Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII Compilation belongs rightfully to Square-Enix. This amateur effort at fan-based fiction is in no way making profit off of the licensed characters described therein, nor is it associating any new original characters to Square-Enix either.


Chapter Eight


"What are you looking for?" asked Director Lazard with a mildly curious tone as he glanced up briefly from his work. Sephiroth's eyes were scanning the computer screen determinedly as his gloved fingers clicked commands.

Sephiroth ignored the question. "It isn't printing," he stated, giving the computer a disapproving look.

Lazard leaned forward a bit, trying to get a better look at Sephiroth's screen from his side of the office. "Did you select the correct printer?"

"Yes," replied Sephiroth with a bored sigh.

The other man looked amused. "How many times did you ask it to print?"

"I'm not a child, Lazard," Sephiroth protested through gritted teeth. Harshly his index finger punched a key and then more than a dozen error messages appeared on the screen.

"Is that," Lazard began, leaning forward as far as he could, "the Urban Development database? We've never been restricted from accessing it before."

"Only on this specific Mako reactor," Sephiroth explained. "I can access the others just fine. That's what Dahlia was trying to tell me."

Lazard sat back down in his chair, his blatant amusement grating on Sephiroth's patience. "Dahlia, hmm? You never did tell me how things went with her down at the dig site."

"There's nothing to tell," Sephiroth insisted, not looking at the Director. Finally he was able to access another area on the database and within seconds a stream of white pages fell onto the tray in front of the printer. Sephiroth gathered and attached them to a nearby clipboard.

Lazard turned his chair to face the wall. "Yes, yes, you do enjoy your privacy."

Sephiroth glared pointedly at the back of Lazard's chair, but not without his own amusement tugging at the corners of his lips. "And you enjoy gossip." Lazard couldn't contain the chuckle that burst out as Sephiroth turned his attention back to the data he printed.

Then Zack Fair strode into the room, and Sephiroth briefly glanced up from the report he was reading to notice him. The younger SOLDIER looked back at him curiously as Sephiroth's eyes returned to the clipboard in his hand, a gesture that informed Zack to proceed past him towards the Director's desk. Zack stopped just before it, the back of Lazard's chair still facing the rest of the office.

"Congratulations," said Lazard before spinning the chair about to reveal himself. "As of this moment, you're promoted to SOLDIER First Class."

Sephiroth kept his stare purposely on the clipboard but did not continue to read it. The kid was too quiet. Had Zack Fair been promoted a month ago, he would have started bouncing off the walls.

"Huh…" and it was at this mumble that Sephiroth finally looked up to the conversation. Zack's head was hung low as the young man stared at his gloved hands. "I thought I'd be happier…"

The previously pleasant Lazard immediately slipped into somberness, achieving solemnity far too easily for it to be totally genuine. "Understandable," said Lazard, resting his chin on his hand. "Too much happened too fast." Sephiroth crossed his arms. It didn't show on Lazard's face, but to Sephiroth it was clear that the Director was surprised by Zack's reaction, and therefore had to respond in a manner that would make Zack as comfortable as possible for news he probably wouldn't like.

This was a mistake, Sephiroth realized, staring hard at his feet. The incident in Banora Village affected Sephiroth deeply, and he hadn't even been present for it. They did not bother to take into account that Zack would have been obviously disturbed by it as well.

"Zack," Lazard began again, his tone implying regret, "I'm afraid I need your assistance again."

Sephiroth closed his eyes as Zack turned his head towards him, expecting the words that would come from the 2nd's mouth: "Are you pushing another assignment on me?"

At least the kid caught on quickly. Tseng must have hinted at it. With a sigh, Sephiroth looked back at Zack. "My apologies." And he meant it too.

Zack turned away again, "Whatever," being his cold and detached response.

Leaning forward in his seat, Lazard put on an encouraging expression. "Go on ahead to the SOLDIER floor and change into your new uniform Zack, and I'll explain everything. Of course, now that you're a First, you actually have the privilege to wear whatever you wish."

At this, Zack produced a small smile. "That's true, but Angeal wore his uniform. I think I will too." As the new SOLDIER First Class left the room, Sephiroth's shoulders sunk a bit.

"Perhaps this was a mistake," spoke Lazard, echoing Sephiroth's thoughts.

"We have no choice now," Sephiroth replied, picking the clipboard back up from the table he was leaning against.

"This is a risk." Lazard frowned. "Zack may not want to cooperate with the orders, and if the Board realizes it, then they'll never let us go through with it."

Raising an eyebrow, Sephiroth glanced quickly at the Director. "Then let's make him think just that."

Lazard nodded. "I'll leave it to you then, Sephiroth. Any progress on the reactor?"

"Not much," Sephiroth admitted. "She was right about the energy output too. Mako reactor 5 is extracting almost thirty percent more energy than the other Midgar reactors, and the data has determined that the energy is not being distributed through the normal routes. The problem is, I can't seem to find where the Mako is actually going once it's extracted."

"Its certainly suspicious no doubt," Lazard answered, "but I don't see how Genesis could be involved."

"Not Genesis," said Sephiroth, "not directly at least. Hollander. I think that he might have taken the stolen clone technology to the Reactor 5 to produce the Genesis copies, maybe even using the members of SOLDIER that abandoned the company. Have you noticed that we haven't encountered a single one of them?"

"Human experimentation…" Lazard muttered, looking away. "Well, at least you know where to start looking."

"Hm," came Sephiroth's non-committal noise. For the next few minutes he continued to read the report, not looking up when Zack reentered the room, bearing the traditional black uniform of a SOLDIER First Class.

Lazard stood from his chair to acknowledge the still somber Zack. "The company has decided to eliminate Genesis and his cohorts. This includes Angeal as well."

Incredulous, Zack responded: "And you want me to do it?"

"No," Lazard immediately replied. "The Shin-Ra army will handle it."

"What about me?" he exclaimed, stepping forward.

The Director looked back at Zack. "They don't trust you," he stated, making his answer sound brutally honest. Sephiroth set the clipboard down and walked towards the desk, stepping past Zack to stare at a world map on the wall.

"They believe that your emotions will hamper your judgment," Sephiroth explained.

"Well, of course!" Zack retorted, leaning towards Lazard's desk with his head hung low. Looking frustrated, Zack clutched the end of the surface, appearing as conflicted as Sephiroth felt. Sephiroth remained still, despite the fact that he too was slowly loosing his cool.

"That's why I'm going too."

Zack turned in shock, surprised that the other man was even looking at him now. Sephiroth forced his facial expression to remain unaffected. In truth all he really wanted to do was shake the answers from Hollander's hide.

"To kill them?" Zack uttered, looking grave. Sephiroth could not help but smirk, imagining how surprised Zack would look after they finished locating Hollander. Sephiroth decided that they would go immediately to the reactor. What was the point in delaying any further?

An explosion rocked the building, and Lazard stumbled slightly. Sephiroth glared around the room as crimson alarms went flashing and steel shutters fell closed over the office windows. Rage immediately filled Sephiroth. Perfect timing for Shin-Ra as always.

Lazard winced against the piercing wails of the alarms as he quickly glanced at his computer. "An intruder," he announced to them.

"Where?" Zack demanded.

"Close," Lazard replied, glancing at the screen again. "Sephiroth, the president!" Nodding, Sephiroth walked calmly towards the door, rolling his eyes once he faced the other way. "Zack, entrance!"

"Yeah, you got it," Zack promised, running past Sephiroth as he continued to walk. Out in the halls Zack reached the elevator before Sephiroth did, taking it down to the lobby to check the building's main entrance. A mere glance into the other offices showed employees ducking under their desks, as was standard emergency procedure. A mandatory evacuation would be ordered in the event that the building's security could not eliminate the problem. In the back of his mind Sephiroth always felt that was an idiotic procedure, as it would inevitably cost unnecessary casualties. Any kind of explosion should warrant immediate evacuation so that security would not have to worry about possible collateral.

Sephiroth called the elevator back up, sincerely hoping that the intruder was foolish enough to target the president. As he rode the elevator up to highest floor of the Shin-Ra building, Sephiroth anticipated the sweet sound of flesh tearing on his blade… the price to pay for utterly wasting precious time.

Oh. He lives. Thought Sephiroth disappointedly as he entered the president's vast office. President Shinra stood in the middle of the room, a lit cigar in hand as he eyed Sephiroth impatiently.

"Took you long enough," muttered Shinra, causing Sephiroth to smirk. No, he had no qualms about taking his time in coming to the president's aid. It was just so regretful that the intruder wasn't there to face him. He so desperately wanted to hit something.

Sephiroth made the mock motions of surveying the room for enemies before approaching the president. "Is your evacuation here?"

Shinra pushed his coat sleeve up his arm to look at his watch. "They're late." Impatiently he chewed at the tip of his cigar while studying the timepiece. "What's all this about, Sephiroth?"

"An intruder, apparently."

President Shinra groaned in frustration, letting his arm fall back to his side as he pulled the cigar out of his mouth. "AVALANCHE." At this, Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you haven't been briefed? They're a new anti-Shinra group. In fact, I'm surprised no one's told you."

Sephiroth shook his head. "It makes little difference to me. There are many groups that oppose the company."

Shinra took a deep inhale from his cigar. The spicy scent flooded Sephiroth's nostrils as the president exhaled it. Sephiroth wrinkled his nose in disgust. The cigar smelled cheap. A president should've known better. "True, but they're not like this one. I'll have the Turks send you the Intel."

Whatever. Truly, he really couldn't care less. New terrorist group, old terrorist group; it didn't matter to him. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Eventually Shinra would have him deal with it, as always.

After a few moments of waiting for Shinra's tardy evac chopper, Sephiroth heard some distant gunfire and a few screams, most likely from the employees caught in the middle of it. Immediately he pulled out his phone and punched the keys.

"Where are you right now?" he demanded, pacing away from Shinra.

"Why?"

Growling, Sephiroth exclaimed, "Haven't you heard the alarms? Get out now, you idio-,"

"Calm down! I'm not in the Shin-Ra building! I'm just on my way to Reactor 5."

With an exasperated sigh, Sephiroth pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't you dare go in there without…" he trailed off as his eyes spotted the helicopter hovering outside with a rope ladder, the propeller blades making a lot of noise.

"What was that? I can't hear you. What's happening, Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth roughly grabbed hold of Shinra's arm, ignoring the man's protests as he escorted him out to the balcony of the office. Dahlia's voice over the phone became almost impossible to hear once he was outside. One of the Turks, a blonde female whose name he couldn't remember was piloting the chopper, and soon enough it carried the president safely away from the building.

"Helloooooo?"

Sephiroth brought the handset back to his ear. "I'm here."

"So what's going on?"

"An intruder," he quickly answered. "Don't worry about it. Listen: stay outside. Don't enter the reactor without me. If Hollander is in there, he may have the clones inside as well. They'll be guarding what he's hiding."

"Well, I can't go in anyway. My ID is being denied. Yours works, right?"

Sephiroth entered the elevator again. "I don't know. I was restricted from the Urban Development database. Hollander may have changed the security settings in order to keep Shin-Ra out."

"All right. I'll wait then."

Sephiroth hung up, and then the elevator doors hissed open, revealing a trashed lobby. The walls were covered in scorch marks, and parts of the carpeted stairs lay in rubble all over the now grimy marble floors. As he proceeded further into the lobby, Sephiroth caught sight of Zack in a direct confrontation with several Genesis copies, as well as Shin-Ra's security bots, obviously reprogrammed by Hollander to attack Shin-Ra instead of the intruders. There was also the source of the explosion they heard in the beginning, an entire part of the wall blown out to allow Genesis' clones inside.

Zack was finished with them all by the time Sephiroth reached him. Panting, he exclaimed, "Sephiroth! The intruders are Genesis copies!"

"Hollander is the one behind this," Sephiroth informed him, looking around at the broken pieces of metal and the prone bodies of the clones.

"Who in the hell is Hollander?" Zack asked, scratching the back of his head.

"A Shin-Ra scientist who vanished after lifting the copy technology," Sephiroth explained. He peered through the broken wall at the empty Shin-Ra plaza and then Sector 8 beyond it. There was some activity occurring in the city, and it didn't look normal from where he was standing.

"Are you saying that this Hollander guy and Genesis are working together?"

"Perhaps," Sephiroth replied.

"I don't understand any of this. What is it that they're after anyway?" His hands shoved deep into his pockets, Zack kicked aside one of the broken robots, the scrap metal clanging about against rubble.

"Hollander lost his bid for the leadership of the Science Department. He has borne a grudge against Shin-Ra ever since. Revenge is most likely his objective."

Zack snorted. "That's just petty. Are you telling me that Genesis is supporting that idiotic cause? You're kidding, right?"

Sephiroth's stare became distant. "I would prefer not to believe it, but…" The cause was idiotic indeed. Genesis had never cared about anything Hollander did in the past. The man had barely even existed in Genesis' mind. Unless he truly was playing the role of actor, as Dahlia believed, Sephiroth could think of no reason as to why Genesis would support the scientist.

"Then don't," said Zack. Sephiroth looked to him, puzzled. "Don't believe it."

Sephiroth let out a sigh of displeasure. If only it really were that simple. He envied Zack a little for his easily attained convictions. "Very well, I won't. Now, Zack. It's likely that the Genesis copies came from within the city itself. We should investigate."

Together they crossed the plaza and once they reached Sector 8, Sephiroth ordered that they split up to search the area. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Zack running to aid one of the Turks while he himself actually took a path out of the sector. Soon enough he came to Midgar's Central Station, approaching as a train began to slowly depart from the platform, it's wheels grinding piercingly across the tracks. Sephiroth suddenly broke out into a run, and with a single leap landed on top of the moving train.

He dashed across with catlike balance as the train picked up in speed. Like second nature, Sephiroth avoided overhanging beams and signs, ducking and moving fluidly as if he were in tune with the train itself. Up ahead was the highway that the train passed under, and when it approached Sephiroth jumped, practically gliding over the concrete ramp and it's four whole lanes. It did not take long to reach the locomotive, a shiny Shin-Ra model that had recently been released. There he spotted three of the crimson-clad Genesis clones taking control from the engineer. Sephiroth started forward to confront them but then halted, lying flat on his stomach atop of the train car. Better to wait the clones out while they took him straight to where they originated from.

As he expected, the copies stopped the train at Sector 5, and as soon as they stepped off Sephiroth leapt down from the top of the car, a single stroke from Masamune carving into three sets of backs. The masked clones fell almost instantly without so much as even a cry of pain, which made Sephiroth wonder as to their individuality, if they had any. Loathe as he was to admit it, there was much more information he still needed to gather from Hojo about the clone technology.

At the furthest end of the sector was the Mako reactor, surrounded on both sides by construction sites for new office buildings, both of which were blocked off by tall chain link fences. Dahlia stood in front of the one that was best lit, gripping a handgun idly at her right side. Her anxious expression immediately melted into relief as Sephiroth approached.

"When did you get that?" he asked her, nodding in the direction of the firearm.

Dahlia quickly glanced at the weapon with an expression that seemed to suggest that she almost forgot she had it, and then shrugged somewhat ashamedly. "I… from one of the Turks that had originally been sent to the tomb site to help us. He'd been shot down near a quarry where we were trying to dig for alternative entrances into the tomb."

Sephiroth eyed her critically. "Do you even know how to use that?"

Frowning, she replied, "It's not a sword or anything. You point and pull. There's only skill involved when you're far away."

"I wasn't talking about skill. I was talking about shooting your face off when trying to do something as simple as a reload."

Her frown became a scowl, and she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because you're the expert on guns." Scoffing, she added, "My mistake. You're the expert on everything."

He smirked. "And don't forget it."

Though Dahlia shook her head in disapproval, he could see that she couldn't help the small smile she was trying to hide. "Anyway, I haven't seen any of the copies yet."

"I encountered a few on the train."

Dahlia placed her unarmed hand on her hip. "They're probably still distracted with attacking the Shin-Ra building. How did that go?"

"Shinra was evacuated, but Genesis and Hollander have also gotten their hands on automated weaponry from the building's security system. They were attacking our own instead of the intruders."

"Speaking of which," said Dahlia. "There's something else you should know about those copies." As Sephiroth's attention became full, she revealed: "Apparently the subjects aren't just limited to the members of SOLDIER. Genesis' genetic traits can be copied onto monsters as well."

Dahlia shrunk a bit as Sephiroth's expression became somewhat alarming in it's ferocity. "How…?" he said slowly.

"Hojo told me," she answered, her voice less secure. "He'll tell you anything if you mention something incorrect about his work." Brown eyebrows furrowing, Dahlia asked, "Are you okay?"

Sephiroth flinched when she stepped forward to peer closer at him, and in response she flinched as well. Immediately Sephiroth tore his gaze away from his ex-wife to glare at thick steel entrance of the Mako reactor. Unlike the construction sites near it, the reactor was enveloped in a smoky green hue, most of which was emitted from the top by the large exhaust channels. Sephiroth glared at it all, but he could not deny the blow he just felt, a heavy feeling of dread he connected with isolation. Suddenly he could barely even register Dahlia's presence, despite her proximity. Sephiroth felt detached and out of place. It was a sensation he was very familiar with.

What sort of connection is this? He wondered. SOLDIER and monsters… Sephiroth's Mako eyes started to burn as his dread mixed with some sort of rage that he could not define.

"You should go home," he stated – more of an order than a suggestion.

He heard her sigh in defeat. "I had a feeling you would eventually say that."

Sephiroth shook his head, along with the isolation. "If I find Genesis inside I'm not sure how he would react. I can't have you in the way."

When she opened her mouth, he expected a retort, but: "Understandable, I suppose. Do me a favor and collect what files you can, alright?"

"I can't make any promises."

Crossing her arms and rolling her eyes, Dahlia drawled, "Oh, believe me, I know that."

The intensity of his glare startled her, to the point where she made the chain link fence rattle as her back touched it. "I know you're annoyed, but inventing flaws in my character will get you nowhere with me. I have never gone back on my word, and you'd be stupid to say so."

Dahlia visibly paled, stung by his harsh response even though she had heard much worse from him in the past. Perhaps it was due to his earlier reaction about the cloning that made her more vulnerable than she usually allowed, but Sephiroth didn't regret his tone either. Worrying her bottom lip, she uttered, "Sorry," almost in whisper, her eyes averted.

Sephiroth turned his back to her and proceeded towards the Mako reactor. "Forget it." After a pause: "I'll call when I'm done here."


Author's Note: It took a while to update this time around, but there was a lot in this chapter I had to throw away and redo. Even now I wonder if Sephiroth is in character. The action starts up in the next chapter, finally, and hopefully (chapter permitting) we'll get to look into a very special memory concerning an incident in the training room... Hope you're still enjoying.