Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. I depend on my daughter, Neku the Last Reaper (the author formerly known as Angeal Valentine—yes, she changed her name again!), and on Bjanik for all my information on the subject.
(6:30 am, Mideel—Mideel Base Hospital; 8:30 pm, Wutai; 4:30 am, Midgar; 12:30 am, Gongaga)
Rather than carry her as he really wanted, Sephiroth wrapped one arm around Tessa's waist and helped her walk from her hospital room into the hallway. Damn it. Tessa wanted to see Caperton, would probably try to help him, and might well exhaust herself. All Sephiroth's instincts said to control what Tessa did, and he knew without a doubt that she would never go along with any of it. All he could do was help her as he could, remind her that the baby needed her to rest, and hope she would. And, of course, he needed to leave and chase Hollander. Blast it all. Sephiroth caught himself grinding his teeth in annoyance.
Malik met the couple in the hallway outside Tessa's room. Sephiroth could see Laura Singleton, the head of the hospital hovering over someone around a corner in a wider waiting area in front of the doors to the elevators and stairs. Had to be Strife she was working on. From farther around the corner, Sephiroth could hear one of Singleton's assistants reporting on progress to ready the hospital for the invasion of Soldiers and Turks that should be arriving soon. About time. It seemed the Midgarans would be housed on the hospital's fourth floor. At least his Soldiers would be comfortable for a short while before they left for their next destination. While his timetable called for them to leave immediately, Hollander's escape had changed all that… Still needed to talk to Tseng though… Blast it all!
Upon seeing the General approach, Cloud tried to stand from the lounge chair where he was seated, but he stopped mid-rise and instead saluted stiffly from his chair. "Sir! I'm sorry, sir!" Cloud's left forearm was laid across a table with the doctor's needle in it. Dr. Singleton was just completing suturing an ugly cut on the Third Class's forearm.
"Cloud!" Tessa was startled at the young Soldier's appearance. She had seen blood on his face during his fight, though that was now just a trickle—probably part of the wipes on the table and the splotch on the bottom hem of his scrub shirt where he'd wiped his nose—but she hadn't realized he'd been this badly hurt defending her! Tessa reached for the young man's face with its crooked nose. "Let me see that! How did that happen?!" Tessa turned angrily in Sephiroth's arm to glare at Dr. Singleton. "Where's the materia? Get me some! Now!"
Embarrassed that the General's wife was inspecting him, Cloud's eyes went to the floor and pulled Tessa's attention away from the doctor. "It's okay, ma'am—the arm's just cut." Cloud felt as though his mother were checking up on him!
Tessa jerked in reaction, and her anger cooled. He'd "ma'amed" her again—old lady style. The young whippersnapper. She preferred he call her "Dr. Romera" like he did in Nibelheim; she liked that much better than "ma'am."
"And the colonel told me lots of Soldiers have had broken noses and not got them set in time. A crooked nose is kind of a good thing…"
Sephiroth's chest jerked but no laugh emerged from his throat. Dr. Singleton nodded to the assistant at her side to bandage Cloud's arm, then stood.
Pulling the others in his wake, Sephiroth took several steps from the injured Third Class, then turned to Malik and Dr. Singleton and spoke softly. "So how is he really?"
Malik nodded. "He'll be all right." Malik raised an eyebrow at his commander. "He's been through a fight, though. You'll have to hear about it at some point."
"Hm. Fine, but later." Keeping his arm around Tessa, Sephiroth turned to the head of the hospital. "We need to see Dr. Caperton. What's his condition?"
Dr. Singleton shook her head a bit sadly. "The doctor is being prepped for surgery as we speak. Part of his skull was crushed, and there's a great deal of bleeding in his brain."
"Materia?" Tessa knew that head trauma was difficult for materia to deal with. Accumulated blood simply didn't vanish quickly from inside a skull; Reno had been a stumbling wreck after Nibelheim.
"We have heal materia that will support up to Cure2." Tessa's head snapped—was that the best they could do?! "That will certainly help—but the hospital can't use it without the General's or Colonel Malik's direct authorization. Dr. Caperton had requested, and the colonel had approved, materia treatment earlier for you, Dr. Romera. I'll have to bring the materia from the safe in my office, and I'll have to perform the cure within the next few minutes for it to have any chance at being effective."
Sephiroth nodded. "Do it."
"Yes, sir." Dr. Singleton took the two steps to the nearer of a pair of elevators and pushed the "up" call button.
"Oh, and doctor?" Singleton looked back at the General as the elevator door started to close. "Some for the kid's nose too." Singleton nodded. "Malik, which way to the surgery?"
"This way, Seph."
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Standing in an elevator with Tessa pressed to his side, Sephiroth's brain whirred as he continued to mentally check his timetable. He needed to chase Hollander ASAP before the man got away for good; once back from that, they would need to load everyone onto the airship and head out. Somewhere in there, he supposed, Highwind would need to top off his fuel—they had a long flight ahead of them; do that while they loaded, but have the fuel brought to the hospital to the avoid the delay of shuttling to the base airfield. At some point he'd need to talk to Tseng—get him, and whatever people he wanted to bring along, to come to Wutai. And where were those blasted Turks, anyway?!
Frustrated with his erstwhile "partners," Sephiroth shot a thought at his father. To his surprise, Where are you?! rebounded from the elevator walls and rang through his own head, amplified, with a searing pain and without any echo from Vincent. Sephiroth ground his teeth again and raised a hand to his forehead. Damn! That hurt!
Tessa felt Sephiroth tense beside her. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Glaring at the metal corners of the elevator compartment, Sephiroth attempted to summon electric charges to his hand—the one not about his wife's waist, he wouldn't risk her being shocked. None came from the outside of the chamber—certainly not enough for a lightning attack if he needed to make one. Damn. The elevator box was an electromagnetic cage. Sephiroth felt his temper ratchet. When outside the Shinra building, and often within it, he climbed stairs to avoid EM cages, but Tessa wouldn't have been able to walk the stairs on her own. He should have just carried her.
Pulling his lips tight into a semblance of a smile, Sephiroth looked down at the woman at his side and began to tell her that nothing was wrong, but caught himself. There would be no lies between them. He despised lies, and liars. He was even a bit surprised, annoyed even, that the thought had crossed his mind. Sephiroth took a deep breath, then let it out.
"Elevator's an EM cage."
Her lips pursed in an "oh," Tessa felt Sephiroth relax slightly as the elevator doors opened. Electromagnetic cages robbed her husband of one of his weapons. No wonder he was tense…
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(6:30 am, Mideel—Southeast Gate, Mideel Base ; 8:30 pm, Wutai; 4:30 am, Midgar; 12:30 am, Gongaga)
"What do you mean, you don't have orders concerning us?!"
Rude loomed menacingly over the security guard inside the base gate office. He had expected that their RVs would be waved through the barricades for immediate entry—after all they were supposed to be reinforcements for a fight underway nearby at the hospital, though he'd heard no gunfire while he was outside the RV. What he hadn't expected was to be stopped by an officious menial!
The "menial" wasn't about to intimidated, however; the corporal was regular army, lived in a nearby town, and had just come on duty shortly before. She certainly hadn't been told of any unusual occurrences on the base or special visitors. The woman raised her eyes from the form she was completing. "Sir, this will take time." The woman paused then continued in a sing-song voice as if she recited the words hourly. "Now, if I could see your ID and those of all your passengers, along with your driver's license and insurance, I'll get base passes issued for your vehicles. Also, no outside weapons may be brought onto the base. Any weapons you may be carrying need to be left here and signed for." The woman raised an eyebrow but spoke more normally. "Maybe your arm too. I'll have to check…"
Rude glared at the woman—after the week he'd had he wasn't about to voluntarily give up his prosthetic—again! He noted the "Cordero" on the woman's badge, and wished for his sunglasses—they helped his "intimidating" Turk look—then started to reach for his ID that he usually kept in a thigh pocket in his night ops suit. Oops. He and Reno had been on an infiltration mission and hadn't been carrying any identifying documents on them. Their covert, fake IDs, along with most of the rest of their belongings, were still in the cheesy hotel rooms they'd rented back in Mideel city. The management had probably cleaned out their stuff by now—he and Reno had only paid for two more days about a week ago! Oh well; it wasn't like they hadn't run out on their stuff before…
Rude turned on his heel and sneered over his shoulder. "I'll be back." Idiot Soldiers should have left orders to admit their party immediately! He was tempted to barrel through the gate barricade arm, but he hated to be shot by army grunts after everything they'd been through.
"What's wrong?" Tseng, with Niven over his shoulder, met Rude at the RV door.
"We have to fill out paperwork! Oh, and leave the guns here."
Tseng drew in a breath to speak and stepped off the vehicle, but then felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him.
"No, we don't." Niven, open PHS in hand, headed into the gate office. He'd rather been expecting something of the sort. It never failed; someone hadn't got the message to admit their vehicles. He probably should have spoken to the guards himself from the beginning. Five seconds later the barricade across the road between the blockhouses went up in a rush.
Rude smirked. He knew officious menials had their uses, but he was always glad to see one get a comeuppance. Back on the RV he looked at the still sleeping Reno—Reno could sleep through an earthquake, the bastard—and Fair. Drenched in sweat now, the dying Soldier's hands were reaching again; he was even mumbling, wheezing and panting. He was feverish and having trouble breathing. Fair hadn't been that bad earlier. Rude was glad they were almost to the hospital. Maybe—surely!—they'd be in time… Reno would be upset if anything happened to Fair!
While Niven ran back aboard the RV, Rude revved the engine then roared onto Mideel Base.
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Lifestream
Zack wandered in darkness and dampness and gray mist—this was getting fucking old! Zack turned and twisted about, not touching anything, though sometimes he heard bits of old conversations: memories continued to play out in his ears, before his eyes, and occasionally against his skin. Like now…
"Hey, puppy! Third Class now?! Way to go! Congratulations!" Angeal shook his hand. Hard.
Zack had so wanted to be like Angeal, then he'd killed his mentor. No! I don't want to see that again!
Turn the other way…
"Whoa, who's that?!" Zack turned to his friend Tommy Siddens. Someone was with Angeal and Genesis. Someone striking!
"Who?" Tommy looked over his shoulder, and then his mouth dropped open. "Wow! Can it be?!"
"Who?!"
"Whadaya mean 'who'?! Don't you know?! That's the General!"
"No-o. You're kidding me. That's him?!"
"Who else do you think has hair like that?! I'm tellin' ya, that's General Sephiroth!"
Zack felt his mouth fall open. Even in those early days, Sephiroth had been a legend! A new legend, true, but an officer spoken of with awe by every Soldier.
A smiling Angeal was shaking hands with Sephiroth—Seph didn't smile though, Zack saw, smiling was something Seph had learned to do later with Zack's help. Angeal and Seph spoke animatedly with many sword-slashing movements highlighting their conversation.
Genesis had initially shaken hands with Sephiroth as well but had soon moved away from the pair. To all outward appearances he was reading Loveless but Zack noticed Genesis' eyes didn't move across the page. Yes, that was it. Even then, there had been something in Genesis' eyes that Zack hadn't liked, but he hadn't been able to put a name to it at the time. Now he could. Zack saw anger—and jealousy!—on Genesis' face and tension in his stance at the way Angeal and Sephiroth spoke together. They were certainly friendly—almost warm—and it clearly bothered Genesis.
No! Find another way! This all led to Angeal's dying! Somewhere, sometime, Angeal made a choice between Genesis and Sephiroth. Maybe now Zack understood Angeal, and his betrayal, better; to Angeal's mind, perhaps, it hadn't been a betrayal at all, but support of Genesis, his brother. Turn away, though…
Where was the damned mist when you needed it?!
Grayness slowly trickled around Zack's feet. Why can't I get out of here?!! Boda! Find another memory…
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Malik snapped his PHS closed. Niven, not happy, had called him from the southeast gate. It seemed their reinforcements had been temporarily delayed.
Malik, the General and his wife, and her Third Class bodyguard were in a small waiting room outside the surgical prep center. Malik glanced at Seph who was simultaneously leaning against a wall with his arms folded over his chest and looming over his wife who was seated nearby. Strife was kneeling beside the General's wife as she completed healing—and straightening—the kid's nose with materia.
Malik smiled slightly; the straightening was being conducted over the Third Class's protests. Guess he'd made it sound too good to have a crooked, "experienced" nose. Dr. Singleton had brought the materia and was inside working on Dr. Caperton now. It had been a while, perhaps too long, for the materia to be effective, but Seph and his wife were determined to try and help her doctor. Indeed, the General had had to keep his wife penned against his side to keep her from charging into the prep room and applying the materia herself! Hm. Man must mean a lot to them for Dr. Romera to be so concerned…
The General looked up at the sharp snap of Malik's PHS and caught his eye. Malik nodded. "That was Niven. Even though I left orders for them to be admitted immediately, the Turks and the rest of our people were delayed at the post gate. I got that cleared up. They'll be here shortly."
Finally. Sephiroth nodded at the report then leaned over the Third Class at his wife's side. "Strife, Malik and I are leaving. Do you think you can manage to keep my wife from being kidnapped for fif-teen minutes?!"
"SI-IR!!" Sephiroth watched as abject terror crossed the kid's face. Strife cringed and saluted while his face turned bright red. Good. "Sir, yes sir!"
With Cloud scrambling away, Sephiroth sank to one knee before his wife, wrapped one arm around Tessa while twining his fingers in her hair at the back of her head, and kissed her hard. Too soon, he pulled back but didn't release her.
"I've got to chase Hollander. Will you be all right for a while?"
Tessa smiled and pulled her husband's hand from her back to her stomach. "We will be just fine waiting for you. Zack will be here soon. Don't worry."
Sephiroth smiled then whispered. "Shh. Don't tell my Soldiers I worry. Okay?" He was sure Malik and the kid could hear him, but he whispered anyway.
"Right." Tessa returned the whisper, though she rather suspected his Soldiers knew already. Her smile broadened, and Tessa cupped her hand along Sephiroth's cheekbone. "Just remember, I love you. We love you. Be back quick. All right?"
"As quick as I can—and you rest! Have Strife push you around in a wheelchair." Sephiroth wasn't surprised when Tessa shook her head at him. She hated him to give her orders, like one of his troops. He tried not do it, but it was an indication of his level of irritation that he was doing it now. He smiled slightly at his wife to ease the sting, then, with a glance at the Third Class, he barked. "That's an order, mister! You push her wheelchair and don't let her out of your sight until our people arrive! Understood?!" Good; more abject, Third Class cringing occurred. With one final kiss, and a glance at Tess' stomach that brightened his eyes, Sephiroth stood. "Come on Malik. Let's catch that bastard."
Just that suddenly Sephiroth and the Mideel Base commander were gone. Tessa's eyes were bright, and the baby kicked. Damn it. Sephiroth was leaving, she couldn't go, and even Lucy was upset about it. Tessa sighed.
Lowering a mask from her face, Dr. Singleton emerged from the surgical prep room and looked about to find Tessa.
"Dr. Romera, though it will be a while before he's up and around, it looks like Dr. Caperton is going to be all right."
"Yes!" Tessa did one of Zack's arm pumps. "Thank the planet! When can I see him?"
"He's still under sedation preparatory for the surgery. I'd say at least an hour, and I'd like him to rest for the remainder of the day." Dr. Singleton paused and considered the General's wife. "Why don't you get something to eat? With all the shooting, you probably missed breakfast on the floors. I'll call the kitchen and special order you something. What would you like?"
Tessa smiled and shook her head. She knew that the bases used mainly processed Shinra foods, but right now she and the baby were simply starving! "After a diet of mako this last week, I'll eat anything."
Dr. Singleton raised an eyebrow and faked a smile. Mako?! Eehh. Why had Dr. Romera been eating mako? Some weird Scientific Department experiment? Maybe even top secret? Probably not, though, if she were talking about it. After all, the Midgar doctor's eyes glowed like any Soldier's, but then she probably needed to be mako-enhanced to be married to the General. Oh well, none of her business… The eyebrow plopped down. "O-kay. Well, our cafeteria food's not bad, given how hospital food usually tastes."
Tess smiled then questioned. "Do you have the new nutrition supplement bars, by any chance?"
Now Dr. Singleton's smile was genuine. "Oh, do you mean the new Tessa bars from Midgar?"
It was Tessa's turn to fake a smile. When she'd turned her recipes over to Shinra for production, she'd requested that her name not be used to market them when they went into general distribution. Apparently this hadn't happened. "Ye-es."
"Well, if you're the inventor, I want you to know that they're hugely popular, but dear. People are buying them by the case when they're available, so they've become very expensive. I'll make sure you get some."
Hm. Tessa frowned. She should look into having Reeve Tuesti increase production. "Good. If you'll just find me a wheelchair and point the way to your cafeteria, my driver and I will go eat." She glanced at Cloud. "Can you push a chair with that arm, Cloud?"
"Ma'am! I can push you anywhere you want to go!"
Tessa cringed. He'd "ma'amed" her again. "All right. Let's head out. Don't forget your sword."
"Ma'am!"
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Tessa sat in her wheelchair at a table in the hospital cafeteria quietly munching scrambled eggs (eggs from real foul—not poured from a box). She'd inspected all the food offered in the cafeteria and settled on locally produced eggs, meat, and milk. And Tessa bars—Cloud had actually insisted on multiple Tessa bars. When she'd been offered locally grown apples, however, she'd frowned.
"Banora apples?"
"Yes."
Tessa had simply laughed and had Cloud push her away while she shook her head. She didn't think she'd ever eat an apple again in her life!
While Tessa had thought she was famished, her appetite nowhere near approached Cloud's. The boy's face hovered about three inches from his plate, and he was literally shoveling food into his mouth while his elbows were splayed out on the table in a position his mother probably would have objected to. Within minutes Cloud had cleaned his plate and returned to the serving line for more. Heads turned in the cafeteria as the young man passed. Tessa felt a smile come to her face. Cloud certainly was a sight: peach scrubs with blood stains on his shirt, combat boots, multiple small blond hair fingers, mainly around his ears—not his usual sticking-straight-up-from-the-top-of-his-head spike—and his large double sword stuck to his back. Have to get the kid cleaned up—again; indeed, after all the shooting and crawling on the floor of her room, she wanted another shower herself. Hopefully she could find some regular clothes; even scrubs would be better than the hospital gown and terry-cloth robe she still wore. A hair brush would be good too. After all the damage to the building from the shooting, Tessa wasn't sure Dr. Singleton would let her have another room, though.
Within minutes Cloud was back and inhaling his food again. Tessa frowned as she reviewed the dietary standards she'd established for Third Classes his age and weight. Maybe Cloud was having a growth spurt, she decided—at least two inches judging by the amount of food he was consuming. She needed to review his mako drip records too. When had he last had a session anyway?
"Cloud, at least chew your food."
"Ma'am?" He looked up from his plate at her with surprise in his eyes, his mouth full of food, and his fork in mid-air.
"Cloud! Please don't call me 'ma'am.' It makes me want to look around for my mothers."
Suddenly, alarms sounded, and a voice came over the intercom. "We have incoming wounded. All medical personnel to emergency! This is not a drill!"
His fork in his mouth, Cloud looked a question at Tessa.
"That's it, Cloud. Let's go. That'll be the rest of the Soldiers."
The Third Class swallowed and rose, then maneuvered Dr. Romera's wheelchair away from their table. Pausing just an instant, he swept their pile of Tessa bars onto the General's wife's lap. "Can't forget these!"
"Move it, Cloud!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Cloud!"
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Tseng, Verdot, and Niven stood at the front of the RV; all three were trying to direct Rude to the Mideel Base Hospital. Tseng felt a smirk cross his face. Probably they weren't being terribly helpful, but then Rude wouldn't tell his boss that.
Suddenly the RV topped a rise, and Tseng saw spread out before him a shallow valley with a collection of large red-brick buildings surrounded by parking lots on both sides of the base's perimeter fence. As they made their way down the rise, Tseng spotted a patched-together airship rising from the far side of what was clearly the base hospital. As Tseng watched, the airship climbed, its rotors tilted, then it sped north.
Niven leaned around Tseng, his eyes tracking the ship. "Hm. That is the Highwind, that experimental fast airship that brought us here from Junon. Wonder what's going on..."
Tseng looked sharply at Niven's comment. "Can you find out?"
"Possibly..." Niven flipped open his PHS, punched a code for Malik that had worked just minutes ago, then heard a voice declare that the party he was attempting to reach was… Niven snapped the phone closed and ground his teeth. He next tried the General's number—again nothing. Malik and the General might both be on that airship, but their absence increased his responsibilities. Niven released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Damn. He turned to see the Turk commander studying his face. "Out of range. I'll try again shortly."
Tseng nodded. Something had played itself out across the First Class's features; he just wasn't sure what he'd seen. Clearly Niven was unhappy about something. Tseng made a mental note to talk to Valentine shortly and find out what Sephiroth was doing.
At the base of the slope, Tseng turned his attention away from Niven. Now there were more interesting sights to see such as damage to the hospital buildings: bullet holes in the walls, broken windows, and white bullet-caused streaks in the driveway cement leading to the emergency entrance. South of the hospital, the base's perimeter fence was down, and a pile of rubble marked the remains of a tiny check point house for pedestrian employees who normally entered the base from the parking lot beyond the fence. More bullet streaks could be seen from the top of a rise to the southeast of the parking lot. Hm. Why there? Tseng turned back to the hospital. While there were green sparks dissipating from the driving lanes at the emergency entrances before them, there was no active combat. Damn. They were too late. Had Dr. Romera been saved? Had Hollander escaped?
Tseng looked over his shoulder at the anxious, heavily armed Turks behind him. "Seems we're too late, people." Turning to Verdot, he spoke quietly. "Sir, please pass the word, I want all Turks to keep me in sight and to meet with me inside the hospital shortly."
Verdot gave Tseng a not-so-sharp Turk nod. He noted that Tseng had trouble giving his former boss orders. He'd have to talk to the young commander about that later when they were alone. Tseng, after all, was in charge.
Turning back to Rude, Tseng motioned toward the hospital emergency entrance. "Pull in over there." Rude nodded.
Soon Tseng and his people were surrounded by emergency techs and doctors all anxious to help, while wheelchairs and gurneys hovered in the background. To questions about who needed attention, Tseng soon found himself repeating, "No, we had materia. Most of us are fine—just tired. We do need to have a few of us examined. Some place to sleep and food are what my people really need…"
Niven emerged from the RV with Fair in his arms, shouted for assistance, then ran for a gurney. White-coated doctors with flying stethoscopes chased him in a losing race.
"Sir! Sir! Let us take him! Sir!"
Alex Niven hated it, but he had to surrender Zack Fair to the medical staff. He lowered Fair to a gurney and watched it be pushed through several sets of automatic doors. He knew he needed to follow the doctors, let them know what was wrong with Fair, what they'd done to try to help him, but he was in effective command of the Soldiers who'd been to Banora, and he needed to look after them as well.
Suddenly, the Turk medic streaked by Niven. Wickles raised a hand to the First Class—"I've got him, sir!"—then he shouted after the retreating doctors. At least Wickles knew what was going on. Suddenly Niven felt a hand on his arm. A gentle touch. He smiled slightly. Earlier he'd tried to slit her throat. Now he was glad that she was nearby.
"It'll be all right."
Niven glanced down at Vanessa-7. "Will it? Will it really? How do you know?"
The clone shrugged. "I guess it's true that I don't." Vanessa-7 looked up at Niven and smiled. "There's always hope. Just look at me. Yesterday I was worried Dr. Hollander was going to dispose of me, replace me. Now I'm free! There's hope!"
Niven patted her hand where it lay on his upper arm. "Yes, I know you're right, but…" Niven shook his head; he appreciated her attempt at comfort, but he had real issues to address. "Tell me. How long does it usually take for the disposal solution to eliminate Hollander's 'undesirables'?"
Vanessa-7 thought for just a second. "Less time than it's been since your friend was injected." Niven nodded. "He's still alive, Wickles has been doing Cures and you've been giving him Antidotes, and the dose he got was less than what Dr. Hollander usually uses for disposals."
Niven nodded again, more thoughtfully. "Come on. Let's find you that laboratory." Placing the clone's hand in the crook of his elbow, Niven lead Vanessa-7 into the hospital.
As Alex Niven and Vanessa-7 walked away arm-in-arm, Rude emerged with a now-awake Reno under his shoulder. Seeing the couple together, Rude growled. How'd he get stuck with Reno—again?! And what was Seven doing with that Soldier!!
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Near the emergency entrance, Cloud halted Dr. Romera's wheelchair. He wasn't sure where he should be going or what he should be doing. At least his orangey scrubs and his wheel-chaired passenger let him look like he belonged here, though the Baby Buster peeking over his shoulder tended to belie that impression.
Suddenly a gurney rushed by surrounded by white-coated doctors. Cloud heard Dr. Romera gasp. "Cloud, was that Zack they just wheeled by us?!" Her voice shook.
"Hunh? Zack? Where?" Cloud shook his head. "Zack was fine when we left Banora. He should be here somewhere…" Seeing the fear on Dr. Romera's face, Cloud paused. "You want me to go and check who you saw?"
"Yes."
"Uh. The General told me to stay with you, Dr. Romera."
"Cloud!"
"Strife!" A familiar voice barked at Cloud.
"Major Niven, sir!" Cloud snapped to attention.
"You are out of uniform, mister!" The voice growled.
Cloud's attention stance stiffened, and he winced. He was out of uniform. At some point he'd have to find his clothes—he hoped they hadn't been thrown out by accident. The last time he'd seen his uniform he'd put it under his arm before he chased the two fake orderlies; it might be somewhere on the third floor—on the third floor, maybe… "Yes sir. Sorry sir. I…"
"It's my fault, Major." Tessa interceded. She rather thought Niven hadn't noticed her.
"Dr. Romera?!"
"Yes, Major." She paused. Perhaps Niven could answer her question.
Suddenly from behind Niven, Vanessa-7 and Tseng appeared. Vanessa-7 slid to her knees before Tessa and grasped her hands though Tseng, while clearly eavesdropping, stood back from the "Soldier" group and gathered his Turks to him with his gaze.
"You're okay?! Thank the goddess!" Vanessa-7 shook her head and smiled. "And you've still got the baby inside you?"
"Yes, labor stopped." Tessa smiled gently at the memory of what Sephiroth had said he'd attempted, but her audience didn't need to know any of that. "Dr. Caperton was able to restore my membranes with materia. I should be able to carry the baby at least a while longer—maybe even to term." She paused and decided to try and extricate Cloud from his predicament with the First Class. "We, Cloud and I, had quite a fight on our hands. Leonard was badly injured, but he's recovering now. Hollander escaped from the hospital in a helicopter, and my husband and Malik are chasing him in an airship, but tell me, was that Zack they just wheeled in here?"
When Dr. Romera mentioned the "fight," Niven and Tseng's eyes both had snapped to Cloud. Niven studied the stiff, bloody, and out-of-uniform Third Class by the doctor's wheelchair. Cloud's scrubs had blood stains near his collar and on his hem, and his left forearm was heavily bandaged—what had happened here anyway? He'd heard from the Turks that the base was under attack, but apparently Cloud had been in the thick of the fighting. Niven shook his head slightly before answering Dr. Romera's question.
"Unfortunately, yes. Vanessa-7 says that the lieutenant colonel was poisoned with a 'disposal solution' that Hollander developed. He is extremely ill. Cures and Antidotes have only slowed the solution down, not stopped it… The Turk medic didn't give him much chance of recovery."
Tessa gasped. "Is that true, Seven?" Tessa grasped the younger woman's hands with her own. "What does the solution consist of? Is there a counter-agent for it?"
"Uh, I don't know what the solution's made of, but Mr. Lowell—uh Rude, I mean—and I had a couple of bottles left after we got rid of the monsters in Banora—I'll just have to find them. I do know that Dr. Hollander didn't keep any counters to it. Dr. Hollander never reversed it. He just made new clones; he didn't try to fix them."
"All right." Tessa marshaled her troops. "Seven, find that bottle. Cloud, find Dr. Singleton right now. We are commandeering her laboratory."
"Yes, ma'am!" Cloud, relieved to be away from the major's scrutiny, ran through the hallway in the direction they'd pushed Zack. Now he had a new worry. Something bad was happening to Zack!
Niven frowned. The Third Class had just taken an order from a civilian—not strictly protocol, but not surprising, given that the civilian was the General's wife, after all. Deal with it. He turned away to the door to check on his people and noted that Tseng was now surrounded by his Turks and seemed to be giving out room assignments. Uninjured Soldiers were looking in his own direction as well…
Vanessa-7 nodded, took several steps toward the emergency room exit, then turned back. "Dr. Romera, I just thought you should know that we brought all Dr. Hollander's notebooks and files for you. They're somewhere in the trucks behind us. His laptop wasn't in his office, though, so you'll have to go through his papers."
"Thank you, Seven. Please have the samples and those files brought in here… At least we have somewhere to start."
Tessa's brain was whirring over possible means of countering Vester Hollander's disposal solution. On occasion she had considered what she would do if one of Sephiroth's Soldiers were desperately ill—they were so rarely ill that she had wanted to be prepared for such an unlikely situation. She had an idea for a possible treatment, but she had never had the opportunity to experiment with it, much less perfect it. There were certainly risks involved, but this might just be the time for it... All she truly needed for it was the right tissue…
A/N—I wanted to congratulate NeverFree for noticing that "Tseng" and "Shion" are practically the same name (did anyone else catch that?). She and I have exchanged perhaps eight personal messages on the subject, and while she's absolutely correct, let me assure everyone—as I assured her—there is method to the madness. Nice job!