Author's Note:  This is the system for showing thoughts:
· /this/ represents a thought
· /“this”/ represents mental dialogue
· //this// represents more then one person thinking the same thing

Chapter 5
 

“Understand? We’ll see how much you two understand.”

 She just sat there. Breathed and blinked, breathed and blinked. She gazed into nothingness. Showed no emotion. Just breathed and blinked, breathed and blinked as if in slow motion. Her arms where folded on her lap and she listen to them, those males who were telling her all these horrible things. Inside, her mind raged, her heart burst, her soul cried in agony and pain, but she showed them nothing. Nemesis couldn’t understand it or maybe she just didn’t want to.  Her mind refused these impossibilities, these malicious lies. How could it be? No it could not be. It must not be, and yet it was. She had known it from inside the consciousness of the Mako; there had been no dreams, just realities. /Another banquet of pain for the Angel of Sorrow/.
She felt like bursting into tears, like ripping someone’s heart out so that they could feel her pain. She felt like screwing with their minds and yet…she felt like protecting all the people, shielding them form further harm, she felt like tearing Hojo limb from limb, but then… she felt like decapitating AVALANCHE and even the Turks. The so –called “heroes” deserved it for not protecting Aeris, and the Turks, they deserved it for going against the Planet, they deserved it for following the demon Rufus had turned into, they deserved it because while they did all these insane things, they knew better. However, another, more logical, part of her was sure AVALANCHE tried their best and that part also understood that the Turks always followed their orders, many times in hesitation or in undesirable circumstances.
Nemesis felt a lot of things inside her, but at the same time, numbed from the pain, she felt nothing at all. Her emotions were an enigma wrapped in a riddle. She was more dead then alive and how she wished she were really dead. But she would not succumb to these feelings. She would not be weak, but she would be strong and bare her burden with no one’s help.  So her feelings were stuffed into that black corner (or had it become a room?) once more, as she just breathed and blinked, breathed and blinked, while she stared at nothing, listening to the silence that had recently overtaken the room.
 “Is that it?” She asked as if she had just heard an extremely boring story, but her mind didn’t think it boring at all.
 /Not one, but two years I’ve been submerged in the Mako. A total of six years that I’ve lost, six years in which Rufus did a 180, in which the Turks turned on Aeris, and in which Reno killed hundreds of people with a push of a button. And in only 1 year of the six, my biological brother has killed not just Shinra, but Rufus, Tseng, and, Aeris, and he too is dead, he who tried to enslave mother earth so that he could be a god. And I’ve lost my identity to that bastard. No longer will I be known as myself, but as the daughter to a mad man with an equally mad son. The sins of the father and the son have been laid upon me. I will pay for their sins and my own, but I will not quiver in fear and be weak like they where. Hell no./
 “Well, yeah that’s…um yeah…that’s it in a nutshell I guess,” Cloud said in confusion as he watched Nemesis. Did this woman not feel? She was just sitting there hearing the worst possible thing and she just…well she sat there. The Turks and Nanaki too, looked worried and confused. Reno sat next to her and looked into her face trying to find some hint of pain or even anger at what he had done, but there was none.  //Why do you always hide?// Reno wondered along with Rude, who stood next to Nemesis, where Yuffie had once been. Vincent did not wonder along with them. He looked at her with sympathy, not pity, but sympathy, a very dangerous emotion considering whom it was aimed at. He knew very well what she was going through.
Cloud looked back at his friend Vincent and declared his confusion with his frowning eyebrows. That’s when Cloud noticed it. /Nemesis is just like Vincent/. He now remembered the words Aeris had told him in his dreams: /“She may be cold and sarcastic, but that’s not real.”/ Just like Vincent/, he thought. Cloud had come to know and understand Vincent, most of him anyway, he could, no he would for the sake of Aeris, do the same with this woman, even if she was Sephiroth's sister. Cloud turned around and gave Nemesis a smile.
 “Hey, you want something to eat? I don’t know about you but I always thought Hojo never supplied a decent meal.” Cloud’s kindness and carefree attitude almost caught Nemesis of guard. The joke wasn’t much though. She had not eaten a decent meal in years and not at all for 1, no, 2 years. How her body somehow survived was a complex topic that could only be understood by the most scientifically learned.
 “ Yeah my mouth tastes like Mako.” She replied cynically as she got up.
 “But Cloud, we still have other business.” RedXIII said calmly in his rich deep voice. Nemesis looked back at him expectantly. True, Red did realized that this woman was perfectly sane, although cold, but she still had to know that she was to be guarded. There was also still the matter of her background and what exactly Hojo’s plans for her where. There where many questions to be answered.
“Hey, if Nemesis wants to eat, she’ll eat! Whatever other ‘business’ that you have can be handled later.” Reno said happily as he slid over to his friend’s side. Nemesis placed one hand on her hip and sighed.
 “Look, I’m not starving, so we can handle this so-called ‘business’ of yours. What is it?” Nemesis asked, tired of being in the same room for too long.
 “She doesn’t have to hear it now,” Cloud said nervously. His voice cracked and staggered in unusually high pitches. “Let’s go eat!” He didn’t want to tell Nemesis that she lost her privacy; that she was going to, and she had to be, watched 24/7 by AVALANCHE. Her freedom to explore this new world as she pleased would be taken from her. But he was the leader and he had to tell her, he had to be blamed for the decision and be the bad guy. That predicament he wanted to hold of, but RedXIII wasn’t going to let him.
“No, Cloud she must know now.” Red warned him.
“Know what?” Rude asked in his deep acoustic voice, not liking the look of this.
“I’ll tell her, Cloud,” Vincent volunteered to the surprise of everyone. Nemesis turned to face him and he was about to speak, when Cloud interrupted.
 “No, I’m the leader of this group, I have to say it.” Cloud took a deep breath and sighed. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t in charge.  He looked straight into her luminous eyes that showed no emotions.  She was intimidating, but he could be too. “AVELANCHE and the Turks have decided that under the circumstances it is best that you remain with us and that your are kept in watch because of the possible harm that you represent. This means that you are not to be left alone.” He paused before saying the last word, “ever.” Nemesis’s gaze shifted from Cloud to Reno to Rude with a cool, curious smile on her lips. This was painfully hilarious.

“Say what!?” Reno exclaimed in rage. He was next to Nemesis and in front of Cloud. “The Turks never agreed on anything like this. Hell! We weren’t even asked and if we where the answer would be no. We’re not allowing you to do this. It’s insane.”
 “No, Reno, I’m the one who’s insane,” Nemesis said, sarcasm oozing form every word. “I plan on modeling after my brother and my dear old dad, whom I love more then anything. Yes, I, whom am sworn to protect mother earth, will soon try to destroy it. Don’t you know?” Then she whispered darkly.  “I’m evil to the core.” She smiled mischievously. How she hated this, they feared her so much because of the deeds of her father and brother. Nemesis expected it, but did not welcome it. Part of her wished that it didn’t even have to be an issue. These people where heroes, protectors of her beloved Planet, and part of her did want to know them. However, if at any point Nemesis had seriously thought of becoming friends with all the new people she had met, that thought was obliterated from her mind.
“You’re not evil,” Vincent said sincerely. She wished he were right.
“Nah, really?” Rude commented sourly with a slight growl.
 Vincent ignored him and looked at her. “But Hojo has warped many people’s minds, making them do… unthinkable things.” Nemesis remembered what they had told her, about how Cloud couldn’t control himself for some time and that at that time he, the brave hero, did some “unthinkable things”. “We would not have him use you for his twisted plans,” Vincent finished.
  “Well, we wouldn’t want that, now would we?” Nemesis responded with a cocky smile. “Ok, but only one or two guards at a time, I would hate to be an inconvenience.” The sarcasm of her voice was a sweet melody that Reno and Rude missed dearly.
 “Well, the Turks didn’t agree with this, but hey, me and Rude will keep ya company.” Reno said with a smile.
 “I don’t think the other guys would like that.” RedXII commented. “They know you are friends and they would feel that you wouldn’t do your job.” Reno crossed his arms and rolled his eyes in annoyance. / A Turk always does his job./
“So who IS going to be with her? Yuffie and Barret?” Rude hissed.
“That would be so much fun.” Nemesis said indifferently as she sighed, convinced this was to be so.
“No,” Cloud said to her surprise. “I would never do that. I think Vincent and I would be better for the job.” Nemesis raised a suspicious eyebrow. /What does this man think? That he and his buddy can get in my pants?”/
“Why you two?” She asked plainly. /And you better not lie, I can tell./
“If you want to know the truth, it’s because we are the strongest ones in the group. If anything happens we can handle ourselves.” Cloud said in sheer honesty, something he had picked up from a certain flower girl.
“You sure are confident.” She commented unimpressed. /But, at least you’re not a liar./
“It’s also because we understand more than you think. We too have suffered at the hands of Hojo.” Vincent said frankly as he looked at his deadly metallic claw, moving each finger at his command. Nemesis looked at it; it was the same as it was when she first saw it. To see it moving was little more astonishing. Her eyes made their way towards his aristocratic face and to his ruby eyes. To her, they screamed in pain and agony, more so then his claw. This time she did not turn away from their screaming, rather she locked on to them. Vincent locked on to hers, a strange vision came to him, needles pinched his entire body, blood oozed. There was screaming, the smell of rotting corpses, and something evil seemed to caress his face adoringly, but nothing was worse then the pain; this incredible pain that was beyond physical or emotional, but that included both kinds. He somehow saw her pain, she had allowed him a glimpse and it was horrifying. A glimpse her Turk friends and Rufus, when he was alive, would have killed for. Nemesis scoffed at Vincent’s reaction. His eyes had looked away.
“Understand? We’ll see how much you two understand.” She gave him a lopsided grin and a contemptuous wink. He remained unmoved and disappointed at his weakness.
“Well, if they don’t, maybe I will,” RedXIII said earnestly. From his tattoo and scars, it was obvious that he too had been a victim of the madman. Nemesis gave him a surprisingly kind, but skeptical grin. She had little hope that any of them would, “understand.”
 “Wow, that was easier then I thought,” Cloud said as he scratched the back of his head. Nemesis just looked at him cockily. What did he think? That she was going to magically break out a huge Katana and whoop on them? /Very funny./ No, although she did resent the hate, she understood the danger she could represent to them. /I’ve always been a danger girl/, she thought morosely.
“So, can we get some grub, I’m starving!” Reno commented hastily as he started out the door. In his hastiness he almost rammed into Dr. Cain, Nemesis’s doctor.
 “Hey watch it!” Reno warned. He had not met the doctor before. The doctor’s weak frame and sleek black hair did not impress him much.
“Sorry, I’m Dr.Cain, the Doctor of the woman you brought in. I see the pretty thing has awakened,” the doctor replied as he looked into the room. He saw Nemesis glare at him unkindly.  What did he mean by “pretty thing?” Last time she checked she was a person.
“Oh so you’re the dipstick?” Reno said as he blocked the entrance to the waiting room. “Listen, your help is not needed. She’s fine, we’ll be going now,” he said as he flicked the doctor’s chest. “C’mon, let’s get going, people.” Despite Reno’s threats the doctor pushed himself in unimpressed.  Reno growled.
 “I have to take care of my patient.” The doctor said snobbishly as he walked up to Nemesis who glared at him. She could sense his hidden fear of her and that made her, a very happy woman. “And what is your name?” He asked with a smile, as if he were speaking to a two-year-old. Here was Nemesis, standing 5’8, same height as he, and he talked to her with a baby voice.
“Nemesis,” she said with a dark smile. Her name struck him a bit. Having a name like that did have its advantages. “And like my friend said, I’m fine. Thank you for your help. I’ll be leaving now.” She started to leave, but the doctor grabbed her arm sternly. A gesture she did not like and neither did anyone else in the room.
 “I would like to do some small tests on you. Just to see if you’re ok.” He said in an uneven voice. Nemesis did not like his mannerism. She freed her wrist from him forcefully, making him stumble forward a bit. Reno gave a loud “ha!”
“The answer is no. I hate White coats.” She said flatly.  Everyone, but Red agreed silently. He was the only one who managed to remain unbiased after his torture.
“You heard the lady,” Reno said from outside the room. “Now let’s go!”
“But perhaps it is best that Dr.Cain, takes a blood sample. Even that would give some light into your condition.” RedXIII said calmly. He said this as a suggestion; Nemesis could do whatever she wanted. He was beginning not to like the doctor as well.
“No” She replied as she looked at Dr.Cain.
“Oh. But you don’t have to be afraid of me, I don’t bite,” Dr.cain said with a smile, in that same baby talk tone.  Cloud looked at Vincent; they were both thinking the same thing. //This man is very annoying and possibly dangerous//.
“Me afraid of you?” Nemesis gave a small taunting chuckle. “ Don’t misunderstand, I don’t fear you, I just don’t like you.” She pinched his left cheek briefly as she grinned mischievously; she was going to treat him like a baby, too. “And I’ve been studying both science and medicine as far as I could remember. All I need is a syringe and a microscope and I can diagnose myself.”
“But surely…”
“No.” Her voice was stern and calm and yet he persisted.
“It would be better if you stayed. You’re a scientific wonder. You said you studied medicine and science, surely you understand what kind of milestone you represent…years in a Mako tube and yet you still live and we don’t know what effects its had on you. We could learn so much…”
“No,” was her cool answer. She started to walk towards the door where Reno stood. His face was written all over with anger; he didn’t like the doctor either.
“No? What do you mean ‘no’? You have to stay!” The doctor screamed in anger. He reached out to grab her hand once more. Nemesis turned to the side, grabbed his harm and flipped him over. With a loud thud on the carpeted floor, the doctor landed hard on his back and head. He groaned loudly and slowly opened his eyes. All he could see where shady visions of sharp teeth, two guns and an electric rod pointing at him. His glasses had fallen off. The doctor shuddered in fear.
Cloud picked up Dr.Cain’s glasses off the floor. One lens was completely cracked and the other remained chipped in the corner like a spider web. The blond man squatted down next to the scared doctor and assisted him in putting his glasses on.
“Good job! Now he can actually SEE how we kick his ass!” Reno said as he raised the power of his nightstick. Dr.Cain shuddered as electricity flirted with the metal in his glasses. Cloud waved his hand in front of the doctor’s eyes to get his attention. The doctor turned his head to look at him.
“All of us in this room aren’t too fond of White coats for very good reasons. Red is an exception, but then again he isn’t too fond of aggressive people like you, so he’s not gonna help you out.” Cloud let out a deep sigh. “ Bottom line is, I have no control over these people, heck not even myself, so I suggest you don’t ever try anything like that ever again.” Cloud stood up, helped the groaning man to his feet and laid him down on the red couch. The weapons where still aimed at Dr.Cain. “Err…you guys can put those down now,” Cloud said slowly, a bit scared that perhaps he really couldn’t control them.
“Wait. We’re really NOT kicking his ass?” Reno asked.
“If he doesn’t apologize you can.” Nemesis commented coolly. She gave the doctor a small grin and waited for his apology.
“I’m sorry…you must understand…(cough) your special.” Dr.Cain said as he held his head and groaned in pain.
“Special? No, I’m not special, all beings are special.” She chuckled lightly, but she really believed that. “ I’m more of…unique, but then again doctor, each person has his or her own unique fingerprint.” That same arrogant lopsided grin came back to her face once more. “You are forgiven, but I don’t forget things and neither should you, because, Doctor…” She bent over to the doctor’s ear and said, “I do bite.” Her voice was cool, deep, and menacing. The doctor just closed his eyes in pain. Nemesis went towards the door and looked at Reno, who was holding back his laughter with a huge smile. How he had missed her arrogant ways and her cool intimidating voice.
“And I’d really like to bite on some food right about now.” She said in an out of character, whinny voice with her hands on her stomach, purposely trying to make him laugh. Reno couldn’t resist and laughed, loudly, and unapologetic. Nemesis just looked at the rest of the people. “May we go now?” She asked politely.  Rude smiled and joined his partners at the door. Cloud and Red could not help but chuckle and be amazed. All three members of AVELANCHE came walking towards the door. Reno and Rude made their way towards the left side of the long hallway, but Nemesis stayed in front of the door looking cocky like always. “What did you think? That I didn’t come complete with a sense of humor?” Cloud just smiled warmly.
“The Cafeteria is down the left.” With that, the group left the young Doctor to his painful sleep, something Nemesis and Vincent knew a lot about.
            *  *  *  *
Vincent Valentine was almost burning a whole through the new acquaintance (soon to be friend, he hoped.) He was behind everyone: Cloud and RedXIII led the way, behind them where Reno and Rude who walked side by side with Nemesis. Vincent walked alone in the back, starring at the girl. When she had looked at him in the waiting room, he saw something, not sure how he saw or what he saw, but he new it wasn’t good. It was pain, anger, and sorrow.  Or was it an emotion that transcended all those too common feelings?  It did not matter; he had looked away instinctively, like a rabbit running form a wolf. How did he hope to redeem himself and help her if he was a coward? He had his own nightmares to deal with. /But they will all end once I help her/. And who was she anyway?  She was apparently, some sort of scientist, an assassin, a warrior from fairy tales, and according to the story Reno had told him she was a nature lover. /A beautiful and mysterious nature lover, who has some enchantment on me/, he shook his head rapidly to rid him of that inane thought, /but she is also Sephiroth’s sister and a victim of Hojo. She is merely a way for me to makeup for failing Lucrecia./ That was probably why Vincent had that strange reaction when Nemesis spoke to him for the first time. He had gotten stiff and professional; a reaction he had experienced many times when he first came in contact with Lucrecia. It all made sense to him now; he was comparing her to poor defenseless Lucrecia.
“I’m not defenseless. Not even when it comes to hand to hand combat.” Nemesis said as she took a glimpse at Vincent. Was he starring at her? “But if I’m to face Hojo I will need weapons, Mr.Cloud.”
“Just Cloud, please,” he responded without looking back. “ And I understand, but the others…”
“The Turks are also part of ‘the others’.” Rude said coolly.
“And we would all agree that she should have something to protect herself.” Reno said.
“Don’t worry, Vincent and I will protect her.” Cloud said. Nemesis scoffed and looked back at Vincent.
“An Amazon relying on men to protect her, now that’s hilarious.” She looked ahead once more, “ It is also an insult.” She responded darkly. /She should have something to protect her, or at least something to make her feel like she doesn’t need us/, Vincent thought. Cloud sighed deeply, stopped, and turned to face Nemesis.
“I’m very sorry, but you must understand…”
“Yes I know, ‘the others’. I understand, but don’t think I won’t get my hands on something. I hope you realize that I am accepting these terms on my own accord. Although I probably won’t, I can get the hell out of here whenever I feel like it. That’s something your going to have to deal with.” She said frankly. Cloud just sighed again and smiled. /Just like Aeris said: “cold and sarcastic”/.
“Ok, now lets get some food.” Cloud said as he turned. They resumed walking and made their way into the lunchroom.
 The cafeteria wasn’t very crowded, only about a couple of dozen White coats and secretaries sat in the round mahogany tables that laid about in no particular set up. The professionals where all eating chaotically as if their lives depended on it, and maybe it did for some. After all, time is money.
Running vertically in the middle of the large rectangular room was a salad bar and buffet tables. The cafeteria smelled like steamed rice and barbecue ribs.  Cloud pointed to an empty table near the middle. “Let’s go sit over there.” As the group made their way towards the middle an elderly lady with large framed glasses stood up and bumped the chair into Nemesis.
 “Oh, I’m sorry dear, I didn’t see you….” The woman gasped. “Your eyes!”
“Pretty aren’t they? Like emeralds.” Nemesis said mockingly. She tried to walk away.
 “But the last women who where in SOLDIER died,” the graying red head said following after her. “Oh… you’re that woman who Dr.Cain was talking about! What are you doing here? You should be in bed! What about the tests?”
 “There will be no test.” Nemesis kept walking along with the group ahead of her.
“Oh you don’t like Dr.Cain? I can help you if you’d like.”
“No that’s fine.”
“Oh! Come on! You where in Mako for years, someone needs to test you” The tall, old, lady said in a very loud voice. A bit of anger and desperation came into her voice. “I am the best researcher here.”
The whole Cafeteria was looking at the too women now. Murmuring began. Nemesis could hear them say, “Oh is she the one?” People stopped eating their lunches and hurried to where Nemesis was. Suddenly the tall woman was in the mists of a sea of White coats; doctors and scientists alike.
 

Author’s Notes:
What do you think? Yes, Nemesis has some kind of psychic abilities. Angel of Sorrow umm… picked up anything? I’ll go into that in later chapters, but first I got to get Nemesis out of this mess! Remember to e-mail me with cc.

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