Fallout

The next three months were unusually tense for those members of the extended Valentine Clan working for and around the ShinRa Electric Company. Sephiroth is pensive, occasionally absent-minded and usually frowning, clawed nails tapping impatient staccato beats on nearby surfaces. He is also marginally more paranoid than can be considered normal and stares thoughtfully at second-class Kunsel whenever the SOLDIER is nearby. This makes the ever-helmeted SOLDIER extremely twitchy in a 'should I be running for the hills?' kind of way.


Cloud knows exactly what the problem is and puts his life and health on the line to rouse the Silver General from his brooding, help with the interminable paperwork that breeds in his mentor's office and join the slit-pupilled man on whatever mission Director Lazard has set up for the last ShinRa General this time. The blond also socialised with Kunsel every now and then, gossiping about the latest terrorist incursions, monster sightings and the rumours seeping out of the Science Department like putrid fluids from a month-old corpse.


Zack is blithely unaware of the source of the trouble and only picks up on the second-hand tension pervading the SOLDIER department in the vaguest of ways. His timetable and duties are such that he and Sephiroth rarely even cross paths so he does not have the opportunity to discern that the Silver General is the fount of the lingering unease and uncertainty that seems to drift through the corridors of the ShinRa building, lowering morale and encouraging the rumour mill to greater and more extravagant heights. As far as the spiky-haired first-class is concerned the SOLDIERs are on edge due to the whispers of abductions and brainwashing by terrorists.


Kunsel is much more nervous, though he at least has a legitimate foundation on which to build his paranoia. The memory of the Silver General lunging at him with Masamune, moving at impossible speed with eyes wide and insane, has featured prominently in his more recent nightmares. He had guessed that Draculina was Sephiroth's sister and had been aware of the possibility that the General might not be pleased to find that one of his men was involved with his sibling, but those thoughts had not prepared him for the reality. He had received a pair of deep gashes in that instant of primal terror when he failed to dodge quite fast enough: one between his ribs high on his left side, the other deep in the flesh of his upper arm. He could attest that both edges of the legendary blade were razor-sharp and counted himself lucky to still be among the living.

Had he moved any slower the sword would have pierced his heart.

Almost as frightening had been how fast Draculina had reacted to the threat, dislocating first her brother's wrist with one hand then kicking his legs from under him with a violent and perfectly timed swipe. She had pinned the Silver General to the bedroom floor before Kunsel even realised he was wounded. The second-class knew now that his lover was heavily Mako-enhanced, possibly just as much as Sephiroth himself was. Nothing else could explain her inhuman speed and casual display of impossible levels of strength. No-one in the history of SOLDIER had ever been able to physically overpower the Silver General.


Vincent was thoughtful. She had honestly not anticipated such a violent confrontation between her son and her lover, though in hindsight she should have. Up until now she had never truly forced her son to recognise her authority as both his parent and his superior in combat, ingraining in his mind her position as the alpha female of their twisty little family. So it really shouldn't have surprised her that he took her dating someone he perceived as lower on the food chain that him so very poorly; to his now more animal instincts it had been a natural reaction. Fortunately she'd moved fast enough to prevent casualties and severe property damage and had been able to cut of Galian Beast's burning ire at having her authority challenged by her own cub.

Unlike the SOLDIER members of her little clan, Vincent had plenty of opportunities for distraction as the year rolled to a close. Rude's cute lady-friend was revealed to be a spy for AVALANCHE, there was a major Kimara Bug infestation in the sewers and Sephiroth's birthday came and went. Zack once again ensured the Silver General had a cake, even though he was only able to join the party for an hour before being called away. Sephiroth blew out candles, cautiously sampled the sticky ginger loaf and pronounced it delicious before handing it out to all those present. He was rather more bemused by the brunet first-class' taste in gifts; a coffee mug with 'Don't piss me off: I'm running out of places to hide the bodies' written on it was either disturbingly knowledgeable or hilariously off target, depending on whether you believed in prophetic foreshadowing.

Cloud gave his mentor a pair of rare Dragon Scales he had either bought or pickpocketed from a wealthy merchant and Vincent gave her son some green tea, since he was always stealing hers. She also handed over six greetings cards with nothing written inside them, one each from Genesis, Angeal, Weiss, Nero, Rosso and Shelke. Sephiroth was particularly intrigued by Weiss' card, which had a detailed and realistic picture of a Dark Dragon on it.


In fact, Vincent had been so busy trying to ferret out AVALANCHE and attempting to discern what on earth Chaos was up to –the herald of OMEGA was just too quiet of late– that she almost missed the increased activity and new personnel going in and out of the Department of Administrative Research, also known as the Investigative Sector of General Affairs or just 'the Turks'. There were now considerably more Turks than there had been a year ago and all of the newcomers were fairly competent, capable and based out of Midgar itself. In fact, the avatar of Chaos might have missed the change entirely were it not for the steady increase in clientele frequenting a certain pub in Wall Market under the Plate.

The red-eyed laboratory escapee was able to ratchet up the number of confirmed elite Turks from eight to thirteen after a few well-calculated snooping sessions, not counting the off-duty Avro, who was still under house arrest in Costa del Sol.

The Turks interested Vincent in a way no other group of ShinRa personnel could; she had been one of them once upon a time and it amused her to keep track of the intricate scheming of her old Department. Veld proved the only face she recognised from before her imprisonment, but that was hardly surprising considering the Department's mortality rate.

Surreptitious eavesdropping revealed the names of her new colleagues: Levi was the real name of the older half of the duo Cloud had dubbed 'the crazy redheads'. He loved motorcycles and used an EMR just like his younger brother Reno. The short blonde with the bob and a gun was Maria, elder sister to the girl who ran the Wall Market pub. The former thug with the wild hairstyle and two handguns was called Kirian and really didn't like following 'official procedure', mainly because he clearly could never remember what it was.

Then there was Caridad –Carey– the ash-haired former mercenary who'd gone on a mission with Cloud and was the most recent recruit. She was a joy to watch: a true professional with a cool head and a knack for high kicks. Seto the swordsman, Amber the knife-fighter and Rude –who only used his fists– Vincent was already familiar with, having shadowed each of them at one time or another. Seto he knew best, since they'd spent several months together two years ago when the quiet swordsman had taught Cloud the basics of his combat style.

The last three newbies were Hilary, a blond optimist who used nunchaku, Elisaveta, an excitable platinum blonde from a wealthy family with a knack for shotguns and Natalya –who had introduced herself to Zack as Cissinei back in April– who had been picked out of an orphanage and raised to fight with the oversized traditional Wutai shuriken.

Vincent just knew that Veld was not drafting all of these talented people just to fight AVALANCHE; half of them would have been enough for that. No, Veld was solidifying his support base with a strong cast of loyal followers. The only possible reason for such a strong task force to be created was either to carry out a coup or in order to enforce a massive cover-up. Or maybe both.

While the coup idea was possible considering the Turks were raising old man Shinra's son foe him the avatar of Chaos was currently leaning towards the cover-up: Veld had known her very well back when they had been partners and she hadn't changed all that much. It followed that, on being made aware of her involvement, he would be able to make an educated guess at her goals. That he seemed to be preparing to deal with the eventual fallout rather than trying to head her off was a pleasant surprise and boded very well for his survival; she didn't want to kill her former lover but would have done it if it had proved necessary for Sephiroth's survival. If Veld was going to turn a blind eye then Vincent saw no reason to kill him or any of his underlings, provided they did not interfere with her vengeance.

Of course Chaos loved spying on the oblivious blue-suits as well, though Vincent couldn't shake the feeling that the Herald of OMEGA's motives were rather more suspect. Possibly even sinister. That Reno, the 'little pest', was his favourite just unnerved the red-eyed avatar all the more.


Time passes. Plots mature. Life goes on. Plus, more on the Turks.

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