What's
In A Name?
By Footnote
Act
I:
The
Turk Named Valentine
Chapter
I: The Nightmare Begins
"Listen,
Turk, you can't possibly know my objectives with this project, so what
could you possibly say or do to stop me?" Professor Hojo sneered into Vincent Valentine's
calm face, but the Turk was raging inside.
"It's
wrong!" Valentine roared and caused his voice to echo in the vast mansion's
basement library as he finally lost his temper with the wayward professor. "How can you use an innocent human being as
a guinea pig?"
Hojo
and Valentine glared at each other; oblivious to the shocked brunette woman
huddled against the wall beside them.
After Valentine's heated question, the ShinRa Mansion's library was
silent save for Lucrecia D'Angelo's quiet sobs.
"Because
it is for the project," Hojo hissed.
Valentine, losing his senses in his fury, his hand twitching and itching
to reach and grab the pistol in his shoulder holster and blow the damned
professor a third eye.
"Forget
the Project!" Valentine growled, "This is not a project, this a woman! A human! Who gave you the right to do this to her?" Through Valentine's last proclamations, the
Turk and the scientist circled each other, sizing each other up. Hojo knew that Valentine would win if the
argument came to blows, but there was no doubt in his mind that he could
outsmart the sniper. The professor knew
much more about the project's objectives than the Turk named Valentine.
"Ahem,"
a feminine voice interrupted as the gunman and scientist glared at each other. Their eyes flicked to the doorway to see a
young woman standing calmly in the frame with her creamy hands clasped together
in front of her cinnamon traveling dress.
Valentine's leader stood looking over her shoulder with a pale eyebrow
raised in askance above the dark Rayban's that he insisted on wearing at this
time of night at his employee while the latter stood perfectly composed and
still. Valentine's leader barely shook
his head, so little movement there was, that one really had to look to see it. Valentine's bright eyes narrowed dangerously
in disgust then turned away, leaving Hojo to scoff at his retreat. Hojo's victory was interrupted when the
woman spoke.
"Hi,
everyone," she greeted cheerfully. "I
am Professor Dante Sinamruki from ShinRa (where else?). He thought you might need some extra help,
so the President sent me." Dante
curtsied slightly, tilting her head to one side and let a wave of bittersweet,
caramel apple hair tumble gracefully over her shoulder.
Shad
Davidson, humorously nicknamed "Shadow" by his friends and fellow Turks,
finally came to life and stepped around Miss Sinamruki and introduced her to
the rest of her team. "This is
Professor Hojo, you met Professor Gast upstairs," Shad waved his hand in
gesture to Hojo who was still sour from his argument with Valentine. Dante smiled sweetly and nodded her head at
the sneering professor anyway. No use
in making enemies out of her colleagues so Dante concluded.
"This
is Lucrecia D'Angelo."
"Oh,
I've read a great deal of your work, Miss D'Angelo. It's fascinating! Your
gene therapy theories are brilliant," Dante shook the woman's hand and smiled a
little, knowing smile as she did so.
Lucrecia was still a little shell shocked from the heated argument that
had Hojo shouting only moments before, but Dante's warm compliments made her
feel a great deal better.
"And
this is Vincent Valentine; he and I are the only Turks here," Davidson nodded
in Valentine's direction who was leaning against a patch of wall between
bookcases, getting his raging emotions under control. His face had calmed to the point of a cold, hard, marble
expression but he was still pretty angry.
Dante
smiled at him in greeting as she approached to shake his hand. "My, you're a smart cookie, aren't you?"
Vincent
quirked an eyebrow at her but did not say a thing as he silently shook her
hand.
"I
can tell by your eyes. I bet if you
were properly trained, ShinRa would be itching to get you in the science
department. It's obvious that you're
sharp as a tack."
Vincent
had to a stifle a "Huh?" under his breath.
He was certainly taken aback by her compliment, but at the same time
puzzled over this woman as she smiled and turned to leave, bidding everyone
goodnight and farewell. Vincent knew
that she had heard Hojo and him arguing, so he was left with his mind spinning
as to why she saw it fit to invade the battlegrounds and introduce herself at
that time. But a glance at Shad
reminded him that he had other things to do than worry about the new girl. Shad jerked his head, signaling to his
fellow Turk that it was time to go.
Vincent immediately complied, leaving the library.
"Lucrecia? Are you all right?" Hojo asked not even
looking at her as he put some papers back in the files that had scattered on
the floor during the fight.
"Yes,
sir," timid though Lucrecia was, she was going to hold her ground and go to
bed, which is what she told Hojo. He
allowed her, of course, on the only excuse that she had been working over time
and definitely wasn't feeling well.
Hojo
only stayed a bit longer, trying in vain to tidy up the unruly library. He spent about a half hour clearing working
space for tomorrow's experiments. When
the professor was satisfied he, too, went to bed.
"You
know better," Shad commented quietly to his subordinate as they strolled
through the foyer of the elegant mansion.
Vincent said nothing and allowed his superior to continue.
"Don't
question Hojo anymore. Leave him
be." Vincent only nodded his head
coldly, still refusing to speak. The
two Turks stood together in silence as Vincent gave his leader a sidelong look.
Shad
Davidson was 26, the same as his fellow Turk.
Shad was barely taller than Vincent by about ¼ of an inch. He wore his thick lemon blonde hair short
with bangs that hung down in his ocean blue eyes to they bounced whenever he
blinked. He didn't mean for the cut to
look so girly, but he was teased a lot by other employees who knew him well
enough to tease him. Shad was the odd
duck in the group of assassins. He
seemed to be, well, a flirt at times.
While other times, not seeming to care about anything but what's before
him, rather it be an assignment or a star-filled sky. Vincent knew there was a method to Shad's madness, but had yet to
figure it out. Seeing the two together,
one couldn't help but think the two looked as dangerous and unusual as vampires
standing in the foyer of the old mansion, both Turks having ancient nobility
about them.
Vincent,
thinking Shad had nothing more to say to him, somberly set off to his bedroom
before Shad stopped him.
"What
do you think of Dante?" The question
was simple, said amicably, but it struck Vincent as odd and confusing. The raven-haired man knew that this was just
another "out of nowhere" question that Shad was infamous for spewing.
"I
don't know," Vincent confessed then added a moment later, "An unusual woman."
Shad
laughed, "Hardly. The girl is barely
20."
The
listening Turk was caught off guard by his leader's odd comment. "She looks older."
"I'll
give you that she's unusual. She could
hear Hojo shouting and still insisted on going down to the library. I even warned her how the tensions had been
growing lately. It seems that she
thinks that it's part of her job to ease them."
Vincent
said nothing and watched Shad as his leader glanced back at him. The two chatted idly about whatever came to
mind as they strolled through the chilly night air about the courtyard and
lawn.
"Hey,
Valentine?" Shad began before the darker of the two cut him off.
"Vincent. I'm not always the Turk named Valentine."
Shad
glanced at his watch and realized that they were both officially off duty
now. He shrugged, "Sorry. Occupational habit. I'm not always the Turk named Davidson
either…aw, crap! You made me forget
what I was gonna say!"
Vincent glanced over to his leader again,
"That's probably a good thing." The two continued on like this. They were equally talkative, but Shad
brought up most of the topics. An hour
or two of simple chitchat was all Vincent's tired body could take. He wished his leader goodnight and hit the
metaphorical hay.
~*~*~
Disclaimer: (again) Okay, I don't own Final
Fantasy VII, I'm just borrowing it for a little while, kay? I promise that Vincent will be in one piece
when I return him, okay? No harm
done…*innocent smile* Dante's my
chara. My fic. 'Nuff said.
