Dephasing

The next two months drifted past without undue attention on Cloud's part. Zack returned to his regular duties at the appointed time and as said duties rarely intersected with either Cloud's or Sephiroth's, neither saw very much of him at all. As it was all of SOLDIER was very busy dealing with the continued upswing in monster activity. Genesis and his army were lying low so the general consensus within ShinRa was that things would settle down again into something resembling normality.

Cloud personally didn't think anyone with Mako in their veins could ever aspire to such a lofty goal as enjoying a normal existence.

The newest batch of third classes had been inducted into SOLDIER by Zack, who had changed his look after Angeal's death at his hands, however short-lived said death had actually been. The brunet looked and acted much more mature now, although he was still cheerful and friendly to a fault. Cloud suspected that without Rosso to look after him Zack would have been much worse off.

The blond third-class' current main concern was how rushed off his feet Sephiroth was: The Silver General was now responsible for dealing with all Genesis' old paperwork and duties on top of his own. Thankfully Zack had been allowed to take over most of Angeal's responsibilities but Sephiroth still had way too much to do. The blond helped where he could, wading through all the non-classified paperwork with fierce determination and dragging his mentor out of the office for a spar whenever it all got too much and the dragon-eyed first-class started growling under his breath.

So it caught Cloud by surprise when he realised that the anniversary of Shelke's rescue had come and gone and that in less than two months he would have been in the SOLDIER programme for an entire year. Zack would probably insist on there being cake, like he had in December when it had been Sephiroth's birthday. Never mind that Seph had had no idea when he had been born and had only found out because Vincent had retrieved the information from Hojo's notes and put it in his file. The incorrigible spiky-haired first-class had somehow persuaded a helicopter pilot to deliver to the infamous Silver General a chocolate layer cake with twenty five candles and a scribbled 'happy birthday' on the top in green icing to the Wutai outpost they were camping at on the twenty first of December. Seph had been in an odd mood all day afterwards and scared half the garrison shitless by ghosting up behind them and offering them cake. Cloud had not interfered with his mentor's choice of entertainment, preferring to lurk in the background and take pictures with his PHS of the SOLDIERs and regular troupes' expressions when faced with their General armed with slices of chocolate sponge cake.


Very early in the morning on the twenty eighth of June Cloud was waiting less than patiently on the outskirts of Junon for his latest –Turk assigned– mission. A professor Rayleigh was apparently transporting important SOLDIER data to the Midgar labs. The blond couldn't understand why the chip couldn't go by secure courier or, if the professor had to be the one to take it, why the Science Department hadn't requisitioned a helicopter.

Fortunately, since Cloud was to be her only escort until they reached Midgar, there was no need for them to travel by truck.

"At ease guys," the SOLDIER said easily as the three infantry grunts escorting the professor finally noticed him. "I'll be taking over from here. Professor Rayleigh, would you prefer to travel by chocobo or motorcycle?"

The professor, a moderately attractive woman in her thirties, blinked at the short SOLDIER. "I'm allergic to birds, SOLDIER..?"

"Strife, Cloud Strife," the blond replied after handing over the appropriate paperwork to the departing infantrymen. "Motorbike it is then. If you would just step this way?" He led the professor over to a large vehicle shed and flashed his ID at the guard lounging outside: "Escort duty. I'd like a two-person heavy cycle –plus a helmet for my passenger– to take me to Midgar."

The guard glanced from the blond's ID to the clipboard lying on his desk, then stood and fished a key out of his pocket and opened the shed doors. Inside were a number of trucks, cars and six motorcycles of varying sizes. The guard approached a rather large one that Cloud would never have been able to steer without Mako enhancements, let alone lift.

"Helmets are along the wall; this is bike number four. Drop it off at the Midgar ShinRa transport garage on the outskirts of Sector Eight when you've finished with it," the guard said laconically.

"Will do," Cloud agreed absently, looking over his new ride with a critical and expert eye. He loved motorbikes. Vincent was pretty good at souping up the engines and streamlining or armouring the chassis, but lacked any special passion for motorcycles other than an abiding appreciation for their value as a portable battering ram and highly manoeuvrable getaway vehicle. Her blond student on the other hand cared for them with the obsessive perfectionism Genesis reserved for his wardrobe and Angeal his Buster sword. They were the only motor vehicle in existence which didn't make Cloud even slightly queasy and he doted on them accordingly.

"Good enough shape," the blond eventually conceded. "Got yourself a helmet, professor?"

"Yes," the scientist said, holding up said item. "Why aren't we going by car?"

"I don't do well in enclosed vehicles," Cloud said evenly, still rather miffed that Mako had exacerbated his travel sickness problem rather than fixing it. He swung a leg over the monster bike and readjusted his sword so it could be drawn without clipping either the motorcycle or his passenger. "Get on the back."

Professor Rayleigh put on her helmet and climbed on behind the SOLDIER.

"Hand on the low bars either side rather than around my waist, please: I need to be able to move freely in case we encounter monsters," the third-class corrected her as he fiddled with the ignition. "That's better. Hold on tight; he we go!"


Cloud was most reluctant to abandon the motorcycle at the ShinRa garage on the outskirts of the Midgar sprawl, but had very little choice: a Turk met them there to escort them to the ShinRa building and as large and powerful as the bike was it couldn't carry three. Losing his transport-slash-siege-weapon made the third-class antsy as it severely reduced his options in the face of a possible attack. Now he would have to stand his ground and defend the lady professor rather than just run down his opponents and escape.

That the Turk was a newbie –to the company if not to combat– did not help either; all of the blond's trap senses were screaming. No vehicle, a long trip through the slums to their destination and expendable help. The SOLDIER loosened his gun and hidden knives surreptitiously then suggested that the Turk lead the party while he took the rear. Said Turk, a tall, ash-haired martial artist with attractive curves and a tomboyish manner, had no objections and immediately took point. From how she moved Cloud could tell that despite being new enough to her blue suit to find it uncomfortable she was in no way new to real combat. A former mercenary perhaps?

The third-class had grown a staggering four inches since his first Mako injection and the aches in his bones suggested he was still gaining height, but the Turk gliding down the road ahead of him was a good four or five inches taller still. Not as tall as Vincent –at six foot the rogue Turk was the tallest woman he'd ever met– but still pretty tall. Pretty good looking as well, though the no-nonsense attitude was slightly off-putting.

It was not very long until Cloud's suspicious paranoia was rewarded by an ambush attempt. Their unusually competent assailants wore black AVALANCHE uniforms with concealing eye visors and felt like SOLDIERs to the blond's unusually sensitive Mako-sense. They also felt empty, like Scarlet's Mako-bots; going through the motions of life without either passion or humanity.

Cloud dispatched two of the pseudo-SOLDIERs with brutal efficiency then chased after the one which had abducted professor Rayleigh, leaving the Turk to finish off her own opponent. The scientist and her data were the focus of the mission; he wasn't there to babysit Veld's newbies.

The SOLDIER third caught up with the kidnapper at the train station and successfully boarded the hijacked train before it gained too much speed. He then drew his Peacemaker in one hand and longest knife in the other and set about hunting down his charge. The train was too confined a space to swing a sword in, which gave him a distinct advantage over the Mako-enhanced drones. Cloud had a sinking feeling that these terrorists –who described themselves as 'Ravens'– were all that was left of the squad of third-classes who had inexplicably gone missing on a routine mission in the desert near Corel about two weeks previously.

Considering that his former comrades were now little more than Mako powered zombies Cloud had no qualms about blasting and dismembering them as efficiently as possible in the pursuit of his goal. The blond eventually located the professor, then found himself in the unenviable position of having to defend the scientist while fighting off two determined Ravens out to exterminate both him and his charge.

The Turk somehow managed to join him just as he was trying to decide whether to run for it or risk going on the offensive, which made the choice a whole lot easier as Cloud now had only one opponent. Said opponent however proved smarter than his comrades and chose to escape off the train rather than go up against the blond third-class on his own. Cloud, a little disappointed –he'd got into his stride by this point and was enjoying himself– took a moment to check on the professor's wellbeing before assisting the Turk in subduing the last remaining Raven. Namely by shooting the man in the head at close range. As the pseudo-SOLDIER was down to the last of his reserves when the bullet hit him, this resulted in his brains being violently ejected out of the other side of his skull. Messy, but effective.


Once professor Rayleigh had been safely delivered to the Science Department and both Cloud and the Turk –who had finally introduced herself as Carey– were berated by Hojo for letting a Raven steal the data chip. After leaving the greasy scientist's office the blond SOLDIER quietly pulled the blue-suited woman away from the lifts.

"This mission was originally set up to be just you and three infantrymen," the third-class said blandly as he led Carey towards the stairs.

The ash-haired woman said nothing for a few moments as they entered the stairwell and began their descent, her forehead furrowed in thought. "I could have died," she said eventually, "had I had to fight them all off myself."

"Maybe. I really do wonder why they didn't charter a helicopter in the first place if the data was really that important," Cloud mused aloud, more for her benefit than his own. He had been puzzled when Veld had tagged him for this supposedly low-level mission at the last moment. It seemed the Chief Turk suspected a leak somewhere.

"Take care," the blond said seriously before picking up his speed, zipping down the stairs as fast as could safely be managed. He needed to talk to Vincent about AVALANCHE, particularly their newfound bodysnatching habit. They were becoming something of a nuisance.


Longest ever chapter. We meet a new Turk and Cloud gets some more clues and we get to see a bit more of Seph's highly questionable sense of humour. What more could anyone desire? Other than more frequent updates, of course.

I am doing the best I can.

EDIT: just fixing a few typos and clarifying stuff.