Disclaimer – don't ask, don't own
A/N The reaction to chapter 1 was…explosive. I had originally planed the first part of this to be part of that but, it got kind of long so I cut it down. Also I'll be using the FF VII basic setup for Materia so for anyone expecting Materia from Crisis Core or Before Crisis to appear, sorry. So here's the next chapter
Shinji Ikari
SOLDIER of ShinRa
Chapter 2
Arrival
Jan 3 2018
17 year old Shinji Ikari stood by a pay phone on one of the streets of Tokyo 3. He had recently been called back to the city by his birth father after being abandoned at the station nearly a decade ago. For what he didn't know, but he assumed it was only because the man had some use for him. The intelligence they had on this organization he ran, NERV, was sketchy at best.
He'd have to plank Reno for that one. The Turks usually didn't mess up but they seemed to have dropped the ball on this one. He was basically walking into the situation blind. He wasn't alone though; with him were 2 other members of SOLDIER, 22 year old SOLDIER 2nd class Zack Fair and 19 year old SOLDIER 3rd class Cloud Strife.
He pulled out a picture of the woman who was supposed to be there too meet them, Misato Katsuragi. She was 33 years old, but didn't look a day over 24. She had long dark purple hair and, in the picture at least, sported a pair of cut offs and a tank top. He put the picture away a moment later, sighing in annoyance; the woman was almost an hour late.
"Where the hell is she?"
Zack shrugged.
"Who knows, maybe this was just a Chocobo chase and we can all go home"
Cloud let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah right, you just want to get back to Midgar to see Aerith"
Zack sent his friend a small glare. It was common knowledge Zack was dating the Flower Girl that lived in the Slums in Sector 5, Aerith Gainsborough. Zack, not taking this lying down, was quick to fire back.
"Oh yeah, and what about you and Tifa"
Cloud just blushed but didn't even respond. He and Tifa Lockhart had grown up together in Nibelheim and only parted when Cloud had left to join SOLDIER. And while he had barely made the cut, he had still made it. She owned a bar in the slums of Sector 7 called 7th Heaven.
Shinji, like Zack and Cloud wore standard SOLDIER uniforms. Zack, despite being a 2nd Class SOLDIER wore the standard black afforded to 1st Class. Both Shinji and Cloud wore the dark blue of 3rd Class. The trio had also decided to forgo the standard issue helmets. For their weapons none of the three carried the ShinRa SOLDIER standard issue sword anymore. Zack carried a Mythril Saber across his back with Lightning 1, Fire 2, and a Cure Materia in the swords 3 slots. Cloud carried the much simpler looking sword Hardedge. Unlike Zack's Mythril Saber, which looked like a broadsword not a saber, Cloud's Hardedge held 4 Materia slots though only 3 were taken up with Lightning 1, Ice 1, and Cure Materia. Across Shinji's back sat the sword Butterfly Edge. Lightning 1, Fire 1, Cure, and Sense Materia slotted into the swords 4 slots.
Shinji thought back to the last time he had been here 13 years ago, in fact at the train station they had just left. He thought about that day when he met the woman who became his guardian, ShinRa company exec Scarlet, and started on the path to his current and probably permanent job. ShinRa's elite military group SOLDIER.
He was just 3rd class, the lowest Rank in SOLDIER. But that was still better than any platoon of regular troops.
Misato Katsuragi sped through the streets of Toyko3 in search of Shinji Ikari. She had been late arriving at the train station only to find him gone. One of the attendants had told her he had gone into the city to find a phone when the alarms began to blare. She also mentioned that he had 2 others with him. All three were wearing the same thing even though the colors were somewhat different with swords on their backs.
"Damn it why did I have to loose him at a time like this, why now"
She raced through the streets looking for the teen, occasionally looking over at his file. She had read the file Section 2 had compiled on SOLDIER, and she didn't like it. SOLDIER was basically ShinRa's own super soldier program. Some of the feats credited to members of the organization were beyond human. ShinRa claimed it was the result of careful combinations of advanced training and Mako Infusion. Mako energy was a commonly known energy source. Its crystallization process was also the source of Materia. Her own side arm, a standard issue 9mm pistol, held one Materia slot on its handle, occupied by a single Cure Materia.
ShinRa, most of the world's electrical power was now supplied by them or one of their subsidiaries. A single order given by the ShinRa executives and most of the world would go dark. And of course to top it all off the 3rd Angel was inbound. This day was just getting better by the moment.
Shinji stood by the phone, Cloud sat on the edge of the sidewalk with his feed hanging out into the vacant road, and Zack…he paced around behind the pair impatiently.
"I tell ya man, I'm about this close to calling Reno for an extract"
Shinji face palmed, Zack could be a bit to impatient at times. Cloud sighed.
"He wouldn't come anyway Zack, were on a mission in case you've forgotten"
Shinji then noticed something out of the corner of his eye, a blue haired girl wearing a school uniform standing in the middle of the street staring at the trio of SOLDIERs.
"A girl?"
He turned to Zack and Cloud but then turned round again, the girl was gone.
"Where did she go?"
"Where did who go?"
Cloud and Zack were both looking at him strangely. Shinji pointed over to where he had seen the blue head.
"There was a girl about 17 or so standing over there just now"
Just then the sound of a distant explosion drew their attention.
There in the distance stood a titan of a creature. Over 50 meters in height it was green and black with a red orb in its chest which almost resembled a gigantic red Materia. And it seemed determined to destroy anything in its path. The UN VTOLs were dropping like flies before it. One crashed down the street from the SOLDIERs, and was promptly stepped on. Deafened by the crafts explosion they barely heard the squeal of tires as a blue Renault screeched to a stop between him and Green Thing. The door of the car vehicle opened revealing the person Shinji was looking for, Misato Katsuragi.
"Get in, sorry if I'm real late"
The three piled in with Shinji in the front and the other two in the back. The purple haired driver then sped away with her new passengers. She knew bringing the other two along would cause trouble for her but she was short on time and an argument would probably have gotten them killed. After they were a few blocks away Shinji chanced a look at the green titan which Zack and Cloud were busy studying as well.
"Mind telling me what that was"
Misato kept her eyes on the road ahead.
"Oh, that was an Angel"
Zack scoffed.
"Angel…right, keep telling yourself that"
They drove on for a bit in silence, Shinji began to think to himself.
'What was that, she called it an angel…?'
Shinji narrowed his eyes.
'Or some kind of summons maybe, like Bahamut'
As the car sped on Shinji couldn't help but wonder exactly what other surprises lay in store. He highly doubted that, what ever they were, they would NOT be pleasant ones.
A/N yes I know it's a short one. Just wanted to put this out to let you all know its still going. Next chapter the crew will get involved in the 3rd angel battle and the General will make his first appearance.