WHERE ANCIENTS FEAR TO TREAD
CHAPTER 8
Reno grinned wickedly at his handiwork. A few feet in front of him, Cloud's limp body lay unconscious and sprawled out on the cold hard stone ground. He had been waiting for this moment ever since Cloud took the drop on him during the attack at the top of the sector 7 tower.
"Heh, this guy wasn't so tough after all." He spat out distastefully. "It's amazing this scumbag even got the drop on ol' man Shinra to begin with."
"It's not our place to make prejudgments on something like that." Rude interjected purposefully. "Remember your place Reno. We're Turks. We're paid to clean up Shinra's loose ends but we aren't employed to elaborate on the 'why and the 'why not's' of the situation."
Reno glared daggers at the bald man who, even on the hottest of days, could seem cold as ice. "Tch, fine!" he hissed. "You always gotta take the fun outta everything don't ya?"
"We aren't paid to have fun." The bald man retorted.
"Yeah I noticed… You work too hard you know that? Lighten up a bit and maybe your hair will grow back."
Rude simply frowned at the snide remark. Snickering could be heard a few feet away causing rude to glare angrily towards the direction of their newest member.
"And what, Miss Elena, may I ask is so funny?"
Elena, the newest Turk in the fold, suddenly became red in the face at being discovered. "Well sir… I… uh…"
"Ah calm down!" Reno interrupted, saving Elena from an otherwise embarrassing excuse. "The lady's human after all. Besides…" Reno shot the blond woman a sidelong wink. "She can't deny the truth any more then I can."
This brought an even bigger frown to Rude's face yet this time the man said nothing more, opting to take on his impassive façade.
"That's enough! From all of you!" A new voice suddenly rang out.
As one, all three Turks spun swiftly around giving crisp salutes to their leader.
"Tseng sir, the target is secured!" Rude reported in an almost mechanical sounding voice.
"Very good." The dark haired man replied, walking up evenly towards the comatose form of Cloud lying sprawled out on the ground.
Tseng kneeled down over the man then placed two fingers on his neck, checking his vitals. Nodding silently to himself, The leading Turk then stood up to face his group.
"And what of his companions? Where are they?"
"Companions sir?" Rude wore a bemused expression on his face.
Tseng's face suddenly twisted into a grimace. "Don't tell me you idiots forgot! This dope wasn't the only one involved in the assassination attempt you know! There were four others!"
"But I thought that dark haired traitor was killed already." Reno argued. "We saw his dead corps remember! Sephiroth sliced him up like a roast chicken."
Tseng only grew even more upset by this response. "I'm not talking about that dead piece of $hit! I'm talking about the others they were with. The Avalanche leader along with the woman under his command. Then there was the ancient. The one you're all forgetting about it that tiger of theirs! He's also a culprit. And for the record-"
Tseng walked purposefully up towards Reno, jabbing a cybernetic finger roughly onto the man's chest. "As far as the public are concerned, Sephiroth is 'still dead'! Shinra wants to place the blame on someone and so now these guys are going to take the fall! Therefor, I don't want to hear you mentioning his name 'ever' again! Got it?"
Reno glared angrily at the man then smirked nonchalantly. "Hmph, yeah whatever."
Tseng continued to glare at the redheaded Turk then slowly turned to face the rest. "Ok, I want you all to scout around. If we've got this guy, then that means his friends can't be too far behind."
"Look's like we've got a winner!"
Tseng spun his head around in a heartbeat at the new voice echoing from the distance. Within a split second, his gun was drawn from within the folds of his sports coat and now being aimed towards the horizons. "Fan out!" He yelled towards his group of hit men.
Suddenly, from seemingly out of nowhere, A red cloaked object came spinning down towards them.
"$hit!" Reno yelled, ripping out his nightstick.
The red object angled deftly out of the way of the charged assault stick, flipping, instead, behind the red haired man. Reno whirled around only to find his eyes staring straight into the end of a 9 mm, materia enhanced handgun.
Tseng saw the plight of his reckless agent then turned around to face him when suddenly something slammed against his back hard. Tseng tumbled unceremoniously to the ground, completely unconscious.
Standing over him, smirking proudly, Cid retracted the flat end of his lance then caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Within a heartbeat, the blond pilot dodged back, allowing the bald headed Turk to swing his fists towards him and miss horribly. Cid held his leg out to trip the man, yet Rude's reflexes were second to none as he quickly somersaulted out of the way then yanked out his handgun firing two shots.
Cid easily turned his head to the side, avoiding the two shots, then darted quickly up to the man before he could blink and rammed his elbow across the man's face. Rude sagged heavily to the ground however Cid caught him before he could make full contact.
Vincent glanced over towards Cid, still keeping his gun level towards an angry Reno's face. "There's still the woman." He reminded the blond haired ex-pilot.
"A- already taken care of…"
Both men looked onwards towards a very battered yet determined Cloud, propped up on one knee, yet holding his buster sword dangerously close to Elena's neck.
"Hmph, now I get it." Cid said brightly. "You were feigning unconsciousness until the opportunity was right to attack huh?"
Cloud simply flashed the gruff man a grin. "It didn't take much acting though."
Cid nodded evenly, staring at the man's injuries, ranging from a dislocated shoulder, to numerous cuts and bruises engulfing his body, towards the gouged and ripped heel of a blood foot, finally resting on the indentation in the man's waist area signifying a few broken ribs. "When we're all done, we'll patch you up kid."
"Assuming you even get out of here!" Reno interjected. "Do you know who you're messing with?"
"The Turks." Vincent replied dryly. "Shinra employed hit men. Mercenaries for hire you might say. Specializing in all forms of undercover espionage and assassination assignments. Also experts in the art of interrogation and torture. Most notable combat skills are speed and accuracy. Not too much different from the mafia really."
Reno stared hatefully towards the cloaked man. "You seem to know a hell of a lot about us. Just who the hell are you."
"Don't… tell me you haven't heard of them." Elena hissed from her position at the end of Cloud's sword. "These two guys are the most feared people in Midgar aside from us. I've been hearing lots of rumors about two assassins. Legend has it, they get info on certain someone's. Afterwards, those certain someone's are never found alive again."
"I've heard of em." Reno said, narrowing his eyes a bit more. "So then the question is why are you hear. Who's on your kill list this time?"
"Heh, that's not for you to know." Cid responded, Finally dropping Rude's body onto the stone floor.
Reno scowled at the blond haired pilot but said nothing.
"Answer me this…" Cloud suddenly spoke abruptly. "What's going on with Shinra? I'm sure we both know who really caused havoc on all the faculty there. How is it that Shinra still exists after the death of their president?"
Reno chuckled a bit, relaxing slightly despite the 9 mm still being aimed towards his face. "You really don't know anything do you? Everyone knows the president had a son. Rufus Shinra."
Cloud flashed a shocked and bemused expression. "A son? The President actually had a son?"
Reno rolled his eyes then continued as if Cloud had never interrupted. "He's the new head of Shinra now. His first orders were for us to find the culprits, you and your friends, and bring them to justice. Congratulations merc, your now on Shinra's hit list."
"A fine job they've done so far." Cid grunted, nudging his staff onto Rude's side for emphasis. "Looks like Shinra needs to seriously work on who they hire for help these days."
"What are you planning to do about Sephiroth?" Vincent asked finally.
"What?" Reno gave him a hateful yet confused expression.
"Sephiroth, the true murderer of the President. What does Rufus plan to do with him?"
"Heh, now that's our little secret." Reno couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. Vincent kept his stoic expression, yet he drew his other arm back, cocking his pistol.
Reno's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Let me reiterate my question." Vincent continued, his voice now stinging with scorn and slight agitation. "What does Shinra plan to do about Sephiroth?"
Reno matched the dark haired man's glare evenly. In slow, meticulous words, the red head answered. "Gee, I don't know. Musta slipped my mind…"
Vincent's eyes flashed slightly, the only sign of recognition he gave towards Reno's remark.
"Good bye." The red eyed man said, applying pressure to the trigger of his gun.
Suddenly a burst of light exploded from out of the center of the room, forcing them all to cover their eyes.
"F#ck! What the hell?!?" Cid yelled in alarm. Before the blond knew what was happening, Rude flipped up to his feet then kneed him in the gut forcing him to his knees.
"Nice job Tseng." Reno said, slipping away from out of the sights of Vincent's pistol. Vincent, in turn retaliated violently, firing rapidly into the direction of where his captive used to be.
"Shut up and let's move it!" Tseng said anxiously. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Elena was still fumbling around, trying to find her way around. Angrily, Tseng reached out his metallic hand and grabbed her shoulder.
"Come on rookie!"
Once the light finally cleared up, Cloud wasn't the least bit surprised to find that the Turks were no where to be seen. Suddenly a voice rang out from the echo's of the wall.
"We'll meet again Avalanche. Our battle is far from over…" and with that, all sound of their previous hostages were lost.
"Ah F#ckin A!" Cid yelled. "How the hell did they get away in all that light?"
"The Turks have a special knack for getting out of sticky situations like these. I presume they had flash sunglasses or something of the sort. Possible something knew to keep their retina's from being fried."
"Regardless of the how's and why's, they still got away." Cloud grumbled. The spiky blond stood up then immediately stumbled to the ground on one knee, eagerly clutching his side. "Sorry, I couldn't hold on to the girl."
Cid's eyes widened in shock remembering the young mercenary's condition. "Aw F#ck im sorry kid. I forgot all about that."
Immediately the blond rushed over to Cloud pulling out a cure 3 materia.
"Don't worry kid, ill have you patched up in a sec."
Vincent made no move, instead opting to glance once more towards the area to where to Turks narrowly escaped. "This will be a most interesting journey indeed." The dark haired man mused silently to himself.
****
Tifa sighed softly into the wind watching the billowy smoke of her breath wash away into the distance of the cold frigid air.
"So these are the caves huh?" She asked scanning the large mountain up and down.
They were now all facing the mouth of the tunnels, preparing to enter and once more find and retrieve their missing companion.
"It looks very dark in there." Aeris supplied, casting slightly nervous glances towards her other two companions. "Do you think its safe?"
Red13 gave a short gruff of annoyance. "Well we won't find out standing around here like useless invalids. Lets get moving."
A slight smile touched the edges of Tifa's mouth as she walked forwards, her figure being swallowed into the shadows of the cave. 'Cloud hold on. We're coming for you.' She said to herself mentally.
Red13 was the next to enter with Aeris following close behind, a somewhat anxious and tense expression on her face.
"I really don't know about this you guys." She said weakly.
"Ah don't be such a sore sport Aeris." Tifa replied. "Just stay close to us and everything will be just fine."
"Well that's easy for you to say Tifa. You've had previous combat experience with Avalanche. This is the first real time I've ever traveled on an adventure before. I can't help it if I'm a little big scared."
"What about that time when we were in the caves huh? You didn't seem too frightened then."
"That was a different matter all together. I was being controlled and manipulated remember?"
Tifa nearly pulled her hair in frustation. "Well that's still no excuse. You had the confidence to go through with that. It shows you have what it takes to deal with this. You can do it Aeris. Just have confidence in yourself."
Aeris lowered her eyes uncertainly. "Ill try…"
Tifa nodded her head in a motivating gesture. "Either do or do not Aeris. There's no room for half a$$ed efforts here. Just stay calm and do your best." A little more hesitantly, the female fighter continued. "Do it for Cloud…"
Aeris swallowed the lump in her throat then nodded evenly. "…Ok… ok I'll do it. Cloud needs us now. I won't fail him. Not like I fail…"
Tifa's eyes softened slightly and she placed a comforting hand on the young green-eyed woman's shoulder. "You don't need to say it Aeris. I know. Let's just get this over with ok?"
Aeris smiled back. "Ok. Lets go."
Red13 vaguely listened to the conversation transpiring behind him. Instead he was more attentive of the layouts of the cave. Something was wrong. He could sense it.
Pausing for a moment the young tiger took of whiff of the air confirming his suspicions.
"There's been an earthquake in here recently." He said in a slightly subdued voice.
"What?" Tifa asked now flanking him on the right.
"An earthquake. I can't pinpoint exactly where but I know its somewhere ahead of us."
"What if the path is closed off?" Aeris asked. "This is the only way to Junon. If it's closed off, we wont have any way to track Cloud.
"It would probably be better if we investigated first. We don't want to jump to any unnecessary conclusions." The red tiger interjected.
Tifa scratched the back of her head subconsciously. "This could actually be good news."
Red now turned his gave over to the bar maid/ Avalanche member with a slightly bemused expression on his face. "What?"
"Well you said the quake was recent right? If that's the case then it means we can't be too far away from Cloud!"
"Hey that's right!" Aeris agreed cheerfully.
"That serves as a valid point." Red mused. "Pending, if he even survived the cave in that is."
Red suddenly wished he had kept his words to himself. Right after they left his mouth, the orange/ red tiger saw the blood literally drain from the faces of his two companions. He knew how much they cared for the spiky blond yet now he had to make matters worse by bringing up his possible death.
"I… I'm sure it's not the case however." The tiger stammered, trying to cover up his mistake. "I mean after all, Cloud doesn't seem like the type to get killed by a few falling boulders right?"
Tifa's eyes brightened slightly. "Yeah your right. Cloud's become a lot stronger then before. I'm sure he's ok." Yet the Avalanche woman's words came out more hollow then she intended.
Aeris simply clasped her hands to her chest in fear. "But what if Sephiroth was behind it? What if… he wants to destroy Cloud once in for all like he tried with us?"
New fear rang in all their minds. Red angrily shook all possibilities of the blond's horrible death out of his mind. 'This is madness!' He thought to himself vehemently.
"Look this is getting us nowhere. I'm sure we're all worrying over nothing. Lets just continue walking forward until we actually do find something."
Both women were skeptical but nodded their consent as all three of them continued on their trek.
****
Sitting perched on high positions above the trio, six dark figures watched silently in amusement.
"Heh, are these really the weaklings master wants us to destroy?" Gaster asked the leading dark figure while stroking his Kurasari gama anxiously.
"Ha they don't look so special to me!" Chaos retorted. "It would be a complete waste of our skill to do battle with them."
The others pitched in their own comments except for Raven. This clone simply continued staring down at the figures with mystified eyes. Something different was flashing in his eyes. He felt a slight pain in his head forcing him to tear his gaze away and look elsewhere.
Astaroth, the leader of the clones sighed heavily. "That is enough banter from you all. It is the master's wish that we destroy them. Regardless of how pathetic they may look we should never underestimate our enemies. We shall continue watching them until they are all together. At that time, we shall finish them off once and for all."
Quietly, the minions began chuckling evilly, eagerly awaiting the time in which they could make their leaders words become reality. All except one particular clone who, in the midst of all evil, found that he was beginning to flinch.
::::::::::To Be Continued::::::::::
Author's note: Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for Chapter 9.