Chapter 41: Eye Spy
Summary: After following Zack around the coastal plains, watching him kill the monsters he didn't want to turn into, Cloud was looking forward to a shower, food, and sleep. That's not what happened.
Zack stopped in the entryway to the mansion's kitchen so abruptly Cloud bumped into him. "Aw, hells no!"
"Fair! You're lookin' kinda rough, yo."
Cloud shifted to the left and saw Reno and Rude. The red-head was sitting at the breakfast table, leaning back with his feet crossed on the polished surface, arms laced behind his head – picture perfect relaxation. Rude, the quiet one, was standing, hands clasped behind his back, supposedly staring at the picture hanging on the wall. It was glass covered, so the Turk was probably watching him and Zack in the reflection.
"Nope," Zack said shortly. He about-faced, and stepped around Cloud with an eagerness that was the complete opposite to how he'd trudged back to Costa del Sol.
Cloud lifted his eyebrows in question – Aerith had given them a heads up, so what was the problem?
Zack smirked back at him. "Talk to Cloud," A half-assed over-the-shoulder wave, and the former SOLDIER bounded over to the stairs and escaped. He left a red-tinged cloud behind him. The worst of the mess had fallen off on the trek back, but after five hours of monster killing, everything the SOLDIER wore had been coated in blood. It had dried into a fine film in the Costa heat.
"Cloud Strife the Unattainable!" Reno dropped his feet to the floor and leaned over the table. "I'd luuuve to talk to you." He cupped his chin in his hand and fluttered his eyelashes. Cloud sighed and gave the Shinra flunky an unimpressed look.
Dangerous flunky, he reminded himself.
He knew Aerith had called Tseng about the fight, but he also figured someone else had reported to the Turks. Reno and Rude had arrived far too quickly even with a dedicated Shinra aircraft, so they'd been on their way. Something had happened between leaving Junon last night and … maybe noon? They could've left as soon as Aerith asked for the code to the mansion, but they would've been here earlier. Then it occurred to him, they'd probably been watching Hojo. As the head of Science Research, he'd known more of Shinra's dirty secrets than anyone, up to the president himself, and maybe they'd worried Zack would follow through on his "joke" to kill the man. But it that was the case, why'd they let them come to Hojo's location in the first place?
Something didn't add up and that made Cloud's brain itch in unpleasant ways.
"Hojo's dead," he said, grabbing some water from the tap. "Not sure much of him was original though."
"So we were informed," Rude said, finally turning to face Cloud properly.
"Aerith called him a Hojoroth," Reno smiled. "Who knew the Ancient had a sense of humour?"
"Anyone whose spent more time with her than watching her." Cloud refilled his glass. He really, really wanted to go upstairs and make use of Shinra's ridiculous bathing rooms, but he would stick around and talk. After all, maybe this way they'd reveal why they were really in Costa del Sol. Plus clients were entitled to updates, and Shinra was technically the client….
He strode to the table, flipped a chair around so he could keep his blade on. "Ask."
Reno narrowed his eyes, assessing, strategizing, changing his approach, demonstrating in an instant, why he was second-in-command of the Turks as he dropped all the stupid flirtation nonsense. "Did you follow Hojo here with the intent to kill him?"
Cloud was too controlled to snort water out his nose, but he wanted to. Instead, he swallowed. "Fuck no," he said. "Was on a frigging beach chair, like a tourist."
Reno smiled in response. "Not where I'd look for him."
"Nobody would've," Cloud agreed. "You following 'im?"
Reno laughed again. "Naw. Passive monitoring only." He said it broad and open, so Cloud suspected it was a lie. "Got a call from Aerith when she was nearly arrested. Don't worry," he continued. "Nothing happened, and Aerith made sure we knew the force sergeant had done nothing wrong."
"She was most adamant," Rude added. He was still standing, trying to use his height to intimidate.
Whatever.
Cloud nodded at Reno to indicate it was his turn to ask a question.
"Did Hojo threaten Aerith or the rest of the team and that's what set Fair off?"
A drink of cool water to let him think. Reno made it sound like the others had all said that – like they'd agreed to a cover story. It wasn't a clever or believable story – too many people on the beach. Made it nice that he didn't have to lie.
"I wasn't there," Cloud replied. "Bathtubs are amazing here, and you've got laundry machines. Wanted to take advantage." His sorted clothes would still be on the floor of his room, he realized.
Rude pushed up his sunglasses. "If you were doing chores, why'd you leave?"
"Heard screams, panic."
"So you ran towards it?" Reno laughed. "Of course, you fuckin' did." Cloud shrugged. It was kind of his job to run towards monsters.
His turn. "Did you know Hojo was more Jenova than human? That he'd turn into a monster?"
"Fuck, no!" Reno spat. "Crazy fuckin' nutbar."
Cloud thought he could believe Reno, but he wasn't sure how much it helped. He'd hoped (but hadn't been sure) that the Turks wouldn't've knowingly let a mutated Hojo wander free, but if they'd had someone watching Hojo… And even then, the surveillance was probably more to protect Shinra's secrets than anything else. If it had been to protect the public, the watcher would've helped out on the beach.
"Know where he was going?" Cloud asked. "Costa wasn't his end point."
Reno shook his head with a smirk. "Our turn." He leaned over the table, getting close. "What the fuck did Fair do to Tseng?"
Cloud could only blink.
Reno pushed away from the table and violence shivered in the air. "Tseng's risking a fucking tonne for Fair, yo, and I wanna know why. What hold does Fair have on 'im? It's gotta be something good."
Cloud had nothing to say to that. "Nothing," he shrugged.
"Horn shit, Strife! There's something." The Turk pulled in a breath, and then he was back at the table, leaning forward, threatening. "Ever since we found out Fair escaped Hojo's lab, Tseng has had us helping him, yo! Risking all of us for an empty-headed blade swinger."
Cloud filed that one away to be offended by later. For now, he said nothing, figuring Reno would reveal more if he kept quiet.
"Fuck, man! When he was on the run, we fed him intel and supplies, steered him away from Security Force bottlenecks." Reno spat out. "When Heidegger's regiment was out in the wastes getting ready to ambush the bastard, me and Rude were up in chopper looking to pull him out." He leaned forward. "Helicopters aren't subtle, yo!"
Cloud kept his opinion that they'd done a piss-poor job of the search to himself. He took another sip of water.
"And then there's this!" He slapped his mag-rod on the table and glared at Cloud. Cloud kept silent. Honestly not knowing what "this" Reno meant.
Reno growled and pointed his mag-rod at Cloud.
Cloud narrowed his eyes.
Zack had told him how close-knit the Turks were, how protective they were of each other. This was part of that. Reno wasn't angry that they'd killed Hojo: he was worried that Hojo's death at Zack's hand would bounce back on them. From what Zack had said, there'd been a couple dozen Turks before the Nibelheim mission and now there was maybe a handful. Somewhere in between they'd bled operatives, and what had once been a large team was now a handful.
Because of that, Cloud could understand Reno's anger, but that was as much as he'd allow. He still had his sword. He had his materia. He didn't give a shit about damaging Shinra's vacation home, and he had his full team here. If Reno (or Rude) tried doing anything to him, he would fight back.
Rude put a hand on his partner's arm, gently pushing it down. "Tseng convinced Rufus to hire you," he said.
"He put his 'reputation' on it," Reno snarled. "A bunch of amateur monster hunters with less sense than a fucking boundfat!"
Ah, Cloud thought. Pride. He drank the last of his water and put the glass on the table.
"Can think a few reasons why he'd do that," he said. He crossed his arms across the chair back and waited for Reno to focus on him and not his fear. "One: could've saved Zack from Hojo back at the start but didn't. His reasons were good, maybe, but still."
"Guilt?" Reno didn't believe it.
Cloud shrugged slightly. "Said they were friends."
Reno was already shaking his head. "Turks don't have friends that aren't Turks."
And that was another reason Cloud would never have sex with Reno. All his partners were friends first, and he'd never get that from the redhead.
Cloud didn't say that, of course. Instead, he pointed out that Tseng had protected Aerith from Shinra and Hojo for years. "Proves he's got soft spots. Maybe Zack was – is – one of them."
Reno frowned, opening his mouth for a snarky reply, but Rude shifted his weight and hmmed. Like it was code, Reno swallowed whatever he'd planned to say. "What else?"
"He's protecting you," Cloud said. "We go up against Sephiroth and die, who cares? Rufus keeps his gil; tries with another team. But you face him and die…?"
Rude rolled his shoulders. Cloud figured the Turks'd discussed that possibility. No surprise there: his team had discussed their expendability before they'd accepted Rufus's offer.
Reno's eyes narrowed. "What else?"
"Gonna backstab us at the last minute," he said bluntly. "We do all the work, wear Sephiroth down. Turks swoop in at the end, kill us, take all the glory and Rufus keeps his gil." Logical, efficient, and it kept the Turks both safe and golden.
Rude shifted his weight one way and then back. "You think so little of us?" he asked. For him, it was a huge show of nerves that meant backstabbing was probably the actual plan, or at least what Rude thought was the plan.
Cloud kept his attention on Reno. "Like you said, you got a lot to lose."
There was silence in the small room as Reno stared at him and he looked back.
"We can walk away," Cloud suggested. "We keep the deposit and Shinra can clean up their own mess."
And the rubber was back in Reno's posture. His spine relaxed; a casual hand came up to rub an "aw shucks" smirk onto his face. Cloud kinda preferred the more honest outrage and fear from before.
"Why you here?" he asked.
"Hojo was an important man," Reno swung his own seat around and sat, his posture now mirrored Cloud's. "Gotta keep a lid on the fallout, yo."
"Horn shit," Cloud echoed. If they were concerned with the public reaction, they would've been at Costa's news outlet or the Security Force HQ – or out on the beach convincing people they hadn't seen what they had.
Rude cleared his throat softly. Reno shot a glare at his partner but huffed in acceptance. "Part of it is Hojo. Part of it is..." The Turk's shoulders slumped. "Fuck. Tseng's worried."
Cloud didn't press. He got up and got them all water. Rude nodded thanks at his glass. Reno glared at it like it was a personal insult.
"We've been watching the flower girl since she was a kid, yo."
Cloud's eyebrow went up. "You're how old?"
"Yah, yah. Fine." The redhead rolled his eyes. "Not me personally, but Turks. We've all spent a lot of time watching her grow up."
"She treats you like annoying cousins."
Reno sneered. "I wouldn't know. I didn't have any." Rude cleared his throat. When Reno looked at him, he tipped his head and sniffed lightly. Reno looked at him for a moment longer before collapsing. "Fuuuuuck," he groaned.
Cloud hid his amusement by drinking his water. Then he killed it by reminding himself that, no matter how protective they might feel towards Aerith, they were Shinra's dirty deeds people. If Shinra asked them to pull Aerith back, they'd go through all of them to do it.
Or they'd try.
"Why you here?" he repeated.
Reno sighed, but it wasn't dramatic: it was resigned.
He glared at Cloud. "Rufus wants a Turk on the team," he finally said. "Me or Rude." He glared at Cloud as if daring him to say something, do something. The glare was resentful, but also kind of angry and kind of sad. Reno was not happy with the order.
It wasn't that the two Turks couldn't operate as individuals – there could be a Reno without a Rude – but it was another reduction to the team. The separation could be temporary: they could find Sephiroth in the next town over, and the Turk would do their job (whatever it was) and return to Midgar in a week.
Or it could be permanent. After all, backstabbing wasn't limited to Turks. Cloud's team could decide it was safer to off the Turk in some remote location on the way. Or Sephiroth could kill everyone when they finally caught up. Either of those meant that there'd be one less Turk in an already reduced team.
Again, Cloud could understand Reno's anger and worry, but that was all he'd allow.
Still, today had revealed that they could use more better, more recent, information on what was going on in Shinra. If Cloud had known Hojo was in Costa Del Sol, he'd've routed them to the southern terminal. They would've had to travel longer with Barrett, but they could've stopped at Gongaga and Zack could've introduced Aerith to his parents. Yes, the world was better without Hojo in it, but was Zack better for having killed him?
He tapped his fingers as he thought.
The Turks wouldn't leave if he said no. They'd press and pester and just be there. Or they'd pretend to leave but they'd follow. Helicopters might not be subtle, but they were faster than their broken-down truck. So, refusing here meant they'd have a hidden, uncertain ally that could (would?) turn on them when they needed help most or were weakest or most vulnerable.
That wasn't acceptable. They were a good team, but even Zack could only stay alert for so long against an unseen, and possibly non-existent, enemy.
Adding Reno or Rude to the team was... Just no.
Cloud needed a third alternative.
He tapped his fingers one last time. "Not on the team." He flicked his gaze over Rude. "But a whaddyamacallit – a handler. Whoever was watching Hojo."
Reno sat back, spreading his arms. "Whaddya mean?"
Cloud cut him off. "You arrived too soon: you were on your way already. Why? 'Cause your asset said there could be trouble and Tseng listened. One of your 'retired' Turks, I figure. Separated from Shinra, but loyal to the group."
Rude pushed up his glasses. Reno's sneer returned. "So clever."
"Good guess," Cloud answered back. Around Shinra, it was probably better to be considered lucky than too smart.
"You're too modest," came a slinky voice from the doorway. "You're both clever and lucky. Thankfully, Genesis hadn't been trying to sneak up on them, so Cloud had been somewhat prepared for the interruption. He hadn't expected the person who came with him.
Genesis fluttered his hand in greeting and pulled out a chair for Tifa.
"Rhapsodos." Reno's unhappiness deepened.
"Miss Lockheart," his partner said in a much friendlier tone.
"Why do we need a Turk watching us?" Tifa asked. "We've been successful in taking down several Jenova-based monsters that Shinra was unprepared for or actively ignoring."
"Partnership," Reno growled. "A sign of trust."
"But we don't trust you," Genesis said with a smile.
Cloud hid his agreement by getting more water. "Because we want them where we can see them."
"Ah!" Genesis said as if enlightened. "And you suggested the one that none of us saw. Clever." He flipped his coat tails and sat on Cloud's abandoned chair.
Cloud sighed. Genesis was going flamboyantly obnoxious in front of the Turks.
"Compromise," he said to Reno, hoping the Turk would see the benefit of the deal.
The redhead quirked his lips. "I'll run it by the boss." It was said in his usual obnoxious style, but there a s light of hope in his eye. "Let you know what he says, yo." Reno burst into movement, standing up, sheathing his mag-rod, giving them his usual smirk before sliding out the door. His partner took a moment to nod to Tifa, but his departure was just as abrupt.
"Would locking the door keep them out?" he asked the room.
Genesis rolled his eyes which was answer enough.
"I don't like it," Tifa said.
"Don't like it much either," Cloud agreed. He ran a hand over his hair which felt sticky and itchy. "Gonna go clean up." Everything would feel better when he could no longer feel Hojo's blood on his skin.
.o0|0o.
Cloud's laundry was on the floor where he'd left it. He ignored the messy pile and headed for the shower.
Cloud liked his life, liked being on the road for much of the time, staying with a friend one night or camping out the next, but there was something to be said for a near endless supply of hot water and fancy smelling soaps.
By the time he could no longer feel purple goo and sand anywhere on his skin, he'd decided that laundry would come before food. Not even the cleanest of his clothes matched what he needed right now.
To that end he grabbed the thick robe from the back of the bathroom door and stuffed all his clothes into his bag. Barefoot on the thick carpet, he padded silently to the servant stairs that were a more direct route to the laundry room. When he opened the door, Aerith was already there, staring at the mechanical dryer as it spun her (or probably, their) clothes in an endless loop. She was alone.
Cloud was surprised she'd let Zack out of her sight so soon.
"How's Zack?" he asked.
She jumped, startled. He repeated the question. "He's good," she replied. "He's sleeping." She went back to staring at the dryer.
It made sense. Even a former-SOLDIER could get tired especially after an emotional breakdown that involved five hours of monster killing.
Aerith seemed lost in thought, so Cloud just stuffed his clothes in the washing machine. There was soap on the shelf nearby. It looked expensive. Cloud gave it a sniff. It was as nice as the stuff in the shower (meaning nicer than his all-purpose bar soap), so he measured it out and poured it over top everything. He shut the lid and looked at the knobs. There were more of them than he was used to, and the icons were fancier, but in the end, hot was hot and cold was cold. He could barely hear the water filling the machine. It was just a soft shushing sound in the background.
The dryer spun and hummed, and the washer chugged, and the rhythms were hypnotic. The room was warm, but nothing like the heat of outdoors. Cloud leaned against the walls and let his concentration slip away.
He was just wondering if he should wait here or go to the kitchen for a snack when –
"Cloud?"
It was his turn to jump a little. He hadn't forgotten Aerith was there, but he hadn't been thinking of it either. The dryer had stopped.
"Would you let me touch you?"
Cloud's eyebrows went up. He waited until she turned to look at him. When she did, she obviously realized what she'd said. She blushed and slapped his arm. "Not like that!"
He laughed. "What then?"
The humour fell from her face. She gave him a hesitant look. "I think – I'm pretty sure – I can get rid of whatever Hojo did to you. Or, at least, the worst parts. You know, the Jenova cells. The dangerous ones," she finished quietly.
"Ok," he said. He frowned. "You think I have Jenova cells?" he asked.
He actually had no idea if he did or not, but he'd been wondering for a while. Considering Hojo's obsession with the stuff, it was certainly possible. J-cells could've been in the stuff that had been dropped on his squad back when he was a Security Forces trooper. If some of them had mutated because of J-cells, that explained why they'd disappeared while he was in the coma. The way J-cells try to connect – that whole 'reunion' thing – would explain the voices he'd heard then, too. Well, voice. And he hadn't really heard it; he'd felt it. Kinda.
Odd the memories that had followed him out of the coma.
"Can you tell if I have them?"
"I can check," she said. "I figured out what it… well, what they feel like. It's why I need to touch you. To check."
He looked at her. The idea that he could mutate like Hojo or any of the things they'd found in the secret lab, was...
Cloud held out his arm.
The look she shot him was grateful and excited. Her hand wrapped gently around his forearm. A quick smile, a sharp breath and she closed her eyes. He also closed his eyes and tried to sense Aerith's presence in his body: tried to sense any alien, Jenova cells – signs of internal mutation...
It was just his body. A little tired, a little sore, and a little hungry after a long day. His skin felt dry, which made him think of Andy. You feel like you've been living in a desert. Don't you use moisturizer?
There'd been moisturizer in the bathroom upstairs. Maybe before he went to bed...
Pain spiked from his spine to his eyeball. He felt like his brain had been flash frozen, or maybe electrified. He tore his arm from Aerith's grip in order to hold his head together.
"I'm sorry!" Aerith said.
He could still feel it, bouncing around his skull. He breathed through his mouth, matching the rhythm of the washing machine – two, three, four...
"I'm so sorry." The warmth that Cloud associated with Aerith's healing magic flowed through him, taking away everything but the echo of pain. It was a loud echo.
"Odin's balls, Aerith. What was that?" he managed. Another warm bath of healing and the pain was a memory.
"I don't know," she said. "That shouldn't have happened."
"What should've happened, then."
She launched into a rambling explanation of how Zack felt spiky and all the things she'd tried to smooth that out. She talked about an epiphany she'd had about Hojo and Jenova cells, with a sidetrack into a something about a force sergeant (?). She told him about the purple goo in the sand and how it was like the creatures in Shinra's underground lab. That seemed to have led her to wear her dress in the shower. And then she made magical water.
Honestly, she was talking so fast and backing up over herself so often that Cloud picked out only the occasional word. He nodded his head and 'hmm'ed' a couple times, but mostly he let her talk out all of the worry she'd been feeling.
It was astonishing how much anxiety she'd been hiding behind her boppy exterior.
"But what if it doesn't work!" she wailed at the end. He gathered her in and let her cry on Shinra's soft bathrobe.
Best he understood, she'd figured out a way to get rid of J-cells and she'd just tested that process out on him. But the cells had fought back. That's why he'd suddenly felt like he'd been hit with Comet.
So he didn't really understand that part, except that it confirmed he had J-cells. Alien cells making him... what? Stronger than mako alone could do? He hadn't even been in the SOLDIER program. He'd applied, sure, but that wasn't an agreement to become an experiment. But at least he knew now. He could deal with it, because he knew for sure.
That left him with the other big question he had regarding Jenova. There had to have been a reason Shinra'd injected everyone and their dogs with the stuff? Aside from Hojo being cactuar crazy, which – based on the thing he'd turned into on the beach – he definitely had been. So why?
SOLDIER: faster, stronger, harder to kill. Great for taking over the world. That was a logical reason (though not necessarily a good one.)
Monsters in the basement: already fast, strong and dangerous as hell. Let's make them more of that until even a SOLDIER First Class could barely handle them. And while we're at it, let's ignore what'll happen if they ever get out into the biggest city on the planet!
Cloud had tried to figure out a reason for the science department's recent' experiments but he really couldn't find one that made sense. Maybe there hadn't been a reason aside from 'why not?' and 'because we can'. It certainly wasn't outside of Shinra norms: Let's build a huge-ass elevated city, and then not finish it. Let's invade Wutai over a mako reactor, and then not build it.
Useless questions, really.
"Did Zack react the same way?" he asked instead.
She shook her head. "We talked about it, but he said we couldn't know what it would take from him, and what if it was the J-cells that would let him defeat Sephiroth. I don't understand what happened –"
"Wait, wait, wait" He stepped back a little. "Hold up. You tried to remove my J-cells. Just now, that wasn't just a scan."
She shook her head. "You don't have many, and they're not as condensed as Zack's, so it should've been easy, but it didn't work."
Cloud took a strong grip on his temper. "What you're saying, Aerith, is that you had a theory, wasn't sure it would work or what the result would be, but you tried it out on me without telling me or asking for my consent."
"Well, yes, kinda," she waggled her head. "But it –"
"It was in a good cause?" he finished for her. "Did it because you could, and thought it was justified?"
"That's not… I mean," she looked at him sadly. "I didn't think it would hurt."
"Not angry about the pain, Aerith. What you did? It's just like Hojo and Shinra. They don't ask people either."
Her mouth opened in a small 'O' of distress and understanding of just how much she'd fucked up. There were tears and guilt building in her eyes. Guilt wasn't helpful.
"It's a good idea," he said. "Needs work, though, ya?"
She nodded, tears spilling over. "It was so easy to just try it. I didn't even think to stop and ask."
Cloud sighed. "Not saying I won't let you try again, but after you understand it better and with proper consent. Got me?"
She nodded again. Then she dove back against him and cried a bunch more. Cloud was angry, but Aerith was also a friend, part of the team, and in many ways, so very young. He would work to let go of his anger. He would forgive her as long as she never did it again.
.o0|0o.
"You traitorous little cocksucker!"
The silence in the Executive Boardroom echoed with the percussion of a gunshot.
"Tseng?" Rufus's question was mildly voiced, only a vague hint of disapproval. Legs crossed, he looked very much at home in the chair that used to be his father's.
"I thought he was reaching for a gun."
It was plausible. At least Palmer had thought so as he'd dived under the table about the same time Heidegger had stood up, with his hand somewhat close to the place where he kept his personal weapon.
"You're just another one of your father's mistakes that I have to deal with!"
Scarlett hadn't moved. She'd looked like she was enjoying the showdown at first. Confident that it would change nothing. Hopeful, perhaps, that Heidegger would come out on top. She was recovering quickly from the shock, but her grip on the chair arms was still tight and her gaze returned to Heidegger's empty chair. Blood was soaking into the material.
"Well, I had planned to let him retire, but I guess this saves Shinra the monthly pension." Rufus's amusement was no longer hidden. "Not that he needed it, of course. You might as well start the proceedings to recoup the money he embezzled."
"They started this morning." Which Rufus knew full well. Heidegger's wife would be allowed to keep her pre-marraige assets such as her family estates. They'd also agreed to let her keep her large stable of racing chocobos, many of which had been purchased with embezzled funds. Apology gifts to a wife Heidegger had married for status and treated like wallpaper ever since, and that Shinra had no place for.
"A heart attack, I think," Rufus said.
"Of course." The news release had already been prepared – two, in fact. One announced Heidegger's retirement; the other, his unfortunate death. "He was under a lot of stress."
Rufus tapped his fingers and looked at Scarlett. Tseng waited for the next cue.
The three of them ignored the body slowly bleeding into the expensive carpet. Only Palmer openly stared at the blood.
"As I said, my father was too busy dreaming of his Promised Land to provide even the most basic of oversight to all of you. Hojo and his dangerous experiments, Heidegger and Deepground, you and your useless machines." He flicked a glance at Palmer now back in his chair. "The space program is a joke."
"He trusted his experts," Scarlett stated with absolute belief.
Rufus laughed bitterly. "Experts provide useable results. Marketable products. They generate income. They don't let their departments become suck holes of waste and malfeasance."
Fury passed briefly over Scarlett's face but was ruthlessly suppressed. "Weapons Development generates substantial profit – "
"Does it." Rufus lifted a hand and Tseng recognized his cue. He gave the young president the second folder. Red for Scarlett as Heidegger's had been blue. Palmer's was beige.
Rufus put it on top of Heidegger's and opened it. He leaned forward but didn't look at the papers inside. "Your weapons are sold, almost exclusively, to Shinra. That means, Shinra pays for their manufacture, and then they pay again to use them. That's not profit; that's shuffling. Eliminate those numbers and the waste in your department equals that of the Science Department." He tapped the papers as if thinking.
"During Fort Condor's shut down, it was Urban Planning that bridged the gap and allowed us to retain market share. In a space of months, they designed, built, and marketed a generator that uses the same mako cores as our vehicles. We've sold thousands of those generators across three continents, and it's even making inroads into Wutai. Brilliant."
Tseng noticed the slight twitch of Scarlet's eye. She'd been brilliant once. It had been her brain that had gotten her hired so many years ago. But as Shinra had changed and hardened, she had as well. She hadn't bothered keeping up with the latest trends or research but had instead relied on politics and her surgically-increased bust size to keep her position as head of R&D.
Rufus sat back, lifting his hands back up into their steeple, tapping the fingers to his lips as if in thought. His eyes never left hers. It was a power position that Tseng appreciated. He could resist it. Could Scarlett?
"Father had the right idea when he was young. 'Give the sheep what they want, and you can do anything'." Rufus allowed himself a small sneer. "And what 'the sheep' generally want is an easier life. Electricity, cars, technology – they push a button, and something 'neat' happens." The sneer grew. "Those are what gained him an empire. An empire," he continued forcefully, "he didn't have to waste time or money policing. We have an army that we pay for and pay for, and we keep paying for. Why?!"
Rufus let the silence drag until the two remaining directors realized he expected an answer. Scarlett was smart enough to stay quiet. Palmer wasn't. "Security?" he asked timidly.
"From enemies he made," Rufus scoffed. Palmer didn't venture another comment.
"As I was explaining to our late unlamented director, we will withdraw our forces from Wutai. As long as they buy our products, Shinra still wins." He glared at the two remaining directors. "The departments will be reorganized. You have one week to provide me with your best – most marketable – product ideas."
Silence.
He made little shooing motions. "Dismissed."
Palmer turned to look at Heidegger's body before leaving. Scarlet did not.
Tseng kept his relieved sigh internal. That was another obstacle down.
AN: Oh, wow; it hasn't been half a year since my last update! I am just as surprised as you are. (◯Δ ◯ ∥)
RL things are stabilizing. I've moved past anger (or at least am handling it better) and am working on acceptance. I am also trying to be less "precious" about my writing – trying not to nit‑pick every detail. There shouldn't be any major discrepancies, but if you spot anything, let me know.
Thank you for reading!
