DISCLAIMER: go back to chapter 1

"Rude, over there!"

Loz rolled under a car and hid. It was a long story how he started hunting demons - or how Loz called them.

It all started when the clone started complaining about Turk work and how whenever they got the missions where it was just a go-in and take-out method, Loz complained it was too easy. Then when Tseng started giving them work where they had to take out the target, sneak by the bodyguards and steal actual valuable items, he complained it was yet again too easy.

So Tseng, the one who just loved to play games gave them a job. A job only elite Turks like him could do, and it was the absolute worst.

At least Loz would think twice before he started to complain.

Rude fired a single shot and perfectly caught the demonized man by the forehead.

"Easy."

The dark skinned man turned to open the door and let the stumbling remnant slip past him.

"That was fun! All the bad guys usually give me a headache but that was so fun!"

Rude smirked and heard Loz giggle something else about fun demons. He didn't understand how Loz out of all people could stay so cheery while everything else around them fell.

He kicked the corpse of a demon, neon green essence oozing out from their wounds.

Loz started laughing and had to lean against a car to keep himself in check.

"Corpses infused with Mako. Looks like they went mad and became addicts."

Rude pulled Loz away from the corpse because he felt like the man was getting off at seeing it bleed out.

"Their bodies are dunked in Mako baths, they like the effect. Their blood isn't blood anymore, it's just liquid Mako."

Rude walked down the street, the corpses all dissolving. Loz was smiling, walking fast with him.

"They're better than people!"

Just then Rude stopped.

He clicked his gun and slowly turned his head, his smirk gone. Even though Loz couldn't see past the sunglasses, the mood suddenly shifted to a tense one. One where Rude's stature resembled somebody who caught the clone wrapping his hands around a child's neck.

It felt that bad.

Loz gulped and looked up at him, giving an awkward laugh.

"W-What's up Rudy?"

His clueless green eyes glimmered, stomach tied in knots.

"Rudy-"

"Better than people?"

Loz's smile just suddenly fell, a whole weight crashing down on him.

"Oh uh, you can't just assume that-"

"Better than people, Loz? You mean you enjoyed killing them?"

Back when the two remnants first surfaced they were just wandering around until Reno discovered them. Tseng wasn't sure what they were doing beforehand and didn't care either, the Turks were diminished in numbers and wasn't expecting any new recruits anytime soon. Even though they posed a threat, Tseng just wanted manpower, enough to protect the president.

Now looking back at it, Rude really wished he did the check up the first month they were gone.

He could remember the first mission they had together, it was just an in-out job, one where they had information about firearms and a security breach. It was successful, unlike the other one two months ago where the mole had a bomb strapped to his chest and Loz nearly got blown apart.

Rude recalled all the people Loz had to kill in order to get info, how he realized he felt nothing at all right there but once he got home the clone started to crumble. He tried telling Rude he needed to see the victim's families, needed to apologize, say how it was all his fault for not giving them a chance.

"N-No, I don't wanna kill-"

"You just said that killing demons was better than people. What, you liked killing them before?"

"No, I-"

Rude wasn't having it.

"'That was better than people' you got a kick from killing them, or else you wouldn't say that. What's so special on putting a bullet through a demon's head that it's better than putting it through a man's head?"

Loz was dumbfounded but most of all he was confused but also stressed.

"I don't wanna put it through a man's head, Rudy you heard wrong-"

Rude was feeling anger but also hurt boiling in his stomach, just watching Loz try and back up what he said.

"You remember Syn? The Wutainese guy that had launch codes, everything about Deepground? What happened huh? I told you to spare him but no you just laughed and shot him. Right in the forehead."

Now Loz's eyebrows knit together.

"Because he had launch codes, he could've ordered a strike on Midgar I couldn't-"

"Could've! He could've done it, he could've ordered one but no, you could see how he begged, how he said he was gonna give it up but no-"

"He wouldn't give it either way! That's what all of them do!"

Loz suddenly yelled at him, getting defensive. Rude could see tears gathering in his green eyes under the dim streetlamp.

"What about Prancer? Ghoul?"

Loz backed up, his hands shaking. His bottom lip started quivering, obviously losing control of keeping his emotions in check.

"Mehta, Arian, Eden? All those people, they were in the way and all you did was shoot them-"

He could see Loz was starting to break down now, his hand clasped over his mouth as tears fell down freely.

"What, you're just going to cry? That's your alternative? Well it's not gonna go by me, come here-"

He grabbed the clueless man's arms, ripping his hands out of his face.

"Those people deserve better, they don't need you."

All of a sudden Loz's voice quivered, spilling out a name.

"Huh? Another one you killed?"

Rude shook him, the name coming again but masked by the tears.

"Come on, say it-"

"Zack!"

Loz broke down, his knees giving out under him.

"Zack, Zack I'm sorry, it's my-"

Lucky for them they were covered by the night air. The lights were dimmed, the only thing they could hear around them was the wind blowing and Loz's disoriented and unfiltered sobs.

"Zack don't leave, don't leave… he was wrong, all of them were wrong… no point, he died anyway…"

All in the while, Rude was confused just standing there watching Loz break down clinging to his leg.

The hell?

"Who's Zack?"

Rude figured softening his tone would bring him back. The sight of Loz broken and struggling to find words, much less think, was killing him. He felt a pang of regret hitting him, suddenly wishing he never lost it and had control over his words. Instead he messed up, letting his emotions run rampant.

Loz was special to Rude, he never wanted to hurt him, much less pressure him to do something. He promised him he wouldn't hurt him like Mother.

He wasn't so sure on that now.

Zack was the man Tseng never spoke about. There was a photograph of him hung up on his office wall. The Wutaian yelled at people who stared at it for too long, almost like it was sacred.

All the Turks knew was that he was somebody special.

Very special.

"Loz can you please tell me-"

"No."

Loz refused to look up at him, red rimmed eyes brimming with tears and his face blotchy.

"I don't know him… I don't know who Zack is…"

The poor remnant had that edge to his voice, the miserable one. The one where a new wave of tears were coming.

"I don't know who Zack is, who is he…"

"Loz-"

"Who the fuck is he!"

He yelled, long nails digging in his pants.

"Get him out, I don't want him in my head, get him out…" the remnant whined.

Rude finally bent down and carefully pulled him in his arms, Loz immediately digging his tear blotched face in his shoulder. Rude could tell it was hours before he moved.

"I'm sorry Rudy…"

The clone rubbed his eyes, body racking with another wave of sobs.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save them, I could've done something, their families…"

Loz wept in his shoulder, Rude just sucking it in and allowing all of it to flood in.

It's all his fault.

"They're over it… and you should be too."

As much as Rude meant that, he couldn't do it himself.

"So you aren't gonna tell me anything?"

Cloud sat in a big chair facing Rufus who was too busy staring out the window. He did a good job ignoring people, countless interviews and meetings did that.

Cloud snapped a finger in the president's line of sight. The man finally tore his eyes from the clouds.

"Why does Deepground exist? Don't say you don't know because either it doesn't exist or it's under your radar."

Cloud knew the workarounds with Shinra's lies, if they said they didn't know, it was just a huge bluff. They knew everything.

"It's confidential."

Of course, it's confidential.

"I help you with Sephiroth, I help you remove your dad from power, I help you with Jenova, and you won't tell me about Deepground? Cause it's confidential?"

Cloud grit the handle of the chair, Rufus' inability to cooperate was tearing his patience. All these years and he finally knew how to regain his emotions, yet the patience part was still in the works.

"Yes Cloud, it's confidential."

The blonde rose his hands in disbelief, glancing out to what Rufus was staring at. He caught sight of a certain scribble on the wall, something squiggly he couldn't make out. He squinted to see better and finally he knew how to get to him.

"If I ask Tseng will he tell me it's confidential?"

And finally Rufus' green eyes landed on him.

"Of course he will-"

"Even if I mention that Deepground used wounded SOLDIER's for 'testing'? Especially captured Wutai prisoners? Political Wutai prisoners?"

Cloud only had a minute to register the shocked expression on Rufus' face.

"Oh. Don't tell me he doesn't know about that."

All of a sudden the president's face flared with redness, his green eyes flashing dangerously. They reminded him of Kadaj.

"Cloud the words that come out of your mouth never leave this room, got that?"

"What? Now that you answered my question-"

"What question Cloud?!"

"That you didn't try to deny you used poor innocent civilians to create mindless sheep to lead into battle? With SOLDIERS - with Sephiroth, mind you - at least they had a mind. A conscience. Now with these Deepground soldiers they won't question anything, right?"

"No!"

But Rufus wasn't getting mad. He was just closing his eyes, the red from his face dying down, a poor expression on his face. It almost looked relieved.

If it wasn't the fact he was an asshole with a nice haircut, Cloud would've felt sorry for him.

"The reason… the reason why they're still up is because… I don't want to risk it."

His voice was soft, his gaze staring down at the desk.

"Many, many years ago Deepground was just a facility where the heavily wounded SOLDIERS were treated, a second chance if they couldn't make it. It wasn't bad, it was never meant to be bad… Somewhere along the line my father ordered this… new program which just in case protected Shinra of another war, where SOLDIERS wouldn't question what they were led to. Where they wouldn't 'kill their commander' or some shit he made up. So he built a subdivision to the new infirmary where… the wounded which really couldn't make it out were transferred there… where they… they… made sure they wouldn't rebel."

The blonde looked just about right to vomit all over the desk. He looked so guilty, he was just gonna puke everywhere.

"They dunked them in Mako baths, whipped them with these… whips made out of Materia, filled up their stomach with… 'non toxic' shiny things, and I'm pretty sure you know what that is… The point is my father is a monster for allowing this. And I'm a monster as well for forgetting."

As soon as he heard 'Mako baths' he recalled the time many years ago where Sephiroth pushed the both of them in the Lifestream, where many months later he woke up to himself in a wheelchair. Tifa said something along the lines of 'vegetative state' and 'tube eating' and other stuff he couldn't recall. He remembered he couldn't walk for two months because of how numb his legs were. He remembered the voices, oh god the voices.

Although the lifestream and the Mako baths was different things, somewhat, Cloud couldn't imagine how their sanity was like.

"You wanna fix your mistakes, right?"

The blonde's dim litted eyes traveled up to him.

"Why don't you shut it down?"

"I can't."

Cloud straightened up in the chair.

"You're the president, why can't-"

"I can't, Cloud."

Rufus' nails dug into the wooden desk.

"They're by themselves now. Shinra is just a banner plastered in their wall, we don't have control over them now. It's just a band of savages down there, foaming around the mouth. They have their own rules, their own government. I don't have control. I can't shut them down. The reason why they're still up and running is because every time I sent a unit to shut them down they never came back up. It's just a bunch of sewer rats down there, repopulating any chance they get. I can't shut them down."

Cloud swallowed thickly. Rufus bit his lip, raw emotion he forgot to conceal evident on his face.

"I lost them, Cloud."

All of a sudden a knock on the door interrupted them, Elena clutching a pile of papers coming through. She was smiling but then her smile fell when she looked at Cloud.

"Ah uh… is this a bad time?"

She laughed nervously, shifting on one heel to another.

"Tseng finished signing the papers, he said it's urgent… You know, to fill out.

When silence graced the room, she smiled painfully and set them on the bookshelf.

"Yeah uh, Mr. President? Silver finished the job, he's just hanging around-"

"Then relieve him. He's done enough."

Cloud was confused who this 'Silver' was so he just twiddled his thumbs.

"You sure? Cause you know how he is-"

"I said kick him out, Elena. Don't make me say it again."

A certain sternness added to his voice, making her nod her head and immediately leave.

"Of course. Oh and Cloud the elevator's broken so you're just gonna have to use the stairs. Again."

She shut the door rather loudly leaving the two men in awkward positions.

"Care to answer one more question about Deepground?"

Rufus looked like he was gonna kick the desk in but complied unwillingly.

"What is it?"

"What does Genesis Rhapsodos have to do with this?"

The president snickered, biting on his lip. Cloud was pleasantly surprised since it was hard for him to crack a smile.

"Genesis Rhapsodos? If Sep- if Tseng heard that…"

He coughed awkwardly.

"He was the seed for this monstrosity. They used his genes for their studies implanting them when they were fetuses, like we were doing to SOLDIERS… it was the key for their savagery, paired with the torture that made them unstoppable."

Cloud had a feeling he was lying but brushed it aside. He'll ask Vincent for the truth. If he'll even answer the phone.

"So Sephiroth didn't have anything to do with this, to do with Genesis?"

Rufus hesitated to answer, quickly swiping his tongue across his bottom lip.

"No, he didn't. Deepground was all Genesis. Sephiroth wasn't involved with him- wasn't involved with Deepground."

He nodded, almost reassuring himself he said the correct things.

Cloud figured that was all he had to know, just the basics.

"Hm. Fine."

He stood up, brushing his fingers over his clothes. He heard something shuffle towards him on the desk and glanced down. His blue eyes caught on a picture of Rikku, the elder from the Al Bhed camp.

"We talked to her and she denied ever seeing Kadaj. Strange, a droid said he saw him but the elder leader said she never heard the name. Even the lie detectors came out correct."

Cloud took the picture of Rikku, swallowing thickly and placed it back on the table. For a brief moment he wondered if Rikku was in danger. If the 'questioning' involved something physical, not verbal.

He shrugged and turned his back, his hand on the doorknob.

"What can I say. I'm a good mercenary."