Chapter 14
Teleran
The Shera appeared out of nowhere, now with its ability to cloak, however, no one actually saw the craft appear out of nowhere. Save those on board.
"What'd she say?" asked Sorin.
Wymond looked to him, "Told me about a person named Teleran, somehow connected to the Paradoxer we're looking for."
"Who's she?" asked Cid.
Sorin waved his hand dismissively, "A contact who wishes to remain anonymous, she's a trusted source. Did she say where to look exactly?"
Wymond nodded, "Start at Nibelheim, work our way to Midgar, that's what I was told."
"That's a general area," Sam commented, "your contact must be watching this guy."
"She's become active in Sorin's clean up job for a while now, it wouldn't surprise me she'd be able to keep tabs on him," Wymond replied.
"Nibelheim it is," Cid muttered and set the ship toward their destination.
"She also wanted me to say that this existence sports a very mean version of Shinra," Wymond said.
"Meaner than the original?" asked Tifa.
"Much worse," Sorin said, nodding, "I'm aware of our enemy's disposition. If we have to fight them then we will, otherwise we avoid them. We just want this Teleran, that's all."
"Even I'm in the dark here, Sorin, why are we looking for this guy?" asked Sam.
"The paradoxes that have been showing up lately, they're becoming far too abundant to be side-effects of your forays, Sam. We know there's been a re-surfacing of Paradoxers, our only option is to track down as many of these Paradoxers as we can before they disappear again. One must have some idea of what's going on, maybe what Redemption is, why they decided to try and bring about the destruction of all things living, you know, the usual stuff."
"Seems like that's all we do," Cid murmured.
"Vincent and I will disembark and check Nibelheim, it's a small area, if we can't find him we'll return and we move on. If we do find him, then it ends there," Sorin said.
"What if he tries something?" asked Tifa.
"Well, we know he'll try something," Sorin said shrugging, "it's just a matter of getting him before he does."
The Shera came to a hover a few metres from Nibelheim.
"We'll return shortly with or without our target," Sorin said.
Vincent and Sorin appeared to fall out of the sky, if anyone had been looking at the time, it would seem the two materialized out of thin air. They walked the distance to Nibelheim and entered. The town appeared to be almost abandoned, the occasional passer by betrayed its empty appearance.
"Bustling town as ever," Sorin muttered.
"Where do we start?" asked Vincent.
Sorin pointed, "The Inn, if Teleran was staying he must have slept."
They entered the Inn. There was a man at the desk in front, they moved toward him. Just as they were about to speak, two people came down the stairs and walked toward the door.
One had spiked black hair and a large sword, the other with long white hair and a longer sword.
"Hm," Sorin muttered, "see I thought they were both dead."
Vincent looked at Sorin, "Should I ask?"
"Probably a paradox, yes."
Vincent said nothing.
Sorin turned his attention to the man at the desk, "Any idea what those follows are here for?"
The man nodded, "Something about monsters, problem with the Mako Reactor in the mountains or something. 'Bout time Shinra decided to do something, the bastards."
"Actually we were hoping to find someone here," Sorin continued, "we're looking for a man by the name of Teleran."
"Who are you?" asked the desk man suspiciously.
Vincent showed no reaction, but his head was racing for some kind of plausible lie.
Sorin had one, "Freelance bounty hunters, he's a rogue Shinra worker. Some are saying he's responsible for the problems with the reactor here, I hadn't expected to see people here to fix the problem."
"It's been a problem for a while, but don't know anyone by the name Teleran," the desk man said.
Sorin smiled, "Are you sure?"
The man nodded, "Never heard of him."
"Very well," Sorin said, staring at the desk man somewhat oddly, "thank you for your help."
Vincent and Sorin stepped outside.
"He's lying," Sorin said immediately.
Vincent looked at the Cetra curiously, "What?"
"I can tell, he knows Teleran," Sorin said, "he's lying."
Vincent decided not to question him, "How do we get it out of him?"
"We hadn't considered the fact Teleran might integrate himself into the society," Sorin muttered.
"What are you suggesting?" asked Vincent.
Vincent followed Sorin's gaze across town to the two men who had just left the Inn.
"Both dead, yes?" muttered Sorin.
"You think this Teleran made himself look like one of them?" asked Vincent.
"Or both," Sorin said. "Here's how we go about this."
Sorin snapped his fingers and suddenly both he and Vincent were dressed like Shinra soldiers, blue-clad with the standard issue automatic rifles.
"When you walk up, salute and stay quiet," Sorin said, "when I make my move follow my lead."
Vincent nodded, they approached the two SOLDIERS.
They stopped and saluted in unison.
"Don't walk on the suspension bridge, it collapses," Sorin said blatantly. The two SOLDIERS looked at him curiously.
"Yes, Teleran," Sorin continued, "we know all about what happens at the reactor."
For a moment both SOLDIERS were silent. Then all at once both were gone and a single person stood in their place. He had short brown hair and still wore the same clothing as Sephiroth.
"Who are you?" asked the man who must have now been Teleran.
Sorin removed the disguise along with Vincent's.
"Sorin Tether, you don't know me," Sorin replied, "but we need to talk. That multiple person disguise was very clever, but a common paradox disguise. Who's running this little show, eh?"
"You a Cetra?" asked Teleran.
"Possibly, but that doesn't really matter, does it?" asked Sorin.
Teleran gave Vincent and Sorin a look each, and then sprinted off to his right.
"I think he's running," Vincent said deadpan.
"I get that vibe," Sorin agreed. "I'll follow; you try and cut him off."
Vincent jumped and shot up into the air, Sorin gave chase.
Teleran wasn't much faster than Sorin but he did have a head start.
"My friend, this is quite unnecessary," Sorin yelled, Teleran wasn't stopping, he ran right out of Nibelheim.
Sorin was a few feet away when Teleran tossed an object on the ground, the grassy field around Sorin suddenly became black. Then there was nothing to stand on, he would have fallen into nothingness, but Sorin managed to jump just out of the area of the strange darkness. Sorin picked himself up and looked at the large dark hole that encompassed the area in front of him.
"Well, now that is a very serious piece of paradox weaponry, who's supplying you Teleran, I wonder?" Sorin muttered. He detoured around the large hole and still managed to keep up with Teleran, his target was much farther away now, though.
Sorin flicked his wrist and the ground seemed to shoot upward in front of Teleran, as if a wall of earth just shot upward. The man ran face first into it. He fell on his back groaning.
"Now you didn't think you were the only one who could mess with existences did you?" asked Sorin walking up to his fallen target.
Teleran sat up, "No, and neither did Kyra, that's why she gave me this."
Teleran held up a white spherical object.
"Kyra?" asked Sorin, "you don't work for Terret?"
"You know your Paradoxers, you really are a Cetra I suppose," Teleran said, "Terret has been dead for a long time."
"Since when?" asked Sorin.
"Like I said, a long time," Teleran threw the spherical object on the ground and there was a large white flash. Sorin jumped back with his hands over his eyes.
Sorin looked around a moment later. He was standing in the middle of Midgar, vehicles and people buzzing by. Teleran had teleported him away.
"Hm," Sorin muttered, looking around, "well, this is inconvenient."
Sorin wandered along the streets, he wasn't sure exactly what sector he was in at the moment but it was clearly the slums. He walked across the road, avoiding vehicles that had no regard for pedestrians. All manners of lowlifes wandered back and forth, Sorin passed through them as if he were a spirit. He headed down a sidewalk; he didn't by any means expect to accidentally run into Teleran. The man had teleported him away; he wasn't going to follow him to Midgar. It would also take Sorin far too long to walk back to where Teleran had been, it was up to the others now.
Sorin almost ran into someone stepping out of a back alley, he stopped in time to avoid them by inches.
"Sorry my dear, amazing how crowded these streets get," Sorin said amiably, recognizing who he was talking to.
She smiled at him, "That's alright; I shouldn't have come walking out of the alley like that without looking."
Sorin stuck out his hand, "Sorin Tether, a pleasure. How much for a flower?"
The girl smiled and held up the flowers she was carrying, "Sales have been bad, I'm thinking of lowering it to One Gil."
Sorin materialized the money and bought one of her flowers, "Magnificent, amazing you can still find things like these in Midgar."
"They're very rare," she agreed, "I'm Aeris by the way."
Sorin smelled the flower and slipped it into an inside pocket in his dark red coat, "I know."