Chapter 17. Reality shifts.
Elie's POV
June went by in a blink.
And there wasn't a day I didn't ask myself how things had gone in Midgar - concerning the mission that involved Dr. Rayleigh and the whole disk stealing event.
As days went by I busied myself in the lab, reserving the nighttime to linger in the roof - watching the stars, the city far away… and just simply to breathe the air outside.
Several permissions were needed for me to leave the labs and I never went alone. Lately, my company up there to the 'Gardens', as I joked about it, were basically Turks - and occasionally some SOLDIER infantrymen.
No one that I knew from before.
Not that I could see a thing past those helmets.
Things went pretty smooth for the whole month. John had been a little distant since the 'shirtless general event' the other day but thankfully - things went back to normal.
And I knew why that was.
The General didn't come by since then. And its absence… was John's great victory. I didn't have to be a psychic to grasp that John didn't like the General around. And namely, around me.
It was something I didn't understand.
But since my routine involved the lab personnel and mainly John… I just didn't want to push the subject.
Midgar under the moon light was extraordinarily beautiful. I dared to say I had never seen such amazing landscape by nighttime. The sight addicted me. Made me wonder how life there would be.
I stood there, dozing off in that concrete rooftop, guarded by heavily armed men, imagining how life would go on in that gathering of greenish-white light provided by Mako.
It was exactly in one of my 'descending trip' to the labs that John came to me.
And not exactly with good news. As I saw John's face, I just knew something was wrong.
"How did it go?"
"They didn't steel Rayleigh's disc… "
"But?"
"They managed to copy part of it."
I widened my eyes at him, surprised. Oh-uh. I hadn't seen that one coming. But the alternatives for AVALANCHE to have it their way would come up. It was only logical to happen that way.
"How?"
"Good question." John answered, visibly worried. "Hojo is now under tight surveillance."
Oh, man. This whole half-copying the disk's content would complicate things. It would, really. And I couldn't help but to feel guilty about it. Truth was, if I hadn't disclosed this whole thing, AVALANCHE would have caught the disc but at least I knew what their next move was. Now I didn't.
No one did.
"Damn." I whispered, thinking. "Hell, but they need the whole thing to do what they want to do. And they need Hojo to help them out. Otherwise, they cannot crack the information."
It was logical, right?
John nodded at me.
"I'll tell the General about that."
Oh, man. That person!
"He must be angry." I declared, making a face.
John smiled a little at me, easing up the mood.
"Disappointed." He clarified. "Namely because all of it happened just like you said it would. Except the incident with the disk."
Well that was comforting.
"It must be a strategy they must have just in case."
Right, a strategy. A strategy with a name - Rufus Shinra. I knew he was the one sneaking information under everybody's noses but I couldn't simply say it. The President would not believe it. And he would get me killed over it.
And I had the General - and Zack Fair to save from their fateful destinies. I couldn't afford to lose them just because adrenaline kicked inside my system and the will of disclosing everything was more than I could bear.
"Most likely." John declared, his face tired.
I decided to call it a day.
"I'm going." I declared, stepping towards the door. "Let me know if there's news."
"I will. Good night."
"Night."
I went to my bedroom worried with the alternative reality my actions were creating. What if things got out of control?
What if…?
Sephiroth's POV.
There was an unnerving thing about Stevens guessing up completely what was going to happen.
I didn't know why, it tickled my nerves, even if I was getting used to that fact by now. So she knew what was going on, and I had to accept it.
Even though, all of it was impressive: all the details, time frame, who was involved and who wasn't. Her accuracy almost felt offensive.
It annoyed me in an immature way - and I knew why, even if I would tell no living soul about her: because she was a random foreign woman and I knew she knew things that involved me.
Deep down inside, I kept hoping she was wrong about something so that I could shove it in her face, tell her how incompetent she was after all.
But there was no such luck. Every information she disclosed was accurate. Faithful. True.
And I knew I would have to learn to live with her foreseeing capacity. And besides, she was on our side - the company, Shinra. SOLDIER and the Turks.
If by any chance AVALANCHE had caught her… who knew what might have happened. If our enemy had her…
That thought actually worried me.
But for now there was only one thing in my mind. Besides being the aftermath of battle, something unexpected had happen. The disc… had been somehow compromised, in a way Stevens hadn't warned us about.
I didn't know if that had been a coincidence, merely a action-reaction event… but I had to be sure of certain things. Namely, on Steven's faithfulness.
I hated not having things under control - and this whole situation was getting way out of hand to my personal taste.
I walked calmly towards the science division. Stevens would be in the lab - as expected. But not in her own room. Once I passed by security, I found Stevens' room vacant.
Eventually, it was her laugh that directed me to another place. Namely, the Molecular Biology lab. The door was open and my eyes found the most unexpected scenario.
Stevens, sitting in a table with three lab technicians, a man and two women, all of them with smiley faces. Stevens included.
Having fun, ha?
My presence there, by the door, erased the smiles at once. All of them got up from the chairs and greeted me, truly embarrassed. Except Stevens, who eyed me with acknowledgement.
I smirked at the sight. So, she knew exactly why I was here. And yet she remained silent, quiet, clearly expecting me to say the words.
Smart.
"A word, Stevens?"
"Sure." She said, walking in my direction. "Excuse me."
She passed by me, headed towards her room. The place was heavily guarded - all of it. The halls, gateways, doors.
I concluded it was safe. She was safe here.
I closed the door behind me and we remained standing, inches apart. Proximity with Stevens was something I couldn't quite understand - why did she avoid it that much. Her gut reaction was always automatic. She always put a consistent distance between us.
Blinking those thoughts away, I decided to go straight to the point.
"Did you know they would copy part of the disc?"
Stevens's stare on mine hardened.
"If I knew… I would have told you so." She declared, with a sigh. "I didn't know that, General."
So defensive.
"Everything went on just like you described. Word by word, perfect timing." I confessed, with a soft, ironic smile. "Except that."
But she had an answer prepared.
"Except what I didn't know."
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence, where our stares fought - mine, demanding some kind of explanation - and hers, demanding… trust. Ah. Right.
I wasn't stupid, and she knew it very well.
"Who is leaking information, Stevens?"
And my sudden question seemed to catch her off guard. Her face changed… and all I could see there was fright. And not of me.
"I-I can't tell you that."
"Why not?"
"Because it would get me killed." She whispered, her eyes serious on mine. "Believe me."
Very well.
"And allowing a traitor to keep on-"
"We won't prevent things from happening just because there are information leaks. I know enough to prevent any unnecessary casualties and to get you Turks and SOLDIER prepared to deal with overboarding AVALANCHE charges."
I narrowed my eyes at her, stepping a couple of steps towards her. She straightened at once, probably wondering when I would stop.
"You're risking too much, Stevens." I declared, visibly curious about her actions. "Why won't you simply disclose everything you know?"
She gulped dry, eyes sincere.
"Because it would be chaotic." She declared. "Trust me."
Hum.
"It's hard to trust you when I know you're hiding information from me, Stevens. Vital information."
"It's for your own sake General. Believe me."
Her declaration surprised me. It really did. I wasn't expecting her to say that - which meant this whole thing was far more serious than I thought.
And just to know that I would have to endure… wondering what would that be… until Stevens decided it was time to say it.
The thought frustrated me.
"And now what?"
She took her time answering me.
"AVALANCHE will slow down for now. There will be an attempt of spying on the Turks but…. Nothing that they won't manage effectively."
"Hum. And that's it?"
"That's it."
And what choice did I have but to acquiesce?
"I'll send out Veld to meet you and Medina."
"Okay."
Her voice came out feeble, like a whisper. I had the sensation she didn't like it as well - this feeling of impotence I felt, we all felt.
It was strange, considering I - we - were in her hands.
But something inside me told me to let it go. Leave it be. And even if that was completely against my will… I decided to trust my instinct.
After all, it was the thing I trusted the most in life.
The only thing.
Veld's POV.
The General had summoned me early today with the strangest conversation.
First, he had said I should take Reno with me, claiming he would be vital for the next 'mission'. And then, he had told me to have an open mind about what would happen, that the Doctor and an informant would meet with me.
Top Secret, the whole thing.
I couldn't help but to wonder.
"Why did you bring me, Sir?" Reno's voice took me out of my reverie, as we waited for the rest of them.
"You'll see." I said. Hell, I couldn't say much more.
Suddenly, two persons entered that room. It was like the conference room back in the HD, but smaller, cozy.
My eyes landed on Doctor Medina and a woman. They silently sat next to us, a file on the Doc's hands. The woman stared at Reno with a stare that scared me, for moments.
It was like she knew him.
In a troubled, sick way.
And I could tell Reno felt uncomfortable as well. To a point he actually reacted.
"What?" He asked, her eyes on hers.
"Uh…" The woman clearly was out of words. "You're… taller than I thought. Sorry, it's just…"
We all stared at each other in silence.
"Veld, Reno," The good Doctor interrupted. Thank God! "This is Stevens, Eleanor. She is our informant."
What?
"She?"
Reno was the one speaking my mind out loud.
"Let's start, shall we?"
The Doctor had spoken and the woman was the one speaking after him. We merely listened.
"December, 22th. You," And she pointed to Reno. "will be checking on a friend of yours. Rude."
Reno blinked at her.
"Why?"
"Because he'll be meeting up someone at a bar. A woman. Chelsea. Who is actually an AVALANCHE spy sent to soften your friend and get to know stuff about the company."
There was silence for a moment.
"He'll try to keep it secret, talk you off of it, but she'll insist and try to wire his phone."
Reno kept staring at the woman, clearly in shock but not showing it.
"How do you know that?"
"I just know. Don't let the woman interfere and everything will be okay."
But Reno kept insisting.
"What are you?"
"I'm your friend, Reno." She declared, her eyes soft. "It's all that matters."
Reno blinked, aghast.
I didn't know if deep down inside he was feeling overwhelmed or offended. His facial expression didn't give away that much - as it should be. A Turk couldn't afford to be sentimentalist.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
I heard the woman sigh, then stare at the Doctor.
"And I'm out." She said, excusing herself and leaving us three there, alone with each other's stares.
The Doctor was the one speaking.
"It's not a joke. I wish it was, believe me." The man admitted, putting his glasses on the table. "Stevens is a… precious help we have. Please take her words seriously. She had proved, several times, that her statements are correct. Accurate. 100% true. So please, Reno. Don't let your friend Rude fall into that trap."
Reno blinked at the Doctor.
"Rude's not like that, he's a serious, competent Turk-"
"Which has nothing to do with him being a man." The Doctor interrupted, crossing his arms. "AVALANCHE will try and do everything to sneak up. They don't care if Rude is one of your incorruptible men. They just know that he's a man that can actually feel something for the right woman. That's pretty much it."
But Reno seemed stuck in the past minute.
"How can she know that- Is she an agent?"
"We're done." The Doctor stood up and grabbed the file, leaving a copy on the table. "Read it thoroughly and come to me if any doubt persists. There's a long way until December."
A/N - What I most like about this is the way Stevens grows on the General. Bit by bit, he will get to trust her completely …. And who knows what else will follow?
Well, you know the drill! Read and Review, I miss your comments and long reviews about the story :)
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