Author's Note: Finally a new story, hopefully this will get me back on track with Victim but I need your help, yes YOU! I don't know what to do in the next few chapters of Victim, the team needs to get to the Corel prison and several months need to go by, but I don't know what to do to pass that time. So I guess I'm holding a little contest for you all to tell me what should happen, and the winner gets umm…their idea into the story, and also credit for it I guess so uh… yea please help me.
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Nightfall elicits a multitude of unwarranted activities not to be conceived during the daylight hours. Defalcators, larcenists and other such caitiffs would scour the caliginous alleyways that stretched for endless miles like a spider's web throughout the industrialized city of Midgar. Such cad's referred to the period between dusk and dawn as their "primetime" which was, in its most glorified persona, an allocation to maim, purloin or even abduct information or persons a prowler may deem worthy of fiscal gain.
Midgar, a city filled with more greed and brothels than any other town in the world, never slept, as sanctioned by the amaranthine plethora of lights emitting from the windows of every sleazy establishment, every neon sign hung above each after-hours bodega and the placards outside the many disreputable casinos. It seemed to attract all that is sinful in the world and house it, which was what made it the largest city on the planet. It was more than five times the size of its closest rival, Junon, a city formed as a sister to Midgar's leading industrial center, Shinra Inc.
Shinra Inc. The mere mention of its moniker sent chills up the radical separatist and anarchist's spines but also brought heartfelt warmth to the families of the veritable proletariats and chattels that were all too under-paid and over-worked by the covetous pockets of the board members. Shinra, or more commonly accredited as "Sinra" by the insurgents, did, in fact, employee nearly seventy percent of the world's population under its syndicate and affiliates. It boasted not only the world's largest skyscraper, but also the most grand-scale militia in history. Fueled by a somewhat, if not totally lacking, intelligent, spineless, acquiescent team, this military was responsible for nearly all the destruction caused during the Wutai War. Its history was dated much further back in time than the company itself, having first gained recognition pre-thirteenth century, at a time when civilization was just learning of its capacity.
Shinra, formed more recently, was able to gather the armament while it seized control of the city, a monumental achievement held by the President of the company, Mr. Nigel Shinra. Shinra was born in the preliminary years of the present century, to a mother and father of great monetary stature. His father acquired control of most of the city officials through his weapon's manufacturing plant, supplying adequate amounts of force to the local police and holding prices above their heads for his services. Nigel, wishing to accomplish far greater than his father, turned his attention towards the mounting pressure for a new energy source.
In his early adulthood Shinra realized that the life force of the planet, or Lifestream, was the most renewable source of energy on the planet, and was virtually holding the terrestrial sphere together. He found that by siphoning the Lifestream from its various veins throughout the Earth, the stream could be converted into an efficient energy source, or Mako. It wasn't until after the empire had risen into power that Shinra discovered the true nature of the Lifestream and that the effects it had on his workers would be devastating.
Like most major conglomerates, Shinra had its private vault of classified documents containing critical information on the consequences of exposure to Mako in a controlled environment. Of course, such a bombshell would eradicate the company so Shinra's top executives had as many of the resulted monsters that could be found locked away in one of their reactors, the machines used to draw the Lifestream out of the planet. It was then established that Lifestream was not only just a life force, but also the very blood of the plant, what made the macrocosm survive. After running a massive amount of inconclusive experiments, it was theorized that Lifestream was made up of dead souls, the souls from the people who have died. This had been documented in the time of the Ancients as a phenomenon known as "returning to the planet," the afterlife as most would call it. When those souls came into contact with the living, the resulting biological reaction would cause severe deformities and extreme personality changes. Humans became creatures seemingly bent on the destruction of the living, and although hundreds of thousands of workers became ill with the poison, only a handful were ever captured and contained in the Nibelheim reactors. Since creatures feared by the people already inhabited the world, Shinra was able to right off the incidents as a "new breed of evil."
However adverse Shinra may appear, the majority of the planet agreed that the Mako reactors were a necessary part of advancement and outweighed the small bands of so-called terrorists who knew what the reactors were doing to the planet, but were doubted by critics. In its constant quest for superiority, Shinra Inc. would occasionally need to discipline said terrorists in order to create a world unit where everyone believed that Mako energy was safe and efficient, at any imperative cost, whether money or human life were involved.
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Footsteps, pounding on a concrete floor like the beating drums in a heavy metal band sounded throughout the hallways. Vehemently clapping against the ground beneath them the boots of security guards charged up the stairs like a swarm of hornets, intent on annihilating its prey. Their eyes focused on the danger before them the men, dressed all in blue, their hearts beating against a chest plated with bullet-proof steal and their utility belts swaying with the movement of their hips as they took each thunderous step.
Up several more flights of stairs and past an empty secretary's desk, a light blinking on the corner as a red warning. The sirens and alarms fluctuating as they sprinted toward their radar blip, a flashing yellow circle on an electronic map in the basement of the building where the night watchman spend their shifts. Endless marching continued up every stairwell, although only several guards occupied each, their numbers increasing rapidly as they were joined by other teams from all levels of access.
"Come on Rookie, follow me!" The harsh tone of the commanding officer bellowed as he turned his head to glance behind him quickly, making sure that the new blood had not gotten cold feet.
The young man preceding him, only about twenty-one, had just been hired for night duty that day, and, as luck would have it, on his first night on the job, a terror alert bared attention. With his weapon of choice, a sword, in hand, he sprinted behind his superiors, his adrenaline rising and his pulse accruing.
"I'm here, don't worry." He huffed with the corner of his lip curled into a sardonic smile.
They rushed up the last flight of stairs and burst through the large metal doors into a room with hundreds of computer storage units, the heart of the classified vault. The dozens of security officers spread out around the room, crouching about as they searched for the perpetrator.
A sudden gust of wind caused by body movement whisked through the center of the chamber, snapping the guard's heads toward its fleeting direction. The young man was the first to react, as the others seemed stunned for a split second. He had learned long ago that that split second of hesitation could mean the difference between life and death.
He slid out into the hallway, nearly falling to his knees and held up with one hand, he pushed himself up like an Olympic runner dashing for the finish line. He followed the atramentous blur through a winding labyrinth of doors and walls. He could hear the angered cries of his troop leader screaming for him to come back, and the footsteps of his co-workers behind him, trying to catch up to his speed as he found himself pushing off walls to steady himself. Nearly tripping head first on the slippery tiles he caught his balance and pressed on, finally losing his target at the end of a corridor, and paused to look around him to get his bearings. He didn't know ever square-inch of the building like many of the other guards, but an acute sense of hearing drew him to the door on his left.
He promptly withdrew his sword and held it in front of him poised to strike. He shifted his eyes to look around the inky blackness before him and could just barely make out the form of a man sitting comfortably on top of a control panel. Just as the young guard began to raise his sword the lights came on, momentarily blinding him.
"Ah, for the love of--" the commanding officer whined, throwing his hands in the air and turning around to look at his lower ranks. "False alarm everyone, its just Jasper."
The man atop the panel just grinned with a look of conceitedness in his eyes as a dense moan sounded down the hallway as the troops soon dissipated. The young man was perplexed and stood his ground as his superior came up beside him. The latter, a large, burly black man in his mid-thirties, towered over the younger blonde man with spiky blonde hair that was a mess atop his head.
"…Who?" The young man asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"That's Jasper, he's a step beneath the head of our department. He's responsible for making sure we do our job orderly. You could say he's just a lackey." The black man stated, rolling his eyes and placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder.
"Thanks for the introduction, Barret, but if I were in your position I wouldn't make sniveling remarks like that." Barret again rolled his eyes. Jasper seemed to get impatient and rose from his seat, folding his arms across his chest. "It appears to me that your men are fifteen minutes too slow at responding to an alarm. Not only that, not one of them was able to catch me, by the time you arrived I already got every important piece of data I need to destroy the company."
"Sir—" Barret tried to reason.
"I'm not finished Mr. Wallace. The only one of your men that came anywhere close to apprehending me was this young man hear, had he been trained as to the floor plan of this building, I'm sure he would have caught me. As for you however, I can hardly say the same. Get your troops in order soon, or you're fired, and my ass is on the line."
"Dammit Jasper," Barret said, slamming his fist against a nearby desk, "you could have warned me their was gonna be a drill!"
"If I had warned you, it wouldn't be a candid attempt. You won't know when a real terrorist is striking, how can you expect me to tell you in advance when there'll be a dry run?" Barret snorted and turned his head. "Keep an eye on this kid here, he does good work, he might even be a candidate for Soldier." He continued, nodding toward the young man. "What's your name, son?"
"Cloud, Sir. Cloud Strife." The blonde answered admirably.
"Well Cloud, keep working and next time watch your balance." Jasper teased with a smile. Cloud nodded and returned the glance as Jasper began to head for the door. "Well, I'm off, you guys get back to work and Barret," Jasper stopped in the doorway and turned to face Barret, "I'll be keeping an eye on you. Don't screw up again or you're out on your ass." And with that, Jasper was gone.
Barret scoffed and threw his fist into a wall, causing dust from the ceiling to rain down on them. He shook his head and stared at Cloud, his eyes filled not with jealousy or bitterness, but with regret.
"Good job, Strife. Even if you didn't follow orders."
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With daylight hours came the last job for the midnight shift security guards. As the day workers filed in by the masses, Barret, Cloud and the other officers were required to check each individual's I.D. card and walk them through a metal detector, just to be sure that there would be no Shinra terrorists working on the inside.
Cloud sat on a stool at the end of a rolling belt from one of the checkpoints. His head rolled back and forth as his eyes gently succumbed to lethargy, then waking up as soon as he felt his head fall forward. He could barely stay cognizant after the events that had transpired just a few hours earlier.
"Hey, couldn't handle it last night?" Barret asked, coming up beside him and waking him from another episode.
"Nah, don't worry, I'm fine, just resting my eyes." Cloud quipped.
"Look alive son, look alive." Barret countered while patting Cloud on the back.
Cloud smirked and folded his arms, crunching his stomach slightly as he again began to fall asleep. He had just about passed through the gates of consciousness when the first onset of dreams approached him, rendering him unaware of the rapidly impatient tapping of an expensive designer pump against the tile floor in front of him.
"Ahem." An angry voice huffed.
Cloud blinked open his eyes and waited for them to focus on the ground before he slowly brought his gaze up to look upon the owner of the black heeled-shoes. He followed the feet up to the legs that were so perfectly crafted, they could only belong to a goddess, then up to hips that held up a waist so tiny and a stomach so flat and covered by the shortest dark gray tweed skirt he could imagine possible. He continued to raise his head to look upon an airy pink dress-shirt with a cerulean neckerchief fastened atop her collar and sporting a matching tweed jacket. Her face, he thought, must have been carved by an angel, her lips tightly pursed into a cantankerous frown. Her nose was a perfect slope, her skin the color of a bronze statue, the sun radiating all around her and her eyes, the most gorgeous crimson-chocolate, of which he had never seen. Her eyebrow was raised in begrudging anticipation, and her hair flowed loosely about her shoulders, a deep chestnut waterfall cascading down to her waist. He was in awe of her aura, temporarily mesmerized by the enchantress before him. Lost in deep longing, he failed to notice the flick of her wrist as she checked he watch, nor did he hear the sonorous groan emanating from her throat.
"Excuse me." She restated for possibly the tenth time while tapping Cloud on the head. Cloud quickly snapped back into reality and met her eye contact. "Hi. Umm…could you let me through?" She said with an instantaneous smile. Cloud grinned back until he realized what she was asking.
"Oh, right. Can I…see your I.D. please?" He asked, remembering his job. She appeared to be taken aback as she looked at him with disconcerted indignation. She nearly laughed at the mention but was answered by an equally confused expression.
"Go on through Ms. Lockheart." Barret said, finally stepping in. The woman nodded in appreciation to him and turned back to Cloud.
"See you around, cutie." She said with a seductive smile that nearly made his heart melt right then and there. He stared after he as she sauntered through the lobby and into an elevator, smiling and waving nervously at him when she turned around.
"Just let your heart be broken now, she ain't gonna be yours." Barret said, standing next to Cloud. The blonde looked up at him with pleading eyes. "That's the president's daughter, people like her would never even consider guys like us." Cloud lowered his head in defeat.
"But…her name…isn't she a Shinra?" He said, shifting his eyes in confusion.
"Yeah, but when she was born they gave her her mother's maiden name so that she wouldn't be burdened with the Shinra expectations, didn't work cuz the world knows who she is." Barret said with a shrug.
"But she did talk to you, she doesn't always say anything to any of us." Another security guard piped up.
"She probably got laid last night." Yet another one chirped. "She only comes in this early if she had one hell of a night, if ya know what I mean?" He continued, thrusting his hips.
"Randy, shut up and get back to work!" Barret seethed, raising his hand as if he would strike. "Forget about him, he's just bitter cuz she turned him down fifty-two consecutive times." Randy glared and returned to his post.
Cloud couldn't help but feel despair. He had just about fallen in love at first sight and yet, he could not have her. He left the Shinra building with his head held low and his hands in his pockets. If something he felt so suddenly and so strongly wasn't real, then what did love really feel like?
