"…Well yes, sir. I have one of our finest agents on the case right now. Yes, I know Elijah's been pushing for an eradication operation, but Oracle's in our network. It would end disastrously. As soon as SIPA finds and eliminates her, AVALANCHE won't likely be too much of a difficulty to deal with." Vicente explained quickly into the phone.

"Good. I entrust you and SIPA to deal with the terrorist Oracle with any means necessary." The reply was relieving but short, and the dial tone was heard.

"Well, that ends that. Soon as we find her, it's lights out for AVALANCHE too." I smiled, flipping a coin in the air.

"Hopefully. I have my doubts." He responded.

"What do you mean!? You just told the president of the ShinRa company himself—" I exclaimed in shock, but he interrupted me.

"SIPA's under a lot of heat right now with this Oracle problem. It's best to give him what he needs to hear. I don't quite trust Hojo either, with his crazy experiments on that poor boy. We keep our mouths shut on anything that the corporation doesn't need to hear." Vicente explained slowly, and I nodded reluctantly in understanding.

"Good. Now, I trust you have data of the gigantic monster that appeared during the ambush on AVALANCHE?" He continued, and I tossed the disk to him.

"Whatever the hell that thing was, it caused a lot of destruction. Dunno where it came from, though." I muttered as he slipped it into his computer. Images of the monstrous creature covered the monitor.

"Ah…hehehe…perfect…ahem. We can deal with that later. You have somewhere to be, now go." He studied them with great relish and enthusiasm, and waved me off. I reluctantly left with a small scowl on my face.

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"Not much, but it's a place to stay." The innkeeper showed me to the room.

It was fairly beaten up, but actually clean and well decorated for a hotel in Midgar.

"I'll take it. Here's for the first week." I tossed him a small purse of gil, and he nodded with glee. After some conversation, I learned his name was Isaac and that he appreciated my patronage, among other things. I politely told him that I wanted to be alone after a few minutes of his inane blabbering.

The moment the door closed, I set about to work.

I opened my bag and set down my multiple laptops on the desk, carefully setting up satellite connections to make things operational here. The second step was setting up multiple hidden cameras at the window to watch for anything suspicious. ShinRa wasn't full of stupid people, and it was best to be prepared.

"Alright. Oracle is online." I slipped an earpiece over my right ear, and spoke into it with little difficulty.

"Hey, Boss." The heavily accented voice crackled through moments later.

"Raul, I told you not to call me boss. I'm as far as it gets from a leadership position. I'm management." I smiled as I responded.

"Of course, Boss. Anyway, I staked out the place like you asked. Quiet for a while, but I had to leave after Barret showed up." He continued as I pulled up multiple camera files of him leading a small group through the area.

A few curses later, mostly directed towards him, I sighed.

"Damn it. So he is responsible for the Weapon appearing in some way. What happened to the safe?" I rubbed my eyes after slipping my glasses off.

"I don't think so, Boss. He seemed just as surprised as the ShinRa troops were. The safe got beaten up during the explosions, and the combination pad was shattered. It's going to take something strong to get it open now, since the lock is permanently jammed." He replied quickly.

"Damn it…Mom, Dad…" I whispered, crestfallen at the news.

"Hey, kid…don't give up yet. It's not my business as to why you want your parent's personal records and files, but I will tell you it's not over. Barret'll be able to blow that sucker open without damaging anything." Raul tried to reassure me, but I growled in frustration.

"That…barbaric…bastard wouldn't help me if his life depended on it. We'll find another way to get it open, just bring it to me." I seethed.

"Whoa, Boss, cool down. I know you don't want his help or to see him, but he's still got the Skeleton Key. Why did you leave it with him, anyway? Only you even know how to use it, and he doesn't even know what it is in the first place!" He issued a quick statement to help me back down.

"…Barret kept it safe. As much as I hate him and his methods…he kept his promise to keep it safe despite not knowing what it does. If ShinRa got ahold of that kind of program, it could be disastrous." My voice was quiet and slow.

The Skeleton Key was a decrypting chip that, once properly calibrated into the right focusing gadget, could open any electronic lock or hack a supercomputer with ease. I almost built the focusing gadget before, but realized the danger of such a thing in existence, and destroyed both the half-built gadget and the blueprints for it. I mailed the tiny, yet extremely dangerous, chip to Barret for safekeeping a month after I left AVALANCHE.

"Boss, I also wanted to warn you. SIPA's been showing up lately in some of the surveillance files, and not in a good way. So's that agent." Raul noted worriedly.

"Maleforth." I gritted my teeth in frustration.

The SIPA, or ShinRa Intelligence Protection Agency, was designed precisely to eradicate terrorists and eliminate certain "undesirables" like AVALANCHE. And me. For a long time they'd hounded me, and I barely manage to keep ahead of them at times. Maleforth was their top agent, and was the one assigned to find me, that much I knew. However, their leader's identity remains completely unknown to me, even to this day. All that I know is that he is close friends with both ShinRa's president and his son Rufus.

"I've…I've got to go, Raul. I…want you to find Barret. Get the chip back, but don't linger. After you do that…find Finn." I sighed after some thought, and clicked the receiver, ignoring his sudden protests at the name. Tossing the earpiece down, I ran a hand through my red hair.

I missed Nibelheim.

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Hunger

Pestilence

War

Death

The four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, beings I know well from living on this wretched planet.

The violence and degeneration that occurs in the cities daily.

Midgar is one such city.

My city.

As I watch a gang of five men corner a young woman in an alley, images of my own past distract me. A desperate man. A gunshot in the night. Innocent victims. Pearls. It was always the pearls.

Even as they force her against a wall and work her pants off, even as they begin gang raping her, I still wonder.

What would this city be like if monsters such as Rufus Shinra and more never existed? What if ShinRa never existed at all?

I look down as they finish their work. Her screams illuminate the night with terror.

Many things am I, but a savior is not one of them.

Pity and memories are the only reason I slip down from the rooftop and approach the scene without notice. The first receives a knife in the throat while they toy with their capture. Their yells of anger and belligerence almost make me laugh.

Over the pained moans of their previous focal point of interest, I deliver punishment and vengeance in the form of knives, death, and terror.

The four men died gruesome deaths, but nothing I can do can compare to what they have done to this woman.

I kneel down beside her.

Blood forms a pool around her body, her gasps of pain and shock echoing throughout the alleyway.

Her skirt bloodied with the abuse of her virginity and her rape, pity again forces me to slip out a phone. However, I then realize.

Who do I call?

ShinRa?

They couldn't care less, even though they "protect" us.

I hear her begging for help as she clutches her nether area in pain, and I put away my cell phone.

I pull out two things: in one hand, I have a potion. In the other…a .45 pistol.

If I heal her, she will likely never recover from the psychological trauma, turn to drugs to ease her pain, and then become another filthy junkie tarnishing the streets. Choices are slim, and little different in the end.

"W…ho…are…y…ou..?"

Her voice is cracked and broken from screaming. I look at her, my mask covering my face and my shame. I raise the .45 as I look at her.

"…I'm Death."