A/N: This posting is coming rather quickly after the first two, which isn't going to be the norm. I'm posting this chapter sooner than I orignially planned because I'm going out of town later this week and can't get to a computer (getting back to nature and all that). Let me know if you like it so far!

Chapter 3

It was mid afternoon when Cloud stopped Fenrir and killed the engine. He removed his driving glasses and watched the afternoon sun radiate off of the once polished brass edifice of Junon. The city had once claimed to be the only remaining marvel of the modern world after Meteor had wrecked Midgar beyond all repair, even though Junon itself was wrecked by a Weapon attack. However as prosperous as the denizens of the city had tried to make it out, Junon was still a cesspool for crime, greed, and corruption.

The Mayor of Junon had half-heartedly rebuilt the city, but the funds for this came out of the policing force, so the city was soon rampant with street gangs and organized crime. Once the WRO had successfully established itself, it had a difficult time trying to weed out the criminals, the mayor included. In order to do this, the WRO had to set up a major base of operations that happened to be in the old Shinra Headquarters; obviously this did not sit well with the locals.

Even though the WRO had made the city halfway decent for the regular citizens to live in, their presence in the city became a focus point for those who believed that the WRO was just a nice front for the return of Shinra. For the past six months, the streets of Junon were a constant fiasco consisting of picketers, protestors, and the occasional group of rioters. Junon had become a place where any visitor had to watch their back when walking its streets.

Cloud fired up the engine and took off for the under city. After driving past the old homes and deserted fish markets that had once been the original Junon, he stopped at the newly created parking lot for the visitors of the upper city. As Cloud got off the bike, he opened the two weapon compartments and removed the main blade of his First Tsurugi, and the large straight blade that when combined with the other became the outer edge. He placed both of these into his sword harness and then closed the compartments. The package that he was delivering was strapped to the back of the bike, so he undid these and carried it to the main elevator.

The WRO official lazily stood up from his chair inside the small window booth and looked Cloud fully over before he turned on his microphone to speak. Cloud noticed that the man's eyes seemed to pause for a moment when he saw the two swords on his back.

"State your name and business," the man said with an obvious level of boredom.

"Cloud Strife, I'm delivering a package to Mr. Farnsworth." The man let out a long tiring yawn and then waved Cloud on without checking to see if his statement was legitimate. Cloud lightly frowned at the man's disregard for security since it was supposed to be his job to keep potential security threats out of the upper city where they could create havoc. The security grating blocking the elevator opened, so Cloud dropped the thought and entered the elevator.

The elevator was much as it was four years ago; a giant lifting platform of corrugated steel and hydraulic lines. As the platform began its rise, Cloud shifted his weight to the opposite foot and wondered what would be going on in the streets today. The elevator stopped with a shudder at the top, and Cloud exited. The metallic hallway was slightly cleaner than it was the last time Cloud had been here, but that wasn't saying much. Through the windows he could see several large WRO air-freighters that were unloading supply bundles. Down the hallway, where the offices of the airport staff were held, Cloud could hear multiple phones ringing and people talking frantically into them. Without giving them much more notice, Cloud stepped out of the station area and into the streets of Junon.

This street seemed to be mostly deserted, but the loud clamber of protesting could be heard coming from the other side of the city where the WRO Headquarters was. Cloud briefly looked at the address on his shipping label and began to make his way down the streets.

As he walked, several of the shop owners peered out through their doorways; not looking for potential customers, but making sure that no hoodlums were going to try and seize the opportunity presented to them because all of the police forces were at the WRO Headquarters trying to keep the crowd under control.

Cloud found the building that Mr. Farnsworth lived in and began to climb the three flights of stairs to the man's apartment. When he knocked on the door, he had to wait several minutes before he heard a weak sounding voice ask who it was.

"Strife Delivery Service, I have a package for a Mr. Farnsworth," Cloud said loudly towards the door. There was another brief pause of silence, but then he heard the sounds of multiple door chains and deadbolts being shifted out of the way. When the door opened, Cloud looked down at a small and frail old man with glasses that must have been as thick as three inches. His eyes seemed to be magnified by the ridiculous lenses and the frail man pushed them up his nose as he smiled at the box that Cloud was carrying.

Cloud handed him the package, though he was afraid the box was too heavy for the old man to carry. Mr. Farnsworth took the package as if it were expunging all of his strength to keep from dropping it and placed it on his floor. He then looked back up at Cloud, who handed him a form to sign confirming that the delivery was made. The old man scribbled what might have been his name on the form and then smiled widely as he handed it back to him. Cloud folded the paper and placed it in his pocket and was about to turn and leave when the old man pushed his glasses further up his face and eyed the two swords on his back. Cloud saw him look at them and tried to bring a smile to his face.

"For protection," Cloud said. The old man nodded in understanding and then turned his head towards the loud sound coming from the center of town.

"Damned hooligans, always wanting to fight someone without even knowing why." Cloud nodded to the man and then began to make his way down the stairs.

When Cloud was back on the street, he stopped for a moment and decided to see what the crowd looked like. Instead of walking down the main streets to get to the center of Junon, Cloud took a few short cuts through the alleyways. The alleys were just like any typical alley; dark, small, and smelling of trash since it was littered everywhere even though there were trash cans right next to them. Cloud stopped at the entrance to the main square and could see the mass mob of people all protesting and shouting at the WRO building, which was surrounded by WRO troopers wearing full riot gear. The crowd was held back by police barricades and the full, yet limited, contingent of the Junon Police. From the massive din created by the mob, Cloud could make out a few organized chants.

"Hey, Ho, WRO; Pack up and hit the Road!"

"Heave, Heave, Mr. Reeve; We can't wait until you Leave!"

Cloud looked into the crowds and could see people clad in blue overalls with a large emblazoned red R on their breast leading these chants. He watched for a few moments before he shook his head and turned back around to leave.

About ten feet into the alley, two men stepped out from behind the cover of a dumpster and blocked his path. They were both wearing the same blue overalls with the red R that Cloud had seen in the crowd. As these two men smiled wickedly and slowly began to advance, Cloud heard a third person enter the alley behind him. Cloud narrowed his brow and watched the two advancing towards him.

"Well well," the one on the left said as he brought out a baton stick and began to smack it into his palm rhythmically. "Look what we have here; one of the WRO lapdogs."

"Yeah, savior of the world my ass," the one on the right said. He too was now brandishing a baton.

"I think those stories are all full of shit," the one behind Cloud said in a provoking tone. Cloud closed his eyes and brought a smirk across his face. This made the two that were facing him pause momentarily as they tried to figure out what the trapped man was doing. Cloud opened his eyes again and addressed all three of them at once.

"Do your mothers know you talk like that?" Cloud said with a mocking laugh. The two men looked at each other in shock that they were just insulted and then lunged forward towards Cloud.

With a speed that the three men thought wasn't humanly possible, Cloud quickly grabbed both swords from his harness, and blocked the three incoming attacks from their batons. The three attackers stared at Cloud with their voices trapped in their throats. Cloud smirked briefly before he pushed the three of them off with a level of strength that the three had never seen. Cloud then quickly turned to the attacker behind him and kicked hard with his right foot, hitting the man in his chest and sending him flying into the street unconscious. Cloud then quickly turned back to the other two who were now staring at Cloud with looks of fear. Cloud simply took the main blade of his sword, now turned to where the blunt end faced them, and hit them with a ferocious smack that hurled the two back against a brick wall and knocked them out. Cloud stood back up, now relaxed, and placed the two swords back into their harness.

After giving a brief look at the man that Cloud had sent reeling into the street, he was about to continue on his way out, but he heard a brief sound emanating from above him.

"Humph, Returners."

Cloud looked up and was not surprised to see the form of a man crouched on a fire escape, draped in a tattered red flowing cloak.

"Vincent," Cloud said as he nodded to the man. Vincent Valentine returned the nod, though his was such a slight movement that a person who did not know him would not have thought he moved at all. Vincent's gaze shifted from Cloud and settled on the mass crowd of angry people gathered in the streets. His crimson eyes narrowed as he contemplated what he was seeing.

"This is getting out of hand. If this continues, only innocent people will get hurt." Cloud turned around and looked at the crowd and then nodded in agreement with Vincent. For a moment they stood in silence watching the group, but Cloud's cell phone began to emit an annoying clumsy fast-paced song that made Vincent think of Chocobos for some reason. Cloud looked at the name on the front of the phone before he sighed and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Cloud, this is Reeve. I need to talk to you about something important." Cloud let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. No matter what Reeve called about, he always said that it was important.

"Can it wait? I'm busy at the moment."

"I know what you're thinking Cloud, but this is important, trust me." Cloud narrowed his brow when he heard the truly serious tone of Reeve's voice. Reeve very rarely used this tone on the phone, unless he was trying to seriously get something done. Cloud stiffened his back as he responded.

"How important?" Reeve gave a light laugh, though Cloud could tell it was forced.

"Good, I'm glad I got your attention. I'd love to discuss this over the phone with you, but it's of a sensitive nature. I'd like for you to come to the Main Headquarters. When you get here I can tell you everything in full." This made Cloud raise his eyebrow in confusion. Reeve was an expert at electronics and knew that cell phone calls could be listened in on if someone had the proper tools. Whatever Reeve wanted to tell him, he was afraid that someone might be listening in. Whatever it was, it must have been as important as Reeve was making it out to be.

"Okay, I'll meet you there. I'm in Junon right now so I'll be in first thing in the morning."

"Good. See you then Cloud." Cloud flipped his phone closed and scratched his head as he thought about what it might be. The red flapping cloak made him look up briefly at Vincent, who was still staring at the crowd.

"That was Reeve. He said he had something important to talk to me about." Vincent smirked and looked down at Cloud.

"Reeve must be in quite a jam if he's calling in favors from his friends." Cloud nodded and then asked if Vincent wanted to join him in. Vincent lightly shook his head and motioned out towards the crowd.

"No, I'll stay here and make sure that no one gets hurt by these imbeciles." Cloud nodded and began to walk away. Without turning around, he waved to Vincent and spoke.

"If it's important, I'll let you know." Vincent nodded, even though Cloud couldn't see him but Cloud didn't have to see Vincent to know that that he did.

When Cloud got back to the parking lot in the lower city, he sat momentarily on Fenrir and wondered if he should call Tifa to let her know that he might be late for lunch. He decided against it because he didn't want her to get worked up over nothing, and with a quick turn of the ignition, Fenrir roared to life. Cloud quickly did a 180 by twisting the accelerator to full and left Junon in a trail of dust.

Vincent Valentine continued to sit motionless on the fire escape watching the crowd from the shadows. The only movement that came from him was his billowing tattered red cloak that would occasionally move when a small gust of wind came by. From his vantage point, he could survey the large seething mob that was now shouting more loudly than before at the WRO building.

Vincent looked for that telling sign, the one that would alert him that a rioter was about to push the envelope and create a cascade of chaos that would flow out from the mob. If and when that happened, Vincent knew that he wouldn't have much time to move before someone would get injured, or worse, killed. As his crimson eyes scanned the crowd, he soon discovered a sight that was both peculiar and seemingly out of place.

Walking through the crowd without paying much notice to the people that went either silent around him or stood to attention when he passed, was a large behemoth of a man. He stood nearly a good two feet above the others and Vincent estimated his height to be seven feet. His body frame was enormous, with broad muscular shoulders that were nearly as wide as a normal person was tall. His hair was bright white and was kept close to his head in a military-style cut. Vincent strained his enhanced eyes to see what it was that this mystery man was carrying, but he could only make out a large satchel under his left arm.

The man continued to walk through the crowd, but as if he could tell that someone was watching him, he paused briefly and looked directly at Vincent. Vincent briefly thought that the man could see him, but this was nearly impossible; the distance between the two was nearly two hundred yards. Whatever the man was looking at, he brushed it aside and continued to walk in the same direction that he was before.

Vincent raised his eyebrow in an inquisitive look, and watched the man disappear into an alleyway. In one swift motion, Vincent jumped from the fire escape to the roof of the building and silently ran to the alleyway that he had seen the man disappear into, jumping from rooftop to rooftop the entire time. When he reached the alley in question, he silently fell down and landed in a crouch, his right hand resting on the grip of Cerberus. But all signs of the large mysterious man were gone. Vincent slowly moved his eyes over the entire area, and after deciding that he had lost track of the man, he jumped back up to the roof and continued to survey the crowd.