I own nothing. I make no money.
I sincerely hope you are satisfied and that you review more abundantly in the two stories I have given unto you today than as of late. Cheapskates.
The exceptions are out there, and unto them I sing my praises.
Everybody else... I'm watchin'. Read. Review. Repeat.
In the endless expanse of blackness called the Black Land, Sabbath did something she had never done. Focusing, she forcibly managed to drag one of the souls from the scarlet demesne belonging to Seras into her own empty, dark world. She, privately smiling and barely restraining her cackles, knew Seras would not understand. All the more fun for her.
In a matter of seconds, Loz materialized before her. His face, even discounting the marks of the brutal pummeling administered upon him by the loyal souls of the Red Land, was bathed in his tears, and he kept bawling and hissing.
"Loz. Loooz. Hee. What an ugly name. Whatcha keeps ya crying, little, useless mama's boy? Heehehe. I know. Let's play, shall we?"
Loz managed to clench his fist and his teeth, and threw a punch directly at Sabbath's nose, aiming to drive her nasal bones into her brain with a single move.
Sabbath took the punch in. She didn't even give him the pleasure of pretending like the punch had had an effect at all. Just for kicks, she grabbed his fist and proceeded to force it open, wherein she started singing again.
"This little piggy went to the market!"
With a swift twist, Loz screamed in agony as his finger got broken.
"This little piggy stayed at home!"
Off went another finger. Loz screeched again. Sabbath ignored him.
"This little piggy had roast beef!"
Crack. Loz, biting in his lower lip to the point of bleeding, again was crying.
"Poor little useless Remnant. Can't even finish a rhyme. Oh, well. Where was I? Oh, yes. This little piggy had none!"
And off went the last of Loz's fingers. Sabbath then pulled apart his thumb.
"And this little piggy... he, he went wee, wee, wee... all the way home."
Punching Loz in the midsection, knocking the wind out of him, Sabbath kicked him far away into the neverending darkness, shunting him into the Red Land as she asked, sneering:
"Are you happy, little piggy? Your home is coming, coming for you..."
It proved to be an unduly tiresome and almost useless work of haggling on Vincent's part, but ultimately he managed to find space in the first flight to Edge. While it was indeed a mission pivotal for the safety of the Planet, he kept repeating like a mantra:
"I'm still in time. And Lifestream help whoever tries to stop me."
Meanwhile, inside one of Healen's basements, Seras awoke. Making her way outside while being joined by Elena in her way out of the room, the gray sky and the cold winds indicated the heavy rainfall expected for the area. Soon enough they were joined by Tseng, and Seras made a request. Tseng nodded, consulted with his cell, and informed her she was promptly cleared for the audience she requested.
Soon enough, Rufus Shinra was sitting next to her as she stared at the lush, verdant surrounding the house of healing. Both remained silent, hearing the dull roar of water in the distance.
"You know I can't stay here, do ya?"
"It was the closest Shinra installation and I wanted to make sure you knew it was generally unsafe as a potential hideout for long."
"You expected me to realize it and ask for the transfer myself, then. Where is it possible for me to wait?"
"I would propose the coastal city of Junon. It is home to a large Shinra army base and it is very heavily defended. It has suffered previous attacks and it is the ideal place to hold out while Yazoo comes. Something I assume you know it is inevitable now. From the conversation we held last night, he's assuming Shinra has his brothers and will hesitate at nothing to lash back. Therefore, I ask of you to allow for a trap to be set with you as the bait."
"Anything that keeps that madman from hurting anybody else is welcome in my book. As long as I'm kept out of the water."
"Fair enough. I will make arrangements for you to meet Reeve Tuesti as well, if you don't mind. He's the leader of the WRO, the leading organization in the restoration of the damage wrought by Sephiroth and the wars to this planet. He might come as somewhat of a paper pusher, but he's a fussy and precise administrator and if the help of the WRO is needed we might have no better choice than to show him exactly what game we're playing from the start before the mud starts flying. Is that a problem for you?"
"Is he more unreasonable than, say, you?"
"I would not define him in those terms."
"Then it is agreed. Arrange what you must, mister Shinra. For the moment, even though I know perfectly well you probably arranged it that way... I'm better off trusting you."
In the middle of the ocean, Yazoo quietly sang to himself, a tuneless song that merely helped him pass the time and stave off boredom as he approached ever so closely to Junon. After all, he had run out of bits and pieces to feed to the fish. And he listlessly wondered whether keeping the fishboat's crew alive would have helped him in any way to cross the sea faster. Deciding he had taken the right path, he focused on running the engines fast enough. While the Summon had managed to run until it had reached the middle of the ocean, it had failed rather spectacularly and fallen down, straight into the dark blue waters. Luckily, the fishboat had appeared, and out of something resembling compassion, Yazoo's first action upon stepping on the boat was to whip out Velvet Nightmare and put the Summon out of its misery.
After that, well... things got messy. Lucky there was a group of Adamantai nearby, happy to gobble up the bits and pieces he threw overboard. With just a quick change in the travel computer, the boat was speeding towards Junon faster than Yazoo had expected. With any luck, he would be there at sundown.
"I won't let you down, my brothers..."
In Nibelheim, meanwhile, Cloud and company had received the inform about the white transmitter, and were cautioned - they were not to play around with it and they were to take it immediately to Edge as soon as they found it. They had also been warned it was a piece of technology not meant to be toyed with.
Which made it a shame that it was the person most likely to disobey said orders the one who actually found the device. And promptly ignored them by flipping the lid open.
A green display simply kept pointing with an arrow of some sort. Following the trail dictated by the machine, the ninja lightly whistled.
"Something tells me I shouldn't be surprised..."
Making her way into the Shinra Mansion, she lost her way a few times as she realized the true place she was being directed at. Ultimately, she found again her way into the descending spiral staircase and into the dark tunnel. This time, though, she had made it a point to add a small penlight to her standard thief gear. And thus she found how the thing pointed to one thing, and one thing only - Vincent's coffin.
She left the building with a new puzzle and headed out to find Cloud and Barret.
Understandably, she was given a lecture on how she shouldn't play with technology she didn't even comprehend.
"You know Reeve's going to lecture you again just for the hell of it?"
"Aw, c'mon, it's not like I went around moving settings! I just wanted to see what it transmitted!"
"And...?"
"It only points to Vincent's crypt and coffin. Why somebody would want to build something specially to track down mister I-Need-Prozac is beyond me when he's got a cell."
Cloud merely closed his eyes and tried to fit all pieces of the puzzle together. He hadn't much luck and he had to make an announcement to his friends.
"Alright. I got a call a while ago. Now we have this, Reeve wants us to move to Junon and meet with him, Red and Rufus."
"Eh, what's Shinra got to do with all of this bloody mess?"
"Can't hurt to ask, can it? They've already sent the Shera to Cid. He should be here within the hour, so I suggest we get ready."
As they spoke, the Turk helicopter was already depositing the Shinra delegation to the Junon base. At the same time, the WRO detachment taking their leader and his friend to meet up with the Shinra spokesmen started deploying. Both sides, while cooperating, had little reason to be friendly with each other and a history of enmities. Still, everybody behaved as their leaders expected. It was in everybody's best interests, of course.
One way or another, everybody got comfortably placed in a conference room. The Turks, Seras, Rufus, Reeve, and Red.
And so, everybody looked up when Rufus started talking. Seras in particular also noted the man could be as much of a showman as the Major himself.
"Good evening, gentlemen of the WRO. I trust everything is in order in Edge?"
"Can we dispense these meaningless banter, mister Shinra? Right now, we just want an explanation to the most recent Nibelheim incident, which I was informed Shinra possessed. Also, I believe you can also explain the disappearance of a Remnant of Sephiroth attacking a Shinra complex? And who is this young woman and why is she here?"
Rufus started to open his mouth, but Seras merely raised her hand. Rufus understood, backed down and gave her the word.
"My name is Seras Victoria. I serve the House of Hellsing as one of their specialized agents, currently tasked with finding a former member of the organization and taking him back to the Hellsing HQ after he was... forcefully evicted from the premises in an attack some time ago. I have reason to believe this man is the one you know as Vincent Valentine."
"Understood. And now, if we could talk about the relevance to this in the current situation..."
Seras looked at Rufus, who reluctantly nodded for her to go on.
"I spoke to one of the Turks to begin with. She pointed me to Cloud Strife as someone likely to know mister Valentine's whereabouts. He, in turn, told me Nibelheim was where I was most likely to find him. So, I went to Nibelheim and tried to find Valentine. I failed. I was then attacked by a local thief and... incapacitated. Then the Remnant... Kadaj, was it? showed up. I neutralized him then, but my abilities went out of control, and, well, to be honest, I almost went on a rampage. Instead I ended up heading to Rocket Town."
Reeve nodded. Seras knew the man was trying to understand, but clearly was having trouble believing somebody like her could stand up against Kadaj.
"You will forgive me if I feel disinclined to believe you are able to manhandle a Remnant, Miss Victoria. Can you tell me the truth?"
"Reeve, let me assure you, Miss Victoria possesses a great power. Greater than any Shinra agent, quite possibly with the potential to become much more than Sephiroth himself."
Reeve merely nodded.
"Miss Victoria... It appears mister Tuesti does not believe you... do you mind if I play the video?"
She groaned when she noticed she was, essentially, assuming the role of second fiddle to Rufus. And she cursed Integra. It seemed she was too accustomed to the role of a follower.
Yazoo, meanwhile, scanned radio frequencies. he wasn't sure he did it to avoid suspicion if the fishing crew were called, because he wanted information or just because he was bored out of his mind in the calm sea. After a while of debating with himself, he reached the conclusion he was bored. He was somwehat closer to Junon, but that did not help him alleviate the weight of the loneliness of the journey while the sun was still so high.
He wished Loz was there. Just to torture him a bit and see him cry those big, fat crocodile tears of his.
"This is a message paid by Shinra, Incorporated. Transmitted through all common frequencies. We wish to inform the transfer of highly dangerous terrorists to Junon Military Base. Please, ensure your cooperation with all Shinra convoys in your path. With the previous anti-Shinra sentiment still in the memory of many of our listeners, we sincerely ask you to help us in this one venture."
"Hmm. Junon, eh? All right. I suppose it's a fair gamble."
So he pushed the engines to their full capacity with a smile. Those Shinra fools were so damned easy.
Some time after sundown that day, the huge silvery airship landed on Edge's main airport. Cloud, Yuffie, Cid and Barret walked down the ramp, and were duly met by a representative. The overweight man greeted them, and asked them to follow him.
"I believe you know a certain mister Vincent Valentine?"
"Vince? He's here?"
"Yes. He was demanding a transport to Healen all morning, and now he comes here ranting about the unfairness of Destiny and how he needs to return to Junon ipso facto."
"Has he been... violent?"
"Violent? No. Borderline so, yes. But so far he's kept his cool."
"All right. Where is he? Perhaps the WRO can arrange something to take him to Junon. It's only, what, two hours away?"
Led through the small maze of the airport, Cloud and company eventually reached the reservations room.
"Vince, ya tosser. Ye're a sight for sore eyes."
Cid wasn't exaggerating, Cloud knew. With his new suit crumpled from sleeping in the hold of a cold delivery ship, bags under his eyes, his new amber glasses folded in his pocket and the lower, raspier voice he had developed by screaming all day long, Vincent was, to put it lightly, not in the best of moods.
"Vince? You okay?"
Sighing resignedly, Valentine forced himself to answer out of politeness.
"No. Not today. I need to get to Junon-fast."
"All right..."
"Ah, Vincent! There you are!"
The breathless head of the WRO barreled into the room, clearly agitated and pale-faced.
"The Shinra... in Junon! They have... a monster!"
Red XIII, the lupine confidante and friend of Reeve, took advantage of his distraction, and pounced on him. With Reeve pinned to the floor, Red growled:
"I know whatever the lady was, Reeve, it was all but natural. But we can't compromise ourselves by acting too rashly! You saw what she was capable of! Now, just breathe. Calmly."
Reeve, thus threatened, collected himself after a fashion and corrected his stance. As Red moved to allow him to rise, Vincent coughed.
"Reeve, do you mind borrowing me your cell phone for a second? Oh, and your helicopter?"
"We were going to Junon anyway after restocking the Shera. You're welcome to join us."
In one of the lower level balconies of the Junon base, Seras Victoria sat on a simple folding chair, staring at the sea, waiting for the impending confrontation. After quick enquiries in the Red Land, she had been informed of Loz's reappearance and how he had been found, terrified and sobbing, whispering of the terrible, terrible woman of the rhymes. Connecting the dots wasn't that hard. The three of them were essentially zealots created from the remains of a warrior of this world created by the inclusion of alien genetic material into human tissue.
Lord have mercy on her. That phrase almost had made sense.
As she nursed one of the glasses before her, she approvingly noted the blood did not taste any different than in her homeworld. Steps approached, and she turned to face her companion in the balcony. Rufus Shinra merely nodded, and Reno hauled another folding chair next to Seras, and promptly vanished at Rufus' command. Sitting loftily, Rufus asked:
"May I ask a question, Miss Victoria?"
She shrugged.
"Guess so."
"I hear you had two rather unusual requests for the Turks. I see you had them granted?"
"Yes. Say, it's a nice set of glasses you have here."
"Indeed. Dare I ask the reason you asked such unusual beverages?"
"For starters, blood powers me up, as it is a key component of Life itself. In the same vein, Mako does the exact same thing, being the lifeblood of Gaia itself."
"I understand. But water? And of such an unusual variety?"
"It's a work in progress."
"I'm not afraid to say I don't get it."
"Ummm... boss?"
"Yes, Reno?"
"We have a phone call, for... our guest in here."
"Who's calling?"
"Valentine. And, we have a bit of a disturbance at sea, sir. If you could just come here for a bit and tell us what you think..."
"Damn. Alright. Get Miss Victoria connection. There's a phone over there, next to the elevator."
"Alright. But there might be a bit of interference."
In the depths, the Will hissed. The Third had apparently found a trail. A deliberately obvious one, as both of them suspected. But sighing, he repeated to himself - no risk, no reward.
And anyway, with the contingency plan in place, everything would be different this time...
In the poorest section of Junon, a small fishing boat crashed. Its lone occupant leaped out before the crash, and shot without remorse or hesitation the guard protecting the entrance to Junon's elite area. The sap died without even knowing it. Restraining his laughter, Yazoo punched the button to open the doorway to the upper side, smiling when it all went so perfectly well. As the elevator rose, he asked himself whether he should make the others suffer a bit more.
As the elevator stopped and the doors opened, he found himself facing a woman in black clothes, with a phone connected to the wall in one hand and a glass of water in the other. With her back turned to him. He privately snickered, and loaded Velvet Nightmare as she kept yammering to the phone.
"Master? Master!"
"...daughter of the drag..."
"This is no time to play around, Master! Where are you? Sir Integra wants you!"
"...stay in Junon! I'll go get you! I'm on my way already! Wait for..."
BLAM!
Seras stared, uncomprehending, at the destroyed wall phone. And her expression darkened as she crushed the earpiece.
"Yazoo, I take it?"
Slinking out of the shadows, said Remnant approached her with a long, devious smile.
"Oooh. So the lady knows me."
"I already know of you. So, can we skip the meet and greet phase?"
Stretching like a cat, never ceasing to smile, Yazoo said, in an almost coy tone:
"Ummm. But it's my favorite part!"
"As you wish. Meet your death."
So she hurled the glass full of sparkling water at him.
He shot it in midair, and much of the water ended up merely sliding off his leather getup, but there was enough to touch his bare skin to understand it was no normal water.
"That cursed water! Oh, you've gotten me angry, you bitch!"
And with that, Seras remade the sword. Yazoo prepared again his gun.
"One of us is gonna die, innit?"
"Uh-huh. Question is, will you manage to live long enough to amuse me?"
"Come and find out, you insane killer!"