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Darkened Skies	By : Cynthia Category: Final Fantasy VII > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 952 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and all characters are the property of Square Enix. I do not profit from this fanfiction, it’s for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
- 21
"Darkened Skies"
Chapter twenty: Desperate measures
A Final Fantasy 7 AU fanfiction
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*Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and all related characters belong to Square-Enix. This fiction piece is strictly a non-profit exercise of creativity and entertainment for people (like me) who can’t get enough of this world and the characters.
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            Hojo gave Sephiroth a ghastly smile when he stepped into the cell with Zack, and he got off the bunk and approached him eagerly. "Well, Sephiroth? Have you decided to cooperate?"
            Sephiroth glanced at Zack, who looked like he wanted nothing more than to grab him and run out of there. "I'm prepared to give you what you want, professor. You'll get five minutes with Jenova, and when it's over, I expect you to tell me where the rest of your files are and give me any access codes I'll need."
            "Of course," promised Hojo. He reached up and put his hands on Sephiroth's shoulders, prompting the general to tense up. "Just let me see her."
            Sephiroth kept his eyes on the professor as he addressed his fellow Soldier. "Zackary, stay by the door and have your weapon ready. Do not let me leave this cell until I have full control of my body again. You know what I could do if you fail."
            Zack swallowed and drew his broadsword. "Okay. I really hope you know what you're doing."
~**********************************~

            Vincent climbed into the front of the vehicle and sat down in the passenger seat next to Reeve. "Most of the survivors are okay. A couple of them suffered minor injuries and I've seen to them with the materia you gave me. We may want to have them looked at by medical staff when we reach Junon, just to be sure."
            "So then you're coming with me?" Reeve glanced at him hopefully, keeping his attention half on the road.
            "Hmph. I don't see what other choice I have," answered the gunman. "But I'm not staying there right away. As soon as we drop off these civilians, I need to procure transport to Nibelheim. I want to search for Lucrecia's thesis."
            "That can be arranged," agreed Reeve. "I'll come with you and help."
            Vincent nearly smirked. "You're just as curious to find out what's in it as I am, aren't you?"
            "Guilty, as charged." Reeve gave him a crooked grin. "I won't lie to you, I find it all fascinating. I'd also like to know what Deepground wants to do with the protomateria."
            "You won't find it fascinating if I should lose control of Chaos," warned Vincent.
            Reeve nodded. "As long as you've got that protomateria, it shouldn't be an issue, though. Hmm, I wonder if Deepground wants it so that they can control Chaos. To what end, though?"
            Vincent shut his eyes and leaned back in the seat. "Does it matter?"

            "You don't want to know?" Reeve's expression said he found that odd.
            "I'd rather not. Anyone who wants to meddle with such things isn't someone I want to understand. I've had enough of it."
            Reeve didn't speak further on the matter.
~********************************~

            When they arrived in Junon, Reeve got the survivors to the infirmary and reported the situation in Kalm. Unfortunately, there was no way any rescue force could make it there in time to save the captives. It was a sure bet that they were being taken to Midgar to be "processed", like all the other unfortunates rounded up by Deepground. Rufus assured him that they were working as fast as they could to prepare for the assault on Midgar. If they were lucky, they would overpower the enemy occupation before the citizens of Kalm shared the fate of those that went before them. Seeing that there was nothing more he could do for them, Reeve explained that he needed to travel to Nibelheim with Vincent. He went to his sleeping quarters where his friend waited for him, and convinced Vincent to wait long enough for him to at least try to get more information out of Hojo.
            "That mansion is huge, and this is going to be one long search if we don't even know what exactly we're looking for," reasoned the engineer. He packed some more clothes into his suitcase and looked up at the man standing on the other side of the room. "Of course, we could get lucky and find it right there in the lab with all the other research notes, but just in case we don't, it will be helpful to have some idea of where else to look."
            Vincent sighed. "You're best off not mentioning me, if you press him for more information. If he knows I'm after the thesis, he'll never tell you anything."
            "I see," murmured Reeve. "Then I'll be sure not to mention you."
He wondered if Dr. Crescent would have gone through with all of it, if she'd known how it would turn out for Vincent. Letting him die probably would have been kinder, but he personally was glad she hadn't chosen that route. He had one more question for his friend, and the minute the words left his mouth, he regretted them and wished he could take them back.
"If you could say one thing to her, what would it be?" Reeve winced. "Sorry, Vincent…that isn't my business."
Vincent looked at him with unreadable, melancholy red eyes. "I don't mind. If I could speak to Lucrecia again, I would tell her I forgive her. It's what she seemed to need to hear the most."
Reeve nodded. "I'd better finish packing." He covered a yawn and excused himself. "Pardon me."
"You should get some rest," suggested Vincent. "We have a long flight ahead of us and it's been a trying day."
"I'll sleep on the airship," promised Reeve. "I still need to try and swindle Hojo into telling me more about the thesis. Damn, I can't believe how much has happened in just a few days."
"It's going to get worse before it gets better," predicted Vincent ominously.
"That's the spirit, Sunshine," Reeve said sarcastically. "I'm glad you're here to cheer me up."
~********************************~

            "Whoa, easy," Zack said, supporting his companion's staggering steps with an arm around his waist. "We should get you to your quarters so you can lay down. You definitely need your rest, if you're going to lead the attack on Midgar Wednesday.
            "Zackary," murmured Sephiroth softly. "I apologize."
            The brunet stopped and stared at him. "Did…did you just say you're sorry?"
            "I attacked you," answered the general groggily, his pupils dilated to ovals. "I couldn't…stop myself."
            "Hey, don't sweat it." Zack swallowed painfully, his throat aching terribly from the near-strangling he'd received at Sephiroth/Jenova's hands. "It wasn't you, man. Anyway, you put a stop to it."
            "When your face began to turn purple," corrected Sephiroth. "It should never have gotten that far."
            Zack shrugged as best he could while supporting the silver-haired man. "At least you got some info out of it…if Hojo didn't give us bogus codes."
            "Small wonders," sighed the general. "If he gave us false information, I'm done with him. I'll kill him myself."
            Zack shivered, having no doubt he meant it. "We'll find out when we check it out in the data room. Don't get ahead of yourself."
            Reeve approached them in the hallway just as they reached the T intersection and they stopped to greet him. "Hey, what's up?" Zack asked.
            "I need information from Hojo," answered Tuesti abruptly, "and I don't have time to beat around the bush with him. General, do you think you could…uh…"
            He noticed Sephiroth's condition and the marks around Zack's throat then, and he frowned. "What the hell happened to you two?"
            "Nothing much," answered Zack. He nodded at his companion. "Sephiroth just channeled Jenova and she decided to throttle me. We're cool now."
            Reeve looked at Sephiroth with wide eyes. "After all the effort you put into shutting her out? Why would you do a thing like that?"
            "To gain Hojo's cooperation," answered Sephiroth. "He promised access to all his remaining files if I would let him speak with Jenova."
            "I see." Reeve watched the tall, silver-haired man warily. "And what was that like?"
            "Freaky as all get out," answered Zack. "It was Sephiroth, but it wasn't Sephiroth. I could see it in his eyes, just like that time in Nibelheim. He didn't even talk the same. Hojo acted like a crazy fanboy and I half expected him to start kissing Seph's feet or something. He just kept going on and on about the 'plan' and making promises to her that Gaia would 'soon be hers'. She didn't seem all that impressed."
            "And when did she decide to strangle you?" asked Reeve with concern. "You should have that looked at, Fair."
            "I will," he promised. "Like I said, she didn't really pay much attention to me at all until she tried to leave the cell and I blocked her way. Seph boxed her back up before she could do any real damage, though." He looked at the general. "By the way; you are freaky strong—even for a SOLDIER operative."
            Sephiroth didn't comment on that. "What did you want from me, Reeve?"
            "I…er…wanted you to try and convince Hojo to give you more information on Dr. Crescent's thesis on Chaos. If not, maybe he can explain a few things and we won't have to go searching for it. Hojo is the one that said Deepground was after the protomateria, after all. If we can get him to talk or find that thesis, we can gain an understanding of what they're trying to accomplish and maybe we can put a stop to it with minimal bloodshed."
            Sephiroth was silent for a moment, before digging into his long black jacket for something he'd put in an inner pocket. He handed the slip of paper over to Reeve and nodded at it.
            "This is the information Hojo gave me on the location of the rest of his files, and the codes needed to decrypt them. I intended to give it to you anyway, so that you could process the data for us. Chances are you'll find information on the thesis in this data, and if you don't, I'll speak with Hojo about it. Assuming he isn't deceiving us, he's promised to give me whatever information I ask for."
            "Uh-huh." Reeve tried not to make it sound too insulting. "All for a little chat with Jenova? What's the catch?"
            "There isn't one," insisted Sephiroth. "Interacting with Hojo can be surprisingly simple, if you find the right angle."
            "I'm sorry General, but I'm not buying it." Reeve looked at the taller man's exhausted expression and dazed eyes. "Why would Hojo jeopardize his own goal by giving us all the information we need to put a stop to it? He wants Deepground to succeed in whatever plan they're cooking up. He's made that abundantly clear. Why risk screwing that up?"
            "Because his fatal flaw is his ego," answered Sephiroth. "He's confident that no amount of information he gives us now will make a difference."
            "Then we shouldn't shatter that illusion," suggested Reeve. "Vincent Valentine is here with me, and I intend to make it damned hard for Deepground to get their hands on him or the protomateria."
            "Wait," Zack said, frowning, "Vincent has it? And what is the protomateria, anyhow?"
            "It's the key to controlling Chaos," answered Reeve, "and something called 'Omega', too. I haven't had time to properly research it, but if we can get Dr. Crescent's thesis, I won't have to. Vincent and I are prepared to travel to Nibelheim to look for it, unless we can manage to get the information we need from Hojo before the airship takes off."
            "I'll go back in and ask him about it," answered Sephiroth. "Since he's mentioned it already, I don't need to fabricate a reason for asking."
            "You sure you don't want to lay down for a while, first?" Zack asked. "That business with Jenova really wiped you out."
            "I'll manage," insisted Sephiroth. He pulled away from Zack and turned to face the way they'd come from. "It's better to ask while he's relatively lucid and still in a satisfied mood. He may become uncooperative if we wait."
~***********************************~

            Reeve waited with Zack in the hallway while Sephiroth returned to Hojo's cell and questioned him. "You look worried," remarked Reeve to the younger man.
            Zack rubbed his sore neck and shrugged. "If you'd seen him earlier, you'd be worried too. Jenova's a psycho, Reeve. I hope Sephiroth didn't leave himself open by letting her out for a few minutes."
            "Don't worry," soothed Reeve. "I've only known one other man with willpower to match Sephiroth's. Trust him, Zack."
            "I'm trying," sighed the Soldier, "but he's my friend and I don't like seeing him suffer like that, even if he tries to brush it off."
            "There's nothing you can do except support him," reminded Reeve, "and he obviously trusts you a great deal, to have brought you with him to handle it if things got out of control. I would have expected him to recruit Angeal for that job."
            Zack lowered his gaze. "I would too, but I guess after Nibelheim, he figures I'm the man for the job."
            Reeve looked at him with interest. "What else happened in Nibelheim? I know you stopped him from going off the deep end, but there must be more to it than that."
            Zack averted his eyes. "Not in Nibelheim," he answered softly. "After it. Sorry Reeve, I can't talk about it. It's between us SOLDIER officers and I made a vow it would stay that way."
            "Well, I guess I'll have to drop it and speculate, then." Reeve patted the younger man's over-burdened shoulder supportively. "Whatever it was, I can see it was hard on you. You're a good friend, kid. Sephiroth and the others are lucky to have you."
            Zack shrugged bashfully. "I didn't do anything any decent person wouldn't have done. Thanks, though."
            Sephiroth came out of the cell then, and the conversation ceased as he approached them. "Search the piano," he said to Reeve in a fatigued tone. "That was the best I could get out of him."
            "It's better than nothing," insisted Reeve. He shook Sephiroth's gloved hand. "Thank you, General. I'll have my laptop with me and I'll start processing that data in my spare time, while we're away. If I find anything that could help you in the fight for Midgar, I'll be sure to send it to you or Director Lazard immediately."
            "Good enough," agreed Sephiroth. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to have some rest and Zack needs to see a doctor."
            "I'm not looking forward to explaining these marks," sighed Zack. "Couldn't we just use a Cure spell and call it a day?"
            "I may have done damage to you that requires a doctor's care," insisted Sephiroth. "This isn't negotiable."
            Zack grumbled under his breath.
~*********************************~

            The next day, Reeve and Vincent arrived in Nibelheim. They didn't linger in town, but went straight to the mansion in the hopes of collecting the thesis. Unfortunately, they found no evidence of any files or paperwork of any kind inside of the musical instrument.
            "Maybe he meant to look under it," reasoned Reeve, grunting a little as he squatted down to search the floorboards below. He started to knock on the floor, listening closely for any signs of a hollow spot.
            "I don't think you're going to find anything down there," Vincent said.
            Reeve checked the underside of the piano, squinting to see in the dim chandelier light. "It doesn't hurt to be thorough. We came all this way and I'm going to make sure I've searched this thing inside and out."
            "He could have been lying," reminded Vincent. "From what you've told me, Hojo's behavior lately has been unstable. He's even less trustworthy than before."
            "I'm starting to wonder if his insanity is more of an act than a reality," Reeve hypothesized. He shook his head in disappointment when he found nothing, and he got back to his feet and wiped his hands off on his pants. "If it was here before, the thesis is gone, now. Why would he put it inside the piano, anyway?"
            "Possibly because he didn't want to put it someplace too obvious," guessed Vincent. "Hojo always has a reason for everything he does; even if it makes no sense to anyone else."
            "I suppose," Sighed Reeve, "but there's that safe, too. Maybe we should try cracking into it."
            "Sir, you're back."
            Both men turned to see the groundskeeper standing in the hallway, watching them. "Is there something I can help you with?"
            Vincent glanced at the piano—which looked as though it had been recently dusted and polished. "Did you clean this?"
            The young man nodded. "Yes, I thought it could use a good polish, and I dusted inside, too. Did…I do something wrong?"
            "When you dusted it," Reeve said, "did you happen to find anything inside of it or near it, like a folder or a notebook of some kind?"
            The young man frowned. "There was a journal of some sort. It was shoved to the back of the soundboard. I figured it was just misplaced by one of the previous residents."
            "Where did you put it?" Vincent asked.
            "In the study," he answered. "Is that okay? I thought about putting it in the basement lab but I don't really like going down there unless I have to."
            "The study is fine," Reeve assured, sharing a look with Vincent. "Thank you, Toby. Just tell us what it looked like and we'll take it from here."
~******************************~

            "This is it," Vincent announced when he found the old leather binder. He untied the ribbon holding it closed and he opened it almost reverently. "This is her handwriting."
            Reeve came up beside him and looked down at the book in his hands. The pages were a bit yellowed, but overall the journal was in decent shape. "Excellent. Do you want me to read through it first, or would you like to do the honors?"
            Vincent had to think about it for a moment. He knew it would be hard to read through Lucrecia's work. He knew he would hear her voice in his mind as he read her handwriting, and he knew it would bring back painful memories. Still, he needed to know all the facts, and he could relinquish the book to Reeve afterwards.
            "I think I should read it first," Vincent finally said, caressing the cover of the book with his uncovered hand.
            "I understand," Reeve assured him. He picked up the case containing his laptop. "While you're doing that, I'll get cracking on Hojo's data and find out if it's the real deal."
~***********************************~

            Later that evening, Lazard got an email from Reeve, informing him that Hojo's data was legitimate. He assured him that he could work with the information he'd procured and recalibrate the scanners to detect Deepground operatives. Now that he had the basic genome build, it was only a matter of making the right adjustments. The news came as a relief to Lazard, who was stressing more than he wanted to admit over the impending Midgar battle.
            They had only one day left to prepare for it. Would that be enough? The new data from Hojo's additional hidden files apparently proved that Scarlet's numbers weren't exaggerated. The Deepground army was at least as big as ShinRa's regular army, and since his father's attempt to eliminate it failed, they had to assume those numbers weren't diminished. They were likely going to have to send in the whole army to deal with them, along with all available SOLDIER operatives.
            "Why didn't the bomb kill them?" he wondered.
The only explanation he could think of was that they knew it was going to go off and they somehow managed to get it close enough to the surface to survive the blast. Speculating over it was useless, though.
The thought had occurred to him more than once that they could try to reason with Weiss—who was evidently their leader—but after reading about the way the subjects of Deepground were treated, he doubted it would do any good. They hated humanity, and with good reason. It wouldn't surprise Lazard if their ultimate goal were simply to exterminate as many humans as possible.
He should get some rest. He had a perfectly good bed in one of the luxury suites here in the Junon headquarters. He knew that sleep wouldn't come easily, though. He was simply too tense. Lazard lifted his head and he reached into the top drawer of his desk, seeking out the prescription pills he'd recently started keeping in there. He opened the container and shook one out into his palm with a sigh.
~********************************~

            After a night of uneasy rest in one of the mansion's bedrooms, Reeve got up early the next morning and decided to take advantage of the plumbing. He had a quick shower and he changed into a fresh set of clothes before packing up and preparing to leave.
            "Vincent," he called out as he started down the stairs, "We've got to get going. Are you up?"
            He saw Toby sitting in one of the wing-back chairs by the foyer. The chair was facing away from the staircase and Reeve assumed by position of Toby's head that he was reading the morning paper.
            "Morning, Toby," Reeve called. "Hey, have you seen Mr. Valentine yet today, or is he still in that coffin of his in the basement? We've got to get to the airship and leave, if we're going to make it back to Junon on schedule."
            Toby didn't answer him. Reeve frowned and approached the chair. "Toby? Are you asleep or something?"
            Reeve noticed the spreading crimson puddle on the floor beneath the chair and he went still. "Toby? You okay, kid?"
            He circled around the chair slowly, feeling a horrible sense of dread. Toby's head was bowed and his arms were resting on the arms of the chair. It took Reeve a moment to realize that the button up shirt he was wearing wasn't red; it was stained with blood. The once white garment was soaked through from the collar to the hem, and when Reeve gingerly reached out to touch his neck and feel for a pulse, he discovered why. Someone had cut Toby's throat wide open.
            Swearing, Reeve backed away and reached for his gun. Fear for his friend made his voice crack as he called out for him again. "Vincent, get up here!"
He turned, intending to run for the basement entrance and look for Vincent. He found himself face to face with a familiar woman, and he had a complete brain freeze as he stared into her glowing, crimson eyes. He'd seen her during the evacuation of Midgar, and again in the film clip Sephiroth found on a worker's discarded phone. Of course, when he saw her in Midgar he had no idea she was a Tsviet.
            "Hello, Commissioner Tuesti," she greeted with a cold, feral smile. "Your man-servant bled well. I enjoyed slaughtering him like a pig."
            Remembering the file information he'd found on this woman, he had a name to go with her angular face. "Rosso the Crimson, is it?"
He backed away from her slowly, taking note of the strange, double-bladed weapon she held at her side. She hadn't made a threatening move yet, but he could tell by the bloodthirsty look in her eyes that she could attack at any moment.
"You know who I am," she observed. "I feel flattered."
"Where did you come from?" Reeve demanded. "What are you doing here?" He had a horrible feeling he already knew the answer to the second question, and he cast a covert look around, afraid of seeing Vincent lying in a pool of his own blood, like poor Toby.
"I come from Deepground," she said in an amused tone, "but you know that. As for why I'm here, I want Valentine. Where is your friend, Mr. Tuesti?"
Reeve took some comfort in her question. She wouldn't be asking where Vincent was if she'd already killed him.   "I don't know where he is. I'll be happy to give him a message for you, the next time I see him."
She lunged at him so fast that Reeve barely got the chance to lift his gun. She knocked it out of his hand and he found himself pressed up against the wall, with the sharp blade of her weapon resting against his throat. A trickle of blood etched down his throat as the blade made a shallow cut in his skin.
"You are nothing to me," she hissed. "Fodder. Excrement beneath my boot. I'll carve you from privates to neck and I'll bathe in your blood, if you don't tell me where Vincent Valentine is."
Reeve saw a flash of a familiar crimson cape behind his attacker and he did his best not to react and give it away. "You're very…descriptive. I wish I could help you, but I honestly don't know where Vincent is. I came down here looking for him when you ambushed me."
"Well then," she purred, drawing another bloody line across Reeve's throat, "let's see if we can't lure him out."
Without warning, she reversed her blade and stabbed downwards—directly through Reeve's shoe and into his foot. He obligingly screamed in pain and shock, and the Tsviet woman looked at him as though the sound of his suffering were orgasmic to her.
"Yes," she said to him. "Perfect! Louder, Commissioner. We want your friend to hear it."
She twisted the blade and Reeve couldn't hold back another cry. He vaguely heard the sound of gunshot fire through his agony, and he thought he was imagining it until Rosso suddenly released him and turned to deflect more bullets with her weapon.
"Get away from him," came the rough, low command. Vincent's cape billowed around him and his eyes were narrowed and dangerously aglow on her.
"Mr. Valentine, I presume," she greeted, grunting slightly with her efforts. "What a beautiful red gaze you have. So glad you could join us. Hand over the protomateria and I'll kill you and your friend quickly."
Vincent shook his head. "Even if I could, I wouldn't."
The sharp smile returned to her lips. "Thank you. You've given me free reign to split you open. I may even keep those pretty eyes as a souvenir."
"Careful, Vincent," warned Reeve in a pain-laced voice, "she's got an obsession with blood."
"Reeve, get out of here."
The engineer hesitated, and before his friend could issue the command again, Rosso was upon Vincent like a furious whirlwind. The half-skirt attached to her outfit flared out as she leaped through the air and came down spinning. Vincent rolled away, but not quite fast enough to avoid a cut on his right shoulder. The leather body armor prevented it from going too deep, but he scowled in pain and he seemed to have a bit of trouble lifting Cerberus to retaliate.
Reeve spotted his own gun halfway across the room, and estimated that his chances of getting to it before Rosso closed in on his companion were slim. He made use of the materia bangle he'd slipped on after his shower and he activated the first offensive spell he found. Sadly, he hadn't socketed any summon materia, but what he did have was all fully grown and Rosso got a nasty shock when the Lightning spell struck her with maximum force.
Partially blinded by the crackle of electricity and wrinkling his nose at the smell of burnt ozone, Reeve watched the Tsviet fall to the floor. He limped around the stunned woman to Vincent's side, giving her a wide berth just in case. "Somehow, I doubt that will keep her down for long. We should try to restrain her and take her in for question—"
Rosso chose that moment to demonstrate a horror-movie cliché. She exploded into motion so fast that Reeve only had time to register her blade-staff sweeping out before the blunt side of it knocked him right off his feet. He barked a quick, choice curse word as he landed on his back and got the wind knocked out of him. He saw Vincent jump into the air and he heard Cerberus hammering out rounds. The cape was flowing around the gunman, providing cover and deflection from Rosso's attacks. The Tsviet demonstrated yet another interesting property of her strange weapon; it could shoot bullets, like a specialized gun blade.
"Unh…dammit," muttered Reeve.
At least Vincent's attacks forced Rosso to put most of her attention on him. Reeve located another spell materia and this time, he aimed it at Vincent. The minor cure spell took care of the cut in his shoulder and just as Reeve was about to do the same for his own foot, Rosso's boot came down at his head. He thought he spotted some squished gum sticking to the sole of it before it collided with his head and made him see stars. He shook his head to clear it as Rosso closed in on Vincent again. She was bleeding from a bullet gash in her right thigh, but she hardly seemed to notice it. She was fast…very fast. She got past Vincent's guard and when Reeve's vision cleared a bit, he saw her grappling with the gunman.
Vincent kicked out at her, hitting her in the stomach with his hard, golden armored boots. When she staggered, he tried to take aim at her head with his revolver, but she moved too fast for him and her weapon struck out, hitting his forearm and knocking the gun out of his hand. Reeve could see what was coming and he struggled to make his body comply with his mind and act, before it was too late. As formidable as Vincent was, he'd been asleep for five years and he was out of practice. The operatives they fought off in the Shadowfax weren't like this woman. They were like third class Soldiers compared to a First.
He tried to activate a Barrier materia to protect his friend from Rosso's next attack, but he got it confused with the Regen materia socketed next to it. Reeve swore again when the green glow lit up his companion, but a split second later, he was glad to have made the mistake. The larger blade of Rosso's weapon cut into Vincent's chest, and she shoved him against the wall violently when he tried to dodge away. The hoarse yell of pain that came a moment later made Reeve's adrenaline pump harder, and he scrambled to his feet despite the pain in the punctured one.
Reeve lurched for his gun, picked it up and fired it at Rosso's back. She deftly maneuvered her weapon behind her and he stared incredulously as the bloodied blade deflected his bullet. Her other hand came away from Vincent's chest, holding something in it that appeared to pulse with light. For a horrifying moment, Reeve thought it was the gunman's heart…but then he saw the sphere shape of it and he understood. She had cut the protomateria right out of his friend's chest.
"Vincent!"
Beyond caring about his own safety now, Reeve charged across the room at Rosso. He couldn't risk hitting Vincent with his gunfire or offensive spell materia—he didn't have a clear shot at her anymore. His body was the only weapon left immediately at his disposal. He didn't have a Soldier's strength or Vincent's supernatural abilities, but he worked out and kept himself fit. He was treated to a moment of satisfaction when Rosso stared at him with open surprise, evidently not expecting such a bold, aggressive move from him.
Unfortunately, Rosso didn't need a man's muscle mass to block Reeve's charge. She had rigorous combat training on her side, and her lean muscles were un-naturally strengthened by the stagnant Mako infusions she'd been subjected to. His tackle didn't quite work the way he'd hoped it would, but it did knock her off-balance. Reeve punched her in the face and he tried to wrest the protomateria from her hand, knowing what it could mean for Vincent and for the world if she got away with it. She snarled at him and he gagged in pain as her leather-clad knee struck him square in the groin.
"That's dirty fighting," He protested.
She didn't seem to care. She slipped her bloody trophy into a pouch strapped to her waist and she grabbed a handful of his hair, yanking his head back. "You aren't worthy of a 'fair fight', little sacrifice." She punched him hard in the jaw.
Reeve would have answered, if the hit hadn't come close to putting his lights out. Once again, he saw stars and he had to fight to keep from blacking out. He felt himself lifted and thrown, and he grunted as he struck the coffee table and broke it in half. The sharp pain in his side warned of a cracked rib and he tried to make use of his materia bangle as Rosso approached him. Her boot came down on his forearm, pinning it down and preventing him from using his materia. Reeve looked up through blurred vision to see her blade looming over him. At least he wasn't going down without a fight.
Just as Rosso started to draw back in preparation to strike, Reeve saw a winged form come up behind her and he blinked, his eyes widening. "Oh my god."
Rosso smirked down at him. "That trick won't work."
Keeping his eyes on the supernatural form looming over her, Reeve swallowed hard. "Okay, then."
A pale hand caught Rosso's arm before she could make her killing blow, and not even her enhanced strength seemed to be enough to break the hold. She turned and looked up at a face very similar to Vincent's, save for the glowing amber eyes and the markings on his face. Instead of hair, he had a mass of black and red spikes crowning his head and the bat-like wings rising from his back seemed to have replaced Vincent's cloak. The demonic creature narrowed his eyes at Rosso, evidently unimpressed with her efforts to break his hold on her. She twisted in his grasp and tried to kick out at him, getting over her surprise quickly.
Her opponent blocked her attack and he snarled at her, baring sharp, fang-like canines. A nimbus of energy surrounded him and Reeve prudently crawled away as it started to spread. He could hear the Tsviet's cries of pain and alarm, but he couldn’t make out more than shadows within the nimbus of light. Rosso fell to the floor with her weapon, and she hastily got to her feet and fled. Reeve called out helplessly, aware that she still had the protomateria on her. He was in no condition to chase after her, however, and when he looked up again he knew he had a bigger problem to worry about.
"Hello…Chaos," greeted Reeve warily.
The intense, golden eyes stared down at him from a face as impassive as marble. They looked around and a subtle frown animated the sensitive-looking mouth, betraying what might have been confusion. Chaos seemed to shrink before Reeve's eyes then, the wings collapsing and the spikes turning into raven hair. Within seconds, Vincent Valentine collapsed before him. The open wound where Rosso had dug out the protomateria was rapidly closing, thanks to the Regen spell cast by Reeve earlier, but he must have lost a lot of blood from the injury.
"Vincent," coughed Reeve. He struggled over to him, casting a watchful look around just in case their insane new lady friend decided to come back for an encore. "Vincent, can you hear me?" He painfully pulled the gunman partway into his lap and he adjusted his bangle, wasting no time in casting a Cure spell.
Vincent stirred after a moment and he looked up at the engineer with dazed ruby eyes. "I saw…what happened…but couldn't act."
"Don't worry about that now," insisted Reeve. He began to see to his own injuries, though he feared he would need to have his ribs bound by a doctor.
"I can…feel him," whispered Vincent. "Stronger than the others…the protomateria helped me…hold him back."
"It's going to be okay," Reeve assured him—though in truth, he couldn't see how. They had both read Lucrecia's thesis and knowing what Omega was and how Chaos related to it, Reeve doubted anything was going to be okay.
~*********************************~

            After returning to Junon and having a hasty shower, Reeve called for an emergency meeting and he insisted on Vincent being present for it. Rufus argued that they needed to finish military inspections for the fight to come, but Reeve told him that the information he had was vital to their success in dealing with the situation. Cid, Tseng, Scarlet and Angeal were too busy with preparations to attend, but everyone else was there. They all stared at him as he explained the situation, and he knew he must look as bad as he felt. Vincent was silent and brooding in the corner of the room, keeping his troubled gaze lowered as he allowed Reeve to do all the talking.
            "So in closing," Reeve finished, "Omega's ascension would basically mean the end of the world. Obviously, we don't want that to happen."
            The room went utterly silent as everyone absorbed this information. Reno was the first to speak up, once he'd mulled it over. "So you're saying Deepground is out to destroy the whole fucking world? I don't get it. That would mean they've gotta go, too."
            "Not necessarily," countered Hollander—who was now an active member of the board. "If the theories on protomateria are true, then it's possible that they intend to force Omega to wipe out all regular human life but spare Deepground, leaving them to inherit the planet."
            "So they would inherit a dead world," Genesis said with a shrug. "I fail to see the allure in that."
            "But if the life drained from this world is bequeathed to another," reasoned Hollander. "They could start over, on their terms."
            Zack fair listened to all of the speculation with an uncommonly serious look on his face, and when Hollander finished speaking, he looked up from the table. "Wait a minute…I've heard something like that before." He looked over at Sephiroth, sitting a few chairs down from him. "From you."
            Sephiroth frowned at him. So did the others.
            "When we were in Nibelheim," elaborated Zack. "Just before you took off to the Mako reactor. Well, I'm not sure it was really you, if you know what I mean. You were in the basement of the ShinRa mansion and I came down to talk to you. I heard you talking to yourself about using the planet as a vessel to build a new future somewhere else. You weren't talking to yourself though, were you? It was—"
            "Jenova," interrupted the general, his face losing all expression. "She wants to use the Lifestream to create her own world, her 'promised land'. She stole the concept from the Cetra when she infected them and she revised it for her own purposes."
            Rude leaned toward Reno and muttered below his breath. "Am I the only one that's lost, here?"
            "Nope," assured the redhead. "I'm right there with ya, partner."
            "We don't have time to explain the classified details of the Jenova project, right now," Reeve said. He looked at Sephiroth. "But there's a connection here."
            Sephiroth nodded, his gaze meeting Reeve's. The engineer knew he was thinking about what he'd recently done to get Hojo's cooperation. "Jenova's desires parallel Deepground's apparent goal."
            "And Hojo's been going on and on about how he set it all into motion," said Zack, nodding. "But how? You'd think he's controlling these Deepground guys, the way he goes on about it."
            "Maybe he did something to the control chips they implanted into their brain stems," Genesis suggested. "He did unleash some form of virus into the network, just before he was arrested."
            A new possibility occurred to Reeve, then. His gaze went to the laptop Lazard had out. The director was working while participating in the meeting, checking in with people in his department assigned to do equipment inspections for the scheduled Midgar liberation attempt.
            Reeve crossed the room to Lazard's seat and he turned the computer off without warning, drawing a supremely irritated warning look from the blond man.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Tuesti? If you say you need my undivided attention, I'll remind you that I'm adept at multitasking and I have a lot of work to do."
"Not through the network," Reeve insisted. He looked around the table. "In fact, I think we should revise our whole communication system, until I can ensure we don't have a hidden security breach."
Rufus didn't look pleased. "You've already assured me that you cleaned out all potential threats from the system."
"Everything I was able to detect, yes," agreed Reeve, "but I haven't encountered that artificial intelligence Hojo invented since I had that run in with it. I was beginning to think he may have programmed it to self-destruct upon discovery, but now I wonder if it went somewhere else."
"Like where?" asked Zack.
Reeve shook his head and combed his fingers through his unusually disheveled hair. "I don't know, but Rosso knew where we were somehow, and I don't think we should write off the possibility that they're monitoring our network and satellite communications, somehow. The AI has Hojo's consciousness and it may have the ability to adapt, too. Maybe it's learned how to cloak itself."
"I'm curious why you believe this," Lazard said. "It seems a bit far-fetched, Reeve. Maybe you need some rest."
Reeve compressed his lips with frustration as they all started to look at him differently, with that comment. He could tell they were starting to wonder if he was just being paranoid and his haggard appearance probably didn't lend credibility to his concerns. Vincent was the only one in the room not looking at him like he was having a breakdown.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I have this 'shot out of a cannon' look today," Reeve said, deciding it was time to tell them how he knew Deepground had the protomateria. "It's because Vincent and I were attacked while we were in Nibelheim. The groundskeeper was killed and the Tsviet responsible took the protomateria from Mr. Valentine."
"He had the protomateria?" Hollander looked at Vincent with renewed interest. "Of course…his father was involved in the first initial research on it and—"
"It doesn't matter how I got it," Vincent interrupted before the professor could drudge up more of his past and lay it out for everyone to speculate on. "Rosso the Crimson has it now, and that means its in Deepground's hands. They could use it to control Omega."
"But first they have to trick the planet into releasing it," added Reeve, "which means they need to emulate a global catastrophe. When the planet senses a big enough threat, it will wake Omega to gather the Lifestream and seek out a new habitat for it."
"How do you fake a global catastrophe, though?" Reno asked, spreading his hands.
"With enough sudden deaths," answered Genesis. "For example: mass culling."
"But that's not exactly 'global'," said Rufus. "It's isolated to Midgar. They bring their prisoners there and execute them."
"Location probably doesn't matter as much as the number of deaths, in the eyes of Minerva," insisted Genesis. "The flood of new souls into the Lifestream would be enough to get her attention, if there are enough of them."
"I'm really not liking where this is going," Zack muttered. "If a lot of deaths could set this thing off, couldn't we just make it happen faster by going in and attacking Midgar?"
"What else would you suggest?" demanded Genesis, "Asking them nicely to please stop committing genocide?"
"No," snapped Zack, "but maybe blowing more people up isn't the best way to convince the planet there's not some big catastrophe going on."
"You said Mr. Valentine harbors Chaos inside of him," Rufus reminded Reeve, his gaze going to the quiet gunman in the corner of the room. "And Chaos is connected to Omega. Could we possibly use that to our advantage, if these people get their way and raise Omega?"
"Maybe," Reeve answered uncertainly, looking at his friend. "From what I understand, Chaos was originally intended to be Omega's dark harbinger. He's essentially an angel of death, charged with gathering souls for the Lifestream for Omega."
"And exactly how could we use that to our advantage?" demanded Genesis. "We have the dark angel and they have his 'master' and the protomateria. If they control Omega, then they control Chaos by association."
"He's right," Sephiroth agreed. "We'd be more likely to make our situation worse by attempting to use Chaos against Omega."
"Well, at least with him stuck in this guy, they can't use him against us," Reno said with a gesture at Vincent. "That's one less thing we've gotta worry about."
Reeve winced. "Actually, Mr. Valentine's control over Chaos isn't rock-solid. It seems the protomateria inside of him was keeping Chaos dormant."
Everyone looked at Vincent. "Are you saying," Rufus said in a carefully controlled voice, "that we are harboring a man who could turn into an ancient Weapon of the planet, at any given time?"
"Chaos isn't really a WEAPON, per say—"
"But Mr. Valentine can't guarantee that he can keep him safely dormant," pressed Rufus. "That's what you're saying."
Reeve sighed. "Yes, that's what I'm saying. However, Chaos is now part of Vincent, and vice-versa. With a human conscience influencing his actions, he could become an asset, rather than a liability. This man has lived with four other entities vying for control of his body for years, yet he hasn't gone on a rampage yet."
"The key word is 'yet'," insisted Rufus, getting out of his chair. "We've already had three terrorists escape interrogation, you're insinuating that Deepground has direct access to our systems despite your earlier assurances that they were secure, and now you want us to take this risk with Chaos? Commissioner Tuesti, I think this company has lost enough control as it is. We can't afford yet another wild card in the mix."
Vincent nodded stoically. "I expected as much. I won't resist if you feel I need to be taken into custody…not now."
"That isn't going to happen," Reeve said sternly. "Chaos didn't try to harm me when he manifested at the mansion. I really think you could work with him, Vincent. It may just take some time."
"He wasn't active long enough to try and harm you," Vincent said. 'You don't know what he would have done, had he stayed for longer. I can't make any promises."
"You heard him," Rufus said. "General, please take Mr. Valentine into custody and be sure to assign round the clock surveillance. He doesn't leave that cell unless I specifically say otherwise."
Sephiroth approached Vincent with a hint of regret in his eyes. "Please come with me, Mr. Valentine. I'll see to it that you're treated well."
"Wait," protested Reeve, "He hasn't done anything wrong!"
"We can't take the risk," Rufus said firmly, "and Mr. Valentine has agreed to cooperate."
There was a distant rumble that made the windows rattle a little, temporarily distracting everyone. "Was that thunder?" Hollander asked.
Zack started to offer his opinion, when another boom and rumble followed the first. Somewhere in a distant part of the city, the faint sounds of gunfire could be heard. Genesis went to the window immediately and Lazard followed him.
"Hmph. The question of whether or not our forces are ready to raid Midgar is now moot," announced Genesis. "Deepground has apparently taken it upon themselves to bring the fight to us. The city is under attack."
~*****************************~

-To be continued
- 19
- 20
- 21
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