TO DEFINE EVIL
Chapter One
By Inarae
DISCLAIMER: All things having to do with Final Fantasy belong to Square, who I am eternally grateful to for having made it!
Comments and criticism greatly appreciated! They will make me a happy writer who will write more, especially if you point out things I should work on improving in my next chapter or story.
*************************************************************
CHAPTER ONE: WHAT'S GOING ON?
Cloud woke up to find Tifa gazing worriedly down at him. He reached up to touch her tanned cheek, smiling tiredly at the petite warrior girl.
"Hi there beautiful." For some reason his voice was rough and it hurt to talk. She bit her lip and clasped his hand to her face, bowing her head so brown hair cascaded over her face and he couldn't see her expression. Worried, he looked around.
"Tifa? What am I doing in bed at noon?" She blinked and sat up straighter, releasing his hand. "Tifa?"
"You collapsed again at dinner last night."
"Oh." Dang. Again? Shit, I wish I didn't keep worrying her like this. He carefully swung his legs out of the bed. A little sore, but not bad. "Listen, you must be tired if you stayed up all night taking care of me. Here, lay down, I'll take care of stuff today and you can rest."
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"If I've been asleep all day, and you've been taking care of me, you probably haven't been out to the bar. We've got a shipment coming in today, remember?" He replied logically, running a sword-calloused hand through the impossibly unruly spikes of his blond hair.
Tifa's face paled and then burned an angry, almost purplish red. Her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. Oops, he'd said something wrong. All right, she didn't like that idea. It was really quite fascinating what moving a few muscles could do to the shape of a face though. He smiled innocently up at her and waited for her to start
yelling. Her face dropped and she turned away.
"Tifa?"
"You weren't unconscious, at least not entirely."
He was shocked to see that there was moisture in her eyes when she turned around.
"You screamed when you collapsed." Her voice was soft and tight, like she was talking to herself. "Then you were shaking uncontrollably like you were freezing, but it was a fever. And you moaned in pain. I thought. . . somehow you sounded like you had given up hope, that you were just waiting to die. You were like that till an hour ago and then you screamed again, convulsed, and slept like a log for the last seven hours." She turned back to him. "And now you want to go prancing around again like nothing's wrong?!"
"Tifa, I . . . I don't remember it. As far as I'm concerned, it didn't happen. I'm sorry to worry you so much. It seems like I'm worrying you a lot lately. Maybe, . . . maybe I could go stay with Vincent for a while? Or you could? Take a vacation. . ."
"That's not the problem! The problem is you! What's wrong with you? You've lost weight, you're not sleeping, it seems like you've had the flu all year, and now this again. Cloud, you need to see a doctor!"
"No."
"Cloud. . ."
"Tifa, my body's so messed up there's nothing any doctor could do without a ton of research, and I won't be a test subject again. And I won't let any of the information on how Hojo did this to me fall into anyone else's hands either. It'd be too easy for someone to decide to create their own private army of supermen and end up with a bunch of madmen like Sephiroth instead. It's only happened, what, three times now? At pretty big intervals. For all we know, they'll just go away."
"For all we know, they might come more often. The first two were nine months apart. It's only been a month and a half since then, and you've had another one." Tifa said quietly.
"If that happens, it happens. To be honest Tifa, having you this upset bothers me a lot more than the illness."
"Illness?" Her voice was flat.
"Or whatever. Maybe this is kind of a delayed reaction to Jenova's death or a side effect from all the weird stuff and mako pumped into me. If this is the last surprise from Hojo, I'm happy with it. Just don't worry, it'll be fine."
"You're in pain! You were lying there clutching your head, and moaning. . ."
"I don't remember it, so I can pretend it didn't happen. All I feel is a little bit sore. I'm sorry to worry you so much though." He took her fisted hands from her waist and cupped them gently in his own. "It's pretty much a given that there's nothing we can do about them. I'll be OK."
"And if you're not?"
"Then I'll still be OK. Tifa, stop looking for worst-case scenarios. Maybe this is the last of the Jenova cells Hojo injected me with dying out, and I'll be a normal human again soon. That'd be logical, right? Jenova's dead, and humans aren't supposed to have pieces of a creature from another planet living inside of them." He smiled at her tight face. "There's no reason to assume the worst." After a few seconds she managed a small grin in return. As grins go, it wasn't much, but it seemed to make Cloud happy. His body relaxed in relief, inclining him slightly towards Tifa, who slumped against his muscled chest and hid her wet face in his shirt.
The PHS beeped. Both of them jumped, and blushed.
"Ah. . ." Cloud began to look around frantically, still blushing. "Where is that damned thing?"
Tifa blinked at him. "Huh? Oh, the PHS. . . I think I saw it in the refrigerator."
"The refrigerator?!" Cloud stopped looking through a pile of junk on the dining room table to stare at her in disbelief.
"My purse got a hole while I was shopping, so I put everything important in the grocery bags. . . then something came up right as I got home, and I just stuffed everything in the fridge before going out again."
Cloud sighed and headed for the kitchen to get the errant machine out from amongst a pile of broccoli.
"Hello? Cloud here."
"Thank the Planet. I was beginning to think you were out somewhere."
"Well, Tifa hid the PHS in the . . ."
"I need you here in Midgar. Now."
"I'm not one of your little Shinra flunkies, Reeve. I don't take orders from you." Tifa moved up behind Cloud and he turned up the volume so she could hear as well.
There was silence for a moment. "There is the possibility of many people dying. As in, entire cities." Reeve said carefully. "I'm doing what I can, but I know you can do it better. Please, as a friend, or just as a good person who doesn't want a lot of innocents to die, please help me."
"What happened?"
"I can't talk about this now, the news has gotten in the bad habit of bugging my phone. Lets just say one of the scientists here was using his funding to work on something very different from what he said he was. I'm sure you can imagine the type of trouble that could cause, probably better than I. I know there aren't wild Chocobos near you and you don't keep them anymore, but if you hurry, you can be here by nightfall. Please say you'll come?"
"Cloud can't travel that fast. He's sick!"
"Tifa? I'm glad you're there, I wanted to ask you to come too. How sick is he?"
"I'm fine. I'll be there this evening." He turned off the PHS.
"Cloud you can't! What if it happens again?"
"Then I'll deal with it, or you'll take care of me, if you'll come. This sounds too important to skip. Besides, it happened at about three month intervals before. There's no reason to suspect it will happen again soon."
Tifa glared up at the towering megalith- a little less towering since Meteor blew off the top few floors. Why the hell had Reeve decided to use the bottom levels of this heap as the offices for the small business that had once been Shinra anyhow? A nice little house would have worked just as well, and then she wouldn't have to face the memories in there again. Even worse than the memories, Cloud had convinced her it would be rude if she wore her fighting gloves and armor in, so she had it all in her purse instead. Speaking of who. . . she glanced over at Cloud, who was watching the building without expression. If anyone ought to dislike the place, it was him. So why didn't he look upset? He seemed more bored than anything else.
"Come on, Tifa, stop trying to tear it down with your eyes. Lets go see what Reeve wants."
Another surprise was waiting for them just inside the door. "Barrett!" Tifa eagerly embraced the huge man. He got to wear his weapons, she noticed grumpily. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you accepted a job here?!"
"Don't be a dang fool girl. I ain't never gonna work for Shinra. But, well," he scuffed his foot on the ground, "Reeve said he really needed my help, and the guy seemed really upset. For a Shinra, he's a pretty fair guy you know. I thought I'd come listen at least. Same with you two?"
"Yeah." Cloud replied. "He wouldn't tell us what's up though. Did he tell you?"
"Not a damn thing. Something about the communications not being secure. He's supposed to be the head of Shinra; how come he can't keep people from eavesdropping?"
"You guys AVALANCHE?" A guard in Shinra uniform eyed them suspiciously. "The boss says you're to go up. Third floor, second right."
Cloud nodded and headed towards the elevator.
"Gee, thanks to you too," Barrett mumbled under his breath. "Reeve needs to teach his men about manners."
Cloud shrugged. "Maybe we killed some of his friends two years ago. They were just doing their jobs, and now they're dead. They didn't even have the choice of joining us because they didn't have the information we did about Shinra's dastardly deeds. If all he does is glare at us, I don't mind."
"Cloud! Barrett, Tifa, it's wonderful to see you all again." Reeve bounded over to them, somehow suspiciously looking like his robot mog despite the difference in tummy size. Actually, last time they had met, Reeve had put on enough weight that they were teasing him about the resemblance to the fat, happy-go-lucky mog that had fought with Avalanche because of that. Now it looked like he had lost all the excess and more. The only puffy area was the dark circles under his eyes.
"I wish we could be meeting under better circumstances." Cloud commented as he shook Reeve's hand, raising one eyebrow in invitation.
"Yes. Well." He sat himself down behind the desk again, steepling his fingers. "A Shinra scientist was assassinated yesterday."
"I'm so sad." Tifa commented. "Did you invite us here for the party?"
"I was in Corel, and I got lots of witnesses!" Barrett banged his fist down on the desk.
Cloud was silent.
"I'm not accusing you Barrett, in fact, if I had known what this guy was up to, I'd have invited you over to do the honors. But now I need your help to catch the killers."
"Now you wait one minute! You just said this guy was up to no good. I say we give 'em a reward for riding the world of another bastard Shinra!"
Reeve rubbed his forehead tiredly and pushed a folder across the table to Cloud, who opened it and began looking through the pictures and papers.
"Warren Nibro. He was studying the use of rare minerals to produce energy without the mako plants." Cloud said. "A nice thought, if impossible."
"A two year old could have told him that there's no electricity in stones." Tifa rolled her eyes.
"That's what he said he was working on. Then, two days ago, he announced that he had successfully created a new power source, and would hold a press conference the next day. Which was news to me and all his superiors. He absolutely refused to say anything else to anyone. The next morning he was dead, and all his computer files were missing. Probably an inside job, since security wasn't alerted. I'm looking into that end already."
Cloud frowned. "One of the other scientists didn't want him stealing the glory I imagine. Not that they needed to worry. Ninety five percent of all the press conferences the Shinra scientists give are pure BS, and this one seems farther out than most. This looks like a job for your police, Reeve. Why do you need us?"
"Because my men can't keep their mouths shut and I don't want this to get out to the news and create a panic. A man came to me last night with news that he had seen Nibro drunk in a bar a few months ago, mumbling unhappily about how he might be making the most powerful non-mako weapon ever, strong enough to destroy all of Midgar. My staff and I stayed here overnight doing more research. Most of his work was missing, someone apparently stole it, but we found this," he hauled a stack of papers onto the desk, grunting a bit, "at his house. It's diagrams for a weapon, sure enough. It's highly unfinished, but the date on it is a full year ago; he might have finished it by now. I don't understand it, I'm no scientist, but it's something about energy and matter being the same thing and if you spit the basic building blocks of matter you'll get energy. It sounds stupid, I know, but the friend I gave it to almost exploded with glee when I gave it to her, talking about how it would revolutionize science, despite a few parts she didn't understand."
"You have a friend who's a scientist working for Shinra?" Barrett asked suspiciously.
"I am Shinra," Reeve said tiredly. "And believe it or not, there are some scientists here who are not unethical, power hungry bastards like Hojo. In any case, even if that diagram doesn't work, it could blow up large area if they mess up while making it."
"It's still very likely that it will do nothing." Cloud said, watching Reeve closely.
"Are you willing to take that chance? Someone stole all his materials from his lab, copied everything off the computers, and then destroyed the machines. That person thinks it'll work, and they wanted it."
"Why the fuck did you have him studying new weaponry?!" Barrett snarled suspiciously. "I thought you were supposed to be creating the new Shinra that didn't do junk like this!"
"I didn't know about it," Reeve snapped back. "I can't personally keep an eye on every employee here, and he was very good about sending reports that he was working with rare rocks."
"And the sheer stupidity of that didn't tip you off?" Tifa shook her head in disbelief.
Reeve slouched back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. "Trust me, that isn't even close to the stupidest thing those idiots are working on. We do need an alternative energy source; you all saw how many people died of cold with the mako turned off last winter. I almost turned them back on, but if the WEAPONS returned mankind might have been wiped off the planet. I didn't dare. Trust me Barrett, Tifa, I would like nothing more to shut down the whole dang science department, but until they come up with some other source of power. . . ." He shook his head. "I don't want anyone else to die this winter."
"Assuming it works, how much damage have your people estimated this could cause? Without mako, I'm assuming it isn't going to do much."
"Read it." Reeve thrust another sheet of paper across the desk in answer to Cloud, who had settled into a chair across from him to read silently through the piles Reeve had given him.
"Less damage than the meteor that created the Northern Crater three millennia ago, but probably more powerful than the Sister Ray or any demi-god summon materia," he quoted, eyebrows raised.
"What! Give me that." Barrett grabbed the sheet.
"That's impossible!" Tifa declared. "Nothing could do that- especially without materia!"
"I agree, but I'm not a scientist. I repeat, are you willing to take that chance, or will you help me?"
"Even if it does nothing, I'm worried about the type of person who would want this." Cloud glanced around. "I'm in."
"Shit, you seriously falling for this garbage Cloud? Fine, I'm with you then. Someone's gotta keep your head screwed on straight."
Tifa nodded. "If Cloud's going, then I am too of course."
"Do you have any clues on who might have done it?" Cloud asked.
Reeve nodded. "Just one, and it's not much, but there was another guy in the bar who seemed very interested in what Nibro was talking about. No one got his name, but he's short, with curly brown hair, thick eyebrows, and a beard. He's also fairly overweight. His accent sounded like he was from down south around Mideel."
Cloud nodded. "I want to bring Red and Cid in on this. Any objections?"
"None at all. In fact, I'd be delighted. I just wanted to run it by you three first."
"Fine. Ask Cid to pick up Red and meet us on the way then. Tifa, Barrett, we'll leave in the morning, it's too dangerous to travel by night. If we leave by sunrise we can make it there in two days.
**********************************************************
Oops. Seph, being his usually contrary self, neglected to put in an appearance in this chapter like I said he would. He will undoubtably be in the next one though.
Inarae
ginabrae@aol.com