Retarded Monkey with Guns (luzzu) wrote in balfonheim_port, @ 2007-08-11 22:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | cid/vincent, ffvii, the calm after the storm |
The Calm after the Storm (working title) Chapter 6
Fandom:FFVII
Rating:PG-13
Summary:Chaos has returned to the planet along with Omega, but for Vincent there are still issues to deal with left in their wake. For the rest of Gaia, there's a planet that needs to heal and rebuild. The WRO on one side, opposing factions on the other, life doesn't seem to get any smoother.
Author notes:This chapter is currenty un-beta'd as my beta hasn't read it to tell me she thinks it needs doing again because of 'What the hell have you done with the characterisation!'or something :) And many thanks to jlsigman for ideas on the whole mining issue of Great Glacier.
Disclaimer:FFVII and all it entails belong to Square Enix.
Reeve had received Rufus in his office, as was seeming to become normal routine for both men now. So far, negotiations has been fraught and Reeve has managed to keep quiet about the power generator, but knew he couldn’t for much longer, that was if Rufus was still uninformed to its existence. He highly doubted that; the Turks were efficient.
“I’m sure you can see why it would be beneficial to cooperate in this.”
Reeve did see it, for the moment. He just didn’t know where it would lead. “You say Reno is unknown to the group?”
“Elena and Tseng are the only ones any have come into contact with. But they‘ve all spent the last few years keeping a low profile”
Reeve sighed, he didn‘t mention that some of them might well have been in Edge when Kadaj and the other two had turned up. They‘d just have to hope any of them there had been too busy saving their own necks to notice Reno‘s bright red hair in the midst of the fighting. “I’m not happy with this, Rufus. But I’ll agree to it providing one of my people go with him.”
“Two people undercover is more risky than one,” Rufus said.
“I’m aware of that. But as one of my finest intelligence agents, I have full confidence in her ability.” Reeve gave a smile. “She’ll get the job done.”
“So, they are to infiltrate the group, then attempt to persuade the group to make an attack on as big a target as possible to lure them out.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Reeve said dubiously.
Rufus laughed softly. “Simple, but not easy. This will take time, and a lot of planning. We must move carefully from now on.”
Reeve looked thoughtful. “We need to establish what it is this group are really hoping to achieve, if anything.”
“Their motivations mean little to me. They’re presenting a threat to the rebuilding of our world, that is enough to warrant dealing with them.”
Reeve looked slightly askance at him. “It was that mentality that put the world where it is. Understanding the motivations of these people will help to deal with any potential future problems.”
“They are little more than petty thugs jumping on the bandwagon of an idea. But we shall agree to disagree,” Rufus said amicably. “The deal is, what do we use to draw them out?”
Reeve pushed the intercom button and asked the voice on the other end to join them. He turned back to Rufus. “I’ll see what I can do.”
As Yuffie stepped into the WRO entrance hall, she swore she saw the familiar white of a long coat disappear round the corner of the exit opposite. She crossed the hall, following the stairs up to Reeve's office. Entering Reeve's office she was greeted by Cait Sith. "The Commissioner has some work for ya."
Yuffie huffed as she walked further into the room still looking at Cait. "It'd better be more interesting, the last one was really boring." She stretched out the last word to emphasise just how boring she had found it.
"I know. Ya wouldn't shut up about it fer days."
"I'm just saying I hope it's more interesting than last time, geez." She rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure you'll find this one more of a challenge." The voice came from the far side.
Yuffie nearly jumped. "Reeve! I didn't see you there!"
Reeve turned from the large screen he was looking at to face Yuffie. "Thank you for coming."
"Hey, no problem. Yuffie always gets the job done!" She tugged at Cait's ear playfully, for the automaton just to bat her away and groan at her posturing.
Reeve smiled. Yuffie, I need for you to be serious for a moment. What I need to ask you is of great importance.
Yuffie rocked on the balls of her feet, swaying back and forth. "Hey, you need something done? I'm your ninja!" She poked her tongue out playfully at Cait as he left the room. and turned her attention back to Reeve.
"Rufus is sending Reno on a spy mission to infiltrate the group VEHGA, I would like you to go with him." Reeve braced himself for the verbal outburst he knew was coming. Yuffie didn't disappoint.
"No way! I'm not working with that guy. You know he had the cheek to try and hit on me? On me?! I don't know who he thinks he is but if he thinks I'm going to help him, or any one else to do with that idiot of a boss of his. and I..."
"I know how you feel about Shinra, Yuffie." Reeve said, his voice firm and slightly louder to cut her off. "I know Shinra have been questionable in the past and no one has more right to still be angry at them than you and your people. I'm aware of what they have cost you." He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her. "But Rufus has been aiding the WRO since our formation. Whilst I don't believe he's entirely trustworthy, I don't believe he is the person he was then either."
Yuffie gently huffed, not convinced.
"We all make mistakes. You didn't trust me once." Reeve tried once more to appeal to her sense of forgiveness, which he knew was hard to shake at times. He moved back a little, almost imploring her to help. He wasn't sure if he was feeling entirely sure about allowing Rufus in on the discovery of the power generator. If Rufus was sincere in his dealings with the WRO, then maybe Reeve's faith in his own judgement would remain steady.
Yuffie looked at Reeve's face, almost rude in her scrutiny. The lines around his eyes looked deeper than usual. "You okay?"
Reeve rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes, I'm fine." He walked over to the console, reading a message that had just come through. " It's just been a rough few months."
"Maybe this power generator will be the answer. Barret'll be relieved to have some of the pressure taken off of him."
Reeve smiled. "You know the problem then?"
Yuffie looked awkward. "Um..yeah, I kinda...heard about the power problem."
Reeve positively chuckled. "This is why I need you, Yuffie. You're the finest intelligence officer I have." He handed her a small electronic pad. I've been over some details with Rufus, so here's a run down of everything so far, to bring you up to date."
"You know I still haven't said I'd do it."
"How did you know about the power crisis we are facing, Yuffie?"
Yuffie grinned trying to look as innocent as possible. "Okay, okay. I'll do it. But I'm telling you now, I'm not happy."
Reeve nearly audibly sighed in relief. "Thank you, Yuffie."
Yuffie skimmed the pad in her hand. "Hey, Reeve?"
"What is it, Yuffie?"
"Come on, this gang's tiny. They can't be so important to need to go to this much trouble. I mean, Avalanche were trying to blow up the reactors and Shinra didn't do this much."
Reeve did sigh this time. "Yes we did. Reno dropped the Sector Seven plate and killed a lot of people, and Shinra did plant a spy. Me."
"Yeah, I forgot you spied for Shinra. Seems like a long time ago." She looked serious for a moment. "Well, I know about the plate. But they'd already blown up a reactor at that point. I mean, what have these guys done?"
"They nearly killed people, Yuffie. At what point do you think we should do something?"
Yuffie flapped her arms, backtracking. "No, no, no. I didn't say we should do nothing. I was just wondering if this was, like, overkill?"
Reeve smiled slightly, softening a little. "Maybe it is. It's possible that Rufus is using this to lead me a merry dance. We shall see. But in the meantime, I'm prepared to accept that Rufus may have a very valid reason for believing this splinter group present a threat to the stability and safety of Midgar Edge residents, because if I'm wrong, they're the ones that suffer for it."
* * * *
The ground was baked hard under the midday sun. Cid’s t-shirt was drenched as he scrabbled up the rocks, detector between his teeth. He watched Vincent and felt a twinge of envy. Vincent; slightly further ahead of him and crossing the terrain with ease, was showing no sign of the heat despite wearing his customary leather and red cloak.
Cid’s phone rang. He stopped and pulled it awkwardly from a pocket and tucked it under his chin to free both hands. He answered with a slight grunt as a large stone loosed from just above him by Vincent, hit his shin on it’s fall down the slope. “Ah, shit!” he cursed. “Oh, sorry, Reeve. I’m just gonna kill Vince later. What is it?”
Vincent stopped and looked down at Cid behind him on the slope at the mention of his name to see Cid grin and gesture for him to return.
“I’ve spoken to Rufus,” Reeve’s voice came, distant sounding through the speaker. “It seems there is a new faction behind some of the incidents in Midgar. Rufus and I are working together to find the culprits, we were thinking of giving them a large target to give them.”
Cid looked troubled. “How big a target are we talking?”
“Power generator sized.” Came Reeve’s instant reply.
Cid looked even more troubled. “Who the hell is this group anyway?”
“VEHGA. The Voluntary Extinction of Humans on Gaia Association.”
The troubled look disappeared as Cid laughed. “What kind of fucking stupid name is that? You’re kidding right?”
Reeve was glad that the phone didn’t have video capabilities. “Unfortunately, no. The main group is more of a movement than anything, but it’s a splinter group that is the cause of the disruptions,” he paused almost like he was uncertain whether to continue. “I’ve sent Yuffie along with Reno to investigate.”
“Just when I thought I’d seen everything.” Cid shook his head. “So why the power generator?”
“We need a sizable target that we can draw them out to as a whole group.”
Cid didn’t like the sound of that. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Reeve, I…”
Reeve cut him off. “I know you’re thinking of Shera and the others. That’s why I called. To ask if you’d found the possibility of another one yet.”
Cid sighed in frustration. “No, nothing yet. We were just finishing a final sweep of the area then going to fly the Shera over a bit further west, look at the land and see if we get anything there.”
“Ah, that’s not what I was hoping to hear. I was hoping if another one was found, we could leak information on that, leaving the one at Glacier untouched.”
“We’ll keep looking, I’ll call you when I’ve got something.”
“Just don’t take too long.” Came the reply. The phone disconnected and Cid related what had transpired to Vincent.
Vincent nodded slightly. “I’ve heard of this group. They have a base in the forest near Mideel, I believe they feel it’s symbolic.”
“Symbolic?”
“Mideel no longer exists because of the lifestream. It’s the symbol of life returning to the planet, as they wish to do when their time comes.”
“Bunch of crack pots if you ask me.”
Vincent looked at the sky. “I don’t agree with their philosophy entirely, but they do make sense.”
They both sat on the rocky slope taking Reeve’s call as a good opportunity to rest. After a few minutes, Cid spoke. “I say we return to the Shera, head over west a little more and see if the lay of the land can’t tell us anything.”
“Do we have a geologist onboard?”
“Shit. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Vincent could’ve given Cid half a dozen answers to that question. He rose to his feet. “If we head back now, we should be back to the Shera by nightfall as originally planned. We can cover the area in the morning.” He headed back down the slope towards the camp and the chocobos.
Cid looked after him. “That’s what I just said.” He shook his head and followed.
* * * *
The return journey back to the Shera had been about as eventful as the one from it. Cid stood on the bridge barking orders. Once they were up in the air, Cid sent a crew member to ask around . His crew were for the most part a well educated lot, he hoped one among them would know something about geology.
The search had not proved fruitless, but less successful than he'd hoped. Ana spent most of her time in the bowels of the ship, suiting her quiet nature. As much as she admired her captain, being questioned by him was a little intimidating. She stood on the upper deck feeling self-conscious in front of Cid and Vincent. "As I said, sir. I studied a little geology, but I don't think I know enough to be of much help."
"Any help will do, girl. I suppose you studied somethin' about land scarring?"
"I did a little, sir. I spent a few months studying aerial pictures of the Eastern Continent." She really didn't feel that was enough to qualify her to find a proverbial needle in the haystack that was Central Wutai.
"That'll do. It's the best we've got." He turned to Vincent. "Thing is, it's not like findin' the last one. Around Great Glacier there's just not that much room to put somthin' that large, but the Wutain Continent? Looking at how deep the other one goes down, it could be stuck in a mountain, could be fuckin' anywhere."
"Great Glacier is covered in a large amount of forest at one end - Everything we know about the Cetra would tell us that they wouldn't disrupt the area and affect the life there. Large amounts of Glacier is unstable and though there's not much, there is some life there reliant on the environment. That mainly leaves the rocky areas toward the north east." The crewmember looked thoughtful. "You know, sir. There might be something in the idea of it being in a mountain."
"If the power generator were to be placed in a mountain side, especially the more flat cliff faces of Wutai it would make for possible easier access for any reason." Vincent said.
"That could be true, but taking into account the time the generators have supposedly been there, if it were shallow enough for easy access, natural erosion over that time would probably have exposed it, at least in places."
"That's a good point, Ana." Cid's eyes swept the bridge looking at the crew. His gaze turned back to Ana. "Before we do anything, I want you to get together a small team from the crew and sweep the area for possible sites."
"Yes, sir." Ana left the bridge to attend to the task set her.
Cid turned to Vincent. "We aren't going to get very far trying to scan for the generator with the small scanners we've got. I'm going to need to make something a bit more powerful. Which means I need equipment."
"How much do you need?"
"I've got some parts of the ship still in pieces that I can scavenge for some of it, but there're a few things that I can pick up in Nibleheim. There's a good shop there now since one of my lot moved out that way."
"You start work on what you can here and I'll pick up the parts. It will save time."
Cid called to a crew member off to the side. "Oi, Johnny. Get your ass up here." He handed the helm over to the man as he hurriedly came over. "Head for Nibleheim. I've got a lot of work to do."
"Yes, sir!"
[Chapter 1][Chapter 2][chapter 3][Chapter 4][Chapter 5][Chapter 7]