"Zack!" Someone was shaking him and a loud rumble sounded in the background. Ten more minutes, ma. Zack wanted to answer, but had no energy to do so. He hurt all over. What happened? "Zack!"
That didn't sound like his ma. Waay too masculine. Like Ma had a really nasty flu and was talking to him with a sore throat after smoking twenty years. His mother did not smoke. And his pa didn't sound much like that either.
"ZACK!" Zack jolted awake, but realized that he was strapped down. In a moment of panic, he twisted. Then he froze, gasping out a silent scream of agony.
"Shit," Angeal face hovered over him, brows wrinkled by familiar sternness, "Don't fucking move! You have broken ribs!" Zack meekly held still.
"Angeal?" He twisted his head to see a military helicopter behind Angeal, rotors spinning slowly as two men fiddled with a harness in the passenger compartment. A space meant for a stretcher, Zack distantly noted. The pulsing sound reverberated through Zack's very bones. Lying back, Zack faced the sky, closing his eyes and allowing cool raindrops to gently patter on top of his eyelids and onto the tarp they covered the rest of his body with. Too close to the function of a body bag.
"It's raining,"he murmured absently, breathing in the wind that was rapidly whipping his frame. Zack tried to suppress the mounting panic that he was strapped down in that lab again, focusing on Angeal's voice in front of the cadence of the chopper blades as the pilots completed their preflight checks.
"Thank go….
"…odness….
"…alive," Zack could hear Angeal distantly, his voice wavering strangely for someone standing so close.
Then an oxygen mask was placed over his face and he was carried away. The last thing Zack heard was the thud of a sliding door.
VIII. Recoil
The next time Zack woke up, Cloud was huddled on a metal folding chair in the most uncomfortable position Zackhad ever seen, somehow dozing. Zack wondered distantly why the kid was there. After their initial meeting, they had almost no conversation, except quick greetings in the hall ways when they passed each other. Looking around, Zack saw that there was no lab coat in sight, and the hospital room was strangely colorful, in contrast to the clinical whiteness of most Shinra infirmaries. Looking down, Zack realized that on top of the white hospital sheets was a raggedy quilt that had seen its fair share of years. It had faded patterns of embroidery that appeared to be telling a tale of some kind from panel to panel, though Zack could not piece together a coherent story. The colorful quilt and posters of LOVELESS of all things hanging from the walls, put up in a crooked fashion, helped Zack suppress a shiver as a stray though flashed across Zack's mind. Labs and hospitals. Same thing.
As he thought this, Zack flashed back to Cloud in a lab coat and had to swallow the bile that rose to his throat. Not everyone is like them. Zack had to remind himself. Cloud and Zalinka study rocks for goodness sakes!
The door to the room hissed open silently and Angeal was admitted. He smiled when he saw Zack wake.
"Finally, puppy," he said affectionately, seating himself on an empty chair across from Zack, "You've been out for a week. They put you in a coma for part of it. How do you feel?"
"Fine," Zack shrugged. Angeal raised an eyebrow but did not push him further. Instead, Zack cocked his head toward the visitor's chair and his napping guest.
"Cloud?"
"Here since last night," Angeal answered, "Came as soon as he found out you were injured. Poor kid's spent a lot of time visiting people in the infirmary lately."
"I guess the posters were Genesis's touch?" Zack smirked playfully. Angeal muffled his laugh so the conversing men wouldn't wake up the sleeping lab assistant, "Actually no. Cloud did that." Zack's eyebrows rose.
"Another fan." Angeal shook his head and the light atmosphere darkened.
"No actually. A lot of things happened when you were out. What happened to you-"
"Not yet. Please." If Zack could turn away from Angeal, he would. He gingerly rotated, then winced as his bandaged ribs protested.
He didn't want to talk about it. The monsters he saw in that lab. A partly dissected Third, one Zack cracked jokes with mere days before at Heidegger's expense, and Lee. The last time Zack saw Lee- Lee and not some horrifying facsimile of the man, his face was both frozen in terror and resigned to his fate.
Zack closed his eyes and the images still haunted him.
"You need to," Angeal argued, "We have a psychologist-"
"I don't want a shrink!" Zack ground out, sitting up as he did and ignoring the bandages that were bled through. "I know everything went FUBAR. It all my fau-"
"Calm down," Angeal placated in his gentlest voice, "Nothing is your fault."
"What's the casualty report?" Angeal sighed.
"Don't do this to yourself, Zack," a firm hand on Zack's shoulder forced Zack back in a horizontal position, and Angeal pressed the call button. "You saved as many as you could. They are all thankful-"
"They are alive?"
"Yes, everyone in that tunnel was," Angeal answered, "And they all asked for your promotion-"
"I don't deserve it."
"-and what you did is a very honorable thing. I have already signed off on the papers."
"Zack," both men tensed and shared a look that they would talk about this later. On the chair, the blond blinked sleep out of his eyes. He looked between the two and frowned.
"Hey," Zack smiled grimly, gingerly raising one arm to scratch the back of his head.
"Hey yourself," Cloud frowned in concern then gasped at the soiled bandages, "How are you feeling?" His hands fluttered over them, but did not touch, as if he wanted to be of help but didn't know where to start. Honestly, Zack didn't know if he could have let Cloud anyway.
"Fine." Angeal gave him the Look.
"Bull. You lost half your squad. The other squad didn't make it out. You are not 'fine'," Cloud said with astounding curtness. Zack blinked with surprise that was overwhelmed seconds later with grief at the casualties. Half his team dead. Men whose lives Zack was responsible. Did any of them have families waiting at home?
Angeal frowned at Cloud's abruptness behind the blond's back. Zack likened it to ripping off a bandage and couldn't help but appreciate the gesture for what it was. Not even half a year ago, Cloud was stuttering when he saw Zack. And Zack was ashamed to say, he hadn't really kept up with Cloud's life other than the occasional "hi". Where did that shy kid go?
"Uh, you are Cloud, right?" Cloud gave him an affronted look. Zack struggled with his words. "You look like Cloud, you sound like Cloud…" Cloud tilted his head and gave him that helpless puzzled chocobo look again. Zack closed his mouth with a snap. Angeal chuckled.
"So he must be Cloud," Angeal stretched out more comfortably on the metal chair. "Though I must say something for Genesis's tenacity."
"Um…what?" Did Angeal just put Cloud and Genesis in the same sentence. Angeal simply chuckled again.
"Like I said, you missed a lot while you were out."
"Wanna catch me up, man? Don't leave me hanging like this," Zack whined theatrically, though everyone in the room seemed to know his heart wasn't in it. His bandaged body added to his pitiful image though, one that made both his visitors shift uncomfortably. Cloud caved first, perhaps not as immune to Zack's piteous looks as Angeal was.
"HQ was bombed while you were away," Cloud winded down to the last event Zack missed, doing a thorough job thus far with company gossip, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back into the chair, "Higher than the sixtieth floor. Knocked the president flat. The Turks have their hands full relocating him, apparently."
"Oh shit," Zack groaned, "Out of the HQ?"
"That's classified," Angeal interrupted, "How did you even know?"
Cloud looked up at the older man, eyes wide. "Scuttlebutt, sir. I'm surprised it didn't get to you yet. People are speculating all over the building, sir. They've narrowed it down to Honeybee Inn and the penthouse at the Palace Hotel, but most are saying Honeybee." Angeal pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. Of course, the Shinra grapevine is more efficient than any other way of communication in this bureaucratic shithole and gossip is right on the money this time. He needs to talk to Sephiroth, fast. Normally Zack was the one with the finger on the social pulse of Shinra for the unapproachable first class Soldiers, and Reno a close second for the secretive Turks, but of course both are out of commission.
Angeal sighed and replied, "Well, I can't confirm or deny anything."
Zack grimaced. Angeal knew that look. That was the Angeal-just-confirmed-everything-and-I-don't-like-it look.
"Let's not worry about it then. I'm sure you guys can handle it," Zack quickly steered the topic away in an uncharacteristically tactful move, "Tell me about your life, little man!" He address Cloud, who wrinkled his brow at being called little but otherwise made no protest. Looks like Zack's acquainted enough with the blond to have been trying out nicknames.
"Nothing much," Cloud admitted, "Dr. Zalinka is the same old, same old. Still trying to make that hybrid materia I told you about. I think we might've made some progress, but too early to say. And you know Dr. Zalinka. He's a paranoid one, he is. Thinks if he lets out, people are gonna want in on the research." Cloud shrugged. "'Cus, you know, there are sooo many other people working on this," He grumbled sardonically.
Angeal frowned lightly. Cadets in training, especially ones in for a year who are getting rushed onto the battlefield soon, don't go looking for lab work. Did Cloud need the money? Cadets get a stipend…
He let the chatter between the two wash over him, hoping that further conversation would give some clues, but the conversation topic soon digressed to less serious but equally tantalizing topics of cafeteria lunch, the latest scandal involving Palmer, tabloid news on Scarlet's possible breast enlargement operation, and what Hojo might have got in his lab, that had his pupil in fits alternating between disgust and hilarity. Struggling internally with such a personal question, Angeal decided to just ask straight out.
"Cadet, are the stipends not enough? Why are you working in a lab?"
It was Zack, who was howling in laughter at Angeal's question that answered. "What gave you the idea that Cloud is an infantryman? His bulging musculature? His inspiring height? His-" Zack was interrupted as his laughter was interrupted by coughing. Rather, he was laughing through his coughing. As Cloud mothered Zack back into a prone position on the bed and stood up to pour him some water, Angeal admitted that he made tht grossly illogical assumption simply because Genesis made it. Was convinced of it for some reason. Looking at the blond soldi- lab tech- Angeal wouldn't have know that Cloud held up startling well to the sessions Genesis was choosing to call training and didn't know how he could ever have made the assumption that he did that this boy was a cadet. More so, he was ashamed to realize, a mistake that could have been quickly corrected with just a glance at the blond's personnel file.
After scowling Zack back into submission with an admittedly hilariously unfrightening face, Cloud turned to Angeal and awkwardly replied, "Zack is correct, sir. I am actually a mako sciences student, currently sponsored by Dr. Zalinka to focus specifically on materia mechanics, though the curriculum covers all topics of mako science. Commander Angeal just seemed so enthusiastic I did not want to disappoint him….sir." Angeal shook his head in disbelief. "Enthusiastic" was not quite the word he was looking for. Genesis essentially conscripted the boy into being his student. Angeal indulged it at the time because he had done the same for Zack, albeit in an admittedly more gentle way and because the time slots did not conflict with the schedule of a cadet in training who would need all the training he could get. However, such sessions would directly conflict with a science student's lab time and study schedule. He needed to set his foot down-
Angeal's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of a phone. Angeal flipped it open without even glancing at the caller I.D. and was greeted by a curt voice on the other end, telling him to appear for the relocation briefing. Angeal flipped the phone closed with a terse acknowledgment and nodded at Zack.
"Sorry, puppy. Have to go," he looked at the blond, "Cloud, a word please?"
Cloud nodded, and walked with him out into the hallway as the door to Zack's recovery room hissed closed behind them.
"So are you just gonna letting Genesis walk all over you? I can have a word with him," Angeal began with no preamble.
"It's quite alright, sir," Cloud actually smiled, as if he appreciated Angeal's concern but though it was not necessary, "I need the extra motivation to stay in shape anyway. Please keep it between us?"
"You have an ID and your position is a matter of Shinra record, Strife," Angeal warned, pausing at the nurse's desk and neatly recorded the checkout time next to his name on the clipboard there.
"Yes, sir. But Commander Rhapsodos hadn't seen fit to check yet."
Angeal groaned. "Fine. I'll stay mum on the subject, but I'm not going to lie if Genesis asks."
Cloud nodded. "Yes, sir. Understood."
Angeal nodded at Cloud. Taking it as a clear sign that the conversation ended,Cloud turned around. Angeal couldn't hide his smirk when the door hissed open again and Cloud's greeting to Zack floated to his ears.
"So, puppy…"
"Oi!"
The grin didn't disappear until Angeal reached the door to the conference room.
Meanwhile, Cloud pinned Zack down with a frighteningly frigid glare.
"Angeal might not force you to, but I am," he frowned, "Don't hold back and spill. You'll feel better."
"Oh, you were awake for that?"
"No stalling." Zack looked at Cloud, whose brows were pinched, lips tugged down in a frown and looking at Zack with dead seriousness in his eyes.
"It started when I got a dispatch order…"
Zack didn't know what came over him then. He knew this kid for a few hours total but there was a hidden camaraderie there, between the two of them, like a half forgotten friend he only just remembered. It would make a lot more sense if he spilled his guts to Angeal, or even Kunsel. Heck, he knew Sephiroth for longer. But somehow, Zack felt his mouth opening and words spilling out. And once he started, he didn't stop until he got all of it off his chest. Cloud never interrupted.
Genesis nodded in acknowledgment to Angeal from his seat on the sofa.
"The president is en-route to the Palace hotel."
"I thought it was scheduled for next week," Angeal asked, waving to Sephiroth, who had commandeered Genesis's underused desk for himself, "Now is too soon to have all the security measures ready. We all know where he's going. It's the worst kept secret in all of Shinra."
Genesis shrugged and shifted on the couch, lifting his legs placing his feet on the floor. Angeal took the invitation for what it was and sank into the red leather with a sigh. Pretty much every piece of furniture in their shared office was picked out by Genesis. All comfortable for lounging but excessively...flashy.
"Rufus told the Turks who told me that they wanted to move up the time table last minute, so there's less risk of a planned attack. He's called off our services too," he waved a hand flippantly around the room, "You know. Too much publicity, not enough secrecy. As if this wasn't a total farce."
Angeal frowned. Since the president's son had been announce vice president (not that there was much doubt in anyone's minds since Rufus was the only legitimate heir), he had become increasingly involved in the company security. It included taking control of the Turks, a move the president tacitly allowed when he did not object to it.
"Lazard and Veld agreed," Sephiroth added calmly, "Having a set date so far in advance was too much of a security risk."
"Have you heard from the Turks?"
"No," it was Sephiroth who answered, "The changes had them scrambling. They've called in any agent not on an absolutely essential mission."
"What is Veld thinking?" Angeal muttered to himself, frowning, "If they are undermanned they shouldn't have called the Soldiers off."
"They still have some military police manning a secondary decoy site," Sephiroth sighed, a hand rubbing his eyes in the first sign of stress before he propped his chin on his fist. "Heidegger is overseeing it. They don't want Soldiers involved because it is bound to get unwanted attention."
"And the helicopters won't?" Angeal asked with a dubious tone as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned into the couch. Sephiroth shook his head but had no verbal answer. Genesis meanwhile, snapped his book closed and tossed it to the floor with an audible thump. He wasn't rereading Loveless then, Angeal thought absently.
"So, the puppy is awake?"
"Yes, what can he tell us about the lab?" Sephiroth asked as he set aside the reports that had crowded Genesis's previously empty desk. Angeal and Genesis shared a look. What equipment could be unearthed were unmistakably used in biological mako experiments. Many of them looked like they could be coming right out the Shinra labs. But they all knew that Shinra scientists guarded their research jealously in their unending quest of scientific onupmanship on each other.
"Yes," Angeal answered, "He is. He isn't in the shape to tell us anything. Not more than the other survivors can at any rate."
Sephiroth pressed, "Any information he may have is important."
"And he will need months of therapy to get over it," Angeal growled, protective about his protege. He calmed when Sephiroth visibly backpedaled, at least as much as the normally stoic man could, and sighed, "I will talk to him. Just...not yet."
"President Shinra is in position," Gun spoke into the ear piece as she scanned the adjacent buildings from her vantage point on the roof. She had flattened herself on a raised overhang on the southwest corner of the lavish Palace Hotel, where nightly room rate in its cheapest accommodations would probably cost her a month's paycheck. The president refused a number of previously established Turk safe houses and bunkers in the interest of comfort, and not for the first time, Gun felt a hot stab of resentment. Gritting her teeth, she peered through the scope of her sniper rifle as she combed the buildings window by window, looking for telltale flashes of enemy weapons.
The Palace was situated in a densely built part of Midgar, easily one of its commercial centers. The President was not a stupid man. He couldn't have been if he wanted to rebuild the Shinra Manufacturing Company into the empire energy company it is now. The hotel allowed him to keep in contact with all the connections he needed to run his company remotely. Its walls, built three decades ago during Shinra's meteoric rise to power, were built with defense in mind and funded by a paranoid President Shinra. Cement a foot thick isolated each room and was strong enough to contain a small explosion. Bullet proof enforced glass was used as a matter of course. And the presidential suite had a panic room built in that still allowed access to video conferencing and secure phone lines. However, where it had its advantages, the building was built in a different era. A hastily added helipad, crowded streets, and the dense population meant a logistical nightmare of transporting the president safely from the tower to the hotel. And with the high profile hotel in the midst of packed surrounding buildings, the people targeting the president can get a perfect vantage point. The streets were out. They were too narrow for the armored car and the entrance too conspicuous. Already, this was becoming less of a covert operation and more of a waiting game for an all too obvious ambush. At least no one but Turks knew where the safe houses are and which would be used at any given time.
"All clear here," Gun breathed into her mouthpiece as she continued to watch the roof. The radio static was interrupted again with, "Reno here. Nothing on the ground. It's been quiet on our way here." In the distance, Gun could hear the helicopters encroaching. There should be three, with Reno handling the real one carrying the president and the other two being decoys.
"Rude reporting in, rooms and hallway clear for receiving."
Gun frowned when the static picked up.
"Rod, what's your status?" She asked impatiently. There was a click and a familiar voice came in.
"Relax, princess," Rod replied lazily, "Nothing to report on the roof. There was a civil disturbance in the alley- domestic violence. Thanks for the concern, but I'll let you know if there's anything to report, yeah?"
"Shut up if you have nothing idiot," Gun pointedly closed the connection with a click. No one else remarked on the momentary breach in professionalism, too used to the eternal struggling couple, as more reports were made. The radio crackled for another ten minutes as surveillance continued.
"Rod calling in. Investigating the disturbance here. Something's not right." Gun took her eye off the scope and watched Rod take a running jump off the hotel roof onto the close adjacent ledge. She always hated it when he did that. Reno taught him and her heart jumped to her throat whenever they pulled stunts like this.
"Wait," Cissnei came in over the network, "I see movement on the roof of the red brick corner building to the west. Gun, can you get a visual?"
Overhead, the helicopters were drawing closer. Gun veered her scope to look over at the roof.
"Three people. They have a bag with them! Shit Reno, be on alert. They are crouched and blocked by the air conditioning unit. I can't get a clear shot right now," Gun growled, her thumb flicking off the safety of her rifle and a finger pressed lightly on the trigger, ready to squeeze in a moment's notice.
In the distance, the sound of tires tearing into the pavement screeched.
"Rude, I thought we closed the roads!"
"We did."
"Shit, Tseng-"
"The vehicle smashed through a barrier. Driver knocked unconscious and the car front ended into a building. Military police are containing the conflagration. Car bomb."
Through the chatter, Gun maintained her potion. Sights on targets...
"Gun," Veld asked, "Status."
"Three men on the roof with a bag, sir. No clear shot. Fearing the worst."
"Stay on them. Take the first shot you get. Rod. Come in." Silence for a heart stopping minute.
"No problems, boss. The happy couple are behaving."
"Good. Go flush out the three on the west roof."
"On it, boss."
The helicopters were close within sight when one of the men Gun was surveying stood up. Gun's eye's widened and she opened her mouth to shout a warning. Within a matter of seconds, several things happened almost at once. Gun squeezed her trigger, firing a single round. At the same time her round left the barrel, a rocket propelled missile jetted from the heavy tube on her target's shoulder. It left a plume of smoke and fire behind it and seemed to pause in mid air before setting a deadly trajectory towards the helicopters.
"IT'S A TARGETING MISSLE!"
"Oh shit. OH-"
The helicopter burst into a falling fireball as its still spinning propellers flew off, knocked away by the blast, and pierced the side of another helicopter. The impact knocked the helicopter side ways.
"Reno!"
"We're okay," the voice sounded weak against the blaring flight alarms, "two wounded and my system is failing fast. I need to land now."
Gun looked around the rooftops. "Too dangerous, there's still two more guys on the rooftop. Rod isn't gonna make it in time."
"Got no choice, sweetheart," Reno retorted. His voice too calm and for once Gun said nothing. Calm Reno was Scared Shitless Reno.
"Find a place to land. I'll lay down cover fire," Cissnei said into her mic. Gun bit her lip. She was the gun specialist, but her sniper rifle had good range and accuracy without much in the way of mass firepower. She palmed the back up semi-automatic pistol strapped to her thigh. Useless unless in close range, noisy enough to give away her position. She had no choice but to keep an eye out for the rooftops and hope Rude, who had run up three flights of stairs and joined her on the hotel roof will cover her six.
The door opened and slammed shut. Rude.
"What's the status?"
"Reno's finding a place to land- the President Is safe," Gun answered as she pushed herself up, "I need a better vantage point."
She repositioned,dashing across the rooftop with Rude following her, his sun glass covered eyes scanning the rooftops.
"Rod, three more incoming. The other two are moving fast. Get to that rooftop," Cissnei chimed. Two pops. "Make that two incoming."
Gun followed the running men from her scope and counted her breathing. The men were weaving and ducking behind walls and air conditioning units. Breath in, breath out. Slowly squeeze the trigger. Don't blink. Don't blink. There! A rush of air followed by a pop out the end of the rifle. One thousand feet away, glass shatters and a man falls.
"Make that one," Gun said as she picked her rifle up again and jumped to the adjacent rooftop, setting up once more, "Two to four is still not good odds. These guys are trained. Tseng where are you?"
"Not now. They have more people on the ground."
"Reno, you are on your own. Rod-"
"I'm here!"
The helicopter had landed shakily on a rare building clear of antennae and other obstructions. It was also a clear target. Peering into her scope, she could see Reno, his red hair recognizable, shooing a shaking president back into the helicopter. A man with auburn hair- Rod- took a flying leap and landed, rolled, and pulled himself back on his feet to stand back to back with Reno, signature weapon out. Four shadows converged on the helicopter. Gun cursed. She was severely limited now in what she could shoot at.
"Sir! I'm abandoning roof to help!"
"Negative. Keep your eye on them. As long as the president remains inside the helicopter, you will have a clear shot of the assailants."
"Veld-!"
"Stay at your post."
At this instant, the men flew at the Turks. Rod batted one away, leaving the man convulsing on the ground. The second kicked him, causing him to drop his baton. Meanwhile, Reno shot another attacker, but was not enough to slow him. Reno was pushed into the ground by inertia and rolled, wrestling on the ground.
"I got you." Gun muttered to herself. Another pull of the trigger. The man who had straddled Reno and reared up to punch him again dropped like a dead weight, the bullet having entered one side of his temple and blew the other side out. Reno struggled, trying to extract himself. Before he could, Rod's weapon entered his vision and knocked him out cold.
Meanwhile, Rod realized that while he engage one enemy in hand to hand combat, the other had regained consciousness in a stunningly short amount of time and also managed to grab his Electrorod. "Shit," he cursed, "What did they feed you? Steroids?" The muscled man laughed as Rod's punches simply glanced off his rock hard skull. He spat to one side and sneered. "Mako."
Rod's eyes widened. Mako enhancement was illegal, and secret, outside of the Shinra Soldier program. Who-
He put the though on hold as he ducked a fist. The wall behind him dented, plaster and paint chips flying.
"Enhanced!" He breathed into his radio as he blocked oncoming blows, "They're- " A blow to the face knocked his earpiece out. He put up his arms to block a second, jarring his entire body in the process.
"Come on...come on," Gun said, "Just another clear shot..." While Rod had been kept occupied with the others, Gun managed to kill another one on the rooftop. Movement on the helicopter caused her to curse. Loudly.
"President is attempting to leave. Roof is not clear! I repeat roof is not clear! Reno! Rod. Do you hear me!"
"Shoot them," Veld's voice came in loud and clear, "President Shinra is the priority."
"I can't get a clear shot on the second target! If I shoot the first, I'll kill them both!" Gun protested.
"Take the shot." Veld ordered calmly.
Gun closed her eyes and counted her breaths. She opened them and training her cross hairs on the struggling pair. Rod was losing. Badly. And there was another shadow. Hiding from her eagle eye. She placed her finger on the trigger lightly. Rod. Please just give me a clear shot, she thought.
"Fire." A voice said over the ear piece. She squeezed the trigger and did not blink. She saw both figures crumple to the ground like puppets with their strings cut, and she realized that she cut those strings herself. "Rod!" she screamed, "Get up you bastard. Don't scare me. Get up!" He did not. The line was silent. But her job was not done. There was a last assailant.
Out of the edge of her scope, she could see the President clumsily dashing past the pair for his life, not even pausing to look on the corpse of the man who died to save his life.
"Stop him!"
The voice's orders fell on dethears. The shadow came out of hiding and launched itself at the fleeing Shinra. Gun squeezed the trigger again, her hands shaking, but too late. The president fell, stabbed. Then the assailant with a bullet to the abdomen. They both fell.
The next few hours was a blur to Gun. Rude's silent attempt at comfort. Rod's body that she held close. The debriefing with Veld. Making arrangements for Rod's death. The President's death.
It wasn't until Gun stumbled back into her apartment that Gun realized- the voice on the end of that mic- the one that gave the last order wasn't Veld. It was Veld's frequency. But it wasn't Veld. It was Rufus Shinra.
This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here:
"HUGE SUCCESS!"
It's hard to overstate
My satisfaction.
Aperture Science;
We do what we must,
Because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.
But there's no sense crying
Over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
Till you run out of cake.
And the science gets done,
And you make a neat gun
For the people who are
Still alive.
- GlaDOS, Portal
Yeah, I'm still alive and kicking