Rude and Emma were escorting an infantryman pushing a stretcher with a body bag on top. Dante and Alvis' latest mission had given them a potential clue into Fuhito's plan and the only person who could unravel the mysteries behind their John Doe was expecting them. They crossed several pairs of automatic, hissing doors until they arrived at the Science Department. At the center of the macabre laboratory, they could see Hojo alternating between looking through a microscope and taking notes in a pad.
"Profesor Hojo," Rude began.
"Not now, I'm busy!"
Rude opened his mouth and the closed it. Despite his appearance, he would sometimes glitch at unexpected interruptions or resistance. Noting her partner's indecision, Emma decided to take the lead:
"Professor, we sent you an urgent request to examine a body."
Hojo sighed at the insistence of the intruders. "Yes, I read it. And I already told Veld I'm not a coroner. That is not my responsibility."
"We understand that. However, we have reason to believe a known terrorist is attempting to-"
"Yes, yes. I read the dossier sent by Veld. And no, he is not cloning SOLDIERS. The science behind that is complex and light years away from some quack who got too excited with his new chemistry set."
"How can you be so sure if you haven't even seen the body?"
"Because it IS a body! If it were a half-decent SOLDIER clone, would it have been take out by some D-list experimental material?" Hojo asked rhetorically.
"Well, no, but-"
"And if he or his followers are indeed trying to 'clone' a SOLDIER wouldn't he-PUT THAT DOWN!" Hojo yelled at the sight of Rude, who had picked up a microscope glass slide from Hojo's desk. The scientist placed the slide inside a carefully arranged organization box and shut it as if it were an embarrassing secret. "These samples are one-of-a-kind! You cannot manhandle them like-like-you know what? Get out! I'm not playing mortician and that's final!"
"Very well, professor. We'll trouble you no longer. Emma, let's go," Rude said.
"But…!" Emma exclaimed.
"We'll just ask Hollander to help us."
"Ha! Good luck getting anything meaningful out of that fatso!" Hojo scoffed.
"Well, he is our best choice," Emma said.
"Of course not! I am your best choice!"
"Well, no, because you can't do the-"
"Wha-Who says I can't do it!?" Hojo yelled, scandalized.
"You did," the infantryman, drumming his fingers on the stretcher, interjected. He was supposed to check out fifteen minutes earlier.
"No! I said I won't do it! Not that I can't!"
"Tsk. So you say," Emma taunted.
"How dare you! Give me the reception forms! I'm starting right now! My skills will not be put in question!" Hojo said, turning off the microscope and slamming his note pad on a drawer.
After signing the required paperwork, the Turks left the ghastly laboratory in a hurry.
"Ugh, I hate having to do this reverse psychology thing every time we need something from him!" Emma said.
"You know how he is. Otherwise we'd practically have to beg him to do his work."
Back in the lab, Hojo pushed the stretcher into a dissection -and sometimes, vivisection- room. While some assistants prepared the body, Hojo opened a heavy-duty safe and put the box with the glass slides inside, along with several other identical containers.
"Sorry Ifalna, we'll continue later," he chuckled at his own joke and entered the security code in the safe to lock it.
Hojo prepared the lights and equipment he would require and ordered one of his interns to take notes.
"Autopsy report. Code DAR-0720. Casualty of encounter with the Turks. The agents are under the delusion that this man in a SOLDIER clone. Most probable cause of death: there's a… How do you kids say these days?" Hojo asked to his intern. "Ah yes, a 'big-ass' hole on the subject's thorax. I'll begin by removing this cheap helmet and… … Huh… Interesting."
"Professor?" The intern asked.
"Take a DNA sample and search for a match with active SOLDIER members."
While the intern did as order, Hojo continued with the autopsy. Not begrudgingly, but with a renewed and genuine interest: he recalled seeing the man on the autopsy table before, but couldn't quite remember where at the moment. One thing was sure: Fuhito was not by any means a quack with a chemistry set.
"Why did we let that opportunity pass!?" Sharpe smashed his fist on the table of a hastily-put-together laboratory.
"Why are we still discussing this?" Fuhito asked nonchalantly while stapling the lease contract of this new warehouse.
"You promised I could have the Turk if I helped you! I have the Turk and then you send your SOLDIER-wannabe to not kill him!"
"I am doing this to stall. Taking direct action before my plan is complete would risk everything! I told you several times already, kill a Turk, and you'll have the entire pack hunting for you!"
"We can take them on!" Sharpe said cockily.
"Maybe, but they would also come with SOLDIER reinforcements. I received notification that the redhead First is already back in Midgar. With that surplus, we may have even expected one of them to drop. Our army cannot stand against one of them, not even with Elfe, and until I perfect the cloning process-"
"And that too! Why are you wasting thousands of Gil in trying to clone SOLDIERs? Wouldn't that money better help by hiring mercenaries?"
"Don't be ridiculous! Always choose quality over quantity. The Raven project will definitely turn the scale in our favor."
"Well, you better get into it! Your last attempt was frankly pathetic," Sharpe scoffed.
"That is something that intrigues me. The steps were right, the procedure was completed properly, the DNA was prime…"
"How do you know that?"
"My source is trustworthy," Fuhito said with and elaborate flourish of is hand. "Though maybe from a subpar individual. I need to perfect the technique before we can move into more complex clones. And when the time is right, we'll also use our little Ace under the sleeve," Fuhito said, eyeing Elfe, silent and still in one corner of the hideout. "Fuhuhuhu," he laughed at the end of his own machinations.
At that moment, the large pod at the back of the lab short-circuited and the entire warehouse went dark.
"Ah, dammit! Again!?" Sharpe exclaimed.
"Shears!" Fuhito called. "Go check the fuse box!"
"Again!?" Someone yelled back.
"Duh! Can't you see we are in the dark!?"
Truly, good hideouts within budget were terribly hard to come by.
"Now, use a bit of soldering there," Rude directed Dante.
The other Turk followed the command, melting a drop of wire on top of a board.
"Good, now you must solder the las wire into a metal piece to ground the entire circuit."
After finishing the assembly, Rude pressed a button in a remote. A single LED lit in the circuit. "Congratulations, you assembled your fist remote bomb."
"Rude! Why are you assembling explosives in the office!? Again!?" Tseng said as he walked out of his office.
"No explosives this time, Sir, only art clay" Dante explained, holding up the blob that was serving as stand-in for C4.
"That is C4…" Rude said.
"Wait, WHAT!?" Dante dropped the thing on the desk. Everyone in the office gasped in horror, some dropping under their desks.
"Just kidding, but remember to always handle explosives with care and-" A thick binder smashed against Rude's head, knocking his sunglasses off.
"Dammit man! You almost gave me a heart attack, yo!" Reno said, hand still raised at the point where he threw the binder.
"I was only trying a realistic approach at-" Rude began.
"You made Chuck cry!" Freyra said, pointing to their junior member, who was stifling sobs on his desk.
"I-I-I thought I was gonna die without any new missions assigned and then Dante would say 'I told you so' at joining the Turks!"
"Enough of this nonsense!" Tseng yelled. "You: stop building that stuff in here! You: pick that binder up! And you, Chuck, since you are so eager of having a new mission: deliver this to Sephiroth in the SOLDIER floor!" Tseng ordered, and then gave Chuck a metal briefcase.
"Wha-THE Sephiroth!?" Chuck exclaimed.
"Oh boy…" Dante said to himself, feeling a déjà vu.
"You are to deliver this to Sephiroth and only to Sephiroth."
"Yes, Sir!"
Unlike the last time that precise scenario had happened, Tseng proceeded to pull a pair of handcuffs on Chuck's wrist and the handle of the briefcase.
"But, how will I give him the case if I can't open the cuffs?" Chuck askes naïvely, looking at Tseng pocket the key.
"Don't worry, he'll get you out of it," Tseng said with a hint of malice.
Chuck walked out of the office gingerly, happy to finally be of use. It was almost as if Tseng was keeping him hidden from view.
While waiting for the elevator, someone called behind him:
"Hey, Chuck! Take this." Dante threw a combat glove with a couple of material slotted in.
"Huh? What for?"
"Oh... You'll find out eventually," Dante said apologetically.
After the blond had taken his elevator, Dante called on the second one. As the door opened, Elena and Cissnei walked out with a pile of papers on their arms.
"Good, you are here! I need you to-"
"Let's put a pin on that. I have something to do, but I'll catch up with you later," Dante excused himself while closing the elevator doors, leaving his partners with puzzled faces.
Dante went all the way down to the building's lobby, and walked out of the front door towards the busy city.
The elevator's door first opened on the cafeteria level, where a SOLDIER 2nd carrying several coffee cups boarded.
"You a Turk?" he asked.
"Um, yes. I mean, yes, sir!" Chuck said nervously, unsure of how to address a SOLDIER.
"They sent you alone!?"
"Um, yes. I just have to deliver this to Sephiroth," Chuck said, pointing at his cargo.
"Why do they keep doing that!?"
The elevator door opened to the sight of several SOLDIER members in the middle of an arm-wrestling contest. The matches were by no means violent (yet) and no materia had been involved (yet).
"This way kid," the SOLDIER said, pushing the Turk's back to guide him out of any potential harm.
"Hey Erick! Who's the twink? Did'ya changed to a newer model?" A SOLDIER yelled over the ruckus.
"Shut up Cuvier!" Erick said, flipping his comrade off.
As expected, Sephiroth was not in the SOLDIER floor office. "Bad luck kid, you gotta go two floors up. Take the stairs over there, don't make eye contact with any SOLDIER."
"Ah! Thanks!" Chuck said brightly. Erick watched him walk across the office towards the stair shaft when someone began arguing over supposed cheating.
In mere seconds the discussion escalated to a full on brawl. Desks were overturned and Firaga was cast every way through the room. Erick turned his gaze to a lone black-suited figure holding a briefcase. And the figure was in the battlefield. And he was in danger.
In less than a second Erick dashed towards the Turk, grabbed him and ran out of the room through the stair shaft door.
"Dante! Dante! Are you all right!?" The SOLDIER howled, checking for wounds.
"Wha-I'm not Dante!"
"Answer me-!" Erick stood still. Dante was not blond. He took a few slow, deep breaths and collected himself. "S-sorry… Just, go up. Sephiroth should be there." That said, Erick let go of Chuck and sat on the first step of the shaft, gloved hands to his face.
"Um. Are you OK?" Chuck asked quietly.
"Yeah, yeah. Just... Go. Complete your mission." He said no more after that.
Although concerned about the man, Chuck went on with his assignment, wondering how the SOLDIER knew his partner.
Once in the upper floor, Chuck began searching for Sephiroth's office. He knocked at the door. No one answered.
"Oh, hey! Looking for Sephiroth?" A black-haired SOLDIER First asked.
"Ah, yes. I was ordered to deliver this," Chuck said yet again, pointing at the briefcase.
"Huh. Well, he is not here. I think he was catching up with Genesis. He just returned from a long-ass mission and wanted some time to talk. Oh-oh! Maybe ask his secretary! She should know where he may have gone!" The man said in a single breath.
"Thanks. I think I will," Chuck said cautiously. He wondered what kind of stimulants SOLDIERS were on.
Dante returned to the office about half an hour later, discretely putting down a paper bag under his desk. Months of training on the art of being inconspicuous meant that nobody caught on his little shopping escapade.
Dante began reviewing some documents and filling extra details on the Kalm mission report. He dutifully helped Elena organize their materia inventory and even went for coffee when Freyra asked, if anything, out of custom.
Later that evening, before anything else happened, Dante left to his apartment carrying his paper bag and a little something he took out of Rude's desk. After opening a sports drink bottle, Dante took out the multiple pieces from the bag and a cardboard box from under the couch. He double checked everything was in order and began assembling the multiple components from a circuit plan he had already mapped out. All he needed to do was learn how to solder electronics and after a couple of days learning with Rude, he had mastered the basics enough to do what he was planning.
Dante tested everything was in place before closing the black case and sliding it inside the item he produced from the box: a custom-made display dome made of military grade security glass. Strong enough to withstand a SOLDIER.
Chuck wandered yet again through the wrong hallway. The briefcase was starting to weight heavy on his shoulder and the handcuff was already causing a blister on his wrist.
Still, he kept on walking, decided to complete his mission. He entered yet another elevator and went down three floors, preparing to backtrack a little and start searching again from his last reliable bit of information on the Silver General's whereabouts.
"All right, you can do this," he said, cheering himself. He began walking again, following the instructions given by some janitor he had asked half an hour ago. For a moment he wondered if he should've reported back to Tseng.
"Good Gaia! Where the hell is he!?" Tseng yelled, pacing to and fro in their office. The three agents in shift that evening were dialing frantically to every other department in a catch-all attempt to finding their missing partner.
"Why doesn't he have a PHS yet?" Balto asked at no one in particular.
"He was supposed to only be at the company building for now," Rude said, hanging the phone after calling the Acquisitions Department.
"Well, he arguably is," Emma said, dialing Maintenance.
"Yes, he is… Walking around with classified data!" Tseng exclaimed. "How could he mess up something this simple!?"
"Calm down chief! Remember Reno's first assignment?" Balto said.
"Don't remind me that"
A phone rang in the office, and Tseng reached for it, hoping for the best.
"Department of Administrative Research." Tseng announced. "What? When? Ok. I see. I'll dispatch someone right away." He sighed. "I'll need to call some of the others, you keep looking for Chuck!"
"Hi!" Dante said with a smile.
Erick closed the door behind him and gave back a slightly forced smile.
"Hi. How was your day?" He asked while unclasping the straps of his armor.
"Fine actually. I've come to notice everything is easier at the office when you block out whatever discussion is happening there."
Erick chuckled. "Why do you think Sephiroth is never at the SOLDIER floor? That way he can work peacefully in the upper level." He reached for the small fridge and pulled out a beer can. He walked back and fell on the couch next to Dante. After a few gulps from the can, he continued.
"It… Happened again today," he said dejectedly. "I really thought I could go a week without… But then I saw your partner in the middle of a fight and…" He sighed.
"I think it would helpf to try and avoid the SOLDIER floor. There seems to be a lot of triggers there," Dante said, remembering his first time there.
"It was not the brawl this time. It was… You."
"Huh?"
"When I saw him wearing your clothes, carrying that case… All I could think was that it was you and that you were in danger."
Dante looked at Erick, wishing for him to continue. It had been a long time since had last talked this much about his recent problem.
"I'm… I'm afraid."
"Of what?" Dante asked, placing his hand on his partner's shoulder. Erick took a long gulp of his can and remained silent for a moment. "Of losing you."
Dante shifted in his seat too look directly at Erick.
"Of not being there when you need me. Of not being able to save you like I couldn't save… … Of being useless again."
"Hey, hey. You are not useless!"
"I was supposed to be carrying a Phoenix Down! A healing materia! Something! Anything!" He sobbed quietly while crushing the empty can.
"You were in patrol near the base, not in active combat zone. It was not required."
"But I could have taken one from the supplies box! If I had-!"
Dante watched Erick even out his breathing and calm down. The Turk reached under the couch and pulled a cardboard box. From within he produced his creation: a glass dome illuminated from underneath containing a single Phoenix Down.
"I know you think it's your fault. And I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling."
Erick looked at the glass dome, then at Dante.
"Maybe that feather was not with you when needed it, but… I want you to have this one. Not as a reminder, but as an assurance that if you ever need it, it will be there for you. As I will."
Erick took the strange dome and stared at it intently, the faint glow of the base illuminating his eyes. He smiled sadly.
"Thank you." He chuckled. "I don't know why you put up with me."
Dante smiled. "You know why." The Turk closed in and embraced his partner tightly, hoping that one day, not too far from then, Erick would find peace of mind.
A PHS began ringing. The jazzy ringtone, complete with rhythmically snapping fingers announced it was Dante's.
"Dante here. I… Yes, Sir. I'm on my way." With a sigh, Dante closed his phone.
"Duty calls?" Erick asked.
"Yeah, sorry. Maybe it won't take long. Something about an accident upstairs."
"OK then. You go, I'll wait for you here."
Dante put on his jacket and walked to the door.
"Hey."
The Turk turned around.
"Thank you," Erick said. They smiled at each other. Dante left the apartment while Erick sat on the couch, looking peacefully at the golden glow of the Phoenix Down.
Dante found Cissnei, Reno and Judet on the way up. Whatever had happened, was serious enough or called upon from someone with enough clearance as to mobilize a full Turk squad.
"Do you know what happened?" Dante asked.
"Some sort of accident with SOLDIER operatives. We need to assess damage and interrogate those involved," Judet said.
They climbed all the way up to floor 50, and walked through several warning-tape-blocked hallways, no questions asked by the guards there, until they arrived at a large, empty room.
"Yo, what happened here?"
There were deep gashes across most walls. Wires and other pieces of circuitry hanged from every damaged section. Sparks spawned occasionally from the many exposed electronics.
"This is the SOLDIER virtual simulation room. According to initial reports, three of the SOLDIER 1st were in a training exercise. For unknown reasons the place was wrecked and one of them was injured," Judet read from a clipboard given to her by one of the technicians that were inspecting the room.
"Isn't that the job of the Military Conduct Board?" Cissnei asked.
"Apparently the damages to the virtual room are exorbitant. They higher ups want the Turks performing the initial inquiries to-what are you doing here?" Judet asked at the end.
"Um, hi guys! Do you know if is Sephiroth is around? They told me he came here and I'm still trying to deliver this."
"Sorry, kid, you just missed him. Try the hospital wing, yo," Reno said dismissively. Chuck sighed and walked away.
"Well, how do we begin?" Dante asked, feeling like he was not returning to his apartment anytime soon.
"We'll have to take damage photos for evidence and-" Cissnei's phone began ringing. "Sir. Oh, you just missed him, he came with a briefcase and… What? Uh-hum. He has what!? Shit! We are on it!" She hanged the phone and began telling his partners: "small mission detour, we gotta 'get Chuck's ass back to the office ASAP', he has been wandering around with sensitive data all afternoon!"
"But what about the VR room?" Judet said.
"You heard Tseng, this is apparently important, yo."
A large metal plating fell from the ceiling with a loud bang, pulling more wires from within.
"More important than this?" Judet asked, albeit already following her partners out of the room.
"We'll deal with it later," Cissnei began. "It's not like this incident will affect the fate of the world…"
Holy molly!
I literally wrote this chapter in one go!
It is shorter than the previous ones, but then again, not much is happening here… But then again, things are about to get a bit more complicated, don't you think? }:3
Thank you for your patience and for reading!
Leave me your comments and opinions ;)
