A/N: So, I've been trying to update this damn thing for months now, and every time I turn around life decides to take a dump on me. Having said that, I'll update this bitch anyways, cause at this point I Don't Fuckin Care. No lie. As a side note, I've been through several fandoms recently and have become obsessed with Dragons Age, AND Mass Effect damn you Bioware *Shakes fist*. Either way, I hope you enjoy the latest entry in this lil shindig as Trouble and Ashley find themselves quite a bit more willing to work together. And then all hell breaks loose as the plot thickens nicely.
Warnings: No Beta to be seen.
Chapter 13: The Game Has Changed
By: Tamuril Telrunye A.K.A Bamvivirie
'My love for irony,' I thought to myself as I stood there looking at the blank stone wall, waiting for something profound or dramatic to occur 'Will definitely be the death of me.' I finished with a grimace.
Perhaps I should recap on where I am, and how I got here. It all begin I believe where I left off previously, at the door that had led to dun dun dun dun! Certain death! Well, for anyone other than Leon, or the crazy cultists, we just hadn't known it yet. After my graceful decent from my perch on the wall, ( And I will hear no word of this 'You fell on me you elephant!' nonsense from Leon.) We skipped merrily up the stairs, holding hands and singing-
Ok, so we didn't hold hands, and we weren't singing but I definitely had a skip in my step. But that could also be attributed to the fact that I was no longer clinging to the wall like a barnacle. I really have to work on that heights thing, don't I?
Either way we stalked up the stairs after a brief breather, flipping the mysterious switch on the wall, and shaking off the left over adrenaline from our dance with... Whatever that could be called, we were rewarded with the yells of yet ANOTHER set of Ganado.
Taking care of them in short order before turning the corner, and finding a lovely soul who felt the need to tote a crossbow, and his companion who thought dynamite was a sure hit. Leon had dodged into the nook with the rather realistic painting, taking all the cover that the particular area could offer while I stood back with Ashley, hiding just on the corner and popping off the few useful shots I could.
I giggled a bit as a stray thought about 'No dynamite in the house' flitted through it, before taking a shot at the crossbow guy before taking cover again. A moment later, and a crossbow bolt thunked into the wall not far from my position and I cursed.
His aim was getting better.
I turned looking at Leon, gesturing wildly for a moment to get his attention. They had us pinned, and likewise we had them pinned. But I had an idea and a few wild hand gestures, and one near miss with a crossbow bolt later I was waiting for Leon's signal.
Before leaping from my cover, roll down and under their fire and into the nook that hid Leon, at the same time Leon leaped and roll as I had to come up behind the horse statue on the opposite side before firing and ducking behind the statue again.
The ganado with a crossbow leaped out and took a shot, dynamite wielding ganado not far behind. Leon took a shot at the crossbow idiot, shooting and missing before I shot the dynamite wielder in the face and ducking down.
A loud WHUMP was the only thing I heard as the dynamite that the one ganado had been carrying blew, killing them both. The hall was almost ominously quite as peeked around the corner, before waving at Ashley. I was surprised that she didn't have any protests, since she's been kicking and screaming at me since the advent of this particular excursion.
Leon crept through the doorway that the two ganado had been hiding behind before waving us through, the area just beyond was empty save for a rather large area in the middle that the ganado had also used to hide behind at one point. Skirting it we walked a short way to yet another door, an we all stopped short.
"Do you think we need a key for this one?" Ashley asked Leon, and I obliged by answering.
"Nope."
"How would you know?" She said skeptically.
"Easy," I paced up to the door, lowering my center of gravity I kicked hard and fast catching it a little lower then I intended but still accomplishing my goal. "OPEN SESAME BITCH!"
The door swung open, revealing a large room beyond and I took the opportunity to bow mockingly. Leon rolled his eyes and I had the brief mental battle between inner voices. One wanted me to say something about his eye's rolling out of his head, while the other fought not to say something lewd. Instead my eye's settled on his to-pretty-to-be-man-hair hair, and then a bit lower as his back turned to me.
...how does a "He has nice hair" turn into an "I'd tap that" anyways?
The room beyond was one of the largest I'd seen yet, about the size of a large high school gym. Or a small factory building. It initially seemed squarish in shape, with a pair of staircases leading down on the far end. The floor had four indentations that seemed to be some weird type of reflecting pool.
And standing center stage in this whole mess stood three ganado.
One wore red, skull capped with the standard (for this place anyways) rams skull. And the two on either side wore helmets, and totted wooden shields adorned with spikes. The shriek of a ganado made I and Leon leap into action, bringing guns up with an almost practiced ease as our ganado counterparts raced to do the same.
I dodged down and left, breaking away from Leon and racing down one side of the large room. Hopefully I would be able to catch one of the shield holding bastards in the- I screeched to a halt as I slammed into a suddenly very open rust-red door. The door slammed closed, and I hit the ground clutching my nose in one hand.
Son-of-a-bitch!
I brought my gun up, popping an unfortunate ganado in the crotch as he towards me, my face and nose stinging from the abrupt meeting with the doors hard surface. I pulled the trigger, letting the clip run itself dry before dropping the empty and slamming the next home. The door swung open again behind me and I whirled, bringing my gun up and pushing myself to my feet as I fired.
The report of Leon's handgun fell away, exchanging itself for the loud concussion of the shotgun. As more ganado made their ways out of the door in front of me, a shield wielding idiot running at me as if he intended to use me as an ornament. I scuttled backwards on my hands crab walking into one of the strange pools of water in the process. I floundered about in the shallow pool, chocking on the liquid invading my lungs.
I tried to push myself up and out of the shallow water, but my hands couldn't find purchase on the slick stones at the bottom. My feet still flailed about above the water, mocking my attempts to force my head to the surface. I was drowning in less than a foot of water. I could feel my limbs start to go numb, as the feeling of tightness in my chest intensified. The world seemed to dim at the edge of my vision, before I felt a strangely distant pressure on one of my legs.
A moment later I was sputtering in open air as I felt myself being dragged out of the pool; I coughed and attempted to roll onto my side, and failed as I was pulled along the ground, before being tossed over some ones shoulder. I felt myself expel both air and water onto the unfortunate soul, as well as what I was assuming was my lunch. I would feel more inclined towards regret over this, if the Ganado in n question wasn't man-handling and kidnapping me. A scream of rage and dismay left my attacker, and I was suddenly thrown aside as he did an almost hilarious dance of disgust.
Another Ganado grabbed me as I was shouldered again, and off we went through the red rusty door accompanied by a scream of rage from Leon, and the shout of fear from Ashley.
"TROUBLE! TROUBLE! YOU SONS OF-"
The resounding clang of metal against stone cut him off, and I was whisked away up a set of stairs and into a strange ante chamber like area. I was dropped into a cushioned seat, as my kidnapper nattered at other Ganado in Spanish. I wasn't entirely sure as to what they were saying, limited knowledge of the subject making me somewhat upset. Spanish differs from country to country, and what little I know it what I've learned from a Spanish speaking fellow student of mine. He was from Latin-America. I am in Spain.
… Wonder if I will get in trouble for not having my passport? Either way, not the same place by half. I tried to shake off the lethargic feeling that came over me, knowing that it was probably the result of lack of oxygen from my brief attempt at breathing water. Focusing instead on my surroundings and what was happening between the Ganado surrounding me.
They seemed to be arguing about something, raised voices and excited gestures playing on my already frayed temper. One Ganado swung his hand out in a double handed gesture that seemed to mean some sort of denial, nicking the edge of my nose with his hand I the process. Pain flared, and I was suddenly on my feet tackling the unfortunate fool to the ground as another Ganado attempted to pry me off his comrade.
I threw my head back, feeling the snap of something as it collided with the second ganados face. I moved then, leaping off the first Ganado and towards a small round table. A strange slip of a thing it resembled a small wooden pedestal than anything else, gripping the single supporting leg before grabbing it and swinging it around. I caught the first ganado in the head, either knocking him out of killing him. Which I couldn't say, but as long as he wasn't gonna bother me again I didn't care.
The second was on his back, clutching his nose in both hands and howling his woe to the world. His screaming stopped abruptly as the wood of the small table I was holding collided with the side of his skull, before fracturing. I dropped the table, turning towards the door I'd come in through only to stop short.
There were two doors.
Two identical doors.
What the hell? What did they get them bargain priced at Wally-World? Come on!
I stared between the two of them, unsure as to what I should do. Before falling back on my tired and true method of deciding.
"Eeny, meany, mine-" a groan behind me spurred me on, "MOE!" I dashed through the left hand one, tearing down an unfamiliar hallway before hitting a fork in the hallways, and no by fork I didn't mean a four pronged super demon eating utensil… Ok imagination, we need to talk.
There was a right path and a left path, and once more I couldn't make up my little mind. Why did they let me out of the house every morning? Augh. I turned right, figuring that as long as I tried to get back to the same direction we had been going I would be fine; that is to say they dragged me off through the left hand door, my sense of direction temporarily discarded was not entirely lost. So, in theory I should be able to find them by going right and down a set of stairs…
Crap. I went left when I should have gone right originally.
Weeeelllllll, I am certainly NOT going back the way I came. What I needed to do, was find a set of stairs that led down. Leon and Ashley had to be at least a floor below me, I remember stairs being involved. A rather long set of stairs, but the specifics are a bit blurry. Grasping the handle of the door, I pushed it open with a grumble only to be presented with the sight I did not expect.
The door itself opened onto a raised walkway, that at the moment was playing host to a shrieking Ashley running from a recently splatted Ganado, another not far behind. I didn't even stop to think, dodging out I tackled the Ganado to the ground.
"TROUBLE!" Shouted a voice below my current location and I spotted Leon on the floor below us, I slammed the ganado's head into the ground before waving.
"Fancy seeing you here agent!"
"I could say the same." He said his voice more than a tad relieved. "Don't suppose you could give us a helping hand?"
"Normally no, but for you? Name it."
"Ashley has to turn those damn cogs, as far as I can tell they'll open the way for us to… Where ever we are supposed to be going." He said, exasperation in his voice telling all.
"Your wish is my command!" I said, as I moved towards the cog Ashley was currently working on. The mechanism seemed to be stuck, and only came free after a bit of elbow grease between the two of us. The sound of grinding gears in the background caught my attention, and I turned to look at what had been previously a vast length of water between the floor Leon was on and a door set on the other side. A small island broke the surface of the water on the far side, and I scowled before joining Ashley in a race for the cog on the other side.
We had to dodge a few Ganado on the way, with no help from Leon due a slight bit of preoccupation on his part. A swarm of Ganado were plaguing him, and I assisted marginally by dropping another Ganado on top of them with a well-placed kick. Oddly enough, I wasn't having so much trouble with the height difference between floors this time around. Eh, maybe I was getting better with this whole phobia thing.
The next cog turned with a tad more ease, and it wasn't until we were near the edge of the platform that I realized something.
"Shouldn't we, you know take the stairs?" I said to Ashley as she moved to jump.
"There aren't any stairs, Leon had to lift me up." Or not. I eyed the edge with misgivings, before I Ashley turned looking at me with bit of humor.
"I think I'll just go find another way." I said, forcing a small smile.
A nasty look spread a crossed Ashley's face, before her hand shot out gripping the front of my shirt before shoving me over the edge. I dropped like a rock, slamming into Leon and knocking him down with a 'WHUMPH'.
"Owe." Wheezed out of Leon, as I felt a surge of annoyance; I slapped his chest before rolling off of him.
"I'm not that heavy you jack ass." As I threw a glare at the now giggling blond above us.
"Not that light either, that's twice now you've fallen on me."
"Shut yer face, or I'll do it again." I said before standing to brush myself off. I could tell he wanted to call me on it, but resisted because… Well probably because he wanted to prove that he was the more mature party. I wandered away a bit as I looked at the room, surprised to see that it was connected via a staircase to the room I had been abducted from. I stared for a moment before I felt a tapping on my shoulder, which was then followed by a brief hug from Ashley and a slap on the back from Leon.
"The hell happened to you Trouble?" Leon asked, as we moved toward the strange walkway that had risen from below the even stranger water.
"Guy decided that he wanted to pick up a pretty girl," I said with a tired smirk, "Too bad he chose the wrong definition of 'pick-up'."
"He he, you think you're so funny." Ashley said rolling her eyes.
"That's because I am," I said with a dignified snort "S'not my fault I'm running out of material. I've been going non-stop for hours." Ashley only rolled her eyes at me, and I couldn't help the eyebrow waggle that followed, before I looked down at my now wet clothing. Man did I need a wardrobe change. My mind immediately jumped before I could stop it "And I've been soaking wet at least twice today, and never in the good way. I'm starting to get disappointed."
Ashley snorted indignantly before sticking her nose in the air, and Leon rolled his eyes at me with a muttered 'Figures'. We hop-skipped along the new path and through the thankfully unlocked door on the other side, stopping sort at the sight before us.
"Enter the cars."
"Wait, what?"
"Oh yeah, from time to time they drive cars on campus. Keeps students on their toes you know." I said with a shrug, and Leon gave me a look that said something along the lines of 'That explains SO much.' I blew him a raspberry and kept walking. The hall it's self was indeed large enough to drive a car through, if they could manage to fit it under the low hanging female statue was somehow bolted to the ceiling. Upside down.
Weird place just keeps getting weirder, and for that matter, a hell of a lot more creepy... Were those human hearts on the alter? Oh that's going to do wonders for my stomach.
"Really though," Ashley said staring at me. "Where do cars fit into this equation?"
"Weeellllllll, the hallway is big enough to compare to my schools walkways. And they definitely get a lot of traffic- both foot and otherwise."
A wave from the far side of the room caught my attention, and I had to roll my eyes at the merchant's audacity. Man had a pair, that for certain. After looting the various drawers and vases a brief haggling session with the merchant ensued, the resulting upgrades making me purr as I placed my handgun back into its holster.
I flicked open a pair of sunglasses that I discovered sitting in a drawer a few minutes earlier, amusing myself with them as Leon conferred with the merchant. Our biggest current problem currently circled around our supplies… Or rather the lack thereof.
Our ammunition was on the scarce side; and really I wasn't surprised. Leon hadn't exactly been prepared for the task at hand, and the Merchant didn't keep bullets on hand. So our supply was finite, and well counted. Twice. And distributed between I and Leon evenly despite the fact that he was the only one who used either of the larger weapons, a precaution in case something happened and he wasn't capable of using his.
We set things out the equipment on the floor for the moment, checking over and servicing our small arsenal as Ashley wandered a bit kept close in case the hall decided it would like to gain a case of Ganados. A subtle coughing caught my attention as Leon said something, and I looked over at Ashley; her face looked flushed, and a hand was clasped over her mouth. A look of horror swept through her eyes as she looked up at me, and suddenly she was running and I was not too far behind her as she ran coughing.
Down the hall passed the creepy hanging lady, and further down another hall before I pounce on her in a tackle that would a football player flinch, coming to a halt in a tangle of flailing limbs. I felt something come in contact with my back before another body joined ours, this one male and quite a bit heavier.
"Owe, damnit Leon your heavy." I said as I attempted to shove him off. I say attempted because he had somehow managed to become tangled in the wind milling limbs that we presented. Leon moved off us with a ninja like roll and I help Ashley to her feet as Leon backed away down the corridor, ready to catch her if she decided it was time to take off again.
"So," I said brushing myself off "What was that about?"
"Yes, what was that about Ashley?" Leon questioned further, as I fiddled with the sunglasses that had somehow been spared from the fate of the crushed, before putting them on.
"I…" She trailed off looking away before attempting to answer again. A answer that never came, as the sound of something heavy shifting interrupted her. Leon leaped back as what looked like a wall of spears shot up between us, throwing his weight backwards again as another set shot up inches from his face. His back slammed into the far wall, and clamp like arms slapped up around him affixing him to the wall.
"LEON!" Came from two different voices as the wall with Leon attached spun, and we looked each other with horror as the implications hit us both full force. I could, for once tell that she was as shell shocked as I was.
In less than five minutes we'd gone from set, to screwed.
"So, let me get this straight. The man who is supposed to be rescuing us, is strapped to a wall in the castle of a crazy small person with a fetish for pretty boys. We can't at the moment get to him to free him. I am the only one who can use a gun; I have half a box of ammo. Two shotgun rounds, five sniper rounds, its dark and I'm wearing sunglasses."
"About sums it up."
"We are soooooo boned."
"You can say that again."
"Waiter, our check please!" And thus was I left staring at the blank wall.
A/N part two: Bah, finally got this thing done after months of kicking and screaming on my own part.