Yay! Boring inflexible stuff finished, now I can start playing with the storyline again. Sorry about the angst in this chapter.
Back to Midgar
Although he hated himself for it, he didn't dare actually go to Midgar for the funerals. He couldn't, for the same reason he hadn't gone back there since he'd left. Paranoia. Fear. Cowardice. Instead, he sent some flowery 'My deepest sympathies' cards to the families of the dead. Unsigned, which was an absolutely pointless precaution. They had his serial number with Shinra, and after that it'd be no trouble to get his name and his face, back when Shinra thought he was just another Grunt not worth bothering with. So why not sign the cards, at least? At least two of the assassins had reached him at Junon, so they knew he was there and where he was stationed. Signing the cards would make no real difference one way or another.
He was becoming more and more paranoid by the day, and he knew it. He also knew it was keeping him alive, but then, any paranoid person thought that by definition. Unfortunately, he actually had assassination attempts to back up his fears. In case he was wrong, he'd bet the Shinra bookkeeping service that no one was trying to kill him. If it turned out that he was being paranoid over nothing, and therefore had wasted the last few weeks of his life living in paranoia, he would have the small consolation of winning his bet.
On the plus side, he hadn't been involved in Sister Ray's transport to Midgar. Shinra were finally giving him a well deserved break from being thrown into meat grinders. His natural assumption, brought on partly by paranoia, partly by experience, and partly via reports from the North Cave that the final Weapon was stirring from its futile attempt to breach the North Crater, was that they were waiting for a more efficient grinder with absolutely no chance of escape. In the meantime, he practiced killing things, slept lightly, and fought growing depression.
His slow mental dissolve had been noticed by others, but Shinra had better things to do than worry about one soldier who tended to annoy a lot of people. Psychiatrists were in short supply. When Sephiroth had butchered his way through the Shinra building, the only detour he'd made had been through the Psych Department.
Three weeks of rest to think about things found him sitting on the docks at Junon, listening to his headphones and pointing his personal sidearm at his own head, his hand shaking.
Dr. Jekyll is wrestling Hyde...
For my pride...
-Why wait? What good will procrastinating do you? Someone's gonna get you eventually.
-Then make them do it! Don't do it for them!
-Why? Why grant them satisfaction? At least this way it's in your own hands.
-They're a brothel, not ninjas. They don't care who kills you once you die! They're famous for it. But...every time you live through an assassination attempt, you cost them money, and the price on your head goes a little further up. Sting them as much as you can. If you cost them enough money that it's more effort for them to kill you than not to, they'll leave you alone. And then you're a free man. Back to Midgar, back to a life.
-But...Sector Seven...all those corpses. There'll be less if I'm gone.
-You think it'll be easier once you're floating around the Lifestream? There's a lot of angry people waiting there for you already, that'll be pleased to see you. Do something to redeem yourself here, so you'll have some supporters down there once you do die, huh? I know you're not guiltless about Sector Seven, but it's too late for absolution now. Do something to lessen the casualties that you can do something about!
-That's what Cloud tried to do. And how many are dead now because of him? The reactors, all those purple things in the Temple of the Ancients, countless Shinra soldiers. Do you want to do that?
-Hah! Look at you. Three assassination attempts, four if you count Botch, and you go to pieces. Pathetic. How many assassination attempts do Shinra Execs get per year? Fifty? More? Even Turks or just middle rank officers and officials, for fuck's sake! You were guarding Tseng from assassination attempts. Was he even slightly perturbed?
-You're really clutching at straws if you're looking at the third biggest bastard in the company for inspiration, kid.
In spite of himself, Evan laughed aloud at that particular thought.
-Fourth. Hojo, Heidegger, and Scarlet come first. Then Tseng.
-Okay, fourth, then. I missed Scarlet. What about Rufus?
-His rating is pending until further notice. Don't know him well enough yet.
-Fair enough. How does this disprove my point?
-It doesn't. NOW I'm going to disprove your point. They may be the most malicious creatures in the company, but they are all born survivors. Like I said earlier, how many assassination attempts have ach survived? Each assassination attempt was used, either as PR, a way of discrediting their enemies, a way of draining funds from their enemies, et cetera, et cetera. Every time you survive an assassination attempt, you drain the clients of a little more money. Remember, they have to pay expenses. And that includes medical bills, which cost more than an unmarked grave. So try spare their lives if you can. It's not as tough as you think!
- Okay, it's a deal. I've gotta admire the part of my mind that came up with that. You vindictive bastard.
The assassin who had been watching him from the shadows for the past ten minutes, hoping he'd kill himself so he could collect his fee without going head to head with a very dangerous mark, screamed as his kneecap suddenly exploded.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The other soldiers in the garrison, who were getting very worried about his clear mental decline, were not particularly cheered up by his change of attitude. He wasn't suddenly deliriously happy –that would have cemented their suspicions and induced them to send for the straitjackets- but suddenly intensely focused, with a sense of purpose in everything he did. They attributed the change to the discovery of a kneecapped assassin found hanging upside down from Junon Path by one leg. Who wouldn't snap under that much tension? At least he wasn't homicidal.
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One week later, after a surprise earthquake that again put the garrison on edge (they remembered the sudden earthquake that accompanied the rise of the Weapons), They were all summoned –every single soldier in the garrison, all guards, all patrollers, everyone- to another emergency assembly. Alex was on the podium accompanied by a full squad of First Class SOLDIER. He began speaking instantly, urgency radiating from every cell in his body, rapier drawn and clearly in no mood to argue.
"Listen up, because I'm only gonna say this once. Time is running out. Sister Ray is almost in place. Midgar garrisons are stretched. AVALANCHE copycat groups are attempting to reach the cannon. This is our last chance to reach Sephiroth and save the planet. They can NOT be allowed to succeed. BUT...Midgar garrisons alone can't both stop them and protect the populace. The whiplash and Mako radiation would decimate our population. We need to fire as soon as is humanly possible, but no one –no one- can be on the streets or they're probably dead. That's where you come in. We need you to enforce the martial law. Bring whatever weapons you can find in the next thirty seconds, but don't hang around. Shinra will supply whatever you leave behind. Ask questions and you die. Hesitate and you die. Fall behind, and you die. I mean that. Now move!"
They took his warning seriously, and the garrison exploded into life, flooding towards the airport at top speed. Evan made a short detour, picking up his Weapon armour but not taking the time to put it on. As he was coming out of the building, only his unnatural alertness honed by several assassination attempts and the ensuing paranoia
allowed him to duck under the scything blade of a First Class SOLDIER, who grinned and screamed "I catch you before you get on that helicopter, you're dead, you crazy fuck!" Evan sped up. Although he'd always been an excellent sprinter, the genetically enhanced Soldier wasn't far behind. But gradually, his lead stretched as his energy conserving but fast moving lope outstripped the raw power of his pursuer, jumping over fallen soldiers as they were helped up by caring friends.
By the time they reached the side of town closest to the airport, he was running with the pack, ducking and dodging through fellow soldiers, but not pushing them out of his way -he wasn't selfish enough for that. The corridor outside the airport was packed, so he had to stop or shoot his way through, desperately hoping that the SOLDIER wouldn't find him among everyone else. After looking back, and seeing the aforementioned SOLDIER fast approaching, with his eyes clearly fixed directly on him, he sighed and moved clear of the pack to gain room to maneuver. He had time to think 'If this was an action flick, this would be the part where everything happens in slow motion' before adrenaline took over. He threw the armour he was carrying at the SOLDIER, who barely broke stride stepping over it. That didn't matter –it was now far enough away that he wouldn't trip over it. The SOLDIER raised his blade like a baseball bat and swung with eerie speed, but he was already ducking. Even so, it was close –the blade actually sliced off some of his hair as he ducked. As he went down, he lashed out with a foot and swept the feet of his attacker from under him. He got up first, and as the SOLDIER looked up, he found himself looking into the barrel of a Shinra Handgun. Then he moved impossibly fast, so fast that Evan wasn't clear what happened next. He definitely felt two feet hitting him in the chest, which should've been impossible, not before he could pull the trigger. Next thing he knew, the SOLDIER had frozen and Alex was standing beside him, rapier drawn, waiting for his Stop spell to wear off.
"You move like a SOLDIER, y'know that? Nobody never fucked up by Hojo should move that fast." Then, seeing his expression, "Relax, you don't have Mako Eyes, and there's no way to hide that side effect, so you're fine."
"Um...no comment." He retrieved his armour and got on a helicopter. By the time they got to Midgar, he'd put it on and had taken Weapons and Materia from the storage racks. He selected his usual Attack Squad Machine Gun/Sleeping Gas Feature and added an assault rifle and surplus ammunition for all three. After careful consideration, he decided too forego the Rocket Launcher as being too heavy, trusting his grenades to do damage if he needed it. Since he expected to be switching guns regularly, there wasn't much point in equipping Materia in them. That left four slots in his armour. He selected Luck Plus, Counterattack, Pre-Emptive and Restore. With no offensive magic, if he met something that could cast Barrier he was screwed, but that couldn't be helped. Finally, stocking up on Curative Items, mindful that an Elixir had saved his life at Sector 1 Station, he decided he was as prepared as possible and sat back.
In spite of the fact that he was back in Midgar, he was in a fairly good mood. If Alex was anything to go by, it was utter chaos out there, and no assassin would try kill him in conditions like that. So all he had to worry about was getting killed because he was in the way or for his meat, and not for personal reasons. As he got out of the helicopter, somebody yelled from the seething mass of soldiers "Hey, Ev! Good to have you back! Kill anyone since you were last here?"
"Oh, you bet!" Evan screamed back, grinning and putting on his mask as he leapt down. "Great to be here, guys!" And he meant it. In truth, the fact that he was in a more interesting kind of danger than usual had little to do with his mood. Actually, there was one simple reason behind it.
It's good to be home.
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There might be a delay with the next chapter. It's pure action and I want to get it right. Please review.