Once More, With Feeling... – Chapter 50: With a Bang and a Whimper

Summary: Intrigue and enemies exploding onto the scene, some people bit off more than they can chew.

Author: Illusor Meaneld

Rated T: for Descriptive violence and injuries, No Adult Situations, No Cussing.

Disclaimer: I did not create, and do not own the characters from Final Fantasy 7. They are owned by Square-Enix, and I am simply borrowing them for my own (and hopefully your) enjoyment.

Reno twirled a pair of binoculars as he slyly darted his gaze away from the procession he was supposed to be monitoring below on the streets of Junon. His partner, the boy…(er man?) who was really his only true partner, in Reno's opinion, was gazing with quiet professionalism at the parade below, "propagandist" he'd heard the blond mutter at one point, Reno didn't much care what the hoopla was for, his job was to keep Mayor Domino safe. Not that he didn't seem to be more than fine surrounded by SOLDIERs but Shinra personnel could be weirdly paranoid sometimes.

Apparently his glance wasn't subtle enough as their 'Chaperone' noticed and took exception. From further down the roof a sharp female voice rang, "Stay focused! You never know when a Wutai Ninja might pop out from around the corner to murder someone!"

Reno blinked, and snuck a glance at Cloud just in time to see his eyes roll behind the binoculars. Pretending to glance through his own, Reno murmured at the blond, "I'm guessin' she dunno what she's talkin' 'bout?"

Cloud snorted wryly, "It'd be like the Wutaians warning about Turks popping out around any corner, there aren't nearly as many ninja in Wutai as people think, they're really more specialists, like us."

"Really? Ya sure?" When the blond nodded Reno frowned, fiddling with the plastic nobs on his field specs. "Why does everyone always say it then? 'Ninjas're gonna getcha', 'watch fer the ninjas' blah blah blah, ya know?"

The other boy shrugged, "It's like the boogie man, or the Nibel wolves, 'Don't go out at night or the wolves will eat you'…" Cloud snorted softly again, "Which is ridiculous because the dragons eat enough wolves that they can't threaten the town like that."

There was a long pause while Reno mentally digested that statement. "Wait… the Dragons?" He finally squeaked, "The Dragons EAT the Wolves… then wha's stoppin' the Dragons from eatin' the town, yo!" Cloud's gaze drifted away from his binoculars for a moment, and there was a glitter in his eyes the redhead found himself vaguely suspicious of.

"Nibel Dragons mostly frequent the peak of the mountain, near the reactor, not near Nibelheim."

Reno stared at him some more, forgetting to pretend to pay attention to his assignment. "So if the Dragons eat the wolves, whadda the wolves eat then?"

"Nibel goats of course." Cloud smiled a little crookedly, "They're much better eating than people." Having seen some goats once near Fort Condor, Reno highly doubted that statement, and said as much. "Well Condoran Goats are quite small," The blond explained, "Nibel goats are about six feet at the shoulder."

"Six…" the redhead trailed off in shock, trying and failing to picture it, "How bigg'r yer wolves?!"

"Fairly comparable, maybe a little smaller, but they run in packs of a half-dozen or more."

"Ya got six foot tall wolves?" Reno yelped, "I ain't ever visitin' yer hometown! Ya'll're crazy!"

Cloud started laughing, which recaptured the attention of their chaperone. The older woman whirled around indignantly "Guys pay attention!" Sophia snapped, waving her binoculars demonstrably. "If we don't do our jobs, we'll be stuck on assignment while everyone else goes to the bar afterwards!"

"Aw man!" Reno lamented, "She's gotta point Cloudy, don' wanna miss that!"

"You're underage, they're not going to let you in." The time-traveler pointed out with amusement.

"Ah that's right!" the ash-blond woman snapped her fingers in admission. "You're both just babies!"

"Oy! Babies?!" the red head yelped indignantly.

"Much too young to legally drink." Cloud shook his head in wry agreement. Reno frowned ferociously, but he secretly basked in the comradery slowly forming between the blond and their fellow Turks, the more ties the time-traveler had in the Turk program, the more likely he'd decide to be a Turk this time around.

Sofia chuckled a little, before her smile smoothed into something more professional, "Seriously though, this is an important mission, and we do need to pay attention. Even if it seems boring."

"Of course," Reno agreed quickly, "But Cloud'n I weren't really so much not payin' attention as we were discussin' the possible threats ya know?"

"Oh?" the taller woman looked amused, "What threats did you come up with then?"

"Well Cloud was pointin' out that ninjas didn' seem likely, but we got a little side tracked talkin' about nine foot tall wolves an' stuff."

"Six foot tall wolves." Cloud corrected quietly.

"You mean like the Nibel wolves?" She verified.

"Exactly like the… wait those're real?" Reno gawked at the older Turk, "I thought Cloud mighta been pullin' my leg!"

The younger blond laughed again, "Absolutely real," he confirmed between snickers, "I've seen them in person!"

"Ah! You must be from Nibelheim then!" Sophia bounced a little in place at the realization. Cloud nodded, "I've heard the wolves are a really tough mark, I've always wanted to test my mettle against one, but those hunting license are hard to get ahold of."

"We generally only issue them when we have an over population problem, or sometimes we get loaners that are overly aggressive, neither really happen every year, so the permits aren't available very often."

"Ya hafta protect the ecosystem right?" Reno nodded sagely, remembering the strange little herbivore the smaller blond had rescued during their last visit to this region.

"Understandable." Sofia agreed amiably. She seemed to get lost in thought for several moments while they gazed at the parade that was finally starting to move at the far end of the street. "You're a pretty smart cookie aren't you, Cloud?" She finally added. "So tell me, what kind of dangers do you think we should watch out for?"

Reno turned his gaze to his partner again, watching the other boy think over the question. "I'd probably say the biggest threat we're likely to see here would be AVALANCHE."

Sofia blinked hard twice, "AVALANCHE? Not ninjas?"

"Home grown terrorists are much more likely to want to disturb this kind of 'morale boosting' display, and they'd be in a significantly better position to do something potentially deadly. I doubt Wutaians would want to take such a risk infiltrating an enemy nation unless they had some kind of shot at assassinating President Shinra, which they won't have here."

The pale eyed female whistled softly, "Definitely a clever boy, they don't let rookies read the threat assessments." She smiled approvingly, "I can see why Tseng likes you kid."

"Everyone likes Cloud." Reno stated smugly, though he wondered for just a moment if this was one of those things the time-traveler was supposed to be more subtle about? Naw, … Cloud knew what he was doing.

"Even Veld?" Sofia inquired with a mischievous grin, "He doesn't like anybody, especially not new recruits, too much paperwork."

Reno frowned ferociously, "I'm sure he likes Cloud." He grumbled stubbornly,

"I'm not sure he's ever met me," the blond shrugged serenely. "Is he much like Tseng?"

Sofia choked a sputtering laugh, "like Tseng?" she chortled, "He's nowhere near so nice," she continued to snicker for several moments, while Reno stared at her agape, Tseng? Nice?

"Everyone meets Veld after full initiation, and if you never see him again you're doing a good job. He talks to you if you screw up so bad even Tseng can't deal with it, and you'll wish you never put on your blue suit if that happens." Reno shuddered at the sudden ferocity in her tone, but when he glanced at Cloud the other boy only looked thoughtful.

"Hmm," the blond hummed, "I've heard much nicer things about Lazard than that… maybe SOLDIER is the easier route after all."

"Ah," Sofia sneered, "Deusericus…" she snorted again but without humor this time, "Don't let his amiable exterior fool you, he's just as bad about results, and doesn't take proper care of his assets, if you know what I mean."

Reno frowned, "No, I don't know what'cha mean." He slanted a glance at his partner, but the younger boy's expression was shuttered.

"He was a slum rat," she answered "and yet he was promoted to one of the highest military positions in Shinra. Also Despite availability for someone of his rank, the equipment he supplies his people with, is always subpar… I know he has budget for more, why then, do the best of his men, have to buy their own weapons if they want something of quality? Even Veld understands the necessity of providing amply to ensure a successful mission with minimal loss."

Reno had to shove down the anger at the use of the derogatory term, but he was still confused. That bafflement allowed Cloud's soft question of "Nepotism?" to be heard over the sudden hush.

"If you want to keep wearing a pretty uniform, short stuff, I'd never repeat that again." Sofia warned seriously.

Reno gawked, nepa-whasit? What did that even mean? He looked at Cloud beseechingly, willing the time-traveler to read his bemused thoughts. The blond smiled indulgently but shook his head gently at the red-head, who pouted, I'll hafta ask him later. He glanced over his shoulder at the Ash-blonde Turk, who had her hands planted dramatically on her hips and was giving the pair of them an admonishing glare. Definitely later.

The young intern's hands were raised in surrender when Reno glanced back. "I won't, just a passing curiosity, he doesn't really look that much like Rufus on second thought."

Sofia stiffened, "I hope you're a wise cookie, in addition to a smart one, kid." She grumbled. "Get back to work rookies! This parade isn't going to watch itself!" She snapped, a little uncharacteristically harsh.

Cloud obediently bent to survey the enthusiastic flow of people below, and Reno had the sinking feeling he'd missed something important. They settled into uncomfortable silence even while the red-head conspired to drag information from his roommate when they returned home. The parade had made its way almost to the other end of the street when the revelry was suddenly interrupted by a concussive blast. The young Turk found himself lying on his back on the roof, blinking stupidly while his ears rang. It took precious seconds for him to recognize the sensation as the backlash he felt when he set off a grenade too close… but they weren't playing with grenades… he thought woozily. As the ringing in his ears cleared he heard someone shouting his name. He blinked several times until the yellow blob sharpened into his partner's hair.

"We un'er att'k?" He slurred as he brought one hand up to his head.

"Not us specifically," Cloud relayed, reaching out to run gentle fingers across the back of Reno's head, the taller youth hissed as a sharp pain stabbed from the contact. "You've got quite the goose-egg," the boy continued, "I don't think you're concussed but I'm going to use a Cure Materia anyways," Reno was still blinking owlishly at him when the green light blossomed and cool relief spread in a tingling wave from his head to his toes. He inhaled sharply at the rush of energy and focus. His knee didn't even hurt from sleeping on it weird anymore!

"Awesome!" The Redheaded Turk grinned, and with the spryness of youth flipped onto his feet. His joviality instantly vanished as he took in the scene. The roof was littered with small debris, and clouds of dust and smoke billowed through the street below, obscuring details thoroughly, he quickly realized that more than one explosive must have gone off, as the grey miasma covered the whole parade route. "What happened?" He gasped, wincing at the acrid smoke.

"AVALANCHE… most likely" Cloud said quietly, his gaze slid aside, and Reno followed it to see a slightly disheveled Sofia muttering furiously into her earpiece and gesturing stiffly with her shotgun in one hand.

"No casualties up here" the redhead heard her state crisply, "At least not anymore, the Rookie is a fast hand with a Cure…" her voice was grudgingly impressed, which made a swoop of pride flush through the teen. "Got it, I'll stand by, clear mic traffic." She trotted over to the younger two, "Weapons drawn Rookies!" She ordered, "Keep your eyes peeled and stay covered." She nudged them down against an air conditioning box, distorting their silhouettes against further attack, Reno realized. He drew his baton, hooking the strap neatly around his wrist, and then drew a pistol. He glanced at Cloud who also had his firearm in hand. Sofia crouched near them in a covering position, then pulled three dust masks from a discrete pouch on her belt. Wordlessly she passed one each to the two teenagers who hastily donned them as the dust continued to whirl around.

For a few tense moments the rooftop was eerily still, the ever present smoke haze muffling shouts and cries from below, all three suited figures unmoving on the rooftop except for scanning eyes. So stressed was the tableau that the abrupt sound of boots crunching debris behind them caused Reno to yelp audibly, whirling a beat behind Cloud and Sofia as the trio aimed their various firearms at the threat. A familiar red and black figure stalked smugly across the rooftop, how he'd approached from that angle Reno had no idea, but he wheezed in relief at the sight of the tall man.

Sofia cursed loudly, "What are you doing up here SOLDIER?" she spat, irritated as she held her shotgun still aimed at the approaching Lieutenant.

Genesis smirked, "With the advent of such... excitement, my previous directives have been rendered as the ash of forgotten sorrows, such fortuity bestowed by our fairest haired scion, as he vanished whence in hunt of prey."

Reno stared for a beat in absolute bafflement. "Wha'd'ee say? Is he even speakin' English?"

"Sephiroth ran off to find the terrorists, leaving Genesis to his own devices." Cloud translated in wry amusement.

Sofia groaned in disgust, "So why is that our problem?"

"As a cub does follow the mother lion on the hunt, so must all knowledge be inherent from the elder to the stripling young."

Reno was still confused, even as his partner sighed in exasperation. Their Turk chaperone all but growled under her breath. "You're not running off with my intern!"

"Wait, what?" the young redhead snapped, "Ya can't take Cloud! We're on Turk business, yo! He's gotta stay with his partner! It's the rules!"

The smaller boy shrugged, "They're not wrong."

"So the sun and moon do chase the sky, yet Janus is both." The Lieutenant responded.

"I can't just pick and choose which directives to follow whenever it's convenient." Cloud admonished gently. "I have to go where I'm assigned, and right now I'm a Turk."

"A chained raptor forsakes the hunt. But free to the skies its quarry becomes clear and it may yet decide to come home." Genesis grinned smugly.

Reno was getting heartily sick of his stupid poems or metaphisms or whatever they were called. "Just speak English!" He snapped cursing "I don't care about no birds or cats moons!"

The auburn-haired SOLDIER chuckled, "You are holding back your minder,… little fox." He tilted his head almost mockingly at Sofia, who gritted her teeth audibly, "I'd like to take my own cub on the hunt, teach him to be the Tiger he's meant to be."

"I ain' little!" the red-haired Turk scoffed, "I'm taller than Cloud!..." Realizing what he'd said, he darted a horrified glance at his partner, "Sorry Cloud…" The blond smiled and shrugged affably.

"It would hardly be 'freeing me up' if you only took Cloud." Sofia huffed, Reno felt even more offended.

"Perhaps you could query Tseng, he may yet acquiesce to my request."

The ash blonde Turk gave a dramatic groan, "Fine!" She moved away slightly while glaring at the red-clad Lieutenant, pressing her hand to her ear mic, muttering quickly into it, Reno felt a shiver of dread, glancing between the younger blond and the smug SOLDIER first. They were gonna take his partner? That wasn't fair! He was supposed to show Cloud how cool the Turks could be! Not have him run off to join the SOLDIERs whenever things got heated! Before he could work himself into a panic, his shotgun wielding chaperone reappeared. "Tseng says you can only take Cloud if you take them both." She scowled, "He could use my skills elsewhere if it's just me." Reno was stunned, both of them? With the SOLDIER? He and Genesis locked gazes, neither were particularly happy with this development, but… they both looked at Cloud and then back at each other. Worth it I guess,… Reno decided, with the eerie feeling his thoughts were echoed in the glowing blue eyes of the enhanced warrior.

"And thus, the arrow has left the bow of the Goddess." The SOLDIER murmured, Reno had a sudden strong urge to punch him… if only he were a little shorter."

"They better come back in the same condition!" Sofia grumbled, even as she tucked her shotgun under her arm and trotted towards the fire escape.

"Dirty and rumpled?" Cloud wondered quietly with a smile.

The redhead sniggered, before pausing, "Wait, am I the arrow or the goddess?"

"Neither," Cloud assured, even as Genesis raised one eyebrow, "Sofia is the arrow and Tseng is- uh, well don't think about it too hard okay?"

"There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the goddess. Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds."

Reno squinted at the taller man, who was gazing at the young blond with what looked like fondness. That sounded vaguely flattering? To Cloud at least. "Is he always like this?"

"Only when he wants to annoy someone, or he's bored… which is most of the time." Cloud explained with almost paternal patience. Reno scowled, cursing the SOLDIER under his breath. "He can hear you." The blond informed, amusement evident in his tone as the redhead flushed.

The auburn-haired Lieutenant just laughed. When Sofia had disappeared down the side of the building, thoroughly out of earshot, both older youths turned to the Cadet. "Do you have any portents of this calamity, golden sword of the Goddess?"

Cloud shot him a sharp look at the word 'calamity' but sighed, "Not exactly, AVALANCHE didn't attack Junon yet in my time, not until the end of war celebration next February." His pale brows pulled down in a contemplative frown, "That attack was after an assassination attempt aimed at President Shinra, and they didn't use explosives like this."

"Knowledge inspires change, and yet Change negates knowledge." Genesis nodded,

"Something changed?" Reno asked, still trying to wrap his head around the implications in the older teen's flowery statement.

"At least a little," the blond affirmed, "That's always been the theoretical complication with time travel, 'everytime you look at the future, it changes, because you looked at it.' The whole point of sending me back was to change things." He sighed, "I can't exactly fine tune it, ripples of change can roll out from the slightest action, and I might never know what events will be touched." He shrugged, self-deprecatingly, "Or so I was warned."

"So we have no foreknowledge of this event," Genesis surmised,

"Not exactly," Cloud contradicted, "There had been a variety of plans by AVALANCHE depending on their opportunity, assassinating the president of Shinra was always a high priority, but not their only one. They also wanted to steal as many resources out of Shinra's hands as they could, and the shipping lanes of Junon would be a juicy target."

"If they wanted the ships? Why'd they bomb the parade?" Reno asked,

"It's a diversion," Genesis' eyes lit up in realization, "That's why the explosive were placed so high on the buildings, the classic smoke and mirrors."

The blond smiled approvingly at the auburn-haired SOLDIER, "Exactly, low civilian casualties, lots of panic." The young Turk was too distracted by thought to notice the impossibly fast Lieutenant reaching for him until he'd been snatched up like a sack of potatoes to dangle and squirm in undignified humiliation under one of the SOLDIER's red clad arms, he heard Cloud yelp in similar surprise and peered past the armor and leather to see the tiny blond settled up on Genesis other hip like a toddler carried by it's parent. Reno stopped squirming abruptly as they started to MOVE, the long legs blurring beneath them as the enhanced Youth vaulted off the building with as much care as the birds he'd waxed poetically about. The red-head's strangled shriek was halted only by their gentle landing on the next roof over almost faster than he could process. I'm gonna throw up, if I live through this. He thought in horror, then realized the other two boys were still talking,

"Speed is of the essence, little sword." Genesis wasn't even breathing hard Reno noted in aggravation. "Would you advise my most honorable associate of our deductions?"

Cloud sighed, grunting slightly as they landed on the next roof, "Shouldn't we be telling Sephiroth?"

"Angeal first," Genesis said wickedly, "I haven't given you Sephiroth's number yet." Reno had only a moment to glance up and see the blond holding an unfamiliar phone to one ear, even as his other hand held tight to straps of the Lieutenant's armor.

"Not a problem, he's in your contacts." The blond said nonplussed, Reno yelped as Genesis suddenly faltered a few steps,

"Where did you get that?" the older youth groused, suddenly irritated.

"Picked your pockets." Was the amused reply, "Hello Sephiroth? … No, this is Cloud." The blond said into the receiver, cutting off any further protest from the auburn-haired SOLDIER, "We believe this attack is a distraction by AVALANCHE, my best guess they're at the Docks." Following this was a few affirmative hums, "Genesis, Reno and I are on the high road there." More agreement noises, "Yeah he grabbed us both from Turk Sofia, …" a pause "yeah… literally." Another pause and Genesis sighed, even as he bunched for a longer leap onto a higher roof, He still wasn't breathing hard! Reno realized with a scowl, friggin' SOLDIERs.

"They will both be fine," the Lieutenant groused aloud, apparently in response to something he could hear from the phone, "I already agreed to take responsibility for them both." Another long pause, "I have Revive Materia if it comes to that."

"What?" Reno yelped,

"I have full responsibility," the auburn-haired SOLDIER rolled his eyes, "I'll even get their pretty little Turk suits dry cleaned. Do they need a story when I put them to bed after? A poem perhaps?"

"Oy!" the Turk cried, forestalling trying to kick the older boy only when he remembered how high they kept jumping. They really were getting quite high, he noted with some dismay, how many more roofs could there be before we reach…? As if his thoughts had somehow cued the universe, the last rooftop disappeared from under those booted mako-enhanced feet and Reno choked a scream as the world seemed to drop away beneath him, steel and wood docks alarmingly far beneath their multi-story height. He scrabbled to hold tighter to the leather clad SOLDIER as they passed the arc of his leap and the ground began accelerating towards them all. He apparently needn't have worried, the Lieutenant tipped lightly off a lamp post the Turk had never noticed, bounced gently off a tall shipping container with hardly a noise, and finally landed with the slightest click of his boot heel on the ground. Reno felt himself tugged away from the muscular youth as though his white-knuckled grip was that of a kitten, and was set unceremoniously on his rump besides the red container the SOLDIER had bounced from. Cloud stood next to him a moment later, and he hardly seemed fazed. Reno's jealousy over Cloud's poise was quickly subverted by astonishment as he saw a group of masked men and women hustling frantically over cargo, their words as they chattered urgently to each other was distorted by the distance. They were piling smaller items from several broken shipping containers onto a small ship tucked almost underneath one of the docks, but a couple of people were opening crates with quiet haste, as though looking for something in particular. To Reno's shock, none of them had noticed the trio's approach from the skies. With a quick glance around, the redhead realized they'd leapt right over the watchers guarding the various entrances. At least, the entrances NORMAL people might use, the youth thought, shuddering and clutching at his roiling stomach.

"Don't kill the leader," Cloud's sudden non-sequitur distracted the Turk from his discomfort, he glanced at the blond, and realized the other boy wasn't talking to him at all, but to Genesis who was walking right towards the terrorists!

"What's'ee doing?" Reno hissed in alarm, tucking himself closer to their meagre cover, he stared in astonishment as the SOLDIER drew his sword, allowing the startling crimson blade to ring intimidatingly along its sheath. Eyes suddenly snapped up from their tasks at the sound, and two of the masked figures closest shouted out warnings.

"When you can deflect bullets with your sword, what do you have to fear?" the blond muttered, sounding exasperated, "Seriously Gen, don't kill their leader, I need her alive! You can get rid of the creepy guy with the glasses though, if you can do it quietly."

"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess." The auburn-haired warrior quoted airily as he approached the scrambling terrorists. Several of them pulled up guns, semi-automatic rifles that had been loosely strapped across their torsos. The red-haired Turk cringed a little further, feeling horribly exposed on the ground outgunned by so many enemies. His little baton and pistol felt wholly inadequate, but Cloud didn't seem nervous… the blonde's attention was sweeping intently over the entire tableau as though this kind of thing happened every day. Maybe it did? Maybe it used to?… but Cloud wasn't a SOLDIER anymore! He couldn't deflect bullets any more than Reno could… was he remembering that? Whether he was, or wasn't, the stupid SOLDIER Lieutenant had already eliminated any possibility of planning an ambush, the only favorable outcome of the completely unsubtle approach was that no one was looking past the crimson threat bearing down on them to see the two teenagers huddled half behind the crate. Orders to stop were shouted from the members of AVALANCHE, gun barrels waved in shaking hands as their wide horrified eyes locked on their impending death, and still Genesis sauntered forward as calmly as if he were browsing a bookstore.

"What now?" Reno whispered to his partner, "What do we do? Should we find a better vantage? Do we cover him?" Cloud shook his head slightly,

"Stay down, try not to draw attention…" He spoke in a hushed voice, barely moving his lips as he posed like a lean hound, muscles poised and waiting, side arm drawn and tucked in close, hidden against his dark jacket. His head was cocked, Reno realized, his hair tucked closer to the shadows to dim its bright color, he slowly emulated the smaller boy, minimizing his lanky silhouette as much as possible. Reno suddenly wanted to be back on the roof or any other proper vantage point to assess their various threats, how many AVALANCHE terrorists were there? He had no idea! He couldn't hold back the flinch at the earsplitting cracks of gunfire as the thieves finally opened fire on the SOLDIER First, but as the time-traveler had mentioned, the flashing red blade seemed to nick incoming bullets out of the air! The red-head swallowed a suddenly dry throat, Gaia! What were those fruitcake scientists doing to make these guys? He'd known they were stronger and faster than the Turks, but this was insane! The staccato bangs were increasing in frequency, but despite coming from roughly in front of him, he saw the blasts of impact and heard the ricochets bouncing everywhere but their direction. Some small tension in his shoulders eased as he watched. "He has a Cover Materia," Cloud advised, "Now focus, what does it look like they're stealing?"

His breath finally easing into something more normal, Reno dragged his eyes away from the flashing muzzles and tried to peer at the few individuals still trying to throw cargo into the ship in panic. Most of AVALANCHE was focused on Genesis, not that Reno blamed them, who was just reaching the first armed thug. A tall, burly man with some sort of green headgear was cursing loudly, directing men to the boat with broad gestures. Slightly behind him was a brown-haired man in glasses, who was scrambling to sort through the remaining crates. The one Cloud had given Genesis permission to take out?

Lastly was a strange, lanky girl in green who was moving past the others with brisk efficiency, a white tattered cape billowing behind her, and a slender katana was drawn at her side. Her hair was only a little darker than Genesis' and Reno could see her pale blue eyes from even this distance, she's kinda cute… he thought, too bad she's a terrorist. That idea wasn't as off-putting as it might have been, he'd distinctly heard Cloud tell the SOLDIER to spare her…right? A loud clash of steel snapped his attention to the brewing fight, as the sword-wielding woman dashed between the Lieutenant and his quarry. Her movements were fast, almost as quick as Genesis' … close enough that the battle had seemed almost equal at first. Reno's eyes burned as he tried to follow the movements, only the sparks and ringing chimes of clashing steel told him when the attacks hit. The motion was just beyond his unenhanced eyesight.

"Fuhito just told everyone to find the 'mark'." Cloud interrupted Reno's thoughts again, "Whatever that is, we can't let him take it."

"You can hear them from here?" the redhead blurted in astonishment, even as he looked over and realized his partner had pulled out his binoculars. The blond offered him a wry glance in return,

"Lip reading." He reminded bluntly, "Now come on! It's our turn to move, we need to stop Fuhito."

"Who is 'Fuhito'?" The young Turk grumbled, but he obediently followed the other boy's lead as they moved quietly along the shadows of the stacked shipping containers.

"The guy with glasses." Came the answer, and a pair of binoculars were shoved at the taller youth. He had to let his baton dangle by its strap to grab them, but he quickly fumbled them up and glanced over the frenzied procession. The guy with glasses wasn't hard to spot, gesticulating as he directed the men throwing varied objects from the crates in search of his 'mark'. Reno almost asked how Cloud knew the guy's name, but remembered at the last moment that a time-traveler might recognize all sorts of random people. He made a mental note to grill the boy later to learn what was so special about creepy glasses guy and cute terrorist girl. He passed back the binoculars to free up his hands. They were drawing close enough now to make out some words in the shouting. The burly guy with the green headgear was telling the members of AVALANCHE to evacuate, but the creepy glasses guy, 'Fuhito' Cloud had called him, was instructing the same people to help him search. Most of the personnel seemed inclined to follow the first fellow's instructions, and were making their way with all haste on to the boat. But a couple of additional unfortunate masked men had been roped into the search. The two boys were moving at an oblique angle from Genesis approach, which led them behind the crates glasses guy was working over.

"Hey sir, is this it?" One grunt yelled, just as the two suited Turks approached, they leaned almost as one to peer from around their current cover, noting the particular terrorist who held a small locked case with a handle. The one Cloud had named 'Fuhito' approached expeditiously. He inspected the box thoroughly, and finally a thin smile broke his face.

"This is the mark. This will further our cause beyond your comprehension." The bespectacled man advised in dispassionate odds with his expression. "Now we may retreat." He grabbed the handle and started to turn when a strange yellow glow blazed around the case, the AVALANCHE members nearby shouted in shock, as the case and glow both vanished. "Find the thief quickly!" Fuhito snapped, shaking out his now empty fingers, more than one thug looked aghast, eyes flickering between the calm intellectual and the loud swordfight drawing ever closer. "The faster he's found, the faster we can leave." Fuhito said coldly.

"Aaand… that's our cue." Cloud murmured in Reno's ear. "Come on little Turk, Its snappy one-liner time! We should give these demolitionists a reason to think twice before messing with us." The redhead blinked, and spared a glance for his young looking partner, suddenly realizing the diminutive blond was holding a very familiar locked case in one hand. "Steal Materia." He explained briskly, "Now let's mosey!" well… if that's how it was going to be… Reno straightened his spine and threw back his shoulders pulling his baton up to rest on one shoulder while he flicked off the safety of the pistol in his right hand. He strolled into the open as casually as Genesis had, tossing a lazy grin at the startled terrorists.

"Theives eh? Kinda funny comin' from someone with Shinra property in their hands."

"Sounds like a bunch of hypocrites to me." Cloud snarked, stepping up beside the taller boy with his gun aimed at Fuhito, the man's eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

"Shinra seems to induct its members younger and younger these days." The stoic bespectacled burnet observed. He started to reach into his coat when a harsh gunshot echoed, and a bullet dug into the crate lid next to him. A beat later Reno realized the shot came from Cloud, Fuhito hesitated briefly with a frown. "That was rather rude."

"He's not here today actually, that was me." The blonde returned blithely, but their short stalemate was interrupted by the burly man wearing what Reno noted was a green bandana over his hair, rushing over, while cursing with vulgar virulence.

"Get outta here! Retreat already!" the large man snarled.

"They've taken the mark." Fuhito sneered.

"And there's a SOLDIER first over there fighting Elfé. She can't hold him off forever, They're gonna have more reinforcements any minute! MOVE!"

"He's right you know," Cloud advised calmly, "I'm surprised Sephiroth isn't here already."

Dark eyes narrowed further, "You're bluffing." The reserved scientist countered. But the muscular man behind him scoffed,

"I ain't callin' that even if he is. We can't risk it, we're leaving now!"

"Shears, we need the mark…" Was the cool response, but any further argument was interrupted by the fist-fighter physically grabbing the smaller man by the arm and dragging him off.

Cloud's aim never waivered, and Reno was honestly a little surprised they hadn't tried to apprehend anyone, but he continued to follow the time-traveler's lead. The small cluster of trailing AVALANCHE members were only a few yards from their escape vessel when there was a sudden explosion and rubble came flying from the farthest side of the dock warehouses. Shouts of terror and a last unfortunate spotter came rocketing toward the boat like he was on fire, screaming Sephiroth's name as he moved. This seemed to be all the incentive the rest needed, as they piled into the boat like birds on dropped seed, even the cute terrorist girl turned from her confrontation with Genesis and pelted for safety. The engine had already started and the craft was swiftly moving away from the ravaged docks, but this was no issue for the apparently enhanced young woman. She leaped as gracefully as the red-clad Lieutenant could have managed, and landed on one of the stolen crates, only pausing to watch the potential threats as they sped away.

Once the last eddies of their retreat disappeared, Reno holstered his gun and surveyed the wreckage. He was startled to notice that the area around Genesis seemed to be mostly on fire… Though the few things that weren't burning were either frozen solid, or had suspiciously smoldering stains. The whole staging area was thoroughly wrecked, slashed open, tossed or otherwise destroyed, and a lot of unidentified objects were floating forlornly in the water. With who knew what, now resting under the waves. The Lieutenant in question was now striding towards them, sheathing his crimson sword as he walked, and a quick glance showed Reno that Cloud hadn't been bluffing, as the black and silver figure of the General himself was approaching from the dust cloud still obscuring the farther warehouses. Genesis reached them first,

"Legend shall speak, of sacrifice at world's end. The wind sails over the water's surface, quietly, but surely."

The red-haired Turk grimaced, "Really?"

"Act Four." Sephiroth's baritone murmured, "Mildly apropos, I suppose." He glanced at the mess around them. "Did we accomplish anything?"

"We stopped 'em from stealin' their mark." Reno explained proudly, gesturing to the case Cloud carried. Two pairs of glowing eyes swiveled to the locked box. "Creepy glasses guy wanted that real bad, yo." A silver eyebrow rose expressively, "Cloud said 'is name was 'Futo or somethin'."

"Fuhito." Cloud corrected. "He's a Hojo wannabe, with about as much of a moral compass, but thankfully, less funding." He handed the case without protest to the General. "I stole this back from him, so we don't need to worry about what he might do with the contents. However, he was raiding other crates slated to go to the science department, so who knows what else he might have in his possession now." The two SOLDIERs nodded thoughtfully, but suddenly both turned to face the street access to the docks, the young blond following their lead. Reno turned belatedly, and noticed the approach of a small handful of suited figures entering the area like normal people. The redhead figured the enhanced men must have heard them coming. As his superiors made their way towards them, all further speculation ceased, and Reno realized with a groan, that underage or not, it was unlikely they'd make it to a bar after all. This was going to be a long debrief.

((Author's Note:

I know it's been a super long time since I posted. I want to, once again reassure my readers that this fic is not forgotten. Life has been a real roller coaster over the last few years, and as many other authors have probably discovered, one just doesn't have as much free time as they did when they were in school.

Schedule changes, life upheavals, new jobs and opportunities, injuries and family drama, and trying to push entrepreneurship has all eaten into my free time, or the free time of my sounding boards. I've got a LOT of story worked out in the outline, so no worries about that, but getting the nitty-gritty details in, the proper foreshadowing, or just wrestling with the POV of a given section with a stubborn character make it slower going than I'd like.

Speaking of POV… the next section is going to start out with a DOOZY of a hard one… this will either flow like water and make me want to shower afterwards, or be a constant head-pounding-wall aggravation… we'll see I guess. Please have patience with me regardless! And thank you SO MUCH to my patient and dedicated readers! I read all the reviews and it really brightens my days.

-Jianre M. A.K.A … Illusor Meaneld.))