The trip to Nibelheim was a great deal longer than the trip to Junon; it was late night by the time they landed, and while some of their number might have wanted to sleep before investigating an old mansion, time was currently not on their side. Every minute they wasted was a minute Ingram got closer to Prometheus.
Even Cid was yawning as he left the ship, scowling in the general direction of the mansion. Not much good had ever come from that place. Well, Vincent. And even then it was a toss-up.
Saying the ex-Turk had been quiet on the trip up was more like saying water was wet than anything, but even by his own, unsettling high standards Vincent had been taciturn. And removed.
No one but Cid could have made a guess at which part of the ship he had banished himself to once his post to right had been abandoned. But the old pilot said nothing, and no one asked.
Rufus was stern-faced as he left the ship with Reno and Rude in tow, Reno now carrying his usual passenger even as he pushed the president's chair. "It's been years since I've visited the mansion," Rufus admitted, his business-like tone having faded for the time being. "The last visit was not pleasant. Overrun with monsters, and all of Hojo's things lying around. I imagine it's much the same."
Rude paused at the doorway, the strange expression on his face more effective than any snap of words.
Vincent was standing at the doorway. He turned to look at the sound of their approaching feet, the faint frown that tugged his lips almost puzzled.
"'Ow in th'planet's name didja do that, lad?" Cait Sith asked, letting his head drop to one side in confusion.
"That was quick," Lyla murmured, eyeing Vincent as she brought up the rear along with Cid.
The gunman waited another beat before he pushed the door open. It came away without trouble, creaking slightly on slow hinges.
"Hello." He said to nothing in particular, crossing the threshold with a deliberate step.
Lyla followed him inside, carefully stepping around the president and his men to keep up, with Cid not far behind, though he moved at a more casual meander, arms crossed over his broad chest.
"Huge," Lyla exhaled under her breath, eyes darting from one side of the main room to the other. "... where's the library?"
"The basement," Rufus supplied as Reno assisted him inside. "There's another upstairs. But it's Hojo's things you want. That would be the basement."
Vincent's human hand brushed over the thick coat of dust that marred the polished railing, leaving bright chestnut trails in the muted grays. He headed up the stairs at a sedate, but steady gate. Eyes focused on the floor at the top, unwilling to look where he did not have to.
"Oi! Vin! 'E said the basement, laddie!"
Cid shook his head, holding a hand up to silence Cait Sith. "He knows what he's doin', y'know. Let 'im take his time. He'll steer us right."
The robot frowned, peering down at the pilot from the top of Reno's head. But he nodded, pressing a gloved hand over his muzzle.
Reno swayed slightly, a hand shooting up to steady the robot as it did so often. "Hey, watch it," he warned, "You're setting me off-balance."
"I'm afraid I'll be unable to accompany for the time being," Rufus said ruefully, glancing down at his chair. He had not thought about the limitations he still managed to forget that he had.
"I'll stay with you, sir," Reno offered casually, discreetly poking Cait Sith's belly.
"Then I'm following him." Lyla made her way towards the stairs, careful to give Vincent plenty of space as he slowly wound his way upwards. Cid looked from the group to the pair on the stars and began to follow them at a slow, deliberate tromp.
"Aye! We'll stand guard out here!" Cait Sith called, throwing them a salute that was interrupted by a faint mew. He cocked his head, giving them a wave.
"We wont be long." Vincent said simply, pausing at the top of the stairs only long enough to take a breath. Pushing open the door to his right with the same mechanical sway.
"Reno," Rufus said coolly. "Stop fondling the robot cat."
The downward spiral that lead to the basement was daunting to say the least. Narrow, old, with no railing to speak of and only a smooth stone wall on the right-hand side. Nothing to hold onto should you lose your footing. "Fuck," Cid grumbled as they began their descent, "Poor architecture, that's what this is."
It might have gotten a return comment in another place. Vincent's claws tapped against the brick as he moved, pausing to peer down the pitch black of the tunnel, and then up again into the fading light. "Almost there." He said instead, tone flat and rough.
Lyla had fallen quiet, though no one had been especially talkative since leaving Junon. The group had been given a summary of what Dr. Caraway had told them by Rufus, and it had set everyone on edge. Now, on top of that, Vincent had become tense and chilly even for his own standards. She frowned slightly. She had done enough research to know that this was the last place he wanted to be.
The trodden earth at the bottom of the stairs was marred in places by a stray brick or pavestone. Vincent frowned down the long corridor, alert for the wandering zombie or marauding ghost. But none, it seemed, saw fit to disturb the eerie peace of the place.
He lay a hand against the gun beneath his cloak, wondering why the gesture was exactly the opposite of comforting, at all.
"The end of this hallway?" Lyla asked quietly, hand closed over her staff as she looked towards the end of the corridor. It vanished into darkness, and now and then she heard the faint keening of bats.
He nodded, heading down the path without another word, ducking just enough to miss a low hanging spiderweb.
The library was as he remembered it, down to uneven topple of a stack of far books, and the half fraying straps that adorned the specimen table in the center of the room. He scowled without meaning to, closing his eyes to banish the image of the leather as it pulled, straining to keep his thrashing at bay.
Lyla frowned as she took a moment to survey the front room, gaze lingering on a pair of holding tubs along the far wall, their soft green glow proof that they were still operational. She guessed just barely, thanks to years of neglect, but regardless, it looked like Hojo had been happy to take his work wherever he went.
She glanced at Vincent, studying what she could see of his face over his cowl.
"Creepy," Cid muttered, "Fuckin' creepy. Bastard left everything jes sittin' around."
"He felt no need to conceal his work." The statement came more thickly than he'd meant for it to, and the gunman turned, finding his interest drawn suddenly to the rear portions of the office. "This way."
She nodded slowly, taking a few steps down the book-lined corridor after him. Cid frowned at the books as they passed. He'd only visited the place in passing before. Never managed to develop a fondness for it, though he doubted anyone could. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, as though not even the monsters dared to come here.
And... then again.
Kaiun looked up from the book he'd splayed across his lap, one foot still on the desk. He flashed them a grin as the party filtered into view, holding up a beringed hand in wave.
Lyla blinked at the new arrival. "How?"
The dark skinned man held open his hands. "Remarkable coincidence."
"Because that's very believable," Lyla said doubtfully.
"Who the fuck is this kid?" Cid asked, scratching at the back of his neck.
"Difficult to say." Vincent watched Kaiun carefully, even as he threw his feet from the desk and climbed amicably to a standing position. "Be we seem to keep running in to each other."
"Damndest thing, isn't it." He agreed, holding out the book. "So. Looking for a bit of history, right?"
"You could say that," Lyla began cautiously, hesitating a moment before reaching out to take the book from him, opening the cover to examine the first page. She paused and looked up. "You're not even burned. Why am I... honestly not surprised?"
"Yeah, well. What can I say? Lady Luck thinks I'm something special." He ruffled the short pull of hair on the back of his neck, glancing over his shoulder. "If you're looking for a world history, it's pretty much summed up in the pile, that direction." Kaiun shifted, jerking a thumb over his left shoulder. "But most of the stuff in here is a bunch of lunatic chicken scratch."
"That's good," Lyla informed him, wandering towards the desk at the center of the room. "We need that lunatic's chicken scratch."
He shrugged, spreading his hands out to encompass the room. "Well, I hope you brought a sandwich, kids. You're gonna be here awhile."
Vincent frowned, surveying the walls of books. "We should move it, if we can."
Lyla looked to him, momentarily puzzled. "The bookshelf? ... Reno and Rude could carry most of it," she mused aloud, looking back to survey the shelf and its contents. "Not really certain where to start looking, there's so many. ... each take a corner of the room, I suppose?"
"We don't have the time to stay here for the days it would take, reading them all over." He paused, reaching for one of the opened books on the table. "And if Ingram knows this library is here, we don't want to leave it for him."
"Load them up and haul them out, then," Lyla confirmed, wandering to the nearest shelf and running her finger along the length of the cracked and dusty spine. "Wouldn't mind holding onto them afterwards, either." She glanced towards Kaiun, lifting a brow. "You don't have some handy space-portal to carry these in, do you?" she asked mostly in jest, though a part of her wished it was entirely so.
Cid began to heft a number of books into his arms, looking the titles over as he went. "Just grabbin' anything that looks related."
"'Fraid not." He smirked. "But I'm hella strong, when I put my mind to it."
Vincent turned suddenly, fixing the other black-haired man with an even look. "The monsters in this basement."
He shrugged. "They were buggin me."
Lyla paused in the midst of helping a few books escape the pile. "Well. Makes things easier for us, doesn't it?"
"That's me. Lookin' out for the uncommon man."
The gunman pulled several books off the shelf without comment, handing them wordlessly to the bespectacled man. "You should call them." He said when he had turned his back again. "More hands."
"Mm," Lyla agreed, pulling her phone from her pocket and automatically dialing the number she knew best, cradling it between her ear and shoulder as she continued to stack books of pertinence and set them on the corner of the desk.
Cid paused long enough to take a long drag off of his cigarette, not bothering to be careful where he blew the smoke as he leaned over to hoist another stack. "Didn't think I'd become a librarian on this trip," he remarked.
Vincent looked at him over his shoulder, something oddly akin to dry mirth in his expression. "Or make a library out of the Shera?"
He snickered faintly in reply. "Least her namesake'll appreciate it," he conceded.
Lyla paused again, looking surprised. "Why do you have Reno's phone?" she asked the voice on the other end. "... look. Send Reno and Rude down here, we need a couple extra pairs of hands. ... don't say it like that. ... to carry BOOKS."
The ex-Turk offered the blond another impossibly even look before returning to his own stacking.
It took over 2 hours between their number to move the most of the library's contents to the deck of the Shera. And while that was impressive, considering the sheer number of stairs involved, it was still no more than the beginning of their investment.
Vincent stood in the doorway, frowning at the empty library as Cait Sith scrambled between his legs, the last tome in paw. He waited a moment. Closed his eyes.
Lyla was beginning to seriously reconsider her enjoyment of the written word as she hoisted her very last stack of books. Letting out a long exhale, she glanced to her right, noting that Vincent had gone very still, even as Cait Sith scampered off. "You alright?" she asked, red-faced from her previous trips to the ship.
Cid glanced at those onboard the Shera as he passed, making his way to the helm, where he leaned against the railing and cracked the first book he could reach. "So we're lookin' for possible locations of Sephiroth's DNA. Means lookin' for notes the old loony woulda stuck in here, right?"
"Soun's about right, don' i?" Cait Sith chirrped, settling himself by the blond's feet.
"Man," Reno complained aboard the ship, "No one said I was gonna have to read on this job."
Inside, the gunman turned to face his company. "...Yes." He said after a moment, brows knitting when he looked back. Reached into his cloak. "It just seems... strange." His voice was quiet as he moved across the room, removing his hand to lay it flat against the glass of the tanks.
She frowned, setting the books back on the worktable to slowly approach the other side of the room. She had only glanced at the tanks on their way in, too preoccupied to inspect them, but now she studied them curiously as she grew closer, hanging back just enough not to crowd the red-caped man. "Being back here?"
"No." He shook his head, the ice spell that leaked out from his hand sending small cracks through the glass. He watched them with a sort of morbid fascination, red eyes wide and strangely pained. "Leaving it again."
She watched as the hairline cracks began to spread, so tightly wound that they looked like thick cobwebs caught in ice. "So that he can't use it," she remarked. "... you're full of good plans." She paused, studying his expression and frowning, if only slightly. "How long has it been?"
"Four years." The edge of uncertainty was in his tone. He turned away as the glass shattered, holding out his cloak to shield the both of them from the splintering ice as it rained to the ground. "Forever. Sometimes... time is difficult to place."
"I'm sorry that you had to come back," she told him, stepping back even as he held his cloak out, throwing her arm up over her eyes as an added measure.
"The world is too small to run from our sins." He said simply, letting the fabric drop as he moved to the door. Waited politely for her to pass.
She noted the pause and passed him, stopping for a moment just outside the door. "What are you going to do with the rest of it?" she asked, looking back towards the equipment.
Vincent pulled Cerberus from it's holster, firing a single shot behind himself, into the wash of faintly green liquid.
"What I should have done a long time ago."
She watched with interest, edging another step back from the door as the flames began, licking their way up the remains of the tank and its twin, turning her back in order to quicken her pace towards the stairs that would take them up and away from the oncoming blaze. "You don't do anything half-assed, do you," she remarked, making a vain attempt to hide the smirk that had begun to tug at one corner of her mouth.
"What's the point?" his voice followed her in time to his feet. "I've already spent the effort to start."
"It's admirable," she told him without looking back, running one hand against the smooth stone of the wall as she began to make her way upwards. "And makes for a great many dramatic exits."
"Everyone has their strengths."
"It works for you," she informed him as they neared the top, moving a bit faster as the light from the second floor window came into view. "I hope he stops here and sees this." There was a bit of a sneer to her voice as she hit the landing and headed towards the hallway. "That would be a real kick in the ass."
"Hm." Vincent hmed, pushing the door open as they reached the landing.
But in the corner of his mouth was something almost like a smile.
Cid rubbed at the back of his neck as he continued to leaf through the pages of one of the more recent volumes. "Found somma his notes, can't make much sense of 'em though. Why don't these lab types ever write with normal letters like the rest of us?"
"Popped gasket." Cait Sith frowned sagely, leaning over his arm to look. "Oi. Did 'e write 'em right in the book? Th'blighter."
"Yeah," Cid confirmed with a frown. "Shera'd go nuts if she saw that."
"There are a lot of loose notes tucked into this one," Rufus offered as he continued to thumb through the volume in his lap. "Most dated around the time of the Meteor Crisis... he must have been in Nibelheim, overseeing the 'cast' he had hired. Not to mention all the Sephiroth clones that made their way through." He paused, tapping his index finger lightly against his chin. "No notes concerning where the DNA sample might be stored, yet."
Rude frowned, peering over the top of his glasses as he read, occasionally folding down the corner of a page for later reference.
Vincent was watching the landscape as it passed under the airship and out of sight. "Jenova's head." He said. "What became of it after the remnant incident."
Lyla, who had seated herself cross-legged against one of the railings with a stack of books beside her and one open in her lap, looking up at the mention of Jenova, tilting her head slightly, curious.
Rufus appeared to focus on nothing in particular for a moment, thoughtful as his brow creased, blonde eyebrows knit together. "... Kadaj absorbed it," he began, "But when he died, it may have been left behind. ... he died atop Shinra headquarters."
"So there's a possibility of her residue in Midgar." He turned away from the railing, frowning. "And as the president, you don't have access to any list of Hojo's work sites that Ingram might not have?"
"It might take some creative computer work," Rufus admitted. "No doubt anything Hojo didn't want me to find, he locked up tight. But I would have a better place to start than Ingram, I have greater access to begin with. In the end it came out that Hojo had far more secrets than most of us realized, but if we can break into his files, we may be able to find a list of his work sites, yes."
"Oh," Lyla interjected, snapping her head upwards again. "If you don't mind, I could try? I found the files that took us to the previous facilities," she went on, though her words took on an awkward, almost embarrassed tone for a moment. "If I had better access to start with, I could probably break into more of his private files."
"Well way tae go, lassie!" Cait Sith jumped, giving a small, feline cheer. "Tha'll give us th'jump on ol'melty mouth for certain!"
Lyla blinked. "... melty-mouth. Thank you for the emotional scarring. ... Mr. Shinra, if you wouldn't mind giving me your information, I can get started right away."