PATHS MEET, CHAPTER 15

"Gyahahahah!" The large burly commander of Shinra military laughed. "Your inauguration parade went off magnificently! Not even the slightest hitch, sir."

"Knock off that obnoxious mule-laugh." The young Shinra President ordered. "I can't stand it. You've been with me non-stop for over a week with nothing but that stupid laugh."

"Err..."

"Obnoxious or not, Heidegger is right. It seems the threat never manifested itself." Shinra's head of Weapon Research mused, leaning back in her chair. "Perhaps it was a false alarm."

"I'm almost disappointed; the rebel didn't show his head at Junon." Rufus remarked, gazing out a port window from the interior meeting room cabin, into the ocean. "It would've made our work much easier, if Sephiroth just came to us. Where are Tseng and his Turks currently?"

"Reeve has them on assignment procuring special weapons and armaments for any inevitable combat with the 'target'. He says they're on call until we get some leads on his whereabouts."

"Those weren't his orders." Rufus grumbled. "The Turks are the only ones capable of tracking that maverick with any competency and secrecy."

"Gyahahaha….er..Um... Do you want us to turn the ship around sir?"

"No… Keep on course to Costa del Sol. I plan on retiring for a few days at the Presidential retreat."

"What of the Terrorists?"

Smiling Scarlet answered. "They were spotted by the Turks while tracking Sephiroth towards Junon, and then were spotted inside Junon itself."

"Spotted?"

A deep frown found its way across Heidegger's bearded face.

"This is the second time you screwed up, Heidegger. You let them escape from Midgar, and now they've slipped out from under your nose yet again. You're supposed to be the head of Shinra military, the most powerful military institution in the world! You and Reeve have the most sophisticated technology and elite personal in the whole globe and the two of you just can't seem to get on the same page."

"Um…yes sir..." Heidegger mumbled.

"Get those terrorists in check; this AVALANCHE group is being reassigned as an intelligence priority. Sephiroth is now the sole responsibility of Reeve's department and the Turks. I don't want you mangling this. The last thing we need is some stupid clod like you tearing through the lands in tanks spreading panic about some 'resurrected Satan'. This is a delicate matter, besides we cannot suffer the company's image dragged through the mud over this."

"When should the Junon security sweeps be completed, sir?"

"Once we're sure Sephiroth is not there. Then and only then will I give the go-ahead to lower the security alert in the city. Until then the cover story remains: There is no security threat, this is just another military drill. We have no information on anything happening in Midgar, we have no comments about Sephiroth. Anything brought up or asked about him are to be answered as rumors and gossip. Official Shinra documents state he is deceased five years ago. Details are classified."

"In short we know nothing…" Scarlet added. "Reeve, despite his tendency to be somewhat of a rouge player; has faired well at damage control over the Midgar incident. I have to give the boy some credit he is versatile and useful if not naïve and foolish."

"I grow tired of your constant conniving, and conspiring." Rufus admonished. "There are none of you here, who are not expendable. Don't think just because my father leaned on your sniveling abilities that I am dependant on you. Frankly I remain unimpressed with either of you at the moment. Now once we arrive at the Eastern Continent I will take my leave; I'm sure you two have pressing duties to attend to.

Standing up from his seat in the cramped cabin the young President of Shinra, smoothed his blue silk shirt under his white suit, gathering a large tan file overflowing with pages of stuffed documents. An oppressive sounding bellow howled within the room followed quickly by a wildly flashing red bulb installed directly above the main double door, top deck entrance to the cabin chamber. Startled the seated members at the table jerked their heads towards the intercom

"ALERT ONE ALERT ONE. SECURITY TO STORAGE HULL DECK 4!"

From underneath the helmet of the Shinra guardsman uniform, he now wore; Cloud could see the length of the lower deck corridor. Around him the ships general alarm oscillated violently inside his ears every four seconds.

"Damn" He groaned, sticking close to the shadows. "I was hoping we could sneak through this trip undetected."

"That may have been a bit optimistic." A small poorly disguised Shinra guardsman kneeling on all fours, next to Cloud, responded, in a deep thoughtful voice. Glancing down at his partner Cloud noticed the tuft of Red XIII's tail sticking out of the back of the kneeling guardsman's trousers.

Sighing Cloud agreed. "I guess this was a stupid idea. Did you find the girls? Are they okay?"

"You're friend Tifa, and the young Ancient are both secure down below in hiding. And that young Wutai, thief, is still sick, clinging to the bathroom stall on the c-deck toilets.

"So that just leaves Barrett. But where are all the guards? You'd think if they caught one of us, they'd be searching the whole ship tearing this place apart."

"That's cuz they ain't caught me yet.' Barrett growled from the shadows.

'Where've you been? This place is under full alert; there's been a major security breach. We thought one of you guys had been caught."

"I wuz out scopin' the place out. Ain't very often you gonna get a chance to sneak a ride on a presidential transport ship."

"We were supposed to stay down below deck, and stay out of sight for the three day journey!"

"Like I said it wasn't me! But check this out… they're dead guards all over the lower decks."

"Dead?"

"Yeah, that ain't all neither. They all piled up too, in big bloody messes. Like them bodies when we busted outa Shinra HQ."

Glancing at Red XIII, busily shedding his disguise, Cloud's eyes glazed over. "Tifa and Aeris are down below deck."

"Ah hell." Growled Barrett cocking his concealed gun-arm attachment. "Follow me back down. I'll lead the way."

Suddenly the lights flickered, once twice, then falling into complete darkness the corridors became an eerie tomb of silence.

"How many sailors are supposed to be on this ship?" Cloud asked in a low hush.

"Hell if I know." Barrett hoarsely whispered. "Prolly enough to be making some kind of noise somewhere down here. It's so frickin' quiet."

The three paused scanning the infinite invisibility of the lower decks, straining to find their bearings.

"I like to whisper too…." A voice lowly hushed from the darkness into Clouds ear.

Falling backwards over Red XIII, Cloud lands into the large arms of AVALANCHE's outspoken leader. Together they go crashing into the wall, with a deafening thud.

"What the hell boy!" Barrett roared. "You bout earned yourself a new ear hole"

"Oh my gosh! Cloud I'm so sorry!" Aeris' voice exclaimed from the shadows. From the darkness the sound of Tifa's uncontrollable giggling cascaded around them.

"Are you two done yet?" Cloud frowned in the dark.

"Oops, Clouds frowning again. I can sense it." Aeris, opined.

"Time to be nice to Cloud now!" The two girls chirped in unison.

"Damn, you two! Don't be messin' around like that!" Barrett growled.

"I could have informed you of their approach if you had bothered to ask." Red XIII informed the others. "My senses are a little more attuned than yours."

"Well gee, ain't that nice to know…" Barrett grunted.

"There's something else…" Red XIII Continued. "Something deeper in the ship, in the lower decks."

"Storage holds?"

"Perhaps… "

"Cloud, those bodies." Tifa's voice responded. "They were piled up the same way."

"I know. The same way as back in Shinra Headquarters."

"Shi't, then this is it. He's here." Barrett's thick voice contemplated. "I knew he'd be going after Rufus."

"No, if he wanted Rufus he's already had lots of chances to kill him. I mean how long has this boat been sailing now?"

"Well no sense it waiting around here, let's start heading towards the cargo holds."

"Yeah towards the invincible killing machine…"

"Is Yuffie still down here?"

"I don't know haven't' seen her."

"Last I saw of the little brat she was puking her punk ass guts out in the latrine..." Barrett spat from the darkness.

"Anybody have a light?" Cloud asked.

"Why you smoke now?" Barrett replied. "Oh... yeah that." He finished fumbling through his pockets.

Cloud shook his head unnoticeably in the black of the corridor, Barrett was an idiot. "Yes so we can make our way around these hallways."

"Here..."

With a small -click- a bright luminescent beam flashed into existence.

"Alright, everyone stay close, and stay alert."

BACK IN MIDGAR

From his desk, Reeve's anxious eyes surveyed the stack of papers dumped from the empty folder lying on the floor of his office. Quickly riffling through several documents, he pauses temporarily at one before riffling through the rest. Thick black marks dotted the length of most of the sheets, blotting out vast portions of each document.

"Damn, this dosn't make any sense..."

Reaching underneath the pile of papers, Reeve produces another thick folder, sealed and marked. Tearing it open with his letter opener, the head of Shinra intelligence, and urban development begins pouring over the contents of this folder as well.

"This can't be right..." Reeve paused, stroking his thin goatee. "Is this all there is? There has to be more. Something uncensored. Nibelheim Project, what exactly was that all about? What about the last mission, the one that Sephiroth supposedly disappeared on seven years ago. There's hardly any specific mention of it."

He glanced at the time it was early morning. "The files on this warrior go back to his early career with Shinra, and even they are crudely censored with black ink. What is the company trying to cover-up?"

Flipping to the last page, Reeve carefully studied the files documentations. He quickly recognized the signatures of the late President Shinra, and Heidegger, however under the slot which was clearly designated for a Professor Ghast, the name was signed Hojo.

A soft ring tone echoed throughout Reeves modest yet elegant office. Flicking a receiver of his desk, Reeve held it to his ear.

"This is the Director."

"Mr. Director. This is Tseng."

"Go ahead Tseng."

"Your project has been prepared and is in placement at the location you specified."

"Understood."

"... sir. Are you sure about this?"

"I have a big hunch. Remember I don't want this one on the books."

"Affirmative, Mr. Director. Anything else?"

The Intel Director stood silent gazing out the window of his office, into the starry night sky off the Midgar upper plate. "Tseng... what do you know about Nibelheim?"

BACK IN THE PRESIDENTIAL TRANSPORT SHIP

Urk... Yuffie the spunky teenaged rebel gagged stumbling through the infinite black of the transport ship. "Oh gawd, I'm so gonna blow chunks again."

Through the darkness, her trained senses aided her in finding her away around the complex maze of corridors. Hand at her slender hip, she tapped the axis of her sharpened windmill blade.

"Damn, so quiet..." Urp she belched "Ech, that tasted nasty... well, where the rest of those losers run off too?"

Bumping against her booted feet, the young ninja, quickly hopped against the wall, gripping the sides with her spiked palm grips vaulting herself sideways and into a flip around a pile of broken corpses neatly piled one on top of the other.

Through tiny illuminating specs of light seeping from blinking diodes in the surrounding hallway, Yuffie could make out a small pool of blood feeding from underneath the pile.

"Whoa, gross-ness." She wearily mumbled before puking her teenaged brains out once more. "Ugh... I don't remember eating that... This isn't good."

Spitting the taste from her mouth, Yuffie tapped her side. "Hmm, looks like somebody tore this place up pretty good. Wonder if the others are dead too? Guess that means more Materia for me." Clutching her stomach once more, Yuffie turns and hacks. "If… I can survive this trip."

Barely out of the corner of her eye, a slight movement caught the attention of the well trained Wutai ninja. The movement, so subtle as to not even register in the vision of most people, especially in the near infinite darkness of the lower decks. However, Yuffie was a child of the shadows, trained to fight in the shadows, and the shadows were a place of great knowledge and experience for the teenaged Wutai girl.

"Hah, gotcha!" She chuckled to herself. "Thought you could get away from me eh? No one else could follow you, but you probably never had someone like me track you before!" She paused abruptly gagging. "Urk!..."

Following the elusive shadow into the cargo holds, Yuffie brandished her windmill. Pausing behind a pile of containers, staring ahead, she noticed a steady beam of emergency lighting still active. Carefully she crouched into stealth mode.

"Okay you elusive creepo. Let's see what you're up to, and why you keep leaving trails of dead people behind you." Gazing at her target sizing him up. "More importantly let's see what kind of Materia you have!"

Carefully studying the figure, she watched, as the form of a red uniformed Shinra officer dosed in amble amounts of blood, made his way towards a large sealed container. Slowly with great care the officer begins to open it. Yuffie approaches from behind with silent perfection.

Halfway to her target, the officer, stops with a sudden jerk. Lifts his head, turns his helmeted gaze to the young ninja. Yuffie caught in mid stalk, grins sheepishly. "Heh, heh, hey, how's it goin'? Read any good books, lately? How bout this weath…"

With a tremendous explosion, a brilliant blast of electrical energy flew from the officer straight towards the young bandit. Barely able to dodge out of the way, Yuffie rolls away from the strike of lightning, quick enough to see it blow through four containers behind her.

Tossing four shurikens, Yuffie rolls behind a beam. "Holy crap!" She grunted, as the distinctive sound of 1 miss and three 'pings' hits her ears.

Peering around the corner, a blade swings down at her head. Pulling her windmill blade up just in time she deflects the blow, the force sends her down to her knees. Sweeping her leg she knocks her opponent off his feet. He quickly rises back to a fighting stance, a long white sword in his hands. Yuffie launches a series of blinding fast strikes with her windmill, high to the neck and to the body, each one successfully deflected. The officer responds with a strong fist to her forehead with his free hand, Yuffie reels. Spinning backwards from the force of the impact she hurls her windmill blade at her opponent striking him firmly in the face, delivering a surprise blow. The Shinra officer's helmet falls off.

Glancing upward at her opponent, his intense blue eyes glowed like fire in the ambient darkness. The hair flowed white like a river of silk. A cold smirk found its way across the face of the unmasked warrior. Yuffie could feel the hairs on her neck, stand straight. Their was an imposing presence about this person, something she hadn't felt even in the presence of the most skilled Wutai masters.

"Who are you?"

A final burst of light flew from the outstretched arm of her opponent, this time the Wutai bandit was unable to dodge. She felt the impact of three bursts hit her as she flew into the side of the cargo hold.

"You!" Cloud's voice boomed across the large cargo room "Is it really you?"

The white haired warrior cast off his disguise revealing his black uniform with silver pieces of armor and white trim. He stood tall, defiant, and real as life. He posture, was confident, and powerful, his grip was sure and firm on his sword of legendary quality. Tifa, Barrett, Aeris, and Red XIII stood in awe, gathering in the surreal sight.

The seemingly immortal Sephiroth glanced at the group with apparent curiosity. A long moment of awkward silence ensued. The resurrected warrior slowly turned his head and his body, with casual movements, striding back towards the container; he proceeded to remove its contents, a hand held metal case.

"Hey I'm talking to you!" Cloud hollered.

Silence, Sephiroth continued, unimpressed. Assuming an aggressive stance Cloud advanced, the others followed step.

"Holy crap, this is it." Barrett grumbled. "Frickin' Sephiroth!"

"Just stay focused." Tifa coached. "Everyone keep focused."

Turning towards Cloud, Sephiroth stepped foreword. Then with a wave of his arm, the mighty Shinra warrior, levitated. Cloud paused. "Wha… What's going on?" The mercenary grunted.

"Damn, ain't nobody told me, the freak can fly!" Barrett exclaimed. "I'm gonna shoot his ass down! Cloud swipe em' when he passes over you!"

With incredible speed, like a cannon-shot, Sephiroth departed out of the chamber passing over Cloud's head at amazing speed. The mercenary of AVALANCHE just stood there dazed.

The other three glanced around in stunned amazement. "Well I supposed that could've went better." Red XIII analyzed.

"Damn! Got away!" Barrett howled, pointing to Cloud. "Shoulda' swung at him when you had the chance!"

Inside Cloud's head a torrent of pain and buzzing cascaded. He put his hands to his ears.

"Hey, Cloud are you okay?" Aeris moved over to her bodyguard.

"My head… I'll be okay"

"Well that sucked. What're we gonna do now?" Barrett asked.

"Depends, on what Sephiroth was doing here. What did he take from that container?" Tifa asked.

"Hmm, It's a Jenova specimen" Red XIII observed studying the labeling.

"A specimen?" Cloud repeated, holding his head.

"Yes, apparently a piece of Jenova's genetic material."

"He's collecting her genes? I wonder how this all adds up? Sephiroth what are you up to?"

From the dark side of the storage hold the sound of rustling and moaning could be heard. "Ugh… ow… uh, whoa… oh man…" Yuffie groaned holding her sore wounded side, shaking the cobwebs from her head. "Did I get him? Any materia he dropped is mine..."