Chao Min grinned in wicked glee as he got the first shipment of his robot soldiers. "Excelent. . .most excellent. I will make sure that Doctor Kimiko gets her payment soon, as soon as we have the rest. But I am very happy with what I see today." He rubbed a hand over one metal cheek, watching the way the optics flashed green, then went dark again.
"Katsu, make sure all of these are placed in the protective storage units. Soon, very soon, we will have our first test., . .a small raid, I think. A town that would not get us noticed prior to us being ready. . .and It will go far toward getting us supplies too. Wonderful way to test just how capable these machines are. And how obedient." If they wouldn't obey him, even with their intelligence and resourcefulness, they were no good to him. He needed them to be able to act and change direction in a battle while still obeying a set of basic operating parameters. It was a lot of why he had wanted robots and not people. People were. . Unpredictable, and Chao Min had no time for that unpredictability.
"Yes sir." Katsu's mouth quirked up just a bit as he watched them. He preferred human beings to robots, and these mechanoids gave him just a bit of the creeps, but he wasn't about to tell Chao Min that. He liked his head right where it was, on his shouolders. He used the remote to get the hulking metal men marching straight in a line behind him. It didn't take him long to get them outside as he marched them across the packed dirt of the courtyard, toward the corrugated metal storage shed on the other side of the courtyard. It was empty, for the moment, of any equipment aside from those designed for taking care of the robots. There were charging racks, bins for parts, and ol cans scattered across the concrete floor
He got them stored one by one in the racvks that lay against the walls of the shed, wires draped over the metal contraptions, ones that would plug into a port in the back of each one's head. "There. All of you are in place. If there are any mechanical needs that any of you have they ywill be taken care of before you're used."
He shut the door of the shed with a clang. Katsu had his own ideas of which city to hit. . .he owed one of the families in the seaside resort town of Costa Del Sol some pain. . .he smirked as he thought about how he may just get a chance to get to deal it out. It's not like anyone but a few beach bunnies would miss the place anyway, it's nothing but a resort. Not a thing of strategic importance there at all Perfect for the boss' uses, and I'm going to enjoy watching it burn. More than I probably should. Far more.
The raid took place in the early dawn light a week after the accident at the stadium, swift and sure, the metal forms mowing through the town like saws, leaving nothing but burning cinders in their wake. Katsu watched as the mechanical monstrosites did their work, driving people out of their homes, some dying in the flames, as they burned it to the ground. It would be a good message to ShinRa once they heard to watch their backs, that the Flames of Phoenix were coming for them.
The townsfolk stood at the town line and just watched, one young man with tan skin, dark eyes and dark hair with a suspiciously familiar face, holding the body of his mother in his arms and tears flowing down his sface. "Dad. . I gotta. . .I gotta tell Rudy what happened here. . .but I don't know how to tell him that Mom's. . .that she's dead. I know we're not even supposed to be contacting him, but he'd want us to for this. He has a right to know."
"We'll call him when we get to Corel." Bernard, the father to the boy, and to Rude, told him. "He's supposed to put his past behind him, but you know he's always sent us whatever he could afford to. He'd want to know what happened to Gladys." Bernard Urar had been a banker by trade, originally from Kalm, whereas Gladys, originally Gladah, had been born to one of the migrant tribes in the Southern Desert, her briother had been Faruq, Prince of the Aibak Hakim tribe in the deserts "Your uncle is also going to be quite upset, Eric. . .this may very well lead to war if it isn't headed off, and the last thing I want is for him to get himself and his people killed over this."
Eric simply nodded, he was beginning to fall into despair. For all of the trouble he'd gotten in when he was younger. . .he and his brother who was three years his senior competing in everything, from women to cars to everything else, he loved his big brother who had gone on to become a Turk dearly. . .and this was not the kind of news he wanted to have to break to him at all. On top of it,, Eric had always been closest to his mother, that he had lost her, and in the way he had, had left him reeling and devestated.
News reached ShinRa HQ of the attack on Costa Del Sol before Rude's family had a chance to contact him, Rufus shot a look at Tseng, his lips thinning. "This has now gone too far. It is bad enough that they have done damage to this planet when ShinRa has been doing all that it can to repair the damage done in my father's name. But now they have done something to harm one of my own men, ones that I consider far more than employees, they are family now to me. These people have just gone and made it personal."
The white suited blond had his hands clenched into fists at his sides, rage making his lean frame tense to the point that fine tremors ran up and down it. The President had every intention of making this as painful and messy as it could get for the people who had harmed his family.
"Sir. . . shall I inform Rude of the raid?" Tseng asked. The Wutain was really not sure he wanted to deal with the normally taciturn Costan when he was given the news. Rude tended to have a very slow build when rage came, but it also meant that it took all that much longer for it to dispel, and in a contained space that temper would be very dangerous. He wasn't looking forward to the results. At all.
"Wait for twelve hours." Rufus instructed quietly. "There is a chance that should his family be alive they may well attempt to contact him, and I do not wish to have him be afraid that his family is dead without confirmation of such. It would go. . .badly. .. should that happen, and needless drama is not something I wish to be dealing with. I would likely find it very difficult to talk Rude out of doing something stupid and impulsive, and an even harder time wishing to do so."
"Yes sir." Tseng responded, bowing in the traditional Wutain manner. He was honestly very much hoping Rude's family contacted them before the twelve hours were up, he did not want to have to do it. He will not ract well. . .his family has been one of Rude's best kept secrets ever since he joined Turk, and for just this reason. . .to protect them. He is one of the few of us that actually had a family remaining to him when he came to us. I hope for his sake and for all of our sakes that they have not been killed.
Rude had been relaxing in his apartment when his phone rang at around lunchtime, his senses immediately on alert when saw the number. My family never calls me unless it's an emergency. . .I have a bad feeling about this, The bald Turk picked up his phone to hear the voice of his father on the other end. "Dad. . .is everything all right? You don't normally call me, due to well. . .security concerns. ..it must be something pretty big if you are."
"Son. . I'm not sure if you know, but Costa del Sol was attacked in the early hours of this morning. Robots, dozens of them, " Bernard took a deep breath, He was not looking forward to breaking this particular bit of news to his son, not in the least. He knew very well how Rude would react, and it would be far from pleasant. "We lost our home. . .the entire town was burnt to the ground. Eric and I fled to Corel, we've found a place to stay there, but. .. I regret to inform you of this but. . ." and he swallowed thickly, his voice going even more quiet as he delivered it to Rude. "Your mother is dead. She was killed when the house caved in. I did my best to get to her, to evacuate all of us from the burning home, but there was nothing that I could do."
The phone creaked within the gloved hand as Rude's fingers tightened on the plastic casing of the device. Grief swamped him in a chilling wave, to be followed by a cold rage so deep that finding a way out of it would only come when he had her killer's cold, dead, mutilated forms laying ravaged at his feet. "I will get vengeance for you, and for our family, Dad. . .I make that sworn vow to you now. It will be signed in the blood of Mom's killers. They won't get away with this, I promise. It's bad enough that my partner was injured by those metal sons of bitches. . .but now they have touched my family. That isn't acceptable. "
"Be careful, Rudolph. The last thing that your mother would want is for you to be harmed because you insisted on trying to avenge her death. You know that as well as I do. She loved you with all of her heart, and she raised you to treat people with the kindness and respect that you would expecr friom them. But she also wished only for your safety, she worried about you with the work that you do. Please. ..whatever you choose to do, please just be safe."
"I'll do my best, Dad, I promise. I just don't want Mom's death to be meaningless. There has already been too Gods be Damned much loss as it is since this whole thing started. It has to stop." Rude pinched the bridge of his nose between two leather covered fingers, trying to fight back the pounding that was beginning between his eyes. Stress headaches were not a sensation he enjoyed at all, and as his feet sank into the tan plush carpeting of his living room he turned on the tv to the twenty four hour news channel, having a feeling he was going to regret it, but he had to see the damage for himself.
Nothing could prepare him for the flaming horror of watching the city where he had grown up erupt into what equated to a funeral pyre, buildings launching smudges of black smoke into the dawn time sky to obscure the rising red orb of the sun. "Holy Leviathan. . ." came the quietly uttered oath as he listened to the screams and watched people scrambling for the ocean, many of them on fire. It was a terrifying spectacle, one that would be imprinted on his mind for the rest of his life. This couldn't stand. . .he wouldn't let this stand, it was too horrible to contemplate allowing it.
Once he was off the phone with his father, he called in to ShinRa Head Quarters, his tone sharp and crisp as he spoke to Rufus ShinRa. "Mister President. . .once we're ready to go after these people, I want permission to be in on this mission. Those sons of bitches burned my family out of their home and they killed my mother. They made this personal, and I can not just sit at the sidelines while someone else has a hand in avenging the ones that I loved and have lost." He had managed to calm the shaking of rage that had seized his entire body when he had first gotten the news of his mother's death, but he'd buried it into a burning ball that when it exploded would be as messy and as destructive as one of his own special creation bombs.
Rufus sighed from the other end of the phone. He knew Rude Urar, and because he knew the man as well as he did he knew how useless it was to attempt to talk him out of this. "I will give you permission, Rude. . .but I also insist that you take Tseng with you. Your partner, even in the state that he is in right now, hell, especially in the state that he is right now, would take it extremely poorly should you be killed in the performance of this assignment. I for one do not want to be required to break such news to him. So please, by all that is holy or unholy, come back in one piece."
"Don't worry your mind so much, Mister President. I have no intention of getting myself killed. The only blood that will be spilled when all is said and done will be that of my mother's murderers. I'll bring their sorry carcasses back for burial." Rude's voice was a bare growl as he spoke, but all that mattered to him was that he had gotten the consent that he had sought to go after the ones who had committed the horrendous deed of putting their hands on his family.
He walked toward his bedroom, seeking out and finding his baby glock nine milimeter, the one he called the Enforcer, He pressed his lips to the barrel in a sensous looking kiss, but in reality it was a ritual that he had had ever since he'd first picked up the pistol. He took care of the firearm as if it was one of his own children, oiling the parts daily and cleaning it rigorously every time it was used. That was most of why that weapon had never once in all of his years of being a Turk failed him. "Let this be my hand, that which gains vengance upon those which have touched my own blood." he intoned as he slid the gun into the leather holster as easy as sliding a shaft into a well pleasured woman.
"Rufus, are you certain that giving Rude permission to accompany on this mission is such a wise decision? You of all people aside from Reno know what Rude is like when he gets into a particular mindset. He shuts out everything but the thing he wishes to accomplish, so much so that he becomes a danger to himself as well as those that he is accompanied by." Tseng was honestly extremely concerned by the fact that ShinRa's president had allowed this to occur. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and the former Bushi was very well aware of that fact.
"What would you have suggested that I should do, Tseng? Tell Rude no? Do you not realize what would have happened? He would have gone on ahead and done it anyway, withiout my permission or sanction, without proper equipment or backup, and suffered the consequences for his actions when he'd done what he set out to do. Do you honestly believe he would not have? I know better than that, Tseng Xiang, And I will not risk losing one of my top agents because he has gone it alone and managed to get himself permanently injured or killed in the doing." Rufus' tone was exasperated as he replied to the director of his Turk.
Tseng had to admit that Rufus had a point, but his stern expression said he didn't like the fact that his president just happened to be correct., It wasn't something he liked to think about, that his normally cool, implaceable Turk had a deeply buried temper that caused tunnel vision when it was triggered. It tended to get people killed, which was why Tseng tried to keep him out of the field when he was that franky well pissed off. It was just too damn dangerous, to everyone. "Sir, perhaps you're right. But it's not something that I like anyway. Granted, Rude does not normally do the absolutely idiotic things normally that Reno typically does when he's angry, but it's still not the safest situation and one I would have preferred to avoid."
Hotaru got the news of the destuction of Costa, and bent her head down into her hands. This was not at all what she'd wanted. . .to have her creations used to kill. They were designed to give people a second chance. . .not to destroy lives. Why? Why is it that things like this have happened? Her thought was to turn herself over to ShinRa. . . to stop this before it went any further, but she wasn't sure how good an idea that was, and if she would even be given asylum rather than simply killed as soon as she threw herself on their tender mercies. I must try. .. oh, Aki, forgive me, I will never be able to return our son to us. ..but I can not let this go on. Your brethern were never meant to be tools of war.
She got her things together and began to get ready to go back to Edge. She was, in a word, horrified at all that had come to pass, her spirit reeling at all of the death and destruction that had taken place since all of it had begun. It would be almost a day's journey, and she would lose Aki again, but it had finally become too much for her to bear. Some prices were not worth paying, and she knew her husband would not want her to sacrifice his honor in order to return to her.
The pool of dark energy in the lifestream was beginning to grow larger, causing Minerva's lips to draw into a scowl as she sensed individual presences within, ones that were never meant to trouble the world again. The roiled and bubbled, trying to reach the vortex that was where the ones creating the robots and giving them life were drawing the spirits from. If any of them escape to the surface. . .it will be a disaster. One the world would be hard pressed to survive, even with the Knight still around. She knew at least one of them was Jenova, and the last thing the world needed was that one haunting it again. "You are not going to escape into the world again, so don't even think to go there."
She had no idea that soon enough she would not be able to stop it. .. the mess thjat it would create would be difficult to clean up to say the least, but there was little to be done about it. I need to make sure that the last of my Children is protected. .. he will be needed soon, especially should Jenova, Sephiroth, or one of those influenced by either one of them manage to make their way through that vortext and back to the world of the living again. There has already been too much damage because of them, our world can ill afford yet more of their meddling in it.
"Phoenix, I want you to go and watch over the Child directly. He will need the protection, I can sense it. None of the Dark Ones have escaped yet, but it is only a matter of time with things being as they stand now." The Goddess tossed blond hair over her shoulder, bright eyes, as green as youngv leaves, meeting those of the young God of Life and Rebirth. "He trusts you, due to the afffinity that he and his mother both have with you."
The younger summon nodded, flame red hair streaming out behind him as his wings sprouted from hiis back, the pinions in the fiery shades of blue, red, orange, and yellow that signified his affinity to his natural element. He faded from sight as he passed the veil between life and death, appearing in his human-like form but in a more ethereal manner, not fully manifesting, not yet. He would stay invisible to the eyes of the living until he was absolutely needed.
Reno sat straight up in the bed, eyes going wide with a curious expression as his senses went wild. He could feel the familiar presence, but in his state he did not have a name to attach to it, just knew that it felt like someone he'd known for a long time, someone that he knew with absolute certainity that he could trust. His hand reached out, a look of utter awe and wonder dancing across his features as he watched the ghostly figure that only he in the house could see.
A smile played over full lips as he climbed out of the bed and headed for the kitchen. Reno had suddenly found himself thirsty as he was awakened by the rush of energy that signaled Phoenix's arrival in his home. A cooing noise slipped free as he removed the jug of milk from his refrigherator and poured himself a glass, drinking it and putting it back as he let the warmth of the firebird's presence wash over his heart and spirit.
Wind whistled through the trees outside, and it was as if the Turk was hearing all of it again for the very first time. A soft hum came from his throat, the same lullaby that he'd sung in the shower the time he'd awakened the Child. .
The Child began to stir again, though this time he did not fully awaken. He began to leak a bit of that energy, though, causing the external body to glow. Outside, Reno's hair lifted off the nape of his neck, a few sparkling specks of energy the color of raw mako rising up around him and windiing around the slender framne as he continued to hum.
Cloud groaned, blue eyes flutetring open as the light that Reno was giving off penetrated the closed parchment thin lids. It took him a few minutes to become coherent enough to fully take in that something unusual was going on, but once he did all he could do was stare. He feared to speak,, to call out to his lover, for fear that it would break whatever spell he was under. There was a strange and delicate beauty to this, and the former trooper did not want to upset the delicate balance of whatever this might happen to be.
Phoenxi could not help but smile, and giggle while in that invisible form, as he realized that the Child of the Planet was indeed sensing his presence, even if he could not fully see the summon at this point in time. The spirit was young as most summons went, with all of the innocence and playfulness that came with that youth. I have wanted to be able to be close to him like this for so many years. . .I'm not going to waste this chance by getting myself into trouble with the others.
The energy wound a bit more about Reno until he sensed Cloud's presence and stopped humming, the droplets simply walling to the floor like rain and then fading away as he did. "You are awake?" he asked, tilting his head to one side in a curious manner, as if he had not expected his lover to wake so easily.
"Yeah, just going to go use the bathroom and head back to bed. I have deliveries in the morning." Cloud shook himself free of the spell, but he still stared at Reno in utter dumbstruck wonder, still not sure that he had really seen what he had thought he had seen. He still was not entirely sure, though it sure looked that way to him. He was. .. .glowing, with this light that looked as if it was coming from within, and the power I could sense. . .it felt like Aerith. Which as he's her cousin does sort of make sense, but. . .he was never trained to use it. How is he even harnassing any of that?
In the early dawn hours, a figure slipped away from his aprtment in Edge, the long black sedan leaving the city before anyone had a chance to stop him. Sure, Rude had been given permission to go on any missions involving dealing with those who had destroyted his home and his family, but he'd been given a clue in the late portions of the night before, a single, very familiar to him, name. That had caused him to strike out on his own to eliminate the problem. . .personally.
No one gets to have Katsu but me. It was bad enough what he did to Tseng, back during the war years. . .but then he killed my mother. . .no one touches what belongs to me and lives. . .and I will bring the rest of his little orginanzation down around his ears. He and they can burn like my town burned. . .like my mother and my home burned.
The determination for his vengeance had indeed created a bit of tunnel vision for the bald headed Turk, just as Tseng had feared. . .but it also meant Rude was more focused than he had been in years. He'd tossed the bag with his tools in it into the back of the car, including the crushed magic matreria that made the demolitions just that bit more special. The colors would break across the clouds in the way that his partner had always loved when Rude set off one of those bad boys right underneath Katsu's floor. "You''re going to get to go out with a bang. Consider yourself lucky, if I weren't trying to respect the fact that Mother would be horrified if I tortured you I'd rip every one of your fingernails and pubic hairs out one at a time and feed them to you." a smirk crossed the tanned face at that as he thought with a great deal of pleasure of what he would like to do.