By a Fraction of a Degree

A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129

Rated T for Violence and Language.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spinoffs. That honor goes to Square-Enix.

Dr. Owen is an original character.

A special note of appreciation is in order for HCloudXIII over on Youtube and Dark Angel from the website, Gunshot Romance for their efforts to translate the Before Crisis game text and make the gameplay at least viewable.

Now with that out of the way...

Part I: Crossfire

Chapter 5, Meetings and Partings

October 3rd [ ν ] – εуλ 0007

"All right, we're almost there." It was sometime in the afternoon and Cloud had just reentered the room after having made it to the conference room unassisted. He'd had to lean against the wall a few times to rest, but Zack only had to catch him once. He and Freya simply stayed nearby, ready to step in again just in case, but it looked like this excursion had been a success. She'd been away a lot of the day but had come back in to see how they were doing.

Cloud looked from where he now stood at the door, to the open space that separated his current location from the one he was aiming for, and after a moment's hesitation, brought one foot forward and placed it firmly in front of him. Zack was resisting the urge to put his arm around him again as Cloud took another step, willing his limbs to hold him up. He was wobbling a little after the previous stint of physical exertion and the effort was clearly tiring him out but he was still trying his best to push his limits. He finally ended up reaching out and grabbing Zack's shoulder for support, before traversing the last few steps.

As he shifted his position to sit down, Cloud murmured "We made it."

"Yeah. That was great." Zack watched as Cloud transferred his weight to the chair and saw that he looked satisfied with the effort he'd made at improvement. "Maybe later today we can try it again, if you aren't too tired."

"Maybe…" Cloud agreed.

That was when it hit. Suddenly, Cloud dropped the rest of the way into the chair, and he curled in on himself, gripping his head in agony, gritting his teeth as he fought to keep himself from crying out. It only seemed to last a couple of seconds, but when it was over, Zack knelt in front of him, the enthusiasm gone to be replaced with seriousness and concern as he tried to look his friend in the eyes.

"Cloud, are you okay?"

"Am I…?" His voice had taken that halting cadence again.

"Is this what Cissnei told me about?" Freya stood next to Zack, trying not to crowd them, but staying close by if they needed her.

"Do you know who I am?" Zack asked, his tone broking no argument.

"Yeah… Zack… what…?"

"Do you know who you are?"

"Of course I do…"

"Do you know where we are?" Was his next question.

"We're… the Turks got us… but we're at a hospital… and we aren't prisoners… anymore." Cloud seemed certain, in spite of his slow response.

Zack let out a sigh of relief and his expression softened when he saw the concerned look on Cloud's face. "Sorry. The last time that happened, you got really confused, so I just wanted to make sure."

Cloud seemed to be breathing easier, but he hadn't changed his position otherwise.

"Should I go get Owen?" Freya suggested.

"I think… it's over…" Cloud said. The unspoken refusal was clear.

Zack could understand. While Cloud didn't seem to remember Hojo specifically, the apprehension and distrust were there, and possibly, unless Zack was mistaken, even more pronounced than his own initial unease. Zack had done his best to mediate during the doctor's visits, but Owen would probably never have his trust.

"We should at least let him know," Freya insisted. "I'll be right back."

Zack couldn't think of a good argument as she walked towards the door, even though there was probably very little Owen could do that they weren't already doing. Aside from the fact that memory lapses could happen during the event, and that it definitely hurt, there didn't seem to be any evidence left behind afterward as to what kind of event it could be. Shortly after the first time it had happened, Owen had gotten permission from Tseng after consulting with Rayleigh to take Cloud down to a bio scanner on one of the lower floors to check for abnormal brain activity and any other indicators as to what might have happened, but that had led to no definitive results.

As Freya left the room, Zack watched Cloud for a moment before asking a final time. "Are you okay?"

"I am now…" Cloud muttered, finally raising his head from his hands, and it looked like whatever pain he'd felt seemed to have disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Zack wasn't entirely sure, but he decided not to push it. It was bad enough that Owen would probably be coming in here in a little while if he didn't follow Freya back immediately to give his assessment on things. He didn't need to make that any more difficult than it would already be.

October 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007, 3:00 PM

When Kunsel reached Aerith's church, she was standing in front of the door, holding her basket, and had what appeared to be a staff slung over her shoulder. He didn't know she'd been training in combat, but he had to admit he was glad to see her with it. The slums could be dangerous, and it was good to know she could protect herself when Zack wasn't around. She waved at him cheerfully, and the two were soon on their way to the train station. They kept mainly to small talk until they'd bought their tickets and found seats on the train, and for a little longer they rode in silence.

Finally, as they neared the train station, Aerith spoke. "Nervous?" she asked, looking up at the SOLDIER who was still wearing his helmet.

"I haven't seen him in five years. Has he changed much?"

"Not really. He has someone with him though. I probably should have said something before."

"The report was for two samples, though they never specified who or what those samples were," Kunsel said uncomfortably. "Who's with him?" He adjusted the bag he was carrying. In it he had enough supplies to last him a couple of days. Just recently he'd gotten this feeling that he wouldn't be coming back to Shinra too many more times. After the alert came in that the Turks had been disbanded and should be arrested on sight, he wasn't about to be caught unprepared for anything, especially when he wasn't planning to be sticking around. He had talked to Aerith again upon hearing the news, but she apparently heard from Freya that Zack had not been moved either by the Turks or of his own volition so the only real change in plans was that the lady Turk had instructed her to come in from the back.

"A friend of his. They apparently knew each other before what happened, though I don't know if you know him."

"I might, what's his name?"

"Cloud."

"It sounds a little familiar, maybe Zack talked to me about him," Kunsel said.

"Well, he's been rather sick. I'll let Zack give you the details."

"I see." Kunsel felt the train slow down as it pulled into the station for Sector 2. It was not far from there to the hospital after they disembarked, though as instructed, upon seeing the front of the building they circled around towards the back. Aerith even managed to make a few sales from her basket along the way, smiling at customers as though nothing were wrong with the world. Kunsel couldn't help being cheered by it. Zack was a lucky guy, he reflected. He'd found someone else who even in the midst of so much wrong, could find something to smile about. They eventually found a driveway going back behind the building and turned down it. Once the space behind the building opened out they were surprised to find Zack waiting for them by a service door leading back inside. It was as though he'd stepped out of a memory, Kunsel reflected. Same happy grin, same SOLDIER uniform, same cross shaped scar and wild black hair.

"I thought you were being held prisoner," Kunsel said as they approached.

Zack shrugged. "Things change. At this point, we're all being hunted, so it doesn't matter who comes out to meet you. But wow, I never thought I'd see you again, Kunsel."

"Well maybe if you'd answered your PHS I might have been able to help you," he suggested, returning the grin in spite of being completely serious.

"I'm sure you can understand a guy not wanting to put his friends in danger if he can help it," Zack retorted.

"Yeah, well, this is the kind of situation where you ask for help. I don't know all the details, but I've heard enough to know something big's going on."

"No kidding..." Zack glanced around, and then said "How about we have this conversation inside, we don't want to attract attention."

"Of course." Aerith had hung back while the two friends talked, but now she approached and Zack put an arm around her affectionately before opening the door and showing them up the stairs. It wasn't long before they reached their desired floor, and they arrived at the annex soon after.

Zack pushed through the next set of doors before heading past an office with observation windows in which Kunsel could see a somewhat heavyset doctor in a white coat working at his desk. Kunsel noted as they went that aside from him, the place appeared empty. However, when they entered the next room down, he saw the Turk who had been at Aerith's church, and a younger man with spiky blonde hair. The two were sitting on either side of a folding table and appeared to be playing a game of checkers. What caught Kunsel by surprise was the fact that the man's eyes were glowing, like a SOLDIER's, though he knew he had never seen him at SOLDIER before.

Zack walked over to the pair and slipped behind the man to observe the game from over his shoulder "Who's winning?"

"It's hard to say," the woman admitted. "We haven't eliminated a lot of pieces yet."

Zack looked back at his other friends and beckoned for them to come inside. "Cloud, Freya, this is Kunsel, I knew him from SOLDIER, and I know you both remember Aerith."

Seeing that Zack's friend seemed a little unnerved by the helmet, Kunsel took it off and offered a warm grin. Cloud nodded politely but Freya laughed. "We've met," she said.

"That's some way of saying you were pointing a gun at me."

"What?" Zack looked between the two of them curiously.

"She caught me sneaking around Aerith's church a couple of days ago," Kunsel answered, somewhat embarrassed.

"Well you should have known better than to try outsmarting a Turk," Freya said, turning her attention back to the game, as Cloud took one of her pieces off the board. "You sure you wanted to do that?" she asked, her voice dripping with honey.

Cloud looked at her appraisingly as she planned her next move. "I think so," he said softly. It was the first time he'd spoken since Kunsel had entered the room.

Kunsel walked to the window, looking outside for a moment before taking in the rest of the room. The Buster Sword leaned against the wall near a bed he guessed had been set up for Zack, though it didn't look like he had too many other personal effects with him aside from a box with what looked like letters in it. The only other thing that looked out of place in the room, was a second SOLDIER uniform on the counter near the other bed. After looking at it, Kunsel saw that it was like a standard 1st Class uniform in every way, except the logo on the belt was slightly different. Something about it bothered him, like he'd seen it before… somewhere…

"Were you in SOLDIER?" He asked, thinking he might as well try to make small talk.

To his surprise, Cloud seemed taken aback. "No," he answered. "Infantry, actually."

"Oh." Apparently Cloud wasn't much of a talker. He didn't seem to care to elaborate.

Zack seemed to understand the unspoken question Kunsel was dying to ask, and no surprise. Those eyes would make anyone wonder. "He had Mako poisoning really bad for a while," he said. "He's doing a lot better though."

"You do look a lot better than last time," Aerith commented. "Like you've been eating more, maybe."

Cloud looked up at her. "Thanks… I think." Aerith laughed.

"He's walking a lot better too. I don't even need to help him around the room anymore," Zack said.

"That's wonderful." Aerith placed a gentle hand on Cloud's shoulder. "When you've got your strength back, maybe Zack can bring you to visit the church."

"Hey, that's a great idea," Zack said. "We'll go when this is over."

Cloud nodded in agreement. "I'd like that."

Kunsel decided to find somewhere to sit to watch the game. As Freya made her next move, he found an empty chair nearby. "Speaking of the current situation, do you think you'd care to explain it to me? For instance, how is it that the Turks captured you, and then just decided to let you go, yet you're still here? And that's disregarding the biggest question of all. What the hell did you do in Nibelheim? When I saw those reports about escaped samples I made the connection, but… Zack, why did they do that to you, of all people?"

Zack walked over to his bed and sat down, before finally answering. "I don't think it would have mattered if it was us or not. Rayleigh had some ideas, but she was still working on it last I heard…" He laughed. "Do you think we could answer those one at a time? I lost track of what you wanted me to start with."

Kunsel sighed. "A short summary is fine for now."

Zack rubbed the back of his neck, and then after a moment he sat up straight and nodded. "All right, this mess is a bit separate and we kind of got caught up in it, but for me and Cloud, as you guessed, our problems started in Nibelheim…"

The real surprise for Kunsel, as Zack related the story, was the fact that Sephiroth had gone crazy and that he really was believed dead, as opposed to Zack and Cloud whose continued existence had been covered up for Hojo's purposes. He could tell now was not the best time to ask Zack about said purposes, so he instead focused his questions and comments on the escape, and there were only a few things there, such as why Zack had been spotted near Banora when it was way out of the way from his apparent destination at the time, Midgar. The encounter with Genesis was touched on, though he didn't expand on it since it wasn't relevant to the current situation. The rest of it, up until the Turks had gotten involved, Kunsel had either confirmed for himself or at least guessed. That was when they got back on the subject of the current crisis.

After Freya had added in her insight on the political intrigues, which Zack had been somewhat vague about, Kunsel shook his head in disbelief. "I'm still a little surprised Shinra doesn't care that this is happening."

"Well, I'm sure they would, normally, except they're too busy shooting the messenger with this spat over Veld," Freya grumbled, the game long forgotten.

Kunsel ran a hand through his hair, not nearly as spiky as that belonging to either of the other men in the room, but still pretty wild, and considered the situation. "I thought internal politics at the company were crazy before, but that just goes beyond insanity."

"You're telling me," Zack agreed.

At that point, Freya's PHS buzzed. She stood up and walked out the door to answer it. After a few moments talking to whoever it was, she hurried back into the room. "There's a meeting with Shears at a place in Wall Market. Zack, they want you along too. We'll be discussing our strategy there. We'll need to leave now, I'm afraid."

Zack looked somewhat disappointed, and then after a moment, asked "What about Cloud?"

"We can stay," Aerith offered. "We'll keep him company for a bit."

Zack smiled gratefully. "I appreciate it."

"Owen's here too, in case he needs anything," Freya added. Zack walked over to where the Buster Sword was propped against the wall and after finding the magnetized sword harness, he attached it to the suspenders on his old SOLDIER uniform. After he was finished, with Buster Sword resting firmly on his back, he walked over to the others.

"I'm sorry to leave you guys," he said.

"We understand. You need to go be a hero," Kunsel teased before his expression became serious again. "I'd go with you, but I get the feeling you're trying not to attract attention, and someone's got to hold down the fort."

Zack looked down at Cloud. "Will you be all right?" he asked.

Cloud nodded, clearly trying to be reassuring, although at the same time, Kunsel noted that he sounded a little embarrassed by the concern. "I'll be fine."

"Glad to hear it. I'll be back soon, okay?" Zack looked to Kunsel and Aerith at that point. "Could you two come with me for a second?"

The two stood and followed him out of the room. "What's up?" Kunsel asked when they were out of earshot of the room.

"Here's the thing." Zack stopped and faced them, folding his arms as they paused halfway down the main corridor of the annex. "Cloud's doing a lot better than he was before, but every now and then, he sometimes gets confused."

"Because of the Mako poisoning?" Kunsel guessed.

"If anything happens… just talk to him, and remind him what's going on… okay?" The tone of his voice spoke more than the words ever could.

"We would have even if you didn't ask," Aerith assured him.

Zack rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I hate to put you on the spot like this…"

"It's cool. Go do what you have to do. We've got your back," Kunsel assured him.

"Don't worry," Aerith added. "We'll be fine."

"Thanks. We'll be back soon." Zack gave a short wave in farewell and then joined Freya outside the annex. Not long after, the two disappeared from sight.

October 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007, 5:00 PM

Dr. Rayleigh had not been able to quell the sense of unease she had picked up since losing that photo. She'd looked everywhere for it. She'd checked her office over several times, as well as the lab she had used in the Science Department, the floor in the main corridor and had even risked peeking into Hojo's personal laboratory while she knew he was out, to see if he'd picked it up. But there had been no sign of it. Aside from her searching, she had been keeping a very low profile. Especially once the Turks had been officially disbanded. She had gotten her report in to Tseng on her results before then, so she had fulfilled her responsibilities to them, but she could only hope her connection would not jeopardize her or anyone else. Another reason why she really needed that photo back.

She sighed as she packed up her belongings. It wasn't her turn on the night shift for the infirmary, so it was time to leave for the day. Since the encounter with Hojo, she had emptied her office of any trace of her records relating to Zack or Cloud, opting to keep them at her home from then on. Further, she had done everything she could to avoid going anywhere near the Science Department in the interim apart from her search for the photo. Going to her apartment near the Shinra building put even more space between her and the scientist, which she was perfectly happy about.

She walked the halls toward the elevator, reflecting on the tightrope she was now forced to tread. It wasn't just individual factions of the company she had to worry about anymore. If anyone looked too closely into her dealings with the Turks and found what she had been doing for them, she could very well find herself detained for questioning, or worse. Before Tseng had disappeared into the shadows, she could have at least counted on the Turks vouching for her, but now that they themselves were the enemy from Shinra's perspective, she had very little insurance of her safety anymore.

She pressed the button to call the elevator and waited patiently, noting a couple of her coworkers also approaching, apparently on their way home for the evening. As the double doors opened and she looked out on Midgar's sprawling metropolis through the tempered glass walls of the elevator, it reminded her how small she was in the grand scheme of things. It was a feeling she had never liked. It made her feel helpless. She stepped over the threshold, pressing the button for the ground floor as she went and spared a nod for one of the nurses she worked with before glancing back out at the city. She heard the doors shut behind her as the elevator slowly started to descend. The other man who had walked in with them was a technician she'd been with on a couple of SOLDIER enhancement teams, but he was apparently a lot more interested in flirting with the nurse, so she was largely left to her own thoughts as the two chattered away.

The glass cylinder delivered them ever lower, into the shadows cast by the setting sun as the bustle of the city's streets rose up to meet them. All too soon, it sank into the roof of the main foyer, and came to a halt on the ground floor. Adjusting her glasses, Rayleigh left the elevator with her coworkers and walked casually out of the main entrance to the Shinra building. She paused for a moment, breathing in the evening air before turning to her left, in order to walk to her apartment building.

It did not take Zack and Freya long to get to the bar in Wall Market, even if they were moving stealthily to avoid any encounters with troopers. They couldn't use the trains, since Zack had no ID security would accept, and Freya's clearances had been revoked. However, her knowledge of the service elevators proved to be quite useful. Zack had to admit, they might have actually gotten there faster than the trains could have taken them, once one accounted for the number of stops on the rail line between Sector 2 and their destination. They made their way through the alleys, avoiding being in the open where possible until they found the entrance to the dive they were looking for.

As they entered, they found the other renegade Turks near the bar, with the exception of Tseng, Reno, and Rude, who were nowhere to be seen. It was the standard sort of bar one might see in the slums, though it looked as though the owner kept it mostly tidy. There were a few photos on the walls, but aside from a couple of patrons on the far side of the room, the place was mostly empty outside those assembled for the meeting. There was one man in particular that Zack did notice, who unlike the dark suited Turks, sported the white uniform of an AVALANCHE leader, and a bandana with camouflage colors tied over his brow.

"Well, you must be Shears." Zack observed.

"SOLDIER?" Shears stood up and folded his arms. "What's he doing here?"

Freya narrowed her eyes at the ex-terrorist. "He's here to offer his assistance. We're all fugitives so what does it matter where we come from?"

"She's right," Tanjuu interjected. "We have things to do, so let's get this over with." Zack noted that the man looked unusually uncomfortable. Every now and then, he glanced at the door to the bar apprehensively, even more so than the other Turks, and he had positioned himself against a wall in a location where he could see everything in the room.

The other Turks murmured quietly among themselves for a while, making small talk as Freya walked over to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. Zack followed, though he remained standing. Soon after, Mao and Cissnei approached them, also taking a position nearby. As they waited, Mao glanced around the room, and after a bit, he nodded to himself apparently deciding everyone was here. "All right, I guess we're ready to get started." He announced. It seemed that since he had the highest seniority after Reno and Rude, he was the de facto leader in Tseng's absence.

At that point all the Turks in the room looked up and the older Turk glanced around at his audience. "As of this moment, Tseng, Reno, and Rude, are still looking for Veld. The last update I had was that Shinra's security system keeps booting them out, but it seems they still haven't had any outside interference from the military so they're all right. Needless to say, once we've located Veld, chances are we will need to find transport to get him out of the city." The other Turks murmured their assent.

"The other problem we have to worry about is AVALANCHE. I did a sweep of the neighboring sectors on the way here, and while I've seen a couple of their operatives in the area, they've been mostly quiet. It does tell me, however, that they will start bringing Ravens in soon."

"It's already happened," one of the other Turks, a cold looking woman with long, light brown hair spoke up. Zack noticed that she carried no weapon, but instead wore a pair of fingerless gloves, probably a martial artist, like Rude. "I saw a couple of Ravens near here on my way from the safe house. However, I didn't engage them because there were Shinra troopers in the area, and I didn't want to attract their attention."

Mao folded his arms. "A wise decision. That is the other thing we need to worry about. As long as we remain in the city, Shinra plans to hunt us down."

"Join the club," Zack muttered.

He got a few understanding looks at that, but no one commented. Mao was clearly about to continue. "So the thing we have to figure out now is how we are to approach this scenario…" At that moment, the door to the outside opened and a blonde girl with pigtails, in a sailor uniform Zack recognized as belonging to the Shinra Military Academy, walked into the room. "I'm back!" She called to the bartender, and then she stopped, noticing the group assembled in front of the bar. "Oh, hello everyone." In spite of the greeting, the change in the tone of her voice clearly indicated suspicion. She walked to the bar, between Mao and Freya so she could talk to the bartender.

As she did so, Freya spoke up. "Elena, I thought you would have been done for the day."

"I just forgot something here." The girl answered coldly. She reached out as the bartender passed her a handbag that had been situated near one of the beer taps. As she retrieved it, Zack noticed her shooting a furtive look at Lou, who happened to be sitting a few seats down. The blonde Turk said nothing, but upon being able to compare the two women, Zack deduced that they were related. There was definitely a family resemblance.

"Forgot your purse again?" Freya commented. "You're starting to worry me a little bit."

"What's it to you?" Elena grumbled, as she headed to the exit. "It's not like I'll be joining the Turks or anything, anyway. So I won't be embarrassing you or my sister."

"I didn't say anything of the sort," Freya defended. "No need to jump down my throat."

"Well, I'm going." With that, the girl walked out of the bar in a huff.

"What's her problem?" Zack asked.

Freya shook her head and looked over at Lou. The other Turk simply shrugged and went back to a drink she was nursing. Finally, Freya said quietly "I don't know the details, but I think it's a sibling rivalry thing."

Zack nodded in acknowledgement and waited for someone to get the topic back to what the plan was. There was quiet for a moment as the Turks tried to regain the thread of the discussion before Shears commented "Well, we're screwed if the Turks are being targeted by Shinra and AVALANCHE."

Mao sighed. "Veld's execution date is tomorrrow."

"And Elfe's life isn't getting any longer." Shears leaned back in his chair, worry creasing his brow.

"We do have an awful lot against us, don't we?" Cissnei remarked.

Freya shook her head. "As Mao said, we're leaving Veld to Tseng, Reno, and Rude. The main thing we should worry about is retrieving Elfe and the last materia, and making sure Fuhito doesn't get the ones we have."

"At least the fact that he's going to be coming after them saves us the trouble of looking for him," Shears mused.

"We should be careful though," Tanjuu spoke up.

Mao nodded in agreement. "With this in mind, we should search in our usual partner teams."

Shears stood up and approached the center of the group, looking at each of them appraisingly. "I also think we should divide up the materia, just in case Fuhito manages to get to any of us who are carrying them."

"He's right," said one of the other Turks, a rather muscular man with short brown hair. "It's better if we don't have all our eggs in one basket." Everyone voiced their agreement.

Once the vote was unanimous, Cissnei reached into her coat pocket and pulled out two small orbs. "How do we decide who gets them?" she asked.

"We could draw straws for them," Freya suggested.

Mao thought about it for a moment and then he took one of the materia out of Cissnei's hand and deliberately placed it in Freya's. "You will be staying with Zack, therefore, the materia should be well protected."

Freya slipped the materia into her pocket. "You can count on us."

Mao nodded again and then turned back to Cissnei. "You will hold on to that one and stay with me."

"You got it," Cissnei replied.

The man with the katana then turned to Tanjuu and said "Since Freya's with Zack, you're with Shears."

Tanjuu shrugged, and it was assumed he was in agreement. Shears stood and walked over to his newly assigned partner, looking him over as though to take his measure, before turning to Freya and Cissnei "Don't let Fuhito get his hands on them."

"He won't." Cissnei assured him.

"All right then. Is there anything else?" the Turk with long hair who had spoken earlier asked.

"No, we should head out," Mao said. "Depart in pairs. We don't want to attract suspicion by leaving as a group." And so it went. Valerie departed first with a young blonde man carrying nunchaku. Then the female martial artist left with her partner. The others departed in a slow trickle until finally, Mao and Cissnei were headed out the door leaving only Freya and Zack.

"Well, you ready to head back?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, we don't want to stay out in the open too long," Freya agreed.

It was at that point that they heard a shout outside, followed by some scuffling. As Zack crept to the entrance, drawing his sword, Freya prepped her shotgun, wary of the noises they were hearing. After a couple of minutes, the sounds stopped and then a Shinra trooper barreled into the bar, apparently not even seeing Zack because he'd been so close to the side of the door.

"Hey, there's another Turk in here!"

Tseng was a very patient man by nature, so the fact that he was actually losing patience with Shinra's information network was a novelty in itself. It was probably due to stress, he reflected. Thanks to Rufus, they had been able to continue their work mostly uninterrupted, however, a 3rd class SOLDIER operative had attempted to get in at one point through the ventilation system to rescue the VP. Reno had caught him in time and had managed to knock him out. No small achievement, but no mission was impossible for the Turks, after all. That didn't make the situation any less serious. Apparently they weren't the only ones on this system attempting a hack.

Tseng cleared his throat, doing his best to remain outwardly calm. "I've been kicked out again."

Reno ran a hand through his hair in consternation. "How many times has it been now?"

"That's not all. Apparently someone else is trying to access this terminal." He typed at the keyboard, his hands a hurricane of activity as he tried to figure out what the other person was doing.

"Are we being jammed?" Rude asked.

"No. It seems to be doing something else…" Tseng's voice trailed off and his hands froze over the keys.

Reno noticed and looked over his shoulder. "Hey, the program's running itself!"

It was true. Without even having asked it to do so, Tseng saw the program he'd been trying to use scanning its way through file after file after file on the screen until finally…

"A surveillance feed," Rude observed.

Tseng could quite easily see that it was a feed from a camera in the upper Midgar sewers. The service tunnels that ran through the underbelly of the plate, though without the coordinates there was no way to tell exactly where. In the feed, Tseng could clearly see a door with guards in front of it. Could this be where they were holding Veld?

"Who's doing this?" Reno wondered aloud.

It was at that moment Tseng realized exactly who was doing this. There was only one person who could, and at that same moment, that person's voice echoed lazily over the speakers.

"Hmph, it seems you're having a hard time figuring out where Veld is."