"Hey, Cid, we've got a call," Shera said, bringing Cid his cell phone.
"Put 'em on speaker," Cid said. He crossed his arms as Shera did, looking out at the jungles they had to fly over again.
"Hello?" Shera tentatively answered.
"Mrs. Highwind?"
"…Reno?"
"Reno! ?" Cid asked, turning towards the phone.
"Oh hey, Pops, what's up?"
"You #$%^ing asshole! Where the #$%^ have ya been?" Cid shouted. On the other end of the line, Reno laughed at him.
"Where've you been, yo? Me and Rude tried findin' you."
"Yeah, an' ya couldn't've waited another goddamn day? We just left #$%^in' Costa del Sol."
"Oh, hey, us too," Reno said.
"Yeah, I know," Cid muttered, face reddening. "So now you're in-"
"Nibelheim. Heard you were making an army of some sort… kind of a little one." Someone in the background objected to that. "Aw, calm down man, I was kiddin'… jeez who would've figured an ex. SOLDIER could be so touchy?"
"Ex. SOLDIER?" Vincent asked. Cid glanced back at him. Apparently he hadn't even realized Vincent was in the room, much less listening. "Reno, are you talking about-"
"No, sorry Vampy…Not talking about Cloud." For once, Reno seemed sincere. "Sorry. Say hey, Kunsel!"
"…Hey?" came the uncertain reply.
"Anyway, you guys are on the way, right?" Reno asked.
"We'll get there tonight," Cid said.
"Taking your time, eh Pops?"
"Shera, hang up the goddamn phone."
"Aw, C'mon, you-" Shera flipped the phone shut before he could finish.
"#$%^ing Turks," Cid said. "Well, at least we'll find 'em this time."
The redheaded Turk smirked as he hung up the phone. "Yeah, they're on the way."
"Good," Rude said.
"Reno, did you have to mention all that SOLDIER crap?" Kunsel asked.
Ami looked interested in that. "Were you really a SOLDIER, sir?"
The Lieutenant frowned. "SOLDIER, second class… but that was a long time ago. Now... if they're coming here…" Kunsel paced a bit, thinking. " …Estu?" Estu looked up at Kunsel, glad he couldn't see his eyes. "I got to thinking yesterday… How are you involved in all this? You traveled with AVALANCHE, you know these guys-"
"I've never met him," the woman said.
"…Well. Sorry, Cissnei. But seriously, AVALANCHE, the Turks, the files, Zöld… what's going on here?"
Estu held his hands up. "I just wanted to get to this town… but… stuff happened. I kind of got involved on accident." But that wasn't exactly true, was it? Given his tie to Weiss, he was probably bound to get caught up in the current events regardless of which path he'd taken.
"Soon as they get here, we need to plan our next move," Cissnei said. "I wonder if there's anyone else who can help us… Do you have contact with Luxiere anymore, Kunsel?"
"Nah, he died four years ago. Anyway, he never wanted to leave the company, especially after he made first," the Lieutenant said. For someone who was apparently his friend, Kunsel spoke about Luxiere in a rather detached way. "Couldn't get him to help me… I guess admiration only goes so far."
"Oh…" Cissnei said quietly. "I'm sorry." Kunsel shrugged, walking away from her, back to Ami and Estu.
"You two don't need to be up here right now. You already know what you're supposed to be doing. Just come back when they get here," he said. Ami nodded, and pulled Estu out of the house by his sleeve.
They walked to the training area quietly, looking around the town. The arrival of the Turks managed to stir things up a bit, given the way people tried to look into the windows of the Lieutenant's house. They heard a few whispers as they passed by people. "Name's 'Kunsel', apparently." "Wonder why he never told anyone?" "Why's he wearing that helmet, anyway?" "I still trust him." "Eh… I guess he's still alright, but why was he hiding?"
"…Poor guy," Ami said, watching a pair of kids 'spar' with toy swords. "He didn't seem prepared for everyone to find him out so suddenly. I guess it makes more sense… him being with SOLDIER and all."
"What's that got to do with anything?" Estu asked.
Ami frowned. "Guess you can't remember much about them, huh?"
"…I know enough about the SOLDIER division," Estu said. Of course most of that information came from dreams… but apparently his dreams managed to contain fact.
"Well… people in upper Midgar, those who were under their protection, always loved SOLDIER… but the rest of the world... Lots of people hated them, were afraid of them. Especially in Wutai after the war. It's kinda weird, coming from Midgar and thinking of them as heroes, then hearing that they destroyed your 'home.' …I dunno, I've always been more of a Midgarian than Wutaian though. It's probably more your home than mine."
"But I'm not actually… never mind. So was that why he was hiding?"
"Who knows?" Ami shrugged. "But I doubt he'll ever willingly tell us." True. Kunsel had said already that information could be dangerous. Which made the files look a lot more powerful than Estu had thought.
They finally arrived, late into the evening. They patrol group out on rounds stared at the massive airship as it descended. Vincent flipped the collar of his coat up as he stepped off. As he neared town with the others, he saw that Ami and Estu stood near the entrance waiting on them.
"Estu!" Marlene said, waving. He gave a slight smile and raise of his hand back. Though he had dark circles under his eyes and still looked a bit disheveled, he looked like he was doing a bit better than the last time Vincent had seen him.
Marlene ran towards Estu, wrapping her arms around him. "Don't. Do. That," he said, trying to pry her off.
"I missed you!" Marlene said.
"It's only been about a week! Let go already!" Vincent smiled slightly as Estu tried and failed to struggle away from her grip. When Marlene finally let him go, he walked over to Denzel, catching up with him, but all the while eyeing Vincent. Denzel seemed to mistake this for the way his eyes normally strayed away, however.
"Ay! Vince!" Reno shouted. Vincent frowned worriedly, wondering if Reno still hated him for what happened in Costa del Sol. However, he seemed pretty relaxed. "Yo, Vamps, how's it going?"
"Er… fine. Just fine," Vincent answered. "Listen, I'm so-"
"Yeah, yeah, you're sorry all about the whole Reeve thing. Water under the bridge, you know?"
"…Sure."
"You asshole!" Cid said walking towards him.
"'Sup, Pops?"
"Quit #$%^ing calling me that!" Cid said, jabbing a finger at his chest. "Do you know we've spent the last five days looking for you… two?" Cid glanced back at the young woman standing behind him. "Um… howdy? And you're…?"
"You can call me Cissnei, recently reinstated Turk," she said.
"More Turks… great," Cid said.
Cissnei frowned a bit then looked over at Vincent in amazement. "Vincent Valentine?"
"Yes?"
"Oh… It's really you. That's amazing! Veld told me about you!" she said, admiration clearly showing in her eyes. "I've always been a fan."
"Oh…" he wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Yuffie, who had just caught up with him looked over Cissnei, from her neat suit to the shuriken she toted around. She pursed he lips slightly and gripped Vincent's arm.
"C'mon, Vinnie, let's get going," she said, pulling him away from Cissnei. Vincent rolled his eyes, wondering what had gotten into her.
"Could you let go? I'd like to see what the current plans are."
"Aw, Cid and them have to battle a bit before then, nothings getting done for a while." Vincent sighed and swiftly pulled his arm away from her. "Hey! What was that for?"
"I don't remember asking for you to pull me along like that," he stated. Yuffie crossed her arms and walked ahead to Tifa's house, giving Vincent the cold shoulder. …Okay. I wish that would've worked before.
Vincent walked over to Cid, listening to him and Reno argue about who'd managed to get more accomplished, and though he hated to admit it, the Turks had done well. Three cities liberated from Deepground control within just a couple of weeks. It was an impressive feat anyway one looked at it.
"Yeah… well… #$%^," Cid muttered. "Alright, bring whoever you've got, we'll meet up in Tifa's in fifteen minutes."
"Sure thing, Pops."
"Quit that!"
It took little time to set everything up in Tifa's house. Everyone gathered around the 'conference' table. With the large number of people, a few had to stand, leaning against walls, or sitting out of place in spare chairs. AVALANCHE, Estu and Ami, the Turks, and one man in a helmet glanced at each other.
"Well… let's get started then," Cid said. "…Deepground has a Proto-materia shard, we want to take it back. How do we do that?"
"They've turned the Central Skyscraper into their main Headquarters… think it's there?" Cissnei asked.
"That's what we're countin' on."
"…So what's a Proto-materia shard?" the helmeted man asked. Everyone was silent for a moment. They'd forgotten about the newcomer.
"What's your name again?" Tifa asked.
"…Lieutenant-"
"Kunsel," Cissnei said. He looked at her, apparently annoyed, though it was hard to tell under the helmet. "SOLDIER, second class."
"…Thanks Cissnei," he muttered, just loud enough for Vincent to hear. "Anyway, right now Weiss is in Junon as well, so that's where the… whatever shard is most likely to be, right?"
"How'd you know he's there?" Cid asked.
"I've got a few eyes and ears in Junon," he said, smiling.
"Well, good," Tifa said. "So, how do we approach this? Rude, any thoughts?"
"…"
"Rude?"
"…"
"…Shit, c'mon, Rude!" Cid said.
"Sorry. If we created a diversion in one part of the city, we could make it easier to get into Deepground HQ."
"That's a good idea," Tifa said. Rude blushed and lowered his sunglasses, muttering a quick 'thank you.' "Lieutenant, do you have any maps of Junon?"
Kunsel nodded, holding out his phone. "Got an awesome app, right here!"
"Yeah, and we'll just all huddle together to see that tiny screen," Reno muttered.
"Oh… right. Well, I have a few paper ones." He turned to Ami. "Could you go get those out of my house? Jarim will show you where they are." She nodded, quickly running out. Estu tapped his fingers across the table, looking distracted. They all waited for her to get back. After a few minutes, Ami returned carrying a bundle of maps in her arms.
"Alright, let's see," Cid said, unfolding the maps. "HQ's here," Cid pointed just right to the center of the map. "So where to stage a distraction?"
"Northwest Junon is mostly slums… they'd probably ignore anything there," Kunsel said. "Most of what they'd try to protect is in the middle of the city."
"But it needs to be far enough away…" Tifa said.
"Well duh, the shipyard!" Yuffie said.
"Ship yard," Reno said, nodding. "That otta work." They wouldn't want any ships to be destroyed… too expensive, but it's still pretty far away. That's actually smart of her.
"Well… We'll need one group for the distraction, one to actually enter the building, and one to provide backup and fight the troops that remain in the building," Cissnei said. "Right now there's … ten of us?"
"Eleven," Denzel corrected.
"Too dangerous," Tifa said. Denzel crossed his arms, sulking in the corner of the room.
"Well… Any additional troops here could help," she continued. "Would there be any volunteers, Kunsel?"
"Yeah, I'm sure there's people who'd want to fight. And there's also the matter of cutting off their mako supply."
"Mako?" Cid asked.
"Oh, right," Kunsel grinned. He pulled a large stack of papers from under his chair. "This… well, I suppose you all know about the files that Estu managed to get?"
"The coded ones you stole?" Yuffie asked.
"I didn't steal anything!" Estu said.
"Calm the #%$% down, both of you," Cid snapped. "So what about those?"
"Well," Kunsel began, "I looked over them, and as it turns out a good portion of Deepground is dependent on mako for strength. We cut it off, they go right down."
"That'll make it easier… anythin' else?"
"Just stuff about Weiss and the 'special' cases… Nero, Argento, Shelke, Rosso, Azul…"
"Azul… you mean the Zul that worked for WRO? What's so special about him?" Yuffie asked.
Kunsel flipped through the papers. "He was the product of human experimentation… though instead of superior strength, he got an IQ boost. The file notes that even at the age of eight, he could engineer complex devices and programs."
"Huh… that explains a lot."
"The rest of them are pretty interesting as well," Kunsel said. "Shelke… I hadn't even heard of this one before yesterday, but she's able to access the World Wireless Network and other databases with her mind. Besides that, she's a speed demon, not to be underestimated, even though she looks like a child. And… Estu said you'd already encountered Rosso?"
"Yeah… tough one," Tifa said.
"She's apparently the height of strength… and her psych profile was… interesting. She's the one to watch out for, if she's there."
"What about Argento?" Cid asked, rubbing his chin.
Kunsel shrugged. "Really not much to worry about. He's second in command, but that's probably just because he's Weiss's son. I mean, he's mako enhanced, so he's more powerful than normal, but… he's really not to special in any regard, at least as far as the mako enhanced individuals go, average abilities, average speed, somewhat above average agility."
"They guy spins all over the place," Denzel said. "Dunno how he doesn't get dizzy."
A few people at the table chuckled at that. Kunsel straightened his helmet slightly before continuing, "Maybe that's what's unique about him - he has an amazing inner ear. But in all seriousness, he's nothing the average third class SOLDIER couldn't fight with, much less any of you. The only thing was he was the second ever Deepground operative, but nowhere near the best."
"What about 'Nero?'" Vincent asked. He hadn't heard of that one either.
Kunsel shrugged. "Well, he was a force to be reckoned with. Strong, agile, fast, a master swordsman, but he's for all intents and purposes dead. Been that way for the last… seven years? Well unless Weiss has some way of bringing him back, you've got nothing to be concerned about."
"So we cut off their mako supply," Cid said. "Sounds like we'd need someone sneaky. Yuffie?"
She grinned, "Sounds like fun."
"I'm fairly talented in stealth bases endeavors," Cissnei said. "I could help her."
"Great," Yuffie muttered.
"Me, Reno, an' Rude can provide the distraction," Cid continued. "Vince, do you want the honor of getting the shard?"
"I believe I can do that."
"Right, so that leave the rest of us to back you up," Tifa said. Ami, Estu, and Kunsel nodded.
"And we've got Nibelheim troops for extra ground support," Kunsel said.
"My crew for air support," Cid added. "Well, I think we should get going now."
"Now?" Kunsel asked, surprised.
"Yeah, it'll take all night to get there. Then we've got a day to cut off the mako, and do all that crap the next."
"On the last day of the month," Vincent said.
"We'll fly out of Junon, then… I guess we need to go to the Crystal Cave," Tifa said, looking at Vincent. "Maybe she can tell us where the last shard is." Vincent slowly nodded. Everyone aside from her, Cid, and Yuffie looked confused, but he didn't plan on explaining to them.
"Well, let's get going. Kunsel, get the troops together," Cid said.
"Yes sir," Kunsel replied, standing. Ami and Estu gave him a weird look, as though he'd said something strange. Ami walked with Kunsel and the Turks, while Estu stayed behind, glancing at Vincent. Vincent sighed and stood, walking over to the living room. Estu quickly followed.
"Is there something you need to tell me?" Vincent asked.
"I… I think I'm going insane," Estu said, looking down. Vincent frowned at the statement. "I've been looking around the mansion lately and I keep seeing all these flashes of stuff that's not there. And when we passed by the reactor on the way here I felt… really weird. And the same thing happens when I'm around Kunsel sometimes… and I…" He stopped, biting his lip. "I hear… voices. It's happened twice… no, three times now. Weird whispers… and I don't know why. I think I'm crazy."
"You're acting fairly rational," Vincent said. "You said the same thing happened around the reactor and around Kunsel?" Estu nodded. "It could be a reaction to Jenova cells. SOLDIERS have some within their bodies, and there's a good chance that there are a few at the reactor still."
"Jenova cells… but why are they affecting me like this?"
"Hm… there are fewer left in the world now. Perhaps the pull between them is stronger. You probably have the most of anyone alive. That could be why you feel the effect."
"So I'm not crazy?" he asked, looking relieved. "…There's still the weird stuff at the mansion."
"I don't know why that would happen, but I don't think you're insane," Vincent said.
"Thanks… I've been worried about that for a while now. I'm sorry I keep bothering you, I just didn't know who else would get it, you know?"
"We should head over to the Shera," Vincent said, looking at everyone already heading up there.
"…Flying. Yay," Estu muttered, as they walked out the door. "Almost forgot about that part."
"It's actually a smoother ride than the last airship we had. Even Yuffie thinks so."
"It's not just the motion that really gets me though. It's the heights," Estu said, looking ahead at the massive airship. "It's an impressive craft though. Ace would-" he stopped suddenly, shaking his head. "Sorry, I'll just go ahead," he said, running towards the airship. Vincent watched, puzzled, wondering what Estu had meant.
"Ace, what's wrong?"
"The controls! I can't get- ARRG!"
Wind rushed past as the airplane plummeted towards the ground.
"No… No, please!" Ace shouted, fear showing in his eyes. The man in black had never seen him afraid before. Was his life flashing before his eyes? His wasn't… not much to reflect on and remember fondly. Acting quickly he pulled his sword and cast a partial protection spell over his friend, less than a minute left before the plane hit the ground. "What? What are you doing, save yourself, not me!" No... Ace had a family, other friends… he'd rather keep him alive. "Don't save me, you idiot! Save yourself!"
"No time…" the man said. It would take too long to cast another. He swallowed bracing himself for the impact. "Goodbye… old friend." He was afraid, but it was mostly regret, so much unaccomplished, so much he could never make up for. Tine… I'm sorry… He looked at Ace, still panicked.
"No! NO! N-" Ace was cut off by the man's sudden scream as the plane hit the ground.
Estu shot up, heart pounding. Damn aircraft… He looked out a window at the night sky. They were probably over the ocean now. He could've been on a ship, letting the rocking motions lull him to sleep, but air travel was faster. He stood up. Estu would just walk enough to clear his head. He would need sleep for the next two days. Before exiting the room, he glanced at Marlene and Denzel, sleeping soundly.
He moved quietly, he'd always been pretty good at walking without making sound. There were more people up and about than expected, keeping the ship moving smoothly. They, for the most part, ignored him, but he felt weird about walking around them, so he moved to more secluded parts of the ship. He nearly turned a corner when he heard Kunsel's voice.
"But I heard… I heard about someone who used Angeal's old sword."
"That was Cloud Strife… Kunsel, I've already told you. Why don't you believe me?" Cissnei asked.
"Why trust a Turk?"
"Kunsel, you can trust me. I thought we were friends. What's happened that's made you like this?"
"Like what?" he asked.
"All… cold and distant with me… all secretive with everyone else. What made you this way?"
"…The last nine years."
"Please, just… talk to me about this," she said. "I can help you. Listen, I miss him just as much as you do, but-"
"Cissnei, I don't want to talk about this."
Estu backed away, wishing he hadn't heard.
"Kunsel…" she began again.
"I know he's dead, all right? I know."
"Then what were you still doing out there?"
"Just… trying to find closure, I guess…"
His voice trailed off as Estu walked back to his room.
I didn't realize that they were friends. He guessed he should have. Kunsel spoke more openly with Cissnei than anyone. She'd kept answering for him when he didn't want to. They'd obviously known each other before.
He laid down, trying to get a bit more sleep before morning.
Argento was having a great week. Even then, sitting at his desk, doing next to nothing, he smiled. Two more days, then AVALACHE would either give in to his father's threat or he'd get a chance to have a bit of fun outside of Junon again. He leaned back, thinking of his last venture out of the city.
Even after several long hours of searching in the freezing air, he couldn't have been happier when he'd found the shard. Even underneath his gloved hand, the way it felt sent tingles down his finger tips. He raised it up, examining it, looking at his orange eyes in its shiny surface.
He still held it triumphantly on the flight back to Junon. Between the excitement of presenting it to his father and the jabbing pain on his wrist, he couldn't sleep at all. Argento distractedly toyed with the bracer clamped around his arm. "Careful with that!" Zul would have said, could he see Argento. "I spent almost a whole week designing it for you." Yeah, and it itched like hell.
The arrival in Junon was met with little fanfare. Argento had mused that he might get the red carpet treatment as the returning hero, but then again, it was ridiculously early in the morning. He stumbled into Headquarters, half asleep. "Caffeine," he demanded. Zul sat in the lobby, already drinking his coffee.
"Did you get it, Argento?" he asked curiously.
Argento grinned, then pulled the shard from his pocket. Zul's eyes lit up at it.
Argento sat next to him, drinking the coffee one of his subordinates brought him as quickly as he could without scalding his tongue. "Everything went well… Easy as pie."
"I'm glad… first time you haven't screwed something up," Zul said.
"Shut up," Argento muttered. It was ridiculous, having to put up with the teens constant snide remarks. Of course, his father forbade him from killing Zul… too valuable, apparently.
"So how did the bracer work?" Zul asked, eyeing it.
"Decent… itches, though," Argento said, looking at the bracer again. It glowed slightly with the remains of the mako contained within. "But could you adjust the injection intervals?"
"Are they spaced too close together? I was trying to err on the side of caution but-"
"They're too far apart. Had to use my back up supply twice," Argento said.
"Really? I set them for one every eight hours."
"Make it one every six then," Argento said, taking the bracer off and rubbing the chafed skin underneath. "Or one ever four would be good, too."
"Every four? …Are you feeling all right? That's more than you usually need," Zul pointed out. "Maybe you should tell your father-"
"No thanks," Argento said, walking towards the elevator. He was trying to impress him after all, not remind him how much a failure he was. "I'll just show him this." He gestured to the shard proudly.
Weiss had been overjoyed at seeing the materia shard. He snatched it away, greedily. Argento tried to hide how happy he was, stating calmly, "Took hours to get it, but I think it was well worth it."
"Yes… excellent work, Argento." He said the words in the exact same way he'd sung Nero's praises for years. That, in and of itself, made the task worth everything. "You did well, son." Son… he couldn't even remember the last time that Weiss had uttered the word without shame. It wasn't love exactly, but it felt good… finally getting a bit of recognition after all those years of trying without success.
After the next day, Rosso had returned. Argento went to say hello to her, and was a bit shocked to see a long scar now marred her face. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked.
"Kisaragi… next time we meet, she dies," Rosso hissed. "So you're still alive, I'm surprised your father didn't kill you after you returned empty handed."
"Actually, I got the shard I was supposed to… and you?" he asked smugly.
"You what? But-"
He beat Rosso? He actually managed something Rosso couldn't?
Little moments like these continued to pile up. A successful squashing of a resistance group, several days without a riot of any sort. Most of the city resigned themselves to the fate of sitting helpless in his grasp. And things only got better when he learned the location of the man who knew where the third shard was.
"Research assistant… we've got people on it now," Zul told him. He glanced over to Shelke. "Nice work, by the way."
"Thank you, Mr. Azul," she said, giving a slight nod while stabilizing herself on a table. Diving tended to leave her a bit dizzy. "Commander Argento, will you go to retrieve the last shard?"
Weiss agreed when he asked him, noting that he'd been rather successful of late.
Yes, things were going well for Argento. For the first time in years he wasn't being constantly compared to his brother, constantly feeling inferior. Things were finally looking up.
But that wouldn't last very long.
"Argento?" the voice on his com device asked.
"Yes sir?" he replied.
"I… need to speak to you. About the Proto-materia."
And he wasn't at all prepared for what Weiss planned on doing with it.
They had to go out of the way to avoid being seen from Junon. Approaching the city from behind was annoying, but Vincent was confident that Yuffie and Cissnei would be successful in their endeavor to cut off the city's mako supply.
The second shard was almost within their grasp.
A/N: This was a bit short, but I'm hoping the next chapter will make up for it. I'm really excited about this next one, to be honest. Unfortunately, I'm finding myself a bit busier than normal, so it'll probably take a few more days. I'll try to get it done by Friday, but if that's not possible, I'll get it done by Monday at the very latest. Sorry, and thanks for being patient.