天の龍 ~ 「俺の運が変われると思う…」 (kiraya) wrote in drops_n_ripples, @ 2007-07-29 20:00:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | butterfly effect |
Butterfly Effect: Chapter 29
Authors: Bard Linn and Kiraya
Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: That'd be telling!
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Summary: “I’m wondering if this might not just be a personal vendetta, General. You and the Professor have never seen eye to eye.”
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 29
Midgar was a city under siege.
Everywhere Cloud looked, he saw the signs. There was hardly anyone wandering the streets, shops were closed even though it was only early evening, and patrols were common both above and below the Plate. From the communiques they’d received, it appeared the bulk of ShinRa’s forces were heading to either Junon or Midgar, depending on where they were normally based, leaving only token forces in the smallest towns. The sole exception was Wutai, where the military had already grimly dug in and readied themselves in case of a revolt.
The blond took a moment to straighten his uniform as he climbed out of the truck. Usually, they would all be debriefed as a group, and then the SOLDIERs would meet with General Sephiroth. Things being as they were, the troopers were barely given a word before being dismissed. The meeting with Sephiroth was equally as brief, to some of the others’ disappointment. Cloud could see the near-invisible signs of strain on the General’s face, however, so he didn’t mind. What he wanted to do was track Zack down and get the entire story out of him. Where his mentor — former mentor, he reminded himself; the mentorship had dissolved in April with the new exams, another thing he’d missed — had gone, he didn’t know. The desk in the outer office had been empty.
Reports were handed in, and the rest of the SOLDIERs left. Cloud turned to follow when Sephiroth’s voice stopped him. “Strife, a word.”
Cloud turned sharply, straightening. “Yes, sir?”
“Sinclair is drilling the SOLDIERs First Class in residence. He will not be back until later tonight.”
“Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you for telling me.” Sephiroth dismissed him and Cloud found himself at loose ends. Normally he had some sort of set activity for every free minute, but at the moment he had no idea what to do with himself. The gym would probably be pretty busy, since practically everyone was back in Midgar, and Cloud didn’t want to get caught in the rush. He wasn’t going to go wandering around down below with the current situation either. He needed to be on hand in case something happened. Zack undoubtedly could’ve come up with something to do, but he wasn’t available.
Cloud blinked in sudden realization. Vincent! He could go drop by the dark-haired man and catch up. The former Turk would undoubtedly be able to fill him in on everything going on. Besides, Cloud remembered, feeling a little guilty, he hadn’t just spent time with the man since the first time he’d left Nibelheim for Midgar. They had always been busy training — not that Vincent hadn’t been training him before, but…
Cloud shook the thought off and walked quickly to Sephiroth’s quarters. Ten minutes and a quiet knock later, he was looking into the red eyes of his first mentor. “Hello, Vincent.”
“You look well, Cloud.”
The blond grinned. “Thanks. I was wondering, can you bring me up to speed on what’s going on? They didn’t tell us much at our briefing.”
“I can do better than that.” Vincent walked over to Sephiroth’s computer and called up a file. “This was pulled almost immediately off the networks, but ShinRa still has a copy.”
Cloud’s eyes widened in surprised. “They were videotaping?”
“The banquet celebrating for the successful launch of the rocket,” Vincent explained, starting the video.
The SOLDIER ignored most of the President’s speech in favor of watching the people around the man who had commanded the strongest company in the world. He spotted the department heads and several Turks, and Sephiroth was also there, in his capacity as General of SOLDIER.
“…a toast to the future of mankind. Today, we walk among the stars!” The heavyset man took a sip from his glass and abruptly started choking. Amid the shouting and chaos that ensued, the camera focused in on President Shinra’s stiffening corpse, then abruptly cut off.
“They checked the wine, I suppose?” Cloud asked.
“There was nothing in it. The body showed signs consistent with an incident during the Wutai war during which the natives used a particular type of ivy to poison SOLDIERs. Traces of it were found in the late President’s specially prepared food,” Vincent added. “It appears quite straightforward.”
“I don’t think it’s that easy.” Cloud leaned against the wall. “I’ve seen the stuff in Wutai. It’s a commonly used herb — can be eaten in small doses uncooked with no side affects at all, and if it’s cooked you can eat even more of it. The problem with it’s unique to SOLDIERs, apparently.” He frowned. “But it’s a great way to make it appear that Wutai’s responsible, right?”
Vincent nodded. “The question is, if Wutai is not responsible, who is?”
“It would have to be someone who had a motive, someone who would either have the knowledge to create a drug mimicking this stuff or could hire somebody else to do it for him,” Cloud mused aloud.
The former Turk immediately began reviewing the tape again. “Hojo isn’t directly next to the President…” He sounded almost disappointed.
Cloud studied the image closely. “Wait,” he said suddenly. “Rewind a bit.” Vincent did so, and Cloud reached out to pause the video. “Why is he wearing gloves there when he’s bare-handed only a few seconds later?” The dark-haired man said nothing, waiting for him to continue; Cloud bit back a sigh. “If he put something on the gloves and then shook hands… some of those order-whatever things are meant to be eaten by hand, aren’t they?”
“Hors d’oeuvres, and yes. However, that doesn’t explain why the wine apparently poisoned him,” Vincent pointed out.
Cloud resisted the urge to beat his head against the wall. Sometimes Vincent took his job as devil’s advocate a little too seriously — this wasn’t a theory discussion! “Unless the drug was made so alcohol triggered it,” he countered.
“A good point.” Vincent closed the video and began the process of accessing the Professor’s files. “And if we can find evidence of such here, we will have enough to bring a case before the board. ShinRa may tolerate much corruption, but assassination of the President takes things too far.”
“Unless you’re the next in line,” Cloud muttered.
Vincent nodded. “You had best go and inform Sephiroth. I expect we will know shortly one way or another.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zack watched quietly as Sephiroth laid the evidence they — well, mostly Vincent — had accumulated before the board. Rufus Shinra, the former President’s son and successor recently returned from Junon, appeared to be paying the most attention. Scarlet was somehow projecting both amusement and disdain, while the rest of the board looked rather, well, bored. Two of the department heads were absent: Reeve, from Urban Development, was not in attendance, instead down below the Plate reviewing structural integrity with some of his engineers. Zack didn’t know whether he hadn’t been able to be reached or if no one had even bothered trying when Sephiroth had called the emergency meeting. It was surprising how many people who lived in Midgar didn’t give two cents about the man who kept it functioning.
Professor Hojo’s absence, on the other hand, was more than a bit surprising. It was out of character for him to miss out on a chance to observe his favorite subject. On the plus side, however, it meant that they didn’t have to deal with Hojo’s rebuttals until after they had presented all of their evidence. The conspirators had worried about that; Hojo was a master at bending people’s words to suit his own purposes.
“This is all very interesting, General,” the President said smoothly as the silver-haired man placed the last report, concerning various SOLDIERS who had been reported MIA in Wutai but had in fact ended up in Hojo’s hands, down on the table. “However, most of this evidence is highly circumstantial, though I admit I hadn’t quite realized the amount of money Professor Hojo had pilfered for his own use. Do you have anything more substantial?”
“Yes.” Sephiroth’s uncanny eyes met and held the President’s own. “I have here lab records and photographs of a substance chemically engineered to replicate the effects Wutaian snakevine has on SOLDIERs. The drug is absorbed through skin contact and activated by the consumption of alcohol — and was produced here in ShinRa’s own laboratories.”
Silence reigned. Even in ShinRa the assassination of the President was a crime punishable by death.
“Surely such a drug would leave traces in the body,” Palmer interjected, folding his hands.
“The autopsy was performed by the Science Department,” Sephiroth reminded them.
And with the body already cremated, it’s gonna be much harder to get a second opinion, Zack thought.
Scarlet laughed outright. “I’m wondering if this might not just be a personal vendetta, General. You and the Professor have never seen eye to eye.”
“That may be the case, but regardless of how much of this may or may not be immediately verifiable, I want this investigated further,” the President declared.
Nothing like personal danger to motivate a Shinra, Zack thought, hiding a smirk as the new President instructed Tseng to bring Hojo to the board room. After all, if he had murdered one president, what was to stop him from killing another?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tseng entered the elevator, carefully hiding his pleasure at this turn of events… though he was quite curious as to where Sephiroth had gotten his information. SOLDIERs were not trained in the fine art of hacking, and the late President had made a conscious effort to keep the General of SOLDIER too busy to get into mischief. Even running several battalions of men did not require that much paperwork.
The Turk stepped from the elevator to meet Rude and Reno, waiting exactly where he had requested. “Nothin’ but silence, boss.”
“To be expected. The labs have some of the best soundproofing in the building.” Tseng glanced between the pair. “We need to escort Professor Hojo to the board room; he’s late for a meeting. Be aware that we may encounter resistance.” Unsaid, but not unheard, was the reminder to keep weapons ready but hidden.
Reno patted his jacket, where he kept his electro-rod. “Ready when you are.”
Tseng pulled out his override keycard and slid it into the slot. When nothing happened, he frowned; had Hojo somehow sealed the door? Then with, a hideous screech, it finally slid open, far slower than it should have. All three Turks noted the bend in the metal impeding its progress.
“What the hell—”
Reno’s comment was cut off when a giant thing threw itself at the partially open doorway. Tseng caught an impression of huge teeth and sharp claws before Rude lashed out, holding it back while Reno lunged to smack the door panel, reversing its direction and sealing the frustrated monster inside. All three Turks stared at the door for a long moment. While their occupation presented many dangers, they generally dealt with humans, not monsters. They could probably take the thing down if they went in, but it wouldn’t be easy, and there would be injuries, possibly even deaths.
“You know, boss,” Reno said lightly, hiding his nerves with expert ease, “we have a whole bunch of SOLDIERs who excel at this type of thing who should be earning their keep, don’t you think?”
Tseng was already pulling out his PHS.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You see more of these things than I do. Recognize any of them?” Reno asked Zack an hour later as the SOLDIER healed a shallow wound on the redhead’s shoulder.
“No.” The light of the Cure spell flickered and faded. “I have a bad feeling the Professor has been building hybrids or some other sort of crazy junk. Just be glad we haven’t seen any signs of Marlboros or Tonberries.”
Usually Zack’d be teased for spreading tales of semilegendary creatures — most people were skeptical when he told them about Touch Mes, too — but this time the Turk merely grimaced. “Ramuh forbid.” He tested his arm. “Thanks.” He turned to stare at the door. “How many rooms has it been so far?”
“Lost count,” Zack replied, shrugging. “Too busy dodging.” It figured that Hojo would somehow know he had been discovered. The scientist had activated every emergency door in the lab and unleashed various nasty creatures into each section. He hadn’t cared much for his coworkers, either. Their group — Reno, Zack, Rude, Tseng, and Sephiroth — had found more than a few human bodies amongst the damage. Sometimes they hadn’t found complete corpses at all, and only had blood marks and discarded human debris on the floor to mark the death of another ShinRa employee.
“This room is clear,” Tseng announced. “Are you two done?” Zack and Reno nodded, moving over to where the other three members of their group waited by the thick metal door separating this room from the next. They were close to Hojo’s personal lab.
Sephiroth and Zack took their places in the front, quick enough to take out whatever monsters lurked on the side if it sped through the doorway. Tseng tried the override, only to find it wasn’t working. “Par for the course,” Zack muttered as Sephiroth brought his sword up — not the Masamune, since both it and the Buster Sword would be difficult to maneuver in these conditions — and sliced through the door with a hideous screech. The General nodded as he swung at the metal again, weakening its structural integrity enough that it came crashing down. The SOLDIERs zipped through the opening, Rude and Reno right behind them while Tseng brought his gun up, sighting the brief flicker of motion beside the door—
“Don’t shoot!” A scientist appeared from behind a cart, looking much worse for the wear. His suit was completely ruined, his lab coat gone, and he had more than a few splashes of blood smeared across his skin. Zack noted with some surprise that the man had a knife strapped at his waist. “Oh, thank Gaea! Am I glad to see you!”
“Well, well… whaddya know, a live ‘un,” Reno drawled. “Think he’s one of Hojo’s?”
“Hardly.” The scientist shook his head, gesturing to another corner of the room where a monster corpse lay. His missing lab coat had been dropped over the thing’s head; Zack noticed several chemical burns as well as one or two knife wounds. “I’ve just been incredibly lucky — that thing was pretty slow, and here in chemical storage it’s easy to find good makeshift projectiles.”
And there were puddles of acid all over the floor and chemical burns on the walls as proof of that. Zack shook his head. It was a minor miracle the man hadn’t triggered a reaction and blown anything up, with how bad his aim was.
“The knife?” Tseng interjected, also having spotted the unexpected.
The man flushed. “My daughter’d kill me if I left home without some way to defend myself.”
“Your daughter?”
“Specialist,” the scientist replied, a hint of pride in his voice, and Zack nodded in understanding. Clearly this particular one had insisted on passing some of her combat training to her family… something that might’ve helped save his life here.
“I suggest you leave,” Tseng said, his voice clear and commanding. “The way to the hall is clear; there should be medical teams standing by to tend to your injuries as well.” The still-unnamed scientist nodded and left, limping heavily, and the group dismissed him from their minds. If he was in with Hojo, they could interrogate him later. The man could barely walk; there was no way he’d be escaping.
Sephiroth had already moved carefully across the room, avoiding bubbling pools of liquid to stand before the next door, and the rest of the group quickly caught up. As metal crashed to the floor, a sharp, bloodstained beak emerged before the opening was even complete, only to fall to the ground as Sephiroth reversed his sword. Blood, bone and metal crashed to the floor at once while an ear-piercing cry split the air.
Well, that’s different, Zack observed, finally getting a good look at the thing they were fighting. It was a chimera, a bizarre combination of dragon, bandersnatch, and — of all things — an oversized black chocobo. The latter head had already been badly wounded by Sephiroth’s first attack and shook with agony as the bandersnatch howled. The dragon studied them with a malicious gleam in its eyes and took a deep breath, unleashing a wave of fire that scattered them to different corners of the room. Rude stayed close, however, gritting his teeth as the flames washed over him, the Elemental materia in his bracer glowing brightly, and darted in to eliminate the wounded head, snapping its neck. The chimera roared at that, and a draconic tail lashed out at him, sending him flying into the wall.
Zack cast a Blizzara at the thing, only to have the dragon counter most of it with another blast of flame — but the distraction served its purpose, and the chimera shrieked in pain as the Thundaga Sephiroth cast sent lightning arcing over its scaly-furred hide. Reno took advantage of the moment to come in and strike with the electro-rod, managing to blind the bandersnatch in one eye, the sound of gunfire echoing through the room as Tseng’s quick shot finished it off.
Sephiroth nodded briskly towards Rude, but the Turks needed no prompting to head for their fallen comrade, keeping an eye on the angrily hissing chimera as they sped across the room. There was no need for them to worry, however, as Zack and Sephiroth charged together, blades flashing as they sawed through the dragon’s neck, finally slaying the beast. Zack gave the corpse a good kick, and was surprised at how light it was.
“Avian skeleton,” Sephiroth observed, studying it for a moment before turning to look over at the Turks. Tseng had produced a Restore materia and was slowly healing Rude’s wounds. Zack could tell from the faintness of the glow and the minute signs of strain on Tseng’s face that it was going to take some time; the Turk Leader had already poured a lot of himself into spells during previous encounters. Unfortunately, they hadn’t thought to bring too many ethers, and had used the last one they had a few rooms back.
Zack started as he abruptly realized Sephiroth’s attention was focused elsewhere, on a small door across the room. The sign beside it had been knocked askew, but the lettering was still clear enough.