Interlude
Nothing much happened for the next two days. As things settled down, Evan finally had a chance to relax -not completely; the memory of the assassins in Rocket Town was too fresh for that, but somewhat. He'd been on the move more or less constantly since his house had burned down. This had been the first time he'd had more than a few days in any one place. But now, with things settling down slightly, Rufus, realizing his staff could only remain on a knife edge for so long, ordered all nonessential staff to stand down. Although there were sweeps by submarines and a single guard at the elevator to Lower Junon, most Shinra staff had no commitments for the day. Even AVALANCHE weren't guarded. Until Tifa woke up, Barrett wasn't going anywhere, so a locked door was sufficient. Cid was in negotiations with Heidegger and Palmer to restart the space program (If you think I'm gonna come running just because the fucking world is in danger, think again, kid! Give me some fucking guarantees that you won't just scrap it afterwards, like last time! And hurry up with that god damn tea!). He wanted his airship back, a new rocket to be built, another plane, and Shera as the head of his engineers.
As Evan had been on the move for the last few weeks, he had a substantial amount of back pay to collect. He spent most of it buying stuff he'd lost with his house, most notably the portable CD player. The situation being what it was, he'd probably be doing a lot of guard duty, and boredom was an implacable enemy. He was not about to let Sector 1. Station happen again.
The rest of his free day he spent in the Respectable Inn playing cards with the rest of the squad in between dispensing pearls of wisdom to awed new recruits. Spike, having served his term in the elite squad, had been transferred elsewhere, and a new girl, Jenny Ansdell, was in his place. She, unfortunately, was excellent at poker, but being very likeable made this bearable. He'd never been a good gambler anyway. If you can't afford to lose, don't play.
Meteor was getting steadily bigger all the while, and angry citizens, emboldened by the lack of soldiers on the streets, finally worked up their courage enough to riot. Rufus reacted swiftly, calling in a division of Roulette Cannons. And as everyone knows, artillery were highly trained at civilian crowd control. Somehow, it had worked. People had seen that Rufey was losing patience and had dispersed. A single man had tried to rally the crowd with the phrase "He can't kill all of us!" To which Rufus had responded "Why not?" Two soft spoken words had done more to quell resistance than massacres ever could.
Another assassin tried to kill Evan, presumably a gift from the HBI. In a room full of Shinra soldiers, he never had a chance. He didn't even have to be killed. The Inn was one of the most secure spots in Junon, the only danger being that a newbie would try out a fire materia he'd been given and engulf the table. After the assassin had been beaten up and robbed(his weapon, a showy imitation Masamune, fetched 10,000 gil, which Evan split between the two guys who'd stopped him), and the recruit had surrendered his Materia, Heidegger approved an appeal to send him (the assassin, not the recruit) to Fort Condor. Apparently the execs had decided Evan was worth the fuss the HBI kicked up every second he still lived after he had played a part in keeping one of their more talented employees alive. Or maybe Elena had pulled some strings. Maybe his luck was turning after all. Or maybe not. For the present, he reserved judgment until further notice.
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If your name happens to be Jenny Ansdell, rest assured that this is a complete coincidence. I know this is getting a bit boring now, sorry.