Riku jumped down the ramp of the ship and breathed in a hearty lungful of the new world's air. It was one of Sora's favorite rituals, one that he'd passed on to his friend once they were reunited. Smell was really a great way to get to know a place, he said—the richness of jungle greenery, the salt tang of the seashore, the sunbaked dust of the savannah. The kind of place Midgar was became apparent in less than a second as Riku found himself doubled over coughing from the corrosive industrial smog the hung perpetually over the city. Tifa walked over at him, looking rather concerned, and he finally choked out "You breathe this stuff?"
"Sorry, you three. You get used to it after a while. Kind of," she remarked, rather unconvincingly. Sora and Kairi, also used to the clear sea air of Destiny Islands, were having similar difficulties.
"I'm washing my lungs out when we get home," Kairi said, sniffling a little and wiping her burning eyes. Sora just made a face and sneezed five times in quick succession.
"Now you know why I don't live here anymore," said Aerith sadly. "Shinra Company poisoned everything."
"Who?" said Riku.
"Them," she said, pointing ahead of her. Two members of Shinra's Investigation Division of the General Affairs Department, (official alias "Turks", unofficial alias "the people you go to when there are throats to be slit or small children to be abducted") were waiting for them at the far end of the platform.
"The President asked me to report back to him when I'd gotten help," said Cloud. "Let's get this over with," and walked toward the two men near the doors. The others followed after him.
"Welcome back, Tifa," Reno said to her, or, more accurately, to her breasts. Cloud gave the redhead a venomous glare and his eyes snapped up guiltily. "The President is waiting for you. This way please." His partner Rude opened the heavy glass door and ushered them in.
"Sora?" Kairi said as they walked down the sumptuous marble hallway, "Is it just me, or does that guy remind you of Axel? Like, a lot?
"Excuse me," Sora said, jogging to catch up to Reno, "but do you happen to have a brother?"
"Huh? Who are you and why do you care?" Reno asked.
"Just wondering. Might have met him once. The hair's kind of a giveaway."
"I…had a younger brother. He died a while back. Why? He owe you money or something?"
"Oh, no, nothing like that," Sora said quickly. "If it was him…he did something incredibly selfless for me, and if he is family I thought you should know."
Reno let out a short bark of derisive laughter. "Then I know it's not him. Leapold never did nothing selfless for nobody."
"Leapold…Lea…Axel?"
Reno just looked confused and shrugged in Rude's direction, who, as was usual, had no comment.
They could hear several male voices raised in heated debate through the double doors at the end of the hall, and as they got closer the shouting resolved itself into intelligible words. "With all due respect, Sir, there's no way we can make use of the Jenova specimen if we're all dead," said one. "Outside this complex it's a war zone. The cost in human life may be reaching—"
"It's too valuable, Reeve. I will not destroy it," said another.
"This facility is protected by the best troops Shinra's got, and that Kadaj doesn't even know where we're keeping it. Stop worrying."
Reno stopped and motioned for them to wait while he conferred with the secretary sitting outside the doors. A few moments later he opened them and led the group inside. President Rufus Shinra, a young, ash blonde man in an immaculately tailored charcoal suit, was sitting at the head of the table, flanked by two dangerously efficient looking individuals in identical black outfits with a holstered gun and a silver police baton each hanging from their belts. The man was in early middle age and in complexion bore more than a passing resemblance to Yuffie, while the woman was much younger and had pale skin and bobbed blonde hair. Several people in very expensive suits were sitting in the leather chairs that lined the table, while the focus of their debate was contained in a small plastic box in front of Rufus, the yellow biohazard trefoil emblazoned on all sides.
Riku felt his eyes drawn and held by it almost against his will. For a split second the room went black, and when it snapped back into place a throbbing pain above his eyes came with it. He felt himself sway a little on his feet, but recovered his balance before anyone else had noticed something was wrong.
"Excuse me, sir, but they're here," said Reno. All the people at the table turned to look at the assembled heroes. Rufus let his eyes linger the longest, and when he finished he looked profoundly underwhelmed.
"This is 'help'?" he said incredulously to Cloud. "Three children, an escaped lab rat, and an alcoholic ex-astronaut? If the entire strength of Shinra's military hasn't been able to deal with these creatures, you all will be about as effective in turning the tide as a short piss in the Midgar Sea." A fat man to his right began to guffaw, but shut his mouth immediately when Rufus looked in his direction.
"Hey!" said Sora indignantly.
Rufus pointedly ignored him and addressed Cloud. "However much I may personally dislike you, Cloud, I know you are an excellent soldier and until now trusted your judgment on matters relating to the Sephiroth clones. Unfortunately for me and the other residents of Midgar, it seems you have gone completely raving mad, and unless you have developed a brilliant plan within the last thirty seconds to stop the influx of these monsters, I want every single one of you out of my boardroom. Now."
"But we do!" insisted Sora in exasperation and held out his hand to summon Oblivion. "This is a Keyblade. I can use it to seal—"
Rufus stood and slammed his hands down on the mahogany table. "Just how delusional are you! Every minute of my time that you waste with parlor tricks and pixie dust, more of my men are dying. I need more troops and intelligence on these things, not little boys with magic swords."
"I know he's young, but he's an expert on the Heartless," said Cloud. "If you'll just listen to him—"
"I'M NOT TAKING ORDERS FROM A CHILD! GET OUT!"
Reno and Rude moved to escort them to the door, the kind of escort that results in broken kneecaps if refused. "We're helping you whether you want it or not!" Sora shouted over his shoulder.
"Idiots," added Riku.
-----
A general council was called in Tifa's home when they landed in the slums beneath the shimmering glass-and-steel surface of the city. Destiny Islands wasn't a wealthy place, but it was at least friendly, full of green and sunshine. The underbelly of Midgar was drab gray and brown, the rare color coming in the form of garish neon signs and graffiti scrawled on the side of crumbling buildings. The streets were mostly deserted, the people holed up in the most defensible places they could find, trying to repel the Heartless that prowled the streets. Tifa stopped at a squat concrete two-flat and fished out her keys. The first floor was a bar, the plastic sign reading 'Seventh Heaven' (below it were neatly painted the words 'the second'). There were several people waiting for them at the tables inside, and hasty introductions were made.
Yuffie, of course, they already knew, and she greeted them warmly. A brawny chocolate-skinned man introduced himself as Barret. His faced was scarred and the hand that gripped his glass mug wasn't flesh and bone but a metal prosthetic that clicked and whirred faintly as he moved. Riku made a mental note never to make him angry. At the same table was a dark-haired and dark-eyed woman he introduced as his wife Tasha, who minded the bar when Tifa was away. Playing cards on the floor in the corner were the two children they looked after, both orphans, a girl of about seven and a boy slightly older. A tall, dour man in a red cloak leaning against the wall gave his name as Vincent and didn't speak again for the remainder of the meeting. The last of Cloud's companions was a red leonine animal under the table, which the trio only learned was a participating member of the discussion when Sora reached down to pet him, and, instead of being greeted by a wet tongue to the face, heard: "behind my left ear, please, and my name is Red XIII, not 'Boy'."
"You can talk," said Sora. "Hmmm."
He yawned, exposing two rows of sharp teeth. "That was disappointing. Usually people jump through the roof when they hear me speak for the first time."
Kairi laughed. "Back where we're from there's a duck that runs an ice cream shop. It takes a lot surprise us."
Their exchange was cut short by Tifa grabbing a heavy mug and pounding it on the bar. "All right, listen up. Without Shinra's cooperation our job just got a lot harder, but it's not all bad, since now I don't have to sit in the same room as that rat bastard Rufus and pretend I don't want to punch him in the mouth." That was met with a few cheers, and Tifa let them die down before continuing. "Since Sora's done this a few times, I'll let him take over," she said, and gestured for him to stand.
He rose and cleared his throat. "The first thing we gotta do is seal this world's Keyhole, which will stop more Heartless from coming through."
"What's a keyhole?" asked Barret.
"Hold on, I'm getting there. It's what this thing fits in to," he said, and called the Keyblade into his hand. "I point it in the right direction and it…does its thing."
"But how would we be able to find something like that? Searching the whole damn planet would take a lifetime."
"Don't worry," said Sora. "They usually make sure they're found without that much trouble. The area will have a lot of magic or history behind it, or better yet both, and once I'm there this'll guide me to the right spot."
"The Temple of the Ancients," said Aerith. "There isn't anywhere with deeper history than that."
"Agreed," put in Yuffie.
"We split up for this," Cloud said, rising to his feet. "Half of us stay to defend the people down here from the Heartless, and the Keybearers and one or two others go for the Keyhole."
"I'll take 'em in the plane," Cid volunteered. "Kairi, you coming? I've got room for one more,"
"You bet I am," she said.