He looked at the two new recruits being taken away by three of his most valued officers. Snake, who's power was Espionage. Celty, who's power was to control the shadow that clings to her body. Lelouch, who's power was to issue commands to those around him, that would always be obeyed.

The two new recruits, who's powers were so far not known. Members of a popular band, he had heard. Not that it mattered. None of their past lives mattered now. He cast his eyes over the room. Their army was becoming vast, but was it enough to defeat the aliens? Who knows what their powers are? For all he knew, the aliens were more powerful versions of themselves. Or maybe they don't have any powers at all, and the meteorite only affected certain humans. Either way, he needed to make sure everyone was prepared.

He turned away from the window and faced his large office. Books on aliens and Science Fiction piled around his desk. None of it seemed to help the cause, but it was worth reading. For all he knew, these aliens had landed before and planted ideas into a science fiction writers head. He sighed and sat at his desk, opening his laptop.

Just as he began to type up his report of the day, there was a knock on the door. How can a man get any work done when he's constantly interrupted. He sighed, and stood up. He walked over to the door, hearing impatient footstamps from the other side. He opened up to see his lead scientist, Dr Kleiner, with a worried look on his face.
"Mr Strife, they're coming" Kleiner spilled out the words. Cloud raised both eyebrows. They're coming? Surely he didn't mean...
"What do you mean? As in, the aliens are attacking?"

"Not yet, but in a week. They're on the outer rims of our atmosphere, our satellites just picked them up. We have one week to prepare"

Clouds eyes turned downwards. Damnit. He ran over to the intercom system, and pressed the button marked "Facility", sending a message throughout the entire complex.

"This is Cloud speaking. I've just got word from Dr Kleiner, and I think you should all know. Come to the assembly room, pronto."

He let go of the button and sighed. He walked up to Kleiner, who grabbed his shoulder.

"Cloud, there's more."

Cloud shut his eyes, and rubbed his temples.

"What is it?" He was dreading the answer. It was never good. Kleiner produced a photograph, and handed it to him

"We managed to find a sole photograph from the night Kratos was killed. It seems our enemies aren't so alien after all."

Cloud looked at the image. A tear came to his eye, but he brushed it away. He walked towards the assembly room, clutching the photograph. He passed a bin on the way through the door to the room, and threw it in there. There was no way that photograph was true. No way. He refused to believe it. He got up on stage, and looked at all of the faces staring back at him. Towards the back, the two new recruits sat staring, with a dubious look in their eyes.

"Do you believe any of this, 'Doc" 2D asked. Murdoc scratched his chin, and sucked his teeth.

"I think I do. This all seems a bit elaborate to be a prank. And if it was a prank, why?"

2D nodded and sat back. He also was beginning to believe it. He looked up at the man on stage, who seemed to be the leader of this group. He was somewhat tall, with odd clothes. He looked visibly shaken by something, but soon brushed that up and stood up to the microphone.

"Our science officer Dr Kleiner reported that a fleet of alien ships were detected on the edge of our atmosphere." He left a dramatic pause. Everyone started murmuring. "This means we have 7 days, maybe less, to make sure we're prepared for their attack. Now we don't know yet where they'll land, but we can assume from their recent attacks that it'll be in Japan, on the outskirts of Tokyo." he looked around the room. No-one seemed to be disagreeing. "I want you all to seperate into teams. I won't do it all for you, just try and arrange yourselves into a fairly balanced team. Register yourselves on the network, and we'll email you your patrol zones. Stay vigilant." He began to walk off stage, when Kleiner showed him a dirty look. He walked back up to the microphone.

"One other thing. I was shown a rather disturbing photograph. However, I can only doubt the legitimacy of it."

He paused. This time the crowd were a bit more vocal. Wayne Rooney stood up and shouted. He was always a vocal one.

"Doubt the legitimacy? You know our team works hard to make sure we only have the facts, how can you doubt something so carelessly?"

Cloud snapped, "BECAUSE SEPHIROTH IS DEAD." he took a deep breath. Wayne now looked disturbed and sat back down.

"The picture was of Sephiroth stabbing Kratos. But I killed Sephiroth with my own hands years ago. I watched him die. I know he is not alive." Cloud looked around the room, as doubt filled his voice. "I know he isn't."