Chapter Three...sorry for making Tifa seem like a wimp...I got carried away. So, I formed a little apology...
Lucy heard the ever annoying sound of her ring tone.
"I've got to change this tune when I get the chance."
She flipped her cell phone open and answered.
"Hello…speaking?"
"Ah! Lucy, dear…I haven't heard your voice in so long."
Lucy smiled and sat down on the couch in her room.
"Madame Luciano," she replied back. "Oh, it's so good to hear from you."
On the other end, Jenova strolled through a pathway between her vineyards. Like a lioness stalking her prey, her steps were relaxed yet calculating all the same. The "workers" of the vineyard cut away at the stems that yielded the precious fruit. In more than two weeks, most were fated to become wine, while the rest were for eating or selling.
"How well is your status?" Jenova asked. "Is Blue Lotus interfering with our plans? Is Gerald catching wise? And what of our secret?"
"No," Lucy replied. "They're still completely ignorant…and they're not even close to finding out…our secret."
"The secret is all I truly care about."
Lucy pressed the cell between her shoulder and ear. She reached for a glass of wine on the table. As she listened to Madame Luciano, she sipped the wine and immediately cringed.
"How disgusting," Lucy whispered.
"What?"
"The complimentary wine I received at the hotel," Lucy explained. "It tastes putrid compared to the wine from your grapes."
Lucy heard a heart laugh come across the line.
"My wine tastes better than the grapes that which they come from...it reminds me...of you, my dear. You are exactly like the wine...as is Sephiroth...as is Cloud...as are the others."
Jenova heard Lucy hum in understanding. Oh...how Lucy missed the wine.
"Can you send me a bottle or two?" Lucy asked. "I want to have some while I'm here. I don't like working for Gerald...I hate pretending to be ignorant...I didn't care for torturing old man Shinra...for information. After all, we already know the secret...it was a waste of energy!"
"But you failed to find out where the samples were hidden," Jenova corrected.
Lucy slumped on the couch, finally remembering. The samples were also the priority.
"Darn! I forgot that. The stupid samples!"
"It's alright dear," Jenova said soothingly. "It's no big deal...the samples do not matter. Sephiroth is taking care of his half of the job. Your job is to keep the secret a secret. Can you do that for me Lucy, dear?"
"Yes...mother dear..."
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Tifa trudged back to the hotel, alone. Her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides, and her teeth were gnashing.
"The nerve!" she snarled. "One minute we're talking...he answers the phone...and then tells me to kindly leave. What's the matter with him?"
Tifa passed by an alley way and suddenly felt her jacket being grabbed. The hand tugged her roughly in, and Tifa found herself encountering thugs. They spoke in the only language that they knew: Chinese.
"Hello their, pretty lady," said one of the thugs.
He grabbed Tifa's arm and she scowled in annoyance.
"Don't worry...as long as you give us the money, we won't..."
His face quickly made contact with her fist. He went flying backwards, into the arms of second thug. The third thug, who happened to be very overweight, charged her with a metal pole.
"You stupid little..."
In return, Tifa ran towards him, leapt up, and kneed him under the chin. After the "mountain" fell, Tifa triumphantly left her foot rest on the thug's stomach. She took the pole from his fingers and pointed it at the remaining thug, who still had his friend in his arms, groaning.
"Ya feel like mugging me now?" Tifa asked in Chinese. "You really caught me in a bad mood!"
The thug shook his head frantically. Without another word, he scrambled away from the alley, with his heavy load.
"I feel so much better now," Tifa said to herself. "I haven't fought like that in ages."
Behind her, someone began to clap. Tifa twirled around, and Sephiroth was there, walking towards her and putting his hands together.
"So Little Miss Tifa Lockhart isn't useless after all," he said mockingly. "But you have such a bad temper. What on earth does Cloud see in you? He has a strange taste in girlfriends."
Her mood turned soar again. A vein was popping on her forehead.
"He picks up weird acquaintances like you," Tifa added. "Sleazy..."
Sephiroth scowled and stared at her as if he was about to strike her with lightning. Instead, he laughed at her.
"I say...you do well with comebacks...but that's Cloud's style. Are you picking up his habits?"
Tifa stared, wide-eyed with horror. "N-no...Cloud and I are nothing alike..."
"How cute," Sephiroth cried. "You two are more bonded than I thought...maybe Cloud's choice wasn't so bad after all."
The obese thug stirred under Tifa, and she struck his neck with her other foot...out like a light once more.
"You have it all wrong! WE. ARE. JUST. FRIENDS!"
"Calm down, Miss Lockhart. I'm not talking about the present...I speak of the future."
Tifa raised her eyebrows in confusion. Sephiroth cleared his throat.
"I'm not here to tease you though," he continued. "I just wanted to say: "Take care of Cloud, will ya?"
Her face softened. Her eyes blinked over and over again. Take care of Cloud? Take care of 'Cloud'. Couldn't he take care of himself?
"After he rescues his sister," he went on, "The Blue Lotus...the Triads...getting back to NYC...will be the least of his worries. Don't let him make a fool of himself."
Sephiroth grinned and turned around to leave.
"And where the hell are you going?" Tifa asked.
"To prepare," he replied while walking away. "Cloud and I will be having a 'discussion' this evening."
As quickly as he came, Sephiroth was gone. Tifa stood still in puzzlement.
"What just happened here?"
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The Fu Shan Chu of the Triads carefully shaved himself clean in front of the mirror. Humming a Chinese hymn, he finished the last spot and began to rinse his razor. Then, to his alarm, the distant sound of a machine gun shot caught his ear. He turned off the water, and stepped out of his bathroom, into his office. The gunshots were real.
His right hand man, Yung Min burst into the room and was relieved that his master was alright.
"Hurry!" Min cried. "The Shan Chu has discovered are activities! He's killing us! We must flee!"
The Deputy Master wasted no time. He rushed to the escape window and unlocked it.
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The office was smashed to make way for the black suited Hung Kwan, the soldiers. Three went in while rest pursued more targets. The office and bathroom were empty, and the window had been closed from the outside.
"The rat got away...but not for long!"
They left the room and continued to search the hall, constantly turning their heads, running, jogging and leaping to different directions. They came to an iron, code-locked door, where another "soldier" hard at work. They surrounded her, standing watch as she took out something out of her bag and placed it onto the code-key. She stepped back, with a remote in her hand and pressed it. Electricity and sparks came off of the code-key and the system unlocked. The female soldier opened the door, and Marlene was clinging toYuffie for comfort. The woman smiled with the triumph of girl power and grabbed her bag. The soldier walked toward them, and Marlene scooted closer to the other side of the bed in distrust. She stopped at the bed and dropped the bag on it. She pulled out a large water bottle and offered it to Yuffie. Yuffie looked at it suspiciously, took the bottle, quickly unscrewed it, and smelled.
"If we wanted to kill you," the woman said, "We would not need any poison to do it."
"You have a point," Yuffie retorted.
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The grand master of the Triads answered his intercom phone with anxiousness. As usual, his secretary was on the other line.
"Sir, it's the Hung Kwan squad."
"Put them on line, then."
The tone changed and clicked. The female leader of the squad greeted him with respect.
"What happened?" he asked.
"We found the two captives," she answered. "We're taking care of them right now."
"And Huang Fa, the Fu Shan Chu? What of him?"
The woman paused on the phone. Her hesitation told the young grand master everything.
"He eluded us," he said quietly. "We'll pursue him later...but for now...let us go on to the task at hand..."
Until next time...
