Another chapter is here!

Reaper2908: Keep on reading and see.

Enjoy!

"You were supposed to be preventing this sort of thing," Heidegger said in a damningly quiet tone as the News report streamed in through the monitor. It was almost passable as merely disappointment. That was, if the tone wasn't backed by how he was practically red in the face with palpable fury. "So how did this happen?"

He was addressing the prepubescent-looking member of the Tsviets, Shelke Rui. The redheaded young woman was an example of what happened when someone who wasn't a suitable candidate was put through the SOLDIER enhancement procedure. It stunted her body's natural growth, leaving her frailer than adults who underwent the same, and required daily treatments of mako to keep functioning, rendering her utility limited in terms of combat.

"There seemed to have been some kind of virus implanted within the system, introduced during the attempt at breaching by the main forces of Shinra. Given the circumstances, most of my attention was on the—" Her explanation was cut short as Heidegger's hand connected with her face, backed with enough strength to send her to the floor.

"I don't want to hear excuses!" he roared, spittle flying from his mouth as he glared down at her. "You had one damn job and you failed! What good are you then?"

Hojo supposed that it was a logical emotional response, given the circumstances and Heidegger's personality, as he watched on impassively at the scenario being played out. Her unique ability to perform an SND, even before the treatments, was her real contribution to Deepground. For that to be undermined and lead to this situation naturally lowered her worth as a whole in Heidegger's eyes. More so considering there was another, superior individual capable of doing so.

Though Hojo's name was implicated dozens of times over in the information leak, it hardly bothered the scientist. He cared nothing for the opinions of others. One could not be a true scientist if they did. His only goal was attaining the knowledge and mysteries of the world.

To everything else he was quite apathetic…well, almost everything else. There were others who had earned his ire and would meet their comeuppance soon enough. But even that could be made productive.

"Now I have to waste my forces preventing anyone from getting above their station while dealing with Rufus," Heidegger said to the downed girl. "All because you couldn't do your job. Do you know how infuriating that is?"

"…I can only apologize for my failure," she said in the same monotonous tone as before as she rose to her feet and stood again. Even if she was the weakest of those labeled Tsviets, she was still durable enough to remain largely unharmed by the slap. And the conditioning they put her through, at a time when her mind was more pliable, meant that she wasn't likely to retaliate.

Even if the thought crossed her mind, the chip in her neck prevented her from acting upon it.

"I don't want your apologies! I want you to be useful for once!" Heidegger turned to the monitor and opened up a different tab. "So I'm assigning you and Rosso to a stealth operation that can end this fiasco with Shinra's entitled brat once and for all. You'll both be heading to Junon with different tasks that I expect you to complete without failure or detection. Otherwise, you will be terminated."

"Acknowledged," she said without hesitation. It was common knowledge that there was no room for failures in Deepground, so the punishment wasn't a surprise. She simply had to not fail in her mind. "What are the mission parameters?"

"Rosso will be in charge of securing the airship stationed there before Rufus can take it," he said. "No sense in wasting it after all the funding and time we put into it. She'll be accompanied by a few others to ensure that she doesn't go off the mission. I would have preferred Argento instead of her, but it's safe to assume she's gotten herself killed uselessly. I guess that's as far as her usefulness was in the end."

Hojo noticed a slight narrowing of the girl's eyes at the mention. Did that mean she had some kind of sentimental attachment to the woman? Nonetheless, Heidegger didn't notice as he brought up a map of the area on the left-side of the screen, while the right displayed a schematic of the weapon.

"You'll be planting a prototype, reusable bomb that Scarlet and I developed using one of the Huge Materia we retrieved. With your cloaking ability, you'll slip through the elevator shaft and head down into the Underwater Reactor to set it into place. Then our problem with Rufus will be over right then and there. The aircraft you'll be taking will land out of the radar range to avoid detection, and you'll head out immediately."

The girl acknowledged the orders and then left out of the room.

Hojo decided then to speak as he gazed up at the schematics. "This device is designed to forcibly draw mako out of the surroundings within a range that easily makes up the majority of the coastline and condense it in a manner similar to how one would crystallize a Materia or create a Makonoid. Placed right over a reactor, everyone within Junon that doesn't end up encased within it would likely either suffer a case of fatal mako poisoning or run the risk of mutating along with the surrounding wildlife in both the land and sea miles out. There is no means by which the girl will escape the range of it before it essentially rips out the mako threading her cellular structure and kill her."

"Her blunder allowed for this to happen in the first place," Heidegger said, dismissing her ultimate fate. "We have to show the world what will happen if they oppose me. Now get back to work. I want that Protomateria weaponized as soon as possible."

"Of course," Hojo said, a small and imperceptible smirk forming on his face. "I'll get right back to it now."

As he left the room, Hojo thought he saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned to look towards that direction, but found nothing barring some equipment with a gap between it and the wall. He brushed it off as only a rodent. Really, was it so hard to get sterile working environments these days?

No matter, he thought to himself as he proceeded towards his lab to continue his plans. It won't be long now.

[-oOo-]

Crimson and Cloud joined the others to watch the News report together, after stressing to Yuffie not to mention a word or question what she saw for now. They didn't need that getting out while a flood of confidential information kept pouring out of the reporter's mouth. It was all damning, a nail in the coffin to whatever good press that Shinra had.

"It's 'bout time it all came out," Barret said with a grin as he watched. "No more hidin' it from the public now. All their dirty little secrets are out."

"I still don't like that someone is using our group's name though," Tifa said. Her expression was more fixed and focused as her eyes remained on the screen. "What did the others in Cosmo Canyon say?"

He hunched his shoulders up in a shrug. "They don't know who it is usin' it either."

Crimson, on the other hand, was rubbing her eyes and trying to drown out the steady drum of her blood in her ears. While she imagined it must've been cathartic for them, she couldn't stop thinking about how much of a nightmare this was. "This is the worst possible time for this information to come out."

"You might be right," Vincent said as he rested his back against the wall. He seemed stable despite losing the Protomateria, so that was a positive. "Things were already tense between Rufus and Heidegger, but this information leak will change things drastically. At the very least, the war between them will escalate quicker."

Crimson nodded. "Not to mention more groups supporting AVALANCHE after this will pop up. They'll likely start attack reactors and supply warehouses, arming themselves with no oversight to get ready to start fighting them."

Barret gave her a skeptic look. "And that's a problem how?"

Crimson, moving her hands to her hips, turned away from the television to address him. "It's a problem because both Rufus and Heidegger won't hesitate to reassert themselves through force so that they can focus on each other and then us. With everything horrible they've done out in the open, they don't need to do subtle anymore. Worse, regardless of their division, both sides still have armies and weapons of mass destruction. Can you imagine how that's going to play out when they're on the verge of war?"

Tifa at least seemed to grasp the point quick enough. "What happened in Nibelheim and Sector 7 and Gongaga and Rocket Town can happen anywhere else just to get the message across. They can't rule by deceit anymore, so they'll rule by fear and force. And they'll justify it on our group for leaking the information."

"Well, cat's out of the bag now," Cid pointed out. "The question is what do we do about it?"

"We can probably minimize the damage done over time. Right now though, we need to know who leaked the information in the first place and used AVALANCHE to do it." Crimson frowned as she thought through the facts in her head. "We need to find out who benefits from it the most, and would be in a position to get the information in the first place."

"I can't imagine that Heidegger would find any benefit in this," Vincent said. "Having to divide his forces makes things more complicated for him so shortly after his coup. And Rufus has to try and assemble his own forces to deal with Heidegger's group of smaller, but more elite soldiers. The last thing he'd need while trying to reclaim his company is the discord that would ensue by releasing the information."

"Well, what about that Hojo-guy?" Everyone turned to Yuffie, now standing next to Vincent, at that. "I remember that rant he was going on about in Costa del Sol, after Tifa knocked him out the first time."

"He would be in a position to do it," Crimson agreed. "But why spill everything to the public?"

"…He wants to create a situation to awaken Omega and Chaos as soon as possible," Aerith said as she rose to her feet. "One of the conditions to awaken them is that there needs to be a large loss of life, filled with regrets and other emotions that would taint the Lifestream. The Protomateria can control them, but unless that condition is met, neither will awaken fully. And what better way of doing so than creating a situation where conflict could spread across the Planet?"

"So Hojo's pulling the strings behind this while Heidegger is sheltering him under the belief that it can be used to create a weapon," Vincent said. There was more than a hint of hatred permeating his voice. "He hasn't changed at all."

"Yeah, but now that we know we can go get it back to stop him," Yuffie said.

Crimson, regretfully, shook her head. "Underground, surrounded by mako-enhanced troops and the Tsviets, Hojo's in a position where no one can reach him easily. Getting in through brute force won't be an option. We can't even get into Midgar with how he's gotten it locked down."

"We have to try," Aerith insisted. "If things escalate then chances are Omega might wake up after all. Once it begins to carry out its functions, Chaos will awaken in Vincent and try to kill off everything to hasten the end of the world."

"And then there's Sephiroth and Jenova still lurking around," Cloud said, after ruminating silently until now. "Remember how Sephiroth was talking about using the Black Materia to cause the Planet to gather as much of the Lifestream as it can to a single place? What's stopping him from using this as an alternate method?"

Like father, like son, Crimson couldn't help but think. Then she turned to Aerith. "Is it possible to destroy Omega as a last resort?"

"…I believe so. And if it comes down to being necessary to save everyone else, we very well may have to do so," Aerith conceded. "However, Omega plays an important role to the Planet, more so than the other WEAPONs. If we do so, there's a very good chance the others will wake up and start destroying everything."

The powerful, towering monsters specifically created by the Planet to defend it against threats thousands of years ago were dormant for the most part. But destroying Omega would be liable to awaken them and have the group perceived as a threat to be eliminated. The power they possessed could easily level cities, and there was no guarantee they'd stop at attacking just the group. In a worst case scenario, the fact that harvesting mako energy was killing the Planet might be enough to label all of humanity as a threat to be eliminated.

"Nnmm…" Crimson's brows folded in thought. No matter how she looked at it, everything seemed to work against them. "The best course of action would be to prevent it from waking up in the first place. There's no getting around the fact that we need to get the Protomateria back, but going in headstrong would be suicidal. We have to wait for an opening we can exploit, but if we wait too long it might be too late."

The door opened and Reeve entered, holding by some kind of toy cat. He didn't look as jovial as one would expect cradling a plush toy. Instead, urgency threaded his features as he shut the door and made his way to the center of the room. "You may not have that luxury, I'm afraid."

"Have there been new developments with Heidegger?"

"My proxy has just overheard him issue an order to two of the Tsviets to head to Junon and carry out a stealth operation against Rufus," he said. "Rosso the Crimson has been tasked with stealing the airship that had been built, rather than leave it in enemy hands. The Tsviet known as Shelke Rui has been ordered to place a bomb that could potentially wipe out the coastline."

"What kind of bomb could do that?" Crimson asked. A missile strike she could understand, even if it wasn't liable to work given the batteries and garrison in Junon. But a single bomb capable of the much destruction was unheard of… at least until Reeve told them of the bomb and what he'd overheard from Hojo and Heidegger.

Then she swore under her breath. "Damn it. He's really going to do it."

Aerith was also appropriately horrified. "Not only will that kill every living thing within it, but the Planet itself will suffer with a huge segment of the Lifestream ripped out and crystallized. It'll make the wasteland surrounding Midgar seem mild and the WEAPONs will definitely begin to attack humanity as a whole."

"And that's what Hojo wants," Tifa added to the conversation. "Not even a day and he's getting what he wanted."

Yuffie's concern was more local and immediate than the global scale the others were focused on. "Priscilla and the other villagers will be caught in that. We can't let that happen!"

"And we won't." Crimson looked between them all. "No, in fact, we're going to use this to our advantage. If we do things right, we can stall both sides from going into open war and waking Omega."

"Sounds like you've got something in mind," Cloud said to her. "Let's hear it."

"We've gotten in Heidegger's way too many times for him to ignore us anymore, especially after Hojo leaked that info and blamed it on us. So if we eliminate the two Tsviets, get this bomb, and steal the airship, he'll come after us rather than trying to deal with Rufus. While he's chasing after the airship, a team of us can slip inside of Deepground to eliminate Hojo and Heidegger, and get the Protomateria back."

"That sounds all well and good, but first we got to get there in time," Cid said. "The Bronco is fast, but in the time it takes to get there we'll be too late if they've already taken to the air and crossed the water."

"I can get us there in time," Aerith said. "My teleportation moves us through the Lifestream and pulls us through a vein back to the surface. Mako Reactors are basically larger, artificial veins that forcibly draw from the Lifestream. If I use it like a beacon while we're in the flow, I can deposit us there with ease."

Crimson was skeptical there. Not because of the explanation, but because not even a day ago she did that to pull them from the Temple of Ancients to the beach and had nearly killed herself. And, given the look that Tifa was also giving her, she wasn't the only one that shared those same doubts. "After what happened the last time, I don't think that trying that half-a-continent away
would be wise."

"There isn't another choice." There was firmness in Aerith's voice as her emerald eyes met Crimson's. "I had been going all day yesterday and wasn't rested, not to mention the fighting with Jenova. I've rested enough to get there without any trouble. This time will be different."

In the face of her conviction, it became clear she wouldn't be deterred. She was going to do it one way or another. The best Crimson could do was mediate it somewhat. "Can you do it in hops, rather than one jump? That way we can be sure without putting too much stress on you."

Aerith nodded, settling the discussion. Everyone made to move when the stuffed toy that Reeve was holding sprung to life. It jumped out of his arms and gave them a wave.

"I'll be coming with you," it said. A moment of silence lingered as everyone, except Aerith, looked at it with suspicion. "You look as though you've never seen a talking cat doll before."

…In all fairness, they hadn't. Sure, they'd taken out giant snakes and monsters, learned about an ancient race, fought an invasive extraterrestrial being, and done lots of other stuff that most ordinary people could only dream of. But this was relatively new, which was both oddly refreshing and surprising to Crimson, given everything up to this point.

"It just keeps gettin' weirder," Cid said, shaking his head as he reached for his cigarettes as the previously inanimate doll walked over to shake hands with Nanaki. The leonine warrior was cautious as he extended a paw in courtesy.

"Cait Sith will be acting as my proxy to assist you. I'm mentally linked with it and through it I can feed you information and remain aware of new developments. It can also assist in battle by utilizing materia," Reeve explained as he pulled out a tablet and pulled up an image of a young girl with red hair next to an older one with longer hair and glasses. "With its help, I'm hoping that you'll be able to accomplish this task somewhat easier and capture Shelke."

"I recognize the older one," Barret said. "She was the one who made my arm. Her name's Shalua, right?"

Reeve nodded. "They're sisters. She was taken by the Turks at the age of nine as a SOLDIER candidate, but never made it according to the official records seven years ago. Her sister has been searching for her since then. Heidegger intends to have her killed when the bomb goes off because of her failure in preventing the information leak, but if we can retrieve her then it may be possible to break her conditioning."

"That's easier said than done," Crimson said, rubbing the back of her neck as she stared at the pair in the picture looking happy at the moment. It wasn't that she was unsympathetic to what she learned just now, the girl was a victim turned into a killing machine by Shinra. Just that he was asking for a lot considering the circumstances. "We'll be operating in enemy territory and she's liable to be difficult to actually deal with quietly. We'd also need some reliable way of keeping her sedated the entire time we're carrying out the operation."

"What about Tranquilizer?" Cloud asked. "You've managed with it before."

Red hair swayed as Crimson shook her head. "She's undergone the SOLDIER enhancements. We'd need SOLDIER-grade sedatives to reliably keep her down…" She trailed off and sighed. "And there's a hidden storage facility located here in Kalm that they set up after
they rebuilt the town. I'm sure they'll have some stocked there."

They probably changed the password, so they'd have to break in and trip more than one alarm. But they were past the luxury of hiding now. They'd raid the facility for supplies and then destroy everything there they didn't need to prevent Shinra or Heidegger from getting it later on.

Then they'd get going to Junon.

[-oOo-]

Inside of the Junon Headquarters, Reno likewise stared at the report that on display. Not even more than a day as the new head of the Turks and he'd already failed to keep a blunder this big from getting out of hand. It was a setback, but it could be managed after they'd dealt with Heidegger.

In all honesty, the betrayal was a long-time coming when he thought about it. Heidegger never liked the Turks. They didn't answer to him most times, didn't have to because they worked for someone higher, and he'd always been the type to be the one calling the shots if possible. The fact that the new President didn't give him as much freedom of power as the old one did was a powder-keg waiting to blow all this time.

They just didn't see it until it was too late, which was a mistake that would have probably been avoided if they had been aware of the lost city beneath their own headquarters. Reno really wished the old President had let them in on that secret. It wasn't like they hadn't done shady stuff before, but given the fact that the other Turks abandoned their posts because of Nibelheim, it would have likely been one more nail in the coffin.

The News was labeling the ones supposedly responsible for the leak as AVALANCHE, but he didn't buy it fully. Leaving aside how they got their hands on top-secret information, he didn't see Crimson as being so careless to release it in such a manner. She was the cautious-type, even if she was too soft, and would have thought of the fallout that resulted over simply trying to hurt the company by any means possible. There was more to it than that, but for now he had other priorities to handle.

The sound of the door opening pulled his attention from the television, but not his eyes. Listening to the footfalls, he pegged them as being too light to be Rude. "Where have you been for the last hour, Elena?"

"Rooting out the early signs of dissension, sir," Elena said. Her voice was lacking the distinctive enthusiasm that would color it when talking to Tseng, being cold and to the point. "I figured that some of them would try to betray the company and was right. There's a lieutenant called Mutten Kylegate who had been planning on gathering a group together to try and detain the President as a hostage. Now he's in the cell next to Scarlet and he'll be ready to give up his conspirators in due time."

Reno gave her a wary look. Of all the changes since Tseng's assumed death, Heidegger's betrayal, and this information leak, Elena's was really the most surprising. He'd expected her to be crushed by it all, yet she managed to push herself ahead and throw herself into her work.

He couldn't help but wonder if it was just an effort to mask all the cracks that were starting to form beneath the surface and she was on the verge of breaking apart in due time. But there were no words he could offer her to help here. The only one who could reason with her no matter what was the one who had been lost, and along with him her heart.

She paid the look no mind and asked, "What's the next assignment, sir?"

Then again, maybe a little heartlessness is what we need right now. In the wake of dealing with everything they faced, a cold and unmoving heart to endure the trials ahead of them sounded about right. Tseng would probably approve as long as she held it together.

So he would as well. "Okay. After that slaughter of an attempt last time, we need to act with precision rather than brute force. To that end, open warfare isn't ideal. You feel where I'm going with this, right?"

"Assassinating Heidegger," Elena said immediately. "Is there an infiltration plan?"

"Yeah, but it's risky." And much easier said than done in the long-run. Heidegger had the exits in and out of Midgar locked down and the airspace was secure enough that anything flying without authorization was shot down. "Extraction will be difficult as well. You'll probably have to come up with your own method of escaping. Still up for it?"

"That's the job," she said. "I'll move when you tell me to."