"What's the matter soldier?" The man in the red uniform questioned Verna. "Why haven't you said anything?"
Verna gulped. Her voice would give it away that she was a female. She pointed to her mouth and shook her head. Hopefully the other soldier would buy that she just couldn't speak at all. Her eyes watched the real soldier as he nodded in understanding.
"At least you won't get on Heidegger's nerves by saying anything," The red soldier sighed. "If I were you I'd stay clear of the man. If he gets angry he'll most likely beat the living daylights out of you."
Verna's eyes widened. That most certainly wouldn't be good. If she were to be punched then her hood had the possibility of falling off, which meant that everyone would discover she was a girl. Should that happen, then her cover for working for the underground newspaper would be blown.
"Alright, we're here," The commanding officer stopped on the boat. "President Rufus and Heidegger aren't here yet, but make sure you don't slack off. If they walk in and you're goofing around that'll look bad on my part. Got it?"
Verna nodded her head and walked into room. She glanced around. It was nothing spectacular. In all honesty she had to question why Rufus was even taking this boat. Wasn't he the president of Shin-Ra Inc.? Couldn't he take something more spectacular instead of this ran down ship? Verna frowned at the thought, maybe Sephiroth was seen on this ship which would be why he was getting on it. Then again, why would he risk his life for something such as this?
Avoiding the many endless void of questions – that is her mind – Verna looked out the window and towards the rest of the boat. She held back a smile as she noticed AVALANCHE get to their places. At least she wasn't alone on this ship. If anything were to happen she could go and find them.
Verna deviated her attention from AVALANCHE and towards the door that opened. Verna gulped slightly and saluted the two people who made their way into the room. Hopefully she gave a good enough impression.
"At ease, soldier," the smooth voice of the man dressed in white commanded as he walked past Verna. Verna slowly stopped saluting as Rufus glanced at her, "Your commanding officer informed us that you can't talk, is that correct?" Verna nodded. "How inconvenient."
Verna felt a drop of sweat run down her face. Did he really just insult her for not having the capability to talk? She wanted to protest and actually speak, but that would contradict what she previously informed the new president. She glanced over to Heidegger who looked like he wanted to strangle her. Verna fought back the urge to run away from the two men and looked through the space between them. Both were intimidating beyond all belief.
She narrowed her eyes at something moving outside the window. Glancing back at Rufus and Heidegger, it seemed that neither one of them spotted the figure. Looking back over, she quirked an eyebrow at realizing it was just Barrett in his sailor uniform. Sighing in relief, she glanced back over to Rufus and Heidegger, they didn't realize he was there.
"Now Heidegger," Rufus spoke calmly, but a patch was ice was lying under his voice. "You informed me that the air ship would be ready to use to get to our destination. Did you lie to me?"
"No, sir," Heidegger shook his head. "The crew informed me that it would be ready, but I only just found out that it'd be ready in three days."
"Perhaps it would have been in your best interest to inform me before I arrived at Junon," Rufus looked at the bearded man coldly.
"Well you know how things get, gyeheheh!" The old man gave out hoarse laugh making Verna flinch.
"What did I tell you about that insufferable laughter?" Rufus glared at the man. The man stopped laughing and looked away causing an uneasy silence to fill the room. "Now…Are you sure that Sephiroth nor Cloud and his friends made their way on board?"
Verna stiffened. Did Rufus know that she was there as well as the rest of them? Was he just trying to make her squirm? She glanced at Rufus and Heidegger. Neither of them seemed to be paying attention to her, nor Barrett for that matter.
"Positive, sir," Heidegger nodded. "There's no way they would have."
"Good," Rufus nodded slowly, "It's absolutely important that we find Sephiroth and that we stop Cloud and his friends. That is our top priority. Now our second priority is to close down that newspaper."
"Speaking of which sir," Heidegger took out a paper from his jacket. "A second chapter has been published."
Verna quirked an eyebrow. It was already published? She couldn't help feel a bit of pride as the president read her paper. However, that pride was turned to fear at his sudden reaction. The newspaper was torn into multiple pieces and left scattered about on the floor. Rufus's eyes held more fury than she saw in Sephiroth's.
"How did they get into the building?" Rufus scowled. "And not only that, but they post confidential information."
"I'm sure it's not as bad as it appears, people will believe it to be a lie."
Rufus turned around, "People are keen to believe anything negative they hear about my company thanks to the legacy of my father. Not only that, but they have photographic evidence to support their claims. Tell me how that isn't as bad as it appears. Now we need to be even more careful in the actions we pursue. We can only guess that the newspaper is delaying the news stories, so that this Elizabeth Lane can get ahead just enough to where we won't know where to find them. My guess is that they were at Junon when we were at Junon and they're on their way to Costa del Sol."
"I assure you they haven't gotten on this ship."
"You better stick to those words, Heidegger."
Verna grimaced at the harsh tone Rufus used. Even if Heidegger did seem like an unpleasant fellow, one shouldn't be spoken to in such a manner. Just then, her eyes glanced at another soldier peering into the window with Barrett. Verna glanced nervously at Rufus and Heidegger, but they showed no sign of spotting them. Then, a red light went on and the alarm sounded.
Verna jumped at the sound, as did Heidegger. Rufus, on the other hand, seemed completely calm. Verna glanced around the room seeing that there was no one there. Was someone found out?
"Attention! Attention! There is an intruder on the boat! Multiple casualties!"
Verna's eyes widened, did they kill someone? No it didn't seem like they were here to kill. It must have been Sephiroth. He had to be on board!
"You!" Heidegger ran over to Verna and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Do something! Damn it!" He shook Verna violently.
Verna's hood fell off her head and her hair came spilling out. She heard something hit the floor, but she couldn't take the time. She looked at the bearded man shaking her and at Rufus who was currently watching with a hint of amusement.
"Let go!" Verna suddenly shrieked and swung her leg up. "Damn…"
Verna scowled and left Heidegger to bend over clutching his family jewels. Verna gulped and sprinted out the door. She didn't want to be here. Looking over the railing she noticed that AVALANCHE was all meeting. So they weren't caught?
"Verna!" Yuffie called her over.
Verna glanced over seeing Rufus picking something up, it was black and could have easily been a gun. Biting her lip, she jumped over the railing and landed somewhat gracefully. She glanced over at everyone's faces. They looked nervous.
"So the alarm didn't signal we were caught?" Tifa questioned. "What about you Verna?"
"Well," She shifted awkwardly. "I wasn't caught until just now, but that's not why the alarm went off. I think that-."
"Sephiroth's here," Cloud cut off. "Let's go find him."
"N-Not me! No way!" Yuffie stepped back and appeared to tremble where she stood. "Be-Besides I'm still feeling sick."
"Alright," Cloud nodded. "Tifa, Barrett, come with me. The rest of you need to hide. I'm sure they're aware that we're on the boat already." Cloud grabbed his sword and ran off with Tifa and Barrett close behind him.
"Come on," Aerith motioned them. "We have to hide and trust that they'll be fine. Besides, Costa del Sol isn't that far off."
Cloud knelt down to a few of the crew and checked their pulses. Nothing, they were all murdered. Clenching his teeth together he ran into the room that was blocked earlier by a soldier. He walked in cautiously and held his sword up for a protective measure. He motioned silently for Tifa and Barrett to follow him.
His glowing mako eyes looked forward. Before him was a man standing with long silver hair. He charged forward, but stumbled as Sephiroth seemed to disappear. His eyes widened as he followed the man. He seemed to be teleporting, was that even possible?
"Look out!" Tifa screamed and a large monster nearly landed on top of him. It must have come down from the ceiling.
Cloud growled as Sephiroth disappeared and they now had this thing to deal with.
Rufus examined the object in his hand. While Heidegger was mindlessly shaking the so called soldier this black thing managed to fall out of their pocket – perhaps it was a purse underneath the clothes. One eyebrow was raised as he looked at it closer. It was a camera. Now why would this person have a camera? Were they a member of AVALANCHE or some tourist, or maybe even?
Rufus turned the camera on and scrolled through the pictures. His face grew dark as he realized exactly who this person was. These were photographs that were in the newspaper of Shin-Ra's headquarters. She worked for the undercover newspaper.
He then held the strap and realized there was an odd texture on it. Upon examining it, he smirked. Calmly he took out his cell phone and dialed a number. Heidegger was still running around as if someone cut his head off.
"Tseng," Rufus spoke and he looked down on the camera strap that had a name written on it. "I want you to find out everything about this person. Her name is Verna Alm."
-A/N—
So I was playing Final Fantasy VII and my mom was nearby. Being in Junon Rude walked by and started screaming, "It's Rude! It's Rude!"
My mom in response asked, "What's rude?"
Yeah…I had to explain to her that the character named "Rude" just walked by…*sighs* Speaking of Rude, you know what's really funny? Fighting him using Tifa…He will never attack her. If he does he typically misses. Haha…