Loveless: Ato 1 – Cena 5

Desculpem a demora, tive que me ausentar durante esse fim de semana, daí não pude postar nada. >___<

Pois bem, voltei, e aí vai mais uma parte de Loveless.

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Act I: The Ruby Dragon

Scene Five

About an hour before sunrise, Elena strode through the quiet corridors of Reactor #5, her black military boots giving off a muted clop with each step. She was dressed entirely in black; her black vest and black fatigues accented with a shoulder holster, and her black canvas bag filled with all manner of tools. She looked around her as she walked, on guard for any suspicious activity, but everything seemed normal. Finally, she reached a narrow, T-shaped catwalk, which crossed over the front of the reactor. Ahead of her was an intersection leading into the core, and at the opposite end was a doorway, in front of which two uniformed figures were standing.
Elena walked toward these two MPs and nodded. She followed them through the doorway, down a long corridor and to a large room. This was the router control center, where the flow of the reactor’s output was divvied up. It was filled with at least a dozen technicians in white coats, all scrambling around in an effort to divert the outgoing routes to Midgar’s other mako reactors. In one corner of the room, a tired-looking Reeve furiously typed into his jacked-in laptop. Standing in another corner was Heidegger, who turned his attention to the new arrival.
“Gya ha ha! So you must be Elena! Glad to see you could make it!”
Reeve looked up, craning his neck to get a better view from behind the computer consoles. He and Elena exchanged nods before she turned back to Heidegger and he to his work.
“Is there anything I should know before starting my mission, sir?” Elena asked Heidegger.
“The plan has gone unchanged since yesterday. Let’s go over it again, shall we?”
“Yes sir.”
“On my mark, you are to conceal yourself within the reactor’s core. After AVALANCHE plants the bomb and leaves, you will then approach and disarm it. Their previous bomb came with a twenty-minute timer, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes sir.”
“Oh, and one more thing. Those two grunts standing behind you,” Heidegger said, indicating the MPs, “will be your escorts. They are trained to provide you with whatever assistance you may need. Also, there will be a meeting in the main control room later this morning, which you are expected to attend. In the meantime, you’ll want to get yourself acquainted with the central mako chamber.”
Elena took a quick glance back at the MPs and nodded. “Understood. I’ll go check out my post now.”
“Just a second, Elena.”
She turned to the corner from which Reeve had addressed her. He was now standing up, stretching his legs as he did so. Reeve continued, “You might want to pick up a headset on your way out. It’s so we can check in on your mission, and, of course, be in touch with each other in case of an emergency. Be sure to test it while you’re checking out the core. The star channel’s set to the PHS conference signals of all of the executives.”
“What about the Turks? Are they going to be a part of this mission?”
“I’m afraid not. They all had other assignments today.”
Taking a PHS headset unit from one of the workers, Elena replied, “Okay. Thanks, Reeve.”
As she left the room, this time with the two MPs following her, she heard Heidegger’s sneer, “Friend of yours?”
Reeve deadpanned, “So what if she is?” shortly before Elena moved out of earshot.

In the reactor’s main control room a few hours later, Rufus, Scarlet, Heidegger, Reeve, and Elena all watched the images being patched through from the Midgar Railway’s security cameras. A group of about a half-dozen people had set off the train’s security system with false ID cards. Among these people were a large, dark-skinned man with a gun attachment where his right hand should’ve been, a girl in a tank top and short skirt, and another girl wearing a red bandanna. Scarlet recognized the latter immediately.
“So Jessie is involved with AVALANCHE,” the Weapons Dev. chair mused.
The other figures included two rebellious-looking young men, one fat and one thin, and a third young man, who had spiky blond hair and wore a SOLDIER uniform.
“And that’s our renegade SOLDIER,” Rufus said, tapping on one of the monitors. “Doesn’t look familiar, though.”
“The Turks might know who he is,” Reeve offered. “Too bad we can’t get a clear shot of his eyes to scan for mako infusion.”
Heidegger shook his head. “I doubt he’s a SOLDIER. He’s too short and wiry. And I don’t recognize him either.”
The figures were seen rushing through the cars; three of them even stole other passengers’ clothes to wear as disguises. Shortly after, the other three jumped off the train. “They’re in the tunnels, on their way here,” Rufus said, turning away from the monitors. “Reeve, is the reactor ready to go offline?”
“Yes it is. And Scarlet’s Airbuster is in position. Speaking of which, I should get back to router control before our guests arrive. Excuse me.”
Rufus watched as Reeve left the room, then turned to Scarlet and Heidegger. “We should start heading back to the Shinra Building. Between Reeve, this technician Elena, and my father, I’m sure the reactor’s in capable hands.”
“Your father? What’s President Shinra got planned?” Scarlet asked.
“Something special,” Rufus replied with a sly grin. “I wish I could stick around to see the looks on those AVALANCHE goons’ faces when he arrives.”
Elena wondered about Rufus’ last statement as Heidegger ordered her to her post. She did a quick check of her supplies and left the room to rendezvous with her MP escorts, who were waiting for her elsewhere inside the reactor.

As the tense minutes passed while waiting for AVALANCHE to arrive, Elena stood perched on the outer railing of a high, shadow-drenched catwalk in Reactor #5’s central mako chamber. The grappling hook that wound out from her belt was attached to a nearby rail post, and her most important tools were stuffed into her vest pockets. With the two MPs standing guard on either side of the railing, Elena watched as three figures far below entered the chamber and approached the main valve. Suddenly, the blond one in the middle collapsed to the ground, gripping his head as though a spike was being driven into it. Elena’s gaped at the strange scene, while the taller MP quietly leaned over to get a better look. Their catwalk creaked slightly, and they all froze in place. Fortunately, the three intruders down below did not so much as notice, as the loud hum of the reactor overwhelmed any sounds Elena and the MPs made.
The first intruder, the girl in the short skirt, pulled a device out of her satchel and affixed it to the main valve. She pressed a few buttons then signaled to her companions, whereupon they all immediately began to retreat. Elena watched the three of them exit, then waited until she could no longer hear their footsteps before lowering herself to the main catwalk, while her MP escorts took the long way down, via a set of stairs hidden behind a large bank of pipes.
She landed softly, cut the line from her belt, and crouched before the bomb, thoroughly analyzing it with her eyes. Elena smiled to herself as she drew a pair of needlenose pliers from one pocket and a socket wrench from another. Piece of cake, she thought. I’ll have this thing disarmed in no time.

Five minutes later, Elena was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Although she had managed to disable the bomb’s Shiva charge, she could not figure out how to deactivate the Fire one. There were five types of wires used in the bomb’s configuration instead of the standard three, and—worse yet—all of these wires were the same color. She looked down at the bomb’s still-ticking clock. Twelve minutes, twenty-three seconds and counting. Elena reached in her pocket and pressed the star key on her PHS. Almost simultaneously, two voices cut in.
“Left server storage, President here.”
“Router control. Urban Dev. speaking.”
“Sirs! This is Unit 01 in the central core,” Elena said, trying to keep her voice steady. “I can’t disarm the bomb!”
“What?” exclaimed Reeve and President Shinra.
“Shiva’s out, but fire’s loaded!”
“Unit 01, are you sure—” Reeve started, before being interrupted by the President.
“Unit 01, can you get that thing out of there to a place where it would do less damage?”
“Yes sir—I’ll do my best!”
“Excellent.”
Elena disconnected and picked up the bomb, running past the two MPs as they came down the catwalk to meet her. They froze for a minute and looked in her direction. In the back of her mind, she was sure that beneath their helmets, their eyes were bulging in shock. She glanced over her shoulder to look at them.
“Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
Elena ran down the hallways of the reactor, sending the MPs on ahead to open any locked doors that were on the way to the main outer catwalk. Reaching in her left trouser pocket, she again pressed the star key.
“Router control, Urban Dev.”
“Unit 01 here! Where’s President Shinra?”
“Boarding a helicopter. The Airbuster has intercepted AVALANCHE. Where are you?”
“Sector 24G.”
“Right. I’ll have all personnel evacuated from that area. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Elena hung up and entered the last room before the outer catwalk. She looked down at the bomb tucked under her right arm. The digital timer read three minutes, zero seconds and counting. Elena took the bomb into her hands and tossed it across the floor, where it bumped up against some water pipes. Then she turned back to the doorway from which she came, signaling to the two MPs that they should follow her. The three of them ran back inside the reactor, aiming to get as far away from the bomb as they could in those three minutes. As they made their way up a set of stairs, a loud explosion shook the air, and they all gripped tightly to the railing as the shockwave passed over them.
Once everything became still again, Elena opened her eyes. On the lower steps, the MPs had already stood up and were dusting off their uniforms. She sat on the stairs and looked down at them.
“Well, do you guys think I’m so crazy now?”
The MPs looked at each other before turning back to her. Finally, the taller one said, “It takes guts to be that crazy.” The other MP nodded.
Elena froze, suddenly sensing that there was something strange about these two.
“Who are you?” she asked, raising one eyebrow.
The taller MP took off his helmet, revealing a bald scalp, cobalt blue eyes, and a left ear with one too many piercings. Elena gasped.
Rude turned to the second MP. “How about it, Tseng? Think she’s cut out to be a Turk?”
As he pulled off his own helmet, Tseng’s hair flowed out from beneath it in one large wave. He smoothed some stray black strands from his face. “Perhaps. I admit that it would be interesting to have an explosives specialist on the team.” He looked at Elena with his usual stoic expression; she simply stared and hoped that her blushing wasn’t too obvious in the cold light of the reactor. Finally, Tseng turned away.
“Elena, I hope we didn’t give you too much of a shock. I know that this may seem like an unconventional way to monitor you on a mission, but we need some idea of how you might do in the field if you are to become a Turk.”
“S—so you guys do this sort of thing all the time?”
“Only for our top candidates,” Rude replied.
Tseng nodded. “That’s right. Besides, Reno thought you might do well as a Turk, and I trust his judgment.”
Elena lowered her head, trying to keep herself from grinning too hard. “So what happens now?”
“We go over your records again and make our final review,” Tseng replied. “However, there’s something I must tell you right now, that you have to keep in mind.”
“What’s that?” Elena asked, looking up.
“Unless one of us happens to be taken out of service for some reason, there are currently no open positions in the Turks.”
Elena’s smile evaporated. “I understand.”
Tseng nodded once. “Now, we should get out of here, before they have to come looking for us.”
Elena stood up and started to follow the two Turks back down the stairs. Along the way, she asked Tseng, “Excuse me, sir? Where’s Reno today?”
Tseng replied, “He’s on a mission for the Science Department. I’m afraid I can’t give you any details other than those. This assignment of his is strictly classified.”

*****

Rufus stared at his watch. When for once he had managed to arrive early to an executive meeting, leave it to his father and Reeve to run late. As President Shinra finally entered the room, he announced, “My apologies for the delay. I just got a call from Reeve, who’s still at Reactor #5. Something went wrong with the bomb deactivation, and he insisted on staying behind to assist with the cleanup effort. Therefore, he won’t be able to make it to this meeting.”
Scarlet asked, “What happened?”
“Only half of the bomb’s materia charges could be disarmed, so the entire device was moved as far away from the core as possible before it exploded. Reeve says the reactor’s damaged, but operational, and that he personally witnessed one of the terrorists fall, while the other two escaped.”
Rufus pondered, “So, AVALANCHE is still at large…”
President Shinra nodded solemnly as he walked to his chair at the head of the table. Heidegger rubbed his chin.
“Well Mr. President, I have some information that will make our next move a bit easier.”
The President looked over at his Peace Preservation chairman. “And that would be…?”
“I had a contact of mine in Wall Market find out where AVALANCHE is headquartered.”
“And?”
“One of his men discovered their base of operations: a small bar in the Sector Seven slums. Now, I thought about this piece of information, and came up with an idea.”
Everyone in the conference room focused on Heidegger. Rufus said, “Well, let’s have it, then.”
“Gya ha ha… very well. My idea is this: we drop the Sector Seven plate, and blame the deed on AVALANCHE! Not only will we destroy the group itself, but we will also crush the growing wave of sentiment toward them.”
President Shinra leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, his head slightly lowered and hands folded before his chin. Finally, he burst out laughing.
“What a brilliant idea! I wonder why I didn’t think of it myself! Excellent… how soon can we carry out with this plan?”
“Tomorrow morning, sir, if that’s not too early.”
“No, no. Considering the timing of AVALANCHE’s actions up until now, that will be perfect. Just make sure that word of this plan doesn’t travel too far. We don’t want to have to deal with any saboteurs.”
Rufus leaned back in his chair. “Perhaps we should consult with the Urban Development Chair before going ahead with this. After all, this is a matter which concerns the city’s infrastructure.”
The President turned to his son. “I’m well aware of that, but we’re short on time and resources as it is. The longer we wait, the more opportunities we’d be giving to AVALANCHE to wreak havoc on Midgar.”
Rufus looked into his father’s eyes. It appeared that he was dead set on Heidegger’s plan; any efforts to convince him to use an alternative measure would be fruitless at this point.
“Very well,” the Vice President sighed. “It looks like we’ll be going with this plan.”

Long after the meeting had ended, Rufus made his way to the central control room of Reactor #5. Finding the door left ajar, he quietly slipped in. The room was filled with technicians and plant managers, all trying to restore the damaged reactor to some semblance of normalcy. In the middle of it all was Reeve, serving as a processor for the information that the various men and women fired at him. He knew more about Shinra’s mako reactors than nearly anyone else, and in this time of emergency, his knowledge and expertise were needed more than ever.
A few minutes had passed before Reeve caught sight of Rufus standing near the doorway. The Urban Dev. chair did a double take.
“Vice President!” he exclaimed. “What brings you here?”
“Since you couldn’t make it to the meeting, I came to tell you the information that was discussed there.”
Reeve walked over to Rufus and escorted him toward a small office in the back. He closed the door behind them as Rufus settled into a chair.
“Rufus, you didn’t have to come all this way just for that,” Reeve replied, sitting at the desk. “You could’ve called, or told me about the meeting once I returned to headquarters.”
“I had some spare time,” Rufus said carelessly, running his hand back through his hair. “But first, how did things go here? I heard you had some problems.”
“Yes, well… apparently the bomb had been designed so as to make it impossible to disable the fire materia charge. Your father ordered Elena to get it away from the core, so she brought it to the area near the main outer catwalk.”
Rufus nodded. “I saw the scoring marks from my helicopter.”
“You should’ve seen your old man, though. After AVALANCHE had been cornered, he just calmly walked out before them… they were shocked, to say the least. He gave quite a performance.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“So, what happened at the meeting? Did you all discuss another plan to stop AVALANCHE?”
“You could say that. Actually, the President went with one that Heidegger proposed.”
“Heidegger…”
“I swear he looked a little disappointed when my father announced that you wouldn’t be able to make it to the meeting. Almost like he wanted to see the look on your face when he revealed his plan.”
“Rufus, what is this plan?”
The Vice President stood and looked around the empty room. He leaned across the desk and motioned for Reeve to do the same. Their faces came to within a few inches of each other. Captivated, Rufus examined Reeve’s eyes, his cheeks, his nose, his lips. He was well aware of the sound of his own heart, pounding, beating with great urgency. It was almost too much to bear.
“Rufus?”
“Essentially,” Rufus said in a conspiratorial tone, having momentarily snapped out of his trance, “the plan is to drop the Sector Seven plate, and blame AVALANCHE for the deed.”
“Shinra is going to drop the plate for Sector Seven of their own city, and point fingers at a small terrorist group.”
“Yes. The group is based in the Sector Seven slums, so bringing that segment of the plate down would destroy them as–”
“Rufus,” Reeve growled, “there are only a half-dozen individuals confirmed to be in AVALANCHE, with practically no indicators that there are any more. The entire population of the Sector Seven slums is in the range of forty thousand. Forty-fucking-thousand people. And that’s not even taking into account all those who live on top of the plate. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Although Rufus found Reeve’s physical proximity to be a most welcome distraction, he did his best to keep focused on their conversation. The Vice President nodded. “Yes, I understand. All those people…”
“Yes. All those people are going to be murdered by the very company they’ve had to trust—but they’re not going to know that. No. History will dictate that Shinra is a great benefactor that would never condone such acts. I suppose the President intends to send out rescue crews after the plate falls?”
“He will indeed. It’s all part of the plan.”
“Thought so. He wants to make Shinra look as good as possible in the eyes of the masses.”
“Reeve, I asked my father to consult you on this matter before he decided on anything, but he wouldn’t listen. When he’s set on a plan, nothing can sway him.”
Reeve leaned back in his chair and muttered, “If only we didn’t have to deal with this AVALANCHE bullshit in the first place, none of this would be happening.”
“Still, AVALANCHE is terrorizing Midgar and we must deal with them.”
“Rufus, you know something?” Reeve said, looking directly into the Vice President’s eyes. Rufus noted that Reeve had deep, concealing eyes, but not without a bright spark of passion. “I really hate those bastards. Those fucking bastards, sabotaging my reactors and forcing the further destruction of my city.”
Rufus smiled and shook his head. He wanted to move closer to Reeve, to encircle him with his arms and soothe his rage, but he knew that the timing would be all wrong. “You’re quite attached to this city you helped construct.”
“Damned right I am.”
“There’s still time, you know. The plate hasn’t fallen yet.”
“Is your father in his office now?”
“He’s in meetings for the rest of the day, I’m afraid, but he’ll be in early tomorrow.”
“To oversee the event as it unfolds.”
Rufus nodded affirmatively.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk him out of it,” Reeve said, “but I must at least make an attempt.” He pulled out his PHS and called the President’s secretary, to make an appointment with him for the following morning.

*****

In the Turks’ Audio/Visual lab, Tseng watched the Midgar Railway and Reactor #5 security tapes over and over. There was something familiar about one of the people in the video—specifically, the young man with the spiky blond hair—that Tseng couldn’t quite place a finger on. It wasn’t just the SOLDIER uniform or the Mako glow of his eyes, though those things made it seem all the more ironic. It was in his stance, his mannerisms, and the way he spoke.
As Tseng scanned through a piece of footage that had been taken in the reactor’s central core, a knock came from the open door, causing the Turk leader to look up from his work. It was Reno.
“Hello, Reno. How’d it go with Aeris?”
“Actually,” he replied, closing the door behind him, “that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Tseng froze. “What happened?”
“Don’t worry, she escaped, but something unexpected happened. You see, there was someone with her when me and the troops arrived. He helped her get away.”
“Was it anyone we’d know about?”
“That’s the thing—I’d never seen him before in my life, and yet, I felt like I knew him from somewhere. Hey… wait a minute…”
The redhead leaned in to get a better look at the still image the security video was paused on, finally pointing at one of the figures on the screen.
“That’s the guy I saw. Goes by ‘Cloud’. Don’t tell me he’s in AVALANCHE…”
Tseng nodded. “Yes he is. In fact, he’s the traitorous SOLDIER that I suspected earlier.” He paused, then turned to look at the video again. “He… didn’t do anything to hurt Aeris, did he?”
“Nope,” Reno replied. “In fact, she was downright sweet with him.”
Tseng swiveled around in his chair to face Reno, hands folded and with a flat expression on his face. “Oh, really. Well, I’m sure she knew what she was getting into. Besides, she’s always been a bit flirtatious.”
“There’s more to it than that. Not only did I see him, he came up and spoke to me. He acted a little bit loopy, but other than that, the way he talked and moved reminded me a helluva lot of Zack.”
Silence. Tseng lowered his eyes.
“Zack disappeared five years ago during the Nibelheim incident, along with Sephiroth and a couple of MPs. No one has either seen or heard from him since.” He swiveled back to look at the video monitor. “That can’t possibly be Zack. He looks a little too young, for one thing.”
“I don’t think it is either. But I swear, when I was in the church, the resemblance was definitely there.”
Tseng stood up and asked, “Have you reported back to Hojo?”
“Not yet.”
“Good. I’ll go in your place. Heidegger wants you for a special mission for early tomorrow morning, so you should see him, then go home and get some sleep. I think you’re going to need the rest.”
“You know anything about this mission of Heidegger’s?”
“I know that it’ll be better if he tells you the details himself.”
Reno sighed and scratched the back of his head. “That bad, eh?”
The Turk leader simply nodded and walked toward the door.

Tseng was not at all surprised to see that look on Hojo’s face once he strode into the Science Department’s main lab on the 68th floor; after all, he was walking in there empty-handed, with nary an Ancient in sight. Hojo pushed his glasses back into place on the bridge of his nose and came before Tseng.
“What’s wrong? Reno couldn’t report here himself?”
Tseng cleared his throat. “I’m afraid not, Professor. Chairman Heidegger wanted to see Reno immediately, concerning tomorrow’s mission in Sector Seven.”
“Ah yes, the dropping of the plate,” Hojo mused. “A frivolous waste of time if I do say so myself, chasing after these AVALANCHE fools.”
“Yes, well, I’m here in his place to report that—”
“You didn’t capture the Ancient. No surprise there.”
“Professor, once we have this AVALANCHE crisis out of the way, the Turks and I—”
“Enough!” Hojo snapped, cutting Tseng off with a sharp wave of his hand. “I have had enough of you Turks and your lame excuses! What could possibly be so difficult about capturing one young woman? I don’t understand it—even the elder Tseng never had this much trouble, and he never captured her either!”
Tseng was silent. On the one hand, he was glad that Hojo hadn’t managed to see through to his ulterior motive of protecting his dearest friend; on the other, this criticism of his job performance really stung, especially with the scientist comparing him to his deceased father. Shifting his gaze away from Hojo for a moment, Tseng happened to see a new specimen laying in the laboratory’s main observation enclosure. It was a reddish-orange beast, something like a cross between a large wildcat and a wolf; the end of its tail was aflame and there was a large scar where its right eye should have been.
Hojo began to pace about the floor. “And why are you using AVALANCHE as an excuse? It isn’t like all of you are working on that case all the time! So who else is going on this mission of Heidegger’s?”
“Out of the Turks, I believe its just Reno. If you want to send someone else after the Ancient, Rude should be avail—”
“Actually, I want you to go out and capture her.”
Tseng paused. He had not been expecting this. “Me, Professor?”
Hojo looked up at the Turk with one eyebrow raised. “You sound surprised by this request.”
“I hardly ever do this type of field work anymore, Professor. You are aware of that.”
“Yes I am, but that’s not what I was getting at. At any rate, you will retrieve the Ancient for me, and if you fail, I won’t merely overlook it as I have done in the past. I’ll see to it that the President has you demoted.”
Tseng clenched his teeth. Even though he knew the demotion of a Turk was next to impossible, he nevertheless wanted to grab Hojo by his coat collar and watch the skinny scientist’s Adam’s apple bob in a gulp as he hissed into his glasses, The hell you will; but he couldn’t, and didn’t. Instead, he merely muttered, “Very well,” then calmly started to leave, but not without taking another look at the beast in the enclosure. What Tseng found the most curious about it was neither the tail nor the scar, but its tattoos; aside from the Roman numeral XIII that Hojo had obviously given it, its markings were similar to the tattoos that Reno had. Is this beast from Cosmo Canyon, then? Tseng wondered. Suddenly, the beast opened its good eye and looked at Tseng. The Turk was struck by the tired, unhappy expression the eye conveyed.
“Will you please stop staring at Red XIII?” Hojo snapped from behind the Turk. “The last things my specimens need are distractions!” With Hojo’s back facing it, the beast glared at the scientist before closing its eye again.
Without another word, Tseng turned away from the enclosure and shoved his hands in his pockets, trying his best to keep his cool as he finally left the lab.
Walking down the halls toward the stairwell, Tseng steered his thoughts back to the information that Reno had given him earlier. Aeris had befriended Cloud, a member of AVALANCHE. Shinra was dropping the Sector Seven plate tomorrow morning; AVALANCHE would be bound to find out about it before then. It was highly likely that Cloud would be with them at the time… Aeris might be as well. Tseng continued to think about all of this long after he left the 68th floor.

Now back in the Turks’ office, Tseng pulled a key from one of his trouser pockets and unlocked a large drawer on the right side of his desk. From this drawer, he drew out a small toy: a miniature giant moogle with a crowned and caped cat perched up behind its head. He set the toy on the floor and turned his desktop computer on. After opening a certain program on the computer, the toy started to move across the floor, sending real-time video signals back to the program. Tseng maneuvered the toy all over the room, sometimes making it punch an imaginary foe, or roll a pair of dice, or change the amount of zoom on the moogle’s tiny hidden camera. He smiled as he manipulated the device; with each new addition, this toy, the prototype for a life-size model called Cait Sith, was one step closer to perfection. Tseng guided the toy back to the side of the desk and quit the program. He felt that the time was right for a field test, and he knew just the place: the Honeybee Inn, the Wall Market “gentlemen’s club” owned by Heidegger’s favorite informant, Don Corneo.

*****

On a rocky hillside a few miles outside of Midgar, the sun shone down on the prone body of a SOLDIER. Shot to death by the Shinra only a couple of weeks before, this young man had been en route to the city, hoping to make a living as a mercenary. Now he was nothing more than a corpse, albeit one that refused to decompose. His body bore the evidence of experimentation– bandages, needle marks, and the like– and on the back of his exposed left hand was a tattoo of the Roman numeral I. Indeed, he had escaped from a lab, where he had been injected with all kinds of strange chemicals and biological materials. It was a secret lab located in an old mansion in Nibelheim, the mountainside village on the Great Continent this young SOLDIER had once traveled to, on a mission with Commander Sephiroth.
The wind blew over his long black hair in a whisper. It had come from the direction of Midgar, and whistled right past his ears. It seemed to be saying something.
“My body… is trapped. My cells… are scattered. I must become whole… as I once was… before his discovery.”
The SOLDIER’s body didn’t stir.
“The Reunion begins with you. Your dear friends, residing in this great city… do you wish to see them?”
For the first time in weeks, the SOLDIER’s lips moved, but no sound came from them. Still, the voice carried on the wind seemed to understand him.
“With the sliver of my power that has been placed inside of you, I will grant you life so that you may see your friends. In return, you must do something for me.”
“…Yes…” he whispered in a tiny speck of a voice.
“Very well. I will assist you, guide you in your every move. Now, rise once more.”
Almost instantly, the wind shifted in a different direction. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath of polluted air. The SOLDIER, Zack, was alive.