"What do you think it is?" Zack asked.
"I don't know," Sephiroth said.
"If Reno says it's weird then it's got to be really weird right?" Zack half jogged to keep up with Sephiroth's quick strides.
"I imagine so."
"But it's got to be something about Cloud or all this CS Delivery stuff right? Otherwise he'd have told you on the PHS." He couldn't decide if he hoped it was or wasn't Cloud.
"In all probability."
He couldn't read Sephiroth's expression as they walked into the briefing room. Only Tseng and Reno were there.
Tseng said, "Vice President Shinra and Mr. Tuesti didn't feel as though their presence was necessary for this briefing." He gestured for both Soldier's to take a seat.
The large viewing screen in the office flickered to life as they sat.
"It's creepy," Reno muttered, handling the console's controls.
"Creepy?" Zack asked, exchanging a look with Sephiroth.
"Just watch."
A video appeared on the screen overlooking a village or small town. A handful of small buildings ringed a central tower of some sort, perhaps a well pump or communication array. In the distance beyond the village, the ocean stretched gray through a permeatingly gray sort of overcast atmosphere. A few ships were docked in the bay beyond the beach.
"What are we looking at?" Sephiroth asked, voice clipped, probably wondering why he was in this briefing.
Tseng said, "The small settlement under construction where Kalm used to be."
Nothing seemed to be happening. He rubbed the back of his neck where the tiny hairs there stood on end and asked, "What are we waiting for?"
"Just watch," Reno said somewhat sourly.
Zack scowled. It took a lot to get Reno riled up like that.
"Be patient, Zack," Tseng said.
A few moments later, a smaller barge pulled right up onto the beach. A ramp extended from the deck and people with cases and bags started climbing off.
"A transport?" Zack asked, ignoring the continued prickling on the back of his neck.
His question was met with silence.
Then something sort of…colorful started moving around on the deck. Colorful and large. It seemed to take up most of the deck. One last person climbed down the ramp, closely followed by a huge blob of moving green, then a yellow blob, and a black blob, and they just kept coming.
"Are those chocobos?" Sephiroth asked.
"Yes, General," Tseng said.
Zack's mouth moved but no words came out. He'd never seen that many chocobos all together. He'd never even seen anything but a yellow chocobo.
As the flock neared the village and surveillance camera, it became clear that the last person off the barge was who all the chocobos were following. "There's green and black and blue chocobos in that flock," Zack blurted.
"There's a gold chocobo," Sephiroth said.
Then Zack really took a look at the man leading the flock and gasped. He pointed at the screen, recognizing that shock of blond hair anywhere. "Cloud's leading that flock. He hasn't even got any harnesses on them."
"Zack, has Strife ever indicated an interest in…chocobos?" Sephiroth asked.
"I don't think I've ever heard him even talk about chocobos except when someone is calling him a chocobo." Zack huffed a laugh. "Unless he told me about getting motion sickness on one and I don't remember." He had to admit he was feeling a bit uneasy though.
"It's damn creepy," Reno said darkly, while Cloud paused to pet a chocobo. "They're following him like his clothes are made of gysahl greens or something. Or he's got a Chocobo Lure running the whole time. Or he's using Manipulate on all of them. Or his crazy hair has them thinking he's one of them." He eyed the Soldiers seriously. "It's really damn creepy."
Then Cloud and the chocobos all marched off screen. Zack stared at the empty monitor and said, "That's weird. Where's he going with all those chocobos?" The uneasy sensation strengthened a little, he fidgeted and glanced over his shoulder. No one was peering through the briefing room windows to watch the odd display of Cloud's.
"When was this video taken?" Sephiroth asked.
"Yesterday afternoon," Tseng said. "Their communications array shorted last week and they had to wait until someone was free to bring the recording."
Sephiroth's brows drew together in a scowl. "If Strife has something to do with CS Delivery, what does CS Delivery want with chocobos?"
The Turks only looked at each other. Tseng said, "I've sent Rude and Cissnei to the chocobo ranch in the east. I can't imagine Strife traveling with a large flock of chocobos very far. If he'd brought them to Midgar I'm sure we'd have heard of it by now."
"I thought Reno and Rude were partners," Zack said, eying the two Turks. Sephiroth gave Zack a sidelong look.
Tseng said, "Reno is allergic to chocobos."
"Creepy bastards," Reno muttered. "Won't leave my hair alone."
Zack had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing and even Sephiroth cracked a smile.
"Ha ha," Reno said, scowling, "laugh it up."
Zack's skin prickled, forcing him to look over his shoulder again. Still no one there. Weird. And somewhat familiar.
"You're fidgeting, Zack," Sephiroth observed.
Zack gave a half-hearted laugh and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to get rid of the unwelcome prickling there. "I guess I'm more weirded out by the chocobos than I thought. I kinda feel like I'm being watched."
Reno's eyebrows shot up and Tseng straightened.
"Do you," Sephiroth hesitated, narrowing his eyes, "feel a prickling sensation in your skin?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Zack's PHS vibrated. He whipped it out to see a message from Kunsel. He frowned. Kunsel always seemed to know when he was in meetings and never sent him any messages then. Thinking something might be wrong, he flipped it open and read, Have you heard anything about any departments testing something like lightning or static, Zack? All the Soldiers are complaining about goosebumps and being watched. I can't get my skin to stop twitching.
After reading the message over his shoulder, Sephiroth immediately asked the Turks, "Do you feel anything? A prickling in your skin or the feeling that you're being watched?"
"No," Tseng said while Reno shook his head. "What's wrong?"
"It seems all the Soldiers are reacting to something. Second Class Kunsel just sent a message to Zack asking if he knew anything about any experiments."
Tseng immediately whipped out his PHS while Reno's fingers flew over the keyboard as he appeared to be searching for something. After several moments, Zack heard Vice President Shinra's voice on the other end.
"Sir, it seems the Soldiers are all experiencing some sort of reaction. A sense of something akin to static electricity and feeling like someone is watching them."
"None of the departments are running anything." Reno scoffed. "Just got a message from Tuesti. He says nothin' off the record could be causin' it either."
Leaving the two Turks to their work, Zack leaned closer to whisper to Sephiroth, "It feels kinda familiar. They don't do something weird to us during mako enhancements, right?"
"Like what?" Sephiroth whispered back harshly. "Run low level voltage through our bodies? Of course not."
"But it's so familiar." Zack massaged his forehead. "I almost remember. It's on the tip of my tongue." He paused. "On the tip of my brain anyway."
He heard Tseng say, "First Class Fair seems to think the sensation familiar. So far as I know, no one else is getting that sense."
Familiarity flaring, Zack surged to his feet, knocking his chair over. "He's here! He's somewhere close to headquarters! Maybe even somewhere in the building!"
"Who, Zack?" Sephiroth demanded, also climbing to his feet.
"CS Delivery!" Eyes widened all around. "This was how I knew he was on the landing pad in Junon. I could feel him."
Rufus Shinra came through the briefing room door after that. Both he and Tseng snapped their PHSs shut and Reno worked furiously at the computer.
"Nothin' on the ground floors," Reno said distractedly. "Workin' my way up. Tuesti says there's no sign of the asshole in the labs or executive offices. He's not seein' any weird signals." He leaned closer to the screen and muttered, "I'll check the external feeds. Tuesti's faster with the stuff inside." He shook his head. "Nothin' in the trainin' yards, nothin' in the barracks, nothin' on the Soldier floor."
He leaned closer to the screen again, eyes narrowing. "Got somethin' on the north wall at the edge of the headquarters complex. It's pretty dark outside with this damn storm goin' on. I can't make out a thing."
The other residents of the room eyed the surveillance feeds, trying to make any sense out of the dark, shifting images. The screen suddenly flickered, flaring green, then the tones finally smoothed out to show a clearer, if incorrectly colored view of the compound.
"Cool," Zack said, grin creeping over his face. "Night vision."
"Tuesti overlaid some kind of filter on the transmission," Reno said.
As the greens sharpened into better detail, they could all clearly see a man, six ridiculously large swords strapped to his back, sitting on the wall, legs dangling off the edge. The bright glow in his hand seemed to be a PHS that he was paying attention to. There wasn't much detail to him, he had that black, sleeveless hoodie on and the dark pants, but his bare arms glowed nearly as bright as the PHS. He seemed to be alone.
"He's increased his number of swords." The amused cant in Sephiroth's voice made Zack uneasy.
"No kidding," Zack said. No one should have that many swords on them at once.
"Sephiroth," Shinra said.
"Vice President." The general eyed the shorter young man.
"I trust you know what's appropriate to say to him."
"Yes."
"You know that if the opportunity presents itself, you should subdue him for questioning?"
"Yes."
"And you know better than to let him realize Tuesti has your PHS tapped so we may all hear the conversation?"
"Of course, Vice President."
"Work hard, General Sephiroth," Shinra said.
It sounded like a challenge. Zack didn't really like how the vice president was speaking to his general, but didn't dare voice a protest. It probably wouldn't go over too well with his commanding officer.
Cloud knew it was only a matter of time after Kunsel sent Zack that message before someone put two and two together. He just hadn't expected it to take quite so long.
He sensed the shift in Jenova cells and felt Sephiroth coming. He took a deep breath and put his PHS away. His nerves thrummed with anxious excitement as he tried to mentally prepare, yet again, to face off against Sephiroth. He wasn't sure what to make of the man now. He hadn't gone insane, did his job well, and seemed liked enough by the general populace that didn't hail from Wutai or hate Shinra Company in general.
That didn't mean Sephiroth couldn't be a sarcastic, sadistic, ticking time bomb of planetary destruction if he wanted to be though.
Cloud didn't have much to go on in the way of information pre-psychosis for the man. He'd only met the general once in passing shortly before the Nibelheim tragedy. He only had snippets of Zack's memories containing Sephiroth and they weren't hardly enough to form an opinion on.
He reigned in his senses, no longer needing to make his presence known or look for any sign of significant levels of Jenova cells that Hojo might have sequestered somewhere. He didn't need to try sensing Sephiroth. The man wasn't attempting to hide his presence, but he did seem to be waiting. For what, Cloud had no idea, but the general clearly had his own notions about meeting in a timely manner.
Cloud fought back a flinch when he saw a blur of pale silver leap out of the darkness close enough to straight at him that the tiny hairs on his arms stood on end. His first instinct was to draw a sword and attack before the man had a chance to stab him half a dozen times. But he didn't. And Sephiroth landed some fifteen feet away.
They stared at each other.
With minimal effort, Cloud focused the tiniest of thunder spells and swept the invisible prickling of static charge through the general's clothes until he found the man's PHS. He didn't want to deal with Reeve or any possibility of voice recordings getting back to Zack so he promptly shorted Sephiroth's electronics. The general didn't even appear to notice.
"CS Delivery," Sephiroth said flatly.
"General Sephiroth," Cloud said in reply. He narrowed his eyes behind his goggles. Something felt off about the general's presence and he couldn't put his finger on it.
Sephiroth said, "Your last letter indicated you wished to speak with me."
Straight and to the point. Not the taunting and superior exposition he was expecting. "We'll get to that," he said. "What does Rufus Shinra have to say?"
He watched those glowing, cat-slit, green eyes narrow at him. Sephiroth certainly didn't like not having his questions answered promptly.
Sephiroth asked, "Do you have anything to do with the Genesis deserters?"
Cloud quirked a brow. "What does Rufus Shinra have to say?"
Sephiroth's eyes flared brighter. "What does Cloud Strife have to do with the lab facilities and reactor in Nibelheim and the experiments on myself?"
The corners of his mouth quirked up. "What does Rufus Shinra have to say?"
The general openly scowled. "Why didn't you steal the Gelnika?"
This was going nowhere fast. Cloud needed Sephiroth to answer the first question. Sephiroth was all about power and being forced to answer the first question would prove that he wasn't a complete megalomaniac and show the general that not everyone would be intimidated.
A more unconventional line of questioning seemed to be in order. "Why did you lurk in the dark like a creeper for so long before finally coming over here to talk to me?" Perhaps Aerith's way of speaking was rubbing off on him.
Surprise flashed over the general's face before quickly being covered. The glare he adopted didn't look quite as sincere as it had before. "How do you know Zack Fair's nickname?"
"Do you really have to use an entire bottle of shampoo and conditioner every time you wash your hair?"
Sephiroth didn't appear as startled that time but he still showed a remarkably displeased demeanor. After an awkwardly prolonged silence, Sephiroth said, "Vice President Shinra concurs with your logic. He's willing to redistribute his support."
"I'm sure he is," Cloud said dryly.
"He needs a reliable way to contact you," Sephiroth said with equal dryness.
"I'll consider granting it another day."
Perhaps the oddness about Sephiroth that Cloud felt was in his closed caution. That wasn't to mean that the psychotic Sephiroth of the future was open in any traditional sense, but that future Sephiroth's mind was expansive. Now that the sensation was gone, Cloud could say it was like Sephiroth had always been there, tugging at the fraying edges of Cloud's mind, whispering his poison, inviting Cloud to reciprocate. That Sephiroth was more than willing to invite a select few into his mind, like Cloud, if only to put them in a position to warp his guest's perceptions and consume the other's mind from the inside out. Once connected with that Sephiroth's mind, it was near impossible to escape. Even though Cloud had done it before, it hadn't stopped him from getting sucked back in again.
Cloud suppressed a shudder as Sephiroth began speaking again.
"Vice President Shinra would like to know if you require any information or financial resources."
Cloud scoffed. "Why would I need any of that from Shinra? I'm doing just fine on my own funds and intel."
"It was an offer of cooperative courtesy," Sephiroth said archly, fingers of his left hand twitching as though they would dearly love to grasp Masamune.
Cloud hadn't meant to goad the possibly unstable man yet. But Sephiroth didn't appear unstable at all, only aggravated and suspicious. "I'll let Rufus Shinra know if I need something. And you have to admit, my intel is better than his in the areas worth knowing about at the moment."
"At the moment?" the general repeated.
Cloud regarded the man carefully before saying, "The deeper I go, the more things will change. I'll need new intelligence sources then."
"Why Rufus Shinra and not his father?" Sephiroth asked, shifting the topic.
"My letters explained that." Cloud paused, deciding to try and get a better handle on the general's reactions. "Thank the puppy for the spar the other day. He's got great potential."
"As a First Class Soldier," Sephiroth said with aloof chill, "he shouldn't need to rely on potential." The man was clearly insulted, but just exactly why was a mystery.
It gave Cloud an eerie sense of awkwardness to see Sephiroth irate over anything that didn't involve his own plans for planetary destruction.
"Compared to you, though, it's just potential. He's a relatively new First Class. He hasn't gone through as many mako enhancements."
"He's enhanced enough to stand against Genesis and Angeal," Sephiroth countered.
Cloud's eyes widened beneath his goggles. He hadn't expected Sephiroth to throw Zack's triumphs over his own friends in as a validation for anything.
"Genesis and Angeal were degrading. You know full well they were fighting far from top capacity."
Sephiroth scowled at that. "Don't insult their talent. Lessened strength doesn't impair strategizing." It seemed the general couldn't make up his mind what topic to be angry about.
"I wasn't trying to insult them. You'd know if I was." Cloud eyed the calculating general carefully, deciding to refocus their topic. "What exactly does Rufus Shinra think I'm going to do for him?"
"Bring down his father," Sephiroth answered immediately.
Cloud sighed. "Let's get one thing straight. I'm not doing anything for Rufus Shinra. He's a natural born liar. I'm doing what's best for the people and the Planet."
"Who gave you the right to decide what's best?" Sephiroth demanded.
Sephiroth didn't seem as irate but his eyes were sharp and probing. Perhaps searching for a particular answer or trying to gauge Cloud's frame of mind.
Cloud tried not to glower when he said, "Shinra Company does the same thing and you endorse them. What gives them the right to decide what's best?"
"And the anti-Shinra terrorist shows his true intentions," Sephiroth said condescendingly, a sneer creeping over his mouth.
Smirking, Cloud asked, "Did I ever claim to be anti-Shinra?" He was more anti-Planetary-destruction than anything else. He huffed a laugh. "I noticed you conveniently ignored my questioning of Shinra's privilege to rule the populace."
Sephiroth's hand twitched toward his sword again. "Are you intent on questioning my philosophies or are you going to stop wasting time?"
"If I had the patience, I would interrogate you and your philosophies."
Another flicker of surprise passed over the general's face. It was certainly odd seeing anything other than fury when his plans were interfered with, condescension when telling someone how little they were worth, amusement when causing pain or anguish, and disbelief immediately before being killed. The surprise and caution were expressions he'd never imaged to see on the general.
"But certain other matters are more pressing." Cloud glanced at the Shinra tower, Sephiroth's hand moved toward the Masamune again but aborted. That's when Cloud realized the general was waiting for an opening. Of course Rufus would have ordered him to take advantage of the situation if he could.
Slight smile fixing itself in Cloud's expression, he figured if he could give the man a not too terribly obvious opening, it would give Cloud a chance to gauge the possible psychopath's abilities. "I'll make this clear. Rufus Shinra will jump if I tell him to. If he thinks of this as some sort of mutual alliance, he's mistaken. Unless he can prove he's willing to stop lying, I'm unwilling to consider him a partner."
Cloud angled his head further away so he could barely see Sephiroth with his peripheral vision. He rubbed the back of his head with a voiceless chuckle. "You could say this is a probationary period. With so many changes I don't know how the lot of you will rea—"
Cloud flung himself off the wall when the Masamune sang through the air. The blade caught a flash of light as Sephiroth whipped it around, readying for another strike as he followed Cloud's leap off the wall.
Cloud pulled one of his longer, lighter weapons to counter Masamune's speed and range. Yes, Heaven's Cloud would fare quite well in this match up.
Broadsword free of its harness, Cloud spun midair to clash with Sephiroth as the general caught up to him. Sparks and mako flares flashed around them from the friction of their equipped materia and the swords themselves. He wondered if Sephiroth ever considered a thicker weapon so that the blade's singing movement wouldn't be so easy to follow. Probably not. Sephiroth was too fast for most to follow even if they could track the blade's singing.
Cloud's feet hit the ground. He spun, trying to temper the force behind his blade. He didn't want to actually throw Sephiroth through the Shinra building like he'd done the last time they fought, or rather, like the last time they'd fought in the future that possibly didn't exist anymore.
Sephiroth seemed to be holding back also. Hardly surprising considering he'd done his fair share of throwing Cloud through buildings. And at least the general wasn't cutting the building to pieces and throwing giant chunks at him, all the while talking through the filter of his god complex. This quiet focus was an interesting change. And quite promising in convincing Cloud of his present sanity.
The restraint was somewhat comforting as well. He could feel the materia Sephiroth had equipped but the general didn't use anything. Perhaps that was in response to Cloud's lack of materia use.
A particularly strong swing from an awkward angle sent Cloud reeling backward. The general tried to knock him all the way down with a surprise kick. Cloud twisted away, touching one hand to the ground to regain his balance before leaping back to regroup and throwing himself forward again.
After another flurry of spark spraying exchanges, Cloud decided to up the stakes. He switched to one-handed fighting with Heaven's Cloud and drew the smaller Butterfly Edge with his off hand. Of course, less power went into his attacks, but he made up for it with speed. In return, Sephiroth had to move his single blade with less power to make sure he blocked every swing.
Cloud drove Sephiroth back with a rapid flurry of swings, the mako flares illuminating the whole area as the close proximity of their magic grated again. He doubted he could ever send Sephiroth sprawling, but his last attack sent the general flying some twenty feet back and he had to release the Masamune with one hand to balance for a graceful landing.
He hung back to see where Sephiroth would attack from next but the general remained where he was. He didn't retake his sword with both hands, but lowered the point to the side.
"Even after Zack's reports, I didn't expect this strength," Sephiroth said, hints of grudging admiration in his tone. "But you're holding back."
"So are you," he said in reply.
As they stared off, he realized Sephiroth probably didn't know where to take the conversation and didn't have the desire to continue their halfhearted fight. Cloud straightened, putting the Butterfly Edge away. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.
Then Cloud took a chance, reaching tentatively with his mind, to the place in his own thoughts where that psychotic Sephiroth always lurked, waiting for him to make one misstep. Nothing stirred. He could even feel this Sephiroth there. Quiet. Closed. Perhaps even unaware that he could open his mind and step into another's thoughts. Given that Cloud was the only clone in existence, perhaps Sephiroth would have no reason to have tried reaching out. Cloud knew he could make the other Soldiers feel his presence through their Jenova cells, anyone with a high concentration of S Cells could do that. But sensing the way this Sephiroth remained closed to casual awareness, it made him wonder if he could open his mind further and sense someone in the same way Sephiroth always seemed capable of doing with him. If such were the case, when it came to telling Zack what really happened, shared memories might be easier than mere words.
It was something to consider another time.
He pulled a letter from one cargo pocket and flung it toward Sephiroth, who caught it with his free hand.
"There are a lot of things you don't know about," Cloud told the general. "Don't trust Hojo. Don't trust President Shinra. Don't trust Hollander or Heidegger or Scarlet. Don't believe anything they've written, reported, or say, even if it appears as though they don't think you'll see whatever you get your hands on."
Sephiroth scoffed quietly. "That's what your letter said."
"I'll say it as many times as I think it will take to convince myself you'll actually do it." He put Heaven's Cloud away. "I'll show you reality, Sephiroth. I'll shatter every illusion the evils of this world construct."
"You're starting to sound like me," Sephiroth said with dry suspicion.
And that wasn't entirely unintentional. "Your mother's name is Lucrecia," Cloud said. "Jenova is the name of the experimental material contributing to Project G and Project S and was operating primarily in Nibelheim when I destroyed it."
As Sephiroth's eyes widened, Cloud spun and sprinted off and away from the Shinra building.
He didn't sense the general following and found himself surprisingly uneasy about the fact. Not only had that been the lamest fight he'd ever had with Sephiroth, or any clones masquerading as him, the general hadn't even tried to follow him. He tried to convince himself that was a good thing.
He went down through the maintenance tunnels into the plate. After crawling out of an air duct, he found Vincent lounging on a catwalk.
"You didn't expect him to be so agreeable," Vincent said flatly.
Cloud shook his head and pulled off the sword harness with all his blades to lay it on the ground. "I feel better seeing him behave in a non-psychotic way but he still makes me uneasy."
Vincent nodded.
Cloud pulled off the black hoodie and picked up the loose, gray one folded up on the catwalk next to the gunman.
He paused and eyed Vincent again. "I guess that's expected considering it's the first time I've been anywhere near him in over a decade when he didn't try to stab me or get me to help him try to destroy the Planet."
Vincent just arched one brow at him.
Ignoring the expression, Cloud pulled the bandana off and retied it to force his unruly blond spikes into his face again.
Mostly changed, he pulled his PHS and dialed Zack. He didn't get the best signal from inside the plate but he'd work with what he could get.
It rang three times before his best friend picked up. "Spiky!" Hearing the smile in Zack's voice brought his own smile on.
"Hey Zack."
"Does this mean you're in Midgar?" Zack asked excitedly.
"Yeah. Are you busy tonight?"
"My calendar is oh so clear, Spike."
Before Zack could get another word in, Cloud interjected, "You not going to cancel a mission are you, Zack? Did you even check your calendar?"
"No, Spike," Zack blurted. "I mean yes. I checked my calendar and I don't have any missions. I was just trying to make it abundantly clear that I can make time for you without compromising Shinra Company's ability to operate. Me and Kunsel can meet you near the entrance of Wall Market in a couple hours."
"A couple hours?"
"Just wrapping up some work. You don't need it to be later right. If you're not there in two hours, I'm hunting you down and Kunsel and I will drag you out for some much needed fun."
Cloud chuckled. "I'll be there, Zack."
"I've got a present for you, too."
His smile widened. "A present?"
"Sure thing. You'll love it."
"It's not like those weird wash cloths you have with pictures of First Class Soldiers sewn on them is it?"
Vincent sent him a strange look.
"What?" Zack spluttered. "Of course not. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh," he said. "Did you get rid of them? Or give them away. Did that red-headed Turk finally talk you into selling them?"
Zack burst out laughing and he could hear some muffled laughter in several different tones in the background. Just as he'd suspected, Zack was talking with the whole investigation team present.
"Just no," Zack said. "It's nothing like wash cloths. It's something so much cooler."
"Oh. Well what is it then?"
"A surprise, Spiky, a surprise."
"It's not alive, is it?"
"No. Now stop asking. I'll see you in a couple hours and if I don't get off and finish up this work I'll never get there."
It was kind of nice being the one to tease Zack instead of the other way around like it always used to be. "Okay. See you later, Zack."
"Later, Cloud."
When he hung up, Vincent asked, "Do you really think you should be meeting with Dio alone? I don't trust the looks of the man who set up the meeting. And given the location with your recent interactions with Shinra Company employees…."
"I don't trust the man either," Cloud said, putting the PHS in his pocket. "But Wall Market information is Wall Market information. I'll only stay five minutes if he doesn't show. I'll be watching for security." He shook his head. "And we've been over the rest before. It'll be fine even if I have to blow my cover. A bit harder, but fine. Just take my stuff back to Elmyra's house. I worry at how well that woman is taking to Aerith suddenly bringing us all home with her. I'm the most normal looking of the lot of us and she didn't really like me last time around."
AN: Any and all comments, disclaimers, and notes are on my profile page. If I get asked a question enough times, its answer is there too.