Life as a SOLDIER

Disclaimer: Time for some… murder.

A/N: Exactly! But…wow, you all reacted a bit more emotionally then I thought you would. But I couldn't agree more… RUFUS IS AN EVIL S.O.B! But sadly, he won't get his ass kicked…not yet, at least. -evil grin-

Oh, oh, before we begin, Muses, bring our guest in!

Muses: -bring in Cloud-
Me: This Saturday is Cloud's birthday, and he's a bit busy, but we actually got to spend a few minutes with him! You know, so all you readers can wish him a happy birthday! Right, Cloud?
Cloud: …
Me: …uh, anyway… ALL TOGETHER, MUSES!
Me and the Muses: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLOUD!
Cloud: …wow, thanks…
Me: You too, readers!
Readers: Happy 24th birthday, Cloud!
Cloud: …
Mario: He has to go now.
Me: Aaw… Well, once again, happy b-day, Cloud. Hope to see you again!
Cloud: …you too, I guess…
Muses: -leave with Cloud-
Me: -sighes sadly- Damn shame to have to see him go… Oh, well, next year. Or next time he can come see us:3

Let's carry on!

Chapter Thirty-Two: Assassination in the Company
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By the time Zack and Cloud got back to Shinra, it was dinner time. They had just walked into the cafeteria when Zack's two friends hurried towards him. "Hey, Zack!" called one SOLDIER. "We got a message from the vice president!"

"You do?" asked Zack in surprise.

"Actually, it's for Cloud. Rufus wants to see you in his office," said the other SOLDIER. "Said it was important."

"Rufus wants to see me?" asked Cloud. "Why?"

"Dunno," shrugged one SOLDIER. "But Rufus said it shouldn't take long. So I'd go see him now to see what he wants."

"…okay, I guess so," said Cloud quietly. I hope it's nothing too bad, thought Cloud with a smile to himself as he walked away from the cafeteria. I'm feeling pretty happy right now… This shouldn't take long… He stopped and looked around. "Uhm… Where's the vice presidents office?"

"Here, I'll take you there," said Rufus behind him.

Cloud jumped and whirled around. "…oh, okay then…" he said. He followed Rufus to his office, lowering his head a little. It's very easy for me to open up around Zack, he thought to himself. But I'm still so shy around people…

They arrived at Rufus's office, which was down the hall and to the left of the cafeteria. Rufus walked to his desk, but didn't sit down. "Please, take a seat, Strife."

Cloud nodded, taking a seat without saying anything. He stared down at the ground, waiting for Rufus to talk first.

"I'm pretty sure your friend delivered the message saying this won't take long, right?" he asked.

"Yes, he did…"

"Well, he was right," said Rufus, pulling out a pair of hair cutters scissors, snipping them twice.

Cloud blinked in surprise and looked up. "S-Sir?" he asked tentatively.

"Oh, this is just procedure, nothing to worry about," said Rufus, walking towards Cloud and taking hold of a lock of spikey hair.

"You're gonna cut my hair!" asked Cloud in shock.

"No, no, just a little bit," said Rufus, cutting the lock he held. "We do it to all SOLDIERs, you know, to make sure they're all right and not taking drugs, and so on."

"But I'm not taking drugs," said Cloud in confusion, feeling the spot where Rufus had cut. He hadn't cut it all out, so he had no bald spot (thankfully).

"Sure, that's what they all say," said Rufus, taking the lock of Cloud's hair and putting it down on the desk.

"But--"

"No buts. You're dismissed," said Rufus bluntly, putting the scissors in the drawer.

Cloud opened his mouth to protest, then changed his mind with a resigned sigh, and left the room.

After he closed the door, Rufus pulled out the feathers he found yesterday. It's a good thing he's gullible, thought Rufus. Soon, you'll be going through more then just a haircut or two… Imagine having to explain yourself for something you never did…

With Cloud…

Cloud walked back to the cafeteria slowly, feeling slightly confused. Why did he take a lock of my hair? Zack never mentioned that… He entered the cafeteria and sat down next to Zack, lost in his own thoughts.

Zack was about to take a bit out of his beef sauté sandwich when he noticed Cloud's expression. "Cloud?" he asked, lowering the sandwich. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" asked Cloud, looking up. "No, nothings wrong."

"Are you sure? You got this slightly confused look on your face… Did Rufus say something to you?"

"Well, no, he just took some scissors and cut a small lock of my hair."

"He did?" asked Zack. "That's odd… Why would he do that?"

"He said he did that to all SOLDIERs," said Cloud. "I thought you'd know about it."

"No, there's no such thing," said Zack, feeling suspicious now. "Why, did he tell you that?"

"Yes, he did," said Cloud. "But… if that's not the case, then why would he take a lock of my hair?"

Zack stared at the sandwich thoughtfully. This really is odd… Rufus arranged a quick meeting between him and Cloud just to take a lock of his hair? What does that mean? Maybe it's something the Turks need, decided Zack, though he didn't feel entirely convinced with himself as he took a bit of his beef sauté sandwich.

Meanwhile, with the Tsengs' group…

Tseng had ordered the rest of the Turks to regular research. A quick sweep through all the SOLDIERs programming… he thought to himself as he went through every individual program. I wonder what would make Rufus suspect that a SOLDIER has an illegal program…

"Hey, the printer's out of paper," announced Reno.

"Then go refill it," said Elena, glancing up from her laptop to give Reno a scowl. "It's not always up to me to refill the printer."

"I wasn't asking you to refill the printer!" retorted Reno. "I was just informing everyone not to print anything right now, as it'll take me a while to go get the paper from the storage room from the third floor."

"Oh, oops…" said Vincent quietly. He had just finished a 42-page report and hit the 'print' button.

The printer made a "whrr whrrr whrr" sound, and then made a "boop boop boop" sound. Then it printed out a picture of a blonde haired lady in a red bikini.

Reno stared at it for a few seconds. "Okay, who tried to print something?" asked Reno, heading for the door. He sighed to himself. "Jeez, those stupid HP printers…" he left the room.

"The printer's out of paper, that sucks," said Rude. He shifted guiltily in his seat, seeing as he was the one who printed the picture of the blonde in the bikini.

Tseng looked up. "The printer's out of paper?" he sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, all that paper gone, and you have nothing to show for it…"

"We do many things!" protested Rude, thinking about his own personal locker which had pictures of swimsuit models and so on taped inside.

"Yes, and we've plenty to show for it!" protested Vincent, thinking about his own personal locker which had pictures of Lucrecia taped inside.

"And we work hard 24/7! Don't you dare imply we're lazy!" protested Elena, thinking about her own personal locker which had pictures of Tseng taped inside.

"I wasn't going to," said Tseng in a bored voice, going back to searching through the SOLDIERs programs.

"What are you doing, anyway?" asked Elena curiously. "You told us to continue research, yet you're not doing yours. What are you looking up?"

"I was ordered by Rufus to run a sweep on all the SOLDIERs programming. He thinks there's a SOLDIER out there that created an illegal program to grow wings and fly."

"Why can't we join?" asked Rude whiningly.

"First off, this is the leaders job. And second of all, I'm the fastest reader and writer/typist here. So therefore, it'll be I who searches. Now get back to work."

"Yes, sir," chorused all the Turks with a resigned sigh, going back to work.

Reno entered the room with an armload of printer paper. "Hah! Got some!" he said. He stuffed the paper into the printer paper receiver thing. It started up right away. "Stupid HP printers…" he said to himself, picking up the picture of the blonde in the bikini. "By the way, whose is this?" he asked curiously, holding it up.

Elena, Vincent, and Rude all gaped at the picture. Tseng looked up too, and froze when he saw the picture. "Who…who printed that?" he asked slowly.

All the Turks looked away and pointed at each other.

Tseng shook his head. "Honestly, the dirty minds of people these days…"

"It's not dirty!" said Rude defensively, snatching the picture from Reno. "You see the way she's standing, with her arms above her head as she enjoys the summer rays? That's beauty, not dirty!"

"It's very degrading!" exclaimed Elena. "How can you stand to even look at those!"

"It's easy!" said Reno and Rude, both staring googly-eyed at the picture. Vincent stared for a couple seconds, then muttered "Lucrecia" under his breath and walked to the printer to get his 42-page report.

Tseng had gotten through all of the 5th through 2nd class SOLDIERs, and now he was starting on the 1st class SOLDIERs. Thank god there's only 64 1st class SOLDIERs… he thought as he scanned through the first program there, which was Cloud Strife. All the programs were arranged alphabetically.

"Hah!" exclaimed Elena happily as she reread her report. "72 pages!"

"What!" demanded Vincent, who had just sat back down with his 42-page report. "How on earth could you have done 72 pages!"

"Easy, I'm a hard worker," smiled Elena, hitting the 'print' button.

Tseng stopped for a second as he read Cloud's program. What's this…?

"I'm only on page 3," admitted Reno sadly. "I can't think of anything to write… I mean, what is there to write?"

"About 72 page worth," said Rude sadly. He had only 10 pages done.

"…and the font she uses is tiny!" exclaimed Vincent, taking a peek at Elena's computer screen. "How can anyone read that! That font is…" he checked the font. "Font 7 ½!"

"Waste not," said Elena, waiting at the printer for it to be done printing.

Vincent stared ruefully at his own report. A font size that's only 7 ½, AND she's using Informal Roman as the font text… Gee, I only used a font size 10 using the font text Verdana…

Tseng narrowed his eyes as he finished reading Cloud's program. …so it was Cloud… he thought. Cloud wrote a program to enable himself to fly…? But this is a very complicated program, and it's password protected, so no-one but the one who wrote the program can change it… I'd better tell Rufus and shachoo right away…

"Ah, there it is," said Elena with satisfaction, taking out her 72-page report from the printer.

Tseng reached for his phone and dialed shachoo. "Shachoo, I've run a sweep on all of the SOLDIERs programs."

"You did? On whose orders?"

"On…On Rufus's orders, sir. I thought it was your idea."

Shachoo sighed on the other end. "Aw, that's Rufus for you. Why did he have you run a sweep on all of the SOLDIERs programs?"

"He said that he suspected that a SOLDIER here had created himself an illegal program that enabled him to grow wings and fly. And I think he may be right."

"Well, tell me what you found out. Who has the illegal program?"

"Cloud Strife does, shachoo. It's right here in plain sight when you load his program. It's even password protected, so I can't get in."

"…I see…" said shachoo slowly. "Well, we should get our lead programmer on that. He'll fix it, get rid of it. Now that you've found the illegal program, your sweep is over. Get back to research on Jenova's signs of life, all right? You have your orders."

"Yes, shachoo."

"And don't worry about this, I'll tell Rufus about this myself."

"Okay," said Tseng, hanging up. "Well, that takes care of that," he said to himself, standing up. He noticed that all the Turks were watching him now. "What?"

"You seemed to be in a very important phone call," said Elena. "And naturally, we're curious."

"Sorry, but this is need-to-know information."

"And let me guess," said Reno. "We don't need to know."

"Exactly," said Tseng, closing the laptop with a snap. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Get back to work, all of you."

All the Turks sighed simultaneously and said, "Yes Tseng," together.

Back with Cloud…

Cloud didn't each much dinner, and he left the cafeteria alone, heading for the Chocobo Garden. I'm really confused now… he thought sadly to himself, sitting down on the grassy green hills of the garden. I felt so happy after seeing the promised land with Zack, but now… I have this feeling of foreboding… Like something bad is going to happen… He yawned and stretched. "Yawn… I'm a little sleepy…"

"Caw!" said Kumo. She sat down next to Cloud, giving his right arm a nuzzle.

Cloud smiled at Kumo and scratched her head. "Maybe I should learn the Chocobo language too," he said. "Maybe then I'll understand what your saying…"

Kumo purred, and curled up next to him. "Caw, caw," she said sleepily, and fell asleep.

"…I'm gonna guess that meant 'good night'," said Cloud. Maybe I'll sleep here in the garden, thought Cloud. No one ever said it wasn't allowed… Cloud lied down next to Kumo and fell into an easy sleep.

With Zack…

Zack left the cafeteria, and looked at the doors sadly. There are times when it's best to be left alone… but I wonder if something's bugging him… he made his way upstairs to his room. "Maybe he's just worried about something," decided Zack, getting comfortable in his bed. Yeah, that's it… Zack didn't feel thoroughly convinced with himself, but he fell asleep anyway, thinking he'd ask Cloud in the morning.

With shachoo in his office…

Shachoo was about ready to call it a day. He had just sent an e-mail to Zack regarding Cloud's illegal program, and signed out for the day when the door knocked. "Yes, what is it?" he asked.

The door opened and Rufus walked in. "Ah, just about getting down for the day, huh?" asked Rufus. "It was a busy day today, huh?"

"Eh, slightly," agreed shachoo, lifting and raising one shoulder. "Being the shachoo isn't as easy as you think it'll be, Rufus, let me tell you… Don't be thinking that you're ready to take my place. It's hard, hard work."

"It must be," said Rufus, pacing the room a little. "Imagine how untrusting you must feel about everyone… Anyone at any given time can suddenly…turn on you."

"That's true, but I'm not too unduly worried about that," said shachoo, stacking a few files and stuffing them into a drawer. "After all, who'd want to take my place? I run this company fine, and so far I've had no complaints."

"Not too unduly worried," repeated Rufus. "Huh… If you say so…"

Shachoo narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why do you bring this up?"

"Oh, I have a few reasons," said Rufus with a small laugh. "You see, you should've been more worried about me…"

"What are you talking about?" asked shachoo. "Why should I be worried about you? Can't you take care of yourself?"

"Of course I can. The question is, can you take care of me? Of this company? The way you're running it now, it won't even last thirty years… I have to change it. To make things better. To let Shinra Company last forever."

"How, Rufus? You're not shachoo yet," reminded shachoo.

"Oh, I'm not?" he asked. He walked around behind shachoo. "I think I'll be the judge of that…" With the speed of a skilled murderer, Rufus pulled out a dagger he got from the weapons room and slit shachoo's throat down to his collar bone.

Shachoo gasped and spluttered in surprise, but no help was coming his way soon. "How--how could you…" he rasped. "I'm--I'm your father…!"

Rufus pretended to shrug regretfully. "Too bad you weren't the father I wanted. Go on and die slowly if you want. I'm in no hurry." he walked to the door and locked it.

Shachoo slumped over his desk, trying to reach for the phone, but it was no use; the loss of blood was weakening him. "I--I never imagined… my own son…"

"Right, of course not," said Rufus. "Just like you…ah, other son? The best SOLDIER? Of course you never imagined."

"You….you…" but what shachoo was going to say never came out. He gave on the last wheezing breath and collapsed onto the desk completely.

Rufus looked upon his dead father with an evil smile on his face. "There's not point in acting all surprised," he informed the dead shachoo, examining the dagger he stole from the weapons room. "You had some small inking that this would happen, didn't you? You should've taken action to prevent this… You never took my advice, it's your own fault your dead today.

"Now, time to hide the evidence" …Rufus tossed the dagger onto the floor, and pulled out the white feathers and Cloud's hair lock, making a trail that looked like it lead to the window. He looked out the window and noticed that Cloud was sleeping in the Chocobo Garden. "Well, that just makes things run more smoothly for me… You couldn't have picked a better spot to sleep tonight…"

With an evil smile, Rufus kept the door locked from the inside, leaving the office like nothing happened. And the terrible thing is, no-one noticed Rufus leave the room. And the first one to discover the door locked the next morning would be…
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WOW! I never thought I could actually DO murder… but I did it!
Rose: You can thank me for that, as I'm the Muse of Horror/Mystery/Suspense.
What does that have to do with anything?
Rose: I provided the inspiration for this. Pretty good, huh?
Well, you're right. Pretty…well, murderous. Well, who'll be the one to discover what happened first? Find out in the next installment of "Life as a SOLDIER". See you!