"You may already have figured it out, but this place can be quite scary in a lot of ways, Cloud. Especially for a girl. So we've got to find Tifa urgently, and fast. And other than the dodgy dealings that go on here, this place is by far the biggest market place in the Slums of Midgar. They've got stalls and stores with just about everything you could ever need to make a living in here. This includes stuff like weapons, Materia, restaurants, clothes, and just anything for a living down here. But it's a very big and crowded place. It's not easy to find someone around here," said Aeris, shaking her head.
Cloud nodded in agreement as he walked forwards along the path of Wall Market, noticing how the place seemed to be constantly bustling with activity, but then he suddenly tripped over some boxes in the middle of the path, not noticing them there or paying attention to where he was going, and fell over before he could stop himself, crashing headfirst into another pile of boxes with an angry curse.
"Cloud, what are you doing?" asked Aeris, with some clear exasperation in her voice, as she watched him stumble out of the boxes he'd fallen into. Cloud looked up, and glared at Aeris slightly, irritated.
"Oh don't mind me, I was just taking a nap," muttered Cloud, sarcastically, with a frown. Aeris sighed to herself, as she took his hand, and helped Cloud to his feet. Cloud got back up to his feet and let go of her hand, kicking some of the boxes hard in annoyance.
"How can this place be so popular, and yet so irritating at the same?" muttered Cloud, wondering how on earth they were going to find Tifa in this busy and crowded place.
"I just hope that travelling around with you in the future isn't going to be nearly as exasperating as this," said Aeris, with a shrug. At her words, Cloud jumped in surprise and stared at Aeris in shock.
"(The…the future!? Just what the heck does she mean by that? Don't tell me she's physic too, I mean if she is, then what else can she do, for god's sake! No…she can't tell what's going to happen in the future, otherwise she would have been better prepared for the Turks yesterday. She's probably just referring to after we go to AVALANCHE in Sector 7…yeah, that's probably it,)" thought Cloud, his astonishment vanishing as he realised this logic, and thought nothing more of it. Aeris didn't seem to notice Cloud's reaction though, as she continued to glance around the area for any signs of Tifa.
"Anyway, we should go and try to find Tifa now, before she gets into serious trouble here. But just where could she have gone off to, in the whole area of this big place?" wondered Aeris, thoughtfully.
Cloud simply shrugged, not having the slightest clue for any answer towards her question, but knew they had to keep looking nevertheless. With that, the two of them walked along all of Wall Market, looking carefully around the whole place through all the crowds there, searching everywhere in the area for what seemed to them like hours, but they just couldn't see Tifa anywhere at all.
Cloud and Aeris both knew that there was only one other place in Wall Market they hadn't checked yet, and it was the most dangerous one of all. It was Don Corneo's mansion, and the thought of Tifa being in that place troubled Cloud, and he quickly rushed in the direction of the mansion, with Aeris hastily following him as best she could. They then came to the mansion of Don Corneo himself, the last place in Wall Market to search for Tifa. A bouncer was guarding the mansion, and spoke up nastily to Cloud the moment he saw him.
"Hey dweeb, this here is the mansion of Don Corneo, the most powerful and respected business man in all of Wall Market, he owns this whole place. So look here boy, if you're a queer or something like that then got lost, 'cause the Don's not into men, you hear? So you better not let me catch you around here again or else. The Don's got an interview right now with some sweet chick named Tifa, and he don't want to be disturbed," said the bouncer, sharply, in a cocky tone of voice.
Shaking with murderous rage and barely restraining the intense urge to beat the bouncer's face in, Cloud instead spat on the ground in the bouncer's direction, and then walked back down the path slightly to where Aeris stood waiting. By the looks of it, she had overheard what the bouncer had said, and they both knew now that Tifa was definitely inside Don Corneo's mansion, but they were both stumped as to why.
"Hey Cloud, this place is the mansion of Don Corneo, right? Well since Tifa isn't anywhere else in Wall Market anyway, she must be inside there, just like the bouncer said. He also said only girls are allowed in too, so I'll go inside and take a look, it would be better if I go in to give her any help if she needs it, but you'll have to just wait here. I'll tell Tifa about you though, and I'll get the both of us back out here to you, and we'll go back to Sector 7, so I can sort this all out myself," said Aeris, and she started to take a step forwards in the direction of the mansion, when Cloud suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the arm roughly, and stopped her in her tracks at once.
"No, Aeris, you're not going in there alone!! You can't just endanger yourself by going into a place like that by yourself!!" shouted Cloud, firmly, and there was no way on the Planet he was going to just let her go into that mansion alone, special abilities or not. Aeris clearly seemed to be quite taken aback by his reaction.
"Huh, what's wrong, Cloud? Why shouldn't I go in, Tifa's in there, and she might be in danger, and I'm the one allowed in, so why can't I go to help?" asked Aeris, surprised.
"Aeris, you just can't, I mean…you do know…what kind of place this is…don't you? It's a knocking shop, and any girl that goes in there becomes a prostitute. And I know that you most certainly don't want that," said Cloud, letting go of her arm gently. Aeris rolled her eyes and sighed wearily, her arm aching from where Cloud had tightly grabbed it.
"Then just what else am I supposed to do, if I can't go in alone? Do you want to try and go in with me anyway, to bust into the place? No…with all the guards there, that won't be possible to pull off…I should've known from the start that it wouldn't have been that easy to find Tifa…to go in there after her somehow. I'm sorry about this, Cloud, it was all my fault for being so optimistic," said Aeris, with some guilt in her tone of voice, but Cloud shrugged and shook his head.
"Don't worry about it, Aeris, it's Tifa who decided to go in there, but I just wish I'd knew why she did…I have to go in there and find out, but that's just not that easy. And besides, being a man, it will be pretty hard for me to go in there. And if I bust in, it will just cause too much commotion. But I just can't let you go in alone, and I can't leave Tifa either…oh man, I just don't know what to do here, this whole damn situation is messed up! First of all, we need to find out if Tifa's alright, and then…" began Cloud, but he abruptly stopped speaking. He saw that Aeris was suddenly giggling, and then laughing.
"(That's it, that's it…I know how to get both me and Cloud into the mansion without causing any commotion! But the whole idea's still so amusingly entertaining that I just can't stop laughing about it…ha, ha, ha! Just wait until Cloud here's about this…!)" thought Aeris, laughing to herself at the very thought of what Cloud would have to do for her plan.
"Just what the heck's so funny, Aeris?" asked Cloud, perplexed, finding nothing remotely funny about their situation here whatsoever. Still giggling gleefully, Aeris at last tried to control herself a little, and turned to face Cloud, grinning.
"Hey, Cloud, there's a simple answer to this whole problem of getting inside…why don't you just dress up like a girl, and use the disguise to sneak in the mansion? It's the only way to get inside there. Besides, ever since we met again in the church I…I kind of wanted to see how you would look like in a dress," joked Aeris, grinning from ear to ear.
"WHAT!!!!?" bellowed Cloud, thunderstruck even by the very idea of what Aeris had suggested, yelling so loudly that it seemed he could be heard from all of Wall Market. Aeris quickly ran up the road to the mansion door where the bouncer was, before Cloud could protest, and he cursed under his breath and waited for Aeris to come back, as she walked up to the bouncer who stared at her with creepy interest.
"You just wait right there, I'll be back later, but first I've got a cute friend who I want to bring along too," said Aeris, faking a desire to satisfy, as the bouncer looked at her with gleeful surprise and anticipation, and nodded to show he would allow them through when she came back. She then ran back down the path over to where Cloud was waiting.
"Aeris, this plan is just insane, it's too humiliating! I just can't do this…!" protested Cloud, rather lamely, but he certainly didn't like this plan one bit, he would much rather take even Barret's mad plans instead of this. Aeris quickly interrupted him though, and looked at him rather sharply.
"You ARE worried about Tifa, aren't you, Cloud? You don't want to just leave her there to get in trouble, right? And you don't want me to go in by myself for my sake, do you? So let's hurry, and get this plan underway at once. Besides, let's face it, they have to have at least one ugly girl around here too," joked Aeris, trying to contain herself, but failing as she cracked up into hilarious laughing for a moment.
"Oh, ha, ha, very funny," muttered Cloud, sarcastically, looking very grumpy about this whole situation indeed, it was the worst task he remembered ever having to do.
With their task in mind, they both walked back along Wall Market and came to a clothes shop in the large market, which Aeris insisted on going inside at once. They both entered the shop, and spotted a woman working behind the counter. Aeris looked around the shop at all the dresses currently available in the store, and shook her head in disappointment.
"Nope, these dresses are all just way too small and slim, and they're just not glamorous enough either," said Aeris, as she wondered what would they do now.
"Ah well, that's just too bad. Guess we're just going to have to find another way to get in the mansion. You know, I was really looking forward to putting a dress on too," said Cloud, sarcastically, feeling a sense of relief and hope that he might not have to deal with this after all. Aeris decided to simply just ignore him, and instead she walked over to the saleswoman behind the counter.
"Excuse me, I would like to get a dress for today, but it has to be custom made, if that's possible," said Aeris. The saleswoman looked at her as she thought about it, then she looked a little troubled.
"Well, it's not any problem to order custom made dresses in this store. But I warn you; it might take a little while longer now than it usually does, so I wouldn't get your hopes up about it coming today. Is that alright with you, miss?" asked the saleswoman, anxiously.
"Why is a custom made dress sorted out later than usual, then? What's the problem with making it?" asked Aeris, rather puzzled about this.
"Well, you see miss…it's basically because my father is the owner of this store, and the stock we either make or receive all depends on him organising it. But he hasn't been doing any of that for a while now, as he's been in a slump lately, and he makes all the dresses. As long as my father doesn't have the motivation or effort in him to make these dresses, they're going to take a while to get made," explained the saleswoman.
"And where is your father?" asked Aeris, curiously.
"He's probably just getting himself drunk yet again over at the bar nearby here in the market," said the saleswoman, with a heavy sigh. Aeris looked rather thoughtful.
"So…basically, you're saying that we can't get a custom made dress for today, unless we do something now about your father's motivation?" asked Aeris.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, I'm just so sorry about all this. He never listens to me anymore. He's caused so much trouble from his drinking and from neglecting to run this store…" said the saleswoman, solemnly, but her eyes then flared wide as she realised the full meaning of Aeris' words. Suddenly, she jumped in shock, and stared at Aeris in surprise.
"You…you would go and help me bring him back to his full motivation again!?" asked the saleswoman, with surprise and clear desperation.
"Well now, if we don't do something about this, then we won't get a dress for today, right?" said Aeris, calmly pointing out the obvious fact of it all.
"R-Really!? Oh in that case, please help me with my crazy drunk old man. I just don't know what to do with him anymore these days," said the saleswoman. Aeris nodded in agreement, looking determined.
"Alright then, we'll do something about it, I promise. Let's go, Cloud," said Aeris, as she rushed out the store. Reluctantly, Cloud followed as he knew now that his hopes of avoiding this humiliation were completely dashed. There was no way Aeris was going to change her mind about this.
Aeris and Cloud both walked back along Wall Market, until they arrived and came to the bar in the area. They entered it at once, and they found a middle-aged man sitting at the table near the door, with many pints of beer. Judging by his age, he looked old enough to be the saleswoman's father, and drunk enough to match the description. They walked over to him.
"Excuse me a moment, sir. Are you the father of the saleswoman at the clothing store, that you're supposed to be in charge of?" asked Aeris.
"Yeah, I own and run the damn clothing store, but I sure ain't your father, missy," said the man, clearly drunk.
"I didn't say that," said Aeris, bewildered.
"…I need you to make me some clothes," said Cloud, sharply and rather coldly, reluctantly deciding that he had no choice but to get this whole damn thing over with, but he was still rather agitated about it.
"I don't make men's clothes, just ones for women, and I don't feel like making anything right now anyways, the whole business is just getting too boring and routine," said the clothes shop owner, dully. Aeris turned to face Cloud.
"Cloud, why'd don't you just go and wait over there at the other end of the bar for a second? I'll try and talk to him myself, I think I might be able to convince him to make that dress," said Aeris. Without a word, Cloud grumpily stormed off to the other end of the bar to wait. Aeris turned back to face the clothes shop owner, and spoke to him the moment that Cloud was out of earshot.
"You know mister, we want a custom dress made, but the dress isn't for me, it's for my friend here. Cloud's always said to me that for just once, he'd really like to dress up like a girl, you see. So that's why I wanted to get a cute dress made just for him," said Aeris, giggling and chuckling to herself. The clothes shop owner jumped from his seat in surprise, his drunken mood seemingly gone as he gaped in shock at Aeris.
"What, you want a dress made for him!? A tough looking guy like that wants to dress up like a girl…? If that's true, then by any chance, is he…?" questioned the clothes shop owner, uneasily, staring over at the other side of the bar at Cloud in astonishment and disbelief. Cloud didn't seem to have noticed this though, as he was busy grumbling at the floor. Aeris had to use all willpower to stop herself from bursting out laughing.
"Yep, he sure is, alright! So, how about it then, mister shop owner? Will you make him a specially made dress, to make him look like a girl, and still fit in it at the same time? Please would you do it for him?" asked Aeris, curiously.
The clothes shop owner sat back on his stall, seriously considering the prospect of this request. He had certainly never received any dress request situations like this, and the thought of that immediately made him both very curious and extremely intrigued, it definitely sounded a lot more interesting than his regular old work, and there was just no way he was going to say no to this, he was going to put his full effort into it.
"…Yeah, you know, this little dress request of yours might actually be really interesting to sort out, and pretty original for once, to help a gay bloke dress like a girl and looking convincing about it. I was getting really bored with just making regular clothes," replied the clothes shop owner.
"Then you'll do it for us?" asked Aeris, hopefully.
"Yeah, alright then miss, I'd be glad to help you two out, and I'll put all my effort into this, I assure you! So exactly what kind of dress do you want?" asked the clothes shop owner, taking out a notepad and a pen. Aeris thought about it.
"Well then, how about something for him…that feels soft and looks shiny. Oh…and I also think that purple is more his colour too," replied Aeris, still giggling mischievously.
"Alright, I got all the details down. I've got a good picture in my head of what this dress will look like. And I have a friend who has the same taste as him too. I'll go talk to him, he should be able to help out with the dress. Give me five more minutes to finish my drink and I'll head to the shop. Drop by the store in half an hour or so and it should be ready," said the clothes shop owner. Aeris nodded, thanked him gratefully, and then she walked over the other end of the bar where Cloud was waiting, and he hadn't heard the conversation between Aeris and the clothes shop owner at all.
"I've spoken to the store owner, and he says he'll make the dress for us. He told me that the dress will be ready in about thirty minutes, so let's get something to eat while we're waiting, I haven't eaten anything yet all day," said Aeris.
Cloud shrugged and nodded, as they then did so, and talked about various things at the same time, not once finding themselves at a loss for words. Half an hour eventually passed though, and they had to get going.
Aeris and Cloud walked out of the bar, and ran back down to the clothes shop. They walked into the shop, and the clothes shop owner was already there standing behind the counter, with the saleswoman looked relieved and delighted. As soon as he noticed Cloud and Aeris over, the clothes shop owner tossed the dress over to Cloud, who caught and glared at it.
"Okay, the dress is all ready now. Try it on and see how it fits and looks," said the clothes shop owner. Cloud (very, very reluctantly) walked into the changing rooms and closed the door behind him.
"How the heck do you put this thing on?" asked Cloud, with no clothes on as he held the dress with his hands, looking at it in disdain. Aeris grinned and open the door slightly as she peeked in the changing room. Noticing this at once, Cloud jumped in clear alarm, and quickly tried to cover himself up with the dress.
"W-What the hell are you doing!?" screeched Cloud, embarrassed, and slammed the door shut at once. Aeris giggled at the thought what she'd seen, but shook her head once Cloud came out with the dress on, his disguise didn't seem convincing enough just yet.
"It still doesn't look quite right, you'd be found out in no time like this, with that spiky hair of yours. I think you need to have a wig over it, and to disguise your face more effectively," said Aeris. Cloud glared at her, not believing this was happening to him, while the clothes shop owner nodded thoughtfully.
"I thought you might so I talked to my friend about getting one for you. You know the gym, just nearby here? You'll find a lot of people there who are like your friend. Go over there and talk to them, they'll help you out a lot, I'm sure," said the clothes shop owner. Cloud quickly got back into his regular clothes, and he got out the changing room.
"People like me? What's that supposed to mean? Aeris, what the hell did you tell him?" growled Cloud, suspiciously, annoyed. Aeris just shrugged, avoiding his angry stare.
"Does it really matter what I told him in order to get this accomplished, Cloud? Anyway, on the bright side, at least now we've got a pretty dress, and as soon as we get that wig, we're all set," said Aeris, triumphantly.
They then walked out of the clothes shop and they walked along Wall Market, until they arrived and came to the gym. They entered the gym, and they found four muscular men exercising and a short man was watching them, but he turned to face Cloud and Aeris the moment he noticed them arrive at the gym, staring at Cloud.
"The shop keeper's told me about you two. So…you must be the guy…who wants to be cute, right?" asked the short man, curiously, looking at Cloud. Cloud snarled angrily.
"Cute…!?" growled Cloud, feeling completely livid, feeling solely tempted to pound the guy in the face. Aeris quickly stepped between them, sensing Cloud's irritation, and quickly nodded to the short man.
"Right, he's the one. Oh, and about the wig…" said Aeris, quickly, before Cloud could lose his temper. The short man interrupted her.
"I heard that you guys might need a wig, but it's going to cost you," said the short man. Suddenly, a muscular black man ran up to them.
"Hey, you gotta get the better of Big Bro first of all, to earn that wig! The only way you're gonna get cuter is if ya beat Big Bro!" exclaimed the black man.
"Yeah, that's right, dude! So you've got to compete with us to get that wig!" exclaimed two muscular white men at the same time, also rushing over to them.
"(These people are all insane, they're clearly all…ugh…just how on the Planet did I get into this mess? Both Aeris and Tifa are gonna owe me for this, big time. Tifa for coming here in the first place, and Aeris for making me do this plan…)" thought Cloud, grumbling.
"Yeah, you're right, all of you. The wig shouldn't be just given up for free, it should be earned instead. We'll have the guy who wants the wig, up against one of you, in a competition here in this gym. Let's do squats this time, whoever does the most in the amount of time wins," said the short man.
"Alright, we'll beat you right out of this gym!" exclaimed one muscular white man. Cloud and Aeris turned to face the short man, remembering things they had heard while looking around Wall Market earlier.
"Are you…?" asked Cloud, suspiciously.
"The big bro that people around here talk about?" asked Aeris, surprised a bit by the fact that the Big Bro was none other than a short man all along. Both of them had heard all sorts of rumours about him when they had been searching for Tifa around Wall Market. The short man, Big Bro, spoke up.
"What…? You guys didn't know that yet? These guys are always running around this place saying 'Big Bro this' and 'Big Bro that'. Well, never mind that, come on over here," said the short man, impatiently.
The muscular black man came over and faced Cloud, who didn't look intimidating at all to Cloud, since he knew Barret, who was just as black as this guy, but was way more muscular than him.
"Okay, I'll just briefly explain the basic rules of this little game. Whoever has the most squats in 30 seconds, gets the wig as the prize," explained the short man.
"I'm not going to lose, spiky haired boy! Big Bro's wig is gonna be mine!" shouted the black man.
"(Okay, it's official. That guy is definitely a raving lunatic…if I'd known what sort of day I was going to have here, I would have refused any sleep, and arrived at Sector 7 much sooner,)" thought Cloud, wondering how he had ever managed to get himself into this mess.
"Start!" shouted the short man, and they did so.
Cloud at once bent his knees as quickly as he could, and then sprang back up again, and wasting no time, he once again bent his knees down, and sprang up again, and continued with this pattern until the time would run out.
He could see that the muscular black man was doing the same thing quite quickly as well, but Cloud's Mako enhanced senses, from being a former member of SOLDIER, meant that Cloud was going slightly quicker and also had the advantage of being much lighter.
They both quickly did as many squats as they could for thirty seconds, with Aeris, Big Bro, and all the other muscular men watching closer, each cheering the two on. It was very close indeed, but as Big Bro blew the whistle when time had run out, it was Cloud that was the winner with seventeen squats, while the black man had fifteen squats. The short man stared at Cloud in respect, quite impressed indeed.
"Wow, you're really something after all, you could even beat our fully trained gym members. Okay then, a deal's a deal and I'm a man of my word, so here you are," said the short man, as he handed Cloud a blonde wig, which actually looked surprisingly convincing enough to be real indeed. The muscular black man looked at Cloud with intense rage.
"Big Bro, I'm so damn mad about this! I'm so, so mad!" shouted the black man, furious. Grimacing with anger, the short man suddenly leapt forwards and punched the black man hard, sending him flying backwards. The black man smashed into a mirror and lay on the floor, dazed and groaning.
"You just shut up, you failed, so the wig's not yours, and that's final! Don't you dare go crying and throwing a fit just because you lost!" snapped the short man.
"…Ugh…Big Bro's fists of steel cut to the bone…" groaned the black man, clearly dazed.
Glancing at each other in some bewilderment at the scene, and with the wig now successfully in their procession, Cloud and Aeris then both walked out of the gym, and they quickly went back to the clothes shop. As they entered, the clothes shop owner looked relieved and pleased to see that they had the blond wig, and handed them the dress again.
"Well now, it looks like you're all set at last. Now go try it on, and see how it fits. It should look convincing enough too," said the clothes shop owner.
Cloud walked slowly into the changing rooms, and after closing the door, he then changed (very reluctantly) once again, put the dress and the wig both firmly on, and then came out of the changing room, though this time he had decided to keep his regular clothes on just underneath the dress.
But despite that though, it was clear to see that with the dress and the wig both on, he looked just like a girl, and he could not be recognised unless someone looked really closely at him. Aeris, the saleswoman, and the clothes shop owner all studied him.
"Hmmm…you know, the way the new look's turned out is not really that bad, in fact it's kind of impressive, looks very convincing, and you seem comfortable in it at the same time too. I think this could really be a new business for me to work on…" said the clothes shop owner, thoughtfully.
"Yeah…I think you're right, dad, you're onto something there. Should we try it then?" asked the saleswoman, and after a moment's thought, the clothes shop owner nodded in agreement. The saleswoman smiled, and turned to face Aeris, bowing to her in gratitude.
"Thank you both so much for taking the time to show us something new and different. My father's got his motivation fully back now, and we know now how to expand the business, so the dress is on the house," said the saleswoman. Aeris smiled gratefully, and then she turned to face Cloud.
"You look convincing, but you've still got to act like a girl too, you know. For starters, try walking more nicely…more lightly and gracefully, Miss Cloud," said Aeris, chuckling.
"What do you mean by nicely?" asked Cloud, annoyed and embarrassed, as he walked over to them, trying to walk as Aeris had told him to, and he was succeeding with it, much to his own surprise. Aeris giggled in clear amusement.
"Aw, you're just so cute, Miss Cloud. Hey, the dresses in here look pretty good. I think I might as well get a dress to wear too. Do you have one that will look good on me too?" asked Aeris, curiously. At once, the saleswoman and the clothes shop owner provided her customer service.
"How about this dress over here?" asked the woman, pointing to a dress.
"How about that one just there?" asked the clothes shop owner, pointing to another dress at the same time. Both the saleswoman and clothes shop owner looked at each other incredulously.
"Father, what on earth are you talking about? This dress here is much better than that one, she'd prefer it over that," said the saleswoman.
"No, just what are talking about, my daughter? This one is the far more suitable one for choice, not the other one," insisted the clothes shop owner. Both of them looked ready to argue about it, but Aeris quickly interrupted them as she made her choice of dress.
"Those are both nice dresses and all, but I've decided that I want this one instead, I like the look of it a lot," said Aeris, pointing to a completely different dress to the others that were suggested to her.
"Huh?" said the woman and clothes shop owner at the same time, both surprised and astonished by her choice, and were speechless by it, but didn't question her decision, it wasn't in their job in question customers like that after all, and as long as they earned money, then what did it matter?
"I'm going to go and change into this dress at once. Oh, and no peeking from anyone until I come out," said Aeris, glancing at Cloud in particular. She then went into the changing room, put her dress on over her regular clothes, and then she came out.
"So, how do I look?" asked Aeris. She was wearing a sleek, shiny red dress, looking completely stunning in it. Cloud just gaped at her for a moment, and was too speechless to reply, before shaking his head to regain himself.
"Aw, you're just no fun sometimes, Cloud," complained Aeris, with a giggle. After paying for the dress, and with their disguises and plan all ready to begin now, Cloud and Aeris then both headed towards Don Corneo's mansion at the other end of Wall Market, as quickly as they could.
They soon came to the mansion where the bouncer still was, and as he saw the two of them, his jaw dropped and he just gaped at them. Cloud and Aeris both walked over to him, ready to go inside the mansion, and knowing that so far so good, the disguise was working perfectly well.
Meanwhile, a Shinra Incorporated helicopter landed onto the landing pad of the roof of the Shinra Headquarters. After getting out of the helicopter and stepping inside the huge building, Reno quickly rode the elevator directly down to the Turks office at the 59th floor of the building, eleven floors from the top of the massive tower on the centre of the Plate.
Reno slumped against the wall of the elevator on the ride down to the Turks' office, trying to remember exactly what excuse was the best one to give Tseng, the leader of the Turks, for not being able to capture Aeris, who had escaped Shinra yet again, even after so many attempts at catching her.
"(Man, I'm busted this time. I assured and promised the President himself that I would finally catch that damn flower girl, but she still slipped her way out of captivity. And there was nothing on the briefing about having to deal with that bastard Ex-SOLDIER too, if it weren't for that guy, I would have had that girl caught for sure. Dunno if the bosses are gonna believe that though, even in my head it just sounds like a made up excuse,)" thought Reno, uneasily.
The elevator soon stopped, and Reno walked out slowly on the 59th floor of the building, reluctant to break the news to Tseng, but knew he had no other choice.
The first person he encountered on the way to the Turks' office was Reeve, who'd recently carted in a bunch of cardboard boxes full of electronic components.
Reeve spotted Reno immediately, and walked over to him. Although Reeve was definitely one of Reno's superiors, they never really spoke to each other in that formal way.
Reeve was well known as the head of the Shinra Urban Development Department, the department that was responsible for the design and construction of upper Midgar, the Plate, and the Mako Reactors.
He had black hair, dark eyes, and wore a dark blue suit that looked strangely familiar to a Turk suit. As a result of this, rumours had spread about him among that the company's employees, who claimed that he had once been a Turk.
Reno seriously doubted these rumours, and thought they were all stupid for even coming to such a conclusion just because the colour of the suit he wore was the same as the Turks, there was no real logic or proof to it. Reno had once tried asking Reeve, but he had never answered the question.
And then there was the clear fact that, other than Palmer of the Space Department, Reeve was by far the least feared and threatening of the Shinra executives. Not even his inferiors had found him intimidating at all, unlike the President, Heidegger, Scarlet and Hojo most of all, but the employees still obeyed Reeve nevertheless.
He was also one of the seven main Shinra executives, but most importantly of all, Reeve was probably the only main person in the whole of Shinra Incorporated who really cared about the safety and well being of the citizens of Midgar, in both the upper and lower cities, and the only one who was really concerned about their welfare. Reeve spoke up to Reno as he saw the Turk coming.
"Back so soon already then, Reno? If you're here now, without the girl, then it looks like things didn't go too well for the capture attempt, yet again," said Reeve, observantly, with a knowing look. Reno reluctantly nodded in confirmation.
"Aeris got away from us, and we just couldn't capture her, though we came close to it several times, only for her resistance to counter against us. We would have succeeded in capturing her, but we didn't because she was with some guy at the time, who prevented us from getting her, and we had no idea he was going to be there, so he caught us all off guard. It was a guy with spiky blond hair, glowing blue Mako eyes, and he wielded this gigantic sword. The blade of it alone had to be the size of his arm, and it seemed very strongly crafted too…I think it was one of Shinra's own made swords, the Buster Sword. But most of all, it was a really wide and thick sword, almost the width of an average person's waist. But he handled it effortlessly, and that combined with Aeris' strange abilities meant that we were eventually outdone," explained Reno.
"Geez, that sure does seem like quite a sudden situation to find yourself in, after expecting an easy capture mission with just the flower girl. It all sounds like lyrics for a hard-luck story song," said Reeve, sarcastically. Reno shook his head.
"Judging by the Mako eyes and by the clothes he was wearing, I think that he must have once been a member of SOLDIER, I'm certain of it. But I didn't recognize him from there at all, though I think I recognized him from the Reactor bridge as I was watching in the helicopter, a few hours before I saw him in the church with Aeris when I went over to there. He would have been with the AVALANCHE group on the bridge, but I don't see how he could have gotten down to the Slums so quickly," said Reno, thoughtfully. Reeve raised an eyebrow.
"He was a former SOLDIER, did you just say? Was he neutralized at all, during the capture attempt at the church?" asked Reeve.
"No, I didn't fight him to the death or anything like that. I did fight him briefly, but Aeris stopped me from finishing him off, and then I couldn't dispose of him. Besides, I was supposed to be only after Aeris in the first place. If I took the time to fight what would probably be a pointless battle...well, what does it now matter? The point is that they both evaded me and killed the soldiers I brought along too," said Reno. They both then entered Tseng's Turk office. Tseng noticed them come in, and he stared hard and coldly at Reno, noticing that Aeris wasn't with him, which meant only one thing.
"Well…?" asked Tseng, coldly, his voice icy. Reno lowered his head and remained silent, unable to bring any words out, but his silence told Tseng what he wanted to know. Tseng's frown deepened in clear disapproval.
"I see…" said Tseng. He could easily figure out the answer by himself just by looking at Reno's uneasy expression. Tseng rubbed his chin for a moment, and then slammed his fist hard onto his desk, clearly frustrated and looking livid. Reno looked a little more nervous now.
"I know that you and your soldiers were under strict orders not to harm her, Reno, but this is all getting just too common place. So what is it this time?" asked Tseng, his voice icy as he stared darkly at Reno, expecting a pathetic excuse.
"I...uh..." stammered Reno, clearly unable to think of any acceptable reasons for failure. Reno knew that meant he needed to lie instead. His excuse had to sound good, as if he struggled to succeed against the odds, but he'd already told Reeve that he didn't get into a serious fight with Cloud. And he also knew that Reeve was always honest. Reeve would say something that would botch his lie, and make him look like a complete fool.
The phone on Tseng's desk suddenly rang at that moment, saving Reno from the fire in the process, and breaking the tension in the room. Tseng answered it, while Reno quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Tseng wasn't on the phone for too long though, and he hung up and put the phone down.
"That was your cousin in Wall Market, Reno. A Shinra soldier informed him that while he was hanging around outside the Honey Bee Inn, he recognized a member of AVALANCHE walking around the streets of Wall Market with a girl fitting Aeris' description," said Tseng.
"Did he have spiky blond hair?" asked Reno, curiously.
"He didn't say, but since the description was said to match a member of AVALANCHE, then the assumption is safe enough to assume that it was indeed that man with the spiky hair. Well, I would usually send Rude out alone to check things out, but I think I should assign both of you to this task, since you need to redeem yourself for your failure, even if you had resistance from both Aeris and this spiky haired guy," said Tseng.
"Fine then, Tseng, I'll go investigate this report with Rude over at Wall Market, but I just want a reward for putting up with his stupidity," joked Reno. Tseng frowned sharply.
"Don't waste time with your petty jokes, Reno. Just take Rude along with you, and go over to Wall Market immediately," ordered Tseng.
"Yes, sir!" said Reno, quickly saluting, and then he ran out of Tseng's office, thoroughly relieved that he had escape without severe punishment. Reeve called after him.
"You know something, it sure does seem like he's getting to be a little too strict lately!" called Reeve, and Reno nodded at him over his shoulder while running, and called back.
"Yeah, when he wants to be!" called Reno, shrugging, as he ran out of sight across the 59th floor. Reeve walked back to Tseng's office, as Reno burst into Rude's office. Fully alert, Rude turned to face him at once.
Rude was a tough man with tan coloured skin, and a completely baldhead with absolutely no hair at all. He wore a dark blue suit and black sunglasses, a Turk uniform. He was a Turk, just like Reno and Tseng were.
His muscles weren't huge, but he still looked muscular and menacing to anyone all the same, and by appearance, he was clearly the most imposing looking member of the Turks, which he silently used to his advantage.
Rude never took off his black sunglasses at all, and he always wore them, so nobody in Shinra had ever seen his eyes at all, and it was hard even to imagine what his eyes actually looked like.
Rude was physically very strong, tough, and he almost always used only his own fists as his weapons (though he didn't mind using a gun from time to time on orders), as his fists could knock the average man out unconscious instantly, and kill the guy with just a few more hits to the head, but Rude was always a man of little words as well.
"Hey, get off your leash and come along, Rude! We're going over to Wall Market. I'll brief you on the way, if you care at all," said Reno.
Without a word, as usual, Rude got up from his desk, and followed Reno to the elevator that would take them directly to the roof helipad and right to the helicopter, which they then got onto, and the helicopter began to fly off, going from the large Shinra tower to below the Plate into the Slums. Back inside, Reeve leaned back against Tseng's desk, folding his arms.
"I have to meet with President Shinra tomorrow in the meeting room on the 66th floor, for an urgent meeting regarding recent events. I've heard that there's truth to that rumour that's going around, among the other executives. I guess its because AVALANCE blew up that second Mako Reactor that the President has decided to act against them like this," said Reeve.
"I see. Well, AVALANCHE has been nothing more than a constant and annoying thorn in our side for quite some time now. They can't keep going on with committing these acts of rebellion against us, or it will mean our downfall. Of all people in Shinra, you should know, as the executive responsible for all of Midgar's buildings and constructions, that we can't afford their destructive rampage to continue on any longer," said Tseng, calmly, looking stern.
"(No, we certainly cannot allow them to continue to stand against us any longer, or we'll lost control, power, and faith over the people of Midgar and the rest of the world. Other enemies may realise they might stand a chance of standing against us too, if AVALANCHE continues with this and lives. It is essential that this rebel group must be dealt with, and to poison all the public against them. As for Aeris, I've been merciful towards her several times in the past when I was sent to capture her, but I'm not going to hold back any longer. I'll go after her myself as soon as possible, and she will not escape this time, not on my reputation as the leader of the Turks,)" thought Tseng.
"No matter what the reasons are for it, I just don't really agree for the President's idea, Tseng. Either way, it'll cost us a lot of money and resources if we do this. Guess I'll be busy for the rest of the year now. I hope he knows how much work his idea is going to create for me, with all the destruction it's going to cause to hundreds of buildings. But that's not even the worst of it. It's going to kill a lot of innocent people too. I would rather wish that all this had never happened in the first place. That AVALANCHE never emerged to start all this," said Reeve.
"You're a part of Shinra Incorporated, Reeve, and a main part of it too. In this world ruling company, you can't ever let feelings like that get in the way of your work…of what Shinra expects from you," said Tseng, his expression and tone of voice completely emotionless.
Reeve stood upright again, and paused for a second in thought. He then walked away and out of Tseng's office without another word, his head bowed in sorrow for all the innocent people who would all have to suffer for nothing, through no fault of their own at all.
"(All of this…this whole situation…it's just too terrible to think about. Thousands of innocent people have already died this week due to AVALANCHE'S actions with exploding Reactors, and now much more people than before are going to die just to deal with AVALANCHE as well. This whole situation between AVALANCHE and Shinra has gotten out of control, and it's turning into a full-scale war for the Planet, despite the difference in sizes between the two, and both sides are willing to sacrifice lives to gain victory…I wish I was well out of this instead of being stuck right in the middle of this whole thing…)" thought Reeve, solemnly, as he glumly walked across the 59th floor to the elevator, going up to the top floor where the President's office was, hoping to persuade him not to go through with the plan, though there wasn't much hope…