4

Owen looks at me pleadingly when I get downstairs. "Yes, we're staying, if it's okay with Reeve and Cloud," I tell him, laughing.

Reeve smiles. "Stupid question on my part. Treat my place as if it were yours."

Cloud laughs. "I think I'd get killed if I said no. Once more, I apologize for being rude."

"Bah," I reply. "You have every reason to want Rufus dead. I should have mentioned our bargain from the beginning. It makes it easier to accept, I expect. I should also stop being so touchy when people react badly. He's not exactly the Queen of May."

"Enough," Reeve says. "Come eat."

Owen gives me puppy eyes. "Can we stay as long as Reeve feels like feeding us?"

I chuckle, and murmur to Vincent, "Sounds like Reeve has his own fanboy." Vincent hides a grin.

I spend most of lunch answering Cid's questions about the specs on my crossbow. "I only left the windlass on there for balance," I explain, using a rough outline on the paper placemat for visual reference. "Before I switched to a silk string, the hemp was too finicky to hand-cock, and that's when I made the magic modifications. Taking the windlass off would make it way too tip-heavy, even with the scope."

"Why? I would think the scope'd do it," Cid says.

"Because of where I put the materia slots," I explain. "I don't have anywhere else to put it, and the range-enhancement materia is crucial to my work."

"Well, yeah, I can see that." He points to where the stock joins the shaft. "What if we clamp something up under there? That windlass is damned awkward; I can tell without even shooting her. 'Sides, a sleek lady like this deserves to be perfected. We made a lot of extra junk for Cerberus that we'll never use, so we'll see if we can modify that." He makes some sketches on mine, and passes it to Vincent. "What d'ya think? Do we have anything that'll suit?"

"Hmmm. . ." Vincent closes his eyes, and I can tell he's going over his inventory in his head. "I think so. And it won't be just a useless scrap of metal, either. Remember, Cid? We made that power enhancement slide that was too big. It should be perfect, and if it's not, like everything else we have, it's adjustable." He quickly draws the part and hands it back.

"Oh, yeah, I remember now. It's worth a shot, at any rate."

"Will a firepower enhancer work on a crossbow?" I ask. "I mean, they're entirely different modes of operation."

"Can't see why not, if we adjust it right," Cid replies. "It's magic-enhanced, not mechanical, so the different modes shouldn't matter all that much."

The rest of lunch is spent discussing Reeve's efforts in putting Midgar back together. "I'm really interested in the whole Planet, but people look here first out of habit. Once we get it back on its feet, people will believe that I really want to help them."

"You helped save the world," I half-tease. "Doesn't that give you just a shred of credibility?"

"You'd be surprised," Barret says with a sigh. "No one wants to remember that it was all of us following the company that got us into this to begin with."

"Exactly," Reeve says. "They're all too happy to remember that I worked for said company, though. The fact that all I did was try to improve the slums doesn't come into it at all. Be honest, Cloud: Would you have accepted me if I hadn't betrayed Shinra for you?"

"Probably not," admits the blonde, with a guilty shrug.

"So gloomy," I say, cheerfully. "Word's getting out. People are starting to pick their lives up again, and you do have those who will ask you for help."

After lunch, Vincent, Cid, and I go to the shop to play with Shadowcat. I have to admit, Cid is an artist when it comes to gizmos. He clamps the firepower thingie onto my crossbow in a half an hour, and, after a few minute adjustments, it doesn't even wiggle. "Perfect," I say as I pick her back up. "How can I tell if it has more power now?"

"Test-fire her, I suppose." Cid shrugs. "It ought to work."

Owen pokes his head through the door. "If you're done, Captain, can I talk to you?"

"Of course. Vincent, could you--?"

He takes Shadowcat, and hands me Cerberus. "Just in case."

I walk off with my second, holstering the gun without thinking. It fits well enough for now. "What do you need, Owen?"

"How long did you want to stay here?"

"I thought you wanted to stay as long as Reeve feeds you," I say, cocking my head at him. "Did he decide to stop?"

"Funny." He sighs. "I'm just worried about the rest of our crew. Is this just a quick breather, or were you thinking something more permanent?"

I ponder for a second, then poke my head back through the door. "Cloud, could you come over here for a sec?"

He ambles over. "What do you need?"

"When you put the word out for Owen, did you describe me to your sources, in case he got suspicious?"

"Yep. And before you ask, I can easily have everyone keep an eye out for anyone else," Cloud says, grinning at Owen's surprise.

"Do you think anyone would mind if we brought everyone here at first?" When he hesitates, I give him my big blue puppy eyes, and he laughs.

"I don't see why not. I don't mind, as long as the whole City isn't about to move in."

I glance at Owen, and he says, "We'll get the Twenty back, but I don't know if we'll get anyone else. The new cubs were probably frightened off by the reminder that being a Scout is dangerous, and someone betrayed us."

"Back to the core guard, huh?" I ask sadly.

Owen shrugs. "That's twenty people who would follow you into the Nether Hells," He says. "In my opinion, one of any of them is worth at least five of the others." His eyes narrow. "Especially the rat. Whoever it was will die slowly."

"You and Tera were talking about a girl. . ." Cloud says, hesitantly.

"Nope. Squad rules say we can't let a non-Scout within a certain radius of the base. I picked her up on the way out. She's been seen too much with me to be safe." Owen sighs. "It was someone we trained with, probably for awhile."

I nod. "I don't remember who was the newest, but they'd all been there for at least six months, which means you and I were lucky to get out that easily." I give him a cool look. "Still think I'm paranoid for only letting a few know about the escape plan?"

"I guess not. Do you think everyone made it out safe?"

"Unless it was one of their mates that turned us in, yeah," I reply gently. "We've had to run before."

Cloud says, "You don't think it's the deal you made with the Shinra coming back to haunt you, do you?"

"I doubt it; Rude and Tseng, at least, know better. They know if I got out at all, I would know that it was them, and misery and death would rain down on a lot of people before they managed to bring us all down. Especially themselves."

"If they ever did," agrees a new, female voice from the door. "We're nasty people, Captain."

I hug the new arrival, and Owen follows suit. "Cloud, this is Demetria Arizetti. Demi, this is Cloud Strife. This is where we're going to gather for right now."

Cloud shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you. We'd be more than happy to help you all get set back up."

"Really?" Tad, Demi's runner comes in. "That's awful sweet of you." He holds out his hand. "Tad Barnes."

"Cloud Strife. Yeah, it's not like we don't have the space. Speaking of which, I'll go see how many bedrooms we have furnished." Cloud walks off, and another face appears in the entryway.

"I found these two outside," he says to me. "They described you about like Cloud did, so I brought them along." His mode of speech is very dignified.

"Excellent. Thank you," I reply. "I am Tera Balia, and this is my second, Owen Please-Don't-Say-my-Last-Name." Owen winces as I say what he was going to, and Demi and Tad chuckle.

"Charmed," replies the newcomer, regarding us with a single yellow eye. "I am Nanaki, as I imagine you already know." He bows his catlike head. "Has Reeve started dinner yet?"

"I think so," says Owen. "I'll go with you."

"Save some for the rest of us," I call after him. "He's in food heaven," I tell Demi. "I actually didn't know Reeve could cook. It never came up."

"I can't imagine why not," she replies with a laugh. "I'm sure you had plenty of time to make small talk when you last saw him."

I chuckle and put on a haughty air. "Oh, of course. Because I am such a small talk kind of person." I raise both of my eyebrows. "I am famed for my blathering skills."

"I hadn't noticed," Vincent says, right behind me.

"You really should stop doing that," I say. "At the very least, you're going to get elbow- checked."

"Haven't yet," he replies. "People seem to expect me to do it."

"Well, I don't, and I'd be the one to do it." Demetria and Tad are staring at us.

"It's dinner time," Vincent explains, after I make introductions. "Better come quickly, before Owen eats it all."

Demi laughs again. "It's like you two have been friends for years. Normally," she informs Vincent, "she would just elbow-check you."

"Elbow the mighty Vincent Valentine?" I scoff. "Not bloody likely." Vincent shoots me a moderately evil look, and I beam at him. "I'd be ripped apart by the horde of hero- worshiping fifteen-year-olds."

"Careful," Vincent retorts. "I might turn them loose on you anyway."

Over dinner, we have more serious discussions. "How are we going to handle our usual output with this few people?" I ask glumly. "For those of you that don't know, out of the twenty we're expecting, that's only eight Scouts, their runners, and two beast trainers. Even at the number we had, I was still doing straight-up missions, four or five at a time. Then there's my healer duties. People are still getting hurt, and they need me."

Reeve gives me a funny look. "What if I put out notice that people can come to us instead? That way you don't have to go digging people out unless it's urgent-"

Tifa cuts him off. "Don't even think of suggesting I won't help," she says.

Reeve laughs. "Why would I?" He grins sheepishly at me. "I have an ulterior motive as well. How better to let people know I mean what I say by offering free healing?"

"Not here," Vincent, Cloud and I say in unison. They both gesture at me to continue.

"Even as paranoid as I am, we got given up because I wasn't paranoid enough. I mean to train the new people in an entirely different, open location than we ultimately decide on for headquarters. Why don't we do the healing there, as well?" I give Cloud a slightly uneasy look. "Just a thought, but we may want to let Tseng know where we are. Extra backup, sort of thing. He and Rude know I'll come down on them if they try anything."

Barret laughs. "Not a bad idea." At Cloud's look of surprise, he grins. "Come on, Spikey. I b'lieve she can enforce their silence, if she has to."

I bat my eyelashes. "Little, innocent me? Whyever would you think that? How could I, of all people, scare such dark gentlemen?"

Even Cloud laughs this time. "It may be Shadowcat that convinces them," he says. "She does me."

Reeve shakes his head. "They're more up close and personal kinds of people there, so I'd bet it's the knives they see in their nightmares."

"A sharp blade can hide in many more places than a crossbow," Cid says. "Even that one."

"Men are all alike," I fake pout. "All you see are my assets. If you put it that way, though, I guess I can see your point."

Vincent chuckles. "What matters is that she can do it at all, not how."

Demi snickers and Vincent blushes faintly. "Who's going with you, Captain? Even you're not nuts enough to go by yourself."

I cock my head at Vincent, who nods. Grinning at the open surprise on most of his friends' faces (and my friends'), I add. "And you, Owen. Between the two of you, you ought to impress security enough that I won't have to get nasty with guards."

"You? Get nasty with someone?" Owen says. "Get out."

"Oh, shut up."

I help my Scouts get settled in vacant rooms near mine, and head off to bed myself. Vincent tells me good night, and goes into his room. I wonder, as I drift off, why everyone seems surprised that Vincent is so social with me, and why I'm not surprised at all.

Tera, Owen, and the Scoutsme. Everybody elseSquare-Enix. I realize this is repetitive, but I have crap luck when it comes to money, so I'm not taking chances.

You haven't heard from me in awhile. Hi. I know it's getting long. I sorry. This is where I start worrying about it starting to drag, so if it does in any place, please let me know. I'll take a break from posting for everyone to catch up, and so I can do my other stuff. Please review!