By: Mags

Adrian Work sat in the lush grass outside the Kalm Blister Dome turned ghost town. He stared up at the night sky, reveling in how peaceful it was outside the dome. It was beyond his wildest imagination the way the stars looked on a night like tonight. He breathed in another deep breath of crisp, fresh air. He sat there, laying supine on the ground, as motionless as a corpse. He just lay there, listening to the crickets, the birds, the…

He stopped.

There were no birds chirping.

Or crickets either for that matter.

In fact, with the exception of the noises that everyone who was sleeping under the night sky was making, the night was completely silent.

It didn’t last.

A shadow fell over the field that the townspeople slept on. It obstructed the view of the stars. With a gigantic rumbling, what looked like a living mountain rose up into view, flying over the field.

Adrian would have convinced himself that it was in fact a mountain had it not been for the eyes. The two gigantic glowing embers that were embedded deep into the creature’s skull.

With a bestial cry it attacked.

The city of Kalm was wiped from the face of the earth in less than five minutes. Then the beast turned its fury on the townspeople.

The people ran for whatever shelter they could find, only succeeding in attracting the beast’s attention.

It opened its gaping maw to reveal the hidden energies inside. Channeling the energies into a focused beam of light, the creature scarred the landscape, incinerating people where they stood.

When it finished, the city and most of the people who had lived there were gone, obliterated, mercilessly attacked without warning.

It was not over.

Scales that lined the behemoth’s body slid apart to reveal an immense power core at the center of it’s torso. It began channeling energies into its power core, preparing to finish off what it had started on Kalm with the surrounding landscape.

It was so absorbed in its actions that it did not notice the shooting star that was approaching it from its right flank until it was too late.

Sephiroth, enveloped in white-hot flame, raced towards the WEAPON at near the speed of light. His eyes narrowed into green slivers as he neared his target. He’d be damned before he let meddlesome creatures like the WEAPONs interfere with such a necessary phase in his master plan. Since those little heroes Cloud and AVALANCHE were no longer around to take care of them for him, he would have to remedy the situation himself.

The creature noticed him at the last possible second, but not soon enough for it to react.

With a high-pitched wail that shattered many of the nearby Kalm citizen’s eardrums, Sephiroth shot through the WEAPON like a hot knife through butter.

The creature fell back with a thunderous roar, and an even more deafening earthquake.

Sephiroth levitated just feet from the WEAPON’s mouth.

"Go back to the planet. You are useless here," he commanded it.

The WEAPON answered with a concentrated blast of pure energy that would have shred the skin and muscle off of his bones had he not been prepared. The blast went right through him, still going once it had left the atmosphere. But then it began to curve, bent by Sephiroth’s superior will, the energy blast changed course and began flying back towards the planet.

The creature did not have time to move before the redirected energy blast slammed into it’s head, decapitating the creature instantly and causing a flood of the creature’s green blood, Lifestream, to begin flowing into the nearby ocean.

Sephiroth materialized above the crater that the blast had created, admiring his handiwork. He grinned before turning back to his people.

He dropped himself at the center of the crowd of remaining townspeople, amidst cries of lost hearing and sorrowful mourning for lost friends and family.

As the people noticed that he had arrived, they quickly quieted down save the ones who had no hearing, who remained moaning in agony.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Sephiroth began, "I come before you not as a savior, but as a friend. You do not seem to realize the nature of your entrapment. The air was never foul and unbreathable."

Sephiroth paused to let his opening statement sink in. It was followed by several shocked gasps, but quickly faded into silence.

"The devils at the Rachwell IM live a life of luxury while you rotted in your dome. I have discovered much that can be used against them on my visits to the Headquarters. But I cannot fight the battle for you, you must raise your own arms in defense of your newfound freedom. I can provide the means, but you must provide the fighting spirit and the courage. You can yet make good this day of tragedy by kicking the fat bastards at Rachwell where it hurts!"

Sephiroth paused again, waiting for sounds of cheering and applause but only heard scattered murmurs. Someone in the front row finally spoke up.

"But Great Sephiroth, you are suggesting going to war against a well-armed, major planetary power. We were too few in numbers before as it is, but now we are less than half we were before. No matter how well you could possibly arm us, we would never be able to even scratch the defenses of Rachwell IM. It’s a lost cause."

Sephiroth growled in anger and lashed out at a dead tree nearby, smashing the base, sending the large chunk of dead wood flying many feet into the air and landing with a crash over fifty feet away. Sephiroth turned back to the people, who stared at him with wide eyes.

"Nothing," he roared, "Is ever a lost cause unless you convince yourself otherwise first! Least of all when I am present!"

He unlatched a small green orb from his Masamune and held it up for all to see.

"In this glowing sphere lies destructive power that which those techno-freak scientists at Rachwell only dream about."

The masses looked skeptical.

He held it at arms length and concentrated.

A second later, the tree he had topples was engulfed in green and black fire, instantly incinerating it.

He smirked and turned back to the crowd, whose mouths practically hung at their feet.

"That was Ultima. I have enough of these spheres of power for everyone. And by that, I mean the others, as well."

"What do you mean others?" someone called out from within the crowd.

Sephiroth put on a mask of mock-shock.

"You mean you didn’t know? There are other domes, like this, scattered around the globe. After all, why have one hellhole when they can have many? Misery loves company."

He could literally feel the enmity burning in the hearts and souls of these people, now that they knew the truth. He reveled in it. It made them brash, their wills easily bent to aid those that knew how to play the manipulation game, a game he’d never been beaten at. Anger made their wills malleable, blind to the fact that a greater power was using them to attain something far greater than simple revenge. Not that he really cared, as far as he was concerned all these people were given breath for only one reason, to pander him.

He grinned.

"Now are you with me?" he yelled, the last syllables were drowned out by a deafening roar of anger and hatred. It was complete. They were his. He quickly passed out the materia and organized them into a phalanx of soldiers and sent them off to the nearby Rachwell Employees-only City of Kalm about thirty miles North-West of where the dome used to stand.

"But Great Sephiroth, will you not be staying with us?" one man from the crowd asked.

"I have much to attend to. The hive would be too much for any of you. I will bring down my righteous wrath from the heavens to dispose of such meddlesome insects."

"By what do you mean, great sir?"
"Look and see for yourself," Sephiroth said, pointing to the horizon as the clouds parted, revealing a giant meteor many times larger than the cityscape of NEO-Junon, seemingly suspended in mid-air.

"What is that?" the man cried.

"That is the element of the nest’s destruction. I have called down a fireball from the heavens to burn the devils in their own flame. Do not worry, it will do the job I have set for it, now you go do yours."

"Yes, sir," the man exclaimed hastily, running off to go tell others what he had just heard.

Sephiroth grinned.

It was too easy.

It was the same at every dome. Everyone took to him the same way as they had in Kalm, as per his expectations. They were all swayed by his silver tongue, talked into going to war against those that had enslaved them for so long. They would provide the perfect cover for his plan. The WEAPONs would all fall at his hand, and any that attacked

NEO-Junon he would leave alone. They would either be destroyed by Meteor or by the weaponry that they wielded. Everything was slowly coming together. In a few short days he would be the supreme master of this pathetic planet, he would be a god.

Malcolm looked up from his papers as a siren began ringing throughout the building. All white lights switched off, replaced by the red warning lights. The building was under attack and from what he had gathered from the books Morrigan had brought in not too long ago, he had a pretty good idea what it was.

There was a large explosion on one of the below levels and the building moaned and creaked under its incredible force.
Malcolm smelled smoke. He looked down at his computer to find the monitor cracked and spitting sparks. He sneered. That tore it. That was his favorite computer. He grabbed the phone and dialed the Security and Defense Dept.

A frantic Adams picked it up.

"What the hell is it? I’m busy up here!" Adams yelled.

"I’m quite aware of your predicament, Mr. Adams," Malcolm replied slyly.

"You know something I don’t?" Adams demanded.

"Always," Malcolm replied.

"Well then get the hell up here and help me figure out what the hell I’m doing, Malcolm!" Adams screamed, hanging up the phone. Malcolm hurried up to the 64^th floor to Adam’s office. Adams was looking over the destruction caused by the brutal onslaught of the as-of-yet-unidentified creature.

"Dr. Malcolm, I presume," Adams stated without turning around.

"Adams," Malcolm replied, returning the greeting.

"So what do I need to do to take this bastard down?" Adams demanded, getting straight to the point. "I can’t find a goddamn weapon that can scratch this thing!"

"Are you sure that the weapons are turned on?" Malcolm offered sarcastically.

"Shut up! I don’t have time for this. Now either help me or get out. I have a city to save!"

Malcolm turned to leave, but stopped and turned around.

"Aim for the chest region, that’s where the WEAPON’s power core is located," Malcolm replied. "Normal weapons like nitro won’t work because of its thick outer scales. You’ll have to use armor-piercing ground-to-air missiles to penetrate its armor. After you’ve successfully bored through it’s armor, you’re going to have to pump everything you have into that hole before it releases it’s ultimate attack, the Air tai Storm."
Adams just stared blankly at Malcolm, who got an irritated look on his face.

"DO IT!" Malcolm ordered, sending Adams scurrying for a phone. He loved being in control.

A half an hour later, the WEAPON was dead, its insides liquidated by the nuclear plasma that had been consistently pumped into its hollow gut since the missiles had bored their way into its stomach. Only its massive armor remained, half buried from its crash to the ground.

In another minute it would be crawling with teams of scientists, ready to subject the remaining tissue and armor samples to every test conceivable by man’s twisted imagination.

Malcolm chuckled.

He stood at the window of his office on the 75^th floor, his arms crossed behind his back.

Sometimes his life was just too easy. Between his own brilliant mind and the raw power that Sephiroth wielded the WEAPONs would soon be wiped from the plane of existence.

His brow furrowed as Sephiroth crossed his mind.

He had big plans for Sephiroth, whether Sephiroth liked them or not. Through his careful studying of the ancient tomes that Morrigan had brought in, he had determined exactly what needed to be done to make sure that his brilliance lived on.

He laughed again.

The planet knew that it was in trouble. Sephiroth was more powerful than ever following his ‘rebirth’ and the weapons that the humans possessed had increased tremendously since the last time it had called upon the WEAPONs to cleanse the planet.

The humans were getting too powerful for their own good. The WEAPONs were no longer an effective means of attack. They were too driven by instinct and could not properly assess a situation and act on it accordingly. Not to mention the fact that they weren’t exactly Olympic athletes, either.

The planet had not survived this long by making stupid decisions. It realized very well that it was time to instigate a new means of defense of itself. The WEAPONs just did not cut it any longer.

It had a good idea of what needed to be done.

The planet reached down into its Reserve of Souls. This was where it kept all of the souls that had for whatever reason had been taken out of circulation in the Lifestream. It had at one time included Sephiroth’s soul, if you could really call that small, twisted black sphere of life energy a soul.

Among the souls were the unsung heroes of AVALANCHE that had saved it from Sephiroth hundreds of years ago. It had been them that had felled some of the WEAPONs that the planet had sent out. Their spirits were very strong. The planet had doubted that they would have diffused into the Lifestream properly had it allowed them to return to it. Had that happened and one of them been reborn, then they would have retained memories of their previous life. Although it did not usually happen, when it did then the subjects usually became mentally unstable. A dangerous situation if you’re as powerful as the members of AVALANCHE was. So the planet had ‘retired’ their souls.

It knew what needed to be done for a WEAPON to properly combat the new menace that Sephiroth posed.

It would take the soul of the one who vanquished Sephiroth the first time, Cloud Strife, and would construct him a new, but similar, body. The body would be of the same age as Cloud had been when he first beat Sephiroth and in just as good physical condition. Fueled by the planet itself and outfitted with the best materia the planet had to offer, as well as several devastating attacks that the WEAPONs once wielded. Coupled with the fact that the new WEAPON would retain all of the first Cloud’s abilities and most of his memories, the tide would hopefully turn in favor of the planet and those that worked for it.

The ground began to tremble as the Planet made its move. A large area of ground became concave in appearance as the planet compacted the earth beneath it.

Finally, a large pile of dirt pressed together into a large, thin pile was ‘spit’ from the ground.

As the planet pumped Lifestream and the proper soul into it, the earth began to take the form of a human, the proper features seemingly growing from the soil itself. Arms and legs, undefined features at first, but as it neared completion the WEAPON grew the rest of the necessary features.

Nose… mouth… fingers and toes, ears, eyes… all the proper features for a hero to have. The hair was the last to grow in; the long, complex chains of proteins that made up the thick blonde hair that covered the WEAPON’s head.

Finally, the WEAPON was ready. But there was something missing. A few things actually. First of all, clothes. Despite the inhuman nature of its birth, it still looked like a human. Humans wore clothes. It needed clothes.

That was something the planet could not provide for him as of yet.

A quick manipulation of what otherwise would be considered a chance encounter, a man with a deep wound in his side stumbled into view and died at the WEAPON’s feet.

As the man returned to the planet, the WEAPON took his clothes.

Gloves, boots, shirt and pants… everything.

No sooner was the WEAPON dressed than the source of the man’s wound came into view.

A large, muscular man with several tattoos and a bloody knife.

A weapon! That was what it was missing.

The planet quickly threw together some minerals to re-create the old SOLDIER’s sword, only much more powerful. It grew out of the ground and the WEAPON took it and gave it a test swing before finally sheathing it on his back.

He turned back to the man with the knife, who was giving the strange creature with the naked man at his feet an odd look.

He quickly regained his composure.

"Don’t know why you took his clothes, but it don’t make a difference to me," the man stated, rearing up to make himself seem larger than he was.

"Now give me all your gil and you won’t end up like the guy at your feet," he said.

The WEAPON opened his mouth to reply, vocal cords working for the first time, yet somehow familiar with the speaking process.

"Over my dead body," the Cloud in the WEAPON replied, drawing his sword and moving into his familiar battle stance.

The man laughed.

"You got guts kid, now unless you wanna see ‘em scattered across this field I suggest you hand over your goddamned gil!"

The WEAPON’s reply was quick and silent. A second later the hand that was holding the knife lay on the ground in a pool of blood and the WEAPON had returned to its original position.

The man stared at him in shock.
"What the $^#% are you? No goddamned human alive can move that friggin’ fast!"

"Apparently one can," it replied.

"And who the &$#^ are you?" he yelled.

It paused. It did not know a name. It had not been given one.

The planet did not know what to do. It did not want to arouse suspicion by giving the name of one of the men from AVALANCHE.

It pulled one of the souls out of the Lifestream. Its name was Irden Williams.

It pulled another soul out of the Lifestream. Its name was Leonard Puissant.

The plant put the two together and gave it to the WEAPON.

"The name is… Irden Puissant," the WEAPON finally answered.

"The hell kinda name is that?" the man cried, both out of pain and laughter.

"What does it matter to the likes of you, murderer?" it shot back.
"Murderer, eh? Well, you’re gonna find out how much of a murderer I really am!"

The man put the fingers of his good hand to his lips and gave a shrill whistle. A second later the WEAPON was surrounded by four more men, each as large as the first and each armed with a knife or better.

"This little shit cut my goddamn hand off. Two eyes for an eye I always say. Get ‘im boys!"

The circle of men slowly closed in on the WEAPON. Just as they pounced at him, the WEAPON sprung into action. Jumping off one of the men’s backs, it leaped out of the circle and behind the small pile of men that had formed.

It held out its gloved fist. The planet had prepared it well, outfitted with only the best materia for its mission. It chose Flare.

"Goodbye," the WEAPON stated, the materia flaring to life.

A second later the pile of men were engulfed in flame, the group reduced to a smoking pile of charred bones. The WEAPON walked over to the collection of bones and gave the bottom bone a nudge with the toe of his boot. The entire pile collapsed into a heap of glowing ash and cinder.

It looked over at the man, whose mouth hung open, flapping in the breeze.

"You want to be next?"

The man shook his head furiously and ran off. The WEAPON just stood there, and held out his arm again.

It saw no sense in letting him survive.

A second later the man froze where he stood, petrified into a statue by the power of the WEAPON’s materia. The weight of his body pushed the statue forwards, shattering upon impact with the ground.

The WEAPON walked in the other direction, towards the Nibel Mountains to the north.

It was to rendezvous with the others that shared its fight at a hidden location within the mountains.

"Do you take this woman, Minerva Rachwell to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the preacher asked.

"I do."

"Do you take this man, Seth Voder, to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the preacher asked Minerva.

She stared deep into his large, warm eyes and smiled.

"I do," she said.

"Then by the power invested within me by the planet, I now pronounce you husband and wife," the preacher replied. He turned to Seth. "You may kiss the bride."

And kiss her he did.

The preacher smiled.
In Minerva’s head, her mind was racing. She couldn’t believe that she had just gotten married, much less to a man that she had met not a week ago. But seeing how brutally that Sephiroth had dealt with her lookalike, her friend, Laura, made her realize just how vulnerable she was and when it boiled down to it, she really just wanted someone to hold sometimes.

There was just something about Seth that made all of her uncertainties melt away. Something about him was just so comforting that she couldn’t refuse his offer when he proposed to her amidst the brutalized bodies that they had found in her office just last night.

Of course she had considered the fact that any man she might marry would just be marrying her for who she was, but she knew that she couldn’t live her life in paranoia until she died. She had to live.

Seth broke the kiss and led her out of the room, to the elevator that would take them to her room on the 59t^h floor, a huge penthouse that took up the entire floor, which had once belonged to her father. She had no qualms about what she had done to him. In the short time she had become President of Rachwell, President of the world, she had already fixed several problems that had been plaguing her father for years.

She had fired Morrigan.

She had appointed Malcolm Executive President of both the Science and Archaeology Department, and had doubled the budget in the Science Department.

She had increased the wages of all employees who worked above the 60^th floor.

She had gotten married.

She still couldn’t believe it.

Seth picked her up and carried her over the threshold of the elevator and over to her bed, laying her down gently and lay down next to her.

They embraced, locking lips.

She still couldn’t believe it…

Minerva leaned back in her chair and yawned.

Paperwork was so tedious.

She knew that it was stupid of her to be working when she should be on a honeymoon but when your father owns the world, there are usually not many exotic places that you haven’t been. She had systematically shot down each of Seth’s suggestions.

So here she was, flooded with paperwork on her wedding day. She had a memo sent out to all employees about the event as per Seth’s request, which she had done despite her uncertainty about it. It was an odd request but people had certainly been a lot friendlier towards her in the short two hours since the memo was sent out. She assumed it was because she was finally acting like a human being and not a businesswoman.

It wasn’t going to last, though. She still needed to retain her businesswoman-like attitude when resisting the urge to drop all of her papers, crumpled into little balls, out of her window.

It was difficult, but she was able to suppress the urge.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she called, without looking up.

The door creaked open and Malcolm poked his head into the room.

"Oh, it’s you. What can I do for you, Malcolm," the President asked.

"I have a paper that required your signature," he explained, placing the paper on her desk in front of her.

She picked it up and scanned it quickly.

"What is this?" she demanded.

"I want to construct a Mako Cannon," Malcolm responded.

"A Mako Cannon?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"For defensive purposes, of course," he replied.

"Of course," she repeated, rolling her eyes. She looked at the paper again.

"This says you need a budget of over five billion gil?"

"Approximately," he quickly replied.

"Whatever. I cannot possibly grant such a request," she answered, running the paper through her paper shredder.

"May I ask why that is?" Malcolm responded.

"Two very simple reasons, Dr. Malcolm. A) Mako is comprised of Lifestream, and using Lifestream as energy was banned hundreds of years ago and I have no intention of changing that rule. B) This budget is more than three times the budget of both your departments gets in a five-year period. It’s simply too much money."

"I see," he stated.

"You have my answer. Now, unless you have anymore requests or anything else that won’t waste my time, I suggest you spit it out now or leave," she ordered bluntly.

"Just one last thing," Malcolm began.

"Oh? And what praytell might that be?"

"I hope you and Seth have many happy years together," Malcolm stated.

"Thank you," Minerva replied, forcing a small grin. "Is that all?"

"That’s all," he answered.

"Good. Now get out, I…" she began, but was interrupted by the phone.

She picked up the phone and dismissed him with a wave of her hand. Malcolm was halfway to the door when the President shot out of her chair in anger; the phone still pressed between her cheek and shoulder.

"What? How the hell did the townspeople get free?"

There was a minute’s pause.
"I don’t give a damn if they’re attacking you with rusty silverware, get out there and defend your sorry asses! I’ll send reinforcements over, but you and your men better be out there fighting or dead on the ground, or I’ll shoot you myself!"

She slammed the phone down in frustration. No sooner did she do so then it began to ring again.

"What?" she roared.

It was the same situation. The citizens another dome had broken free and was attacking the Rachwell employee’s nearby cities armed with strange but powerful magic stones.

She soon found herself up to her neck in complaints. Not only were the citizens attacking, but also they actually seemed to be winning, having been organized into a fighting phalanx by an unknown entity.

"Well then find out who the hell it is!" she cried, slamming the phone down.

It rang again.

She hesitated picking it up this time, but she finally did.

"What now?" she demanded.

Another minutes pause.

"You mean that they’ve already been attacking for an hour and a half and you didn’t contact me sooner?"

Another second’s pause.

"I don’t give a shit what your pathetic little excuse is!" she interrupted, "Start fighting back. I’ll send troops over there and…"

She listened for a second.

"What the hell do you mean that Kalm fell two hours ago? Why the hell was I not informed? I’m the goddamned friggin’ President over here, and I’m constantly in the goddamned dark! Do whatever it takes to fight back against the Condor citizens and I’ll worry about Kalm!"

She slammed the phone down and before it could ring again, she switched on her intercom and told her secretary to take all her calls for her.

She turned to Malcolm, who was standing where he had stood for the duration of her calls, a look of surprise on his face.

"Malcolm, contact your boys in the Science Department. You have approximately half an hour to get together all biological non-nuclear weapons you have in storage. I’ll contact the new General of War and tell him the situation. We’re bombing Kalm!"

With that she stormed past him and out the door, leaving him speechless in an empty room. He hurried out and down to his office.

He ran to his office and made the necessary calls. Once that was out of the way, he walked back over to his hidden chamber and activated the sliding door.

Walking down the long corridor, he quickly entered the door and entered his secret laboratory.

He walked over to the glass chamber where he had so recently cloned Aeris and the other. He was surprised himself at how quickly he had refined the human cloning process. It now took less than an hour to clone an entire human being with only about thirty incomplete DNA strands.

His new subject was almost complete. Once she was done, then the fourth phase in his master plan would be able to begin. Everything was going as planned, in some cases smoother than he had expected. The President had taken to Seth quicker than he had expected.

He laughed.

Soon the whole world would be his. But first, he had to take care of the President. She would be no problem. She was weak; she let her emotions guide her actions. He supposed that he could have Seth convince her to accept the Mako Cannon proposal but it really wouldn’t be worth it. It would all be his soon anyway.

He rubbed the frost off of the glass chamber and his eyes lit up at what he saw.

Glaring back at him was no longer the face of Aeris, rather it was the face of the President, Minerva Rachwell, herself.

He laughed again.

"Soon…" he spoke to the clone soothingly, "Soon…"

"Are we ready to begin the bombardment?" Minerva demanded.

"Yes ma’am," the new General of War, Alex Thompson replied quickly.

"Good, what is the situation of the cities?" Minerva questioned.

A grim look crossed Alex’s face.

"Not good ma’am," the General replied, pulling down a map of the planet. "The cities in Kalm, Corel, Nibelheim, and Mideel have already fallen and things are not looking to good for Wutai, Canyon City, or Condor City, either. Each of them does not expect to be able to hold out for more than another hour or so, even with the reinforcements you sent in. Whatever it is that those people are using is just too much for our men. I was told that an entire regiment of the Aero-Armada, over 300 men, fell to just a handful of citizens!"

Minerva shared the General’s grim face.

She sighed.

"Then bomb them all," she hastily replied.

"Ma… ma’am? Did I hear you correctly?" the General stammered.
"Yes, I believe you did. Now, are you going to do it or do I have to push the button myself?"

"N…no ma’am, I’ll do it," the General stammered, saluting her.

"But ma’am, what about the innocent citizens that might still be alive?" the General pleaded.

"Humph," Minerva snorted, "What about them? Proceed with the bombings as scheduled."

"Or what about the men still at the Excavation Site near the Canyon dome? We can’t afford to lose any more excavation diggers!"

"I’ve already taken care of that. Your job is to worry about what I tell you to worry about, nothing more, nothing less, understood?"
The General nodded hastily.

"Good," Minerva purred, "Now blow the *$&%ers up!"

"Yes ma’am!" the General yelled, saluting her again before running off.

"Looks like I missed all the fun," Malcolm mused, entering the room.

"Dr. Malcolm…" Minerva greeted, "I really don’t need you anymore, but I suppose you can at least stay and watch."

"Oh may I?" Malcolm exclaimed overexaggereatedly.

"Why not?" Minerva shrugged.

"Got any popcorn?" Malcolm responded.

"Don’t push it," Minerva warned.

Malcolm just laughed.

They walked over to the large videoscreens that lined the far wall and sat down in front of them.

"Ooh… we get to watch the bombings and in THX Surroundsound, too. How delightful!" Malcolm mused.

"We aim to please," Minerva replied sarcastically.

The monitors on the wall flickered to life. At first it was just static, but then the feedback from modified surveillance cameras came in from all of the different cities under siege.

Each one had the city’s name in the lower right hand corner.

Nibelheim was the first to go.

Malcolm watched in delight as the very weapon that he designed exploded in a fiery blast that instantly dissolved all the biological cells within range of the blast, leaving the city unharmed and un-irradiated.

"Looks like your weapons are doing their jobs, Dr. Malcolm," Minerva noted approvingly.

"We am to please," Malcolm grinned, earning him a glare from the President.

Canyon City and Mideel followed in quick succession followed a second later by Wutai and Condor City.

One by one, each city’s residents were systematically obliterated by Malcolm’s bio-weapons.

The last to go was Kalm.

Malcolm whimsically waved bye-bye to the citizens of his hometown as he watched the missile streak towards the ground.

But something else happened this time.

The bomb exploded hundreds of feet from its destination, the explosion suppressed by a mystical blue force field.

The last picture that the camera sent back before it was knocked out by electrical interference was a black-cloaked man at the center of the explosion…

Minerva’s eyes narrowed into green slivers.

"What the hell happened? Who or what the hell was that at the center of the explosion?"

"That would be Sephiroth," Malcolm answered.

Minerva went pale.

"That… that was Sephiroth?" she stammered.

"Yes," Malcolm replied.

"So that is the power of Sephiroth…" Minerva mumbled. She turned back to Malcolm. "Any idea of why he’s aiding the dome-people?"

"None. For all we know, he wasn’t. Perhaps he was aiding us. After all, he did destroy the other WEAPONs as they were attacking the cities," Malcolm pointed out.
"Still… we can’t take a chance. I want Sephiroth out of commission permanently, or heads will roll!"

"I will personally head the anti-Sephiroth project," Malcolm assured her.

"Good. I will have my revenge on Sephiroth for what he did to my friend…er…my precious soldiers! I want you and your best men to start immediately," she ordered.

"Very well, ma’am," Malcolm responded, getting up and exiting the room

The General of War ran into the room, his face beat red and dripping with sweat.

"Ma’am…" he puffed, "We just received word that a large meteor is headed straight for NEO-Junon. It’s due to crash within the next week!"

"What?" Minerva roared. "Why is everyone so damn incompetent around here? How the hell did something like that go unnoticed?"

"We don’t know. I just suddenly appeared just the other day. We believe that it was at one time Godo’s Star, a meteor that comes by this planet every several hundred thousand years or so."
"Then what the hell is it doing on a collision course with us?!" Minerva demanded.

"We are unsure at this juncture, ma’am," the General replied.

"Ugh, I’m surrounded by idiots. Wait, didn’t something like this happen about 300 years ago, too? I wonder how they took care of it then?"

Malcolm, who had been listening, snickered. He got an idea and poked his head in the door.

"I know how," Malcolm stated.

"How," growled Minerva.

"A Mako Cannon," Malcolm grinned.

Minerva’s face turned red as the blood was pumped to her head. There was fire in her eyes and Malcolm swore he could almost see smoke coming out of her ears.
"Very well," she growled, "You’ll have your Mako Cannon. You can begin production immediately."

"Thank you, ma’am." Malcolm replied gratefully, pulling his head out of the crack in the door and shutting it quickly, just catching the beginning of the string of curses that left her mouth.

He grinned.

It had been too easy.

The frame of the Mako Cannon that remained in Midgar would be the perfect base for his new operation.

He hurried to his office to send out a memo to all avaliable workers and scientists to report to the airport on the roof at 9 AM tomorrow. Production would begin immediately. He made sure to leave out exactly what they were designing.

Minerva snuggled with Seth. Her arms lay around his bare chest and his arms around the back of her neck and head. She felt so at ease with him it was incredible. He was handsome, charming, and a good listener. Just about all she could want in a man.

Malcolm stared at the monitor in front of him. From this terminal, he controlled Seth Voder. From this terminal he could control everything from his endocrine system’s rate of waste expulsion to his blood pressure. He was in total control.

His fingers danced over the keyboard and the violent synapse responses in Seth’s body were increased tremendously.

Another button tapped increased the control of the anterior regions of his cerebral hemispheres, vastly bolstering his violent tendencies.

He pressed ‘enter’ to solidify the changes and watched from the television monitor at his side as he watched his changes take effect.

Minerva felt as Seth’s strong hands reached up to her face. She looked up to his eyes expecting warm compassion and heated love, but found nothing. His eyes were cold and empty. She suddenly had a desire to be as far away from him as possible. She didn’t even have time to react before his hands, in one quick, fluid motion, snapped her neck.

Malcolm grinned as he returned Seth’s bodily reactions to normal. The Seth on-screen visibly settled down and Malcolm walked over to where the Minerva Rachwell-Voder he had cloned stood. He motioned for her to follow him, grabbing a needle filled with a green substance behind her back, and led her to his elevator.

Seth greeted them upon their arrival in her room. They led the cloned Minerva over to the bed where her real counterpart lay. The clone stared at the body in horror but before she could even breathed, Malcolm took the needle and stabbed her in the base of the back of her skull, injecting the poisonous liquid into her abdula oblongata, snuffing her instantly.

As she fell to the floor, Seth caught her and carried her over to where her real body lay.

He placed the fake next to the real body, and carried the real one over to Malcolm. Before he gave her the dead body though, he bent down and kissed her on the lips.

"It was sweet while it lasted," he whispered.

"How touching," Malcolm sneered.

Seth grinned, and handed the body over to Malcolm, who, despite his weak frame, easily held the petite girl.

"You know what to do after this, correct?" Malcolm asked cautiously.

"Perfectly," Seth assured him.

"Good, you know what to do. I’ll be in my office when you call."

"Right," Seth agreed.

With that, Malcolm carried the body to the elevator and returned to his office.

Once he arrived, he hurriedly raced to his secret laboratory to place the body in a healing chamber. He had plenty of experiments that intended to perform on her once he revived her.

Upon racing back to his office, he heard the phone begin to ring.

He hurriedly picked it up, despite knowing in advance who it was.

"Dr. Malcolm, Dr. Malcolm…" Seth gasped, playing his part well. "You must come quick! I believe that the President is dead! You must hurry!"

With that, he hung up the phone and Malcolm walked over to his elevator and returned to the President’s floor.

As soon as Malcolm reached the President’s floor he was greeted by a frantic looking Seth as well as several other Executive Presidents, including the General of War and the President of Security and Defense.

"Dr. Malcolm, thank god you’re here!" Seth cried. "I fear the worst for her," he declared, leading Malcolm over to the dead girl’s body.

Now it was Malcolm’s turn to act. He pretended to be shocked as he knelt down by her and took her pulse.

"Nothing…" he stated, his voice trailing off.

"Isn’t there something you can do?" Seth pleaded.

"I’m sorry, sir, but there is nothing at all…" Malcolm began.

Seth fell to his knees and broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I’m sorry…" Malcolm repeated, "Mr. President."

Seth’s head shot up, as well as several of the other of the Executives.

"What did you say?" Seth demanded.

"I said that you were the President of Rachwell now. You are, you know, seeing as how you are the late President’s husband."

"Awfully damn suspicious if you ask me," Adams muttered, earning him a nasty look from the others.

"What? You mean to tell me that you don’t think that this isn’t even the least bit suspicious?" Adams demanded.

"Of course not!" cried Thompson enthusiastically. "Can’t you see that the lad is traumatized by this incident?"

He put a comforting hand on Seth’s shoulder.

Seth growled.

"I cannot accept this title of President. No… not now, not ever," Seth cried out, earning him shocked looks from everyone in the room.

"But who will be the President then?" Adams questioned.

"…"

"We need a President," Thompson added.

"If I must choose, then I choose Malcolm…" Seth replied bitterly.

Malcolm had an amazed look plastered all over his sick little face.

"M…me? Me… as… p…. President?" Malcolm stammered in disbelief.

"Why not? You’ve been a friend and a partner since I started here. I owe all my successes in life as of late to you. It’s fitting, I think."

"Very well, if you insist," Malcolm replied. "I will take over starting tomorrow. For now, my official order is to all sleep on it. As for you Seth, take the next week off… no… month off. You deserve it."

"Thank you," Seth replied warmly.

Malcolm said nothing but turned back to his elevator, leaving the room silent as a tomb.

Xendel ShinRa watched keenly from the monitor in his room. How interestingly these most recent events had played themselves out.

He wondered how he could twist these events to his advantage.

He grinned.

He was next in line if Malcolm croaked.

Such a privilege could prove useful if Malcolm had a… unfortunate… accident.

He laughed.

Malcolm reveled in the power he wielded.

He was supreme ruler of the planet. His power was second to only one other, the Great Sephiroth, who would also soon be under his wing. It truly was a good day for him.

Minerva had taken to Seth perfectly. Malcolm had known he had had something when he found the remains of Rufus ShinRa in the ShinRa HQ.

As he had cloned the body it had taken mere tweaks at different stages of embryonic development to ensure that the pheromones were overpoweringly strong. Minerva was doomed to fall for him before she even met him. He had seen to that.

Malcolm stared at the glowing glass chamber, now empty.

Behind him lay the brutally decimated remains of the former President, Minerva Rachwell. He had done quite a job on her body.

The secret to the soul of the human being had eluded him for long enough. He had finally succeeded in finding it. Once he unlocked its secrets he could ensure that the secrets to immortality and god-like power would be his.

"Soon…" he cackled, "The world will belong to me!"

More laughter ensued.

It was quickly joined by other laughter, cold laughter… evil laughter.

Malcolm spun around in surprise.

Standing not five feet from him, sword drawn, stood Sephiroth. The green glow from the machines behind him outlined his body, preventing him from being cloaked by the long shadows that filled the room, as well as casting an ominous and unearthly aura around him. He stared at Malcolm with cold indifference.

"We have to talk…" Malcolm began.

Sephiroth remained emotionless but raised his sword above his head.

Malcolm gulped as the sword came crashing down towards him.

His world went black.