Sage Frontier Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of two Fakes! ❯ Unlikely secrets, and two ingenius plans! ( Chapter 9 )

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

 

Blue sat on the floor, looking around the room nervously while waiting for Red to return. Rouge had originally taken to counting the ceiling tiles, but now it looked as though he was napping. The halls outside the room were silent, save for the slight whisper of the wind outdoors, and nothing indicated that Red was coming back.

 

“Rouge, did Red say he was coming right back?” Blue asked, when nearly an hour passed, “Rouge?” Rouge snored lightly and turned over, accidentally throwing a pillow off the bed. Blue got off the floor and looked at Rouge.

 

“ROUGE!” Blue hissed, and his voice became shrill enough to wake Rouge up and cause the startled magician to fall off the bed and crash onto the floor. Rouge shook his head to make sure he was actually up, and then scrambled to the floor, glaring at his twin.

 

“What!? What was that for!?” Rouge snapped angrily, “I was just about to shake hands with Terra Branford!” Blue rolled his eyes as Rouge continued to rant about his dream, and took an opportunity when Rouge stopped to catch his breath.

 

“Rouge, stop,” Blue commanded, and then said calmly, “It's been a while. Where did Red say he was going?” Rouge stopped fuming, and his expression turned to slight concern.

 

“He said he was going to talk to his boss about letting us use the lab,” Rouge replied quietly, picking the pillow up and putting it back on his bed, “Maybe he's just being held up. You know how bosses are. Besides, Red's a janitor. If there's a mess, he's the one who has to clean it up.” Rouge seemed to have satisfied his own worry as he sat back on his bed and took a magazine out to read, but something was still bothering Blue. Even though the boss was on the lowest deck of the ship, Red should've been back by now. But Rouge made a point, perhaps Red just had a run-in somewhere.

 

“So should we just continue to wait for him?” Blue asked after another minute. Rouge lowered his magazine and peered over the top towards Blue, a little upset that Blue was becoming so worried.

 

“What more can we do? We shouldn't just scope out the entire ship,” Rouge stated simply, and then said, “Look, if you're that worried, we can search after I finish this article. But honestly, Red's been known to be late to these sort of things.” Blue nodded, and looked at the door for any signs of entrance. Rouge sighed and continued his own reading. Whatever Blue was worried about, he shouldn't let it bother with his agenda. But a crash somewhere far away made both brothers jump, and once again Rouge fell off the bed.

 

“What the hell was that!?” Rouge asked, recovering from his fall. Blue threw open the door and ran out into the hall. Although no one was currently in there, people were beginning to come out of their own rooms, as they had no doubt come to investigate what the noise was for themselves. Rouge soon followed Blue into the hallway.

 

“Did you see anything!?” Rouge asked, fumbling for his gun. Blue found his gun and shook his head as he loaded it and clicked it. He held it sternly and briskly walked down the hall as another crash was heard.

 

“Everyone remain in your rooms! We are with IRPO!” Blue said loudly, and thankfully, people responded. They shuffled back into their rooms as calmly as possible and closed their doors as Blue and Rouge passed quickly. Sharply, Blue turned a corner and walked down the stairs as another crash was set off.

 

“It's down here, I think,” Blue said, and ran down the rest of the stairs. Since Rouge was still on the landing, he simply jumped over the railing and landed gracefully behind Blue. Without another word, they continued down the hall of the lower deck as alarms began to sound.

 

“Alarms? Man, this must be serious,” Rouge said regretfully, as they passed an office, “I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, bro.” They turned another corner and ran down a short flight of stairs before Blue answered.

 

“It's okay. Right now, we need to know what's going on,” Blue said, as he stopped and poked his head into a random room, “There's no one here. Rouge, let's split up. If you find anyone outside, ask them what's happening and tell them to get into a room immediately. This could be an attack.” Rouge nodded, but didn't hesitate as he dashed towards the other end of the hall and burst into a room. Blue rushed towards another door and blew it open with an Energy Chain. He was in the engine room, and there was Red's boss. But Red wasn't there. Blue immediately rushed to the boss.

 

“Sir, what's going on!?” Blue asked frantically, as a group of people ran down the hall towards the nearest exit, Rouge assisting them whatever way he could. The boss shoved more coal into the furnace, and wiped his forehead as he turned to Blue.

 

“It's as I feared, boy,” he replied, exhaustion in his voice, “We're under attack. I'm trying to get this ship back into the IRPO port, or the closest one I can, but I'm not having much luck.” He tossed another bunch of coal into the furnace, which hissed reluctantly. Blue felt the ship trying to turn, but having very little luck.

 

“Sir, it's dangerous here. Rouge's getting everyone off the ship,” Blue explained, when Rouge popped his head in to see what was happening, “Go with him, get out of the ship.” The boss shook his head.

 

“I can't, my boy,” the boss said wearily, “We still have the rest of the metal. I can't abandon it.” Rouge rolled his eyes, walked in, and grabbed the boss's arms, attempting to drag the man out.

 

“Forget about the metal! We'll get you some new metal!” Rouge huffed, as dragging the resisting boss proved to be a struggle, “Are you telling me some stupid alloy is more important than your life!?” The boss stopped struggling and sighed.

 

“That metal is for a new super weapon we're developing in Shrike,” the boss admitted, “Not for any war in particular, but as an advanced safety measure for cruise ships like ours. If we lose it, I'm worried that whoever does have it will use it for horrible means.” Blue certainly didn't blame the boss for having concerns. But even so, protecting the boss was more important as of now. He could always find a way to intercept the thief later. Rouge stepped aside to let Blue talk some sense to the boss.

 

“I know you're worried, but we'll catch the thief,” Blue assured, “Just please get out of the ship with Rouge. I'll find a way to trap our attackers.” The boss was hesitant, not because he distrusted Blue, but because he didn't want anyone to be left behind if he ran away. But he nodded slowly. Blue turned to Rouge and said, “Bring him to the escape crafts. Ships this size have them somewhere.” Rouge nodded quickly, and rushed out of the engine room with the boss, leaving Blue to plan a strategy.

 

“Okay, tell me where these pods are, gramps,” Rouge said, as they dashed through the hall and up the stairs as a crowd of tourists stampeded through to the nearest escape. The boss pointed up the stairwell.

 

“At the end of the residential cabins are where we keep the crafts,” the boss explained, as Rouge urged him to keep up as they dashed through the corridors, avoiding passengers, “There's another room on this floor, but it's probably full of passengers.” Rouge saw a huge crowd of worried faces at one end of the hall and cursed. The boss was right, as Rouge saw a glimpse of the room with a few small aircrafts, and all of them were filled instantly. Rouge dragged the boss up onto the next floor, and through the bar and up the stairs yet again as more people filed down the stairs to get to the escape room. Thankfully, now the hall was nearly empty as they approached the cabins. Only a few people stood outside the escape room on this floor. Rouge saw that one of them was a friend, too.

 

“Emelia?! What are you doing here?” Rouge asked, slowing down to a walk and letting go of the boss, who seemed to be catching his breath. Emelia, a young blonde woman in a combat suit, smiled when she saw Rouge and waved.

 

“I should ask you the same thing!” she exclaimed, “I'm here on a mission with my two friends, Annie and Liza. What about you?”

 

“I'm on duty with Blue,” Rouge replied plainly, “We work for IRPO right now. Anyway, you'd better get in there, I think Blue said we're under an attack from thieves. He's going to try and trap them while we escape.” Emelia looked at her two friends, and then back at Rouge.

 

“I don't know… if Blue's still here, shouldn't we wait for him?” Emelia asked, but Rouge shook his head vigorously.

 

“No. Blue made it clear, he wants everyone off the ship,” Rouge said sternly, “Listen, take the captain here and get out as fast as you can. I'll stay with Blue and take those idiots out.” Emelia nodded, but her friend, Annie, protested.

 

“Why can't we help!? I'm not afraid of robbers!” she boomed excitedly, “I'll take them with both arms tied behind my back! And blindfolded, too!” Rouge laughed a bit at the girl's enthusiasm, and would've loved to see some fighting, but he knew better than to risk the life of a passenger. He simply pointed to the escape room's door.

 

“A brave gesture, but this is police work. Now, get going, girls,” Rouge commanded. Emelia helped the boss out as Liza held the door opened. Annie followed reluctantly, and when Liza finally slipped through, Rouge decided to go back and help Blue out. He was happy to hear many smaller engines take off as he made his way back down to the lowest level of the ship, as it meant most to all of the passengers had gotten out. Unfortunately, whatever happiness was felt instantly left as a door on the deck was blown open, and Rouge heard the heavy sound of clad boots. He slowed to quiet his steps as he heard voices behind him, but he got away before anyone came around. He didn't want to hear anything, all he wanted was to warn Blue. He burst into the engine room and saw that Blue had gone into the secret room with all of the metal.

 

“Blue! Blue, we have a problem!” Rouge said quickly, slamming the engine room door, “Everyone's gone, but I'm pretty sure the thieves boarded the Cygnus!” Since Blue was preoccupied with the metal at the moment, it took him a while before he even realized Rouge was speaking to him.

 

“Huh…? What?” Blue asked, turning around after five minutes, “Sorry, Rouge. I was trying to think of a way to rig this room. Did you say something?” Rouge grumbled a bit in his mind, but didn't hesitate to repeat himself.

 

“I think there are thieves on board, bro!” Rouge repeated, worried. Blue's eyes widened, and he immediately drew out his gun.

 

“What!? Thieves!?” Blue exclaimed in shock, “But… is everyone all right!?”

 

“Yeah, they all escaped,” Rouge replied, which calmed Blue down. At least they wouldn't have to worry about shooting innocent bystanders. Blue nodded approvingly at Rouge, and walked up into the engine room. He was glad to see that the door was shut and locked, at least for now they had a defense. He inched towards the door, and heard footsteps pass them, but no one outside said anything.

 

“So they're down here already,” Blue whispered, though it was mostly to himself, “I wonder if they know where the metal's hidden.” Rouge shivered, and carefully drew out his gun and loaded it.

 

“What do we do?” he asked, as Blue pressed up against the door silently to see if he could hear anything. This time, there was talking outside, but because of the thick metal door, it was muffled to a certain extent.

 

“…and then we'll take it back to Lad…”

 

“…super weapon…”

 

“…lots of cash… Campbell's part…”

 

“What are they saying?” Rouge whispered, as he kept himself behind Blue. Blue shook his head to mean that he couldn't hear well, but when Rouge didn't understand, he answered.

 

“I'm not sure, but it's about a weapon of some kind,” Blue whispered back, “They're taking the metal somewhere, that's definitely for sure, but where is another question.”

 

“Did they drop any names?” Rouge asked, as the voices went further down the hall. Blue nodded slowly.

 

“Yeah. Something about Campbell. Does it sound familiar?” Blue asked. Rouge looked down to think for a minute. The name did ring a bell, but he couldn't remember from where. He looked around the room absently until his eyes fell on a can in the small microwave, and he snapped his fingers.

 

“Oh! Isn't Campbell's a company that makes soup?” Rouge asked, feeling he'd scored a point. But Blue laughed, and shook his head.

 

“Yeah, but I doubt they'd bring infected alloy there,” Blue said, “No, there's got to be another company with the name Campbell. Did you find Red? Maybe he knows.” Rouge looked down sadly.

 

“I didn't find him anywhere, Blue,” Rouge stated, “I'm worried. What if he's the first thing the thieves got to?” Blue looked thoughtful. That was a possibility, but somehow he didn't think Red was a target for a number of reasons.

 

“I don't know,” Blue said, and then added, “We should go find him. There's a vent in here, if we go through that way, the thieves won't be able to get in and find the metal.” Rouge looked around and saw the vent Blue was talking about, above some crates in the corner. It was a small opening, but they might be able to get in. If they could get the door off first. Rouge walked over, climbed the crates, and pulled on the door. Not surprisingly, it didn't budge, even when he threw an Energy Chain at it.

 

“It's a good idea, but the door's heavy, bro,” Rouge stated, hopping off of the crates, “Think there's a key somewhere?” Blue took a closer look at the metal door. It did look strong, and it was made of titanium, not steel. There were no keyholes anywhere to indicate that a key went with it. Blue sighed and shook his head grimly.

 

“There's no keyhole. But maybe we can pry the door off,” Blue suggested, and pointed towards another crate near the furnace, “Rouge, I think I saw a crowbar over there. Let's use that.” Rouge looked to where Blue was pointing, and something gleamed in the fire light. Curious, Rouge walked over, and scooped up the crowbar. He ran back to Blue and presented it heartily.

 

“Let's pry that sucker off!” Rouge exclaimed, as Blue secured the tool. Thankfully, the crowbar was long, so neither magician had to stand on a crate to tug at it. They pushed and pulled on the crowbar with all of their strength. At first, it didn't seem like anything was happening, but then Blue heard a quiet squeaking noise, and when he gave one last push, the door flew off the vent, spraying stray nails and a hinge everywhere. Protectively, Blue shielded Rouge from the metal nails bulleting towards them, and dusted his shirt off when the onslaught stopped.

 

“I hope the captain doesn't mind a broken vent,” Blue said casually, climbing the crates and into the vent. Rouge gave a little laugh and followed his brother. It didn't take him long to regret Blue's idea. The vent was cramped, dark, and filthy. Dust covered the floor of the vent, and this unpleasant muck covered the rest of the walls. The smell of musk filled the air, making Rouge cough and Blue sneeze. And if that wasn't bad enough, there was a horrible drilling sound to go with it, most probably from the ship's engine.

 

“Damn, doesn't anyone think to clean in here!?” Rouge demanded, after his coughing fit stopped. Blue squinted his eyes to see if anything was up ahead before replying with a snide remark.

 

“It's a vent, Rouge. Even if it was cleaned, the filtering it has to do daily would make it dirty again in no time,” Blue said bluntly, “Besides, I'm sure someone would quit after being forced to go in here.”

 

“I can see why! This place is nasty!” Rouge exclaimed, as they continued to crawl down the tunnel, “Hey, where are we supposed to go, anyway?” Blue stopped to consider where they should head to, and Rouge accidentally crashed into him. Because of the slippery muck, Blue ended up slipping, and grabbed Rouge's collar to steady himself. Unfortunately, Rouge was caught off guard, and they both slid through the vent, only to crash through another door on the other end and slam into the unforgiving, and unamused, ground below. Rouge recovered faster than Blue, as Blue had broken his fall, and he scrambled to his feet, looking around.

 

“Where the hell are we!?” Rouge whispered sharply, because he could hear someone talking outside. Blue rubbed his eyes wearily, and looked around. They were in a nice, spacious suite, despite being on the lowest level. Then it hit Blue where they were.

 

“Rouge, we're in the captain's room,” Blue replied, keeping his voice down just so Rouge could hear him, “And by the sound of things, we're no better off here.” Although Rouge didn't show any signs of it, he agreed with Blue as he walked over to the desk.

 

“But something here doesn't seem right. I overheard you and the captain, and he didn't seem as worried as he should be,” Rouge stated suspiciously, opening the main compartment up, “And I doubt he could possibly be used to thefts, even if they've been happening for a while.” Blue stood up and watched as Rouge took out a pile of envelopes, papers, and graphs, and set them up on the bed.

 

“You think the captain is behind this?” Blue asked, “But why would he attack his own ship?” Rouge sat down and began sifting through his pile.

 

“I don't know what to think, but all I'm saying is that he didn't care that the ship was damaged, he only cared about the metal inside,” Rouge said as he looked over one piece of paper, “If he knows something, he's covering it up with this attack. This happened too soon in our arrival to be an accident. Plus with Red missing, that only adds to the suspicion.” Blue had to agree with that, even though the thought was still unlikely to him. Finally, something caught his eye, and he picked up one of the graphs Rouge had dragged out. He looked it over, blinked, and looked it over again. It was a graph describing the money he was getting for delivering the metal, and then how much he was getting for something else involving the metal. Blue tapped Rouge on the shoulder.

 

“Rouge, I think I found something,” Blue said quickly, and that caught Rouge's attention, “Look at this.” Rouge looked over the paper from Blue's shoulder, and cursed again.

 

“I smell a bribe here,” he said, going over the two figures, “Why is he getting money for delivering it to one place, and then for letting someone else pick up the metal?” Blue looked over towards the right margin of the form, above the second set of numbers. The letters CA were scribbled there, and Blue knew it meant something.

 

“What could CA stand for?” he asked, setting the graph down, “He said he was delivering this cargo for the research lab in Shrike. Besides Nakajima Robotics, the only other research lab is the Biotech Institute. Was he lying to us?” Rouge snorted angrily.

 

“Either that or he's playing double sides to score some cash,” Rouge muttered grimly, “CA could be an initial for someone, but who would have the connections to bribe the captain if he works for Trinity? Trinity knows better than to bribe anyone. And if this research is for them in the first place, why bother bribing the captain at all?”

 

“We need a list of businesses that have anything to do with the Cygnus,” Blue said, taking a blank page and scribbling on it, “So far there's Trinity, and Nakajima. Red had to visit Koorong, so I'll write that down too, but none of them match the initials for CA.”

 

“That's not a convincing piece of evidence,” Rouge stated sadly, “We need Red to help us. But where…” Just as Rouge was about to ask a question, the door to the suite burst open, and three men clad in black ninja suits flew into the walls. Blue and Rouge both jumped, scared to death.

 

“Take that, you vile fiends!” came a deep voice, and then Alkaiser appeared, his golden cape billowing in the unseen wind, “How dare you commit such acts of injustice aboard this ship! I shall right your indecent wrong!” With that, Alkaiser threw another punch, sending the ninjas through the window and into the abyss outside. Then he gave a mighty laugh. Rouge and Blue continued to stare like a deer in the headlights.

 

“What the hell was that!?” Rouge braved, arching an eyebrow. When Alkaiser finally noticed them, he smiled heroically.

 

“Hello, fellow do-gooding comrades! How fares the battle against evil?” Alkaiser asked. Rouge couldn't control himself. He had to laugh, unable to believe that such a literate doofus could possibly be Red. Blue snickered, but managed to keep more control than Rouge could.

 

“We're progressing well, Red,” Blue said calmly, “We found something very interesting, and I think you should take a look at it too.” Alkaiser nodded, and reverted back to Red's human form. Curious, he took the paper Blue handed him, and looked at it. By the look on his face, Red obviously understood what Rouge had found. In a minute of complete outrage, Red nearly shredded the paper to bits until Rouge quickly took it away.

 

“Red!! That's evidence!” Rouge cried, putting the paper into his pocket. Red, however, didn't calm down as he stormed around the room.

 

“I can't believe it! This ship is smuggling goods!” Red ranted, “All along, we've been committing a huge crime! And for what!? A few hundred dollars!?”

 

“Red, just try and calm down. We don't know the entire story yet,” Blue said, helping Red to a chair. Red sat down meekly and buried his hands in his face, unable to believe what he'd read. Blue sat in the chair next to him, and Rouge sat on the floor. Finally, after letting the shock of what happened sink in, Red found the calm he needed.

 

“What else did you manage to find?” he asked quietly. Blue looked at Rouge, and Rouge nodded.

 

“We're pretty sure we found the initials to the company that's bribing you guys,” Rouge answered, “But we can't figure out which company it is. The initials are CA. Do you know anything about it?” Red looked perplexed for a moment, and then slowly nodded. His frown deepened.

 

“That's the initials for the company that runs the CIC building in Manhattan. I think its true name is Campbell Association,” Red said darkly, “They specialize in technical equipment specifically for medical research.” Rouge looked sharply at Blue.

 

“So that's why those morons brought up the name Campbell,” Rouge concluded.

 

“But why would they want a metal that's going to be used to make a super weapon?” Blue asked, “If they're centered on medical equipment, what use is your cargo?” Red shrugged. He didn't understand it either. But he knew one thing, they couldn't sit idly by.

 

“I think we'd better go into the CIC building and check this out for ourselves,” Red said, standing up. Rouge agreed, but Blue had a problem with that idea as he stood up as well and stopped Red from opening the door.

 

“Wait, isn't that risky?” Blue asked, “How are we going to get in? They'll know we're cops.” Red sighed, trying to think of a way to get into the building. They could go through the sewers, but even he hated that idea. A back door wasn't a sound idea, either, as it'd probably be even more fortified with security than the front. But one idea finally did appeal to him.

 

“We could disguise ourselves as workers and slip in,” Red suggested evilly. Blue reluctantly gave up his nagging and let Red explain his plan. The way it worked was that they'd head to Manhattan and go into JC Dobby's, where the CIC received their uniforms. After being outfitted, they'd head to the CIC building directly, and after going through clearance, they'd stealthily investigate the case from the inside. When Blue asked how they'd escape clearance, Red held up an ID card.

 

“Fuse helped me make this card the first time we went into CIC,” Red explained, handing it to Rouge to look at, “I'm a renowned scientist there. If I say you're both my apprentices, they'll let you in easily. Just don't do anything to blow our cover.” Rouge looked at Blue with a mocking look in his eye, but Blue ignored him, as he still had more questions to ask.

 

“Are we taking this ship to Manhattan then?” Blue asked. Red nodded, grabbing a map off the desk.

 

“It'll be less conspicuous if we fill in for my boss and land the ship outside the city,” Red replied, “And in case you're wondering, we don't need to worry about the passengers. They all arrived in Bacarat. That's where the escape pods are linked to.” Blue found this to be pretty convenient, but didn't say anything that'd bring the plan to a halt. Instead, he walked out of the room.

 

“Are we all ready to head to Manhattan?” he asked, and when the other two nodded with determination, Blue led the way to the control room.

 

“Whoever it is we're after, let's hope they don't run.”

 

-----------------------------(End chapter)

 

Well, looks like our favorite pair of twins are even closer to solving their second case! And with Red and Alkaiser on their side, how can they possibly fail? But even with the superhuman on their side, this mission won't be an easy one by any means. After all, they're dealing with possibly an entire enterprising force! Will they need backup, or can they be quiet enough to find everything they need before they're discovered? Will Red's plan even work? And will Fuse somehow waltz right into the scene? Find out the answers to these questions in the next chapter, so click that Review button!