CHAPTER 11 – Missile Base

The trucks had Galbadian soldier uniforms and helmets in the extra footlocker at the back. "So, these things'll fit us?" Selphie asked.

"They should," Quistis answered.

"They smell funny," Squall said, "Do we need to wear them?"

"Yes, Squall. Would you rather we just run in there and beat the shit out of people? Then we'll fail and the missiles'll be launched at the Gardens."

"Not like I can even do anything. My gunblade's back at the Garden."

"Who says you can't use your cool Sorceress powers?" Selphie asked. "Don't you have to whip 'em into working shape, anyway?"

"Yeah, and suppose Edea's there?"

"Squall's right, Selphie," Quistis said, "We need to prepare for anything. We'll all carry machine guns inside, that way we look like real Galbadian soldiers."

"And if they notice our curvy figures?" Selphie asked.

"Well... Sorry, Squall, but you're kinda the big problem, there."

"You mean because I've got bigger boobs than both of you?"

"Yeah."

"Blame it on genetics, girls. My mom just had some hooters, okay?"

Quistis and Selphie both giggled.

When they arrived at the missile base, the guard at the front gate tapped on the window. "What you got in there?" he asked.

"Just some extra equipment," Quistis said, doing her best to try and sound male.

"Something wrong with your voice?"

"Just... ah..."

"Look, if you think you're gonna sound tougher if you try to impersonate a guy, you're failing greatly. I don't understand why you chicks think you need to be tough so damn much."

"Sorry," Quistis said, dropping the fake tone. "Something my boyfriend asks me to do. Sometimes I just forget to stop doing it."

"Boyfriend, eh? Weirdo, if I ever heard of one."

"Yeah, he can be pretty, uh, funky."

He waved his hands toward the parking zone. "Just park over there and head on inside. There's an inspection team running through the base, so don't be surprised if you get shoved aside by some wise ass inspector."

"Thanks, we'll be fine."

Squall slung the machine gun over her shoulder and waited for Quistis to park the car. She smiled as she thought about the days when her dad had probably done this very same thing, except he probably didn't have to stop missiles from being launched.. She hoped they succeeded.

"Okay, everybody clear on what we're doing?" Quistis asked.

Squall and Selphie both said, "No."

"Good," she had an undercurrent of nervousness in her voice, "'cause, neither do I."

They all exited the car, rifles slung over their shoulders, and walked inside the base. Quistis used a security card she'd found in her uniform on the card reader, and that gave them access to the inside of the base. The base was a large amount of metal corridors, all containing patrolling guards. The three girls just did as the soldiers did—patrolled.

They made it from the front door to the first basement level without incident. As they walked past a soldier guarding the door to the power room, he shouted, "Stop!" The three girls froze in place. He then walked around them and inspected them. "You three walked in a perfect single file line. Your parents must have taught you excellent manners."

"Thank you, sir," Squall said.

"And you're polite, as well. That's great!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but we're in a hurry," Quistis said.

"Yes, yes, go on."

As soon as they were out of earshot of him, Squall whispered, "That guy was weird."

They walked along further, to the second basement level, and found a second stairwell that led to the control room. Problem was, they needed a different keycard to get inside.

"Good God," Selphie said. Squall turned around and saw both her and Quistis looking down past the railings at the lower basement levels. Squall herself looked down and saw exactly what they saw.

As far as the eye could see, missiles. There were hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of millions. There were more missiles down there than the population of the Galbadia continent. It was almost like looking at a mirror that was positioned at a mirror—all you saw were the same things for miles.

They had to destroy this place, now. Not just stop the missiles from launching, they had to destroy the place. There were far too many missiles. Even if they stopped the ones that were set to launch, they could just launch more.

They couldn't be allowed to.

"Hey, you!" someone shouted. The three girls turned and saw a man had come out of the launch room. "Get in here, we could use some help."

"Yes sir," Quistis said for all of them. They followed the soldier into the room, were two troops were trying desperately to push a launcher into its bay.

"We need help getting this launcher into the bay. You girls gonna be strong enough to help move it?"

"Of course," Selphie said, putting on a tone of false toughness.

"Good. Now get your asses over there."

They each took position to the sides of the two men already pushing. Squall grunted with exertion—the damn thing was heavy. She decided it wouldn't hurt to use just a little bit of her Sorceress power. She concentrated and enhanced her strength and pushed. Now, the launcher was moving steadily into the bay. Selphie almost lost her balance as the launcher moved without her help.

After the launcher settled into the bay, Squall watched the soldier that had ordered them to help. He had a small keycard on his belt. She concentrated again, and the keycard came off of his belt and slowly ended up on hers. No one suspected a thing, either.

"Get back to your assigned area. Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome, sir," Squall said, saluting him.

When they were out of sight, Selphie said, "That was mean, pushing the thing with your mind and not warning us ahead of time."

"Yeah, well, I think I made up for it with this," she held up the keycard. "Tada!"

"You stole that off of the guy who asked us for help?" Quistis asked.

"Nope, I used my powers and took it from him."

"So, you stole it with your mind?" Selphie asked.

"I mind took it!" Again, no one said anything. "Does nobody watch cartoons anymore?"

Quistis took the card from Squall and walked over to the card reader beside the door to the control room. She swiped the card, and the door opened, revealing a somewhat medium-sized room with dozens of computer terminals spread around it. A Galbadian officer was standing on the far side of the room. "Who's there?" he asked. He turned around and saw the three of them standing there. "What are you doing here?"

Quistis stepped forward and saluted. "Inspection, sir. Queen Edea wants to know the status of the missile launch."

The officer stood there for a few moments, then his hand slipped toward a button on the console behind him. "Bullshit! Queen Edea herself came here earlier for her update. You're imposters!"

"Who are we impostering?" Squall asked.

"Is 'impostering' a word?" Selphie asked in response.

"I don't know. I'm flunking English."

Dozens of guards entered the room, each pointed their weapons at the girls and kept their fingers close to the trigger. The officer stepped forward. "You're three of those escapees from the prison, aren't you?"

"I'm not," Squall said, "but I stand by my friends."

"Then you're the teen Sorceress. Queen Edea will be delighted when I kill you. All of you, fire!"

Squall just reacted when the bullets started raining down on them. She stepped in between Selphie and Quistis and just closed her eyes. Her arms were pointing straight to either side. When she opened her eyes, they were surrounded by thousands of stopped bullets floating around them like some kind of shield. "Whoa... I didn't know I could do that."

"See, I told you to use your Sorceress powers, but who was reluctant, huh?" Selphie was smirking.

"Selphie, the more I use these, the quicker I turn evil, and I don't wanna do that, okay?"

"Oh... well... nobody told me that."

"Squall, can you shoot the bullets outward and hit the consoles?" Quistis asked.

"With or without killing any of the soldiers?"

"At this point, I just want the bullets gone, I don't care where they go. You're not the only girl who wants to get back to her boyfriend."

Squall concentrated for a second, then felt a force pushing away from her. All the bullets flew outward, hitting everything in their path. Soldiers dropped to the floor, consoles exploded. The officer was the only one left standing when it was all over. He looked around at the carnage that surrounded him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He pressed a button on his wristguard. "Ha! I just launched the missiles at the Gardens! All has gone according to Queen Edea's command!"

Squall was angry, now. She pulled her machine gun from her shoulder and threw it as hard as she could at the officer. It hit him, barrel first, in the chest. He looked down at the weapon that had impaled him and then went ragdoll and landed on the floor.

"Nice throw," Selphie said.

"We've gotta get outta here, c'mon!" Quistis shouted.

They ran quickly as a self-destruct warning resounded throughout the complex.

The officer had one last bit of life left in him. He reached for his wristguard and pressed another button. Elsewhere in the complex, a large tank activated and rolled outside.

Squall was the first to make it back to the door they'd come in. All around them, Galbadian troops were running for their lives.

Iwannagohome Iwannagohome Iwannagohome

She was tired. Most of her energy had been spent just healing the icicle hole that had been in her chest. Then came the exertion she'd put out to move the missile launcher, then taking the keycard, then finally catching and deflecting the bullets back at the soldiers that had fired them. There was very little of her that didn't ache.

"We're almost outta here, Squall," Quistis said, catching up. She, too, was out of breath. "We just need to get back to the car."

"Yeah, well, I dunno about you, but I want my old clothes back. These smell weird and they're really, really itchy."

"At least we didn't have to wear their underwear."

"God, I can't even imagine what military panties must feel like."

"Or military bras," Selphie piped in, finally reaching them. "Those things must hold you down to nothing."

"God, now you make me wonder if they've even got military bras in my size," Squall said.

"C'mon, girls, enough!" Quistis said. "But, now that you mention it, I would like to see Squall squeeze her boobs into a way-too-tight army bra."

The three of them giggled as they got outside. Suddenly, however, Squall was very nervous. Soldiers had been running for their lives not five seconds ago, yet the entire parking area in front of the missile base was empty. No cars except for the one they came in (which she assumed no one had stolen because Quistis had the keys). Instead, a large tank was blocking their exit.

"It's them!" a soldier shouted. "Blast them!"

"Oh, shit!" Squall shouted, pushing Quistis and Selphie out of the way. The tank's cannon fired a round directly at the spot they had been. It zoomed past them and into the wall behind. Nothing remained of the wall. "Run!"

Quistis and Selphie both got to their feet and made a mad dash for the car. They were inside in under a second. Squall, however, stayed outside. She knew it wasn't going to feel good, but she used her powers to stop the next shell inside the cannon as they tried to fire. Blood was dripping from her nose. Maybe I'm not the uber-powerful Sorceress they think I am... She couldn't dwell on that. She just continued to hold the shell in place until they fired.

"Something's wrong with the cannon!" the operator shouted from inside the tank.

"Fix it, dammit, and shoot these bitches!"

"I can't sir! Something's holding the next shell in place!"

"Just goddamn fire!"

The operator must have done as he was told, because then the tank exploded. The soldier outside giving orders was disintigrated by the blast, and it shook the ground violently. Squall released her concentration and collapsed to the ground. She was exhausted.

Quistis was back out of the car and at Squall's side in seconds. "C'mon, Squall, we've gotta go!"

"Don't ever let me do that again..." she managed to whisper out. "I hurt so much..."

"Don't worry about it, you can rest in the car," Quistis' voice took on a motherly tone, and for a second Squall thought she could hear someone else inside there. Someone familiar.

Don't worry about it, sis, you can rest when we get back home...

Squall's vision was doubling. Quistis turned into two people, but one of them wasn't Quistis. It was a brown-haired girl, probably only nine or ten. She looked so familiar, but Squall couldn't tell who she was.

C'mon, Squall, let's get home before we're late for dinner!

"I wanna just sleep here..." Squall whispered out, a familiar response to a statement from long ago. "I don't need to eat right now..."

"Who said anything about eating?" Quistis asked, but Squall didn't hear her.

Ell... Ell! I didn't mean it! Ell! I wanna go see Daddy! "I wanna go see Daddy..."

The ground continued to shake all around, but Squall wasn't paying any attention. Her mind was lost, replaying a scene from years ago, when she and her older sister were playing in the hills near Winhill, their father waiting for them to come home...