Mission 19: Reconstruction
"You should reconsider, it's not safe here," Tseng had been trying to reason with the inhabitants of Mideel for the past hour. "There are some very good apartments available in Edge."
"No, no, and a million times no!" The mayor insisted, supported by the unanimous decision of the rest of the Mideel population. "This is our home and we will not abandon it! We didn't abandon it when it had a big hole of life steam in the middle, and we won't abandon it now!"
The planet had eventually began to heal its wound, though there was still a crater where the large pool of life stream had been, this wound wasn't as big as the one in the Northern Crater. The life stream was sucked into the ground and the dry land of the crater was livable, but uncomfortable. Even so, the residents of Mideel stayed in their land and built their new houses around the crater.
The new structures were weak, having been constructed in a hurry due to the pressing necessity of shelter. The materials used where of poor quality, random pieces of wood collected in the area, and reused parts of what was left of the old houses. To summarize, the new houses were not all that stable and the media made it Shinra's duty to make sure everyone had a safe place to live.
If those houses came apart and someone was crushed to death, injured, or even lightly scratched, it would be Shinra's fault like everything else in the world. Thus the Turks were sent to try to talk the residents of Mideel into relocating into an apartment complex in the city of Edge.
Should the Mideel people refuse to move, the current structures that housed them would be strengthened and remodeled into something that resembled a decent living area with the Turks as the remodeling crew.
"..." Rude was silent as usual.
"Yes, I know," Reno agreed with Rude, as if he could tell what Rude was saying just by looking at his neutral expression.
"Do you two have a psychic connection or something?" Elena took a break from painting the neighbor's house to see how Reno and Rude were doing.
"What do you mean? Didn't you get what Rude was trying to say just now?" Reno placed the nail on the wood and attempted to hammer it in.
"Not really..." Elena admitted.
When Reno threw the hammer back and brought it down on the nail, he realized that he only had the handle. "Cheap hammer..."
"Duck!" Elena suddenly looked alarmed.
"Wark!" A baby chocobo curiously approached Reno.
"It's a chocobo," Reno paid no mind to the hammer, which was missing the metal part that had flown off and knocked out the mayor.
"Oh no!" Elena pointed at the unconscious mayor, as a circle of Mideel villagers surrounded him.
"..." Rude watched quietly.
"Yes it is," Reno petted the baby chocobo; any distraction from the unwanted work was welcome. "It's a chocobo, it's still a baby but it's bigger than a duck."
Tseng arrived with more materials, setting a bunch of wood down and rubbing his sore shoulders. "What are those villagers doing over there?" He didn't like how it looked at all.
The Mideel villagers dissipated the circle, revealing the corpse of their mayor. He was old and couldn't take such a hard blow to the head. "Hey, what happened to the old guy? Did he have a heart attack or something?" Reno asked, as if he had no part on it. Then he saw the missing part of the hammer stuck on the mayor's forehead. "Is that...?"
"Yes it is!" Elena yelled.
"Reno!" Tseng scolded him.
The villagers had quickly gotten ready to hunt down the Turks with torches and pitchforks as if it was a classic ogre hunt from medieval times. The four Turks ran to their helicopter and took off full speed to Shinra HQ, and away from the murderous villagers.
End of Mission 19
Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Mission 19 was requested by Death Korps.