearly intimidated himself by the overwhelming number.
'I know.' Zell sighed, he pressed his back against the train and slid around to the other side, still staying out of view though coming much closer to being spotted. 'We have to get in there though. It looks like this is Gcom's first stop right? Alex and Griever have to be inside.' Zell took a deep breath and swallowed hard, then he quickly bolted out into the open tracks when he was sure no one was looking and then quickly dived behind the first truck aligned in a neat row along the entrance to the train station. His heart pounded in his ears as he heard the clatter of a large number of solders going about their business around him.
(I'm and unsure you will be able to avoid detection once inside.) Bahamut said uneasily, he wasn't even sure Zell could make it to the front door. ( What will you do if you are?)
'Easy, we fight our way out and run like hell.' Zell told him, as if it was the most simple thing in the world. He fell to the ground and rolled underneath the large SUV, then he began crawling froward through to the next one, inching closer and closer to the station on his stomach.
(It never ceases to amaze me how you can make anything sound simple.) Bahamut sighed, things were a little more complicated then that.
Zell slipped underneath the last car and peered outward among the sea of boots treading around him in all directions, his eyes most drawn to the two helicopters to his left, while his mind was drawn to the stairs of the large building to his right. "Shit... I guess I'm stuck here for a while..."
! - ! - !
"A-Alex!" Carbuncle had to restrain his voice to a forceful whisper when he saw the white haired boy clad in green sitting at the back of the mayor's house, luckily out of range of anyone else.around.
Alex sat on the edge of the platform, his legs hanging off absentmindly and his body crouched over slightly, enough to rest his arms on his knees. "?" The boy looked back over his shoulder when he heard the sound soft footsteps and his name. "Carbuncle!" His voice was loud enough to almost be considered a shout, he looked on in confusion as the small GF slipped past his side and jumped into his lap. "W-What are you doing here!"
"Are you serious!" Carbuncle smiled in a happy relief, burying his face into Alex's chest as he felt the tension from the worry he'd had since Alex was taken start to fade away. "We came to save you, you didn't think we'd just leave you did you?"
Alex laughed, wrapping his arms around Carbuncle and cradling him in a soft embrace. He felt equally happy to see Carbuncle again, but just as worried . "Squall, Zell, they're here?"
"The Garden is here." Carbuncle lifted his head and slipped out of Alex's embrace, landing on his lap again.
"Really?" Alex lifted his head, shifting his hands behind him to push himself up slightly in an attempt to increase his view. But he didn't feel like getting up and seeing that he wouldn't be able to get a glemps of it from here he'd just take the GF's word for it. "Are...they ok?"
"Yeah, but they're really pissed." Carbuncle opened his mouth wide and forced himself to take a deep breath in an attempt to calm his racing heart and his quelling stomach. He was just so excited. "That guy beat them."
"Oh man...I never wanted that to happen." Alex let his hand come to rest on his head and looked up at the sky with dismay.
"Huh, What do you mean?" Carbuncle tilted his head to the side questioningly, sitting down in the boy's lap.
"I didn't want you guys to get hurt."
"Is that why you left?" Carbuncle asked.
Alex nodded, continuing to stare at the sky, listening to the sounds of the ocean all around them. He liked that sound, it was like a pulse. "Yeah, I figured if I just went along with them then they would leave you guys alone."
"What the hell kinda thinking is that! Did you see what happened to Squall and Zell!" Carbuncle yelled angrily. "You shouldn't have left." He closed his eyes and turned away with a pout.
Alex laughed, lifting his hand from his side to pet Carbuncle. "It wasn't like I had much of a choice, they left you alone didn't they, and Squall and Zell are alright." He said, and that was all that mattered to him, as long as they were safe he could deal with the rest. "You shouldn't have come here, it's too dangerous for you." He said, his voice becoming more serious this time
"Dangerous?" Carbuncle tilted his head upward arrogantly, with the smirk to match. "Dangerous is what I do!...Or so I've been told."
Alex laughed again. "I forgot you don't remember anything, it must be confusing."
"Nah, not really." Carbuncle laid down in Alex's lap, resting head partially on his paws while the other half rested against the boy's stomach. "What's to be confused by what I don't know."
"I guess so." Alex rested his hand behind his head and laid back, his eyes watching the clouds drift by over head. It was so peaceful, it was enough to make him wish he could stay here, even more so with his friend. "Really, you shouldn't have come here, your gonna get caught."
"No way! I can handle those guys." Carbuncle announced.
"What about Allen?" Alex asked, just to prove him wrong.
"Uh...I'll find away." Carbuncle paused, then sat up questioningly, "Hey wait, what are you waiting for! Come on, we gotta go."
"Carbuncle, I want to go with you, I really wanna be there with you guys, but I can't." Alex sighed.
"Don't worry about those guys over there, I can get you past them. And Allen is-"
"He's over there too." Alex stated bluntly, "Think you can get past him with me?"
Carbuncle looked around almost distractedly, trying to devise an answer. This was hard, maybe he should have thought this all the way through. "Uh..."
"Carbuncle, thanks for the effort, really." Alex said, opening his mouth wide with a small yawn. "I appreciate it a lot, but I'm alright. Don't worry about me, get out of here while you still can."
"I'm not gonna leave you behind!" Carbuncle leapt on to his chest and growled at him, giving him a small head butt to the chin to make him move faster. "Let's go!"
"I'm not just saying this because I don't want you to get caught." Alex told him, his eyes rolling down from the clear skies to Carbuncle's green eyes. He loved Carbuncle's eyes, and his fur, they were his favorite color. Alex lifted his hand and tapped the red jewel on top of Carbuncle's head almost teasingly. "I really am alright. I'm fine."
"Geez, you are such an idiot. I don't get you sometimes." Carbuncle dropped his head and sighed...then he looked up with a streak of remembrance. "Hey, do you know where they took Griever?"
Alex looked up thoughtfully, gently rubbing his chin. A small breeze washed inland from the water, bringing with it the salty smell of water, tickling Carbuncle's ears slightly. "That's Squall's GF right?...Nah... I don't know, where ever he is he's not here."
Well it wasn't a total waste of time. "That only leaves you then doesn't it?"
Alex sighed, Carbuncle never listened to him. "Forget about me, I'm not in trouble." Alex pleaded. "Carbuncle these guys are really dangerous, they're gonna capture you and I don't want them to get you. And I don't want something to happen to Zell and Squall, you guys should just lay off."
"Lay off? Your out of your mind." Carbuncle said firmly. "They attacked the Garden, you should have seen what it looked like after words...And..." Carbuncle turned his head away almost reluctantly, glaring off into the sun panels surrounding them. "They...They hurt Zell, they almost killed him. And they aren't gonna do it to just us, they're going after a whole bunch of other places too. We can't let that happen."
"Other places...Like what?"
Carbuncle could only repeat what he'd heard from Squall the day before. "Like Tribria and Windhill and...other places."
"How...did you find out about that?" Alex asked in slight confusion. Then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter, just lay off, you can't handle these guys."
"We fought stuff like this before, we always found away to get over it . We'll find away this time." Carbuncle shot back defensively. "There always is away."
"Hey wait..." Alex lifted his head slightly as if just realizing something. "Carbuncle, you got it all wrong. I thought you figured it out."
"Wrong? What?"
"About Allen, and Gcom, they-" Alex froze in the middle of his sentence, and an almost startled expression came on to his face. Carbuncle didn't have time to ask about it before Alex bolted upright and quickly shoved Carbuncle off his lap and off of the platform, down to the sun panel below, out of sight. Then with a hurried rush he stammered to his feet and turned around.
Find himself staring at an approaching Allen Maru coming from the other side of the house.
Carbuncle froze, he didn't have to see to know who it was, he knew that scent, and that energy that came off of the man. He pressed his body tensely against the wall, staying as silent as he could.
Allen folded his arms and stared down at the boy chastisingly. Alex only rubbed the back of his head nervously, "What?"
"I took you out of Balamb so you wouldn't get in the way." Alan said, he softly adjusted the head set over the somewhat messy brown hair and folded his arms again. He had an easy sense about him, something laxed, completely contrast to the display of strength he had shown the other day, everything about him was contrary to what one would expect from some one with that much power.
"What? I'm not doing anything, there's nothing to do." Alex said, even though he sounded normal his voice held a twinge of nervousness to it, and his face held the same.
"Really." And Allen wasn't exactly oblivious, but when he looked at the almost pleading look Alex was giving him, just like back at the Garden he couldn't resist it. And thusly acted as if he was, with a mental sigh at his own weakness. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, what am I gonna do?"Alex said. "I don't even have some one to talk to." He spoke normally, as normally as he could, but he still sounded nervous. He stare at Allen, completely tense, hoping he'd take his answer and leave the subject alone.
No, the man was too smart for that.
Allen glanced past Alex , looking over the boy's shoulder towards the edge of the brick platform. And at the moment, Alex knew the man knew. "..." Alex sighed and stared down at the ground in a depressed defeat.
"Fine." Allen sighed, watching Alex lift his head in surprise, the boy couldn't believe it. For the second time Allen was going to let Alex have his way and he'd leave Carbuncle alone. "But we need to talk about this."
Alex just nodded, he barely payed attention to what the man had said next, he was too relieved.
"Come on, we're leaving." Allen turned around and began walking off, pulling the headset's microphone closer to his mouth. "Main Base this is Maru, base had been established on FH, I'm pulling out." There was a slight mummer of response to low for anyone else to hear.
Alex ran after the man, giving one last silent glance back to Carbuncle before he disappeared.
And Carbuncle couldn't believe he didn't do anything... 'Alex...'
! - ! - !
Squall pressed his back against the wall of the small shop's alley way and listened as he heard the door open to the building and the two men exit with a large box holding the capacitor, while the other held two rather heavy looking, but short beams of steel in his arms. He peeked out from behind the corner and watched as they got a good distance down the street before he darted out and trailed behind them.
It was lucky for Squall most of these men didn't recognize him, they hadn't been apart of the attack on Balamb Garden, so he walked for the most part with out incident. Though he was keenly aware they knew of his arrival since the transmission from the first solder he'd encountered. Squall slipped behind whatever he could whenever he got the feeling the men could remotely be looking his way, trying to look as inconspicuous as he could to the other Solders and residence around.
It seemed the residence wasn't taking this invasion as well as it would seem, just about everyone was outside, making the crowds much more heavy then it had ever been, and a blaring clatter of arguments had broken out between them and those of Gcom. He had to admit, that even the arguments were somewhat diplomatic here. But it didn't matter, it was making it that much easier for Squall.
It wasn't long before Squall had followed the men back to the base newly set up at the south edge of the island. 'Oh great, they already made base.' Squall sighed, slipping behind some of the rubble of the old demolished track splitting off from the main bridge to Esther into town. He looked along the vehicles stationed out side the old building, as well as the bustle of solders moving in and out, still setting up inside. 'Think Griever's in there?'
(If they have taken him here this would most likely be the location, where they've gathered and organized.) Ifrit agreed.
'Now how do we get inside...' Squall began looking around for openings other then that of the front door. 'It is a train station, maybe we could go through the tracks behind it.
(Squall.) Ifrit prompted. (Zell is here.)
'Huh, where?'
(There.) Ifrit directed Squall's eyes toward the SUV closest to the station where the hint of Zell's sleave was protruding into his view.
'Zell...' With little hesitancy, Squall waited until the flow of men began to thin slightly and most of the remaining ones weren't paying attention his way. Before he leapt over the broken column and bolted under the wing of one of the helicopters before he had to slow down and move inconspicuously when he saw a solder start to turn in his direction from the noise. He managed to crouch down and press his body against the side of the car before anyone realized him. "Zell." He whispered harshly.
With a startled flinch Zell stuck his head out from underneath the vehicle. "S-Squall! You scared the hell out of me!" He whispered back. "You know what, good timing actually, we have to get in there."
(Squall.) Ifrit said warningly, (If you remain like this you will be detected.)
'Oh, right.' Squall dropped to the ground and rolled underneath the car beside Zell. "Have any ideas?"
"Not really." Zell shook his head, "The best I could come up with was to sneak through the basement window. Your the guy in charge, you have to come up with something."
"I was thinking we could go to the tracks around the back and try entering from there." Squall told him.
"Sounds good to me." Zell said, but anything sounded good to him when he didn't have any ideas. He abruptly rolled out from underneath his cover and into the open.
"Zell! Wait for me!"
! - ! - !
Zell and Squall crouched underneath the platform in the back elevating the waiting dock from the lanes of tracks below, it kept them neatly out of sight. 'See anyone?' Zell asked.
(The coast is clear.) Bahamut informed him.
With out a word Zell leapt upward and landed on the platform a few feet above the ground, Squall cumbersomely following. As they expected there was a back door, an open one at that. "Let's go." Squall took the lead, slowly and quietly slipping into the door. And unfortunately he found himself in a wide open room, the station's terminal, which logically was were the group was setting up, about 19 people were here all together . Realizing the mistake, Squall took a step back, trying to back away and take Zell with him, but then it was too late.
"Hey, you aren't suppose to be here." One of the women in particular, waring a green blazer and matching dress which seemed to be the uniform for women, had been walking right towards them and couldn't help but see him.
"Shit."Before Squall knew it just about everyone in the room was looking at him. And some of them did recognize him from the attack on the Garden. Others just figured so from the transmission they all heard about 2 hostile.
There was a small pause in the room, a silence as everyone stopped what they were doing. "Should we run?" Zell asked, his voice barely a whisper.
"Run where? It's an island, the Garden is docked and being repaired." Squall readily drew his gunblade and before he knew it about 3 of the closest men were coming towards him. And he was sure they knew he didn't plain on talking to him. "Come on Zell." Squall drew his sword back over his shoulder and charged froward, quickly thrusting it down on the man in the center with a bloody slash that ripped across his chest.
Zell was intently struck with a Firaga spell before he could move, his body erupting in a burst of flames that made him stumble back slightly. With a growl of frustration he charged froward at the man on the left who'd cast the spell and thew a hard punch into the man's stomach, then jumped upward slightly and delivered a hard kick to his face. "Hell no Squall!" Zell shouted, running to Squall's side, "We can't fight all these guys."
As they spoke they were currently being surrounded by at lest a few dozen green clad infantry units.
"We split up then, time is almost up." Squall said, he turned around and lifted his sword, blocking as another gunblade came at him from behind, and he suddenly found himself emersed in a sea of clashing metal and blunt strikes as the two fought defensively against everyone trying to get a piece of them.
Zell started summoning Bahamut, causing his movements to slow down slightly, his peaked evasion skills had kept him from any damage so far. He started to take some hits now, and beside Squall he was surrounded by attacking solders. A hard blow came to his chest and just as soon a swift foot to his back before he had time to regain himself, followed by a hard kick to the shins causing him to fall to his knees, before he could even respond a streak of lightening tore down from the sky and hammered down on to him with a burning energy that coursed through every inch of his body painfully, causing him to fall to his stomach in a large scorch mark darkening the marble floors.
"Zell, are you alright?" Squall made strong, sweeping slashes with his sword, striking multiple enemies and keeping the rest at bay.
"I'll live." Zell barely got to his feet before himself and Squall faded out of exsistance.
Little warning came of Bahamut's attack except for the loud roar sounding from above that rattled every structure around. They barely had time to realize Squall and Zell had faded before a rain of heavy crimson beams came hammering down into the building from above, one after another. Just as one explosion erupted in a brilliant flare of flames, smoke and heavy debris of flying marble, another came right beside it and more came directly next it, then another and another in a strait line until the whole room had been sweat over. Just as the smoke and flames started to lessen and the debris started to settle, raining to the ground with a loud clatter that drowned out any other sound. All of it started to burn away, clearing the air eerily as the mega flare rained down in to the center of the room and everything was surrounded in a rush of smoke, fire, and silver energy as it detonated.
Squall and Zell reappeared just as the energy started to fade away, in the mist of a nearly decimated room still smoldering. Bahamut managed to kill off most of them, the ones that did survive were still in bad condition, not to mention completely destroy the ceiling. "I'll take left, you take right!" Zell shouted before bolting in the opposite direction, they came all the way here, at lest if they're were gonna get caught then they'd find some things out while they were at it. Squall had no choice but to oblige.
'Ifrit, hold them off.' Squall said, he wasn't gonna leave until he found Griever, or at lest some trace of where they put him. The familiar feeling of Ifrit unjunctioning was simply acknowledged, when Ifrit was junctioned he gave a warmth to him, now it was like removing a blanket or a layer of clothing, it made him feel colder.
Ifrit faded into reality behind him, standing in the center of the rising solders regaining themselves. He was going to enjoy this, he felt like he hadn't done this in a long time even though the time since he last fought had been much shorter then he realized. An impish, dangerous smirk grazed his lips. This would be no problem for him.
! - ! - !
Zell forced his way through a half broken door, the only thing he could find when he reached the far right of the terminal. With him came a cloud of smoke that poured into the corridor like water leaking into a drain. In an instant he was shrouded, remaining unseen by pressing his back against the wall as more men burst out of the doors lining the corridor and charged into the previous room.
'Damn.' Zell cuffed his hands over his mouth and stumbled blindly into the first room, as soon as he felt fresh air he opened his eyes and lowered his hands with deep breaths.
(Zell.) Bahamut called out promptingly.
And knowing what he would say, Zell kicked the door closed and pressed his back against it, hearing the sounds of footsteps passing by outside. 'Wow, you really did a number out there.' Zell let out a sigh of relief, letting his eyes roll over the room. It was small, holding nothing but a chair, a desk, a lamp, a filing cabinet and a bulletin board covered in old notes from when the station was in operation many years back. "This room looks horrible."
Bahamut scanned over the room with his own subliminal vision, his sharp eye were trained to pick up and notice every subtile detail. (Zell, the board.)
"Huh? What?" Zell leaned over the desk and looked at the board carefully.
(The one on top is newer.) Bahamut pointed out to him. Among the weak, slightly yellow from age back from when the station was in service, there was a new, crisp sheet of paper pinned on top.
"Hmm..." Zell snatched the sheet down and let his eyes roll over it. "It's a memo from today...something about intelligence picking up something about Galbadia's next move. Hey, they say their going to Timber next, I should call Zone, Nida should know that." Zell said thoughtfully, his eyes reading on. "...order for everyone with ID GS62-76 to pull out at 11:00 or when base is established. I wonder who those guys are?"
Seeing that was all he'd get out of it, Zell tossed it aside and began rummaging around the room again. 'There has to be something around here.'
! -! - !
'...Wow...' Squall silently shut the door behind him as he entered into one of the larger rooms, stocked high with tall shelves holding weapons of all assortments. He slipped silently through the racks, looking uneasily at the guns, ammunition, explosives and things used in melee combat. 'This is probably a dead end.' He thought to himself, hoping that there was the unlikely event he would find another room where they were keeping Griever.
He didn't take much notice of anything in the room until his eyes caught sight of something. '?' Squall stopped,. looking fully at a rack pressed against the back wall holding boxes full of hand radios. He reached in and picked up one, examining the green device curiously, and with even more curiosity yet he pushed up the switch on the side and turned it on. His ears were met with that familiar buzz of no set signal.
'...' Then his eyes lifted to a sheet of paper posted on the wall. "Attention, remember signal listings change daily, so get the new listings at 09:00h from your transitions coordinating supervisor." Squall looked down at the radio in his hand and tossed the futile device back into the pile. It made sense, to keep from being detected by Galbadia or anyone else who could be listening, like him.
Buzz...
"Huh?" Squall picked the device up again when he heard an abnormal crackling and a break in the static.
Main base...FH, anyone...This is mobile units 3 and 6...-static-...we have a problem transporting subject 48990A...-static-...Requesting assistants immediately, we have 4 men down and one critically injured, subject currently detained but we're immobile.
'Could that be Griever?' Squall thought hopefully. 'Come on, give me a location, a coordinate, something.' There was the sound of a dispatcher asking for a location, which Squall was Ultimenica pleading for.
Oh shit, it's Galbadia! We're at Coordinates 34E,66N. We need assistance...we're sitting ducks out here. Send-...-Static-.
That was all Squall heard before it cut off and no more response came, but he didn't care. "Damnit, he's not here!" Squall lifted his gunblade hanging tensely at his side, throwing the radio roughly back into the box and darting off in the other direction.
! - ! - !
It seemed Squall and Zell came to the same conclusion at the same time, because they both came bursting into the room from opposite directions .
Ifrit stood in the center of the half ruined room, the floors were broken and uneven, stone debris scattered about, the walls unstable with long fractures looking as if they would cave in. More bodies lay scattered across the ground, and even more live men surrounded him, attacking from all sides. Just by a glance they could tell they had gotten their fair share of hits off on the GF, but by all means were no match.
Ifrit growled, drawing his claws back and leaping forward among the hail of gunfire directed at him and dropping down hard towards the man steadily firing a riffle at him. He landed with a thump, slashing his claws across the man's chest and ripping through his body armor with one fatal swoop, the solder fell backwards in a spray of blood from gashes on his torso and face. It was rather intimidating to see Ifrit in battle, he was just so good at it, it was inhuman.
"Ifrit! Let's go!" Squall called out, forcing his way into the gathering of men coming at Ifrit with broad slashes of his sword. He didn't attempt to junction, they didn't have the time for that. Zell pushed his way into the gathering also, with a few hard blows from behind and a Thundaga spell that sent a pillar of white lighting crashing down from above unto the group of men beside him. "We have to get out of here now!" They did, they were already swamped with more solders then they could handle.
Zell felt a hard slash across his back from a gunblade and forceful Firaga spell that make him stumble off balance and fall to the ground before Ifrit in a blaze of flames. Before he even could get to his feet Ifrit reached down and pulled him up by his collar, then pushed him aside sightly. Then Ifrit crouched lightly, his body igniting in a blaze of heat as he charged forward horns first through the men in front of him blocking his path to the door. And nothing could stand against him, floating just above the ground he flew through any opposition, leaving behind a path of flames in his trail.
Squall and Zell merrily followed the cleared path to the front door.
By the time they hit the fresh, salty, water saturated air of out side they had a host of different solders surrounding them, not to mention the dozen remaining behind. "Oh Shit, Squall, what do we do?" Zell looked around almost in a panic as he saw the men in green suites weaving through the aligned SUVs and helicopters filling the area outside the station.
"Allow me to me handle this." Ifrit suggested, as if anyone else could handle this situation.
"Go ahead." Squall was happy to allow him to, perfectly confident Ifrit could handle it. Ifrit was strong, but a GF like him did the most effective work against multiple enemies, because he was sure to hit a target no matter what attack he used that was generally inaccurate against a single foe.
"Wait a minute, look at how many of those guys their are, even if they don't do that creepy transforming thing." Zell started, his voice starting to drown out slightly from the sounds of footsteps and a large number of other voices around them. "We're stuck on this island! We can't run, not as long as those guys have a base here."
(Don't worry Zell, let me take care of it.) Bahamut said, though not really giving Zell a choice in the matter before unjunctioning himself. The dragon faded into reality beside the boy, pushing him back slightly, offering a silent glance to Ifrit who nodded acknowledgingly.
'Alright...' Ifrit's golden eyes narrowed dangerously and his fist clinched tightly at his side, the ground beginning to rumble as he let out a fierce roar. With his palms facing upward and his hands tense as if grasping something, he lifted his hands in a thrust with a powerful strength displaying and his movements and every one of his muscles. And molten rock burst through the ground around them like an erupting volcano, pillars of it rising from underneath one of the Helicopters, some place behind the alignment of cars, and one dangerously close on the stairs below.
The Helicopter was engulfed in the intense heat of the lava flow and exploded, shooting up into the air with the force of the blast, and leaving the half incinerated frame to fall heavily to the ground in a rain of charred scraps a few feet away right in front of stairs, crushing a few of the closer men, burning some and stalling the others.
Bahamut turned around towards the station with wings outstretched and crouched into a fighting stance. His body trembled with the building of energy, static balls of electricity formed at his shoulders, wavering, distorting, burning the air. Forming at his waist and at his knees, 6 in total. With a dangerously low growl, Bahamut thrust his arms outward and fired the impulse attack, launching the static balls that couldn't seem to fly strait without winding, twisting and turning around each other in flashes of light and small strings of lighting strikes from all sides but still moved froward. The projectiles fired into the crowd beyond the door, disbursing large streaks of lighting beyond point of impact that seemed to be drawn to any and everything close and striking all of them.
"Go!" Bahamut nearly shouted. "We'll meet you."
Squall and Zell nodded before taking their out and retreating through what little opening they had, slipping through the Square and back on to the railroad tracks toward the Garden.
"We'll they're gone." Ifrit said, smirking slightly with fangs bared. "You know what we have to do right?"
"Yes." Bahamut flapped his outstretched wings and ascended into the air. They had to take this base out.
! - ! - !
! - ! - !
"Geez, The people here will hate us forever for this." Zell rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he stared at the black smoke rising into the sky in the distance with the eruption of flames enveloped in the black ashes. He could hear the explosions from here, standing in front of the path leading to the Garden.
"Maybe." Squall folded his arms and watched stoically, he wondered how they could possibly get rid of Gcom's base, this seemed to be working just fine. Though he and Zell would probably have to take care of the remaining Solders themselves. That was if they attacked them, he doubted who ever was left would. "But Gcom is gone, and I doubt they liked the current situation."
"Zell!"
Both of them looked forward curiously when a familiar voice called out, and the body to match as Carbuncle bolted up from the sun panels where the mayors house reside. "Zell! Squall!" Carbuncle leapt into Zell's slightly startled arms and began explaining without a moment's delay. "I saw Alex, he was down there."
Zell managed to pick out the key word in Carbuncle's near incoherent speech. "Was?"
"Allen was there too, Alex saved me again, Allen almost found me."
"Are they still there?" Squall asked.
"No, they left a while ago. Allen and Alex are gone." Carbuncle told him grimly, unable to quell the sinking feeling of guilt from being unable to even attempt to stop the Gcom leader. He didn't stand a chance, he was too weak...'Damnit, I can't do anything against that guy like this. I have to get stronger, I have to make a better shield...' "What did you guys find?"
Squall and Zell looked at each other rather disappointedly. "I found out Galbadia is heading towards Timber." Zell scratched his head lightly and looked away. "Doesn't help us much though."
"Gcom changes it's radio signals, so there is no way to figure out what they're going to do next that way." Squall said. "And I heard a transmission about trouble transporting something at coordinates near Dollet, it could be Griever."
"Whoa, I see you didn't waste any time." Zell smirked. "Great, let's go."
"It's not that simple." Squall said, folding his arms and looking downward thoughtfully. "The unit I heard was attacked by Galbadia, and Galbadia is trying to regain control over Dollet if they haven't already done so. They were sitting ducks." At lest according to the map, which would explain the attack of the mobile units. "If that really is Griever then Gcom is going to send people after that unit. By the time we get there we'll be in the middle of two armies"
"What do you mean by the time we get there?" Zell asked. "We don't have to wait for the Garden to get fixed. We got 3 days and Irvine is here, he can take care of the place while we're gone and we'll be back by the time they finish."
"What about-"
"Look around, They're finished here." Zell told him. "We got um' before they could even finish setting up base, and Allen's gone, they won't set up here again. Not for a while at lest."
He had a point.
"Let's get a boat then."
! - ! - !