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Entry tags:
Butterfly Effect: Chapter 44
Authors: Bard Linn and Kiraya
Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: ZackxSeph, OCxOC, Assorted Past
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Warnings: None this chapter.
Summary: "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help?"
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 44
Aeris felt the call crash into her like a punch in the gut the moment she stepped down. Swaying, she placed her hand on the Tiny Bronco, tuning out everyone around her, turning her thoughts to the power surging beneath her feet. Wutai, she could sense, had not been drained as Midgar and so many of the other places had been. No reactors existed here, but there was something that made her similarly uneasy to the south…
“…far south as I can land without raising suspicions,” their pilot was saying. “Might have a permit to fly wherever I want, but the south is all jungle and beach, and neither’s good for landing.”
“They would be suspicious in any case. There are no resorts south of here.” Vincent nodded, descending from the small plane. “Thank you for your help. We shall travel the rest of the way by foot.” As Cid leapt down as well, he raised an eyebrow.
“I owe that kid a lot,” he said, “so I’m coming with you. Can’t hurt to have another set of eyes around, right?”
Aeris wanted to scream. Couldn’t they just move? They had to do something — the Lifestream was stronger here than anywhere else she’d been, but that also meant it was far more vocal about things that were out of place, and if they couldn’t take care of it soon—
“Very well. Yuffie, which way?”
“That way.” Aeris pointed, ignoring the look Yuffie gave her. She couldn’t believe they couldn’t feel that.
“More or less. But we have to go west first — there’s a river in the way if we go straight.” Yuffie took off, the rest of the party following.
“Are you okay?” Tifa asked Aeris quietly as they brought up the rear.
“There’s something the Planet does not like in that direction,” Aeris replied softly, trying to keep an eye on her footing. The further they got, the more interesting the terrain became. She wasn’t looking forward to a few days of this.
“I thought it might be that.” Tifa kept her voice down, much to Aeris’s relief. Vincent might know of her heritage, but the rest of the group was ignorant, and she’d prefer to keep it that way. Tell no one had been her mantra growing up, and it was difficult to let it go even now. “Let me know if there is anything I can do to help?”
“I will,” Aeris promised, though she doubted Tifa would be able to do much — other than making sure Aeris got a little extra sleep by taking part of her shift on night watch, or some such. But she appreciated the thought — as odd as the notion of someone trying to help her with her powers was.
Just as she was just about to drift off to sleep as the moon rose on their first night in Wutai, the agitation in the Lifestream abruptly quieted — like a crowd of people calmed to harsh muttering instead of an angry roar. She went absolutely still, eyes wide in the darkness.
“What is it?”
The Cetra had to stifle her cry with a hand over her mouth. She half-heartedly glared up at the red eyes looking down at her in the darkness. Ever since witnessing Valentine’s transformation, she had felt even more uncomfortable around him, as if knowing what was bound inside him somehow made her perception of it clearer. Tifa seemed to take it in stride, but she just couldn’t. Maybe it was one of those differences between being human and being an Ancient…
Finally, she answered him quietly, “The Lifestream was very upset about something, but it just quieted.”
The silence that descended next was just a trifle oppressive. Aeris had to remind herself to breathe as she waited for him to speak. She felt Tifa’s hand lightly touch hers from the next bedroll over, and squeezed back; she was okay.
“Is it entirely silent?”
She shook her head, hand pressed into the forest loam as she listened to the echoes to confirm it. “No. There’s still something there, but it’s not as bad as it was.”
“Do you think something tipped him off?” Tifa’s voice was quiet, but Aeris could tell that both Cid and Yuffie were awake and listening, now.
“It’s possible,” Valentine agreed. “In any case, it appears the major source of the disturbance has left. However, there’s still a possibility we could find some clues. We will continue onward. Yuffie, how long until we reach the area?”
“I’d estimate midday tomorrow, possibly evening at the latest.” Yuffie propped herself up. “The river bends around, so it looks worse than it actually is.”
“Very well.” Vincent rose. “I will stand watch tonight. The rest of you sleep — we need to move as quickly as possible.”
“And how’re you gonna keep up without sleep, huh?” Yuffie asked skeptically.
Tifa elbowed her. “Just let it be.”
Yuffie grumbled as she bedded back down. Tifa and Aeris exchanged a smile in the moonlight, and went to sleep. They would have a long day tomorrow, and Valentine was sure to drive them hard. Still, Aeris couldn’t help the hope that rose within her. Tomorrow, they might find Cloud. Tomorrow, they might bring him home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once they’d passed the river bend, Yuffie’s usefulness as a guide had markedly decreased — she didn’t know their destination any better than they did, after all. Only Aeris’s preternatural senses kept them moving, as she led them straight through all but the most dense brush and largest fallen trees. So focused was she on their destination, it seemed, that the times they had encountered unfriendly wildlife, she’d barely noticed, continuing until someone shouted a warning to her — or a hit had snapped her out of it. After the fight, she’d kneel again — often while someone was casting a Cure on her — to touch the ground, eyes closed for a moment before she’d start off again with a quiet but sure “This way.”
Every so often Cid would mutter something under his breath, and Yuffie would give Aeris a thoughtful look, but they said nothing, merely following until the party finally came across the entrance to a cave system early that afternoon.
“Well I’ll be damned,” said Cid.
“I had no idea there was anything like this out here,” Yuffie commented, studying it. “How did you find this, anyway?”
Aeris looked uncomfortable. “The talent runs in my family?”
“Huh.” Yuffie didn’t seem convinced.
“Let’s take a break to eat something before we go on,” Tifa broke in, and Aeris relaxed slightly.
Lunch was a hurried affair — none of them wanted to dawdle when they were this close to their goal — and soon they started into the cave. Vincent claimed the lead, letting the others decide for themselves how they’d manage light sources and march order and all that.
::You should file a complaint about your scientist altering the landscape,:: Chaos commented in that dry voice of his. ::These caves are new.::
He isn’t my scientist — and why would you care, all of a sudden? Vincent’s eyes flickered as he searched out the dimness ahead of them, well aware that there could be traps anywhere. Hojo wasn’t exactly known for being a welcoming host.
::Something on the left, four feet up.::
The Turk pointed out the trap trigger out to his companions before carefully avoiding it. He felt uneasy, more due to the voice in his mind than Hojo — Chaos was being surprisingly… helpful, and after having been largely silent for so long…
::I’m fond of the child — he’s actually willing to talk to me. Besides, you think I wouldn’t like to get my own claws on that scientist? It is his fault I’m stuck here in the first place.::
Vincent forced himself not to shake his head. The Wutaian girl and the pilot were concerned enough about Aeris; it wouldn’t do draw attention to his own his oddities as well. “Stop,” he said aloud. “It looks like this is the entrance.” He ran one hand over the wall. The computerized lock would not be as problem. The intricate mechanical mechanism, however… He clenched his clawed hand. That could prove difficult.
“Let me see.” Yuffie pushed her way in front of him, examined the lock for a second, and quickly produced a few slim bits of metal — lockpicks. Within two minutes, she had gotten through the mechanical lock; another three and the computer system was also disabled. “And voila!”
Vincent made a mental note to have Tseng watch this one; she had the potential to get into all sorts of trouble.
Once they passed the door, Tifa took point, moving immediately to the surveillance equipment observation screens not far inside. “It looks like no one else is here.” She flickered through several of the cameras’ views. “There are two… tanks here. Full of Mako, it looks like.”
“Those are used with human experiments; we should head that way. First, though…” Vincent strode over to the nearest computer console, hooking up the external drive Reeve had supplied them with. “…I want to see what kind of information we can recover.”
From the way the others shuffled restlessly, they didn’t seem inclined to wait — but this was important. Vincent searched out a way into the system, typing a quick command to copy everything to the drive when he’d finally managed it. The transfer time seemed a small eternity, until a quiet chime pronounced it complete. Everyone relaxed at that, but Vincent wasn’t finished yet — he pored over the data for several minutes more, before he found and deleted both the worm designed to erase the information and the rootkit installer that would’ve created security vulnerabilities in the next system to attempt access. Paranoid, but predictable because of it, Vincent thought as he disconnected the drive and turned to the rest of the party.
Just then, a crash resounded through the facility.
Cid swore, raising his spear. “Of all the fuckin’ times—”
“Adamantaimai!” Yuffie cried, raising her shuriken as she looked at the giant chelonian lumbered closer.
“And thunderbirds,” Tifa added tersely, recognizing them from the trip down.
“Where are the tanks?” Vincent asked, one of his bullets bringing down a bird before the electricity dancing along its feathers could arc out in an attack.
Tifa glanced at the security monitors again. “Through these doors. Looks like they’re back another two or three rooms.”
He nodded. “Take Aeris and Yuffie and go.” Gainsborough was strong in healing and support, the ninja should be able to get them through any security barriers they faced, and Tifa would be able to coordinate their attacks. “We’ll clear these out.”
“Right.” The three sped off as Vincent raised his gun, again aiming for another thunderbird as it dove towards Cid. “Focus on the Adamantaimai.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice. Just keep those damn birds off me.” The pilot grinned, grinding out the butt of his cigarette under his boot. “Let’s get this party started.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yuffie hacked through another security block as Tifa smashed a Tail Vault into the wall. “Got it!” She grinned as the door slid open, and preened a little; all those years of sneaking into hotels to crash for the night paid off. Sure, what she was dealing with here was a bit more complicated, but the principle was the same. Thankfully, this Hojo guy didn’t seem to be very talented when it came to complicated locks — most of this stuff was pretty standard, no special encryption or anything.
Tifa let out a curse as she was bitten. Yuffie swore. “That’s a Bizarre Bug — they’re poisonous—”
“I’ll handle it.” Aeris lightly touched the second green materia in her bracer and raised one hand over Tifa’s bare arm. Yuffie watched with admiration mixed with envy. That Heal was very close to mastered, and Aeris handled magic with a skill Yuffie had never seen. As much as she coveted materia for her collection — for Wutai — she wasn’t as good at using them as she’d have liked.
“Let’s go — we don’t want to wait too much longer.” Tifa forged on ahead, into the room Yuffie had just opened.
The Wutaian was right behind her, wincing at the mental image of being caught buried beneath the earth. Cave-ins weren’t an unknown in Wutai, but nothing she wished to experience personally.
“What the hell!” She skidded to a stop, staring at the body floating in the tank in front of her. It wasn’t Cloud — his (she had to force herself to keep her eyes at chest level, as the body was naked and clearly male) hair was black, though it appeared to be just as spiky as Cloud’s had in his picture. Maybe there was something in SOLDIERs that made people’s hair stand on end? Though that wouldn't explain the Silver Demon…
“That’s impossible,” Tifa said flatly, staring. “We saw Zack just a few months ago.”
“You know this guy?” Yuffie asked, turning to her.
“That’s Zack. He’s Cloud’s friend — another SOLDIER.”
Yuffie was about to open her mouth to ask about the hair when Aeris cut in. “That isn’t Zack.” The other women looked at her in confusion. Yuffie felt a shiver go down her spine; something in Aeris’s eyes looked decidedly… off. Otherworldly, like she was something more than human—
“That isn’t Zack,” Aeris repeated. “I don’t think that thing has ever really been… alive.”
“It looks just like him, though…” Tifa muttered, frowning as she gazed at the figure. “—So the body like Cloud’s they found at Costa del Sol… it must have been a clone! Hojo must have made them—”
“In case he ever had a chance to swap them for the real thing.” Aeris looked troubled — a much more natural expression on her, to Yuffie’s relief. “That means he was planning to go after them… but why?”
“I don’t know. We’ll find out later — for now, let’s get Cloud and get out of here.” Tifa shook her head. “I just can’t shake this bad feeling. The lab at Nibelheim collapsed. What if this one does, too?” She moved past the tank to the next one. Yuffie followed, immediately approaching the computer console attached to it. She frowned as she worked; this one was substantially harder than anything she had seen before.
“How long will it take you?” Aeris looked over her shoulder.
“I’m not sure I can get this one,” Yuffie confessed, “at least doing it this way. I may have to mess with the mechanics.” She ducked under the controls of the tube. “Do either of you have a Lightning materia?”
Tifa reached into her pocket. “I want it back,” she said warningly.
“If it works, I’ll let you have it, no charge.” Yuffie wedged it in close to the control lock, and backed up as much as she could, leaving one finger touching it. She focused on it carefully — this trick could easily fry the lock if she wasn’t careful — and released just a smidgeon of power into the materia. It sparked—
“Gotcha.” Yuffie looked smug, rising from under the console and setting to work, typing a few commands on the keyboard.
“What’d you do?” Tifa asked.
“If you pour a little extra juice into the cables on these things, you can sometimes convince the computer it’s been reset.” She typed rapidly. “There — think I got it.” The Mako started draining out of the tube. “I’m going to lift the glass. Be ready to catch him.”
Tifa grabbed Cloud as he fell forward, the glass locking in place barely three feet off the floor. She dragged him out and managed to get him over a shoulder. “He’s heavy.”
“‘Course he’s heavy. SOLDIERs aren’t made of glass.” Yuffie rolled her eyes. She admitted, however, that he seemed to be in pretty good condition for someone who’d supposedly been locked up like this for several years.
Aeris hurried to Cloud’s other side. “Yuffie, you think you can handle anything that comes up?”
“Probably.” Yuffie plucked the Lightning materia out from under the machinery. “You two just going to carry him like that, or you wanna see if there’s anything we can cover him up with before we get out of here?”
Both of the others blushed; they had been trying not to look at Cloud — or the Zack clone — but… “We don’t have time,” Tifa said adamantly. “If we see something, we’ll use it. Let’s go.”
They hurried back up the way they had come. Yuffie used her shuriken to eliminate a few more Bizarre Bugs, but their trip back to the entrance was mostly uneventful.
As they entered the main cavern, Valentine holstered his gun and walked towards the trio. He removed the red cape from his shoulders and draped it around Cloud, taking the SOLDIER into his arms without blinking at the weight. Yuffie raised her eyebrows at that, only to be elbowed by Tifa. She wasn’t stupid; there was definitely something up with the red-eyed man. He was far stronger than he looked if he could lift their rescuee so easily. And there was something… weird with his bone structure or something — too many angles, too sharp. He almost looked skeletal without the cape covering him, yet he was clearly strong and healthy.
Not for the first time, Yuffie cursed her luck in falling in with this group. There was something very, very wrong with at least half of ‘em. She silently vowed to get away as soon as she could. Damn weirdness could be catching.
“Glad you found the kid, but we can’t carry ‘im all the way back to the Bronco,” Cid observed, pulling a new cigarette from his pocket. “She can’t take that many passengers.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Vincent replied. “Now that we have a definite location, I can call in additional personnel.” He shifted his burden. “Let’s get back from the entrance a ways. I’ll call for backup once we’re outside.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They were on an airship.
A real, honest-to-Gaea airship.
Oh, it wasn’t a top-of-the line one — the Highwind had been commissioned years ago — but still! Tifa tried not to bounce on her heels as she followed Cid up to the bridge. Everyone had heard of the massive vessels in Midgar. She never would’ve thought she’d be lucky enough to get to ride on one.
“Captain Highwind?” A nervous-looking crew member stopped the pilot, who had taken the lead once they boarded. Vincent had vanished into the rear of the ship without letting anyone see Cloud. Tifa had opted to keep Yuffie and Aeris with her for now, and to follow Cid’s lead. He clearly knew his way around the vessel — not much of a surprise, considering the name — and they had to have a decent-sized party on ShinRa business. “It’s such an honor to meet you, sir. I heard all about you going up in the rocket — if you have time, could you come tell the crew some about it before we get back to Midgar?”
Cid swelled with pride, clearly pleased to be recognized. “Soon as I get my party settled with the captain, I’d be glad to.”
“Right this way, sir — Captain Barrington is waiting for you.” He turned and led them up to the bridge, which Tifa thought was pretty amusing — it was quite clear Cid didn’t need the guide. She noted no few looks of admiration sent Cid’s way as they entered the bridge, but also caught the look of utter disgust on the captain’s face before he hid it. Interesting. The crew might admire Cid, but clearly the Highwind’s current captain did not…
Barrington stepped forward. “We received a request to pick up important ShinRa personnel.” His eyes slid over their party, and from the expression on his face Tifa tell they didn’t pass muster. Certainly, they were something of a motley crew — a pilot, a Turk informant, a Wutaian, a gardener — and even Aeris, the highest-ranked of them all, looked rather disreputable in her grass- and mud-stained dress. “I don’t see anything that warranted dropping our current assignment and detouring halfway across the world.”
“Well, maybe you should get your eyes checked, then,” Cid drawled. “And on the way back to Midgar, we need to make a stop and pick up the Tiny Bronco. I’ll give your navigator the coordinates.”
“Tiny Bronco?”
Cid took a long drag on his cigarette. “My plane.”
A vein in Barrington’s temple twitched. “This vessel is not your personal cargo ship, Highwind!”
Aeris stepped forward. “Please do so. Captain Highwind has risked a great deal to help the Company on this endeavor.”
The other captain sneered. “I don’t care if he’s turned straw into gold. We aren’t his—”
“Aeris, you remember your passcodes, don’t you?” Tifa interrupted, not liking the dirty look the captain had given her friend. “Why don’t we call Reeve? I’m sure he’ll be able to provide authorization for the pickup. After all, the President does need the material and intel we recovered during our trip.” Barrington looked startled, and suddenly far less haughty and self-superior. Tifa pressed her advantage, shifting her weight slightly — just enough to make her presence a little more intimidating. “I’m fairly certain that he can have a complaint filed on the captain’s record. Keeping members of the company from completing their assignments is grounds for demotion, isn’t it?”
Barrington paled. “Fine!” he snapped. “We’ll pick up the damn plane.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Navigator’s over there. Give him the information.”
One of the lower-ranked crewmembers appeared at Aeris’s elbow. “We have prepared a few cabins for your party, miss. Would you like to see them?”
“Please.” Aeris smiled at him. Tifa bit back a smile of her own as her genuine appreciation won her another convert. It was a good thing Aeris didn’t want to do anything with power, because she could probably charm water out of a rock if she tried. “It has been a very long trip and I think we would all like to get some rest.”
The crew hadn’t, it turned out, enough bunks for them to each have one to themselves. Tifa volunteered to share with Yuffie, but it turned out that wasn’t necessary. As soon as they took off, Yuffie ended up in sickbay, completely miserable with the worst case of motion sickness Tifa had seen in years. Vincent, it seemed, had already figured out what rooms they would be in, for Cloud had been safely tucked away in the second bed in Aeris’s room by the time Tifa returned from making sure Yuffie was in good hands.
She locked the door behind her as she entered, noting Aeris’s look of concentration as she sat beside Cloud, one hand on his brow. Tifa settled on the bed, not interrupting her. Being friends with Aeris had, especially after this last trip, not only increased Tifa’s patience, but also her respect for her. While she had long ago come to admire Aeris’s abilities with materia, she had only recently realized how much of those Cetra abilities she had mastery over. Aeris regretted deeply that her mother had never been able to teach her more. Considering her skill, though, Tifa couldn’t help wondering what a fully trained Ancient would be able to…
Aeris finally moved about fifteen minutes after Tifa had entered. “How is he?” she asked immediately.
“I don’t know,” Aeris admitted. She stretched, working out the kinks her prolonged stillness had created. “I tried, but I can’t get in touch with him. Maybe it’s just because I’m so far above the Planet.”
“Or…?” Tifa looked at her. She had come to recognize when Aeris was upset even when she was trying to hide it. This was clearly one of those times.
“His soul… isn’t there.” Aeris shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s been trapped, or it passed over into the Lifestream, or…”
“Maybe he’s just hiding,” Tifa suggested, squeezing Aeris’s hand. “After being in Hojo’s hands for so long, maybe he retreated inside his mind or something.”
“I suppose it’s possible.” Aeris still looked doubtful. “I’ll try again when we get back to Midgar.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They had decided to keep Cloud’s return a secret — as much as they possibly could, anyway. Valentine, Aeris, Tifa, Captain Highwind and Princess Kisaragi (that had been a surprise) all knew, and had been sworn to secrecy. Zack bet that Tuesti also knew — it seemed there wasn’t a lot Aeris kept hidden from him anymore. On the other hand, he’d shown over and over again he could be trusted. Thinking about it now, Zack was fairly certain that Tuesti had suspected Aeris’s heritage even before they had figured it out, and hadn’t said a word. It would fit what he had seen; Reeve Tuesti was very protective of his employees.
Tseng, of course, would know, if he didn’t already. He probably had figured out the minute Valentine reappeared in Midgar, though he seemed, to Zack’s Sephiroth-trained eyes, restless. He wouldn’t be surprised if Valentine left again. They hadn’t caught Hojo, and it looked like the former Turk had finally fully regained the drive that was characteristic of most Turks.
Zack had himself contacted four others to let them know of Cloud’s rescue. Scott and Paul had agreed to take shifts keeping an eye on him, and Arthur and Morgan were even now going over the results of the baseline data they had collected. Hopefully, they could figure out what had happened. He could tell they were baffled by the blond’s condition, which made him nervous. Cloud clearly needed help, but who could they trust to provide it?
Other than that, they hadn’t told anyone. Not even Cloud’s mother, or Elmyra — Aeris and Tifa had voluntarily sworn they wouldn’t tell her. As for Mrs. Strife… Zack would call her as soon as her son woke up. If everything went downhill and they had to put Cloud down… well, it didn’t make any sense to get her hopes up.
Zack sat back in his chair, watching his friend. Cloud was breathing on his own, which was a relief, and he seemed okay — they hadn’t found any signs of mutation, at least.
The knock on his door surprised him. Technically, these were his assigned quarters, but ever since Cloud had vanished three years ago, he had all but lived in Sephiroth’s quarters. He still kept these on file, though, mostly to appease the higher-ups with the fiction that he wasn’t fraternizing with a superior officer. Upon getting Valentine’s message that they had recovered Cloud, Sephiroth had pointed out this was the perfect place to put him.
Still, no one came by here anymore except for Zack himself, to pick up this occasional forgotten something or to put that away in storage for a while. He rose from his chair, one hand on the knife at the small of his back, and opened the door.
Robert Matheson stood there, looking faintly amused. The man had clearly come from work, though Zack was relieved to see that he had at least ditched the lab coat.
“Can I help you?”
“The better question would be can I help you,” Matheson replied, “but I don’t think we should discuss this in the hallway. May I come in?”
Zack froze for a second, thinking. If he came in, there was no way he wouldn’t see Cloud — First Class quarters weren’t that big, despite what rumor said — and once he did…
On the other hand, why else would he be here? Zack finally nodded and stepped aside to let him in, releasing his hold on the knife for the moment. “What do you want?”
“I want to help you with SOLDIER Strife. And don’t give me that look, Sinclair — you SOLDIERs are terrible at keeping secrets and everyone knows it.”
“How many people know?”
“For sure? Not many, yet. I have a few advantages over the rest of my department, and I intend to keep it that way. It helps keep them unbalanced.” The man looked far too calm for Zack’s liking. “The rumor going around is that Ms. Gainsborough brought back something that could cause a great shift in power — whether in the positive or the negative depends on whom you ask. There’s another rumor going around that a SOLDIER was exposed to it, and it caused a mutation that you’re trying to keep secret.”
“And you know about Cloud because…?”
“I was well aware that you were searching for him, remember. Also, the fact that the ‘mutated SOLDIER’ is in your quarters makes it clear — and my daughter is suddenly sneaking looks at my science journals. She’s very good at what she does, and her husband is improving every day, but they aren’t scientists — they’re medics. Generally speaking, they’re good at applying known solutions to problems, but figuring out a new treatment, particularly at this level, is beyond their current capabilities.” Matheson raised his eyebrows, and Zack felt a bit of a smile cross his lips despite himself. He’d forgotten Matheson was Morgan’s father. “Finally, the Turks have already forwarded me some of the files they recovered from Hojo’s lab. Reading about a ‘Specimen C’ confirmed it.”
“I appreciate the offer, but won’t that look suspicious, the head of the department coming down here?” If they were doing as poor of a job hiding things as Matheson claimed, they hardly needed to make it worse.
“Not at all — I’ll just tell them that I have a charge entrusted to me by the President, and that the context is top secret. This will merely encourage the rumor that Ms. Gainsborough brought back some substance that altered a SOLDIER, but will push it in the positive direction — that it made the SOLDIER stronger in some fashion, as opposed to causing him to mutate.”
Because a mutation, Zack silently filled in, would result in death. “And having him here?”
“SOLDIERs are often delusional when exposed to unknown substances that actually have an effect on their metabolism. Familiar surroundings will help. Your quarters are unused most of the time — we all know that, Zack, even if nobody’s said anything — and having SOLDIERs watch over the patient will be beneficial if he becomes violent, as I’m sure he wouldn’t take well to restraints.” He smiled slightly. “I won’t come by often — Morgan can do most of the sampling that must be done, and I don’t want her, Arthur, or myself alone with Strife. At least one SOLDIER, preferably you or the General, should accompany us. When Cloud wakes, I would prefer not to be thrown across the room.”
Zack couldn’t help the glimmer of optimism at that. Not “if,” “when.” Either Matheson knew something they didn’t, or he’d decided to take a positive outlook on the situation. “I can do that. I’ll talk to Sephiroth about it. There’s two Seconds who are helping us out too.” And maybe Valentine. Surely Cloud would respond well to him.
“Very well. If you’re willing, I’ll take a few baseline readings now and get back up to the lab. Hojo’s records are very detailed, but his shorthand and coding is a little arcane. The Turks are working on it, but I suspect a good deal of discovering what has actually been done to Cloud will be trial and error.” Zack nodded, showing him to the patient’s bedside. It was nice to actually have help from the science department for once!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So you’re leaving us again.”
Vincent met Tseng’s eyes calmly, despite his personal anxiety. “Hojo lives; that much is obvious.” He was tired of waiting, tired of watching the world go by. At one point, doomed to eternal sleep in Nibelheim, he would have welcomed it, but not anymore. He had been willing to wait, and waiting had left Cloud in Hojo’s hands for far too long. It was past time the man paid his dues.
“The material you recovered will give us a good lead.” Tseng’s voice was neutral.
Vincent shook his head slightly. “If he’s not already aware that the lab has been compromised, he soon will be.”
“He can’t have unlimited funding and resources,” Tseng said reasonably. “He must be running out of hidden laboratories.”
Logical Vincent, rule-abiding Vincent, would follow the Turk Leader’s implied command.
To hell with rule-abiding. He was a consultant, not a contracted ShinRa employee, and he should take advantage of that while he still could. Sooner or later they would decide he was too dangerous and knew too much to leave alive — particularly if he continued to work on his own and resisted being brought back into the fold — and he fully intended to see Hojo’s treasured brains splattered on the ground before then. For real, this time.
::I approve.::
Ignoring Chaos, Vincent rose. “If there is nothing else you require…?”
“Go. Report in when you can.”
Valentine felt oddly touched by that. The order indicated that Tseng actually cared. Strange, how he had gone from being ‘dead’ to actually having a bizarre sort of family again. He nodded and left Tseng’s office, only to have Reno and Rude flag him down. He gave the pair a sharp look. Rude was a competent Turk, silent and focused, with sound skill in the martial arts and a talent for working with explosives. Reno, on the other hand, seemed to have forgotten that he was no longer a street child, and Vincent didn’t care much for his rambunctiousness, even if it was some ostentatious facade.
“Look, Valentine. We want you to take this.” The redhead tossed him an ID card. “That’ll get you into the Golden Saucer, and let you take out one of our chocobos.”
“You… raise chocobos?” Vincent felt his eyebrows raise in surprise despite himself.
“Rude supervises their breedin’ and I race ‘em.” Reno looked smug. “Win a ton in the races — we found some kook up north who calls himself the ‘Chocobo Sage’ — gave us all sorts of advice on it. Great way to supplement your salary.”
Being a jockey, Vincent reflected, suited Reno very well. The crowds and excitement would only further drive him to pull off the impossible. Rude, on the other hand, had the patience to ensure that they bred the best lines they could… and he was sure that between the two of them they did quite well at discouraging any possible attempted sabotage.
“…Thank you.” There were many places that had not yet been fully explored because they were difficult to reach by car or boat. A chocobo, particularly a mountain or river one, would be very helpful in that endeavor.
“Nail that bastard, wouldya? I like Strife; he’s a good kid and a damned fine SOLDIER. Good influence on the General, too.” Reno waved and he left. Vincent pocketed the card. It wouldn’t hurt to try it.
Lucrecia… you’ll be avenged soon. I swear it.
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Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: ZackxSeph, OCxOC, Assorted Past
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Warnings: None this chapter.
Summary: "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help?"
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 44
Aeris felt the call crash into her like a punch in the gut the moment she stepped down. Swaying, she placed her hand on the Tiny Bronco, tuning out everyone around her, turning her thoughts to the power surging beneath her feet. Wutai, she could sense, had not been drained as Midgar and so many of the other places had been. No reactors existed here, but there was something that made her similarly uneasy to the south…
“…far south as I can land without raising suspicions,” their pilot was saying. “Might have a permit to fly wherever I want, but the south is all jungle and beach, and neither’s good for landing.”
“They would be suspicious in any case. There are no resorts south of here.” Vincent nodded, descending from the small plane. “Thank you for your help. We shall travel the rest of the way by foot.” As Cid leapt down as well, he raised an eyebrow.
“I owe that kid a lot,” he said, “so I’m coming with you. Can’t hurt to have another set of eyes around, right?”
Aeris wanted to scream. Couldn’t they just move? They had to do something — the Lifestream was stronger here than anywhere else she’d been, but that also meant it was far more vocal about things that were out of place, and if they couldn’t take care of it soon—
“Very well. Yuffie, which way?”
“That way.” Aeris pointed, ignoring the look Yuffie gave her. She couldn’t believe they couldn’t feel that.
“More or less. But we have to go west first — there’s a river in the way if we go straight.” Yuffie took off, the rest of the party following.
“Are you okay?” Tifa asked Aeris quietly as they brought up the rear.
“There’s something the Planet does not like in that direction,” Aeris replied softly, trying to keep an eye on her footing. The further they got, the more interesting the terrain became. She wasn’t looking forward to a few days of this.
“I thought it might be that.” Tifa kept her voice down, much to Aeris’s relief. Vincent might know of her heritage, but the rest of the group was ignorant, and she’d prefer to keep it that way. Tell no one had been her mantra growing up, and it was difficult to let it go even now. “Let me know if there is anything I can do to help?”
“I will,” Aeris promised, though she doubted Tifa would be able to do much — other than making sure Aeris got a little extra sleep by taking part of her shift on night watch, or some such. But she appreciated the thought — as odd as the notion of someone trying to help her with her powers was.
Just as she was just about to drift off to sleep as the moon rose on their first night in Wutai, the agitation in the Lifestream abruptly quieted — like a crowd of people calmed to harsh muttering instead of an angry roar. She went absolutely still, eyes wide in the darkness.
“What is it?”
The Cetra had to stifle her cry with a hand over her mouth. She half-heartedly glared up at the red eyes looking down at her in the darkness. Ever since witnessing Valentine’s transformation, she had felt even more uncomfortable around him, as if knowing what was bound inside him somehow made her perception of it clearer. Tifa seemed to take it in stride, but she just couldn’t. Maybe it was one of those differences between being human and being an Ancient…
Finally, she answered him quietly, “The Lifestream was very upset about something, but it just quieted.”
The silence that descended next was just a trifle oppressive. Aeris had to remind herself to breathe as she waited for him to speak. She felt Tifa’s hand lightly touch hers from the next bedroll over, and squeezed back; she was okay.
“Is it entirely silent?”
She shook her head, hand pressed into the forest loam as she listened to the echoes to confirm it. “No. There’s still something there, but it’s not as bad as it was.”
“Do you think something tipped him off?” Tifa’s voice was quiet, but Aeris could tell that both Cid and Yuffie were awake and listening, now.
“It’s possible,” Valentine agreed. “In any case, it appears the major source of the disturbance has left. However, there’s still a possibility we could find some clues. We will continue onward. Yuffie, how long until we reach the area?”
“I’d estimate midday tomorrow, possibly evening at the latest.” Yuffie propped herself up. “The river bends around, so it looks worse than it actually is.”
“Very well.” Vincent rose. “I will stand watch tonight. The rest of you sleep — we need to move as quickly as possible.”
“And how’re you gonna keep up without sleep, huh?” Yuffie asked skeptically.
Tifa elbowed her. “Just let it be.”
Yuffie grumbled as she bedded back down. Tifa and Aeris exchanged a smile in the moonlight, and went to sleep. They would have a long day tomorrow, and Valentine was sure to drive them hard. Still, Aeris couldn’t help the hope that rose within her. Tomorrow, they might find Cloud. Tomorrow, they might bring him home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once they’d passed the river bend, Yuffie’s usefulness as a guide had markedly decreased — she didn’t know their destination any better than they did, after all. Only Aeris’s preternatural senses kept them moving, as she led them straight through all but the most dense brush and largest fallen trees. So focused was she on their destination, it seemed, that the times they had encountered unfriendly wildlife, she’d barely noticed, continuing until someone shouted a warning to her — or a hit had snapped her out of it. After the fight, she’d kneel again — often while someone was casting a Cure on her — to touch the ground, eyes closed for a moment before she’d start off again with a quiet but sure “This way.”
Every so often Cid would mutter something under his breath, and Yuffie would give Aeris a thoughtful look, but they said nothing, merely following until the party finally came across the entrance to a cave system early that afternoon.
“Well I’ll be damned,” said Cid.
“I had no idea there was anything like this out here,” Yuffie commented, studying it. “How did you find this, anyway?”
Aeris looked uncomfortable. “The talent runs in my family?”
“Huh.” Yuffie didn’t seem convinced.
“Let’s take a break to eat something before we go on,” Tifa broke in, and Aeris relaxed slightly.
Lunch was a hurried affair — none of them wanted to dawdle when they were this close to their goal — and soon they started into the cave. Vincent claimed the lead, letting the others decide for themselves how they’d manage light sources and march order and all that.
::You should file a complaint about your scientist altering the landscape,:: Chaos commented in that dry voice of his. ::These caves are new.::
He isn’t my scientist — and why would you care, all of a sudden? Vincent’s eyes flickered as he searched out the dimness ahead of them, well aware that there could be traps anywhere. Hojo wasn’t exactly known for being a welcoming host.
::Something on the left, four feet up.::
The Turk pointed out the trap trigger out to his companions before carefully avoiding it. He felt uneasy, more due to the voice in his mind than Hojo — Chaos was being surprisingly… helpful, and after having been largely silent for so long…
::I’m fond of the child — he’s actually willing to talk to me. Besides, you think I wouldn’t like to get my own claws on that scientist? It is his fault I’m stuck here in the first place.::
Vincent forced himself not to shake his head. The Wutaian girl and the pilot were concerned enough about Aeris; it wouldn’t do draw attention to his own his oddities as well. “Stop,” he said aloud. “It looks like this is the entrance.” He ran one hand over the wall. The computerized lock would not be as problem. The intricate mechanical mechanism, however… He clenched his clawed hand. That could prove difficult.
“Let me see.” Yuffie pushed her way in front of him, examined the lock for a second, and quickly produced a few slim bits of metal — lockpicks. Within two minutes, she had gotten through the mechanical lock; another three and the computer system was also disabled. “And voila!”
Vincent made a mental note to have Tseng watch this one; she had the potential to get into all sorts of trouble.
Once they passed the door, Tifa took point, moving immediately to the surveillance equipment observation screens not far inside. “It looks like no one else is here.” She flickered through several of the cameras’ views. “There are two… tanks here. Full of Mako, it looks like.”
“Those are used with human experiments; we should head that way. First, though…” Vincent strode over to the nearest computer console, hooking up the external drive Reeve had supplied them with. “…I want to see what kind of information we can recover.”
From the way the others shuffled restlessly, they didn’t seem inclined to wait — but this was important. Vincent searched out a way into the system, typing a quick command to copy everything to the drive when he’d finally managed it. The transfer time seemed a small eternity, until a quiet chime pronounced it complete. Everyone relaxed at that, but Vincent wasn’t finished yet — he pored over the data for several minutes more, before he found and deleted both the worm designed to erase the information and the rootkit installer that would’ve created security vulnerabilities in the next system to attempt access. Paranoid, but predictable because of it, Vincent thought as he disconnected the drive and turned to the rest of the party.
Just then, a crash resounded through the facility.
Cid swore, raising his spear. “Of all the fuckin’ times—”
“Adamantaimai!” Yuffie cried, raising her shuriken as she looked at the giant chelonian lumbered closer.
“And thunderbirds,” Tifa added tersely, recognizing them from the trip down.
“Where are the tanks?” Vincent asked, one of his bullets bringing down a bird before the electricity dancing along its feathers could arc out in an attack.
Tifa glanced at the security monitors again. “Through these doors. Looks like they’re back another two or three rooms.”
He nodded. “Take Aeris and Yuffie and go.” Gainsborough was strong in healing and support, the ninja should be able to get them through any security barriers they faced, and Tifa would be able to coordinate their attacks. “We’ll clear these out.”
“Right.” The three sped off as Vincent raised his gun, again aiming for another thunderbird as it dove towards Cid. “Focus on the Adamantaimai.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice. Just keep those damn birds off me.” The pilot grinned, grinding out the butt of his cigarette under his boot. “Let’s get this party started.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yuffie hacked through another security block as Tifa smashed a Tail Vault into the wall. “Got it!” She grinned as the door slid open, and preened a little; all those years of sneaking into hotels to crash for the night paid off. Sure, what she was dealing with here was a bit more complicated, but the principle was the same. Thankfully, this Hojo guy didn’t seem to be very talented when it came to complicated locks — most of this stuff was pretty standard, no special encryption or anything.
Tifa let out a curse as she was bitten. Yuffie swore. “That’s a Bizarre Bug — they’re poisonous—”
“I’ll handle it.” Aeris lightly touched the second green materia in her bracer and raised one hand over Tifa’s bare arm. Yuffie watched with admiration mixed with envy. That Heal was very close to mastered, and Aeris handled magic with a skill Yuffie had never seen. As much as she coveted materia for her collection — for Wutai — she wasn’t as good at using them as she’d have liked.
“Let’s go — we don’t want to wait too much longer.” Tifa forged on ahead, into the room Yuffie had just opened.
The Wutaian was right behind her, wincing at the mental image of being caught buried beneath the earth. Cave-ins weren’t an unknown in Wutai, but nothing she wished to experience personally.
“What the hell!” She skidded to a stop, staring at the body floating in the tank in front of her. It wasn’t Cloud — his (she had to force herself to keep her eyes at chest level, as the body was naked and clearly male) hair was black, though it appeared to be just as spiky as Cloud’s had in his picture. Maybe there was something in SOLDIERs that made people’s hair stand on end? Though that wouldn't explain the Silver Demon…
“That’s impossible,” Tifa said flatly, staring. “We saw Zack just a few months ago.”
“You know this guy?” Yuffie asked, turning to her.
“That’s Zack. He’s Cloud’s friend — another SOLDIER.”
Yuffie was about to open her mouth to ask about the hair when Aeris cut in. “That isn’t Zack.” The other women looked at her in confusion. Yuffie felt a shiver go down her spine; something in Aeris’s eyes looked decidedly… off. Otherworldly, like she was something more than human—
“That isn’t Zack,” Aeris repeated. “I don’t think that thing has ever really been… alive.”
“It looks just like him, though…” Tifa muttered, frowning as she gazed at the figure. “—So the body like Cloud’s they found at Costa del Sol… it must have been a clone! Hojo must have made them—”
“In case he ever had a chance to swap them for the real thing.” Aeris looked troubled — a much more natural expression on her, to Yuffie’s relief. “That means he was planning to go after them… but why?”
“I don’t know. We’ll find out later — for now, let’s get Cloud and get out of here.” Tifa shook her head. “I just can’t shake this bad feeling. The lab at Nibelheim collapsed. What if this one does, too?” She moved past the tank to the next one. Yuffie followed, immediately approaching the computer console attached to it. She frowned as she worked; this one was substantially harder than anything she had seen before.
“How long will it take you?” Aeris looked over her shoulder.
“I’m not sure I can get this one,” Yuffie confessed, “at least doing it this way. I may have to mess with the mechanics.” She ducked under the controls of the tube. “Do either of you have a Lightning materia?”
Tifa reached into her pocket. “I want it back,” she said warningly.
“If it works, I’ll let you have it, no charge.” Yuffie wedged it in close to the control lock, and backed up as much as she could, leaving one finger touching it. She focused on it carefully — this trick could easily fry the lock if she wasn’t careful — and released just a smidgeon of power into the materia. It sparked—
“Gotcha.” Yuffie looked smug, rising from under the console and setting to work, typing a few commands on the keyboard.
“What’d you do?” Tifa asked.
“If you pour a little extra juice into the cables on these things, you can sometimes convince the computer it’s been reset.” She typed rapidly. “There — think I got it.” The Mako started draining out of the tube. “I’m going to lift the glass. Be ready to catch him.”
Tifa grabbed Cloud as he fell forward, the glass locking in place barely three feet off the floor. She dragged him out and managed to get him over a shoulder. “He’s heavy.”
“‘Course he’s heavy. SOLDIERs aren’t made of glass.” Yuffie rolled her eyes. She admitted, however, that he seemed to be in pretty good condition for someone who’d supposedly been locked up like this for several years.
Aeris hurried to Cloud’s other side. “Yuffie, you think you can handle anything that comes up?”
“Probably.” Yuffie plucked the Lightning materia out from under the machinery. “You two just going to carry him like that, or you wanna see if there’s anything we can cover him up with before we get out of here?”
Both of the others blushed; they had been trying not to look at Cloud — or the Zack clone — but… “We don’t have time,” Tifa said adamantly. “If we see something, we’ll use it. Let’s go.”
They hurried back up the way they had come. Yuffie used her shuriken to eliminate a few more Bizarre Bugs, but their trip back to the entrance was mostly uneventful.
As they entered the main cavern, Valentine holstered his gun and walked towards the trio. He removed the red cape from his shoulders and draped it around Cloud, taking the SOLDIER into his arms without blinking at the weight. Yuffie raised her eyebrows at that, only to be elbowed by Tifa. She wasn’t stupid; there was definitely something up with the red-eyed man. He was far stronger than he looked if he could lift their rescuee so easily. And there was something… weird with his bone structure or something — too many angles, too sharp. He almost looked skeletal without the cape covering him, yet he was clearly strong and healthy.
Not for the first time, Yuffie cursed her luck in falling in with this group. There was something very, very wrong with at least half of ‘em. She silently vowed to get away as soon as she could. Damn weirdness could be catching.
“Glad you found the kid, but we can’t carry ‘im all the way back to the Bronco,” Cid observed, pulling a new cigarette from his pocket. “She can’t take that many passengers.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Vincent replied. “Now that we have a definite location, I can call in additional personnel.” He shifted his burden. “Let’s get back from the entrance a ways. I’ll call for backup once we’re outside.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They were on an airship.
A real, honest-to-Gaea airship.
Oh, it wasn’t a top-of-the line one — the Highwind had been commissioned years ago — but still! Tifa tried not to bounce on her heels as she followed Cid up to the bridge. Everyone had heard of the massive vessels in Midgar. She never would’ve thought she’d be lucky enough to get to ride on one.
“Captain Highwind?” A nervous-looking crew member stopped the pilot, who had taken the lead once they boarded. Vincent had vanished into the rear of the ship without letting anyone see Cloud. Tifa had opted to keep Yuffie and Aeris with her for now, and to follow Cid’s lead. He clearly knew his way around the vessel — not much of a surprise, considering the name — and they had to have a decent-sized party on ShinRa business. “It’s such an honor to meet you, sir. I heard all about you going up in the rocket — if you have time, could you come tell the crew some about it before we get back to Midgar?”
Cid swelled with pride, clearly pleased to be recognized. “Soon as I get my party settled with the captain, I’d be glad to.”
“Right this way, sir — Captain Barrington is waiting for you.” He turned and led them up to the bridge, which Tifa thought was pretty amusing — it was quite clear Cid didn’t need the guide. She noted no few looks of admiration sent Cid’s way as they entered the bridge, but also caught the look of utter disgust on the captain’s face before he hid it. Interesting. The crew might admire Cid, but clearly the Highwind’s current captain did not…
Barrington stepped forward. “We received a request to pick up important ShinRa personnel.” His eyes slid over their party, and from the expression on his face Tifa tell they didn’t pass muster. Certainly, they were something of a motley crew — a pilot, a Turk informant, a Wutaian, a gardener — and even Aeris, the highest-ranked of them all, looked rather disreputable in her grass- and mud-stained dress. “I don’t see anything that warranted dropping our current assignment and detouring halfway across the world.”
“Well, maybe you should get your eyes checked, then,” Cid drawled. “And on the way back to Midgar, we need to make a stop and pick up the Tiny Bronco. I’ll give your navigator the coordinates.”
“Tiny Bronco?”
Cid took a long drag on his cigarette. “My plane.”
A vein in Barrington’s temple twitched. “This vessel is not your personal cargo ship, Highwind!”
Aeris stepped forward. “Please do so. Captain Highwind has risked a great deal to help the Company on this endeavor.”
The other captain sneered. “I don’t care if he’s turned straw into gold. We aren’t his—”
“Aeris, you remember your passcodes, don’t you?” Tifa interrupted, not liking the dirty look the captain had given her friend. “Why don’t we call Reeve? I’m sure he’ll be able to provide authorization for the pickup. After all, the President does need the material and intel we recovered during our trip.” Barrington looked startled, and suddenly far less haughty and self-superior. Tifa pressed her advantage, shifting her weight slightly — just enough to make her presence a little more intimidating. “I’m fairly certain that he can have a complaint filed on the captain’s record. Keeping members of the company from completing their assignments is grounds for demotion, isn’t it?”
Barrington paled. “Fine!” he snapped. “We’ll pick up the damn plane.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Navigator’s over there. Give him the information.”
One of the lower-ranked crewmembers appeared at Aeris’s elbow. “We have prepared a few cabins for your party, miss. Would you like to see them?”
“Please.” Aeris smiled at him. Tifa bit back a smile of her own as her genuine appreciation won her another convert. It was a good thing Aeris didn’t want to do anything with power, because she could probably charm water out of a rock if she tried. “It has been a very long trip and I think we would all like to get some rest.”
The crew hadn’t, it turned out, enough bunks for them to each have one to themselves. Tifa volunteered to share with Yuffie, but it turned out that wasn’t necessary. As soon as they took off, Yuffie ended up in sickbay, completely miserable with the worst case of motion sickness Tifa had seen in years. Vincent, it seemed, had already figured out what rooms they would be in, for Cloud had been safely tucked away in the second bed in Aeris’s room by the time Tifa returned from making sure Yuffie was in good hands.
She locked the door behind her as she entered, noting Aeris’s look of concentration as she sat beside Cloud, one hand on his brow. Tifa settled on the bed, not interrupting her. Being friends with Aeris had, especially after this last trip, not only increased Tifa’s patience, but also her respect for her. While she had long ago come to admire Aeris’s abilities with materia, she had only recently realized how much of those Cetra abilities she had mastery over. Aeris regretted deeply that her mother had never been able to teach her more. Considering her skill, though, Tifa couldn’t help wondering what a fully trained Ancient would be able to…
Aeris finally moved about fifteen minutes after Tifa had entered. “How is he?” she asked immediately.
“I don’t know,” Aeris admitted. She stretched, working out the kinks her prolonged stillness had created. “I tried, but I can’t get in touch with him. Maybe it’s just because I’m so far above the Planet.”
“Or…?” Tifa looked at her. She had come to recognize when Aeris was upset even when she was trying to hide it. This was clearly one of those times.
“His soul… isn’t there.” Aeris shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s been trapped, or it passed over into the Lifestream, or…”
“Maybe he’s just hiding,” Tifa suggested, squeezing Aeris’s hand. “After being in Hojo’s hands for so long, maybe he retreated inside his mind or something.”
“I suppose it’s possible.” Aeris still looked doubtful. “I’ll try again when we get back to Midgar.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They had decided to keep Cloud’s return a secret — as much as they possibly could, anyway. Valentine, Aeris, Tifa, Captain Highwind and Princess Kisaragi (that had been a surprise) all knew, and had been sworn to secrecy. Zack bet that Tuesti also knew — it seemed there wasn’t a lot Aeris kept hidden from him anymore. On the other hand, he’d shown over and over again he could be trusted. Thinking about it now, Zack was fairly certain that Tuesti had suspected Aeris’s heritage even before they had figured it out, and hadn’t said a word. It would fit what he had seen; Reeve Tuesti was very protective of his employees.
Tseng, of course, would know, if he didn’t already. He probably had figured out the minute Valentine reappeared in Midgar, though he seemed, to Zack’s Sephiroth-trained eyes, restless. He wouldn’t be surprised if Valentine left again. They hadn’t caught Hojo, and it looked like the former Turk had finally fully regained the drive that was characteristic of most Turks.
Zack had himself contacted four others to let them know of Cloud’s rescue. Scott and Paul had agreed to take shifts keeping an eye on him, and Arthur and Morgan were even now going over the results of the baseline data they had collected. Hopefully, they could figure out what had happened. He could tell they were baffled by the blond’s condition, which made him nervous. Cloud clearly needed help, but who could they trust to provide it?
Other than that, they hadn’t told anyone. Not even Cloud’s mother, or Elmyra — Aeris and Tifa had voluntarily sworn they wouldn’t tell her. As for Mrs. Strife… Zack would call her as soon as her son woke up. If everything went downhill and they had to put Cloud down… well, it didn’t make any sense to get her hopes up.
Zack sat back in his chair, watching his friend. Cloud was breathing on his own, which was a relief, and he seemed okay — they hadn’t found any signs of mutation, at least.
The knock on his door surprised him. Technically, these were his assigned quarters, but ever since Cloud had vanished three years ago, he had all but lived in Sephiroth’s quarters. He still kept these on file, though, mostly to appease the higher-ups with the fiction that he wasn’t fraternizing with a superior officer. Upon getting Valentine’s message that they had recovered Cloud, Sephiroth had pointed out this was the perfect place to put him.
Still, no one came by here anymore except for Zack himself, to pick up this occasional forgotten something or to put that away in storage for a while. He rose from his chair, one hand on the knife at the small of his back, and opened the door.
Robert Matheson stood there, looking faintly amused. The man had clearly come from work, though Zack was relieved to see that he had at least ditched the lab coat.
“Can I help you?”
“The better question would be can I help you,” Matheson replied, “but I don’t think we should discuss this in the hallway. May I come in?”
Zack froze for a second, thinking. If he came in, there was no way he wouldn’t see Cloud — First Class quarters weren’t that big, despite what rumor said — and once he did…
On the other hand, why else would he be here? Zack finally nodded and stepped aside to let him in, releasing his hold on the knife for the moment. “What do you want?”
“I want to help you with SOLDIER Strife. And don’t give me that look, Sinclair — you SOLDIERs are terrible at keeping secrets and everyone knows it.”
“How many people know?”
“For sure? Not many, yet. I have a few advantages over the rest of my department, and I intend to keep it that way. It helps keep them unbalanced.” The man looked far too calm for Zack’s liking. “The rumor going around is that Ms. Gainsborough brought back something that could cause a great shift in power — whether in the positive or the negative depends on whom you ask. There’s another rumor going around that a SOLDIER was exposed to it, and it caused a mutation that you’re trying to keep secret.”
“And you know about Cloud because…?”
“I was well aware that you were searching for him, remember. Also, the fact that the ‘mutated SOLDIER’ is in your quarters makes it clear — and my daughter is suddenly sneaking looks at my science journals. She’s very good at what she does, and her husband is improving every day, but they aren’t scientists — they’re medics. Generally speaking, they’re good at applying known solutions to problems, but figuring out a new treatment, particularly at this level, is beyond their current capabilities.” Matheson raised his eyebrows, and Zack felt a bit of a smile cross his lips despite himself. He’d forgotten Matheson was Morgan’s father. “Finally, the Turks have already forwarded me some of the files they recovered from Hojo’s lab. Reading about a ‘Specimen C’ confirmed it.”
“I appreciate the offer, but won’t that look suspicious, the head of the department coming down here?” If they were doing as poor of a job hiding things as Matheson claimed, they hardly needed to make it worse.
“Not at all — I’ll just tell them that I have a charge entrusted to me by the President, and that the context is top secret. This will merely encourage the rumor that Ms. Gainsborough brought back some substance that altered a SOLDIER, but will push it in the positive direction — that it made the SOLDIER stronger in some fashion, as opposed to causing him to mutate.”
Because a mutation, Zack silently filled in, would result in death. “And having him here?”
“SOLDIERs are often delusional when exposed to unknown substances that actually have an effect on their metabolism. Familiar surroundings will help. Your quarters are unused most of the time — we all know that, Zack, even if nobody’s said anything — and having SOLDIERs watch over the patient will be beneficial if he becomes violent, as I’m sure he wouldn’t take well to restraints.” He smiled slightly. “I won’t come by often — Morgan can do most of the sampling that must be done, and I don’t want her, Arthur, or myself alone with Strife. At least one SOLDIER, preferably you or the General, should accompany us. When Cloud wakes, I would prefer not to be thrown across the room.”
Zack couldn’t help the glimmer of optimism at that. Not “if,” “when.” Either Matheson knew something they didn’t, or he’d decided to take a positive outlook on the situation. “I can do that. I’ll talk to Sephiroth about it. There’s two Seconds who are helping us out too.” And maybe Valentine. Surely Cloud would respond well to him.
“Very well. If you’re willing, I’ll take a few baseline readings now and get back up to the lab. Hojo’s records are very detailed, but his shorthand and coding is a little arcane. The Turks are working on it, but I suspect a good deal of discovering what has actually been done to Cloud will be trial and error.” Zack nodded, showing him to the patient’s bedside. It was nice to actually have help from the science department for once!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So you’re leaving us again.”
Vincent met Tseng’s eyes calmly, despite his personal anxiety. “Hojo lives; that much is obvious.” He was tired of waiting, tired of watching the world go by. At one point, doomed to eternal sleep in Nibelheim, he would have welcomed it, but not anymore. He had been willing to wait, and waiting had left Cloud in Hojo’s hands for far too long. It was past time the man paid his dues.
“The material you recovered will give us a good lead.” Tseng’s voice was neutral.
Vincent shook his head slightly. “If he’s not already aware that the lab has been compromised, he soon will be.”
“He can’t have unlimited funding and resources,” Tseng said reasonably. “He must be running out of hidden laboratories.”
Logical Vincent, rule-abiding Vincent, would follow the Turk Leader’s implied command.
To hell with rule-abiding. He was a consultant, not a contracted ShinRa employee, and he should take advantage of that while he still could. Sooner or later they would decide he was too dangerous and knew too much to leave alive — particularly if he continued to work on his own and resisted being brought back into the fold — and he fully intended to see Hojo’s treasured brains splattered on the ground before then. For real, this time.
::I approve.::
Ignoring Chaos, Vincent rose. “If there is nothing else you require…?”
“Go. Report in when you can.”
Valentine felt oddly touched by that. The order indicated that Tseng actually cared. Strange, how he had gone from being ‘dead’ to actually having a bizarre sort of family again. He nodded and left Tseng’s office, only to have Reno and Rude flag him down. He gave the pair a sharp look. Rude was a competent Turk, silent and focused, with sound skill in the martial arts and a talent for working with explosives. Reno, on the other hand, seemed to have forgotten that he was no longer a street child, and Vincent didn’t care much for his rambunctiousness, even if it was some ostentatious facade.
“Look, Valentine. We want you to take this.” The redhead tossed him an ID card. “That’ll get you into the Golden Saucer, and let you take out one of our chocobos.”
“You… raise chocobos?” Vincent felt his eyebrows raise in surprise despite himself.
“Rude supervises their breedin’ and I race ‘em.” Reno looked smug. “Win a ton in the races — we found some kook up north who calls himself the ‘Chocobo Sage’ — gave us all sorts of advice on it. Great way to supplement your salary.”
Being a jockey, Vincent reflected, suited Reno very well. The crowds and excitement would only further drive him to pull off the impossible. Rude, on the other hand, had the patience to ensure that they bred the best lines they could… and he was sure that between the two of them they did quite well at discouraging any possible attempted sabotage.
“…Thank you.” There were many places that had not yet been fully explored because they were difficult to reach by car or boat. A chocobo, particularly a mountain or river one, would be very helpful in that endeavor.
“Nail that bastard, wouldya? I like Strife; he’s a good kid and a damned fine SOLDIER. Good influence on the General, too.” Reno waved and he left. Vincent pocketed the card. It wouldn’t hurt to try it.
Lucrecia… you’ll be avenged soon. I swear it.
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