Author's Note: First off, I'm reeeeeeeeeeally sorry I haven't updated in
such a long time. It's been like what, a month? At least. I've just been
so busy with RL. You know how it is, school, family matters, financial
issues, all that crap. In any case, I'm sorry. I apologize for taking so
long.
Since it has been so long, let's recap! What's happened so
far? Tifa works at Easy Cuts, a hair salon. She and Cloud
had a big fight and she ran off, nearly being raped because
of her actions. Reno arrived at the scene in time to save
her, and now he's offered to let her stay with him. She
accepted, not having much choice. Reno has a cat named
Tailes. Oh, and on top of all this, there's news of a cartel
operating in Junon. It may not seem like a big deal now, but
who knows who's involved in it?
Someone mentioned that Tifa should have been able to defend herself against the 4 thugs who attacked her in chapter 3. This is actually a very valid bit. While it's true, Tifa would probably be able to defend herself, it was 7 thugs who attacked her, not 4, and, I wanted her to get into a situation where she needed rescuing for the sake of the story. I realize I probably could have found a better way to do it, but thugs trying to rape her seemed the most likely situation considering her surroundings and current state of mind. In any case, thanks for bringing that up! I'm sure other people were thinking the same thing. You guys are cool!
And thanks to everyone who mentioned Tailes. I'm sure she appreciates your concern. ^_~
Ok, enough banter, on with the next chapter! ^_^
Disclaimer: I'm poor and don't own anything. Don't sue me.
This chapter rated R for language.
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Things Unexpected
Chapter 5: Altering Situations
Andrew Carleton had been smoking a cigar when two of his surly bodyguards burst through his office doors pushing in front of them another man, who didn't look as though he was there by choice. They shoved him roughly up to Mr. Carleton's desk. He stared at the smaller man, who, instead of looking intimidated, only spat on his floor. One of the bodyguards punched him in the face for doing so.
"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Carleton questioned. He was not what most people would expect from the most powerful man in the country. He was short, fat, and had long, greasy black hair. It was most certainly dyed, but no one dared mock it, for fear of execution. Mr. Carleton had a bad temper. Not just bad, but VERY bad. So much as look at the man wrong, and he would have you locked up for years.
The largest bodyguard straightened fearfully at Mr. Carleton's impatient tone.
"Sir, we found him probing around the loading dock down at the pier. We were unloading a new shipment from Costa del Sol, and we caught him trying to sneak onto the ship. He wouldn't say who he worked for, so we brought him to you."
Mr. Carleton stood up quickly and walked around to the other side of his desk where the smaller man stood. Anger was rising in his veins already.
"Who are you? Speak, fool!"
The man nearly glared at Mr. Carleton with fierce blue eyes. He stood straighter, and Mr. Carleton saw that he was not actually as small as he had at first looked.
"If you do not speak, you will be shot." Mr. Carleton growled. The man smirked at him.
"You know, shampoo does wonders these days."
A vein popped out on Mr. Carleton's forehead.
"Insolent fool! Do you not know whom you are speaking to? I am Andrew Carleton! The most powerful man you shall ever look upon!"
"No, I have looked upon several men much more powerful than you could ever hope to be." Said the blue-eyed man.
One of the bodyguards punched the man in the stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. Mr. Carleton pushed a button on the intercom on his desk.
"Mrs. Riley, please send Strife up to my office right now."
'Yes Sir, he'll be right up." A woman's voice sounded.
Mr. Carleton walked back around to his chair and sat down. He picked up his cigar and began to puff it slowly.
"Well, if you'll not speak to me, I'm sure you'll be willing to talk to Cloud Strife. He's one of my best men, you know. He knows how to get the job done, I'll tell you that right now."
The man gasped in disbelief when he heard the name.
"Cloud Strife? Of SOLDIER?"
"Correct."
A few moments later, a knock sounded at the door.
"Enter." Mr. Carleton said. The doors opened and in walked Cloud Strife, complete with his buster sword. He paused when he saw the smaller man. His mouth opened, as if to say something, but apparently he thought better of it and closed it again.
"Ah, Mr. Strife. I'm very pleased that you could join us. Please, have a seat." Mr. Carleton motioned to a chair next to his desk. Cloud sat down. Mr. Carleton leaned forward on his desk.
"Now, Mr. Strife, judging my your reaction when you entered, I'd say you know this man." He motioned to the small, blue- eyed man. "Is this true?"
"Yes, Sir." Cloud nodded. Mr. Carleton leaned back and put his hands behind his head.
"Ah. And where do you know him from?" Cloud shifted in his seat.
"His name is Reno. He was a Turk."
Mr. Carleton's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"A Turk? Well, he must not have been a very good one, to get caught by our guards so easily." He smirked at Reno, who glared back at him.
"Now, Mr. Strife, what I want you to do, is find out what he was doing at the loading area. Why he was trying to get into the ship. Find out whom he works for. I don't care how you do it."
"Yes, Sir." Cloud nodded again.
"Dismissed." Mr. Carleton waved his hand in the air, telling them to go away. Cloud stood, and grabbed Reno roughly by the arm, leading him out the door. They walked down the corridor for several minutes. The building they were in was large. Very large. Reno didn't remember seeing a building this big in Junon. They had blindfolded him when he had been captured, so he was unable to see where they had gone. The drive didn't seem all that long, however.
He also noticed that the place had no windows. Could it be they were underground?
Suddenly Cloud turned into a large room on the right, and shut and locked the door behind them. He turned to face Reno, who glared at him with contempt.
"Ok, asshole. Tell me what you're doing."
Reno just stood there. If Clod thought he was getting answers by swearing at him, he had another thing coming.
"Why the fuck should I tell you, Clod?"
Cloud took a step towards him.
"Why the hell are you in Junon? And what were you looking for on that ship? How did you know about the shipment?"
Reno began to get defensive.
"I'm not telling you anything, fucker! I think you have a lot more questions to answer than I do!"
"Such as?"
"Such as why you're working for some damn drug lord. I thought you were all 'let's save the world today!'"
Cloud scoffed at him.
"What I do is none of your concern, Turk. Now tell me before I kill you."
Reno sat down in one of the many luxurious chairs that were in the room.
"Is that what you said to the girl the night you beat her?" He knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but right now he was pissed, and didn't care.
Cloud acted as Reno thought he would. He immediately grabbed his sword and held it to Reno's throat. A look of pure hatred was etched on his face.
"What the fuck do you know about Tifa?" He growled.
"I know that you're a sick fucker who beats women. I may be an asshole, but I don't stoop that low."
The sword increased its pressure on Reno's throat slightly. Just enough to draw blood.
"You stay away from her. You hear me, asshole?"
"I think I should be saying the same thing to you."
Suddenly Reno reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, which he held right between Cloud's eyes.
"Back up." He stated menacingly.
Cloud did so, not wanting to be shot. Reno stood up, keeping the gun at arms length. He laughed at Cloud's expression.
"You moron. Do you honestly think I would get caught that easily? Do you really believe that those two stupid guards could hold me down? It was easier than I thought to get in here. All I had to do was get myself captured. Now all I want is for you to tell me what the fuck is going on. Do that, and I'll let you live. You don't have your little friends here to save your pansy ass now."
Cloud's face was red with fury. He looked barely able to control himself.
"Killing me would be killing yourself."
"I'm well aware of that. I didn't say I was going to kill you right now. Maybe I'll wait until you're back at home beating your girlfriend."
Cloud's rage broke. He threw himself at Reno with his sword outstretched. Reno dodged to the right and rolled to his feet. Cloud turned quickly and thrust his sword at him. Reno ducked and shot Cloud in the shoulder. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees, sword clattering to the floor. Reno aimed the gun at Cloud's head.
"Do you really think I didn't see that coming?" Cloud looked up at him in disgust.
"You bastard" he spat. Reno chuckled.
"Yeah, I suppose, but it's gotten me this far. Now shut up and tell me what's going on."
Cloud sighed in resignation. He had no choice.
"Mr. Carleton, the man the guards brought you to when you first arrived, started selling drugs several years ago to make a few extra bucks to feed his family. He was poor, and his wife and kid had nowhere to live. He was a chemist. He had been a professor at the Wutai Institute of Scientific Advancement. But he lost his job because of some incident that occurred in the lab, which ended up killing two students. He was driven out of town shortly after, and moved here to Junon, where no one knew him. He couldn't manage to hold a steady job, and so he turned to drug dealing.
At first it was just small things. Marijuana, dope, you know, somewhat petty drugs. But then he started getting into heavier things like, ecstasy, and heroine. The more money he made, the more he dished out. And not long after, he began making his own type of drug. It's a powder called Harmony. Extremely strong, and extremely dangerous. It's mainly snorted, but it can be ingested orally as well. An ounce of it can kill a grown man, but if taken in minute doses, it's well worth the risk. Or, that's what his customer's thought.
Then several other dealers in Junon found out about the drug, and wanted in on the profits, so it became a joint effort between all the major drug dealers in the area to sell as much of the stuff as they could. Mr. Carleton made a fraction of the profits for every gram that was sold. And they sold a lot.
Eventually, word got out, and dealers in Costa del Sol wanted in as well. Well, it was mainly just one major dealer, who distributed it to several smaller dealers in that area. Everything seemed to be going off without a hitch, until many of the customers started dying. But their deaths were mysterious. They weren't standard drug user overdosing. Autopsy reports say that many of them died of starvation. That, however, made no sense whatsoever.
Mr. Carleton inspected the drug, and found a chemical in it he had never seen before. This chemical was causing the users to fall into a coma, and eventually die from lack of food. The chemical, which Mr. Carleton called Hydrid Perclose, was not in the original formula for the drug. Which means someone had been tampering with the production of it. We still haven't found out who."
Cloud shook his head in self-loathing. He was going to die if anyone found out he had leaked.
Reno, however, seemed satisfied.
"Hydrid Perclose? What kind of a name is that?"
"Mr. Carleton's son had a stuffed animal named Hydrid Perclose. I guess he was fond of the sound."
Reno looked at Cloud awkwardly. Mr. Carleton was an odd one, all right.
"He told you all this?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"He trusts me."
"Uh-huh."
Reno pulled a ski mask out of his jacket pocket and put it on, shielding his face from view.
"What are you doing?" Cloud asked.
"I'm getting the hell out of here. And you're going to help me."
Reno grabbed Cloud by the arm, causing him to flinch at the pain. There was blood all over the floor now, and Cloud's face was getting pale.
Oh well, Reno thought. The dumb fuck deserved it.
He shot the lock on the door. It swung slowly open, and Reno looked down the hall. No one.
He grabbed Cloud and held him very close in front of him, keeping the gun at his head. They walked gradually down the hallway and turned a corner. There were several guards there who jumped when they saw him, but froze when they saw the gun at Cloud's head.
"Lead me out of here."
"Fuck you."
"Do it or you die."
Cloud hesitated. Reno tightened the grip on his arm, and he moaned slightly. He was dead anyway, so what did it matter?
"Turn right up here."
Reno wasted no time. He walked sideways, with his back to the wall, always keeping tabs on where the guards were.
After several minutes of turning corners and evading the guards, they came to a large door, which required a card to open.
To Cloud's surprise, Reno pulled one out of his pocket.
"Where did you get that?"
"I stole it from the bodyguards."
"You'll never get away with this, you know."
"Hey, I'm doing good so far."
Reno swiped the card through the machine, and the latches on the door unlocked. It slid open.
"Thanks, Clod. See ya around."
Reno dropped Cloud onto the floor and hauled ass out of the building. To his amazement, he was in a tunnel. It lead up, which meant his hunch was right. They were underground.
After a minute of running, he came to a hatch up above his head. He looked at the number pad next to it, and typed in a few random numbers.
Nothing.
Beep, beep, blip, bop.
Nothing.
Bop, blip, beep, beep.
Nothing.
Blip, beep, blip, bop.
Nothing.
Reno was getting frustrated. He could hear sounds from behind him. The guards had probably caught up with them by now.
He pulled out his gun and fired at the control pad. It sparked and caught on fire. He prayed that something would happen.
The noises were getting louder.
He turned, prepared to fight.
When suddenly the hatch opened.
"Huzzah!" He whooped in delight, and climbed quickly out of the tunnel, and into the daylight.
He ran a few more blocks, turning corners every so often, so the guards would lose him. After a moment he stopped to rest. He seemed to be safe.
He couldn't believe Clod was working for the cartel. It was almost too good to be true! Finally, another reason to kill him.
Than he though about how Tifa was doing, and decided to head home. If he could find his way, that is.
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A/N: Whoo! Finally, the 5th chapter is finished! Again, I'm sorry it took so long. But the length sorta made up for it, I guess. Lots of new developments in this chapter, 'eh? Cloud, working for the cartel? Who knew? ^_^ What do you think will happen? What's this new drug Harmony? And who's been adding that chemical with the stupid name to the recipe? Hmm. Many new things to ponder methinks. _ _ ^_^ Please R&R!
Someone mentioned that Tifa should have been able to defend herself against the 4 thugs who attacked her in chapter 3. This is actually a very valid bit. While it's true, Tifa would probably be able to defend herself, it was 7 thugs who attacked her, not 4, and, I wanted her to get into a situation where she needed rescuing for the sake of the story. I realize I probably could have found a better way to do it, but thugs trying to rape her seemed the most likely situation considering her surroundings and current state of mind. In any case, thanks for bringing that up! I'm sure other people were thinking the same thing. You guys are cool!
And thanks to everyone who mentioned Tailes. I'm sure she appreciates your concern. ^_~
Ok, enough banter, on with the next chapter! ^_^
Disclaimer: I'm poor and don't own anything. Don't sue me.
This chapter rated R for language.
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Things Unexpected
Chapter 5: Altering Situations
Andrew Carleton had been smoking a cigar when two of his surly bodyguards burst through his office doors pushing in front of them another man, who didn't look as though he was there by choice. They shoved him roughly up to Mr. Carleton's desk. He stared at the smaller man, who, instead of looking intimidated, only spat on his floor. One of the bodyguards punched him in the face for doing so.
"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Carleton questioned. He was not what most people would expect from the most powerful man in the country. He was short, fat, and had long, greasy black hair. It was most certainly dyed, but no one dared mock it, for fear of execution. Mr. Carleton had a bad temper. Not just bad, but VERY bad. So much as look at the man wrong, and he would have you locked up for years.
The largest bodyguard straightened fearfully at Mr. Carleton's impatient tone.
"Sir, we found him probing around the loading dock down at the pier. We were unloading a new shipment from Costa del Sol, and we caught him trying to sneak onto the ship. He wouldn't say who he worked for, so we brought him to you."
Mr. Carleton stood up quickly and walked around to the other side of his desk where the smaller man stood. Anger was rising in his veins already.
"Who are you? Speak, fool!"
The man nearly glared at Mr. Carleton with fierce blue eyes. He stood straighter, and Mr. Carleton saw that he was not actually as small as he had at first looked.
"If you do not speak, you will be shot." Mr. Carleton growled. The man smirked at him.
"You know, shampoo does wonders these days."
A vein popped out on Mr. Carleton's forehead.
"Insolent fool! Do you not know whom you are speaking to? I am Andrew Carleton! The most powerful man you shall ever look upon!"
"No, I have looked upon several men much more powerful than you could ever hope to be." Said the blue-eyed man.
One of the bodyguards punched the man in the stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. Mr. Carleton pushed a button on the intercom on his desk.
"Mrs. Riley, please send Strife up to my office right now."
'Yes Sir, he'll be right up." A woman's voice sounded.
Mr. Carleton walked back around to his chair and sat down. He picked up his cigar and began to puff it slowly.
"Well, if you'll not speak to me, I'm sure you'll be willing to talk to Cloud Strife. He's one of my best men, you know. He knows how to get the job done, I'll tell you that right now."
The man gasped in disbelief when he heard the name.
"Cloud Strife? Of SOLDIER?"
"Correct."
A few moments later, a knock sounded at the door.
"Enter." Mr. Carleton said. The doors opened and in walked Cloud Strife, complete with his buster sword. He paused when he saw the smaller man. His mouth opened, as if to say something, but apparently he thought better of it and closed it again.
"Ah, Mr. Strife. I'm very pleased that you could join us. Please, have a seat." Mr. Carleton motioned to a chair next to his desk. Cloud sat down. Mr. Carleton leaned forward on his desk.
"Now, Mr. Strife, judging my your reaction when you entered, I'd say you know this man." He motioned to the small, blue- eyed man. "Is this true?"
"Yes, Sir." Cloud nodded. Mr. Carleton leaned back and put his hands behind his head.
"Ah. And where do you know him from?" Cloud shifted in his seat.
"His name is Reno. He was a Turk."
Mr. Carleton's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"A Turk? Well, he must not have been a very good one, to get caught by our guards so easily." He smirked at Reno, who glared back at him.
"Now, Mr. Strife, what I want you to do, is find out what he was doing at the loading area. Why he was trying to get into the ship. Find out whom he works for. I don't care how you do it."
"Yes, Sir." Cloud nodded again.
"Dismissed." Mr. Carleton waved his hand in the air, telling them to go away. Cloud stood, and grabbed Reno roughly by the arm, leading him out the door. They walked down the corridor for several minutes. The building they were in was large. Very large. Reno didn't remember seeing a building this big in Junon. They had blindfolded him when he had been captured, so he was unable to see where they had gone. The drive didn't seem all that long, however.
He also noticed that the place had no windows. Could it be they were underground?
Suddenly Cloud turned into a large room on the right, and shut and locked the door behind them. He turned to face Reno, who glared at him with contempt.
"Ok, asshole. Tell me what you're doing."
Reno just stood there. If Clod thought he was getting answers by swearing at him, he had another thing coming.
"Why the fuck should I tell you, Clod?"
Cloud took a step towards him.
"Why the hell are you in Junon? And what were you looking for on that ship? How did you know about the shipment?"
Reno began to get defensive.
"I'm not telling you anything, fucker! I think you have a lot more questions to answer than I do!"
"Such as?"
"Such as why you're working for some damn drug lord. I thought you were all 'let's save the world today!'"
Cloud scoffed at him.
"What I do is none of your concern, Turk. Now tell me before I kill you."
Reno sat down in one of the many luxurious chairs that were in the room.
"Is that what you said to the girl the night you beat her?" He knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but right now he was pissed, and didn't care.
Cloud acted as Reno thought he would. He immediately grabbed his sword and held it to Reno's throat. A look of pure hatred was etched on his face.
"What the fuck do you know about Tifa?" He growled.
"I know that you're a sick fucker who beats women. I may be an asshole, but I don't stoop that low."
The sword increased its pressure on Reno's throat slightly. Just enough to draw blood.
"You stay away from her. You hear me, asshole?"
"I think I should be saying the same thing to you."
Suddenly Reno reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, which he held right between Cloud's eyes.
"Back up." He stated menacingly.
Cloud did so, not wanting to be shot. Reno stood up, keeping the gun at arms length. He laughed at Cloud's expression.
"You moron. Do you honestly think I would get caught that easily? Do you really believe that those two stupid guards could hold me down? It was easier than I thought to get in here. All I had to do was get myself captured. Now all I want is for you to tell me what the fuck is going on. Do that, and I'll let you live. You don't have your little friends here to save your pansy ass now."
Cloud's face was red with fury. He looked barely able to control himself.
"Killing me would be killing yourself."
"I'm well aware of that. I didn't say I was going to kill you right now. Maybe I'll wait until you're back at home beating your girlfriend."
Cloud's rage broke. He threw himself at Reno with his sword outstretched. Reno dodged to the right and rolled to his feet. Cloud turned quickly and thrust his sword at him. Reno ducked and shot Cloud in the shoulder. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees, sword clattering to the floor. Reno aimed the gun at Cloud's head.
"Do you really think I didn't see that coming?" Cloud looked up at him in disgust.
"You bastard" he spat. Reno chuckled.
"Yeah, I suppose, but it's gotten me this far. Now shut up and tell me what's going on."
Cloud sighed in resignation. He had no choice.
"Mr. Carleton, the man the guards brought you to when you first arrived, started selling drugs several years ago to make a few extra bucks to feed his family. He was poor, and his wife and kid had nowhere to live. He was a chemist. He had been a professor at the Wutai Institute of Scientific Advancement. But he lost his job because of some incident that occurred in the lab, which ended up killing two students. He was driven out of town shortly after, and moved here to Junon, where no one knew him. He couldn't manage to hold a steady job, and so he turned to drug dealing.
At first it was just small things. Marijuana, dope, you know, somewhat petty drugs. But then he started getting into heavier things like, ecstasy, and heroine. The more money he made, the more he dished out. And not long after, he began making his own type of drug. It's a powder called Harmony. Extremely strong, and extremely dangerous. It's mainly snorted, but it can be ingested orally as well. An ounce of it can kill a grown man, but if taken in minute doses, it's well worth the risk. Or, that's what his customer's thought.
Then several other dealers in Junon found out about the drug, and wanted in on the profits, so it became a joint effort between all the major drug dealers in the area to sell as much of the stuff as they could. Mr. Carleton made a fraction of the profits for every gram that was sold. And they sold a lot.
Eventually, word got out, and dealers in Costa del Sol wanted in as well. Well, it was mainly just one major dealer, who distributed it to several smaller dealers in that area. Everything seemed to be going off without a hitch, until many of the customers started dying. But their deaths were mysterious. They weren't standard drug user overdosing. Autopsy reports say that many of them died of starvation. That, however, made no sense whatsoever.
Mr. Carleton inspected the drug, and found a chemical in it he had never seen before. This chemical was causing the users to fall into a coma, and eventually die from lack of food. The chemical, which Mr. Carleton called Hydrid Perclose, was not in the original formula for the drug. Which means someone had been tampering with the production of it. We still haven't found out who."
Cloud shook his head in self-loathing. He was going to die if anyone found out he had leaked.
Reno, however, seemed satisfied.
"Hydrid Perclose? What kind of a name is that?"
"Mr. Carleton's son had a stuffed animal named Hydrid Perclose. I guess he was fond of the sound."
Reno looked at Cloud awkwardly. Mr. Carleton was an odd one, all right.
"He told you all this?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"He trusts me."
"Uh-huh."
Reno pulled a ski mask out of his jacket pocket and put it on, shielding his face from view.
"What are you doing?" Cloud asked.
"I'm getting the hell out of here. And you're going to help me."
Reno grabbed Cloud by the arm, causing him to flinch at the pain. There was blood all over the floor now, and Cloud's face was getting pale.
Oh well, Reno thought. The dumb fuck deserved it.
He shot the lock on the door. It swung slowly open, and Reno looked down the hall. No one.
He grabbed Cloud and held him very close in front of him, keeping the gun at his head. They walked gradually down the hallway and turned a corner. There were several guards there who jumped when they saw him, but froze when they saw the gun at Cloud's head.
"Lead me out of here."
"Fuck you."
"Do it or you die."
Cloud hesitated. Reno tightened the grip on his arm, and he moaned slightly. He was dead anyway, so what did it matter?
"Turn right up here."
Reno wasted no time. He walked sideways, with his back to the wall, always keeping tabs on where the guards were.
After several minutes of turning corners and evading the guards, they came to a large door, which required a card to open.
To Cloud's surprise, Reno pulled one out of his pocket.
"Where did you get that?"
"I stole it from the bodyguards."
"You'll never get away with this, you know."
"Hey, I'm doing good so far."
Reno swiped the card through the machine, and the latches on the door unlocked. It slid open.
"Thanks, Clod. See ya around."
Reno dropped Cloud onto the floor and hauled ass out of the building. To his amazement, he was in a tunnel. It lead up, which meant his hunch was right. They were underground.
After a minute of running, he came to a hatch up above his head. He looked at the number pad next to it, and typed in a few random numbers.
Nothing.
Beep, beep, blip, bop.
Nothing.
Bop, blip, beep, beep.
Nothing.
Blip, beep, blip, bop.
Nothing.
Reno was getting frustrated. He could hear sounds from behind him. The guards had probably caught up with them by now.
He pulled out his gun and fired at the control pad. It sparked and caught on fire. He prayed that something would happen.
The noises were getting louder.
He turned, prepared to fight.
When suddenly the hatch opened.
"Huzzah!" He whooped in delight, and climbed quickly out of the tunnel, and into the daylight.
He ran a few more blocks, turning corners every so often, so the guards would lose him. After a moment he stopped to rest. He seemed to be safe.
He couldn't believe Clod was working for the cartel. It was almost too good to be true! Finally, another reason to kill him.
Than he though about how Tifa was doing, and decided to head home. If he could find his way, that is.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Whoo! Finally, the 5th chapter is finished! Again, I'm sorry it took so long. But the length sorta made up for it, I guess. Lots of new developments in this chapter, 'eh? Cloud, working for the cartel? Who knew? ^_^ What do you think will happen? What's this new drug Harmony? And who's been adding that chemical with the stupid name to the recipe? Hmm. Many new things to ponder methinks. _ _ ^_^ Please R&R!