On the surface our heroes barged through the hallways towards Professor Hojo's lab.
At the same time, the very weasel they were looking for was speaking with the very same dark visage that Silver had been allied with.
"I am quite pleased with your results Professor…" the visage said, "…the experiment you are proposing however would require a subject that has the perfect genetic make up for it…I'm afraid mako is out of the question…you need to find a skilled fighter untainted by mako energy."
"I have been speaking with Silver in private and he mentioned that one of the fools that aided in his capture is well skilled with his weapon of choice and does not appear to be infused with mako energy at all." Hojo replied.
"Hmm…if you can capture this subject, then by all means do so…but we need him alive…our…'guest' will be able to do wonders with her research into the Chaos theory." The visage replied as Hojo smirked.
"I will do my best to have him apprehended…just as soon as they bring AUTO to my lab for re-directing." Hojo said as the doors burst open.
"AUTO won't be coming back to you Hojo!" Terra said as he, Angeal, Vincent, and Cloud burst in.
"What?! Who are you?! Angeal who are these men?!" Hojo asked as if he didn't know them, but he recognized Terra and Vincent as the one's his new master was after.
"We have a few questions to ask you Professor." Angeal said as he quickly gave Cloud a head signal to guard the door.
The visage quickly vanished from the computer screen…but not without going un-noticed by Vincent and Terra.
"Who were you talking to?" Terra demanded as he summoned his Keyblade.
"I was dictating notes to a voice recognition dictation program." Hojo lied but they were unconvinced.
"Then where's the microphone?" Vincent asked.
"It's built into the computer." Hojo lied again.
"Prove it…show us your notes…and one false move and our friend with the gun here blows your brains out." Angeal threatened.
"You dare threaten me Angeal?!" Hojo said as if he were offended.
"Oh get off your high horse; we know everything that you've been up to…" Terra said as he held the edge of the Keyblade to the professor's throat, "…upon learning what AUTO found out about myself and my friends mission, you took it upon yourself to contact the one who put in Directive A-1-13, and ally yourself with him and his ilk, you then put in new directives for AUTO, stole a prototype walking machine, and handed both over to the pirate John Silver with a copy of a data disk with all of our information on it, intended for his 'master user' whoever he is."
"I must say that your resourcefulness was unexpected and uncalculated." Hojo said with a scowl, "But to answer a question you had regarding his master user…he identifies himself as Sanzun."
"Sanzun?" Terra and Vincent whispered.
"You know that name?" Angeal asked.
"No we just heard AUTO mention it as the one who put in Directive A-1-13 back when we first confronted him on board the Axiom." Terra answered.
"Well what would you expect from that mechanical blabber mouth." Hojo said as he backed up towards a seemingly empty wall.
"Not another step Hojo." Vincent said as he turned the safety off on Cerberus.
"Ah…ah ha, ha, ha, ha…" Hojo laughed with sinister amusement, "Vincent Valentine I presume?"
Vincent remained silent and tightened his grip on Cerberus.
"I must say you're exactly like the good doctor describes…" Hojo said with a laugh causing Angeal and Terra to furrow their brows, and Vincent to arch a knowing eyebrow, "…yes you know who I mean…Vinnie!!" Hojo laughed.
"Why you son of a…" Vincent snarled, "…WHERE IS SHE?!"
"Oh she's safe…for now." Hojo replied as he threw a vial onto the ground and vanished in a large puff of red smoke.
"Damn it, DAMN that rat (Naughty word)." Vincent snarled as the smoke cleared.
"No time to curse he's getting away!" Angeal said as he swung his buster sword at the wall Hojo was at and quick as a flash the wall fell off as if Angeal had cut clean through it, which he had, revealing a long hallway.
The three gave chase down the hallway hoping to catch the runaway mad scientist.
Meanwhile back in the slums…
Ven, Rikku, and Paine, were heading off back towards Tifa's Seventh Heaven, as Aerith, Yuna, Aqua, and Cid were heading the opposite direction towards the Wall Market…so naturally they encountered each other.
"There your guys are…oh and you found Paine." Aqua said as Paine smirked.
"Nice of you to notice." Paine replied.
"Rikku, what in the name of Yevon, are you wearing?" Yuna asked as Rikku grinned and Ven again looked straight up, and again fearing the onset of whiplash.
"You like it Yunie? Aqua said to find something slutty." Rikku replied as Ven muttered something about this being something called a "Disney story."
"Yeah but I didn't think Ven would let you get away with it." Aqua said with surprise.
"Lyh cusaputo cruud sa huf?" Ven muttered as Rikku giggled and Paine shook her head.
"Sorry I don't have a gun Ven…otherwise I would be happy to shoot you now." Paine replied.
"Oh no not another Al Bhed speaker." Aqua groaned.
"Hey be nice Aqua…or you won't get to see what I got you…and if you breathe a word of my getting you a dress to Lu when this is over…I keel you." Ven said with a fake Spanish accent.
"Who's Lu?" Paine asked.
"His wife." Cid said casually as he smoked his cigar causing Paine to look at Ven with interest as if wondering if he was really being disloyal…Aqua noticed this look and got mad.
"Now hold the phone right there Paine…" Aqua said as she got serious, "…there is one thing I will say for Ven, and that is he's a loyal family man and would never dream of cheating on his wife."
"Thanks for the support Aqua." Ven said as he handed her the Lady Luck dress.
"Anytime buddy…Ooh this looks nice…what are the cards and dice for?" Aqua asked as she looked the dress over.
"I dunno…it came with the dress." Ven answered with a shrug.
"Hey Yunie wanna see what I got you?" Rikku asked as she handed Yuna the dress Rikku got for her.
"Come on people I know where we can change in private." Aerith said as she led the group to an abandoned and run down church with a hole in the roof and bathed in light from a hole in the plate above them.
"This is where my secret flower garden is." Aerith said as they entered the church.
"Wow…I bet it was beautiful in its day." Ven said as Aqua smiled.
"He took architecture in our sophomore year." Aqua said proudly.
Aerith then walked over towards a large hole in the floor revealing a large patch of white flowers growing all throughout it. She then walked towards an empty, old, baby pram with the words "Flowers – 10 munny per flower" on the sides, and picked up a long red dress.
"Geez Aerith what kind of kids do you raise down here?" Aqua joked as she saw the dress, causing Aerith to smirk and shake her head.
"We ladies can change in the old sacristy." Aerith said as she, Yuna, and Aqua paraded back towards a back door with their respective dresses in hand.
"I gotta hand it to that Aerith…she is full of surprises." Cid said from one of the front pews, having extinguished his cigar in the dirt outside, out of respect for the old Church.
"Like her people, she is shrouded in mystery." Paine said causing Cid and Ven to look at her with surprise.
"What do you mean by that?" Ven asked.
"She's a Cetra…almost all of the SOLDIERs who encounter her are debriefed on what she is after their mission is over…it was included in the mission packet that Angeal gave me before I was deployed for this mission." Paine explained.
"Oh." Ven replied.
"What's a Cetra?" Rikku asked as Ven looked back up to avoid looking at her.
"You know Ven you're gonna get whiplash if you keep doing that." Cid said.
"Damm sa ypuid ed." Ven muttered. (Tell me about it.)
"You must really have a real problem with something down here if it causes you to get a nose bleed all the time." Rikku said oblivious to the fact that it was really her.
"Naw…he's just trying to be polite and not look at you because otherwise he'll start to…uh…long for his wife?" Cid asked as Ven rolled his eyes and nodded simultaneously.
"Oh…OH." Rikku replied as she understood what he meant, "Oh geez I'm so sorry Ven…I didn't know...I'll go change if you want me to."
"No, no it is I who should be sorry Rikku. It's just that I've never been away from my wife this long, it's kind of hard on me." Ven said as he finally mustered the courage to look at her.
"Good woman?" Paine asked.
"Incredible." Ven replied with a smile as memories of Lulu flashed in his mind.
"He's got a cute looking little boy too." Rikku added, as Ven pulled out his wallet and flipped to a page with he, Lulu, Sora, and a pair of fingers from outside the picture giving him bunny ears…that was Aqua of course. He smiled as a tear ran down his face.
"A thousand words…" Ven said quietly, "…call out through the ages. They'll fly to you, even though I can't see I know they're reaching you…suspended on silver wings."
As Ven continued Yuna and the women emerged quietly from the back as they listened in quietly.
"Oh a thousand words, one thousand embraces, will cradle you. Making all of your weary days seem far away, they'll hold you forever." Ven finished quietly as Aqua recognized the poem.
"What was that?" Yuna asked as she leaned over to Aqua.
"That was the poem he wrote Lulu on the day he proposed to her." She replied as she noticed a tear running down Ven's face. After a moment Aqua approached him.
"You will return to see her Ven…that I promise you." Aqua said as Ven looked her in the eye and nodded. The two friends then hugged each other for a moment as everyone could feel a touch of sympathy for the man.
"Ok you good?" Aqua asked as Ven nodded then summoned his Keyblade.
"As ready as I'll ever be." He replied as the others nodded.
"Alright chums let's do this!" Cid hollered, "CID HIGHWIND!!" he yelled, spear held high, as he ran towards the doors with the others in tow.
(A/N: Yuna is in her FF X-2 outfit and Aqua is in Paine's Lady Luck dressphere)
A few minutes later Cid and Ven, both looking tough and Ven carrying Paine's sword, and followed by the five women between them, approached a large building called "the Honeybee Inn."
"HALT!" a big man at the front said as they approached, "State your business."
"These gals here are my 'business' if ya get my drift." Cid replied with a cigar hanging from his mouth as the guard smirked and looked the women over with a lustful eye before moving over towards a phone on the wall and picking it up.
"Yo Mooch!" the man said into the phone, "Open up the door foo...Yeah more babes for the boss man."
Finally the doors opened and the guard waved them in as Cid tossed fifty munny into the guard's hand as he passed.
As they entered, they noticed a large number of guards along almost every wall and door. Up against one wall was a line of women standing nervously in slinky outfits. Our heroes were instructed to stand on a large round rug with decorative designs on it.
A moment later a pair of red velvet double doors between two adjoining staircases opened as a big fat man appeared. He had a blond Mohawk with a curl on the front, a large tattoo on the left side of his head looking like a heart with an arrow through it and the word "love" written above it, he also had a short, thin curly mustache. He was wearing a red satin robe, a partially unbuttoned white dress shirt, blue jeans, white dress shoes, carrying a glass of wine and had a lit cigar hanging from his mouth…it was Don Corneo himself.
"Well, Well…" He said as he laid eyes on the five women before him, "…this is a nice assortment."
"All for your enjoyment good sir." Cid replied, he had really gotten into the part.
"I see…" Corneo said as he glanced at Cid, then at Ven, "…you must be pretty desperate to come to me."
"Us?" Aqua asked as she fluttered her eyes.
"All seven of you actually." Corneo said as his smirk vanished, "Do you honestly think that my men didn't see you leave the Seventh Heaven bar?"
Instantly they knew the jig was up but before they could move, every guard had a gun trained on them.
"You are certainly foolish to think you could get away with trying to get in here and kill me." Corneo said with a smirk across his face.
"I dare not ask what's going to happen to us." Yuna said as Corneo smiled sinisterly.
"Oh the men will be executed while, and once I'm through with each of the five of you…you will join them." He said with a laugh as Paine's SOLDIER level hearing kicked in as she heard something clicking from underneath the floor.
Ven quickly came up with what would hopefully be their lifesaver.
"Oh but Mr. Corneo, I assure you that our intentions are strictly honorable." Ven replied.
As soon as he said that, bullets started flying up from the floor in a circle around our heroes and as it became a full circle the floor gave way and our heroes fell through and three black cylinders flew up into the air and exploded in a flash of blinding light and a loud explosion…someone had thrown three flash bang detonators into the room.
Instantly the doors of all the rooms burst open revealing what appeared to be averagely dressed men and women carrying machine guns aimed at all the guards. Our heroes leapt out of the hole followed closely by none other than Barrett and Tifa.
"AVALANCHE!!" Tifa yelled, "DISARM THEM!!"
As the orders left her mouth, every one of the men and women quickly yanked the weapons out of the, still dazed, guards hands and continued to hold them at bay.
"What is going on here?!" Corneo asked as his sight and hearing came back.
"Don Corneo." Paine said as she pulled out her SOLDIER credentials and a pair of electro-shock handcuffs, "By order of Director Lazard Deusericus and Angeal Hewley of the Buy-N-Large Corporation's SOLDIER division, you are here-by placed under arrest."
She then slapped the handcuffs on the now deposed crime boss who just smirked.
"You can't pin a thing on me SOLDIER…I'll walk out of this free as a bird." He scoffed as Paine gave Tifa a nod.
"Then my report is going to have to say I attempted to apprehend you but one of your guards betrayed you, and shot and killed you before I could finish my mission." Paine replied as Tifa handed Paine one of the confiscated weapons and the SOLDIER pointed the gun between the now whimpering Corneo's eyes.
She looked away as she pulled the trigger…
Later…
"So you were the ones killing all the crime bosses in the slums?" Ven said as Tifa nodded.
"Yep, AVALANCHE, was secretly established by myself, Barrett, Cloud, and a few others at Angeal's request to combat the growing crime wave in the slums." Tifa explained, "I'm the sector seven AVALANCHE commander, Barrett was sector eight, Biggs over there sector Six, Wedge sector one, and Jessie sector four…the other sector commanders are still busy working on getting the other sectors under control."
"So you had an organized resistance movement against the crime bosses the whole time?!" Aqua asked as Tifa nodded.
"Yep Cid was even in on it, though he was more of a procurement agent then a full member." Tifa explained, "Cloud served as a messenger between AVALANCHE and what supporters we had on the surface…almost all of SOLDIER being one of them."
"Wow…so now AVALANCHE has complete control of the slums now huh?" Rikku asked.
"Most of it yeah…there are still a few sectors under the control of the remaining lesser crime bosses but they won't be that hard to take out…Corneo was the last of the big ones…no pun intended." Tifa laughed, "I really appreciate the help though."
"What help? We got captured and you rescued us…we were next to no help at all." Aqua replied.
"Actually Paine was sent by Angeal to provide what SOLDIER support, and your getting captured showed us that it was time to make our final move against the criminal underworld." Tifa answered.
"Well I guess we better be heading back up then…glad we could help." Aerith said with a nod.
"But can we get out of these clothes first, I feel pretty weird traipsing around like a showgirl everywhere." Aqua said as Ven snickered.
"A lil' too late for that don't you think?" Ven asked as Aqua simply blew him a raspberry and walked off with Aerith, Yuna, and Rikku towards the abandoned church to change back into their normal clothes.
"Are you two together?" Tifa asked after watching the interaction between Ven and Aqua.
"Why does everyone assume that Aqua and I are a couple?!" Ven asked, "Wait…don't answer that."
End Chapter 21.
I know it's a bit graphic for a Disney thing but hey…I've seen worse when it comes to KH Fanfiction…much worse.
Also the poem Ven is reciting may sound familiar to those who have played FF X-2.