General Strife cursed himself once more as
he sat in his office in Junon. Damn Avalanche…I still can't believe they
got
away! Gripping the piece of paper that had
been laying on his desk, he pounded his fist down hard. One of these
days…I'll have their heads.
"Sir?" his intercom buzzed to life.
"Yes?"
"General Briggs is here to-"
Before his secretary could finish, General Zachery Briggs burst into the office.
"Strife, we need to talk about this Avalanche problem we seem to be having."
Cloud nodded, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. "Indeed, have a seat."
Briggs nodding seating himself in the chair.
"Here," he started, handing the other man a manila folder that he had been
carrying. "These are the updated profiles
on Avalanche, complete with pictures, if we could get any."
"Hmm…" Strife took the folder and began thumbing
through it. "Barret Wallace… leader of Avalanche…" He looked at
his picture briefly, then silently read the
rest of the information on him. "Hmm…" he turned to the next profile. "Biggs
Stires… picture not available…" He once again
read the information to himself, before flipping to the third profile.
"Tifa
Lockheart…" He took a quick glance at her
picture, before turning to read he information on her, then quickly turned
back
to the photograph.
Briggs grinned. "Yeah, she's a beauty ain't she? 21 years old, she's from Nibelheim we think."
"Nibelheim?" Cloud inquired absent-mindedly, still staring at her picture.
"Yeah, Nibelheim. Say, aren't you from there?"
"Yes…I am." Who is this? She looks so…familiar.
He wasn't paying any attention to General Briggs now, he was to lost
in the photo.
"-so I say we should- Strife? You with me here?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry."
"Are you all right, General Strife?" The slightly older man tilted his head to the side, his eyes alive with concern.
"Yeah, I'm ok, just a little worn down from the all the fighting."
"Gen- Cloud. Let's drop the formalities, just
for the moment. What's the matter? Tell me, not as a fellow general, but
as a
friend." His voice lost its superior tone,
dropping into a casual, 'let's talk' sort of tone.
"Nothing! I'm fine!"
"No, you're not. I can tell by the look in
your eyes. I have been able to for the past few days. Something's up, and
I want
to know what."
"Nothing! How many times do you need to hear
that, nothing is wrong! Now, please show yourself out of the room, I have
things to do."
"..fine," without a word more, General Briggs stood up and left the office, leaving the profiles behind.
Strife sighed and picked up the profile on the Lockheart girl once more. I know those eyes…from somewhere…
***
Reeve walked carefully though the Shinra building, trying to avoid any conflicts with the Turks.
Well, except for Reno, he really needed to
discuss something with him…about the rumors that were circling the air
in the
office. Namely ones concerning the new Ancient
and the capture of Yuffie Kisaragi.
"Excuse me! Sir!" He turned to see a short woman in a blue suit jogging up to him. Damn…Elena…
"Yes?"
"I was sent by Tseng to apologize for your
treatment yesterday. I believe Reno cleared the air this morning about
your…trustworthiness."
"Thank you. I don't suppose you've seen Reno around, have you?"
"Why do you want to know?" The female Turk gave him a suspicious glance.
"Oh! Umm…we have some unfinished business to attend to."
"What kind of business might this be?"
"I don't see how it is any of your business. It's private. Doesn't concern you in the least."
"Hmm…very well," the blonde turned to leave,
taking a few steps before turning back to the man. "But keep in mind, we
still have our eyes on you. I'd watch my back
if I were you. Good day sir."
***
Yuffie sighed as leaned back against the cold
wall of her holding cell. Reno had been gone for at least fifteen minutes,
supposedly "talking business" with some guy
with dark hair and a goatee that had come knocking on the door.
She had had hopes in the beginning of seeing
James again, but now after about eight hours of solitude (well, not counting
Reno, seeing how he really hadn't spoken much),
she had given up hope.
"Hmph... this is so boring!" For some reason,
the sound of her voice against the cold walls disturbed her, and she nearly
jumped out of her skin when the door creaked
open and Reno stepped back into the room.
"Shh...keep quiet. We don't want any extra attention drawn to you."
"We?"
"Yes we," Reno opened the door a little wider
and revealed the man with the goatee. "Allow me to introduce my buddy
Reeve."
"Hello Miss Kisaragi," the man Reno had identified as Reeve stepped forward and gave her a nod with his head.
"...hi."
Reeve continued, "Miss Kisaragi-"
"-Call me Yuffie."
"Very well, Yuffie, I'll keep this brief. Try
not to get too comfortable. Now then, I have work to get back to, it was
a
pleasure meeting you, and I apologize for
your...housing circumstances. See you all later."
***
"TIFA! REEVE'S ON THE LINE!" Biggs hollered as loud as he could over the noise of the busy bar and grill.
"TAKE A MESSAGE, I'M TO BUSY!" Tifa shouted
back from the kitchen, wiping sweat off of her brow, and turned
back to stove.
After a few seconds, Biggs came back into the
kitchen, pointing back to the main part of the building. "He says it's
extremely important that he speaks with you,
I'll take over."
"Ok, thanks." Throwing her apron off, she left the kitchen and picked up the phone on the side of the wall.
"What do you need, Reeve?"
"Tifa? I think umm...I think you should probably stop by here, tonight. With someone else."
"...what's going on?"
"You know Godo Kisaragi?"
"Yeah, he's the leader of Wutai, why?"
"Well, turns out he was harboring an Ancient.
A group of Junonian soldiers got their hands on them and turned him over
to
the Shinra."
"Oh no..." The young woman gasped, placing her hand on her mouth.
"Yeah, and that's not all. In midst of trying
to capture the Ancient, they accidentally nabbed Godo's sixteen year old
daughter, Yuffie Kisaragi."
"Damn!"
"Hold on, hold on. We lucky, Reno's been put
in charge of guarding her. He has full access to her cell, and we can
probably have easily arranged to get you and
another person in the building, so long as you don't show your faces."
"...all right. So we're going to bust her out I take it? Way to take charge there for once."
"Well-I-"
"Reeve, Reeve, I'm just screwing with ya. Me and Wedge will be there at...what? Nine sound ok?"
"Yeah sounds good, I'll see ya."
***
Alli Shinra sat quietly in a booth at the Corner
Street Diner, staring at her cell phone. He'll call...he has to...he's
family!
He has to be worried!!!
"Damnit!" I shouldn't be doing this...he hates
me! I know it! With a sigh of resignation, she grabbed the phone and began
to dial.
Ring...ring...ring..."Hello! You have reached the office of Mr. Rufus-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I don't need to hear this again, Cassandra. Just lemme talk to my cousin."
"Oooooh, Alli. Didn't expect to hear from you again so soon."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I figured you'd wait more than a few
hours to beg poor Rufie for more money." Alli could just imagine the secretary
flipping her hair as she said that.
"..."
"Tsk, tsk. You know what you need? I mean besides
a life. A job. And a man, but you know, I doubt you'll find one willing
to date you so, maybe just a job."
"Listen you little whore. I don't give a damn what you think, just put Rufus on, its important that I talk to him."
"Well, I'm terribly sorry, deary, but your cousin isn't in at the moment. But I'll make sure he knows you called. Tata." Click.
"Oh hell!" Angrily, the young woman threw down her phone.
"Hey, sug, something the matter?" Alli turned
to see a middle-aged woman dressed in one of the diner's pink polyester
outfits standing by her booth.
The young Shinra scoffed. "Oh yeah, I'm just dandy."
The woman gave her a sympathetic, "Lemme guess...man trouble?"
"...I suppose you could call it that. Though not in the way you'd think."
"Hmm...mind if I have a seat? I got a break comin' to me and it looks like you could use some company."
"Go ahead," Alli nodded and the elder woman slid into the booth across from her.
"How old are you dear?"
"Seventeen."
"Eh, too bad."
"What?"
"I was going to suggest you go get something to drink at the local bar."
Alli smirked. 'You think my age'd stop me? Where is the bar?"
"Down the street the a ways, its called Tifa's Seventh Heaven."
"Cute name."
"Yeah, well if you think you can pull it off,
go down there and try and get a drink. Try and get one of the guys bar
tenders,
as long as you flirt you should be ok."
With a grin, Alli Shinra stood up, throwing
some money down to pay for her dinner. "Thank you, I'll come back sometime
and check in."
"You do that, and don't get plastered, it's not becoming."
***
Biggs waved to Tifa and Wedge as they left for the Shinra building, winking at Wedge after Tifa had turned around.
With a chuckle, Biggs turned to the small crowd
of people infesting the bar. It wasn't a small number of people, just a
small
amount compared to their usual number.
"Excuse me, sir? Can I get some service over
here?" The young man turned to see a girl with strawberry blonde hair sitting
at the edge of the bar.
"Sorry miss, want can I get for you?" With a nod of his head, he strolled down to her.
"Mmm...gimme a scotch on the rocks."
Biggs raised his eyebrow. "Yeah right kid, how's about a chocolate milk instead?"
The girl scoffed and gave him a snooty look.
"I don't know what you're implying, but I assure you that I am over the
legal
drinking age."
"Mmm-hmm. Then let's see some id."
"Oh...well...umm...god damnit! Have some pity
on a kid, will ya?" Her blue eyes rimmed with years and her bottom lip
began to quiver. "Please?"
No! Don't cry! "N-no. We don't sell alcohol
to minors!" Somehow, his voice didn't seem quite as confident as it had
a
moment ago.
"Pleeeeeaaase?" Propping herself on her elbows, she leaned forward, giving him a pathetic look.
"Oh all right! But don't go around telling
anybody! We could get sued for this," he mumbled as he turned around and
made
her drink.
"Oh thank you! I'd kiss you but...well that's probably not appropriate."
"No. Probably not."
After a few moments of silence, the young girl spoke back up. "I'm Alli. And you are?"
"Not supposed to be giving out that information to customers."
"Oh. Well, can't you make an expectation? It's my first time in this part of town and I don't no anybody."
He sighed and turned back to the girl. "I'm Biggs. I take it you aren't from the slums, are ya?"
"Well, not exactly. I was born up on the plate,
but I was never in Midgar for long. My folks kept shoving me off to
boarding schools."
"Oh...that sucks."
"Not really, I didn't have to put up with them, except for when I'd get kicked out."
"...huh?"
***
Wedge adjusted the hat the he had put on before coming and listened to Tifa.
"Now, when we get there, don't look anyone
in the eyes, but try not to look suspicious. Act like you're at ease. And
don't
say anything unless someone asks you something!"
"Tifa-"
"And don't seem to eager! Especially when Reeve meets us! That'll only draw more attention."
"Tifa-"
"And do whatever Reeve and Reno tell us! They know more about this than we do so-"
"TIFA!" Wedge stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.
"What?"
"Calm down! Your mouth is going a mile a minute!" He put his arms on her shoulders. "Caaaaalm dooooown. Ok?"
With a deep breath, she nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Ok let's go!"
"Ok!" They were about a block away from the building and each step they took felt like some pushing harder on the chests.
Finally, they reached the building. "Ok," Wedge turned to the woman that was with him. "Now what?"
***
James was barely aware that he being dragged down a hall. His head mind felt like it had been turned to mush.
"Are you sure it's wise to put him in the same
cell as the other specimen?" One of the two lab techs that were with him
asked the other, who shrugged.
"Hojo wants it this way. And you know the rules, never argue with Hojo."
So before he could fully grasp what was going
on, James found himself being shoved into a small room, with no windows
and only a bed in the likes of furniture.
Oh man, my head... With a moan, he gripped the sides of throbbing head, trying to will the pain away.
"E-excuse me? Are you all right?"
"What the-" with a small shriek, James leapt
up and fell back against the wall, panting and staring at the young woman
that
had spoken.
"Eee...sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you,"
her green eyes flashed with concern and she stood, stepping slowly over
to him.
"Now then, are all right?"
He gave a small nod as she stooped knew him. "Yeah, just, a little spacey I guess."
"I know what you mean." She gave him a sympathetic
smile, "I was like that after my first day of experiments. I'm Aeris by
the way."
***
Reno was growing more uncomfortable by the
second, Reeve, Tifa, and Wedge would be coming any minute now, and it
didn't help that Yuffie kept staring at him.
"What do you want?!" He finally hollered at her, getting sick of feeling her eyes on him.
"N-nothing!!"
"Then stop-" KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Reno and Yuffie both jumped a foot off the ground.
"Oh jeeze!" The Turk gasped, standing up to open the door. "Good god, Reeve! You scared the living hell out of me!"
"Sorry," the man stepped inside, giving Yuffie
a wave. "Tifa and Wedge are waiting down in my office, we can bring her
down there and then go get James."
"Just how are you guys going to get me to your office without someone stopping you?" Yuffie piped up.
"Easy, with these," Reeve pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
"Eep."
***
"So you've had to put up with this for that long?" James asked the woman that was sitting opposite him in the cell.
"Yup."
"How can you stand it?"
"It gets…well, no. It doesn't get easier, I
guess you just grow stronger as the testing grows on. You have to, if you
want to
survive," Aeris gave him a long look. "You
are a whole Cetra aren't you?"
"Yes, you aren't?"
She gave a small smirk, half-heartedly. "Nope, I'm a hybrid, as the scientists like to say. Half Cetra, and half human."
"Oh…"
"…so where are you from?"
"Where'm I from? I really don't know. I remember
I spent time in Kalm while I was younger, but I don't believe that I am
from there. Where ar-"
He was interrupted by the opening of the cell's door. Whereupon a redheaded man's head popped into the room.
"Aeris and James, I presume?" The two nodded,
unsure of what was happening as another man entered, followed by a
woman. "May I introduce myself and my two
companions, I am Reno, and these are Wedge and Tifa. You can call us
freedom."
The woman, obviously the more worried of the
three, spoke up shakily. "We better get going, we don't want to get
caught."
"Yeah, c'mon!" Reno and Wedge walked over and
each helped one of the Cetra up, then silently left the room, Tifa leading
the way back to Reeve's office.
Once safely there, they closed the door behind them and turned to the others.
"JAMES!" Yuffie quickly wrapped herself around
the slightly older man. Although she hadn't known him very long, it was
very refreshing to see a familiar face.
"Ugh…Yuffie, do you mind, maybe, loosening
your grip on me? I'm a bit achy." Carefully, the Cetra pried the girl's
arms
off of him.
"Oh! I'm sorry! Are you ok? What'd they do to you?"
"…I'd rather not talk about it now, let's focus
on getting out of here." She nodded and they both took a seat in front
of the
desk, which Reeve had sat at.
"Ok people, we only have a limited amount of
time before they find out what's happen and begin to hunt for us. We need
to
get out of here as soon as possible."
"Yeah, but how do we do that?" Tifa asked, scratching her head.
"Well, I know it's not the most original plan,
but it has seemed to work in the past. I'm sure none of you could miss
all of
the technicians running amuck in this place,
so, Reno and I managed to grab four tech lab coats and fake id's for you.
They
should be sufficient for now," he motioned
to Reno as he said this last part, who walked to the small closet in the
back of
the room, and grabbed a pile of coats and
id's.
"Here you are," a chimed, handing each of the four a coat and coordinating id.
"Hey, how'd you get our pictures?" Aeris asked with curiosity, noting that the id's were complete with photographs.
"It was easy," Reno answered. "Tifa and Wedge's
are already on file, although only people of high ranking have access to
them. Yours wasn't hard to get, there're several
photos of you on file. James's was tricky though. We had to use images
from the surveillance system in the laboratory
and compile them using imaging software on the computer to create a profile
picture."
"Oh…"
"Well," Reeve stood, pausing a moment for everyone
to get situated in their coats and id's. "Is everyone ready? Good.
Let's go!"
***
Getting out was surprisingly easy. Although
the escape of Yuffie had been brought to the attention of a few workers,
it was
only known scarcely on the upper floors, and
hadn't been brought to the attention of the people on the lower floors.
The
loss of the Ancients had yet to be noticed.
As soon as they had walked down twenty flights
of stairs, Reno and Reeve decided that it was safe to go and try the
elevator in the main halls.
"Remember, don't look anyone in the eyes. Try
and act as distant as possible…weird if you will," the Turk warned as they
stepped onto the crowded elevator.
The others, taking heed to the precaution,
scrunched themselves into the car and proceeded to either stare at the
door, the
ceiling, or the ground. The only time one
of them had to speak was when someone bumped into them and they excused
them.
Wedge felt that he was holding his breath the
entire elevator ride. He was extremely worried that they would be
caught…well, he really couldn't say that he
was worried for himself, he was mainly worried for…Tifa.
He really didn't know why, but he was completely
taken with her. He had been since he first met her five years ago, of
course, back then it had just been a small
crush, but it had evolved into oh so much more. He felt that he could honestly
say
he loved her. With all of his heart, he loved
her.
With this on his mind, he stole a glance at
the object of his affection. She looked tense and as worried as he. After
a few
seconds, he got her eyes, and gave the woman
a weak smile, reaching for hand and giving it a squeeze. We'll get through
this, his eyes told her. We will, trust me.
And they did. Minutes later, though it seemed
like lifetimes, the elevator stopped safely on the first floor, and the
company
of six walked cautiously out of the building.
***
Not a word was spoken as they made their way
to the bar, Aeris, James, and Yuffie were left to wonder where they were
heading, and began to wonder if they made
the right choice.
Yuffie's mind was overflowing with worries.
What if I'm walking into a death-trap? What if it was safer back with the
Shinra? No…no!!! The Shinra are bad! These
people…they must be fighting for a good cause…yes, they must!
"Ok, here we are!" Wedge stated proudly, leading
them to a dingy building with a neon-sign that flashed Tifa's Seventh
Heaven…bar and grill. As the group entered,
the only people inside were a male bartender and a young blonde that
looked plenty tipsy.
"Alli, I really think- OH! YOUR BACK!!!" The
bartender literally leapt over the bar and ran over to the group, giving
Tifa
and Wedge each a small hug and a pat on the
back. "Damn, you had me so worried!"
"Biggs," Tifa started, "I'd like you to meet
Aeris, James, and Yuffie. Guys, this is Biggs, another member of our fine
establishment."
The three looked a bit confused, and James spoke up for them. "What establishment?"
"Reno? Reeve? You didn't…tell them about us?"
"Well…"
"Umm…"
"You know what?" James started again. "It's
been a long day. Let's just get some sleep and worry about it in the morning.
Ok?"
"Ok!" Everyone agreed on this.
"Oh Biggs," Tifa strolled up to the man, placing
her arm on his shoulder and walking him up to them bar, near the girl.
"Do I
need to remind that we don't sell alcohol
to minors?"