The truck bumped and bounced on up the dirt road until they finally reached the plateau. The huge sand colored building could easily be missed by someone who wasn't looking for it since it was tucked between two small cliffs on the plateau. It had a twelve foot wall around it with a thick black iron gate. Denzel stopped the truck and put it in park. A small breeze caused a little cloud of dust to form.

"So how are we supposed to get through or let them know their packages have arrived?" Marlene asked surveying the wall for any gadget that would allow them to contact the residence inside.

"Good question, I see nothing" Denzel stepped out of the truck surveying the gate and the wall. He walked up to the gate trying to peer into the courtyard and could see what looked like an oasis in courtyard and a couple of very intricate motorbikes nearby. About thirty meters ahead he could see what looked to be the entrance to the sprawled out manor. Two tall double reinforced doors, but that was all Denzel could make out. The rest of the courtyard had a few more trees and...

"Yikes!" What the hell!" Denzel jumped back from the gate as two big guard hounds seemed to appear out of nowhere and were growling and barking loudly in front of him.

"Shit! Guard hounds?! What civilized person uses these ugly creatures?"

"I remember Cloud telling me the story of how Rufus Shinra had a huge guard hound with him when he first fought him" Marlene recounts the story as the guard hounds continue to snarl and show their teeth. The tall ten foot iron gate was the only thing that separated them from these monstrous hounds.

"Hello!" Denzel shouted over the growling hounds.

"No one seems to be coming, how long should we wait?"

"This delivery is important, it's a thousand five hundred gil! So we wait until we can get someone's attention" Denzel said taking out the invoice.

"Who is the owner?"

"It says Thane and some last name I can't pronounce"

"That's it!?"

"Yep!" Denzel folded the invoice back putting it into his pocket.

Marlene sighed and returned back to the truck. Denzel took out his cell phone and began dialing.

"Damn!"

"What's wrong?"

"No cell service... I was hoping Cloud had a number to call this guy but it looks like we're playing a waiting game!" Denzel said with much irritation. They both sat outside the gate as the hounds lie behind it watching their every move. The sun peaked through the grey clouds intermittently.

After thirty minutes of waiting impatiently, Marlene noticed a few figures in the background emerge from the tall double doors.

"I think here comes the owner, or someone who can take these damned crates" Marlene pointed. After a minute, the guard hounds disappeared back into their spots as the three figures emerged to the gates.

Two figures were tall gaunt looking men wearing black suits and fedora hats with dark shades. The third figure was just a couple inches shorter than Denzel. He had long silver grey hair tied back in a ponytail which came to his mid-back wearing a black leather jacket, a pair of white slacks, and a pair of very black shiny dress shoes. Once they were within ten feet of the gate, the shorter young man pointed a small device above and the lock on the gate clicked loudly. The gates retreated into the walls while screeching in protest.

"I take it you have business here?" the young man said with a smile once the gates finished their screeching with a loud jolt.

"Yes, we're with Strife's Delivery Service" Marlene spoke up.

"Oh! Very good! Then you have a delivery for me then I presume, come, drive the truck on in by the front door" the silver haired young man lit up motioning them to follow as they walked back in. The two men followed closely behind the young man.

Denzel and Marlene returned to the truck and slowly followed them in.

"These are strange looking people" Marlene remarked.

"Shhh!" Denzel replied looking ahead. Once they entered the compound, they could see an area with a natural oasis pond, several palm trees around it. Oddly enough, the guard hounds were no where to be seen. He put the truck in park and jumped out to open the back. The two bigger men in suits came behind him.

"We got it" one of them grunted.

"There's three crates" Denzel pulled open the back doors.

The two suited broad shouldered men walked right past him and carried each crate one at a time. Denzel quickly moved out of the way as Marlene watched from the opposite side. The crates each had large red "Xs" on every side and they weighed at least a couple hundred pounds each. He and Cloud both struggled to move the crates on the truck earlier.

"Careful with my ba...my crates" The young man said in a strangely calm voice. It took no more than five minutes to unload the other two crates to Marlene's relief.

"How much today?" the voice suddenly snapped Marlene out of her silent observation almost startling her.

"The invoice, right!" Marlene quickly retrieved the envelope. "Fifteen hundred gil" Marlene said taking the invoice and a pen out of her pocket. The young man took the envelope and the invoice and made a mark on the bottom handing it and two thousand gil to Marlene as Denzel closed up the back of the truck. The two suited men disappeared in the manor with the first crate.

"Keep the change" the young man winked at Marlene slyly.

"Thank you mister..."

"Just call me Thane... so Strife's delivery service, you run a nice business?" he asked with his mesmerizing looking green eyes. For what appeared to be an adolescent youth, he seemed very odd.

"It's not my service... it's my dad's" Marlene smiled nervously.

"Would his name happen to be Cloud?" Thane asked with a smug smile.

"Yes, that's right" Denzel said confidently entering the conversation.

"Hmph... very good" Thane said handing the invoice back to Marlene as she ripped off the carbon copy handing it back to him.

"Who asks?" Denzel asked a bit protectively.

"No one worth mentioning... well thanks, I may call you again" Thane said shifting back as the two suited men emerged back outside standing in front of the second crate glaring their way. Marlene and Denzel both glanced back at the suited men who now stood still watching them behind their dark shades.

"I'll let you know, until then... be careful out there" Thane ended the coversation almost gliding away back into the manor.

Marlene and Denzel wasted no time getting back in the truck to leave the compound. As they drove out the exit, Marlene could see the two suited men watching them in the sideview mirror.

"I'm glad to be out of there" Denzel sighed in relief.

"There's something a bit too familiar about that boy"

"How so?" Denzel replied carefully avoiding the potholes as they began their descent around the winding roads.

"I can't quite put my finger on it just yet, but something from the past... We should tell Cloud"

"No, mom and dad have their hands full with little Aerith, the last thing they need is to be stressed about some strange character. Then he won't trust us to be able to handle the business for him"

"I don't know..."

"Think about it, this is our first time doing this! I want dad to not have to come to the rescue every time there's a problem...besides we still have a couple more deliveries"

"My better judgement tells me we should tell them, but I understand what you're saying. Fine, as long as we don't run into anymore strange situations" Marlene clasped her hands together nervously. "Atleast we got a five hundred gil tip" she finished with a smile.

"Really!?"

"Uh-huh"

"You see, it's worth it. We've been able to handle ourselves in the past... like that time you and Betty got lost when we went to Cosmo Canyon three years ago"

"I'll never forget that as much as I would like to, we were lucky you showed up when you did" Marlene looked up remembering that evening.

Denzel smiled feeling the tension suddenly disappearing as they finally reached the bottom of the crags heading on the wasteland road back to Edge. As they drove off, two more dark beasts watched them carefully on a high peak until they disappeared from view.