Cloud woke to a white room. He tried to feel alarmed, but he couldn't. He tried to move, but that didn't work either. Sounds were distant and muffled in his ears. Whatever was in his system right now was strong. His eyes worked, at least, and he dragged them around the room as much as he could without moving his head. Tubes, medical equipment—It was a lab, his brain told him, Hojo's lab? His gut hurt. Sephiroth stabbed him, didn't he? Yeah, lots of times. And Shinra found him, took him here. Pumped Mako into his veins until he couldn't feel, couldn't think, couldn't anything anymore.
Zack? Zack should be here. Zack will break them out, run away, protect him, and then... but how can he know that? How could he know the future? Unless that already happened? Wasn't Sephiroth dead? Wasn't Hojo, along with him?
Was he breathing? It was hard to tell.
"Your body is being restrained by a forcefield." A black man with an eyepatch appeared in his periphery. "Not the nicest feeling, but we're a bit gun-shy about super-powered aliens around here. Been burned a few times."
Cloud's tongue felt like lead in his mouth, but his sense was coming back to him. The proper time realigning in his mind. What was the last thing he remembered? Sephiroth, yes—but not really. A memory. A fragment called Kadaj. A bullet ripping through him. Then, the white light that turned into white snow. The mountaintop. What was in between? Later. Focus on what he could see. The man didn't look like a Shinra goon. More like an independent bounty hunter.
He turned his head. More stood just outside, watching them through the viewing window. A woman with bright red hair and an unreadable expression. The men from before, the shield-wielder and the unassuming one. I'm Phil Coulson of SHIELD, he'd said.
"What is your name?"
Cloud glared.
"Where did you come from?"
Cloud glared.
"How were you injured?"
Cloud glared.
The man scowled. "Ya know, I've seen the tough-guy act before. It doesn't tend to stick. Every man's got a point…"
Blah blah blah! The part of Zack that still lived in Cloud's brain was hoppin' mad. This cyclops motherfucker thinks he can pin us down and have us turn to putty in his hands!? We're not answering a single question until we can stand up, dammit!
He was far more entertaining to listen to than the rambling man. He kept repeating the same questions, trying different tactics to make Cloud talk. He tried threats, both veiled and outright. He tried bribery, tried appealing to his morals. It might have been real convincing if Cloud were actually listening, but he agreed with Zack on this one. It was a matter of pride.
He only zoned back in when the man got so angry he slammed his hands down on something and shook the whole room.
A voice came over the intercom. "Fury, that's enough. Come out."
With a vindictive glare, he stormed out of the cell. The redheaded woman and the shield-wielder entered.
"You said you weren't like Turks," Cloud forced out past his buzzing lips. "Guess I was right not to trust you."
The blonde frowned, obviously disliking the criticism. "You attacked our men."
"They stole my sword."
"You're missing the point: We're the good guys here, believe it or not."
"I don't believe it."
The woman smiled. "Well, how about a good will offering, then?" She reached out of his eyeline, and the paralyzing feeling vanished. Cloud jolted at the sudden clarity, like walking out of a dim room into the midday sun. He bolted out of the reclined chair, for that was what he had been sitting in, and immediately put as much distance between him and the others as he could. And, Gaia, he hurt. His body felt like one big bruise, his head screamed, and the bullet wound in his chest felt painful, itchy, and hot. The pain was natural, but the other sensations he knew to be the feeling of Mako knitting his flesh back together.
"Better?" The woman asked, smiling coquettishly.
"It doesn't look better," the blonde said, looking at Cloud with either concern or pity. He did his best to wipe the pain from his face immediately.
"It's better."
"You seem like a reasonable guy, so here's what I'm gonna do. I'll tell you something, then you tell me something. I'm Natasha and this is Steve. Will you tell us your name?"
I know this is just good-cop-bad-cop, Zack piped in, but damn if I'm not a sucker for the please-and-thank-yous. Besides, we don't want 'bad cop' coming back in, do we? What an absolute bag of dicks that guy was. I definitely prefer prince charming and the cute girl over here!
"It's Cloud," he said, mostly just to force inner-Zack to shut up. "Cloud Strife."
"You fell from the sky," Steve deadpanned, "and your name is Cloud?"
It is a little ironic—
"I didn't pick it."
"Geez, don't be rude, Steve."
"No—yeah—" Steve tried to backpedal. "No offense meant! Just, uh, double-checking. Can you tell us… why you fell from the sky in the first place?"
"Someone shot me," Cloud divulged, growing tired of talking already. "Bad enough to send me to the lifestream, but it didn't want me, spit me back out. I just want to get back to Edge."
No recognition sparked in their eyes.
"What is 'the lifestream'?"
Oh… fuck, said inner-Zack.
"Fuck," said Cloud.
"Fuck!" said Natasha, as the cell door suddenly burst open.
"Fuck is right!" said a goateed man, entering the cell in a flourish of red silk scarves and a glistening of cold red metal on his forearms. He pulled the sunglasses from his face dramatically. "I came as soon as I heard."
"You scared the living daylights out of me, Stark!" Natasha snapped, pressing a hand to her heart.
"What can I say? I like a good entrance." He smirked. "Anyways, Stark Industries is officially taking custody of your boy here. We're transferring him to the tower, effective immediately. Fury's furious, which is just DE-lightful, and—wow, are there, like, glow sticks in your eyes? That's not a pickup line, by the way."
Cloud blinked rapidly, trying to process everything. Transfer? Fine, he'd be happy to leave this room behind, but… they didn't know the lifestream? You couldn't live on Gaia and not know the lifestream. If this wasn't—then where was—?
"You—" Cloud started, but his breath caught in his throat. He tried to move back, but just bumped into the far side of the cell. "Where—? What happened to Gaia? The planet, Gaia?"
The planet with Tifa, Marlene, Denzel, AVALANCHE, 7th Heaven.
The planet with everything he loved and hated on it.
The planet Sephiroth vowed to destroy.
Tony and Steve exchanged glances. Natasha slowly rose out of her chair.
"I don't know," she said gently, "but we can find out. Cloud, I need you to calm down for me, OK?"
Cloud squeezed his eyes closed, but all he could see was Sephiroth's damn smirking face gazing back, unflinching, as he murmured, 'Tell me what you cherish most. Give me the pleasure of taking it away.'
'Everything' he'd said.
And now everything was gone.
