*** CH 2 ***

It took a few weeks for Vincent to get the hang of this new strange place. He was on another planet that was like yet unlike his home. He had been singled out for Turk training because he had the one thing they couldn't train into a recruit: a flexible mind. He just accepted facts without spending useless time worrying about the implications or the impossibilities until after the mission. He was focused on finding Cid so he had made himself a profitable business in running off drug dealers and various low lives, he was running them off and shaking them down for information on Cobra. He had improved life for the less fortunate in the few city blocks he was looking after and secured a small apartment after saving the local grocery shop owner from a protection racket.

Today was the day. He could feel it in his bones. He had found someone who promised him information about Cobra. He just had to pay the stranger the five thousand dollars he had asked for and he would be back on the trail of Cid. He dressed in a moderately priced black suit and tie. He checked himself in the mirror. With his haircut and suit, he looked exactly like he did all those years ago when he was employed by Shin-Ra. He didn't focus on the flood of old and mostly painful memories this brought back. Instead, he checked his gun and packed his pockets full of extra magazines of ammo. He holstered the gun in an underarm holster and checked his reflection to make sure the gun didn't show. He had paid to have the suit tailored to fall in such a way as to hide any guns he may be carrying. It was worth the money. The reflection said an arrogant and impatient businessman who was used to getting his way. It was the persona he had chosen to play up for this meeting, a corporate spy wanting to get one over on cobra and willing to pay for the privilege.

He paid for an upscale car service to take him to the meeting spot in central park. He paid the driver and watched the car until it was gone out of sight. He was glad he had not been attacked yet. Meetings like this could always turn sour at a moment's notice. He walked over to the bench. He made a big show of checking his watch and sighing.

He was really laying it on thick, he noticed a fair number of the surrounding people were watching him now. His hope was that the contact would move the meeting to somewhere less out in the open. Somewhere Vincent could take his time questioning the man. He snapped to attention as he noticed a man approaching. He almost laughed. The man had gone for a disguise that was right out of a movie, a suit with a tan trenchcoat and a tan fedora. It was some amateur's idea of a disguise, a real operative wouldn't want to stand out that much.

" So you're the one looking for information on Cobra? " The man's voice had an odd quality to it. Vincent took only a second to place the peculiarity. It was being electronically manipulated. It was a damn expensive modulator and a normal man would not have heard it. But his friend Galian wasn't normal. Vincent gave him the professional once over now. The pasty white face with rosacea cheeks wasn't reflecting the sun's light at the correct angle. His other friend Chaos could see in a wider spectrum of light than a normal man and had passed this message along to him. He had heard the scientists were cooking up holographic disguises back when he was a new Turk, they had probably got them working while he slept. He could see the energy pooling near the belt with the eyes of Chaos.

Vincent lowered his left and only gloved hand, He moved rapidly barely noticing the claw-like blackened nails of his left corpse-colored hand had shredded the sturdy black leather. He jabbed the nails through the belt and into the flesh behind. The holo dropped revealing a fit middle-aged man with long red hair and green camo face paint, even the sclera of his eye was olive drab. He guessed contacts but didn't care. He pushed forward only for some sort of armor he was wearing to make a vibrating thrum, glow red and shove Vincent backward over the bench with some sort of unseen force. He sprang to his feet in no time and watched as all the bystanders dropped their Holos as well. The trap was sprung.

Zartan loved the part where plans worked out the best. His planning was perfect, the stranger asking too many questions had been located, observed, and invited into his lair like the proverbial spider and fly. His Dreadnoks were crouched with Holos to look like bushes. Only those had vanished and they were revealed to be crouching in perfect firing position. The troops that approached the target were Battle Android Troopers or BATs . No use in risking his personnel for Cobra. His smile dropped abruptly as the Target appeared to be shaking with laughter. His voice which was already deep and intimidating was now sounding even weirder...inhuman. "Saw…..you...Chaos Eyes...too late to run." He got out before his mouth changed shape. It was a job for his friend Galian.

Once upon a time that would have sent Zartan running but that was a time before he had met and worked for Serpentor who changed faces as often as Zartan changed girlfriends. Enough experience to keep his cool. He noticed most of the Dreadnoks had run. He brought his laser rifle up and looked through the scope. He paused and watched as what looked like a dark ash gray Werewolf ripped through a dozen of the BATs like they were made from balsa wood and not Kevlar-reinforced titanium steel. He watched as Laserblast after laserblast tore into the creature only for the burns to heal almost as fast as they appeared. He knew today would not bring victory. Reflexively in his head, he heard a grating shriek of 'RETREAAAAAT' so vivid he almost thought it came from his coms and not his brain. Great, I have internalized the bastard in my brain. He thought.

On the other side of the park, a couple walked taking in the small artificial nature scenery Lady Jaye and Flint had finished their turn at recon. Newyork had an uptick in Cobra activity so a few Joes had been sent to get an idea of what was going on. Flint's mind was not on the latest data like it should have been. He was not trying to make the pieces of what they knew so far fit into a picture of what Cobra was up to. No, he was actually thinking about Lady Jaye and the small ring box he carried in the left breast pocket of his uniform. He cleared his throat and steeled himself to take the plunge. He felt his pulse quicken like he was on the battlefield. Lady Jaye was waiting, almost holding her breath in anticipation. He was just about to kneel when he heard the commotion of battle clear on the other side of the park. Dreadnoks came charging out of the woods not bothering to find the path. He started to go for his knife but realized not a damn one of the fleeing enemies was paying the slightest bit of attention to him or Lady Jaye. He frowned trying to decide whether to pursue the enemy but decided they were most likely needed where the battle was.

"Let's go! " he commanded and took off at a sprint for the sounds of laser blasts and the screech of tearing metal.

Zartan did a double-take when he ran past Flint and one of the female Joes. He didn't stop to count his good fortune; they ignored him and ran on. He knew when to cut his losses and a dead man can't spend money. For now, he fell back to his temporary headquarters in New York.

The scene the Joes arrived on was strange, to say the least. Lady Jaye noticed BAT parts everywhere, if they were pieces of living soldiers the gore would have been stomach-churning. Atop a large smoking pile of what was once enemy Androids reclined a long lean man with raven hair and scarlet eyes. He was dressed in tatters of a Black suit, from his bare thigh she glimpsed when he stood and adjusted the remains of clothes she could tell it was all that really preserved this man's modesty.

Flint did not like the looks of some weird pretty boy with an emo haircut. Especially one that made Jaye's cheeks turn that shade of pink. "I hope you are ready to explain what the hell happened here?" Flint demanded. The anger didn't have to be faked in his tone. All the plans he had were ruined now at least for the moment. Lady Jaye just cleared her throat and he got her message. He took a deep and calming breath, pushed aside the pang of high school jealousy, and recovered his military bearing. "Sorry, I should thank you for assisting with Cobra and not incurring any civilian casualties. "

Vincent kept his face deadpan, showing no emotions. It was what his friend Cid would call 'Creepy %^&*in' serial killer statue face!'

"I never miss whether with a gun or... claw," he said cryptically and made no further elaboration. He walked behind a tree and took down two things. A trail camera and a black duffle bag. Both were his. He had scouted out all likely places for a meeting and prepared the top three spots with go bags. Vincent stepped behind the tree and bushes and reappeared in a fresh black suit and new black leather glove covering his left hand. He had dressed so fast the two operatives shared a surprised look that said a lot between them but Vincent picked up on very little of it. They were a unit that had spent a lot of time together. He wondered if they even noticed how when one of them covered 12 the other would peek at their 6 to make sure it was clear. They were soldiers, well trained, and a lot more deadly than the joke of attack he had just faced.

Vincent stared at the pair wondering how much to tell them. He settled for: "Can you please tell me what planet I am on?

~ TBC ~