Vincent snapped the phone shut and handed it back to Tseng. "We must move quickly," he said. "First, we need a place to discuss strategy; this is not an operation to be taken lightly."
Aerith tentatively raised her hand and stepped forward. "I…I know a place that we could use if we go right away. But we can't take too long."
Elena raised her eyebrows. "And why would that be?"
Aerith started to withdraw inside herself, but glimpsed a tiny dimple in Vincent's cheek from the corner of her eye. Buoyed by the secret smile, she squared her shoulders and looked Elena straight in the eye. "Because this place I know of might be filled with AVALANCHE members later tonight. I'd really rather not explain to them why I have five Turks in my company. They're a little dangerous when it comes to anything that has to do with ShinRa."
Tseng shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps. I suppose it would not change their opinion in the slightest if we told them that we are no longer privy to the company?" Aerith shook her head.
"You'd have a pretty hard time of it. But if I don't tell them who you are, then it should be all right. Is that okay with everyone?" She looked at Vincent. He nodded.
"I am in agreement," he said. The other Turks murmured their approval, and Aerith leaned down to pick up her basket. The flower business could wait for another day.
"Let's go, then," she said, buttoning her jacket and leading her entourage outside. The sky was filled with dark clouds, and the short bursts of cold wind carried the smell of rain. Automatically, Aerith put a hand to her ribbon to make sure it was still there. She could feel Vincent's invisible smile without turning around. The group continued down the street.
Finally, Aerith stopped in front of an old gray building with a weathered sign that read "Seventh Heaven". She pushed open the glass door and stepped inside the bar. Elena smacked Reno's hands as soon as she took in the surroundings. "I know what you're going to ask, and the answer is no," she hissed into his ear.
Reno looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Not even one little glass?" he whimpered. Elena glared at him. The redhead took the hint and dropped the subject.
The bartender came to the counter. "Aerith!" she exclaimed, leaning over the counter to wrap her in an enormous hug. "Just go right on back. You can use the spare room for now. The others aren't here yet." Aerith thanked her and preceded the Turks up the stairs.
Once they were all seated on the floor, Vincent leaned forward on his elbows. "Now," he said. "Surely the entire ShinRa complex is being readied for assault as we speak. So we must plan carefully." He was about to say more when the door abruptly swung open and banged against the wall.
Cid Highwind strode into the room, muttering to himself about something. He stopped suddenly when he spotted the motley group gathered there. "Aerith?" he croaked. "Who the heck are those guys?" Elena bristled slightly at this.
Aerith smiled sweetly at the grumpy blond pikeman. "Oh, just some people I met a little while ago who hate ShinRa as much as you do." Apparently mollified, Cid turned to leave. And then he saw Vincent.
"You! You!" he sputtered, pointing as he stumbled backwards. "I've seen you before! You're that danged Turk that I fought that one time!"
Vincent shook his head, trying to convey the impression that he had no idea what the man was talking about. He recognized him, all right, but it would do no good to come right out and say it.
Cid whipped a black cell phone out of his pocket and thrust it in Vincent's face. "Look familiar, planet-killer?" he sneered. "I know who you are." Abruptly, he turned to Aerith. "You! Why'd you bring a bunch of Turks here?" Cid glanced at the other Turks. "Yeah, I know about the rest of you, too! You dress like you're dang well clones of one another." Aerith patted her hands in the air, trying to calm the irate man.
"Cid, Cid," she soothed. "They're former Turks. Actually, they were just planning an assault on the ShinRa facility." Knowing how much Cid hated ShinRa, Aerith mentally crossed her fingers and gave him one last prod. "Do you want to help?" A bevy of expressions crossed Cid's face, as if he couldn't decide which one to pick. Finally, he settled on resigned.
"Fine," he grumbled. "I'm in. But only so I can keep my eye on these five. I don't trust a Turk as far as I could throw Bahamut." Aerith smiled.
"Very well, Cid," she said. "Tseng, if you please?"
The Turk leader obliged by pulling out a map of the ShinRa complex and a red pen. "Very well," he said. "Now, I believe that we should concentrate our attention on the west wall of the facility…"
x-x-x
Rufus Shinra rolled into the elevator and pushed the button for the basement. The doors slid shut behind him, blocking the noise of frantic staff trying to go normally about their duties and the intercom repeating a canned evacuation message at twice the volume it needed to. Rufus shook his head. Really, he should do something about the incompetence displayed by most of ShinRa's employees. After all, five Turks were a formidable force, but nowhere near enough to assault a complex as vast as ShinRa's.
The elevator chimed, breaking into his thoughts, and the heavy metal doors opened into the dank underbelly of the building. Rufus rolled forward, turning left when the basement narrowed into corridors. He reached a solid metal door, welded shut. Or so it appeared. He pressed his finger to the hidden print scanner and the door swung open with a hiss of hydraulics. A long tunnel sloped downwards, and Rufus could hear a voice at the other end. He sighed. Hojo was getting all worked up about something again.
"Finally!" the impatient scientist snapped when Rufus consented to enter the underground research lab. He wiped his perfectly sanitized hands on his immaculate white coat. "I need you to inspect Test Project 307 in order to ensure that it meets your specifications." Rufus nodded his consent, and Hojo led him to a heavy metal door. The scientist moved to the control pad set into the wall. Keying in the 20-digit password, swiping his finger across the print reader, scanning his retinas, and giving the correct voice recognition codes, he unlocked the huge walk-in refrigerator. Handing Rufus a breath mask, he donned his own and opened the door. A blast of cold air rushed out as the two went inside.
Hojo scurried among the aisles, reminding Rufus of a small child trying to choose which toy to show off first. Finally, with a little waggle of his fingers, he reached to the back of a shelf and grabbed a small brown glass bottle that appeared to be empty. Rufus raised his eyebrows.
"That's it?" he said. The tone of his voice made it plain that his already low opinion of the scientist had sunk even farther. "You wasted my time for a stupid bottle of nothing?! You assured me that Test Project 307 was the ultimate weapon for use against the Turks. I had to ask my father for permission to use it!" Rufus grasped the front of Hojo's lab coat, standing out of his wheelchair. Hojo's eyes bulged in surprise as his feet flailed off the floor. "Now," Rufus said. "Where is Test Project 307?" The scientist squeaked and pointed at the bottle that he still held in his hand. Rufus lowered Hojo to the floor, releasing his grasp on the scientist's collar.
Hojo rubbed his neck. "It's in the bottle. No, no!" he cried as Rufus moved towards him. "Project 307 is an invisible microorganism, carried by air currents. I modified the structure to target the genetic signatures of your Turks."
Rufus stroked his chin. "Ah. So you are not completely incompetent." The eerie calm with which he spoke the words was in utter contrast to his outburst of minutes before. "It will not harm anyone but the Turks?" Hojo gave him an abbreviated bow.
"Correct," the scientist confirmed. He handed Rufus a manila folder, along with the small bottle. "You will find the instructions for its use in the report I have prepared. Normally, I would utilize it myself, but I am quite occupied with another highly important experiment…" Hojo drifted off as he noticed the glare Rufus was giving him. He cleared his throat. "Yes, precisely…ahem, perhaps we should step, er, roll out of the freezer…" He gestured to the door, fluttering about nervously. Once they had both exited, the scientist went through the appropriate procedures to secure the door. Rufus slid the bottle and the folder under his robes, and then turned to fix Hojo with a stare that was positively malevolent.
"If you fail me again…" He let the sentence dangle unfinished in the air as he rolled out of the laboratory, back up to the sunlit levels of the building. The scientist's lair positively disgusted him.
x-x-x
It was approximately 1500 hours when the Turks crept silently through the ornamental shrubbery decorating the walls of the ShinRa compound. Aerith followed behind, feeling awkward in her borrowed black jumpsuit and incompetent next to the lithe athleticism of her companions.
She winced as the five in front of her halted suddenly and she bumped into Rude's back. Reno reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic device that resembled a tiny motor. He set it on the ground and flipped the switch; a high-pitched whining noise emitted from it. "Security jammer," Vincent whispered. Aerith nodded her understanding.
Following their well rehearsed plan, she and the Turks reached simultaneously for their utility belts, reeling out the grappling hooks lodged in the pouches and tossing them over the wall. Silently, they pulled themselves hand-over-hand up the wall and dropped silently to the other side. Reno pulled out a remote, holding it ready to deactivate the security jammer.
Tseng waved a hand and they spread quickly across the concrete expanse in front of the building, heading for the doors. Vincent and Aerith peeled off in one direction, Elena and Rude in another, while Tseng and Reno remained hidden by the wall.
The direct link in Vincent's ear buzzed with static. He clicked his teeth once to acknowledge the incoming transmission. "Yes?" he said in a low voice.
"The security codes haven't not been changed yet. Not enough time. We'll have to move quickly, though. There's a fair chance that an unpleasant welcome'll be waiting somewhere."
"Acknowledged," said Vincent. Beckoning to Aerith, he punched a code into the door panel. The two sprinted down the echoing white corridor, breezing through the random scatterings of bewildered ShinRa technicians and scientists. Down at the end of the hall, they ducked into an empty office for a quick briefing with Elena and Rude.
"First the laboratories," said Elena. "Destroy any mako containers, liquid Lifestream, and stuff of the like. Then meet up on the office floor."
"And if you find Hojo, kill him," added Vincent.
"That too," said Elena. "Move out."
Vincent darted out the door with Aerith following close behind. He flung open a heavy metal door, tearing it half off its hinges with his clawed left hand. The two pelted down the stairs, descending lower and lower into the building's structure. Finally, Vincent reached the familiar steel door and started fumbling in his pocket.
"What are you doing?" Aerith panted.
Vincent pulled on a plastic glove and touched the right index finger to the wall. The door swung open. "Rufus Shinra's fingerprint," he said. He jogged down the curving ramp towards the light at the end, emerging into Hojo's secret laboratory.
"Ah! Delightful! More visitors to entertain!" Hojo's gleeful voice echoed around the cavernous space. The scientist stepped out into the center of the room. "Mr. Valentine, how wonderful of you to stop in again. With a friend, no less."
"I haven't forgotten, you abomination," growled Vincent.
"Of course you haven't," the scientist smirked. "However, I intend to kill you more thoroughly than last time." He stroked a hand across his chin. "Another idea has struck me, though. One that would involve more pain and suffering on your part." Vincent lunged over the console towards Hojo.
"Too late!" said Hojo. With one hand, he pulled out a bottle, labeled T.P.307.A. He threw it against the floor, where it shattered into several pieces. An ominous hissing noise came from the spot where it lay. With his other hand, he pulled out a tiny hold-out gun and snapped off a shot.
A cry, followed by a muffled thump, came from behind Vincent. He whirled around.
A single bullet hole marred the smooth pink fabric of Aerith's dress.