Red alert; Foot-in-mouth disease; Wild Materia;
Another Shera to save; An unexpected team-up;
Further conspiracy theories; At least someone has Sense
They flew north, following the spine of the eastern mountains, over the sparsely populated peaks and isolated valleys where it was easier to avoid Shinra's eyes. As the mountains grew smaller, fading into rolling green hills, Cid had to leave their protection. Once the grass turned yellow and dry, the Shera made its descent toward the cracked and desolate Midgar Wastes. The city itself was a dark mud-green smudge on the Northwestern horizon. In the future, the wastes had expanded so far they butted right up to the mountains. Cid chewed his cigarette, musing. Best to change things before that happened.
"All ya kids, keep yer eyes out for somethin' small and red."
The three kids swarmed to the windows, hands and noses pressed against the glass. He chuckled at the picture they made. He was used to Marlene's enthusiasm, but knowing that two of the ankle-biters were Cloud and Tifa turned the situation freaking hilarious. More subtly, the Vincents took up their vigil on either side of him.
Red was supposed to meet them somewhere out here, away from the city, to hand over the keystone, but looking for one cub over acres of wilderness was a real pain in the ass. Eventually, the younger Vincent murmured, "There."
He turned his head to the east as Bruiser called out, "There's something!", and saw a fireball arcing into the sky. Swinging the airship towards it, he made out Red sitting on a small hill. They dropped a few hundred feet and came low enough to let out a ladder. It was a mite tricky getting down the damn thing, as Marlene nipped in front of him, the other two kids right behind her, with their parents calling vainly after them.
He coughed as he stepped onto the dry earth, from all the dust kicked up by the Shera. Red sat patiently a couple yards away as the kids babbled around him, the grey keystone between his paws.
"Damn, I forgot how fucking small y'are. Good to see ya, Red."
The corners of Red's mouth lifted in a return smile, showing the tips of tiny white fangs. "I could say the same to you." He stood, tail curved with open curiosity, placing a paw over the keystone to keep it in place. "I don't believe I've met all of your companions."
"Huh?" Noticing where the cat was staring, he looked behind him as the Nibel parents made their way down the ladder. "Ah, these are Spike an' Bruiser's parents, Claudia and Brian." He waved a hand at the kids." "An' these two, well, I guess ya know 'em, but we're callin' 'em Spike and Bruiser." He turned to the new-comers, who were staring at Red with poorly-hidden amazement and alarm. "This is Red. Ya heard us talkin' about him back in the canyon."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Red, polite as ever, nodded his head in greeting and acknowledgment. "Your children rescued me from Shinra. You have my gratitude for raising such compassionate individuals."
Spike and Bruiser's eyes widened, and they leaned forward, obviously wanting to hear the rest of that story, while their parents seemed torn between pride and concern. Cid snorted. "Pair o' bleedin' hearts. So, how's the city treatin' ya?"
Red chuckled, flaming tail idly flicking behind him. "The cubs are not sold on it, and spend much of their time at the church, though they do join me when I clear monsters from the surrounding sector. Beyond that, as the times are now, I cannot enjoy the city's sights or tastes as much as I did in Edge."
Yeah, he could just picture it. Red trying to order lunch and getting SOLDIER called on him instead, while he tried to explain that he was not going to eat anyone, he just wanted to try the lobster bisque bread bowl.
"And Aerith?" Marlene asked, all eagerness and bright eyes.
"She wished to accompany me in meeting with you, but the wastes are a miserable walk for a child."
Cid choked back a laugh. "They're a miserable fuckin' hike for an adult. Only places on par with this hellhole are Iftit's fryin' pan, the Corel Desert, and Shiva's fuckin' food processor, Gaea Cliffs."
Red nodded. "And that is why I left her behind."
Marlene tilted her head, edging closer. "Didja tell her we're from the future?"
"Not yet, though I would not be surprised if she already knew."
Bruiser copied Marlene's head tilt. "Why didn't you?"
Red's shoulders briefly rose and his head sank, as close as he could come to a shrug. "At first, I did not want to startle her more than necessary. Now, it has simply not come up in conversation."
"Well, give the girl our regards or some such," Cid drawled. "We gotta get. I don't much like bein' parked on Shinra's fuckin' front lawn."
"Then I shan't keep you." Red bent his head, hitting the keystone with his nose and sending it rolling with a dull thunk into Cid's boot.
Uneasiness settled into his gut, and he clenched his fists. Get a damn grip, it ain't like you're pickin' up the ruttin' Black Materia, he berated himself. Gritting his teeth, he bent and scooped the poxy thing up. It was cold. Even in the dragon-with-heartburn stomach-heat of the wastes it was cold.
Tifa's pop frowned inquisitively at him. "What exactly is that?"
"Barret told ya the other night at the Candle," he grunted. "Not somethin' ya wanna bloody mess with."
"And you are bringin' it with us." Claudia's voice was flat.
Cid glowered and was about to snap that, as captain, he decided what went on and off his ship without input from the peanut gallery, but Red spoke first.
"It leads to something that nearly destroyed the world, but it, within itself, is harmless."
"And Red's in fuckin' Shinra territory, so it ain't safe with him. It's comin' with us, end of discussion."
Claudia pursed her lips, Brian scowled, and for a moment it looked like they might argue. In the end, they didn't say anything - probably because if they did, the other would feel obligated to disagree. He said good-bye to Red and climbed back up the ladder, wondering how their kids worked together so well when the parents acted like a pair of damn opposite-pole magnets.
Two ass-dull days later, and he was fucking exhausted from staring at the monotonous, mind-numbing hell-horizon of endless sky and open ocean. Only good thing about being this far out was the expansive heavens at night. Piloting while the others slept, he could almost fool himself into thinking he was the only being in the cosmos, sailing alone through the stars. Damn peaceful, until folks woke up.
Mid-morning, he saw a speck on the horizon that grew into the steep and crumbling cliffs of Round Island. High winds rocked the hovering airship as Cid led the way down into the hold. Long practice helped him keep his balance, but the gang behind him clung to the handrails for support. Good thing Yuffie wasn't with them, or she'd paint the whole place in sick yellow.
The Vincents were already in the bay, strapping their feet into air boards, and Cid's joking comment - "Don't let the wind smack ya 'round too much, 'cause we won't be able to tell the difference between your cloaks and a blood smear on the rocks." - got no attention from them.
"You kids, stand back and keep hold of the rails. Last thing I need is one of ya flying out." Even with the Shera stationary and facing into the wind, the chance of some loose item blowing out was high. "Y'all set there?"
After getting affirming nods from the Vincents and three sets of parents holding onto their whelps, he hit the ramp release button. Immediately the hold filled with rushing wind, tugging at every item, testing their fastness. Tucked securely in his corner, he hit the release for the air boards, jettisoning the gunmen down the tracks into open air.
Even without the height difference, you could tell which of the two was the older. Their friend had complete control over the board, guiding and gliding with ease even in the gusting air. His counterpart, having never ridden the boards before, was less fluid - a real learn-on-the-fly experience. If anybody else tried this, Cid'd call them a crazy idiot with a death wish. That described Vincent pretty well, but he had the reflexes and stamina to do this.
He raised the ramp, then stretched out his arms until his back popped. "Now we wait for them to pick up Knights of the Round."
With the hold sealed, the kids squirmed away from their parents and clattered down the stairs to examine the air-board launch. Marlene's voice rang off the walls as she eagerly explained how it worked. He stomped up to join the others on the catwalk, grinning at the brats' irrepressible enthusiasm. Back in 2011, he and Shera had been talking about kids sooner rather than later, since time had been drawing on for both of them. Well, they'd've plenty of time for it now.
There were big spaces open along the railing, Barret keeping a healthy distance from the Nibelheimers and them from each other. Cid settled in halfway between Barret and Claudia, and glanced along the rail at the mountain pair. They looked like they were settling in a bit, watching the kids play with half-smiles on their faces.
"I'm glad," he said, "that they'll get to have you around for good this time."
Claudia glanced over, most of her attention still in the cargo bay. "What?"
"I mean, before, Cloud and Tifa were real messed up by you dyin'. It must've been good for 'em to talk to ya again."
They both stared at him, jaws agape and color draining from their faces. Alarm bells went off in his head. He swung toward Barret, who was giving him a look of stupefied, disgusted horror.
"Ya mean, in that long talk y'all had, y'all never brought it up?!"
"Course not! Who the hell tells someone how they die?!"
"We died?"
Cid swung back, crossing his arms. Guilt, as always, made him mean. "A lot of fuckin' people died in the future. Ya weren't special or nothin'."
"How?" hissed Brian, charging forward to catch at Cid's coat, nearly shaking him.
Cid fought down the urge to knock the man back. "It ain't happenin' again, so it ain't important."
Claudia's pale face appeared over Brian's shoulder. "They said they were in their twenties, how old were they-"
Cid cut her off. "It ain't important, alright! What matters is yer all alive right now, and they ain't gonna let any bad thing happen to ya. End of story." He broke loose from Brian's grip and stomped back down to the bay, needing to get the ropes ready to bring the two ex-Turks back on board. Behind him, he could hear them moving on to interrogate Barret.
In the last two weeks, Claudia's whole life had turned upside down. When she first met the group on the mountain trail in Nibelheim, almost two months ago, she'd thought them strange - four heavily-armed children and one adult, acting against the most powerful company on the planet. Not to mention their appearances and names! But she'd thought when they left, that that was going to be it, they were out of her life forever. She couldn't have been more wrong.
She trailed behind the group as they hiked through a strange forest. The pale trees, the filtered greenish light, the humid air, so different from the dry pine forests of Mt. Nibel, only intensified her unease. Apparently, the place had been under a sleep spell for hundreds of years. Did she believe that? Her life had been so strange lately, it seemed no more or less ridiculous than anything else.
Cloud suffered none of her anxiety, untroubled by the dark aura around the adults. He darted around with the two girls, excited by everything. "Ma, look at this!" he called, pointing out a clump of small, silver bellflowers, or a passing butterfly, shockingly iridescent. When they encountered monsters, he watched the battle with eager eyes and rushed forward at the end to inspect the bodies before they faded away.
She watched the fighters - Barret raising a clenched hand in victory, Shera sighing with relief, Cid wiping gore off his spear. The Vincents, older and younger, with their mismatched appearances, stalking onward again. Her fingers dug into her arms, held tightly against herself.
Everyone in Cosmo Canyon accepted them as time travelers. Did so easily, as far as she could see. Bugenhagen had sought her out to talk about it. He was convinced of his 'grandson's' identity - the red cub she'd met outside Midgar - and extended that conviction to the others. He believed the Lifestream could have partially reversed its flow and brought them through to the past, preserving their memories and abilities, but whittling away other details, like their physical ages.
If a man who'd spent his life studying the Lifestream believed it, then shouldn't she? Her hands clenched tighter. She couldn't deny they knew more than they should. The harp they'd dug up to get into this forest, for one - the artifact had been under centuries' worth of dirt and root and bone, but they'd known exactly where to find it.
Some of the things they knew were horrific. After Cid put his foot in his mouth, mentioning her death offhand, she'd cornered Barret and demanded an explanation. He refused to give her details, but he hadn't liked the idea of her asking "future" Tifa and Cloud about it either, and he'd surrendered the bare bones of the situation.
So, apparently, Shinra killed her. Shinra killed Brian. Nibelheim burnt to the ground, and Cloud and Tifa saw it all, the only survivors.
Her eyes flicked toward her son, running along happily.
"There it is! Get it!"
Her head jerked toward Barret's shout. He was pointing at the hill they'd just come down, where a red materia rolled uphill of its own volition. Shera stooped to grab it but misjudged its speed, and Cid collided with her, sending them both to the ground. Forced to dodge them, Vincent overshot the stone, leaving Tifa to intercept it with a lunging dive.
Cid pulled Shera up after him, cursing and laughing. "Good catch, girly."
"What is that?" Brian asked as Tifa stood, the stone clutched in her hand, leaves in her hair, dirt and a triumphant smile on her face.
Cid was still chuckling. "That fuckin' thing's the wild Kujata summon."
Barret crossed his arms and grumbled, but he looked relieved. "Wasn't sure we'd find it this go-round."
It was things like this, she realized, that made her want to believe them. They took in stride that a materia could roll around on its own as though they'd seen it happen before. Without even touching the stone, they knew what summon it was.
Tifa held the stone out to Barret, who accepted it with a nod and gruff thanks, while Cloud and Marlene excitedly chattered around her, saying things like "good catch."
Back home, Cloud mostly avoided the other village kids. There was no denying that this experience was good for him. But… she frowned. How long can we go on like this?
Her thoughts were put on hold as the trees thinned and a city unlike any she'd ever heard of came into view. The buildings seemed made of white shell. Odd plants that looked like corals grew along the deserted streets, and a grove of towering white trees rose on the far side of the small city. A faint smell of clean water blew toward them.
"Welcome, y'all, to the forgotten city, capital of the Cetra. If ya want a tour or history lesson, don't ask me. I'm just here to pick up shit." With that, Cid stomped off down the left road, with Shera, walking softer, right beside him.
Barret waved his hand at them, a signal to follow him down the right-hand road. "Y'all come with me, and don't any of ya wander off. Still some monsters livin' in this place." The warning apparently didn't apply to the Vincents, who took the middle road leading toward the heart of the abandoned city.
The kids at once ran after Barret, but Claudia followed more slowly, wrestling with her emotions and finally coming to a decision. "Brian."
He looked back at her with clear disdain on his face. She grit her teeth and kept her resolve, stating calmly, "I'm goin' to believe them." His frown deepened but she kept talking before he could interrupt. "That they're time travelers, and that those two earlier are our kids." She looked at him, standing there all bristled and indignant. "You don't have to do the same. Deny them if you want, but understand that I'm goin' to accept Tifa as part of my family, no matter what. They made a family in the future they came from, and that family's now mine." The long-running feud didn't matter here. Her job was to look after her child. She intended to do exactly that.
She looked ahead - the group had stopped, and Marlene was eagerly showing Cloud and Tifa a yellow materia from inside one of the shell-like houses. Claudia's voice softened. "And I have to make up for lost time gettin' to know my granddaughter."
It had been a few days since they left the forgotten city and cold North Continent. Claudia, despite her resolution, was not enjoying herself. In a whiplash change of temperature and climate, they were exploring the high desert mountains north of Corel, looking for a hidden mako spring. They hiked out, searching, Cid and Barret arguing the whole time about its location in the dry landscape. If it hadn't been for the kids wanting to explore, she would have stayed out of the sun, aboard the temperature-controlled Shera.
They took a break at noon, resting in the shade of house-sized chunks of granite. Claudia eyed the kids' flushed faces and loose, tired limbs, and decided that she was going to take them back to the airship, whether anyone else wanted to give up and guide her back or not. But when she said so, Brian scoffed - though it was a weaker effort than usual, and she thought he was glad she'd said it first - and the kids immediately began a stream of arguments. Barret, who was restlessly scanning the surrounding slopes, squinting and shading his eyes, interrupted them. He pointed to a stand of squat, twisted pines. "That looks familiar."
They found the hidden cave, a simple darker shadow among the desert-varnished boulders, a half-hour of scrambling later. It was much deeper and stranger then she thought it would be from the outside. The air was cool and clinging, and stunk like rotten eggs. Wavering green and purple light illuminated the vaulted cavern at the end of the passage, reflecting off the black rock walls. Mako trickled from cracks, pooling underneath a heap of stones in the middle of the circular cave, then oozed up through the gaps between rocks, making them slick and difficult to walk on.
Cid called for them all to stay back while he wobbled and cursed his way up the slippery pile to the source of the purple light. He reached into the pile and yanked, grimacing with the effort. "Damn thing's stuck under a rock. Barret, gimme a hand up here."
The two worked for a moment to get the item out before they carefully made their way down to them. On the shore, Barret displayed it, cupped in his metal palm. Another materia. Claudia wondered what this one did, but Cid was in no mood for questions, not even from the kids, who he was usually patient with.
"Right, let's get the fuck out of here."
As they left the cave, the purple light faded with them, leaving behind only green.
Descending from the sunburnt rock hills into the flat-bottomed wash where the Shera hovered right above the ground, they spotted Vincent waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp.
"Crap. Alright, what the hell's wrong now?"
"Shinra is looking into the prospect of clones and doubles. They are investigating Shera's younger self in Junon."
Cid, already red and sweating, became apoplectic. "The fuck those freaking churls are! They're a bunch of mouthbreathin' jelly-livered gighees in a ruttin' sandworm's nest if they fuckin' think I'm gonna damn well sit back and let their bloody shitty blue-suited murderous makomongers get any-fuckin'-where near Shera's younger self! Puke-faced corpse-creatin' assholes!"
The pilot stopped to regain his breath, running an agitated hand through his hair. Claudia cautiously lowered her own hands, which she'd clapped over Cloud's ears halfway through. He wasn't quite finished, though. "Okay, fuck those shit-stained douchebags, we need to get her out. We're headed for stinkin' Junon, folks, on the thrice-damned double."
The Shera came in low over the ocean, skimming over hills covered in fading summer grass and lowland forest. They dropped further into a clearing a few miles north of the city to hide. On the flight over, they decided that Shera - as the plainest and least noticeable among them - would go into Junon and convince her younger self to leave with her. The elder Vincent would shadow her to provide backup in case something went wrong. And indeed, something went wrong. Only two hours later, they came back empty-handed.
"There's wanted posters of us everywhere," Shera explained. "I barely got into the city and I felt like everyone was staring at me."
Barret slammed his metal fist against the ship's side with a loud clang. "What now?" he half-shouted. "Have Vincent kidnap her from her bed?"
Claudia thought that, timid as Shera could be, having someone who looked more like a vampire than anything abduct her from her room wouldn't go over well.
Vincent looked somber. "If someone reports seeing a woman in the city who matched the posters, the company will likely make a move. In this case, it will suit our purposes better to act quickly. We cannot wait for night."
"Shera?" Claudia asked. "Was there a poster for me?"
The engineer shook her head. "Not that I saw."
"Fine. Then I'll go."
They all turned to her in surprise. Even Cloud looked like he didn't believe he'd heard right. Claudia's pride was stung, and she put back her shoulders and lifted her chin. "I'll go. Shinra might be lookin' for me too, but I don't think they'll expect this." She turned to Shera. "Give me a note or somethin', to get her to trust me, and I'll bring her out here."
Barret held out his metal hand, shaking his head. "Now hold on a fuckin' minute. If you get caught or hurt, Cloud'll kill me!"
"None of you can go into the city, and we can't waste time. Do any of you have a better idea?"
"Would it be possible to call her?" the younger Vincent asked.
Shera shook her head apologetically. "I don't remember my old number. Sorry."
"So just give me directions, and I'll go get her," insisted Claudia.
The time-travelers looked at each other in silence. Cloud's expression cycled from shock to admiration, then back. Then, from the last person she'd have expected - "I'll go with you."
"What!?" She turned in disbelief to Brian. "You can't be serious."
His face set in hard lines. "You Strifes are known for your bad luck and bad decisions."
"Bad -? You know well that the Lockharts have been to blame for most of it!"
He swelled up and she expected him to yell, but all he said was, "Anyone going would have a better chance with backup."
She blinked at him. This was far too reasonable. What was he planning? Then she saw his darting glance at Tifa, and realized he was just as jealous as she was of the kids' starry-eyed hero-worship of AVALANCHE.
Vincent spoke up. "I will shadow you as I did with Shera."
"As will I," said the younger Vincent.
Barret stepped forward at this point, putting himself physically between Claudia and the gunmen - and even the door off the bridge. "No way, no how. This ain't happenin'."
"I can do this -" Claudia started, but Cid cut her off, glaring at Barret.
"So, what're you sayin'? Your boyfriend's goddamn happiness is more important than my wife's goddamn life?"
"Um," said Shera.
Cid froze with his mouth open, then flushed to the color of a beetroot. "Well, she's not my wife-wife," he muttered. "Ya know what I mean. It's the fuckin' principle of the thing!"
The older Vincent continued as though the interruption hadn't happened, talking to Claudia over Barret's shoulder. "It would be better if you were armed in some way."
"I can fire a rifle."
The Vincents shared a glance. "Then take this." The younger Vincent took Death Penalty out from under his cloak. Eight materia winked up at her from the rifle stock.
"But - that's your weapon."
"I will acquire another from the armory." One golden fingertip pointed at the materia. "Can you use these?"
"I use a Thunder to scare off wolves."
Vincent nodded. The stones twinkled between his fingers as he rearranged them into different slots. Claudia glanced at Barret, whose face twisted sourly as he watched Vincent's progress. Marlene stepped over to stand beside him, slipping her small hand into his. Claudia looked again at her son. He was watching Vincent, too, biting his lip in a way that meant deep thought.
Cid turned brusquely to Brian. "Aw hell, you'll need somethin' too."
The mayor squared his stance and held up a calloused fist. "I'm trained in the martial arts."
Cid grinned. "'Course you are. Both of ya should have some extra equipment, too."
They went to the armory, where Vincent picked out another gun, and Claudia and Brian got a Phoenix Down, a Speed Drink, and a Protect Ring apiece. As they were walking down to the bay, Shera stopped and smacked her forehead. "I almost forgot!" She pushed up her sleeve and untied the pink Ribbon from her wrist. "Here. Status protection." Brian took it from her outstretched hand. "Put it in contact with your skin," she instructed.
Cid reached to untie his, but Barret got his off first. "Gimme your hand," he said roughly to Claudia. He tied it around her forearm, looking glum and angry.
"Thank you," she said. He didn't say anything back, just went and took Marlene's hand again.
As the ramp went down, Claudia turned to Cloud to say goodbye. He looked up at her, his mouth starting to wobble. "I'll be right -" He threw his arms around her, hugging tight, face hidden. She ruffled his blond hair, the ridiculous untameable spikes. "I really will be right back. Don't worry. Your mom's tough." He nodded and stepped back. His nose was running a little, and his scowling face was red from holding back tears.
Tifa actually was crying, and Marlene left her dad to hug her. "They'll be okay," she assured, patting the other girl's hair. "They've got both Vincents lookin' out for 'em."
"What a pity party!" said Cid, and Shera punched his arm. "C'mon, get if you're gonna. We ain't got any damn time for all this fussin', I thought."
Claudia nodded, though her heart was quailing a little, looking at Cloud, so small and fierce. What if something did go wrong? But the Vincents were heading down the ramp, and it was true, this had to be done quickly. "Be good," she told Cloud, and turned away, slinging the rifle across her back.
She'd lived in the coastal city, once, years ago. It had been Shinra's headquarters back then, before the company shifted over to Midgar. The company's move didn't seem to have hurt the city. It was even larger now, streets more full of people, steel buildings more towering overhead. Sounds reverberated off the buildings, bouncing back and forth, turning into a dull roar punctuated by the irate honking of car horns.
Beside her, Brian, who'd never left his mountains in his life, wrinkled his nose. The whole long walk to the building Shera worked in, he kept up a steady litany of grumbles and complaints. "Who in their right mind would want to live in such an over-crowded place? There's too much pollution. The sky isn't even blue anymore. Look at all the trash lying around, doesn't anyone know how to throw things away properly? If that man's homeless, he should just leave for somewhere cheaper. Why would anyone have a dog small enough to carry in a purse? It's wolf food." … And so on.
She was tempted to tell him that Midgar was supposedly worse, but she held her tongue. Talking to him wasn't worth the effort. Instead, she observed the people they passed. Some glanced their way, or more likely at the rifle across her back, but mostly they were absorbed in their own business. The few Shinra patrols they passed didn't bother them, though some of the troopers eyed her gun. When she noticed them looking, she would give them a nod and they would return it. A silent, "I see you and don't care". She shifted the strap across her shoulder, thinking it would be a different story if she looked Wutaian.
Her opinion of Shinra had never been high, but after hearing the time-travelers' stories, her opinion of the company had soured like curdled milk left in the summer sun. If Shinra was only as half as bad as they said, it would still be rotten.
When they reached the nondescript office building Shera's younger self worked in, she pulled the letter Shera wrote her out of her shirt pocket. Time to see if this would work.
The Shinra tip line buzzed constantly with false leads on the targets. It was easy to rule out false sightings of Walls and Valentine, with their prosthetics, and the little Wutaian ninja, too. The others were more generic in appearance, and the reports weren't easy to disprove over the phone.
So when tips came in, no matter how improbable the location seemed, the department dispatched some troopers to the site. Not that they stood a chance against AVALANCHE, but if they didn't report in by the designated time, it would be worth sending in a pair of Turks. For all the good they could do.
Tseng showed no outward signs of agitation, scanning columns of code, hunting for a possible back door the terrorists could be using to gain information. Internally, he kept running over everything they knew about the group and any possible connections they could have inside Shinra. One possibility that loomed large to him, but which he had not yet mentioned to anyone, was that Veld was the leak.
From the start, the director had been involved with the investigation and apprehension of this group. The bombing mission in Kalm had been known to seven people, and Veld had been one. His family lived in Kalm, the likelihood of their becoming casualties had been high. But was that motive enough to betray the company? For a Turk, for the leader of the Turks - no, Tseng thought not.
There was Valentine. Veld admitted to keeping his security code active. During the initial confrontation with the gunman, leaving Nibelheim, Veld had reportedly been surprised but hadn't actually worked at bringing the man in, only appearing to talk with him. Surprise was easy enough to feign. Could he have known about him sooner? Would anger over his old partner's fate be sufficient to turn Veld against the company? Maybe. Perhaps not the whole company, but certain elements of it.
So far, AVALANCHE's targets had been the Science Department and the… more annoying board members. Individuals that all the Turks complained about, under their breath. If Valentine's disappearance and enhancements were indeed linked to Hojo, could Veld's actions be an attempt at proactively protecting the rest of the Turks?
AVALANCHE could kill easily, but chose to keep the body count to a minimum. Why? Letting dangerous combatants like the Turks and SOLDIERs live was a disadvantage to them. But if their goals included protecting SOLDIERs and the Turks, taking out the elements that threatened them, then their actions could make some sense.
And at the disastrous short sea attack, why had they revived Veld first and spoken with him, before bringing back the SOLDIERs? Had it simply been an intimidation tactic - or had they perhaps passed on a covert message? Why had no one pursuing them thought yet to use a Sense materia?
A notification popped up in the corner of his screen. Another report of the engineer Shera being sighted, this time in Junon. He frowned at it. Freya's observation at the last meeting of their targets' reactionary behavior crossed his mind. The Turks had begun looking into an engineer there, also named Shera. Were the two things related? Could this be another leak?
He opened his PHS. It wouldn't hurt to put extra security on the woman. He left instructions for troopers to take the young engineer into custody, then contacted Alvis. Maybe he was being overly cautious on this, but AVALANCHE moved quickly. Better to be wrong than to miss an opportunity.
Alvis agreed that it was suspicious, well worth looking into. Thirty-eight minutes later, due to city rush hour and a traffic-blocking accident, the pair arrived at the think tank that employed Shera. His PHS vibrated as they parked along the street in front. He reached to answer it with one hand, and with the other he opened the car door. In a spray of glass, the window shattered. Needle-like shards peppered Tseng's cheek and the side of his neck. A gunshot echoed off the surrounding buildings.
Rod yelped and swore, diving out of the car. Tseng ducked and rolled, taking refuge behind a gray utility box, drawing his gun. Civilians on the street stared wide-eyed, the smart ones already ducking for cover or running away. He glanced at his car door. The way the glass had broken made it difficult to tell where the shot had come from. His lips thinned. The windows were supposed to be bulletproof up to a level sixty-six gun. Equipment at that high a grade made it almost certain he was dealing with AVALANCHE. It also meant that he might still be in the sniper's sights, but as long as he stayed down, the gunman wouldn't shoot.
He was about to test the theory by moving to better cover when more shots rang out, accompanied by more glass shattering. This time, the noises came from the tech building, and Tseng recognized the sound of the standard infantry rifles. Cautiously he peeked out from his hiding spot, and his eyes widened. Rushing through the tech lab's shattered doors were two familiar figures. Mayor Lockhart from Nibelheim, with a lab-coated figure in a fireman's carry over his shoulders - the engineer the Turks had come to question. Claudia Strife was laying down cover fire, keeping at bay the Shinra infantry Tseng had sent to secure the suspect.
They were arguing with each other. Strife pointed an irritated hand down the road before sending a slowly-cast Tri-thundaga spell into the building. The spell shattered the windows on the front two stories of the building. The scent of ozone filled the air.
The woman made use of the time she'd bought herself with the spell by quickly reloading another few rounds into her rifle. Tseng took careful aim, but before he could squeeze the trigger, his gun spun out of his hand, shot away by the unseen sniper. Tseng moved at once, diving under a large van parked further along the curb. The two Nibelheimers took off down the street, still arguing, but bullets smashing into the concrete outside the lab's entrance kept the troopers pinned inside.
"Handgun!"
He looked over to see Rod, crouched by the bumper of another vehicle and speaking urgently into his PHS, signaling at him to go down a side road. He nodded, but as soon as he attempted to crawl from underneath the vehicle, a bullet whizzed past him to bury itself in the asphalt. The irregularly placed firing in front of the building was still going. So, two snipers. Both Valentines?
Part of him wondered if he could, in some way, meet with the man. There were many questions he wanted answered. Ruefully, though, he knew he was still a rookie, and that Valentine, no matter how long he'd been away, was a veteran. If one of them were to divulge more than they ought, it would be Tseng.
If the snipers were covering the Nibelheimer's escape, they'd have to move soon. Junon was full of Shinra personnel. They wouldn't get far before being intercepted... unless they had a vehicle nearby. He was loathe to underestimate the speed of AVALANCHE's movements.
Taking that into consideration, he gathered himself, preparing to leap under the next vehicle in line and make his way in that fashion to the alley. As soon as he moved, though, something hit his knee, a searing pain blooming like time-lapsed footage of an opening flower. The whole world slowed. A low sound reverberated off the surrounding buildings. Turning his body to roll as he hit the pavement seemed to take forever. So did looking down to see the blood beginning to spurt out of a hole in his slacks.
Slow, his mind groggily supplied. He'd been hit by a bullet inflicted with the status spell. He'd thought ahead and equipped Esuna, but he took no pleasure being right. Casting the spell took hours, it seemed, and once the cleansing magic washed over him, the pain of the injury was no longer dulled, the shattered bones in his knee causing extreme agony. Blood poured from the wound, splattering onto the asphalt beneath him.
His wristband only had one materia slot. He popped out the Esuna and dug in his coat pocket for a Cure. He grit his teeth and forced his head up, examining his surroundings just in time to see the gunmen as they broke cover. Matching tattered red capes swirled around them as they leapt from building to building high above the street, following the fleeing Nibelheimers. With little thought, Tseng dropped the Cure materia he'd just grasped and brushed his fingers to the other sphere in his pocket, a Sense materia.
The elder of the gunmen read at level 31. The younger… A cold shudder went through him, settling in his stomach. The younger was level 99.
"Tttssseeennnggg..."
He rolled his head to the side and saw Rod, one hand clapped to his shoulder, struggling to stand from a crouch, like a man underwater. Tseng refocused on the immediate problems and finished swapping his materia. His shattered knee bones fused back together, and he took a ragged breath before standing to check on Rod's condition.
Slow, and a bullet in his shoulder. Cure and Esuna took care of both. Tseng stooped to pick up his gun, but the shot that had taken it from his hand had damaged it beyond repair. He set it back into their car and was about to follow their targets when Rod grabbed his elbow.
"Let the infantry worry about ground pursuit. The airship has been sighted outside the city. We need to get to the choppers."
He nodded, automatically deferring to the senior Turk. Still, as they raced back to the helipad, he felt shocky and upset in a way a firefight couldn't explain. He couldn't help wondering if he'd cast Sense incorrectly.
Level 99. Was that even possible for a human? Could you call someone like that human anymore?
Notes
Hello, we're back. Happy new year! It's been a while so a refresher: Cid's group is going around picking up powerful items they don't want Shinra to get its grubby hands on. Cloud and co.'s fight in Mideel took place about a week before this chapter's visit to Junon. The Turks have suspicions about AVALANCHE, but not enough connecting pieces to build a coherent picture. (This is why Barret's mentioned as 'Walls' in Tseng's section; that's the name they know he's used.)
Sorry for the long break. A lack of inspiration for this project and an excess of it for other ones, and some family health issues delayed us. Zephyr wrote a 1920's VII AU as a holiday present for Skipper, and we will start posting it soon. (March-ish, probably). It's so fun, you guys.
