This is getting more and more intense. First time meeting between Tifa and Cissnei.

Kaze: Read and you shall see.

Enjoy the chapter!

"Follow me," said one of the Don's men as he led the two women towards the dungeon, if Crimson recalled correctly.

Along the way, she found herself wondering why she was doing this. She hated this place, and what it represented. It was a place that showed how the company, which basically composed the security and military force of Midgar, would allow someone as depraved as the Don to exist as long as he had his uses.

It made her sick to be throwing herself into the lion's den, all to save someone who was a terrorist and made Cloud into one as well. What was she doing dressing up like eye-candy and leaving herself so exposed to the gaze of the men in the manor, all eying her and Aerith with lustful intent. Damn, she felt so naked being in the eyes of others without her Rekka.

Crimson tried to say that she was living up to what Zack wanted her to do, watching after Cloud. But Cloud wasn't here, and even Zack wouldn't have wanted her to do this sort of thing. Let alone drag his… girlfriend with her. She pressed her lips thin when she realized that she was doing this to keep Cloud from being reckless, and to keep him from worrying over the terrorist he called a friend.

As they approached the entrance to the dungeon, she looked back to see Aerith looking rather amused. It was pretty amazing in the grand scheme of things. Surrounded by men who she knew wanted her for her body, despite what Crimson had told her about the Don and his hobbies, she managed to keep that expression. The young woman was nowhere near as fragile as she projected.

"Wait here until we come and get you," the man ordered, opening the door the dungeon. The dark path down the stone stairway was only kept at bay by pale lights. He watched as they entered and then gave Crimson a quick pat on the ass, before shutting the door with a lecherous smirk on his face.

Crimson bristled, her cheeks burning in anger and embarrassment. It took Aerith holding her back from kicking the door before the lock shifted with a loud clack. She growled behind clenched teeth. "I hate this!"

"Now, now, don't blow your cover by being angry," Aerith said.

Crimson frowned at the note of mirth in her voice. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Just a little," Aerith admitted with a lilt in her voice, taking slow and steady steps downwards with Crimson following. When they entered the main section of the dungeon, she waved to the only other person there. "You're Tifa, aren't you?"

Dressed in a purple gown that clung to her hips, Tifa looked surprised at being recognized. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

"We came to help you escape," Aerith said. "Cloud was worried when he saw you being brought here, so we came in his place to bust you out."

"He's okay?" She looked over Aerith's shoulder to see Crimson's hair and recalled her. "You're that woman who came to help him."

"And you're the terrorist who blew up two reactors," Crimson said. The hostility in her voice was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

Recognizing that, Tifa crossed her arms and asked, "Are we going to have a problem?"

"We already have a problem," Crimson stated, stepping forward until they were face-to-face. "Do you have any idea how many people died because of what you did? Do you know how complicated you made things dragging Cloud into this?"

"We were doing what we had to in order to save the planet," Tifa claimed. "Those reactors were sucking the life out of the planet. Look at the wasteland around the city; it's spreading because of them. We had to send a message—"

Crimson shook her head. "I'm not going to deny that the reactors are responsible for the condition around Midgar, nor am I defending the company. My issue here is that you bombed the reactors without considering the lives of everyone you've ruined."

"You mean the dent it made in the President's wallet?" Tifa asked.

"I mean the employees," Crimson clarified. "They were just doing their jobs, earning a living, and your bombing tactic killed them. And then there were the people who were caught up in the blast radius, and hospitals that no longer have power. Did they deserve to be injured or killed?"

Tifa opened her mouth to refute those words, only for nothing to come out.

"That's why I hate AVALANCHE," Crimson said. "You're so willing to sacrifice others to send a message, so eager to save the planet, that you're willing to kill innocent people. Yet, you don't offer an alternative or try a peaceful alternative."

"Shinra silences anyone who opposes them through words," Tifa pointed out. "They hurt and kill people and cover up the truth for the sake of profits. My town was destroyed by Shinra, and when I went back they had rebuilt it and put in people who acted like they'd lived there since the beginning."

Crimson couldn't deny that. She, as a former Turk, knew very well they did silence pronounced naysayers and cover their mistakes. Something similar had happened to Kalm. That being said, she wasn't going to let the flaw in her argument go.

"And are you telling me that your intentions to save the planet are altruistic?" she asked. "Tell me to my face that you aren't using this as an excuse to take out your aggression because of what Sephiroth did in Nibelheim."

That earned a look of mild surprise from Tifa. Her face then hardened as she realized that only a certain group of people would know the truth about that. "You're from Shinra, aren't you?"

"I quit to the company after what happened to Cloud and Zack," Crimson stated. "Whether I worked with them or not doesn't change the fact that I'm right. You're waving the banner of saving the planet to justify revenge. In the end, even if you have a point about the company, all you've done now is made an enemy of the families of the victims left behind by the bomb—"

Aerith clapped her hands before things went any further, drawing both of their attention. "That's enough, both of you. All of us have our grievances, but this isn't the place or time to discuss them."

Being the voice of reason, neither of them could deny what Aerith said. They glared at one another a final time and then looked away. Silence permeated the room for a solid minute, only to be broken by Tifa.

"…What happened to Cloud?" she asked. "His memories are jumbled. He thinks he was there when Sephiroth was there, but I remember it was another SOLDIER."

"He was there," Crimson said. "He was one of the infantryman who was there with Zack. When Sephiroth was taken down, he and Zack were taken and kept as test subjects. Zack escaped about a year ago, and Cloud was comatose because of his exposure to the mako. They were on the run until a few weeks ago when Zack came back to Midgar, and…."

"He died," Aerith finished for her, sounding crestfallen. "He was coming for me, and they killed him."

Crimson nodded. "We came across his body and Cloud as well. Tseng, the leader of the Turks, released me to look after Cloud. I took him to Gongaga, but we were attacked. So, I came here to look into finding a way to speed up his recovery."

"Tseng, you really did that…." Aerith murmured. She had known the man for most of her life, but she hadn't expected him to be so kind. Not when he constantly had her watched by the others.

Crimson ran her hands through her hair and huffed, before glaring at Tifa again. "But now that Cloud participated in your bombing, they'll have to retaliate. I won't be able to get into Shinra and find a way to treat him easily since they're going to be on high-alert."

Tifa grimaced. "What exactly does he need to get—"

"Move it, Ladies," yelled the man from before, cutting her off from the top of the stairs. It seemed they were out of time. "The Don's waiting."

"We knock out the guards and make for the exit as soon as we get near the stairs," Crimson said, outlining an escape plan.

Tifa shook her head. "I came here on purpose to question why this guy had someone looking into our base. I can't leave without that information."

"Well, that's just fantastic," Crimson said bitterly, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was tempted to leave, but if they went without her Cloud would just burst in and cause more problems. "Fine, let's play along for now."

Aerith and Tifa nodded and the three of them climbed the stairs to be led towards the room where Don Corneo sat. The Mafioso was flanked by two other flunkies and he remained as short as Crimson remembered, portly with the majority of his hair shaved barring a strip in the center. He had an expensive coat draping his body, fur trimming lining the collar, and was smoking an expensive brand of cigar.

His eyes gleamed with a perverse lust as the girls filed in, and he rubbed his fat fingers together as they lined up. "Seems like we have a fine selection here tonight…"

Don Corneo rose out of his seat and leaped over the front of his desk in anticipation, pacing back and forth as his eyes appraisingly ran over their features. "Now, which lucky lady spends the night with the Don?"

He started with Aerith, walking around and observing how elegant she looked. "You got a nice, princess vibe. Haven't had one of those in some time, but tonight I'm feeling in the mood for something a little spicier."

Then he walked over to Tifa, and ran his fingers along her arms and legs. "Bit too firm for my liking. Then again—" He earned startled gasp as he groped her chest. "—these are nice too. I'll keep you in mind for later."

Crimson did her best to keep the faux smile on her face as he approached her and ran his fat hands against the curve of her hips, leaving her trembling in disguise at his lewd touch. It was made worse by the fact that his cigar loitered in front of her and left her at the mercy of its thick, acrid smoke.

"Yeah," he said, exhaling a puff of smoke out. "Not too hot, not too cold, you're a good mix, aren't you? I'll take you for tonight; the boys can have the other two."

Crimson almost stiffened when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the door in the left corner. She looked back to see Tifa looking as furious as she felt, though whether it was from the groping or the fact that he'd called her too muscular eluded her. The long-haired terrorist subtly showed three fingers, giving Crimson a presumed estimation for how long she would wait before acting.

More than enough time, Crimson thought as she reached up to feel that her hairpins were still there.

Don Corneo's room was as tacky as she remembered. It was about as large as the office, with a bed that took up the majority of the central space and a mat over where she knew the trap door was hidden. Over to the right was an assortment of jars and food that was used to feed his pet monster below the surface, whenever there wasn't someone for him to throw into it.

The Don climbed into the bed and beckoned her to come to him. "Come to Daddy, pussycat."

Crimson took a deep breath and then slipped into the role of a seductress as she leaned in, one knee on the edge of the bed, and pulled the Don in close. "I want to thank you for choosing me tonight."

A lecherous grin came onto his face. "If you really want to thank me, start with—"

"DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!" they heard through the door, moments before the first of his bodyguards came crashing through it and onto the mat. The second followed shortly afterwards, nursing a bloody face and missing teeth.

The Don bristled and rose up. "What—"

Crimson grabbed his hand with one hand and brought it down to the other before staking through them with her metal hairpin, lodging the thin piece of metal through both of his meaty hands and into the bed. His subsequent screams were ignored as she stepped on the fingers to keep him pinned and gave Tifa a displeased glare as she stormed in. "That was not three minutes."

"They got rather handsy," Aerith said in the way of an explanation.

"We never speak of this again." Tifa said through gritted teeth. "Not to anyone."

"No arguments here," Crimson agreed, before turning her attention back to the Don. She pulled the cigar out of his mouth and held the lit end close to his face. "Now, as much as I was enjoying your company, she has some questions she wants answers to."

"I ain't saying—Gahhhh!" His bravado turned into a scream as she pressed the lit tip against his cheek, searing the flesh. "Okay, okay, I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Tifa came around to the right side of the bed and asked, "Why were your men lurking around in the Sector 7 slums?"

"Heidegger of Shinra ordered me to find the man with the gun-arm's base," he whined. "They're going to destroy the supports and drop the plate above it onto the entire sector slums."

The revelation silenced the girls. There were thousands of people there, people who had nowhere else to go. It was insane to think that someone would go that far… but none of them could say they wouldn't. Not with what they knew about how Shinra operated.

"Heidegger really will do it," Crimson said. "He'll kill everyone just to accomplish his goal. It'll be just like Gongaga."

"And just like my home," Tifa said, balling her hands into trembling fists. "Shinra always does this!"

"We have to do something, quickly," Aerith said.

Taking advantage of their distraction at the news, Don Corneo pushed against Crimson's leg and managed to free himself from the metal hairpin. His hands were largely unusable and bloodstained, agony snaking up his arms as he clumsily tried to get away. He ended up climbing over the edge of the bed, only to topple over the men he had sprawled at the foot of the mat near the exit.

Crimson got onto her feet before he did and pulled the lever that he had installed above the bed, dropping the three into the darkness of the sewers below. Screams followed as his pet monster decided that he would make an appropriate snack after being denied food for the last day. Crimson lifted the lever and the trap door closed, sparing their ears from the sound of meat being torn from flesh and bones being gnawed by the giant rat.

"We don't have time to sit around," Tifa said, pulling out a PHS and dialing a number. She had to get the word out. "We have to go stop them from destroying the support pillar. I'll make some calls."

"It'd be better to have everyone abandon the slums," Aerith suggested. "Honestly, if they've already set things into motion, I don't think we'll be able to stop them."

"Aerith is right," Crimson said, walking around the bed and towards the exit. "You two know the area and people well, right? They'll likely listen if you tell them to run."

"What about you?" Aerith asked as she and Tifa followed Crimson, the three of them going down the stairs and out of the exit.

"There's only a handful of ways that this can be done without word getting out," Crimson said. "Knowing Heidegger, he'll send the Turks to do it and keep a low-profile. I'll…"

She trailed off. If they were ordered to get rid of the support pillar, then they would do it. They did their jobs with ruthless efficiency, and no doubt Reno would be the one called in to do it given the circumstances. She wasn't looking forward to facing him, but she couldn't let them do this.

"I'll deal with buying some time," she finished.

[-oOo-]

Loitering on a rooftop in the Wall Market, there stood a blonde-haired woman in a neatly pressed suit with a pair of binoculars, looking at the three women leaving Don Corneo's manor and heading towards the marketplace.

Elena was the newest recruit for the Turks, and she had been assigned to keep eyes on the Ancient and retrieve her before the fall of the plate, ensuring both her safety and that of the Turks themselves by dealing with the traitor, the agent formerly known as Cissnei. She wouldn't forgive the woman who spurned her superior's generosity by joining AVALANCHE, but the job came first.

"Sir, I have eyes on the Ancient," Elena reported into the radio in her ear. "She's currently entering into a tailor's shop with the traitor, presumably to change her clothing. How should I act?"

"Bring her to the extraction point," Tseng ordered. "The president won't delay retrieving her any further, but he won't drop the plate until we've done so. Use whatever means you have to, but I want her unharmed."

"What of the traitor?" Elena asked.

"… Deal with her as you see fit," he said, after a minor pause. "But your priority is securing the Ancient, don't forget that."

"Understood," she said. Once her superior was off the line, she waited for the traitor and the Ancient to leave the store and run towards the park. She radioed Rude, who was already there and waiting for her, to get ready. "The Ancient is approaching with the traitor; make sure to secure the former, I'll deal with the latter."