Chapter Two: The Train

The motion of the train was beginning to irritate me now; I had only spent two hours on the damn thing and was now starting to regret the whole thing. I could think of nothing else but the city of Midgar, and the history between us; I never thought I would be returning so soon. It was one of the requests that I had made to HQ: to be located somewhere far from the city that had taken so much from me. As I swigged at a gin and tonic that I kept in a metallic flask, I realised that this assignment must have been an important one. The 'sheriff' knew about my dislike for the city, so he must have had a damn good reason to call me in, or at least I hoped so.

I glanced at my cheap watch, vaguely noting the time: it was near midnight. Once again I would have to contact HQ soon to let them know I'm still alive, but I needed to move; a family of four had situated themselves nearby, and I couldn't risk raising suspicion. Gently closing my briefcase, with contained the radio transceiver, I picked it up and stood up from the chair, making as if I was going to make a call, my PHS radio acting as a cell phone. As I walked down the carriage, I espied a beautiful Asian woman that was at the back of the carriage. Our eyes met as I moved onto the next part of the train, where the cabins were kept; I could have sworn that a faint smile came from her small, well-formed mouth as I passed her. I had never met this woman before, I was sure of it. As I gazed into the cabins, hoping to find a vacant one, I started laughing to myself silently; it had been a while since I had enjoyed female company, being stationed so remotely. Trying to supress my natural urges, I pulled open the door to an empty cabin and sat in the booth, resting my briefcase on the table. Shutting the curtains on the door, my watch glinted at me from the dim light; it was midnight. Not wasting any time- as punctuality was a feature admired in agents- I opened the briefcase and started relaying the A.O.K. message. Sighing deeply as the briefcase closed on top of its own weight, the flask of gin and tonic fell to the floor as I lay down on the soft cover of the chairs; I didn't want any more to drink, as the concoction was obviously dulling my senses. I felt tired, sick and exhausted, perhaps stressed that I would be in Midgar when I next opened my eyes. As the room spun slowly into haziness, I drifted off into a restless sleep.

When I next opened my eyes, I was not greeted by the morning sun through the windows, nor the conductor; I had heard a small noise, like a door closing, which had stirred me from my sleep. Before I had the chance to react, I saw something leap out at me in the darkness. I couldn't make out its form, but there was obviously somebody else in the cabin. Kicking out instinctively, the figure made a noise as my foot connected with its stomach. Not wasting any time, I kicked the light switch on, flooding the room with a bright, fluorescent light which blinding me for a moment. My eyes focusing, I saw with a mixture of exaltation and fear that the person in the room was the Asian girl from before, and this time she was not smiling. Holding a small, but very sharp-looking metal object in her hands, which reminded me of something oriental, she branded it coolly, not taking her eyes from mine. She smiled wickedly as she thrust with the blade. With all my strength, I banded out of the way, avoiding its sharp end; quickly I kicked the girl in her side as I moved toward the door of the cabin. She dropped the blade out of surprise and pain and hurried scrambled to pick it back up again. Before she could do so, I had already taken out my trusty automatic and had it pointed to her temple.

"Surely we can talk about things, first?" I asked, a smile upon my lips. My heart beat wildly in my chest as I pulled the hammer back on the gun; she stopped breathing instantly and turned her gaze to meet mine. Incredulously, she didn't flinch as she sat in the line of fire; she simply laughed and spat something in which I concluded was the language of Wutai—Wutainese. Before I knew it, she had grabbed the knife from the floor, heedless of the revolver I was waving around in her face. I had no choice, I had to pull the trigger.

I shut my eyes as the gun fired, quietened only slightly by the silencer I had attached to it long ago; I didn't want to see the remains of what was such a pretty face. Doing my best to avoid the sight of the bloodied corpse that lay before me, I stared at the wall as I fumbled about for my briefcase. I had to make a call.

"The only substitute for good manners is quick reflexes, sweetheart." I said with a smile, opening the briefcase yet not looking over at my new companion. Feeling that morse code may not be appropriate in such a situation, I took out my PHS radio and did something that the 'sheriff' did not like one bit; I broke radio silence.

"This is Strife." I reported, grinning that I was to annoy my boss so, "with a new report. Over."

"Cloud?" came a deep, gruff voice from the other end. It was my secretary, Jessie Allnight; I should have known that she would be on the other end. It was just like her to work late into the evening, especially on cases in which I was involved. We shared quite a little history together; that all ended when I left Midgar, however. "What are you doing breaking radio silence?" she questioned me, her voice softening as it retained a mocking tone.

"What are you doingup so late?" I replied, evading her question.

"Oh, Cloud," came a loud sigh, "you know how I just love dealing with your assignments. How could I tear myself away and go back to that lonely flat?"

"I got advice for you, dear, find a boyfriend." I wasn't usually so off-handed with the delectable Ms. Allnight, but as I glanced over at the person I had just murdered I realised that this was no social call. Before she could reply in disgust, I interrupted her quickly. "Jessie, I need to obtain radio contact with the sheriff, immediately." My tone was officious and monotonous. "There has been a triple X incident."

I was pretty sure that Ms. Allnight didn't need to check the code book to know what this meant; there had been a fatality already. I smiled, pulling a packet of Lucky's from my shirt pocket; perhaps this was a new record for me. I heard clicks and tones as I was patched through the sheriff; he would not be happy to be awoken at this hour. Lighting up the cigarette, I ignored the shouts and insults received on the radio.

"Sheriff," I began, cutting him off. "There's been a triple X incident in which somebody was killed." I tried my best not to inflect my voice with any kind of emotion; such things were not suitable whilst on the job. "From appearances, it would seem that she was an agent of Wutai. She also spoke in Wutainese before attempting to subdue me; I had no choice but to open fire."

I had no choice but to open fire. I knew those words very well; I had said them countless times over the radio. This girl would simply become another mug shot in my XXX Folder.

"You realise what this means." The sheriff began coldly; I could hear the pauses in between his sentences where he was obviously smoking a cigar. "If this girl is indeed from Wutai, then their government on the other side of the Red Wall have broken the peace agreement. This could have some serious consequences."

"Well, it's possible that she's not an agent of the Wutain government." I suggested, reaching for my gin and tonic flask. I needed it right now, that's for sure. "Is it not possible that she was acting for a non-government organisation, simply opposed to Midgar?" The sheriff was thoughtful for a while; I appreciated the silence as I swigged from the flask. The sheriff was not a stupid man, he knew what I was saying was correct. Hell, even I half-believed it; it wouldn't make sense for them to break the peace agreement like this. "So are you going to let me in over why I was nearly killed by some angry housewife?" I asked, sardonically. I felt I had the right to know.

"Not over the radio, you idiot!" the sheriff spat back; I turned red, my breathing irregular. Of course, I shouldn't have been asking for such delicate information over a radio broadcast. Anybody could be intercepting.

"Sorry." I coughed, quickly, "I'll see you HQ in… boron." My voice was cold and lifeless as I cut the transmission; at least I could remember some of the coding used in radio broadcasts so the sheriff wouldn't yell too loudly when I arrived in Midgar. When transmitting a radio broadcast, we were taught many phrases to use lest the enemy had intercepted the line; substituting ordinary numbers with the atomic numbers of chemical elements was one of these codes. I knew it would have to change soon, as the enemy weren't stupid.

Slowly closing my briefcase, as I held the red leather thing in high regard, I stood up from the seat and clasped it tightly in my hand. Tonight was going to be a long night, without any sleep; I would have to explain to the conductor everything. I was glad I had a phoney police badge issued to all agents, as it would help speed things along. As I left the cabin, I shut the door quietly, not looking back at the dead body of the girl from Wutai.