Chapter 9: A Little Sickness
"Feeling better today are we?" Masson asked, a little bit of mocking with a tinge of concern in his voice. He had been informed of Tifa's condition a while back, and had visited what seemed to be a dying woman. Something probably was wrong with her, but what? He was sure he was feeding her well, and she might be bored, but that wasn't a reason to die, right? Well, what did he care. Even if she did remind him of his love, she was Valentine's, and it's not like it mattered. A little sickness didn't kill anyone. Tifa looked up with a sour look on her face, clutching her head and squinting up at him.
"Ugh, I feel horrible. You sure you didn't try and food poison me or something?" Tifa complained, rubbing her eyes as she yawned again, working the kinks out of her neck. Masson said nothing, shrugging slightly as he eyed her.
"I wouldn't know. My chiefs probably are just as reliable as Hojo." Masson stated, and Tifa gave a slight shudder, saying nothing, not even wanting to think about the madman. Thank the planet that he was dead and gone, not able to hurt anymore people with his twisted schemes. "I thought I should tell you to get comfortable. Valentine's not coming around anytime soon. I sent an attack squad to slow him down." Masson stated, crossing his arms comfortably across his chest, waiting for Tifa's predictable reaction.
"Attack squad! Why you!" She shouted, raising a fist angrily before falling back down, clenching her teeth and her side. Masson raised an eyebrow, slightly amused, allowing a slight smirk to play on his lips.
"Don't worry. As you said, Valentine won't be taken down so easily. Besides, what good would it do if I didn't get my revenge?" Masson asked, earning a heated glare from Tifa.
"You really should move on, y'know? Killing people like this will get you no where. These are the peaceful times, after Shinra was destroyed, Meteor banished." Tifa stated, and Masson's mouth twitched, his smirk widening a bit with a tint of superiority radiating from him.
"Peaceful times? Oh, yes, I forget you've been out of the politics for several years now. Let me feel you in. Since Shinra isn't in control anymore, cities are battling for control, and now use coal to burn out the planet in a different way. Most people now are greedy and corrupted, caring only about themselves, so there is no one to lead such people. Who would want to? Besides, most of the so called cites are now just gambling stations, were homelessness and jobless people wander the streets. Not much different from the Slums, I'm afraid to say. And it makes it worse for you, since you were the one who saved these people." Masson said, letting the shocked and somewhat horrified Tifa soak in the news. Places like the Slums, worldwide? Suddenly she wasn't so sure if saving the planet had been the right thing. But it had to have been! People died for that cause, people were sacrificed! All for the sake of saving the planet, but was the planet really saved now? Tifa lowered her veiled gaze to the floor, feeling somewhat burdened again. He was right, she should have known. When bad things happened in the Slums, most people wanted to have a good time, to forget, and what had she expected after something so horrible as Meteor?
"But Barret wouldn't have allowed that, not in his town." Tifa stated softly, and Masson's cold laughed pierced through her, making her feel as if ice had been dumped all over her.
"Barret Wallace I presume? Hah! Of course not! But, as a result of his 'noble' decision, people no longer go to 'his' town, and his people are living in poverty. Soon he will be kicked out of office, and some corrupt soul will take his place. There is no way that you Avalanche members can survive in the world you helped save." Masson hissed cruelly, while Tifa sat there, in a shocked silence, not sure if she should believe him. After all, after the whole Hojo, Halidon mess, Vincent and her had kept a low profile, barely having any contact with the outside world. Was it true? Was it true that she had a hand in creating the corrupt world that Masson painted so vividly? Masson, pleased that he had somehow gotten through to her, turned, ready to leave the room, when Tifa spoke up.
"How can you stand there and say that saving all the people here was a worthless cause?" Tifa's angered voice pierced through him, forcing him to stand still and turn around, sunglasses covering his widening brown eyes. Tifa lifted her head up angrily, glaring at him, her garnet colored eyes blazing. "If we hadn't done the things we did, sacrifice the things we had to, then you'd be gone to buddy! Don't stand there and act cocky just because you have a whole army of clones at your disposal!" Tifa locked eyes with him, her eyes narrowing and in a dead serious tone she proclaimed, "I won't allow you to disgrace anymore people by cloning them, or kill Vincent just because of your form of your revenge. Never." A slight glare came off of Masson's sunglasses as he turned and shut the door shut.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"The new base is here? How do you know?" Kojin asked a bit suspiciously, still not sure if he should trust this 'Reno'. What if he turned out to be a clone too? Reno lifted his burning aquamarine eyes to meet Kojin's brown eyes, daring him to voice his doubts out loud.
"How do I know? Huh, easy question. I've been following Halidon around for a while. What do you think us new Turks were doing when Elena and Rude got captured?" Reno asked, his facial expressions smirking and mocking, but his eyes were a bit sad, as if even with all his Turk training, he couldn't keep it in. Kojin nodded briefly, turning back to the map.
"Wutai huh? Damn Vinnie, we're in Nibelhiem, and the real base is in Wutai. Guess your intuition's a bit rusty." Kakyuu drawled, while Vincent said nothing, just sat in his little corner with his arms crossed. Kojin cleared his throat, turning his attention back to the little dotted area that marked Vincent's 'enemy's' hiding spot.
"Ingenious really, right in near civilization, but yet so far. Hmm, how clever indeed. Too bad your 'friend' wasn't a Turk, Valentine." Kojin said, not getting an answer, though he wasn't expecting any. Valentine had yet to say anything, and he doubted Valentine would, until they found this threat of his and destroyed him.
"That's the way he operates. Hiding in plain sight is his tactic." Vincent stated form the darkness, making everyone look up, a bit startled to say the least. Kakyuu let out a little frustrated sound, glaring at Vincent with narrowed eyes.
"Well why didn't ya say so in the first place? It would have saved us all some time, y'know." Kakyuu huffed angrily, while Kojin just rubbed his temples, and Reno tilted his head to the side, a bit of a superior smirk on his face.
"I see you three get along all nice and peachy." Reno mocked a bit, grinning as he leaned back in his chair. "We might as well get some sleep, a go first thing in the morning. No doubt that fortress of his will be heavily guarded, not to mention hard to get through, with all the trap doors and mazes." Reno said gravely, a grim look replacing his usual cocky one.
"Mazes?" Kakyuu asked, a bit astounded as he turned back to Reno, who was still staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Then he turned back to the group, his eyes hard, as if recalling something he'd rather forget.
"Yea, big misty dark places that have all sorts of misfit experiments of Hojo running around." At the mention of Hojo, Vincent's eye twitched slightly in irritation, though it was barely noticeable. "That's how they got caught, because we got lost." Reno turned back to Vincent, eyes hard and serious, not at all like they usually were. "So Vampy, if all you want to do is go in there and kick some ass, I have to tell you your blood sucking face will be punched in. Some of those demons down there." Reno gave a slight shudder, his face involuntarily showing his horror, but he turned back to the ceiling, composed again.
"It has nothing to do with revenge. Tifa is there, and that's all that matters." Vincent said tartly, turning and exiting the dimly lit room, leaving the three men to stare at each other.
"Well, at least he talked in more than one word sentences." Kakyuu stated, while Reno rolled his eyes, turning back to the ceiling. And he was supposed to be the wise crack in this group.
~*Author's Notes*~ I'm so sorry for the delay! I couldn't get on the Internet, and I had terrible writer's block! I'm really sorry! Please forgive me! Well, anyway, while you're deciding to forgive or not, this chapter is mostly setting things up for the final thingy ma giggy. I'm thinking big booms and stuff! Yea, I like fireworks. What this has to do with the fic, I don't know. Well, anyway, seems Vinnie is on his way to save Tifa! *cheers* Happy times. Hope you all had happy holidays, so see you around. Well, anyway, read and review like always, my friends.
"Feeling better today are we?" Masson asked, a little bit of mocking with a tinge of concern in his voice. He had been informed of Tifa's condition a while back, and had visited what seemed to be a dying woman. Something probably was wrong with her, but what? He was sure he was feeding her well, and she might be bored, but that wasn't a reason to die, right? Well, what did he care. Even if she did remind him of his love, she was Valentine's, and it's not like it mattered. A little sickness didn't kill anyone. Tifa looked up with a sour look on her face, clutching her head and squinting up at him.
"Ugh, I feel horrible. You sure you didn't try and food poison me or something?" Tifa complained, rubbing her eyes as she yawned again, working the kinks out of her neck. Masson said nothing, shrugging slightly as he eyed her.
"I wouldn't know. My chiefs probably are just as reliable as Hojo." Masson stated, and Tifa gave a slight shudder, saying nothing, not even wanting to think about the madman. Thank the planet that he was dead and gone, not able to hurt anymore people with his twisted schemes. "I thought I should tell you to get comfortable. Valentine's not coming around anytime soon. I sent an attack squad to slow him down." Masson stated, crossing his arms comfortably across his chest, waiting for Tifa's predictable reaction.
"Attack squad! Why you!" She shouted, raising a fist angrily before falling back down, clenching her teeth and her side. Masson raised an eyebrow, slightly amused, allowing a slight smirk to play on his lips.
"Don't worry. As you said, Valentine won't be taken down so easily. Besides, what good would it do if I didn't get my revenge?" Masson asked, earning a heated glare from Tifa.
"You really should move on, y'know? Killing people like this will get you no where. These are the peaceful times, after Shinra was destroyed, Meteor banished." Tifa stated, and Masson's mouth twitched, his smirk widening a bit with a tint of superiority radiating from him.
"Peaceful times? Oh, yes, I forget you've been out of the politics for several years now. Let me feel you in. Since Shinra isn't in control anymore, cities are battling for control, and now use coal to burn out the planet in a different way. Most people now are greedy and corrupted, caring only about themselves, so there is no one to lead such people. Who would want to? Besides, most of the so called cites are now just gambling stations, were homelessness and jobless people wander the streets. Not much different from the Slums, I'm afraid to say. And it makes it worse for you, since you were the one who saved these people." Masson said, letting the shocked and somewhat horrified Tifa soak in the news. Places like the Slums, worldwide? Suddenly she wasn't so sure if saving the planet had been the right thing. But it had to have been! People died for that cause, people were sacrificed! All for the sake of saving the planet, but was the planet really saved now? Tifa lowered her veiled gaze to the floor, feeling somewhat burdened again. He was right, she should have known. When bad things happened in the Slums, most people wanted to have a good time, to forget, and what had she expected after something so horrible as Meteor?
"But Barret wouldn't have allowed that, not in his town." Tifa stated softly, and Masson's cold laughed pierced through her, making her feel as if ice had been dumped all over her.
"Barret Wallace I presume? Hah! Of course not! But, as a result of his 'noble' decision, people no longer go to 'his' town, and his people are living in poverty. Soon he will be kicked out of office, and some corrupt soul will take his place. There is no way that you Avalanche members can survive in the world you helped save." Masson hissed cruelly, while Tifa sat there, in a shocked silence, not sure if she should believe him. After all, after the whole Hojo, Halidon mess, Vincent and her had kept a low profile, barely having any contact with the outside world. Was it true? Was it true that she had a hand in creating the corrupt world that Masson painted so vividly? Masson, pleased that he had somehow gotten through to her, turned, ready to leave the room, when Tifa spoke up.
"How can you stand there and say that saving all the people here was a worthless cause?" Tifa's angered voice pierced through him, forcing him to stand still and turn around, sunglasses covering his widening brown eyes. Tifa lifted her head up angrily, glaring at him, her garnet colored eyes blazing. "If we hadn't done the things we did, sacrifice the things we had to, then you'd be gone to buddy! Don't stand there and act cocky just because you have a whole army of clones at your disposal!" Tifa locked eyes with him, her eyes narrowing and in a dead serious tone she proclaimed, "I won't allow you to disgrace anymore people by cloning them, or kill Vincent just because of your form of your revenge. Never." A slight glare came off of Masson's sunglasses as he turned and shut the door shut.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"The new base is here? How do you know?" Kojin asked a bit suspiciously, still not sure if he should trust this 'Reno'. What if he turned out to be a clone too? Reno lifted his burning aquamarine eyes to meet Kojin's brown eyes, daring him to voice his doubts out loud.
"How do I know? Huh, easy question. I've been following Halidon around for a while. What do you think us new Turks were doing when Elena and Rude got captured?" Reno asked, his facial expressions smirking and mocking, but his eyes were a bit sad, as if even with all his Turk training, he couldn't keep it in. Kojin nodded briefly, turning back to the map.
"Wutai huh? Damn Vinnie, we're in Nibelhiem, and the real base is in Wutai. Guess your intuition's a bit rusty." Kakyuu drawled, while Vincent said nothing, just sat in his little corner with his arms crossed. Kojin cleared his throat, turning his attention back to the little dotted area that marked Vincent's 'enemy's' hiding spot.
"Ingenious really, right in near civilization, but yet so far. Hmm, how clever indeed. Too bad your 'friend' wasn't a Turk, Valentine." Kojin said, not getting an answer, though he wasn't expecting any. Valentine had yet to say anything, and he doubted Valentine would, until they found this threat of his and destroyed him.
"That's the way he operates. Hiding in plain sight is his tactic." Vincent stated form the darkness, making everyone look up, a bit startled to say the least. Kakyuu let out a little frustrated sound, glaring at Vincent with narrowed eyes.
"Well why didn't ya say so in the first place? It would have saved us all some time, y'know." Kakyuu huffed angrily, while Kojin just rubbed his temples, and Reno tilted his head to the side, a bit of a superior smirk on his face.
"I see you three get along all nice and peachy." Reno mocked a bit, grinning as he leaned back in his chair. "We might as well get some sleep, a go first thing in the morning. No doubt that fortress of his will be heavily guarded, not to mention hard to get through, with all the trap doors and mazes." Reno said gravely, a grim look replacing his usual cocky one.
"Mazes?" Kakyuu asked, a bit astounded as he turned back to Reno, who was still staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Then he turned back to the group, his eyes hard, as if recalling something he'd rather forget.
"Yea, big misty dark places that have all sorts of misfit experiments of Hojo running around." At the mention of Hojo, Vincent's eye twitched slightly in irritation, though it was barely noticeable. "That's how they got caught, because we got lost." Reno turned back to Vincent, eyes hard and serious, not at all like they usually were. "So Vampy, if all you want to do is go in there and kick some ass, I have to tell you your blood sucking face will be punched in. Some of those demons down there." Reno gave a slight shudder, his face involuntarily showing his horror, but he turned back to the ceiling, composed again.
"It has nothing to do with revenge. Tifa is there, and that's all that matters." Vincent said tartly, turning and exiting the dimly lit room, leaving the three men to stare at each other.
"Well, at least he talked in more than one word sentences." Kakyuu stated, while Reno rolled his eyes, turning back to the ceiling. And he was supposed to be the wise crack in this group.
~*Author's Notes*~ I'm so sorry for the delay! I couldn't get on the Internet, and I had terrible writer's block! I'm really sorry! Please forgive me! Well, anyway, while you're deciding to forgive or not, this chapter is mostly setting things up for the final thingy ma giggy. I'm thinking big booms and stuff! Yea, I like fireworks. What this has to do with the fic, I don't know. Well, anyway, seems Vinnie is on his way to save Tifa! *cheers* Happy times. Hope you all had happy holidays, so see you around. Well, anyway, read and review like always, my friends.