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 spin-offs That honor goes to Square-Enix.

Does Our Future Still Lead to a Smile? (Interlude)

Chapter 74, Going Into Exile (Case of Shinra Phase 2)

October 15th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

Rufus looked down the long balance sheets, calculating the company's earnings and much larger column of losses for the last few months and reached for the cup of tea his secretary had brought him, drinking the contents meditatively. Even with the loss of mako power, the other functions the company served, such as making high quality vehicles, and the building of infrastructure and appliances, had kept them afloat, thank goodness, but as things stood, he doubted it would be long before he'd have to sell off another part of their expanded assets to ensure the longevity of the overall corporation.

It wouldn't be this way forever, he knew. He was a survivor. The company would bounce back eventually, and if he played his cards right, human apathy might even allow them their rightful place at the top of the world once again, but for now, he would settle for keeping things running. Not even the defection of many of their remaining SOLDIERs could stop them. He didn't care how many of them had found a new sense of purpose in Zack Fair's siren's song of working for freedom and peace. There were still a significant number who knew better than to be so idealistic.

There was another worrisome trend though. In spite of the recovery effort having been largely resolved, the population was not increasing in the city. Instead, after the census that was taken to see who remained, those that had not been taken by Deepground had at first started moving out in a slow but steady trickle. Now, with growing concern over mako exposure, and the increase in Stigma cases, the population, many of whom, in the slums at least, had been living in the former cities that now composed Midgar's underbelly were retreating from the affected areas as water flowed from a sieve. "Who would desire your Promised Land now, Father?" he wondered aloud. "Aside from Sephiroth, maybe…"

The Turks had spent a good deal of time attempting to decrypt the data they had mined from the computer Shelke had used, attempting to extract the information she had gleaned from Vincent on the Black Materia's hiding place, but thus far, it had proven quite difficult when their own computers were not designed to understand the net-to-Lifestream interface. It was technology that had been limited to Deepground, and most of the scientists who had worked down there had been murdered by their own specimens when GUARDIAN had freed them from Hojo. There was Shelke herself, but her location and safety were managed by GUARDIAN, and while it was very likely she and her older sister were in Mideel somewhere, capturing her again, with all of GUARDIAN to contend with was asking for an incident he simply did not need at this time. He was ambitious, not stupid. But that simply meant they would need to continue on their own to crack the code.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door to his Junon Office. "Enter," he said.

Tseng walked into the room. "Commissioner Tuesti and Zack Fair are here to see you sir."

"What is it this time?" Rufus asked calmly, though he was beyond irritated. Didn't these fools know he was a busy man?

"It's about Scarlet and Heidegger," Tseng replied.

"Tell them we don't have them. Even if we showed all of the WRO every single one of our cell blocks, I doubt that would satisfy them anyway," the young president replied at last. Tseng went back outside and he heard the Turk give the Commissioner his answer.

That was when he heard Reeve's voice on the other side of the door. "I must insist. We need an explanation. It was already agreed that Scarlet and Heidegger would be transferred to WRO custody..."

At that point the door opened, and it wasn't by Tseng but by Zack himself, and Reeve followed after him, as Kunsel blocked Tseng's attempt to stop them.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" he asked calmly.

"Rufus," Reeve began. "We can't have any more stalling from you on this. What happened?"

"Perhaps you should ask the insurgents who broke into my prison," Rufus said, only letting the tone of his voice betray how annoyed he was. "It isn't as though that is a stunt that hasn't been tried before." His eyes were on Zack at this remark.

"What reason would GUARDIAN have to screw this up though?" Zack asked, glaring at him. "Don't you know how much we're putting behind making this work?"

Rufus shrugged as though the question were a fly buzzing around his shoulder. He couldn't let these people see his own concern about the matter. It would make him seem vulnerable, and that was something he absolutely could not allow. "Considering what GUARDIAN spent the first half of this year attempting to do, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. However, we are doing everything we can to find them." He reached into a drawer at his left and produced a copy of a disk Tseng had given him. "When the Turks locate them, I'll notify you immediately, but here are the recordings from the security cameras around the cell block where they were being held in the meantime. There's not much more I have for you I'm afraid. Now if you would please excuse me, I have a company to run."

Several minutes later, when the room had finally cleared, he turned his attention to a report from Midgar that had been added to the expense report. It seemed that a number of thefts in relation to the city's infrastructure had been reported. He would have to ask the Shinra guards to double their rounds in order to mitigate the issue.

November 22nd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

It was a dark and cloudy day outside as Rufus looked out his window over both of the two oceans that lay before him. The one, with raging waves of water out in the Junon Bay, and the other, the sea of people directly in front of the Shinra Company's office. The angry mob was not something he could have predicted. Through most of his life, both before and after his taking charge of the company, the people had blindly accepted that the company would forever control their lives through the power of money. That was how it would always be. There was no way around it. And yet now, here they were.

The final confirmation that mako exposure had a lot to do with the Stigma had come in a few days ago. It had been Rufus's hope that GUARDIAN would at least take some of the blame, simply because it had been their strategy to take out the reactors which had exacerbated the proliferation of the disease, but it seemed, people still remembered that cases of the disease had been popping up even before that time. The fact that the Shinra company had marketed mako as a safe energy source for so many years was the thing that stuck in the people's minds, and so, they had brought their complaints directly to the current president's doorstep.

A certain ex-infantry soldier by the name of Mutton Kylegate who had styled himself the mayor of the so-called city of 'Edge' had not helped the situation either. He spent a lot of time quite happily reminding the people at every opportunity that Shinra was a wonderful scapegoat for every single thing that had ever gone wrong on the planet. If he wasn't interested in keeping at minimum a lukewarm relationship with the WRO, he would gladly take a leaf out of his father's book and have this trouble-maker removed, but Reeve was trying to do things more even-handedly and even if none of the rest GUARDIAN's leadership liked the man either, they were apparently of the opinion that in this case, assassination was not a viable political tactic.

It only slightly made him feel better about the situation that because of the public safety issue, the recently commissioned WRO troops and GUARDIAN members were actively assisting with security, if only because of the necessity of preventing a riot. His thoughts were interrupted when the door behind him opened and Tseng entered the room. "Sir, we have reason to believe you may not be safe here any longer. The protesters have broken several windows along the south side of the building and while the WRO has the entrances guarded they have been having difficulty securing the area on the outside."

Rufus continued to stand by the window. "And what of our own troops?" he asked.

"They are standing guard on the inside of the building but by the time our SOLDIER detachment arrives, it is highly probable that on numbers alone, this office may be overrun, if we consider the SOLDIERs who threw their lot in with Mayor Kylegate." Rufus considered that fact. There had indeed been a few who had done so, and while the SOLDIERs that remained were on their way, things were quickly going from bad to worse.

He suddenly caught the sound of an approaching helicopter, and looking out the window he spotted it flying closer to the building. Based on the markings, it was one of their own vehicles. It pulled out of view and he heard the weight of it connect with the roof. Shortly afterward, Rude walked into the office, most likely about to say who had just landed on their roof, but Elena suddenly raced in after him, and cut in before Rude could even open his mouth "Tseng, we've got more trouble."

Tseng looked in her direction, his expression questioning and the young Turk continued, her tone dead serious. "We've found a bomb in the parking lot. Reno's helping keep things secure until the bomb squad can get in, but it looks like it might be one of Deepground's weapons."

Tseng nodded and then turned his attention to Rude. "An evacuation chopper has arrived sir," the bald Turk reported. Rufus glared down at the people below resentfully. It would serve those ungrateful masses right if that bomb went off in their faces, but it wouldn't. The Turks would see to it.

"Very well," Rufus said. "We will withdraw for now, issue a warning to all the surrounding areas that they must be cleared."

"Yes sir," Tseng said. He nodded to Elena who walked to the door. As she reached it he said "Once the job is done, report to Cliff Resort in the Northern Mountains."

"Sir," Elena responded, and then continued towards the door.

Elena walked down the stairs, her body tense. How could she not be? There was a bomb in the building. How had they failed to notice this? She glared moodily at the glass door as she reached the exit to the main part of the building before roughly pushing it open and walking across the parking lot. Across the way, she saw signs that a truck with WRO lettering was pulling in through the entrance and it rolled past her. She followed the vehicle down the ramp into the lower lot and soon discovered it had parked near the location where the bomb had been located. Reno stood, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently as the driver stepped out of the cab, followed by someone in WRO coveralls in the passenger seat and a couple of others from the rear truck bed. Reno's eyes lit up as he looked over the new arrivals that then he gave them a look of surprise. "Where have you guys been?"

"Around," came a gruff voice. "We were in the neighborhood." Elena finally looked up at the sound of the voice. She knew it.

"Legend?" she asked as she came into earshot.

The man looked in her direction and grinned. "Elena! It's been a while. Hey Lou! Look who's here!" One of the people who had jumped out of the back looked over and she could see it was indeed her sister, clad in a simple grey suit.

"So you've been working with the WRO?" Elena asked.

"Veld has had us covering areas where they've fallen short on occasion." Legend said. "For instance, they needed a demolitions expert and I was here to catch a boat back towards Costa Del Sol, so you know how that goes." He looked over at the package that sat against the far wall. "So I guess that's it, right there?"

Reno nodded and the demolitionist got down on his knees to examine the device. "This is a piece of work. Looks like it's got mako in it, but it seems to have a timer and a simple detonater. Get back behind the truck, I'll have this in a jiffy."

"Be careful," Lou called after him as the other three Turks moved to the safety of the other side of the vehicle.

From the other side of the Truck, Elena watched as Legend knelt in front of the bomb, pulling out a set of tools and carefully lifting the lid of the box in which it sat. "It has been a while, hasn't it?" A voice interrupted her thoughts and she glanced to her left to see Lou approaching, having just conferred with the WRO soldiers that had come with them. Now that they were spreading out to create a perimeter, the Turks and their renegade comrades were left alone.

"It has," Elena said stiffly. Last time they had talked, it had been before the Deepground Incident had even happened. In that dingy bar in Sector 3. "I see you've been keeping busy."

Lou smiled. "I can tell you have too. I'm glad to see you're okay."

Elena nodded and for the first time in a long time, she smiled genuinely at her sister. Watching the Turks embed in Midgar, and run the risk of getting snatched for being healthy had been pretty trying, but in the end, the mission had been completed, and she'd been happy to learn that thanks to Lou's quick thinking, their dad had also been missed by the soldiers. "I'm glad you made it out too." She then remembered herself and turned away, trying to hide the embarrassment on her face.

Lou reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well, because of the choice you and Tseng made not to arrest us, we were able to make that mission a success. I think you're doing fine. Better than me, actually."

Elena looked back, startled. "Really?"

"Don't let it go to your head, little miss 'I Helped Kill Sephiroth'," Lou said, checking on Legend's progress over the front of the truck. "I can still beat you any day of the week."

"In your dreams!" Elena said. The two shared a nervous chuckle as Legend stood, giving the signal that things were all clear.

November 23rd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

Cliff Resort stood on a rise near a series of waterfalls high up in the north Junon Mountains, somewhat southeast of the budding settlement of Edge. It had proven a safe vantage point from which Rufus could direct his affairs and after a scientist by the name of Kilmister had made himself known, a special portion of the resort had been set aside to fund his research into finding a cure for Geostigma. The race was on. With Dr. Rayleigh and Aerith Fair already having had a head start on the process, there was a lot of pressure to work with haste, since if Shinra found the cure first, it would mean one more aspect of the world in which they could have some amount of control. Rufus had arrived here yesterday evening, and was now in the process of overseeing the furnishing of the room that would be his new office.

The sun filtered in through the trees outside as the gentle roar of waterfalls could be heard nearby. It was a delicate and yet powerful sound. Not unlike the Shinra company now, he thought. Injured, but not beaten. Across the room, one of the resort staff, moved his desk into place in front of the largest picture window in the room and as the man finished and left to fetch an executive desk chair from storage, Tseng and Rude were already hard at work, setting up the necessary computer equipment with which the President could run his company. An hour or so later, as requested, Reno brought in a small case, swathed in yellow tape, and placed it carefully in a storage container that had been placed in a nearby closet. Until they could find a facility that was not under the WRO or GUARDIAN's watch where they could hide it more securely, this would have to do.

The staff member returned with the chair and put it in place, before leaving the room so that Rufus could acquaint himself with his new workspace undisturbed. Tseng waited nearby patiently alert for any sign that Rufus had duties to which he wanted the Turk to attend. The young president made his way to the chair, and sat down, his eyes going over the computer on his desk critically. Someone had left a report on the various thefts that had occurred in Midgar on the screen for his perusal. As more people were leaving, the looting was gaining further prevalence. Kylegate was getting more and more brazen with each passing day. Surely there was some way this could be mitigated.

His eyes landed on another paper that sat slightly to the right of the screen. It looked like a formal letter from Reeve. It appeared to be a request for construction materials in order to build WRO headquarters, with a budget for ordering. Reeve had always been quite skilled at such things, it was a shame he had left. Rufus considered the request before writing down an invoice and setting it a side. He could fill in the costs later, once he was certain he could work them to his advantage. In the meantime…

"Tseng," Rufus said at last.

"Yes sir?" The dark haired Turk looked up.

"Instruct the guards that any further looters will be shot. However, if possible, I'd like to extend an offer to Mayor Kylegate for purchasing Midgar salvage legally."

"It's as good as done," Tseng said.

"Oh yes, and one more thing," Rufus said, looking through another paper at his desk. "I would like to donate a percentage of our funding to the WRO."

Tseng didn't question the order, but continued out the door ready to carry it out.

Rufus sighed and looked out the window at the view beyond it. It was a good plan, he thought. Invest money in the new city and the world's self-styled protectors, and eventually, he could ensnare them when they needed funding. It would be harder with GUARDIAN also a backer with considerable weight, but if he could make it so that the WRO knew what side its bread was buttered upon, it would only be a temporary hindrance. He nodded to his reflection in the window with satisfaction. This was a good plan. He knew it.

December 30th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

Tseng stood in the midst of a throng of workers, who were laying flagstones in what would be the new city plaza in Mutton Kylegate's settlement. Edge had been growing considerably since the last of the stragglers had left Midgar, unwilling to place themselves at risk of the Stigma any longer. However, the object of his observations was not the stone slabs being placed, nor the storefronts that were being erected in the wake of the buildings that would house them. No. What had his attention was the monument at the center of the activity. It had been approved by the city council with the help of some very convincing advocates. Shinra's story was that it wished to commemorate those who had died in the defense of their city and place a memorial for the Deepground Incident so that no one would forget the mistakes that had been made in the past.

Upon completion, it would be surrounded by a visual rendering of the Lifestream in aged copper to simulate the green appearance of the Planet's life force, symbolizing the lives of those who had been murdered, with Midgar standing at the center. On the one side, stood an effigy of Weiss the Immaculate, while on the other, Rufus Shinra stood, staring down his adversary over his right shoulder as Zack Fair stood next to him, the Buster Sword in the process of being pulled from his back. It was supposed to be symbolic of the fact that Shinra and GUARDIAN had put aside their differences in the face of a major threat, but for Tseng, it was something of an odd thing to see.

On the one hand, he found himself in complete agreement with Rufus. This monument, put in place by Shinra, and holding up the heroes of the Incident in their proper place of prominence solidified the company's ownership of Edge, and put forth the image to the world that the company was seeking to remake itself, but on the other hand he found himself slightly skeptical. When he'd first seen Zack after the decision on the design had been accepted, he'd seemed uncomfortable with it. Not that it was any business of Tseng's, nor should it matter. His comfort had nothing to do with why Shinra was putting it here.

The truth was, he had made his decision about his own destiny long before any of this. To act in the interests of the company. This was in the interests of the company, and in Rufus's. This was the duty of the Turks after all. To finish the mission, no matter what. He watched as one of the aged copper pieces was being lowered to its rightful place, observing the workers with a careful eye. The dedication ceremony would be tomorrow at midnight. Appropriate, that it would be at the beginning of a new year.

Feels like it's been far too long, yet it's only been a couple of weeks.

Another rather nice milestone has been reached, in that the story has so far been favorited by over 300 people now. Many thanks to all of you! ^^

Next week we'll be checking in with Aerith, so can't wait to see you there!