Author's Note: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to the respective owners.
Notice: HEY! I'm not dead, nor is this fic! I know it seemed that way for a while, and I'm really sorry about that. My computer literally fried on me, and while I waited for Ribbit to tell me if it could be fixed, they eventually told me it would cost less to just get a new computer. And it's only a few days ago that I amassed enough money to do that. And so now, I have brought out the latest chapter to you all, along with the latest replies! Enjoy!
Ch.18 Modeoheim
After the attack on the Shinra Building was over, Zack and I had no new major assignments for a while. That left us to simply do smaller missions, train at Headquarters, and go see Aerith (to which I always shadowed). Despite the fact that I enjoyed the peace, I could see that Zack was starting to get annoyed. I shook my head. Angeal was right- restless with zero attention span. Currently we were in the break area, with me sitting on the couch and polishing Potentia while Zack was standing around with his phone, exasperated. "Come on, pick up!" he nearly yelled. Another SOLDIER operative, Luxiere, asked "Who are you trying to call?" "Sephiroth. I haven't been able to reach him in ages," he replied. I raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing.
"Haven't you heard? Sephiroth has shut himself in the data room and hasn't come out. Handsets are prohibited in the data room, so there's not much you can do," Luxiere told him. "Date room?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah. He's apparently researching the history of the Science Department," he explained. Zack groaned at that, and also frowned. That would explain the reason, but hearing that Sephiroth was in the data room- and that meant he was unlikely to leave- presented a problem. Neither he nor I had gotten a chance to do anything extra lately, what with the chasing after Hollander and meeting Aerith, which was immediately followed by Genesis second attack. With the free time he had now, Zack wanted to use this chance to look up something about me.
More specifically, the "Project J" that Hollander had mentioned.
Before Zack could wonder any further about that though, his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID and smiling, he flipped it open and held it to his ear. "Hey, Aerith. What's up?" he asked. At that I freeze in my polishing and turned my left ear to Zack, channeling energy into it. My hearing was instantly amplified to the point where I could hear the wind outside rom being on such a high floor, Luxiere's breathing as relaxed, and Aerith's vice over the phone. "Um, I wanted to ask… When will you make it for me?" she asked. Zack frowned. "Make what… Oh!" he said, remembering. "The flower garden, did you forget?" she asked. "No, of course I didn't forget. Hold on, I'll be right there!" he said, before hanging up and running for the elevator.
Once he was gone Luxiere chuckled. "Man, once word that Zack's got a girlfriend, it's gonna spread like wildfire through his fanclub. Right, Jace?" he asked, turning his head to me. Only for his eyes to bug in shock when he saw that there spot where I had been… was empty. "Huh? Where'd he go?" Luxiere said, looking around.
I caught up with Zack just as he made it out of the building, having been too late to take the elevator, and thus I had to speed down the stairs. Others might have called my watching over Aerith when she was with Zack overbearing, but in my mind I was justified. After everything she had gone through because of Shinra, I was going to make absolutely sure that nothing bad happened to my little sister again. Zack sprinted for the slums and I kept up, but once we weren't far from the church we saw something blocking our path. Somebody who was none other than Angeal. "Angeal?! Where have you been?" Zack demanded, surprised. I narrowed my eyes at him. Even though he had helped with Genesis, I was still wary of what Angeal had in mind.
Said ex-SOLDIER chuckled. "Apologies. But, I am a busy man," he told us. "Yeah, whatever. I haven't been able to contact Sephiroth either," Zack said. "Has something happened?" Angeal asked, concerned. I shrugged. "Haven't the slightest clue. He's holed himself up in the data room, looking for something having to do with the Science Department. "I see…" Angeal replied, before turning and walking off. "Hold on! Where are you going now?!" I called. "Genesis and Hollander are in Modeoheim," he stated. At that I blinked, and Zack said "You came to tell us that? Are you actually… working?" Angeal chuckled. "I'm a SOLDIER at heart, I suppose. I've informed Lazard as well. They'll come to pick you up soon," he said. And with that, he took flight and left.
I gazed at Angeal, conflicting emotions running through me. After everything that had happened to me in the past, once someone betrayed my trust it was damn near impossible to get it back. But with everything good Angeal had done since he defected, I wanted to trust him again. I just wasn't sure if it would… or even could. "Hey, Jace!" Zack yelled, and I made of sound of confusion as I was ripped out of my thoughts. Zack was a good dozen paces ahead of me, looking back and waving me forward. "Come on, let's go!" he said. I shook my head and caught up, and we both headed for the church though. However, our path was once again blocked before we could go outside- this time by Tseng. "Zack, I need you in Modeoheim," he stated. Zack sighed. "I know. Just give me a minute," he requested.
"Aerith isn't here," he pointed out. At that I nodded while Zack raised an eyebrow, which caused him to do the same. "Problem?" he asked. "And exactly how is it that you know Aerith?" Zack questioned. "It's complicated," Tseng replied, looking away. "Really…" he muttered. I sighed. I had feared that, but then again it should have been expected. Even now, they were keeping Aerith under surveillance. Tseng looked back at him. "Has she told you anything?" he asked. "No, not a thing," Zack replied. At that moment I picked up the sounds of a helicopter, and we all looked up to see one descending. Once it touched down Tseng said "Then I won't either," and got on. I followed, and Zack said "Hmm… Well, whatever, I guess." And he boarded the chopper as well.
As we flew towards Modeoheim I decided to get some sleep, and closed my eyes. Tseng, Zack, and the infantryman with us were till awake though, and Zack was thinking. Once he saw that I was asleep, he said "Hey, Tseng?" "Yes?" the Turk replied. "You don't have anything that I could use to get on Shinra's database, do you?" Zack questioned. Tseng raised an eyebrow, but turned in his seat and spoke to the co-pilot. A few seconds later he was handed a PDA, which he handed to Zack. "Thanks," he said, before getting on. Heading for the file section, he entered the words "Project J" into the search bar. Instantly a page appeared, titled "Project J AKA Project Jace AKA Magic-Casting Project". However, everything after that was blacked out.
When Zack tried tap one of the blacked out parts with the stencil, a box appeared that said "ACCESS RESTRCTED. Enter employee name, position and password." Zack frowned and enter in "Zack Fair. SOLDIER operative, 1st Class. Password: Hero." He entered it in and grinned. Now he would finally get some answers. Only for his hopes to be dashed when another boxed appeared. "ACCESS DENIED. File content exceeds entered level of confidentiality," it read. Zack gawked. He was a 1st Class operative, the same rank as Angeal, Genesis and even Sephiroth! What was above that, than files only for the Shinra President? For a while Zack just sat there, trying to think of another way to reveal the blacked-out data in the file. As they kept flying the air and climate grew progressively colder, showing that they were getting near Modeoheim.
That was when it hit him: If the file involved Jace, shouldn't Jace's own password be enough to grant access. But then… what was the password? That was when that story of Jace on a chocobo called Solar came to him, and he grinned. "Jace Salutare. Turk operative. Password: Chocobo," Zack entered. There was a bing and the words "ACCESS GRANTED" before the page reloaded, this time with none of the black-outs.
Project Jace AKA Project J AKA Magic-Casting Project
Project Overseers: Professor Hojo, Head of Science Department, Professor Hollander, Secondary Head of Science Department, and Scarlet, Head of Weapons Development
Subject: Nibelheim resident and civilian Jace Salutare
Project Goals: 1. Diagnose cause of subject's ability to utilize magic without the use of materia. 2. Isolate cause of ability and enable replication of cause and ability amongst other Shinra operatives.
Summary, as written by Professor Hojo:
Project J was initiated when reports of a child in Nibelhiem, capable of using magic despite a lack of materia, were entered as footnotes in the official status reports of Shinra infantrymen stationed in the surrounding area. A two-man squad of Turks was dispatched to ascertain the legitimacy of these claims. When reports came back in confirmation, an additional platoon of soldiers was immediately ordered by the President to place the town of Nibelhiem and the surrounding area under quarantine so as to find and determine the cause of this occurrence. Jace Salutare, henceforth known as Subject J, was placed in the joint custody of the Departments of Science and Weapons Development for testing and diagnostics. These tests revolved around evaluations of cellular composition, blood, DNA and brain testing, along with reactions to various forms of stimuli including-
BANG!
Just then there was a loud noise from the front of the helicopter which jolted the chopper, waking me up and causing the PDA to fall from Zack's hands and clatter to the floor. "What that hell's going-" I began, before the was another loud bang and the door actually slid while the chopper keeled to the side, the PDA sliding across the floor and out of the chopper before Zack could catch it, sailing into beyond below. "What's happening?!" Tseng demanded. "The engine's gone completely shot! There must be some sort of loose wire!" the pilot said, trying to keep the chopper on-course. "Can we still continue?" the Turk asked. "We think so. The chopper's not fighting back too much, so the damage must not be too severe-" the co-pilot began.
BANG!
"Or maybe not," the co-pilot finished, seeing a cloud of smoke beginning to rise. To make matters worse, the chopper began descending rapidly, despite the pilot's attempts to keep it aloft. "The chopper's going down! Everyone, hold onto something!" he yelled. "Aw, shit!" I said in a rare moment of swearing. I gripped the side rail of the door while the infantryman hold the back of his seat, while Tseng did the same and Zack stabbed his sword into the floor. The rocky peaks of the mountains passed by them, and the ground grew rapidly closer with every step. "Here it comes!" both pilots announced.
CRASH! BOOM!
When I woke up, I was lying face-down in the snow with Potentia to one side of me and one of pistols on the other. My second pistol was missing. I groaned and pushed myself up, shaking my head to get rid of the snow in my face and hair. I saw my other pistol lying on the ground a few feet in front of me, and I picked it up along with my other weapons. Once everything was in place I turned and saw that everyone was alive, even if Zack was unconscious. The chopper was now bent in the middle at a 45 degree angle, and both smoke and fire were now issuing freely from the front. Within seconds that fire spread to the rest of the helicopter, before it exploded once more and sent parts in every direction. I grunted. If it wasn't gone before, our ride was definitely gone now.
The blast was enough to wake Zack up though, and he lifted his head up. "Ugh… Well, that's a fine how-do-you-do!" he said, before standing and turning around. "Tseng! Jace! Hey, guys!" he called. "We're all good!" I called back. Tseng held his phone up, before sighing. "No signal out here," he announced, flipping it shut. "Well, at least we're all in one piece. We'll be alright," Zack said confidently. I nodded in agreement. Tseng smiled. "Thankfully, we have two people used to this kind of terrain," he said. My smile faded at that, and Zack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we're the country boys," he conceded. "Alright, then. We should have reached Modeoheim by now if we hadn't crashed. So we're going to need to make up for lost time," he explained.
Zack grinned. "All right! Follow me, then!" he yelled, before turning and running ahead. I shook my head in wonder. Just survived a plane crash, and he was still running around as if it was nothing. "Amazing. Simply amazing…" I said quietly. The infantryman heard me though, and chuckled before following Zack. I frowned and looked up, gazing at him. That chuckle had sounded oddly… familiar…. I followed as well, but then our path was blocked by a pair of Replicon and half a dozen Bizarre Bugs. Instantly we all drew our guns with the exception of Zack, who held up his sword. The monsters all charged and the pilots of infantryman were targeted by the Bizarre Bugs, who they opened fire on. The monsters stopped and closed their wings over their backs, causing the bullets to completely bounce off.
Their eyes widened before Tseng cast Fire from a materia and set one a fire. It screeched and flew around, trying to get rid of the flames but only making it worse. The rest of the Bugs uncovered themselves and swarmed Tseng, but then the soldiers opened fire again and began cutting them down. The two Replicons charged at me and Zack, cawing and pecking. We both rolled out of the way and I fired both of my pistols, while Zack used Assault Twister and spun in circle, dealing a pair of strikes. The Replicon he targeted cawed in pain before tackling him, knocking Zack down. I distracted my target with a Blizzara attack before casting Cura on Zack, and he jumped to his feet. "Take this!" he called, before jumping into the air and delivering an Axe kick to the monster's head.
It stumbled back in a daze, and Zack took that chance to charge forward and stab it through the heart. Before it could do anything else Zack charged a Thundara spell through his blade, causing the Replicon to screech in pain before falling limp and landing on the ground. I killed my target with a pair of shits to the head, and the each of the pilots killed a Bizarre Bug along with Tseng, while the infantryman killed the last two. I looked around and saw that there were no more monsters, and so I put my pistols away. "Okay, let's go," I said, and the others nodded.
Again, I am so sorry for the delay, and know that I will never let it get this bad again! On another note, the mission in Modeoheim has begun! Who will Zack and Jace meet in this icy land? Who is the infantryman? Will the secrets of Project J be revealed?
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)