3

The Shinra base in Junon was built during the Midgar/Wutai war very hastily and without much planning except for the installation of the Sister Ray. It was meant to stand solely as a symbol that yes, President Shinra did have a Mako cannon, and no, he was not afraid to use it. The base was intended to be dismantled immediately after the war's end, but since Shinra hadn't won the war, it remained and developed into a shantytown.

It was in general, an undesirable place to live, unless you had to. Midgar at least had the myth of an upper class. Junon was filled with disheartened military personal and bounty hunters galore. It was a prime place for illegal activities, which the Shinra did little to stop since they profited from it somewhere along the line. It was a well-known fact that Junon was the worst place for a Shinra worker to be.

It was also well known that President Shinra was not fond of his son.

Rufus Shinra stared impassively out the ocean view of his Junon office. It was due to the stupidity of the architect that this fixture was in place. The ocean was not a pleasant thing to look at on this end of the continent. There was little to see except pollution.          

His secretary approached the office cautiously, hesitant to disturb the vice president's solitude. In the past few weeks that he'd become much more irritable than usual, and her message would no doubt upset him further. "M-mister Vice President? There's a phone call for you on line four."

He didn't bother to turn around, but his tone was icy. "I thought I asked you not to disturb me."

She was very much afraid of him, not only because of his cold demeanor but also the shotgun she knew he carried underneath his jacket. She had only taken this job because her parents had gotten it for her, and she intended to quit very soon, if he didn't fire her first. He may very well, once she told him the identity of the caller. "I'm s-s-sorry sir, but it's your father." She stammered.

Rufus sighed. He had not spoken to his father since he'd sent him to Junon, and preferred to keep it that way. "Very well. I'll pick it up. Have you finished calling those shareholders?"

"No, sir. I'll have them done within the hour." She quickly went back to the sanctity of her desk, grateful to have finished the interaction without incident.

He flipped the button for line four. "Rufus Shinra here."

"Rufus m'boy! How are you doing?"  The president bellowed. He had an annoying habit of yelling into the phone. He did own half of the world, and he wanted people to know it.

"Why did you call here?" the young man said softly. No one had ever heard him raise his voice, unlike his father.

"You've always skipped straight to the point. I like that. I trust your time in Junon has been well spent? I've been hearing glowing reports from the generals there." An awkward pause. Vince quickly got on with it. "I'm sure you've heard that the situation has been changing here. There's been these damn terrorist attacks by the these Avant-garde people, blowing up all the reactors-"

"Avalanche."

"Pardon?"

"Their name is Avalanche." He knew that too well.

"Yes... Well, the names not as important so much as the actions have been. I think that it would be better if you were to come back home. How would you like to come back to the HQ?"

He paused. Half of him was aching to go back to the city. He hadn't been there since his mother had died. It would be nice to be back among civilized people. He could see Reno again. But of course... It may be that his father was suspicious of him. He thought that he'd covered it up their tracks well enough though, but he should have remembered that it was difficult to hide anything from Shinra, from past experience.

"That would be fine. I suppose I don't have a choice?"

"I have already sent a helicopter. It should be there in two hours."

Two hours. That wasn't exactly ample time to prepare, not that he could change any of that. "Now, now, I hope that you've straightened yourself out from when we last saw each other. No more time in the Wall Market, right? This is an important time for us, and we need to maintain a suitable image. This is a family company after all and-"

Rufus laughed loudly. Outside, his secretary's hand knocked her phone off the desk involuntarily at the unfamiliar noise. "Please, enough of that. You're not sinless either, father. I do remember what happened to mother."

He could audibly hear his father suck in his breath on the other end of the line. "That isn't of your concern."

"She was my mother. I can hardly think of anything that's more of my concern than that."

"I've been lenient with you, Rufus, but perhaps you should have shot yourself when you had the chance and made it all easier on us all.  I can always get someone to take your place in his company."

The vice president placed the phone back into its cradle. It rang a second later. "Don't pick it up."

His secretary popped her head into his office. "Sir?"

That woman infuriated him. Most of them did now. "There's been a change of plans. Inform my valet to pack for Midgar and have it done in a half hour."

"Are you leaving soon? Would you like me to cancel your inspection of the barracks tomorrow?"

"Do yourself a favor. Collect your pay for next week, and go home." He swiveled his chair to face her. She was confused, as always. "Your services are no longer needed."

"But-!"

He stepped up and passed her at the door. "And please, keep quiet on what you've done here. I don't need to tell you how important security is."

She fell back into her chair half-relieved to be done with it. "Thank you, sir. I apologize for..."

"Stop. I don't care about any of that." His hand went under his jacket. The weight of his shotgun at his waist was reassuring. He would need it. Going to Midgar was like entering the lions' den.

*

            "I'm so happy that you're home," she whispered. "It feels like forever since we've seen each other."

            He didn't smile back, his face clouded over with an emotion she couldn't read. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here. The President-"

            "It's alright." She wanted him to be happy, to reflect some of her own joy. "I'm just glad that you made arrangements before the mission. The midwife came right on time. Everything went fine."

            "I'll make this up somehow, I swear it." He shook his head, disgusted with himself. "I tried to explain to President Shinra that a man can't miss the birth of his first child, but Hojo was certain that it wouldn't be another week before-"

            "She, my dear. Don't call her 'it'. And stop talking in fragments, you're driving me crazy."

            "She, then. But she needs a name. We never managed to decide on one before I left."

            "Mmm…" She traced a finger across the sleeping baby's peaceful face. "She's perfect. So she needs a name that's perfect."

            He was thoughtful. "How about Lucrecia?"

            "I've never heard of that one before. Where did you come up with it?"

            "Heard it while I was with SOLDIER. I don't know what it means, but I thought that it sounded nice. What do you think?"

            "I like it! Her name is Lucrecia, then."

            "Lucrecia…" He went to the cradle, looking over his child. "She looks like you."

            She hesitated. He wasn't acting like he should. "You know, you never did tell me what you left to do."

            "It's…classified things. Something special President Shinra needed me for."

            She frowned, disapointed. "You can't tell me anything?"

            "It's not my place to say anything. But I do have some news for you," he added hastily, seeing her crestfallen expression. "The President wants us to move closer to the project. How would you like to move to Nibelheim?"

            Nibelheim.

            "I don't know… Isn't that area a little unsafe? It's near Wutai. Most of the continent is theirs. Would they attack a Shinra base?"

            "President Shinra has guaranteed us that it's perfectly safe. And I won't let any harm come to you, or Lucrecia."

            "Alright…I trust you."

She opened her eyes slowly. The Turk was scowling at her again. He'd be a much more attractive man if he stopped glaring at people all the time. Not that she was interested in such things. She hadn't been for some time.

"How can you be sleeping in a time like this?"

"Mmm…Well, It's very easy if you haven't slept in some time. There isn't very much going on for me, at the moment. I'm quite happy to let Shinra do the work of clearing this out." She smiled slightly, watching Cloud take a few shots at a large lizard    up ahead. "But why bring a tour guide with you? Certainly the Shinra's Turks can handle this on their own."

"She invited herself along. If she gets killed, it's not our responsibility."

"How very cavalier of you."

"Have you seen her?" He asked, completely missing her sarcasm. "I haven't heard that shrill voice for a while…"

Yuffie popped out from behind a pillar. "I'm right here! Did you miss me?"

"Not really. Didn't I tell you to stay by me-?"

"Umm…Excuse me, but it appears we've reached a dead end." Cloud piped up softly. He winced slightly at Biggs' sigh, apparently expecting another outburst like before. "There's just a pedestal, with nothing on it."

"Nothing? Let me see that…" He muttered, running forward down the hall. There were a number of murals on the wall. The last few seemed to have been painted hastily, all depicting a small black orb. At the end of the path was a stone pedestal with an empty, rounded space on top. "Are you certain?"

"Something may have been there once, but," Wedge shrugged, unconcerned with their lack of findings. "You know, people might have taken it before us. This place has been explored before."

"But President Shinra was so certain..." he mused.

"Well, it's not here, so let's go!" Yuffie yelled loudly. Biggs was looking at her strangely. "Don't look at me like that! You're freaking me out, guy…"

"Sorry," he muttered. No Black Materia. He wasn't sure what the President wanted it for, but he wouldn't be pleased that they were returning without it. He didn't have much of a choice. "Come one. There's nothing left to see here, and we need to report back."