Dangerous Plan
An hour later, the three Turks—even Kariya was in his full Turk uniform after they stopped by his place (he wore his with his jacket not quite fully buttoned, had white shoes, and had put on shades)—arrived at the courtyard where Genesis had fought the two Restrictors alone until Kariya had intervened. Tseng moved a ways into the chewed-up space, sharp eyes gazing around at the damage critically, but Kariya and Eden mainly stayed where they were, at the edge of the damaged ground.
"And three men somehow did this?" Tseng asked at last, crouching to pick up something small and red off the ground.
"I looked at the Materia on Genesis' Wizard Bracelet, and I sort of think a lot of the technical damage was his doing while he tried to defend himself from two powerful attackers," Eden answered, pointing at one slab of concrete in particular. "For example, if Reflect couldn't block a spell aimed at him, the concrete would have been the next most handy barrier." The slab he'd pointed to was marked with slashes of ash from a Fire-type spell, such as Flare. "And I did some of it because I almost always do."
"How would he have broken the ground before Summoning Bahamut?" the Wutain man asked with a slight, puzzled frown.
"Apply a gravity sink to the ground. What happens to said ground?" the blond teen asked dryly in reply. Kariya just watched the two like a spectator at a tennis match.
After a pause to consider the words, Tseng nodded. "What else did he have on him at that time?"
"No weapon, just the bracer. It had Bahamut, Alexander, Fire, Gravity, Contain, Enemy Skill, Restore, and Barrier. As far as I can tell, he didn't call on Alexander, but likely used the rest frequently in that circumstance, and the one time he tried using Bahamut, it got wiped out in short order. By then, I don't think he had energy to waste on having the same thing happen to Alexander."
Blinking in surprise, the black haired man turned to him and asked, "Those were all he used against two Restrictors?"
"I'm pretty sure he used a Limit Break, too," Kariya put in, gazing at Ed with some degree of respect. When Tseng's eyes went to him, he explained, "Just as I was getting here, he called out something about light of the Goddess and an apocalypse, then a sigil of some sort lit above him, froze the men in place, and blasted them with energy. I couldn't really tell anything about it except that it seemed to be non-elemental damage, more like raw Lifestream, and it actually killed one of the two."
"Can you remember exactly what he said?" Ed asked with a small frown.
"That he called down an apocalypse rather says it all," Tseng cut in dryly.
"Does it really?" Ed asked, brow raised. "To the best of my knowledge, the actual original meaning of 'apocalypse' is to 'uncover', or to reveal knowledge (1). So, since I'm pretty sure he knows that, calling on the Goddess as he apparently did, what was it he was 'uncovering', exactly? What turned a revelation into an attack?"
"Er, well...Let's see..." Kariya began, gazing out at the battle zone thoughtfully as he called the replay to mind. After a minute, he said, "If I've got it right, his exact words were, 'Light of the Goddess, grant me your judgment, apocalypse.' It wasn't complicated. The sigil, on the other hand, I couldn't replicate."
Nodding, the blond said, "Sounds like he's so damned sure of himself that he's willing to risk his own life to defeat his enemies."
"What?" both Tseng and Kariya asked in confusion.
"He called down judgment, revealing of favor from the Lifestream," Ed answered.
"Wouldn't it only judge his opponents?" Kariya asked with a puzzled frown.
"I'd have to see it—unless Genesis himself knows exactly what he's doing—to know for sure what it's doing, but I'm pretty sure it judges every living thing in its range and either determines it as 'acceptable' or as 'unacceptable', then damages the 'unacceptable'," the youngest of the three shrugged.
"Is that why it didn't work on Sephiroth in their combat practice?" Tseng asked in mild surprise. "Because it judged Sephiroth as acceptable, so didn't attack him, despite the fact that they were fighting one another at the time?"
"It also might not have worked because Genesis doesn't see Sephiroth as an enemy, fighting or not," Ed pointed out dryly. "But yes, it could well be that Genesis' Limit Break just wouldn't work on Sephiroth, even if they were seriously fighting. Or whether it damaged him or not could depend on his mental state."
"Can the Lifestream actually judge a mental state?" Tseng asked with a slight frown.
"Yes. There's such a thing as stagnant Mako, which is formed by negative thoughts and feelings of people. If there was no such thing, I'd hold the same view as you—it would be impossible for the Lifestream to judge—but because different feelings create different types of existing Mako, I'm sure it's sentient enough to judge the mental states of the living, too."
"...Mind blowing..." Kariya gaped, and that time, his cigarette hit the ground. "And you just—do that?"
"Sure do!" Eden chuckled, looking back at Tseng. "So, have you seen what you wanted to see?"
"I believe so," the older man answered, taking a last look around the area. "I just wish we could fix this, since I doubt Shinra will bother—this isn't in the resort area."
"Tseng—don't tell anyone about what I'm about to do," the teen said, then looked at the orange haired man. "You either, Kariya. I'm going to heavily modify the Earth Materia to make it do what I want it to do—put this back together. I'd rather the extent of my control and understanding of Materia didn't become too widely-known."
The black haired man joined Kariya on the unbroken concrete and said, "I confess to being curious about just how much those arrays only you and Genesis seem to be aware of can be manipulated. I already know Genesis does it, especially with Fire."
Nodding, Ed clapped his hands together and knelt, smoothing the rubble of the courtyard back to a flat, cement ground cover. As the light flashing across the ground cleared, Tseng gave an impressed whistle, his eyes on Ed with an intensity the younger of the two found unnerving when he turned his head to look. The sixteen-year-old rose and faced them, tapping the Earth Materia slotted on his sword.
"I manipulate the ground a lot more than anything else, so stone, metals, soil, those are the things I can manipulate the best," Ed said. "Genesis favors fire, so that's the element he can manipulate with the greatest ease. Either way, you need to know the arrays and how to adjust them to change those effects, and with how few people know them, I'm not really surprised only he and I can do these sorts of things. The last thing we need is for Deepground to know the full extent of our abilities to manipulate the arrays. At the same time, they might find out about Genesis' actual degree of skill in that regard, and I'm a little surprised no one took exception to his changing the effects of a Fire Materia before now."
"For what it's worth, that's a valid question," Tseng agreed. "But why would they find out about his actual degree of skill? I was under the impression that is well-known."
"We might have to let them take him to find Deepground," the teen answered.
"Wait a minute, you'd put him in that much danger?" Kariya suddenly glared.
"Not without him knowing and not without a plan in place to guarantee our success," Eden replied sharply. The other two blinked, but Kariya was still scowling. "I'm not going to be careless or try to get my friend killed, Kariya, but if the entrance to their base is proving so hard to find, I would ask him if he'd be willing to be bait. If we don't find them soon, Weiss will wind up back there, and there's people like Shelke—your other daughter—who have been taken there recently and could be rehabilitated. What they're doing needs to be brought to an end, and even as skilled as I am, I'm not omnipotent, especially near Reactors."
The orange haired man spun to face away from him, but Tseng asked sharply, "What do you mean, 'especially near Reactors'?"
"I can use and manipulate Materia around them like any other person, and my fighting skills remain intact, but there are abilities I have which I can't use around them. I rely on those skills a lot, but have been re-training myself to use Materia efficiently as well, knowing I have to rely on it in places like Junon and Midgar. I could have gotten in trouble in Nibel if I hadn't been aware of that issue, so I'm grateful Genesis had the foresight to inform me as soon as possible," the blond shrugged.
With a succinct nod, the Wutain man said, "Let's go back to the inn, then. We'll have to see what you're able to figure out in Shinra Headquarters before we resort to allowing anyone to become bait."
"I can't believe you're seriously considering putting my son in that much danger!" Kariya glared.
"Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds when you're talking about a trained SOLDIER who has fought in Wutai?" Tseng asked him dryly.
"You could always return to the Turks and come with us so you can watch over your kids, Kariya," Eden suddenly put in with a funny little smirk.
"Oh, don't give him ideas," Tseng sighed tiredly.
After a moment, however, Kariya burst out laughing and said, "Back to the inn, then! I'll need to convince Veld to take me back!" He snatched up his cigarette, re-lit it, and led the way as Eden and Tseng brought up the rear, the former with a grin and the latter looking a bit bemused.
"I'm not sure that was a good idea, Eden, I'm really not. He's too much of a loose cannon, and his loyalties are questionable at best," Tseng commented quietly.
"Tseng, even a loose cannon has uses, good ones—I'm actually a case in point. And he's got three very good reasons to stay loyal to Shinra now—Genesis, Shelke, and Shalua. Especially since I rather think we won't be able to take Shelke away from Shinra now that she's in, only place her in someone else's care."
"...I suppose there's some truth to his loyalty towards family..."
"Why are you so—opposed to him?" Ed asked suddenly, feeling puzzled by that point when the man seemed to get along reasonably well with nearly everyone.
There was a silence, then the Wutain Turk answered, "One of my first cases after I joined the Turks wound up pitting me against him in battle while he was actively working as an anti-Shinra terrorist. He had a reputation as the 'Death God of the Battlefield', the most feared Turk killer to ever exist—he's single-handedly responsible for about seventy percent of our losses for a fifteen year span before he was caught. That time on my case, though...he did kill another, experienced Turk in front of me. (2) To this day, I'm not sure how I survived with as little damage as I did, since I was barely a Rookie then, it was like he just walked away because I wasn't a 'challenge' to him. I didn't realize 'the Legendary Turk' was one and the same as the Death God of the Battlefield until the incident which resulted in his house arrest. The result is that I have a bias against him, and for good reason after facing him on the battlefield."
"I see...I guess I can relate to that after some of my own experiences, but...He really doesn't seem to be the person you fought against anymore. Is it worth holding on to that when he's an ally now and apparently has been for years?"
Tseng didn't answer and there was no expression on his face, but his gaze was focused on Kariya, who was still ahead of them, a spring in his step as he whistled a cheerful but completely toneless tune. On occasion, the orange haired man reached up to snatch his cigarette from his mouth and tap the ashes off it, and had even started blowing smoke shapes. Most of those were strings of circles, but both younger Turks blinked when they saw a bird-like shape emerge.
"Hey, Tseng, I have an idea about what we can do with Weiss. Interested?"
"I suppose that depends on what the 'idea' is. So?"
CA
As they arrived back at the inn, Ed's PHS rang and he saw Veld's number, so answered with, "What do you need, Veld?" The other two looked sharply at him, stopping just at the doorway—a good thing, apparently, as Weiss had been just on the other side of the door and had jumped back in shock as it had opened.
"You said Vincent Valentine was still alive?" the man asked, getting right to the point.
"Yes. Well, after a fashion. Why?"
Silence fell for a minute, then he asked, "Have you witnessed his skills personally?"
"Depends on which skills. He's one of the best sharp-shooters I've ever seen, and can jump higher and further than any human—even the ones with Mako enhancements. He's fast and agile, steady on his feet and with his gun, and because of the experiments done to him, he can go places and do things the rest of us can't. I'd rather not get into those details in my current location, though, so if you want to know more, I'll find a private room." As he was talking, he pointed warningly at Weiss and motioned him back from the door. Tseng and Kariya stepped inside, which made him back up by default, and Ed followed them inside.
"...Do you think he would want to rejoin after all this time?"
"I haven't asked him specifically, but he's at loose ends now, so it wouldn't hurt to ask him."
There was a sound not quite like a sigh, then Veld said, "No, I'll call Tseng and have him act as my intermediary. If he accepts, Tseng will have instructions. To be honest, with the number of things which have spiraled out of control recently, we need as many old hands back as we can get."
"Does that mean you'll take Kariya back if he wants to rejoin?" Eden asked impishly, making the man in question grin and Tseng sigh, even as Weiss stared with wide eyes.
"I'll check his file for the exact dates, then get back to you on that. Chances are the answer will be a 'yes', and the only question will be when I can release him from house arrest. I'll be in touch again later." He then hung up, so Ed also ended his side.
"So, he just needs to verify the dates for your house arrest, Kariya, and when certain date-related conditions are met, you'll be requested back at work," Ed told him with a grin, and Kariya smirked and gave a thumbs-up.
"Looks like you're outnumbered, Tseng!" the man laughed, heading inside, even as the black haired man sighed.
Tseng then looked at Weiss and asked, "What made you think it would be a good idea to try to leave?"
"I wasn't trying to leave. The innkeeper told me to go outside and get some sun because I'm too pale. She did it to Sephiroth earlier, too," the fourteen-year-old answered with a small pout. (3)
"Why don't you humor the woman, Tseng, and sit outside with him for a bit?" Ed asked impishly as he bolted past Weiss and sought out Genesis.
"Oh, for—" he heard Tseng mutter behind him as he left, and suppressed a laugh.
Not long after, he found Genesis and Angeal in the very last room at the back of the inn, sunlight shining on the pair as the black haired man rested his hand on the red haired one's shoulder. Genesis sat in a plush armchair while Angeal stood in front of him, gaze almost apprehensive. "Am I interrupting?" he asked with a blink.
Genesis looked up and smiled, then shook his head. "Sorry—this is twice in a week I've been downed by magical exhaustion. I'm not in the best frame of mind right now."
"...Maybe this is a bad time to ask, but do you know what your Limit Break actually does when you activate it? I mean—most people don't know the true meaning of 'apocalypse', but I'm pretty sure you do," Ed said, shutting the door and moving over to stand at the older man's side.
"Yes, Ed, I know what I'm doing—what I'm risking—by using it. But it's never failed to protect me, to leave me unharmed. I call on my Goddess because—that's just what I've always felt I needed to do. As for the array which appears when I use it, when I looked at it this time, I noted many similarities between it and Alexander's base array. Since I recently started manipulating Alexander's array, the similarities were—eerily obvious this time," Genesis explained.
"Wait, what are you risking?" Angeal asked in concern.
"On a technicality, my own life with all my enemies' and all my allies'," Genesis answered quietly, and Angeal's eyes widened in alarm. "Everyone in a certain range is judged, and attacked if found unworthy by the Goddess. You and Sephiroth have never been harmed by it, nor have I. The Restrictor who survived wasn't because of her mercy, it was because he had some kind of defensive shield I had never seen before. It bore no resemblance to Reflect or Big Guard, or even Shield, and defended against something which can't be defended against. He was also immune, for the most part, to spells like Flare and Tornado, which Reflect doesn't repel."
"Well, at least you know what you're doing, so I won't caution you about it," Ed agreed before Angeal could say anything. "You said you had papers on Deepground? Maybe I'll just read those and we'll wait to talk about anything like the arrays and other things going on."
The red haired man nodded and reached down to a bag beside his chair, pulled out some sheets, and handed them to him. "They can only be read with light behind them, since they were written in invisible ink—but they came to me from Reeve, and if Tseng found out, Reeve and I would both be dead. At the same time, I'd like to get the information to him..."
Taking the papers, the blond gave a nod and said, "Leave that to me. You may lose these copies, though."
"Sephiroth has memorized them, and Angeal and I know the important parts," the older man replied, and Angeal nodded.
"I actually think it'll be one less weight on Genesis if you take that," the black haired man said quietly.
"Oh, speaking of Reeve, he says he's looked again at the Mako Reactor diagrams and can see ways to make them much more efficient, so all he has to do is convince the President he'll be making more money by increasing efficiency. After what he's done for me...for Shelke...I'll put my faith in him, you know?" Genesis added as Ed turned away.
The younger man looked back with a small grin and said, "That's good to know, especially since Tseng recommended I start with him concerning another issue I have."
Genesis snorted, then began chuckling as he asked, "How many issues do you have?"
"Um, of personal ones, I think that's the last one I need to address, and fairly soon," Ed replied dryly, then gave the two a wave and walked out.
Going to the room he'd claimed as his for the duration of his stay, Ed held the sheets up towards the light spilling in through the window and began reading. He felt ill by the time he was done—it was almost as bad as reading the 'ingredients' list for the Philosopher's Stone. Still, he understood why the data would be important to Tseng, and how it could get both Genesis and Reeve killed, so he thought about it for a bit, then rose and picked up his nearly-finished report on the Deepground attack in Costa del Sol. He finished it, then noted additional information on Deepground he'd come across after the last discussion he'd had with Tseng and Veld about them, with a note refusing to reveal his source, at the cost of his and his source's life.
He then took the data Reeve had written on Deepground and re-wrote it to sound like his own words from his own perspective, rather than from Reeve's. The writer's identity was too obvious if he left things written that way. Not long after, even though his hand was sore, he'd gotten it all done and used his Fire Materia to destroy the original copies. He then rose to find Tseng and hand in his report.
The quest didn't take long, as he and Weiss were sitting on the edge of the sidewalk just down the street, the man asking, "Are you sure you don't want to go inside?"
"Oh, no—the tingling doesn't feel like it's burning, it actually feels very nice," Weiss answered, face turned upwards towards the sun. "You know, it actually feels rejuvenating, healing."
"Are you really one to judge that after living underground your whole life?" the older of the pair asked dryly.
"I've been injured, healed, burnt, and who knows what else for my whole life. Do you really think I can't tell the difference between something hurting me and something healing me?" the boy asked in amusement.
"Well, now, that depends on a lot of things," Ed commented, leaning over Weiss to meet his startled gaze. "Like, people can easily put things in food—not just poison, but dangerous objects—and you'd never know it until you had already eaten it. Sunlight is good for you, and probably more for you than for people who always lived in it, but that doesn't mean your skin can actually handle it. You'll probably burn if you stay out too long, and because your body is absorbing the nutrients in the sun at the same time, you won't be able to tell the burning is happening. Also, remember, your body won't heal with the speed of Mako enhancements anymore."
"...Oh. Then...I should just take short times outside frequently?" Weiss asked curiously.
"It would probably be best until you get used to the sun," the blond agreed. "And you've probably been outside for too long already today."
Nodding, the white haired boy sighed, pushed himself up, and went back inside, so Ed handed his report to Tseng before the black haired man could also rise. He sat down beside the other man as his fellow Turk began reading, and just waited for the other shoe to fall. Could he weather the storm he was about to unleash? And he had no doubt it would be a storm, particularly where the source was concerned.
To his surprise, the man read through the whole thing, then sighed and dropped his head into one hand, rubbing his eyes as he propped his elbow on one knee. "I won't ask. I really want to, but I won't. Losing a source this good would be—let's just say I'd rather not tempt fate. I'm starting to see a pattern here and actually have a good guess as to what happened, but—no. The important part is the contents. We can confirm the data on Weiss, Nero, Azul, and Rosso is true—Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth fought each of the others respectively, and you fought Weiss. Genesis fought the Restrictors, and just what I know so far of that battle confirms their strength, especially knowing about Genesis' Limit Break. Based on the rest of this..."
When the Wutain man stopped, Eden answered, "We have our work cut out for us, and a small force would be asking for trouble walking into Deepground's lair."
"Yes. It looks like they're operating out of the Shinra building, but from where is a huge question. Reactor 0 is what powers Shinra Headquarters, but no one knows where it is, not even Heidegger or Scarlet. That leaves the President, and I doubt he goes there often, if at all, or Deepground themselves. I wouldn't want to go in there with anything less than every available SOLDIER First and Second, and most or all of the Turks. Especially knowing your skills will be restricted anywhere in Midgar."
"Which means we'll have to seriously consider having Genesis be the bait, as that justifies the two forces working together on a large-scale mission."
"Yes. But...Leave me be for awhile," Tseng sighed again, waving him away.
Ed rose and went back inside the inn, giving the man the time he needed.
Notes:
(1) Some trivia on Genesis' Limit Break also included the original Greek meaning of the word apocalypse, which was what I was referencing there. Of course, Ed's world being as similar to ours as it is (way more than Gaia is to either ours or Ed's), I would bet there's a country on Ed's world, past or present, which also used 'apocalypse' that way, and I'm basically implying that the Cetra also used it that way.
(2) I find it hard to believe Tseng was working on one of his first cases against terrorists alone when it's noted he faced the Death God of the Battlefield, a known Turk killer, on the battlefield. As such, in my story, he was working with a more experienced Turk who Kariya killed, resulting in Tseng's difficulty in dealing with him and his suspicion of him.
(3) Considering who Weiss is, as himself, he actually has a very mild personality—a very strong and driven one, but a mild one. His mildness is going to be the main reasoning behind his adaptability in the new situation he's found himself in.