Loud silence

------------------- Chapter two -------------------

Arrival

The van's engines started up again as they drove out of the vehicle depot in the cargo ship, now that they were back on land. The movement was slow as they drove slowly along the queue of traffic crawling out of the large port. It wouldn't be long now...

There had never been a moment for Tifa to stop and reflect on her own life. Others always came first. Now however...her head was transfixed for once on her own fate. Her head was starting to droop from sheer exhaustion. But she heaved it up in protest when she felt her consciousness slipping away from her. Her body ached sleep. She was so used to normal life, and in time with her own body clock, that this sudden change was wreaking havoc. It had been years since she had been travelling. She was completely unprepared and she knew that. To face a fight when she reached her destination was what struck fear in her and helped keep her awake - barely.

A fair battle was impossible now.

She would lose.

She glanced over at the two soldiers sitting with her in the back of the dark van. Their forms were immersed in shadow, apart from the lines of faint moonlight that filtered through the high square windows on the back doors. The metal bars were tightly packed together in the small window frames - no glass. The stripes of silver light allowed her to see the men's faces. 'They must be tired...' She thought. But they were trained - well. If they were tired they had probably been provided matchsticks to prop their eyelids open, custom military procedure she told herself mockingly.

Suddenly, more light struck through the barred windows, an unnatural orange light though only every few seconds. Tifa looked up. They were streetlamps... that meant they were going to be stopping and soon. They were near their destination, closer to civilization. Tifa fidgeted and silently winced, screwing her eyes up in pain as she tore her skin on her wrist from her first sudden movement in over an hour. Her cracked, bleeding skin must have sealed and now she had tore it once again, painfully. She felt almost eased as she felt the familiar feeling of fresh warm blood trickling down her forearm.

"It is a shame to have to tell you this, because I know you've gotten settled comfortably, but we will be nearing our destination soon Ms Lockheart." The un-welcomed voice of the man she had spoken with earlier sent Tifa's awareness alert once more. She just raised her head and awarded him with a glare. Comfortable? He had to be joking.

"Now, now, don't look so harsh sweetheart. You'll have a heartfelt reunion when we get you there so lets put a smile on that pretty face of yours hmm?"

Tifa felt like spitting in his face but thought better of it. She was too tired to start anything up. And the guy could easily order the van to pull over and let all five of the men beat her to a pulp and knock her unconscious. Surely making a pick-up didn't necessarily require the captive to be in good condition, the only concern was that it was delivered.

And that was the question -

Who was she being delivered to?

"Mmff.... Choco...no more greens...eat grass."

Marlene woke up suddenly from her dream and sat up. She looked around her with wide eyes and gasped - she was in her own bed.

"Tifa.... Tifa..." She said to herself, as she scrambled out of bed and headed for her room door, pulling it open and running to the open backdoor where -

"Daddy!!!"

The glare of lights suddenly grew stronger, as the van slowed down to a stop. Tifa couldn't make out anything through the small barred windows. They were too high up, and too small. But although the vehicle had stopped she felt it suddenly shudder with a spurt of movement - upwards.

The nausea in her stomach returned at a lurching pace. They were on a platform lift, large enough for a vehicle; they were outdoors, and in a military van.

She knew where they were now, and it made her feel sick.

She also knew who the delivery was for and she wanted nothing more than to get out.

Now.

Barrett awoke with a start to his daughter's screams. He immediately sprang out of bed and after stubbing his toe on the door (causing him to curse loudly) bombed down the staircase, then onto the back porch where his daughter was standing - alone.

Barrett's heavy panting calmed down, his panic turning into confusion as he looked at the innocent scene. There was only Marlene stood on their normal looking front porch.

"What...is...it Marlene? What's....ugh...wrong?" He asked between rasping breaths. Marlene's large brown eyes gazed up at her father mournfully. A tear innocently rolled down her cheek.

"Daddy...sniff...Tifa's gone."

"...Who is it...?" The intercom questioned at the main gate of the base.

"Darrogan, you idiot. Now open these gates...I'm here with the pick-up." There was a pause -and then a shakier voice returned to the speakers.

"...You'd better get inside here then Sir. Sorry about the delay."

"Amateurs..." Darrogan muttered under his breath as he leant back into his seat, the van moving through the opening gates. The sheathing sound of the sliding metal made Tifa cringe. She didn't want to enter here. Surely everyone could see she was not welcome?

Once inside the base, the vehicle slowed down as it drove over bumpers (that would have spikes running along the top if an unauthorised vehicle tried to enter/escape). Tifa's body swayed slowly as the wheels bumped over the raised tarmac. She shuddered in surprise at the un-nerving sound of the large metal gates shutting behind them.

Shutting them inside.

"WHAT?!"

Cid blared down the PHS. "Holy fucking Christ! When did this happen?!"

"This mornin! I woke up to Marlene's screamin and she jus' told me she'd gone!"

"Did the kid see anythin?"

"No. She jus' started cryin, said she knew something was wrong 'coz Tifa'd never leave in the mornin for walks without comin back in the space of an hour. And that hour was always before dawn! Look outside would ya Cid? The sun's got it's ass pretty damn high in the sky right now!"

Cid yanked back the net curtain of his lounge window and cursed, throwing it back into place in frustration.

"The kids got a point. Tifa's head is fuckin cooped lately, but even she'd think before leavin you worryin. Somethin's wrong. I'll get the highwind up and runnin for ya. And listen, don't you worry about a thing, Tifa's a big girl, she can handle it until we find her."

Barrett hung up and cursed under his breath. It was too close to the christening for something to kick off like this. Something was obviously starting up again, but without Cloud, without the team together again, he wouldn't be able to get through this now.

And the team was long gone.

Whoever had gotten to Tifa knew that full well, and had chosen well when to strike.

"Well what are you waiting for? Get her out."

For the first time since she was hurled into the van, Tifa wanted to stay put. She pressed her back against the side of the van and shoved herself into the corner of her seat, up against the dividing slab between the front and the back of the vehicle.

"So keen to stay at last? Sorry honey, that time for you to sit back and watch has been and gone. You're coming with us now." And with that, the leader of her captors commanded his four men to drag her forcefully out of the van, two holding her already sorely bruised arms in the same vice like grip, whilst the other two marked her with hoisted conversion rifles.

As she lifted her head as she was pulled out of the van, she froze.

The SHINRA military base.

She had had her suspicions before now, but to be here and know for certain that she was in this place made her more scared than she could have thought before.

He was in there. She knew that, and that made her feel a lot worse than any other situation that this could have lead to; even seeing Sephiroth again couldn't match this inner fear.

She gritted her teeth and tried to make it as hard a job for the men leading her as she could. She thrashed at first - that didn't work. She kicked out her feet with precision on the men's legs either side of her, only to receive a sharp kick to the back of her knee which immediately caused her to slump down and yelp in pain. When she did eventually look up, she was surely notified of the rifles pointed at her face. One click from one of those and she would be gone forever.

Her attempts were futile. Even Tifa Lockheart couldn't escape this one.

They reached another stopping point. Only this time, the gateway was blocked differently. There were three openings (in between four pillars that stood all in one row) in which you could walk through, each one blocked by a horizontal yellow and black striped pole, that would lift only if you had authorisation. The pillars each consisted of a standing position for guards, one of whom was posted in each pillar. The tops of the pillars were made of bullet proof see-through glass, in which you could see the uniformed guards standing inside.

Three armed security guards patrolled across each opening pathway - this reminded Tifa of the way the old SHINRA guards patrolled the SHINRA building, when she Barrett and Cloud had sneaked their way past them, one by one.

Darrogan raised his hand, causing his men (and Tifa) to halt. He walked up to the guard in the pillar to the left of the middle opening and spoke to him through the circle of punched dots in the glass, which allowed voices to carry through.

"Jesus! It is you Sir. I'd heard from the gate that you were here but...well anyway, you have her I see." the guard leaned his head to see past Darrogan. Tifa caught his eyes and saw the smirk on his face before looking away once more.

"Let's get on with it." Darrogan spoke up, irritated and pulled out his authorisation key card. Tifa glanced at the small green and silver hologram that was on the card. No doubt the emblem of the new organisation. She almost spat at it.

The guard swiped the card in a machine he had, one which Tifa couldn't see well enough to describe in her head, and keyed in a few details into it. A couple more buttons and the pole blocking their way started to rise, leaving the gateway open. Once he had his card handed back, Darrogan lead the way through, and towards the main base.

The main building was not low like the barracks and training area that Cloud had been able to enter during their journey, but higher. Still cube like in its shape, but it had twelve floors to it, judging by the windows. And that was only the main building. There were a series of smaller buildings to the left of it, with a large airfield to the right.

They of course were heading straight ahead to the main building. It was taller than Tifa had expected, and more vast. It loomed over everything, and she could no doubt guess it was visible from a great distance. Guards were patrolling the grounds, and there was the chant of marching wafting up from the barracks behind them.

A man stepped out of the main doors of the building and stopped at the head of the wide grey steps, staring down at the small group walking towards him. He smiled in satisfaction as he started descending the stairs, talking as he did so.

"About time Darrogan." The older man said. A fine grey/white beard was close to his skin, obviously well maintained, as it did not reach his neck, but stopped under his chin. The hat he wore bore a silver badge, obviously showing his rank along with his navy blue immaculate uniform that wore three medals upon it.

He also called Darrogan by his forename, Tifa noticed. Could he be above him?

"I think you'll find we are on schedule." Darrogan stated, though he returned the greeting smile - the one with no real feeling, but one that signified you were in preferred company. The older man wore his smile wider, showing his perfected teeth.

Dentures perhaps?

"I would not have expected anything less from you." He said, reaching them. He turned his attention to Tifa and nodded his head in slight greeting. "Nice to finally have you with us Tifa." He said - though his smile was gone.

"How did she react to you on the way here?" He said, completely dismissing her just as easily as he had greeted her. Did this guy have a memory? Tifa wondered.

"She wasn't difficult. Not as we had imagined anyway. She didn't ask questions either...which I found a little strange from someone like her."

'Someone like her?' Who does he think he is? He doesn't know me. Tifa thought, with a scornful expression.

The old man shook his head.

"Why would she? She knew what was coming."

Tifa's eyes immediately shot to the man, who wasn't looking her way, instead acting more like she wasn't even there.

Darrogan looked taken a back for a second before nodding in understanding. "You think she figured it out that this day would come eventually?" to this, the older man shook his head slightly, without much effort. "No. She knew what she would face when she got here. Just like the last one did. Now I think that's enough talking Darrogan, for now at least. She needs to be taken to the general."

"He's been waiting a long time for this one."