Chapter 33 - Chaotic Waltz
By MasterSamson
“A meeting?” Landon said, from his desk.
“Yes, this is straight from Hikki. He’s requesting that you meet with him and some of the main Syndicate members tonight at 9:00 over at that old manor on 160th Street,” DangerCille said, standing in front of him.
Landon stood up and looked out the window behind him. “I find it odd that he would call a meeting so suddenly, and with no time to prepare even.” Landon looked over his shoulder at DangerCille. “I also find it offensive that HE would request a meeting. He knows that I come only when I see fit.”
“Landon, you risk their respect if you don’t come to this one. Hikki made it sound pretty important.”
“What’s so important?”
“I’m not sure, Landon. He wouldn’t tell me.”
With a quick “hmph” Landon looked back out the window. “Tell him… I’ll be there.”
_________________
“Right, ok… Tres bien.” Hikki hung up his cell phone. “Eet ees confeermed. Landon has agreed to meet us at 160th Street. Een ze old manor over zere.” Hikki sat down next to Samson and Clarice, who was busy reading a book.
“There sure are a lot of abandoned buildings in this town…” Clarice remarked, not looking up from her novel.
“So much ze better for us. We need a neutral location for zees meeting, and Avril sez zat zees place ees safe,” Hikki said, cleaning his glasses.
Clarice closed her book and sighed. “So our plan is to question Landon at this meeting?”
“Yes, it is.” Samson adjusted his glasses. “Even if he denies these charges I think it would be best for him to leave the Syndicate of his own will. But if need be we shall force him. We cannot have someone untrustworthy leading something as important as this. He needs –“
“Now Samson,” Hikki interrupted. “We cannot go jumping to conclusions like zees. We need to question Landon first. From zere we weel decide ze best plan for dealing weez ze seetuation. Zees could all turn out to be some sort of beeg meesunderstanding.”
“Well… whether he’s guilty or not we shouldn’t go to the meeting unprepared.” Samson looked over at the crates in the corner. “We should go armed. There’s no point in risking our necks with a guy who would potentially off all of us if he sees fit.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Hikki admitted. He looked at the broken clock on the wall. “What time ees eet?”
Samson looked at his watch. “It’s six.”
“All right zen.” Hikki stood up. “We have three hours to get ready for ze meeting. You two make some calls and get as many pepole here as queeckly as you can. I’m going to get Avril to leave a message at a dead drop for someone, and ze rest of you can suit up and wait for ze ozzers to arrive.”
One hour later a small group of Syndicate regulars had assembled, including Jake, who had been recalled from his spy mission with the Order of Glass, and Elizabeth, who had just happened by looking for something good and stiff to drink. Amid some grumbling about the short notice, they armed themselves as Hikki and Samson explained the situation and laid out their plans.
When they were finished, Hikki surveyed the small group before him. “Samson, Angel, Emiri, Kira, Mustang, Havoc, Cowboy, Avril, Jake, Elizabeth…”
“Ahem…”
“…And Clarice.” Hikki rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. Suddenly he looked serious. “Zees ees ze smallest our Syndicate has ever been. I don’t know what eez going to happen een zere, but I do know zat our time of being kept een ze dark ees over. If Landon really ees a traitor zen we have a right to know ze truth. And we weel do what we have to do. We have not come zees far and suffered so much to have eet all end now. I know zat somehow, we weel get through all of zees.”
Hikki looked at his friends’ faces, hoping that he had been able to inspire them in spite of his own fears. Some of them seemed nervous, and some of them looked eager for a fight. But they all seemed to understand the importance of their current mission.
Samson stood up. “Okay. We all know what we’re doing. Let’s move out.”
_____________
A short time later the group reconvened at the manor, after making their way there in small groups to avoid attracting too much attention.
Elizabeth insisted on going in first, just in case there was trouble waiting for them inside. She entered with her pistol drawn, intently peering into the darkness. Jeez… this place is huge… she thought. When she was a few steps into the room, a noise caught her attention. She whirled and pointed her gun in the direction of the noise, calling out a sharp “Who’s there?” Slowly and cautiously, a tall man with pointy hair and a military uniform stepped out of the shadows with his hands raised.
“Cougar… is that you?” Elizabeth asked, surprised to see him.
Cougar came forward with a sheepish look on his face. “Hello, Liza… I guess I should thank you for not being too trigger-happy…”
Elizabeth swore under her breath. How many times had she told him that it was Liz, dammit…
“Yeah, you’re just lucky I don’t want to attract any attention. We’re setting up a stakeout here.”
“I know, I got the message. That’s why we’re here. But you don’t have to worry – I’ve already checked out the building, and there’s nobody else here.”
“’We’re’ here? Who else ees weez you?” Hikki asked from the door. He and the others had followed Elizabeth inside.
“I think… you had better come see for yourself,” Cougar answered with a sly grin.
He led them into an inner room. There, for the second time, they saw a familiar face that they thought they would never see again.
“Mon dieu…” Hikki gasped. “Eet ees Lucille!”
She was sitting in an ornate chair, looking slightly apprehensive but relieved to see them. “Long time no see, guys…” she said with a weak smile.
____________
“I’m going now,” Q said, closing the door to her office behind her.
“What? Already, Chief?” Allen asked, leaning out of his cubicle.
Q walked past Allen with a briefcase in her hand. “Yeah, I’m visiting with my mother tonight.”
“Heh, have fun then, QQ,” Keith said, walking past her.
Q turned around and glared. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me ‘QQ’?!”
“Well, I could call you by your entire name, but my tongue would probably die trying to pronounce it,” Keith laughed.
“You can call me Chief Holmes… or just Chief if that’s too hard for you,” Q said, glaring straight into his eyes.
Keith raised his hands in defense. “Okay, okay, no reason to get hostile…”
“All right then…” Q said, brightening up. “I guess I’ll be off.”
____________
“How are you still alive?!” Angel shouted. “We heard your body was found on some damn cow farm outside of town!”
“That was a fabrication.” Cougar put a hand on Cille’s shoulder. “The real Cillie was being held at Comdot Estate.”
“Wow, how did they treat you over there?” Elizabeth asked. “I know they treated me like a piece of meat while I was being held.”
“It was horrible… I almost died. They tried to kill me,” Cille said with dread in her voice.
Elizabeth crossed her arms. “And I thought I had it rough…”
Emiri looked Cille over. “You must be tough to have escaped Comdot. That place is a fortress. Believe me, I know.”
“Cougar managed to rescue me before I was killed,” Cille said, standing up and stretching.
“He rescued you? I guess that explains the huge explosion I heard that one day,” Elizabeth laughed.
Cougar looked guilty. “Really, I’m sorry – I would have gone for you too if I had known you were there, Liza…”
“Eh, it’s fine… if you had come for me you would have ended up overwhelmed.” Elizabeth smiled. “Really, I understand. Also… could you just call me Liz?”
“Sure, Liza.” Cougar smiled. Elizabeth facepalmed.
“I don’t know what happened to Spice after that. Everything that happened in there is just a blur to me now,” Cille said, trying to remember.
“Spice was zere too?” Hikki asked.
“Yes… she’s the one who tried to kill me,” Cille said sadly. “I think they had her drugged or something.”
“Well, Spice showed back up over at the cafe, and proceeded to go crazy,” Samson laughed.
“We had to knock her out with a frying pan,” Clarice added.
“Where is she now?” Cille asked.
Hikki adjusted his glasses. “She’s taking a break, and she’s also being observed to a certain extent to make sure zat whatever happened to her doesn’t happen again.”
“Good, I’m glad she’s back to normal then,” Cille said with a sigh of relief.
___________
Outside of the mansion a black BMW pulled up. Landon had finally arrived. He stopped and looked out his window, noticing that the lights were on in the manor. “Well it seems like they’re here early.”
DangerCille sat in the seat next to him, seeming preoccupied. “Are you okay?” Landon asked. “You look like you’re pretty tense… something wrong?”
“I… I’m fine,” DangerCille said, looking away from Landon. “Perhaps we should go in. They’re waiting for us, I’m sure of it.”
Landon scratched his chin. “I still find it odd that Hikki would want a meeting on such short notice. Oh well, I’m not going to figure out what that effeminate Frenchman wants by just sitting here, am I?” he laughed, opening the door of his car and stepping onto the sidewalk. After another moment of thought DangerCille followed.
As they crossed the street Landon stopped and looked behind him.
“What is it?” DangerCille looked at him, confused.
“I don’t know,” he said, looking back. “I could have sworn that someone was watching me…”
“Who…?”
“Never mind that,” Landon said. “We have work to do, after all, my dear.”
The two of them proceeded to walk up the stairs of the mansion. Across the street, a rather large man hiding behind a car watched them enter the building.
“Hah… I go out looking for one thing and find something even better… He’ll definitely want to hear about this.”
___________
“Upper story secure!” Elizabeth yelled from the top of the stairs. The group had congregated in the foyer of the mansion. On each side of the room there was a staircase leading up towards a balcony at the back of the room.
Hikki looked to the top of the stairs. “Good, Elizabeth.” Suddenly April and Cowboy appeared below the balcony, walking out of a door underneath it. “How ees ze bottom story?”
“You wouldn’t believe how huge this place is, Hikki,” Cowboy said. “But yeah, everything is clear as far as we can tell.”
“Good. Everyseeng ees coming togezzer well. Landon should be here any moment now.” Hikki tugged at his collar. He had never been this nervous before. Everyone had a task. But he had the hardest task of all – to keep a crew from so many walks of life in line and working together.
“Don’t get so nervous,” Clarice scolded. “You’ll tip Landon off that something’s up right away. If we want to get a decent answer from him we’ll have to catch him off guard.”
“Yes I know, eet’s just… I don’t know. I want to trust DangerCille but I also want to trust Landon. Eet ees a very spleet seetuation zat we are een right now.” Hikki looked over at Cille, who was sitting in a chair chatting with Cougar. “Cille being here now may make ze seetuation even more volatile…”
“Why do you think that?” Clarice asked, intrigued.
“Remember, Cille was as far as we knew dead. I can only eemagine how shocked Landon weel be when he sees her, and how shocked Cille herself weel be when she sees DangerCille.” Hikki took off his glasses and wiped his brow. “Oh zees ees going to be eenteresting.”
“So you guys think Landon may be more than he seems?” Cille asked, walking toward Clarice and Hikki.
“Oh, um, I see you know why we have called zees meeting,” Hikki said nervously.
“Yeah, Liz told me about it. I’m sure there must be some explanation to all this. And I’m sure Landon will give it to us,” Cille said confidently.
“I’m afraid, my dear, zat eet ees not zat seemple now,” Hikki said grimly.
“What? Why not?” Cille asked, confused.
“Oh dear… you don’t know about her do you?” Hikki asked, looking at Clarice nervously.
“What, she doesn’t? That’s right… Liz doesn’t know about her either.” Clarice looked at Cille apprehensively.
“What? Who is it that I’m supposed to know about?” Cille was starting to feel uneasy. “Why are you guys so nervous? What’s going on here?”
Suddenly everyone heard the large door to the mansion open and slam shut. “Well, I’m surprised you’re all here so early. Perhaps you’re all turning over a new leaf of responsibility.” Landon stood in front of the door grinning.
Cille felt something odd when she looked at Landon. It was him, yet… it didn’t feel like him. He looked like a different person now. But as she looked to the person at his side she felt her gut drop. Her eyes widened. Was that…? Her?! “Who… who is that?!”
Liz looked back and forth between Cille and DangerCille. “What the F**K?! TWO CILLES?!”
_____________
“It’s just nine o’clock, dear. You don’t need to leave now, do you?” Libra sat across from Q, sipping from her cup of tea.
Q adjusted her glasses. “I really do, Mom. I have a lot of paperwork piling up and I just need to go get some sleep.”
“Sounds like this job of yours is taking up a lot of your time…” Libra said, looking into Q’s tired eyes.
“Yeah, it really is.”
“That’s sad,” Libra said, taking another sip of her tea.
Q crooked an eyebrow. “What? Why is it sad?”
Libra set her cup down and got up from her chair to get her daughter’s coat. “At this rate you’ll never get married.”
Q blushed. That caught her off guard. “Wha… don’t be stupid! What’s so important about that anyway?!”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Libra handed the coat to Q and sat back down. “It would just be nice to see you happy, I guess.”
“Mom… I am happy. Just busy I guess.” Q slumped down in her chair. It had been a month since she had last seen her mother. This setup was all too familiar to her. Every time she came home Libra would mention how worried she was about her and how much she overworked herself. Q would listen and try to defend herself as much she could. But she knew it was all true. She knew she worked too much. She knew that deep down she wasn’t really happy with the direction everything was going.
Libra looked concerned. “I can’t help but worry about you, Quetzalxochitl.”
Q cringed. “Mom, just call me Q. Please.”
“What, I can’t call you by your full name now?” Libra said, slightly offended.
“I’m sorry, I’m just tired.” Q looked at her watch. “Look, I really gotta go, Mom. I’ll see you later.”
“All right, honey.” Libra got up and hugged her. “Be safe.”
Q walked out of her mother’s book store and to her car at the side of the street. As she dropped down onto the driver’s seat she heaved a heavy sigh. She was going to go home, go to bed, and tomorrow it would be the same day all over again. She’d go to work, yell at Keith and Allen and their incompetence, do a load of paperwork, and go home and go to bed. And it would cycle like that for the whole week. She shoved her key into the ignition with little confidence and started her car. It was really going to be a long ride home.
____________
“Well I see you haven’t changed much, Cille. I was wondering where you had gone.” Landon looked over at Cougar. “I should have known that he of all people would rescue you. It’s good to see you safe.”
“Who… who is that?” Cille backed away. “Who the hell is that? Why does she look just like me?!”
“Because she is you, my dear. She is you, and you are her.” Landon put a hand on DangerCille’s shoulder.
“Look, Cille, I know this is hard to handle…” DangerCille said, concerned at her alter ego’s growing agitation.
“You’re damn right it’s hard to handle!” Cille said. “What are you?”
“I’m you… from the future.”
Cille nearly fell over but Cougar caught her. “What are you talking about? How can you be from the future?” Cougar asked.
“It’s a long story.” DangerCille walked toward Cougar and Cille. “Suffice it to say that the future sucks. And it’s partially my fault, err, our fault. Because of us the rebellion was doomed and Ozzal won. I came here to stop you from making the same mistakes I made.”
“Yes, I’m sure we all have very interesting stories to tell,” Landon interrupted, “but I would like to know just why this meeting was called.” He looked sharply at Hikki. “What do you want?”
Hikki took a step back. He was actually frightened.
Samson spoke up, taking the heat off Hikki. “Look, Landon, it’s come to our attention that your loyalties might not lie fully with us. And that you actually have other interests and priorities that take precedence over those of the rebellion.”
Landon crossed his arms. “And just where did you hear this, kid? Do you even have anything to back it up?”
Samson looked stoic. “My sources are classified.”
“Then there’s really no reason for me to take these mindless accusations seriously,” Landon said disdainfully.
“We heard that there is another group that you’re involved with,” Hikki said, regaining himself.
“We also heard that you wouldn’t be above sacrificing any of us in the name of that group,” Samson added.
“Well that is interesting,” Landon said, not entirely seriously. “And you believe all this? You believe that I would betray the Syndicate I founded?”
“You certainly don’t seem to care that much about us from what I’ve seen,” Samson shot back. “You haven’t even done anything for us except hand out orders and tell us things that may or may not even be true!”
“Samson, please, give it a rest. Nothing’s been proven yet.” Clarice held his shoulder from behind.
“She’s right, you know.” Landon seemed to be taunting Samson. “You seem to be questioning my loyalty, even accusing me of treason, but really it is I who should be questioning you. I built this rebellion; I made it what it is today. You’re all here because of me and only me. To think you would ask me, your leader, such questions, and without any proof beyond what you ‘heard’? This is utter nonsense!”
His speech had grown more forceful, as if he were daring them to continue interrogating him.
“Please understand,” Hikki said, trying to remain calm, “we are concerned. We want to be able to trust our leader. Zees ees why we ask you zese questions.”
“I could say the same about you,” Landon replied. “It doesn’t fill me with confidence that the people I’m relying on to carry out my orders are instead going around behind my back looking for excuses to accuse me of treason. You could at least tell me where you got this information from.”
Hikki nervously looked at Samson and Clarice, trying to avoid looking at DangerCille, who was standing behind Landon with a slightly worried look on her face.
“We cannot tell you zat,” Hikki finally told Landon. “We seemply want a straight answer from you about your ozzer acteeveeties outside ze Syndicate. We want to know if we can trust you.”
“Fine then,” Landon said shortly. “You can trust me. Whatever ‘other activities’ I have don’t need to concern you. My priorities are with the Syndicate and the rebellion.”
Hikki and Clarice seemed relieved, but Samson didn’t look entirely convinced.
“Is that all?” Landon asked. “Or is there anything else you’ve ‘heard’?”
Hikki, Samson, and Clarice exchanged glances.
“Well…” Hikki began, “who ees Da Sombras?”
“Da Sombras?” Landon repeated. “I’m sure I don’t know. Sounds like a crappy Mexican restaurant to me.”
“We were thinking Da Sombras could be your boss,” Clarice stated.
“Or your partner,” Samson added.
Hikki closed his eyes. “Whatever you are to each ozzer we’ve been told you’re researching someseeng very eemportant.”
Landon narrowed his eyes, and a curious expression appeared on his face.
Silence filled the room as all eyes focused on Landon. He hung his head as if in deep thought.
“Well then… so many things have changed…” Landon said quietly. “I should have known it would grow out of control sooner or later.” As they watched him they could see his expression change. He was… grinning? Then he started laughing as he raised his head to look at the group of Syndicate members before him.
“Bravo, bravo…” he said, clapping his hands. “I never would have thought that you would figure this much out about me. Whatever little bird told you that story is sure as hell informed.”
He paced towards Hikki. “To be honest I never took you people for the investigative kind. Like any primitive people you should have just kept on taking the bait placed in front of you and following any orders I gave. Apparently… I was wrong about you.” Landon stopped in front of Hikki and looked him directly in the eyes. “I was foolish to think that you would do as you were told for long. And now it seems that you’ve become too troublesome for your own good.”
Hikki’s eyes widened at Landon’s new candor. “What exactly are you saying?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Hikki? I used all of you. You all played into a larger game. Distracting Ozzal and her government forces while my friends did whatever they wanted. It really is brilliant. But at the same time I was the true founder of the revolution. I created it long before I met Da Sombras. Why, it’s not like I formed this rebellion in the first place only to see it fail! To tell you the truth I wanted you all to succeed. I wanted you to win against Ozzal. But distraction after distraction kept you away from your overall goal. The revolution I started turned into nothingness, a joke.”
Landon paced around the room, holding his hands behind his back. “Don’t you see, Hikki? To win a revolution you must actually do something! You can’t stick to the little leagues! But as I watched it became painfully clear that you would need my help in order to do anything meaningful. And that’s why I came back, and why I’ve been lying in wait these past several weeks until I could make my grand reappearance.”
“Wait…” Samson said suspiciously. “So when the Echelon came after us… you saw what was going on?”
“I did,” Landon said, looking him straight in the eye. “I saw it all. The break-in at Comdot Estate, the murder of Heero and his wife Riza, the slaying of Wyatt, Yemman’s downfall into complete insanity… and yes, that Echelon crackdown and everything that came afterward.”
“All that…” Samson was suddenly furious. “So you just sat there watching as all of us were rounded up and people were being killed? And you didn’t even try to help us? Do you really care about the Syndicate at all?”
“To be honest,” Landon replied with an ironic smile, “the failure of the Syndicate to protect itself against the Echelon was the hardest thing to watch. I mean, I knew that you were incompetent, but that was simply the worst reaction to a violent force I have ever seen. You lost half of your pathetic members in that raid.” He looked defiantly at Samson. “But it was my choice to remain uninvolved,” he said evenly. “It was up to you to save yourselves… or not.”
“But… your own fiancée…” Hikki sputtered. “She was nearly keeled by Ozzal… and you deed nossing?”
Landon crooked a cruel smile. “You say that as if it was a problem.”
“What ze…” Hikki murmured, dumbfounded.
Landon looked smug. “You see…” he continued, “the one who wanted our little Cille dead… was me.”
In an instant Cougar was at his throat. Landon barely had time to bring his arms up to protect himself.
“Bastard…” the livid man choked out. “How could you… she was your fiancée… she loved you…”
“She was a plaything,” Landon retorted. “I might have loved her once… but she serves no purpose for me now. A man like me can’t waste time on useless love-struck girls. So I decided to get her out of the way before she started getting meddlesome. I couldn’t have her coming after me, especially with Ozzal’s people and the rest of these morons on her tail.” Behind him, there was a distressed look on the face of his partner.
Cougar let out an infuriated growl and renewed his attack, seeming fully intent on strangling the man who had betrayed them.
“Cougar, stop.”
At the sound of Cille’s voice, cold and insistent, Cougar grudgingly released his hold on Landon and stepped back. She had stood stunned as Landon made his cold-blooded confession, but now it was time for the confrontation she had both hoped for and in a way dreaded for the past year.
“All I’ve wanted… all this time… was to know why you left me the way you did…” she began slowly, stepping forward and looking Landon straight in the eye. “I would have gone with you… I would have done just about anything to help you if you had only asked. I thought it was because you wanted to keep me safe, because you didn’t want me to get involved in your dangerous rebellion. But… if that’s all it was… if I never meant anything to you…”
“You give me too little credit, my dear,” Landon said, seeming more amused than hurt. “It’s not like everything that happened between us was a ruse. I did love you then… if things were different, I might even still love you now. Maybe I could have been the kind of man you wanted me to be… But I’m not about to change who I am now. And I owe you no apology. I gave you the chance to distance yourself from me. You could have gone on living your life in peace, but no – you just had to go poking around where you didn’t belong. So don’t blame me if you end up getting hurt.”
Cille couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “So just because I wanted to see you again, just because I was trying to find you, you wanted me dead? Are you truly that heartless?”
Landon narrowed his eyes. “I have plans that you can’t even comprehend,” he said disdainfully. “And I won’t let anyone get in my way. Least of all a silly little girl.”
He abruptly flung his arm forward, and a small pistol suddenly appeared in his hand. He had had it hidden in his sleeve just in case he ran into trouble.
He pointed the gun at Cille. The cold and bitter look on his face made it clear what he intended to do.
“And now… goodbye, ‘love.’”
Cougar dove for Cille, and at the same time DangerCille threw herself at Landon and his gun. His shot went up into the ceiling, and he reeled and grabbed onto DangerCille to regain his balance.
“What the hell are you doing, woman?” he shouted. He grabbed her neck, threw her to the floor and pinned her down.
“Just stop it, Landon! She doesn’t have to die!” DangerCille cried. “We’ve already changed the path of the future… you don’t have to do this!”
“You really don’t understand, do you.” Landon glared down at his former partner. “This isn’t about you and your ‘future.’ I’ve got bigger plans that don’t include you. You were just a convenient pawn, same as the rest of them.”
DangerCille looked up at him sadly, as if seeing the real him for the first time. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it… I guess I was just too focused on the Syndicate… or maybe I just thought – hoped – there was a chance we could still love each other. But now I know what kind of man you really are…”
Landon’s eyes narrowed. “It was you… you sold me out to these idiots, didn’t you… Bitch!”
Before she could say anything in response, he raised the gun again and pointed it straight at her forehead. Her eyes widened, and she realized there was no use in trying to deny it. Unable to take her eyes off of the gun, she began desperately shouting to her past self while she still had time.
“Cille… don’t believe in yourself… believe in them… who believe in –“
A single shot silenced her.
Breathing heavily with anger and agitation, Landon leaned back away from DangerCille’s now-still body and lurched to his feet.
Everyone stared at Landon in disbelief. While the gun’s caliber was small the mental blow was enough to push everyone back a step in shock. Everything was silent. The only noise to be heard was Landon getting up and regaining his composure.
Finally Clarice broke the silence. “Y- you… killed her…” she said, covering her mouth, her eyes wide. Samson held her shoulder. He was too shocked to say anything.
“Yes, yes I did,” Landon stated, straightening his coat. He looked to his right and saw Emiri clenching her fists as if she were clutching at some unseen weapon. The stunned expression on her face told him that he had managed to shock even her.
“You bastard, you’ll pay for that one!” Emiri yelled in anger.
“I weel not let zees happen anymore!” Hikki screamed. He almost had tears in his eyes. “I weel not let anyone die anymore! No one!”
“I’m afraid, Hikki, that you have no choice in the matter,” Landon said, looking at Hikki with the utmost seriousness.
“W- what are you talking about?” Samson asked.
Landon laughed. “You people really are morons, aren’t you?”
Suddenly the front door of the mansion burst open and several men ran through.
“Ahh good,” Landon said. “Right on time. I like a quick reaction like that.”
“Time is no issue, I was hoping we’d get some action today!” a tall man wearing a leather vest said.
Landon raised a hand. “Calm yourself, Greed. We need to make short work of this.”
“Right, right,” Greed said, frowning.
“Efficiency is my number one priority, sir,” a red-haired man said behind Landon.
“I knew I could count on you, Tres,” Landon said with a smile. “Gauron, close the doors. It’s very cold outside.”
“Of course, sir.”
Landon looked at the two men to his left. “Asimov, Beck. I assume you’re both ready for the task ahead.”
“I just want to get this over with,” Asimov said.
“Yeah, same here,” Beck replied.
“Landon!” Hikki yelled. “What kind of game ees zees?!”
Landon looked at Hikki, surprised. “Well you didn’t see this coming, did you? Isn’t it obvious? The only reason I told you all that about Da Sombras and the Cool Mexicanos you see before you is because you had already known too much.”
“Then why tell us more?” Samson asked.
“Simply put, with that much information you’re all nothing but liabilities… I could have kept denying your charges, but what would be the point? Even if I could have convinced you to drop those charges, none of you would have trusted me afterwards. So it was clear to me, at least, that you would have to be eliminated before long. And since you won’t be around long enough to tell anyone what I’ve told you, I thought you could at least come to appreciate the full extent of my genius,” Landon explained with a smirk.
“It was fun while it lasted,” he continued more seriously. “But I’m afraid you’re all completely useless to me now. I hope you enjoyed being my toys for the time we were together but I’m afraid I need to say goodbye to you again now. Emiri, you told me that I would pay, didn’t you? Well I’m afraid that you’ve got it a little bit backwards… in fact, I’m almost positive that you will all be paying instead. For your insolence. Your incompetence. And most of all for sticking your noses where they didn’t belong! You’re all going to pay this night… with your blood.”
During Landon’s speech several more Mexicanos had come in through the back, led by a young man with an authoritative air.
“Liam, so glad you could make it on such short notice,” Landon said appreciatively.
“Yeah, lucky for you we weren’t in the middle of any experiments,” Liam answered.
“All right,” Gauron said impatiently. He almost seemed to pet his submachine gun. “Which one of you rats wants to die first?”
“How about you, bitch?!” Elizabeth screamed, appearing out of nowhere from her hiding place in the balcony. All it took was a single shot to silence Gauron’s cockiness forever. As his body fell to the ground, all around the room guns were heard being cocked and readied for action.
Landon looked at what used to be Gauron lying next to his feet with a distasteful look on his face. “Well now, that wasn’t very nice, was it?” He moved away from the body to avoid getting blood on his shoes. “You really should have let him get ready first!” Landon yelled as he raised Gauron’s submachine gun and started shooting at Elizabeth. She quickly dove back behind the balustrade to avoid his shots. All the other Syndicate members quickly separated, leaving only Hikki, Samson and Clarice together.
Greed and Beck started to run after Elizabeth but Landon stopped them. “No, don’t worry about her. He’ll deal with her soon enough…” Landon said, grinning. His grin quickly disappeared as he noticed Cougar coming at him with fierce anger in his eyes.
“You bastard, I’ll kill you!” Cougar yelled, swinging at Landon with lightning fast speed.
“I think that’s quite impossible for you, Cougar!” Landon replied, narrowly evading Cougar’s attack. Before Cougar could regain his balance, Landon grabbed his other wrist and used his speed to propel him into the wall behind him. “You’re too sloppy! You’re letting your emotions get the better of you!” Landon taunted, crossing his arms. “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten that worked up over a mere girl?”
“You’re too cocky, Landon. You don’t take into account that people have more to fight for when they have someone to protect!” Cougar quickly jumped back to his feet and ran at Landon. Just as Cougar’s fist reached his face, though, Landon leaned back and kicked him in the stomach.
With a “guh!” Cougar fell to his knees in front of Landon. Landon quickly recovered from the punch, and Cille watched from the side in horror as he pulled out his pistol and put it to his former friend’s head.
“And to think at one time I thought you had what it took to join me in my greater purpose,” Landon snarled.
Cougar looked for a way out but saw none. Landon was completely focused on him, and even with his speed he couldn’t raise an arm without Landon noticing.
“Landon, stop it now!” Cille yelled from the side, raising her Mateba revolver at him.
Landon looked over at Cille with surprise. “Well I see your time with this pathetic individual wasn’t a total waste for you. You seemed to pick some things up from him. No matter though, Cille. When I’m finished with this fool, I’ll deal with you soon after.”
“I don’t think you’ll be doing much of anything after this!” Cougar yelled, raising a fist to Landon’s groin.
“WHA?!- GAH! “ Landon quickly fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
“Cougar, are you all right?!” Cille asked, running to his side.
Cougar slowly got up. Blood was coming down his forehead. “Nothing I can’t handle, I suppose,” he replied with a smile. “AHH!” Cougar’s leg shook violently and he fell to the ground.
“You really should try to pay more attention!” Landon roared, lurching up with a gun smoking in his hand.
____________
Elizabeth ran into another room followed by Mexicano thugs. She had remained on the upper floor, relatively separated from her comrades. “COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!” She had a bloodthirsty look in her eyes as she blew rounds off in every direction from her pistols. “DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU’LL GET ME LIKE THAT YOU IDIOTS?! HA HA!”
Two men tried to get to her from a doorway to her right but she quickly noticed them and took them down with one shot each. She stopped to survey the chaos she had created. It was quite nice. Suddenly her shoulder was nicked by a bullet from behind. She stopped, lowered her guns, and looked at the wound with a smile. Slowly she turned around and noticed a man with a raised gun behind her. She just grinned wildly at him and winked. The man’s eyes widened in fear, so much in fact that he dropped his gun and ran for the nearest exit.
“Good boy…” she said slyly.
Elizabeth raised her guns, discharged both cartridges, and quickly reloaded. She looked around and noticed several men running toward her with heavy caliber weapons.
“Well s**t,” she muttered. “It’s a little unfair when they come at me with that crap.”
The men quickly noticed her and began shooting at her with an uncountable number of bullets. She sprinted to the nearest table, flipped it over, and dove behind it. Bullets tore through every inch of the table leaving clear holes. Elizabeth sat behind the table watching the bullets rush past her and laughing hysterically.
“Do you really think that’ll be enough?!” she yelled at them. “Lucky me I’ve been saving these for a rainy day,” she said to herself as she opened one of the pockets on her cargo pants and pulled out a grenade. “Really it feels like such a waste to use these suckers so quickly.”
She bit down on the pin and ripped it out of the grenade and casually tossed the bomb behind her. “1… 2… 3… –“ she counted, and a massive explosion went off behind her. Glass and debris flew past her, and the force of the explosion was enough to blow her hair in front of her face. All the guns were silenced and she clapped like a happy child with a smile on her face. Oh how she loved explosions.
Mustang and Havoc quickly ran into the room. Havoc swung his gun at the table Elizabeth was behind. “Is… is that you… Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth got up from her hiding place and looked at the carnage in front of her with satisfaction. “Yup, it’s me all right!” She smiled at Mustang. “And just what are you doing here, Colonel?”
“We… thought that you could use some backup with all the guys that came after you…” Mustang looked at the destruction around him, shocked.
“Well as you can see I’m just fine and dandy over here!” she said, walking past him and giving him a wink. “So how are the others doing?”
“I’m not sure,” Mustang replied, rubbing his temples. “Because of the way the fight broke out all of our defensive positions mean absolutely nothing right now. We’re all completely scattered.”
+++
“What een ze name of Marie Antoinette ees going on een here?!” Hikki yelled furiously. He, Samson, and Clarice were holding position behind a now bullet-ridden couch.
“Last time I checked, Hikki, bad guys were trying to kill us!” Clarice yelled back, glaring. A bullet zinged past her head, nearly hitting her. “Yep, I got a confirmation on that. People are definitely trying to kill us!”
“You deedn’t have to be so mean about eet…” Hikki said, slightly hurt.
Samson looked at the two people on either side of him. “Look, arguing amongst ourselves is not going to solve the current problem, guys!”
Clarice thought for a second. “Samson’s right. Hikki, do you have any sort of plan at all?” she yelled over the gunfire.
“I might, but we need to get away from zees gunfire. As far as eet ees looking right now, we cannot move unteel we get some of zese fools off of us!” Hikki cocked the submachine gun that he had taken from a fallen Mexicano.
“An opening!” Samson yelled as he stood up and shot a round from his pistol. A bullet grazed his leg and he fell back down, his face clenched in pain.
Hikki was stricken. His eyes dilated. “SAMSON!”
“Samson, are you okay?!” Clarice asked, ripping a piece of cloth from her shirt and tightly wrapping it around his leg.
“Yeah…” He jerked in pain as she tightened the wrap. “I should be fine…”
“SAMSON!”
“What, Hikki?! God!” Samson yelled back.
“DO NOT WORRY SAMSON! I SHALL AVENGE YOU!!!” Hikki clicked the safety off his machine gun and stood up with complete rage in his eyes.
Clarice’s eyes widened. “What the f**k are you doing, Hikki?! Do you want to die?!”
“I SHALL AVENGE CHUUUUUUUUUUUUU!” Hikki yelled with a crazed look in his eyes.
“Hikki really! It’s all right! I’m going to be fine!” Samson reasoned.
“SAMSOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!!” Hikki yelled, firing off his machine gun from his waist and spraying bullets everywhere, taking men down all around him. “DO YOU BASTARDS REALLY SEENK YOU CAN HURT MY SAMSON?!!!”
“Jesus Christ Clarice… I really think we lost him this time…” Samson said, shocked.
“Well he’s got the right idea at least!” she answered, getting up and firing her pistol along with Hikki.
Samson smiled. “Heh, I guess he does.” And he raised himself back up and joined in the fighting.
________________
“Do you really think you can outdo me, chicky?!” Beck yelled at Angel. He was walking around the extensive library in the mansion trying to figure out where she had gone. “I reaaally don’t like playing hide and go seek, lady.”
“And I reaaally don’t like that damn yellow suit you’re wearing!” she yelled from her hiding spot.
“HEY! There is nothing wrong with my fashion sense! This is totally in style this season!”
“Yeah it was… 26 years ago!” she mocked.
“Grr stop making fun of me!” he yelled.
“Stop chasing me!” she replied.
“I won’t!” He straightened his tie. “Landon told me that I have to kill you,” he said smugly.
“Please, you don’t have to do this!” she pleaded.
“Oh really? And why not?” he laughed back.
“What has Landon been offering you? Money?” she asked.
“Why of course. Naturally to hire my professional services I require sums of money,” he replied, grinning.
“I can offer you something he can’t,” she said quickly.
“Oh? And just what is that?”
“A woman’s touch…” she purred seductively.
Beck’s eyes widened. It had been a long time since he had felt a woman’s touch. His suit made that painfully obvious. “Just how touchy are you going to get…?” he asked, curious.
“Very touchy… oh so touchy,” Angel moaned.
“Okay…” he said, shifting his eyes around. “It’s a deal… I won’t kill you as long as I get some touch…” He rubbed his hands together. Oh this was going to be good! Hot redheads were hard to come by!
“I hope you’re ready…” Angel said lustfully, walking out of her hiding place into view of Beck.
“Oh I’m ready…” he said, drooling with a childish smile on his face.
“Good…” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Now about that touch…” Beck said anxiously.
“Oh right that…” Quickly and firmly she grabbed his groin.
“AHH Wah!” he squealed. “You’re touching too hard… too hard!” His voice got higher.
“Beck… do you know what my favorite party game is?” Angel asked close to his ear.
“What?!” he squeaked.
“…Twister…” Angel smiled.
Beck’s eyes widened. “Oh shi-“
With a quick twist of her wrist Beck was on the ground, knocked out.
Angel looked at Beck’s unconscious form on the ground. “Oh the goofy ones are always the easiest…”
_______________
“Landon, just stop it… please!” Cille cried out as she kneeled next to Cougar, who was holding his leg in pain.
Landon laughed. “No Cille, I won’t stop. In fact I’ll keep going until you figure out how the real world works! Your family’s inheritance and position can’t save you here today!”
“If you won’t stop yourself… then I’ll stop you!” Cille raised her pistol at Landon.
Landon faltered for a moment, then smiled as he realized that she would never have the guts to shoot him. “You’re a fool, Cille. A damn fool!” he yelled as he kicked her and the gun to the side. “After I finish off this idiot I’ll deal with you…”
“You leave her alone!” Cougar seethed.
“You have no say in the matter, I’m afraid.” Landon kneeled over Cougar and grabbed his face. “That smug face of yours. It disgusts me so damn much!”
Holding Cougar’s face with one hand he raised his pistol with the other and placed it on Cougar’s temple. “I hope you had a good life. Because this is the last time you’ll ever breathe.” Landon grinned. He finally had Cougar down for the count. But suddenly Cille ran up behind him and threw him off Cougar. He landed on the ground with a thud and before he knew it Cille had her gun against his head.
“It’s over, Landon… give it up…” Cille panted.
Landon laughed hysterically. “Oh it’s far from over, I’m afraid… GREED, NOW!”
Cille hesitated for a moment and before she knew it Greed had pinned her to the ground.
“Landon, you’re a coward!” she yelled angrily. Greed laughed at her attempts to throw him off her.
Landon got up and brushed himself off. “Have some sense, Cille. You should have known someone would back me up.” Landon laughed but was suddenly serious. “Greed, kill her. Now.”
“My pleasure, boss.” Greed said thankfully as he grabbed Cille’s throat and slowly started to strangle her. He didn’t have much time for it, though, as Cougar quickly kicked him in the stomach and sent him rolling off her in pain.
Landon glared at Cougar. “You really don’t know when to stay down, do you?”
“You really don’t know when to just shut up, do you?” Cougar replied with a grin.
Landon raised his pistol and shot at him several times, but Cougar dodged each bullet and managed to get close enough to grab Landon’s throat.
“What the hell is this?” Landon yelled. Cougar tried to finish him off then and there but Landon reached down and grabbed Cougar’s leg, feeling for the bullet wound that he had made earlier.
“Oh, I’m sorry about that, Cougar…” he cackled maniacally. “I guess I should have been more careful!” And he shoved a finger into the wound, sending Cougar reeling to the floor screaming in pain.
“Cougar!” Cille yelled. She started to run toward him and Landon, but Greed grabbed her before she could get any closer.
“Whoa, hold it, baby, you’re not going anywhere near those two!” Greed mocked as he held her tightly.
“Let go of me damn it!” She tried to get out of Greed’s grip but it was no use. All she could do was struggle as Cougar screamed out in pain.
“You’re not so tough now, are you, Cougar?” Landon mocked. “Come on now! Where’s that smart ass attitude? Surely you have something to say back to me? Or is it that all you can do is scream?!” Suddenly Landon felt a hand around his throat. Cougar had actually grabbed him again and was starting to fight back.
Cougar gripped Landon’s throat tighter, and Landon pressed the wound harder. Neither seemed intent on giving up at this point. They struggled like that for several moments, neither faltering. But eventually Cougar started getting the strength to push Landon further and further off of him. Slowly Landon’s eyes got wider as he found that he was losing the struggle. Landon watched as Cougar’s eyes lit up with a rage he had never seen before. “What the hell are you?!” Landon yelled as he was finally thrown off by his adversary.
Cougar limped to his feet. “I’ve had enough of this!”
“What the hell?! Why won’t you die?!” Landon looked at Cougar, almost frightened.
Cougar walked toward Landon and grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him up to look at his face. “You make me sick!” Cougar growled. He used his free hand to punch Landon in the face, throwing him back. “I’ll kill you, I swear to god,” Cougar seethed. He followed Landon’s fall, intent on finishing him off.
“Don’t think you’ve won just yet, you moron!” Landon taunted. Just as Cougar reached his side, Landon sprang up and head-butted him in the stomach, knocking him backward into a wall. Cougar slid down the wall, the air completely knocked out of him. “What’s the matter, Cougar? Stomach hurt?” Landon laughed.
“Greed!” he called over his shoulder. “Feel free to do whatever you want with Cille. Although I would prefer if you just got it over with and killed her.”
“Will do, Landon,” Greed said as he put a blade to Cille’s throat. “Well, we’re not so tough now are we?” he mocked.
“Cille!” Cougar coughed.
Landon grabbed Cougar by the hair, pulling him up so he could look him in the eye. “You should know better than to fight your superior!” he said, punching him in the face with his free hand and dropping him to the ground.
“Quit struggling, you runt!” Greed yelled, pressing the knife closer to Cille’s throat.
Suddenly a voice came screaming down from the top of the staircase next to them. “WHY DON’T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE, IDIOT!”
“EMIRI?” Cille yelled, her eyes widening.
“Who…?” Greed asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked over toward the staircase, curious to see who had the balls to call him out.
“Cille, you might want to get out of the way!” Jake yelled from the same place. Both he and Emiri were still out of sight.
Greed frowned. “What is this crap? If you want to fight so bad, fight!”
“Fine then, I WILL!” Emiri yelled, jumping onto the railing of the staircase. She slid down on her feet, coming at Greed at lightning speed. “Cille, get down!”
Greed jerked in the direction of the staircase and threw Cille to the ground, pulling out a gun and raising it toward the girl speeding toward him. “How lucky do you think you are?” he yelled.
Emiri didn’t even reply. She just started firing her submachine gun as she slid down toward him.
Greed quickly jumped to the side to avoid her shots. As Emiri reached the end of the railing she swiftly jumped off and landed on her feet. Greed quickly recovered from his fall and got up, raising his gun at her just as she raised hers at him. They stood there frozen for a second aiming at each other, each ready to kill the other.
“You’re pretty quick…” Greed panted, grinning.
“Yeah,” Emiri replied. “We’re both pretty evenly matched it seems. ‘Cept for one thing though.” She smiled.
“Oh, and what’s that?” Greed laughed.
“I have backup.” Emiri’s eyes darted to her right.
Just as Greed followed her glance a shot whizzed past him. Greed quickly ran for cover as Jake slowly walked down the stairs shooting at him. He rejoined Emiri at the bottom, and looked toward the back of the room at Cille.
“I hope you’re all right, Cille!” he called. “Emiri is pretty brash when it comes to fighting, I’m afraid…”
Cille rubbed her neck. “No really… it’s fine,” she said, slightly shocked at how the two of them seemed so accustomed to fighting. They treated it like an everyday thing. It was almost scary.
“Emiri! Emiri! EMIRI~~!” Kira ran down the stairs and rejoined Emiri and Jake at the bottom. He leaned on Jake’s massive form, panting. “They… they’re… they’re coming…”
“…Who?” Emiri asked, raising an eyebrow.
“WHO? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHO?! The guys you told me to hold back that’s who!” Kira screamed, flailing his arms in the air.
“Oh right, those dudes…” Emiri said, scratching her chin. “That makes things more difficult.”
Jake facepalmed.
________________
Cowboy was running down a hallway, trying to keep his cello case balanced on his back.
“Why do I get the crazy ones?” he muttered. Behind him one of Landon’s henchmen, the one he had called Asimov, was tearing up anything and everything in his path. And it didn’t seem like he was going to stop until he’d torn up Cowboy too.
Suddenly Angel came out of a doorway just ahead of Cowboy.
“Cowboy!” she called. “What’s going on?”
“RUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!” he orated, grabbing her arm and pulling her along with him just as she caught a glimpse of the madman bearing down on them.
“Who the hell is that? And what’s his problem?” she gasped.
“I don’t know!” Cowboy answered. “I saw him spray some kind of red liquid in his eyes, and then he just flipped out. He even killed a few of his own guys before he caught sight of me, and he’s been on my tail ever since. The guy’s a monster!”
“You know, you could probably run faster if you ditched that stupid cello case…” Angel pointed out. “You don’t even have the cello anymore, do you?”
“Shut up!” Cowboy pouted. “It’s a nice case! And I’ll get a new cello… sometime…”
“RAAAAARRR!” the man behind them bellowed.
“Crap… I think he’s gaining on us…” Angel said, picking up her pace.
They ran in and out of doorways, and even tried splitting up for a while, but Asimov was relentless. Then, out of nowhere, a little old lady came toddling around a corner ahead of them. Angel and Cowboy screeched to a halt.
“What the hell are you doing here, lady?” Angel asked. “This is a bad place for you to be right now.”
“Uh… yeah…” Cowboy added. “Should we try to get her out of here?” he whispered to Angel.
“How, you idiot? We’re barely keeping our own asses alive here,” she hissed back.
With a growl, Asimov came up behind them, and seemed to stop short upon seeing the old woman. Suddenly his eyes rolled back and he started groaning and convulsing. Cowboy and Angel took cover behind the cello case, pulling the old woman along with them.
“What do you think is going on?” Cowboy asked, watching the spectacle with wide eyes.
“Looks like the red eye is getting the better of him. He probably took too much,” the old woman replied – in a decidedly manly tone of voice.
Angel and Cowboy stared at the “woman,” who smiled back at them nonchalantly. Finally Cowboy thought he recognized the face before them.
“A… April?”
“Took you guys long enough to figure it out,” he answered. “Damn I’m good.”
“W- what are you doing dressed up like an old woman?” Angel asked.
“Trying not to get killed. Nobody would hit an old lady, right?”
Cowboy facepalmed. “Well we’re probably all going to get killed if we don’t figure out a way to get away from this guy.”
“Why don’t you just shoot him while he’s out of it?” April asked.
“Um… I kind of lost my gun,” Cowboy said.
“And I ran out of bullets a while ago…” Angel added. “Why don’t you shoot him, April?”
“I don’t use guns,” April said. “I’m a pacifist.”
Cowboy and Angel just looked at him.
“I could try distracting him…” April offered.
“And then what?” Angel asked.
“And then… either you figure out a way to take him down, or you run and we hope that he won’t hit an old lady…”
Looking back out into the hallway, they saw Asimov hunched over and breathing heavily. Cautiously April snuck out from behind the cello case and inched toward him. Asimov looked up abruptly with a snarl.
“Easy there, sonny…” April croaked in his best little-old-lady voice. “Just getting up to go to the little girl’s room…”
Asimov just watched the “old woman” with a strange look on his face. April couldn’t tell if his plan was working or if Asimov was about to attack him at any moment.
Then suddenly something large and heavy came down on Asimov’s head, knocking him out cold. He slumped to the floor, murmuring “granny…”
“Ha! Now how do you like my cello case!” Cowboy said with a triumphant smile.
Angel rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go find the others…”
_______________
“You’re sure you don’t need me?” Mustang asked, slightly worried.
“Yeah, after that last barrage I don’t think they have much fight left in them,” Elizabeth said, giving a thumbs up. A chandelier fell off the ceiling and crashed on the floor behind her. The old bedroom they were in was totally destroyed from all the fighting.
“Well… if you’re sure then. What are you going to do in the meantime?” Mustang asked.
“I’ll stay here and lock this part of the building down. The fewer of these guys we have to deal with the better,” Elizabeth replied, pushing a new clip into her pistol.
“All right then. Good luck.” Mustang walked to the door. “I’m going to go and find Hikki. He could probably use the backup considering what we ran into.”
“See ya later, Roy.” Elizabeth winked.
“Yeah, see ya…” Roy said, running out of the room with Havoc close behind him.
Elizabeth left the room too and headed the other way down the hall. As she walked the lights from the bedroom became distant and the hallway became darker. She walked past a window and felt a cool breeze. It was a welcome respite from the heat of battle. Feeling a little more at ease she holstered her guns and kept walking. She noticed the paintings that lined the walls and soon found herself gazing up at them, losing herself in their almost surreal beauty. The only thing lighting the hallway was the moonlight coming through the windows. It was almost peaceful. She took a look out another window and noticed a pool just outside, a story down. She walked down the hallway further and then stopped. Her eyes widened. She felt something around her but couldn’t quite say what it was.
She heard a loud thud behind her. Quickly she un-holstered her guns and spun around, aiming straight down the hallway. Nothing. She quickly looked behind her. Nothing. Her eyes darted left and right. Doorways lined the hallway but there was no way to know where the noise had come from. Thud. She quickly began walking backwards with her pistols up. She needed to get out. A drop of sweat ran down her forehead. She sure wouldn’t mind a dip in that pool about now…
She stopped and fell back against a door. She was exhausted and now someone was playing with her like a toy. She looked out the window in front of her as she rested against the door. Suddenly she heard another thud but this time she had no chance to react. An arm burst through the door behind her and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her off her feet. She only managed to scream slightly before the hand tightened around her neck and muted her voice. She kicked her legs uselessly, trying to get free of the monstrous grip. Her eyes started to roll into the back of her head as she gagged for air. Her hands tried desperately to peel away the hand around her neck, but her efforts were fruitless. She felt herself being pulled back and then felt the wind blow past her hair as she was thrown straight through the window on the other side of the hallway. Glass broke everywhere as Elizabeth flew through the window and down one story straight into the pool below.
Half-conscious from the grip around her neck, she hit the water like a horrible diver and slowly sank into the freezing pool water. As she floated down to the bottom of the pool she gradually regained herself and her eyes shot open. She desperately clawed her way to the surface and grabbed onto a nearby ladder, pulling herself out and rolling onto her knees. She clutched at her neck as she coughed and gagged on water and gasped for air.
When her coughing had finally settled down and she had regained her sense she looked around to see where she was. Outside… in the cold… covered in freezing water… She flung her arms around herself, trying to keep warm. What the hell happened? she thought. The last thing she remembered was a lot of wind. She looked up at the broken window and the glass all over the ground. “Well I guess that explains that…” she said to herself. “Holy s**t, it’s cold out…” Elizabeth could swear that she was feeling the water on her freeze. Suddenly it hit her. Who had thrown her out that window? She certainly didn’t plow herself through it.
As she looked up to the darkened hole in the wall above her suddenly she spotted a single red light. The light moved forward and the moonlight revealed its source. A large man in a blue military uniform appeared and grinned down at Elizabeth. He jumped down from his vantage point and hit the ground with a large thud. Elizabeth watched with wide eyes as she noticed that half of his body was completely robotic. She could hear gears grinding and churning as he moved closer.
Suddenly it hit her. “Archer?” she asked, shocked. “What the hell… how are you still alive?!”
With a smug face Archer replied, “You thought you killed me out on the frontier, didn’t you? Turns out your grenade wasn’t strong enough to kill me.” His mouth didn’t even open when he spoke.
“But when I got you back then, you were a Colonel in the military…” Elizabeth slowly got up onto her feet. “Why the hell are you with these idiots… not to mention how are you alive…?”
“The military left me for dead. They saw the way I looked… out cold, bleeding to death, and they saw the opposing forces coming, and ran like cowards!” Archer’s human eye glared. “You refugees won that fight… all because you managed to take out the commander, me.”
“But… why are you alive? Why are you here with the Cool Mexicanos?”
“I clung to life through sheer will and determination. The pain was so blinding… all I could think about was finding you, and killing you… As I lay there suffering from my own thoughts I begged for a chance at revenge… and then… he appeared.”
“Landon,” Elizabeth guessed, her voice dead serious.
“No… Da Sombras,” Archer seethed. “He gave me a second chance. He saved me. He gave me a chance at revenge… and immortality.”
“Heh, you’re a lucky bastard.”
“One could say that.” Archer took a step closer. “When I found out that you were in Landon’s Syndicate I wanted to kill you immediately. But Da Sombras wouldn’t let me! He said it would come with time… when Landon finally got sick of playing his games…” Archer almost looked sad. “But his games never ended… he kept playing, and I watched you from afar waiting for the day when I could finally have you to myself… When Ozzal’s fools attacked you and took you away I worried about you constantly.” Archer clenched his metallic hand into a fist. “I wanted to be the one to kill you! Me! Not some idiot executioner!”
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “You sound a little sick and obsessed if you ask me…”
“I was very happy when I saw you walking into the manor here… I hoped it would get out of hand… that a fight would break out… I just wanted to see you die so much…”
Elizabeth pulled out one of her pistols and kept it in her hand at her side as Archer continued.
“You took everything from me… everything I had… you took it all.” Archer’s human eye widened. “I won’t let you live for that… you must die.”
“I ‘killed’ you for a reason, Archer…” Elizabeth thought back and could remember plain as day being in the desert outside of a military camp hiding. She saw Archer walk out of his tent with that typical smug look on his face. He was a real bastard. He was the scourge of the people in the area, the man everyone hated. He was the man who brought them pain and suffering every day.
On that day, at that moment, he was unprotected, completely open to attack. She watched him as he took a deep breath and stretched. Two soldiers walked out of the tent behind him and stood next to him, much to Elizabeth’s annoyance. She ran out of her hiding spot. Now was the time to strike. Running toward Archer, she pulled the crude assault rifle from her back and killed his two guards. She stopped running when she was thirty feet in front of him, and pulled the pin out of a grenade. They both stood there staring at each other. Elizabeth cooked the grenade in her hand and to Archer’s horror threw it straight at him. The moment it hit him it exploded in a cloud of blood. Elizabeth didn’t bother staying to assess the damage; the carnage was enough to assure her of a kill. After that she retreated back to her village, to tell them of her success.
“It’s because of you that so many of my friends died out in that desert,” she told Archer, coming out of her reverie. “As far as I consider it… you deserve every ounce of pain you got. You deserved to die there alone.”
“You may have taken me out and managed to get the military to retreat but in the end it did you no good at all.” Archer grinned. “Your family and friends were all taken away in the end. And you ended up just like me. Alone.”
“I’m not alone…” Elizabeth glared.
“That’s what your Syndicate would like you to believe,” Archer replied. “But is it true? Are you really not alone? These men I work with now wouldn’t hesitate to throw me away if it benefited them. It’s the same position you’re in now, Elizabeth. You’re nothing but a tool to them, something that kills bad guys to further their own goals.”
“Shut up…” Elizabeth clenched her pistol tighter.
“And who are these ‘bad guys,’ Elizabeth? They’re ordinary people… just like the people I killed.” The moon shone off Archer’s metallic side. “Why… you’re just like me aren’t you? A cold blooded sociopath.”
“I SAID, SHUT UP!” Elizabeth yelled, raising her pistol to Archer’s head.
“What are you going to do now, Elizabeth? Shoot me? Kill another person?” Archer mocked. “How many more until you’re happy? Until your family comes back?!”
Elizabeth stumbled back, holding her head. “Shut up! You’re wrong!”
Archer’s metallic shoulder opened up and a small rocket slid out. He aimed it at her, his red eye burning brighter. “Wonderful. I’ve gotten to demoralize you, AND kill you. And all in the same day! Excellent.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. Quickly she regained her composure and jumped to the side, rolling on the ground as the rocket flew past her. It blew a gaping hole in the side of the mansion behind her. Elizabeth made up her mind. She was going to defend herself, and end this madman’s life. She would figure herself out when things were a little safer.
Archer glared with his human eye. “Oh, you just like to give me a hard time, don’t you?!” He opened his mouth and a machine gun slid out. Elizabeth quickly rolled onto her feet as Archer opened fire. She ran back toward the mansion and dove through the hole in the wall that the rocket had created. Bullets hit the wall right behind her as she ran.
“RAAAH!” Archer yelled, furious. “Why do they want to play cat and mouse with me?!” He ran into the mansion and found the room empty and the door to the hallway open. He laughed. An obvious trap. He retracted the machine gun in his mouth and transformed his automail arm into a machine gun of its own. He’d be able to aim better that way. He disregarded the door, and settled for the wall, throwing all of his body weight through it. He found Elizabeth waiting next to the door on the other side. She quickly turned around, eyes wide with shock, but didn’t have time to think as Archer immediately clubbed her across the face with his machine gun arm and violently threw her to the ground.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been watching you, Lizzy?! Your simple little tactics won’t work on me! I know them all!” he yelled, aiming his arm at her.
Right as he opened fire Elizabeth rolled to the side and slid between his legs, and then bolted down the hallway. Archer threw his arm behind him, spraying bullets after her just as she turned right down another hallway. Elizabeth ran with all the speed that her strength could muster. She was in a dead sprint now, desperately trying to think of something to do to save herself. The hallway seemed to go on forever.
Suddenly she heard loud thuds just like she had heard before Archer’s first appearance. She swallowed hard; she didn’t like where this was going. She ran as fast as she could but the thuds just kept getting louder until finally Archer plowed through the side of the hallway right in front of her and cut her off. Elizabeth skidded to a stop. She had to think fast. Archer raised his gun. Elizabeth looked to the side and saw a door. Archer opened fire, and Elizabeth slammed her whole body into the door, breaking it down just as bullets ripped through the wall beside her.
“DAMN IT!” Archer howled. “So close!” He ran through the broken doorway to see that he had followed Elizabeth into a room that looked like it had once been used as a bar.
“Where are you~~?” he called mockingly. “Hiding won’t get you anywhere, I’m afraid. You should just get up and let me shoot you to death so we can end this thing with minimal collateral damage.”
“Like you give a s**t about collateral damage!” Elizabeth yelled, firing both of her pistols at him at once. She kept firing with a look of pure hate in her eyes.
Archer quickly ran to a support column and took cover. He exposed only the metal side of himself and sprayed his machine gun in Elizabeth’s direction, tearing through everything around her.
Elizabeth took cover behind the bar counter at other side of the room. Bullets tore through the bottles and mirror behind the bar, showering her with glass shards that cut her skin all over. Suddenly Archer’s shooting stopped.
“What?! Overheated?!” Archer screamed furiously. With his human arm he pulled a pistol from the holster of his uniform and started shooting at Elizabeth again. Elizabeth rose from her cover and returned fire, confident that she finally had him outgunned. Suddenly Archer stopped shooting again. Out of ammunition! The perfect opportunity to finish him off. Quickly Elizabeth jumped over the bar and sprinted to the column. Sliding past him she aimed both of her pistols at him, but only widened her eyes in realization that his machine gun had finally cooled down. She tried running back to her cover but Archer was too quick for her this time. As she ran back toward the bar Archer emerged from his cover and laid down a line of fire that tore right through her right thigh and left shoulder.
Elizabeth violently fell to the ground, her face slamming onto the hard tile as pain made her lose control of her legs. She lay in a pile of broken glass from the bar. A gash on her forehead bled over her eyes, and more blood oozed from small cuts all around her face and body. She could feel the bullet wounds on her leg and arm. The pain was so intense that she couldn’t even think about getting back up. She had almost made it but she was too late.
If I wasn’t so reckless… Elizabeth thought as she lost consciousness.
_______________
“Umm Hikki, I think we’re getting overrun with bad guys…” Clarice said nervously, looking at the growing force in front of them.
The cover that Clarice, Hikki, and Samson were hiding behind was riddled with bullets. Out of all the Syndicate members Landon seemed to be most interested in killing those three, especially Hikki, his potential successor as leader of the Syndicate.
“Zees ees too much!” Hikki yelled. “We cannot posseebly take on all zese men on our own!”
Suddenly a large burst of fire engulfed the area around the Cool Mexicanos thugs, incinerating them in a flash. Mustang walked forward with a smug look on his face, Havoc close behind.
“Reporting for duty, sir.” Mustang did a little mock salute.
“Mustang, Havoc!” Hikki burst from his cover, running up to Mustang and hugging him tightly. “Sank goodness you showed up when you deed!”
“Where is everyone, Mustang?” Clarice asked.
“Spread out, that’s where,” he replied. “We need to get you three out of here. You’re all essential to the revolution. You can’t die.”
“We are not going anywhere until ze ozzers are safe,” Hikki stated firmly.
“They’re just as essential to the revolution as any of us, Mustang,” Samson added.
“All right then…” Mustang scratched the back of his neck. “I think I heard shots near the stairway. A majority of the others are probably there. Although Elizabeth isn’t – she went upstairs to clear the rest of the mansion out. I’ve been hearing a lot of gunfire from that direction, though, so I’m worried.”
Samson loaded another clip into his pistol. “All right then, we should head to the stairway first since it’s closer, and then head toward Elizabeth.”
“I agree,” Hikki responded with a nod. “Clarice?”
“Yeah, same here.” Clarice nodded.
“All right then, I’ll protect you guys as much as I can,” Mustang said, raising his gloved hand.
“Do not protect us, Mustang.” Hikki smiled. “Work weez us.”
Mustang smiled. He had finally found a cause worth fighting for. “All right then. We should get go-“
“Target found. Termination in progress.”
Mustang spun around. “What?!” He saw Tres standing in the doorway behind him. “Get down!” he yelled, pushing the others all down to the ground as several shots hit the wall behind them.
“Crap, it’s the redhead from earlier!” Samson shouted.
“So, any ideas, Mustang?” Clarice asked.
“I’ve got one good one!” Mustang got up and snapped his fingers, enveloping Tres in flames. “Heh, this was almost too easy.” Mustang grinned. Then suddenly a bullet flew past his head, clipping a strand of his hair as it passed. Mustang grabbed the strand with wide eyes and watched as the flames vanished to reveal a completely unscathed Tres. Mustang plopped back behind the cover with his comrades. “S**t! He’s fire-retardant!” Mustang yelled.
“Well this is just wonderful.” Samson facepalmed.
“Queeck, any ozzer ideas?!” Hikki asked.
Mustang thought for a moment. “Well… he is obviously an android or something of some kind… so maybe… he has an off switch?”
Clarice shook her head. “That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Hey, it’s better than nothing!” Mustang defended. “I mean other than that, the dude’s a tank.”
Hikki raised an eyebrow. “We’re going to look for an off sweetch…?”
“Yes.” Mustang pulled a pistol from the coat of his uniform. He thought for a second. “I’ll get him to turn around and you look for a switch. Nine times outta ten it’s on their back, so I think your chances are good.”
“Okay,” Clarice agreed. “So how are we going to plan this? Are you going to –“
“Let’s start!” Mustang yelled, jumping out and running toward Tres.
“I’ve got ya covered, sir!” Havoc said, aiming his pistol at the android.
“He’s lost it, he’s really lost it…” Clarice said as she watched Mustang jump around Tres, dodging bullet after bullet.
“Charge!” Hikki yelled, pointing at Tres’ turned back.
“What?!” Clarice yelled, getting up nervously.
“You heard him… I guess.” Samson got up. “Though honestly I have no idea what we’re supposed to do.”
“We need to find that off switch! Now come on, you two!” Havoc yelled at them.
They all ran toward Tres’ back but it seemed Hikki was way ahead of the others. As Tres was distracted by Mustang, Hikki ran at full speed and jumped right onto his back. He latched onto the android with all his strength and began searching for a switch.
“UNKNOWN IDENTITIES ON PERSON. COUNTERATTACK FORMULATING.” Tres went into emergency mode. “COUNTERATTACK FORMULATED.” Tres proceeded to try to grab at Hikki on his back, but to no avail.
Clarice, Samson, and Havoc were in an attack position but soon gave that up as they watched Tres desperately grab at Hikki.
“Well… this sure is something…” Samson said, looking at the scene.
“Some counterattack…” Clarice added.
“Very… strategic?” Havoc questioned. “I figured an android would have a little bit better AI than that…”
“Found eet!” Hikki yelled. In an instant Tres slumped to the ground with a thud.
“Wow… it worked,” Clarice said, shocked.
“How do you like zat, you homewrecker?” Hikki kicked at Tres’ motionless body furiously. “Zat weel show you to mess weez ze Syndicate, won’t eet!”
Samson rubbed his face. “Hikki, you might wanna stop that… you might –“
Suddenly Tres jolted and stood back up. Hikki jumped back, his bravado suddenly gone.
“Improper shutdown detected. Checking disc for errors. Please wait.”
“What the heck…?” Havoc aimed his gun at Tres’ head, as Mustang and the others readied themselves for further battle.
“Reboot complete. Designating friendlies. Friendlies designated.” Tres turned to Hikki. “Awaiting orders, commander.”
Mustang laughed. “Looks like Hikki made a new friend.”
“One more ally, I see. Excellent.” Hikki smiled. “Now let’s go!”
The group took off toward the stairs near the entrance of the mansion. Tres was running ahead of the others, prepared to take out any enemies who might try to stop their advance.
“Take a right up here!” Mustang yelled from the back of the group.
Hikki wiped his brow. “Zees damn place ees like a maze!”
Suddenly they all heard gunshots. “That’s them,” Mustang said. “They must be through the bigger door up ahead!”
____________
“Don’t just stand there, you idiots! Shoot them all!” Landon yelled at the top of his lungs. “What do you think I pay you all for?!”
Emiri looked at the resistance around them. Despite the hugeness of the room, which must have been the mansion’s main ballroom, it seemed that the place was filled with people fighting. There were Cool Mexicanos grunts at all sides and Greed was slowly making his way toward them. “Damn it, we’re screwed! We can’t take all these idiots AND furry jacket over there!”
“I’ll have you know that the chicks love this coat!” Greed replied from across the room.
“Emiri!” Jake shot off a blast from his shotgun, taking out a Cool Mexicano. “I don’t think we can hold out much longer! Not with him on us too.”
“We need backup!” Kira yelled.
“Quit with the whining! I’ll figure something out!” Emiri almost didn’t believe her own words. She was running out of ammo herself and knew that Jake and Kira would run out soon too. “Damn it…” she muttered, “if only they’d let me bring my blade…”
“Looks like your luck’s run out.” Greed aimed his gun toward Emiri. “Shame I need to kill all the attractive ones –“ Greed was suddenly thrown to the ground. “What the hell was that?!”
“You want someone to fight? I’m right here, tough guy.” Cougar stood over Greed, grinning insanely.
“You’re really not a smart individual, are you?” Greed quickly spun around and kicked out at Cougar’s legs, but the speedy Alter user easily jumped over his kick.
Greed stood up and looked over his battered opponent. “You should have died after all that abuse. It’s pretty amazing that you’re even alive after all that.”
“Heh…” In a blur Cougar shot forward and grabbed Greed’s collar. “I recover pretty quickly,” he said, and threw Greed into the wall. The homunculus smashed right through the wall and lay in a pile of rubble on the other side. Cougar ran to the hole in the wall to see if Greed was conscious, and was greeted with a metallic fist to the face. Cougar spun to the ground with a thud. Quickly he got up and looked at Greed’s new form.
“What the hell are you?” he asked, shocked at Greed’s sleek black body.
“That’s not really any of your business. All you need to know is that I’m the Ultimate Shield!” Greed ran forward and started swinging his massive arms at Cougar, who found them surprisingly hard to evade given how heavy they appeared to be. Several shots rang off Greed’s back. He turned around to see who would dare to even try to penetrate his shield.
“Stay away from him!” Cille yelled, aiming her Mateba straight at his head. She shot off two more rounds that easily bounced off his shield. Her eyes widened. No effect on him whatsoever?
Greed replied with a monstrous laugh and charged forward. Cougar quickly ran after him and slammed into him, knocking him to the side. “Get out of here, Cillie!” he called to her. “You don’t stand a chance against this guy!”
Cille stood shocked. “How are you going to take him out, though?”
Cougar looked at his opponent, who was slowly getting up. “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something… The others need your help, though. Go! I’ll handle this idiot…”
Reluctantly Cille ran to where Emiri, Jake, and Kira were bunkered down. She dodged a few stray bullets and slid on the floor next to Emiri.
“Okay…” Emiri said, looking at Cille. “We’ve got one more gun… not that that’s going to do us a whole lot of good…”
“You’re real grateful…” Cille scoffed, reloading her revolver.
“Excuse me but the odds aren’t exactly in our favor right now,” Emiri retorted.
A couple of Mexicanos fell from the side of the room, and Angel, April, and Cowboy revealed themselves.
“Hey look, backup!” Kira cried.
“We’re looking better…” Emiri said to herself.
Jake pointed in front of them. “Look out!” Five Mexicanos were slowly advancing on their position.
“Crap, we have work to do, guys. Quick! Use whatever bullets you have left –“ Emiri was interrupted suddenly when a burst of flames and gunfire flew from the door to their left, taking the Mexicanos down in an instant. “Oh god…” Emiri looked at the door. “I hope that’s who I think it is…”
Mustang revealed himself through the door with Samson, Clarice, and Hikki following him. “Thank god, they showed up,” Emiri breathed, relieved. “Now we can finally –“ Just then Tres walked through the door behind them. “S**T! SHOOT ‘IM!”
“NO WAIT!” Hikki jumped in before Emiri could get a bead on Tres. “Stop zees! We have turned Tres to our side!”
Emiri wiped a trickle of sweat and blood from her brow. “And how do you know that?”
“Enemy sighted. Elimination in progress.” Tres lifted his arms and fired his dual pistols, taking three Mexicanos down in an instant with head shots. “Elimination complete.”
“That’s how…” Mustang replied to Emiri.
Landon looked at the sight before him. He had made his way to a balcony that went around the room and was watching the fight progress with increasing anger.
“Liam!” Landon looked behind him. “You take care of these idiots.”
“What, sir?” Liam looked down at the fighting. “We’ve lost too many men. There’s no way we could –“
“I gave you an order, damn it!” Landon yelled. “Kill them all!”
“Y- yes sir…” Liam knew it was suicide now. They had just lost too much. And now Tres and the Flame Alchemist were on the same side. Whatever advantage the Mexicanos had had was gone.
Samson glanced up and noticed Landon marching away. “Look, up there!” he called to the others. “Now’s our chance to take Landon out!”
Hikki looked at Landon’s retreating form and shook his head. “We have more eemportant seengs to deal weez now. We need to secure zees area. Eef we don’t zen more of zem could easily take us from behind and end all our lives!”
Samson looked at Hikki furiously. “Are you kidding me? After all that you’re just going to let him get away?!”
“Settle down, Samson, we don’t need this right now,” Clarice reasoned.
“No! I’m not going to let that bastard get away. Not now! Not after all he’s done! You can stay here for all I care, but I’m going to stop him!” Samson got up, holding his gun tight.
“Stay here, Samson! Zat ees an order!” Hikki warned.
Samson didn’t even reply, but instead took off and ran up the balcony stairs.
“He’s an idiot. He’s going to get himself killed,” Cille said, watching Samson disappear after Landon.
“Hey, keep your eyes on the targets in front of us!” Mustang yelled, snapping his fingers and taking down a few more men.
Clarice seemed not to hear him. She kept looking up at the door Samson had gone through, and finally got up to go after him.
“No, don’t. We need you here,” Hikki stopped her.
“But –“ she began.
“No, let heem go.” Hikki held her shoulder. “I don’t like eet eezer, but we need to stay een a group. We can’t spleet up anymore.”
____________
Elizabeth drifted in and out of consciousness. Each time she opened her eyes she saw Archer growing ever closer. Damn it… I need to get up… I need to wake up… Elizabeth thought as Archer came closer and closer. I need to -
“Rise and shine, my little angel…” Archer hissed.
Elizabeth looked around her and saw that Archer had straddled her waist and was sitting on top of her. His face was inches from hers. “W… what the hell do you want from me?”
“Tears would be preferable. Although I never figured you for the crying type. That can be changed, though…” he said, putting a large blade in front of her face.
Elizabeth coughed. “Do you really expect me to cry?”
“No Miss Elizabeth! I expect you to die! Fancy movie reference aside, though, you sure did put up a good fight. Fitting for you, I must say. But that ends now. I have here a blade, and you below me. I intend to make your death as slow and painful as I possibly can.” Archer grinned and pressed the knife against Elizabeth’s neck. “Oh, watching you sputter as blood flows from your neck is just going to be invigorating.”
“You really are sick, aren’t you?” Elizabeth desperately felt around the ground beside her.
“Only for you…” Archer replied, slowly sliding his blade across Elizabeth’s cheek. “Oops! Look what I did. How clumsy of me…”
Elizabeth winced at the pain. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill so many of my people?”
“Because I was ordered to. Nothing personal,” Archer laughed.
“You made it personal the moment you killed my brother…” Elizabeth glared, just hoping to keep Archer’s attention away from her hand as it grasped at the glass scattered beneath and around her.
“And you made it personal when you destroyed my body!” Archer yelled. “Maybe I should cut off your arm and leg and see how YOU like it?! No… I need to end this now. Your bleeding neck will be enough to sate me.” Archer put the blade to her neck once again. “So… any last words? It will be quite impossible to talk when I slit your throat, after all.”
Elizabeth tightened her hand. “F**k you.” And she threw her left hand at the right side of Archer’s neck.
Archer’s grip on his knife immediately loosened. He dropped it, letting it fall next to her head. His eye looked at Elizabeth’s raised arm and drifted to her hand. Blood was covering it, gushing out and flowing down her arm. She had stabbed him straight in the neck with a shard of glass. He glared at her, choking and coughing blood onto her face. “I’ll… see you in hell…”
“Save a place for me,” Elizabeth replied, glaring back.
Archer laughed and his human eye rolled into the back of his head as he fell to Elizabeth’s side. She still grasped the glass shard in her hand, and the force of his fall ripped it out of his neck with the sickening sound of tearing flesh. With a thud Archer hit the floor to her right.
Elizabeth could feel the warm liquid on her back as his body continued to bleed next to her. She sighed and lifted her blood-covered hand in front of her face. She watched the blood drip off her hand and down her arm. Sighing again, she rested her hand on her chest and looked up at the ceiling. Her vision was beginning to blur from her own blood loss. She didn’t even have the strength to be sick.
“Brother…” she murmured. “…did it really have to end up like this?” She closed her eyes… and her body lay still.
_______________
Q leaned against the window of her car as she waited at a red light. The light finally turned green and she drove off, making it only a block before she hit another red light. Sighing with annoyance, she took her cell phone out of her pocket to look at the time and noticed something peculiar.
“Fifty missed calls?” she screeched. Damn it, that was right… she had switched her phone to silent mode while she was with her mother and had forgotten to turn the ringer back on. She pressed a few buttons, and immediately her phone rang again. She quickly answered it, throwing it to her ear as she noticed that the light had turned green.
“Chief! Are you there?” Keith said on the other end. He sounded awfully agitated.
“Yeah, I’m here. What the hell do you need so badly at this ungodly hour?”
“Are you kidding me?” Keith yelled. “Is your radio even on?!”
Q looked over to her dash to see that her CB radio was turned off. “Crap, I’m just not with it today,” she said to herself as she turned on the radio.
Static filled the car as an officer excitedly gave his report over the radio. “Shots fired! Repeat, shots fired! We have potential gang activity on 160th Street! All available personnel are to report to the area immediately! Repeat, shots fired, extreme caution advised!”
Q’s eyes widened. “Keith, get over there right now. Bring Allen with you,” she ordered.
“I’m way ahead of you, Chief. I’m heading there now and Al’s riding shotgun,” Keith replied.
“Good…” Q looked at her radio and picked up the mic. “This is Chief Holmes,” she began. “I want everyone from my precinct, precinct 27, in the area right away! Everyone! I don’t care what you’re doing or where you are, this is a direct order!” Q put her phone back to her ear. “Keith, I’ll meet you at the scene.”
“Right, ma’am!” he yelled from the other end.
“And if you ever call me on this phone again, I swear you’ll regret it…”
“Yes… ma’am…”
“Now go!” Q slammed her phone shut and flicked her dash siren on. She took a quick look around the street and slammed on the gas pedal, speeding toward 160th Street.
The radio suddenly roared with noise again. “The house is on fire, repeat the house is on fire!”
“What the hell is going on over there…” Q asked herself.
____________
Liam Green stood on the balcony looking at the chaos below him. He had had enough. He looked at the Mexicano standing next to him. “Pull them out of here. Landon’s lost it if he thinks we can take on a state alchemist and a cyborg with a computer-powered aiming system.”
“Yes, sir,” the underling said, running off to gather his comrades.
____________
Greed and Cougar stood staring each other down. They had been fighting for what seemed like an eternity, but between Cougar’s speed and Greed’s impenetrable defenses, neither had been able to beat the other. And now they were both running out of steam.
Greed glared at his opponent. He was used to getting his way, but this fight was turning into more trouble than it was worth. Glancing around the room, he noticed that most of the other Cool Mexicanos had been taken out by Mustang and Tres. Before long the two of them would most likely turn their attention toward him and come to help Cougar…
Just then a man came running past the room, pausing in the doorway only long enough to shout to his comrades inside. “Greed! You guys! Liam says we’re pulling out!”
“Fine with me,” Greed said, straightening up and turning back to his usual form. “To hell with this. I’m outta here.”
Cougar narrowed his eyes. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“It doesn’t much matter to you, now, does it? Just count yourself lucky you held out this long.” Turning to go, Greed caught sight of Cille. “We’ll have to get together again sometime, babe,” he said, winking at her. She just glared at him, and with a cocky laugh he ran out of the room.
Mustang wanted to give chase but Hikki stopped him. “We’ve already suffered enough,” Hikki said. “No reason to start zees fight all over again.”
“What about Elizabeth, and Samson?” Clarice asked, worried.
“Ah, you’re right. We need to find Samson first. He’s een ze most danger,” Hikki replied.
“Oh crap…” Emiri froze. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Cowboy asked.
“Sirens… lots of them…” Emiri said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“It shouldn’t be very surprising,” Mustang said, going to the window. “Up until just a moment ago it sounded like a war zone in here.”
He opened the curtain a hair and sure enough down the street he saw what looked like a fleet of police cars making their way down the street toward them. “She’s right, this isn’t good. There is no way in hell we can go up against the entire Orly police force. Hell, I even see a few APCs!”
“Zees eesn’t good, we’re going to be surrounded,” Hikki said, thinking. “Zees whole complex takes up a small block too, so zere ees no escape outside.”
Cille looked at Hikki. “I hope you have some bright ideas.”
Cougar rejoined the group. “We need to think of something, and quick.”
______________
Samson walked through what appeared to be the mansion’s arboretum. It was essentially a large greenhouse protruding from the building, with the walls and ceiling made entirely of glass. Through the back of the room you could see the large backyard of the house.
It was no doubt hot in this room during the day, despite the winter weather outside, and the sprinkler systems had been long turned off, so the plants inside were withered and dry from weeks or months of neglect and merciless sunlight. It was dark now, though, and the only thing that shed light on the room was the full moon.
Samson slowly walked through the room holding his pistol at his side. He looked at every shadow that he saw, knowing that this was the only place left for Landon to run. Suddenly he heard a voice coming from the other side of the room.
“There is no way you can expect to escape with your life. The police are coming, you know. It’s either jail or they shoot you down as you escape,” Landon’s voice echoed.
Samson looked to the corner and saw nothing but darkness. “Then how did you expect to escape?” he countered.
“I have my ways…” Landon answered simply.
“How can you betray us like this?” Samson asked into the darkness.
“How can you betray me is a better question. Wasting your time investigating me instead of attending to your real duties. And then you have the nerve to say I haven’t done a thing for you. If it weren’t for me, you and your sister would be a couple of street rats.”
“We would have gotten by,” Samson said, more to himself than to Landon. The mention of his sister was making him feel a little unnerved.
“Doing what? Resorting to ditch-digging? Letting the government support you? Life in a poorhouse isn’t fun, Samson,” Landon taunted. “And you never know what kind of dangers a little girl might run into…”
“What do you know?” Samson snapped back. “You act like you’re some kind of saint, yet you tried to kill us all when we started standing up for ourselves.”
“I gave you a chance to save yourselves. I can give you another. You can come with me and forget about these idiots. You can live.”
Samson’s eyes widened. “W- what?”
“We can restart the Syndicate, don’t you see? And you and I can be in charge.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Samson raised his pistol at the darkness.
“So ungrateful…” Landon sighed. “All right then, so be it.”
Suddenly Samson heard Landon run from his hiding place in the darkness and through the bushes to his left. He followed the noise with his pistol and shot after it, the bullets hitting nothing but glass.
“Come out and fight!” Samson yelled, blindly firing his pistol into the darkness until he ran out of ammunition. He quickly started to reload, but that was just what Landon was waiting for. As Samson discharged his spent cartridge Landon sped toward him. Samson lifted an arm to try to punch him but Landon grabbed his arm and twisted it, at the same time kicking out Samson’s feet and flipping him to the ground.
Samson’s gun fell to the ground with a thud, coming to rest in a patch of grass. Samson lay on his back with Landon standing above him pointing his pistol at him.
Landon laughed. “You’re so unskilled it’s not even funny.”
Samson face was clenched in pain and humiliation. “My friends won’t let you get away.”
“Your friends are too busy worrying about the police to give a damn about you,” Landon replied, aiming his pistol directly at Samson’s head. “I’ll make sure someone takes care of your sister.”
“Don’t you dare touch her!” Samson glared.
Landon scowled. “Fine then, I’ll just let the city eat her alive. Bye bye.”
Landon slowly pulled the trigger, and time slowed down for Samson. He could hear his own heart beating violently in his chest. Just as the trigger reached its firing point a blur of silver caught the pistol and pushed it up. The gun went off, and the bullet went into the ground right above Samson’s head. Landon stood looking down at Samson with a puzzled expression on his face. Samson looked past Landon and noticed a man with a long black trenchcoat facing away from him. Somehow he knew that this man had saved his life.
Landon slowly turned to look behind him and saw the man in the trenchcoat. He narrowed his eyes.
“I’m sorry. But I cannot let you kill my friend,” the mysterious man said. He turned around and smiled at Samson.
“S- Sadar!” Samson yelled, shocked.
Sadar held his sword at his side. His long white hair, tied into a ponytail, draped down his shoulder in front of him. He smile turned serious. “Your killing ends here, today, Landon.”
“Somehow I don’t quite believe you.” Landon glared. “Your weapon is a little out of date, old man.”
“It serves me well enough,” Sadar replied, lunging at Landon.
Landon quickly jumped out of the way, but Sadar turned and swung his sword at him again. Landon held his gun up and blocked the blow, using his other hand to pull out a knife.
Sadar quickly jumped back, regaining control of his blade and dodging Landon’s knife thrusts. Sparks began flying as blade met blade over and over again. Soon Samson noticed a brighter light coming from the ground near where the two men were fighting. He realized that the sparks must have hit some dried leaves or grass, starting a fire that quickly grew into a blaze as it spread through the room full of dead plants.
Sadar noticed the fire too, and Landon took the opportunity to lunge at Sadar and cut the side of his face. Sadar quickly lifted his leg and pushed Landon away from him.
“Samson, get out of here!” he called. “Find your friends and get out!”
Samson could only nod. He quickly ran out of the room and headed back toward the main foyer.
“There’s no escape for him or his friends. You know this much,” Landon mocked.
Sadar narrowed his eyes. “He can at least try. Believe it or not, some people actually have some regard for their comrades.”
Landon smirked. “You’re one to talk. ‘No connections, no regrets’? Your whole creed is about abandonment. You’re just as bad as me.”
The flames shone off Sadar’s face. “I realized that only too late. But I’m changing that now. It is not too late for you to change either. But I’m afraid your time in this Syndicate is over, for they’ll never trust you again. You’re better off leaving and never coming back.”
“I’ll take my chances with you. I don’t ever run from a fight. Especially from a fool like you,” Landon stated.
“So be it,” Sadar replied.
“So it is.” Landon smiled, lunging at Sadar.
___________
“What do you mean Sadar’s here?” Emiri yelled. “He left you guys for good!”
“He saved me, I swear to god!” Samson panted. “He and Landon are fighting right now! He told me to get out of here and get all of you out too.”
Mustang sighed. “That’s impossible, Samson. The cops are coming. There are already a bunch outside. They’re surrounding us.”
“Where are all of those Mexicanos guys? If they escaped, can’t we just go the same way?” Samson asked.
“We have no idea how zey got out,” Hikki replied. “We already tried looking for anozzer exit, but we found nossing.”
Suddenly Landon burst from a door at the top of the stairs, coughing from the smoke trailing behind him. He ran toward one of the ceremonial swords hanging on the wall and ripped it off just as Sadar ran through the door after him. Landon had just enough time to turn around and block Sadar’s swing.
“You’re a persistent bastard, that’s for sure!” Landon yelled furiously.
“I can’t let you escape justice,” Sadar replied, blocking a swing by Landon.
Sadar stabbed forward with his sword but Landon moved to the side and the sword went into the wall behind him. Landon quickly jumped and kicked Sadar in the side of the head, sending him to the ground. Laughing, Landon walked toward the now-unarmed Sadar, ready to finish off his prey. However, Sadar quite literally had a trick up his sleeve. He threw a throwing knife at Landon, who quickly jumped out of the way, slipped, and rolled down the stairs.
Sadar quickly got to his sword and tore it out of the wall. He slid down the railing toward Landon and the rest of the group watching from the side in awe. Landon had regained his footing and was waiting with his sword drawn at the bottom of the stairs.
Sadar chopped into Landon’s blade and flipped over him. He landed on the ground perfectly and swung around to hit Landon, who ducked just in time to avoid the blade.
“Damn eet… Cille, Emiri, Jake!” Hikki yelled. “Go find Elizabeth!”
“I’m going too,” Mustang added.
“Fine zen, just go find her!” Hikki ordered.
“All right!” All four of them said in unison as they ran out.
___________
“Crap, this whole place is starting to burn down!” Mustang yelled.
“Well maybe you should have been more careful with your flames, Mr. Flame Alchemist!” Emiri snarked.
“This wasn’t me, I swear! This fire is coming from a part of the building I haven’t even been in!”
“Fine, let’s just find Elizabeth,” Cille said, trying to stop their bickering. “You said you left her somewhere around here, Mustang?”
“Yeah, unless she took off for another part of the building…”
“I don’t see her,” Emiri replied grimly.
“Well keep searching! She has to be somewhere!” Cille urged.
“Oh my god…” Jake said, standing in front of a hole in the outer wall.
“What is it?” Mustang asked, trying to see through the smoke.
“I think… she might have gone out there,” Jake replied, pointing at the ground below.
“Well then let’s go after her!” Emiri said impatiently, leaping out through the hole.
The others looked at each other uncertainly, and then Jake shrugged and followed Emiri.
“Come down, Cille! I’ll catch you!” he called back up.
Mustang helped Cille out of the hole, and then followed once she was safely caught.
“In here,” Emiri called, standing in front of another hole in the lower wall. The group went back into the building and followed the trail of destruction until they reached the bar room.
“I think I found her,” Jake said. “But I think she’s dead.”
Cille hurried past Jake into the room and looked down at the beaten Elizabeth. “Who’s this guy beside her?” she asked, a little frightened by his monstrous appearance.
Mustang recognized his old associate from the military. “That’s a guy named Archer…” Mustang trailed off. “Or… what’s left of him.”
Cille put her fingers to Elizabeth’s neck. “I don’t believe this… she’s alive.” Cille wiped some of the blood off Elizabeth’s face. “Barely, though…”
“We need to get her out of here,” Mustang ordered.
“Hey big guy, I think you could carry her just fine,” Emiri said, patting Jake’s broad back.
“Sure.” Jake slowly picked up Elizabeth in his massive arms and held her gently.
“Careful now… one wrong move and she could die,” Cille warned Jake.
“Right,” Jake replied. He looked down at Elizabeth’s fragile form in his arms. “Let’s go.”
_____________
“I can’t find anything, Hikki,” Cowboy said, rejoining the group with April.
“There has to be a way out of here somewhere,” Clarice sighed.
“Eef we don’t find a way out we’ll eizer all be arrested or all die een zees damn fire!” Hikki said, nervously watching the fight that still raged on before them.
“I won’t let you kill me, Sadar!” Landon roared. “I can’t BE killed! Not before I complete my great work!”
“You’re deluded,” Sadar yelled back. “You think that you’re some great hero!”
“I am a hero!” Landon laughed. “Someday all these people will worship me as their savior!”
Sadar lunged at Landon, but Landon blocked his swing and held him there with his sword.
“How can you be a hero if you hurt everyone you try to help?!” Sadar yelled into Landon’s face.
Landon just glared back.
“Lucille, Raef, all the people here, and countless more,” Sadar continued. “So many people looked up to you, and you foolishly pushed them all away to pursue your own goals! Everyone you ever tried to help you’ve betrayed and hurt, and killed!” Sadar grew furious. “How dare you even try to call yourself a hero!”
“You’re a fool if you think that great things can be accomplished without sacrificing a few people along the way,” Landon retorted, shoving Sadar away from him. “None of you could ever understand! I have the greater good in mind!”
“The greater good? You mean your own immortality? The ability to do whatever you and your cronies want without any accountability? For that you would turn against the rebellion you built, and have everyone who trusted you killed? You would build your grand new society on the corpses of the people you claim you want to help?!”
The fire had slowly started to spread into the room, illuminating the faces of the two men with a surreal glow.
For a moment Landon lowered his sword, suddenly unable to ignore the uncertainty that the priest’s words had somehow triggered inside him. Could it be… that he had been mistaken?
“I was just like you; I had friends here too,” Sadar pressed on, seeing Landon’s resolve begin to falter. “But I pushed them all away because of what I was told to do. I put them aside for my own goals. I was a fool to do that and now I’m going to make up for it. How much are you going to destroy before you figure out you’re wrong?”
Landon stood in front of Sadar with his guard down, contemplating what he had said. Was it really true?
Perhaps… it was…
Suddenly a crash sounded from the skylight of the foyer. Amid a storm of glass and wood a man came flying down. He landed between Sadar and Landon, and then stood and looked around him with a fierce look of pride and something approaching glee.
“Zeus!” Emiri yelled out.
“I’ll be with you soon enough.” Zeus winked at Emiri. “Right now I have to deal with this guy,” he said, setting his eyes on Landon. “To be honest I didn’t believe Kay El when he told me he saw you entering this building. But I guess he was right.”
“And where is your dumb little friend now?” Emiri asked.
“Observing. Guns make him angsty after all. Besides, I’ll be in and out,” Zeus said. He looked back at Landon and spun a staff in his hands. On the end was a large blade. “Killing the leader of the Syndicate should net me some pretty good respect points,” Zeus laughed.
He lunged toward Landon with a bloodthirsty smile, but Landon quickly regained his composure and blocked Zeus’ blade with his own. Zeus’ strength drove him straight into the wall and he slumped down on the ground.
“Now to finish you and –“ Zeus was interrupted as Sadar swung his own blade toward him. Zeus quickly ducked and hit Sadar in the stomach with the end of his staff, knocking the air out of him.
“You should know better than to interrupt a member of the Echelon!” he snarled. Sadar fell back and leaned on a railing, trying to catch his breath.
“Looks like you’ve already been fighting for a while,” Zeus laughed, seeing Sadar’s weakened state.
“Leave him alone.”
Zeus raised an eyebrow. He turned around and was surprised to see Landon bearing down on him. Before he could react he found that Landon had run his blade through his stomach. He dropped his staff, squinting through the pain.
“You’ve… got… a lot of nerve…” Zeus said through clenched teeth. With his remaining strength he wrapped his arms around Landon, holding him immobile against his body. Then he pulled a hidden knife out of his sleeve and stabbed Landon through the ribs. With a heavy gasp Landon lurched back and fell onto the floor, driving Zeus’ knife further into his body.
“Guess… you’re still just human…” Zeus laughed through his pain, pulling Landon’s sword out of his gut and tossing it aside.
Zeus turned around and barely had enough time to dodge both Sadar and Emiri as they came at him. He looked around at the people in the room, all wanting him dead. He considered his wound and the growing police force outside. As much as it would please him to take on even more of them, it seemed that he would have to be satisfied with taking the life of Landon Blaken.
He grabbed his staff and pointed the blade upward toward the roof, from whence he had come. Pressing a secret button sent the blade soaring upward followed by a length of chain. The blade embedded itself in a beam in the roof, and Zeus held onto the staff with all of his remaining strength as the chain retracted and pulled him upward.
“I’ll see you again, Emiri, I promise you that!” And he vanished out of sight.
Flames were starting to take over the room, smoke billowing everywhere. Cougar limped to Landon’s side and looked down at his motionless form. Suddenly he noticed Landon’s open eyes move and look at him.
“Cougar…” he choked out.
Sadar quickly ran to Landon’s side. His face became grim as he saw the tip of the dagger sticking out through Landon’s chest. “I’m not sure what can be done for you, Landon,” Sadar made clear.
“Nothing can…” Landon laughed. A trickle of blood ran out of his mouth.
“…Landon.” Cougar looked down at Landon, though he had no idea what to say.
“You… you were right, Sadar…” Landon leaned his head back on the floor. “You were right… I’ve been such a bastard.” He eyed Cougar. “But I’m not asking for forgiveness. I know that time is long past, after all I’ve done to the people here, after so many people have suffered because of me.”
Hikki, Samson, and Clarice walked up to Landon and looked at his form on the floor. “Perhaps we can get you out of here…” Hikki suggested.
“No,” Landon replied. “You’re the leader now, you need to worry about the people who aren’t dead. You…” Landon coughed up some blood. “You need to get yourselves out of here.”
“We’ve looked for a way out,” Samson said. “We’re completely surrounded.”
“I told you I had another way out, didn’t I?” Landon chuckled and took a deep breath. “The basement. There’s an entrance to a tunnel that comes out not far from here. This place used to be a base for a liquor smuggling ring, you know. Look for a trap door in the floor… that leads to the city sewers below. That’s your way out.”
“That must be the way Greed and the others took,” Clarice said.
“They ran?” Landon laughed. “Da Sombras is going to kill them…”
“Don’t act like this makes everything right, Landon,” Cougar said. It made him angry to see Landon almost joking about what was going on.
Landon laughed. “I know it doesn’t make everything right, you fool. There’s no way it can be made right. Just… do one thing for me.”
“What’s that?” Cougar asked.
“Protect Cille.” Landon was suddenly serious. “I never wanted her to get caught up in all of this. Yet it’s impossible to stop her now from becoming any more involved. She made her choice, and I know she’ll stick with it. So just… make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
“I… will,” Cougar said sincerely.
“Good.” Landon laid his head back. “And… all of you… don’t tell her about what happened here. I don’t deserve her forgiveness… so just let her think I died the same bastard I always was. Maybe then she won’t waste any more of herself thinking about me.”
Everyone looked at Cougar, as if expecting him to make the decision for all of them. He glanced up at them, his brow furrowed in thought, and then looked back down at Landon.
“All right,” he said. “If that’s what you want.”
“She deserves someone who can actually make her happy…” Landon mused. He seemed to be drifting out of consciousness. “Hikki,” he said weakly.
“Yes?” Hikki asked.
“Finish what I started. This revolution of mine.” Landon looked Hikki in the eye, and the Frenchman nodded. Then Landon closed his own eyes, and silently passed.
Sadar checked Landon’s pulse, and then frowned and shook his head. He took Landon’s arms and crossed them on his chest, reciting a small prayer. “We… should go,” he said quietly.
“Yes. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Samson said, looking nervously at the flames engulfing the room.
“Hikki, we have Elizabeth!” Mustang yelled as he entered through the smoke.
“Good,” Hikki answered. “We need to get to ze basement. Eet ees time to leave.”
Cille walked in behind Mustang, and before Hikki and the others could block her view, she saw Landon’s body lying on the floor, fire slowly encircling it. For a moment she just stood there, stunned, not sure what to feel beyond a small twinge of sadness for what the man she had loved had become. Then Cougar walked toward her, and their eyes met for a moment before she let him lead her out of the room with the others. She would have to think about all of this later. For now, there was still work to do.
____________
“Jeez, look at that place. It’s a torch,” Keith said, leaning on the side of a squad car.
Allen stared at the blaze. “I’d love to roast some marshmallows right now…”
“…What?” Keith raised an eyebrow.
“Um… nothing.” Allen quickly ended the conversation.
“Where’s the Chief?” Keith asked, lighting a cigarette.
“You mean Q?” Allen scratched the back of his neck. “She’s over there,” he said, pointing toward her. She was standing nearby, staring blankly into the fire as police officers scrambled all around her.
“I wonder what’s up with her…” Keith thought, taking a drag of his cigarette.
Q really didn’t know what to think of the whole situation. It was certainly bigger than mere gang activity. She had immediately thought of the Syndicate, but it also wouldn’t have surprised her if the Order of Glass was involved too. Most of her associates in the police department weren’t even aware of the existence of that covert group, but Q had been running her own small investigation for almost a year now, thanks in part to some of what Keith had uncovered looking into the Syndicate. She mulled over the possibilities, but her tired mind couldn’t help but flash between work and her life – things her mother had said, things that she wanted to accomplish.
“Are you in charge here?” a man with a English accent asked. He had come up behind her while she was distracted with her thoughts.
“What? No, I wish I were, though,” Q replied. “Then maybe I could figure out what was going on here.”
“So you’re Chief Q Holmes, huh?” the man asked. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Q raised an eyebrow and looked him over more closely. “What? Just who are you?”
“The name’s Hill,” the man stated. “And I believe you could be very valuable to our investigation.”
“Just what are you investigating?”
“An international organization known as the Order of Glass,” Hill said simply.
“Really… and just what organization are you with?”
“A little one called MI-6.”
“What…?” Q said, slightly shocked.
“Your government, no matter how unlawful it is, has given us permission to investigate our own interests in this country,” Hill laughed. “Although personally I’m beginning to wonder how welcome we really are here.”
“I know some about the Order,” Q said cautiously.
“You’ll be able to help us out even more with your experience in dealing with the various groups involved here. So will you help us?” Hill asked.
Q thought for a moment, and then accepted Hill’s outstretched hand. “Sure… why not,” she answered. “Right now I need to deal with this situation, though.” They heard more sirens as the fire department finally arrived.
“Would you believe me if I said that a Glass member was involved in this incident?” Hill asked.
Q thought for a moment. “I probably would.”
“We tracked him to this location. This is why I’m here right now.” Hill scratched his chin. “Does the name John Sadar ring any bells?”
“I suspect him to be fairly high up in the Order. But if he was in there, he’s dead,” Q said.
“I wouldn’t be so sure. There’s no way he’d die so easily,” Hill replied.
Suddenly all the police officers took a step back as they heard a loud cracking noise coming from the manor.
“Looks like the fire department arrived a little late,” Hill said.
“It’s not the first time…” Q replied.
With a booming crash the building’s top floor collapsed.
___________________
Meanwhile the group of Syndicate members had just made it into the basement.
“Did you hear thaaaaaaaat?!” Cowboy sang.
“Zees entire place ees coming down!” Hikki shouted.
“Look over there!” Mustang yelled, pointing at a grate in the stone floor. “That must be it!”
Mustang and Emiri ran over to the grate and pulled it up and to the side, revealing a metal ladder attached to a cement tunnel.
“Everyone down!” Samson yelled, pushing Cille toward the hole.
Quickly everyone climbed down. Jake went a little more slowly because of his precious cargo, and Cowboy only barely managed to shove his cello case down through the hole. Once the last person had reached the bottom of the ladder, they heard what sounded like a freight train crashing as the entire building collapsed, sending small pieces of debris and rubble falling through the hole.
“Well these sewers are pretty disgusting,” Cowboy observed, looking at the filthy and decrepit tunnel around them.
“Let’s go,” Hikki ordered. “We don’t have any time to waste. We need to get Elizabeth patched up!”
________________
“WHOAH! DID YOU SEE THAT KAMINA?!” Officer Kittan yelled, waving his arms in the air.
“I SURE DID KITTAN! THAT PLACE JUST TOTALLY EXPLODED!” Officer Kamina replied with equal fervor.
“Damn Garhalla department…” Keith said, pointing his thumb over to the two officers. “They always blow things out of proportion…”
Allen laughed. “I hear that. That Kittan guy works undercover, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, although with his loud personality I don’t know how he could blend in anywhere,” Keith laughed.
Q facepalmed. “So much for evidence.”
“These things happen sometimes,” Hill remarked. “Personally I think your government may have had a hand in delaying those fire trucks. But it’s all open to speculation right now.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know how these things work. They’d rather have the Syndicate burn alive then have to schedule trials or investigations,” Q said.
Hill straightened his tie. “You don’t seem to have much love for the government.”
Q laughed. “Who does these days? All they do is investigate innocent people and silence others that want change.” Q put her hands in her pocket. “Keep this between you and me, but I personally wouldn’t mind it if the Syndicate’s little revolution worked out. At least then we’d get some damn justice.”
“I’ll let you know right now that MI-6 by no means supports your current government. We know all about Ozzal’s oppression,” Hill assured her.
_______________
Chatter and the sounds of glasses clinking filled the Cafe del’Argeno. The surviving members of the Syndicate were recovering from their narrow escape. Though they were all exhausted and many of them were injured, they were all glad to be spared any major casualties. Hikki had even brought out the most expensive wine he had from his home country.
“Now zen! Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we sleep, and zen we get back to work!” Hikki yelled, standing on a chair.
“’Bout time we took down that bastard Landon and started running things ourselves,” Angel said from the corner of the room, where she stood with her arms crossed. Next to her April was busy looking over Tres, who seemed unmoved by his old lady getup.
“Maybe we should change the name of the Syndicate now that Landon’s gone. Doesn’t seem to be much of a purpose to have his name on it anymore!” Emiri laughed, taking a swig from a wine bottle.
Cowboy took a sip of wine from his own glass. “Hah, I’ll agree with that.”
Hikki was suddenly serious. “I refuse to change eet. Landon Blaken may have eventually lost hees way, but he founded zees organization and based eet on hees belief zat everyone deserved a better life. And I believe zat even een death he steel believed een zat preenceeple. Zees organization weel always be ze Blacken Syndicate.”
Sadar smiled. “Well said, Hikki. I must say that I agree with you.”
---
“Would you listen to all that mumbling down there?” Cougar laughed. “I wonder what they’re talking about…”
Cougar watched Cille silently move around the room, apparently unaffected by the noise below or his attempt at a jovial tone. She had managed to make him lay down so that she could properly tend to the wounds that Landon and Greed had given him. But other than that she had barely said a thing since they had left the mansion.
She walked back to Cougar and silently took the bandage off of his head. She replaced it with a new one, wrapping it tightly. Her face was blank, unreadable.
“Cillie… are you all right?” Cougar asked gently.
“I’m fine,” was all he got in return. He could see her bite her lower lip slightly.
“You’re not fine.”
She took the old bandage and turned away, unable to answer him. Returning to the side table, she began folding the bandage and rearranging the medical supplies in the first aid kit.
“I know you must be under a lot of stress.” Cougar rubbed his temple. “You’ve been through some pretty intense things today.”
There was another moment of silence. He looked at the back of her head, wondering if he should keep prodding her for a response.
“I just can’t believe… that he…” Cille finally whispered, her voice barely audible.
Cougar was silent for a moment. He knew what had to be going through her head.
“If it means anything…” he began, and then seemed to think better of what he had been about to say. “I know how difficult this all must be for you. And whether you want to talk or not, I’ll be here to listen. Or… not listen. Or… dammit, that didn’t come out quite right…” He ran his hand through his hair sheepishly.
Cille smiled a little at his bumbling, in spite of herself. “I know…” she said quietly. “I had a feeling you’d say something like that. But I think…” She took a deep breath. “I just need some time to think about things. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
He hesitated for just a moment, and then, ignoring the lingering pain in his body, he got out of bed and walked toward her.
She turned and looked at him, surprised. “You shouldn’t – you’re still hurt. You need to rest,” she protested.
He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I’m not the only one hurting.”
She looked up at him with an almost frightened expression, as if she was still afraid to let him see her weakness. Then, unable to hide her emotions any longer, her eyes began welling up with tears. She hesitantly leaned toward him, and he tentatively put his arms around her.
He held her close, and just let her cry.
_______________
“Heh, I see you’re finally awake,” Mustang said, grinning.
“Whaaa…?” Elizabeth opened her eyes with a groggy yawn. “Where am I? What time is it?”
“It’s nearly two in the morning,” Mustang answered. “And you’re back at the cafe.”
“She should be fine now,” Kaia said next to the bed where Elizabeth lay. “It’s really a surprise that you got her here in one piece.”
“Thanks for patching her up.” Mustang winked.
“No problem.” Kaia brushed her hair back. “It is my job, after all. Although I still think it’s a miracle that she survived her wounds.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa, whoa… I’m alive?”
Kaia laughed. “Yes. Obviously.”
“Well I guess I’d better get out and make myself useful,” Elizabeth said as she started to get up. Mustang and Kaia pushed her back down.
“What are you? Stupid? You’re in bad shape. I can’t let you go anywhere,” Kaia said, sitting back down.
“Just take it easy, Elizabeth. Maybe try some sudoku!” Mustang suggested.
Elizabeth sighed. “I think I’ll just have a drink…”
__________________
“Not gonna join in the fuuuuuuuuuuuun~?”
Clarice nearly fell through the large window she had been standing by.
“Cowboy! For the love of all that is holy, do NOT harp an aria in someone’s ear!”
“Sorry.” Cowboy took a step back upon seeing the look on Clarice’s face. Once he realized she wasn’t going to be throwing a random assortment of frying pans his way, he spoke to her again. “You’re here all by yourself; don’t you fancy a drink?”
Clarice turned away to look out the window again.
“No, I’m all right. But you can have a drink for me.” She smiled feebly.
Cowboy frowned. He seemed to want to say something, but just shrugged his shoulders and sauntered off.
Clarice continued to stare through the glass, her breath fogging up the pane. It wouldn’t be long before winter was upon them. She put her hand on the window. Yep, cold. She let out a long sigh. Her body ached, a little voice in her head begged for sleep, and yet, she was as wide-awake as she had been that morning.
The adrenaline, she thought to herself. And yet, she felt strangely numb, like she was having an out-of-body experience and merely going through the motions. She still couldn’t believe she had survived… that any of them had survived.
“Ah, here you are…”
She was brought back to earth. She turned around to see Anne smiling at her inquisitively.
“I was wondering why you weren’t with everyone else.” Anne nodded in the direction of the others.
“I don’t feel like partying much,” Clarice answered truthfully. “What are you doing up this late?”
“You think I could sleep with this noise?” Anne rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you’re worrying about Sam again, aren’t ya?”
Am I that easy to read? Clarice mentally kicked herself.
“Hee… I knew it,” Anne grinned.
Clarice sighed again.
“You want to know where he is?”
Clarice perked up. “You know where he’s gone?”
“Oh yeah… Whenever Sammie wants to be alone to think, he always goes to the same place. He’s so predictable.” Anne shook her head. “That dummy.”
“Where? Tell me.”
The bitter cold wind stung Clarice’s face. It felt like the temperature was dropping more and more with each passing minute. She tugged at her coat as a strong gust hit her and slammed the car door shut. She glanced over her shoulder. The city of Orly glistened from across the bay. At night, it looked just like any other metropolis; there was no sign of war and tyranny, only the glow of the cityscape. Clarice returned her gaze to the bridge in front of her.
She hoped Anne was right…
“Ever since I was little, Samson always liked the view of the city from the bay bridge. He used to bug Mom and Dad to watch the summer fireworks from there. Even now, he still likes to go there by himself and just… think. Maybe it reminds him of when we were all together…”
Clarice headed down the bridge’s walkway. She stared at the ground, lost in thought. After the big fight between the Syndicate and the Cool Mexicanos, Samson had just disappeared. He had come close to biting the dust a few times, but he had never reacted like this…
You better not do anything stupid, Clarice thought, frowning. She hoped he was all right. She was so absorbed she almost didn’t register the dark figure leaning against the railing in the middle of the bridge.
Samson stood against the bridge’s rail, staring out across the bay and at the cityscape. The cold wind ruffled his dark hair and the collar of his jacket. He shifted his weight forward, making Clarice flinch.
Oh my god, he’s not going to--!
“Samson! Don’t do it!”
Samson whipped his head around.
“Huh?”
“Don’t… uh… oh, you weren’t going to…”
Samson just blinked at her.
Smart. Real smart, Clarice.
“What are you doing here?” Samson arched an inquisitive eyebrow.
“I was going to ask you the same thing…”
Samson turned his gaze back to the horizon. Clarice bit her bottom lip; after all this time, she didn’t know what to say. What could she say to him? Slowly, she walked toward him until she was also leaning against the rails, gazing at the city lights.
Neither of them spoke. The only sounds audible were the waves in the bay lapping along the bridge’s pillars and the cold breeze fluttering around them every so often. Clarice followed Samson’s lead and merely watched the view before them. Their breathing became visible in swirling puffs of air.
“I’ve been a real dick, haven’t I…” Samson broke the silence.
Clarice glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She knew it wasn’t a question.
“I thought… that I could fix it. Everything that has happened to us in the last few months… I really thought I could solve our problems. If I took the initiative… If I investigated… If I worked my ass off… If I, if I, if I…! God, I’ve been so selfish!”
Samson buried his face in his hands. Clarice continued to watch him.
“In the end, I couldn’t even do anything by myself!” He slammed his fist into the rail, the sound reverberating in the silence. “All I did was manage to nearly get us all killed! Some hero…” He let out a mirthless laugh. “I was the one who needed to be saved.” He hung his head. His shoulders started quivering; Clarice doubted it was from the temperature.
“It’s my fault. If Sadar hadn’t shown up tonight, I really would have…” His voice trailed off. He let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m a total jerk. Hating Sadar all this time… And he’s the one to save my ass in the end…”
He threw his head back. “AAAAAAAH! WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME?!”
At his yell of frustration, Clarice turned, one hand still on the rail. Samson glanced up and their eyes almost met, but he looked away.
“I’m sorry.”
Clarice brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
“I’ve been a real dick to you; it wasn’t fair,” Samson continued. “Truth is, I came here because I didn’t wanna have to face you… or Anne… or Hikki… I was… scared, actually… of what I would say. What you all would say.” He took a deep breath. “…I would understand if you didn’t want to forgive me.”
Clarice blinked.
“I don’t think I could forgive myself if I’d been treated the same way.” His voice was quiet… and broken. “I care about all of you. I really do. I shouldn’t have put any of you in this situation. I’m really sorry.”
“Samson…”
Clarice’s hand was on his; it was warm. He looked up and their eyes finally met. The breeze was fluttering her hair, which seemed to glow in the night light. Her cheeks were red from the cold.
“…You idiot.”
She kissed him.
And in that moment, Samson knew everything would be fine. She didn’t need to say anything. He simply knew.
Their lips parted. Clarice gave him a sly smirk and shook her head… Her eyes shone like violet beacons in the dark. Samson continued to stare at her when a small snowflake suddenly landed on his nose. The two of them turned their gazes upward: The first snow of the season.
And, for the first time in a long time, Samson smiled.
Recurring Characters
Landon Blaken – Blah_canbespanish
DangerCille – Cille
Hikki Follet – Kohikki
Clarice Rowe – QueenoftheDorks
Samson Monroe – MasterSamson
April – LirpaYamEnujYluj
Jake Thompson – SportsMaster
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen – EdSpikeSesshyGirl
Angel Sarcasta – mgangel1124
Emiri - _Boxers_
Cowboy – CowboyCadenza
Lucille “Cille” Compton – Cille
Chief Quetzalxochitl “Q” Holmes – Q_chan
Allen Black – AlastourBlaque
Keith Douglas – k_dawg_3484
Spice Spamton – spiceweasel228*
Libra Holmes – Ghost_of_a_Librarian
Kay El – Kagomes_Luver2789
Da Sombras – Shadowstaarr*
Michelle Ozzal – Mike Lazzo*
Heero Yuy – HeeroYuy135*
Wyatt Matthews – Wyotech_material*
Captain Yemman – myname*
Liam Green – lithium_green
Father John Sadar – FurionTassadar
Raef Compton – Maenos*
“Angry God” Zeus – zeus_the_angry_god/Shuya_Nanahara
Hill – fool_on_the_hill
Kaia Namek – namek_kaia
Anne Monroe – herself
Izuru Kira – Bleach
Roy Mustang – Fullmetal Alchemist
Jean Havoc – Fullmetal Alchemist
Straight Cougar – s-CRY-ed
Riza “Hawkeye” Yuy – Fullmetal Alchemist*
Greed – Fullmetal Alchemist
Tres – Trinity Blood
Gauron – Full Metal Panic!
Kittan – Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Kamina – Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
New Characters
Asimov – Cowboy Bebop
Beck – Big O
Frank Archer – Fullmetal Alchemist
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in the chapter but do not play an active role in the story.
“A meeting?” Landon said, from his desk.
“Yes, this is straight from Hikki. He’s requesting that you meet with him and some of the main Syndicate members tonight at 9:00 over at that old manor on 160th Street,” DangerCille said, standing in front of him.
Landon stood up and looked out the window behind him. “I find it odd that he would call a meeting so suddenly, and with no time to prepare even.” Landon looked over his shoulder at DangerCille. “I also find it offensive that HE would request a meeting. He knows that I come only when I see fit.”
“Landon, you risk their respect if you don’t come to this one. Hikki made it sound pretty important.”
“What’s so important?”
“I’m not sure, Landon. He wouldn’t tell me.”
With a quick “hmph” Landon looked back out the window. “Tell him… I’ll be there.”
_________________
“Right, ok… Tres bien.” Hikki hung up his cell phone. “Eet ees confeermed. Landon has agreed to meet us at 160th Street. Een ze old manor over zere.” Hikki sat down next to Samson and Clarice, who was busy reading a book.
“There sure are a lot of abandoned buildings in this town…” Clarice remarked, not looking up from her novel.
“So much ze better for us. We need a neutral location for zees meeting, and Avril sez zat zees place ees safe,” Hikki said, cleaning his glasses.
Clarice closed her book and sighed. “So our plan is to question Landon at this meeting?”
“Yes, it is.” Samson adjusted his glasses. “Even if he denies these charges I think it would be best for him to leave the Syndicate of his own will. But if need be we shall force him. We cannot have someone untrustworthy leading something as important as this. He needs –“
“Now Samson,” Hikki interrupted. “We cannot go jumping to conclusions like zees. We need to question Landon first. From zere we weel decide ze best plan for dealing weez ze seetuation. Zees could all turn out to be some sort of beeg meesunderstanding.”
“Well… whether he’s guilty or not we shouldn’t go to the meeting unprepared.” Samson looked over at the crates in the corner. “We should go armed. There’s no point in risking our necks with a guy who would potentially off all of us if he sees fit.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Hikki admitted. He looked at the broken clock on the wall. “What time ees eet?”
Samson looked at his watch. “It’s six.”
“All right zen.” Hikki stood up. “We have three hours to get ready for ze meeting. You two make some calls and get as many pepole here as queeckly as you can. I’m going to get Avril to leave a message at a dead drop for someone, and ze rest of you can suit up and wait for ze ozzers to arrive.”
One hour later a small group of Syndicate regulars had assembled, including Jake, who had been recalled from his spy mission with the Order of Glass, and Elizabeth, who had just happened by looking for something good and stiff to drink. Amid some grumbling about the short notice, they armed themselves as Hikki and Samson explained the situation and laid out their plans.
When they were finished, Hikki surveyed the small group before him. “Samson, Angel, Emiri, Kira, Mustang, Havoc, Cowboy, Avril, Jake, Elizabeth…”
“Ahem…”
“…And Clarice.” Hikki rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. Suddenly he looked serious. “Zees ees ze smallest our Syndicate has ever been. I don’t know what eez going to happen een zere, but I do know zat our time of being kept een ze dark ees over. If Landon really ees a traitor zen we have a right to know ze truth. And we weel do what we have to do. We have not come zees far and suffered so much to have eet all end now. I know zat somehow, we weel get through all of zees.”
Hikki looked at his friends’ faces, hoping that he had been able to inspire them in spite of his own fears. Some of them seemed nervous, and some of them looked eager for a fight. But they all seemed to understand the importance of their current mission.
Samson stood up. “Okay. We all know what we’re doing. Let’s move out.”
_____________
A short time later the group reconvened at the manor, after making their way there in small groups to avoid attracting too much attention.
Elizabeth insisted on going in first, just in case there was trouble waiting for them inside. She entered with her pistol drawn, intently peering into the darkness. Jeez… this place is huge… she thought. When she was a few steps into the room, a noise caught her attention. She whirled and pointed her gun in the direction of the noise, calling out a sharp “Who’s there?” Slowly and cautiously, a tall man with pointy hair and a military uniform stepped out of the shadows with his hands raised.
“Cougar… is that you?” Elizabeth asked, surprised to see him.
Cougar came forward with a sheepish look on his face. “Hello, Liza… I guess I should thank you for not being too trigger-happy…”
Elizabeth swore under her breath. How many times had she told him that it was Liz, dammit…
“Yeah, you’re just lucky I don’t want to attract any attention. We’re setting up a stakeout here.”
“I know, I got the message. That’s why we’re here. But you don’t have to worry – I’ve already checked out the building, and there’s nobody else here.”
“’We’re’ here? Who else ees weez you?” Hikki asked from the door. He and the others had followed Elizabeth inside.
“I think… you had better come see for yourself,” Cougar answered with a sly grin.
He led them into an inner room. There, for the second time, they saw a familiar face that they thought they would never see again.
“Mon dieu…” Hikki gasped. “Eet ees Lucille!”
She was sitting in an ornate chair, looking slightly apprehensive but relieved to see them. “Long time no see, guys…” she said with a weak smile.
____________
“I’m going now,” Q said, closing the door to her office behind her.
“What? Already, Chief?” Allen asked, leaning out of his cubicle.
Q walked past Allen with a briefcase in her hand. “Yeah, I’m visiting with my mother tonight.”
“Heh, have fun then, QQ,” Keith said, walking past her.
Q turned around and glared. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me ‘QQ’?!”
“Well, I could call you by your entire name, but my tongue would probably die trying to pronounce it,” Keith laughed.
“You can call me Chief Holmes… or just Chief if that’s too hard for you,” Q said, glaring straight into his eyes.
Keith raised his hands in defense. “Okay, okay, no reason to get hostile…”
“All right then…” Q said, brightening up. “I guess I’ll be off.”
____________
“How are you still alive?!” Angel shouted. “We heard your body was found on some damn cow farm outside of town!”
“That was a fabrication.” Cougar put a hand on Cille’s shoulder. “The real Cillie was being held at Comdot Estate.”
“Wow, how did they treat you over there?” Elizabeth asked. “I know they treated me like a piece of meat while I was being held.”
“It was horrible… I almost died. They tried to kill me,” Cille said with dread in her voice.
Elizabeth crossed her arms. “And I thought I had it rough…”
Emiri looked Cille over. “You must be tough to have escaped Comdot. That place is a fortress. Believe me, I know.”
“Cougar managed to rescue me before I was killed,” Cille said, standing up and stretching.
“He rescued you? I guess that explains the huge explosion I heard that one day,” Elizabeth laughed.
Cougar looked guilty. “Really, I’m sorry – I would have gone for you too if I had known you were there, Liza…”
“Eh, it’s fine… if you had come for me you would have ended up overwhelmed.” Elizabeth smiled. “Really, I understand. Also… could you just call me Liz?”
“Sure, Liza.” Cougar smiled. Elizabeth facepalmed.
“I don’t know what happened to Spice after that. Everything that happened in there is just a blur to me now,” Cille said, trying to remember.
“Spice was zere too?” Hikki asked.
“Yes… she’s the one who tried to kill me,” Cille said sadly. “I think they had her drugged or something.”
“Well, Spice showed back up over at the cafe, and proceeded to go crazy,” Samson laughed.
“We had to knock her out with a frying pan,” Clarice added.
“Where is she now?” Cille asked.
Hikki adjusted his glasses. “She’s taking a break, and she’s also being observed to a certain extent to make sure zat whatever happened to her doesn’t happen again.”
“Good, I’m glad she’s back to normal then,” Cille said with a sigh of relief.
___________
Outside of the mansion a black BMW pulled up. Landon had finally arrived. He stopped and looked out his window, noticing that the lights were on in the manor. “Well it seems like they’re here early.”
DangerCille sat in the seat next to him, seeming preoccupied. “Are you okay?” Landon asked. “You look like you’re pretty tense… something wrong?”
“I… I’m fine,” DangerCille said, looking away from Landon. “Perhaps we should go in. They’re waiting for us, I’m sure of it.”
Landon scratched his chin. “I still find it odd that Hikki would want a meeting on such short notice. Oh well, I’m not going to figure out what that effeminate Frenchman wants by just sitting here, am I?” he laughed, opening the door of his car and stepping onto the sidewalk. After another moment of thought DangerCille followed.
As they crossed the street Landon stopped and looked behind him.
“What is it?” DangerCille looked at him, confused.
“I don’t know,” he said, looking back. “I could have sworn that someone was watching me…”
“Who…?”
“Never mind that,” Landon said. “We have work to do, after all, my dear.”
The two of them proceeded to walk up the stairs of the mansion. Across the street, a rather large man hiding behind a car watched them enter the building.
“Hah… I go out looking for one thing and find something even better… He’ll definitely want to hear about this.”
___________
“Upper story secure!” Elizabeth yelled from the top of the stairs. The group had congregated in the foyer of the mansion. On each side of the room there was a staircase leading up towards a balcony at the back of the room.
Hikki looked to the top of the stairs. “Good, Elizabeth.” Suddenly April and Cowboy appeared below the balcony, walking out of a door underneath it. “How ees ze bottom story?”
“You wouldn’t believe how huge this place is, Hikki,” Cowboy said. “But yeah, everything is clear as far as we can tell.”
“Good. Everyseeng ees coming togezzer well. Landon should be here any moment now.” Hikki tugged at his collar. He had never been this nervous before. Everyone had a task. But he had the hardest task of all – to keep a crew from so many walks of life in line and working together.
“Don’t get so nervous,” Clarice scolded. “You’ll tip Landon off that something’s up right away. If we want to get a decent answer from him we’ll have to catch him off guard.”
“Yes I know, eet’s just… I don’t know. I want to trust DangerCille but I also want to trust Landon. Eet ees a very spleet seetuation zat we are een right now.” Hikki looked over at Cille, who was sitting in a chair chatting with Cougar. “Cille being here now may make ze seetuation even more volatile…”
“Why do you think that?” Clarice asked, intrigued.
“Remember, Cille was as far as we knew dead. I can only eemagine how shocked Landon weel be when he sees her, and how shocked Cille herself weel be when she sees DangerCille.” Hikki took off his glasses and wiped his brow. “Oh zees ees going to be eenteresting.”
“So you guys think Landon may be more than he seems?” Cille asked, walking toward Clarice and Hikki.
“Oh, um, I see you know why we have called zees meeting,” Hikki said nervously.
“Yeah, Liz told me about it. I’m sure there must be some explanation to all this. And I’m sure Landon will give it to us,” Cille said confidently.
“I’m afraid, my dear, zat eet ees not zat seemple now,” Hikki said grimly.
“What? Why not?” Cille asked, confused.
“Oh dear… you don’t know about her do you?” Hikki asked, looking at Clarice nervously.
“What, she doesn’t? That’s right… Liz doesn’t know about her either.” Clarice looked at Cille apprehensively.
“What? Who is it that I’m supposed to know about?” Cille was starting to feel uneasy. “Why are you guys so nervous? What’s going on here?”
Suddenly everyone heard the large door to the mansion open and slam shut. “Well, I’m surprised you’re all here so early. Perhaps you’re all turning over a new leaf of responsibility.” Landon stood in front of the door grinning.
Cille felt something odd when she looked at Landon. It was him, yet… it didn’t feel like him. He looked like a different person now. But as she looked to the person at his side she felt her gut drop. Her eyes widened. Was that…? Her?! “Who… who is that?!”
Liz looked back and forth between Cille and DangerCille. “What the F**K?! TWO CILLES?!”
_____________
“It’s just nine o’clock, dear. You don’t need to leave now, do you?” Libra sat across from Q, sipping from her cup of tea.
Q adjusted her glasses. “I really do, Mom. I have a lot of paperwork piling up and I just need to go get some sleep.”
“Sounds like this job of yours is taking up a lot of your time…” Libra said, looking into Q’s tired eyes.
“Yeah, it really is.”
“That’s sad,” Libra said, taking another sip of her tea.
Q crooked an eyebrow. “What? Why is it sad?”
Libra set her cup down and got up from her chair to get her daughter’s coat. “At this rate you’ll never get married.”
Q blushed. That caught her off guard. “Wha… don’t be stupid! What’s so important about that anyway?!”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Libra handed the coat to Q and sat back down. “It would just be nice to see you happy, I guess.”
“Mom… I am happy. Just busy I guess.” Q slumped down in her chair. It had been a month since she had last seen her mother. This setup was all too familiar to her. Every time she came home Libra would mention how worried she was about her and how much she overworked herself. Q would listen and try to defend herself as much she could. But she knew it was all true. She knew she worked too much. She knew that deep down she wasn’t really happy with the direction everything was going.
Libra looked concerned. “I can’t help but worry about you, Quetzalxochitl.”
Q cringed. “Mom, just call me Q. Please.”
“What, I can’t call you by your full name now?” Libra said, slightly offended.
“I’m sorry, I’m just tired.” Q looked at her watch. “Look, I really gotta go, Mom. I’ll see you later.”
“All right, honey.” Libra got up and hugged her. “Be safe.”
Q walked out of her mother’s book store and to her car at the side of the street. As she dropped down onto the driver’s seat she heaved a heavy sigh. She was going to go home, go to bed, and tomorrow it would be the same day all over again. She’d go to work, yell at Keith and Allen and their incompetence, do a load of paperwork, and go home and go to bed. And it would cycle like that for the whole week. She shoved her key into the ignition with little confidence and started her car. It was really going to be a long ride home.
____________
“Well I see you haven’t changed much, Cille. I was wondering where you had gone.” Landon looked over at Cougar. “I should have known that he of all people would rescue you. It’s good to see you safe.”
“Who… who is that?” Cille backed away. “Who the hell is that? Why does she look just like me?!”
“Because she is you, my dear. She is you, and you are her.” Landon put a hand on DangerCille’s shoulder.
“Look, Cille, I know this is hard to handle…” DangerCille said, concerned at her alter ego’s growing agitation.
“You’re damn right it’s hard to handle!” Cille said. “What are you?”
“I’m you… from the future.”
Cille nearly fell over but Cougar caught her. “What are you talking about? How can you be from the future?” Cougar asked.
“It’s a long story.” DangerCille walked toward Cougar and Cille. “Suffice it to say that the future sucks. And it’s partially my fault, err, our fault. Because of us the rebellion was doomed and Ozzal won. I came here to stop you from making the same mistakes I made.”
“Yes, I’m sure we all have very interesting stories to tell,” Landon interrupted, “but I would like to know just why this meeting was called.” He looked sharply at Hikki. “What do you want?”
Hikki took a step back. He was actually frightened.
Samson spoke up, taking the heat off Hikki. “Look, Landon, it’s come to our attention that your loyalties might not lie fully with us. And that you actually have other interests and priorities that take precedence over those of the rebellion.”
Landon crossed his arms. “And just where did you hear this, kid? Do you even have anything to back it up?”
Samson looked stoic. “My sources are classified.”
“Then there’s really no reason for me to take these mindless accusations seriously,” Landon said disdainfully.
“We heard that there is another group that you’re involved with,” Hikki said, regaining himself.
“We also heard that you wouldn’t be above sacrificing any of us in the name of that group,” Samson added.
“Well that is interesting,” Landon said, not entirely seriously. “And you believe all this? You believe that I would betray the Syndicate I founded?”
“You certainly don’t seem to care that much about us from what I’ve seen,” Samson shot back. “You haven’t even done anything for us except hand out orders and tell us things that may or may not even be true!”
“Samson, please, give it a rest. Nothing’s been proven yet.” Clarice held his shoulder from behind.
“She’s right, you know.” Landon seemed to be taunting Samson. “You seem to be questioning my loyalty, even accusing me of treason, but really it is I who should be questioning you. I built this rebellion; I made it what it is today. You’re all here because of me and only me. To think you would ask me, your leader, such questions, and without any proof beyond what you ‘heard’? This is utter nonsense!”
His speech had grown more forceful, as if he were daring them to continue interrogating him.
“Please understand,” Hikki said, trying to remain calm, “we are concerned. We want to be able to trust our leader. Zees ees why we ask you zese questions.”
“I could say the same about you,” Landon replied. “It doesn’t fill me with confidence that the people I’m relying on to carry out my orders are instead going around behind my back looking for excuses to accuse me of treason. You could at least tell me where you got this information from.”
Hikki nervously looked at Samson and Clarice, trying to avoid looking at DangerCille, who was standing behind Landon with a slightly worried look on her face.
“We cannot tell you zat,” Hikki finally told Landon. “We seemply want a straight answer from you about your ozzer acteeveeties outside ze Syndicate. We want to know if we can trust you.”
“Fine then,” Landon said shortly. “You can trust me. Whatever ‘other activities’ I have don’t need to concern you. My priorities are with the Syndicate and the rebellion.”
Hikki and Clarice seemed relieved, but Samson didn’t look entirely convinced.
“Is that all?” Landon asked. “Or is there anything else you’ve ‘heard’?”
Hikki, Samson, and Clarice exchanged glances.
“Well…” Hikki began, “who ees Da Sombras?”
“Da Sombras?” Landon repeated. “I’m sure I don’t know. Sounds like a crappy Mexican restaurant to me.”
“We were thinking Da Sombras could be your boss,” Clarice stated.
“Or your partner,” Samson added.
Hikki closed his eyes. “Whatever you are to each ozzer we’ve been told you’re researching someseeng very eemportant.”
Landon narrowed his eyes, and a curious expression appeared on his face.
Silence filled the room as all eyes focused on Landon. He hung his head as if in deep thought.
“Well then… so many things have changed…” Landon said quietly. “I should have known it would grow out of control sooner or later.” As they watched him they could see his expression change. He was… grinning? Then he started laughing as he raised his head to look at the group of Syndicate members before him.
“Bravo, bravo…” he said, clapping his hands. “I never would have thought that you would figure this much out about me. Whatever little bird told you that story is sure as hell informed.”
He paced towards Hikki. “To be honest I never took you people for the investigative kind. Like any primitive people you should have just kept on taking the bait placed in front of you and following any orders I gave. Apparently… I was wrong about you.” Landon stopped in front of Hikki and looked him directly in the eyes. “I was foolish to think that you would do as you were told for long. And now it seems that you’ve become too troublesome for your own good.”
Hikki’s eyes widened at Landon’s new candor. “What exactly are you saying?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Hikki? I used all of you. You all played into a larger game. Distracting Ozzal and her government forces while my friends did whatever they wanted. It really is brilliant. But at the same time I was the true founder of the revolution. I created it long before I met Da Sombras. Why, it’s not like I formed this rebellion in the first place only to see it fail! To tell you the truth I wanted you all to succeed. I wanted you to win against Ozzal. But distraction after distraction kept you away from your overall goal. The revolution I started turned into nothingness, a joke.”
Landon paced around the room, holding his hands behind his back. “Don’t you see, Hikki? To win a revolution you must actually do something! You can’t stick to the little leagues! But as I watched it became painfully clear that you would need my help in order to do anything meaningful. And that’s why I came back, and why I’ve been lying in wait these past several weeks until I could make my grand reappearance.”
“Wait…” Samson said suspiciously. “So when the Echelon came after us… you saw what was going on?”
“I did,” Landon said, looking him straight in the eye. “I saw it all. The break-in at Comdot Estate, the murder of Heero and his wife Riza, the slaying of Wyatt, Yemman’s downfall into complete insanity… and yes, that Echelon crackdown and everything that came afterward.”
“All that…” Samson was suddenly furious. “So you just sat there watching as all of us were rounded up and people were being killed? And you didn’t even try to help us? Do you really care about the Syndicate at all?”
“To be honest,” Landon replied with an ironic smile, “the failure of the Syndicate to protect itself against the Echelon was the hardest thing to watch. I mean, I knew that you were incompetent, but that was simply the worst reaction to a violent force I have ever seen. You lost half of your pathetic members in that raid.” He looked defiantly at Samson. “But it was my choice to remain uninvolved,” he said evenly. “It was up to you to save yourselves… or not.”
“But… your own fiancée…” Hikki sputtered. “She was nearly keeled by Ozzal… and you deed nossing?”
Landon crooked a cruel smile. “You say that as if it was a problem.”
“What ze…” Hikki murmured, dumbfounded.
Landon looked smug. “You see…” he continued, “the one who wanted our little Cille dead… was me.”
In an instant Cougar was at his throat. Landon barely had time to bring his arms up to protect himself.
“Bastard…” the livid man choked out. “How could you… she was your fiancée… she loved you…”
“She was a plaything,” Landon retorted. “I might have loved her once… but she serves no purpose for me now. A man like me can’t waste time on useless love-struck girls. So I decided to get her out of the way before she started getting meddlesome. I couldn’t have her coming after me, especially with Ozzal’s people and the rest of these morons on her tail.” Behind him, there was a distressed look on the face of his partner.
Cougar let out an infuriated growl and renewed his attack, seeming fully intent on strangling the man who had betrayed them.
“Cougar, stop.”
At the sound of Cille’s voice, cold and insistent, Cougar grudgingly released his hold on Landon and stepped back. She had stood stunned as Landon made his cold-blooded confession, but now it was time for the confrontation she had both hoped for and in a way dreaded for the past year.
“All I’ve wanted… all this time… was to know why you left me the way you did…” she began slowly, stepping forward and looking Landon straight in the eye. “I would have gone with you… I would have done just about anything to help you if you had only asked. I thought it was because you wanted to keep me safe, because you didn’t want me to get involved in your dangerous rebellion. But… if that’s all it was… if I never meant anything to you…”
“You give me too little credit, my dear,” Landon said, seeming more amused than hurt. “It’s not like everything that happened between us was a ruse. I did love you then… if things were different, I might even still love you now. Maybe I could have been the kind of man you wanted me to be… But I’m not about to change who I am now. And I owe you no apology. I gave you the chance to distance yourself from me. You could have gone on living your life in peace, but no – you just had to go poking around where you didn’t belong. So don’t blame me if you end up getting hurt.”
Cille couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “So just because I wanted to see you again, just because I was trying to find you, you wanted me dead? Are you truly that heartless?”
Landon narrowed his eyes. “I have plans that you can’t even comprehend,” he said disdainfully. “And I won’t let anyone get in my way. Least of all a silly little girl.”
He abruptly flung his arm forward, and a small pistol suddenly appeared in his hand. He had had it hidden in his sleeve just in case he ran into trouble.
He pointed the gun at Cille. The cold and bitter look on his face made it clear what he intended to do.
“And now… goodbye, ‘love.’”
Cougar dove for Cille, and at the same time DangerCille threw herself at Landon and his gun. His shot went up into the ceiling, and he reeled and grabbed onto DangerCille to regain his balance.
“What the hell are you doing, woman?” he shouted. He grabbed her neck, threw her to the floor and pinned her down.
“Just stop it, Landon! She doesn’t have to die!” DangerCille cried. “We’ve already changed the path of the future… you don’t have to do this!”
“You really don’t understand, do you.” Landon glared down at his former partner. “This isn’t about you and your ‘future.’ I’ve got bigger plans that don’t include you. You were just a convenient pawn, same as the rest of them.”
DangerCille looked up at him sadly, as if seeing the real him for the first time. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it… I guess I was just too focused on the Syndicate… or maybe I just thought – hoped – there was a chance we could still love each other. But now I know what kind of man you really are…”
Landon’s eyes narrowed. “It was you… you sold me out to these idiots, didn’t you… Bitch!”
Before she could say anything in response, he raised the gun again and pointed it straight at her forehead. Her eyes widened, and she realized there was no use in trying to deny it. Unable to take her eyes off of the gun, she began desperately shouting to her past self while she still had time.
“Cille… don’t believe in yourself… believe in them… who believe in –“
A single shot silenced her.
Breathing heavily with anger and agitation, Landon leaned back away from DangerCille’s now-still body and lurched to his feet.
Everyone stared at Landon in disbelief. While the gun’s caliber was small the mental blow was enough to push everyone back a step in shock. Everything was silent. The only noise to be heard was Landon getting up and regaining his composure.
Finally Clarice broke the silence. “Y- you… killed her…” she said, covering her mouth, her eyes wide. Samson held her shoulder. He was too shocked to say anything.
“Yes, yes I did,” Landon stated, straightening his coat. He looked to his right and saw Emiri clenching her fists as if she were clutching at some unseen weapon. The stunned expression on her face told him that he had managed to shock even her.
“You bastard, you’ll pay for that one!” Emiri yelled in anger.
“I weel not let zees happen anymore!” Hikki screamed. He almost had tears in his eyes. “I weel not let anyone die anymore! No one!”
“I’m afraid, Hikki, that you have no choice in the matter,” Landon said, looking at Hikki with the utmost seriousness.
“W- what are you talking about?” Samson asked.
Landon laughed. “You people really are morons, aren’t you?”
Suddenly the front door of the mansion burst open and several men ran through.
“Ahh good,” Landon said. “Right on time. I like a quick reaction like that.”
“Time is no issue, I was hoping we’d get some action today!” a tall man wearing a leather vest said.
Landon raised a hand. “Calm yourself, Greed. We need to make short work of this.”
“Right, right,” Greed said, frowning.
“Efficiency is my number one priority, sir,” a red-haired man said behind Landon.
“I knew I could count on you, Tres,” Landon said with a smile. “Gauron, close the doors. It’s very cold outside.”
“Of course, sir.”
Landon looked at the two men to his left. “Asimov, Beck. I assume you’re both ready for the task ahead.”
“I just want to get this over with,” Asimov said.
“Yeah, same here,” Beck replied.
“Landon!” Hikki yelled. “What kind of game ees zees?!”
Landon looked at Hikki, surprised. “Well you didn’t see this coming, did you? Isn’t it obvious? The only reason I told you all that about Da Sombras and the Cool Mexicanos you see before you is because you had already known too much.”
“Then why tell us more?” Samson asked.
“Simply put, with that much information you’re all nothing but liabilities… I could have kept denying your charges, but what would be the point? Even if I could have convinced you to drop those charges, none of you would have trusted me afterwards. So it was clear to me, at least, that you would have to be eliminated before long. And since you won’t be around long enough to tell anyone what I’ve told you, I thought you could at least come to appreciate the full extent of my genius,” Landon explained with a smirk.
“It was fun while it lasted,” he continued more seriously. “But I’m afraid you’re all completely useless to me now. I hope you enjoyed being my toys for the time we were together but I’m afraid I need to say goodbye to you again now. Emiri, you told me that I would pay, didn’t you? Well I’m afraid that you’ve got it a little bit backwards… in fact, I’m almost positive that you will all be paying instead. For your insolence. Your incompetence. And most of all for sticking your noses where they didn’t belong! You’re all going to pay this night… with your blood.”
During Landon’s speech several more Mexicanos had come in through the back, led by a young man with an authoritative air.
“Liam, so glad you could make it on such short notice,” Landon said appreciatively.
“Yeah, lucky for you we weren’t in the middle of any experiments,” Liam answered.
“All right,” Gauron said impatiently. He almost seemed to pet his submachine gun. “Which one of you rats wants to die first?”
“How about you, bitch?!” Elizabeth screamed, appearing out of nowhere from her hiding place in the balcony. All it took was a single shot to silence Gauron’s cockiness forever. As his body fell to the ground, all around the room guns were heard being cocked and readied for action.
Landon looked at what used to be Gauron lying next to his feet with a distasteful look on his face. “Well now, that wasn’t very nice, was it?” He moved away from the body to avoid getting blood on his shoes. “You really should have let him get ready first!” Landon yelled as he raised Gauron’s submachine gun and started shooting at Elizabeth. She quickly dove back behind the balustrade to avoid his shots. All the other Syndicate members quickly separated, leaving only Hikki, Samson and Clarice together.
Greed and Beck started to run after Elizabeth but Landon stopped them. “No, don’t worry about her. He’ll deal with her soon enough…” Landon said, grinning. His grin quickly disappeared as he noticed Cougar coming at him with fierce anger in his eyes.
“You bastard, I’ll kill you!” Cougar yelled, swinging at Landon with lightning fast speed.
“I think that’s quite impossible for you, Cougar!” Landon replied, narrowly evading Cougar’s attack. Before Cougar could regain his balance, Landon grabbed his other wrist and used his speed to propel him into the wall behind him. “You’re too sloppy! You’re letting your emotions get the better of you!” Landon taunted, crossing his arms. “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten that worked up over a mere girl?”
“You’re too cocky, Landon. You don’t take into account that people have more to fight for when they have someone to protect!” Cougar quickly jumped back to his feet and ran at Landon. Just as Cougar’s fist reached his face, though, Landon leaned back and kicked him in the stomach.
With a “guh!” Cougar fell to his knees in front of Landon. Landon quickly recovered from the punch, and Cille watched from the side in horror as he pulled out his pistol and put it to his former friend’s head.
“And to think at one time I thought you had what it took to join me in my greater purpose,” Landon snarled.
Cougar looked for a way out but saw none. Landon was completely focused on him, and even with his speed he couldn’t raise an arm without Landon noticing.
“Landon, stop it now!” Cille yelled from the side, raising her Mateba revolver at him.
Landon looked over at Cille with surprise. “Well I see your time with this pathetic individual wasn’t a total waste for you. You seemed to pick some things up from him. No matter though, Cille. When I’m finished with this fool, I’ll deal with you soon after.”
“I don’t think you’ll be doing much of anything after this!” Cougar yelled, raising a fist to Landon’s groin.
“WHA?!- GAH! “ Landon quickly fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
“Cougar, are you all right?!” Cille asked, running to his side.
Cougar slowly got up. Blood was coming down his forehead. “Nothing I can’t handle, I suppose,” he replied with a smile. “AHH!” Cougar’s leg shook violently and he fell to the ground.
“You really should try to pay more attention!” Landon roared, lurching up with a gun smoking in his hand.
____________
Elizabeth ran into another room followed by Mexicano thugs. She had remained on the upper floor, relatively separated from her comrades. “COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!” She had a bloodthirsty look in her eyes as she blew rounds off in every direction from her pistols. “DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU’LL GET ME LIKE THAT YOU IDIOTS?! HA HA!”
Two men tried to get to her from a doorway to her right but she quickly noticed them and took them down with one shot each. She stopped to survey the chaos she had created. It was quite nice. Suddenly her shoulder was nicked by a bullet from behind. She stopped, lowered her guns, and looked at the wound with a smile. Slowly she turned around and noticed a man with a raised gun behind her. She just grinned wildly at him and winked. The man’s eyes widened in fear, so much in fact that he dropped his gun and ran for the nearest exit.
“Good boy…” she said slyly.
Elizabeth raised her guns, discharged both cartridges, and quickly reloaded. She looked around and noticed several men running toward her with heavy caliber weapons.
“Well s**t,” she muttered. “It’s a little unfair when they come at me with that crap.”
The men quickly noticed her and began shooting at her with an uncountable number of bullets. She sprinted to the nearest table, flipped it over, and dove behind it. Bullets tore through every inch of the table leaving clear holes. Elizabeth sat behind the table watching the bullets rush past her and laughing hysterically.
“Do you really think that’ll be enough?!” she yelled at them. “Lucky me I’ve been saving these for a rainy day,” she said to herself as she opened one of the pockets on her cargo pants and pulled out a grenade. “Really it feels like such a waste to use these suckers so quickly.”
She bit down on the pin and ripped it out of the grenade and casually tossed the bomb behind her. “1… 2… 3… –“ she counted, and a massive explosion went off behind her. Glass and debris flew past her, and the force of the explosion was enough to blow her hair in front of her face. All the guns were silenced and she clapped like a happy child with a smile on her face. Oh how she loved explosions.
Mustang and Havoc quickly ran into the room. Havoc swung his gun at the table Elizabeth was behind. “Is… is that you… Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth got up from her hiding place and looked at the carnage in front of her with satisfaction. “Yup, it’s me all right!” She smiled at Mustang. “And just what are you doing here, Colonel?”
“We… thought that you could use some backup with all the guys that came after you…” Mustang looked at the destruction around him, shocked.
“Well as you can see I’m just fine and dandy over here!” she said, walking past him and giving him a wink. “So how are the others doing?”
“I’m not sure,” Mustang replied, rubbing his temples. “Because of the way the fight broke out all of our defensive positions mean absolutely nothing right now. We’re all completely scattered.”
+++
“What een ze name of Marie Antoinette ees going on een here?!” Hikki yelled furiously. He, Samson, and Clarice were holding position behind a now bullet-ridden couch.
“Last time I checked, Hikki, bad guys were trying to kill us!” Clarice yelled back, glaring. A bullet zinged past her head, nearly hitting her. “Yep, I got a confirmation on that. People are definitely trying to kill us!”
“You deedn’t have to be so mean about eet…” Hikki said, slightly hurt.
Samson looked at the two people on either side of him. “Look, arguing amongst ourselves is not going to solve the current problem, guys!”
Clarice thought for a second. “Samson’s right. Hikki, do you have any sort of plan at all?” she yelled over the gunfire.
“I might, but we need to get away from zees gunfire. As far as eet ees looking right now, we cannot move unteel we get some of zese fools off of us!” Hikki cocked the submachine gun that he had taken from a fallen Mexicano.
“An opening!” Samson yelled as he stood up and shot a round from his pistol. A bullet grazed his leg and he fell back down, his face clenched in pain.
Hikki was stricken. His eyes dilated. “SAMSON!”
“Samson, are you okay?!” Clarice asked, ripping a piece of cloth from her shirt and tightly wrapping it around his leg.
“Yeah…” He jerked in pain as she tightened the wrap. “I should be fine…”
“SAMSON!”
“What, Hikki?! God!” Samson yelled back.
“DO NOT WORRY SAMSON! I SHALL AVENGE YOU!!!” Hikki clicked the safety off his machine gun and stood up with complete rage in his eyes.
Clarice’s eyes widened. “What the f**k are you doing, Hikki?! Do you want to die?!”
“I SHALL AVENGE CHUUUUUUUUUUUUU!” Hikki yelled with a crazed look in his eyes.
“Hikki really! It’s all right! I’m going to be fine!” Samson reasoned.
“SAMSOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!!” Hikki yelled, firing off his machine gun from his waist and spraying bullets everywhere, taking men down all around him. “DO YOU BASTARDS REALLY SEENK YOU CAN HURT MY SAMSON?!!!”
“Jesus Christ Clarice… I really think we lost him this time…” Samson said, shocked.
“Well he’s got the right idea at least!” she answered, getting up and firing her pistol along with Hikki.
Samson smiled. “Heh, I guess he does.” And he raised himself back up and joined in the fighting.
________________
“Do you really think you can outdo me, chicky?!” Beck yelled at Angel. He was walking around the extensive library in the mansion trying to figure out where she had gone. “I reaaally don’t like playing hide and go seek, lady.”
“And I reaaally don’t like that damn yellow suit you’re wearing!” she yelled from her hiding spot.
“HEY! There is nothing wrong with my fashion sense! This is totally in style this season!”
“Yeah it was… 26 years ago!” she mocked.
“Grr stop making fun of me!” he yelled.
“Stop chasing me!” she replied.
“I won’t!” He straightened his tie. “Landon told me that I have to kill you,” he said smugly.
“Please, you don’t have to do this!” she pleaded.
“Oh really? And why not?” he laughed back.
“What has Landon been offering you? Money?” she asked.
“Why of course. Naturally to hire my professional services I require sums of money,” he replied, grinning.
“I can offer you something he can’t,” she said quickly.
“Oh? And just what is that?”
“A woman’s touch…” she purred seductively.
Beck’s eyes widened. It had been a long time since he had felt a woman’s touch. His suit made that painfully obvious. “Just how touchy are you going to get…?” he asked, curious.
“Very touchy… oh so touchy,” Angel moaned.
“Okay…” he said, shifting his eyes around. “It’s a deal… I won’t kill you as long as I get some touch…” He rubbed his hands together. Oh this was going to be good! Hot redheads were hard to come by!
“I hope you’re ready…” Angel said lustfully, walking out of her hiding place into view of Beck.
“Oh I’m ready…” he said, drooling with a childish smile on his face.
“Good…” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Now about that touch…” Beck said anxiously.
“Oh right that…” Quickly and firmly she grabbed his groin.
“AHH Wah!” he squealed. “You’re touching too hard… too hard!” His voice got higher.
“Beck… do you know what my favorite party game is?” Angel asked close to his ear.
“What?!” he squeaked.
“…Twister…” Angel smiled.
Beck’s eyes widened. “Oh shi-“
With a quick twist of her wrist Beck was on the ground, knocked out.
Angel looked at Beck’s unconscious form on the ground. “Oh the goofy ones are always the easiest…”
_______________
“Landon, just stop it… please!” Cille cried out as she kneeled next to Cougar, who was holding his leg in pain.
Landon laughed. “No Cille, I won’t stop. In fact I’ll keep going until you figure out how the real world works! Your family’s inheritance and position can’t save you here today!”
“If you won’t stop yourself… then I’ll stop you!” Cille raised her pistol at Landon.
Landon faltered for a moment, then smiled as he realized that she would never have the guts to shoot him. “You’re a fool, Cille. A damn fool!” he yelled as he kicked her and the gun to the side. “After I finish off this idiot I’ll deal with you…”
“You leave her alone!” Cougar seethed.
“You have no say in the matter, I’m afraid.” Landon kneeled over Cougar and grabbed his face. “That smug face of yours. It disgusts me so damn much!”
Holding Cougar’s face with one hand he raised his pistol with the other and placed it on Cougar’s temple. “I hope you had a good life. Because this is the last time you’ll ever breathe.” Landon grinned. He finally had Cougar down for the count. But suddenly Cille ran up behind him and threw him off Cougar. He landed on the ground with a thud and before he knew it Cille had her gun against his head.
“It’s over, Landon… give it up…” Cille panted.
Landon laughed hysterically. “Oh it’s far from over, I’m afraid… GREED, NOW!”
Cille hesitated for a moment and before she knew it Greed had pinned her to the ground.
“Landon, you’re a coward!” she yelled angrily. Greed laughed at her attempts to throw him off her.
Landon got up and brushed himself off. “Have some sense, Cille. You should have known someone would back me up.” Landon laughed but was suddenly serious. “Greed, kill her. Now.”
“My pleasure, boss.” Greed said thankfully as he grabbed Cille’s throat and slowly started to strangle her. He didn’t have much time for it, though, as Cougar quickly kicked him in the stomach and sent him rolling off her in pain.
Landon glared at Cougar. “You really don’t know when to stay down, do you?”
“You really don’t know when to just shut up, do you?” Cougar replied with a grin.
Landon raised his pistol and shot at him several times, but Cougar dodged each bullet and managed to get close enough to grab Landon’s throat.
“What the hell is this?” Landon yelled. Cougar tried to finish him off then and there but Landon reached down and grabbed Cougar’s leg, feeling for the bullet wound that he had made earlier.
“Oh, I’m sorry about that, Cougar…” he cackled maniacally. “I guess I should have been more careful!” And he shoved a finger into the wound, sending Cougar reeling to the floor screaming in pain.
“Cougar!” Cille yelled. She started to run toward him and Landon, but Greed grabbed her before she could get any closer.
“Whoa, hold it, baby, you’re not going anywhere near those two!” Greed mocked as he held her tightly.
“Let go of me damn it!” She tried to get out of Greed’s grip but it was no use. All she could do was struggle as Cougar screamed out in pain.
“You’re not so tough now, are you, Cougar?” Landon mocked. “Come on now! Where’s that smart ass attitude? Surely you have something to say back to me? Or is it that all you can do is scream?!” Suddenly Landon felt a hand around his throat. Cougar had actually grabbed him again and was starting to fight back.
Cougar gripped Landon’s throat tighter, and Landon pressed the wound harder. Neither seemed intent on giving up at this point. They struggled like that for several moments, neither faltering. But eventually Cougar started getting the strength to push Landon further and further off of him. Slowly Landon’s eyes got wider as he found that he was losing the struggle. Landon watched as Cougar’s eyes lit up with a rage he had never seen before. “What the hell are you?!” Landon yelled as he was finally thrown off by his adversary.
Cougar limped to his feet. “I’ve had enough of this!”
“What the hell?! Why won’t you die?!” Landon looked at Cougar, almost frightened.
Cougar walked toward Landon and grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him up to look at his face. “You make me sick!” Cougar growled. He used his free hand to punch Landon in the face, throwing him back. “I’ll kill you, I swear to god,” Cougar seethed. He followed Landon’s fall, intent on finishing him off.
“Don’t think you’ve won just yet, you moron!” Landon taunted. Just as Cougar reached his side, Landon sprang up and head-butted him in the stomach, knocking him backward into a wall. Cougar slid down the wall, the air completely knocked out of him. “What’s the matter, Cougar? Stomach hurt?” Landon laughed.
“Greed!” he called over his shoulder. “Feel free to do whatever you want with Cille. Although I would prefer if you just got it over with and killed her.”
“Will do, Landon,” Greed said as he put a blade to Cille’s throat. “Well, we’re not so tough now are we?” he mocked.
“Cille!” Cougar coughed.
Landon grabbed Cougar by the hair, pulling him up so he could look him in the eye. “You should know better than to fight your superior!” he said, punching him in the face with his free hand and dropping him to the ground.
“Quit struggling, you runt!” Greed yelled, pressing the knife closer to Cille’s throat.
Suddenly a voice came screaming down from the top of the staircase next to them. “WHY DON’T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE, IDIOT!”
“EMIRI?” Cille yelled, her eyes widening.
“Who…?” Greed asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked over toward the staircase, curious to see who had the balls to call him out.
“Cille, you might want to get out of the way!” Jake yelled from the same place. Both he and Emiri were still out of sight.
Greed frowned. “What is this crap? If you want to fight so bad, fight!”
“Fine then, I WILL!” Emiri yelled, jumping onto the railing of the staircase. She slid down on her feet, coming at Greed at lightning speed. “Cille, get down!”
Greed jerked in the direction of the staircase and threw Cille to the ground, pulling out a gun and raising it toward the girl speeding toward him. “How lucky do you think you are?” he yelled.
Emiri didn’t even reply. She just started firing her submachine gun as she slid down toward him.
Greed quickly jumped to the side to avoid her shots. As Emiri reached the end of the railing she swiftly jumped off and landed on her feet. Greed quickly recovered from his fall and got up, raising his gun at her just as she raised hers at him. They stood there frozen for a second aiming at each other, each ready to kill the other.
“You’re pretty quick…” Greed panted, grinning.
“Yeah,” Emiri replied. “We’re both pretty evenly matched it seems. ‘Cept for one thing though.” She smiled.
“Oh, and what’s that?” Greed laughed.
“I have backup.” Emiri’s eyes darted to her right.
Just as Greed followed her glance a shot whizzed past him. Greed quickly ran for cover as Jake slowly walked down the stairs shooting at him. He rejoined Emiri at the bottom, and looked toward the back of the room at Cille.
“I hope you’re all right, Cille!” he called. “Emiri is pretty brash when it comes to fighting, I’m afraid…”
Cille rubbed her neck. “No really… it’s fine,” she said, slightly shocked at how the two of them seemed so accustomed to fighting. They treated it like an everyday thing. It was almost scary.
“Emiri! Emiri! EMIRI~~!” Kira ran down the stairs and rejoined Emiri and Jake at the bottom. He leaned on Jake’s massive form, panting. “They… they’re… they’re coming…”
“…Who?” Emiri asked, raising an eyebrow.
“WHO? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHO?! The guys you told me to hold back that’s who!” Kira screamed, flailing his arms in the air.
“Oh right, those dudes…” Emiri said, scratching her chin. “That makes things more difficult.”
Jake facepalmed.
________________
Cowboy was running down a hallway, trying to keep his cello case balanced on his back.
“Why do I get the crazy ones?” he muttered. Behind him one of Landon’s henchmen, the one he had called Asimov, was tearing up anything and everything in his path. And it didn’t seem like he was going to stop until he’d torn up Cowboy too.
Suddenly Angel came out of a doorway just ahead of Cowboy.
“Cowboy!” she called. “What’s going on?”
“RUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!” he orated, grabbing her arm and pulling her along with him just as she caught a glimpse of the madman bearing down on them.
“Who the hell is that? And what’s his problem?” she gasped.
“I don’t know!” Cowboy answered. “I saw him spray some kind of red liquid in his eyes, and then he just flipped out. He even killed a few of his own guys before he caught sight of me, and he’s been on my tail ever since. The guy’s a monster!”
“You know, you could probably run faster if you ditched that stupid cello case…” Angel pointed out. “You don’t even have the cello anymore, do you?”
“Shut up!” Cowboy pouted. “It’s a nice case! And I’ll get a new cello… sometime…”
“RAAAAARRR!” the man behind them bellowed.
“Crap… I think he’s gaining on us…” Angel said, picking up her pace.
They ran in and out of doorways, and even tried splitting up for a while, but Asimov was relentless. Then, out of nowhere, a little old lady came toddling around a corner ahead of them. Angel and Cowboy screeched to a halt.
“What the hell are you doing here, lady?” Angel asked. “This is a bad place for you to be right now.”
“Uh… yeah…” Cowboy added. “Should we try to get her out of here?” he whispered to Angel.
“How, you idiot? We’re barely keeping our own asses alive here,” she hissed back.
With a growl, Asimov came up behind them, and seemed to stop short upon seeing the old woman. Suddenly his eyes rolled back and he started groaning and convulsing. Cowboy and Angel took cover behind the cello case, pulling the old woman along with them.
“What do you think is going on?” Cowboy asked, watching the spectacle with wide eyes.
“Looks like the red eye is getting the better of him. He probably took too much,” the old woman replied – in a decidedly manly tone of voice.
Angel and Cowboy stared at the “woman,” who smiled back at them nonchalantly. Finally Cowboy thought he recognized the face before them.
“A… April?”
“Took you guys long enough to figure it out,” he answered. “Damn I’m good.”
“W- what are you doing dressed up like an old woman?” Angel asked.
“Trying not to get killed. Nobody would hit an old lady, right?”
Cowboy facepalmed. “Well we’re probably all going to get killed if we don’t figure out a way to get away from this guy.”
“Why don’t you just shoot him while he’s out of it?” April asked.
“Um… I kind of lost my gun,” Cowboy said.
“And I ran out of bullets a while ago…” Angel added. “Why don’t you shoot him, April?”
“I don’t use guns,” April said. “I’m a pacifist.”
Cowboy and Angel just looked at him.
“I could try distracting him…” April offered.
“And then what?” Angel asked.
“And then… either you figure out a way to take him down, or you run and we hope that he won’t hit an old lady…”
Looking back out into the hallway, they saw Asimov hunched over and breathing heavily. Cautiously April snuck out from behind the cello case and inched toward him. Asimov looked up abruptly with a snarl.
“Easy there, sonny…” April croaked in his best little-old-lady voice. “Just getting up to go to the little girl’s room…”
Asimov just watched the “old woman” with a strange look on his face. April couldn’t tell if his plan was working or if Asimov was about to attack him at any moment.
Then suddenly something large and heavy came down on Asimov’s head, knocking him out cold. He slumped to the floor, murmuring “granny…”
“Ha! Now how do you like my cello case!” Cowboy said with a triumphant smile.
Angel rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go find the others…”
_______________
“You’re sure you don’t need me?” Mustang asked, slightly worried.
“Yeah, after that last barrage I don’t think they have much fight left in them,” Elizabeth said, giving a thumbs up. A chandelier fell off the ceiling and crashed on the floor behind her. The old bedroom they were in was totally destroyed from all the fighting.
“Well… if you’re sure then. What are you going to do in the meantime?” Mustang asked.
“I’ll stay here and lock this part of the building down. The fewer of these guys we have to deal with the better,” Elizabeth replied, pushing a new clip into her pistol.
“All right then. Good luck.” Mustang walked to the door. “I’m going to go and find Hikki. He could probably use the backup considering what we ran into.”
“See ya later, Roy.” Elizabeth winked.
“Yeah, see ya…” Roy said, running out of the room with Havoc close behind him.
Elizabeth left the room too and headed the other way down the hall. As she walked the lights from the bedroom became distant and the hallway became darker. She walked past a window and felt a cool breeze. It was a welcome respite from the heat of battle. Feeling a little more at ease she holstered her guns and kept walking. She noticed the paintings that lined the walls and soon found herself gazing up at them, losing herself in their almost surreal beauty. The only thing lighting the hallway was the moonlight coming through the windows. It was almost peaceful. She took a look out another window and noticed a pool just outside, a story down. She walked down the hallway further and then stopped. Her eyes widened. She felt something around her but couldn’t quite say what it was.
She heard a loud thud behind her. Quickly she un-holstered her guns and spun around, aiming straight down the hallway. Nothing. She quickly looked behind her. Nothing. Her eyes darted left and right. Doorways lined the hallway but there was no way to know where the noise had come from. Thud. She quickly began walking backwards with her pistols up. She needed to get out. A drop of sweat ran down her forehead. She sure wouldn’t mind a dip in that pool about now…
She stopped and fell back against a door. She was exhausted and now someone was playing with her like a toy. She looked out the window in front of her as she rested against the door. Suddenly she heard another thud but this time she had no chance to react. An arm burst through the door behind her and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her off her feet. She only managed to scream slightly before the hand tightened around her neck and muted her voice. She kicked her legs uselessly, trying to get free of the monstrous grip. Her eyes started to roll into the back of her head as she gagged for air. Her hands tried desperately to peel away the hand around her neck, but her efforts were fruitless. She felt herself being pulled back and then felt the wind blow past her hair as she was thrown straight through the window on the other side of the hallway. Glass broke everywhere as Elizabeth flew through the window and down one story straight into the pool below.
Half-conscious from the grip around her neck, she hit the water like a horrible diver and slowly sank into the freezing pool water. As she floated down to the bottom of the pool she gradually regained herself and her eyes shot open. She desperately clawed her way to the surface and grabbed onto a nearby ladder, pulling herself out and rolling onto her knees. She clutched at her neck as she coughed and gagged on water and gasped for air.
When her coughing had finally settled down and she had regained her sense she looked around to see where she was. Outside… in the cold… covered in freezing water… She flung her arms around herself, trying to keep warm. What the hell happened? she thought. The last thing she remembered was a lot of wind. She looked up at the broken window and the glass all over the ground. “Well I guess that explains that…” she said to herself. “Holy s**t, it’s cold out…” Elizabeth could swear that she was feeling the water on her freeze. Suddenly it hit her. Who had thrown her out that window? She certainly didn’t plow herself through it.
As she looked up to the darkened hole in the wall above her suddenly she spotted a single red light. The light moved forward and the moonlight revealed its source. A large man in a blue military uniform appeared and grinned down at Elizabeth. He jumped down from his vantage point and hit the ground with a large thud. Elizabeth watched with wide eyes as she noticed that half of his body was completely robotic. She could hear gears grinding and churning as he moved closer.
Suddenly it hit her. “Archer?” she asked, shocked. “What the hell… how are you still alive?!”
With a smug face Archer replied, “You thought you killed me out on the frontier, didn’t you? Turns out your grenade wasn’t strong enough to kill me.” His mouth didn’t even open when he spoke.
“But when I got you back then, you were a Colonel in the military…” Elizabeth slowly got up onto her feet. “Why the hell are you with these idiots… not to mention how are you alive…?”
“The military left me for dead. They saw the way I looked… out cold, bleeding to death, and they saw the opposing forces coming, and ran like cowards!” Archer’s human eye glared. “You refugees won that fight… all because you managed to take out the commander, me.”
“But… why are you alive? Why are you here with the Cool Mexicanos?”
“I clung to life through sheer will and determination. The pain was so blinding… all I could think about was finding you, and killing you… As I lay there suffering from my own thoughts I begged for a chance at revenge… and then… he appeared.”
“Landon,” Elizabeth guessed, her voice dead serious.
“No… Da Sombras,” Archer seethed. “He gave me a second chance. He saved me. He gave me a chance at revenge… and immortality.”
“Heh, you’re a lucky bastard.”
“One could say that.” Archer took a step closer. “When I found out that you were in Landon’s Syndicate I wanted to kill you immediately. But Da Sombras wouldn’t let me! He said it would come with time… when Landon finally got sick of playing his games…” Archer almost looked sad. “But his games never ended… he kept playing, and I watched you from afar waiting for the day when I could finally have you to myself… When Ozzal’s fools attacked you and took you away I worried about you constantly.” Archer clenched his metallic hand into a fist. “I wanted to be the one to kill you! Me! Not some idiot executioner!”
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “You sound a little sick and obsessed if you ask me…”
“I was very happy when I saw you walking into the manor here… I hoped it would get out of hand… that a fight would break out… I just wanted to see you die so much…”
Elizabeth pulled out one of her pistols and kept it in her hand at her side as Archer continued.
“You took everything from me… everything I had… you took it all.” Archer’s human eye widened. “I won’t let you live for that… you must die.”
“I ‘killed’ you for a reason, Archer…” Elizabeth thought back and could remember plain as day being in the desert outside of a military camp hiding. She saw Archer walk out of his tent with that typical smug look on his face. He was a real bastard. He was the scourge of the people in the area, the man everyone hated. He was the man who brought them pain and suffering every day.
On that day, at that moment, he was unprotected, completely open to attack. She watched him as he took a deep breath and stretched. Two soldiers walked out of the tent behind him and stood next to him, much to Elizabeth’s annoyance. She ran out of her hiding spot. Now was the time to strike. Running toward Archer, she pulled the crude assault rifle from her back and killed his two guards. She stopped running when she was thirty feet in front of him, and pulled the pin out of a grenade. They both stood there staring at each other. Elizabeth cooked the grenade in her hand and to Archer’s horror threw it straight at him. The moment it hit him it exploded in a cloud of blood. Elizabeth didn’t bother staying to assess the damage; the carnage was enough to assure her of a kill. After that she retreated back to her village, to tell them of her success.
“It’s because of you that so many of my friends died out in that desert,” she told Archer, coming out of her reverie. “As far as I consider it… you deserve every ounce of pain you got. You deserved to die there alone.”
“You may have taken me out and managed to get the military to retreat but in the end it did you no good at all.” Archer grinned. “Your family and friends were all taken away in the end. And you ended up just like me. Alone.”
“I’m not alone…” Elizabeth glared.
“That’s what your Syndicate would like you to believe,” Archer replied. “But is it true? Are you really not alone? These men I work with now wouldn’t hesitate to throw me away if it benefited them. It’s the same position you’re in now, Elizabeth. You’re nothing but a tool to them, something that kills bad guys to further their own goals.”
“Shut up…” Elizabeth clenched her pistol tighter.
“And who are these ‘bad guys,’ Elizabeth? They’re ordinary people… just like the people I killed.” The moon shone off Archer’s metallic side. “Why… you’re just like me aren’t you? A cold blooded sociopath.”
“I SAID, SHUT UP!” Elizabeth yelled, raising her pistol to Archer’s head.
“What are you going to do now, Elizabeth? Shoot me? Kill another person?” Archer mocked. “How many more until you’re happy? Until your family comes back?!”
Elizabeth stumbled back, holding her head. “Shut up! You’re wrong!”
Archer’s metallic shoulder opened up and a small rocket slid out. He aimed it at her, his red eye burning brighter. “Wonderful. I’ve gotten to demoralize you, AND kill you. And all in the same day! Excellent.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. Quickly she regained her composure and jumped to the side, rolling on the ground as the rocket flew past her. It blew a gaping hole in the side of the mansion behind her. Elizabeth made up her mind. She was going to defend herself, and end this madman’s life. She would figure herself out when things were a little safer.
Archer glared with his human eye. “Oh, you just like to give me a hard time, don’t you?!” He opened his mouth and a machine gun slid out. Elizabeth quickly rolled onto her feet as Archer opened fire. She ran back toward the mansion and dove through the hole in the wall that the rocket had created. Bullets hit the wall right behind her as she ran.
“RAAAH!” Archer yelled, furious. “Why do they want to play cat and mouse with me?!” He ran into the mansion and found the room empty and the door to the hallway open. He laughed. An obvious trap. He retracted the machine gun in his mouth and transformed his automail arm into a machine gun of its own. He’d be able to aim better that way. He disregarded the door, and settled for the wall, throwing all of his body weight through it. He found Elizabeth waiting next to the door on the other side. She quickly turned around, eyes wide with shock, but didn’t have time to think as Archer immediately clubbed her across the face with his machine gun arm and violently threw her to the ground.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been watching you, Lizzy?! Your simple little tactics won’t work on me! I know them all!” he yelled, aiming his arm at her.
Right as he opened fire Elizabeth rolled to the side and slid between his legs, and then bolted down the hallway. Archer threw his arm behind him, spraying bullets after her just as she turned right down another hallway. Elizabeth ran with all the speed that her strength could muster. She was in a dead sprint now, desperately trying to think of something to do to save herself. The hallway seemed to go on forever.
Suddenly she heard loud thuds just like she had heard before Archer’s first appearance. She swallowed hard; she didn’t like where this was going. She ran as fast as she could but the thuds just kept getting louder until finally Archer plowed through the side of the hallway right in front of her and cut her off. Elizabeth skidded to a stop. She had to think fast. Archer raised his gun. Elizabeth looked to the side and saw a door. Archer opened fire, and Elizabeth slammed her whole body into the door, breaking it down just as bullets ripped through the wall beside her.
“DAMN IT!” Archer howled. “So close!” He ran through the broken doorway to see that he had followed Elizabeth into a room that looked like it had once been used as a bar.
“Where are you~~?” he called mockingly. “Hiding won’t get you anywhere, I’m afraid. You should just get up and let me shoot you to death so we can end this thing with minimal collateral damage.”
“Like you give a s**t about collateral damage!” Elizabeth yelled, firing both of her pistols at him at once. She kept firing with a look of pure hate in her eyes.
Archer quickly ran to a support column and took cover. He exposed only the metal side of himself and sprayed his machine gun in Elizabeth’s direction, tearing through everything around her.
Elizabeth took cover behind the bar counter at other side of the room. Bullets tore through the bottles and mirror behind the bar, showering her with glass shards that cut her skin all over. Suddenly Archer’s shooting stopped.
“What?! Overheated?!” Archer screamed furiously. With his human arm he pulled a pistol from the holster of his uniform and started shooting at Elizabeth again. Elizabeth rose from her cover and returned fire, confident that she finally had him outgunned. Suddenly Archer stopped shooting again. Out of ammunition! The perfect opportunity to finish him off. Quickly Elizabeth jumped over the bar and sprinted to the column. Sliding past him she aimed both of her pistols at him, but only widened her eyes in realization that his machine gun had finally cooled down. She tried running back to her cover but Archer was too quick for her this time. As she ran back toward the bar Archer emerged from his cover and laid down a line of fire that tore right through her right thigh and left shoulder.
Elizabeth violently fell to the ground, her face slamming onto the hard tile as pain made her lose control of her legs. She lay in a pile of broken glass from the bar. A gash on her forehead bled over her eyes, and more blood oozed from small cuts all around her face and body. She could feel the bullet wounds on her leg and arm. The pain was so intense that she couldn’t even think about getting back up. She had almost made it but she was too late.
If I wasn’t so reckless… Elizabeth thought as she lost consciousness.
_______________
“Umm Hikki, I think we’re getting overrun with bad guys…” Clarice said nervously, looking at the growing force in front of them.
The cover that Clarice, Hikki, and Samson were hiding behind was riddled with bullets. Out of all the Syndicate members Landon seemed to be most interested in killing those three, especially Hikki, his potential successor as leader of the Syndicate.
“Zees ees too much!” Hikki yelled. “We cannot posseebly take on all zese men on our own!”
Suddenly a large burst of fire engulfed the area around the Cool Mexicanos thugs, incinerating them in a flash. Mustang walked forward with a smug look on his face, Havoc close behind.
“Reporting for duty, sir.” Mustang did a little mock salute.
“Mustang, Havoc!” Hikki burst from his cover, running up to Mustang and hugging him tightly. “Sank goodness you showed up when you deed!”
“Where is everyone, Mustang?” Clarice asked.
“Spread out, that’s where,” he replied. “We need to get you three out of here. You’re all essential to the revolution. You can’t die.”
“We are not going anywhere until ze ozzers are safe,” Hikki stated firmly.
“They’re just as essential to the revolution as any of us, Mustang,” Samson added.
“All right then…” Mustang scratched the back of his neck. “I think I heard shots near the stairway. A majority of the others are probably there. Although Elizabeth isn’t – she went upstairs to clear the rest of the mansion out. I’ve been hearing a lot of gunfire from that direction, though, so I’m worried.”
Samson loaded another clip into his pistol. “All right then, we should head to the stairway first since it’s closer, and then head toward Elizabeth.”
“I agree,” Hikki responded with a nod. “Clarice?”
“Yeah, same here.” Clarice nodded.
“All right then, I’ll protect you guys as much as I can,” Mustang said, raising his gloved hand.
“Do not protect us, Mustang.” Hikki smiled. “Work weez us.”
Mustang smiled. He had finally found a cause worth fighting for. “All right then. We should get go-“
“Target found. Termination in progress.”
Mustang spun around. “What?!” He saw Tres standing in the doorway behind him. “Get down!” he yelled, pushing the others all down to the ground as several shots hit the wall behind them.
“Crap, it’s the redhead from earlier!” Samson shouted.
“So, any ideas, Mustang?” Clarice asked.
“I’ve got one good one!” Mustang got up and snapped his fingers, enveloping Tres in flames. “Heh, this was almost too easy.” Mustang grinned. Then suddenly a bullet flew past his head, clipping a strand of his hair as it passed. Mustang grabbed the strand with wide eyes and watched as the flames vanished to reveal a completely unscathed Tres. Mustang plopped back behind the cover with his comrades. “S**t! He’s fire-retardant!” Mustang yelled.
“Well this is just wonderful.” Samson facepalmed.
“Queeck, any ozzer ideas?!” Hikki asked.
Mustang thought for a moment. “Well… he is obviously an android or something of some kind… so maybe… he has an off switch?”
Clarice shook her head. “That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Hey, it’s better than nothing!” Mustang defended. “I mean other than that, the dude’s a tank.”
Hikki raised an eyebrow. “We’re going to look for an off sweetch…?”
“Yes.” Mustang pulled a pistol from the coat of his uniform. He thought for a second. “I’ll get him to turn around and you look for a switch. Nine times outta ten it’s on their back, so I think your chances are good.”
“Okay,” Clarice agreed. “So how are we going to plan this? Are you going to –“
“Let’s start!” Mustang yelled, jumping out and running toward Tres.
“I’ve got ya covered, sir!” Havoc said, aiming his pistol at the android.
“He’s lost it, he’s really lost it…” Clarice said as she watched Mustang jump around Tres, dodging bullet after bullet.
“Charge!” Hikki yelled, pointing at Tres’ turned back.
“What?!” Clarice yelled, getting up nervously.
“You heard him… I guess.” Samson got up. “Though honestly I have no idea what we’re supposed to do.”
“We need to find that off switch! Now come on, you two!” Havoc yelled at them.
They all ran toward Tres’ back but it seemed Hikki was way ahead of the others. As Tres was distracted by Mustang, Hikki ran at full speed and jumped right onto his back. He latched onto the android with all his strength and began searching for a switch.
“UNKNOWN IDENTITIES ON PERSON. COUNTERATTACK FORMULATING.” Tres went into emergency mode. “COUNTERATTACK FORMULATED.” Tres proceeded to try to grab at Hikki on his back, but to no avail.
Clarice, Samson, and Havoc were in an attack position but soon gave that up as they watched Tres desperately grab at Hikki.
“Well… this sure is something…” Samson said, looking at the scene.
“Some counterattack…” Clarice added.
“Very… strategic?” Havoc questioned. “I figured an android would have a little bit better AI than that…”
“Found eet!” Hikki yelled. In an instant Tres slumped to the ground with a thud.
“Wow… it worked,” Clarice said, shocked.
“How do you like zat, you homewrecker?” Hikki kicked at Tres’ motionless body furiously. “Zat weel show you to mess weez ze Syndicate, won’t eet!”
Samson rubbed his face. “Hikki, you might wanna stop that… you might –“
Suddenly Tres jolted and stood back up. Hikki jumped back, his bravado suddenly gone.
“Improper shutdown detected. Checking disc for errors. Please wait.”
“What the heck…?” Havoc aimed his gun at Tres’ head, as Mustang and the others readied themselves for further battle.
“Reboot complete. Designating friendlies. Friendlies designated.” Tres turned to Hikki. “Awaiting orders, commander.”
Mustang laughed. “Looks like Hikki made a new friend.”
“One more ally, I see. Excellent.” Hikki smiled. “Now let’s go!”
The group took off toward the stairs near the entrance of the mansion. Tres was running ahead of the others, prepared to take out any enemies who might try to stop their advance.
“Take a right up here!” Mustang yelled from the back of the group.
Hikki wiped his brow. “Zees damn place ees like a maze!”
Suddenly they all heard gunshots. “That’s them,” Mustang said. “They must be through the bigger door up ahead!”
____________
“Don’t just stand there, you idiots! Shoot them all!” Landon yelled at the top of his lungs. “What do you think I pay you all for?!”
Emiri looked at the resistance around them. Despite the hugeness of the room, which must have been the mansion’s main ballroom, it seemed that the place was filled with people fighting. There were Cool Mexicanos grunts at all sides and Greed was slowly making his way toward them. “Damn it, we’re screwed! We can’t take all these idiots AND furry jacket over there!”
“I’ll have you know that the chicks love this coat!” Greed replied from across the room.
“Emiri!” Jake shot off a blast from his shotgun, taking out a Cool Mexicano. “I don’t think we can hold out much longer! Not with him on us too.”
“We need backup!” Kira yelled.
“Quit with the whining! I’ll figure something out!” Emiri almost didn’t believe her own words. She was running out of ammo herself and knew that Jake and Kira would run out soon too. “Damn it…” she muttered, “if only they’d let me bring my blade…”
“Looks like your luck’s run out.” Greed aimed his gun toward Emiri. “Shame I need to kill all the attractive ones –“ Greed was suddenly thrown to the ground. “What the hell was that?!”
“You want someone to fight? I’m right here, tough guy.” Cougar stood over Greed, grinning insanely.
“You’re really not a smart individual, are you?” Greed quickly spun around and kicked out at Cougar’s legs, but the speedy Alter user easily jumped over his kick.
Greed stood up and looked over his battered opponent. “You should have died after all that abuse. It’s pretty amazing that you’re even alive after all that.”
“Heh…” In a blur Cougar shot forward and grabbed Greed’s collar. “I recover pretty quickly,” he said, and threw Greed into the wall. The homunculus smashed right through the wall and lay in a pile of rubble on the other side. Cougar ran to the hole in the wall to see if Greed was conscious, and was greeted with a metallic fist to the face. Cougar spun to the ground with a thud. Quickly he got up and looked at Greed’s new form.
“What the hell are you?” he asked, shocked at Greed’s sleek black body.
“That’s not really any of your business. All you need to know is that I’m the Ultimate Shield!” Greed ran forward and started swinging his massive arms at Cougar, who found them surprisingly hard to evade given how heavy they appeared to be. Several shots rang off Greed’s back. He turned around to see who would dare to even try to penetrate his shield.
“Stay away from him!” Cille yelled, aiming her Mateba straight at his head. She shot off two more rounds that easily bounced off his shield. Her eyes widened. No effect on him whatsoever?
Greed replied with a monstrous laugh and charged forward. Cougar quickly ran after him and slammed into him, knocking him to the side. “Get out of here, Cillie!” he called to her. “You don’t stand a chance against this guy!”
Cille stood shocked. “How are you going to take him out, though?”
Cougar looked at his opponent, who was slowly getting up. “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something… The others need your help, though. Go! I’ll handle this idiot…”
Reluctantly Cille ran to where Emiri, Jake, and Kira were bunkered down. She dodged a few stray bullets and slid on the floor next to Emiri.
“Okay…” Emiri said, looking at Cille. “We’ve got one more gun… not that that’s going to do us a whole lot of good…”
“You’re real grateful…” Cille scoffed, reloading her revolver.
“Excuse me but the odds aren’t exactly in our favor right now,” Emiri retorted.
A couple of Mexicanos fell from the side of the room, and Angel, April, and Cowboy revealed themselves.
“Hey look, backup!” Kira cried.
“We’re looking better…” Emiri said to herself.
Jake pointed in front of them. “Look out!” Five Mexicanos were slowly advancing on their position.
“Crap, we have work to do, guys. Quick! Use whatever bullets you have left –“ Emiri was interrupted suddenly when a burst of flames and gunfire flew from the door to their left, taking the Mexicanos down in an instant. “Oh god…” Emiri looked at the door. “I hope that’s who I think it is…”
Mustang revealed himself through the door with Samson, Clarice, and Hikki following him. “Thank god, they showed up,” Emiri breathed, relieved. “Now we can finally –“ Just then Tres walked through the door behind them. “S**T! SHOOT ‘IM!”
“NO WAIT!” Hikki jumped in before Emiri could get a bead on Tres. “Stop zees! We have turned Tres to our side!”
Emiri wiped a trickle of sweat and blood from her brow. “And how do you know that?”
“Enemy sighted. Elimination in progress.” Tres lifted his arms and fired his dual pistols, taking three Mexicanos down in an instant with head shots. “Elimination complete.”
“That’s how…” Mustang replied to Emiri.
Landon looked at the sight before him. He had made his way to a balcony that went around the room and was watching the fight progress with increasing anger.
“Liam!” Landon looked behind him. “You take care of these idiots.”
“What, sir?” Liam looked down at the fighting. “We’ve lost too many men. There’s no way we could –“
“I gave you an order, damn it!” Landon yelled. “Kill them all!”
“Y- yes sir…” Liam knew it was suicide now. They had just lost too much. And now Tres and the Flame Alchemist were on the same side. Whatever advantage the Mexicanos had had was gone.
Samson glanced up and noticed Landon marching away. “Look, up there!” he called to the others. “Now’s our chance to take Landon out!”
Hikki looked at Landon’s retreating form and shook his head. “We have more eemportant seengs to deal weez now. We need to secure zees area. Eef we don’t zen more of zem could easily take us from behind and end all our lives!”
Samson looked at Hikki furiously. “Are you kidding me? After all that you’re just going to let him get away?!”
“Settle down, Samson, we don’t need this right now,” Clarice reasoned.
“No! I’m not going to let that bastard get away. Not now! Not after all he’s done! You can stay here for all I care, but I’m going to stop him!” Samson got up, holding his gun tight.
“Stay here, Samson! Zat ees an order!” Hikki warned.
Samson didn’t even reply, but instead took off and ran up the balcony stairs.
“He’s an idiot. He’s going to get himself killed,” Cille said, watching Samson disappear after Landon.
“Hey, keep your eyes on the targets in front of us!” Mustang yelled, snapping his fingers and taking down a few more men.
Clarice seemed not to hear him. She kept looking up at the door Samson had gone through, and finally got up to go after him.
“No, don’t. We need you here,” Hikki stopped her.
“But –“ she began.
“No, let heem go.” Hikki held her shoulder. “I don’t like eet eezer, but we need to stay een a group. We can’t spleet up anymore.”
____________
Elizabeth drifted in and out of consciousness. Each time she opened her eyes she saw Archer growing ever closer. Damn it… I need to get up… I need to wake up… Elizabeth thought as Archer came closer and closer. I need to -
“Rise and shine, my little angel…” Archer hissed.
Elizabeth looked around her and saw that Archer had straddled her waist and was sitting on top of her. His face was inches from hers. “W… what the hell do you want from me?”
“Tears would be preferable. Although I never figured you for the crying type. That can be changed, though…” he said, putting a large blade in front of her face.
Elizabeth coughed. “Do you really expect me to cry?”
“No Miss Elizabeth! I expect you to die! Fancy movie reference aside, though, you sure did put up a good fight. Fitting for you, I must say. But that ends now. I have here a blade, and you below me. I intend to make your death as slow and painful as I possibly can.” Archer grinned and pressed the knife against Elizabeth’s neck. “Oh, watching you sputter as blood flows from your neck is just going to be invigorating.”
“You really are sick, aren’t you?” Elizabeth desperately felt around the ground beside her.
“Only for you…” Archer replied, slowly sliding his blade across Elizabeth’s cheek. “Oops! Look what I did. How clumsy of me…”
Elizabeth winced at the pain. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill so many of my people?”
“Because I was ordered to. Nothing personal,” Archer laughed.
“You made it personal the moment you killed my brother…” Elizabeth glared, just hoping to keep Archer’s attention away from her hand as it grasped at the glass scattered beneath and around her.
“And you made it personal when you destroyed my body!” Archer yelled. “Maybe I should cut off your arm and leg and see how YOU like it?! No… I need to end this now. Your bleeding neck will be enough to sate me.” Archer put the blade to her neck once again. “So… any last words? It will be quite impossible to talk when I slit your throat, after all.”
Elizabeth tightened her hand. “F**k you.” And she threw her left hand at the right side of Archer’s neck.
Archer’s grip on his knife immediately loosened. He dropped it, letting it fall next to her head. His eye looked at Elizabeth’s raised arm and drifted to her hand. Blood was covering it, gushing out and flowing down her arm. She had stabbed him straight in the neck with a shard of glass. He glared at her, choking and coughing blood onto her face. “I’ll… see you in hell…”
“Save a place for me,” Elizabeth replied, glaring back.
Archer laughed and his human eye rolled into the back of his head as he fell to Elizabeth’s side. She still grasped the glass shard in her hand, and the force of his fall ripped it out of his neck with the sickening sound of tearing flesh. With a thud Archer hit the floor to her right.
Elizabeth could feel the warm liquid on her back as his body continued to bleed next to her. She sighed and lifted her blood-covered hand in front of her face. She watched the blood drip off her hand and down her arm. Sighing again, she rested her hand on her chest and looked up at the ceiling. Her vision was beginning to blur from her own blood loss. She didn’t even have the strength to be sick.
“Brother…” she murmured. “…did it really have to end up like this?” She closed her eyes… and her body lay still.
_______________
Q leaned against the window of her car as she waited at a red light. The light finally turned green and she drove off, making it only a block before she hit another red light. Sighing with annoyance, she took her cell phone out of her pocket to look at the time and noticed something peculiar.
“Fifty missed calls?” she screeched. Damn it, that was right… she had switched her phone to silent mode while she was with her mother and had forgotten to turn the ringer back on. She pressed a few buttons, and immediately her phone rang again. She quickly answered it, throwing it to her ear as she noticed that the light had turned green.
“Chief! Are you there?” Keith said on the other end. He sounded awfully agitated.
“Yeah, I’m here. What the hell do you need so badly at this ungodly hour?”
“Are you kidding me?” Keith yelled. “Is your radio even on?!”
Q looked over to her dash to see that her CB radio was turned off. “Crap, I’m just not with it today,” she said to herself as she turned on the radio.
Static filled the car as an officer excitedly gave his report over the radio. “Shots fired! Repeat, shots fired! We have potential gang activity on 160th Street! All available personnel are to report to the area immediately! Repeat, shots fired, extreme caution advised!”
Q’s eyes widened. “Keith, get over there right now. Bring Allen with you,” she ordered.
“I’m way ahead of you, Chief. I’m heading there now and Al’s riding shotgun,” Keith replied.
“Good…” Q looked at her radio and picked up the mic. “This is Chief Holmes,” she began. “I want everyone from my precinct, precinct 27, in the area right away! Everyone! I don’t care what you’re doing or where you are, this is a direct order!” Q put her phone back to her ear. “Keith, I’ll meet you at the scene.”
“Right, ma’am!” he yelled from the other end.
“And if you ever call me on this phone again, I swear you’ll regret it…”
“Yes… ma’am…”
“Now go!” Q slammed her phone shut and flicked her dash siren on. She took a quick look around the street and slammed on the gas pedal, speeding toward 160th Street.
The radio suddenly roared with noise again. “The house is on fire, repeat the house is on fire!”
“What the hell is going on over there…” Q asked herself.
____________
Liam Green stood on the balcony looking at the chaos below him. He had had enough. He looked at the Mexicano standing next to him. “Pull them out of here. Landon’s lost it if he thinks we can take on a state alchemist and a cyborg with a computer-powered aiming system.”
“Yes, sir,” the underling said, running off to gather his comrades.
____________
Greed and Cougar stood staring each other down. They had been fighting for what seemed like an eternity, but between Cougar’s speed and Greed’s impenetrable defenses, neither had been able to beat the other. And now they were both running out of steam.
Greed glared at his opponent. He was used to getting his way, but this fight was turning into more trouble than it was worth. Glancing around the room, he noticed that most of the other Cool Mexicanos had been taken out by Mustang and Tres. Before long the two of them would most likely turn their attention toward him and come to help Cougar…
Just then a man came running past the room, pausing in the doorway only long enough to shout to his comrades inside. “Greed! You guys! Liam says we’re pulling out!”
“Fine with me,” Greed said, straightening up and turning back to his usual form. “To hell with this. I’m outta here.”
Cougar narrowed his eyes. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“It doesn’t much matter to you, now, does it? Just count yourself lucky you held out this long.” Turning to go, Greed caught sight of Cille. “We’ll have to get together again sometime, babe,” he said, winking at her. She just glared at him, and with a cocky laugh he ran out of the room.
Mustang wanted to give chase but Hikki stopped him. “We’ve already suffered enough,” Hikki said. “No reason to start zees fight all over again.”
“What about Elizabeth, and Samson?” Clarice asked, worried.
“Ah, you’re right. We need to find Samson first. He’s een ze most danger,” Hikki replied.
“Oh crap…” Emiri froze. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Cowboy asked.
“Sirens… lots of them…” Emiri said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“It shouldn’t be very surprising,” Mustang said, going to the window. “Up until just a moment ago it sounded like a war zone in here.”
He opened the curtain a hair and sure enough down the street he saw what looked like a fleet of police cars making their way down the street toward them. “She’s right, this isn’t good. There is no way in hell we can go up against the entire Orly police force. Hell, I even see a few APCs!”
“Zees eesn’t good, we’re going to be surrounded,” Hikki said, thinking. “Zees whole complex takes up a small block too, so zere ees no escape outside.”
Cille looked at Hikki. “I hope you have some bright ideas.”
Cougar rejoined the group. “We need to think of something, and quick.”
______________
Samson walked through what appeared to be the mansion’s arboretum. It was essentially a large greenhouse protruding from the building, with the walls and ceiling made entirely of glass. Through the back of the room you could see the large backyard of the house.
It was no doubt hot in this room during the day, despite the winter weather outside, and the sprinkler systems had been long turned off, so the plants inside were withered and dry from weeks or months of neglect and merciless sunlight. It was dark now, though, and the only thing that shed light on the room was the full moon.
Samson slowly walked through the room holding his pistol at his side. He looked at every shadow that he saw, knowing that this was the only place left for Landon to run. Suddenly he heard a voice coming from the other side of the room.
“There is no way you can expect to escape with your life. The police are coming, you know. It’s either jail or they shoot you down as you escape,” Landon’s voice echoed.
Samson looked to the corner and saw nothing but darkness. “Then how did you expect to escape?” he countered.
“I have my ways…” Landon answered simply.
“How can you betray us like this?” Samson asked into the darkness.
“How can you betray me is a better question. Wasting your time investigating me instead of attending to your real duties. And then you have the nerve to say I haven’t done a thing for you. If it weren’t for me, you and your sister would be a couple of street rats.”
“We would have gotten by,” Samson said, more to himself than to Landon. The mention of his sister was making him feel a little unnerved.
“Doing what? Resorting to ditch-digging? Letting the government support you? Life in a poorhouse isn’t fun, Samson,” Landon taunted. “And you never know what kind of dangers a little girl might run into…”
“What do you know?” Samson snapped back. “You act like you’re some kind of saint, yet you tried to kill us all when we started standing up for ourselves.”
“I gave you a chance to save yourselves. I can give you another. You can come with me and forget about these idiots. You can live.”
Samson’s eyes widened. “W- what?”
“We can restart the Syndicate, don’t you see? And you and I can be in charge.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Samson raised his pistol at the darkness.
“So ungrateful…” Landon sighed. “All right then, so be it.”
Suddenly Samson heard Landon run from his hiding place in the darkness and through the bushes to his left. He followed the noise with his pistol and shot after it, the bullets hitting nothing but glass.
“Come out and fight!” Samson yelled, blindly firing his pistol into the darkness until he ran out of ammunition. He quickly started to reload, but that was just what Landon was waiting for. As Samson discharged his spent cartridge Landon sped toward him. Samson lifted an arm to try to punch him but Landon grabbed his arm and twisted it, at the same time kicking out Samson’s feet and flipping him to the ground.
Samson’s gun fell to the ground with a thud, coming to rest in a patch of grass. Samson lay on his back with Landon standing above him pointing his pistol at him.
Landon laughed. “You’re so unskilled it’s not even funny.”
Samson face was clenched in pain and humiliation. “My friends won’t let you get away.”
“Your friends are too busy worrying about the police to give a damn about you,” Landon replied, aiming his pistol directly at Samson’s head. “I’ll make sure someone takes care of your sister.”
“Don’t you dare touch her!” Samson glared.
Landon scowled. “Fine then, I’ll just let the city eat her alive. Bye bye.”
Landon slowly pulled the trigger, and time slowed down for Samson. He could hear his own heart beating violently in his chest. Just as the trigger reached its firing point a blur of silver caught the pistol and pushed it up. The gun went off, and the bullet went into the ground right above Samson’s head. Landon stood looking down at Samson with a puzzled expression on his face. Samson looked past Landon and noticed a man with a long black trenchcoat facing away from him. Somehow he knew that this man had saved his life.
Landon slowly turned to look behind him and saw the man in the trenchcoat. He narrowed his eyes.
“I’m sorry. But I cannot let you kill my friend,” the mysterious man said. He turned around and smiled at Samson.
“S- Sadar!” Samson yelled, shocked.
Sadar held his sword at his side. His long white hair, tied into a ponytail, draped down his shoulder in front of him. He smile turned serious. “Your killing ends here, today, Landon.”
“Somehow I don’t quite believe you.” Landon glared. “Your weapon is a little out of date, old man.”
“It serves me well enough,” Sadar replied, lunging at Landon.
Landon quickly jumped out of the way, but Sadar turned and swung his sword at him again. Landon held his gun up and blocked the blow, using his other hand to pull out a knife.
Sadar quickly jumped back, regaining control of his blade and dodging Landon’s knife thrusts. Sparks began flying as blade met blade over and over again. Soon Samson noticed a brighter light coming from the ground near where the two men were fighting. He realized that the sparks must have hit some dried leaves or grass, starting a fire that quickly grew into a blaze as it spread through the room full of dead plants.
Sadar noticed the fire too, and Landon took the opportunity to lunge at Sadar and cut the side of his face. Sadar quickly lifted his leg and pushed Landon away from him.
“Samson, get out of here!” he called. “Find your friends and get out!”
Samson could only nod. He quickly ran out of the room and headed back toward the main foyer.
“There’s no escape for him or his friends. You know this much,” Landon mocked.
Sadar narrowed his eyes. “He can at least try. Believe it or not, some people actually have some regard for their comrades.”
Landon smirked. “You’re one to talk. ‘No connections, no regrets’? Your whole creed is about abandonment. You’re just as bad as me.”
The flames shone off Sadar’s face. “I realized that only too late. But I’m changing that now. It is not too late for you to change either. But I’m afraid your time in this Syndicate is over, for they’ll never trust you again. You’re better off leaving and never coming back.”
“I’ll take my chances with you. I don’t ever run from a fight. Especially from a fool like you,” Landon stated.
“So be it,” Sadar replied.
“So it is.” Landon smiled, lunging at Sadar.
___________
“What do you mean Sadar’s here?” Emiri yelled. “He left you guys for good!”
“He saved me, I swear to god!” Samson panted. “He and Landon are fighting right now! He told me to get out of here and get all of you out too.”
Mustang sighed. “That’s impossible, Samson. The cops are coming. There are already a bunch outside. They’re surrounding us.”
“Where are all of those Mexicanos guys? If they escaped, can’t we just go the same way?” Samson asked.
“We have no idea how zey got out,” Hikki replied. “We already tried looking for anozzer exit, but we found nossing.”
Suddenly Landon burst from a door at the top of the stairs, coughing from the smoke trailing behind him. He ran toward one of the ceremonial swords hanging on the wall and ripped it off just as Sadar ran through the door after him. Landon had just enough time to turn around and block Sadar’s swing.
“You’re a persistent bastard, that’s for sure!” Landon yelled furiously.
“I can’t let you escape justice,” Sadar replied, blocking a swing by Landon.
Sadar stabbed forward with his sword but Landon moved to the side and the sword went into the wall behind him. Landon quickly jumped and kicked Sadar in the side of the head, sending him to the ground. Laughing, Landon walked toward the now-unarmed Sadar, ready to finish off his prey. However, Sadar quite literally had a trick up his sleeve. He threw a throwing knife at Landon, who quickly jumped out of the way, slipped, and rolled down the stairs.
Sadar quickly got to his sword and tore it out of the wall. He slid down the railing toward Landon and the rest of the group watching from the side in awe. Landon had regained his footing and was waiting with his sword drawn at the bottom of the stairs.
Sadar chopped into Landon’s blade and flipped over him. He landed on the ground perfectly and swung around to hit Landon, who ducked just in time to avoid the blade.
“Damn eet… Cille, Emiri, Jake!” Hikki yelled. “Go find Elizabeth!”
“I’m going too,” Mustang added.
“Fine zen, just go find her!” Hikki ordered.
“All right!” All four of them said in unison as they ran out.
___________
“Crap, this whole place is starting to burn down!” Mustang yelled.
“Well maybe you should have been more careful with your flames, Mr. Flame Alchemist!” Emiri snarked.
“This wasn’t me, I swear! This fire is coming from a part of the building I haven’t even been in!”
“Fine, let’s just find Elizabeth,” Cille said, trying to stop their bickering. “You said you left her somewhere around here, Mustang?”
“Yeah, unless she took off for another part of the building…”
“I don’t see her,” Emiri replied grimly.
“Well keep searching! She has to be somewhere!” Cille urged.
“Oh my god…” Jake said, standing in front of a hole in the outer wall.
“What is it?” Mustang asked, trying to see through the smoke.
“I think… she might have gone out there,” Jake replied, pointing at the ground below.
“Well then let’s go after her!” Emiri said impatiently, leaping out through the hole.
The others looked at each other uncertainly, and then Jake shrugged and followed Emiri.
“Come down, Cille! I’ll catch you!” he called back up.
Mustang helped Cille out of the hole, and then followed once she was safely caught.
“In here,” Emiri called, standing in front of another hole in the lower wall. The group went back into the building and followed the trail of destruction until they reached the bar room.
“I think I found her,” Jake said. “But I think she’s dead.”
Cille hurried past Jake into the room and looked down at the beaten Elizabeth. “Who’s this guy beside her?” she asked, a little frightened by his monstrous appearance.
Mustang recognized his old associate from the military. “That’s a guy named Archer…” Mustang trailed off. “Or… what’s left of him.”
Cille put her fingers to Elizabeth’s neck. “I don’t believe this… she’s alive.” Cille wiped some of the blood off Elizabeth’s face. “Barely, though…”
“We need to get her out of here,” Mustang ordered.
“Hey big guy, I think you could carry her just fine,” Emiri said, patting Jake’s broad back.
“Sure.” Jake slowly picked up Elizabeth in his massive arms and held her gently.
“Careful now… one wrong move and she could die,” Cille warned Jake.
“Right,” Jake replied. He looked down at Elizabeth’s fragile form in his arms. “Let’s go.”
_____________
“I can’t find anything, Hikki,” Cowboy said, rejoining the group with April.
“There has to be a way out of here somewhere,” Clarice sighed.
“Eef we don’t find a way out we’ll eizer all be arrested or all die een zees damn fire!” Hikki said, nervously watching the fight that still raged on before them.
“I won’t let you kill me, Sadar!” Landon roared. “I can’t BE killed! Not before I complete my great work!”
“You’re deluded,” Sadar yelled back. “You think that you’re some great hero!”
“I am a hero!” Landon laughed. “Someday all these people will worship me as their savior!”
Sadar lunged at Landon, but Landon blocked his swing and held him there with his sword.
“How can you be a hero if you hurt everyone you try to help?!” Sadar yelled into Landon’s face.
Landon just glared back.
“Lucille, Raef, all the people here, and countless more,” Sadar continued. “So many people looked up to you, and you foolishly pushed them all away to pursue your own goals! Everyone you ever tried to help you’ve betrayed and hurt, and killed!” Sadar grew furious. “How dare you even try to call yourself a hero!”
“You’re a fool if you think that great things can be accomplished without sacrificing a few people along the way,” Landon retorted, shoving Sadar away from him. “None of you could ever understand! I have the greater good in mind!”
“The greater good? You mean your own immortality? The ability to do whatever you and your cronies want without any accountability? For that you would turn against the rebellion you built, and have everyone who trusted you killed? You would build your grand new society on the corpses of the people you claim you want to help?!”
The fire had slowly started to spread into the room, illuminating the faces of the two men with a surreal glow.
For a moment Landon lowered his sword, suddenly unable to ignore the uncertainty that the priest’s words had somehow triggered inside him. Could it be… that he had been mistaken?
“I was just like you; I had friends here too,” Sadar pressed on, seeing Landon’s resolve begin to falter. “But I pushed them all away because of what I was told to do. I put them aside for my own goals. I was a fool to do that and now I’m going to make up for it. How much are you going to destroy before you figure out you’re wrong?”
Landon stood in front of Sadar with his guard down, contemplating what he had said. Was it really true?
Perhaps… it was…
Suddenly a crash sounded from the skylight of the foyer. Amid a storm of glass and wood a man came flying down. He landed between Sadar and Landon, and then stood and looked around him with a fierce look of pride and something approaching glee.
“Zeus!” Emiri yelled out.
“I’ll be with you soon enough.” Zeus winked at Emiri. “Right now I have to deal with this guy,” he said, setting his eyes on Landon. “To be honest I didn’t believe Kay El when he told me he saw you entering this building. But I guess he was right.”
“And where is your dumb little friend now?” Emiri asked.
“Observing. Guns make him angsty after all. Besides, I’ll be in and out,” Zeus said. He looked back at Landon and spun a staff in his hands. On the end was a large blade. “Killing the leader of the Syndicate should net me some pretty good respect points,” Zeus laughed.
He lunged toward Landon with a bloodthirsty smile, but Landon quickly regained his composure and blocked Zeus’ blade with his own. Zeus’ strength drove him straight into the wall and he slumped down on the ground.
“Now to finish you and –“ Zeus was interrupted as Sadar swung his own blade toward him. Zeus quickly ducked and hit Sadar in the stomach with the end of his staff, knocking the air out of him.
“You should know better than to interrupt a member of the Echelon!” he snarled. Sadar fell back and leaned on a railing, trying to catch his breath.
“Looks like you’ve already been fighting for a while,” Zeus laughed, seeing Sadar’s weakened state.
“Leave him alone.”
Zeus raised an eyebrow. He turned around and was surprised to see Landon bearing down on him. Before he could react he found that Landon had run his blade through his stomach. He dropped his staff, squinting through the pain.
“You’ve… got… a lot of nerve…” Zeus said through clenched teeth. With his remaining strength he wrapped his arms around Landon, holding him immobile against his body. Then he pulled a hidden knife out of his sleeve and stabbed Landon through the ribs. With a heavy gasp Landon lurched back and fell onto the floor, driving Zeus’ knife further into his body.
“Guess… you’re still just human…” Zeus laughed through his pain, pulling Landon’s sword out of his gut and tossing it aside.
Zeus turned around and barely had enough time to dodge both Sadar and Emiri as they came at him. He looked around at the people in the room, all wanting him dead. He considered his wound and the growing police force outside. As much as it would please him to take on even more of them, it seemed that he would have to be satisfied with taking the life of Landon Blaken.
He grabbed his staff and pointed the blade upward toward the roof, from whence he had come. Pressing a secret button sent the blade soaring upward followed by a length of chain. The blade embedded itself in a beam in the roof, and Zeus held onto the staff with all of his remaining strength as the chain retracted and pulled him upward.
“I’ll see you again, Emiri, I promise you that!” And he vanished out of sight.
Flames were starting to take over the room, smoke billowing everywhere. Cougar limped to Landon’s side and looked down at his motionless form. Suddenly he noticed Landon’s open eyes move and look at him.
“Cougar…” he choked out.
Sadar quickly ran to Landon’s side. His face became grim as he saw the tip of the dagger sticking out through Landon’s chest. “I’m not sure what can be done for you, Landon,” Sadar made clear.
“Nothing can…” Landon laughed. A trickle of blood ran out of his mouth.
“…Landon.” Cougar looked down at Landon, though he had no idea what to say.
“You… you were right, Sadar…” Landon leaned his head back on the floor. “You were right… I’ve been such a bastard.” He eyed Cougar. “But I’m not asking for forgiveness. I know that time is long past, after all I’ve done to the people here, after so many people have suffered because of me.”
Hikki, Samson, and Clarice walked up to Landon and looked at his form on the floor. “Perhaps we can get you out of here…” Hikki suggested.
“No,” Landon replied. “You’re the leader now, you need to worry about the people who aren’t dead. You…” Landon coughed up some blood. “You need to get yourselves out of here.”
“We’ve looked for a way out,” Samson said. “We’re completely surrounded.”
“I told you I had another way out, didn’t I?” Landon chuckled and took a deep breath. “The basement. There’s an entrance to a tunnel that comes out not far from here. This place used to be a base for a liquor smuggling ring, you know. Look for a trap door in the floor… that leads to the city sewers below. That’s your way out.”
“That must be the way Greed and the others took,” Clarice said.
“They ran?” Landon laughed. “Da Sombras is going to kill them…”
“Don’t act like this makes everything right, Landon,” Cougar said. It made him angry to see Landon almost joking about what was going on.
Landon laughed. “I know it doesn’t make everything right, you fool. There’s no way it can be made right. Just… do one thing for me.”
“What’s that?” Cougar asked.
“Protect Cille.” Landon was suddenly serious. “I never wanted her to get caught up in all of this. Yet it’s impossible to stop her now from becoming any more involved. She made her choice, and I know she’ll stick with it. So just… make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
“I… will,” Cougar said sincerely.
“Good.” Landon laid his head back. “And… all of you… don’t tell her about what happened here. I don’t deserve her forgiveness… so just let her think I died the same bastard I always was. Maybe then she won’t waste any more of herself thinking about me.”
Everyone looked at Cougar, as if expecting him to make the decision for all of them. He glanced up at them, his brow furrowed in thought, and then looked back down at Landon.
“All right,” he said. “If that’s what you want.”
“She deserves someone who can actually make her happy…” Landon mused. He seemed to be drifting out of consciousness. “Hikki,” he said weakly.
“Yes?” Hikki asked.
“Finish what I started. This revolution of mine.” Landon looked Hikki in the eye, and the Frenchman nodded. Then Landon closed his own eyes, and silently passed.
Sadar checked Landon’s pulse, and then frowned and shook his head. He took Landon’s arms and crossed them on his chest, reciting a small prayer. “We… should go,” he said quietly.
“Yes. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Samson said, looking nervously at the flames engulfing the room.
“Hikki, we have Elizabeth!” Mustang yelled as he entered through the smoke.
“Good,” Hikki answered. “We need to get to ze basement. Eet ees time to leave.”
Cille walked in behind Mustang, and before Hikki and the others could block her view, she saw Landon’s body lying on the floor, fire slowly encircling it. For a moment she just stood there, stunned, not sure what to feel beyond a small twinge of sadness for what the man she had loved had become. Then Cougar walked toward her, and their eyes met for a moment before she let him lead her out of the room with the others. She would have to think about all of this later. For now, there was still work to do.
____________
“Jeez, look at that place. It’s a torch,” Keith said, leaning on the side of a squad car.
Allen stared at the blaze. “I’d love to roast some marshmallows right now…”
“…What?” Keith raised an eyebrow.
“Um… nothing.” Allen quickly ended the conversation.
“Where’s the Chief?” Keith asked, lighting a cigarette.
“You mean Q?” Allen scratched the back of his neck. “She’s over there,” he said, pointing toward her. She was standing nearby, staring blankly into the fire as police officers scrambled all around her.
“I wonder what’s up with her…” Keith thought, taking a drag of his cigarette.
Q really didn’t know what to think of the whole situation. It was certainly bigger than mere gang activity. She had immediately thought of the Syndicate, but it also wouldn’t have surprised her if the Order of Glass was involved too. Most of her associates in the police department weren’t even aware of the existence of that covert group, but Q had been running her own small investigation for almost a year now, thanks in part to some of what Keith had uncovered looking into the Syndicate. She mulled over the possibilities, but her tired mind couldn’t help but flash between work and her life – things her mother had said, things that she wanted to accomplish.
“Are you in charge here?” a man with a English accent asked. He had come up behind her while she was distracted with her thoughts.
“What? No, I wish I were, though,” Q replied. “Then maybe I could figure out what was going on here.”
“So you’re Chief Q Holmes, huh?” the man asked. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Q raised an eyebrow and looked him over more closely. “What? Just who are you?”
“The name’s Hill,” the man stated. “And I believe you could be very valuable to our investigation.”
“Just what are you investigating?”
“An international organization known as the Order of Glass,” Hill said simply.
“Really… and just what organization are you with?”
“A little one called MI-6.”
“What…?” Q said, slightly shocked.
“Your government, no matter how unlawful it is, has given us permission to investigate our own interests in this country,” Hill laughed. “Although personally I’m beginning to wonder how welcome we really are here.”
“I know some about the Order,” Q said cautiously.
“You’ll be able to help us out even more with your experience in dealing with the various groups involved here. So will you help us?” Hill asked.
Q thought for a moment, and then accepted Hill’s outstretched hand. “Sure… why not,” she answered. “Right now I need to deal with this situation, though.” They heard more sirens as the fire department finally arrived.
“Would you believe me if I said that a Glass member was involved in this incident?” Hill asked.
Q thought for a moment. “I probably would.”
“We tracked him to this location. This is why I’m here right now.” Hill scratched his chin. “Does the name John Sadar ring any bells?”
“I suspect him to be fairly high up in the Order. But if he was in there, he’s dead,” Q said.
“I wouldn’t be so sure. There’s no way he’d die so easily,” Hill replied.
Suddenly all the police officers took a step back as they heard a loud cracking noise coming from the manor.
“Looks like the fire department arrived a little late,” Hill said.
“It’s not the first time…” Q replied.
With a booming crash the building’s top floor collapsed.
___________________
Meanwhile the group of Syndicate members had just made it into the basement.
“Did you hear thaaaaaaaat?!” Cowboy sang.
“Zees entire place ees coming down!” Hikki shouted.
“Look over there!” Mustang yelled, pointing at a grate in the stone floor. “That must be it!”
Mustang and Emiri ran over to the grate and pulled it up and to the side, revealing a metal ladder attached to a cement tunnel.
“Everyone down!” Samson yelled, pushing Cille toward the hole.
Quickly everyone climbed down. Jake went a little more slowly because of his precious cargo, and Cowboy only barely managed to shove his cello case down through the hole. Once the last person had reached the bottom of the ladder, they heard what sounded like a freight train crashing as the entire building collapsed, sending small pieces of debris and rubble falling through the hole.
“Well these sewers are pretty disgusting,” Cowboy observed, looking at the filthy and decrepit tunnel around them.
“Let’s go,” Hikki ordered. “We don’t have any time to waste. We need to get Elizabeth patched up!”
________________
“WHOAH! DID YOU SEE THAT KAMINA?!” Officer Kittan yelled, waving his arms in the air.
“I SURE DID KITTAN! THAT PLACE JUST TOTALLY EXPLODED!” Officer Kamina replied with equal fervor.
“Damn Garhalla department…” Keith said, pointing his thumb over to the two officers. “They always blow things out of proportion…”
Allen laughed. “I hear that. That Kittan guy works undercover, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, although with his loud personality I don’t know how he could blend in anywhere,” Keith laughed.
Q facepalmed. “So much for evidence.”
“These things happen sometimes,” Hill remarked. “Personally I think your government may have had a hand in delaying those fire trucks. But it’s all open to speculation right now.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know how these things work. They’d rather have the Syndicate burn alive then have to schedule trials or investigations,” Q said.
Hill straightened his tie. “You don’t seem to have much love for the government.”
Q laughed. “Who does these days? All they do is investigate innocent people and silence others that want change.” Q put her hands in her pocket. “Keep this between you and me, but I personally wouldn’t mind it if the Syndicate’s little revolution worked out. At least then we’d get some damn justice.”
“I’ll let you know right now that MI-6 by no means supports your current government. We know all about Ozzal’s oppression,” Hill assured her.
_______________
Chatter and the sounds of glasses clinking filled the Cafe del’Argeno. The surviving members of the Syndicate were recovering from their narrow escape. Though they were all exhausted and many of them were injured, they were all glad to be spared any major casualties. Hikki had even brought out the most expensive wine he had from his home country.
“Now zen! Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we sleep, and zen we get back to work!” Hikki yelled, standing on a chair.
“’Bout time we took down that bastard Landon and started running things ourselves,” Angel said from the corner of the room, where she stood with her arms crossed. Next to her April was busy looking over Tres, who seemed unmoved by his old lady getup.
“Maybe we should change the name of the Syndicate now that Landon’s gone. Doesn’t seem to be much of a purpose to have his name on it anymore!” Emiri laughed, taking a swig from a wine bottle.
Cowboy took a sip of wine from his own glass. “Hah, I’ll agree with that.”
Hikki was suddenly serious. “I refuse to change eet. Landon Blaken may have eventually lost hees way, but he founded zees organization and based eet on hees belief zat everyone deserved a better life. And I believe zat even een death he steel believed een zat preenceeple. Zees organization weel always be ze Blacken Syndicate.”
Sadar smiled. “Well said, Hikki. I must say that I agree with you.”
---
“Would you listen to all that mumbling down there?” Cougar laughed. “I wonder what they’re talking about…”
Cougar watched Cille silently move around the room, apparently unaffected by the noise below or his attempt at a jovial tone. She had managed to make him lay down so that she could properly tend to the wounds that Landon and Greed had given him. But other than that she had barely said a thing since they had left the mansion.
She walked back to Cougar and silently took the bandage off of his head. She replaced it with a new one, wrapping it tightly. Her face was blank, unreadable.
“Cillie… are you all right?” Cougar asked gently.
“I’m fine,” was all he got in return. He could see her bite her lower lip slightly.
“You’re not fine.”
She took the old bandage and turned away, unable to answer him. Returning to the side table, she began folding the bandage and rearranging the medical supplies in the first aid kit.
“I know you must be under a lot of stress.” Cougar rubbed his temple. “You’ve been through some pretty intense things today.”
There was another moment of silence. He looked at the back of her head, wondering if he should keep prodding her for a response.
“I just can’t believe… that he…” Cille finally whispered, her voice barely audible.
Cougar was silent for a moment. He knew what had to be going through her head.
“If it means anything…” he began, and then seemed to think better of what he had been about to say. “I know how difficult this all must be for you. And whether you want to talk or not, I’ll be here to listen. Or… not listen. Or… dammit, that didn’t come out quite right…” He ran his hand through his hair sheepishly.
Cille smiled a little at his bumbling, in spite of herself. “I know…” she said quietly. “I had a feeling you’d say something like that. But I think…” She took a deep breath. “I just need some time to think about things. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
He hesitated for just a moment, and then, ignoring the lingering pain in his body, he got out of bed and walked toward her.
She turned and looked at him, surprised. “You shouldn’t – you’re still hurt. You need to rest,” she protested.
He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I’m not the only one hurting.”
She looked up at him with an almost frightened expression, as if she was still afraid to let him see her weakness. Then, unable to hide her emotions any longer, her eyes began welling up with tears. She hesitantly leaned toward him, and he tentatively put his arms around her.
He held her close, and just let her cry.
_______________
“Heh, I see you’re finally awake,” Mustang said, grinning.
“Whaaa…?” Elizabeth opened her eyes with a groggy yawn. “Where am I? What time is it?”
“It’s nearly two in the morning,” Mustang answered. “And you’re back at the cafe.”
“She should be fine now,” Kaia said next to the bed where Elizabeth lay. “It’s really a surprise that you got her here in one piece.”
“Thanks for patching her up.” Mustang winked.
“No problem.” Kaia brushed her hair back. “It is my job, after all. Although I still think it’s a miracle that she survived her wounds.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa, whoa… I’m alive?”
Kaia laughed. “Yes. Obviously.”
“Well I guess I’d better get out and make myself useful,” Elizabeth said as she started to get up. Mustang and Kaia pushed her back down.
“What are you? Stupid? You’re in bad shape. I can’t let you go anywhere,” Kaia said, sitting back down.
“Just take it easy, Elizabeth. Maybe try some sudoku!” Mustang suggested.
Elizabeth sighed. “I think I’ll just have a drink…”
__________________
“Not gonna join in the fuuuuuuuuuuuun~?”
Clarice nearly fell through the large window she had been standing by.
“Cowboy! For the love of all that is holy, do NOT harp an aria in someone’s ear!”
“Sorry.” Cowboy took a step back upon seeing the look on Clarice’s face. Once he realized she wasn’t going to be throwing a random assortment of frying pans his way, he spoke to her again. “You’re here all by yourself; don’t you fancy a drink?”
Clarice turned away to look out the window again.
“No, I’m all right. But you can have a drink for me.” She smiled feebly.
Cowboy frowned. He seemed to want to say something, but just shrugged his shoulders and sauntered off.
Clarice continued to stare through the glass, her breath fogging up the pane. It wouldn’t be long before winter was upon them. She put her hand on the window. Yep, cold. She let out a long sigh. Her body ached, a little voice in her head begged for sleep, and yet, she was as wide-awake as she had been that morning.
The adrenaline, she thought to herself. And yet, she felt strangely numb, like she was having an out-of-body experience and merely going through the motions. She still couldn’t believe she had survived… that any of them had survived.
“Ah, here you are…”
She was brought back to earth. She turned around to see Anne smiling at her inquisitively.
“I was wondering why you weren’t with everyone else.” Anne nodded in the direction of the others.
“I don’t feel like partying much,” Clarice answered truthfully. “What are you doing up this late?”
“You think I could sleep with this noise?” Anne rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you’re worrying about Sam again, aren’t ya?”
Am I that easy to read? Clarice mentally kicked herself.
“Hee… I knew it,” Anne grinned.
Clarice sighed again.
“You want to know where he is?”
Clarice perked up. “You know where he’s gone?”
“Oh yeah… Whenever Sammie wants to be alone to think, he always goes to the same place. He’s so predictable.” Anne shook her head. “That dummy.”
“Where? Tell me.”
The bitter cold wind stung Clarice’s face. It felt like the temperature was dropping more and more with each passing minute. She tugged at her coat as a strong gust hit her and slammed the car door shut. She glanced over her shoulder. The city of Orly glistened from across the bay. At night, it looked just like any other metropolis; there was no sign of war and tyranny, only the glow of the cityscape. Clarice returned her gaze to the bridge in front of her.
She hoped Anne was right…
“Ever since I was little, Samson always liked the view of the city from the bay bridge. He used to bug Mom and Dad to watch the summer fireworks from there. Even now, he still likes to go there by himself and just… think. Maybe it reminds him of when we were all together…”
Clarice headed down the bridge’s walkway. She stared at the ground, lost in thought. After the big fight between the Syndicate and the Cool Mexicanos, Samson had just disappeared. He had come close to biting the dust a few times, but he had never reacted like this…
You better not do anything stupid, Clarice thought, frowning. She hoped he was all right. She was so absorbed she almost didn’t register the dark figure leaning against the railing in the middle of the bridge.
Samson stood against the bridge’s rail, staring out across the bay and at the cityscape. The cold wind ruffled his dark hair and the collar of his jacket. He shifted his weight forward, making Clarice flinch.
Oh my god, he’s not going to--!
“Samson! Don’t do it!”
Samson whipped his head around.
“Huh?”
“Don’t… uh… oh, you weren’t going to…”
Samson just blinked at her.
Smart. Real smart, Clarice.
“What are you doing here?” Samson arched an inquisitive eyebrow.
“I was going to ask you the same thing…”
Samson turned his gaze back to the horizon. Clarice bit her bottom lip; after all this time, she didn’t know what to say. What could she say to him? Slowly, she walked toward him until she was also leaning against the rails, gazing at the city lights.
Neither of them spoke. The only sounds audible were the waves in the bay lapping along the bridge’s pillars and the cold breeze fluttering around them every so often. Clarice followed Samson’s lead and merely watched the view before them. Their breathing became visible in swirling puffs of air.
“I’ve been a real dick, haven’t I…” Samson broke the silence.
Clarice glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She knew it wasn’t a question.
“I thought… that I could fix it. Everything that has happened to us in the last few months… I really thought I could solve our problems. If I took the initiative… If I investigated… If I worked my ass off… If I, if I, if I…! God, I’ve been so selfish!”
Samson buried his face in his hands. Clarice continued to watch him.
“In the end, I couldn’t even do anything by myself!” He slammed his fist into the rail, the sound reverberating in the silence. “All I did was manage to nearly get us all killed! Some hero…” He let out a mirthless laugh. “I was the one who needed to be saved.” He hung his head. His shoulders started quivering; Clarice doubted it was from the temperature.
“It’s my fault. If Sadar hadn’t shown up tonight, I really would have…” His voice trailed off. He let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m a total jerk. Hating Sadar all this time… And he’s the one to save my ass in the end…”
He threw his head back. “AAAAAAAH! WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME?!”
At his yell of frustration, Clarice turned, one hand still on the rail. Samson glanced up and their eyes almost met, but he looked away.
“I’m sorry.”
Clarice brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
“I’ve been a real dick to you; it wasn’t fair,” Samson continued. “Truth is, I came here because I didn’t wanna have to face you… or Anne… or Hikki… I was… scared, actually… of what I would say. What you all would say.” He took a deep breath. “…I would understand if you didn’t want to forgive me.”
Clarice blinked.
“I don’t think I could forgive myself if I’d been treated the same way.” His voice was quiet… and broken. “I care about all of you. I really do. I shouldn’t have put any of you in this situation. I’m really sorry.”
“Samson…”
Clarice’s hand was on his; it was warm. He looked up and their eyes finally met. The breeze was fluttering her hair, which seemed to glow in the night light. Her cheeks were red from the cold.
“…You idiot.”
She kissed him.
And in that moment, Samson knew everything would be fine. She didn’t need to say anything. He simply knew.
Their lips parted. Clarice gave him a sly smirk and shook her head… Her eyes shone like violet beacons in the dark. Samson continued to stare at her when a small snowflake suddenly landed on his nose. The two of them turned their gazes upward: The first snow of the season.
And, for the first time in a long time, Samson smiled.
Recurring Characters
Landon Blaken – Blah_canbespanish
DangerCille – Cille
Hikki Follet – Kohikki
Clarice Rowe – QueenoftheDorks
Samson Monroe – MasterSamson
April – LirpaYamEnujYluj
Jake Thompson – SportsMaster
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen – EdSpikeSesshyGirl
Angel Sarcasta – mgangel1124
Emiri - _Boxers_
Cowboy – CowboyCadenza
Lucille “Cille” Compton – Cille
Chief Quetzalxochitl “Q” Holmes – Q_chan
Allen Black – AlastourBlaque
Keith Douglas – k_dawg_3484
Spice Spamton – spiceweasel228*
Libra Holmes – Ghost_of_a_Librarian
Kay El – Kagomes_Luver2789
Da Sombras – Shadowstaarr*
Michelle Ozzal – Mike Lazzo*
Heero Yuy – HeeroYuy135*
Wyatt Matthews – Wyotech_material*
Captain Yemman – myname*
Liam Green – lithium_green
Father John Sadar – FurionTassadar
Raef Compton – Maenos*
“Angry God” Zeus – zeus_the_angry_god/Shuya_Nanahara
Hill – fool_on_the_hill
Kaia Namek – namek_kaia
Anne Monroe – herself
Izuru Kira – Bleach
Roy Mustang – Fullmetal Alchemist
Jean Havoc – Fullmetal Alchemist
Straight Cougar – s-CRY-ed
Riza “Hawkeye” Yuy – Fullmetal Alchemist*
Greed – Fullmetal Alchemist
Tres – Trinity Blood
Gauron – Full Metal Panic!
Kittan – Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Kamina – Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
New Characters
Asimov – Cowboy Bebop
Beck – Big O
Frank Archer – Fullmetal Alchemist
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in the chapter but do not play an active role in the story.