Under Covers

This story will contain yaoi (man on man love), noncon (rape), lemons (sex), violence, kidnapping, drugs, prostitution, and Leon in a police uniform. If you object to any of the above, the exits are located in the upper left and right hand corners.

Also, I do not own any characters mentioned in this story, nor do I make any money off of it. It all belongs to Squeenix.

Chapter 1

~o+o~

"Farron, what are you doing here?"

He swept into the room like a breeze, and immediately everyone straightened up, ceasing the casual conversations and stacking their files and reports into neat piles. Nobody wanted to get on Leon's bad side especially this early on into the shift.

A woman turned at the question, her asymmetrical haircut disguised in a simple bun on the back of her head.

"My job, captain," she stated incredulously, with a raised eyebrow. She considered adding a snarky comment to the end, but thought better of it while in front of so many other officers.

"You're on leave for the next two weeks. Get out of here," Leon ordered, walking by her without even a glance. Sergeant Farron frowned and rose, following him to his office as he closed the door behind them.

"Leon—"

"That's Captain Leonhart while we're on duty, officer," Leon stated, immediately getting started on the stacks of paperwork on his shiny wooden desk.

"Captain Leonhart," she started, sarcasm dripping viscously from her tone, "I don't need forced leave. I'm fine," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Leon sighed, looking up to her. "Claire…"

"That's Sergeant Farron while we're on duty," she snapped, before looking away with a frown. "At least call me by the name I requested, Leon."

The captain grit his teeth, before putting down his papers and folding his hands together, looking up at the woman in front of his desk.

"I'm sorry, Lightning. But this goes even higher than me. Your brother went missing only days ago, I don't think you're ready—"

"To be back here?" she interrupted, looking back at her commanding officer with distaste. "To do my job? To not be home with nothing to do, to not wonder what's happening to my brother right this second?"

Leon held Lightning's strong gaze for several moments, before narrowing his eyes in a slight defeat.

"I empathize with you, Lightning, I really do. You know we're giving this investigation our all, but you're too close to this one."

When there was no response, he frowned more deeply, pushing forward.

"Lightning, these are the cases where cops in your position turn dirty. I don't want that to happen to you," Leon said quietly, his eyes burning with sincerity.

Lightning lifted her head so that she was looking down her nose at her captain.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" she whispered in quiet agony.

Leon shook his head uncomfortably.

"Pray," he replied just as softly.

Lightning let a humorless chuckle escape her lips, before moving toward the door. She stopped short, her hand on the doorknob, looking back at the man behind the desk.

"You win this round, Leon. But don't blame me when I get up to no good," she said, before she was gone, the door snapping shut behind her.

Leon's teeth grit again, before he looked back down to his paperwork. He sifted through the various cases until he found the name he was looking for—Cloud Strife.

He opened the file, skimming over the information he'd read thousands of times by now. Male, Seventeen, Birthday August 19, etc. Small notes about his personality and the last places he'd been were included. All in all, it was a pretty typical missing person's report.

What wasn't typical was that his adopted sister was Leon's direct underling—Lightning Farron. Leon didn't pretend to know much about Farron's personal life, though she was one of his closer friends at the station, but he knew that she and Cloud were close. A glance at her desk gave that away immediately; though tidy, the corners of the surface were full of pictures- mostly of Lightning with her siblings: Serah Farron, her biological sister and Cloud. Leon, being the good superior he was, had naturally read her file—as well as those of all the rest of his subordinates. She lived with her brother and sister, she supported them; her parents had died several years prior. She loved those kids more than anything else in her life, though the tough shell she'd constructed around herself because of her job would have a stranger believe otherwise.

Leon's eyes had become glazed at his internal thoughts, but he quickly focused again, this time looking at the photo attached to the file. It was Cloud's latest school photo, one of the most recent pictures Lightning could find. Honey blonde hair, pale skin with a few freckles painted across his cheekbones and the bluest eyes Leon had ever seen. He had a lithe build and enough muscle not to be scrawny, but he definitely was no football player.

A frown troubled the captain's face, his thoughts redirecting to possibilities of the boy's whereabouts. Before he'd gotten very far, an unceremonious knock broke his conscious thoughts and the door swung in.

Leon sat up straighter. He eyed the man as he closed the door to his office and flopped carelessly into a chair in front of his desk, smiling lazily.

"Dincht. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Leon asked sarcastically.

"Me and some of the guys are going out for beers after the shift. Wanna come with?" the man asked, running his hand through his blonde hair.

Leon shook his head good-naturedly, raising a hand to decline.

"I'm gonna be here late tonight. But thanks for the offer, Zell." Leon looked up at the man through his brunet bangs when there was no response from the usually loud and upbeat officer in front of him. Zell was frowning, his gaze lowered to the file on Cloud that was open on his desk.

"Is that all, officer?" Leon asked quickly, his voice changing from friendly to the icy tone of a superior.

"Leon…I know I'm not on this case, and we all love Lightning in that coworker kind of way, but you and I know what happened to that boy. She probably does too, but you know…damn. We can't mess with that," Zell said, his countenance softening into something melancholy.

The brunet set his jaw, Zell's words echoing his thoughts. Everyone had come to the same conclusion, whether or not they wanted to admit it; Cloud had most likely been abducted by those 'recruiters' from the slum. His profile fit perfectly; young, cute, naïve. He'd disappeared while attending a concert in Pulse, the big city of which Cocoon, the town where they lived, was a suburb. He'd been with several friends, but their interviews had produced nothing useful; had one of them been sober, they may have realized he was missing in the first place.

Cloud's phone and what looked like small fibers of his clothing had been found in an alleyway nearby. After the forensics teams had swept the scene, traces of his blood and saliva, as well as several other strands of undocumented DNA had been found. Definitely a kidnapping.

Because Leon's part of the division specialized in this kind of investigation, they had naturally given the case to him—on one condition. Sergeant Farron was to be placed on a forced leave for the duration of the case. After much coercion on Leon's part, Lieutenant Fair had agreed to lighten her leave to two weeks if the captain had promised to keep her out of this particular case.

Leon thought back to Cloud, wondering if he'd become one of The Don's playthings yet. He thought about Lightning, about the desperate tear-filled expression that was so out of place on her when she'd told him what happened. He thought about the countless other kids that had disappeared recently, from Cocoon and from other suburban cities, as well as from Gran Pulse itself. These disappearances were all tied together, all with an enormous amount of circumstantial evidence pointing toward The Don and his just-under-the-radar prostitution-drug rings.

Unfortunately, circumstantial evidence wasn't enough to get a warrant to search the Honeybee Inn, The Don's prostitution haven, or anything else tied to him. It didn't help that any informants and witnesses against the crime lord mysteriously disappeared or died the night before the trial they were due for. Worse yet, The Don had his dirty fingers in several multi-billion corporations, making it very difficult for the police to move in on him lightly. If they arrested The Don, the press would have a hay day. They would have to have undeniable proof of The Don's guilt, or they'd be persecuted and hung out to dry by the media—something the higher-ups would avoid at all costs.

Leon thought through all of this within seconds, and looked back up to Zell's downcast expression. In that moment, the captain made up his mind. The Don was behind this, of that he was sure. To hell with politics, Leon was going to get to the bottom of this. He hadn't really been in the field for about two years, but a talk with the Lieutenant may just get him lucky enough to go back under cover. His superior was famous for living up to his name, after all.

"Zell, I'm about to do something crazy. It might not work, but I've got one of those gut feelings. Thanks for pushing me to do it," Leon said as he stood to leave his office, clapping a hand on Zell's shoulder on his way out.

Zell blinked, surprised and completely speechless.

"Uh…you're welcome," he choked out into the empty room.

~o+o~

Leon made his way through the desks and down the hallway of cubicles, his eyes set on the other side of the floor—Lieutenant Fair's office. After being stopped several times with questions and excusing himself from lighthearted chatter, he finally made it to the nicely polished door proclaiming 'LIEUTENANT ZACK FAIR'. Gray eyes glanced up with hesitation for his plan, but he quickly dismissed it, raising a fist and knocking on the door lightly.

A loud and overly happy "COME IN!" greeted this, and Leon tried to hide the grimace that appeared on his expression. Most people complained about their lazy-ass, no-good, grumpy-and-angry-all-the-time boss. Captain Leonhart had the exact opposite problem.

As Leon crossed the threshold, he met his superior's gleaming blue eyes, and was nearly shocked into a good mood by the blunt radiance of Lieutenant Fair's bright smile.

"Leon! What can I help you with today? Or maybe you're just here for a chat? Nah, that wouldn't be it. You're way too serious and professional for that kind of thing. So what do you need? A warrant? A search-and-seizure nod? A date? With a girl?" the Lieutenant spouted out, barely taking a breath.

Leon's jaw set as he closed the door gently behind him, taking a seat in front of Fair's desk.

"No, but thank you, Lieutenant. This has to do with the Strife case."

Blue eyes immediately lost some of their luster, and his smile dimmed to a cautious expression. When his lieutenant stayed silent, Leon pressed on.

"This part is…strictly between you and me. As friends, right?" Leon started, offering a half-smile.

Zack's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he nodded slowly for the other man to continue. Leon leaned forward, his voice lowering to a soft rumble.

"We both know where that kid was taken, and by who. The circumstantial evidence is enormous—" as Zack opened his mouth to argue, Leon raised his hand for no interruptions, "—but we never have enough to pin the bastard. We've had dealers-turned-informants, we've had eye-witnesses, but we've never tried an undercover investigation," Leon finished, raising his eyebrows for added effect.

Leon could tell that the other man's first instinct was to shoot him down, and offer every reason in the book as to why this was a bad idea. Zack's mouth opened and closed, his eyes narrowing in suspicion before widening in thought. The captain sat quietly, scrutinizing his commanding officer's expressions before a half-smile appeared on the lieutenant's face.

"Say…I got this suicide mission approved. Just who are you going to throw to the sharks? This operation would be so dangerous even I would hesitate to take it," Zack said, his voice as low as his subordinate's was.

"I would never order anything I'm not willing to do myself," Leon replied more loudly, sitting straight up, a determined look on his face.

Zack frowned, his lips pulling to one side in thought. The brunet sat silently, waiting for the other man to come to a decision. Several minutes of staring later, Fair let out a sigh, closing his eyes and raising two fingers to his temples.

"You're the only one who gives me such intense headaches, you know that, Leonhart?" Zack said with a chuckle.

Leon raised an eyebrow, waiting for his answer. The black-haired man leaned back in his chair, heaving another sigh before turning to his computer and beginning to type.

"Let me ease the idea to the higher-ups. I'm telling you now, it's not gonna go over well. Even though I'm pretty good with the commissioner, hell, even the DA, this is not going to be easy to get approved," Zack stated strenuously, his eyes glancing over to Leon from his computer screen. Leon nodded, his eyes closing in agreement.

"I know; I came in here knowing that. I came here because I know that you know this is what we have to do. If we let this continue, it's only going to snowball into an uncontrollable avalanche. Screw the media, and screw politics. There are kids out there, dying and even worse—most of them didn't even stand a chance. What the fuck are we doing, sitting in here, when we could be out there helping them, and preventing it from happening again?"

When Leon's eyes opened again, his fierce expression was met by equally burning eyes, and the two men understood each other in those smoldering moments.

"I remember why I promoted you to captain now. Most cops lose that hope and enthusiasm within their first year or two. But you…you've held onto it, somehow," Zack stated lowly. He leaned forward, clapping a hand on Leon's shoulder and squeezing. "I'll get you your approval," the lieutenant started, leaning back in his chair without breaking eye contact, "and you pick your team."

Leon stood, recognizing the tone of dismissal, and nodded his thanks as he reached for the door handle.

"Captain Leonhart."

He froze, halfway out the door already. Zack smirked, resting his chin in a hand.

"You'd better not fuck this up."

Leon let himself smirk as well, taking his leave without a backward glance.

~o+o~

It was dark. Dark and cold. And it hurt, it hurt and everything was buzzing—and oh, where the hell was he?

Cloud Strife tried lifting his head, only to let it fall limply back down onto the cushy surface beneath him. His wrists were bound above his head, and he didn't have the energy to try and lift his legs to see if his ankles were similarly tied up.

The blonde's eyes were heavily lidded, even as he tried to open them the whole way to see his surroundings. His mind was moving slowly however, and all he could register was that he was aching for something, and his body was cold.

Then, shadows. Shadows were moving above him and he heard distant voices. He only caught half of what was being said and even then, it made no sense to his drug-fogged mind.

"...pretty, eh? This one…worth a lot, don't you…Don might take a liking…shame. I'd tap that nice and…maybe a preview wouldn't hurt."

Cloud felt like he was straining his whole body away from the hands he felt on him, but in reality he barely shifted at all. He didn't know what was going on, but he felt that this was wrong. Very wrong. And he didn't want any part of it.

"Do you see his eyes? What a catch," a male voice continued, whistling lowly as a loud clanking noise met Cloud's ears. He then heard soft collecting of fabric on the ground followed by the weight shifting on the bed he was tied to. There was crude cackling a few feet away and another voice against his ear, the warm breath rushing against his cheek.

"This is definitely gonna hurt, kid. Think of it as an initiation. Welcome to the slums."

One of his legs was hoisted up, placed on a muscular shoulder before the hand slid down to the bottom of his thigh, gripping just below his butt. Cloud tried to struggle, he really did—the two men laughed at his pathetic attempts, and soon, the only thing the boy could comprehend was pain.

"Oooh, look at his face. Pain always makes a good whore more beautiful," one of them cackled.

"Yeah, put something in his mouth," the other one panted in reply, thrusting his hips sharply into the trussed-up boy beneath him. "If he screams, it'll be our balls on the chopping block," he gasped.

"Gladly," the other smirked, unzipping his pants and pulling his erect cock out, stroking a few times before pushing his fingers into Cloud's gaping mouth. "Open up, sunshine. If you bite at all, I'll make you wish you were dead. Cause I'm not nice enough to kill ya," he taunted in a sing-song voice.

He immediately shoved his dick into Cloud's mouth, laughing as the boy spluttered and coughed, pulling out for a moment only to shove it back in quickly.

"Yeah, that's right…suck on it."

When the two faceless men finished and readjusted their clothing, laughing and taunting, they left the underground chamber Cloud laid in, leaving only darkness and a strange echoing in their wake. Between the pain and haze surrounding the blonde's head, confusion and a sense of corruption settled in his stomach. Though his hands were still connected to the bars of the headboard above him, Cloud brought his knees up and settled onto his side as best he could.

"Light…I'm sorry," he whispered, before closing his eyes and finding relief in unconsciousness.

~o+o~

A/N: Um. The only thing I can say is, I'm going to hell.

Heheh, this is what happens when I watch too much Law & Order. Seriously. xD Uwaah, poor Cloud. I don't know why I love to torture him so. (And imagining Leon in uniform gives me shiverssaywhut.)

Yeah, so please review? I wrote this nice, long chapter just for your enjoyment. One minute of, "Hey, that was awesome!" or, "Dude, you suck ass. Stop typing, it makes you look stupid," or even a simple ":D" would really make my day. (Maybe not the second one, but I'd like to hear your opinions, no matter what they are. xD)

And thanks to Ronnen who beta'd most of this chapter. I added a few things and reread them myself, so sorry for any mistakes there. :O

Until next time, my lovelies.