Chapter IV: The LoS Massacre.
Reno walked across the corpse-strewn streets of the sector 3 slums. Looking at the sill-burning houses and seeing the remorselessness in which the whole thing had happened struck him as... Evil. He hadn't seen something like happen since Sephiroth had waged a one-man war against the ShinRa. Bodies lay on the ground everywhere. Reno had stepped on something mushy a couple of times but didn't dare to look down at what it was. So far three of four sectors were attacked by people with guns, and by the looks of it, big ones. The other sector had been completely killed by a man with a pair of daggers.
Only one man.
The survivors of the attack claimed that three groups of men armed with guns attack Sector one, two and three simultaneously. The remaining one went over to Sector four alone. The result had been the cruellest massacre in the history of Midgar. Children had their throats slit; the horror retained its look upon them even in death. severed limbs lay in terrible patterns on the ground. He had already looked at them and was not pleased.
He took out his cell phone and dialled Elena's number.
--Ring----Ring----ring---click,
"Hello?" Elena asked dubiously.
"Hey." Reno answered.
"Reno." Elena sighed.
That's not right; she knew that only he and Rude knew her cell number.
"What's up?" He asked. "You sound thoroughly spooked."
"We found out who did this." Elena said.
Relief surged through his body.
"Who was it?" He asked, suddenly struck by another thought. "How do you know who did it?"
"As for question number one, the group is some freakos that call themselves the LoS. As for number two," Elena paused. "I, it was carved into the mayors face."
"What!" Reno exploded. The thought of anyone being cruel enough to do something like that made him slightly ill. Sure, he had done some terrible things himself, but those had been orders from above, this was out of free will. The mayor himself was kind man that had survived the rise and fall of ShinRa. The idea that anyone could actually do something like that to him made a wave of nausea pass through him. It took him a while to realize that Elena was describing the scene.
".Eyes gouged out, letters slashed deep into the skin. We found 'im hanging from a flagpole. I guess we can rule out an open casket." It appalled him that she could stand there and make jokes about the grisly image that formed in his mind. Reno shivered.
"Meet me at the headquarters." He finished.
Reno folded hi phone and put it back into his pocket. He turned and walked towards his helicopter.
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Reeve paced his office in silence.
He had been wakened VERY early by a hasty saying report that the slums had been attacked. Since then he had been pacing around the entire building, waiting for more information. He walked over to the window overlooking the city he now controlled.
In the four years that Reeve had been in Midgar he had turned the city from a conglomerate, terror filled regime into a semi-democratic government. He had united the entire eastern continent into a single, working nation. He now stood in the enormous office that had once belonged to the two former tyrants of Midgar. Looking down at the streets of Midgar was a much better now than it had been when he had come to power. From his vantage point he could see the reconstruction of Sector seven. The labor had been colour. Peacefully, the people walked down the streets, oblivious to the horror that had undergone below them.
The numbers of the dead had continued to vary throughout the entire morning. Survivors had related a terrible story. So far the wounded had been estimated at twenty-seven and that estimate never changed once, except for down.
This would be difficult to explain to the public. An immediate protest would begin to try to remove him from presidency. He sighed.
Ring.
Reeves jumped at the sound of his cell phone.
Ring.
He pulled it out of his pocket and unfolded it.
"Hello?"
"Heh, heh, heh, heh. We got them good, Ne?"
A flash of brief fury went through Reeve.
"Who are you?" Reeve yelled at the phone.
"You're local terrorist organization."
Click.
"Reeve? REEVE!" Reno yelled.
It took Reeve a while to comprehend what had happened.
"Reno?" He asked questioningly.
"REE- ve?"
"Yes?" Reeve said, now completely recovered.
"Err, how are you?"
"Quite fine thank you. Did you find anything?"
"We found out who did it. A faction called LoS."
"I see. Did you find anything else?" Los? What an odd name, Reeve thought. Even AVALANCHE was better than that.
"Not really. The Survivors say that only thirteen people did this, but that's impossible. We suspect delusions."
"Alright."
"We're coming back now, but we can return if there's anything else."
"No, that won't be necessary. See ya in a bit." Reeve folded up his phone and put it on his desk.
He sat down in his chair and spun around in circles. He let himself sink deeper into the comfy chair and relaxed a bit.
"What the HELL am I gonna do?" Reeve said to himself.
He spun around again. It was a nervous habit he had. He picked up a pen and began tracing the lines on his palm. That was a bored habit of his.
"What am I gonna do?" He repeated.
A thought struck him. He lunged for his phone as he spun past it.
He missed.
He did, however, get a handy paperweight.
He climbed out of his chair (immediately regretting it,) and picked up his phone and tossed the paperweight on the table. He dialled a number and held the phone to his ear.
--Ring----ring----ring----ring----ring----ring--
"GOD, are they always this slow to answer the phone?"
--Ring---click.
"Hello?" A gruff voice said.
" Hello, Barret."
"Reeve?"
"I think it is."
"Since when did YOU become a smart ass?"
"When I found out I was talking to you." A brief chuckle from Barret. "Can I talk to Cloud?"
"Sure. EY! CLOUD, REEVE WANTS TA TALK TO WID YA!"
Reeve waited as Barret put the phone on a table and Cloud picked it up.
"Eh." He greeted.
"Eh." Reeve mimicked.
Reeve heard Cloud laugh slightly at this and said something that he couldn't hear.
"Good to hear from you. Heard you were doing pretty well down in Midgar."
"I am, but I'd like to ask for your help again. You up to it?"
"Actually, no. Vincent got chewed up by something and he's up in his room sleeping, the others, I guess, didn't bring their weapons. Of course, me, Tifa 'n' Yuffie could help but that wouldn't compensate for the rest."
Panic filled Reeve. He needed help NOW!
"When can you be ready?" He asked
"Well, Vincent is a fast healer, so he should be ready to walk at the very least by tomorrow. I can send Cid, Barret and Red back now, but they won't be back by mid-day tomorrow. We can be there late tomorrow." He said Helpfully.
"Thank you." He a\said and hung up on him.
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Vincent walked through the ShinRa mansion. It was clean and monster free, oddly enough.
"Welcome." A voice said that echoed around the room.
Vincent jumped slightly at the sound of another's voice. He saw that a man was standing on the staircase regarding him with pale green eyes.
Despite being immensely relieved that it was not one of his beastly transformations, he was still on guard against this curios person.
The man walked down the staircase slowly, with an odd smile slapped on his features.
Vincent's hand reached instinctively to his pistol.
"You won't need that." The man said as Vincent pulled the pistol free.
The man raised his hand and Vincent felt an immense force pull at the pistol. He let go in surprise.
The pistol flew across the room and into the strange man's waiting hand. Vincent felt the fear creep through him again. He had no idea why he would be so afraid about being killed in a anotherdream. But it was there now, and he felt it now more than ever.
The man pointed the gun at Vincent and pulled the trigger.
As he felt the bullet impact upon his chest Vincent heard the laughter ring around him again.
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Vincent sat up bolt upright in the bed. The fear stood out obviously on his face. Sweat beads rolled down his face.
Yuffie jumped with surprise at this. She stood up and pushed Vincent back down into the bed. She heard silent sobs from him. Pure confusion was slapped across Yuffie's face. Vincent, crying? He was the last one to be sent into crying by a dream. He was also the least person likely to cry if you kicked him hard between the legs for that matter. Red was right, Yuffie thought; some scary shit is going on with Vincent.
His hand shot out as she was about to sit back down. It grabbed her by the hand and pulled her close.
"Don't let them take me." He pleaded. "Don't leave."
Yuffie saw the abject terror in his eyes and shivered. She laid down on the bed next to him and laid her arm across his quivering body. As he felt her cool skin against him he relaxed. She began to sit up again but Vincent held onto her.
"Don't leave." He pleaded.
Yuffie remembered the look of terror on his face. She laid back down and listened to Vincent's steady breathing. slowly she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Reno walked across the corpse-strewn streets of the sector 3 slums. Looking at the sill-burning houses and seeing the remorselessness in which the whole thing had happened struck him as... Evil. He hadn't seen something like happen since Sephiroth had waged a one-man war against the ShinRa. Bodies lay on the ground everywhere. Reno had stepped on something mushy a couple of times but didn't dare to look down at what it was. So far three of four sectors were attacked by people with guns, and by the looks of it, big ones. The other sector had been completely killed by a man with a pair of daggers.
Only one man.
The survivors of the attack claimed that three groups of men armed with guns attack Sector one, two and three simultaneously. The remaining one went over to Sector four alone. The result had been the cruellest massacre in the history of Midgar. Children had their throats slit; the horror retained its look upon them even in death. severed limbs lay in terrible patterns on the ground. He had already looked at them and was not pleased.
He took out his cell phone and dialled Elena's number.
--Ring----Ring----ring---click,
"Hello?" Elena asked dubiously.
"Hey." Reno answered.
"Reno." Elena sighed.
That's not right; she knew that only he and Rude knew her cell number.
"What's up?" He asked. "You sound thoroughly spooked."
"We found out who did this." Elena said.
Relief surged through his body.
"Who was it?" He asked, suddenly struck by another thought. "How do you know who did it?"
"As for question number one, the group is some freakos that call themselves the LoS. As for number two," Elena paused. "I, it was carved into the mayors face."
"What!" Reno exploded. The thought of anyone being cruel enough to do something like that made him slightly ill. Sure, he had done some terrible things himself, but those had been orders from above, this was out of free will. The mayor himself was kind man that had survived the rise and fall of ShinRa. The idea that anyone could actually do something like that to him made a wave of nausea pass through him. It took him a while to realize that Elena was describing the scene.
".Eyes gouged out, letters slashed deep into the skin. We found 'im hanging from a flagpole. I guess we can rule out an open casket." It appalled him that she could stand there and make jokes about the grisly image that formed in his mind. Reno shivered.
"Meet me at the headquarters." He finished.
Reno folded hi phone and put it back into his pocket. He turned and walked towards his helicopter.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Reeve paced his office in silence.
He had been wakened VERY early by a hasty saying report that the slums had been attacked. Since then he had been pacing around the entire building, waiting for more information. He walked over to the window overlooking the city he now controlled.
In the four years that Reeve had been in Midgar he had turned the city from a conglomerate, terror filled regime into a semi-democratic government. He had united the entire eastern continent into a single, working nation. He now stood in the enormous office that had once belonged to the two former tyrants of Midgar. Looking down at the streets of Midgar was a much better now than it had been when he had come to power. From his vantage point he could see the reconstruction of Sector seven. The labor had been colour. Peacefully, the people walked down the streets, oblivious to the horror that had undergone below them.
The numbers of the dead had continued to vary throughout the entire morning. Survivors had related a terrible story. So far the wounded had been estimated at twenty-seven and that estimate never changed once, except for down.
This would be difficult to explain to the public. An immediate protest would begin to try to remove him from presidency. He sighed.
Ring.
Reeves jumped at the sound of his cell phone.
Ring.
He pulled it out of his pocket and unfolded it.
"Hello?"
"Heh, heh, heh, heh. We got them good, Ne?"
A flash of brief fury went through Reeve.
"Who are you?" Reeve yelled at the phone.
"You're local terrorist organization."
Click.
"Reeve? REEVE!" Reno yelled.
It took Reeve a while to comprehend what had happened.
"Reno?" He asked questioningly.
"REE- ve?"
"Yes?" Reeve said, now completely recovered.
"Err, how are you?"
"Quite fine thank you. Did you find anything?"
"We found out who did it. A faction called LoS."
"I see. Did you find anything else?" Los? What an odd name, Reeve thought. Even AVALANCHE was better than that.
"Not really. The Survivors say that only thirteen people did this, but that's impossible. We suspect delusions."
"Alright."
"We're coming back now, but we can return if there's anything else."
"No, that won't be necessary. See ya in a bit." Reeve folded up his phone and put it on his desk.
He sat down in his chair and spun around in circles. He let himself sink deeper into the comfy chair and relaxed a bit.
"What the HELL am I gonna do?" Reeve said to himself.
He spun around again. It was a nervous habit he had. He picked up a pen and began tracing the lines on his palm. That was a bored habit of his.
"What am I gonna do?" He repeated.
A thought struck him. He lunged for his phone as he spun past it.
He missed.
He did, however, get a handy paperweight.
He climbed out of his chair (immediately regretting it,) and picked up his phone and tossed the paperweight on the table. He dialled a number and held the phone to his ear.
--Ring----ring----ring----ring----ring----ring--
"GOD, are they always this slow to answer the phone?"
--Ring---click.
"Hello?" A gruff voice said.
" Hello, Barret."
"Reeve?"
"I think it is."
"Since when did YOU become a smart ass?"
"When I found out I was talking to you." A brief chuckle from Barret. "Can I talk to Cloud?"
"Sure. EY! CLOUD, REEVE WANTS TA TALK TO WID YA!"
Reeve waited as Barret put the phone on a table and Cloud picked it up.
"Eh." He greeted.
"Eh." Reeve mimicked.
Reeve heard Cloud laugh slightly at this and said something that he couldn't hear.
"Good to hear from you. Heard you were doing pretty well down in Midgar."
"I am, but I'd like to ask for your help again. You up to it?"
"Actually, no. Vincent got chewed up by something and he's up in his room sleeping, the others, I guess, didn't bring their weapons. Of course, me, Tifa 'n' Yuffie could help but that wouldn't compensate for the rest."
Panic filled Reeve. He needed help NOW!
"When can you be ready?" He asked
"Well, Vincent is a fast healer, so he should be ready to walk at the very least by tomorrow. I can send Cid, Barret and Red back now, but they won't be back by mid-day tomorrow. We can be there late tomorrow." He said Helpfully.
"Thank you." He a\said and hung up on him.
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Vincent walked through the ShinRa mansion. It was clean and monster free, oddly enough.
"Welcome." A voice said that echoed around the room.
Vincent jumped slightly at the sound of another's voice. He saw that a man was standing on the staircase regarding him with pale green eyes.
Despite being immensely relieved that it was not one of his beastly transformations, he was still on guard against this curios person.
The man walked down the staircase slowly, with an odd smile slapped on his features.
Vincent's hand reached instinctively to his pistol.
"You won't need that." The man said as Vincent pulled the pistol free.
The man raised his hand and Vincent felt an immense force pull at the pistol. He let go in surprise.
The pistol flew across the room and into the strange man's waiting hand. Vincent felt the fear creep through him again. He had no idea why he would be so afraid about being killed in a anotherdream. But it was there now, and he felt it now more than ever.
The man pointed the gun at Vincent and pulled the trigger.
As he felt the bullet impact upon his chest Vincent heard the laughter ring around him again.
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Vincent sat up bolt upright in the bed. The fear stood out obviously on his face. Sweat beads rolled down his face.
Yuffie jumped with surprise at this. She stood up and pushed Vincent back down into the bed. She heard silent sobs from him. Pure confusion was slapped across Yuffie's face. Vincent, crying? He was the last one to be sent into crying by a dream. He was also the least person likely to cry if you kicked him hard between the legs for that matter. Red was right, Yuffie thought; some scary shit is going on with Vincent.
His hand shot out as she was about to sit back down. It grabbed her by the hand and pulled her close.
"Don't let them take me." He pleaded. "Don't leave."
Yuffie saw the abject terror in his eyes and shivered. She laid down on the bed next to him and laid her arm across his quivering body. As he felt her cool skin against him he relaxed. She began to sit up again but Vincent held onto her.
"Don't leave." He pleaded.
Yuffie remembered the look of terror on his face. She laid back down and listened to Vincent's steady breathing. slowly she closed her eyes and fell asleep.