1. Highway to the Danger Zone (1/2)

highway

to the danger zone.

disclaimer:

i don't own anything, not even the chair i'm sat on! so if you want to sue,

expect to get nothing. seriously though, all final fantasy characters belong to

squaresoft...

author

note: i try to make every story i write unique and different from the last.

at least that is the plan anyway! title for this fic

is from a song by kenny loggins. i believe it is from

the top gun sound-track, but i may have to check into that. anyway, i suggest

you find it if you haven't heard it before.

the

background: a team of criminals have been sweeping esthar,

causing a record number of twenty- three major robberies in the past few

months. so far, no sufficient evidence has been gathered by the police to

connect the crimes with anyone. but as the criminals try for bigger prizes,

will they become blinded and forget to cover their tracks?

"i'm

a cowboy,

on

a steel horse i ride.

i'm

wanted,

dead or alive."

~bon

jovi

a black motorbike sped through the

dark, deserted streets of esthar, sending a booming

noise into the deathly quiet black air with a sharp change of gear. sirens

screeched after it with a piercing high squeal, and in a few seconds the owners

of the noise appeared, skidding round the corner. a flashing blue light on top

of the police cars

oke into everyone's window as it pursued the mocking

figure on the bike.

"he's heading down bond

street, over," stated a voice from an electronic

device. the statement was

oken up into pieces with gaps of silence inserted

where there shouldn't be. but the words were instantly understood by the

trained ear.

the motorbike shifted into its

highest gear and sped as fast as it could up towards the main road.

"watch out; there he goes,"

commented another. "we'll cut him off at the east

road

idge."

the police cars continued to submit

their commands and observations to one another, unaware that they were being

listened to by a pirate station. the radio messages were now in the knowledge

of a small team inside an old warehouse on the edge of the city. a tall woman

with long blonde hair scraped up in a bun grabbed a pair of earphones with a

microphone attached to them and sat down in front of a computer screen.

quickly, she loaded a map of the city. a moving red dot showed her the exact

location of the speeding motorbike.

"this is hq owl to dark-raid1, do

you read me? over."

"dark-raid1

reading you loud and clear. over."

"they are planning to cut you off at

the east

road

idge.

the nearest car is at zone2 garage. over."

"roger that."

there was silence in the cold,

abandoned warehouse--the same sinister silence that had occupied it for so many

years. but this time it had the power to cut into their ears and quicken the

beating of their hearts so they pounded in their chests.

"quistis,

where is he now?" a small figure asked from the other side of the room.

the blonde woman flicked her eyes

back to screen to answer the question.

"10 minutes from the car swap," quistis replied, following the little red dot with her

eyes. after hearing this answer her friend looked up from her work and smiled.

"come on, squall, you can make

it," commented the smaller female to

herself. she then

buried herself back into her work, her face disappearing into a car bonnet to

look at the engine. there was a loud amount of clanking and clicking noises

from her direction for awhile, and then she seemed to give up.

but still the bike

raced on--the rider enjoying the adrenaline rushing through his veins until he

was blinded to everything else. the entrance to the east

road opened up on his

right and he swerved away from it and into a nearby garage. the police cars

could be heard gaining ever closer every second, but they couldn't see where he

had gone.

a man with spiked

blonde hair placed a helmet on his head and jumped on the bike. he gave a

'thumbs up' and sped out of the garage seconds before the police saw where it

came from. the black clad rider watched the blonde man and his bike speed up

towards the trap laid out on the

idge. smiling in a crazed fashion, he threw

his bag into the back seat of a silver bmw and started

the engine. the car crept silently out of the garage and rode smoothly along in

the opposite direction to the

idge.

the bike now started

to race over the east

idge.

a long line of metal spikes across the road could be clearly seen now, and the

scattered police hid behind it with their microphones and guns.

"stop now. you

have nowhere to go," shouted a voice amplified by a microphone. but the man

took no notice and revved harder.

the bike continued

its dangerous speed until it swerved precariously and hit the service ramp

before jumping the railing and plunging towards the black water below. both

bike and rider hit the water at the same time. the bike surfaced and was

instantly spotted by the police left on the

idge.

"there is no sign of

the criminal," one of the officers commentated into his radio, his eyes still

searching the water.

"yes!" quistis screamed. "selphie, he did it! he did it!"

the small girl

screamed and hugged her friend.

"i knew he could,"

selphie said, smiling. quistis patted her hand and

laughed, forgetting all her cares for that one happy moment.

after pressing a few

more buttons, quistis

ought the map back to the

screen. the red dot was now blinking in the zepher river.

"dark-raid1, where is your

location?" quistis asked into her microphone. selphie

sat anxiously next to her and looked at her face intently. a fuzzy noise came

back in reply.

"20 miles north of

hq. i'm about to take the connecting road now... wait...oh, holy shit!" quistis's eyes widened. what was happening? it would have

to be something bad; there was no room for error in their plan.

"what? dark-raid, are you there?" quistis asked, almost screaming her question. selphie

jumped out of her chair and shouted into the mouthpiece until quistis took it away. but it was no good; he was gone.

"selphie, he's gone."

"but what happened?" selphie asked,

sitting back down to calm herself. "our plan was flawless. what is going on?"

"i don't know, but squall can take