The Last of an Elite
Chapter Seven: Squash the Guard
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
The computer monitor flickered. Although the huge windows faced the sunlight, the thick dark green-black clouds that covered the sky prevented much natural light getting into the office, and the screen provided a white- blue light that contrasted strangely with the subtle green haze from the window. The two separate light sources threw angular highlights onto Tseng's long dark hair, and gave his skin deep colourful shadows.
There was a whirr, and the Ancient's files appeared on the screen. A single photo, fuzzy and out-of-focus. Tseng has no idea who had taken it, or why. All the information they had on her, profile, addresses, history, the text flowed in a long block down the screen. Tseng didn't read it, he'd already memorised everything important there. Instead he prepared to transfer the file over to Reno's area.
Tseng has no doubt Reno would be able to catch her. He himself could have caught her long ago, if he'd tried. Her face stared out of the screen at him. Despite the bad quality of the picture she still managed to radiate good will and happiness. Her head was turned slightly, and she seemed to have been caught whilst talking. Her long brown hair streamed in a wind, all frozen movement.
'You were fated, because of your birth, to be hunted down. Fated to become an experiment, your humanity itself to be stripped from you. Fated to becoming another tool of Shin-Ra' Tseng's hand brushed his forehead, fingers momentarily obscuring the dot that had been tattooed on their long ago.
"I know how it feels to be fated due to being born to the wrong people at the wrong time" Tseng said to the picture. "I escaped – I always hoped you would too."
He shook his head, clearing away his thoughts. He hit the return key, and the file disappeared, the computer hummed gently as it moved the information.
-~-~-~-
Another computer, half a city away, also hummed gently. Elena grinned to herself as her fingers brushed the keys. 'I'll find out who you are, you dark mysterious stranger' she thought, as she bypassed the security locking Shin-Ra's top files away. Several taps later she found what she was looking for.
TOP SECRET PERSONNEL FILES – FOR HEAD EMPLOYEES EYES ONLY
Please enter your username and password.
Elena picked up the phone on the desk.
"Hello Hello?"
"Palmer?"
"It's Palmer! Hi! Hi! Um... Who is this??"
"I'm President Shin-Ra's new secretary" Elena lied easily "He's busy right now, and I need to access some files for him in the confidential area. I haven't got a username yet, and he needs these files urgently! Everyone always says you're the one to turn to if there's a problem, because you're so level-headed."
"They say that!? Wow! What do you need?"
"Could I possibly use your name and pass? Just to get these files?"
"Well, sure! Why not!"
"Really!? Thanks sir! What is your name and pass?"
"Palm_Tree23 and my password is lard" Palmer giggled down the phone "You'll mention this to the President right? Right?"
"Of course sir. Thanks very much for helping!" Elena hung up quickly, and smiled to herself. "Now let's see...."
She entered the information, and quickly examined the files there. There was very few once she'd ruled out people who had left or died and the heads of the divisions. Clicking through the remaining files rapidly, she finally opened the one she wanted. A photo of the dark-haired Wutaian man looked out at her, eyes deep and introspective. She read the information to the side of the photo quickly, her heart racing.
"His name's Tseng" She said dreamily, feeling the foreign sound fill her mouth. "And let see.... he's a ..... A Turk? What the hell is a Turk? I thought he was a bodyguard or something." She frowned at the word, and quickly searched for more information. The word threw up cross-references in a large number of files, scientific, military, and several project files. She started reading them, her eyes slowly widening.
....reporting that the progress on TURK Vincent Valentine's transformation into chaos demon is nearly complete....
....Assassinations of certain high-ranking Wutai officials have been carried out by the TURKs.....
....TURK Reno Denli's treatment has been completed, he is now able to perform acts of violence without guilt....
....The kidnapping of the officials 8 year old daughter was carried out by TURK Rude Jacques...
....three children were caught in the crossfire between the TURK grouping and the rebel group...
...ten civilians died in an anti-terrorist action completed by the TURKs...
....sorry to report that TURK actions led to the suicide of Drekanov....
"Uh... what is all this?" Elena shivered. An image of Tseng's shadowy eyes came back to her, and she felt something inside her harden. "I don't care if he is involved in stuff like this! He didn't look evil... And Shinra isn't evil! I'm sure there's reasons for all of this happening!" Elena jumped to her feet suddenly, a look of determination coming into her eyes "I'm going to be a Turk too! I don't care how hard it is or what they do... I want to meet him face to face!"
She stood there for a moment, fists clenched. Then she sagged back down, her shoulders slumping. "But I don't know how!"
-~-~-~-
"There they are, over there!" Reno pointed up towards Aeris and Cloud, who were stood by a break in a walkway that led upwards towards the roof. There was a huge hole in the roof as well as several floors, and for some reason a missile had buried itself in the ground below. Above them, Cloud jumped across the hole, and indicated for the Ancient to follow. Reno suddenly realised the guards that had followed him through were simply standing and watching them.
"The Ancient is getting away! Attack! Attack! Attack!" he yelled. The guards blinked, and then started firing up at the two. The bullets thudded into the walkway, kicking up a fair amount of dust and debris, Reno heard a yelp and saw Aeris fall, passing his level and landing on the one below. She sprawled out, unmoving.
"Think we killed 'em?" Reno had a sudden vision of trying to explain to Tseng how a kidnapping had ended up as a murder and cringed mentally "They shouldn't have put up a fight I say!"
"Cloud help!" The Ancient jumped to her feet and shouted up to the man above. He disappeared from Reno's sight, and Reno swore gently, guessing that he was coming down. The guards hurried to apprehend the Ancient, the first cutting her off as she tried to run towards the stairs.
"Cloud!"
THUNK! A barrel came crashing down from the ceiling, landing neatly on the guards head. He promptly collapsed, either dead or unconscious. 'Either way he isn't much help' thought Reno, watching as the next guard leapt in the Ancients way.
THUNK! Another barrel came plummeting down, smacking the guard flat. Reno groaned. The third guard disregarded the sudden absence of his fellow fighters and raced to intercept the girl.
THUNK! The barrel bounced down the stairs and smashed into the guard, knocking him out of Reno's sight.
"Thanks Cloud!" The Ancient raced up the rest of the walkway and disappeared into the rooftop. Reno waited, but no further barrels fell, so he strolled over to the first fallen guard and poked him with his toe. The guard groaned.
"That was pathetic." Reno him.
"Uh... What happened?"
"You got into a fight with a barrel and lost." Reno looked round as the other two guards got up and knocked the dust off themselves. "Do you guys have any idea what Tseng's gonna do to me for this little fiasco!? If my pay gets docked again I am so gonna kick your weedy little asses."
"Sorry Reno..."
"Yeah, whatever. Come on, let's get outta this dump."
-~-~-~-
A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I suffered from a bout of writers block, trying to figure out the best way to structure this _;; It doesn't help that I've been drowned in schoolwork! Ah, excuses excuses. I'll try and get the next chapter up a bit quicker. Thanks to the people who reviewed, keep 'em coming! ^_^
Chapter Seven: Squash the Guard
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
The computer monitor flickered. Although the huge windows faced the sunlight, the thick dark green-black clouds that covered the sky prevented much natural light getting into the office, and the screen provided a white- blue light that contrasted strangely with the subtle green haze from the window. The two separate light sources threw angular highlights onto Tseng's long dark hair, and gave his skin deep colourful shadows.
There was a whirr, and the Ancient's files appeared on the screen. A single photo, fuzzy and out-of-focus. Tseng has no idea who had taken it, or why. All the information they had on her, profile, addresses, history, the text flowed in a long block down the screen. Tseng didn't read it, he'd already memorised everything important there. Instead he prepared to transfer the file over to Reno's area.
Tseng has no doubt Reno would be able to catch her. He himself could have caught her long ago, if he'd tried. Her face stared out of the screen at him. Despite the bad quality of the picture she still managed to radiate good will and happiness. Her head was turned slightly, and she seemed to have been caught whilst talking. Her long brown hair streamed in a wind, all frozen movement.
'You were fated, because of your birth, to be hunted down. Fated to become an experiment, your humanity itself to be stripped from you. Fated to becoming another tool of Shin-Ra' Tseng's hand brushed his forehead, fingers momentarily obscuring the dot that had been tattooed on their long ago.
"I know how it feels to be fated due to being born to the wrong people at the wrong time" Tseng said to the picture. "I escaped – I always hoped you would too."
He shook his head, clearing away his thoughts. He hit the return key, and the file disappeared, the computer hummed gently as it moved the information.
-~-~-~-
Another computer, half a city away, also hummed gently. Elena grinned to herself as her fingers brushed the keys. 'I'll find out who you are, you dark mysterious stranger' she thought, as she bypassed the security locking Shin-Ra's top files away. Several taps later she found what she was looking for.
TOP SECRET PERSONNEL FILES – FOR HEAD EMPLOYEES EYES ONLY
Please enter your username and password.
Elena picked up the phone on the desk.
"Hello Hello?"
"Palmer?"
"It's Palmer! Hi! Hi! Um... Who is this??"
"I'm President Shin-Ra's new secretary" Elena lied easily "He's busy right now, and I need to access some files for him in the confidential area. I haven't got a username yet, and he needs these files urgently! Everyone always says you're the one to turn to if there's a problem, because you're so level-headed."
"They say that!? Wow! What do you need?"
"Could I possibly use your name and pass? Just to get these files?"
"Well, sure! Why not!"
"Really!? Thanks sir! What is your name and pass?"
"Palm_Tree23 and my password is lard" Palmer giggled down the phone "You'll mention this to the President right? Right?"
"Of course sir. Thanks very much for helping!" Elena hung up quickly, and smiled to herself. "Now let's see...."
She entered the information, and quickly examined the files there. There was very few once she'd ruled out people who had left or died and the heads of the divisions. Clicking through the remaining files rapidly, she finally opened the one she wanted. A photo of the dark-haired Wutaian man looked out at her, eyes deep and introspective. She read the information to the side of the photo quickly, her heart racing.
"His name's Tseng" She said dreamily, feeling the foreign sound fill her mouth. "And let see.... he's a ..... A Turk? What the hell is a Turk? I thought he was a bodyguard or something." She frowned at the word, and quickly searched for more information. The word threw up cross-references in a large number of files, scientific, military, and several project files. She started reading them, her eyes slowly widening.
....reporting that the progress on TURK Vincent Valentine's transformation into chaos demon is nearly complete....
....Assassinations of certain high-ranking Wutai officials have been carried out by the TURKs.....
....TURK Reno Denli's treatment has been completed, he is now able to perform acts of violence without guilt....
....The kidnapping of the officials 8 year old daughter was carried out by TURK Rude Jacques...
....three children were caught in the crossfire between the TURK grouping and the rebel group...
...ten civilians died in an anti-terrorist action completed by the TURKs...
....sorry to report that TURK actions led to the suicide of Drekanov....
"Uh... what is all this?" Elena shivered. An image of Tseng's shadowy eyes came back to her, and she felt something inside her harden. "I don't care if he is involved in stuff like this! He didn't look evil... And Shinra isn't evil! I'm sure there's reasons for all of this happening!" Elena jumped to her feet suddenly, a look of determination coming into her eyes "I'm going to be a Turk too! I don't care how hard it is or what they do... I want to meet him face to face!"
She stood there for a moment, fists clenched. Then she sagged back down, her shoulders slumping. "But I don't know how!"
-~-~-~-
"There they are, over there!" Reno pointed up towards Aeris and Cloud, who were stood by a break in a walkway that led upwards towards the roof. There was a huge hole in the roof as well as several floors, and for some reason a missile had buried itself in the ground below. Above them, Cloud jumped across the hole, and indicated for the Ancient to follow. Reno suddenly realised the guards that had followed him through were simply standing and watching them.
"The Ancient is getting away! Attack! Attack! Attack!" he yelled. The guards blinked, and then started firing up at the two. The bullets thudded into the walkway, kicking up a fair amount of dust and debris, Reno heard a yelp and saw Aeris fall, passing his level and landing on the one below. She sprawled out, unmoving.
"Think we killed 'em?" Reno had a sudden vision of trying to explain to Tseng how a kidnapping had ended up as a murder and cringed mentally "They shouldn't have put up a fight I say!"
"Cloud help!" The Ancient jumped to her feet and shouted up to the man above. He disappeared from Reno's sight, and Reno swore gently, guessing that he was coming down. The guards hurried to apprehend the Ancient, the first cutting her off as she tried to run towards the stairs.
"Cloud!"
THUNK! A barrel came crashing down from the ceiling, landing neatly on the guards head. He promptly collapsed, either dead or unconscious. 'Either way he isn't much help' thought Reno, watching as the next guard leapt in the Ancients way.
THUNK! Another barrel came plummeting down, smacking the guard flat. Reno groaned. The third guard disregarded the sudden absence of his fellow fighters and raced to intercept the girl.
THUNK! The barrel bounced down the stairs and smashed into the guard, knocking him out of Reno's sight.
"Thanks Cloud!" The Ancient raced up the rest of the walkway and disappeared into the rooftop. Reno waited, but no further barrels fell, so he strolled over to the first fallen guard and poked him with his toe. The guard groaned.
"That was pathetic." Reno him.
"Uh... What happened?"
"You got into a fight with a barrel and lost." Reno looked round as the other two guards got up and knocked the dust off themselves. "Do you guys have any idea what Tseng's gonna do to me for this little fiasco!? If my pay gets docked again I am so gonna kick your weedy little asses."
"Sorry Reno..."
"Yeah, whatever. Come on, let's get outta this dump."
-~-~-~-
A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I suffered from a bout of writers block, trying to figure out the best way to structure this _;; It doesn't help that I've been drowned in schoolwork! Ah, excuses excuses. I'll try and get the next chapter up a bit quicker. Thanks to the people who reviewed, keep 'em coming! ^_^