I blame Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the delays. Mostly. That is all.

Begin!

Book I, Part III: Mortal Conflict - Element of Treachery

Chapter X—Flash of Blades

[July 3, 2152 | Esthar, Presidential Palace | 4:39 PM]

President Laguna Loire is a very...interesting person, I've realized. Just when you think you've got him pegged, when you think he's some random guy picked up off the streets that was lucky enough and liked enough by the populace to become the head of an entire nation, he goes and surprises you with something like an intellect hidden behind all the layers of obfuscating silliness and a jovial attitude. It must come with the politics of the position, I suppose.

The topic of the President's character quirks seems to have been the turn that our discussion took after a few minutes of discussion upon our arrival in Esthar. One thing is certain, though - the place is breathtakingly magnificent in all its technological splendor. I've never seen so many gadgets and machines, all perfectly calibrated and tested to do just the job they were created to do, and nothing beyond. Silvia spent a lot of the time on our drive - well, ride - here explaining a bit about the city, and all the attractions, bells, and whistles that came with being the most advanced city on the planet. Andréa also got in on the act, explaining a bit about the business sector of the city as we moved through the streets lined with tall, exquisitely-designed office complexes and factories. I had no idea there were so many thriving companies and industries based out of Esthar, and was even more surprised to learn just how much other companies around the globe collaborated with Estharian businesses to develop new technologies and products. To say that Esthar had been close to war a short time back, you'd never know it with the way the city seems to have kept thriving.

She also warned us about a whole host of other potential problems. The Hachikyuusan, an organization that could effectively be called the Estharian mafia from the looks of things, were known to have their main operations based out of the city - something which was semi-obvious, but no less relevant. Several other, smaller groups had also taken root in the city, leaving the Estharian police in a state of near-constant attempts to bring any one of them down, both to eliminate a group as a whole and to send a message of sorts to the rest. So far, none of the attempts had been successful.

"Don't let your guard down," she had said. "We're not here to start trouble, but we'll certainly finish it if needed. Stay sharp."

Now, after a brief yet interesting talk with President Loire, we're on our way to explore the rest of the Presidential Palace to see if we can find any leads on how the arsonists - assuming that is the case - got into the building. A woman by the name of Eve Hanley, the communications officer for the primary squad of the Presidential Guard, is accompanying us as a sort of liaison between the Guard and our squad, as well as to give us information about the Palace's layout that could help us. She's a modest-looking woman, with reddish-brown hair coming down below her shoulders and brown eyes, wearing some kind of white and blue form-fitting armor stamped with the insignia of Esthar's government. What seems to be a magnetic clamp of some kind keeps an assault rifle attached to the back of her armor, and the belt on her waist has a holstered pistol on her left hip, along with what look like grenades on the opposite side.

"Ventilation shafts?" I suggest, shrugging. "Always works in the movies."

"Not likely. All the shafts in this building contain laser tripwires at certain intervals," Eve replies, shaking her head. "They may have drilled through them to get in, but it's unlikely that they traveled any considerable distance through them. We've seen no signs of forced entry anywhere, but we're still examining the damaged areas - it's hard to determine what is fire damage and what might not be."

"An inside job, then?" Sumiko asks, coming to the next logical conclusion.

"Could be...I wouldn't know where to start looking for suspects, though. Everyone here in the Guard goes through a rigorous screening procedure before they're inducted, on top of what they've already been through to join the military. Anyone who enters the Palace goes through the same identification and screening processes that you went through, as well. If it was an inside job, then whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing, and how to beat our screens."

"Former Guard members?" Naoki asks, running with the idea. "Someone with a grudge, or a reason to seek revenge?"

"Very few people have ever been discharged from the Presidential Guard, and we keep close eye on them at all times. We would know if they were plotting anything, believe me."

For a moment, Andréa looks like she wants to remark on Hanley's comment, but seems to decide not to. "Then what about groups like the Hachikyuusan? Do you believe they'd have the motivation and skill to pull off something like this?"

Eve pauses for a few seconds, thinking about Andréa's question carefully. "There could be some motivation, potentially. We've had reports lately of known associates of the organization leaving this city and traveling to Dollet and Galbadia...but the reports came some time after the Presidential Palace in Galbadia was attacked. Right now, I don't see them as being responsible for it, but no one knows for sure."

"Well, then, it looks like the only option we have left is to take a look for ourselves," Andréa replies. "Assuming you'd be so kind as to lead the way to the scene, that is."

"We're not too far from it, actually. From what we can tell of our preliminary examination, the fire started in the west wing of the palace, and spread towards the center before the fire crews finally managed to put it out. Much of our administrative services were housed there, as well as the hard copies of our contracts and other files. Fortunately, everything is backed up in several different places inside and outside of the palace, so it's more of an inconvenience than anything else."

"Administrative services, you say?" Silvia starts, sounding as if she's just found another piece of the puzzle. "Do you think someone was trying to erase evidence of something?"

"Silvia, I'd be willing to bet against that," Andréa interjects, speaking up before Eve can. "You heard the lieutenant commander; there are several different locations containing backups of the files kept here. If someone was trying to erase records from the Estharian government, they would have targeted more locations than just this place. As far as I'm aware, there haven't been any other attacks in the city."

"You'd be correct," Eve adds, nodding. "This is the only location that was attacked."

"Maybe they left something behind we can use to track them down - you know, if this really was arson," I mention, adding my own proverbial two Gil into the conversation.

"That's fair," Naoki says. "Let's just keep going to the east wing and -"

Before Naoki can finish his sentence, a shrill ringing sound begins to echo through the halls of the building, some sort of high-pitched siren.

"What's going on?" Andréa asks quickly, her posture and demeanor gone from professional ease to ready and commanding in an instant as she looks at Eve.

"Unauthorized entry alarm!" Eve says, reaching up to her ear and pressing a button on some kind of communicator sitting there, vaguely resembling the hands-free devices on cellular phones. "Hanley, reporting. I'm currently just outside the west wing entrance with the SeeD team from Trabia Garden. What's the situation?" There's silence for a few seconds as she listens, all of us waiting much the same to find out the problem. "Understood. I'll be there immediately." The communication apparently finished, she looks over at Andréa. "We've got intruders in the east wing, in one of the laboratories there - Abel Squad is en route now to assist. Mind tipping the odds a little more?"

Andréa hefts the scythe she's carrying, resting it on her shoulders. "Just tip?" she comments, causing me to smirk a little at her attitude. Eve nods, then turns towards a hallway behind us.

"Come on, then - we'll have support from the Guard when we get there!"

[July 3, 2152 | Esthar, Presidential Palace, East Wing, Laboratory B-4 | 4:58 PM]

"That's garbage too..." the dark-haired woman named Frosty muttered, tossing a metallic orb of some kind over her shoulder before looking at a blond-haired woman to her left. "Mystique! What the hell are we looking for, anyhow?"

"We're looking for baubles," Mystique remarked, grinning and waving off the angry comment. "Just keep looking for shiny things." Frosty grumbled something under her breath, but continued sweeping the table she was standing near for anything that looked like what they'd been sent to retrieve.

On the left side of the room, Lancer and Seeker were combing over a wall full of grayish-white shelves and drawers, similar to what might be found in a post office's mail room and each encoding with a symbol or letter and number designation. Grunting, Lancer ripped one of the drawers out of the wall, letting it join a series of other, random drawers that had been ripped out of the wall.

"Nothing here," the large man said, turning to Seeker, who was examining a different part of the wall. He'd been looking at a strange section of the wall for a while now - in front of him, there was one red drawer, sticking out like a sore thumb in the wall full of gray. Two drawers to the right and one drawer down, a green drawer sat, and nearly a dozen drawers to the left of the red drawer, next to the floor, sat a blue drawer. It was obviously some kind of puzzle, and Seeker had a good idea that at least one of the objects they were looking for was inside, but he hadn't been able to figure it out...or get one of them open, even.

"Lancer, gimme a hand here, would you?" he said, stepping aside as the larger man walked over and placed one hand on the red drawer. With a mighty pull, the red drawer snapped open...and Seeker yelped in pain as the green drawer also opened, forcefully slamming into his side before closing again. Lancer's momentary distraction at the sound caused his hand to slip on the red drawer, letting it slam shut again also, and Seeker bit back a curse.

"Hyne-damned Odine and his psychotic puzzles," he growled, rubbing his now-sore right side as Lancer chuckled quietly. Reaching down, Seeker grabbed onto the handle on the green drawer and snatched it open with a heave...causing the red drawer to open and smash into Lancer's jaw, cutting him off in mid-chuckle and dazing him from the force of the blow.

"What are you two doing over there?" Mystique asked, trying and failing to suppress the smile on her face. "Tearing down the wall?"

"...That can be arranged," Seeker retorted, his hands starting to glow purple as he called up Gravity-based magic. He gestured forcefully towards the wall lined with drawers, and the purple haze around his hands began to encompass the entire collection, carefully crushing the internal locking pieces on each of the drawers and causing some of them to slide open - including the oddly-colored drawers, their unique method of "trap" now disabled and turned to nothing more than scrap metal. "Lancer, check that blue drawer," he said, more than a little annoyed as he ripped the red drawer completely out of the wall. A moment later, Frosty had to duck as the red drawer sailed over her head, crashing into the floor opposite the table and causing her to turn around and glare at Seeker, shaking her fist angrily.

"What's the big idea?"

Mystique sighed as the white-haired man and the dark-haired woman began arguing. "Can we focus, please? We've got a mission, in case you've forgotten," she stated, managing to remain calm as she rummaged through the table Frosty was standing at, fishing out a device that looked like a metallic bracelet with small, clear gems inlaid around the band. Lancer, who had been searching the blue drawer, tossed a flat piece of metal from the inside before retrieving a small silver case, about the size that might hold a wristwatch.

"Is this it?" he said to Mystique, holding the case up for her to see. Immediately, her mood brightened, a grin reappearing on her face as she nodded.

"That's it - now, only one more thing to find..."

The doors to the laboratory were suddenly smashed inward as Mystique turned back to the table, a rifle held by a young woman in white and blue armor the first thing that the Estharian woman saw as she turned to see the source of the disturbance. Following the woman closely came five more figures - figures that, she noted, were all wearing the distinctive uniforms of Trabian SeeD officials.

"What's all the -" Seeker began, turning to see what the fuss was about and stopping short upon seeing the group of SeeD and Presidential Guard member. "Oh. Company."

"Hands where I can see them - all of you," Eve ordered, sweeping her rifle slowly between each of the four Royal Thieves' Guild members in the room. None made any overt moves past looking at the soldier, and her eyes narrowed threateningly. "Put your hands up, now."

"Of course, of course," Mystique replied, her hands slowly raising over her head as well as those of her comrades. "It would be a shame to have any unfortunate...accidents."

Eve reacted just a bit too slow as Mystique finished speaking, only then noticing that three of the four held some kind of small gemstones in their hands. Seeker's hands glowed purple again, and Eve's rifle clattered to the floor, the sudden gravitational force rendering the weapon too heavy for her to hold any longer. A burst of water erupted from Mystique's hand, now glowing blue, as the weapon touched the floor, sending the six military officials scattering to avoid it even as the floor seemed to take on a life of its own, rising up and forming a new wall behind the group to seal the exit as Lancer's hands shimmered green.

"Silvia, give us some fire support! Benji, take out the heavy! Naoki, Sumiko, pick a target, stick with 'em! I'll handle the leader! Move it!"

Andréa wasted no time in doling out orders to her squad, each of the SeeD members drawing various weapons and splitting off to engage their assigned targets without a second thought even as Eve began to call for backup.

(Play: Step (Andréa's Theme) - Shiro Sagisu, Bleach Original Soundtrack 3)

"Looks like you're back for another try!" Seeker said, grinning as Naoki moved to engage him, already forming seals for one of his techniques. "Hope you do better than last time!"

Naoki's only response came in the form of a group of watery spikes that appeared around Seeker, falling down to impale him from multiple directions. Each spike simply splattered harmlessly against the magical barrier that sprang up around Seeker, causing the Time Alchemist to chuckle.

"Still using magic against a mage, huh?"

In one fluid motion, the Symbologist unsheathed the katana at his side and swept through the space Seeker was occupying, the magical barrier doing nothing to prevent the solid object from passing through. Seeker winced as a very thin cut appeared on the black and gold-trimmed shirt he was wearing, faint bits of blood lightly staining the fabric - the boy had not moved that fast the first time they'd fought.

"You're making invalid assumptions. I would be careful of that," Naoki commented, watching with a satisfied expression as Seeker's form blurred then vanished, reappearing a few feet away.

"Maybe this will be fun!" Seeker replied, his smile still unwavering on his face as he started to draw on magic of his own. A second later, small clouds of purple energy swirled around Naoki for a brief moment before vanishing, seemingly having no effect but giving Naoki pause just for that reason. The instant of hesitation was all that Seeker needed to get off another spell, this time rapidly drawing an arcane symbol in the air with his index finger. The symbol vanished as soon as it was drawn, and a barrage of thin, sharpened needles of ice lanced towards Naoki at high speed. The Symbologist's eyes widened as he saw the needles, quickly throwing his sword and right arm up to guard as the needles stabbed into his body.

"Come on! You'll never get anywhere like that!" Seeker taunted. "Show me what you can do!"

Anger flashed through Naoki's eyes for a moment, the orbs turning red as Naoki drew on the power of his Sharingan, and he leapt back into battle with haste, intent on doing just as Seeker had asked.

A blistering bolt of fire tore through the space Sumiko had just occupied, the Illusionist now up in the air and falling rapidly towards the Flame Alchemist in front of her. Her rapier stabbed out, aiming to pierce Frosty's skull, but the woman stepped aside and grabbed Sumiko's arm, whipping her around sharply and letting her go before snatching another gemstone from a pouch at her waist. It seemed to dissolve in her hand, and a wave of flames burst out of her hand as she gestured towards Sumiko. Nimbly, she leapt aside, rolling slightly before springing to her feet and leaping towards Frosty again, this time lunging out into a stab. Frosty's arm snapped up and knocked Sumiko's arm away, the stab missing her left shoulder, and she tried to kick Sumiko away only to have the girl leap back, out of melee range just as quickly as she'd entered.

Growling, Frosty took two more gemstones from her pouch, those also dissolving as she thrust a palm towards the ground. A trail of fire leapt from her hand and snaked along the ground, growing larger and wider as it approached, leaving Sumiko no time or room to dodge the attack. Instead, she dropped her rapier, hands moving into a quick pair of hand seals as she gathered energy around herself. A swirling wall of water formed around her, causing a large burst of steam as Frosty's trail of fire impacted the cold liquid that almost instantly covered the portion of the room they were fighting in. Quickly, Sumiko knelt back to the ground and snatched up her rapier, casting an Aero spell to disperse some of the vision-impairing steam as she stood back up.

"Fire's all you have, it seems," Sumiko said to herself, contemplating just how best to disable the woman in front of her. Melee combat seemed to be the best option, she noted - she didn't look like someone who enjoyed close combat, and she wouldn't be able to cast her spells easily in melee either. Even as Frosty began to cast another spell, Sumiko held back, watching and waiting for an opportune moment to strike and gain the upper hand.

Near the left wall, Lancer was defending himself from a swift series of blows from Ben, the Blade Knight's dual katanas out and slashing away at the much larger man. A sweeping strike was turned aside by Lancer's long spear, followed closely by a stab with his left blade that was dodged. The spear came across in retaliation, Lancer's strike carving down towards Ben's chest, but he rolled under the attack and came up behind Lancer, spinning and slicing in the same motion to open a cut across the lower part of Lancer's back. Lancer spun, grunting in pain but not seeming at all impaired by the injury as he sliced out once more. This strike was turned away by both of Ben's swords in a clumsy block, the smaller boy still a bit off-balance from his maneuver, but he countered quickly with another swipe from his left blade that rang as it impacted the metal spear.

'I've got the speed advantage,' Ben thought to himself, hopping back to put some space between himself and the brutish fighter while he planned his next attack. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Naoki go tumbling away after some kind of attack from his opponent, even as he felt the familiar sensation of Haste magic ripple across his body, enhancing his movements. He glanced over, noticing Silvia moving away in Andréa's direction, and grinned as he started to resume his attack. Before he could, he noticed something...not quite right about the area they were standing in. Faintly, he could see a purple shimmer around a fair-sized portion of the room, centered on where they were standing, and he wondered momentarily where it was coming from.

The sudden reappearance of Lancer in his line of sight shocked Ben's thoughts back to reality right before a meaty fist filled his vision, sending him flying into the shelves behind him hard enough to dent the metal. Lancer chuckled as Ben stumbled away from the wall, disoriented from the powerful punch, right before his muscles jolted and pain ripped through his body, courtesy of electrical magic from Silvia.

"Move!" she yelled to Ben, who did just that - noticing with disdain that despite having Haste cast on him, he felt more like he was under the influence of Slow magic. Silvia seemed to notice it too, first taking note of the SeeD's slow movement and then seeing the faint purple tinge in the air. There had to be a connection, she reasoned...and she was taking a chance in what she was about to do, but it was a calculated risk. Energy shimmered around her hands as she called up a Time Magic spell, the energy of Slow playing over Ben's body and causing him to look up with surprise, wondering exactly what Silvia was trying to do.

Then he realized just what she had been thinking, and mentally kicked himself for not seeing the same as his movements sped up again. Whatever barrier was surrounding them, it was reversing the normal physics of speed - slower objects moved faster, and vice versa. With a grin once again on his face, he nodded briefly in thanks to Silvia before leaping back into the melee, confident again that he had the situation in hand.

Andréa was, dare the thought cross her mind, actually enjoying herself. Three images of Mystique were positioned in front of her, courtesy of a Blink spell that the Water Alchemist had cast upon herself, but she didn't seem worried in the least by the disorienting tactic. One of them vanished a moment later, flinching and then dissolving into mist as a burst of fire from Eve's assault rifle tore it apart. Another met a timely end by the blade of the young woman's scythe, the thin, curved edge cutting the image in half without so much as a second thought.

"Dear me, it looks as if I may be in over my head!" Mystique said, feigning a look of horror as her other image dispersed. Her right hand rose as she spoke, holding a small wooden wand, and one of the jewels on a bracelet around her right wrist glowed before vanishing, the released energy moving fluidly into her wand and causing it to glow a bright blue. "I guess I'll have to go out with a splash!"

A wall of water seemed to spring into existence before her, absorbing another series of bullets into its form as it roared towards Andréa with all its crushing force. Without hesitation, Andréa leapt forward, raising her scythe up as she moved towards the wave of water, then cleaved it in half with one smooth strike before landing and thrusting the end of the pole towards Mystique's chest. The Water Alchemist reacted quickly enough to parry the thrust, directing it off to the side with one hand, and she gestured again with the wand as another jewel dematerialized, this time summoning a pressurized burst of water that smashed into Andréa's scythe and body, nearly knocking the wind out of her and throwing her to the ground as well.

'I'm not sure which is worse,' the SeeD thought to herself, steadying herself again as Eve reloaded her rifle, 'her Alchemy or her mouth.' Two more gems on Mystique's bracelet vanished as Andréa watched, their energy swirling around Mystique this time and erecting magical barriers of Shell and Protect around her body.

This time, Andréa smirked.

"You're quite the performer, you know, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve too," she mentioned, her tone as casual as if she were simply discussing the weather with the woman in front of her. "You're not the only one who can wash away another's good mood."

It happened so quickly, Mystique wasn't sure what happened until she felt the pain. Andréa and her scythe moved as one, lunging out at Mystique as she charged the blade with energy. The curved weapon swept upward, and the magical barriers around Mystique seemed to peel away, their energy violently dispersed and causing even more harm than the blade's slice did on its own. Mystique gagged as she hit the ground, the front of her outfit now sporting a long, bloody cut down the center, and Andréa found herself defending against a ball of fire from Frosty, the counter to their leader's peril almost immediate.

Holding one hand over her wound, Mystique looked around at the rest of her comrades. Lancer was faring worse than she'd imagined - his opponent was simply too fast for him to catch, and the female mage that was helping him was tipping the odds gradually more and more against the bigger man. Seeker was faring better, keeping his distance from the dark-haired boy he was dealing with and interrupting or misdirecting his spells. Frosty, however, looked like the tide was turning quickly against her, and she realized that it was a matter of time before the already unfavorable battle shifted even more so.

"...Frosty! Seeker!" she yelled, the tone of her voice letting the pair know exactly what she was asking for without words. From afar, Seeker's form vanished, reappearing beside her and helping her stand up. Frosty looked more annoyed at the order, but grudgingly cast a wall of fire in front of her that separated Sumiko from both her and Mystique before beginning to rejoin the Water Alchemist, muttering something unintelligible to Seeker as she did. Andréa made to attack once again, but another wall of fire cut her off from the three Alchemists, forcing her to keep her distance. The ground suddenly shook violently under everyone's feet as Lancer channeled his Alchemy into the floor, ripping the tile and dirt up under Ben and Silvia's feet and throwing them to the floor, giving him enough of an opportunity to regroup with the rest of his team. A third wall of fire completed the triangular shape around them as Lancer approached, completely sealing the four off from any sort of attacks, and the air rippled as Seeker began to cast a spell, a portal of energy slowly fading into existence beside him.

"I must thank you all for the fun, but you know what they say - business always comes before pleasure," Mystique said over the crackling of the flames as the other members of her team began to step through the portal. "I look forward to seeing you all again!"

The sound of her voice faded as her form did, vanishing through the portal just before it closed with a minute flash of purple energy, and the flames around it subsided similarly, leaving the SeeD members and Eve alone in the mostly-destroyed laboratory.

(End: Step (Andréa's Theme) - Shiro Sagisu, Bleach Original Soundtrack 3)

"That was...different," Silvia said to herself as she brushed herself off, both annoyed at all the trouble that had been caused and at the fact that their quarry had just escaped right from under their feet. "I don't suppose anything else could go wrong..." she finished sarcastically, shaking her head.

The world became noise and light for the group within the laboratory then, the wall with the damaged shelves collapsing as the adjacent room exploded with a thunderous roar and spray of debris, and Silvia suddenly regretted tempting fate as she had.

[July 3, 2152 | Esthar, Hokkaido Museum, Royal Thieves' Guild | 5:21 PM]

"Was that quite necessary?" Mystique asked Frosty with a pointed look, beginning to heal the long gash on her chest with her Alchemy. The Fire Alchemist across from her snorted, looking peeved with their 'leader.'

"I was having a good time," she huffed, earning a nearly collective sigh from the other three within the room. Frosty's temper and attitude were well-known; that didn't make it any easier to deal with on occasion. Their moment of relative silence was quickly interrupted by the sudden appearance of two figures within the room, one of whom was carrying a small briefcase with them.

"It looks as though you succeeded," Destine said to Mystique, a cordial smile in place across her face. Mystique, despite her injury, smirked.

"Was there ever any doubt? You did hire the best thieves in this region, after all."

"Of course. As I promised, your reward."

Destine stepped over to the table in the room, placing the briefcase on top and opening it up to display the stacks of Gil within to the group. Seeker moved over to the table, examining the contents for a few seconds before turning to Mystique, satisfied.

"It's all here, boss."

Mystique nodded, then took out the bracelet and small box that had been taken from the palace's laboratory, handing them over to Destine. The Pillar of Destiny took the items graciously, examining them with the care of a wizened mage, before nodding to Mystique.

"Your help is appreciated. I do hope you'll excuse our rapid departure - we've much work to do, you see."

"Of course, of course. People of your stature are always occupied, I'd imagine," Mystique remarked. From beside Destine, Manes rolled his eyes - he saw little reason for the niceties that Destine was engaging in, but saw just as little point in stating it openly.

"Places to go, artifacts to craft...it's a busy life," Destine said, sighing and turning to leave. "Sacrifices must be made for the sake of the trade, though. An inevitability, to be sure."

As quickly as they had appeared, they were gone, leaving the four members of the Royal Thieves' Guild in relative silence once again.

FFTA, sadly, wasn't the only delay - writer's block struck again, and I could not seem to bring myself to write the fight scene by any means. Expect a bit more action next chapter too, as things get rolling again. As always, please read and review.