Sage Frontier Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of two Fakes! ❯ It's a bird... it's a plane... IT'S THE CYGNUS! ( Chapter 8 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier or Final Fantasy. Squaresoft does.

 

The two magicians stood in the large entryway of the plane as the door shut tightly, blocking whatever view they had of the IRPO building. Now they knew they couldn't turn back and ask for a break or go home and pack anything else, but somehow that didn't bother Rouge. Blue, on the other hand, was a bit more nervous. Even though they'd survived their first mission relatively unscathed, Blue couldn't help but feel like it was just a fluke. He looked over at Rouge.

 

“Rouge, do we need anything? Once we take off, we can't go and grab anything we might need,” Blue reminded, but Rouge shook his head, indicating he was fine. Unlike Blue, Rogue felt like he was invincible from surviving Nomad. He simply grinned.

 

“We'll be fine. Besides, a ship this big probably has shops and stuff where we can buy whatever we need,” Rouge replied, and squinted down the hall, “Of course, we'll need to figure out where to go to get there. Where's Red?” Blue looked down the other way of the hall, but couldn't see very well. The plane was dark on this level, lit only by tiny red globes every couple of feet down. Blue squinted his eyes, which improved his sight a little, but still saw no outlines or indication of Red anywhere.

 

“I don't know. I'd have thought he'd be here,” Blue said, raising an eyebrow, “He usually has to work in the lower levels of the ship.” Rouge's ears perked a bit. He'd never been in the Cygnus before, but he always assumed it was a small ship.

 

“Lower levels? How big is this plane?” Rouge asked curiously, and then changed the subject before Blue could answer, “Never mind. Should we go and look for him?” Blue tried to decide which was the right decision. Judging by the look on his face, Rouge guessed he wasn't having good luck on that one, but he did eventually come up with an answer.

 

“I don't think we should just go wandering around the ship,” Blue finally said, and Rouge slumped against the door, “Aw, Rouge, you know we shouldn't. Look, let's wait here for a few more minutes, and THEN we can go and look for someone.” Rouge nodded reluctantly, but didn't give any sign that he agreed with Blue's answer. Blue continued to look down the hall, hoping to see some sign of a worker somewhere as Rouge stood in silent spite in an attempt to make Blue change his mind. Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, a young man in a janitor's outfit appeared. Blue seemed relieved, but Rouge snorted.

 

“A janitor…” he mumbled, and turned to Blue, “Thanks for making us waste our time, bro.” Blue sighed, but the janitor laughed.

 

“Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to keep you waiting. My boss held me up,” he said. Blue smiled.

 

“It's okay, Red. We didn't have to wait long,” Blue replied politely, “I'm guessing the meeting last month went badly?” Red nodded, and Rouge stared at him, wide-eyed and very confused. Last time he'd seen Red, he was one of the top pilots for the Cygnus.

 

“Yeah… I still think they overreacted though,” Red stated, “Just because I crashed once doesn't mean I'd do it again! I was just testing how well this piece of scrap metal took to gravity.” Blue laughed heartily, but Rouge obviously had no idea what was going on, because he glanced at Blue with the same confused look.

 

“I don't think they thought of doing backflips as “testing gravity,” Blue joked, and Rouge looked back at Red. Red's face flushed with embarrassment, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

 

“They didn't. That's why they demoted me to being the janitor until I complete the piloting course again,” Red mumbled, “I tried to tell them I'd never do it again, but they don't trust me.” Blue wasn't overly surprised by this, but Rouge seemed pretty impressed.

 

“How'd the testing go?” Rouge asked, and it was pretty clear his mind was on one thing. Red smiled and gave a thumbs-up, and Rouge gave him a high-five.

 

“It was awesome! I was going at over 250 MPH! Everything was like a big blur as I soared across the continent of Shringrow!” Red exclaimed, and went into great detail as he spoke with Rouge. Blue rolled his eyes, having the feeling that Red was probably making most of his story up, especially the part of how he'd flown into Tanzer's mouth and weaved his way through Tanzer's teeth before the beast swallowed his ship. But either way, Rouge was definitely impressed. Then again, he'd never actually been on a plane until he joined IRPO, so anything involving terrifying feats in a plane would interest him.

 

“That's quite a tale, Red,” Blue said sarcastically, as Red finished his story nearly a half hour later, “But tell me, just how did you manage to outfly a wyvern?” Silence filled the room for a minute as Red tried to think of an answer, or in Blue's mind, an excuse or another lie.

 

“I… uh… well, it was a baby wyvern,” Red replied nervously, “It… it wasn't as fast as me.” Blue smirked, and Rouge blinked as the lie hit him. He narrowed his eyes.

 

“Right, and I'm a rabbite wearing a dress,” Rouge countered, “Wyverns can't fly as babies. You didn't even fight a wyvern, did you?” Red looked down, and Blue shook his head.

 

“He probably didn't transform into a superhero, either,” Blue added, and Red glared at him. He threw down the mop he'd been holding and pointed threateningly at Blue.

 

“Hey, that part I didn't make up! Watch!” Red said defensively, and closed his eyes. A blue aura surrounded him, and instantly he morphed into an almost angelic creature with gold armor, though his mood didn't improve much as he said, “See!?” The looks on both twins' faces must've been satisfactory to him, for he changed back only a minute later, and then realized what he'd just done. The looks on the twins weren't ones of impressed inferiority, but rather disbelieving familiarity.

 

“You're Alkaiser!?” Rouge whispered, as Blue added, “That's amazing! I was wondering how you managed to be wherever he was just a second before!” Red's eyes widened and he grabbed Blue's collar.

 

“Damn, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone of my secret identity!” Red hissed, and then begged, “Blue, please, don't tell anyone about this. If anyone else knew, I'd be dead!” Blue promised not to say anything, but Rouge wasn't nearly as nice. He simply grinned a very evil grin and stood over Red.

 

“What'll you give us to keep quiet?” Rouge asked darkly, and Red jumped up off the floor, completely caught off guard. Even Blue glanced at Rouge, though it was a rather dangerous glance, one implying a spell if Rouge didn't cut it out.

 

“You're going to bribe me!? But… but you're a police cop!” Red exclaimed in disbelief, “Cops don't bribe people! They can't bribe people! It's against the law!” Blue snickered, somewhat impressed that Red knew this. Even though he was Alkaiser, he was still a troublemaker and he'd probably pull the same thing Rouge was doing if he had the chance. Rouge rolled his eyes in an indifferent way.

 

“Oh please, cops are just as greedy as any thief,” Rouge sighed, “Why do you think it takes so long for us to reach a crime scene?”

 

“But come ON! I don't even have anything to give you!” Red cried, absolutely desperate to keep his secret as it was, “Can't you keep this between us!?” Rouge looked at Blue, and when he saw his disapproving scowl, he shivered. He hated when Blue was angry. He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

 

“Fine… we'll keep your secret,” Rouge mumbled, slumping against the wall, “Hey, think there's a chance we can do some crime fighting with you?” Red laughed, picking up the broom he'd dropped earlier.

 

“I don't think that's a smart idea,” Red replied, “I have a tendency to be pretty sloppy with friends hanging around when I kick butt, so it's probably in your best health to not tag along. Besides, if an enemy of mine sees you, you'll be in danger. As a superhero, I can't intentionally put people into danger.” Blue nodded.

 

“Besides, Rouge, we have missions of our own that have to be done,” Blue added, and looked at Red again, “Speaking of that, Red, do you have any idea why we were called here? We were supposed to meet someone on this ship, but we don't know who, or even what's going on.” Red put the broom up against the wall, and looked pretty unsure of what to say. Blue took that to mean something was definitely up, and Red knew about it.

 

“Yeah… we've been raided a lot on our way to Sigma 9,” Red answered, and looked down, “I can't find out why, and my boss is cutting his time between upgrading the ship himself and finding out what's happening. Hell, everyone's trying to do something, but nothing's working.” Rouge looked down the hall with little interest, flicking a piece of lint away from him.

 

“Let me guess, you heard how we handled the Nomad case and you want us to investigate,” Rouge concluded in a dull tone. Red nodded.

 

“Yeah. You guys did that really fast. We thought if you helped us, we'd at least make it to Sigma 9 with some of our cargo in tact,” Red explained, “Of course, we've already lost nearly 75% of what we had, and we're not even halfway there.” Blue's eyes widened with worry. Last time he'd talked to Red, Red mentioned that they were bringing nearly 2000 tons of scrap metal to that base to reinforce their cannons. That meant they now had only 500 tons at best, and that wouldn't be enough.

 

“We don't have much time to find out where this cargo's disappearing to, then,” Blue said bitterly, “Where do we start looking?”

 

“And does this mean we're in for a long ride?” Rouge added. Red nodded to answer Rouge, and led them both down the hall as he explained more about their situation.

 

“My boss is in the engine room down in the lowest level of the ship. That's where our cargo is,” Red answered, as he turned the corner and walked down a short flight of stairs, “That's also where our cargo seems to disappear from. He's starting to wonder if the room's too hot and it's simply melting the metal away, but I doubt that's it.” Blue didn't think that was the answer, either. But he didn't get a chance to voice anything as they neared a large metal doorway, which opened automatically. Red stepped inside and beckoned for the two to follow. Inside, the room was warm, but not overly hot, and definitely not hot enough to melt metal. Red's boss stood near the lower left of the large room, and next to him was a large furnace burning with bright coal. That was how they kept the ship aloft, and Blue noticed that even near the coal, it was still too cold to melt anything. There had to be a thief, or another explanation.

 

“Hey, boss, I brought our top investigators,” Red said as he led everyone to his boss. His boss was a rather tall man, wearing a black tuxedo and a trim red mustache. He took a look at Blue, and seemed to deem them worthy of acknowledgement as he shook Blue's hand. Blue was a bit relieved that he'd been the one to be introduced, because he was sure Rouge would've made some wisecrack that would insult him.

 

“Good job, Red,” the boss said, and turned back to Blue, “Welcome aboard the Cygnus, good sir. I hope you've found it to your liking, as I predict you'll need to stay here a while.” Blue smiled politely and nodded.

 

“Yes, it's a wonderful vessel. I look forward to working on it,” Blue stated vigorously, making the boss chuckle. Rouge rolled his eyes.

 

“I look forward to getting some food and taking a nap,” Rouge mumbled, and Blue nudged him sharply in the ribs in disapproval. But the boss laughed again, obviously seeing such young workers, by which one of them was actually taking their job seriously, put him in a good mood. He patted Rouge heartily on the back.

 

“Getting a bit tired, my boy?” the boss asked good-naturedly, “Well, then you should head down into the bar and get a drink.” Rouge didn't need to be told this information twice, as his ears perked up when he heard the word “bar.” His eyes grew big with excitement, and he looked almost chibi-like.

 

“There's a bar here?” he asked in an almost innocent tone, and when the boss nodded, he flew out, dragging Red along as he yelled, “HOT DOG! TIME FOR A SPUDWEISER!” The boss simply watched in natural shock as Rouge flew like a bat out of hell. Blue was a little less surprised as he shook his head and heaved a heavy sigh. The boss coughed a bit to clear his throat before continuing the conversation.

 

“He's kind a handful, eh?” the boss asked, and Blue nodded grimly.

 

“Ever the more as the days pass, too,” Blue mumbled, and then brightened up, “Anyway, sir, I'd like to know more about what's been going on with the thievery around here. Red explained it briefly to me, but have you any suspects we can question or clues we can follow?” The boss gave a half-smile.

 

“You like to get right to the point, eh, boy? Well, I like that,” the boss said, and then shook his head, “But no, we don't have anything that can help us with our search. We've managed to step up security, but even then the thefts don't cease. We're down to our last bit of metal, and if that's taken…” He didn't need to finish for Blue to understand that this could be serious. Blue bit his lip, and dared a question that could be refused.

 

“Sir, would you mind if I take a look at the remaining metal?” Blue asked, and added, “Perhaps someone left prints or a clue, or maybe there's an explanation inside.” The boss seemed to be hesitating on what to do, but he nodded and stepped aside to let Blue into a rather large cargo room via a trapdoor. Inside was bright, with blue lights shining at regular intervals across the ceiling, illuminating most of the room. Of course, that was mainly due to the fact that there was less than half of the room filled with metal. Blue looked at the remaining pile. There was nothing suspicious about it, it was just a simple pile of standard metal pipes and pieces.

 

“Where exactly do you get the metal from?” Blue asked, walking over to the pile and looking at it more closely. There was a faint line of dust around the metal, and when Blue touched it, he realized it wasn't dust at all. It was something else, something sticky.

 

“Trinity supplies it from the ore mines in Koorong,” the boss replied, arching an eyebrow when he saw Blue's reaction, “Is everything okay?” He walked over slowly to Blue, who looked worried and a bit upset about something.

 

“There appears to be an odd substance on the metal,” Blue stated, “A sticky substance. And I'm not sure we can trust it.” The boss took a look this time, and the metal glistened a little where the light hit the substance Blue was talking about. The boss didn't dare touch it, but he didn't know what else to do.

 

“It could be condensation from the furnace above, couldn't it?” the boss asked. Blue noted the worried tone he had, but knew it wasn't from the furnace. Metal didn't usually “sweat” like leather did.

 

“It could, but I'll need a sample to examine it further,” Blue replied, trying to keep his suspicion down, “Standard security, you understand. If it's something dangerous, we must know immediately.” The boss nodded and took out a napkin from his pocket. He wiped a bit of dust off and handed it to Blue.

 

“Will this be enough?” the boss asked. Blue took it, nodded, and put it into a small bag.

 

“It should do. If not, I'll ask to be let down here again,” Blue said, putting the bag away for future use, “I'd also like to look around again tomorrow and evaluate if anything's been lifted. Have these attacks been often?”

 

“Yes, we suffer an attack every few days. Sometimes it's secret, other times they outright board us in daylight,” the boss replied, and led Blue up into the engine room again, “Most of the time they make off with metal, but the times they outwardly attack, they leave after a while.” Blue considered this as he tried to piece together what they should be expecting tonight, but he still didn't have enough information. Right now, though, he wouldn't be able to get any more out of the boss. The boss was already becoming upset relaying the attacks, and Blue didn't want to anger him more.

 

“Thank you for your help, sir,” Blue finally said, shaking the boss's hand again, “I'll get to work as soon as I find my cabin. If you need anything, my name is Blue.” The boss nodded, and walked Blue out of the lowest level of the ship until they were in the entry hall.

 

“Thank you, my boy. I appreciate your looking into this,” the boss said, and added, “Red will help you find your cabin, though I have no idea where he is. If you need any more information, I'll be happy to help in any way.” The boss nodded once more and walked back down into the engine room, leaving Blue alone in the hall, with plenty of thoughts to keep him occupied. He decided that it was best to talk to Rouge and relay what he'd found, and walked down the long, dark hallway, hoping he was going the right way. There were no rooms on the entry hall's floor, it was just one big hallway that wound around and around, with bulletins here and there concerning the latest news. Every once in a while, Blue came to a closet, but it was almost always full of cleaning supplies. Just when he was sure he was going nowhere, Blue found the staircase leading to the second floor. He could vaguely hear music playing, too, as he climbed the first step.

 

“This has got to be where the bar is,” Blue said, and quickly ran up the rest of the way into the second floor, which as he thought, was a huge bar room filled with tables, seats, counters, and a large dance floor. There were three other rooms, but two were bathrooms and one was the pantry for the bar. The staircase to the third floor was just next to the bathrooms on the back wall, but right now Blue was more interested in looking for Rouge. He scanned the large room, where girls were dancing for a pop contest, and noticed right away that something was wrong. Rouge wasn't there, and neither was Red for that matter. Blue looked around again, just to make sure he didn't miss anything, but they still didn't show up.

 

“You looking for someone?” the bartender asked, when Blue remained motionless for another couple of minutes. His grumbly voice shocked Blue, who jumped a bit before answering.

 

“Er… yes. Did you happen to see someone who looks a little like me, except with brown hair?” Blue asked, trying to be as specific as possible, “I'm looking for my brother. He came here with a friend of ours, but he's gone.” The bartender put the glass he was cleaning down and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. Then he pointed to the staircase towards the third floor.

 

“Yeah, I saw them. They went upstairs to one of the cabins. Apparently they didn't take well to the contest going on,” the bartender said, “That twin of yours asked me to tell you if you came looking.” When the bartender turned his back to make a drink, Blue rolled his eyes. He couldn't see why the bartender just didn't tell him right away if he looked like Rouge. But he stuffed that annoyance in a box in his mind and walked up the stairs, ignoring two girls as they exclaimed how cute they thought he was. To his surprise, when he reached the third floor, all of the noise seemed to vanish. He was now in a long hallway with doors dotting either side. And all of them led into very neat, private rooms. A few were closed, but most were open. Blue hoped it wouldn't be too hard to find Rouge as he started down on the left side.

 

“What do you want!?” came the shrill voice of an angry woman as Blue knocked on one random door. She came out, and Blue shivered. She was very big, and had on an ugly green housecoat. She wore way too much make-up for her own good, and she was missing teeth, which only made her curly blonde hair look worse.

 

“I'm… looking for a guy named Rouge. Have you seen him?” Blue asked, praying to the goddesses that this wouldn't take too long. The woman snorted and pointed to a door with a sign that said “Don't disturb.”

 

“Yeah, I heard him and his stupid friend make a ruckus out here. I threatened to beat `em with a pan if they didn't shut their traps,” the woman replied, grinning, “Are you part of security?” Blue's eyes widened in horror.

 

“N-no, ma'am! Thank you!” Blue exclaimed, and bolted away before he had another second to have to spend with her. He didn't even look back to see if she went back inside, nor was he paying attention to where he was running as he slammed into the indicated door, knocking it right off its hinges. Lo and behold, Rouge and Red were sitting on the floor, and they looked at him curiously.

 

“Finally, you found us,” Rouge stated impatiently, “I was beginning to wonder if that boss guy was chewing your ears off or something.” Blue picked himself off the floor and tried to fix the door before answering, but only managed to make the problem worse. Red went to help him, and noticed how pale he was.

 

“Blue? Are you okay?” he asked with concern. Blue shook his head and wiped the sweat away, as Rouge pulled over a chair so his brother could sit down.

 

“No. This trashy-looking woman scared the daylights out of me,” Blue replied, panting, “I'm pretty sure she was trying to hit on me.” Rouge snorted, and even Red managed a chuckle as he properly put the door in its frame.

 

“Oh, that's Mrs. Blottson,” Red told Blue, as he went back to his spot on the floor, “She basically lives on the ship, though no one knows why. But we're ALL too afraid to kick her out. Last time my boss tried, she went after him with a Hyperion Bazooka.” Rouge's laugh became even louder, and he patted Blue's knee.

 

“Way to go, bro! You sure know how to attract a winner!” Rouge said through a bout of laughs. That rewarded him with a heavy hit with a police club, and he fell over backwards.

 

“Rouge, shut up,” Blue said sternly, “Like you have any more luck with women.”

 

“I do so have better luck!” Rouge yelled defensively, but it did no good.

 

“Then why do I have a girlfriend and you don't?” Blue asked, smirking, “And don't tell me Lion doesn't count.” Rouge choked back an insult, pouted, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Arguing would only make him more of a fool. Red decided to step in before anything else could be said, anyway.

 

“So… did my boss tell you anything helpful?” Red asked, hoping to change the subject. Blue nodded, and Rouge listened intently as Blue relayed everything.

 

“The attack pattern is what intrigues me the most, though,” Blue said as he finished, “Why would they only steal the cargo every few attacks? Not to mention the dust I found on the metal… I'm worried it's more than just dust.” Blue took out the bag he'd collected and handed it to Rouge, who looked at the contents with faint interest. It looked more like a powder than anything.

 

“Did the boss know what it was?” Red asked, but Blue shook his head as Rouge handed Red the bag.

 

“No. In fact, he didn't seem so worried about it in the least,” Blue replied, as Red looked at the powder. It was white in color, now that it was away from the heat. Red delicately opened the bag up and took a sniff, but didn't smell anything weird. He didn't dare touch or taste it, though. There was a chance it was poison. He handed the bag back to Blue.

 

“Whatever it is, it should probably be checked,” Red said, as Blue put the bag away.

 

“Yeah, but that'd imply sending it back to the IRPO labs,” Rouge stated, waving his arm, “We're already pretty far away from them, so what good will that do? By the time we have it checked, the rest of the cargo might be gone.”

 

“Not necessarily,” Red replied brightly, “See, we have a small lab in the ship. That's how we're able to make enough coal so quickly to power the ship when we can't get any from Trinity. I might be able to pull some strings and let you both through.” Rouge's head perked up, suddenly interested in the use of a lab. Though, in Blue's mind, he probably wanted to make something to blow the place up.

 

“You can do that!?” Rouge asked, surprised. Obviously, he didn't think janitors could do much of anything except sweep floors. Red nodded.

 

“Of course. I'll have to speak to my boss, though, but I can probably convince him,” Red answered, and got off the floor, “I'll be back in a bit, so don't poke around the ship too much without me.” With that, Red ran out, leaving the two brothers to sit and wait. Blue grabbed a book off the table and opened it up to do his signature reading. Rouge, however, jumped onto the bed and curled up on it.

 

“Think he can convince him?” Rouge asked, after a few minutes of painful silence. Blue turned a page to his book.

 

“He should. Besides, the boss said he'd leave some stuff open for us to look through,” Blue replied, though he didn't look up from his book, “All we can do is wait, though. We don't want to attract attention right now, and I really don't want to deal with Mrs. Blottson again.” Rouge laughed, though he didn't really blame Blue for not wanting to go. After all, HE was threatened by a frying pan. He certainly wanted to avoid her too. He rolled onto his back and looked at the beige ceiling, counting the tiles for lack of anything else to do at the moment.

 

“Man, I hope he gets back soon…”

 

-----------------------------(Alkaiser the Super Janitor!)

 

Well, at least our favorite pair of twins are well on their way to getting a lead on the case! But can Red convince his boss to open up the lab for them, or will his request be denied because he's a janitor? Will the Cygnus be attacked? Will more cargo be stolen? And will Fuse return? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!