Disclaimer: This will be the last time I post a disclaimer at the top of my chapters for this story. I'm fairly certain you all completely understand that I am not assuming credit for the genius that is Final Fantasy VIII, nor am I making any money off my stories.
Author's Notes: I want to thank the ones who are still reading this and I want to give a special thanks to Roarke Stratton – without her outstanding editing skills in the wee hours of the morning, the second half of this chapter wouldn't be what it is now and I'm pretty sure this chapter wouldn't have been finished for another week or two.
Jade Almasy: I had a little boy. He's only given me a few problems, mainly because he's the first baby I've ever taken care of so I'm really just winging it. Poor child. Lol
Rune: Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate your reviews. I just have to know, how do you know when I update if you're anonymous and never signed in?
Train Raid – Part Two
Edwin Zupree worked silently as he trimmed and shaped the decorative shrubs that lined the broad walkway leading up to the Galbadian Embassy in Esthar. Setting his trimmers aside, he pulled a rake from his cart and began cleaning up the leaves and branches he'd trimmed off. It had been a slow day. Come to think of it, everyday at the Esthar based Galbadian Embassy was a slow day. There was just never anything going on.
The rake snagged a stubborn branch on the shrub closes to the porch. Edwin tugged a few times and then resigned to kneel down and try to work the rake free with his hands. A few locals walked by and stared, but he really couldn't blame them. Most other landscapers in Esthar City were well….better organized and had a lot more manpower. All he had was a cart of tools and a partner who'd gone to pick up lunch down the road. He gave a modest nod, which they returned, and then he ducked his head down under the defiant shrub to fight the rake a bit more.
With his upper half now obscured from prying eyes, he pulled a small block of explosives from the front of his work belt and carefully sat it in the corner behind the bush, up against the porch. He reemerged a few seconds later, victorious over the shrub and the rake, and he quickly tossed the wretched tool aside. By this time, his partner Cliff was already back and had already eaten most of his lunch. Edwin took a deep breath and blew his flaxen hair out of his face.
"When you finish that, I want you to start getting the mulch up under and behind the bushes," Edwin said as he sat down on the edge of the cart and took a sandwich from the paper bag between them.
"You got everything ready?" Cliff asked as he wiped the crumbs from his hands and picked up a bag of mulch. Edwin nodded as he took a drink. "Sweet. We're going to get done quicker than we thought." Edwin grinned as he tried not to pay attention to the pedestrians walking along the sidewalk behind them.
Tossing the bag on the ground, Cliff pulled out a knife and cut the top of the bag open. Slowly lowering to his knees, he scooped a large clump of mulch from the bag and began to shake it out behind the nearest pair of bushes. He continued this charade up until he got to the corner by the porch. Like Edwin, he had to duck down to get all the way against the far corner. Once he was done spreading the mulch he had, he pulled a package from his belt, unwrapped its contents and began working. Edwin quickly finished his lunch and resumed spreading the mulch. Cliff finished his work quickly and went back for the last bag.
"Once we get this spread we can go home," He announced as he pulled out his knife. Edwin grinned as he picked up a clump of compressed mulch and began working on the other side of the walkway.
Xu stumbled inside the baggage car and quickly slapped the release behind her. She held her breath until the door had completely hissed shut and then turned her attention to Nida and the lone guard at the other end of the car.
"…Were you spotted?" Nida asked as fell out of his defensive position.
"No," She answered as she caught her breath. "But I came damn close. There were two that I could see on top of the car. They were looking back towards the end of the train."
"Well, there were initially three thuds so I'm assuming three people jumped over. We haven't been able to hear the one's footsteps, so either he's scared he'll loose his balance, or our third person is actually a duffel bag or something," Nida shrugged as he spun his laptop around. "See this?" Xu nodded as she stared at a diagram of the train and a list of miscellaneous codes that she didn't understand. "This, is our car. This is the foreign engine."
"That's right behind us."
"Comforting isn't it?" The guard complained. "I'm not paid enough to be a hero." Xu and Nida looked at each other and grinned.
"Good thing we are," Xu smiled as she readied her whip. The guard grinned at her comeback but became distracted by Nida's sudden flurry of typing. "What are you doing?"
"The one thing you couldn't. I'm trapping this train."
"Cute," Xu waited until Nida was done before she punched his arm.
Nida rubbed his sore arm. "You're just flirting with everyone today aren't you," He grinned. "Maybe you should wash that makeup off. I think it's absorbing into your skin and messing with your brain."
"…….What's going on in there? Everyone else is prepared to strike," Squall's voice didn't betray how perturbed he was.
"Nothing Sir. I've overloaded the circuit controlling the coupler to that engine. I've also turned off a few fail safes that would otherwise keep the circuitry from overheating."
"So is the engine secure?"
"It's not going anywhere Sir. Worst case scenario, the circuitry will melt and the couplers will become permanently locked together. Then they may have to cut them apart. And even if Audley's men have a program on their engine capable of getting into the system, they can't undo what I've done."
"Are you sure?" Seifer's voice was full of static.
"Definitely," Nida reassured them. "Let's just say I uh….damaged some of the circuitry to the point that it'll have to be replaced before it'll work again."
"Good enough for me," Squall's voice was slightly broken up. "Squad B, let's get ready to move. Keep the baggage car between you and the engine. We need to see how many of them there are before we can call Squad A up."
"On my way Sir," Xu said as she started back the way she came. "Don't go anywhere Roe." Nida flopped down onto a shipping crate and stared at the laptop's glowing screen. There was an awkward silence as he and the guard listened to the sounds of the train. Whoever had been on the roof was now long gone.
"So…" The guard fiddled with his flashlight. "I don't suppose you have solitaire on that computer." Nida grinned and then shook his head. "Didn't think so."
The car beneath them shook and bounced as Squall and Chloe met up with Xu on the front of the baggage car. She stood waiting for them on a ladder and then shook her head as she stepped down.
"There were two on this car when I first came back here. They've gone back behind the engine now. I saw the silhouette of one figure before he dropped down onto one of the flatcars. I'd get up higher for a better vantage point, but if I do, someone in the engine will be able to see me," She said as she crossed her arms.
"Alright. So there are at least two, plus a conductor," Squall sized up the size of the baggage car and tried to look around it to see the foreign engine. "If we go over the top, we'll be spotted by the engineer….how wide is the railing on the side?"
"Not wide," Xu looked mortified. "It's more like a decorative piece of trim."
"There's a handrail a few feet above it."
"Sir I can't let you do that."
"I'm not asking," Squall looked at Chloe. "The car we're on now is much wider than their engine. I'm no expert but it looks older and smaller than the engine pulling this train."
"It is Sir," Chloe responded as she tried her hardest not to notice the scenery rushing past her. "It looks to be closer to thirty or forty years older. Years ago, a narrower engine would've been easier to get into cramped mountain passes."
"Well, we need a way to get around that engine or at least get to whoever's inside of it without raising any alarm. We could make our way along the side of this car and stand a good chance that the engineer wouldn't be able to see us until we were right at his engine."
"But what if he does?" Xu asked.
"That's why Chloe's going first."
"Yay," Chloe smiled faintly as she took the safety off both of her firearms. "Wait a minute Sir. What if I were to crawl along the top of the car while you two made your way along the sides? I'm little, and even if he saw me, I use guns not a sword. I could probably take him out while you two sneak aboard."
"That's a better idea," Squall acknowledged as he looked up towards the top of the car. "Keep as low as possible." Xu stared daggers at her female teammate as she stepped onto the bottom rung of the ladder and carefully started climbing up. "If I can do this you can," Squall reassured her.
"Not to sound, doubtful, but last time you did something like this, you had a harness," Xu offered.
"We have harnesses," he said as Seifer, Raijin and Zell came out the back exit of the cabin car. Zell offered him his travel bag. Squall opened it and tossed a harness at Xu. "We use the clips on the top rail." He turned his attention to Seifer, "Let us secure the engine before you move your team."
Seifer looked annoyed but nodded.
"Let's go," Squall said as he fastened his harness and carefully climbed up on the side rail. Reaching out around the side of the car, he clipped himself onto the top rail and slowly stepped out onto the ledge. After a moment of adjusting himself, he clipped his second clip and slowly started walking along the side of the car. Xu followed his lead. Chloe waited until they had a slow, but steady pace before she began crawling along the top of the car.
Every inch of the roof was hot, she was thankful she'd brought a training uniform to change into. She could feel the heat burning through the material of her uniform. Trying to quicken her pace to get her part over with, she made the mistake of placing a naked palm onto the metal and then recoiled as her had was burned. "This was a great idea," she complained to herself.
"Everything alright?" Squall asked.
"It is very hot up here. Remind me to never come up with ideas like this again."
Xu snickered as she carefully followed Squall's lead in unfastening one clip and then snapping it back closed on the other side of a perpendicular support rail. Stepping around the rail, she unfastened her other clip and did the same. "We're maybe ten or so feet away from the end," She said.
"Good," Chloe responded as she neared the end herself. "I'm armed and ready to go." Pushing herself up on her elbows, Chloe peeked over the back access hatch and at the black engine behind the car. Inside the engine's cabin, a man checked on gages and seemed to be distracted by something just below the engine's window. "Do I shoot to kill or just to immobilize?"
"….Kill," Squall said after a moment of deliberation.
"….Yes Sir," Chloe responded as she pulled one of her guns up and aimed.
A single shot pierced through the hot and humid air, unnoticed thanks to the volume of the noise around it. The glass shattered in slow motion as the man in the engineer's seat fell backwards and then tumbled sideways on to the floor. A second man immediately began firing back from inside the engine. Chloe carefully ducked behind the access hatch and waited. The man stepped into the cabin and knelt down to check his comrade. Chloe rose up on her elbows again and began shooting. The man was hit in the arm but managed to duck out of the way. Scooting closer to the front of the cabin, he fired off a few more shots in an effort to figure out where she was without being hit with a shot himself.
"Take care of him," Squall ordered over the comm system.
Chloe groaned as she fired off a few more shots, the hot metal beneath her hindering her aim. The man retreated back away from the window. Seeing his retreat, Chloe found her feet and leapt from the baggage car down onto the nose of the black engine. She landed bad on an ankle and fell to her knees. Her unexpected loss of balance threw her first shot off by a few inches, but the second one pierced the man's throat. She winced as she quickly climbed through the shattered window and kicked the man's weapon out of his reach. Without a second thought, she did a quick search of the engine.
"The inside's clear," She said as Squall and Xu climbed on to the engine and came inside. Stripping themselves of the harnesses, they both took notice of the second man still stunned in a pool of blood on the floor.
"Shoot him again," Squall said as he looked away.
"Please," Xu pleaded. Chloe gladly complied.
"Squad A, we're on the engine. Move in. Bag man, check the system, see if there's any kind of sensors on this train that we could use to detect movement or heat or anything," Squall said as he looked through the fairly empty room around him.
"There's nothing Sir. Well, nothing besides the detection of another computer hacked into the system."
"You sure it's not you?" Xu asked.
"….Definitely. They're hooked to a service panel on the back of the engine. I think they're trying to figure out a way to fix the couplers. I don't think they've thought to search the system for any 'foreign' computers."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because they haven't sent anyone to the baggage car yet," Nida was beginning to sound annoyed.
"Xu, take Chloe and Raijin and take out the repair team. Seifer, Zell, you two are with me." After Xu's team left the back room of the engine, Seifer and Zell stared at him expectantly. "Let's give them a moment before we move on the cars behind the engine."
"So what, there's two in here, at least one on the back and one, possibly two other teams back there?" Zell asked.
"Technically a team could be two people. If what Dak said was true about those lifts. One guy could be moving materials and the other standing guard," Seifer suggested.
"Either way, there's already easily the same number of people that there was on the last raid. They've probably increased their numbers a bit," Zell crossed his arms as he shifted his weight.
"We've increased ours as well," Squall said as he walked up to the instrument panel in the conductor's cabin.
"You know, they probably know we're here."
"Good. Then we can hurry up and get this thing over with," Seifer grumbled.
"Awh. Not like trains?" Zell teased.
"No," Seifer grinned. "I don't like you."
"Hey!"
"Knock it off," Squall grumbled as he motioned for them to follow him out.
Xu and Chloe kept to the narrow deck that ran alongside the engine's length. Head's low, they carefully made their way towards the back. Raijin meanwhile, hurried across the roof of the engine.
"I caught a glimpse of at least two guys two flat cars behind us," Raijin reported as he ducked out of their view. "And, it looks like there are two guys on the back of the engine."
"Take them out," Squall stated.
Raijin dropped down from his perch, landing on the larger of the two men and striking the smaller with his staff. The larger man seemed too fold under Raijin's weight and size. He wasn't even able to cry out in surprise. The smaller man took a blow to the right side of the head by Raijin's staff, which in turn flung him to the side, smashing the left side of his head into the engine itself. Xu and Chloe came around in time to see Raijin grab hold of the smaller man right before he rolled off the back platform. They stared in surprise for a moment. "Disarm this guy, tie him up and drag him to the baggage car," Raijin said as he strained to look at the girls standing behind him. Xu quickly complied as Raijin used his weight to hold the other man down. With the smaller man out of the way, Chloe climbed behind the engine and ducked down.
"I don't like being here. The only thing blocking us from view of the others is the metal beams they've moved onto this flatcar," Chloe stated as she tried to see any of the other men. The man beneath Raijin's knees groaned and muttered incoherently as Raijin shifted his weight and disarmed him.
"Don't resist me," Raijin warned him. "Struggle and I'll pretend you attacked me and chuck you down on the tracks." He didn't get a reply, but when he tried to pull the man's arms behind his back, the man used his knee to push a small laptop out from under him and onto the rail's below. Chloe reached for it but missed and had to watch as the small computer was crushed underneath the train. She stared silently for a moment and then spun around and punched the man in the face with all her might.
"You bastard!" She screamed as she hit him again.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Raijin called out as he held onto the man. "Come on now, he's unarmed and detained."
"I say we shoot him! Or…how about you make good on your threat to throw his sorry ass on the tracks!" Chloe yelled. Squall, Seifer and Zell came around the back of the engine and watched in disbelief as they witnessed the frighteningly rare, belligerent side of Balamb Garden's sweet little library girl. "I hope you can get some information out of the engine's main computer because this jerk just destroyed his laptop," Chloe reported without being ordered to. Her demeanor seemed to gradually lighten as she tried to regain her composure.
"Get this guy in the baggage car," Squall stated as he stared out at the flatcars. "And Zellinger?"
"Sir?" Chloe asked.
"I want Nida and Xu on this engine. I want to know everything stored on it. You and Raijin are to guard the prisoners. Don't get too carried away," Squall said with a faint smirk.
"Hey! I got basic rights!" The man protested.
Squall scoffed. "Not as an aggressor in an armed terrorist situation." Raijin pulled the man up to a standing position. His left leg dangled awkwardly.
"Let's go," Raijin said as he pushed the hobbling man forward.
"Look man, you broke my leg. You could be a little gentler," The man grumbled.
"Like this?" Seifer said as he hit the man in the mouth, knocking the back of his head into the engine's side, rendering him unconscious. Everyone stared wordlessly at him. "Like you all didn't want to do that."
"Seifer man," Zell snickered. "That man had rights."
"Alright you too," Squall chuckled. "Let's move."
On the second flatcar, Lucas controlled the remote to the lift that slowly levitated a bound stack of prepared metals. On each side of the hovering load, Ross and Jalen kept one hand on the back of the stacked beams and one hand on their respective sides. Audley watched them from his perch atop a putrid green boxcar. There were a total of four flatcars between him and his engine. Due to some kind of glitch, the couplers had become locked. He'd dispatched two of his men to fix the problem. It'd been twenty minutes and he hadn't heard anything out of either of them. Something was going on. Someone knew they were there….he just knew it.
Carefully lowering himself to one knee Gunther laid his gun across his thigh and stared out at the piles of petty metals he was distracting SeeD with. They had more than enough supplies to create enough weapons to supply a small army. But he had needed a distraction to keep the attention on himself and away from his plan's second phase. Shaking off the feeling that he was being watched, he narrowed his eyes as he searched the cars in front of him for any signs of their adversaries. The train rounded a corner, giving Audley a clearer view of the back of his engine, and he soon realized his men had been captured – or killed. Whichever one didn't really matter. They didn't know anything, they were expendable new recruits.
Pulling a radio up to his face he surveyed the area around him again. "Looks like Don and Will fell off the side. For their ignorance, everyone else has to step up the speed. We need to be ready to get off at the next juncture."
His comment earned him a few glances by Jalen and Ross who peeked around the stack of steel they were trying to move onto the second car. They were more than likely curious because there was no one named Don or Will on the raid. He made a show of loading his rifle so that they would realize they had company without him having to announce it and risk someone overhearing it.
Squall came around the second spool of sheet metal on the first flatcar and froze. Just ahead of him, Jalen had taken over the remote and was working feverishly to get his lift lowered all the way to the floor of the flatcar. He motioned for Zell and Seifer to get down.
"Oh hey! Those lifts are badass," Zell informed him. "Those are the ones me and Nida have been trying to get you to order for Garden. It's got small levitating discs that can be programmed to respond to certain remotes. Then, once your load is in the air, it floats and you can pretty much just push it anywhere you want to go. I'd imagine on a moving train like this there's a guy in the back pushing so that the load can keep up with the train. I'll even bet-"
"Shut up man," Seifer grumbled. "I can't plot out my course of attack with your squawky voice in my head."
"Get ready," Squall said as he pulled a handgun from his hip. He fired off a shot, hitting Jalen in the right thigh. Jalen immediately dropped to the floor of the flatcar and grabbed his leg. Lucas quickly scooped the remote up and ducked out of sight. Back on the boxcar, Audley watched Jalen drop. Lifting his rifle up, he fired in the general direction he thought the SeeDs were.
All three SeeDs ducked when Audley's shot ricocheted off the stack of metal across from the spool they were hidden behind. Moving quietly on his hands and knees, Zell crawled around Seifer and peeked past the spool. His breath was labored as he arched his neck as much as possible to get a better view, and was rewarded when Audley and another man filtered into view. Pulling his pistol into position, Zell fired off a shot. Considering that the train was starting to make another turn, the strong cross winds, and Audley's distance, Zell figured his shot would be way off. Regardless, he'd sent them a message--he wasn't going to play any games.
Squall motioned for Zell and Seifer to cover him as he took point. He quickly led the three of them down a twenty foot stretch and found cover behind a stack of metal beams. This new position proved advantageous, and Squall managed to get two more shots off. Much to the dismay of Jalen, Ross and Lucas, Squall's second shot struck the small generator that was on the underside of the lift's remote. The bullet tore into the generator, causing the unit to ignite and blow up. Shards of splintered plastic and metal exploded backwards, and Lucas's hands flew in front of his face to protect it from flying shrapnel. The remote he had held in his hand fell to the floor and almost immediately after the explosion, the life lost power. Stacks of unsupported metals began to sway perilously as the hover discs shut down. Lucas knelt down and wiped his bleeding hands on the thighs of his pants before picking up the remote and prodding at it, trying desperately to bring the lift back online. As he pressed the buttons harder and harder, the entire lift shorted out completely, causing the beams of metal to cascade down onto the flatcar and bounce backward. Lucas stood inert as thousands of pounds of metal beams flew backward toward him and the rest of his team. Jalen, who was still lying on the floor, writhing in pain, was quickly buried under the onslaught of airborne metal.
Ross, on the other hand, began running toward the last of the flatcars. A single beam managed to clip him behind the shoulder blades and caused him to slide across the uneven metal floor and off the edge of the car. He cried out and wildly groped for something to hold on to. He managed to grasp the flatcar and he held onto it for dear life as he pulled himself up enough to keep his feet from getting swept up under the speeding train.
The metal clattered violently above his head as mutinous beams collided with everything, even knocking other stacks of beams and metal sheets loose. Ross struggled to pull himself up onto the surface of the flatcar, but he felt his grip begin to fail. Another beam flew in his direction and missed beheading him by a fraction of an inch. Now in a mild panic, he used his feet to push himself away from the couplers and onto the ground alongside the tracks. His feet came into contact with the ground, his body was pulled from the train viciously and the world started to fade as he felt himself rolling and skidding along the unkind terrain. After what seemed like an eternity, he skidded to a stop in the pathetically diminutive patch of grass near the tracks. Shaking his head slowly, the world began to slide back into focus, and Ross apprehensively tried to regain his bearings. Once he managed to pull himself into a standing position, he staggered around in a disoriented daze as he tried to make his escape.
Gunther Audley watched as the flying steel knocked one of his men off the train and crushed the other one alive. Jumping down to the flatcar in front of him, he hurried forward in an effort to preserve his apprentice and reclaim his engine. Lucas met him halfway, a barrage of bullets close behind him. Audley pulled him behind a stack by the sleeve of his shirt and handed him another gun.
"Are they guards, soldiers or SeeD?"
"Uh….it looked like a SeeD was using a paper boy and a biker as back up," Lucas confirmed.
"They're undercover. Damn it. We have no way of knowing how many there are or what kinds of weapons they're using then."
"One of them for sure had a big sword of some kind and the other one was Zell Dincht. He's world renowned for his martial arts," Lucas shouted over to his boss as he stole a few shots towards Seifer. "Actually, I think two of them have swords." Audley concentrated as he fired off a pair of shots towards Squall.
"Those aren't swords, those are gunblades," Audley leaned back against the stack that was hiding them. "I haven't been out of prison long and I know Seifer Almasy and Squall Loire. If the commander of Balamb Garden is here, chances are we are severely outnumbered."
"What do we do then?" Lucas asked as he made a few random shots to keep them back.
"Hold on," Audley said firmly, brows furrowing in concentration. After a moment of silence, the corners of his lips twitched upward. "There's a familiar presence here."
"Say what, boss? You mean like a spirit or something?" Lucas asked incredulously, doing his best to suppress a laugh.
"A Guardian Force," Audley said with a grin. "One of them has Quezacotl with them."
"Do we like Quezacotl?"
"We love Quezacotl," the older man replied as he looked over at his associate with a smirk. "More than I loved my wife."
"That's not hard," Lucas mumbled to himself, thinking of Audley's dead wife.
"Stop mumbling," Audley ordered as he peered out from behind the stack and cracked off several more shots. "I hate it when you mumble. Shut the hell up," he snapped as Lucas opened his mouth to apologize. "Look, we need to get that Guardian Force. With it, I can use and manipulate magic, not to mention what a remarkable weapon I'd have at my disposal," Audley paused as the implication of his words really sunk in, a shiver of delight running rampant in his body. "We need to get into Dincht's head. Get him mentally off guard. If we can break the connection he has, I might be able to reach out to Quezacotl."
"I don't understand," Lucas said meekly, staring at the older man in confusion.
"I used to use Quezacotl back in the day. I loved that Guardian Force and it knew it too. My compatibility with it is off the charts, so if we can mess with Dincht's head, I might be able to steal it from him."
"Whatever you say boss," Lucas replied with a shrug, still not entirely sure what was going on. He turned and aimed his weapon precariously between two enormous toppled coils of copper and popped off a good number of rounds. "Hey Dincht!" Lucas yelled snidely. "Why don't you get your chicken ass back here and fight me like a man? You can't honestly think you're strong enough to be with my mean-ass sister if you're pissing your pants about fighting me! Chicken Wuss!"
Back on the first flatcar, Zell was furious. His face had grown red, and the flush had crept all the way up to the tips of his ears. "Nobody calls me chicken wuss but him!" he yelled back, flinging an arm in Seifer's general direction. "And that's only because I've become a little partial to the attention." Zell added in a lower voice.
"If that guy wasn't currently trying to assail me and my lovely body with bullets, I'd commend him for thinking like I do," Seifer goaded. Over their comm. System Xu and Chloe groaned and giggled audibly.
"Not helping man," Zell shot back, incensed. The younger blond peered around his side of the coil and fired a few shots in the general direction of Audley and the other man.
"You know what's funny?" Zell shouted as he leapt across the narrow aisle way and ducked behind a stack of steel beams. He cast a glance over his shoulder as he reloaded his gun. "Fujin said she only had one brother and his name was Dak!" Zell continued to yell, snapping the chamber of his gun shut.
"He's just trying to rile you up," Squall said, trying to calm him.
"Of course she only claimed one of us! Me and Ross disowned her until she could find a guy worth dating a Piper! You're the biggest disgrace yet!" Lucas barked.
"Speaking of disgraces," Audley roared over the sound of the moving train. "Kyp Dincht isn't your real father! I am!" A maniacal laugh rang in Zell's ears as he fought to maintain his composure. "You hear that boy? I'm you father."
"There's a little more to being a father than just knocking some chick up!" Zell shot back.
"Hah! You might as well accept it. I'm your real father and I killed that lousy Dincht after he stole you from me."
"You liar!" Zell bellowed, firing several shots in Audley's direction. Tears began to sting Zell's eyes and he blinked them away angrily.
"I'm offended. Me? A liar?" Audley aimed a shot at the metal just above Zell's head. Zell ducked reflexively. "Would you like to hear how I crushed that stupid bastard up in his own weapon molds? You know, he might still have been alive when I set the place on fire, right son," Audley hardly considered Zell his son, but he knew the words would further incense the young blond. "Nobody takes something from me without paying for it boy! And I do believe you have something I want!"
Seifer reloaded his gun and snapped the chamber in with a flick of his wrist. "Am I the only who finds it odd that you and I are both sitting here with gunblades and pistols and they're only picking at Zell?"
Squall nodded in agreement. "They're just words. Come on Seifer, let's use their ignorant banter against them," Squall made a motion with his head for Seifer to follow him. "Zell," he ordered. "Stay put and distract them."
The two men ran along the side of the flatcar and leapt across the couplers at the end and landed on the second car. Ducking down behind a few pieces of loose metal, Squall dropped to his stomach and began a defensive crawl, carefully looking behind the next stack of metal for Audley or Lucas. "Come on," Squall grumbled to his partner, the scorching metal of the flatcar burning his skin through the thin muscle shirt he wore.
On the same flatcar, Gunther Audley left Lucas to taunt Zell so he could quietly make his way along the middle walkway between the stacks of steel and iron. He broke in out into a sprint in an effort to cover as much ground as possible before he was noticed. Jumping across to the first flatcar, he ducked in-between two piles of scrap metal and looked around. A glimpse of Seifer on the second flatcar wasn't entirely unexpected, but Audley was powerless to warn Lucas about Seifer's presence without alerting Zell to his own position.
"So I'm going to assume the others have started to move towards me and I can't help but think-" Lucas began haughtily, thoroughly enjoying the anger he could hear in Zell's voice.
"You can think?" Zell yelled back, his face contorting in rage.
Lucas ignored Zell's last retort, instead focusing on pissing him of. "I have to wonder, do you always take the job of pansy bait when there are real men around?" Zell's shots were getting a little too close for comfort. Lucas discreetly advanced forward to hide behind a different stack of metal.
"You're ass is mine!" Zell shouted as he jumped up and ran down the middle aisle between the metals.
Seizing his opportunity, Audley reached out and clothes lined Zell. He watched as Zell hit the flatcar hard enough to knock the wind right out of him. Kneeling, Audley smiled almost serenely at Zell.
Zell had begun to stand but Audley pulled his Revolutionary shotgun on him. At the sight of the gun, Zell put his hands up and lay back down. "What do you want from me?" Zell asked as Audley placed his spare palm on his forehead, further pinning him to the car. The metal was extremely uncomfortable, but Zell did his best to ignore the searing heat.
Audley let his shotgun fall to the flatbed. "Zell," he began slowly, watching Zell's body language. "I tried for years to conceive a son with your mother. And at two months premature, I got you. You were born at a whopping four pounds and seven ounces. You had a hole in you stomach, a stork bite on your forehead, and you were missing a kidney," Audley's palm jerked, causing Zell's head to bounce against the floor with a resounding clang. "After enduring three daughters, that was one of the proudest days of my life."
Zell swore when his head collided with the flatcar, and he felt his entire body tense as Audley's cool palm moved across his forehead. Zell started to push him away but stopped when Audley produced a miniature pistol and pressed its barrel into Zell's stomach.
"It may be small, but it'll hurt just as much as its bigger brothers," Audley hissed.
"What do you want from me?" Zell asked again.
"For you to stay absolutely still," Audley answered calmly, feeling Zell begin to squirm again. "I said I was proud back then. Now all I am is disgusted." Zell's arm jerked briefly as if he were going for Audley's gun, but Audley just clucked his tongue in disappointment. "I won't hesitate to shoot you, son." Zell stilled. Gunther closed his eyes and continued to concentrate.
"What are you doing?" Zell cried out in alarm as he managed to push Audley back. Audley's finger grazed the trigger and he fired a shot into Zell's left arm. "Son of a, ahh!" Zell howled. "You shot me!"
At Zell's words, Seifer and Squall both began rushing back to the first flatcar.
"I warned you," Gunther said with feigned sympathy. "Now hold still or I'll shoot you again."
Zell did as he was told and Gunther placed his hand back onto Zell's forehead.
"Come on," he mumbled to himself. "Come on. I got it!" Audley flashed Zell a wicked smile and pulled the gun slowly away from his body. "You know, you get worked up way too easily. You should work on that son. I mean it," Audley slowly backed up and stood, eyes still focusing on Zell. "Thanks."
The younger blond watched numbly as Gunther sauntered off. At first, an overwhelming wave of dizziness washed over Zell, and it was quickly accompanied by an intense throbbing in his forehead. His right hand left the entry wound on his left arm and shot up to his forehead, clutching it violently. "Squall!" he screamed as he rolled over to his knees and held his head with both hands as best he could. "Squall! My head!"
"Squall, I'm sending Raijin in to assist you," Xu's voice crackled over the comm. system.
"Hurry up," Zell whimpered as he tried to massage his aching head with his bloodied hands.
Seifer leapt over a toppled pile of small copper coils and made it to Zell first. "What happened? Where are you bleeding?" Seifer asked as he pulled a potion off of his utility belt. He uncorked the potion with his teeth and spat the cork out over his shoulder. Forcing Zell to sit up, Seifer pressed the small vial against Zell's lips and angled it upward.
Zell managed to get part of the potion down before he started to choke on it.
"Zell," Seifer asked with pointed concern. "Did he get you anywhere else other than the arm? There's blood all over your face and hands."
"I don't know! I don't think so! I think I just made a mess with it when I grabbed my head," Zell whined. "He did something. After they messed with my head, he did something to it."
Squall skidded to a halt breathlessly just as Zell uttered the last sentence. "Please tell me you still have Quezacotl," Squall said in a pained voice.
A look of unadulterated panic crossed over Zell's features as he exchanged glances with both Seifer and Squall. "How the? What the?" Zell began to stammer. "How the hell did he do that?"
"This is just great," Seifer groaned as he took off, following Squall's lead as they searched frantically for Audley.
Lucas was reloading his gun when Audley rushed over and grabbed him by the shirt. Lucas cried out in alarm but quickly followed his boss's lead as they ran to the last flatcar.
"Did it work?" Lucas asked as he fought to keep his blond hair from blowing in his eyes.
Audley grinned maliciously. "Quezacotl is mine," he stole a glance over his shoulder. "But I can't use it yet. I have to remember how to junction things. But once I do, I know exactly where I'm going with it."
Lucas grinned. "So what are we supposed to do about our present situation?"
"We're not going to get that engine back. We need to get off this train."
Lucas looked down out at the scenery racing by. "This is going to hurt," he spoke morosely as he imagined his cut up hands being the least of his worries.
"Probably so," Audley said as he grabbed Lucas by the shirt.
"Wait wait wait!" Lucas took a deep breath. "On the count of three?"
Audley rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement, "One…."
"So, has this ever happened before?" Seifer grunted as he jumped up and over a few beams.
"I have no idea," Squall looked around uncertainly and then grabbed his pistol when he saw the two men. Seifer grabbed Hyperion and rushed them. "Seifer!" Squall shouted as he reluctantly followed Seifer in running across the length of the last flatcar.
"Two…" Lucas said as he swallowed and tried to prepare himself for the jump.
"Three!" Seifer shouted as he bounded over the stack of coils with Hyperion held high. Lucas reflexively pushed Audley out of the way of Hyperion's strike zone, and in doing so, threw himself off balance. As Audley fell forward and rolled off the train car, Seifer pulled Hyperion's trigger and brought the majestic blade down. It shook and vibrated against the back of Lucas's right arm as it cut through flesh.
With a blood curling scream, Lucas fell onto his chest, his chin hitting the car's floor with a crack. Seifer quickly pulled the now bloodied Hyperion back and grabbed for Lucas. Refusing to be captured, Lucas groaned and rolled onto his back in a artificial daze, his eyes even rolling back in his head. Seifer looked to Squall for the call.
"Get him away from the edge," Squall said as he kept Lionheart trained on the blond before him. Seifer nodded, sheathed Hyperion and reached down for Lucas's left arm.
Lucas seized his opportunity to act as he rolled towards Seifer and kicked his knee with as much force he could muster. The blond powerhouse towering over him dropped to the floor, nearly landing on him. Lucas rolled as hard as he could in the opposite direction and off the train, Lionheart's blade just barely grazing his face as Squall lunged forward.
Beyond angry at this point, Squall picked up the Revolutionary shotgun that Audley had dropped when he tumbled off the train. Taking careful aim, he fired at Lucas's motionless form on the ground and fired. The kick of the gun surprised him and his hand slipped, throwing off his aim. Squall grinned to himself when Lucas's body jumped and writhed. "Bastard," Squall fumed as he turned back to Seifer.
"Bastard doesn't begin to describe him," Seifer seethed through clenched teeth. "If I ever get a hold of that little punk I'm gonna kill him!" he shouted as he reached a shaky hand down towards his knee. Squall knelt next to him and carefully open Seifer's pant leg. Squall grimaced at the slightly swollen and discolored skin before him.
"Don't try to get up," Squall ordered as he pulled a small potion from his belt. "I have no idea if this will even help the pain but if it doesn't, I know for a fact Raijin and Chloe have a lot of healing magic on them." Seifer raised and took the potion and then collapsed back onto his side.
Trying to slow his slightly labored breaths, Seifer closed his eyes. "This is really a new kind of pain. I think I might get sick."
"Hang on," Squall grimaced as he noticed Seifer had grown a few shades paler.
"Hang on Sir," Raijin's voice came over the comm. System. "I've already taken Zell inside and I'm heading your way with some curas."
Squall sat miserably in the engine house office and stared out the window at the locomotive and cars below. He rubbed his temples as he turned to face his Lt. Free.
"Anything?" His voice betrayed his body's desire to throw useless items about in a frustrated frenzy.
"Afraid not sir," Free offered him a data pad. "Aside from the deceased, there's nothing there. The computer's even clean."
"Clean?" Squall asked. "Like there used to be something but all that's left is fragmented files or clean like it never held programs to begin with?"
Free cleared his throat and held out his hands – a gesture Squall assumed Free used to make himself appear larger and more authoritative than he actually was. "Um, remember the order of all terrain transport trucks you put in to replace the gaudy green machines Garden had been using for years?" Squall nodded, not liking where the conversation was going. "Remember how you had to postpone the retirement of the green machines because the new trucks would shut themselves down if the truck rocked or bounced too much? That happened because of safety protocols that were programmed inside the trucks' computers. They had to be edited to fit our needs. Well, this train has a main computer, but nothing's on it."
"Nothing," Squall took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Nothing. Normally there would've been dozens upon dozens of programs to control how the engine operated. For whatever reason, all of that is gone. The only reason Nida was able to figure out it was a locomotive hooked to the train was because he was able to detect the electronic pump in its engine. Everything else is like a blank slate."
Squall turned away from Free and stared at the floor for a moment. "So they realized we'd crippled their couplers, and to respond they wiped everything they had and planted two clueless recruits as decoys. I've got two injured men, two captured men, an antique shot gun, a useless train engine and we're not a bit closer to figuring out what's going on."
"Actually Sir," Free spoke quietly. "If they wiped the engine's computer the moment they realized we'd jammed the couplers they weren't really worried about the metal they were supposedly stealing to begin with. I mean they could've technically cut the engine free of the train if they wanted what they were loading up. The fact that they didn't even try when there were tools capable of doing such in their engine, speaks volumes."
Squall's jaw dropped slightly. "It was a decoy. Two of my best are sidelined because of a decoy! And he was obnoxious enough to make it obvious after the fact?" Free shifted uncomfortably. "Keep your team here in the off chance that you discover something unexpected. I want you to tear apart every compartment and search every crack of that locomotive. Alert everyone else to get ready to head back to Garden. The Ragnarok leaves in half an hour." Grabbing the first thing in reach, Squall hurled the unsuspecting red stapler as hard as he could against the wall. He got some satisfaction out of watching it splinter into a few dozen pieces but the satisfaction was short lived and his aggravation returned. With a sigh, he turned and left before he gave into the urge to smash the corner chair as well.