Disclaimer: I own nothing, make no money from anything, and am writing this purely for personal enjoyment.
Notes: In case anyone else has concerns, this is a pure gen story - no slash
Cloud and Sephiroth handled most of the administration in Midgar, while the other ex-firsts handling the regional branches, Lazard having been edged out of any real control over the course of the war. As a result, it wasn't often that Cloud was called out to deal with problems personally. The very fact that he was needed meant he'd already failed to predict something. And this time, he'd failed to predict something that could have had far more dire consequences. Cloud wished he could wipe the sweat out of his eyes. It took a lot to physically tire him with this much mako in his blood, but trying to keep an entire building from collapsing was managing it.
He didn't have time to indulge in self-reproach; he had to concentrate on the practicalities. "Captain, I just heard more steel girders being dropped off. Send someone to get one. I think if we try bracing it between the two door-frames we might be able to stabilise this room at least."
"Yes sir."
If the terrorists' explosives had been placed better, Cloud could have justified abandoning the reactor altogether and simply evacuating the citizens. As it was, the reactor was still functional – providing the technicians could get to the relevant parts to maintain it. And since fixing the reactor had a far higher priority than fixing the building that contained it, the SOLDIERs were reduced to the rather ignominious task of being living columns and buttresses. The chaos reminded Cloud uncomfortably of the Leviathan disaster and he had to remind himself constantly that no lives had been lost here. He had no reason to dread lifting a piece of rubble. Nothing was going to be underneath it but another piece of rubble. It was rather a lightweight opening move for AVALANCHE, really. He hadn't expected them to take this much care in ensuring there were no casualties. He suspected that had for more to do with public opinion than any actual concern for Shinra workers, but he'd take what he could get.
The brace worked, freeing Cloud to supervise the stabilising of the rest of the building with the newly delivered supplies and the judicious application of materia. Many exhausting hours later, they could finally handover the situation to the civilian construction team. Cloud could feel it in his muscles as he waited for the SOLDIERS to disembark from the train at the SOLDIER headquarters terminal. It was a bizarrely nostalgic feeling.
"You have my congratulations, SOLDIERs. You performed a difficult and tiring task and kept the technicians safe. Thanks to you, we have no fear of this reactor exploding and taking the town with it. You have the gratitude of Shinra, and of myself. Get fed, then get some sleep. You've certainly earned it. Dismissed."
"Sir," came the chorus, before they broke from ranks and headed for the canteen and their quarters.
Cloud surprised himself by not following suit. He'd certainly planned on nothing more than a hot bath, some high-energy food supplements, and sleep. Instead, he returned to his office to look through all the recent reports. Something about the whole attack was off. Cloud hoped it wasn't because he'd come to expect deaths, but that attack on the reactor had been, well, pointless. It wasn't even very good at attracting the attention of the public. Cloud brought up every rumour and report, trying to spot if there was something else that they were up to.
His efforts paid off and he almost wished they hadn't. He read through the report of movements near a particular temple – and any plans to investigate that had been deprioritised into non-existence. He couldn't even blame the staff for that. Cloud had kept the importance of the temple out of the books for very good reasons.
Perhaps he was panicking over nothing. Perhaps AVALANCHE was just adding more protections to the temple to protect the Black Materia from Shinra. If it was that, he could ignore it. It wasn't like he wanted Shinra using it either. But he couldn't assume that, and if they had taken it away, then he would have to do something about it. He could not let AVALANCHE have it close by and ready to use. They might even believe they were just keeping it safe, but as long as they had it, they'd be thinking about ways they could use it. Some of AVALANCHE were the same people who had thought that it was a good idea to use Leviathan against their own civilians, after all. Who knew if they'd think a plan that killed everyone on the planet was any more unreasonable?
He put in the orders to have the matter investigated – both with regard to the movements around the temple and with his own spies within AVALANCHE. Those were orders he could give himself, but if what he suspected was true, then he was going to have to bring in the big weapons. He was going to have to tell Sephiroth.
Sephiroth had listened to him grimly and hadn't asked any of the questions Cloud had expected. No asking if he was sure, no requests for any evidence and no mention of it being yet another thing that Cloud had been keeping from him. Instead, he asked about what they'd need to do, what could go wrong, and whether Cloud had been getting enough sleep. Cloud blushed and stumbled over the last. He hadn't returned to the worst he had been after Wutai Village, but this latest problem had been keeping him up. Sephiroth had promptly ordered him back to bed and Cloud had found himself obeying with relief. He knew it was childish – even absurd if he considered their longer history together – but he just felt safer with Sephiroth on his side. They'd delayed letting anyone else know the details until the very last minute, simply reshuffling the schedules without explanation.
This was the moment of truth.
"Attention!"
Sephiroth and Cloud walked to the front of the room and turned to face the room of SOLDIERs.
"At ease."
Sephiroth sat himself on the edge of a side table. "A few words before we officially begin. I wish to reiterate that this mission is volunteer only and this is your last chance to back out. If you continue on past this point, you will not question the mission. You will not discuss the mission. You will not use any information gained in this mission to help you in any future missions. If asked by anyone, within our organisation or without, this mission never happened. Once this mission is over, you will do your absolute best to forget the day even happened."
Sephiroth paused and then allowed his voice to soften. "You have my personal guarantee that all this is necessary, but if these terms make you in any way uncomfortable, I will understand if you do not wish to proceed. We'll take five minutes now to fetch some coffee for the briefing. If you don't return, there will be absolutely no consequences. No one will think any less of you. Thank you."
The senior lieutenant called them back to attention as Sephiroth pushed himself of the table. Cloud trailed Sephiroth to the officer's break room and attempted to make coffees for them. He cursed under his breath as he spilled hot water over the side.
"You're twitching, Cloud."
"Sorry. I'm just imagining one of them running off to President Shinra right this minute."
"Then we feed the president the line about not trusting his office with the safety of your source within AVALANCHE."
"Which I don't."
"Exactly. We've been over this. The two of us are not enough to retrieve the Black Materia by ourselves. So unless you've changed your mind about letting AVALANCHE keep it..."
"No. We can't risk it in their custody."
"Then we need a full team to go in and take it from them. So calm down, treat this just like any other mission, and have some faith in our people."
"Yes sir."
Cloud did a quick head-count when they returned to the meeting room. Everyone. Now even if they wanted to say something, they wouldn't have the chance until it was too late. Cloud could feel his shoulders begin to unknot.
"Please be seated."
Sephiroth returned to his perch. The rest of the room scrambled to take their places in actual chairs and opened their folders. Cloud sat closest the end, leaving the head for Sephiroth if he ever chose to join them. Sephiroth nodded at him, and Cloud began the briefing.
"This is strictly a retrieval mission. Our main resistance will be human, but we are not interested in them. We will not be making any arrests, and SOLDIER stun will be left behind. We will be using normal sleep instead, as we expect to be finished before that has time to wear off. Fire and freeze are permitted if you wish them, but please do be aware of the constraints of enclosed environments with your colleagues right next to you. Once we are in, Colonel Sephiroth and I will secure our objective, and then we will leave. We will not let anyone or anything stand in our way. Although do try to keep the building intact until after we're out of it."
The room laughed politely.
"Everyone has a copy of the floor-plans. Thoughts, please."
There were the usual rounds of questions and fine-tuning, but before Cloud had time to work himself up into a state again, they were gearing up. Cloud had prepared all the standard gear for them himself, and it had felt rather nostalgic to be doing it again. The SOLDIER train ran as ordered, and the communication shut-down was enough to keep AVALANCHE in the dark for long enough for the full team to arrive at the base's front door. The competing factions within AVALANCHE meant it was never going to respond quickly to unexpected threats, and SOLDIER could be very fast when it decided to move. Cloud and Sephiroth were counting on that.
SOLDIER's unwillingness to kill put them at a disadvantage, but the residents of the base were a combination of idealists and cheap mercenaries. The team were carrying two wounded by the time Cloud and Sephiroth reached the store room, but no deaths or complications. Sephiroth opened the door, and Cloud could feel the Black Materia pricking under his skin.
"Where is it?" asked Sephiroth, looking around the casually packed shelves with confusion. Cloud supposed he shouldn't have expected AVALANCHE to have placed it in the middle of an alter. Unlike the builders of the temple, they would not have seen it as an item to be protected and worshipped. But to have it tossed in with the extra toilet paper was a level of irreverence that disturbed him. It was like whoever had been put in charge of it didn't believe that it was really dangerous, or more worryingly, didn't believe that something dangerous deserved additional care and attention.
"Give me a second, I can sense it." Cloud walked slowly back and forth before isolating it to a locked box, which he simply picked up. It hadn't been secured to the wall or the shelves in any way. Cloud should have been relieved it was so easy, but the whole situation was everything that concerned him about AVALANCHE in miniature –deadly power without responsibility.
The team returned without incident, and, as Sephiroth had predicted, none of their people ever spoke about the mission. The fighting had attracted the attention of the local security office, but not until the SOLDIERs were well clear. Cloud had been practising his skills at working the system throughout his years as the director of IRD, and he made good use of them now. Cloud had some interesting conversations with the senior staff of Shinra in which everyone talked around the incident, but no one came out and accused SOLDIER of having been involved.
The actual consequence for the attack happened from a direction Cloud had never anticipated. When the body of Rufus Shinra, Vice President of Shinra, was discovered, Cloud watched it on the news with everyone else. AVALANCHE had pinned their anti-Shinra manifesto to his chest. This time, it was Cloud who sought Tseng out.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
Tseng clicked his tongue. "He was a traitorous bastard who only ever cared about amassing as much power for himself as he could."
"Yes. But he was your traitorous bastard."
Tseng stood silent for a long time before he continued softly. "He was such a messed up little kid. I've been through his death once before, you know. But that was years from now, when he'd already gotten a good handle on being a messed up adult. He didn't deserve to die."
"No, he didn't. What happened? Why did AVALANCHE go for him? I thought he was funding them again?"
Tseng paused. "Do you really want me to tell you?"
Cloud clasped his hands to stop the sudden tremor. He'd been hoping- "Yes."
"AVALANCHE knew the Black Materia had been stolen by people who could order SOLDIER around, and they knew the President himself had no idea what was going on. Rufus was the most obvious candidate."
"But Yuffie and the rest had to have known it was me behind that."
"I don't know what they were thinking. Maybe they think he was working on your behalf. Maybe they knew their rank and file wouldn't believe it of you when Rufus was so much more obvious. Maybe they just knew they didn't have any real chance of assassinating you, so they weren't willing to risk it."
Cloud dropped his head forward. "Would you have been able to predict this if I'd discussed my plans to remove the black materia with you beforehand?"
"Would you have changed your mind about doing it if I had?" asked Tseng.
Cloud twitched. It was the black materia, and AVALANCHE could have killed any number of people with it if they'd kept control of it. The death of one person who wasn't even an ally...
"Exactly," said Tseng.
Cloud tried to find the words to defend himself, but he didn't want to add hypocrisy to his list of sins. "I didn't want his death, but I take responsibility for it. I'm sorry."
"Thank you."
They waited out the rest of the vigil period in silence.