Chapter Ten: Family Matters
Don't own any of Square Enix's characters, only my own! Please enjoy =)
Kituna exited her apartment on time with the others who were yawning on their way to the elevator. She joined them in the small space as they were lowered to the SOLDIER Floor and exited to lounge on the blue sofas there. She saw Genesis smirking and blushed underneath her mask. What was he thinking about, remembering from last night? Embellishing on last night? She frowned at all the stuff he could have dreamt about thanks to her and she didn't like that look on his face as Angeal cocked an eyebrow at him questioningly. She waited for the question to be voice and didn't have to wait long.
"Hey, Genesis, what's with that look on your face?" Angeal demanded.
"If you need to know, I got that dance from Kit last night…. in my apartment." His smile broadened.
His childhood friend rolled his eyes. "We know she went into your apartment, we saw that part." He stated jealously.
Kituna glared at Genesis at using her nickname but blushed at how quick the boys had taken to her. She brushed it aside though before she blew her cover and sat silently beside Sephiroth.
"I can't wait to find her again, as soon as this meeting's over I'm going to search for her."
"You falling in love?" Angeal joked but both Kituna and Sephiroth jerked to attention at the comment.
Genesis smiled with a content sigh. "I dunno dude, she might be the one. She obviously shares similar interests as I do and I think she was totally digging me too." This made Angeal seem a little taken aback.
"I think she was digging us all." He shot back.
"Maybe you should try and mosey up to her next time we see her, then. I can't wait to see you get shot down." Genesis smirked.
Kituna was about to protest to treating her alter ego as an object for them to fight over as the door to the Briefing Room hissed open. She stood with the others and they filed in to see Lazard and Rufus both at the table. They stood at salute and then at attention, waiting for whatever news they were to receive.
Rufus walked along the line of four and stopped at the end where Kituna, aka A, stood behind her mask and gave her a brief smile before turning his back to them. "The reactor is coming along nicely and will bring in much more Mako for the company. You four, however, will need to make sure our troops can stand up to quota. The Army, SOLDIER and foot soldiers alike, will need to be at their best if we are you maintain this company and you four will make sure they get the right amount of vigorous training that will keep them in tip top fighting order. You are the force of this company," his azure eyes landed on Sephiroth in particular, "without your strength we wouldn't be where we are right now no matter how much my father won't confess it to you. We are proud of you and treasure having you be our First Class. Now get out there and make more of that sorry lot." He grinned and lounged in a chair nearby and looked to Lazard who stepped forward.
"As the Vice President said, we have quantity; we just need to up the quality now and you will help with that. Sephiroth is already the General and knows his elite squadrons as do Genesis and Angeal assuming they got the e-mail I sent?"
Genesis blushed while Angeal nodded tightly. Lazard stood before the red clad swordsman.
"SOLDIER First Class, Genesis, did you read the e-mail I sent last night?" he asked coolly.
He shook his head shamefully, keeping his eyes on an object directly behind the Director.
"I suggest you step down from the clouds of your new fame then and check the inbox of your phone when we're through. A, since you were kept secret by the Vice President up to this point you will be assigned a few of our new promoted Second Class and our new numbers of Third Class SOLDIER operatives. Apparently, if anyone can make them the best, it would be you by what I've been told." His blue eyes darted over to the other blond lounging behind him who nodded. He returned his attention to her, "I trust you won't fail us. Now, all of you will bring the new Third Class into some simulations of the Mines, Plains and Desert areas and then the Islands. You are to act like it is an actual warzone or excavation or exploration team. Anyone dealt an otherwise killing wound will be kicked out of the simulation. Any pain or wounds, as you should already know, will be very real. Of course, that shouldn't be a problem for you. I would just keep an eye on the newbies. Now, off to the training room, they are already there. A, they are all in your squadron so take care to make a good first impression. Sephiroth, I'm sure they're all familiar with you. Genesis and Angeal, you can treat them like shit if you wanted, I don't really care." He ushered them out and Rufus followed to pull Kituna aside.
"You four go one ahead, I'm just going to have a short talk with A before we begin." He told them as he waved them on. When they were around the corner he pulled her back into the Briefing Room and locked the door with his card key on his belt. "Kituna, how did everything go?" he asked earnestly.
She tilted her head and slipped the mask up onto her head under her hood. "How did what go?"
"In Banora, when I left, what all happened since Sephiroth knows?" he reminded.
"Oh, well, no one else knows and we got called back by Lazard I guess to train the new Thirds and we saw Loveless last night but I wasn't A. Sephiroth proposed that I can be Kituna the visitor to Midgar while we're here so I'm not always on guard." She waited for him to protest to the idea even though it had already happened. To her surprise he nodded his head.
"That makes sense, it takes off the pressure too as long as no one notices you going in the same apartment as different people."
She hadn't thought that far ahead and frowned.
"But don't worry, I can intervene if I need to. So, is the future safe?" he smiled.
"So far, I think I quieted Genesis' obsession for good and if we can stabilize their bodies, he and Angeal won't go on a 'we're all monsters' spree and Sephiroth won't lose his head by the domino effect." She smiled back. She wasn't going to let this screw up like the previous future.
"I'll get Hollander and Hojo to reintroduce the genes with some S samples ASAP. I guess we should hurry over to the Training Room now, but I want to meet you outside the building an hour later, okay?"
She nodded and slid her mask back into place and they headed over to the slightly crowded Training Room. There were fifteen other SOLDIER in the small room all in purple uniforms of the cotton sweater like shirt and cargo pants with boots and belts that identified them as their Class with metal helmet like masks that hid their hair and upper facial features. At least there was something they could bond over. Kituna followed the other First Class SOLDIERs to leading the new recruits into the cell and then green and blue digitalization flashed around them as they were sent into the first simulation. She looked around to find they were surrounded by damp bluish rock with stalactites and stalagmites lining the periphery like jaws. They were in the deep mines.
Sephiroth flipped open his phone on the first ring. "Sir."
There was the muffled voice of the Director from the speaker. "Kituna and you will lead the group out of the lower mines to the upper mines and out into the Plains then into the Desert to make your way to the Islands border where you will find a means of comfortably getting to the main island where you will finish the simulation. By all means, take your time, Hojo is here." Then he hung up. Sephiroth grunted what sounded like a curse.
Kituna nodded at him so he understood she had overheard then turned to the men who quickly stopped glancing fearfully at the depths below and stood at attention. "Sephiroth and I will lead the group, Genesis, Angeal, you will make sure no one falls behind and that we aren't attacked from behind. If anything happens that should cause a disruption to your formation you are to inform me first, I'll take care of it if need be."
The other two nodded and drew their weapons as they scanned the dark depths from the back of the group. Kituna continued to the purple clad men. "There is no doubt you will have to prove yourselves once again that you are worthy to be SOLDIER, it won't be all fame and glory. You will fight, you may die, here as well as the actual missions you will be assigned. A true SOLDIER is afraid, so don't think you are weak if you are. Fear can change a man, for the worse or the better, for your sake and your comrade's sake, don't lose your cool. Channel the fear into determination to get as many as you home alive as possible and your mission completed. I'm not going to do all the work, either you can fight and hold your own or not but we aren't Firsts to hold your hands, we didn't have that luxury." She scanned them and saw they were now staring at her with a mixture of fear and admiration and loyalty. She got the worst part over for them and hopefully the morale would stay the same if not increase.
Sephiroth started forward and she matched his pace evenly as they climbed towards the lighter areas of the Mine.
"A, that was a moving speech, let's hope we can get them out alive with a completed mission under their belts."
She nodded. "I don't want them to die because I never went on a mission before, Sephiroth, I'm learning as much as they are." She laughed dryly a little.
She saw him grin out of the corner of her eye. "Don't worry, I'll protect you although honestly, you basically just fight, do what they told you and make sure you aren't a man short." He glanced down at her before returning to monitor the surrounding shadows again. "Especially if the only man you took was yourself." She was glad she had the support and narrowed her violet eyes to increase the sense, seeing every crack in every gray-blue rock. Then she heard the scream of surprise and immediately spun around to leap over the others to where Angeal was grappling with some kind of purple chocobo looking birds. There were a lot of them, a LOT. They were bobbing out from behind the boulders and stalagmites with glowing red, hungry eyes. Genesis shot out a Firaga spell and the four that were hit by the bursts stepped back and hissed angrily at him. He cursed and looked sideways at Kituna.
"Hey A, got a trick up your sleeve like back in Banora?" he asked through his gritted teeth.
She could hear the frightened murmuring of the Thirds and could sense the terror that rolled off them all in waves. She couldn't give herself to her power like she had near the ravine, not with so many who could get caught up in it, she had promised to get them home safely and she sure as hell wasn't going to make them fight all these things at once. She called out so they could all hear her, "I'm going to use Teren, if any get past me be ready to take them down. They are stronger down here, closer to the contaminating Mako spring, so be on your guard and don't take them lightly." She waited until she could feel they had heard her and were prepared to fight before she pulled out the light brown orb from her bag and squeezing it so that it gave off a dull golden glow. She raised her hand and the energy spilling from it formed tendrils that spiraled up her torso and along her arm to congregate at her clenched fist. After a few moments, her fist was close to a miniature sun and had the birds mesmerized and she splayed her gloved hand and whispered the end of the chant so that pillars, sharp and deadly, shot out from the rock. Squawks of surprise and pain erupted from the flock as some were speared and others pushed off the edge of the path into the craggy, inky depths. The birds recouped and started charging the group, pelting up the pillars and leaping from pillar to pillar, some slid down from lack of footing and joined their fellow brethren below. Kituna worked the unyielding rock to shift under their talons but a few leapt over her head and she heard Genesis slash at the two that got through. She had to pick up the weight, they needed to stay in their prime for above when they could get ambushed. Her hand holding Teren pulsed and a wall of rock was formed. The sickening crunch of bodies as they charged into its face or slid uncontrollably into it echoed along with the cries of outrage that the bird's dinner was lost and Kituna lowered her arm and returned Teren to her pouch before turning to assess the Thirds. Some were shaken while the rest returned to formation. She nodded and walked back to the front to a relieved Sephiroth.
"Let's continue, they aren't getting through that wall but I don't want to stick around if a Behemoth was down further along this path." She said as she passed him.
Sephiroth nodded and motioned the group forward.
At some point, Kituna could sense the change in the group's atmosphere as they realized that it was by Kituna's strange materia that they hadn't been eaten alive by those carnivorous birds and they got serious. The Director had said this was a life and death situation, as real as it could possibly get and as dangerous as it had been with other operatives on previous missions. No one mentioned that they didn't hear any nostalgic stories from the higher ranks of such missions before, assuming the data was the only that survived. They were maturing over the few minutes it took them to get to the higher level in the Mines and they loosened up slightly when they had passed the last dark and shadowy turns of the lower levels.
Kituna stopped the group when they reached the first fork in the path and looked down each opening around the corners. The cost appeared to be clear but she knew that monsters sometimes dropped from the ceiling of the caves or burrowed in the middle of the paths, waiting for prey. She could barely make out all the energy levels of the creatures in the small space and pulled out her PHS to check the digital map they had of the area from other missions, noticing the shortest route out of the Mines was to the right, then another right, a left and a right, straight past a tunnel mouth and two more lefts to bypass bridges where Movers loved to ambush prey. She really didn't feel up to facing off with a group of Movers, tapping them to find their critical point and those waspy bugs were always hovering nearby and Bombs would be attracted by the commotion, those stupid creatures just wanted to explode and roast their victims alive. That would go perfect with the new Thirds. She flipped her PHS closed and headed back over to the group.
"Okay, we're going the shortest route to get out of the Mines. Of course you won't always be able to do this if you're sent here for something specific. There are Worms here, those birds, Movers, Wasps, Bombs, Hungries, Behemoth, Big Horns and all manners of creatures that you really don't want to fuck with. Look them up when we get back and always make sure to look up what monsters have been spotted in your designated mission area before heading out, it could save your life and your comrade's as well. Now, we are going right, left, right, past a tunnel and then two more lefts to get out to the Plains, everyone got that? Be careful to walk single file against the walls as there are creatures in the middle waiting for unsuspecting prey and possibly some hanging on the ceiling, so be quiet as well. I want everyone to get out alive and to pass this test, okay?"
The group nodded and she sighed. She hoped she could do it, she wasn't sure she could protect the men from a hoard of anything like with the birds, she felt certain that the President was testing her abilities instead as he obviously didn't remember her in the SOLDIER program, how could he?
Surprisingly but to Kituna's relief, they made it from the Mines to the Plains without any more confrontations. Now they just had to get across the Plains by the dirt road from the far corner they were at, easy. The monsters probably weren't low levels either, despite being away from any concentrated Mako springs and this was the country for Big Horns and more of those birds and no narrow path over a pit to help keep them at bay, fun. Kituna gripped her twin katanas and smiled to herself. That it would be. She shook her head and cursed. Her Mother's side was being awoken with the smell of a fight eminent in the air. She craved the bloodlust of battle and began marching forward, her senses fully alert and reaching beyond the simulation, she could feel the President's eyes specifically watching them although he hadn't been in the Training Room with his son and the Director. Of course he was President Shinra, he could survey whatever he wanted in his building. A hungry glint passed over her eyes and her heart raced with adrenaline. If he was really testing her abilities and future promise to ShinRa than he was going to get the show of his life! She continued to march towards the road, not bothering to check if the group followed her or to pick and choose the path to dodge unnecessary conflict. To her right now, any conflict was necessary.
Sephiroth jogged up beside her and gripped her shoulder, turning her around to face him, and he recoiled from the feral glare she gave him.
"What?" she hissed between clenched teeth.
"A, you know that you're supposed to be leading this group, not leaving them. There are strong monsters out here and they haven't seen much actual combat. They're like flopping fish in a barrel!" he reminded her.
Her head cleared a little and she winced. "I know that, I just want to kill them all."
Sephiroth's eyes widened in shock. "The group or ShinRa in general?"
"No, no, no, the monsters, I want to kill them for a show for the President. He's watching us now you know."
"All the better for you to follow orders and show these new SOLDIER operatives how to do their job properly and safely like Lazard told you. These are your men."
"You're right." She nodded and shook her head some more to clear the red fog better and walked carefully back to the nervous SOLDIERs. Man were they a wreck. Of course she would be too if she was left behind by the strongest warrior in the group in a dangerous place while he went on a blood spilling spree. She fought back a chuckle. They really did look like flopping fish…
"Okay, so you can't do what I was about to do, got it? No running out into the middle of the fields unless you have really good strong men and machinery beside you unless your target is within your reach. You travel along the periphery until you reach the dirt road that weaves throughout the whole Plains. It has patchy fencing here and there every now and again and monsters will sometimes appear but not as often as in the open." She stopped as one of the Seconds half raised his hand and nodded for him to speak.
"Why were you about to go out in the open?"
"Cause the President is watching and I had the urge to give him a show, but then the General kindly reminded me that I was given orders to make sure you all knew how to properly and safely do your jobs so I pulled my shit together. Anymore questions before we move on?" When no one else made a motion to ask a question she nodded. "Alright then, let's go! Remember, the periphery unless necessary."
Kituna ground her teeth in frustration as they marched along the fence that marked the abandoned fields of the Plains, her violet eyes flipping to the old barn and farm house not too far away. Shinra had once used these fertile fields for growing crops but as soon as the monsters found their way up from the mines where raw materials as well as Mako springs were abundant, mutated by the effects of the mining, they evacuated the whole area and fenced it in with what appeared to be wood but was really a composite material that repelled the beasts so that the other neighboring fields were not intruded. How it really worked she had no idea but she had missed a lot of the technical advancements in her hibernation so she wasn't bothered by it, Rufus could catch her up later.
They made it to the worn dirt path and they made a sharp turn onto it and continued to progress towards the distant opening in the barrier which they would be let through so they could travel the hills to the Desert. Sephiroth was scanning the low hills of the Plains with narrowed eyes so Kituna took the time to close hers so she could recoup from the drive to kill everything from earlier. Man, the pressure of keeping this secret identity was harder than it had first seemed and she really just wanted A to die in battle so she could just be Kituna, herself. But she wasn't just Kituna the girl visiting her First Class brother, she didn't even have a brother! She was also a fighter, a SOLDIER so to speak and she found she wouldn't be able to stand not fighting and she knew that women weren't accepted into the Army or SOLDIER at all. She'd have to turn to underground street fights and God only knew how many perverts, male and female alike, attended those. She opened her eyes and sighed, catching Sephiroth's attention.
"A, what's the matter?" he asked softly.
"Stress."
"From the simulation?"
She shook her head. "No, from having to be two different people. I just want to be myself as a whole, not two halves living different lives. It's unfair but…" she trailed off before she gave away the reason she had to be A in the first place and hoped Sephiroth wouldn't notice. To her dismay, he did.
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you have to be A in the first place?"
She thought a moment and gripped her Gin and Kin tighter. "Fighting is a part of me, I need it as much as I need to be normal but women aren't accepted into Shinra for fighting unless they're Turks and…" come to think of it, this wasn't a very good explanation after all. "Forget that, it's just that I ended up in SOLDIER because I had to do something from this stand point but am feeling its side effects and not liking what I'm getting."
"Not liking what you're getting? Like what?"
God he sounded offended! "Oh, Seph, it's not because of you I'm frustrated! I promise."
"Is it Genesis?" Sephiroth asked with an undertone of malice.
"What… why would it be Genesis?" Kituna asked confused.
"He was throwing himself all over you last night, that might irritate you." He looked sideways at her as she shook her head, scowling at her response.
"No, Sephiroth, none of you bother me. Actually, I can't tell you the details but I'm in this position because of you three. And well others too but mostly you and Genesis." She explained.
"Why?"
"I can't tell you…"
"Not that, why can't you tell us?" he interrupted.
Kituna slowed her pace and stared at the warrior towering over her and found she was trembling at his anger that was smacking her in the face. "Seph, please don't be angry… it's confidential."
"Rufus knows doesn't he." He said matter-of-factly with an abrupt calmness that triggered warning alarms off in Kituna's head.
"Seph…"
"Does he?" he growled.
She didn't know what to say so she only nodded and for some reason felt ashamed. She was putting herself too close to the main person of interest and this was what she got for it, she shouldn't be lying to him if he was her friend. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head and picked up the pace forcing her to do the same and with his longer stride she was having to jog at times. "Sephiroth!" she called so that the nearest row of recruits could hear her, making the angry general turn to acknowledge her. "Put aside your personal emotions and focus on the matter at hand. We can't lose you." He would just see that last part as a fact of the simulation but she meant it as much more, if they lost him he would be weak for Jenova to corrupt. "Keep yourself focused always."
He narrowed his eyes at her and turned back to keep the group moving and she could only follow with her cheeks flaming with anger at him and his attitude. Why did it matter so much why she couldn't tell him but Rufus knew everything?
080
Rufus glared at the screen and clenched his fist. He could practically feel Kituna's frustration and anger at the equally furious general and he really wanted to punch the guy. Maybe there was another way to punish the arrogant bastard? Yeah, he could definitely think of some. But he still needed the swordsman for a certain other task that was a little more important that the Cetra's feelings right now although not by much. He knew that Sephiroth would eventually kill his father after AVALANCHE's onslaught of the ShinRa building. But thanks to a certain blonde he was now able to speed things up as AVALANCHE was practically terminated by her materia usage so the building wouldn't be ramshackled before he rose to power. The fine little details could be skipped and the whole Turks business avoided and certain ShinRa executives could be likewise terminated as his selfish father and the pesky terrorist group. He smiled coldly to himself. Maybe Kituna could help out. Then in return he could help her prevent the three experimentally birthed SODLIER First Classes from destroying everyone's future and everything would go according to plan. He liked the sound of that.
Sorry for the late update, had a lot on my plate but really wanted to make a post before it got worse. I'll try to get another soon and please don't forget to review! ^^