White Desire
Chapter 5
"Cloud, this uniform doesn't fit me." Cid was reluctant to leave the dressing room they had infiltrated. Upon their arrival to Wutai, the three were rejected at the entrance. Shin-Ra alpha soldiers had informed them that Wutai was to be emptied out and remain that way for the next few days while the company was using the town. Without much more information, Cloud could only speculate that there was something in Wutai that Shin-Ra wanted. If that was the case, all they had to do was find what Shin-Ra wanted and lead the company away. That sounded a lot easier than it was going to be.
The younger blonde leaned against the wall beside the door to the dressing room as he half-heartedly watched Barret take his anger out on some inanimate shoji screens. He didn't want to spend his entire day waiting for Cid to prevent wedgies throughout their journey. His voice sounded apathetic, as though he had other things upon his mind (which he did). "Hurry up, Cid. We're waiting on you. No one else is going to see you. At least, no one you know." He was still thinking about Tifa and their bittersweet farewell. He wasn't sure, but he thought she'd miss him. He hoped that she would miss him. And he also hoped that he'd get the encouragement to finally tell her how he felt. If he didn't, he'd buy himself more time and find a way to scream it from the mountain tops and into the blue sky.
The door to the room beside him opened and Cid adjusted the hat upon his head. "This is coinciding with my goggles. Why do we have to wear the dumb assed hats!" He brushed himself off and it was apparent by his facial experience that he greatly disapproved of having to run around and impersonate a soldier of the company that had betrayed him. He glanced between Cloud and the angry black man. "I sense a little tension in the air. Dare I ask why?" It wasn't that he was particularly interested. He just didn't want Cloud to be irritated with him anymore than necessary. After all, it was because of Cid that they had come out here. They were going to find Yuffie and figure out what Shin-Ra wanted.
"We don't have time to discuss this. If we're here, we need to get things done. So the first plan of action is to find out who's behind this." His voice lowered and he pulled himself away from the wall. "And I think I know who it is." Although he was quite good at coming up with plans, he'd been slacking since his plan for Tifa's interview with Rufus. Now that they were here in Wutai, he hadn't taken the time to think logically. There were a few places he could check, such as the main pagoda in the back of the town, and the mountain pass. He straightened his composure and then gestured for the two to come in closer. He didn't want others to be listening in, although there weren't really any others outside of the occasional Shin-Ra beta soldier wandering by. His voice lowered and he was quiet before speaking, taking the time to actually improvise a plan. "Shin-Ra tends to like to be in high places, so surely we'll find the commander in a place that is located above all others. I was thinking either the pagoda or somewhere on the mountain pass. What do you guys think?"
He should've known not to ask something like that. That was the problem with being a leader. The leader had to choose a path and every now and then take a side in conflicts between his party members. No wonder Barret hadn't wanted to be the leader anymore. He didn't want to listen to people argue and he didn't want to take responsibility for someone else's actions. Cloud was currently wondering why he was enduring this. If he really wanted to, he could leave the two behind and probably solve the mystery on his own. I really should've brought Vincent with me. If I had asked him that question, he wouldn't have even answered. But noooo, I have to bring the two loudest people in the party. I could've brought Vincent and Tifa...and we could've dressed Cid up as her... It was too late for that now. He finally shook his head and then raised a hand to silence the two arguing middle-aged men. "All right, since you two are can't seem to get along, I'll be coming up with the first place to go." He began to pace back and forth as the two quieted down after his announcement. "Shin-Ra is a traditional company, running after traditional family values, so it would make sense if the commander was in a more traditional or ceremonial area. Between the two, the mountain pass and the five-floor pagoda, I personally think we'll have more luck at the latter. And if there's no one of significance there, we'll question the other soldiers...discreetly." He made sure to emphasise that last word. The last thing they needed was an overly zealous Barret interrogating the fellow soldiers they were posing as. Without any argument from the other two, Cloud nodded with a pleased look upon his face.
The trek up the floors of the pagoda seemed a long one, but it was probably due to the overwhelming silence that hung over the trio. Each was thinking about his own problems and too busy to carry on a conversation with another. That was a good thing, though, because it seemed unorthodox for soldiers on duty to be wasting their time by talking. If they were reported, they were probably fired, or worse yet, executed. As they reached the top of the building, they paused when they saw the familiar blonde female standing at the red railing.
Scarlet had been put in charge of finding that new energy source after Tifa held her short interview with Rufus. Determined to get his mind off of the maddening brunette, Scarlet was only more than willing to come to Wutai. If she could find this energy source, then she could pull Rufus into her grasp and Miss Lockhart would be out of the picture forever. At least, that's what she was hoping. At the entrance of the three soldiers, she narrowed her eyes and then lifted a hand to her lips as she cackled. "Kya, ha, ha, ha! Tell me, have you found it yet! The science department informed us that there was definitely something here."
The three exchanged looks with each other and without a second thought ditched their false identities and withdrew their weaponry. Now this was what Barret was thinking of when it came to infiltrating Shin-Ra. After all, they could only get so far when pretending to be one of the company. The only way to truly get answers was to demand them from the people who had them. Scarlet had answers, and AVALANCHE wanted them, therefore AVALANCHE was about to start its interrogation process. Scarlet was held at gun-point by Barret, while Cid did the actual holding and Cloud the questioning.
"Scarlet, we received word from a member of our alliance that Shin-Ra has shut down Wutai until further notice. What is the true intent of your presence here?" Cloud was pacing back and forth, his hands behind him in a gentlemanly fashion. When he spoke her name, his eyes met hers and he wondered how she could have possibly gotten up so high on the business ladder. From what he had seen, Scarlet was merely intimidating; she had no other skills.
She was reluctant to answer his questions as was expected. The blonde female had never taken kindly to force, unless she was administering it. And in this case, she wasn't enjoying it. Once Rufus heard about this, AVALANCHE was going to pay; she was certain of that. "I've nothing to say to you, Strife. Take your alliance and go else where." Her head ducked and she struggled to get out of Cid's grasp, not having much luck. She was physically strong, but not enough to hold Cid off. Of course, Cid was a male and she was a female. That was a sensible difference and she hadn't expected to get away. She was, however, wishing that she had hired some type of bodyguard for herself, rather than shooing her other soldiers away.
Cloud raised a hand and pointed a forefinger to Barret. "If she resists, blow her head off." It was a rather brash order to give, but he wasn't serious. He had to put up that false front if she was going to comply, and he knew she would. The company was important to her, but her life was more so. And as Barret's arm neared her, the young blonde male decided to ask her again. "Why is Shin-Ra Electric Company here? What are you guys doing that is so important that you had to evacuate the town? What are you guys planning?"
Scarlet turned her head slightly coming to face the rather large barrel of Barret's machine gun arm and then she looked toward Cid, who had gestured to Cloud. It would've been much easier if she had just answered the questions. She turned her blue eyes back to the young man before her and scoffed softly, held in disbelief from knowing that she was going to reveal Rufus's plan. "...My orders come from the president. The science department of the company told us that we'd possibly find a replacement for mako here. Rather than allowing the townspeople to get into our way, I felt it was most beneficial to evacuate. We'll be going through the mountain pass to find out if our sources were reliable or not."
The leader of the trio was quiet for a moment, trying to think of what he needed to do next. It wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be to get these sort of answers. However, the question on Yuffie's location was still in existence. Perhaps Shin-Ra had taken her as a captive. "We are searching for a young female ninja by the name of Yuffie Kisaragi. She's from this town, but it would seem that she did not evacuate from here. Perhaps you can tell me a little more about this, assuming that you know." Cloud was careful about the words he chose. He didn't want to come off as rude, but he wanted her to know that he was absolutely serious about everything.
The young lady in charge of Shin-Ra's weapon development merely looked at him. Yuffie Kisaragi. That name was familiar, and then she remembered why. While they had gone through the town, there was a lone female who stood against them. And as she was dragged off to her prison cell, she repeatedly gave her name, insisting that she was too great to be put away. The memories made Scarlet's lips curl into a smirk. "Yes, indeed. I remember that female." One of her hands lowered to her side and she looked out over the railing. "She tried to stop us, and we imprisoned her. And it seems you will be facing the same fate." From her side, she withdrew what looked like a PHS or a cellular phone, and forced Cid off of her as she tossed it into the air and a faint 'click' sound echoed. And while the others were caught up in this, she shoved Cloud to the side and quickly began to sprint down the stairs, holding the skirts of her dress up.
Cid raised a hand and pointed it to the device sailing through the air. Then he grabbed Barret by the vest. "It's a bomb! We gotta' get outta' here!" He started to pull the middle-aged man after him, in spite of his protests, and they passed Cloud on the way, as the blonde questioned their next plan of action. "That's a what, Cid?" Cloud almost couldn't believe what the other blonde male had said, and he had to hear it once more. Cid paused and as the three got caught in the doorway, he tried to push himself through. "It's a fucking bomb and we need to get the fuck off--"
The explosion was much bigger than what one would've thought. Of course, the three knowing Shin-Ra's ways should've expected that. The force caused each one to flail from the doorway. Barret was sent tumbling down the stairs until he hit the wall on the following floor below. Cid had found the center of the pagoda and was sprawled against the ground. And Cloud sailed over the railing and down five floors to land on the grass below. Although he was much stronger than most, he knew he wouldn't be able to get up and walk away from the injury. The last thing each saw was Scarlet's mocking face, laughing at her success before the three were taken away.
Cloud was awoken by a rather sharp nudge in the shoulder. He groaned and turned over onto his stomach, which actually felt good for once. His back was probably bruised after the fall. And when he was nudged again, he tried to brush away the hand, but he didn't have much energy to expend. "Stop that... You're hurting me." With that spoken, his eyelashes fell. He was ready to find the dark slumber again, but he didn't have that chance.
There was a young female who had squatted down beside him and was randomly poking him in various places. "Heeeey, Cloud...get up." When he didn't respond, she rose to her feet and was tempted to kick him in the side, but stopped when Cid had grabbed her by the arm. "Hey! Let me go, you freako!" Her other hand rose to brush him off, but it didn't work that well, and she was pulled back to bump into Barret.
"We waz lookin' for ya, Yuffie!" The Mr. T look-a-like ruffled her hair affectionately. Then he looked over to the sleeping Cloud upon the ground. "When d'ya think he's gonna' wake up? He took a pretty hard fall. I'm kinda surprised that he lived." It was sort of mean to say, but he wasn't entirely serious. In fact, he was actually worried when Cloud had been brought in and thrown mercilessly to the ground. Of course, there was a very smug-looking Scarlet who followed after him. She was probably going back to report her findings to the president.
Cid gave a shrug as his glance exchanged between the other three. Then he found himself taking a seat upon the hard floor. It was cold inside their cell, but there wasn't anything he could do about it and he had no intentions of cuddling with anyone. "We were looking for you, Yuffie. Glad you're okay." He shook his head slowly and stretched out a leg to gently push Cloud a bit to the side. He wasn't aiming to hurt, but if it disturbed him enough, then perhaps he'd wake up and they could make a plan to escape.
The younger blonde-haired man had finally arisen himself with that contact from Cid. As he struggled to push himself up, he looked to the others, as though he was trying to remember what had happened. He mouthed Yuffie's name a couple of times and then gave a small nod. "Yuf, are you all right? We got worried when we found out something bad had happened here." Then he took a moment before raising to his feet and wandering over to the bars on their cell. It was slowly starting to come back to him. They'd gotten their answers from Scarlet, but she was prepared. She'd planted a time bomb in her PHS device and pretty much blew the top floor to the pagoda to smithereens. Now they needed a plan of escape, but before that, they needed to know where they were. He turned and glanced to the others. "Where the hell are we?"
There was silence all around the table and then the female ninja spoke up as she angrily jabbed at the air. "Remember that room I imprisoned you guys in?" She waited until each one had nodded and then she chuckled. "Well, we're not there." And to save herself from the hate that was coming her way, she quickly shook her head and began to pace back and forth impatiently. "I think that stupid Scarlet woman said this was Shin-Ra's extension to the caverns beneath the mountain pass. The company was looking for that replacement energy source down here. In fact, they even went so far as to try to get me to work for them. They told me if I did, they'd let me out sooner." She scoffed as she folded her arms over her chest and her pacing ceased.
That was probably the first time they'd ever gotten a straight answer out of Yuffie. Ever since they had met her, she was usually not quite forward with them, or honest. In fact, she was as truthful as Cait Sith...and that wasn't saying much. Cloud was relieved that she had said so much because it answered many questions all at once. And since they finally knew where they were, they could plot some type of escape...perhaps. There were soldiers who kept randomly passing by their cell, so they weren't going to be able to break out as inconspicuously as they had hoped. He gave a thoughtful nod and then reached to his pants and patted his pockets. "Damn it. They took my--"
He was pegged in the back of his head by what he thought was missing from him. As he leaned down to pick up his cell phone, he heard Cid speak up. "I sustained the least damage and took your cell phone from Scarlet when she brought you here." The younger man gave a nod of gratitude and then paused thoughtfully, flipping up his phone and planting the top enclosure to his lips. Then he turned to the others and arched an eyebrow. "...Should I call Tifa and Vincent or let this go for now?" He really wanted to call Tifa. He just wanted to hear her voice. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep, or how long they had been in the cell. There seemed to be a rather large gap in his memory and when his eyes met the digital clock on his phone he shook his head. "It's too late to call them tonight. I'll call them tomorrow." He received a nod from the other members of his party and the four sat down in a rhombus shape to discuss everything that had happened so far and their plans for the future. If only the following day could come sooner.
