A/N: Yes, the evil cliffhanger. Tension is good...revel in it XD Thanks to everybody who reviewed! These lovely people: whatevergirl, CaseyAnn'sPrecious, Chicken Nova, BeeJang, Valitiel, kiralover44, Risikaa, Dame Nosferatu, KT, and OvenBased !
Sephiroth was standing by the window in his typical place, head turned away from the heated argument of men sloppily attired in business suits. He was silently, inconspicuously, keeping an eye on the grounds, simultaneously flicking his emerald eyes to the reflection of the debate in the floor to ceiling glass windows he was looking through. It was difficult to see with the glare of the overhead lights.
The meeting had been thrown together at the last possible moment, half of the participants disheveled somewhat from sleep, though they had obviously attempted to tame their look before arriving. That was the way of such people.
Tseng was standing off in the corner quietly, Rude beside him with his hands latched in front of him neatly, while Reno leaned lazily against the bleach-white wall, shirt barely even buttoned at all, goggles over his probably dilated, bloodshot eyes. The General could smell the liquor coming off of him, pungent and almost nauseating in its power, even from across the length of the room. The Turk didn't seem to be really listening to the discussion, but that was nearly always his prerogative.
Tseng, however, seemed to be holding particular interest in exchanging meaningful glances with the General. They could both feel the buildup, the tension, and each knew that it was probably far from its climax. It was something tangible, as though in the air itself, an immanent future was reflected in the reddened faces of screaming executives and the icy, calculating gaze of the silver-haired General. The signs were everywhere, if one was willing to seek them out.
Lazard looked somewhat rattled. He sat too rigidly, his gloved hands laced too tightly upon the tabletop. His eyes repeatedly found the General's, but did not hold the green eyes long. He was far too nervous about the situation to draw upon his usual calm. He must have also recognized something...different.
"You should be interpreting more than a simple power outage," Sephiroth stated dryly through the raised voices, not even bothering to shout, as his pitch of bland emotionlessness was easy to discern from the overall timbre of rage.
It seemed as though someone had done something obscene. Every face turned to look, arguments dying in sore throats. They all had become intent on the General, unsure of what to make of those words, all having been discussing how to fix the blackout, rather than stopping to think why it had happened to begin with.
Sephiroth did not bother to look up at his audience, studying the grain of the leather on his gloves. He was in thought, uninterested in revealing anything to anyone, particularly to Tseng, whose vision was entirely focused on him, if instinct was anything to go by.
"Have any technical difficulties been discovered that would have caused this?" Sephiroth asked the room in general, inflection almost sarcastic. Almost. He already knew the answer, but he felt it was the question that needed to be asked in order to set the proper wheels spinning.
"We have yet to discover the source, though we have the tech team working on it," the President explained, now very much interested in the man's assessment. "Why?"
"I want the entire base on standby."
"What possibly for?" the President asked incredulously, many of the suits looking blatantly confused by the order.
"You do not find it odd that it happened for no obvious reason? If it was a surge or a blackout, the main system would have already logged the error, as it always has a backup power source, regardless of the rest of the grounds. One of the Seconds from the barracks had to report the outage. The generators had to be switched on manually, though the main system is automated to do so itself in case of power outages. Unless the system is having multiple errors, among other things," he said tellingly. There was a ghost of a smile, biting in execution. "It almost looks deliberate."
He was leaving out the most important part, but made no show of it. He was watching for something.
The room seemed to digest this, as the General finally glanced up. His eyes went directly to Rufus Shinra, who was seated to the right side of his father. There was a way about his expression that caused Sephiroth to study him excessively, both the posture and the set lines of the face. Pale blue eyes kept flicking to the senior Shinra, then to Lazard, who was at the farther end of the table, having arrived later than some of the others for whatever reason.
"That bothered me as well," Lazard answered. "This building for instance, is still running power, yet the cafeteria, mess halls, and many of the barracks are entirely without power. It was selective, as though someone shut them off individually. Then nearly the entire city outside of the base is blacked out."
"Or it's just some flaw affecting certain areas," Rufus interjected. "It could be any reason. You know that it could happen at any time, but fortunately everything is well kept, so it doesn't. There is no reason to jump to conclusions before the tech team has been able to sort it out."
"I agree," the President seconded, eyes narrowed slightly as he looked over Sephiroth. "It was likely just a malfunction at the plant, I'm sure." There was a brief pause and a measured, almost theatrical sigh. "I find your theory a little difficult to believe, General."
Sephiroth seemed surprisingly unaffected. "Then why is it that there was an attempted security breach of the Lab's lock down two hours ago?" he questioned, with a slight smile. "It seems as though someone was trying to shut down high security areas electronically and failed, which is the reason this building and the main system are still powered, along with anywhere else that requires high clearance. Or perhaps you did not catch that minor detail?"
There was the wash of voices over the room, Tseng saying nothing at first, though he looked surprisingly pleased, as though he had been waiting for Sephiroth to say that very thing.
"I have been looking into that breach," Tseng offered. The voices died down immediately, attention becoming rapt for a second time. "I was unwilling to relay anything until it was certain. We will likely know within the hour. Unfortunately the main hub is not functioning properly, and there have been a mass of program errors regarding the reports from around the base."
The Turk walked forward a few paces, looking neatly dressed, much to the shame of the others. "I would venture to guess that there was more than one security breach, and someone tried in vain to conceal their tracks with a barrage of system errors, as generally the software runs quite smoothly. As for the rest of Midgar, that will be another problem the team will need to address; I am nearly certain the two are connected. It seems like someone might have managed to crack through some of our more trying security precautions."
"Why wasn't I informed of this?" the President asked, honing in on the Turk, who was supposed to be his informant on everything.
"He wasn't sure," Reno provided with a halfhearted grin. "Like really not sure." Rude only raised an inquiring eyebrow at his partner's lack of eloquence. Their leader was entirely unamused, but did not lay down a reprimand, at least not publicly.
"As I requested: put the base on standby," the General said flatly, ignoring the conversation.
As though his words were the key to opening the floodgates, a deafening boom cracked through the room, louder than a hundred simultaneous gunshots, and with enough power to shake the building and its occupants, the bulletproof panes wavering as they were bent by the force.
The color orange was bright enough to see through the darkened glass, even through the glare of the overhead lights.
Faces became stricken in an instant.
Vincent was running down a staircase when the explosion happened. He didn't see it, only felt it, his chest clenching with renewed panic. He was hurrying as fast as he was able, jumping down sets of stairs recklessly as he tried to get to the bottom floor. He must have taken a wrong turn, because somehow he wound up in the lobby, rather than the back entrance, and found some of the higher-ranked SOLDIERs who were gathered around the reception desk.
All of them had turned toward the entrance, looking out through the glass doors, though nothing could immediately be seen. As though all of one mind, each departed without word, moving toward the same point with purpose. Vincent followed in their wake almost mindlessly, clutching at Cerberus. His gauntlet strapped onto his left arm, and his boots were half-laced onto his feet, as he forced his way out the front doors.
Something akin to fear blossomed in him, threatening to ruin his calm. The men in front of him shouted orders to one another as they rushed toward the demolished building of what used to be part of the labs. The Third didn't follow, ignoring the silent urge to help, and doing exactly as Sephiroth had told him: not stopping.
It was aflame, he could see it. The smoke was billowing up into the black night, ashes falling from the sky as the pyre blazed. He could smell that distinct fire scent, knew it would stick to his skin and clothes, stay in his hair until he washed it again.
Chaos laughed.
He ran almost blindly through the black, going for the Shinra building, which wasn't all that far, considering. It wasn't like the barracks, which were a good ways from him. He was so grateful that Sephiroth was far away from the fire, and everyone else as well. If it had to be one of the buildings, at least it was the one he had no concern for. Hollander and all the scientists could burn for all he cared.
He made it to the lobby, somehow not surprised that he suddenly had clearance. He could hear people yelling to one another. He wasn't sure if he should search for Sephiroth or stay put. It seemed like a stupid idea to try in such a huge building; the floors seemed limitless, and he had no idea as to which one the man would be on.
He moved off to the side, watching the looks of panic as other people, mainly just workers, rushed out of the building. It seemed as though the dead base had come alive; like a hive, the first sign of intruder and they suddenly dispersed on the area, keen to know what was going on.
Vincent stubbornly remained calm, waiting for the General to show. He didn't need to allow himself to get involved in the mob mentality; he needed to remain a SOLDIER, not a citizen. His gun was loaded and he had two belts of ammunition strapped over either shoulder, along with heavy pockets. If anything happened, he was more well-prepared than he had ever been for it.
Finally, green eyes caught his. They met each other halfway, Sephiroth placid, as was his way. The long coat wasn't even buckled at all, just left open so that his chest was exposed, and his hair was a little less controlled than usual, likely from sleeping on it wet. The man ignored the steady trickle of people, focusing only on his student.
"Go with the other Thirds. They are going to be gathering over by where you do drills, as per emergency procedure. Do not stray from the group, and do not play hero, am I understood?"
"Yes, sir," Vincent answered automatically.
Part of him withered at being shoved off like something of insignificance, but the reasonable part of him knew that the General had much more to do than to bring him as a tagalong or give him separate instructions. No, in this case he would do as asked, like a SOLDIER. Unless.... Well. He would think about that if it arose.
The other Thirds were nervous, and it seemed to spread like plague, affecting guards and Seconds alike.
Vincent only stood amongst them, somewhat glad Zack was not on base; he couldn't get hurt or something that way. At the same time, he knew they could use Zack and Angeal, even Genesis, but that was not the way it was going to be. They would have to make due with who was around.
He was wandering between the others, avoiding taking on their anxiety, but nonetheless feeling restless. They still had no orders except the one to stand by, though some of the Seconds had disappeared, probably called independently. The squad leaders demanded order, which hushed the group somewhat, though did nothing for the growing apprehension. They were gathering into disorganized lines.
Vincent turned to his left after a moment, eyes scanning the crowd. Then what he had thought he had imagined, was voiced again.
"Vincent!"
It took a moment, but finally the Third figured it out, then waved broadly so that the other boy could see him, face still stony, though internally he was grateful to see the blonde.
"I was looking for you," Cloud said, breathing a little heavily, as though he had been running around. His voice sounded hoarse.
Awkwardly, the guard took a place behind him in line, knowing that he was not supposed to be there, but too nervous to do otherwise. His blue eyes still darted around, as though he expected to be caught at any minute.
"Are you okay?" Vincent asked, having to speak more loudly than he was accustomed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Cloud answered, though he didn't look it. He was clearly troubled, blue eyes less clear than usual, a few beads of sweat gathered above his light brows.
Just then they received their orders. They were shouted, then passed along to the back, who couldn't hear it over the buzz of anxious voices. They were being separated into groups— three squads a group—then sent to various locations around the base. It was as though they were planning for attack.
Vincent's squad was sent to somewhere near the cafeteria, while Cloud's group was ordered near the Labs, along with three groups of Seconds and one of Thirds. It was the one odd battalion, given more numbers since the Labs were where the chaos had originated.
The blonde's expression turned worried. His look was almost devastated, and he seemed to struggle with what to say. Finally, he managed: "I gotta go. I'll see you soon," he added hopefully. He moved off to go where his peers were going immediately, but looked back over his shoulder, giving a very hesitant wave of goodbye.
Vincent frowned at the guard's retreating back. He glanced over to his squad leader for a moment, biting his lip, gauntlet clenched. He sighed angrily. He started walking over to where his group was gathering, but was hesitant. He cursed his indecisiveness. Looking around, he adjusted a strap, trying to relax himself, but he felt bad for Cloud. He knew exactly what it was like to be on your own with a bunch of strangers in a very bad situation.
Without further thought, he used the crowd to break from his group. He ran between the SOLDIERs, to where he knew Cloud would be, deciding that in all of the commotion, no one would care much. He would probably get reprimanded, but not too terribly given the current situation.
He placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder, causing the smaller boy to jump. He looked back, and Vincent gave him a half smile of encouragement. Neither said anything as they fell in, moving as a cohesive crowd toward the Labs at a quickly set pace. No one noticed the Third was out of place, or perhaps didn't care to say anything; they were nervous enough as it was, though the large group of Seconds were much more confident, which helped overall. Some had been to Wutai, after all, and nearly all had been on mission numerous occasions, so they were not as easily upset by the thought of a fight that might break out.
Smoke. It filled his lungs in curled grey wisps, making his eyes water, his throat get dry and scratchy. He could hear Chaos, as though in his ear, whispering seemingly meaningless things, stealing his voice to do so. He shook his head, trying to ignore it, as he was ordered along with the others to form a loose perimeter of bodies.
Each stood several feet apart from one another, some shivering slightly, from what he could see. Many of the Seconds disappeared into one of the grey-filled doorways, into the noxious, overbearing smoke, while the guards and Thirds remained gratefully outside.
He could hear screaming coming from inside the building, like people were being burned alive. He repressed the urge to cower at the horrible sound. Many of the others did not, however, exchanging frightened glances that only increased the internal panic that was beginning to culminate. Cloud was staring at the building, unblinking, his mouth partially open.
"They're going to die, huh? The people in the building, I mean," Cloud said quietly, sadly after a moment.
"Not if the SOLDIERs get to them. They'll have a chance," he answered, somewhat optimistically, hoping to calm the guard's nerves. He knew some of the others were listening as well.
Whoever had been in that part of the Lab were going to die. The fire was immense, too big for anything to live through. The heat of it had already caused his clothes to plaster to his skin wetly, his ebony hair clinging to his chin. He knew his skin must have gone red from the constant overbearing wave of heat; it was almost more than he could stand. He wiped at his face with a sleeve, eyes wandering over the licking flames. It was as though someone had poured the place down in gasoline; it just kept burning. And the screaming kept stopping, less and less....
There was the sound of shattering glass, so far away, Vincent almost missed it through the whoosh of the fire and the shouts of men giving orders through the din. He turned to look, swearing he caught a glimpse of a shadow skittering low to the ground. It slunk low near the corner of one of the Lab buildings far off to the left, disappearing into the deepest of its shadow. He swallowed.
"Did you see that?" he asked, eyebrows drawn underneath lank hair.
"See what?"
Cloud tried to figure out what the Third meant, squinting toward the left. The buildings were clustered together, some visibly blackened by the recent explosion. Their plain exteriors were all somewhat marred, and the leaping flames of the building in front of them cast long shadows that made everything seem twice as dark when out of the light. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and glanced to his friend in confusion.
"Something moved over there." Vincent stared, focusing on that single shadow. He felt it there, in fact he knew it was there. Chaos seemed to growl, twisting and writhing deep in his gut, making it ache and burn, a cold sweat sweeping over him. "I don't think it was a person."
Cloud's expression turned worried from that revelation, as he kept his light blue eyes on the buildings. The Third could see the fire reflecting in them, as though they were made of blue-tinted glass.
Vincent held his gun tighter. He didn't have his holster with him, unfortunately, but he had snatched up a belt from the General's room and fastened it loosely about his waist, then proceeded to stow his gun through it. It would work for the time being.
More movement, this time Cloud spotted it as well, his breath catching in his small chest.
"There's more than one," the blonde whispered, throwing a quick look over his shoulder at the Third.
The other boys seemed to have taken notice as well, all of them intent, fearful even. One stepped out of formation a ways, walking backward, craning his head in an attempt to see more of whatever it was. He had his sword in his hand, and was taking ragged breaths, eyes wide, whites flashing.
"Get back in!" one of the Thirds hissed, gesturing violently at the other boy.
The one who was looking paid no attention, stopping and putting a hand above his eyes to block the light. He was shaking visibly.
"There's something there though," he protested meekly, hand dropping to his side. "What if it got loose from the Lab or something?"
A Second, one off to the side, said bitingly, "Get back into fucking formation before I drag you over here myself! You want to get everyone into a damned hissy? If it comes, we'll kill it, that's counting on all of you not having gone loony staring into the bright light for the last ten minutes."
The other teens were progressively getting more uneasy, silently asking one another for instruction. The words of the Second had the adverse impact to what was intended, his tone only scaring them further. They were all beginning to suspect that something was, in fact, lurking out in the dark, maybe stalking them.
Then it darted through the shadows again. Vincent only saw it because of his enhanced vision, and this time it was in a far enough shadow that the bright, burning fire wasn't wreaking havoc on his eyesight. It was low to the ground, moved like a predator. A wolf or dog? It slunk slowly, as though playing the light illusions to its advantage.
He was tempted to try and shoot at it, but it was at such a distance he could barely see it, let alone pull off that sort of shot without a scope. Cerberus was excellent for anything close range (once perfected, of course), but it did not have the same advantages at a distance. Not to mention, he didn't even know if whatever it was intended to harm them or not.
Couldn't it have come from one of the Labs like the Third had said? He wasn't willing to believe that entirely, though there was the broken glass. It had come from one of the other buildings, but why? How had it gotten out of where it was caged? Had it been imprisoned at all? And again, he had the feeling that there was more than one, particularly after Cloud had attested to it.
There was a strangled scream, agonizing. There was the silhouette of a person, then the creature—whatever it was—merging with it. Vincent could see enough to tell that it looked like a woman, definitely not a SOLDIER. He felt himself stop breathing.
Without even thinking, or obeying what Sephiroth had told him, he rushed out of position. Several of his comrades shouted at him, but he wasn't listening. There was the thud of his own gait, but it did not drown out the cries of distress.
He had his gun out in an instant. Holding it in the relative direction of the two fallen figures, he fired it into the air above them, hoping to scare whatever it was off. Nothing happened. The thing did not move from its victim, and they still writhed on the asphalt in a fight to the death. He could hear a deep rumble, turning higher pitched as the whatever it was continued its assault.
When he was close enough, he slowed. Without ceremony, he fired another single round. His adrenaline made him insanely steady, his grip sweaty on the weapon, but more sure than it had ever been. There was a yowl of pain, and the furred thing—from what he could tell—rose off of its prey. A snarl. Another shot. It was running toward him, eyes glinting in the low light, but Vincent didn't stop, he hit it again, letting all three barrels fire simultaneously, his ears ringing from the boom of Cerberus and his hands aching from his desperate grip.
It dropped with an audible gurgle. He kept running, hearing quite a few people in his wake. He halted hurriedly next to the thing, some sort of wolf-like monster, and fired once more directly into its head to make sure. He barely even acknowledged the action, going directly for the fallen woman.
The Third didn't hear the footsteps of all of the others behind him, virtually deaf to it. He knelt, letting his knees dig into the rough pavement, and grabbing onto her arm in reassurance out of pure instinct. Brown eyes stared up at him, glazed with a clear surface of withheld tears.
"Let me do it," he breathed, shoving Cerberus back into the makeshift holster. He put his hand to her throat, nearly whimpering at the sight.
It was full of gaping holes from needle-like teeth, bleeding out so quickly, the woman wasn't even speaking. Crimson was just staining her stark white lab coat, as she blinked a few times, trying to take breaths, but only succeeding in inhaling her own blood.
The others had stopped, some around the creature that had been shot down, but most hesitantly around the scene that was unfolding. Some of the Thirds turned away completely, but the Second from earlier loomed closer, as did Cloud, whose face became tear-streaked in seconds, his expression one of horror.
Vincent knew it was no good, they all did. There was too much blood, far too much.... It was warm and slick on his hand, the smell coppery, intoxicating. Chaos was utterly enthralled, and he almost couldn't control himself as he began to salivate, breathing heavier as he leaned over the dying woman, a hand pressed firmly to her throat.
"I'm really sorry," he whispered, letting out a strangled little sound, halfway between disgust for himself and complete helplessness.
The Second crouched down next to them, giving a tentative looked to Vincent.
It didn't take long before the attempts at breathing stopped. There was just a mess of blood, all over the Third's hand and wrist, as he pulled away. He could even feel that it had seeped toward his legs, wetting them through the material. He couldn't tear his gaze away from his hand, terrified, angry, and helpless all at the same time. Chaos urged him to lick at the blood, to stick his fingers in his mouth, just like Sephiroth had when they....
No!
Vincent took in a ragged breath, rising abruptly, mechanically. His eyes squinched shut, his one show of his waning control. Then, without ceremony, he cleaned his hand off the best he could, wiping the red off on his black clothes and hoping it wouldn't be too noticeable—he didn't need to be reminded. But the smell of course, would haunt him until he showered, just like the smoke.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" It sounded desperate and small, a child's plea. It was Cloud's voice.
"I'm fine," Vincent responded, not bothering to avert his eyes from the many who were watching him with visible concern and fright. He held all of their gazes, one by one. "We should get back to our places," he said calmly.
A/N: I tried to make this chapter as clear as possible, but as always, feel free to ask questions or point out errors. Sorry for where it ended, but it was already getting too long, and I'm too tired to continue. :)
