Rufus leaned back into the plush office chair, swinging his legs up to rest on the conference room's table. The President shot him one of those looks from where he sat at the head of the table, but Rufus ignored it entirely, instead shifting slightly to find the perfect position. This was almost assuredly going to be a long, painful meeting and if he was going to have to sit through it then he at least wanted to be as comfortable as possible.
"This is a complete disaster!" Hojo raged, pacing back and forth on the opposite side of the room. "Not only because all of the experimental subjects were released, but also because the mako tanks were destroyed and the orbs within stolen!"
"Is it?" President Shinra asked. He was as calm and collected as always, not showing even the slightest indication of caring about what had happened at the warehouse. "I fail to see how a minor disruption to a project that was barely managing to produce any meaningful results is even remotely relevant."
It was an effort for Rufus to keep the smirk off his face as Hojo's eyes bulged in outrage. Maybe this was going to be more entertaining than he'd anticipated. Seeing the overly arrogant scientist taken down a few notches would be better than an early birthday present.
"Not relevant? Not relevant?! I am unlocking the secrets of the Ancients! Thanks to my experiments we now have access to magic of our own! Without me—"
"Magic that hardly works!" the President snapped, slamming his palm down on the table in a rare display of anger. "Half the time anyone tries to use one of those damn orbs of yours it detonates in their hands! I've lost dozens more soldiers to your failed experiments than in the raid on that warehouse."
"I'll admit the results have been less than ideal," Hojo said, "but they're still promising. Science is, by definition, trial and error. We may not have reached the goal quite yet, but I'm confident that with more time I'll have exactly what you want."
"What I want, is my Promised Land. It has been seven years since the Barrier fell and we're hardly any closer to it today than we were back then! The Ancients are already spreading their blight once again, killing our surrounding bounties so that we're forced to live in misery. I'm not paying you to play around with exploding glass spheres, and your lack of tangible results is testing my patience."
As enjoyable as it was to watch Hojo squirm, they did need to address some problems that had come up from the raid. "What are we supposed to do about all the people claiming that we're responsible for kidnapping them?" Rufus asked.
The President shrugged. "It's not a concern—we can easily spin it. We admit to gathering them up, but say that it's because we thought they'd come down with mako poisoning."
"No!" Hojo said firmly, his arm slashing through the air horizontally. "That would only give more credence to those baseless rumors!"
"Which is exactly why it works so well," President Shinra said as a shallow smile that didn't reach his eyes slowly spread across his face. "We can claim that they were all perfectly fine, the illness isn't real, and that we were going to release them anyway. Everyone knows Shinra only has the best interests of the people at heart."
Unfortunately, Rufus wasn't sure how involved the President had been in authorizing the kidnappings at this point. It was entirely possible Hojo had orchestrated the initial plot on his own, but as the scale had increased, Rufus found it hard to believe that word of it hadn't reached the President's ears. He didn't appreciate having his hand forced but continuing to sit back and ignore the situation hadn't been an option.
"I suppose that's fine," Hojo grumbled, "but how am I supposed to continue my work? I'll have to build a new lab, not to mention needing new test subjects."
"Perhaps not," Sephiroth said, nearly causing Rufus to jump out of his chair.
He hadn't heard the door to the room open, much less the other man taking the seat directly next to him. Rufus wasn't sure what to make of the ex-leader of the Fangs these days. As kids, messing around with the gangs had proven to be an entertaining way to pass the time while honing their skills, but these days he didn't know what to make of Sephiroth. At times, he seemed oddly focused on carrying out his father's every wish, while at others, he came off as not caring about Hojo at all. Given Rufus's already low opinion of the scientist, he couldn't understand what his son saw in him.
"I was finally able to make contact with the Ancients," the silver-haired man continued, his tone steady and calm as if he hadn't just made an outrageous claim.
There was naked greed in Hojo's eyes, but the President spoke first. "Explain."
Sephiroth glanced between the two men, almost as if weighing two options before nodding his head slightly and continuing. "As I've said before, I believe the Ancients are using some form of magic similar to the Barrier to conceal their cities. My theory was reinforced yesterday when I ran into three of them out in the forest."
"What?!" Hojo's pacing immediately stopped as he whirled to face his son. "Did you capture one?"
"No. One of them stayed behind to hold me off while the other two fled. He was a talented enough fighter that I was regretfully forced to kill him or fall myself. Afterward, I was unable to find either of the two girls, but they were clearly out on some kind of training mission not far from where they lived."
"I fail to see how any of this helps us," President Shinra said dryly.
Rufus felt the same way, but for some reason, a wide grin had spread across Hojo's face. "He was worried about you following them . . . Meaning that if you had, you likely would have found their city."
"That was the conclusion I reached as well," Sephiroth replied.
"This is perfect then. All we have to do is get Cloud Strife to take us there."
Rufus frowned. Cloud? He had been a complete disaster only a few days ago when he'd tried to storm the tower alone like an absolute lunatic. How could he possibly be relevant to the matter at hand? He also couldn't help but notice the frown that had immediately clouded Sephiroth's face. Hadn't the Fangs dissolved years ago? Why did he seem so upset with this proposal?
"Who?" the President asked, sounding just as confused as Rufus felt.
"A childhood friend of my son's. He was the one who first managed to cross the Barrier and visit their village, meaning he must know the secret of how to find it."
Cloud had made contact with the Ancients as a kid? It was the first Rufus was hearing of this, and he hated not knowing things. Was there possibly some kind of connection there that could help to explain what had happened the other day with Cloud's surprising appearance and claim against Hojo? "I have a feeling Cloud isn't going to be terribly keen to assist the people he blames for his mother's death," he pointed out.
"What are you talking about?" President Shinra asked, his brow furrowed.
"He was here at the tower a few days back, shouting about how Hojo killed his mother."
"The boy's mother died of an illness, I had no part in it," Hojo said, waving his hand dismissively. "Even so, he believes what he believes, and while I agree he would never offer his assistance voluntarily, his opinion on the matter is irrelevant. If everything goes according to plan, he won't even realize he's helping us."
"Oh?" The President was leaning forward in his chair now, his interest written plainly across his face. "Do tell. If this is promising enough then I'll throw the full weight of Shinra behind it."
As Rufus listened to Hojo's plan, he was forced to admit that it would almost certainly do the trick, thanks to its brutal simplicity. He almost felt sorry for Cloud, but this would also serve to advance his own goals quite nicely.
The knock on Rufus's office door arrived precisely as the clock on the wall signaled the hour—Tseng was nothing if not punctual. "Come in!" he called out, stopping his pacing to lean back against his desk.
"Heya, boss man," Reno said as the door opened and he stepped inside, followed by the three other Turks.
Together, the four of them lined up along the wall opposite Rufus, with only Elena snapping him a salute before her cheeks flushed as she realized no one else was.
"First of all, I wanted to commend you for yet another flawless mission," Rufus said, nodding his thanks. "That filth was tarnishing Shinra's good name and it had to be stopped."
"Does that mean President Shinra and Hojo are both unaware we were so heavily involved?" Tseng asked.
"That appears to be the case, although with the President you can never really tell what he knows. Surprisingly enough, the topic of who was to blame didn't come up at the meeting, but if anyone presses we stick with the plan of blaming Avalanche. We might as well take advantage of their presence."
"Isn't that a little unfair?" Elena asked. "They did most of the heavy lifting before we even got there. All that was left for us to do was smashing those tanks, really."
Tseng frowned and opened his mouth to respond, but Rufus raised a hand to stop him. "You're not wrong, but it doesn't change the fact they attacked Shinra personnel. There are consequences to that, regardless of their intentions."
"Hey, I for one don't mind. If nothing else it was a great training session," Reno said before shooting a smug look over at Rude. "And I'm willing to bet Rude had the time of his life."
"Something I should know about?" Rufus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, sir," Rude replied, glaring at Reno. "It's nothing, just Reno being a dick. As usual."
"Very well then. Moving on, as you might have already guessed, I didn't only call you here today to congratulate you. An operation is going down tomorrow morning. A big one."
Reno immediately stopped laughing as all four of the Turks snapped to attention. It was that quality Rufus appreciated about them—the ability to joke around and have fun as companions, while also being experienced professionals when it came down to it. Some of the orders he had them carry out weren't always the prettiest, but he could rely on them to follow through.
"Hojo has come up with a plan that should finally bring us into contact with the Ancients," Rufus continued. "Assuming he's correct, and I believe he is, then there's almost no chance of failure. I don't need to stress to you how important this moment is."
Reno let out a low whistle.
"What do you want us to do?" Tseng asked.
"You're all aware of the President's hatred of the Ancients. He blames them for our imprisonment—understandably—but has also allowed that anger to blind him. Wiping out the Ancients is not the solution. Instead, I dream of a world where the might of their magic is combined with the strength of our technology, allowing us to achieve the unimaginable."
"Oh! So, instead of going to war and losing lives on both sides, we're going to work together to make a brighter future?" Elena asked, her eyes almost seeming to sparkle. "That seems like a much nicer outcome for everyone involved."
"Don't be ridiculous," Rufus said, rolling his eyes. "Of course not. We'll be forced to capture and control them in order to achieve our goals. That's where you four come in. I want you to accompany the squad that will be carrying out the mission tomorrow. President Shinra will most likely have instructed them to kill on sight, while Sephiroth may also be there to capture an Ancient for . . . whatever it is Hojo wants with one. Your job, for now, is to simply monitor the situation and report back to me on how the mission goes. This will be our first direct conflict with them and I need to know what we're dealing with."
Tseng cocked his head slightly. "So we're not to get involved? Does it really make sense for all of us to go in that case? Perhaps Elena could stay—"
"No," Rufus said, shaking his head. "I expect the situation to spiral out of control fairly quickly so I want all of you looking out for each other. The President is picking a fight before we've been able to properly evaluate our opponents. I wish we had more time, but our hand is being forced."
"Hey, no big deal. We'll tag along, get you your intel, and maybe even bag us an Ancient for you to talk with," Reno said with a grin."Don't sweat it, boss."
"Good. Tomorrow is going to be a long day so I won't keep you any longer. Prepare for the worst and focus on making it back in one piece." He turned his back on them, signaling their dismissal, and began shifting through the various papers scattered across his desk. Rufus would have loved to go with them, to see the encounter with his own eyes, but that was no longer an option. The President was becoming more and more extreme as the years went by and leaving him alone, even for only a day, was something he didn't want to risk.
Finding the expenditure report he'd been looking for, Rufus settled down into his chair with a sigh. He had his own battles to fight these days, even if they weren't the ones he would have preferred.
Annnnnd it's yet another new PoV! Rufus gives us an alternate, less insane, view of what's going on at Shinra and specifically one that is at odds with both Hojo and the President. We indirectly learn that after Avalanche retreated, the Turks laid waste to the warehouse, destroying everything inside, although they're framing it as Avalanche being responsible for everything, of course. There's also some Turkish bantering and we get a rough idea of what Rufus' plans are. Maybe not as bad as the President's/Hojo's, but also not great either. Oh, and we also learn about poor Elidar's fate :(
As for next week... We've arrived! The stunning conclusion to the teenage years! I hope everyone is ready!
Next Chapter: War